Need -QUICK- help from Chicago peeps!

[dholly]

*HELP* HELP* HELP*

Want to get out of town 2/17-2/20... not enough time for a southern vacation... found $90 R/T to Chicago web special... will pull the trigger if local peeps can point me to some fun family stuff and reasonable accomodations... shows, attractions, dining, etc.???

What to do? My only times not passing thru O'hare were on business trips! So help me out if you can... is the Windy City a good family destination for a long weekend? Got any suggestions? Gotta pull the trigger sooon!

THANKS!

[jmcclain]

I'm not from Chicago, but I would not worry at all about being able to find fun, cheap family stuff to do there. The original location for the Blue Man Group is there, great show. You can always go up in the Hancock building and do that tour. There's all kinds of museums. The field museum and the Alder Museum are great. There's a chirldren's museum as well. You can take the boat tour on the river through downtown and out into the lake. You won't have a problem at all DHolly. Hopefully someone local can maybe give you more idea, but these are all the normal tourist things that are there. Not that you can't find this, but here's a list of all the museums, or at least most of them. http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/chimuseums.html

[dholly]

Thanks J, I found the CityPass for entry into Hancock Observatory, Art Institute, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, and Museum of Science. $50 and valid for 9 days. So plenty to do daily, need evening stuff now, ie. would have liked to catch a Blackhawks game one evening. No sports scheduled so I'm going to check shows. Kids would love Blue Man Group, still need dining and accomodations info. and tips, etc. Gotta be someone here from the area!

[Lardoggy]

dHolly, I don't live there now but I did for 5 years in the late 90's. All the things you mentioned would be on the list of family-friendly attractions and would easily consume two or three days of your time.

Its a great city.

[jmcclain]

There's all kinds of restaurants there of course. You gotta give Uno's a try if your family likes Pizza. I'll do some e-mailing through my friends to see if I can help you more. All the help you give us on this site you would think somone could come through on your one request.

[jmcclain]

These came from a friend of mine. Never been to any of them, but she frequents Chicago so I would trust them.

Gibson's - steak house, Ranellis - pizza place.. Umm.. Rosebud is pretty good its a steak house. Carmines its Italian and Joe's Stone Crab its seafood and steak.

[Lardoggy]

Gibsons might be a bit expensive for a family, on par with a Mortons or Ruths Chris. Rosebud as well although a bit less expensive. Any of the pizza places mentioned are really good as well as Pizzaria Due (sister to uno). Another good one is the Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder company (but be prepared for a long wait). Harry Carey's is pretty cool too if you're into sports memorabilia.

[blueSKYLINE]

Originally Posted by dholly

Thanks J, I found the CityPass for entry into Hancock Observatory, Art Institute, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, and Museum of Science. $50 and valid for 9 days. So plenty to do daily, need evening stuff now, ie. would have liked to catch a Blackhawks game one evening. No sports scheduled so I'm going to check shows. Kids would love Blue Man Group, still need dining and accomodations info. and tips, etc. Gotta be someone here from the area!

I’ve been living in Chicago for the past 8 years, and I can tell you that any part of the city is loaded with nice restaurants. I could recommend you some but it strongly depends on where will your hotel be at. What I would recommend you though is maybe going to china town one day, since you will be in downtown, Chinatown is very close. And you can walk around it is pretty nice and then pick a restaurant and eat there. Even if you are not a big fan of Chinese food you cant go to Chicago and not have a meal in Chinatown. Other than that Greek town is also really close to downtown and one restaurant that I would recommend from there is Partenon (http://www.planet99.com/chicago/restaurants/2022.html)

Anyway just try different cuisines when you come here, because that is what Chicago is known for, its amazing variety.

[Lardoggy]

Mmmmmm.......Parthenon.....OPAH!!!

[gammawolf]

Don't forget to visit the Frank Gehry's Millenium Park and maybe take an architecture tour.

[dholly]

Thanks for the input all, much appreciated!