A Midwest Road Trip: Chicago

After spending over 6 months planning a self-drive road trip of Midwest USA, the time had finally come to depart for our gateway city of Chicago. Being used to taking either short city breaks in the USA or escorted small group tours for longer trips – neither of which required us to do any of our own driving – it was the first time any of us had undertaken such a trip and we were equally excited and nervous for the weeks ahead.

To help to calm the nerves, we had chosen to begin our trip with a few (carless!) days in a city familiar to us all – Chicago. The three of us had all spent a few days here as part of the Trek America coast to coast tour through the Northern states we previously taken – the trip we had actually met on – and I had visited a few times prior to this and knew the city pretty well (read my tips for visiting the city here).

After meeting up in the arrivals at Chicago airport (we had all flown in from different parts of the UK), we managed to navigate our way into the city and then drag our luggage the short distance from the subway to our Michigan Avenue hotel. It was already early evening so after checking into our room, the only thing on our mind was food and sleep. We grabbed take away from the first place we stumbled across and then settled down in our room for the night.

Shopping at Dylan's Candy Bar — Crossing the Chicago River

Rising early thanks to the jetlag, we began the next day – our only full day in the city – with a stroll along Michigan Avenue up to the John Hancock building. After stopping for breakfast at Starbucks, we continued across the DeSable Bridge and onto the ‘Magnificent Mile’. This area is a shoppers paradise and we couldn’t resist popping into a few of the stores we passed including Dylan’s Candy Bar and the Disney Store.

Above, and below, views from Chicago 360

Eventually, we reached the John Hancock building where we had booked tickets up to its observation deck, now rebranded as Chicago 360. On our last visit together to the city, we had instead visited the observation deck at the Willis Tower but having been up both before, the John Hancock building’s observation deck was my favourite. Feeling adventurous, we had also purchased tickets to try out Chicago 360’s latest attraction, TILT. Branded “Chicago’s newest thrill ride”, here visitors can stand against a glass window on the 94th floor observation deck as it slowly tilts forward over the city below.

It was a clear, sunny day and the views over the city from the top, especially looking towards Lake Michigan, were beautiful. The TILT ride was fun, if short-lived, and not nearly as scary as it looked in my opinion although the screams from other visitors showed that not everyone agreed with me on that!

Once back at ground level, we walked east towards Lake Shore Drive, crossing to the path running alongside the lake and following it south past the beaches towards Navy Pier. Wanting to get out on the lake but having taken the Shoreline Sightseeing company’s Lake Michigan cruise on our last visit, this time we opted for a jetboat ride.

With some time to kill between booking our boat trip and its departure time, we walked the pier and had a go on some of the amusements before returning to board.

The jet boat trip was great fun as we sped across the lake twisting and turning, getting us just wet enough to cool us down a bit from the the strong, summer sun without soaking us.

We returned to the pier at a slightly slower pace allowing us the opportunity to take some photos of the Chicago skyline in front of us.

Above, and below, having fun at the Cloudgate Sculpture

Leaving Navy Pier behind, we walked south to Millennium Park, home of my favourite Chicago attraction – the Cloudgate Sculpture or ‘the silver bean’ as we prefer to call it. Here, we spent more time than was probably necessary staring at the reflections of ourselves ad the city skyline in the sculpture, walking beneath and finding lots of different angles to take photos from.

Also in Millennium Park and not far from Cloudgate, is the Crown Fountain and with it being a boiling hot summer’s day, it was full of children – and some adults – cooling off by paddling their feet and waiting for the faces on the screens at each end to ‘spit’ water over them.

Having spent all day under the hot, summer sun, and now being almost back at our hotel, we couldn’t resist diving under the jet of water suddenly spewed from the fountain. We were absolutely drenched but it felt so good!

Next stop was across the road to our hotel to change – and to try to dry our clothes before the start of our road trip the next day! – before heading back uptown later for pizza at our favourite Deep Dish restaurant, Gino’s East. As usual, the pizza took a while to cook but we kept ourselves entertained adding to the customer graffiti covering the restaurant’s walls and furnishings!

