Things You Must See In Chicago

In 2010 we made a decision to take a road trip and experience the culture and attractions which have rendered Chicago famous. We'd never been there before, but we were determined to check out as much of the Chicago tourist attractions as we could to ensure that everyone saw something they found interesting. This wasn’t destined to be a simple trip since our numbers included anything from a sports enthusiast to a serious academic.

We started our drive around Chicago at the Shedd Aquarium. This turned into a fascinating experience due to the size of the location. You can’t help but be overwhelmed by the aquarium as well as the variety of animals which it houses. Apparently the Shedd Aquarium is really the largest indoor marine mammal habitat on the planet.

Even if this was just one of the leading Chicago tourist attractions we were going to see, we spent quite a while here. It couldn’t be helped. After all, there are more than 32,000 animals housed here, and they have a 3-million gallon saltwater oceanarium. You could possibly easily spend your entire day observing the octopi, whales, dolphins, exotic fish, and everything else. But there is more to discover within this city, so we eventually left.

Our next stop was at the famous Wrigley Field. This really is essentially the most recognizable stadiums in all of baseball, and even though none amongst us were really big Cubs fans, we decided it would be worth visiting a game. There are tons of die-hard fans at the games, but we still listed it as one of the greatest Chicago tourist attractions that we wanted to visit. The overall game was enjoyable, but the atmosphere at the stadium was even better.

Eventually we made our approach to the Willis Tower Skydeck. This was formerly called the Sears Tower, and it has been essentially the most famous Chicago tourist attractions for decades. This tower really should be seen to be believed. It stands 1,353 feet high, which makes it the tallest building in the western hemisphere and on a clear day you can view for 40 to 50 miles within the Skydeck.

We stayed around the Willis Tower Skydeck for enough time to observe the sunset before we left. Seeing the sun go lower over the Chicago skyline from this high up is a thing that you will always remember. After we finally left the tower, though, we were treated to one more ride on the elevators which could almost be considered a tourist attraction in their own right since they travel at nearly 1,600 feet per minute.

We made a decision to make the Field Museum the last of our Chicago tourist attractions. This ended up being a remarkably interesting stop that was both cultural and educational. The Field Museum has over 26 million artifacts which cover everything from dinosaurs to ancient Egypt to underground adventures. We saw SUE, probably the most complete and best preserved T. Rex fossil yet discovered, and 23 different mummies.

By the time we left Chicago we felt like we'd seen and experienced a lot of different attractions. Many of us were hoping to learn something new and some just wanted the experience of a baseball game. It took some planning to see all these Chicago tourist attractions, but when we left we were all glad that we went.

If you happen to be in the windy city make sure you check out the many things to do in Chicago. There is a lengthy list of attractions to visit. The most popular include the Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and the Shedd Aquaruium. Don't miss out when you are visiting attractions in Chicago.