Chicago - A Great Destination

Chicago is a city of wonders! There's something for everyone. From fine dining and the arts for adults to great museums and cool kid stores for the kids!

Quick Tips:

Don't forget to bring a light coat! The wind off the lake can get chilly. In the winter it's really bone chilling cold.

Best Way To Get Around:

Chicago is a very large city, but it's worth the visit. There is a great shopping district down by the lake. All kinds of shops and the big names are there too, GAP, Eddie Bauer, etc. The shopping district can be covered by walking, but parking is scarce or expensive. Street parking is available, but not always the easiest to find.

I expected more from a 4-star hotel. The furnishing were low quality, the locker room was cold and the shower in the lady''s didn''t work. Parking was a nightmare and the valet likes to hotrod! It''s not something I''d wish on my enemy.

The hotel has outrageous parking rates (but then again, since I live in the boonies, maybe I''m just really cheap). The website listed $23 for self park and $27 for valet, but said nothing about in/out privileges. We arrived to find out that if we wanted to self-park, we couldn''t leave the garage and since we were not directly downtown, we had to pay an extra $10.50 for parking so we could leave and have dinner.

The rooms were of low quality. I truly expected more from a 4star hotel. The beds were not comfortable and our television was apparently going bad because the picture was too dark and no color controls. Engineering said they could replace the unit, but we declined. Why waste the time to replace it, when the movie was almost over and who knows how long it would have taken.

If you''re as lucky as we were, maybe you too will see the parking cop dressing himself after just getting out of the car, shirtail in zipper and all. Such a great site for my daughters to see so early in the morning!

This is a great place to take the kids!! The decor is really great! It's made to look like the rainforest and has lots of trees, animals and fish around it it. Two very large aquariums greet you at the door along with a large crocodile that likes to eat coins. Upstairs is the dining room and again it looks as if you've stepped into the rainforest. The food is tasty, but a little pricy for our family (we're really cheap), but we had hamburgers w/fries and the kids each had a kid meal for $32 not too bad. The menu had a sampling of everything, salads, burgers, sandwiches, entrees, chicken, wraps, stir-fry and vegetarian burgers. My plate was full of food, and the kid's meal was three mini hamburgers with fries and our big eater didn't finish the whole thing. Dessert is also on the menu and kid dessert is $1.49.

The experience, decor and food was worth the money. We really enjoyed this dinner.

You might want to arrive early so as not to stand in line. We arrived about 5:30 and by the time we left, there was a line waiting for tables. Valet parking is available for $9 per hour and parking is scarce.

This is a great place to take the kids to learn all kinds of things. There were underwater animal exhibits, animals from around the world and here in the US. Sue, the T-rex is at home here and it's rather impressive to see and read about her.

A big hint for homeschooling families, admission is free for teachers, so make sure to prove you homeschool the kids and you'll get in free. There was lots to see and do and it was worth the admission.

Parking is $7.75 and they wanted to 'search' your bag as you entered the museum. They looked in my camera case, but didn't ask my husband to empty his pockets. The 'search' didn't make much sense!

This was a great place for kids to learn. We homeschool our children and there were so many exhibits that dealt with the curriculum we've already covered and some that we still have to cover.

The cool, but grossest part were the human slices and embryo/fetuses. They have a display of embryo/fetuses from the time of conception to birth so that you can see the different stages of development. Two adult humans were also frozen and sliced in 1/2" thick slices and preserved so that people can see just exactly what you look like on the inside. As I said, cool, but gross.

There are exhibits on transportation (air and rail), health (aids, human heart), minerals/rocks, atoms/neutrons, a working coal mine shaft (we didn't get to that exhibit), time, which was a bit over our heads (7&8yr olds), flight simulators/aircraft carriers/submarines, and networld (we didn't get there either.

It's worth the trip!!

AMAZING!! MIND BLOWING!! A LITTLE GIRL'S DREAM COME TRUE!

If you haven't heard of the American Girl Dolls, you've gotta check them out (www.americangirl.com). These are dolls created by the Pleasant Company that are set in history. There are eight different dolls, each from a different time period. These are great because not only do they teach history, but they are dolls that little girls love.

The American Girls Place has everything a little girl could want. Beautiful dolls, lots of clothes, a cafe to have brunch/breakfast/lunch/dinner with her doll, a beauty salon for her doll and even a Broadway style production show.

The dolls are a bit pricy, but worth the $84-90 each. Outfits for the dolls run $20 -$25 and there are so many different accessories to go along with it.

This place can be a dream come true for a little girl, but can break the bank in no time, but the look of joy on your little girl's face is worth it (especially if she's not a spoiled brat indulgling in a whim).

It was packed on the Saturday morning we were there, but still navigable. Parents looked like they were having about as much fun as the kids were!