The deep dish didn’t disappoint and full up, we waddled back to our hotel full of anticipation for what the next day would bring.

This was it, it was time to check out of our city hotel, head back to the airport and pick up our hire car for 3 weeks on the road. We would be back in Chicago at the end of it all having hopefully returned from a fun-filled Midwest adventure!!

Chicago, Chicago

The US city to rival New York for things to do!

When considering a city break in America, many people think of New York but in my mind, Chicago definitely rivals it for atmosphere, World-class museums, tall buildings, history and sheer amount of things to do. And its setting on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes, makes it one of the prettiest cities to visit too.

I first visited the city for 4 days at the end of a 2 week multi-city trip to the States which had also taken in New York and Washington DC. Of the 3 cities, Chicago was the one I knew least about and I was unsure what to expect but I fell in love with the city and have returned again and again since – I’m currently weighing in at 6 visits in total but expecting that to go up in the future.

So what is it about the city that keeps pulling me back and what is there to do?

The Lake

Chicago lies on the west side of Lake Michigan, a lake so big that, looking out at it from the city, you could easily mistake it for the ocean! Lake Shore Drive runs north to south alongside the lake and is worth a stroll, jog, bike ride or even segway along.

Beaches sit on the lake’s edge and, whenever I’ve been in the summer months, are crowded with sunbathers and volleyball players and while I’ve never seen anyone taking a dip in the lake, people must do as lifeguard stands stood along the main beach!

View of the Chicago skyline from Lake Michigan

From Navy Pier, you can choose from a variety of boat trips out onto the lake and once out there you can enjoy unparalleled views of the Chicago city skyline.

Chicago River

The Chicago River runs through the city from Lake Michigan at Navy Pier. A river walk has been created which runs alongside, lined with shops, bars and restaurants or you can take the Chicago Architectural Tour, a boat ride along the river with a commentary about the multitude of architectural styles of buildings that make up the city’s skyline.

Navy Pier

This Chicago institution juts out over Lake Michigan and is an entertainment hub for the city. Entry onto the pier is free and once there you’ll find a huge food court and plenty of entertainment and shopping opportunities to keep everyone amused for hours.

Many of the boat trips onto Lake Michigan launch from here and you’ll also find a couple of museums – the Children’s Museum of Chicago and the Museum of Stained Glass.

One of the big draws of Navy Pier is it’s small amusement park. While it mainly offers rides aimed at young children, there’s also a carousel, flying chairs and, of course, the Chicago Ferris wheel offering views over the city and lake.

In the summer months, firework displays usually run twice weekly from the pier!

The Miracle Mile

Chicago is a great place to shop. Michigan Avenue, also known as the ‘Miracle Mile’, runs down the centre of the city and here you’ll find a mix of high street stores and top fashion houses all on one long road!

Pieces of famous buildings built into the Chicago Tribune Building

Museums

If museums are your thing then you’ll be spoilt for choice in Chicago. Down at Museum Campus, you’ll find the Field Museum – Chicago’s Natural History Museum – home to one of the largest collections of dinosaurs in the World including Sue the T-Rex who stands proudly in the museum entrance hall. Museum Campus is also home to the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium and even if you’re not planning on going to the museums, it’s worth a visit to the area for the views across Lake Michigan!

For art, head to the Art Institute of Chicago situated near Millennium Park. This museum houses some World renowned works of art including Grant Wood’s America Gothic and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks as well as impressive collections of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and artefacts.

For something a bit more unusual, head upstairs at the city’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonalds” where you’ll find a small McDonalds’ museum with old advertising, Happy Meal toys and other merchandise!

President Lincoln’s bed at the Chicago History Museum

A bit more out of the way, in the North part of city at Lincoln Park, but definitely worth the trip, is the Chicago History Museum containing displays and exhibitions from the city’s past – and what an interesting past it is! From the Great Fire of Chicago to the city’s close links with President Abraham Lincoln, from its hosting of the World Fair in the late 1800s to it’s Prohibition era gangsta connections, there’s plenty here to learn about this great city.

