We began our a day in Chicago by using the Chicago Water Taxi, it was not necessarily the cheapest option, but for a few dollars more than the subway or bus we could easily get from Union Station to Michigan Avenue and close to our hotel. We had already been on a train for a while from St. Louis, so this was a nice change of pace.
Most of all our son loves boats. Our son was happy to look out of the window and see all the tall buildings and people going about their day in downtown Chicago.
One thing to note is that if there is quite a bit of stairs to get down to the boat stop on the union station side of the river. So if you are carrying a lot of luggage, it might not be the best way to get to your hotel.
An added attraction that day for us was seeing the end of the Chicago Ducky Derby. The river was a sea of yellow rubber ducks. Although, getting to our stop took longer as they corralled the ducks. In visiting the big city, you never know what you might find yourself in the middle of!
The water taxis are a summer option from May 26 through Sept. 3. Check their websites for hours and more information.
That night we went and had Chicago-style pizza. If you’re not from the Midwest you might not know that the style is deep dish, which is a thick pizza baked in a pan and layered with cheese, filled with meat or vegetables and sauce. The crust is usually 2-3 inches tall and gets slightly fried due to the oil in the pan.
My husband is from the East Coast, so he likes New York-style pizza, which is largely hand-tossed thin crust and sold in wide slices and since it soft and thin it can be folded in half to eat. I like both kinds. Our son was already tired from running around so he fell a sleep at the table while we ate. So there is a funny photo of him sitting there behind a huge pizza a sleep.
Next morning we headed out to Millennium Park. First we checked out the Cloud Gate which most locals call The Bean, which is its shape. It is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture forged of s seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the nearby skyscrapers of downtown Chicago.
What is cool for the kid is that you can walk around it from one end to the other and see your reflection everywhere. You can touch it and see your hand reflected back at you. For the three-year-old mind this is pretty cool and we spent sometime going around and around it. You can walk under it and still get the same reflective effect. We sat together under it for a moment as our image reflected back at us. He kept staring at the reflections of us, other people then back to himself, it was fun to see him take it all in.
Near the Cloud Gate is the Crown Fountain. It consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images of a diverse spectrum of Chicago citizens and throughout the day water spouts out from their mouths.
I once took my sister and her kids there when they were little. We told them they could plan in the water and fountain and get “a little wet.” After a few minutes of playing they were soaked. Luckily, we had a change of clothes for them.
It was bit cold, very busy and my young son opted out of doing this, which was good since we wanted to check out the Art Institute of Chicago next. The art collection for the Midwest is second to none. You have “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat, “American Gothic” by Grant Wood, “The Bedroom” by Vincent van Gogh, “Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer” by Claude Monet or “At the Moulin Rouge” by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, to name just a few.
My son pointed out “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper before I saw it. We have a copy of it in our kitchen.
We talked a bit about the colors, the shapes and images in the paintings. He was not old enough to understand the different painting styles, but at least he could see the raw beauty of them.
We did a Chicago tradition for breakfast the next morning, Ann Sather, a diner that has even been featured on the Food Network. It is known for its made-from-scratch menu and the huge, finger-licking cinnamon rolls that I wish I had in front of me to eat right now as I write this.
Our son does what we always does. He eats off all the icing first and then leaves the lifeless leftover roll without its topping. Luckily the rolls are still good even without their sugary tops. He did a good job though with his eggs and bacon, so he at least had some substance this morning, which he needed since we were headed for a train ride to the zoo.
He loves the train since he doesn’t have to sit in his car seat if we were driving. He can look out and see the buildings, cars and people as we fly by.
I noticed on the way to the zoo from the station that we would pass by the Lincoln Park Conservatory. We stepped in and checked out the different tropical plants. The garden included little indoor ponds with turtles and fish that is what he enjoyed the most. I pointed out the different plants as we walked through. What was also good was the restroom at the front which we took advantage of as we went into the zoo. I always look for these when I’m out about in a city. It is harder to find a public restroom in the city when the kid suddenly has to go to bathroom right then.
We headed into Lincoln Park Zoo and I found the penguin habitat for him. He enjoys being eye level with the animals, which is not always easy. I did forget his cap, but I was wearing mine and he liked having mine on instead. It covered his head completely and on a bright blue summer day this really worked out well.
To cool him off we came across a globe with water flowing off it. I let him play in it a bit. If you are there look for this water feature on a hot summer day.
We explored the farm area of the zoo. The tractor and being able to get inside the egg was fun for him. For me I felt they could use a few more animals to see.
From there I noticed we were not far from The Second City. This is the comedy club that many Saturday Night Live performers had their start at. I was hoping there would be a museum, but no luck, but I found some cool stuff that was worth checking out.
I love the history of Saturday Night Life and I recently read Amy Poehler’s and Tina Fey’s biographies so I was interested in seeing where they began there careers. You couldn’t go into the theater but you could look around ticket booth area and outside the Harold Ramis Film School. Ramis is a Second City alumnus and directed such hits as “Groundhog Day” and “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
I came across huge floor length caricatures of Chris Farley, Tina Fey, and Amy Sedaris to name a few. The walls also had huge quotes from past alumni including Glida Radner, which read, “Life is about not knowing what’s going to happen next.” Delicious ambiguity.” It was fun reading these to my son.
When I was upstairs I was listening to students laughing and talking with each other. I was left wondering if one of them some day might make it in the big leagues, it was fun to imagine.
My husband was able to join us the next day and started the day at a sight close by the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum.
