Chicagoland advice?

[robspeed]

Living in this area is not a life-long plan so i was thinking of taking Cooper (age 7, just about) to the Field Museum in Chicago while the gettin's good. I was wondering if anyone had advice about where to stay, what to see (in the city), etc.

ive been there once before during a cross-country road trip in college days. saw the sears tower and ditka's restaurant (from the outside).

itinerary includes driving up from terre haute friday afternoon, seeing a bit of the town friday night, sleeping in cheapish motel (super 8 type), museum all day saturday, another bit of on-the-town saturday night, sleep, then more out and about on sunday morning before driving home.

parking is $20 at the museum so if we could stay near public transport that would be nice but not mandatory. kid friendly activities would be the key. the on-the-town elements will probably consist of sampling different pizza joints.

thanks for any advice!

[AndyS]

stay in the burbs ride the L into town. It's cheap and the whole loop can be your oyster, lol! Field museum is cool but you guys might like Science and Industry better. My son and I spent 2 days going through them. I think he was 12 then.

[72Golf]

Don't forget the Shedd (?) Aquarium, it's right by the other museums.

[EngineerTim]

You could stay by O'Hare Airport (cheaper than Loop) or there is a nice (I'm told) Youth Hostel in Loop. From O'Hare you can take the Blue Line El into the Loop. Shed Aquarium is free on weekends in Jan and Feb, I think, check first. Kids would like ice skating outside in Millenium Park. Good people watching. Good pizza and microbrews at Piece in Wicker Park (on Blue Line). John Hancock Tower on Mich Ave has a whole floor restaurant near top with 360 views... Boat tours on River and Lake are also fun.

Enjoy!

[Poderosso71]

Try to get some GIORDANOS dip dish pizza while you there,haha..

[robspeed]

hot damn!

i was playing with priceline.com and got a taker for $40 per night at:

http://www.fairfieldsuiteschicago.com/

looks pretty nice but i was hoping for something closer to sears tower. also im going to pay more for parking than for the room! anyway Cooper and I will be in town from Feb 5-7.... Any more tips especially for that part of town?

=)

http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=216+E.+Ontario+Street+Chicago,+IL+60611&ie=UTF8&ll=41.891272,-87.622318&spn=0.015095,0.034332&t=h&z=16

[AndyS]

Wow, that's a good price. My wife and daughters like to shop 1 block from there. Train will be easy to get for in town transport. They should have parking.

[robspeed]

Wow, that's a good price. My wife and daughters like to shop 1 block from there. Train will be easy to get for in town transport. They should have parking.

yah but the parking is $42 per night. the public parking is less but theres no in-out. we'll probably park in the public lot and just train it down to the museum. leading candidate is the Field but might swing way down to the science & tech....

[robspeed]