Michigan to Chicago - 1 Day Trip - TRIP REPORT
Jun 20th, 2009, 03:56 PM
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Michigan to Chicago - 1 Day Trip - TRIP REPORT
Well, we made it. I want to take a moment to thank everyone here at Fodors.com that offered advice and suggestions for this trip.
We ended up making the trip just a day trip, because things didn't quite go as planned.
We left our home around 7:30 a.m. on Friday. We were supposed to leave much earlier, but call it travel nerves or jitters, I just couldn't sleep the night before, so we decided to leave later in the morning. Saw lots of interesting things on the way to Chicago, having never driven that direction before.
HAGAR, MICHIGAN - stopped at a lovely little roadside park on the shores of Lake Michigan and walked the looooong stairs down to the shore, and spent a few moments enjoying the sound of the waves and playing in the sand. My boys are truly water nuts - just like their mom!
TRAFFIC - CHICAGO - Once into the outskirts of Chicago, just off the Skyway, we ran into the famous Chicago traffic and were stop-and-go for almost an hour. I was kind of surprised to find this kind of traffic at 12:00 pm. - but I'm sure there's heavy traffic heading into the city no matter what time of day it is. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that most other drivers were very courteous and if they saw someone with a blinker on, trying to change lanes, they would back off and let them in. Can't say that I saw the same thing once we got into the city itself, though - lots of horn honking and cutting people off!
I know we could have grabbed the commuter train out of South Bend, IN to eliminate the traffic hassle, but we had 2 large duffel bags weighing about 50 lbs each to carry, and from what I saw on the map, the stop for the commuter train was a good distance from Union Station, and I had no desire to lug those bags for any distance at all, if I could avoid it. And they were large enough that I didn't think bringing them on a bus would be a good idea either. So I chose to drive - next trip, we won't have that sort of luggage to worry about!
OUR ACTIVITIES - We reached the self-park at Union Station about 1:15 p.m., parked and called my ex to see what their status was. They were actually in a taxi on their way to the station. We had wanted to go to Shedd Aquarium, but I knew our time was limited due to our late start from home, so we ended up just meeting my ex earlier than planned. We grabbed a quick bite to eat (the boys ate, the adults didn't) in the lower level of Union Station and then said our good-byes. I managed to hold it together until I watched my youngest walk away and then turn back to wave to me. That image still hurts to think about!
Once my youngest was off with his dad and stepmom, my older son said he just wanted to go home. I convinced him to at least go up in the Sears Tower with me, so we could at least say we had done SOMETHING while we were there! So we did that. Then we grabbed a late lunch (since I hadn't eaten and he's a teenager and can ALWAYS eat) at the Corner Bakery at Union Station. Very nice little place, if you just want salad or sandwiches, which is all we were in the mood for. He had the baked potato soup in the sourdough bread bowl, and I had a turkey club panini and we splurged on some desserts - a cheesecake brownie and some rugelach (something I make at Christmastime).
I wanted to stay and have dinner at one of the restaurants I was researching, but my son really wanted to leave. I think he's just NOT a big city guy at all! He's open to making another trip in the future to see the sights, but I guess with all the emotion of seeing his younger brother off, he was just done in for the day and wanted to go home.
I have to stop for a moment and comment on something I noticed while in Chicago. No matter where we were, in Union Station, the Corner Bakery, the Sears Tower, or just on the sidewalk outside, people were SO polite and courteous! I heard so many "sorry's", "excuse me's" and "oh, please go first's" that I was really amazed. You hear so much about people in big cities being rude, etc. - that wasn't the case at all. It was a very pleasant surprise!
We ran into the horrendous storms that were all over the news - we reached South Haven, Michigan before they hit us, but when they hit, it was really something else. A few times, I told my son to be ready to jump out of the van and hit the ditch if I pulled over, because it truly looked and felt like we were going to be hit by a tornado. We lost about 1.5 hours of travel time on that weather alone. We spent that 1.5 hours driving about 30-35 mph on a highway that allows 70 mph, and we had our emergency flashers on to warn other drivers that we were moving slowly. Some people zoomed past me at about 50-70 mph, but I saw at least 2 of those vehicles pulled off the road later, trying to wait out the storm.
We did stop for dinner in South Haven, Michigan at the 50's Drive In - one of those cute little drive-ins where they play oldies through loudspeakers outside and the waitresses come right to your car to take your order and bring your food on a tray and hook it on your car window. Nothing spectacular, just your average drive-in food, but a cute little place with very nice waitresses.
So, though I wish I could have taken advantage of all the great suggestions given in my other thread, we will be saving that advice for a future trip. Things just didn't work out as well as I'd have liked this time.
