We've taken several more involved family vacations over the last four years, including major cities in eastern Canada and the northeastern US. I did have, however, Chicago pegged as a possible destination for the family. I scrounged some info through a Frommer's guide and researched online for family friendly activities in the "Windy City". This summer found me working, and really unable to predict dates for making more long range plans and reservations. Thus, I held the ideas in my favorites in anticipation of a set of days that we could use for the trip... they arose in late July.

With kids in tow, we headed out on short notice via the trusty Corolla for the midwestern USA, the great state of Illinois, and bustling Chicago. The attractions we focused on were based in fun for all ages, with a hidden twist on items with a more educational theme. Chicago didn't disappoint, as the city hosts a broad selection of "stuff" to do for everyone. Key to the trip was using existing transportation links within Chicago, allowing us to get around stress free and preferably parking our car when we we arrived. We purchased upon arrival two key items, Chicago CityPasses and Three Day Chicago Transit Visitor Passes for each of us. All were used fully, as we accessed bus and the "L" to use all five attraction tickets.

I really did not have a clear idea of how to prepare for Chicago. In fact, if one were to go by the information I've gathered through the history book or via today's media, a visit to Chicago might not have been the best decision. Chicago is often depicted as crime ridden and unpredictable... and being generally unsafe to the novice. Yet, blogs and travel ghurus rate the city highly and especially friendly to kids. And frig, they won the Stanley cup this year so it can't be that bad! If anything, I suspected it would be much like New York but on a smaller scale. In short, we would go see it for ourselves and come up with our own opinion.

I've broken out our trip into daily itineraries. Within I hope I've captured some of the details regarding where we visited, things we saw, and how it went. I'm hoping the kids or Janie may be be able to use some of this information for school someday... but I guess right now this website is mostly for sharing with family and friends. I welcome you to follow along or take a peek at some of our photos in the gallery.