Things to Do in Chicago with Dogs: 36 Hours in Downtown Chicago with Dogs

 While we love traveling, we have found everything has become twice as expensive owning dogs. Besides the cost of our own trip, boarding for two dogs can be as much as our own hotel (per night!). We've been learning more about trips to include our pups which include things we all like to do.
I recently realized the New York Times has compiled their "36 Hours in..." series into a book. 
And I thought it would be fun to make our own dog-friendly version.
Last week we wrote about 1 day in downtown Chicago with your dog.
This is our Part II.

Riverwalk

This time leave from your hotel heading in the opposite direction down Michigan Avenue. We discovered that while Miss M can navigate things like this with ease (and in costume!)  her Kryptonite is bridges. We could only cross towards the loop by going under and walking along the river. The area is fairly empty and quiet which can be good for dogs who are scared by noises.
If you are traveling in the summer, one of our favorite experiences is the Mercury Canine Cruise   which is a dog-specific architectural tour where you can cruise with your pooch down the Chicago River and part of Lake Michigan.

The Loop

The Loop is the part of downtown south of the Michigan Avenue shopping area where most people work. It's encircled by our Brown Line elevated train (which runs in a loop!) which makes it especially noisy and busy if your pup can handle it.
 In the Loop you will see much of Chicago's amazing architecture, take photos outside the famous Chicago Theater signs and over the holidays you can even visit the famous Marshall Fields windows (we did!).While most visitors don't know and they spend hours waiting in line at another location, this is where you should visit Chicago's Garret's Popcorn on Jackson or Madison (yes, it really is that good!) where you will be in and out in minutes. We also like Do-Rite donuts.
We never recommend dog parking, so only do this if you're with someone else.
Dogs aren't allowed in Millennium Park, but you can sit in Grant Park, or one of the pocket parks.

Public Art

Mr. B finds his dad!

Chicago has a lot of outdoor art including a huge Picasso statue in Daley Plaza, infamous Art Institute Lions and these unusual body sculptures in Grant Park. You can hang out in any of the plazas, or grab something to eat and sit at Buckingham Fountain.

Museum Campus and Lakefront

Some of the best views of the city are walking along the Chicago lakefront and through the museum campus. The area south of the museum campus is more isolated, and it even has stairs, which are perfect for these types of Pier Picnics. Take the lakefront path back to your hotel.

What are your must-see's that you would include in your 36 Hours?

Also:
Our dogs are cultured!
City Dogs
Dogs in Hotels
City Lights, Navy Pier, and Dogs in Nordstroms

How to Be a Tourist with Dogs: Chicago "In One Day"

We've written before about how E and I aren't really museum people, and most of our vacations are spent walking around, eating, and exploring the city we're visiting. We always talk about how much more fun things could be if we included the pooches, though we suspected some things might be limiting. On our latest downtown adventure, we found the perfect balance of exploring Chicago with our pups. In true Frommer's style, here is our version of the "In One Day" tour:

Hotel Home Base:

When people asked us about dog-friendly hotels in Chicago, we never really knew what to recommend. Though after a recent experience with the James Hotel Chicago, they have become our go-to dog-friendly hotel. The gladly accepts all sizes and breeds of dogs and the staff is beyond friendly always giving the pups a friendly pat and running to grab the door for us. They provide dog beds and food bowls. The hotel is also in a really convenient location near north Michigan Avenue across from the Trader Joe's (perfect for picking up extra dog treats, people snacks, and inexpensive late-night bottles of wine). It's also near Chicago Avenue which is the entrance to the lakefront path and within short walking distance to all the activities described below so you can always make quick trips back to rest at the hotel.

Morning Walk to Navy Pier:

Start with an early morning walk to Navy Pier. Since things were less crowded downtown at this time, you can walk down Michigan Avenue taking the Illinois underpass over to Navy Pier. Usually Navy Pier can be unpleasantly filled with crowds, but if you go in the early morning you will be able to beat the crowds with plenty of photo opps and views.

You can pick up an (overpriced!) Chicago hot dog from a cart and check out some of the best skyline views in the city. See more of what our pups did at Navy Pier here, including a video from Mr' B's camera. 

Lakefront Walk:

After spending the morning at Navy Pier, take the lakefront path back towards your hotel. The lakefront spans over 18 miles passing along several neighborhoods along with skyline views. If the weather is nice out, you can even plan for this. 

Mag Mile Shopping:

If your dogs are tired, spend some time resting back at the hotel. Otherwise, you can do some dog-friendly shopping along Michigan Avenue. The Nordstrom's building is dog-friendly (with the exception of the 4th floor with the food court) and it even has a water bowl and treat stand in the back near the Nordstrom's entrance. We've also seen dogs walking through the Bloomingdales building at 900 North Michigan, we just need to doublecheck their dog policy.

Dinner:

After all of the new experiences, walking, and mental stimulation, our dogs were exhausted and they were happy to eat in the hotel while we went out to dinner by ourselves. If you aren't comfortable leaving your pups alone in the hotel room, head over to Portillio's for the best Chicago-style hotdogs, or  M Burger . Knowing how dangerous it can be to leave our dogs outside a store unattended, one of us always stays with the dogs while the other picks up food. (We wrote more about it here).
Or it's always fun to stay in the hotel with movies and room service.