The final tally was:
Gas for van - 465 mile round trip: $65
Food - breakfast, lunch, dinner: $60 (we ate breakfast on the road in Michigan)
Parking - 3 hours at Union Station Self Park - $18
Sears Tower Tour - 2 people - $30 (expensive but worth it, since we probably won't do it again on a future trip)
Toll Road Costs - $9.50 (if I remember correctly)
TOTAL: $182.50
I guess that's not bad for a day trip, but we definitely could have done a lot more in the way of activities for free - we just chose not to on this trip.
For a future trip, I think we'll make the following adjustments:
-take the commuter train out of South Bend Indiana to avoid the traffic hassle
-arrive in Chicago EARLY in the morning, or late the night before, to get an early start on the attractions we want to see and the places we want to go.
-if I DO choose to drive the trip again, I will have a GPS in my car before I do! Mapquest is great, but didn't disclose a couple of closed streets in the city, which caused me to have to drive in circles a couple of times to get away from Union Station.
-make the trip on a late fall day - it was 91 degrees in Chicago yesterday and humid, and being outside was absolutely miserable, unless you were in an area where you could feel the breeze. If you were down on the street level, forget it! Being on the lower level of Union Station was really bad - it was crowded and hot.
Again, thanks to everyone for all the wonderful advice and tips. I regret not being able to utilize all of it on this trip, but I'm looking forward to using it in the future!
We ended up making the trip just a day trip, because things didn't quite go as planned.
We left our home around 7:30 a.m. on Friday. We were supposed to leave much earlier, but call it travel nerves or jitters, I just couldn't sleep the night before, so we decided to leave later in the morning. Saw lots of interesting things on the way to Chicago, having never driven that direction before.
HAGAR, MICHIGAN - stopped at a lovely little roadside park on the shores of Lake Michigan and walked the looooong stairs down to the shore, and spent a few moments enjoying the sound of the waves and playing in the sand. My boys are truly water nuts - just like their mom!
TRAFFIC - CHICAGO - Once into the outskirts of Chicago, just off the Skyway, we ran into the famous Chicago traffic and were stop-and-go for almost an hour. I was kind of surprised to find this kind of traffic at 12:00 pm. - but I'm sure there's heavy traffic heading into the city no matter what time of day it is. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that most other drivers were very courteous and if they saw someone with a blinker on, trying to change lanes, they would back off and let them in. Can't say that I saw the same thing once we got into the city itself, though - lots of horn honking and cutting people off!
I know we could have grabbed the commuter train out of South Bend, IN to eliminate the traffic hassle, but we had 2 large duffel bags weighing about 50 lbs each to carry, and from what I saw on the map, the stop for the commuter train was a good distance from Union Station, and I had no desire to lug those bags for any distance at all, if I could avoid it. And they were large enough that I didn't think bringing them on a bus would be a good idea either. So I chose to drive - next trip, we won't have that sort of luggage to worry about!
OUR ACTIVITIES - We reached the self-park at Union Station about 1:15 p.m., parked and called my ex to see what their status was. They were actually in a taxi on their way to the station. We had wanted to go to Shedd Aquarium, but I knew our time was limited due to our late start from home, so we ended up just meeting my ex earlier than planned. We grabbed a quick bite to eat (the boys ate, the adults didn't) in the lower level of Union Station and then said our good-byes. I managed to hold it together until I watched my youngest walk away and then turn back to wave to me. That image still hurts to think about!
Once my youngest was off with his dad and stepmom, my older son said he just wanted to go home. I convinced him to at least go up in the Sears Tower with me, so we could at least say we had done SOMETHING while we were there! So we did that. Then we grabbed a late lunch (since I hadn't eaten and he's a teenager and can ALWAYS eat) at the Corner Bakery at Union Station. Very nice little place, if you just want salad or sandwiches, which is all we were in the mood for. He had the baked potato soup in the sourdough bread bowl, and I had a turkey club panini and we splurged on some desserts - a cheesecake brownie and some rugelach (something I make at Christmastime).
I wanted to stay and have dinner at one of the restaurants I was researching, but my son really wanted to leave. I think he's just NOT a big city guy at all! He's open to making another trip in the future to see the sights, but I guess with all the emotion of seeing his younger brother off, he was just done in for the day and wanted to go home.
I have to stop for a moment and comment on something I noticed while in Chicago. No matter where we were, in Union Station, the Corner Bakery, the Sears Tower, or just on the sidewalk outside, people were SO polite and courteous! I heard so many "sorry's", "excuse me's" and "oh, please go first's" that I was really amazed. You hear so much about people in big cities being rude, etc. - that wasn't the case at all. It was a very pleasant surprise!
