Chicago Trip - Getting There and Getting Around

Took a weekend trip to Chicago and re-learned two things: never ever drive your car to Chicago and take lots of cash and credit cards with ample room under the credit limit. Actually, the main thing I re-learned was that Chicago is a great place to visit and only a few hours away.

Getting there and getting around. First, the ugly. Traffic Man Dan (Help Dan, Save Traffic) would have loved the trip down. Zipping along until we passed and O'Hare and then it was a crawl all the way to the Loop (The Loop, a Chicago Neighborhood Visit from Chicago Traveler). In recent years, I have only made day trips and always rode the Metra - Welcome to Metra on the Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line. This time I decided to take the car because we would have luggage and other reasons that don't make much sense in retrospect. Never again.

In the past I have taken the Metra from Harvard or Crystal Lake. Next time, I am going to drive to Arlington Heights and take the train from there. The total time appears to be about a half hour better with that option. Metra ends at the Ogilvie Transportation Center Station.

On weekends you can ride the Metra for five bucks - all weekend.

Once you get there it is handy having a car and Chicago is actually fairly easy to drive, but Holy Richard J. Daley, the parking fees are murderous. We paid $49 at the hotel for overnite, $14 at the Museum of Science and Industry, $10 in Greektown, and another $18 in the River North area (River NorthChicago, IL). On the other hand, we cabbed from the South Loop to River North for $10, tip included. And there is always the CTA trains (http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/rail/rail.html or for Downtown only: http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/maps/200806D.html). The Red Line will take you most places you want to go.