Family Vacation – Chicago!

Family trip to Chicago -
I don't suspect that anyone out there is going to care to read about a family vacation to Chicago, but this is a personal exercise on blogging and trying to record our trip. Feel free to read and comment if you would like, but I won't be offended if you simply have no interest in reading about our trip.

I'm hoping that this trip is a real adventure for the girls (and for Nina and I). We haven't done a lot of traveling as a family, particularly on our own, and I would love it if the girls caught the traveling 'bug'. I also think it's nice that we get to do something as a family to finish off the summer. There have been sporting activities that we've done and a lot of camps, which is great, but we haven't had a chance to do a lot of true family activities and I think (hope) it'll be a good way to finish things off before school. I'd love to send them back with the freshest memory of summer being a cool family trip to Chicago....

Day 1.image
The family travel adventure started with a hiccup as we got to the train station on time and discovered that the train was running about 2 and a half hours late. Turned out to be a blessing as we took the girls to breakfast at a diner that Nina and I had passed a hundred times during college, but never actually entered. Turned out to be a great diner with a really great waiter that enjoyed giving our girls a hard time (nicely - they loved it).

The trip itself took a long time (as will the trip home on Thursday), but was certainly something that was a bit of an adventure. Good people watching and good sites. I always like trains - you get to see things that you wouldn't see from a car and the Empire Builder (the train that we were on) has been around for a long time and line goes through some very cool areas - particularly along the Mississippi River.

The girls did very well although they didn't spend a lot of time looking out the window - mostly just minor bickering and playing various games. We did enjoy heading down to the dining car (through the observation car) andtrain having lunch, which was fun.

We arrived (eventually) in Union Station intact, although very tired. The cab to the hotel only took 10 minutes and we got set-up in our room about 30 minutes later. We headed out to find dinner after that but nothing close was open (and I hadn't bothered to make a reservation for tonight) so we ended up back at the hotel and room service came to the rescue.

After the excitement of room service it took the kids a while to settle down, but eventually they fell asleep and Nina and I didn't really last too much longer.

Day 2.
After getting a reasonable night's sleep, we got up to another beautiful morning (we got lucky with weather this week - it's gorgeous). Prodding the kids repeatedly to get ready and breakfast at the hotel and we're ready for the zoo...

Cabbed it over to the Lincoln Park Zoo and managed to get there on time (not something that actually happens all that often when going someplace with the kids.) The traffic along Lake was busier than it should have been on a Sunday morning as there was an air show being held that morning over Lake Michigan and the beach was filling up with families carrying beach chairs, portable grills, etc.

We were meeting Nina's friend and her family at the zoo and we ended up connecting with them by the sea lion enclosure. Wonderful people - we had a great time walking the entire zoo and talking and grabbing lunch. Very fun day and they had two boys, roughly the same age as our girls, and everyone (parents and children alike) got along great. Nina and her friend even got a chance to grab some time to talk on their own and the husbands walked for awhile with the kids.

imageStrangely - we all seemed to have a lot in common. It was a really nice time and a very nice walk (although I think everyone was pretty beat after getting back to the hotel.) I ended up moving our dinner reservation to a restaurant closer to the hotel and a bit later to give everyone a chance to relax before dinner and so we wouldn't have to put a lot of travel into getting to/from dinner.

The best bits for me at the zoo were the primate and the reptile exhibits, watching all the kids get along, and meeting some very interesting adults that shared some common interests. Seriously - great family and a good time where everyone seemed comfortable with everyone else right off the bat.

