Have any of you ever been to Chicago? Because I never have.
A friend and I are planning a girl's weekend away for sometime in July. We're thinking 3 days, 2 nights. Mostly I wanted to ask if any of you have any experience with taking a train there? I looked at amtrak's website and it looks like the train for 2 people will be similar to the cost of gas+ turnpike tolls. It would kind of suck because we couldn't leave and come home necessarily at the time of our choosing. However, I'm concerned that having a car there will be an added expense and just an inconvenience. I'm open to staying outside of downtown and relying on the L to get us around if we find an amazing hotel deal. However, at this point, we're leaning toward staying downtown.
We're not really bar and club kind of people. I figure that we will hit up either the Sears Tower or John Hancock Observatory and Navy Pier for sure. Are there any touristy must-sees that you really enjoyed?
I've also read a little about Magnificent Mile for shopping, what kind of shopping is this? Are these the same stores that I can find here in Toledo and really not worth our time? Or are these a bunch of stores like Armani, Versace, etc. that we can't afford? I probably don't want to do that either.
Thanks in advance for any tips!