Ah, summer! Ah, baseball!!

dbwes
Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:19:52 +0000

vulture – One or two other things I thought of. The Architectural Association does some nice walking tours for nominal fees (based downtown in the Monadnock building, or used to be). The boat tours that go up the river, through the locks and out to the lake are actually nice and could be worth doing (Wendella boats, at the Michigan Ave. bridge near the Tribune Tower and Wrigley Building.)
The Planetarium, Aquarium, and Field Museum are all grouped together in a parklike setting called the Museum campus. A beautiful place to walk, even if one of the museums doesn’t catch your fancy (I like the aquarium and the Field.) Nice little beach right there.
The shopping on Michigan Ave. is fun, not that different anymore from most malls, but some fun big stores – a huge Crate and Barrel, a huge Nike, etc.
South of Wrigley Field and into Lakeview and Lincoln Park – fun walking and people watching, places to eat outdoors, a big Powell’s used bookstore on Lincoln.
Drive Lake Shore Drive and Sheridan Rd. all the way up out of the city and into the North Shore to gape at the houses in Winnetka, Lake Forest, et al. The Bahai Temple is on that route, in Wilmette. Gillson Park in Wilmette has a nice beach, as well, though not free like city beaches.
Where are you staying?
Some nicer places to eat that I would recommend are Rick Bayless’ restaurants in River North (Frontera Grill, Topobolampo (sp?), and Catch 23, an Asian-infused seafood place right in the Loop. There are so many places, though, and I don’t eat out downtown as much as I used to.
PM me with any questions – I know there are lots of other Chicago area CCers as well.