The kids all seemed to enjoy the animals as well - the biggest hit; however, might have been the baby bunny we watched over by the camel enclosure. It was basically tame and, while it wouldn't quite come close enough for the kids to touch it, was perfectly happy to come out from under the plants, sit right out on in the open on the little patch of grass between the pedestrian fence and the enclosure fence and eat clover. It stayed there and hopped around until we pulled the kids away (probably 10 minutes). Apparently it had figured the system out and realized that the people had to stay off the grass between the fences...IMG_20130823_213439

After the zoo we couldn't seem to find an unoccupied cab, so we Ubered it back to the hotel and took a breather before dinner. The girls watched TV, Nina read, and I promptly fell asleep for a 1/2 hour on the bed. Dinner was basically a block away around the corner so we left 5 minutes before the reservation and had a lovely dinner. Great service, good food, and two well-behaved girls. We even had dessert (glad now that we walked something like 15,000 steps at the zoo). All-in-all a good day.

Day 3.
Today started out with pancakes and eggs florentine at the Original Pancake House. I realize that this isn't a Chicago-only restaurant, but the kids were hungry and we needed something that they would eat. On the way over (thanks to a tip from the very nice hotel cab guy) we did pass a really cool looking French bakery which was closed, but will be open tomorrow. Breakfast is set for tomorrow.

Most of the day was spent at the Art Institute of Chicago and it was a great day. We knew going in that the museum housed some amazing artwork, but I think Nina and I were both ill-prepared for the extent of the collection, particularly on the Impressionist front. We spent the day wandering through galleries filled with some of the world's most famous artwork and trying to get the kids to realize what they were seeing.

Beautiful paintings, amazing examples of artwork from antiquity, and temporary exhibitions focusing on children's book art and fashion - the girls really did seem to like the museum and they were extremely well behaved (until they started to get tired and hungry). I ended up having to hop onto a conference call with a client and Nina was kind enough to take the girls to the gift shop while I wandered around the outdoor sitting area on the phone.

After the Art Institute we headed across the street to Millennium Park to see the 'bean'. I'm sure that imageit's called something else, but the entire city seems to refer to the giant silver sculpture in the park as the 'bean' and it fits - it looks like a giant, smooth, shiny coffee bean.

It's been in a bunch of movies and it's pretty cool. The sculptor must be happy as it seems to really bring a lot of joy to people - everyone (us included) was taking pictures of their reflections in the sculpture and giving themselves 'high fives'.

While we were there, the coach for the Black Hawks and his family came down to the bean, pulled out the Stanley Cup and had their pictures taken in front of the sculpture. It was cool to be there - I hadn't seen the cup in person before and we were only a few feet away...

After lunch (Panera) we walked over to the Willis Tower and went up to the Sky Deck. Quick note - if you ever head into Chicago on vacation, take a look at the City Pass program. We ended up buying a City Pass for each of us before we came down and you get a discount on tickets for the major city attractions. Our City Passes covered the Art Institute, Sky Deck, and they are going to cover the next two days of activities as well.

You end up getting a discount on ticket prices versus buying them all on-site separately. What I didn't realize is that you also get priority treatment at the attractions. At the Sky Deck we had to wait 20 minutes (more like 15) to get up to the top. Families that bought their tickets on-site ended up waiting an hour or more to head up. There was a whole separate line and entry-point for City Pass holders. At the Art Institute we got free audio tours (which we didn't end up using) and something free for the kids (can't remember what at the moment.) Great deal.

Anyway, had dinner at Elephant & Castle (meh...) and cabbed it back to the hotel for a relatively early night. Thought about maybe watching a movie after the kids went to sleep, but the movie that Nina and I wanted to see ('Now You See It, Now You Don't') was like $18 to rent and we couldn't justify it to ourselves. Ended up watching Conan and random bits of this and that before calling it for the night.

Day 4.
Breakfast at a Belgium pastry shop! Croissants, quiche, chocolate cakes... Very nice and we found things for the girls to eat. After that I had the thought that it might be fun to walk a few blocks West to catch a train and give the family that experience - ended up taking a hell of a lot longer than I thought it would and we lost like an hour of museum time wandering around trying to find a train.

We did pass by a high-rise fire - bunch of fire engines and ambulances, but it turns out that no one was hurt and it was a quickly-put-out kitchen fire on the 19th floor (read it later on the Tribune's website.)

