The top 10 U.S. city summer destinations: Chicago

by Jamie Rhein on

When I read in Steve Stephens’ column “Ticket to Write,” that Chicago made it to the the list of top 10 cities for U.S. summer travel in 2008, I thought, “I second that.” Of the several cities I visited on a cross-country tour, mostly by bus, Chicago was my favorite–except for San Francisco. And, of course, New York, which has been and will remain my number one forever.

If you do head to Chicago, here are my suggestions of what to do. These are not in any particular order. Each is from personal experience. If you have your own suggestions, do tell.

The museums we hit:

The Art Institute of Chicago–I absolutely love this art museum. Although the movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off “is not one of my favorites, the scenes shot in this museum were wonderful. Don’t miss Marc Chagall’s stained glass piece, “America Windows.”

The Field Museum-In what must seem like uncanny timing given the latest in natural disasters, the exhibit, “Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters” opens May 23. The museum also has Sue, the largest, intact T-rex dinosaur skeleton. Whatever your natural wonder pleasure, you’ll find it here.

Museum of Science and Industry–Here you can tour a coal mine and the U-505, a German submarine that was used during WWII, You can also can learn about the history of glass and the various ways it’s used, as well as, get a refresher on that genetics unit in high school biology through the baby chicken hatchery exhibit.

The attractions:

Head to the Sears Tower Skydeck. At 1,353 feet, this is the best bird’s-eye view around.

For the best view of Chicago’s shoreline, hop on a tour boat that goes out on Lake Michigan. The best part of the tour was traveling through the locks to get to the lake from the Chicago River. The Wendella tour company’s lake and river tour is one you might want to try. There is one you can take at night, but we did ours during the day.

Walkabout note worthiness:

The architecture and the public art make Chicago one of the most visually stunning cities in the United States. In case you don’t want to miss anything that is a must see–like Alexander Calder’s “Flamingo” located outside the Federal Building, consider taking an architecture and art tour. We were staying with a relative who took us around, but going with an expert, would be well worth the time if you don’t have a person who is from Chicago to show you the highlights.

Nearby:

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. This is where Wright lived and worked from 1889 to 1909. From this place in Oak Park, 20 minutes from downtown, Wright designed 125 structures, including Unity Temple and the Robie House, also not far from downtown Chicago. Both are being considered for World Heritage status as part of a group of ten Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.

What we ate: Pizza at Pizzeria Uno (now called Uno Chicago Grill) This may not seem like the most creative, adventurous food choice, but we made it here before this became the mega national restaurant chain that it is today.

What’s new in Chicago that I wish was there when I visited: Millennium Park. This 24.5 acre downtown mecca for arts and entertainment, encompasses historic Grant Park and more. Here’s a place for bike riding, listening to music, wandering among sculptures, and enjoying flower gardens.

At the park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater designed by architect Frank Gehry, the free Grant Park Music Festival takes place from June 11 to August 16.

What I wish we had: Chicago City Pass. With the city pass, you can visit five attractions for $59 which will save you 50%.

Katherine Anne Porter: Travel changed her life

by Jamie Rhein on

Awhile back, I wrote a post about how Langston Hughes’ train trip to Mexico to visit his father influenced his poem “A Negro Speaks of Rivers.” I recently heard that Katherine Anne Porter’s writing is also connected to travel to Mexico, but years before Langston made his way there.

Because May 15 was Porter’s birthday (She died September 18, 1980) Garrison Keillor presented a short retrospective on her life during yesterday’s “Writer’s Almanac . “

Travel changed Porter’s life. Prior to her trip to Mexico, on the invite of Mexicans who told her about the revolution that was about to blow, Porter had never been out of the U.S.–she hadn’t been much further than Texas where she was born. To head to Mexico in 1919, as a female and alone, was rare.

With the success of her short stories inspired by her Mexico experience, Porter later headed to Europe where she began to write about Texas. As she found, often when you leave your home, that’s when you can truly see it and have something to say about it that has any meaning.

The collection Flowering Judas and Other Stories was a result of her Mexico travels. She wrote her novel set in Texas, Noon Wine, in Europe.

Here’s a quote from Katherine Anne Porter to enlighten your day as a traveler.

“Miracles are instantaneous, they cannot be summoned, but come of themselves, usually at unlikely moments and to those who least expect them.”

