Chicago with teens - a trip report.
 

Hello! I recently posted a question about visiting Chicago with our teens. We just returned from our trip and had a wonderful time, due in large part to your responses, so I thought I would write a trip report.

I’ve written one other trip report on Fodor's about our 25th anniversary trip to Italy. It was romantic, without children, almost perfect, and very different from this trip, during which we celebrated our 26th anniversary!

We have three children, one son who just turned 20, (so we weren’t actually traveling with all teens) and two daughters ages 16 and 13. We get along pretty well most of the time, but do have our individual quirks and issues like all families. Still and all, the children say that this was one of our best trips ever. Chicago has become the girls new favorite city.

Leaving Home: This was the most stressful part of the entire trip. Our plane was leaving at 7:00am. This meant we were supposed to leave the house no later than 5:30. Have you ever tried rousting a 16 year old out of bed at 4:30? Not an easy task. So we arrived late and frazzled only to discover that my 13 year old's purse contained several liquids that she had forgotten were there. This led to the searching of bags and confiscation of several items that both girls considered essentials. Hmmm. I had given them explicit instructions about what they were allowed to pack and how to pack it. Perhaps it was a good reminder that the rules apply to them no matter how cute they think they are. We were the last ones to walk onto the flight and weren’t able to sit together. (This was a good thing as I was already needing time away from my offspring – the flight gave me time to decompress. ;-) )

Arrival at Midway: Upon arrival we were feeling much happier and less like killing one another. We each had our own rolling carry-on bag, so we walked off the plane and began following the signs to the train. If you have physical limitations do be aware that it is a long walk. We were greeted at the entrance to the train station by a very pleasant and helpful CTA employee who was giving directions and aiding in the purchase of passes. She was a great ambassador for the city of Chicago. (Unfortunately, every other CTA person we encountered during the trip was either indifferent, impatient, or surly.) We bought and dispersed the passes and were on our way to the city, following the excellent directions we received here. The girls were thrilled with the elevated train. My youngest was a tiny bit freaked when we transferred to the red line. She has a slight germ phobia! My son’s reassurances that this was nothing compared to the grittiness of the subway in New York were not particularly helpful.

Giordano’s: We arrived at the hotel about 11:00 and dropped off our bags. Having gotten up so early we were already starving. The vote was for......surprise, pizza! We enjoyed the short walk to Giordano’s. The weather was surprisingly cold, but bright and sunny. We ordered our pizza and started on appetizers. I had a caprese salad, surprisingly good with it not being tomato season. My son had antipasti salad, also very good. Then the pizza – silence reigned temporarily – unusual in our family – thumbs up from everyone but me. Yes, I was the lone dissenter. Don’t get me wrong, the pizza was good and I would eat it again, I just found the stuffed crust to be a little too chewy and cheesy.

Exploring via the El: After lunch we decided to wander around, acclimate ourselves, and learn to use the train system. We took the red line, transferred to the brown line, and rode that around the Loop. This was a fun way to see the city. The train was relatively empty, and we were able to relax and see the sights. We got off in the theater district and wandered around the various streets oohhing and ahhing and snapping photos like the tourists that we were. We saw Macy’s – the old Marshall Fields - and made a beeline for that. What a glorious building. The dome was so impressive, as was the atrium, the gorgeous marble, and bright skylit spaces. Really beautiful. We did some shopping but spent most of our time looking up and down and all around. We replaced a couple of the confiscated, essential items in more airplane friendly sizes to the relief of my daughters. After a little more walking around we were getting tired and went back to see if we could check in at the hotel.

Great start - I hope you're going to add to this!

You had me at <i>Giordano's</i>. ;;)

Glad you enjoyed yourself.

Homewood Suites:
This was a great hotel, in a great location. We arrived and found our room ready. It was on the 19th floor with an amazing view. However, when we walked in the bedroom we realized it was a king suite. Of course we had requested a suite with two double beds. I called the front desk, they promptly admitted their mistake, but had nothing else to give us. As compensation they took $200 per night off the price of the room and brought up a rollaway bed and extra towels, blankets, pillows. The girls slept on the sofa bed. My 6’4” son was on the rollaway. I was worried about it, but he claimed it was more comfortable than his bed at university. My husband and I got to sleep in a king instead of a double. I felt slightly guilty, but got over it quickly.

