another note:
great tips about the transit system, although now i'm wondering if i'm heading out of town on LSD in the afternoon that it might be easier to park downtown (scary!)... are there any good, *safe* parking garages right downtown?

 

When I go downtown, we take my wifes car

There are a few garages under Millennium Park. Some info here. I've parked before in one of the three garages, the the Grant Park North Underground garage, but I'm sure the other two are just as good. You could probably find a well protected spot there. Parking there would make it super easy to get to LSD and head north!

 

Hahaha, my boyfriend and I were discussing this the other day. He just bought a new Civic SI last year (which he babys) and I'll be getting my Mini in the next couple of days. It'll be a coin toss to determine whose car we take downtown from now on... before we'd just take my old 99 Civic - now we've got much more to lose! Yikes!

 

trying to decide between cheap but nice hotel + free parking but figure out a way to commute into the city both in the evening and the next morning and then out of the city again on LSD

or..

expensive ok hotel + free/pay (valet?!!) parking but be downtown and save transportation/parking downtown fees and commuting headache.

thoughts?

Anbody know of a good, moderately/cheaply priced hotel near downtown that has self (and safe) parking?

my best bet so far:

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll...&from=f&shtl=1

 

Tough call o-ron!

My buddy who visited us in Chicago last week originally made a reservation at the House of Blues hotel via Expedia. A week before he arrived, he called the hotel to verify his reservation - turns out they couldn't fill it Expedia comped him by putting him up at the Renaissance Marriott on Wacker Drive and giving him a suite on the Club level (1 floor down from the top!). $400 room for $120 per night.

Out front under the entrance canopy was a Bentley. You could always slip the valet a bill and ask them to park it out front

BTW - the link doesn't work.

 

my bad on the link... (you'd think i'd remember how to send an expedia search url... since i work there... )

Basically I narrowed it down to a couple ~$125 rooms downtown + parking vs. ~$75 rooms + free parking in schaumburg

 

I think that you should spring for the $75.00 room in Schaumburg. You are flying that day, so you may be tired at the end of the day. There are many more places to drive without traffic in the burbs than in the city. Heck, your sendoff may go late into the night with all of us MINI people gathering In the morning you can have a nice breakfast and wait for the morning rush hour to be over before you start your trek down and out of town. I think that this may be a better idea for you.

Just my 2 cents.

blake

 

sounds like a good 2 cents

 

I'm in for a send off, as long as my car gets here by then...

 

There are some nice parking garages in the area for a send off photo.

 

yep! streets of woodfield top level...maybe even a night shot there..

 

If I still have my MINI around that time, I would like to join, as of now, it's for sale :(

 

I'd second this, and the hughways are too bad off peak, plus theres a whole bunch side options, I learnd my way around by just going the basic direction of the compass.

Plus metra can get you in the city pretty cheap, and I've seen a Maserati parked in one of their lots everyday for the last week without issue so I think you'll be pretty safe there.

 

I'm a little late to the game, but I'll drop my opinion.

You can get great deals in the City on Priceline. A couple of months ago, I got a room at the Hyatt Regency at Wacker and Michigan for $75/night (Moral of that story, take your keys out of your carry-on when you have to gate-check your bag on the plane). Being mid-week, you'll have no problem getting a deal.

I'd say that any parking garage downtown will be safe. A couple of garages that I frequent always have a Bentley Arnage, and another with a new F430. Those places aren't near any hotels, though. I'd be comfortable at the Millenium Park garage, and the last time I was there, it was only $15 for up to 24 hrs.

Driving into the City from Schaumburg at 6:00 will be tough, though. I did the exact same thing when I bought from Patrick. The "reverse commute" is usually worse than the regular commute direction. Its especially bad with the construction around the tollbooth. On the plus side, the first 30 miles of your car's life will have varied road and engine speed as you trudge through stop-and-go traffic.

But, overall, I'd still stay in the City. I don't know how late you like to stay out at night, but the Metra doesn't run all night long. And, the trains get pretty sparse late at night. Hanging around the train station for an hour or two isn't too much fun.

As for have-to-do's, the good stuff has already been mentioned. If you want to go all-out, actually park in the Hancock building. It has one of those cool spirally things, and you park inside the building, entering the garage on about the 5-6th floor. Crazy expensive, though, and the security guy goes through your car.

Getting out of town, though, I'm not sure you'd want to take LSD. You're going to Seattle, right, so you'll be taking 90 out of town? If you start downtown and take LSD north, you'll have to cut across some lousy streets over a great distance to get back to the expressway. If you want to take Lake Shore (and, you have to do it anyway), I'd recommend driving up, turning around, and coming back down. And, you have to tune the radio to an oldies/classic rock station (either 97.1, or 94.3). If either one of those stations plays the song Lake Shore Drive, while you're on Lake Shore Drive, that's just cool.

Finally, I'd be up for getting together that night with everybody. I just recently got my MINI, and I've got a hankering to meet the group.

 

I live right down the street from the Weiner's Circle (hotdog joint mentioned in an earlier post). It's on Clark just north of Wrightwood on the west side. The dawgs there are great, but the experience is what it is all about. Best time to go is after you've had a few drinks (or alot). My advice, if you choose to go there, is to be ready to talk some serious smack. They can really dish it out!! Traffic in Chi-town is shitty to say the least especially if you are coming in from the burbs. If possible, I do reccomend staying either Dowtown or even check out the Inn at Licoln Park (Diversey and Hampden-ish) or Days Inn at Lincoln Park (Just west of Clark on Diversey). You can take the #22 or 36 bus on Clark(don't drink and drive) down to the Clark/Division stop then walk east on division to State. Take a right on State(south) a few blocks and you are in a good bar area. Many places at your disposal. Send me a PM for more information.

Best wishes

Matt

 

any updates when you are going to be in town and picking up your MINI?

 

I fly in at 2:42pm at O'Hare *this* Wednesday (May 24).

I'll be with the dealer for a good part of the day - probably the rest of the afternoon / early evening. I'll be staying at a hotel nearby in Schaumburg, so i'd be happy to have a meet up somewhere near there (or even in the city?) that night. I don't have anything scheduled for that evening other than staring at my new MINI as much as possible. (i'm going to have to bring a roll of paper towels for the drool..)

What's a good time/place to meet up? Maybe we could all roll into Patrick MINI at 7pm?

I'll give you my cell number - just PM me.

Hope to see you all there!

 

7pm it is! Who was your MA?

 

If you guys decided to head into the city let me know, I would be up for some Lake Shore Drive riding...maybe weiner circle like someone else mentioned and then head south on the drive...

 

I'd be more than happy to follow whatever you guys would feel be an appropriate drive and/or place to eat.


my MA is John Guiliano

 

John is a great guy!!

 

Are you guys up with meeting at Patrick around 7pm then we can go to either Fuddruckers or Portillos for some food? Both places are down the street from Patrick so it's relatively close.

 

mmm that sounds good. I think I'm free Wed night so I can stop by too.

 

I will be there. I am thinking Portillos because Fuddruckers can't touch it! Also Portillos has a big lot that is un-used in the evening hours and we will all be able to park next to each other. My car needs an oil change so I will see if I can schedule it for Wed.

 

It may seem a bit stodgy, but what about visiting the Art Institute? In addition to being one of the greatest art museums in the world, it would be a great place to start a visit to downtown. The Grant Park North undground parking garage is very nice (don't take the ramps too fast), and easy to access.

If you're going to visit Chicago and actually want to see something, I'd park the car and either take cabs or the L.