Anyway - we did end up taking the brown line down to the 'Loop' and promptly missed the connecting bus that was going to take us down to the museum complex... Bit of tension there - Nina and I were both a bit crabby about the time it was taking so we hailed a cab and ate the $4 in collective cost still on our transit cards.

The Field Museum was iimagencredible - we didn't make it through the whole thing (you could probably just spend a week in there straight if you were so inclined - there's just so much to look at), but we took a big chunk out and managed to see some of the special exhibits (Underground Adventure and the bio-luminescent exhibit) and the Great White 3D movie. The place was fantastic and the kids' favorite thing so far. Mine too I have to admit - I loved the Art Institute, but I'm more of a science guy than an art guy at heart.

After the Field we headed back to the hotel for a little while and then out to the Cubs game at Wrigley. I think everyone sort of enjoyed that (I did), but we were all pretty tired and ended up leaving in the 6thimage inning. According to the cabby we had back to the hotel that was a good idea - if we had waited until the game was over we would have had a hell of a time getting back to the hotel.

As a side note - we have met a ton of very, very nice people here in Chicago. From the ladies at the gift shops to the transit person that helped us at the train to the staff at the hotel... Everyone has been kind and friendly and helpful. Even the cabbies have been great - we've had probably 6 different cab rides at this point and most of the cabbies have been giving us unsolicited tips on which museums to go to with the kids and what things we should do. Not that I expected people to be unfriendly, but I've been really surprised at how nice random people have been.

Day 5.
We all got started a bit earlier today - even skipped breakfast to get down to the Shedd Aquarium in time to meet our friend Rachel. Managed to only be about 15 minutes late (pretty good for us) and it imagewas really nice to see Rachel. Nina and I and Rachel have been friends since freshmen year at the U and it was really good to see her - she's one of those friends that we miss seeing a great deal, but always jump right back into stuff like it hasn't been years since the last time we all saw each other. She's cool.

The Shedd was a very cool aquarium - lots of great exhibits and aquariums full of animals and plants from all over the world. One of the highlights for the whole family was the special exhibit (required an 'upgrade' on our tickets) where you get to pet the sting rays. We have a small installation at the Minnesota Zoo where you can pet a stingray, but seeing them in a really big pool 'flying' around under water and actually coming up to be petted, on purpose, was a bit different. They are soooo cool - soft and friendly and beautiful.

imageThey also had an aquarium with nothing in it but Brook Trout and this made me very happy - I adore Brook Trout.

We also caught the water show - beluga whales and pacific porpoises. Everybody loves belugas, of course, but I didn't realize how cool the little porpoises where - they aren't like bottle-nose dolphins. They are quite a bit smaller than bottle-nose dolphins, but they are really pretty and really quick! They also had a sea lion and a dog that they rescued as part of the show and that was pretty nice.

The other special exhibit that we caught was the jellyfish exhibit - actually pretty short and I would have been a little upset if we had had to pay a lot extra for that one. It was cool, but with only a couple of different jelly fishes - I actually saw an installation at another museum one time with a ton of jellyfish that was a lot more interesting and impressive. The rest of the aquarium was pretty great, however.

For me the Field was a more interesting museum, but I went to a ton of camps at the Franklin Institute when I was a kid and the Field was both cool, big, old, and triggered some old memories for me from summer camps. Regardless, it's a great aquarium and we had a great day walking through the exhibits and hanging out with Rachel.

After the Shedd, we walked over and took the 'L' up to Chicago station to grab an early dinner at Ed Debevic's. Nice dinner - old-time diner with waitresses that give you attitude. Good food, good malts, and fun service (particularly for the kids.) The sass that you get is funny and not over-the-top and the girls got that it was a joke (although our younger daughter wasn't quite sure at first.) If you haven't been it's a fun time for dinner. Also - I need to note that this isn't a diner very of Dick's Last Resort, which I found to be an obnoxious (not in a good way) experience coupled with shitty food. Ed Debevic's food is good and the waitresses handle their part well - it's not nasty, just fun.

