Friday, May 25, 2012

How to Be a Tourist With Your Dogs: Chicago in the Summer (And Views from Your Hometown)

I know a lot of people think it's hard to find things to do with big dogs, but we've been finding plenty of things we can all do together. As the weather is heating up, Chicago has come alive and we're all excited to resume our favorite activities.
Some of our favorite things we're looking forward to this summer:

Chicago Canine Mercury Cruise:
 Living here, we don't always appreciate everything that lures tourists in from all parts of the world. Chicago has a lot of amazing architecture, which is even more amazing seen boatside. And with your pooch. We've gone on the Mercury Canine Cruise the past few years, and we've never seen the pooches smile so big. Here is the recap from our first year.

Outdoor Movies in the Park
At first we were all upset when they got rid of the Grant Park movie series due to budget cuts. But now, they offer outdoor movies in local parks all summer, and we can bring our pooches! We bring our big comfortable 'picnic blanket' that fits all of us, sandwiches from the Italian deli, freshly-baked Polish pastries and some Orangina. Last year even Miss M had a good time.

Making Like a European Vacation:
Last summer we were lucky enough to actually go on a European vacation. While we had an amazing time, we think the true value of traveling is discovering something valuable and interesting from another culture, and learning to integrate it into our daily lives. So every day becomes a vacation. And we can include our dogs! We learned to replicate some of our favorite activities with our pooches, like: Pier Picnics, Shopping Local with the Pooches, Desert-filled Walks, and Having Conversations at Cafes (without our computers!).

Chicago's Annual Gay Pride Parade:
This is the thing both humans and pooches look forward to all summer. We're still trying to figure out what the pooches can wear to top last year. The prior year Mr. B even matched many of the parade marchers. Costume ideas anyone?

Last year we also LOVED reading about what everyone else does with their dogs in their hometown. And we would love to hear more! Show us around your hometown and let us see what pooches in other areas do. You can  see the examples and read all the incredible ways to be a Tourist in Your Own City here.

What other big summer plans do you have with your dogs?

PS. In case you missed it, our recommendations fo\r being a tourist with your dogs in summer and in fall.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! I loved the Tourist with your Dog series! We're planning on taking a roadtrip with our dogs this summer, and will be using some of the tips I learned from the last series!

The Daily Pip said...

Hope to see you at Red Door's walk in a few weeks. It looks like we are going to have to change locations because of the fire at Indian Boundary Park.

The picture of the pooches at the Pride parade is one of my favorites!

Two French Bulldogs said...

you guys would make any buddy wanna come to your city

RuthieJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RuthieJ said...

You guys are an inspiration for me! For the first time ever yesterday, we took Holly to downtown Rochester for late lunch at a local Italian restaurant with outside seating. There is definitely a benefit to having a well-trained dog and she did us proud. She got several hugs and kisses from some cute girls walking past and many smiles. I'm currently compiling a list of dog-friendly restaurants here in Rochester and got an offer from a local professional photographer who would like to work with me on this by taking pictures for an article in the local newspaper.

Annie & Pauls Mom said...

I've got friends who moved cross country (from VA to OR) with their dog. I know it's not exactly Tourist with your Dog, but it may be interesting as well.

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