Day 2 of the Country Inns and Suites 1K Adventure started off with a breakfast at the CIS Madison- West before we listened to our first video clue of the day (you can watch it here) and hit the road. Little did I know, Madison, WI is the only US capital city that is located on an isthmus and it was our goal to visit both Lake Mendota and Monona before we could get our next Suite Stop clue. We stopped at a park on the shore of Lake Mendota and let the kids run off some energy. While I was taking in the view from the shore, a family of ducks came by and paid me a visit. I called my ducklings over to visit with the mallard’s ducklings and we all had an enjoyable morning at Lake Mendota.
After a good energy burning session, we headed over to the shore of Lake Monona where Paul and I swooned over the picture perfect view of downtown Madison. The kids were less impressed with the view and more impressed with a dead fish that had washed up on shore. Hey, whatever floats your boat, right?
Before we left Madison, we stopped at Michael’s Frozen Custard for some chocolate frozen custard cones and cheese curds. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their very first frozen custard experience and I loved the cheese curds. If you haven’t had the chance to try these regional treats, be sure to add them to your menu the next time you are in the area!
Our second clue (here) took us to Milwaukee, specifically the North Point Lighthouse in Lake Park. I had always imagined Milwaukee to be a gritty, industrial, beer making town but today we got to see its incredible beauty. The neighborhood along the shore of Lake Michigan around the lighthouse could not have been more gorgeous. Our jaws dropped when we saw the tree lined streets dotted with some of the most beautiful homes we have ever seen. I think if I lived in that neighborhood I may be able to deal with those harsh Midwestern winters! Luckily today the chill was long gone and the weather was perfect. We arrived at the lighthouse at the same time as the Williams family and enjoyed exploring the park near the lighthouse with them. We found a forested trail that led us down the bluff and to the shores of Lake Michigan. The entire area could not have been more beautiful. We could have stayed in Milwaukee all day but our next clue (here) told us that the Windy City was waiting!
We were so excited when we got the clue telling us that we were heading to Cloud Gate in downtown Chicago. I had seen so many photos of this iconic mirrored bean and I was thrilled to be finally be able to see it for myself. We hopped in the car and headed on down the road full of energy and excitement. That energy quickly drained when we slammed directly into Chicago rush hour traffic. I live in Southern California so I am no stranger to the nightmare that is rush hour, but Chicago certainly can give Los Angeles a run for its money. It was awful. There was much more stopping than going, that’s for sure. What I found particularly demoralizing was the fact that there was no carpool lane which we had grown to rely on back home. So we sat and endured the tie up along with the rest of Northern Illinois. After what seemed like an eternity, we rounded a corner and the Chicago skyline came into view! We let out cheers as the energy came surging back and our spirits were once again soaring. We parked below Milennium Park and joined the masses. Evidently, every Monday there are free concerts in the park and half of Chicago had come out to enjoy the music.
We made our way through the crowd and over Cloud Gate. I screamed with joy. We had finally made it to that precious bean! We took our pictures and strolled around the park for a bit before deciding that we had to leave Chicago and make it to our final destination for the night, the Country Inn and Suites in Naperville. It was so hard to leave the city that we had spent so long trying to get to but we knew that if we wanted our kids in bed before midnight, it was what we had to do. Don’t worry Chicago, the Earnshaw’s will be back!
I hope this post has inspired you to take your own Road Trip Adventure. For more information on how to create your own trip to remember check out http://www.countryinns.com/1kcountry.
Want to follow us on the adventure as it happens? Be sure to follow @doubleadventure on Twitter and the hastag #CIS1K to see what all the families are up to every day of the Country Inns and Suites 1K!
Disclosure: A significant portion of the costs and resources for our family’s participation in the 1K Country Adventure was provided by Country Inns & Suites By Carlson.
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Sharlene Earnshaw (aka doubleadventure) is Blogger-in-chief for Trekaroo and the blogger behind Double the Adventure.
Travel with kids to: CA | CO | DC | FL | HI | IL | MA | NC | NY | PA | TN | TX | VA | WA
Museums across America are getting more and more kid-friendly. Many have special exhibits geared to the interests of kids with interactive hands on learning stations. If you’re looking for a special outing or some exceptional educational experiences, you’ve got to put these on your list of activities to hit up before the year ends.
Kid friendly Museum Exhibits in: San Francisco | Los Angeles | Seattle | Chicago | Dallas | New York City | Boston
In particular, these 10 kid-friendly museum exhibits really got us excited. If you can, try to get to some of these with your kids! These exhibits promise big fun, educational experiences, and a plethora of interactive exhibits.
