Chicago Fun?

[trndobrd]

I am going to a one day conference in Chicago at the end of the month and have decided to make a long weekend of it.

I went to Chicago when I was 8 years old for a visit, and have spent some quality time in O'Hare waiting for connecting flights. Other than that, I'm open to ideas*. I know I can count on the Planet to turn me on to some good restaurants and fun things to do.


*Trndogrl is going along, so there will be none of those sorts of entertainment.

[Baby Lee]

Staying downtown or in the burbs?

[Hydrae]

Shedd's aquarium and Field's museum are musts in my book. But then that is why the wife and I went there for our honeymoon (2nd marriage for both before anyone says anything :) ).

[Gonzo]

I'll be in Chicago next week. No time for sight seeing unfortunately.

[trndobrd]

Staying downtown or in the burbs?

Downtown and having dinner at NoMI on Saturday night. I was thinking of staying at the Hyatt Regency, but one of the non-chain hotels might be fun (or a nightmare).

[Dartgod]

What is NoMI?

[Baby Lee]

Downtown and having dinner at NoMI on Saturday night. I was thinking of staying at the Hyatt Regency, but one of the non-chain hotels might be fun (or a nightmare).

The hotel attached to the theatre is very nice.

[KcMizzou]

Navy Pier and Wrigley.

Your girl would probably love Navy Pier. Cool place.

[trndobrd]

What is NoMI?

Some high-end Japanese-French Restaurant. Part of the event and going on the expense account.

[trndobrd]

The hotel attached to the theatre is very nice.

Don't happen to remember the name, do you?

[noa]

Get deep dish at Giordano's and then see a show at Second City. That's a classic Chicago night.
I generally preferred the ".etc" stage to the "main stage" show.
When I lived in Chicago, I found that Second City was a good place to take a date.
And if you go to Second City on either a Saturday night or a Sunday night, they do a free set of improv after your show (if you go to the last show). A couple times I went and saw people from SNL perform. The Second City alum is an impressive group, so any chance you get to see former members show up for improv is a treat. They don't do the improv on Friday nights though.

[Thig Lyfe]

I second the Second City suggestion. Might I also add iO. It's a few storefronts down from Wrigley and it has the best improv in Chicago.

[dj56dt58]

Steve Bartman:Catch a foul ball down the left field line at Wrigley. Even more fun during the post season. It's a blast!

[Que Card QB]

Kingston Mines for some live Blues. http://www.kingstonmines.com/flash/main.html

[mlyonsd]

Shedd's aquarium and Field's museum are musts in my book. But then that is why the wife and I went there for our honeymoon (2nd marriage for both before anyone says anything :) ).

JMO but I like the Science Museum better. You can walk around and through an actual WWII U-Boat.

[Skyy God]

Downtown and having dinner at NoMI on Saturday night. I was thinking of staying at the Hyatt Regency, but one of the non-chain hotels might be fun (or a nightmare).

We stayed there over Easter.... I'd recommend it.

[Hoover]

I usually stay at the Intercontinental Chicago

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/chicago

I like it because its not some huge chain with a buch of kids running around. Also I drive in when I go to Chicago and you can take Lower Wacker right to the parking garage.

[Chief Henry]

We havve a wedding in Kalamazoo, Michigan June 28th. We're going to head to the windy city on thursday for a couple of days. There will be 7 of us togeather. Since two of the 7 will be 13 and 10 yrs old, we have to be family oriented. Thursday night we're planning on hitting the Sears Tower, hopefully some deep dish Pizza or that 50's place called "Ed Debevicks" or something like that. Friday I beleave we're going to head to the Navy Pier area - its only a few blocks to walk from where we'll be staying. We're staying down town at a major chain hotel.

I've never driven in down town Chicago before, I'm not looking forward to that !!! Thursday when we get in town it will be about 4pm and I know the traffic will be f'n brutal.....yuk

[BigOlChiefsfan]

I was in the biz, but a trip to the Chicago Board of Trade or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is interesting even if you don't know what's going on. They won't be open on the weekends, of course, but if you can squeeze in a trip downtown to Wacker street...the CBOT and the CME are the big leagues. Visitors galleries let you watch the markets trade, closings are fun to watch as they're pretty frantic. 1.15 is close for the grains IIRC, 3:15 for some CME financial ones...this is from memory, but get there by 1 or 3 if you want to see 'em jumping and carrying on. Plus, hey, it's free.

[Hoover]

I would want to stay on Michigan Ave. I've stayed closer to the lake and didn't like it. On Michigan Avenue yo can get out and walk around hit some restaurants, grab a train to Wrigley, take a cab to Navy Pier.

I'm not a fan of Shed. I've been spoiled by Atlanta's huge aquarium, and Vancouver has the most fun aquarium IMO. Shed is to PC for me. I want to see Dolphins do crazy shit.

It the little woman is going with take the architecture cruise, I have also done a shoreline thing at night that rocked.

[Simply Red]

Go to Michigan Ave. buy a Rado watch for yourself.

That'll show her!

[Mama Hip Rockets]

definitely eat some deep dish pizza.

i think the sears tower skydeck is cool and worth doing at least once.

