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.

Good trip report.

When I was a little girl I would always spend lots of time at the fairy castle doll house and at the silent films that was adjacent to it. It's different now, but that's one of those things that short trip Chicago visitors seldom see.

Glad you hit the tulip time!

tenthumbs:

My 13 year old daughter says that her favorite things were: seeing Wicked, shopping, and the pizza. Overall, she just loved the big city experience and now says she plans to live in Chicago some day.

The only thing that she hated was walking from the Field Museum to the Navy Pier. She didn't hate, but didn't love the Architectural Tour. The older members of the family loved it, though.

Navy Pier was not a favorite of any of ours due to the crowds and some rain that blew in and closed all the rides. She said she thinks it could have been fun under other circumstances.

Architectural Boat Tour:
After lunch it was time for our tour. I had ordered the tickets online before leaving home. The only drawback to planning ahead is, of course, the unpredictability of the weather. The best way to experience this tour is sitting on the top deck of the boat, open to all the views and sights, as well as the elements. The lower level is enclosed, windows all around, and has a bar, tables and chairs, bathrooms, and of course – heat. You can hear the guide from both levels, but not see as well from the lower deck. It was cold on the day we went, and Chicago was more than earning its Windy City nickname. Even so, this tour was a beautiful way to see the city. The guide was knowledgeable and interesting. She threw in lots of fascinating tid-bits about the city. I highly recommend doing this.

My daughters only braved the weather for about 15 minutes. (We’re southerners, y’all) They went downstairs, bought some hot chocolate and snagged a prime table inside. I joined them, along with about half of the other passengers, about 30 minutes later. My husband came down (with the other half of the passengers) a little later. Our son was one of only a few hardy souls who stayed outside for the entire tour. He is an engineering major and loved every minute of it.

Shopping and resting:
It was after 5:00 by the time we left the tour and returned to the hotel, stopping only at a Dunkin’ Donuts along the way to warm up with some coffee. The guys thought staying in for a while sounded grand, but the girls were ready to shop. So we split up. There was a Nordstrom’s across the street from our hotel that had been calling our name. As luck would have it, they were having a huge shoe sale. We had a wonderful evening browsing and trying on and doing a little buying. By the time we got back to the hotel it was fairly late and none of us had eaten. We decided to just order PF Changs delivery and a movie, and call it a night.

Day 4

Millennium Park:
We finally woke to a gorgeous Chicago day. It was much warmer, bright and sunny. We walked over to Millennium Park. This was one of the highlights of the trip for all of us. Perhaps it was the wonderful weather, or the previous night’s sleep, but we were all feeling joyful and glad to be there. We wandered around enjoying all the sculpture. We joined the throngs of fellow tourists in taking way too many pictures at the bean. The Pritzker pavilion is such an amazing venue. I hope to return some day and attend a concert there. The BP pedestrian bridge – wow. Watching the faces change and the children splash in the water at the Crown fountain was a huge hit. We had a truly lovely morning here.

Buckingham Fountain:
We left the park and walked toward this fountain taking a short but beautiful detour into the gardens of the Art Museum. This is an amazing fountain. We were disappointed that it was surrounded by fencing. I think we were imagining being able to sit on the edge, perhaps dangle in our feet – exactly what they obviously *don’t* want people to do. The views are great from this park, with the lake on one side, fountain in the foreground and the skyline of Chicago wrapping around the back. We had some Coke floats and pretzels and just sat in the sun, enjoying the view and being together.

Sear’s tower:
The kids chose Sears Tower over Hancock – better views were irrelevant – they wanted to go to the tallest building. The women of the family had already figured out that the men couldn’t judge distance in the city. This held true again today. What it boiled down to in their minds was this; if you could see it, then how far could it be? We had already been walking lots today and the girls wanted to figure out a means of transportation that didn’t involve our feet. My husband and son said, “the tower is right there – you can see it.” So off we went on foot. Really it wasn’t terribly far, but there was a bit of grumbling anyway. I must admit, I was one of the grumblers.

The City Pass worked like a dream at Sears tower. We were able to bypass a line that seemed to be miles long and were led immediately to the elevator. We all enjoyed being so high up and the views were stupendous.

The Buckingham Fountain has a wonderful colorful &quot;show&quot; of some length at night with music, and also a sort of finale at the end, that is fab. Next time, try to do it at night- after dark with the timed show. Free, and you get a generous sprinkling with this too, if it is hot out, it is appreciated.

