Actually, the Museum of Science and Industry is located off by itself, down in the Hyde Park/Univ. of Chicago area. The museums that are clustered together are the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium.
There’s a good bat cave at Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the last free zoos in the US. They also have bug displays in the same buildifing with realistic huge roaches on the walls so it looks like they have escaped :eek:
Never trust your memory of things a long time ago. I haven’t been there since we used to go to Chicago from Iowa City. I seem to remember going to both the Field and the S & I in one trip. The S & I is the one that had the full sized locomotive indoors, right?
But it has been a long, long time and I looked it up. The S & I is on the South Side at 57th and Lake Shore Drive, not far from the University of Chicago.
And the old water tower is on Michigan Ave. and not No. Clark.
Well, if it’s raining when you try to visit the zoo, just cross the street and head into the Peggy Notebart (I may have spelled that wrong) Nature Museum and hang out in the butterfly room.
If it’s not raining, say howdy to the tigers for me (first exhibit on your left when you reach the fork in the path inside the zoo entrance). And be sure to scope out the armadillo - he has OCD and you won’t believe how fast he can do laps in that little tankie thing.
Field Museum is the natural history museum - all kinds of cool stuff in there. Avoid the cross-sectioned human, though - oogy in the extreme.
If you go the Art Institute, be sure to grab lunch in their downstairs cafeteria, NOT the restaurant. They have a FABULOUS grilled veggie sammich.
Everyone I know who’s from Chicago (well, both of them) says Ed Debevic’s is a must. It’s a sorta fake diner where the waitresses make fun of you.
Displaced Chicagoan checking in. That place sucks. Pay $12 for a hamburger and get insulted. Meh.
If you have the cash to spend on a really nice dinner, the Signature Room on the 96th floor of the Hancock is one of my favorites for out of towners visiting Chicago. Otherwise, as mentioned above, the lounge there is also nice for a couple drinks but it’s also really expensive.
Find a record store [do those still exist?] and pick up a Chicago Reader.
Experience “The Straight Dope” in its original format…
[Geezer mode on] back when a “browser” was someone who
flipped through vinyl albums without buying one. [Geezer mode off]
Eats_Crayons –
The Lincoln Park Zoo recommendation is a good one, though it’s one place to go early or late because it can be very crowded (just like the Shedd Aquarium and other places). My favorite: to go watch the cows being milked in the Farm in the Zoo.
We don’t know how you’re getting around but public transportation is very good. Even going to the South Side and the Museum of Science & Industry, you can take the South Shore commuter train.
Another option, if the weather allows. I think it’s a very bikable city, being flat:
You almost need to plan by neighborhood clusters. For example, here would be a bunch of suggestions for “near north” –
Lincoln Park Zoo
Bike ride along lakefront
Chicago Historical Society
Crate & Barrel (North Avenue)
Wrigley Field
River North Gallery District
Bittersweet
Best regards,
Mooney252
Great view, good service, pedestrian food. If you’re looking for gastronomic pleasure, go elsewhere. If you’re just looking to relax (and spend a bunch of money), the Signature Room isn’t bad.
While we’re on the food angle: Paradise Pup on River Road in Des Plaines. Yeah, yeah, it’s not Chicago, technically, but it’s not too far from Chicago, and they have the best hamburger I’ve ever had. They close at 5, though. Also, no visit to Chicago would be complete without at least a driveby of Superdawg (Milwaukee at Devon and Nagle).
Still does! (Among other large vehicles, like a Boeing 727 and the aforementioned U-505.) It has a lovely exhibit of classic “streamlined” train cars and engine, the Silver Streak (Pioneer Zephyr). I was just there last month. They’ve redesigned the outside - parking is no longer out front of the museum, but in a nice underground garage. The old parking lot has been turned into a huge lawn with trees planted here and there. The Zephyr exhibit is one of the first things you see when you exit the parking garage into the new lobby.
I was merely correcting that so that she wouldn’t have any unpleasant surprises when she planned her trip. It’s quite possible to see both in one day; it simply requires a little jaunt between the two museums.
Where do you find a Chicago Reader in Chicago? I never found one when I was there a few weeks ago!
We saw the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Sears Tower. All were awesome. We also did a lot of just walking around, which was also awesome, even if our feet hurt afterwards! Bring good shoes.
The rain may help you when going to the Shedd Aquarium. We were going to go on the first day, but there was a line stretching all the way down the steps outside (on a weekday!), so we went to the Field Museum instead. We came back on a rainy day, and that line was not there.
The submarine exhibit was closed at the Museum of Science and Industry when we were there (they’re doing some work on it–I can’t remember when they said they would be done) but the coal mine and the chicks are neat, as well as the model railroad.
Oh, and, if you like McDonald’s (and Chicago is full of McDonald’s), there’s a Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonald’s right by the Hard Rock Cafe. We ended up eating breakfast there every morning. It’s sort of a “poor person’s” Hard Rock Cafe…full of pictures and memorabilia of Elvis, the Beatles, James Dean–there’s even an 1950’s convertable in there. But, frankly, I was impressed with how clean the place was, and how professional the employees were. It’s the best McDonald’s I’ve been to since I was a kid.
You’ll wish you had more time. I know we did.
If you have any local museum memberships, they may help you with a discount. We were able to get into both the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry for free because of our Science Museum of Minnesota membership!
Most of the more hip bars/coffee shops/record stores/bookstores/etc will have them on the window sill right next to the front door. I always feel funny just poking my head in and “stealing” one, but hey, they’re free and that’s what they’re there for.
