Chicago Summer Trip

Mitch M

I am thinking about taking my family to Chicago this summer. The last time I was there myself was 25 years ago. My family has never been. The sites that I specifically remember and want to take them to are the Sears Tower, Shedd? Aquarium, Buckingham Fountain, McCormick Place, and the Navy Yard? There is also a unique cemetery that I went the last time I was there. Oh...we are going to try and catch a Cubs game.
My plan is to stay hopefully at the Essex Inn or nearby. Anybody got any suggestions for anything else?

KillerToiletSpider

Plan your trip for early July and you can include Taste of Chicago, which is held in Grant Park, which also has Buckingham fountain in it.

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Susan Betz

The Museum of Science and Industry was an annual family destination when I was a kid. I loved it.

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Mitch M

Right now we are thinking the second week of June. Right after school is out. I went to a museum but I think it was the art museum. I stayed at the Essex Inn back then. I remembered that I walked just about everywhere from there.

KillerToiletSpider

You could stay at the Congress, it is right across the street from Grant Park and the Art Museum, The Field Museum, The Shedd Aquarium, and The Adler Planetarium are all within walking distance if you don't mind a bit of a long walk. You can usually catch a free trolley on Michigan Ave that will take you to Navy Pier and the Children's Museum, Millennium Park and The Bean are also a short walk north of the Congress.

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Mitch M

Thanks. Is the Navy Pier worth going to? It seemed like when I was there in '83 it was fenced off.

dragstripracer

The pier was pretty cool. I did a refurbish of the Disney Store right there on Michigan Ave last summer. Was my first trip to Chi-town, wasnt too bad. Just parking is a pain trying to do a job.

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KillerToiletSpider

Yes if you have kids under ten, it has the ferris wheel, the Children's Museum, and some very good restaurants and shops, the entire thing was re-done in the early nineties. If you plan it right they also have a theater there that has concerts.

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mickeyco

My father worked at the Pick Congress (old name) for 25+ years, he was their HVAC guy, union of course.

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Mitch M

We are thinking about going to a baseball game while we in Chicago in August. We are planning on staying near Buckingham Fountain. Is it worth it to go to a game from there and which one? I thought Wrigley Field was close but it was Soldier Field that I was thinking. It will be 25 years since I have been there and this time I am taking the family.

neolitic

Got to take the kids to meet Sue
at the Field Museum!
Science and Industry Museum is
a whole day by its self.

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cleveman

The architectural boat tour is alright. Yes, the field museum is good too. Get a bicycle and ride along the lake. I'd like to go to the science museum. The art museum is good, I think, as far as american museums go.

Mitch M

My "kids" are now 16 and 20. So I need something a little more age appropriate. I have several places that I was thinking: Sears Tower, Shedd Aquarium, Navy Pier, downtown area, Fountain, and just in general. I just do not want to do a whole lot of driving. I was going to try and leave my vehicle at the hotel and we take public transportation.
There is a cemetery that I want to see. I do not remember the name of it. I just remember that it looked like a lot of little towns within. I thought the man who invented the toilet was there but I found out different. The guy who took us on the tour said that the mauseleum has its own plumbing vent.

neolitic

My kid is 31, DIL is 29, I'm 60
and we all had enjoyed the Field
museum last summer!
(They parked the worn out old man
at Navy Pier while they did Science and Industry)

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KillerToiletSpider

If you stay at one of the hotels on Michigan or State, you can reach all the destinations you have listed by a medium distance walk or a short bus trip. The cemetery you are referencing is way north, between Foster and Peterson, it is very large, but other than that not worth the time to visit unless you are a fan of headstone sculpture. I would also recommend one of the architectural boat tours along the Chicago river, a few of which can be boarded in between Dearborn and Michigan right at Wacker drive on the south bank of the river.

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cleveman

buy your architectural boat tour tickets from the tour operator, not from the hotel concierge. The concierge will make about a 50% commission on them. They leave from the waterfront side of a huge building on the way out to Navy Pier. Towards the lake from this "port" is a food market on the ground level of a building across the street from the "huge building". This is a good place to buy/make your lunch to eat in the park over there or during the boat tour.

Mitch M

KillerToiletSpi, can you tell me the name of the cemetery? We are planning on coming in on Monday unless we make better time coming in on Sunday. We are planning on leaving on Friday and heading back to NC.
The cemetery was very interesting as it looked like little small towns. The guy that took us on the tour was driving so i don not know or have a clue where we were going or went. I do remember that he did take us up some drive that had the very rich houses. We were a pretty good ways out.

KillerToiletSpider

Graceland Cemetary. It's not as far north as I thought, it is just north of Irving Park, this is what I get from trusting my memory. You could catch a northbound Clark street bus downtown all the way up, but it is a long bus ride.

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Mitch M

thanks