Rockit:
After a short rest we were back out on the streets soaking up the atmosphere. We wandered down Michigan Ave. window shopping and people watching. After a while we headed down some side streets and passed a restaurant that I had read about called Rockit.

This is a happening place for the beautiful and young. We went in anyway! I loved the interior – kind of a classic but warehouse-y feel. It was loud and filled with gorgeous 20 and 30 somethings on the prowl. It is high-end casual both in dress and price. I had the lobster burger, my husband had the Kobe burger, the girls had a regular burger and my son had barbecue salmon. The fries in truffle oil were very good, although I can’t honestly say I could taste truffle. Everyone enjoyed their meal. Be warned that portions are huge. My daughters enjoyed observing the fashions that the women were wearing. Actually, my son probably did also. ;-)

Exhausted from our early morning and long day we went back to the hotel, watched a movie together, then crashed.

First impressions of Chicago:
The flowers! The tulips were in bloom and they were everywhere. I didn’t expect it to be so green. Of course I was aware of the parks alone the lake but enjoyed the trees and little gardens and flower pots in the city as well.

We found it very navigable. It was easy to figure out the grid pattern of the roads and the train and bus system.

The people were friendly and open. We were offered help a couple of times while looking at our map. People spoke on the subway. One woman struck up a conversation and told us about an area of town where Johnny Depp was filming a movie. She thought the kids would really enjoy seeing the way they had transformed it into something from the 1930’s. Unfortunately, we never had time to do that.

We were all looking forward to the next few days.

Really a great trip report--can't wait to read more! I have a 16 and 19 year old so did some chuckling at your descriptions :-)

Thanks for the report. Your teenagers remind me of my teenagers. We are planning a last minute trip through Chicago for a couple of days next week. I look forward to hearing about the rest of your trip. How did you travel around town besides the El?

Day 2

Museum of Science and Industry:

We all had trouble getting out of bed and getting ready this morning, but finally we were on the bus headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was another sunny and cool day. We enjoyed the bus ride and seeing the Hyde Park area. The museum! Great place and we spent way too long there. We all have different interests and different things we wanted to see.

There was a short wait for the coal mine but it was very worth it. A group of giggling, goofy school girls were in our group. My girls found them annoying until I reminded them that they would probably be acting the same way if they were with their friends.

We paid the extra fee to see the U-boat. My husband and son loved this. They both commented that they would have preferred for the tour to not be a timed, pre-done presentation. They wanted to be able to listen to a docent and ask questions. Even so, they loved seeing the sub.

My 16 year old daughter and I were particularly enthralled with the fairy castle – we listened to every word of the presentation and were starting it a second time until the other three over-ruled us. Really a wonderful museum and I highly recommend it for all ages.

Portillo’s:
We didn’t leave the museum until after 3:00 and hadn’t eaten lunch. Grumpiness was threatening as we made our way to Portillo’s. This ended up being one of the kid’s favorite meals. Of course they were also starving by the time we got there!

Three of us had Portillo dogs. My husband and youngest daughter had ribs. We also got a couple of tamales and a Polish sausage in order to taste a few more items. I didn’t try the ribs but my husband and daughter love ribs, eat them regularly, and consider themselves quite the experts. They said the ribs at Portillo’s were very good – not great, but very good. We all enjoyed the hot dogs. We live in an area of the country rife with tamales so weren’t too impressed with those. It was a fun relaxing meal.

foutch: In addition to the El we took the bus, did lots and lots of walking, and took a taxi twice. It is a very easy town to get around in. Have a great time!

