Hello

Possibly have the opportunity of a flight out of the UK to Chicago, myself, husband and son.

We are thinking of having a 16-20 day holiday. Is this a feasible option to have a holiday in and around Chicago. For example, could we pick up a car and travel around to scenic places etc.

I really would appreciate your help. We would probably stay in Chicago for a couple of days before heading out. What sort of places can we expect.

What is the climate like in July/August?

Thanks.

Hello Maddy,

July and August are peak festival times around Chicago. It could be very hot and humid during that time, but probably not for the whole time you're here. There are many museum and theaters or you could watch a baseball game at Wrigley Field. From Chicago you could drive up to Michigan or to Wisconsin and Minnesota for scenic touring options.

I was just in Chicago in mid-August and it was rather warm. The day I was there is hit over 90 and the other day it was in the 80s so weather there can change quickly although don't expect seeing a lot of 90s since the lake often keeps temperatures cool. When I was there I went to most of the museums and other attractions. I would for sure see the Sears Tower and also the art and science museums. When I was there I stayed in the suburbs and took the train in since there was a conference going on downtown during that time. Although when downtown I saw numerous hotels and found them to be very nice. A couple nice ones are the Embassy Suites, Sheraton and Towers, Swissotel, and Hilton and Towers.

I hope this is of some help!

This would be a very do-able goal. It would be up to you to decide just how much driving you would want to do to vary the out-of-city sights you want to see. Chicago itself has much to recommend it: friendly people, stunning architecture, fabulous museums, great restaurants and shopping, ethnic neighborhoods, etc. Summer is the heart of the festival season, and crowds of people come for Taste of Chicago, Venetian Night, the Air and Water Show, etc. The fireworks of the 4th of July, coordinated with a free concert of the 1812 Overture in Grant Park, are particularly nice. It is traditionally very hot--90's and humid--but can vary a lot, and in fact this past summer we saw very few 90-degree days (Fahrenheit, I'm not sure how to convert to C).

Then when you got tired of the city the drive I would recommend would be around the lower part of Michigan, the "mitten" as it is called. The Lake Michigan beach towns are very nice, and there are miles of great beaches, towering dunes, etc. On the Lake Huron side, I'm not so sure what it is like, though. The trip out to Mackinac Island by ferry boat is also recommended: no cars allowed, a grand old hotel from the days before world travel and air-conditioning, an old fort etc. Don't know how old your son is, but he might like the shooting exhibition the costumed soldiers put on.

July and Aug. can be very hot in the midwest, but within a 1/2 mile of Lake Michigan it can be 20 degrees cooler than inland. And you may easily get some very pleasant days -- but fierce, dramatic thunderstorms can come up.

Reights -- the view from the Hancock is better than from the Sears Tower and you don't have to put up with some local boosterish film beforehand. There's also a nice bar/restaurant up top.

Re:nearby -- Ravinia is a lovely, outdoor music "venue" (there is also an indoor pavillion), summer home of the Chicago Symphony, with many other great programs. Check their website www.ravinia.org for schedules and info (new program appears in Feb. or March) -- there are busses and trains from downtown, otherwise get there 1-2 hrs. early to cope with the parking or submit to shuttle busses from local town parking lots. Logistics are tricky, but it's memorable music (jazz, classical, pop, etc.) in a lovely setting.

Further away, be sure to visit Spring Green in Wisc. -- visit the Frank Lloyd Wright home/school/studio (perhaps after visiting all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Oak Park, a Chic. suburb if you are a glutton for FLW) and the excellent outdoor summer theater there. It's west of Madison, which is a gem of an American college town.

Around Michigan are Holland (touristy "Dutch theme" town but with some charm) and Saugatuck (artist colony of sorts). If you are willing to go all the way to Mackinac ("Mackinaw") Island, between upper and lower peninsulas of Mich., take the ferry out and have lunch at the Grand Hotel -- a wonderful example of turn-of-the-century hotels, great view, good food, expensive for lodging and dinner. If you have the $, consider an overnight (there are also other places to stay and some more classically touristy things to do in the harbor area).

Hi

Thanks to everyone for your great advice. I wonder, would it be possible to go into Canada on such a tour or am I way off course?

Maddy,

Are you coming to Chicago on business or do you just want a place centrally locateed? I'm from the Chicago area originally, and it's a really nice city. But if you are looking for "nearby" beautiful scenery, look north to Wisconsin or Michigan. The surrounding areas west and south of Chicago are flat corn fields. I could suggest other places in the U.S. if you are primarily concerned about beautiful scenery.

