After a night of seeing SZA, I was surprised by how early I woke up the next morning. Especially considering we got back from the concert around midnight, took showers, and stayed up to eat our leftover deep dish.

My sister woke up shortly after me. It’s probably because we’re used to getting up early to exercise and/or go to work. We headed to the gym of the hotel but not for the reason you think.

My sister wanted a spot to catch the sunrise. Our room had the view of a brick wall so we wouldn’t catch it there. Hotel Blake isn’t an especially tall building either. That being said, I figured the gym would give us a decent view if it had windows so we walked over.

Because the windows were facing west we couldn’t see the literal sun rise but we could see the colors change in the sky behind the Willis Tower. I would’ve like to see the sunrise by the lake but we’d be there later today.

Heading Out

After getting ready, we headed out for breakfast. The plan was to go to the largest Starbuck’s in the world.

I thought we could take the red line because I didn’t feel like taking the bus. Keeping an eye on the stop and pulling the string annoys me sometimes. We’d made it to the Harrison stop but plans changed.

We scanned in and a CTA worker greeted us. She asked if we needed assistance with where we were headed. I assumed because of my camera, she figured we weren’t from there.

At first I was going to say no because that’s my automatic response but I decided to change things up for my shy self.

“I know what stop we need to get off at, it’s just once we get there I’m not sure what direction to go in. We’re trying to go to the Starbuck’s Reserve Roastery,” I said.

“Oh, you’re probably better taking the 146 bus. It’ll get you closer.” I fought the urge to groan because I knew she was right, I just didn’t want to take the bus. “Do know what else you’ll do once you get there?” she asked.

“The plan is to take the lake tour in Navy Pier,” I said.

“Oh, girl, you need to put on a jacket or something. It’s chilly now but on the lake it’ll be cold as hell!”

My Attire

I should say that all I had on was my SZA hockey jersey and some jeans. I gave my sister my hat and scarf so I had no warming items. My sister is not a fan of the cold and I’d felt fine on our initial walk to the station. That being said, the breeze on the water could be a different story. I remember feeling extremely cold at some points during my cruise earlier this year.

The CTA worker told us we could take the 66 bus to Navy Pier after leaving the roastery and complimented my (well, my sister’s) earrings before sending us back for me to get a coat. She said she’d just let us back in without us having to swipe our Ventra cards again but we said, we’ll just take her advice and take the bus.

She was so sweet. I love kind interactions like that!

The Chicago Roastery

After walking back to the hotel, we went towards the 146 bus stop. We’d just missed a bus (which ends up being a common thing for us) but didn’t have to wait long for another one.

When we got off at the stop the CTA worker and Google Maps told us, we still had trouble finding the Starbucks. We started to walk further down until I turned around to ask my sister something. That’s when I realized.

“Girl,” I said, “Turn around.”  It was across the street from the bus stop! I guess we couldn’t see it over the bus. We walked back down, across the street, and into the building.

The woman who greeted us had such great energy as soon as we walked in. She explained what each floor had and that they were indeed the largest Starbucks in the world.

The first floor is the reserve coffee bar. If you’re needing a morning coffee before work or class, this is the floor you’d stay on. The second floor is for the bakery. The third floor is for the experimental coffee bar. This were we ended up staying because it also had food.

The fourth floor is where you’ll get the coffee cocktails and alcoholic drinks. My sister was having a sober October and I don’t drink often so we didn’t get anything from here.

The fifth and final floor is the roof terrace. No one was at the top (unless they were there to take pictures). If it’s not too cold, it’s good place to go to drink and eat in peace.

The Food

Each floor has its own menu. If you’re considering stopping by, take a look at them because they don’t have the same options as a standard Starbucks.

After looking at all the floors, we went back down to the third floor to order.

Because their menu wasn’t the same as a typical Starbucks, my sister was taking a while to figure what drink to order. I went on the website and saw they had a Dark Chocolate Mocha so when the next register was opened, I ordered that and took the last smoked salmon sandwich. We’d talked about it when we first saw it. At the time there were three but when we came back down there was only one. You snooze, you lose as they say. But don’t worry, we ended up splitting it and she let me split her raspberry croissant so we were even.

The atmosphere was nice on the third floor the only down said is they didn’t have any outlets! Someone was working but I think they brought their own power bank.

Heading to Navy Pier

After our breakfast, we bought our Skyline Lake Tour tickets ($37/$33 with their online discount) and headed out to the bus stop for our next location: Navy Pier.