City Lights:

Head out for one last night walk with the pups to see the city all lit up. Stop by Ghirardelli's for some caramel salted hot chocolate or ice-cream and check a less crowded Michigan Avenue. If your pups are interested in meeting people, walk by the Rush and Division street area. At night the area is known for drunken debauchery; someone even tried to grab Miss M's tush when she was walking there!
We also wrote more about nighttime adventures, here.

These are our recommendations for a 1-night downtown stay with your pups.
What would be your favorite part? And any locals have any other must-see's?

Also:
What we learned about staying in a hotel with dogs.
If you had a second day... 
Winter (with hats!)
We always love these staycation ideas

How to be a Tourist with Dogs: City Lights

E and I aren't really museum people. When we go on trips we usually spend most of the time walking around. Stopping to eat. Then walking around some more. And we usually talk about how much fun it would be to have the pups on vacation.

After experiencing this, we found a good mid-week hotel rate and we decided to Staycation downtown during our Spring Break. Being among the tourists made us feel more like tourists ourselves and really see the city from a new perspective. One of our favorite things E and I do on our vacations is walk around after dark to explore cities in a different way and see everything lit up by lights. Which was perfect to do with the pups in tow:

We all bundled up in thick coats and our matching scarves and headed out on the city. We were able to walk a little and eat a little (kind of like this!). We were able to grab take-out from Chicago's infamous Portillio's, and we created our own Chicago tradition of picking up salted caramel hot chocolate at Ghirardelli's. The pooches did some late night window shopping, and Miss M was especially impressed by the Princess Collection at the Disney Store.

Our first night we stayed in with the pups hanging out on the king-size bed and watching movies. By the second night the pups were so exhausted by their nightly walks, E and I were able to head out on the town by ourselves for a nice downtown dinner.

Does anyone else do any nighttime exploring?

PS. We've realized this and this are always fun dog-city vacation ideas.

And very Chicago-specific!

Staycation with Dogs: Jardin du Chicago

We've always thought the best part of travel was discovering new things from other places and finding ways to incorporate them into our every day lives so each day feels like a vacation. But a vacation that includes our dogs. We spent much of the summer recreating one of our most memorable trips, but it wasn't until the other weekend when I re-discovered one of our favorite things right here in Chicago.

Our favorite part of our last trip was spending the day in Jardin du Luxembourg. Maybe it was being among the history. Or the ornate statues and gardens. Or just the ability to stop and relax.

Little did I realize we had our own urban "formal garden" option which also happens to be dog-friendly.

Sure, our garden wasn't built for royalty but the Humboldt Park formal gardens are part of the larger European-inspired park with its circular garden, pergolas, and statues. The park is framed by two large bison statues that were originally designed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition by the same sculptor who made the lions in front the Art Institute of Chicago (seen in this video here, with Boris!).
We even had a photo of Mr. B trying to 'get fresh' with the bison, here.

It is fun trying to see our city in a different way. What other types of vacation-like things do you do in your city with your pups?

Our other favorite part of the Jardin we were able to re-create and more historical urban parks.
And...Miss M stares at flowers.

Staycation with Dogs: 'Graffiti Safari's' and Street Art Walks

When E and I went on a big trip over the summer, we realized one of the real values of traveling is finding something interesting from another place and incorporating into our daily lives.
Just like being Tourists in our own City. But we always wanted to find a way to incorporate our favorite things with our dogs.
When we were visiting Portugal, France and Italy we realized how prominent the street art really was:

Which you might recognize if you've seen the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop (also available on Netflix 'Watch it Now'.)
We even found Space Invaders:

Since we walk so much on a daily basis, we thought we'd all make like tourists and incorporate 'graffiti safari's' into our Daily Walks:

We do have a lot of permission walls within our neighborhoods, perfect for the pooches to pose in front of.

 Even former foster Bessie-Belle made like a model posing in front of her favorite wall.

 Plus this makes our daily walks so much more interesting!

Staycation with Dogs: Dome Walking Tour

When we went on a trip this summer, we realized that the best part of traveling was discovering new things we enjoy, then bringing them back to our everyday life...with our pooches. One of the main things we did  was walk around gawking at the amazing architectural designs and domed Cathedrals.

Then we realized, this is we actually live in a neighborhood filled with Chicago landmark domed cathedrals. In Ukrainian Village there are several beautiful European-style cathedrals nestled amongst the homes in a few block area. With the multi onion domes, gold-leafing and enormous mosiacs, it's almost like we stumbled into a far away land:

The cathedrals encompass a few-block area with beautiful tree-lined streets, because since we have to take the walks anyway, we might as well make them interesting:

Living European with Dogs: Sampling Pizza in Parks, Inspiration from Italy

We have recently realized that one of the best parts of traveling is figuring out our favorite things to do on vacation, and trying to incorporate them into our lives on an everyday level. With our dogs. While we were in Italy, one of our favorite things to do was enjoy time in a park sampling different pizzas. It also helped to have the Leaning Tower as our scenery.

