As you saw from our Wordless Wednesday post last week, we were out of town for a few days with the crew to the beautiful city of Chicago.  Now, we’re not big city folk and prefer the outdoors, soft dirt and forests with the crew but this was a pleasant change and a welcome event for the pups as well – even with the beastly heat we endured for a portion of our trip.

The initial purpose of our trip was Paco Collars hosting a collar making class at Unleashed, a wonderful doggie daycare and boarding facility in downtown Chicago.  We, of course, couldn’t just stay one day and drive home so we opted to come down a bit early and enjoy our time in the city being tourists.   We made sure that before we left, we had plenty of dog-friendly activities to do so that the pups wouldn’t have to sit and be bored in our hotel room (we highly recommend Red Roof Inn for all of your doggie travels – dogs-friendly, beautifully laid out and their Redicard program means free rooms for dogs on the go!) and thanks to a fellow blogger who lives in Chicago (thank you, Two Pitties in the City!) we were able to have a LOT of options and ideas on how to keep the monsters entertained while we enjoyed our little mini vacation – which I wish had been longer!

We hit up Navy Pier on our day of arrival and met up with a fellow pit bull owner (actually, she has AmStaffs. Hehe.) and were able to take in the sights and sounds there.  Ryker and Mika tagged along with us for this round and enjoyed getting to mooch pieces of the elephant ear sundae my husband ordered and my funnel cake and all the stranger affection they could weasel out of those who happened to pass by that they could give some attention too.

While we were there, we all opted to take a 30-minute boat ride aboard the Shoreline Cruises’ Cap Streeter.  Dogs rode free and it cost us people a measly $17 to enjoy the tour that talked about Chicago’s heritage, growth and birth of the coastline.  The dogs enjoyed a cool bottle of water that a one of the employees provided and their own glasses.  They didn’t quite know what to make of it at first but once the boat got moving, they all relaxed and attempted to mooch affection from the other passengers on the boat.

At the end of the day we said goodbye to Cassie and her two wonderful pups, Ace and Sugar, and headed back to the hotel for the evening where we all passed out after giving the whole pack (all five of them!) some romp time and dinner in our spacious hotel room.  We, after all, needed our rest for the adventures to follow, right?

We woke up bright and early the following morning and had hoped to hit Grant Park, which was listed as a phenomenal place to go with dogs, but unfortunately we weren’t able to indulge ourselves there due to the Taste of Chicago Festival that was closed to dogs.  Instead, we took the opportunity to walk along the shoreline with Luna and Ryker.  They got lots and lots of compliments and we met some bully-loving people along the way (even if a one or two asked if we had puppies for sale.  Ha!).

Afterward, we headed out and about into the city.  We checked out various places and just relaxed with the pups until early afternoon where we had a quick lunch at Chicago Joe’s Restaurant.  The pups enjoyed cool bowls of water provided by our phenomenal waitress while we dined (and shared!) on delicious hamburgers with all of the goodies before heading back to the hotel to drop the kiddos off and head to our Paco Collar class (which was amazing and we highly recommend taking one in your area!).

We headed home the following day but we couldn’t end our adventures there.  After we crossed the border into Michigan, we made a point of stopping at Weko Beach in Bridgman, Michigan.  This beach is dog friendly for dogs who accompany their owners on leash and gives them a chance to experience Lake Michigan and the wonderful feeling of sand between the toes.  We walked all five (yes, at one time – we were a bit crazy, we know!) down to the beach line to let them romp a bit in the water before retreating to a small tidal pool for calmer play (and to allow our rescue boy, Duo, some fun in the water since the waves didn’t sit too well with him!) and more family photos of our adventures.

We didn’t get home until late that evening and the dogs and humans were exhausted from our travels but we had a good time and can definitely see visiting the beautiful city of Chicago in the near future – preferably when the hot weather relaxes its hold!  Until then, you can see our complete set of photos from the Chicago adventure here.