<p>Tuesday I was in the Field Museum to see the current exhibit The Horse. Humans shaped horses and horses shaped human culture. Turns out the Momlove familly was there the same day!</p>
<p>Yesterday was too beautiful to be indoors. Wish the parade was today.</p>
<p>Yesterday was beautiful. Trying to decide between natural history or art institute. Spending time with my D priceless.</p>
<p>I am back home.
The trip was great. We both enjoyed Chicago. The Hotel Allegro was very nice. The location good. We pretty much walked everywhere.Loved the Art Institute. Went to the top of the John Hancock building. D had two tickets given to her by a classmate who had them leftover from a coupon book. Amazing view. 4 full days was not enough time. There were many things we did not do. Did not make it to the Field Museum or the river tour nor the aquarium. We also would have liked to explore some other neighborhoods.</p>
<p>We were able to get D some professional clothing. She is a petite and hard to fit. We spent hours in the Macy’s on State. A whole floor of suits. Also Ann Taylor loft for dress pants and some nice tops.
Saw Million Dollar Quartet. We both enjoyed it but D would have preferred to see something more elaborate. Ate good food. We both enjoyed Sable. Also ate at Petterinos. D loved the hamburger there. It was down the street from our hotel so we actually ate there twice. Loved the peppermint sundae. We also ate at the Frontera Grill “fast” food place on the 7th floor of Macys.
The weather was good and the company better. D2 did give me the cold shoulder when I got home. She was annoyed that I hadn’t taken her as well.</p>
<p>^ Enjoyed your update, Mom60. Making notes for future trip to visit son in Chicago. Glad to read about your adventures.</p>
<p>Taking notes, too. Thanks for the update!</p>
<p>Mom60-Sable restaurant, is adjacent to the Kimpton Palomar Hotel, where I stayed with D a year ago. In fact, the restaurant had just opened and there was such a flurry of activity going on, and I was introduced to the Chef Heather Terhune who happened to walk by when my D and I were checking out this new restaurant decor early one morning. She said she was going on so little sleep,very friendly, but definitely stressed.
Hope Sable is doing well. </p>
<p>Love the Palomar,- paid about $100 a night for that amazing boutique hotel!!! Special opening rates.</p>
<p>Thanks for the review on Quartino. I think it’s actually at State & Ontario, not Michigan (unless there’s more than one?) We keep meaning to try it. We went to Havana on Saturday (Clark by Ontario) which seemed like a fun place.
And, Willie Nelson rocked!</p>
<p>SouthJerseyChessMom- Sable looked like it is doing well. D and I split 3 different items and all were very good. I looked into the Palomar but the Allegro was less expensive. It is also a Kimpton.
We also ate at La Madia. D and I split a salad and a pizza. We liked them both. I would have liked to go somewhere for deep dish style pizza but my D likes thin crisp crust.
Surprises for me- Compared to other large cities I felt the prices for hotels and dining were low. Our hotel which was very nice was just $120 a night. In San Francisco I don’t recall ever getting such a low price on a good location hotel. I also found the dining prices low compared to where I live and San Francisco and LA for nice places. Also the wait staff everywhere we went were very friendly.</p>
<p>Will check out Allegro- The Palomar opening rates were $100- such an amazing city center deal. My second visit to Chicago, stayed at Ambassador East-Gold Coast area, another excellent rate- Bit worn, but perfect location. </p>
<p>Your rate at Allegro of 120 is quite amazing! I, too, found everyone in Chicago “extremely” friendly!</p>
<p>Sorry I didn’t reply the PMs and didn’t post our trip here.
We were sick.