Teens and texting:
If you don’t have teens you might not realize how “connected” they are – all the time. We thought that this might be an issue as we tried to have family time. The girls were great, totally engaged with the vacation and the family. My son…well, there’s a new girlfriend. He kept his phone very handy at all times. We tried to convince him that relationships used to survive and even thrive when one could only speak once a day, even when – God forbid – one had to write letters. My daughters did a lot of teasing when he would text, imitating his voice, saying things like, “Hi, honey bunny, now I’m in front of Macy’s, wish you were here.” You can imagine. Anyway, he wasn’t too obnoxious about it and as he is older and very busy we were just glad he was with us. In addition, although we haven’t met the new girl, we are all so thrilled that she is *not* the old girl, that we were willing to make allowances.;-)

Wicked:
We had tickets for Wicked this evening. After Portillo’s we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and took the short subway ride to the Oriental. Every last one of us loved, loved the show. It was a great, funny production. The girls were of course particularly enthralled. The Oriental theater is interesting. Extremely ornate, gaudy even. We had seats on the floor about 9 rows back – perfect.

After the show:
It was a beautiful night so we decided to walk back to the room. We had a couple of moments of harassment by panhandlers – nothing too bad or scary. Just said no and kept walking – one followed us for a bit, which was slightly intimidating to the girls. As we neared the hotel, we passed a bar. A man was thrown, literally thrown, out of the door. He landed on his back, almost knocking my 16 year old daughter off her feet. He jumped up looking for a fight. That was scary for her – my husband grabbed her and rushed her out of the melee that was about to happen. My son was watching the events unfold and walked right into a parking meter. We ended up laughing together about that, which took her mind off of almost being in the middle of a barroom brawl.

Day 3

City Pass:
I purchased these before leaving for Chicago. You are given an online voucher to be printed. These are submitted at the first museum that you visit, and you are given the actual passes. The City Pass includes admission to: Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, Sears Tower or Hancock building, the Planetarium, and the Field Museum. It costs $59.00 for an adult and I believe that it pays for itself if you use it for at least three of the attractions. It is valid for 9 days from the first use. We found that it had value beyond just the monetary. I highly recommend it for a visitor who plans to visit several of the attractions included.

Shedd Aquarium:
It was very cold and overcast today. We took the #146 bus to the Shedd Aquarium. It took a while to get there because of all the stops. It was in the 40’s when we arrived and the wind was whipping off the lake. The line to enter was extremely long. Due to our City Pass we were able to bypass the line and go straight inside. This is a wonderful aquarium. The Pacific Northwest exhibit with the dolphins and the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Lake Michigan is particularly beautiful. I also loved the Amazon River exhibit. Our favorite was watching the SCUBA divers feed the fish in the huge tank in the center of the museum.

Pizzeria Uno: After the Aquarium it was time for more pizza. We were getting hungry and it was still very cold so we grabbed a taxi. It was a quick ride to Uno’s. There was a 30 minute wait, but they take pizza orders at the hostess center so by the time we were seated it didn’t take long for the food to arrive. Four of the five of us preferred the pizza at Uno’s to that of Giordano’s. We loved the crust. However, we all agreed that the sides were better at Giordano’s. Uno's is a little, narrow place. Crowded, but fun and atmospheric. Very enjoyable.

Thanks for the tip AdamHunger. We did not use the site you mentioned, just used the CTA provided map to figure out the best routes.

Should come in handy for the next trip to Chicago.

Adam's advertising. Good on ya for finding your own way.

Enjoying your report! Sounds like you all had a great time. I'm about 3 hours by car from Michigan Avenue, and I try to drive or train in as often as possible, for shopping, dining, and more shopping. Great city!! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Ahhh, thanks HKP, I wondered but tried to give the benefit of the doubt. Honestly, we may not have always taken the fastest route but had no trouble figuring out how to get around Chicago.

I'm going to Chicago in August with my 13 year old daughter, thanks for the tips! We will only have 2 full days, anything your 13 year old particularly enjoyed (or hated)?

Great report. I can't wait to go back to Chicago. I love cities with great public transportation.

Wonderful trip report, viaggiatrice! Sounds like a great trip so far. Anxious to read more!

I lived in Chicago for eight years and it's still my favorite city in the US (and I live in NYC). I'm so glad you had such a wonderful time. It truly is so incredibly special! Now I have to confirm another trip with my friends who luckily are still there.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement to continue. I appreciate your comments.