We ran into the horrendous storms that were all over the news - we reached South Haven, Michigan before they hit us, but when they hit, it was really something else. A few times, I told my son to be ready to jump out of the van and hit the ditch if I pulled over, because it truly looked and felt like we were going to be hit by a tornado. We lost about 1.5 hours of travel time on that weather alone. We spent that 1.5 hours driving about 30-35 mph on a highway that allows 70 mph, and we had our emergency flashers on to warn other drivers that we were moving slowly. Some people zoomed past me at about 50-70 mph, but I saw at least 2 of those vehicles pulled off the road later, trying to wait out the storm.
We did stop for dinner in South Haven, Michigan at the 50's Drive In - one of those cute little drive-ins where they play oldies through loudspeakers outside and the waitresses come right to your car to take your order and bring your food on a tray and hook it on your car window. Nothing spectacular, just your average drive-in food, but a cute little place with very nice waitresses.
So, though I wish I could have taken advantage of all the great suggestions given in my other thread, we will be saving that advice for a future trip. Things just didn't work out as well as I'd have liked this time.
The final tally was:
Gas for van - 465 mile round trip: $65
Food - breakfast, lunch, dinner: $60 (we ate breakfast on the road in Michigan)
Parking - 3 hours at Union Station Self Park - $18
Sears Tower Tour - 2 people - $30 (expensive but worth it, since we probably won't do it again on a future trip)
Toll Road Costs - $9.50 (if I remember correctly)
TOTAL: $182.50
I guess that's not bad for a day trip, but we definitely could have done a lot more in the way of activities for free - we just chose not to on this trip.
For a future trip, I think we'll make the following adjustments:
-take the commuter train out of South Bend Indiana to avoid the traffic hassle
-arrive in Chicago EARLY in the morning, or late the night before, to get an early start on the attractions we want to see and the places we want to go.
-if I DO choose to drive the trip again, I will have a GPS in my car before I do! Mapquest is great, but didn't disclose a couple of closed streets in the city, which caused me to have to drive in circles a couple of times to get away from Union Station.
-make the trip on a late fall day - it was 91 degrees in Chicago yesterday and humid, and being outside was absolutely miserable, unless you were in an area where you could feel the breeze. If you were down on the street level, forget it! Being on the lower level of Union Station was really bad - it was crowded and hot.
Again, thanks to everyone for all the wonderful advice and tips. I regret not being able to utilize all of it on this trip, but I'm looking forward to using it in the future!
Jun 20th, 2009, 05:46 PM
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Glad it went ok for you. Couldnt have been easy. Chicago is definitely one of the nicer cities I have been to (in terms of politeness) and is a phenomenal city. Definitely go back when you have more time.
Jun 20th, 2009, 08:23 PM
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Glad the trip part went well. Summer is a great time to come back as you can enjoy the parks and lakefront. I'm sure your sons would like the Segway tours or the boat tours. Another good time to return is during the Christmas season. The city is fantastic when everything is decorated and the Mag Mile is filled with people.
Jun 21st, 2009, 07:52 PM
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I, too, am sorry that you couldn't enjoy more of Chicago.
If I may make a suggestion, if you are planning on coming back to Chicago, try to make it in mid-September to mid-October. IMHO, that's when the best weather of the year usually occurs.
Perhaps you'd be interested in going to the Celtic Festival, which will be held in Grant Park September 12 & 13, as a matter of fact. The entertainment is free. Their lineup will probably be posted by the beginning of August.
If I may make a suggestion, if you are planning on coming back to Chicago, try to make it in mid-September to mid-October. IMHO, that's when the best weather of the year usually occurs.
Perhaps you'd be interested in going to the Celtic Festival, which will be held in Grant Park September 12 & 13, as a matter of fact. The entertainment is free. Their lineup will probably be posted by the beginning of August.
Jun 22nd, 2009, 08:55 AM
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Thanks, exiledprincess!
I really wish we could have seen/done more and been there longer, but it just didn't work out this time, which I really regret - all the work and research and preparation for this trip came to naught when we finally got there. Better planning next time!
The Celtic Festival sounds great - my older son would love that. We may make plans to do that!
I really wish we could have seen/done more and been there longer, but it just didn't work out this time, which I really regret - all the work and research and preparation for this trip came to naught when we finally got there. Better planning next time!
The Celtic Festival sounds great - my older son would love that. We may make plans to do that!
Jun 22nd, 2009, 12:41 PM
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Sorry you didn't stay longer! Next time try to do a 1 nighter and stay over on a Thursday night and get into the Art Institute free for at least a couple of hours. You could come early on a Thursday and go home late on Friday when everyone else is coming in. And you could go to the Shedd and the other walks or cruise on the Friday.