The trip was fantastic, we love the city. But when we took the bus from UI champaign back to city, the bus driver drop us off in a mall parking lot. It was dark, cold and windy. We, total 10 passengers had to stood outside, middle of nowhere, wait for another bus to pick us up. We arrived union station 2 hours late. I guess that’s the reason we got sick. Went to doctor and took medicine for 10 days, still sick. Will go to the doc office tomorrow again. My kid, 3 days stay at home, on the bed, can’t go to school.</p>
<p>Big orchid show this weekend at the Botanic Garden, Glencoe.</p>
<p>Hi. I will be attending wedding in August.Hotel that is blocked for wedding is in Oakbrook Terrace. Wedding is Sat. morning.Hotel said train station is 4 miles away (Downers Grove).We have 2 days Friday and Monday to explore city. Would prefer not to drive into the city. Are we thinking right that we can use train for daily trips into Chicago. Thanks</p>
<p>Thousands of people use our commuter rail system everyday. You want the BNSF line at metrarail.com for schedules. Trains start at 5 AM and stop running around midnight. The ride is usually about 50 minutes, though express trains during rush hours will save you 15 minutes. </p>
<p>You’ll arrive on the west side of the Loop, at Union Station (Adams and Clinton Streets.) This is close to the Sears (now Willis) Tower, in walking range of State Street and the Art Institute, but for the other museums and North Michigan Avenue shopping, you’ll need to take a cab or bus.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Metra suburban train service into/out of Chicago is very safe, clean, efficient, and reliable, all in all much more pleasant than fighting traffic in a car. You just need to be sure you catch the last train out when returning to your suburban hotel in the evening. Will you have a car to shuttle between your hotel and a suburban train station? Seems like from Oakbrook Terrace either Elmhurst or Villa Park to the north or West Hinsdale or Clarendon Hills to the south would be closer stations than Downer’s Grove. But I’m not sure what the parking situation is at any of those stations.</p>
<p>Yes we will have a car. We thought we could just drive to train station park and ride.We will check out parking at the other stations. How difficult and expensive would it be to drive into city and park for the day? Staying at the Staybridge supposedly it is close to highway.</p>
<p>Here are the rules on Downer’s Grove parking; not sure how early the lots and spaces fill up. [Commuter</a> Parking | Village of Downers Grove](<a href=“http://www.downers.us/res/parking-and-transportation/commuter-parking]Commuter”>http://www.downers.us/res/parking-and-transportation/commuter-parking) It looks like your hotel could shuttle you there on Monday but not Friday afternoon.
I do know that the main Hinsdale station has a lot nearby with $.25/hour, maximum $3/day parking and does have some express trains as well as lots of non-express options. Plus if you don’t mind walking a few extra blocks you could park for free on village streets. Or there’s a lot that’s free after 9:15 am. <a href=“http://www.villageofhinsdale.org/parking/docs/map.pdf[/url]”>http://www.villageofhinsdale.org/parking/docs/map.pdf</a> </p>
<p>If you drive, you’d have to take the Eisenhower into the city from Oakbrook Terrace and it could be jammed either way at any time of the day. I hate that highway since you never know if the trip will be 1/2, or 1 and 1/2 hours. Especially coming back on a Friday afternoon - rush hour could start very early. That being said, I think the best bet for daily parking in the sight seeing area is the Monroe Street Garage: [Millennium</a> Garages | Chicago Parking | Chicago Parking Garages - East Monroe Street Garage](<a href=“http://www.millenniumgarages.com/garages/east-monroe-street-garage.aspx]Millennium”>http://www.millenniumgarages.com/garages/east-monroe-street-garage.aspx).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed, the Eisenhower is living hell. Take the train. </p>
<p>Then again, it might depend on what you want to do in Chicago. Not everything worth seeing is right downtown. It’s handy to have a car if you’ll be spending any time on the North Side or the South Side.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the information and advice.Not exactly sure what we will be doing. We would not be adverse to taking cabs if need be as long as we can train into the city.</p>
<p>There are polo games in Oakbrook in August. That might be fun.</p>
<p>There is a new restaurant named Next run by the Alinea crew. Has any one been to either Alinea or Moto? Or this new Next place?</p>