A Local's Guide to Chicago

I first saw Rand McNally's fabMAP in the Garden District Book Store in New Orleans (great book store, if you happen to visit New Orleans). It is a waterproof, tear-proof map that Rand McNally makes for various cities, and sells for $5.95. It covered a small area of New Orleans, so I decided not to get it. Now the other day I am in my local camera store, and I see a bin of cloth lens cleaners, selling for $5.95 each. Suddenly the cloth fabMAP doesn't seem so expensive! It can easily be folded up and stuffed into your pocket, purse or camera bag. When I got mine, it said it was machine washable, microfiber cloth, that can even be used to clean your glasses. Imagine a cloth that you can use to clean yo ur eye glasses (or your camera lens) that also has a map of downtown Chicago (or Las Vegas Strip, Midtown Manhattan Theatre District, Washington D.C. Mall, Waikiki, Hollywood-Beverly Hills, San Francisco Golden Gate Park-Haight Ashbury, New Orleans French Quarter, Miami's South...

Traffic in Chicago can sometimes be a challenge, to say the least. For that reason, taking public transportation can often be the best route. Starting from downtown, if you wanted to go to either a White Sox game or a Cubs game, simply get on the CTA Red Line. For a Sox game, take it south to the Sox -35 th exit for US Cellular Field (some have shortened the name to the Cell, and the old timers continue to call it Comiskey Park). As you exit the train station, US Cellular Field is a couple blocks west on 35 th Street (you can't miss it). For a Cubs game, take it north to Addison. The Cubs play at Wrigley Field, which is at Clark and Addison. You'll see the field from the el platform as you get off the train. Google has teamed with the CTA to help plan your trip. Go here to try it out. I did, and it took a little bit of playing to get it to work. If you know where you are going, I find the CTA's website a little easier to navigate.