I often see the lines of traffic coming in to the Skyway on a Friday night that literally go solid at 10 to 20 miles per hour or complete stops- sometimes to past the Gary exits. There is still construction glitches, although it is not as bad at all as past years. Going out on Friday night is not always a piece of cake either. Many times are bad, but those times are extremely bad.
I make the MI (Cass County- Western Michigan)to Will/Cook County IL border (South and west of the city of Chicago by less than 10 miles) trip about 15 to 20 times a year. If you want to drive and park to use the Metra (you can be parked literally 5 minutes from I-80 at the first Harlem Tinley Park exit- with a 45 minute trip into downtown's LaSalle St. station on Metra)for $1 a day- let me know and I'll tell you exactly where to go and what to do. $1 a day in a safe, huge and easy, easy user friendly situation to keep/park your car. The round trip Metra fare on a weekday is less than $8 and on a weekend- even less than that- in summer it is $5 for the entire weekend. Metra Joliet/LaSalle St. Station route, it used to be called the Rock Island Line (exactly like the song).
And you are also paying twice as much as you need to for the tolls. You need an I-Pass. You can buy one at any Jewel location in IN or online too, I think.
Not only does it save you money, even for one trip, but it also puts you into the lanes that don't have the waits. On any one of my typical MI trips- at ANY time of the day or night (and I've done 5 am and my SIL does 3 am, believe it or not)- you STILL have long waits at the toll booths if you do not have an I-PASS.
It's too bad you didn't get to walk through Millenium Park. That's free and also-with all the rain and heat- to me- interesting to see sprinklers and people.
Chicagoans are often very, very polite and friendly within the downtown area. I have never found a city in all my USA travels that has been close to getting personal direction with fine detail and humor- or personal time spent in accompanying for direction, as I have in the downtown Chicago proper LOOP locations. Baltimore came close, but the will way there and the time, but not the knowledge. LOL!
I have two big-city haters in my family- one in each generation. So to get them to partake and really see "through" the hassles getting here and around Chicago and getting to see beyond the costs and density- I ALWAYS schedule Chicago venues (shows, sports, zoo, museum) with them at times when there are NO festivals and never, ever in summer. Just a thought! It's always more fun, if everyone or someone isn't over-whelmed or would rather be fishing or with the familar, LOL!
Start saving up! LOL!
I often see the lines of traffic coming in to the Skyway on a Friday night that literally go solid at 10 to 20 miles per hour or complete stops- sometimes to past the Gary exits. There is still construction glitches, although it is not as bad at all as past years. Going out on Friday night is not always a piece of cake either. Many times are bad, but those times are extremely bad.
I make the MI (Cass County- Western Michigan)to Will/Cook County IL border (South and west of the city of Chicago by less than 10 miles) trip about 15 to 20 times a year. If you want to drive and park to use the Metra (you can be parked literally 5 minutes from I-80 at the first Harlem Tinley Park exit- with a 45 minute trip into downtown's LaSalle St. station on Metra)for $1 a day- let me know and I'll tell you exactly where to go and what to do. $1 a day in a safe, huge and easy, easy user friendly situation to keep/park your car. The round trip Metra fare on a weekday is less than $8 and on a weekend- even less than that- in summer it is $5 for the entire weekend. Metra Joliet/LaSalle St. Station route, it used to be called the Rock Island Line (exactly like the song).
And you are also paying twice as much as you need to for the tolls. You need an I-Pass. You can buy one at any Jewel location in IN or online too, I think.
Not only does it save you money, even for one trip, but it also puts you into the lanes that don't have the waits. On any one of my typical MI trips- at ANY time of the day or night (and I've done 5 am and my SIL does 3 am, believe it or not)- you STILL have long waits at the toll booths if you do not have an I-PASS.
It's too bad you didn't get to walk through Millenium Park. That's free and also-with all the rain and heat- to me- interesting to see sprinklers and people.
Chicagoans are often very, very polite and friendly within the downtown area. I have never found a city in all my USA travels that has been close to getting personal direction with fine detail and humor- or personal time spent in accompanying for direction, as I have in the downtown Chicago proper LOOP locations. Baltimore came close, but the will way there and the time, but not the knowledge. LOL!
I have two big-city haters in my family- one in each generation. So to get them to partake and really see "through" the hassles getting here and around Chicago and getting to see beyond the costs and density- I ALWAYS schedule Chicago venues (shows, sports, zoo, museum) with them at times when there are NO festivals and never, ever in summer. Just a thought! It's always more fun, if everyone or someone isn't over-whelmed or would rather be fishing or with the familar, LOL!
Start saving up! LOL!
Jul 31st, 2009, 01:59 PM
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JJ5 can you give me specific details on parking outside of Chicago. I'm thinking about driving in from DC and I'd rather not pay the exorbitant fees for city parking garages. I'll be staying in a hotel in the city center.
