At the start of May I had the chance to do a little Chicago staycation with my mom and sisters. It was honestly such a great 24-hours in the city. This was the second time we’ve done this. You can read about the first experience here.

We stayed at the lovely Hyatt Centric Loop - a short distance from the train stations making it easy for us to get there after work on Friday. A couple cool things about the hotel/room:

The suite I stayed in, had a perfect living room area for late night conversations. And the King-sized bed was beyond cozy. Okay, even the robes were comfy - I wanted to live in mine.

The in-room technology allowed me to sink my phone via Bluetooth to the TV so we could listen to my music preferences through the TV speakers. Sweet deal!

On the third floor there is a space called The Corner that has a lounge area with complimentary snacks - fresh fruit, trail mix, pretzels - as well as a variety of coffee and tea options. We took advantage of that multiple times during our stay. I could imagine curly up there to read if I had some downtime.

The hotel also had a small fitness center with all the basic gym equipment. It’s also just a few blocks from Millennium Park, for those like me who want an outdoor run.

For dinner, we went to The Grange Hall Burger Bar - a small restaurant with a simple but delicious menu. Plus, it is really good at catering to people with special dietary needs. My one sister lives a strict Autoimmune Paleo diet for health reasons and was able to eat here without a problem.

We’re walkers so after dinner we walked along the river to Michigan Avenue and then walked down to Millennium Park and then back to our hotel. We spent the rest of the evening talking, laughing and playing cards. A pretty great day overall!

I went running the next morning while they slept in and then we walked back to the river to just sit and talk outside for awhile. It was a glorious day and it was so fun to see the riverwalk get more and more crowded as the morning progressed.

For brunch we went to AceBounce. Have you heard of this concept? It’s a ping-pong bar. Yes, ping pong tables are all over the space and you can just grab a paddle and have fun playing against your group or the table next to you.

On Saturdays they offer bottomless brunch from noon to 2. It’s worth being there for the entire 2 hours. You get unlimited mimosas or make your own Bloody Marys. I opted for the Bloody. My sisters are more mimosa girls. The food is served dim-sum style on carts, but the menu is American eclectic and a lot of fun. They had mac and cheese, pizza, bacon, mini tacos, delicious donut holes, and so much more. NomNom!!

From this experience I realized, I’m really bad at ping pong, but it is so much fun when you and everyone around doesn’t care. Ping pong balls fly all over and it’s all part of the fun.

Overall, It was an amazing experience and totally worth repeating. We like doing this once a year, where we can just spend a little time together and get away without really getting away. And major shout out to Hyatt Centric Loop and AceBounce for hosting us. So fun.

Part of this experience was provided by the various brands in order for me to share my thoughts. All opinions are my own.