Cash and Treasures: Digging for black opals in Australia

by Jamie Rhein on

Cash and Treasures, as mentioned in a previous post, is a Travel Channel show that often features kid friendly places. Host Kirsten Gum, an engaging sort, heads to where you can dig up treasure. I’ve been watching every Wednesday for the past several weeks, finding out more and more about the bounty one can find above and below ground. The finder gets to keep all of it for a price.

Episode: Digging for black opals

What are they? Stones of a variety of color ranging from black to blue with the shades in between that shine up into various patterns and designs. The design influences their value. Most of the opals in the world–95% come from this part of the world.

Location: Lightning Ridge, Australia–a small mining town that’s a bit of a poke to get to. Gum said it took 11 hours through the Outback.

Digging details: Gum started her quest by heading to Black Opal Tours located in Lightening Ridge. This tour establishment is a place to find out about the various types of opal patterns and their value, as well as the history of opal mining in the area. While Gum was in Lightning Ridge, besides digging, she hob-nobbed with some of the miners and downed some beers, “stubbies,” to find out about the miners experience and secrets. They kept the secrets to themselves. None of them looked like they are getting rich.

After sitting in the sun in 110 degree weather, sifting though mine dirt piles by hand, hoping to find an opal that someone missed–but to no avail, Gum headed down into the mine of two brothers whose family has been mining for four generations. The brothers blasted one wall of the mine to loosen dirt for Gum’s benefit which gave her the view she wanted– seams of color. As she describes it, the colors range from blues to purples to greens.

Gum grabbed some rock with black opals inside and headed to Sidney to get them appraised at the National Opal Collection, Australia’s leading opal company. The aim was to find out their value and to see which ones might be turned into jewlery. Only one of the stones was worth turning into something. The others weren’t big enough, or didn’t have enough value. For example, Gum was told one of them might be a nice addition for a kid’s rock collection. My son would find it cool.

The 4 1/2 carat opal that hung around Gum’s neck at the end of the episode was worth $500. Gum was pleased with the results and felt that getting hot and dirty to get this opal was worth the effort.

In case you may think that finding black opals could be easy, here’s a telling comment by one of the miners who sifted though the dirt with Gum for awhile. “You need the patience of a 99 year-old virgin.”

Other things to see in Lightning Ridge:

Check out Kirsten’s blog for her impressions of Lightning Ridge and what it’s like to mine for opals.

Another use for duct tape: The Duct Tape Festival

by Jamie Rhein on

If one roll of duct tape is handy for taking care of almost everything but the kitchen sink–oh, wait, you can use it for that too, how about what happens when there are rolls and rolls of the stuff? Head to the Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival and you’ll find out. In Avon, Ohio, “Duct Tape Capital of the World,” the place where Duck brand duct tape is made, duct tape shows up in parade floats, hats, clothing, sculptures and crafts.

You name it, you can make it with duct tape seems to be the festival motto. The festival, June 13-15, handily coincides with Father’s Day weekend. Flowers for mom for Mother’s Day and duct tape for dad. Of course, you can mix it up and make flowers for dad out of duct tape. Although, since the theme of this year’s festival parade is pirates, maybe a pirate hat will do–or a ship.

Along with the duct tape events there are rides, food and music. If something breaks down during this weekend, like a ride seat cushion gets a small tear, there will be plenty of stuff on hand to fix it.

If there are any funky festivals celebrating something unusual about your town, let us know. Toot your horn so we can send people your way to toot with you. For ideas for how to use duct tape in your travels, click here.

Civil War reenactment battles to watch or join

by Jamie Rhein on

I heard that this weekend there are Civil War reenactors on the state house lawn in Columbus. This reminded me of my two friends who have dabbled in Civil War reenacting. Each dress up in period soldier attire– one is in Confederate gray and the other is Union blue. As reenactors, they meet up other reenactors to act out a particular slice of history. There are rules involved for how reenactments are done.

It’s not a matter of running around on a field any which way, but following the patterns and paths of what actually happened during particular battles during the Civil War. Clothing reenactors wear are to fit the time period and reenactors are often not supposed to take pictures. One of my friends said that he took a few pictures once when he was “killed” and down on the ground, but he had to be quick so people wouldn’t notice.

The Web site Civil War Reenactment HQ lists several reenactment events and locations. Many reenactments include Civil War campsites and interpretive talks geared for various ages, parades and food.