While Italian pizza is amazing, we also have our fair share of great pizza here in Chicago. And we set out to have some pizza picnics with our pooches. One thing that really helps having the pooches along on picnics is having the big comforter as a blanket. Despite there being pizza in front of them, Miss M does tend to nod off.

 Some of our favorite pizza picnic experiences:
-Grabbing an extra-large slice of Paula & Monica's foldable pizza while on our daily walk, and enjoying it in Eckhart Park. We may not have the Leaning Tower, but you do get an amazing view of Chicago's Hancock Tower from the park. We can still do this even as we move into fall.
-Picking up a thin-crust Apart Pizza and enjoying it in Welles Park. Though it's even better during their summer concert series.
-Stopping by Spacca Napoli for truly authentic Neapolitan-style pizza. They have an outdoor area, but pooches are only allowed outside the fence.
 -Getting the best deep-dish pizza at Pequods and amazing thin-crust pizza from Coalfires and bringing it back for some alfresco dining in our "urban backyard".

Has anyone else been doing any dog picnics? Or trying any great Chicago pizza?

Living European With Dogs: Long Walks and Gelato, Inspiration from Italy

When we went on a trip this summer, we realized that the best part of traveling was discovering new things we enjoy, then bringing them back to our everyday life...with our pooches.
While we were traveling in Italy, we had a daily, and nightly, ritual of going out for for a stroll, grabbing a gelato, and just sitting.

 While we didn't think the scenery could get much better, everything is twice as good with gelato:

Since walking and exploring is one of our favorite things to do with the pooches, we decided to go on some evening strolls: destination gelato. For humans and pooches alike.

Our favorite is Black Dog Gelato, part of our original dog-walking desert tour. They have all kinds of crazy flavors like Goat Cheese Caramel, Cucumber-Rose Sorbet, and White Chocolate Banana Curry. So we started incorporating an extra evening stroll topped of with some sitting and gelato.

 And if we're lucky enough to find them, Chicago actually has 2 traveling dog ice-cream options. We've tried the Aarf Scarf food cart and Fido to Go food truck. Miss M especially loves the Mac and Cheese ice-cream.

 And since getting so much ice-cream can get a bit expensive, I've also gotten an ice-cream maker, so we can make it at home ourselves. I don't really like to cook, but it is actually really easy and I spent the summer making a variety of sorbets. I've also been learning to make some unique ice-creams and I've made a modified honey-lavender ice-cream that was really good with peaches. And I just made a cardamom ice-cream which is more of a rich, fall flavor. Of course, Levi is always sneaking around the corner, probably hoping I'm going to make pupsicles like Our Waldo Bungie makes for her pooches.

I haven't quite tried it yet, but it does sound fairly easy. Though as the weather's changing, I'm wondering what types of hot foods we might be able to find on our walk.

Living European with Dogs: Sitting in Squares

One of the biggest things we noticed when we were traveling was how well Europeans use common space. Everywhere we went there would be a 'Square' where people would gather, even well into the night, eating, people watching, or just sitting.

Of course, most of the squares had some kind of water feature, statue or monument. But the cities definitely felt alive having so many people gathering in one common space.
In Chicago we have a couple of squares, and when we lived near Lincoln Square the square was actually integral to Miss M's CGC training. I used to take her there to practice sit-stays and down-stays among all of the distractions. We love this quaint little square with its ornate lampposts, fountain, and German restaurants.

This also inspired us to check out the square in Logan Square. We picked up some Orangina and fresh baguettes from La Boulangerie and spent the afternoon just sitting. There is a huge monument in the center, and we decided to dine there. It kind of reminded us of Rome where everyone just lounges allover--even sitting on the lion sculptures.

And of course, there's our current standby Wicker Park with its flower gardens, big fountains, and nearby Big Star tacos. The park packs in so much in a tiny space, but plenty of great photo opps. 

I think since most of us don't have our own backyards, these types of common spaces are really important. Do other cities have these types of common spaces? And Chicago people--any other squares that we're missing?

Living European with Dogs: Old-fashioned Toys in Parks, Inspiration from Paris

 One of the best things we learned from our summer travels, was that even though it is fun to get away, we can still recreate some of our favorite aspects of our trip on an everyday level. And include the pooches. Our trip helped us recognize the importance of slowing down, and one of our favorite things to do in Paris was sit in the Luxembourg Gardens surrounded by gorgeous flowers, cheese and baguettes, and children playing with old-fashioned toy boats in the duck pond.

 They rented the boats by the hour and used a wooden stick to help it set sail. The excitement was being able to run to the other side to catch the boat and launch it again.

 We spent several hours enjoying the gorgeous park scenery and the nostalgia of the old-fashioned toy boats.

So we decided to try it at home. Even though we don't have cute little toy boats, we remembered the nostalgia of flying kites. So we picked up a brightly-colored kite from World Market and headed out with the pooches to the park.

The dogs were enamored with the kite, especially the tail. And it was fun watching their expressions whenever the kite came near them. Another fun part, the kite attracted a group of children who came to play with us and meet the pooches. The kids had fun playing with the kite and letting Miss M give them smooches, and our outing became a 'community' event.