Prohibition era Chicago

While on the subject of Chicago’s links to prohibition era mobsters, there are plenty of companies offering guided tours of the city talking about this. My favourite is the ‘Untouchable tour’ where you are driven around in a battered, bullet-hole covered mini-van as 2 actors dressed appropriately for the era recount the grisly stories of the city’s past and point out the scenes of the crimes in an informative but humorous way. Fascinating stuff!

The City Parks

The first place I like to head to on any visit to Chicago is Millennium Park to see my favourite outdoor works of art, Cloudgate and the Crown Fountain. Cloudgate, also known as the Silver Bean, is a huge silver bean-shaped sculpture which lies in a square in the centre of the park reflecting the city skyline and the many tourists who crowd around, and under, it! It’s great fun to stand facing the sculpture from different angles and see if you can spot yourself in it!

Not far from Cloudgate, also in Millennium Park, is the Crown Fountain which also has another more descriptive name – the spitting fountain! The fountain has a huge pillar at each end broadcasting the faces of actual Chicago city-dwellers who, once every 15 minutes or so, appear to spit water out of their mouths. I once made the mistake on a very hot day of thinking it would be a good idea to stand under the jet of water being spat out while wearing denim knee-length shorts. Despite the heat, it took forever to dry out again!!! Great fun for the kids though.

Queues for breakfast at Wildberry Cafe overlooking Millennium Park

A short walk south from Millennium Park is Grant Park where you’ll find another famous Chicago Fountain, Buckingham Fountain. Try to visit on the hour as the water spouting from the fountain jumps impressively higher into the sky!!

Statue of President Lincoln in Lincoln Park

The city’s largest park is Lincoln Park, named after President Abraham Lincoln.

This park is situated on the Northern edge of Lake Michigan and is also home to the city’s zoo!

The Pizza

Chicago is famous for its Deep Dish Pizza and there are a few restaurants in the city all claiming to have the best. My personal favourite is Gino’s East. Expect to queue for a while outside it’s flagship restaurant on Superior and then to wait at least an hour for your pizza to be cooked and served but it’s definitely worth the wait.

The restaurant allows customers to graffiti its interior – any surface, the tables, chairs, walls, ceilings etc, can be scribbled on – so while waiting for your food to arrive, keep yourself amused by reading through the messages left by previous customers and leaving your own mark on the place!

The Tall Buildings

Chicago is home to many skyscrapers and there are two offering visitors a viewing deck on the upper floors. The most famous of these is at the building formerly known as the Sears Tower (many native Chicago dwellers still refuse to call it anything different to this, so synonymous with the city is the name), now known as Willis Tower.

The building was once the tallest in the World and it’s Skydeck, offering visitors the opportunity to stand on a glass floor above the city, is situated on the 103rd floor. On a clear day, it is possible to see 4 states from here!

As it is situated closer to Lake Michigan, I personally prefer the views from the Chicago 360 observation deck in the city’s John Hancock Building from where you can look down at the beaches running alongside the lake. This observation deck also offers Tilt, a kind of Observation Deck thrill ride where you lie against windows that slowly tilt outwards over the Magnificent Mile!

All of my visits to Chicago so far have been in the summer months and I’d imagine it’s a very different city in the harsh winter months but it really is a wonderful city and if you get the chance, I definitely recommend a visit!

Northern BLT Day 4-5: Chicago

Day 4 of our coast to coast Trek America tour and we were up early to leave our Ohio KOA cabins and begin our journey to Chicago.

Horse and cart on the streets of Shipshewana

Our first stop to day was just across the border of Indiana state in the Amish town of Shipshewana. I’m not exactly sure what I expected but it wasn’t what we got. Shipshewana was in many ways a typical American town like any other I’d visited. Except for the occasional horse and cart rolling down the streets and the odd person in traditional Amish dress passing by. With it’s Amish market selling handmade food and crafts and the opportunity to take a ride on the traditional horse and carts, it felt like a very touristy look at Amish life rather than getting an accurate snapshot but we enjoyed wandering around and especially enjoyed the homemade ice cream we purchased before leaving to continue our journey.