Exploring Trees Inside and Out
This 2,500-square-foot exhibit is designed for kids ages 2 to 7 to better understand the significant role trees play in the environment and how they can be involved in preserving them. This exhibit engages all of your child’s senses. They’ll be happy as an cockatoo crawling, smelling, listening, and pretending. website
Catch this exhibit at:
California Science Center, Los Angeles, California – May 28th to September 6th,2010.
Reviews of California Science Center with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotel in Los Angeles
Chicago Children’s Museum from October 2nd to January 9th, 2011.
Reviews of the Chicago Children’s Museum with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in Chicago
Photo by: Arbor Day Foundation
Chomp 2! Return of the Carnivorous Plants
What kid can resist the excitement of coming face to face with meat-eating plants like the statuesque white trumpets of the American Southeast, the sinister pitcher plants of Borneo and the glistening sundews of South Africa. This swampy paradise is sure to delight your child. Do not get your fingers too close to these plants, little ones…. they bite! website
Catch this exhibit at:
Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco, CA – now till October 31, 2010
Reviews of the Conservatory of Flowers with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in San Francisco
Photo by: Conservatory of Flowers
Living in Space, about the International Space Station
This traveling exhibit provides an interactive experience where kids eat, sleep, work, and play in space. If you have a young child who loves anything to do with space, don’t miss this wonderful exhibit. website
Catch this Exhibit at:
Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, CA – May 29th to August 15th,2010
Reviews of the Bay Area Discovery Museum with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in San Francisco
Minnesota Children’s Museum, St. Paul, MN – Sept 4, 2010 through Jan 2, 2011
Reviews of the Minnesota Children’s Museum with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in the Twin Cities
Photo by: Bay Area Discovery Museum
Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age
This brand new traveling exhibit will allow kids to explore the world of mammoths and mastodons through fossils, artifacts, engaging interactives, immersive media, and the story of the most complete and best-preserved mammoth ever found, the baby Lyuba. website
Catch this exhibit at:
The Field Museum, Chicago, IL – now till September 6th,2010
Reviews of Field Museum with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in Chicago
Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, NJ – October 16, 2010 to January 9, 2011
Reviews of Liberty Science Center with Kids
Photo by: Flickr/taygete05
Curious George saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H.A. Rey
Kids and adults all have fond feelings towards Curious George. In this wonderful exhibit, you’ll see original drawings and learn about how George actually saved his ‘parents’ from Nazi occupied Europe. Website
Catch this exhibit at:
Jewish Museum, New York City – now till till August 1st, 2010
Reviews of Jewish Museum with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in New York City
Photo by: The Jewish Museum
Bodies
The ‘Bodies’ exhibit provides a rare look into real human specimens, showing how amazing our human bodies are. For young children, it may be too much, but for your tween and teens, this exhibit is a must see. website
Check their website for where you can catch this exhibit. They are showing in many cities across America including Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Las Vegas, Tuscon, New York
Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in Atlanta | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in New York City | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in Dallas
Toys: the Inside Story
This fun exhibition literally breaks open the world of toys so that your child can discover the simple mechanisms commonly found in toys. Your budding toy designer can also create their own toy-like combination of gears, pulleys, linkages, cams, and circuits. Enjoy some free-form and open-ended toy design. Caution: get ready for massive toys dissection when you come back home! website
Children’s Museum of Manhattan, New York City – from May 29th till September 18th, 2010
Reviews of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in New York City
Photo by: John Douglas
Peter Rabbits Flower Village
Enjoy the flower houses at the Dallas Arboretum that bring alive the world of Beatrix Potter. This is the cutest little exhibition. Fans of Beatrix Potter should not miss this. website
Catch this exhibit at:
Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Dallas, TX – now till July 31st, 2010
Reviews of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens with Kids | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in Dallas
Photo by: Dallas Arboretum
Lizards and Snakes: Alive
Hate them or love thme, your kids will fascinated by the 60+ live lizards and snakes in re-created habitats. This exhibit introduces visitors to a diversity of legged and legless creatures and their remarkable adaptations. website
Catch this Exhibit at:
American Museum of Natural, New York City – now till September 2nd,2010
Reviews of the American Museum of Natural History | Kid-friendly Activities and Hotels in New York City
Photo by: Michael & Patricia Fogden
Headgear: the Natural History of Horn and Antlers
This multimedia exhibition provides an unusual in-depth look at horn and antler headgear dawned by some animals, providing a look at the evolutionary process of such animals. 3-D diorama and video presentations illustrate the use of horns and antlers in combat. website
Catch this exhibit at:
Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA – May 22nd, 2010 till January 2nd, 2011
Reviews of the Harvard Museum of Natural History with Kids | Kid-friendly activities and hotels in Boston
Full List of Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits:
- Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits in San Francisco, California
- Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits in Los Angeles, California
- Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits in Seattle, Washington
- Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits in Chicago, Illinois
- Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits in Dallas, Texas
- Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits in New York City
- Kid-friendly Museum Exhibits in Boston, Massachusetts
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LiLing Pang is a contributing author on Trekaroo – a reviews site dedicated to exploring and traveling with kids.
