Donut Day

On our last full day in Chicago, we did not visit a museum, but I did get a donut. We took the train to the Wicker Park/Bucktown area and discovered a donut shop upon exiting the station. I had a chocolate dipped old fashioned donut. I don’t regret getting this donut, but it might have been even better plain because the chocolate was a little overpowering. Turns out June 1st is National Donut Day, so we also got a free glazed donut that I ate the next day. Still good.

We did a self-guided architecture tour around Wicker Park that my mother got out of a physical guidebook. Yes, they still make those. Yes, people, including my family, still read those. My newfangled cellular device is barely intelligent, I like reading maps, and I’m kind of old and grumpy inside. I don’t like relying on my phone for everything. After seeing a bunch of houses that had no significance for me, we walked around some more and looked at the stores and restaurants before having ramen for lunch. It was pretty good ramen, but I’ve had better in the Boston/Cambridge area.

Back around Millennium Park/Grant Park, we stopped at the library that’s not a library (originally actually a library, now the Chicago Cultural Center). We saw parts of Keith Haring’s Chicago Mural, painted in 1989 by Haring and Chicago public school students. There was also some sort of art, a big dome, and live music of the loud and moderately unintelligible kind. We returned to my brother’s condo for dinner and I watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which was so dumb it was good.

Chicago skyline stitched together in five minutes using Paint

Taken by the Shedd Aquarium/Adler Planetarium

I don’t have a whole lot else to say, so I will mention how we got tickets to all the paid attractions we visited. We opted for the three-attraction Chicago Explorer Pass because based on the activities we wanted to do, this made the most economic sense. The cost is $79 for three attractions ($104 for four, and $119 for five). The prices they list for the things we did are $45.92 for the architecture cruise, $32 for the Field Museum, and $33.95 for the Museum of Science and Industry, a total of $111.87. However, both museum tickets had an extra exhibit/show added to the base price of $24 and $21.95 for the Field Museum and Museum of Science and Industry respectively. But even foregoing the addons, buying tickets individually would be $91.87, so you still come out ahead in this case. Another thing to consider is that you’re limited in what the extra exhibit you can choose is. At the Field Museum, our option was a ticketed exhibit (and I think the mummies weren’t an option); we chose the underground exhibit. At the Museum of Science and Industry, we could pick from one of the giant screen movies; that’s why we saw the ocean show.

The other multiple attraction ticket options are the Go Chicago Card and the Chicago CityPass. The Go Chicago Card is probably the most expensive option unless you’re the kind of person who speeds through museums in a couple hours and are willing to visit 2-3 attractions in a day. The starting price is $109 for one day, but in that day, you can visit as many things as you like out of a list of 28 attractions. Adding days takes progressively less money – I’m kind of wondering now if anyone’s managed to visit all 28 attractions in 5 days ($219) or less. The CityPass gets you into 5 attractions for $106. Three are fixed; the other two have two options to choose from. Note that if you want to go to the Shedd Aquarium, it is not an option with the Explorer Pass, but is included with the Go Chicago Card and CityPass.

To conclude, the Explorer Pass is probably the most versatile for the best value, and was worth it for us on this trip. If I ever wanted to go to the aquarium, I’d probably plan it for a trip when I had time to do everything on the CityPass because tickets for the Shedd Aquarium alone are $40 compared to $20-25 for the rest of the museums. I also haven’t been to the Adler Planetarium, Art Institute, or up to the Skydeck. Also waiting for a good musical to pass through Chicago (or for someone to hand me tickets to Hamilton). Next trip, maybe.