We had one more stop before arriving in Chicago, Illinois – at the childhood home of Michael Jackson in the town of Gary, Indiana. The house had become something of a shrine with fan messages and gifts covering the gates around the house.

Then it was on to Chicago where we were staying at the HI Hostel in the Loop area. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived so as we got ourselves settles into our rooms – it was a really nice hostel and us girls had our own en suite dorm! – deep dish pizza was ordered in from a nearby Gino’s East area which we ate down in the common area. Having had Gino’s deep dish fresh at the main restaurant in the past, I didn’t enjoy the take out pizza as much and many of the others in the group were unimpressed.

That evening most of us had taken up the option to take a bike tour of Chicago, something I’d not done on my previous 2 visits to the city. Short on time, we caught taxis uptown to the headquarters of Bobby’s Bikes where we were each provided with hi-vis jackets, helmets and a bike before setting off to follow our tour guide. Our first stop was on the shore of Lake Michigan but unfortunately the fog had moved in over the city obscuring any views we should have had. Then we rode uptown to see some of the huge mansions including the original Playboy mansion.

The Cloudgate sculpture in Millennium Park

We were all a bit nervous when told we’d be riding on the main road alongside all the Chicago traffic for the next section of our tour but it was less scary than it sounded and we paused for photos down by the Chicago river before cycling back lakeside and down to Millennium Park to see the amazing Cloudgate sculpture then further south past Grant Park to the museum campus where, completely coincidentally, fireworks started going off at an event being held there just as we arrived.

Bike tour over, we walked to the Hancock Tower where the rest of the group were having drinks in the sky bar. We joined them for a drink but left shortly after as the cloud meant there was zero visibility and it was an expensive place for drinks when there was no view! Instead, we walked back to the hostel and spent the rest of the evening in the common room playing table tennis and pool.

The next day we had a full day in Chicago to do what we liked. Most of us decided to use it to try and see as much of the city as we could in a day and as I’d been before and vaguely knew my way around, I lead the way. We started at Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, once the tallest building in the World. The queues for the viewing platform weren’t too long so we bought tickets to go up and spent some time enjoying the views over the city.

Next, we walked back towards the lake and visited Grant Park to see Buckingham Fountain. There was a food festival going on in the park so we stopped for a few free samples as we walk through towards Millennium Park. At Millennium Park, we stopped to see Crown Fountain, also known as the ‘spitting’ fountain as digital faces each end appear to spit water out at regular intervals. Then we walked back to the Cloudgate Sculpture which we’d seen on our bike tour the previous night but is always a fun place to visit in the city as you can see yourself reflected in it!

Next up was Navy Pier where we had lunch at the huge food court before taking a boat cruise on Lake Michigan. The pier has a few fair rides so as lunch had gone down, we took a ride on the flying chairs.

City skyline views during a boat ride on Lake Michigan

From Navy Pier, we walked back alongside the Chicago River to Michigan Avenue, also known as the Miracle Mile. Similar to New York’s Fifth Avenue, this is where all the big stores are and we spent a while browsing in the shops as we went past.

Getting hungry again, some of the group decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory in the Hancock Tower for food while two of us decided to give deep dish pizza another go, this time at Gino’s East restaurant. Eating the pizza at the restaurant made a huge difference and this time, it was just as good as I had remembered!

It was evening by the time we all met up again and the sunshine had disappeared and been replaced by big, black clouds. As we walked back down Michigan Avenue, it started to pour down with rain causing us to decide to call it a day and run back to the hostel to shelter. But we’d had a fun day sightseeing in the city and managed to fit a lot in in a short time.

Walking back along Michigan Avenue – the Tribune and Wrigley Buildings

Watch my Trek America adventures in Chicago here:

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The US city to rival New York for things to do!

The Lake

Chicago River

Navy Pier

The Miracle Mile

Museums

Prohibition era Chicago

The City Parks

The Pizza

The Tall Buildings

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