Travel with kids to: CA | CO | DC | FL | HI | IL | MA | NC | NY | PA | TN | TX | VA | WA
Chicago Skyline at Dusk
I’m so excited! I just can’t hide it!
Did you know that Illinois is now an orange state?!?! No, we’re not talking about politics here. Trekaroo is launching in Illinois and we’re turning it orange on our maps!
Why Illinois? Because our mission is to help parents explore and travel with kids everywhere and with 3M children living throughout Illinois, it’s got family fun around every corner. After lots of hard work and the help from dedicated Trekaroo moms and dads, we are now in Chicago and beyond.
So, what have we got?
- Over 400 activities that have been rated and tagged by parents like you
- List of 1000 plus hotels throughout the state of Illinois waiting to be rated by parents like you
- Coverage of the 5 major areas in Illinois: Chicagoland, Central Illinois, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, and Western Illinois
- All sorts of fun lists on best free attractions in Chicago area, free Chicago museum days, and more.
What location is next? Drop me an email and let me know where we should go. We’re thinking Seattle, DC and some of the hot winter ski spots in Colorado and Utah.
Special thanks to michipo, bridgets, asmpman, teammom, kat569, and momof3boys for their love of Illinois and sharing about their adventures with kids with the Trekaroo community. And of course, thanks to the Trekaroo team who works so hard on making everything happen.
See you in the Windy City,
Esther Lee (thelees3) – CEO
Chicago Resources:
- Fun in Chicago with Young Kids
- Family-friendly Tips from a Local Mom for Exploring Chicago
- Free and Cheap Entertainment in the Suburbs of Chicago
- Best FREE attractions in and around Chicago
- Free Museum Days in Chicago
- Places to cool off the Kiddos in the Chi-town Area by asmpman
- Kraft Great Kids Museum Passes in Chicago
- Saving Money on Chicago Kids Museums – Museum Adventure Pass
Trekaroo – a reviews site dedicated to exploring and traveling with kids.
Travel with kids to: CA | FL | HI | MA | NY | PA | TX | VA and now IL
Chicago moms and dads, Trekaroo is in your hood!
That’s right, our KidsMobile has pulled in for Trekaroo’s big launch in Illinois. Thanks to some super duper families who have been sharing about all the reasons that families love Chicago, we can all benefit from their road-tested tips and recommendations.
Trekaroo families have voted and this is their verdict for 2009:
Hot List of Best Places to take Kids in Chicago
Best Kid-friendly Hotels in Chicago
*****
Jumpin’ onboard the Trekaroo KidsMobile are some of the most travel savvy mid-west moms. Together, they’re letting us in on some of Chicago’s best kept secrets for families.
First up, Minnemom shares how to have Fun in Chicago with Young Kids. This is a mom extraordinaire who has traveled through big and small towns all over the midwest with her 4 kids. If you need advice about how to have a lifestyle of travel with a large family, she’s your go-to gal and you can follow her adventures on her fantastic blog: Travels With Children
Amie O’Shaughnessy of Ciao Bambino brings us some Family-friendly Tips from a Local Mom for Exploring Chicago. Ciao Bambino is a one of Trekaroo’s favorite partners because we share a common passion – inspiring families to travel. Ciao Bambino provides vetted reviews of the best accommodations when traveling with children of all ages around the world.
Free and Cheap Entertainment in the Suburbs of Chicago - sign me up! The bargain hunting mom behind Bargins Rock has no hesitation sharing her best finds in her home town of Chicago. She’s passionate about saving money and loves passing on good deals to her blog readers. If you like deals too, be sure to bookmark her blog.