After dinner we dropped Rachel at the 'L' station and headed back to the hotel for an early evening. Yeah! I'm beat...

Day 6.
Took our time getting out-of-bed and ready for the day. We had thought about trying to fit something in this morning, but ultimately decided against it. We've already done a ton on this trip and everyone was pretty beat...

Nina wanted to make sure that we grabbed some Garrett's popcorn to take home and there was one about 8 blocks from the hotel so we decided to walk down and pick up breakfast while we were out. The popcorn shop was a 1/2 block off Michigan, so we got to walk down Magnificent Mile on the way - the shopping heart of upscale Chicago. Doesn't really do it for me - just expensive stores with very little that I would really want (the one exception is the Orvis store - I love the Orvis store).

Luckily there was a Dunkin' Donuts around the corner from Garrett's so we grabbed donuts, coffee, and such and I got a chance to enjoy a classic travel breakfast from my youth. Now if I could find a McDonald's that still steams their cheese danishes I'd be set... (btw - when you ask them if they do this now the person taking your order looks really confused...)

We ended up grabbing a nice lunch at the same place we had had dinner two nights before (the Local - really nice people, great service, good food) and then I ran back through the rain to the hotel (by that point only a block away) to get the bags and a cab.

Union Station is a bit of a zoo, but we managed to find the train, eventually got on board and, as I type this, we're bouncing across Wisconsin on the way home.

All-in-all it was a great trip - the family got along really well and the girls were generally very well behaved. There were certainly lapses, but everyone seemed to have a good time and thought it was a really fun trip. The Field and the Aquarium came in as the favorite activities for the girls, but they seemed to enjoy most everything.

I have really been surprised at the kindness of all the people that we've met in Chicago. I realize that the staff at the hotel is basically paid to be nice, but you could tell that they weren't just being nice to fulfill a job requirement - they generally were nice people. All of the people at the various museums, the transit folks, the train staff, etc - everyone was really friendly and nice.

The train trip itself has definitely been an interesting experience as well - it's definitely not as fast as a plane (it's probably not as fast as driving), but it's way more laid-back. The seats are comfortable and recline, the tray tables are big and adjustable, there are two different foot rests, plenty of leg room and overhead space, and people get up and move around whenever they feel like it. The dining car food is pretty poor, but it's there and since they set up for community seating, people end up talking to other people and it's a lot friendlier than the average plane ride. The whole thing is very chill and actually a really pleasant way to travel.

The only downer being that you do lose time - on a vacation we probably lost 12 hours of Chicago time versus flying. I actually don't mind as the kids were basically done and I think we timed the length of the trip just right, plus the wind-up and wind-down time is sort of nice - we get a chance to transition in and out of vacation-mode via the train rides. I really can't see how this would be a viable travel option for business anymore, but if I were retired I could see traveling this way more regularly.

Regardless - we'll be home in a few hours in our own house and our own beds (looking forward to that) and the family vacation for 2013 will be over. It was a good trip and I think much better of Chicago than I did before this week - it really has some amazing museums and it's a beautiful city with a rich history. Had the book 'Devil in the White City' recommended to me a couple of times and I think I'll have to get it and add it to the pile of books I'm working through - it's a story about a serial murderer, but also gets into a lot of the history of Chicago and should be an interesting follow-up to the visit.

If you got to the end of this post (thanks), I'm amazed as it has to be completely uninteresting to anyone except our family, but it gave me something to blog about and helped me to remember and think-through some of the trip. In any case, the family had a good time, I had fun writing it all down, and it was a successful trip!

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Alex Crittenden

 

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I'm an Enterprise Account Executive with roughly 2 decades of experience working with growing organizations. My focus and experience is on driving sales, building strategic messaging and market positioning, and helping companies to grow. This is a personal blog and does not represent the opinions or feelings of any company that I currently work for or with.

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