OT Chicago Trip!!!

[MelAnderson]

John Hancock is approximately 1.5 blocks from the American Girl Store. It will take you about 5-7 minutes tops, you can cut across the park where the original Water Tower Stands (in front of the Park Hyatt) and save a minute or two.

Ok, swimming in Lake Michigan...it depends on what time of year you're coming. It'll be too cold before the end of June. The closest beach downtown is Oak Street Beach, accessible from walking due North on Michigan Avenue. It's a pretty quick walking trip from downtown & they have a cute little restaurant on the beach. You can continue to walk North to North Avenue Beach, but Oak Street Beach should be sufficient. There will be indications up if you can't enter the water due to bacteria levels being high.

HTH

 

[Sandy321]

after you exit John Hancock building go across the street at the light - you will see the Hershey store, and will have to take the kids there!! (there is also a gheradelli ice cream shop across the way you cant miss also!!)

When you exit Hershey you go to your right and cross the street and go right - these are basically in the same block - maybe 3-4 buildings apart.

Oak Street Beach is very popular and like the above poster said, it really depends - that water is always cold (67deg may be a warm water!) and if there has been a heavy rain, the bacteria levels will be high, and signs posted telling you not to swim...

As a kid, I always swam in Lake Michigan, but on the Indiana side (where I lived) the beaches were nice, the dunes were fun to run up and down... because the water was just too cold for me to swim in!! Even in August... unless you had a week's worth of 100 degree days!!

 

[GabbyMom]

If your spending the day at the museum campus, right next to the adler planetarium is 12th street beach. You can park your car in the lot next to the Adler and walk to all the museums, and there is the beach. It's a great base camp for the day. Outside the Shedd there is a stop for the water taxi to navy pier so you don't have to walk all that way back. (I've done it. not fun when your tired)

The Shedd has a new sponge bob movie that sounds cool. Dirt at the Field is fun .

 

[traces7]

A couple more questions about Chicago:

Do you recommend the Double Decker tour of Chicago (the hop on hop off tour)? It looks kind of interesting.

Do you think we need to get Museum of Science and Industry tickets in advance? We're going on a Thursday morning (end of March). I know one time we went to Shedd Aquarium on a Saturday and had to wait forever to get tickets. Don't want that to happen again.

Thanks again! Our trip is in three weeks!

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

I also have a few more questions for our wonderful Chicago experts:

We will be all adults on a business conference. We already have tickets to a Cubs game. Are the hot dogs good at Wrigley?

1. Best Steakhouse?

2. Best Italian restaurant?

3. Has anyone ever eaten at the "Signature" on top of the Hancock Building?

4. Which boat company offers the best architecture cruise?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[MelAnderson]

1. Best Steakhouse?
Ruth Chris
Gene & Georgettis
Gibsons
Mortons

2. Best Italian restaurant?
Spiagga on Michigan is very good. The portions are small though.
Italian Village (restaurant on the top floor)
Trattoria 329
Tufano's (neighborhood place by UIC)

3. Has anyone ever eaten at the "Signature" on top of the Hancock Building?
Yes, the food is pretty good, but there are better places. For a drink, I recommend having a drink at Nomi in the Park Hyatt on Chicago avenue. For drinks, also try the Wave Bar at the W Hotel.

4. Which boat company offers the best architecture cruise?
I think that there's one and I believe that the cruise leaves from the Chicago river.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[TnTWalter]

I was just talking to my aunt about visiting Chicago...she lives in subs there.

My museum [Indpls] is not recripricol....boo hoo. so is city pass the way to go?

Or should I buy an entertainment book? do they have discounts in there for the museums, etc.?

We've been many times without the kids....it will be interesting to change it up with kids...restaurants, bars. etc.

LOVE the HOUSE of Blues brunch idea. Thanks!

Thanks for all the tips.

Trish

 

[Mickeyherewecome123]

1. Best Steakhouse?
By far is Chicago Chop House
2. Best Italian?
my first choice is always THe Italian Village.

Have a great trip

I also have a few more questions for our wonderful Chicago experts:

We will be all adults on a business conference. We already have tickets to a Cubs game. Are the hot dogs good at Wrigley?

1. Best Steakhouse?

2. Best Italian restaurant?

3. Has anyone ever eaten at the "Signature" on top of the Hancock Building?

4. Which boat company offers the best architecture cruise?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[traces7]

We're back from our Chicago trip and we had so much fun!
We stayed at Four Points Sheraton on Rush St. and loved it! We'd stay there again. We stayed on the American Girl pkg., which included an American Girl doll bed, cookies and milk and breakfast every day. I thought it was a good deal for $115 per night. We stayed a Wed. and Thurs. night. The pool would probably be boring for older kids (it's only 3 1/2 feet deep), but my DD who is 8 had fun!

The hotel was really close to American Girl and everything on Michigan Ave. We did a lot of exploring (especially on Wed. - it was 55 degrees!) The next day was snowing and in the 30's!

We went to the show and cafe at American Girl. The show was wonderful, the cafe atmosphere, etc. was great, food just ok. The store was crazy, but DD loved it. She bought a couple things.

We also went to the Museum of Science and Industry, that was just ok too. I probably wouldn't go back anytime soon. It's one of those things, that once you see it, that's enough. We did go in the Tribune Freedom Museum on Michigan Ave., it's free – it was interesting.

All in all our trip was great. We rode the Chicago city bus (the drivers are very helpful) and a taxi and we never even got lost!

Hope everyone else has a fun trip! We may go back for a day trip in the summer, we live 3 hours away. We really enjoy all the fun things to do in Chicago!