Blogs from Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America - page 5

I woke up feeling pretty well rested from my amazing stay at Comfort Inn. I took advantage of the free breakfast and then took the free shuttle to the Syracuse Hancock Airport. My first flight went smoothly. The flight was packed, but it was only two hours to Chicago, if that. No biggie. Then I got to O'Hare. This is were things got stressful. I did some research and learned that the international flight terminal is separate from the other terminals, and the usual express rail that transports you there was down for renovations until the fall of 2019. Not to worry, I read. There would be plenty of shuttles and buses for us travelers. I got off my flight and decided to immediately get to my gate. At first, O'Hare seemed so beautiful and cool. ... read more

Well we had set the alarm to go off at 3.20am which is a crazy way to start a holiday but we had a 7.03am flight to catch and as are going to Chicago, it’s an international flight with extra security. Breakfast was not open but they let us grab a muffin and some bananas. The shuttle to the airport was not operating so they put us in a taxi for the short 10 minute ride to the United Airlines terminal. We had a good run through security and immigration, and interestingly we did not go through Canada immigration but through USA even though we were in Canada? The good news is that means when we arrive in Chicago it is a domestic flight so no security when we get there. We had breakfast at Tim ... read more

Hyde Park, Chicago, IL We’ve been using our current campground as a home base while we explore two very different areas - the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the City of Chicago. Mostly it works, especially for the shorter trips to the Lakeshore areas for beach walking and hikes. I have to admit, though, that managing our Chicago experiences has been difficult at times, mostly because of the logistics. There are just two ways to get to Chicago - commuter train and car. The Train is cheaper, but you are bound by their schedule and on the weekends, that schedule can really be difficult to work with because there are many fewer trains running. Driving takes less time and works on your timetable, but, including gas and parking, ends up being expensive. The frustrations of finding ... read more

River North/Streeterville Neighborhoods, Chicago, IL Today’s rebellion item was food and, once again, Joan had to twist my arm to join her. Specifically, we did a ‘food tour’ offered by Chicago Food Planet, one of several companies that provide these things. The first time we did one of these was last year in Savannah, Georgia, and I have to say that this is a great way to see parts of a city. The basic idea is that you gather a group of tourists, usually on-line, and match them with a young, energetic resident of the city who is proud of her town and has studied quite a bit about history and architecture. Then you gather at a particular restaurant and begin the tour. You move between restaurants sampling different signature foods that are either specialties of ... read more

Indiana Dunes State Park, Porter, IN There was only one day in the whole trip that I was concerned about driving the big rig, and that was yesterday’s drive around Chicago - the nation’s third largest city. I feel I’m a pretty good driver - in fact, I’ve been driving about 50 years now and never been in an accident, (except once when I guy hit me from the rear because he couldn’t stop on ice, but I don’t think that counts.). But driving a big car with an even bigger trailer where your blind spots are pretty good size on both sides is a bit more challenging. And if you are hitting a big city where you don’t know your way and you have to navigate different highways, which usually means changing lanes, it can ... read more