Good for you, because the Sears Tower one is better, IMHO. It also gives you a much improved, if the cloud cover isn't bad, view of the westward &quot;into Chicago&quot; view, by far. Which enhances by far the realization of the size area of Chicago, much more than the J.H. deck does. It's huge in square miles.

When I go downtown I always walk from LaSalle Station and everywhere else, even far into River North or up the beginnings of the Gold Coast myself.

Your description of Millenium Park - in particular the bean and the Pritzker Pavilion, remind me of mine the first time we were there (last September). If the concerts are anywhere near as good as the architecture, then they have to be fantastic!!

Thanks again for the additional tips and encouraging words. I'm going to try to post a link for photos. Maybe it will work. I'm not very techy.

Photos day 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2718038...7605325210794/

Your link works! Great photos!

Good pictures!

It's nice to see the tulips and you all look fabulous.

Heaven on Seven:
It was well past time for lunch after we left the tower. We decided to head over to State Street, in the general direction of Macy’s, looking for a place to eat. We passed an ad for this restaurant and decided to give it a try. It was on the seventh floor of an office building. Even with the lateness of the hour many of the tables were still occupied. It seemed to be popular with the non-tourist, office crowd. The food was mix of Cajun and home-cooking. With every meal came a cup of Gumbo. This was the highlight. It was delicious with the wonderful color and flavor that one only gets from a great roux. Nothing else we had measured up to the Gumbo. The food wasn’t horrible, but mediocre. Perhaps those who don’t live where great southern or Cajun cooking is readily available might enjoy it more than we did.

An evening on Michigan Avenue:
After another trip through Macy’s and a short rest at the hotel we went back out to Michigan Ave. It was a great evening of wandering, watching, and browsing. We hit all the fun stores: Ghirardelli, Hershey, the popcorn place, Apple store, etc. The sidewalks were crowded with happy shoppers. The kids enjoyed watching some of the street performers. We saw some teenage boys get into a dance-off with a couple of painted, sort of robotic looking dancers. The street performers won hands down. We all got a kick out of that. We did a little shopping but mostly just enjoyed looking. The girls were especially interested in any stores that we don’t have at home. H&amp;M was a huge hit because it was unfamiliar to them.

Day 5

Field Museum:
We woke on our last day in Chicago to slightly cloudy skies and warm, muggy temperatures. What extremes you Chicagoans have to deal with! We couldn’t believe that it was our last day and there was still so much we hadn’t gotten to do. We packed, checked out, left our bags at the hotel, and took a taxi to the Field Museum. Once again the City Pass enabled us to walk by a very long line and straight inside the museum. The entire family loved it here. The Egyptian exhibit was a special hit. We all would like to return. Our time was limited and there was so much to see.

Death March to the Navy Pier:
After the Field Museum the inability of the men in the family to judge distances raised its ugly head again. The original plan was to take a taxi or perhaps a water taxi to the Navy Pier. We had stayed longer at the Field Museum than planned and everyone was hungry. But, “We can see the Ferris Wheel how far can it be?” Also it would give us the opportunity to do that quintessentially Chicago thing – walk along the lake. Sounded good in theory. So we walked. It probably wasn’t really that far – I’d guess two miles – if one were well fed, properly shod, and in the right frame of mind it would be no big deal. We were none of the above. We started walking and that darn wheel seemed to get no closer, so we walked faster. At one point I thought we must be at least halfway and looked back at the Field Museum. Nope – perhaps a quarter of the way. Near starvation and complete irritability had set in by the time we arrived. My youngest was on the verge of tears. Fortunately this was the low point of the trip and in the scheme of things not a big deal.

Navy Pier:
It was crowded, sticky, and overwhelming. We ate at the Pier and I can’t even remember the name of the restaurant. It was the first one that could seat us immediately. The food wasn’t good but it was filling and restored our spirits. We were all grateful for that. After lunch we got in the long line to ride the wheel. Seconds later, the sky darkened and there were some splatters of rain and the sound of thunder. The rides were all closed due to the sudden storm. We made our way back to the hotel to collect our bags agreeing that the Navy Pier had been a bust, but that Chicago was an amazing city. We had all fallen in love with it and look forward to returning.

Great report! Thanks for writing it. We love visiting Chicago also.

So much to do or see downtown, just that part- that you barely made a dent- so come again. IMHO, the best times of all are in Sept. and early Oct. And see a play if possible.