Short trip from Chicago?

Question

Is there any place I can go sightseeing

from Chicago in a day?

For example, Wisconsin or Indiana...

I can't use a car. I can use only Metra or Amtlack.

Answer 1

If you like shopping, take the Burlington Northern out to Naperville, IL. Make sure you get off at the Naperville downtown station, not the Route 59 station. There are tons of cute shops as well as name brand stores (Eddie Bauer, Williams and Sonoma, Barnes and Noble) and a ton of great restaurants. The Metra station is an easy 5-8 block walk to the downtown area. There is a Riverwalk Park that was built along the Dupage river. You can rent paddle boats on the pond. If you get out here while the weather is still warm, bring a bathing suit. There is a huge pool that was built out of an old quarry in the park. Or your blades--there is a small skate park and miles of paths to bike, walk or blade on. If you like history there is a living history museum called the Napersettlement. It's a few block out of downtown on Aurora Avenue, but if you don't mind you can still walk there from downtown.

My only other suggestion would be to take the Metra up to Grayslake or Round Lake. I'm not as familiar with those areas, but it looks like the Metra goes up there. Google the chamber of commerce for both cities (or see if they have a visitor's bureau) to see what there is to do. The city might have their own website if there is a lot of tourism there, and they may have a map that shows how close the train station is to the popular activities in the area.

Because these areas are right in the Metra lines you can go out an come back in a day. There is also an Amtrak train that goes from Union Station in Chicago to downtown Milwaukee, but I'm not familiar with that area either. I did go through Milwaukee the train once coming from Minneapolis to Chicago and I remember the station looked like it wasn't in a very good area of town. You would probably want to take a cab to get around and that starts to add up, dollarwise.

Just remember you can be a tourist in your own home town. I keep trying to convince my husband of that. You can go to any town in America, large or small, and make a vacation out of it. My stepkids went to a wedding in the middle of no-where Missouri and found out that Walt Disney grew up there. They got to tour his childhood home and the farm where he grew up. So pick a spot on the map that you can get to and from in a day, then to a search for things to do and see in that area.