My wife and I are going to spend our anniversary in Chicago next weekend (07/30/10-08/01-10) What is on the short list of fun things to do?

• Aquarium
• Wharf -Scrapers of the sky, etc.

Budget and mommy friendly, no monsters invited.

Congrats!

What do you like? River tour of the city is pretty good, Navy Pier, Art Institute, Museum of Science & Industry, Field Museum are all world-class. That weekend is the Chicago luxury ice cream festival and the gold coast art fair, lincoln park arts and music festival, Summer on Southport. Cubs are away, Sox have home games (oakland)

Millennium Park is nice. http://www.millenniumpark.org/

Go to Dicks Last Resort at least once while you are there (the later at night the better) http://www.dickslastresort.com

Uno's or Duo's for authentic chicago pizza in the original locations

http://www.unos.com/great.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uno_Chicago_Grill

Navy Pier is very cool

http://www.navypier.com/

TIP: Look for the free trolley to get around on vs the Cabby's

tru

My wife loves that trip and we have done it a number of times. An easy 4-5 hour drive. We have gone in various times of the year.

1 I have had great luck with priceline name your own price in Chicago. Hyatt on Wacker for $79. Hilton at Grant Park for under $99, etc. As an example, that Hyatt is a 1600 room hotel. Hard to sell out! It retails for over $200 per night.
Priceline does not get you a suite and only guarantees one bed but it has always worked fine for the two of us. In no way are you treated like a second class resident once you arrive.
Plan for $25 per day to park your car at the hotel! Expect valet and Do Not keep anything valuable in your car!

2 The shopping down Michigan Ave. Sure, it is mostly the same stores at your local mall but bigger. The girls love this E36 M3.

3 We have done a play before. We saw "Wicked" there. It was actually pretty cool. Yes, it is not really cheap but for so-so seats we still had a great time. She comments about it often even years later so it was worth it. Buy in advance, well in advance. We did this in the winter but in the summer it would be nice cool AC.

4 Tandem Bicycle: Rented a bike within walking distance of the hotel and road the waterfront parks one summer. Man, she loved that and I had fun too. See the beach!

5 Food: Chicago has some of the best. That would be a thread in itself.

6 Museums: we once saw the "Body" exhibit. Not my stuff but she really liked it. There are plenty of museums of all types.

Food:
Here is a list of places that have been featured on the show, "dinners, driveinns and dives." http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=diners+drive+ins+and+dives&find_loc=Chicago%2C+IL
I have been to the White Palace. It is just a fine classic dinner.
Look these places up on youtube for more insight.

Breakfast brunch: Bongo Room, south loop
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bongo-room-chicago
Appeals to the healthy eater like you and I with things like Chocolate French Toast. Arrive early or wait on the weekends!

The river tours are pretty cool, I like those a lot. I like the museum of science and industry, but all of them are really good and close to each other. Does the Mrs. like shopping? As mentioned above, If she does, she'll love the Michigan Avenue thing, although much of it is overpriced.

The museums are great.

Visit the Billy Goat tavern for the atmosphere, the food ain't that great.

As a gear head the Science & Industry museum is a must. Take time to walk Michigan Ave. & Millenium Park. You might consider one of the blues clubs while you're downtown too. The Sears Tower(or whatever it's called now) is pretty cool, especially walking out onto the Skydeck.

My wife had a 2-day class downtown last September, so I took acouple days off & we made a long weekend out of it. I was very surprised that the downtown streets were mostly vacant by 7pm.

Be sure to try an Italian beef sandwich if you've never had one before. Awesome. Also a Chicago style hot dog.

This is a cool way to select a restaurant.

Check Please!

Ed Debevic's is a neat restaurant.

Double Decker bus tour if you dig architecture.

The Art Institute has some famous paintings.

Navy Pier is cool.

Million Dollar Quartet. See it here before it goes to Broadway and gets over priced. Awesome if you like roots rock n' roll.

Horse racing at Arlington Racetrack. Not Chicago, but an easy Metra train ride.

1 don't get shot

2 go to the polish neighborhood on milwaukee between belmont and central park. kurowski's has all the smoked polish meat you can handle, there are some other cool stores there, and very good food. keep walking southeast on milwaukee gets you into mexican neighborhood, where you can eat breakfast at cafe con leche. and go into the dollar store, it's huge.

Gale Street in on Milwaukee Ave, Jefferson Park. North side of the city. Best ribs in the city.

I took my wife there for her birthday a few years ago. We went and watched the Blue Man Group in a small theater north of downtown. It was awesome.

Then we went to dinner at the Chicago Chop House. Best steak I've ever had.

Hey there! I run a tour company in Chicago called "Chicago Pizza Tours". If you use the code pizzafriends you can get $10 off per ticket when you purchase online or over the phone. Great way to See Chicago One Slice At A Time! website is www.chicagopizzatours.com

Hope your week in Chicago is a fun one! Jon

I don't know if all that pizza will fit in one canoe.