BECAUSE we are United Air Lines frequent fliers, my wife and I often change planes at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, UAL's system hub. Last month we headed into the city for the first time in years. It added further evidence that there's no need to go abroad for great vacation stops. America has plenty of them. Chicago makes an
exciting vacation stopThe Magnificent Mile of Chicago's Michigan Avenue is grander and more exciting than New York City's Fifth Avenue.
Park improvements along the Lake Michigan lakefront beautify it and create a concentration of attractions aimed more at its own citizens than at visitors, but great for both.
There's Soldier Field for sports, the outstanding Field Museum of Natural History, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Buckingham Fountains, Grant Park, Petrillo Music Shell, the Art Institute, Goodman Theatre and the Navy Pier amusement center. The zoo and more are in Lincoln Park farther north but still by the lake shore.
School buses were moving through this complex by the zillions when we were there. Our cab driver proudly showed us a latest addition, a small-plane airport right on the lakefront near Soldier Field.
One of the best ways to get a quick orientation to New York is the round-Manhattan boat cruise, a top tourist attraction.
There are a high road and a low road to a quick overview of Chicago.
The low road is the Chicago Architecture Foundation boat tour into the heart of the city via the Chicago River, which splits the famous old Loop area on its south banks from the newer Magnificent Mile city to its north. Boats run daily from a Michigan Avenue pier. Frequencies vary.
Foundation docents explain the fabulous variety of old and new buildings built at this center of American trade. In the 19th century freight from the Great Lakes could connect via canal into the Mississippi River. A great rail hub evolved. Industrial barons vied for prestige with the buildings they had designed by the world's best architects.
Three of America's five tallest buildings are in Chicago -- the Sears Tower, Amoco Building and John Hancock Center. So are some of its most massive structures. One is a post office built to handle the mail order flow from Sears, Montgomery Ward, Marshall Field and others. It is already outdated and replaced.
Merchandise Mart and the Chicago Board of Trade are other landmarks. The rail system is often obscured by structures built on air rights over the rails.
On opposite sides of Michigan Avenue on the north bank of the river are the Wrigley Building and the Chicago Tribune Tower, both architectural landmarks. They mark the beginning of the stretch called the Magnificent Mile trekking north through posh establishments to the Water Tower that survived the famous 1871 Chicago Fire, Hancock Center and the lakeshore.
THE 94th floor observatory at Hancock was our place to see the city from on high. Most impressive from here is the lakefront, kept open for its full length by good city planning and traveled via Lakeshore Drive.
Chicago is a clean city. Its traffic moved with surprising ease on the mostly off-hour journeys we attempted. Its network of passenger light-rail lines uses elevated, subway and surface routes. It seemed again to move with remarkable ease, at least off hours. Its "El," where most lines converge, circles the old Loop and gives great views of downtown.
Chicago can't match New York for theater and arts but it has enough other attractions including good food and good shopping to keep most any visitor entertained for days.
Spending more time seeing America, my wife and I have decided, can be every bit as fascinating as travel abroad and usually more economical.