Chicago, the Windy City, the birthplace of the skyscraper, spray paint and the deep-dish pizza. The city that reinvented itself. Home to the Bean, the Willis Tower, Michelle Obama, Robin Williams, John Belushi, Quincy Jones, Harrison Ford, Hugh Hefner, Hillary Clinton, Walt Disney, Benny Goodman, Al Capone and the only river in the world that flows backward.
As the original Chicago settlers (in the 1600’s), the French, grew onions in this area and it smelt rather… like an onion the Algonquin Indians called it “Chicagou” which translates to onion field. Thats how it got its name.
In a city like Chicago, you must do all the tourist sites. Navy Pier, Grant Park which includes Millennium Park where the Bean lives and more, the Hop-on-Hop off tours, the Willis Tower (previously called the Sears Tower) where you stand in a glass box 103 floors above the sidewalk, the fascinating architecture tour on the river, and wonder at Trump Tower dominating the skyline just like its namesake dominates the current American political scene. Don’t get me started on the museums and then there is that hallowed turf of Soldier Field where the Irish beat the All Blacks in 2016.
And wash it all down with a Chicago Dog from Portillo’s.
As there are no campgrounds close to Chicago, when we were looking for a place to stay, I really felt like Chicago this wonderful icon for tourism didn’t want visitors who were travelling in campers like us.
The Campground we settled on was the closest we could get to Chicago and well, I have to say it was the not the best we had stayed in. I am sure the difficulty to find somewhere close to Chicago to stay, along with the state of the campground has coloured my time in this city. So many people have told us that we would love Chicago, but everything just seemed so difficult that I initally wondered why we even bothered going there.
But go we did. Driving 15 -20 minutes to the closest Metra station and then taking the train in for nearly an hour into the centre of Chicago, then start the tourist trek around the city.
I think when we go back to Chicago, and we will return, it will be best to stay in central city.