[Simply Red]

definitely eat some deep dish pizza.

i think the sears tower skydeck is cool and worth doing at least once.

but not UNO. Totally hyped and actually SUCKS!

[Mama Hip Rockets]

but not UNO. Totally hyped and actually SUCKS!

UNO is good in chicago. it sucks in other cities.

DUO, giordannos (sp?!), and gino's east are really good.

[Hoover]

definitely eat some deep dish pizza.

i think the sears tower skydeck is cool and worth doing at least once.

Again, I prefer the Hancock Building. Its in the middle of everything ands has better views of the lake and Navy Pier. Plus its not as busy.

[noa]

Thursday night we're planning on hitting the Sears Tower, hopefully some deep dish Pizza or that 50's place called "Ed Debevicks" or something like that. Friday I beleave we're going to head to the Navy Pier area - its only a few blocks to walk from where we'll be staying. We're staying down town at a major chain hotel.

Ed Debevicks is a good call for a place to take kids. If you can fit that in and the deep dish at some other point, you would have some happy campers.
Also, I second the suggestion that you should go to Hancock tower instead of the Sears tower.

[noa]

I don't know if you and trndogrl are big beer fans, Mr. trndobrd, but the Hopleaf is one of my favorite bars in Chicago. They have a ton of high quality beers available, and some decent quality food for pub fare. It's in the Andersonville neighborhood.

If you're looking for a more swanky time, the Green Mill is a cool jazz bar that was frequented by Al Capone and maintains the feel of that era. Since you'll be there on a weekend, there will probably be a $10 or $15 cover, but I think its worth it if you want that kind of Chicago jazz club experience.

[Baby Lee]

We havve a wedding in Kalamazoo, Michigan June 28th. We're going to head to the windy city on thursday for a couple of days. There will be 7 of us togeather. Since two of the 7 will be 13 and 10 yrs old, we have to be family oriented. Thursday night we're planning on hitting the Sears Tower, hopefully some deep dish Pizza or that 50's place called "Ed Debevicks" or something like that. Friday I beleave we're going to head to the Navy Pier area - its only a few blocks to walk from where we'll be staying. We're staying down town at a major chain hotel.

I've never driven in down town Chicago before, I'm not looking forward to that !!! Thursday when we get in town it will be about 4pm and I know the traffic will be f'n brutal.....yuk

When I took the bar in 97, the drive wasn't bad, but the $50 to park was brutal.
Stayed at the old hotel that has the big marquee you can see coming south down the side of the lake just as the city juts out into the lake.
EDIT: The Drake.

[Dartgod]

JMO but I like the Science Museum better. You can walk around and through an actual WWII U-Boat.
We did this last year. Very cool exhibit. The picture below is a little blurry, but you can get an idea of what it is like.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3483/hpim0789jf2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3483/hpim0789jf2.334e88ec5e.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=519&i=hpim0789jf2.jpg)

[Hoover]

We did this last year. Very cool exhibit. The picture below is a little blurry, but you can get an idea of what it is like.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3483/hpim0789jf2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3483/hpim0789jf2.334e88ec5e.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=519&i=hpim0789jf2.jpg)

I thought it was outside. Maybe the enclouser is new. Its been a while since I went there.

[Frazod]

I thought it was outside. Maybe the enclouser is new. Its been a while since I went there.

It used to be outside - they created the new underground enclosure for it a couple of years ago. Very, very cool. The Museum of Science and Industry absolutely rules.

[mlyonsd]

I thought it was outside. Maybe the enclouser is new. Its been a while since I went there.

fraz is right. I had seen it before but the new exhibit is worth the price of admission IMO. You can actually walk around it and stand below it. It's suspended so you can look up at it.

For a small price they give you a short tour through the inside. It's kind of cool because they pause in each compartment and tell you what went on. At one point they turn out the regular lights and turn on the red battle lights and pump communication traffic through it. Very easy to imagine the depth charges you're hearing might be real.

[Dartgod]

fraz is right. I had seen it before but the new exhibit is worth the price of admission IMO. You can actually walk around it and stand below it. It's suspended so you can look up at it.

For a small price they give you a short tour through the inside. It's kind of cool because they pause in each compartment and tell you what went on. At one point they turn out the regular lights and turn on the red battle lights and pump communication traffic through it. Very easy to imagine the depth charges you're hearing might be real.
The tour was $5 last year. Well worth it, IMO. There is plenty to see and do around the exhibit if you choose not to tour the inside though. We probably spent a couple of hours alone just at the U2 exhibit.

One part that was pretty cool was the area where they showed how they got the sub to Chicago in the first place and then a time-lapsed video of how they moved it from it's location outside into its current location.

[trndobrd]

The tour was $5 last year. Well worth it, IMO. There is plenty to see and do around the exhibit if you choose not to tour the inside though. We probably spent a couple of hours alone just at the U2 exhibit.

One part that was pretty cool was the area where they showed how they got the sub to Chicago in the first place and then a time-lapsed video of how they moved it from it's location outside into its current location.


That's awesome, I'll have to check it out. My wife is a huge U2 fan, by the time she figures out that Bono and the Edge aren't in the submarine, it will be too late.