Our hotel sat along the Chicago River and throughout the day I would see different tour boats, party barges, small craft and kayakers go up and down the river. A friend of David’s was across the way with a view of the lake, but I really enjoyed seeing all the activity. If you are in Chicago in the summer, a river view can be a nice treat.
The bridge house is along Michigan Avenue at the Chicago River going up five stories from the river to up above the bridge. At the bottom you can see the massive gears that move the bridge up when large boats go underneath.
As you head up, you can look at the placards that talk about the design of the bridge, a photo and map showing the other bridge houses that can be seen throughout Chicago along the rivers. You can read about how the city of Chicago engineered the Chicago River to flow away from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, which allowed sadly the waste to flow away from the lake and downstream to central Illinois.
Growing up as a kid in central Illinois I remember people commenting, “Chicagoans flush their toilets and we get their waste.” This also reflected Chicago’s political control of the state, but this is a trip story and not a political one.
Anyway, the bridge museum was interesting and worth a quick look through if you are near the river. You can also have some nice views of the surrounding area once you get to the top of the bridge museum before you head back down again. Note, you have to go up and down the stairs; there is not a way out at the top, so expect some exercise in seeing this place. Note:
The bridge is open during the summer, May 12th through Oct. 29. For more information go to http://www.bridgehousemuseum.org/plan-a-visit/.
That afternoon, we walked around Wicker Park checking out the coffee shops and bookstores in the area. We first went to Myopic Books, a large bookstore in the area then Quimby’s Bookstore. Quimby’s is an edgier shop but also has a good collection of obscure books and comics. Here, they had a large memoir section and I dropped off a few copies of my first book, “Murder, Romance and Two Shootings” to sell there.
We took a bus down North Avenue to a stop for the river taxis. Sadly, we kept waiting until I realized they did not run that day. You really have to make sure you read the websites carefully when it comes to mass transit options. So luckily we were close to another transit stop on the Red Line so we didn’t have to wait for the bus to return. When you’re in a different city make note of other transit stops.
In walking back from the red line stop we walked by the Tribune Tower. Embedded in the building are stones from such sites as the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon or even petrified wood from the Redwood National Park. We stopped for a moment and let our son touch these different rocks. I have photos of him touching a rock form Antarctica, rock from an ancient town in Stockholm, Sweden and Aachen City Hall in Germany, which we might see when we go there. Link to see: All 149 Rocks.
We returned to the hotel and decided to head down by the river. The hotel’s bar and grill had outside bar games that no one was using during the day. They had a an adult sized Jenga game, taller than him Connect 4 game, bean bag toss and a game that you throw balls on strings to wrap around two stands. I am sure there is name for that, but it escapes me now, if you do feel free to put it in the comments. Anyway, this kept him busy and we could set outside and have a drink, eat and watch the boats while we were outside with him.
That evening we took the subway into the loop for dinner. Afterwards, we decided to walk back through the Loop area and came across The Picasso at Daly Plaza. It is 50 feet tall and weights 162 tons. Not sure how to describe it, it looks like it has a baboon face with long ears and with a woman’s hourglass figure. It is best to probably see for yourself when you’re in Chicago. The bottom part is metallic like a slide. We saw people sliding down it and yes, we decided to do the same. Not sure if you’re suppose to do this, but our son loved it.
We headed back to the hotel, and then we heard from a hotel employee that Chicago has fireworks at Navy Pier during certain nights during the summer and this was one of their nights. So we ended the evening with our son’s first fireworks.
I was on my own for the last day of the conference so we had a full day of sight seeing. First, I remember seeing an outdoor art display that had the numbers of a clock. I found the number three and took a picture of him with it. At least, I’ll have a memento of his age to remember the trip by.
Navy Pier was close so we walked down to it and went up in the Ferris wheel. We were one of the first people so it was easy to do. I always try to do tourist sites this way; they just get impossibly busy as the day drags on. We got in and it is a huge compartment and it is even air-conditioned. My son was not afraid and kept looking at all the buildings below. Then he noticed the Merry-Go-Round nearby and wanted to do this after the ride. I was fine with that since he was really good in the Ferris Wheel for me.
We headed to Willis Tower by bus. We walked a few blocks from the bus stop. I found out that it was a two-hour wait. We were not going to do this. So I found a small Chicago style hotdog restaurant and had a quick lunch.
I had found through online searching that the United States Pizza Museum had recently opened and I could take a subway to it. It is a pop-up museum— so it might not be open when you are there, but I’ve never been to a pop-up before so here we went. Also, I love pizza!
They had nostalgic items everywhere, the Noid from Domino’s, comic books with pizza, the history of pizza could be read on the walls, and for my son, the pizza loving Teenage Mutant Turtles were on display. This was the museum’s first day opening so they had free pizza available and admission was also free. You can’t beat that!
After the pizza museum I still had inkling for seeing the Chicago skyline so I headed for Chicago 360. It is the other tall building in Chicago with an observation deck. We found a line, and it was about 40 minutes instead of two hours. Along the line there were things to read, so I tried to keep him preoccupied by reading them. Then we made it to the top. He was not scared with the height.
We found a couch and we got sodas and snacks and relaxed for a bit. There was no pressure to leave and I spent sometime taking a photos and watching people way down below.
Then we headed back to the room, gathered our suitcases and his Batman backpack to take the train back to St. Louis. He fell a sleep on the train holding his dinosaur stuffed animal.
MY CHICAGO WEBSITES LIST OF SITES AND BOOKSTORES
