Taking the Kids: Visiting Chicago this fall

No ketchup allowed! “Chicagoans take their hot dog toppings seriously: mustard, onions and tomato, neon green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle and celery salt are must haves. Make sure it’s on a poppy seed bun, but don’t you dare mention ketchup,” said the signage at the interactive and complimentary SKYDECK Museum at Willis Tower, designed to enhance a visit to the famous Skydeck and Ledge on the 103rd floor.

I loved the kids’ area of the Chicago History Museum where children are encouraged to see if they can guess different Chicago smells, including hot dogs at Wrigley Field (more than a million sold a season).

And at the Museum of Ice Cream, with more than 14 interactive activities and all the free ice cream you can eat, try the hot dog flavor, complete with bun, mustard and relish. “It was my favorite,” said Graham Avsel, 11, here with his grandparents and younger brother. “It was super gross and super fun to try,” he said.

All eyes were on Chicago this past week as 50,000 people, including thousands of journalists from around the world and protesters from around the country, arrived for the Democratic National Convention.

But Chicago is a great bet for a fall getaway when the convention hoopla and crowds are gone. In fact, AAA singles out Chicago as a top 10 domestic Labor Day destination along with Orlando, New York, Boston, Las Vegas, Denver and San Francisco. Overall domestic travel over Labor Day weekend is up 9 percent compared to last year, while the cost to travel domestically is down 2 percent, AAA reports. Trip Canvas is a great free resource from AAA.

It's a no-brainer why Chicago makes the list – the museums, the sports teams, the parks, the food scene, Navy Pier with its restaurants, shops, fireworks, Ferris wheel and Children’s Museum with Chicago-centric exhibits. (The First Ferris wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.)

Fun fact: The Windy City doesn’t refer to the wind coming off Lake Michigan. It refers to the long-winded city boosters who came to Congress to convince legislators to hold the Exposition in Chicago just 22 years after the devastating Great Chicago Fire. “Chicago is a city of windbags,” one New York journalist reportedly wrote, and the moniker stuck.

"City on Fire” is a terrific exhibit at the Chicago History Museum, a chance to learn what life was like before, during and after the Great Chicago Fire.

Chicago is home to world-famous museums, including The Field Museum (home to Sue, the largest T-Rex in the world ), the Art Institute of Chicago with its collection of impressionist art (free admission for kids under 14 and many family programs), the Shedd Aquarium (the third largest in the Western Hemisphere!), and The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. (The Blue Paradox immersive exhibit explores the pervasiveness of plastic pollution and how we can address it.)

(If you are planning to take in some of Chicago’s major museums and attractions, check out CityPASS, which gets you deeply discounted admission.)

But this is a city that is home to many quirky and smaller museums, including the Museum of Ice Cream (all the ice cream you can eat and 14 interactive stations).

The Chicago History Museum also has a timely exhibit right now “Designing for Change,” showcasing how Chicago activists in the’60s and’70s used design to amplify their visions and fight for social change, whether for civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights and more.

The International Museum of Surgical Science, North America’s’ only museum devoted to surgery and the history of medicine, the National Museum of Mexican Art, one of the largest Mexican art collections in the country; the American Writers Museum, which explores the influence of American writers in our history, identity and culture (check out the mural depicting 42 squirrels reading books that represent significant milestones in American children’s literature), the Bronzeville African American Children’s Museum. (The Bronzeville neighborhood is where Blacks settled in Chicago after moving from the segregated South for better opportunities up North. The Bronzeville African American Children’s Museum is the first African-American children’s museum in the country. Check out the list of Chicago free museum days.)

Check out “100 Things to Do in Chicago Before You Die” by Molly Page (Search for street art in the Pilsen neighborhood with a free tour from Chicago Greeter whose walks can cater to your interest. Another fun bet is “Amazing Chicago” by David Anthony Witter. (Abe “Fluky” Drexler was the first to add onions, pickles, relish and tomato to his dogs in 1929, turning a hot dog into a “meal on a bun,” as the Great Depression made money scarce.)

Let’s not forget the Windy City is dog friendly. We even opted for a pooch-friendly Mercury Canine Cruise on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, complete with commentary on Chicago’s famous skyscrapers and history.

The dog and kid friendly Four Seasons Chicago, where we spent the weekend, has an adorable plush toy named Sammy Skyscraper that comes with an activity book. (Did you know the first skyscraper was built in Chicago?)

For families who can afford it, The Four Seasons is a great bet because of its location, just off the Magnificent Mile (the moniker for a stretch of Michigan Avenue. The hotel has a large indoor heated pool and special Kid’s Club 3226 with games and toys. I love that instead of just room service, there is an on-cal l ice cream cart for sundaes in your room. You can also find the In-Room Gamer Menu, including virtual-reality glasses, consoles and Nintendo Switches. And the spa is a welcome respite after a day of sightseeing and wrangling with the kids.

Another good kid- and dog-friendly bet is the Royal Sonesta Hotel along the Chicago River, walking distance to many top attractions. (Use the code SAVEMORE and save up to 30 percent when you book two or more nights.) After an international flight, we were glad to simply grab a drink at the hotel’s Hoyt’s Chicago bar when we arrived, catching the end of a Chicago Cubs game on the big-screen TV.

“Sometimes we do educational things and sometimes just fun things like eating too much ice cream,” said one grandmother with her two grandkids at the Museum of Ice Cream. “I love these special days.”

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)