Last week my parents and I drove from New York to Chicago for a family road trip. I’ve never really had family vacations growing up so now at 23 it was nice to have one! We drove for two days to get to outside chicago to visit our friends and spent two days there, then two days in the city and two days of driving to get back.

This trip was a special one because I’ve never been to Chicago but its where my dads parents grew up there, my mom grew up there, and its where my grandfather I’m named after is buried. It was a fun trip but also an emotional one.

Day One

We decided that this trip would be an ice cream tour so we started by going to The Big Top Ice Cream on our way to Geneva on the Lake. I really want to go back and stay at Geneva on the Lake, OH. The town is so cute, it has a bunch of arcades and mini golf places. Its very retro and so much fun! A great place to go in the summer with kids. And the Whip and Dip is amazing ice cream! They had tangerine soft serve!

Day Two and Three

We drove from Geneva on the lake to where our friends live outside Chicago. On the Way we went to see my grandfather and spent time there.

This is cooper he is a Bernese mountain dog and a mini poodle mix. He is so cute and sweet! We spent two days with our friends on the lake hanging out, going for boat rides, going for ice cream and shopping. It was relaxing and fun!

Day Four

On the way to Chicago we stopped to see where my mom grew up and where my dad’s mom grew up. On the was we went to the Dairy Queen my mom went to as a kid, it’s still run and owned by the same family.

After we checked into our hotel we went to dinner but on the way it began to rain really hard. Luckily we got back to the hotel in time to see fireworks on the pier. Every Friday in the summer they have fireworks. We watched them from the hallway in our hotel but lots of rooftop bars are available.

Day Five

It was raining a lot in the morning and so we decided to go to the art institute and wait for the rain to stop. I loved the museum a lot. It had a wide range of art styles and sculptures as well. The building itself has great architecture so its great for photos.

For lunch we went to Gibsons steak house. This is a must on a chicago trip in my mind. I would recommend going and getting the file mignon sliders. They’re $15 for three and so good! My mom got them and I wish I had them.

In the evening, we went on the architecture boat tour. Make sure you look up which one you should take, ours was really funny and enjoyable but some of them seemed really boring. We went before sunset and it was perfect because the sun wasn’t very harsh and we didn’t get as hot.

I don’t know why but I really wanted to go see the Bean, since it was raining earlier when we went to the museum we came back in the evening when it stopped. It's really a cool place and I hope the next time in Chicago I can go early when no one is there.

Day Six

Our Last stop on our way home we went to the White Turkey Drive in and spent the night in Erie Pennsylvania. Then we drove home and our trip was finished.