Maddy, you can drive into Canada from the U.S. We recently took a trip from Chicago to Toronto, stopping at Cedar Point (an amusement park)in Sandusky, Ohio, Niagara Falls on the New York/Canada border and then heading up to Toronto. From Toronto back to Chicago it was about a 10 hour drive. We've already seen a lot of the sights between here and Toronto so we drove straight through on the way back but you could also stop near Detroit in Dearborn and see the Henry Ford Museum, in Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Sea World, the coastal area of Michigan near Saugatuck has some nice towns with shops, beaches, etc., Shipshewana, Indiana which is in Amish Country-there's an auction/flea market every Wednesday and some wonderful places to eat.

Closer to Chicago, you can go to Galena, IL which has antique shops and B&B's, Milwaukee WI which has Summerfest around the 4th of July, Madison WI which is a great college town.

Chicago has the potential to be very hot and humid in July and August, this year didn't seem too bad. The city gets quite crowded in the summer, there are festivals all summer long so plan ahead on hotels if possible. The 4th of July weekend (not a weekend next year as the 4th falls on a Wednesday) is always busiest with the Taste of Chicago and the fireworks held on the 3rd of July.

Try not to rent a car for the days that you are in the city. Parking is expensive and impossible to find when you go into some of the more popular neighborhoods.

If you need anymore help, please feel free to email me.

Hi Kris

Thanks for your wealth of info! The reason we are thinking of Chicago is because we have the opportunity of obtaining extremely cheap (I mean cheap)tickets. We have been to the US before, Florida, Washington State, New York State and Arizona, and love your country so much, that we endeavour to see as much of it as possible.

What I really visulize and perhaps you can tell me if I am way of course, is a route very similar to the one you took. Perhaps travelling from Chicago to Niagara and back again, but trying not to repeat the journey going back!

We like to have a mixture of accommodations, B&B, hotel etc. Are there any log cabin type accommodations on this route? I imagine staying in a log cabin by a lake!

Our itinerary would probably take us straight out of the airport to pick up a car and begin our journey. We would probably save the stay actually in Chicago until the end of the holiday.

I appreciate your offer of my emailing you - but I am actually operating under a 'false' email address. I have been on this forum before and have left my real address and have been deluged with cranks! Sorry, I know you aren't one, but just a warning about putting your address down!

Many thanks.

Maddy, my offer still holds if when you're getting closer to your trip you want to chat. I've been fortunate so far not to have a lot of spam and have corresponded with many people more in depth via email.

We took a different route going up to Toronto than coming back. If you have a good map, follow highway 80/90 through Ohio. Shipshewana/Middlebury IN is a bit south of 80/90 and has some B&B's. There is a good website at www.Shipshewana.com. Middlebury has an excellent family style restaurant called Essenhaus, website www.essenhaus.com. From there, traveling into Ohio, still on 80/90, there is good access to Toledo which has a good zoo, Sandusky which has a great amusement park, Put in Bay, and Cleveland. Heading then into New York, you stay on 90 up through Buffalo and then into Niagara Falls. The Canadian side is so much more impressive than the American side, the view of the falls is better and there are better restaurants and accommodations. Niagara Falls hotels were a bit pricey so we continued on a bit north of there to spend the night. Niagara Falls, although it has its share of tacky tourist spots, the actual falls are amazing. Be sure to ride the Maid of the Mist. You should continue on to Toronto as it's only about another 1 1/2 hours from Niagara Falls.

Once you leave Toronto, you can drive through Canada. We didn't stop but some people have recommended Kitchener as a place to stop. Once you pass through the Canadian border, you will be in Detroit, MI. A little bit west of Detroit is Dearborn, then you can take 94 through Michigan, perhaps stopping at Battle Creek to see Cereal City. Once you reach Lake Michigan you can head north and visit Saugatuck and Holland or go back into Indiana and head back to Chicago.

There might be some log cabin type accomodations near Saugatuck as it is for some people a summer destination. A lot of people from the Chicago area have summer cabins in either Wisconsin or Michigan and some of them rent them out when they are not using them.

Be careful of the area around Gary, Indiana and around Detroit. There are some bad areas that aren't places that tourists normally stop. Same thing applies to when you are driving through the city of Chicago if you take 90/94.

We went to Niagara Falls from Illinois about 5 yrs. ago. Definitely liked the Canadian side better. I can't remember the main interstate we took, but there is one that runs parallel to the south side of Lake Erie. Figure about 8-10 hours from Chicago. We loved Niagara, loved the "Maid of the Mist" (both NY and Canadian sides), enjoyed the place where you don yellow rain coats and climb steps close by the falls (NY side I think), but felt like the trip under/behind falls (Canadian side) was a waste of time and money. Of course it was very crowded when we went, and it seemed like an eternity waiting to see a white wall of water. You couldn't see anything but white. Sorry, I can't remember the names of these activities. Have fun! It's beautiful there.