Chicago (lombard) and San Antonio

[Coren]

In the spirit of other travelers here, I'm traveling a little for work and will have a day or so in Lombard, IL (near chicago) and a day in San Antonio and I'm curious what you guys recommend.

I don't know that I'm planning to actually go downtown in Chicago (I've hit the touristy stuff before, like the stadiums, navy pier, sear's tower, etc), so that may be irrelevant. But I'm really curious what I should try to do in San Antonio on my free day. Any ideas?

[Rooney]

I'm sure the riverwalk/alamo will get mentioned. The riverwalk is ok: nothing spectactular, but good people watching. The alamo is completely underwhelming. I'd recommend the old world's fair area, I found that fairly interesting and also well maintained. If you're in central San Antonio, there's quite a bit you can get to purely by walking if you're ok w/ 15-20 minutes of walking time.

Edit: there are also a couple older missions you can go to that I found more interesting than the alamo if you're in to history stuff.

[tyven]

san antonio lol. what a dump. Just try to find good bbq. You can knock out the touristy stuff in like a half hour.

[Zetanio]

The Brooklynite was my favorite bar when I was in San Antonio for work. I stayed at the Hyatt Regency which was pretty terrific.

Chicago:
Seek out deep dish pizza, Giordano's, Lou Malnati's. Sadly Burt's Place is closed now due to Burt's death.
Get a Chicago hot dog.
It's gorgeous by the lake. Head over there and walk around. Navy Pier or North Ave Beach.

[Souj]

If you want to avoid chicago, go 20 min in the other direction. Naperville and Aurora are pretty big cities with quite a bit to do, depending what your into. Dunno if your bringing family or just going solo. Lots of Resturaunts and stores, including one enormous outlet mall on I-88. Just be careful of I 88 and 294 during rush hour. A lot of people commute from naperville to chicago.

[Jaybar]

As an architect a lot of my recommendations are extremely biased. A lot of people don't enjoy the things I think are interesting, but I like to throw them out there.


If you don't want to go completely downtown, the Wicker Park/Logan Square area is a chill place to hang out, eat, get coffee, see some great architecture, meet the hipster on the go, walk the 606 (Highline of Chicago), not get shot. If you want a cultural experience there's nothing new that you've probably already seen or planned to.

If you don't know about the Divvy Bike Share system, I'd highly recommend it especially with this weather. You basically pay 7 or 8 bucks for an all day pass. You check out a bike at a nearby station and take it around town for no more than 30 minutes. When your time is up you simply re-dock it somewhere and pick a new one if you want to keep going. Generally I use it to get to work from the train but I've used it with friends to go visit the beach and the parks - it's wonderful. If nothing else, try to take a bike ride around the north loop area along Lincoln Park.

The North Shore neighborhoods (pre-war suburbs of Chicago) are really beautiful (re: expensive) with amazing architecture and town planning. I grew up in Lake Bluff (basically the furthest North I'd ever recommend you go) and it has really turned itself around with a four star restaurant and local microbrew - you can finally consider it having a town center. Fox River neighborhoods from Auruora to Elgin have similar feels to them, especially Geneva and St. Charles, and they are all situated along the Rt. 31/Fox River datum.

Some of the non-iconic museums/locations to visit in my opinion would be the Chicago Architecture Foundation (right across the street from the Art Institute), the Old Public Library (Cultural Center, now - at least to see the interiors), the new Riverwalk along Wacker, Garfield Park Conservatory (right off the green line - and definitely check out Inspiration Kitchens if you go down there), Graceland Cemetery (I liked it ;x ), IIT campus (again, for the architecture). The new Ferris Wheel opens up this Friday at Navy Pier if you were interested in a 50' taller version of the old one.

Those are some places off the top of my head, hope you have a good time!

[Coren]

Thanks for all the pointers for Chicago. I won't have a lot of time there; we are visiting our martial art sister-schools for a few days in lombard and naperville. I'll have maybe a few hours a couple of mornings before classes start only.

Is bbq really the only thing in San Antonio besides the Alamo? I'll have a full day there to burn, so I was hoping for a little more. Blah!

[tyven]

The Alamo is like the size of a bedroom. There is also the river walk but that's nothing special. San Antonio is a convention city and not much else

[Delayed]

Tons of restauarants along the riverwalk, google it up and you can probably find any type of restaurant you desire along there. it's not bad for a tourist location, fairly relaxed downtown area.

[Zetanio]

The Alamo is like the size of a bedroom. There is also the river walk but that's nothing special. San Antonio is a convention city and not much else

This is true.

There are some BANGIN Mexican restaurants outside of downtown though. Google will be your friend on that one. Get some migas or menudo. Shit is bonkers.

[Xantavia]

If you do swing in the direction of Naperville, IL, there are two places I love going to eat. BD's Mongolian BBQ for a great all you can eat experience, a lot of fun to experiment with different types of stir fry. Then there is Gemato's Wood Grill BBQ. I know people love them for the bbq, but I always go for the gyros.

Anderson's bookstore is always having authors and events. Looks like they have Terry Brooks coming in on 5/31, depending on when you are in the area.

[Modoru]

I'm gonna hijack this thread, since I'll also be in Texas for about two weeks - I'll be in Houston, with a car - what should I do on my days off?
Besides food/beer. I think we've got that covered already at the office

[Zetanio]

Go somewhere else. Houston sucks.

[Modoru]

Go somewhere else. Houston sucks.

Wish I could, business trip.

[Delayed]

best bet probably would be to make a drive over to Kemah - depending on where in Houston you are, maybe an Hour-ish drive to it.
Houston doesn't really have much to 'visit' unless refineries are your thing.