We took the 66 bus like the CTA worker said and got there just as the place opened. Most shops were still closed but could you walk inside. We exited through the food court where the patio was.

There was still 30 minutes before we had to be on the boat for the tour so we took picture by the Ferris wheel and along the lake. Coincidentally, our dad sent a picture of us when we went to Chicago for the first time as kids. We were at Navy Pier then too.

When we got on the boat for the tour, the sun was out and shinning. So much so that I tempted to take off my jacket. However, the more we went out towards the center of the lake, it started to get chilly.

I didn’t know what I expected from the tour. The last Skyline tour I was on was the Architecture tour ($49/$44 with online discount) on the river. We had a tour guide who told us all about the history of the buildings. For the lake tour, a pre-set voiceover came on through a speaker to talk about the city.

It was a pretty peaceful ride across the lake with a great view of the Chicago skyline. My sister said she even fell asleep for a moment. The boat stopped at the museum campus first which is where we got off. If you still wanted do things in Navy Pier, you could stay on for the ride back. You’ll probably get your money’s worth that way anyway.

Long Walk to the Park

When we got off the boat, I made my sister walk a mile with me to get to the BP Pedestrian Bridge in Maggie Daley Park. That was something I wanted to do ever since I saw video of it on Instagram.

The walk was nice along the lake and we even saw the Buckingham Fountain again. The bridge was a cool structure but I wish it was even longer to walk on if I’m being honest. We could see above the fence that closed off the Bean from the top of bridge. It wasn’t the same as being under the Bean but it was better than peering through a fence.

We rested a bit and then took a bus to get to Devil Dawgs on State Street.

Ever since I graduated college, every time I went back to Chicago I tried stopping at Devil Dawgs. Mostly for the milkshakes but they have hotdogs, burgers, and chicken sandwiches too. Both my sister and I got a Chicago Dog. She wasn’t a fan of it but it was for the experience.

We were planning on going to the Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory but we were both pretty tired and it wasn’t around the corner.

Chinatown

After a rest at the hotel, we headed to Chinatown…well not before we stopped at the Goth Target for my sister to get an umbrella. It’s a good thing she did because it started sprinkling rain a few minutes after we go to Chinatown.

We walked around for a bit before the rain, then we (well, I) got turned around trying to find the restaurant we decided on, Strings Ramen.

My sister and I both love ramen. Kizuki is actually my favorite ramen restaurant in Chicago but it’s not in Chinatown and I wanted to take my sister to Chinatown more.

Strings was small but had a nice atmosphere. My sister got their Shio ramen and some gyoza and I got the Tonkotsu ramen. We both got a Japanese soda; I had peach and I think she got lychee.

She really loved the ramen she ordered and said it was some the best she’s had. Me on the other hand? I didn’t like mine that much. I had to remember Tonkotsu is a hit or miss for me sometimes.

After we got our leftovers to-go, we braved rain which had kicked-up when we went inside and headed back to our hotel for the night. Well, that was after I stopped by 711 to get a lottery ticket (it was the really big jackpot that night).

We saw that the hotel had a scavenger hunt and realized we’d gone to all the places they mentioned so we showed them our pictures/video for the prize. The prize was a bag of Garret’s popcorn. I was hoping it would be 15% off their café that’s attached to the hotel but free popcorn is fine too.

Day 3

The next morning, after hitting the gym for another photo-op, we got dressed and headed downstairs to have breakfast at Meli’s Café. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad breakfast there. I got the eggs your way and one of their smoothies.

Once we finished breakfast, we still had time before our flight. I wanted us to do the Riverwalk before we left but it was still raining so we just stayed in our room until was time to leave.

I had us get on at the Harold Washington Library stop so my sister could experience going around the Loop before we headed over to Midway. Otherwise I would’ve had us take the red line at Harrison or Jackson to Roosevelt and transfer to the orange line.

The loop probably added on another 5 minutes that we didn’t need. I say that because by the time we got to the airport, we only had one hour before boarding and we both usually like to get there two hours early.

We barely got through security in time and rushed over to our gate but thankfully the flight was delayed slightly.

When we landed in Atlanta, we took the shuttle to my car which was parked offsite and I dropped my sister at my Dad’s before heading home.

The trip was such a good trip. No arguments, no negative energy, just two sisters enjoying each other’s company. We’re hoping to go a sibling trip with the rest our siblings next time around.

That wraps up the sister trip to Chicago! What is something we missed out on that we should’ve done? What would you do in Chicago? Let me know in the comments!

The accompanying video will be out on the Overthinker Guide YouTube Channel on Tuesday!