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Showing posts from December, 2007

Maps for sale in Chicago

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OK, I'm a map junkie.  Whenever I travel somewhere, I need to go out and find a map of the city or area.  As I'm reading the guide books about the city, I like to lay out the map and get a feel for the surrounding area.  Sure, the little maps in the guide books will do in a pinch.  But for me, there's nothing better than laying out a full size map to get a big picture of the area I'm reading about (or ready to travel to). There used to be a bricks and mortar Savvy Traveler on Michigan Avenue, but they are only online now.  I'm sure they still have the great selection they had at the store, but sometimes you like to walk into an actual store and check out the goods.  Rand McNally used to have a beautiful store on Michigan Avenue (444 N Michigan) as well, but that has since closed. The various Barnes and Noble stores have a respectable map section.  If you're looking for good travel books and maps, try these folks out before they go the way of Bord...
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My favorite quiet places in Chicago

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Chicago is a big city, and it can be hard to find a quiet place to sit and read, think, or just do nothing without people crowding around you making noise. Here are my three favorite places in the city for a little escape. 1. The 9th flo or of the Harold Washington Public Library . This floor contains the Winter Garden, which can be rented out for social functions. When it's not being used, it's a great place to sneak away and read a book. Its openness and natural lighting from the glass atrium are a section of the library not everyone knows about. Head on up here sometime and tell me if it's not a great place to get away with a book for a while. 2. The Crystal Garden Ballroom at Navy Pier. This is another open space with natural lighting. It is run as a restaurant by the Stefani Signature Restaurant Group, but when it's not hosting an event, it's a nice place to sit in the one acre botanical garden and enjoy a good book, or just sit and unwind. 3. Olive Park, jus...
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Chicago Traffic

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I've tried different sites, but keep coming back to the GCM Travel website (Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor). If you live in Chicago, click on My Travel and put in the expressways that you commonly travel. It uses cookies, so the next time you pull up the site, you can click on Reports, then Travel Times and it will show you the current travel time (Travel Time), the average historical travel time (Average Travel Time), distance and speed between various points. And if you click on the hyperlink for Average Travel Time, it will pull up a graph showing peak travel times during the day. This can be very helpful: leaving an hour before or after the peak can make a world of difference for your commute time! Update June 12, 2008 Ok , I have to add to this post. I've been trying out the traffic.com website lately and like one of the features. You put in your A (starting point) and B (destination) addresses, and it will show you the most direct route, with an estimated time of arri...
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