Summer vacation day 3: Evanston & Chicago, IL and Gary & Michigan City, IN

After our hotel breakfast, we drove to my Great Aunt Ruth's condo.  We hadn't seen her since Leighton was almost 2!  We had a wonderful visit with her.

We then drove to Wrigley Park.  At one point we had considered doing a full tour, but based on time, we opted just to take Leighton to the team store and to walk around a bit.

We drove downtown Chicago and parked under Millennium Park.  By booking the parking spot ahead of time, we got a super deal.  We had considered going to the Art Institute, but there wasn't enough time to do everything, so we just went for lunch (at 2 places!  One for us and one for the kids!), saw the bean, played at Maggie Daley Park, had some treats at the Nutella Cafe, and watched the Crown Fountain 'spit' before getting the car and heading to Indiana!

State number 3 of the trip!

We made a little detour off the highway in Gary, Indiana to see the home where Michael Jackson grew up.  The neighborhood was so forgotten with lots of empty buildings and vacant lots.  The house was well taken care of, and there were several other groups of people around, including a couple of impersonators.  We happened to be there on the 9th anniversary of his death.  

We had only a short drive to get to Michigan City, where I had booked us a hotel for the night.