When I went to Chicago in mid January (really really cold) I went to the Field Museum, The Art Instutute, The Sears Tower, looked at the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Oak Park (suburb) there is a whole street of nothing but FLW houses. I thought it was cool (since when things get old here in Vegas- we blow them up or tear them down-he he he) I think the ‘blue line’ train has a stop somewhere near there, but then again I could be wrong ( 
perhaps)
I can’t wait to go back when it is not darn cold
I’m back
Thanks to all the Chicago Dopers and your wonderful suggestions. Your city is beeeee-eautiful! We loved it! And the CTA is brilliant! We got three day passes so we could explore easily.
We stayed out by O’Hare 'cause the hotels were cheap. Free shuttle to the airport and fromt he there CTA took us downtown. We started with a trolley tour that lets you get off to explore an attraction and then catch another trolley later. The trolley tour was fabulous, it was cool to get the scoop on so many of the major architectural features, and sites and since you could hop off and take a look, whenever you thought something sounded really interesting, it was well worth the fare. We actually got to see and exlpore a LOT.
We opted not to go to the Field Museum because it’s so darned huge that we could have spent our whole trip in there.
So day one, we went to the Shedd Aquarium – they have PENGUINS!!!
At Mom_Crayons suggestion, we went to the Rainforest Cafe where the restaurant looks like you’re in the heart of a jungle complete with starry skies with shooting stars and animatronic animals (gorillas, elephant, cheetah etc.) that move and make noise every few minutes. About every fifteen minute there a “thunder storm” with thunder and lightening and all the animals start doing their things all at once. Dear, Og, if Mom_Crayons had taken me there when I was 8 years old I would have thought I’d died and gone to heaven! As it was, we both turned into little kids and found it fun.
Decent food at the Rainforest too. Though I hear tell that there’s a nearby restaurant that serves a 64 oz. steak! :eek:
The next day we went to the planetarium. Very cool, but it could have been better. They need penguins!
We had lunch a Ed Debevic’s. Strangely, instead of getting insulted and tormented by the staff, I was hit on the whole time by a waiter who is originally from Spain and who spent the whole time talking to Mom_Crayons in Spanish and asking if I was married or had a boyfriend. We did get to see the costumed wait staff dance on the counters to “YMCA” and saw a hilarious “rude waitress” sending her customers to the kitchen to pick up their own food. “In case you can’t figure it out,” she said, “the brown malt is chocolate, the white malt is v-a-n-i-l-l-a!” She was perfect! She reminded me a a particularly vile and abrasive former co-worker.
I had tech work to do the next day, so Mom_Crayons went to the Art Institute… er, actually it have have been the Contemporary Art place. She was really, really impressed. Then she went up the Hancock tower and loved it. “You cold see teeeeensy little cars and weeeeeeensy little people…”
Mostly we explored and explored. Overall your city is much happier than Toronto. Even during rush hour your subways didn’t seem full of sour-faced looking surly individuals – everyone was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (even when they looked tired after a long workday) not a grouch nor a grump to be found!
Everyone was really friendly and nice – whenever we pulled out a map, there was a grand chorus of “Oh, do you need directions?” and people offered to help at every occasion. Everyone was polite and courteous. Your city was clean, felt incredibly safe, and – my Og – the programming of the city!!! From the transit system, to the details in sidewalk design and accomodation for the differently abled… Brilliant! With the exception of the highway – wow, what a cluster-f*ck inducing mess! But, really, the CTA is so good, car-culture isn’t well-suited to Chicago anyway.
The weather was really good, in defiance to all the weather reports. It didn’t start raining until we were scheduled for an indoor event anyway.
Grand, grand trip. Loved every second! Can’t wait to go back. And likely will in a few months! 
I must say that every now and again, it’s good to see our own homes through the eyes of someone else. When I first saw the words “Rainforest Cafe” in your post, my brain said, “aww, no, that’s so crap!” but it sounds like you really enjoyed it - which is all that matters. Nice to know that you found Chicagoans to be polite and helpful.
The first time my New York cousin came to Chicago, she was convinced that bootlegging Mafioso gangsters with Tommy guns were going to be all over O’Hare. We mocked her mercilessly… then I went to New York, and wimped my way through Central Park, convinced that there’d be a mugger behind every tree. Needless to say, we both had our perceptions of one another’s cities irrevocably altered. I love New York, she loves Chicago.
Let us know when you’re coming back!
We liked the stupid hokiness of it. I was initially really hesitant to go because it looked like a bad Niagara Falls kind of attraction, but Mom_Crayons said it was funny. She’d been to one in Denver (I think). It was dumb, but goofy, and something I would have totally loved as a kid. When the “thunderstorm” would strike, all the really little kids started to cry because they were scared, which we thought was hysterical – this chorus of “WAAAAAAAAAAAH!” while the monkeys were shaking the trees. <snort!>
Kind of like “Medieval Times” – an event you fully realize is completely beneath you, but if you wear the goofy hat and get right into and pretend you’re a five year old it’s fun. I mean, you have a gorilla stand up and beat on its chest while you’re eating – it’s ridiculous! 
The Rainforest Cafe is interesting if you’ve never been there, but I find it over-priced and WAY TOO LOUD! I was seated next to the waterfall when I was there, and I was temporarily deaf when we left.
Other than that, I’m glad you had a great time. It truly is a great city, and the people make it that way. Try to make it for Blues Fest in June. You’ll be forever changed.
We were there around early suppertime on a weeknight so it wasn’t so bad noise-wise. It was actually fairly empty until just before we left. We got the specials and paid no more than we would have expected for the same meal in Toronto.
Unless you have kids, it’s certainly not a “repeat visit” kind of place though. Ditto Ed Debevic’s – once the novelty wears off…
We had great stuffed pizza too while we were exploring the Magnificent Mile. We had planned to do more grown-up stuff on Saturday, but work took much longer than expected.
When we go back we’ll be doing less goofy tourist stuff and will hopfeully be able to see more live music (that doesn’t involve us).