Bridget Stern also has a list of the Best FREE attractions in and around Chicago. Bridget works with families day in day out capturing the most wonderful photos of children and families as a professional photographer. She is also an active mom who loves exploring with her daughter. To see great pics and read about their family’s adventures, hop on over to Bridget Stern’s blog.
Other Chicago Resources:
- Free Museum Days in Chicago
- Places to cool off the Kiddos in the Chi-town Area by asmpman
- Kraft Great Kids Museum Passes in Chicago
- Saving Money on Chicago Kids Museums – Museum Adventure Pass
Next stop, we’ll be heading to Seattle, Washington for another big launch the week of Halloween.
The Trekaroo KidsMobile is a blog carnival with a twist. It’s designed to provide a unique opportunity for mom and dad bloggers to be featured on Trekaroo while
1) expressing their unique point of view
2) getting a web of link exchanges.
Join us for one of our next stopovers.
*****
LiLing Pang is a contributing author on Trekaroo – a reviews site dedicated to exploring and traveling with kids.
Travel with kids to: CA | FL | HI | MA | NY | PA | TX | VA and now IL
My first experience in Chicago involved a car rental, a blizzard, and the loss of my driver side windshield wiper. Since then, I’ve been to Chicago multiple times with the family and with each new experience, I always wish that I had more time to stay and play.
Chicago is filled with an endless number of fabulous attractions both in the heart of the city as well as into the rest of Chicagoland. Here’s Trekaroo’s hot list of places to take kids in Chicago.
Baby Beluga at the Shedd Aquarium. Photo Credit: Flickr/the-o
#1 Place to take Kids in Chicago – Shedd Aquarium
The Shedd Aquarium is not only the most popular places to take kids in Chicago, but also the top rated place to see animals. “They offer live shows with shark feeding, dolphin behavior and have the most beautiful beluga whales, the canaries of the sea!”
Best Museum for Kids under 3 – Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
This museum is made for kids to learn about nature. They can hold a butterfly in the Butterly Haven, learn about having a eco-friendly lifestyle in the Extreme Green House, make their own dams and waterways in the Riverworks waterplay area and more.
Sue the T-rex at the Field Museum. Credit: Flickr/cjmaru
Best Museum for Kids – The Field Museum
The Field Museum is home to Sue, the largest T-Rex fossil yet. If your kids don’t know Sue yet, be sure to read The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue by Jan Wahl for kids ages 4-8. “This museum is big, and some areas are great for kids, most like the dinosaurs, mummies, taxidermy animals, bugs, and miniature house and gems.” The rest of the museum is probably better for teenagers and adults.
Doll Heaven – American Girl Place
Literally. Where else can your little girl treat her favorite doll to clothes shopping, a hair treatment (wash and style), visit the Doll Doctor for any chronic issues and visit their homes (ie. Kirsten’s log cabin or Samantha Victorian’s parlor). If your daughter loves her American Girl, you can’t miss this spot.
Best View in Chicago – Willis Tower Skydeck (formerly the Sears Tower)
103 floors up, your kids can enjoy panoramic views of the Windy City from the Willis Tower. The Ledge is such a fun and unique experience for kids of all ages. Hear is first hand from some of the kids who were there this past summer.
Fountain fun at Millennium Park. Credit: Flickr/mpwillis
Best outdoor attraction in Chicago – Millennium Park
“Here’s a place downtown that doesn’t cost anything to get into, a place where the kidlets can run around in open spaces and the older folks can rest their weary feet, a place where contentment prevails. Younger children adore the two towering rectangular fountains in the southeast corner of Millennium Park. These fountains stand 50 feet tall, spaced far enough apart on a black granite slab to create a reflecting pool between them, and the water cascades down their sides with varying intensity.” The other favorite hotspot is the Bean. Don’t forget your camera.
Which Hotels came up at the top? Best Kid-friendly Hotels in Chicago
Other Resources for Chicago:
- Fun in Chicago with Young Kids
- Family-friendly Tips from a Local Mom for Exploring Chicago
- Free and Cheap Entertainment in the Suburbs of Chicago
- Best FREE attractions in and around Chicago
- Free Museum Days in Chicago
- Places to cool off the Kiddos in the Chi-town Area by asmpman
- Kraft Great Kids Museum Passes in Chicago
- Saving Money on Chicago Kids Museums – Museum Adventure Pass
Esther Lee is a contributing author on Trekaroo – a reviews site dedicated to exploring and traveling with kids.
Travel with kids to: CA | FL | HI | MA | NY | PA | TX | VA and now IL
