Visiting Chicago

When people think of a vacation, they either think to visit the west coast or the east coast of the United States.  What these student travel groups are forgetting is that the middle of the nation is just as interesting, especially when you choose to visit Chicago.  The City of Chicago, in the State of Illinois is an excellent travel destination for educational tours.  The city has a rich, as well as diverse, cultural background.  Although the culture is surely something to experience, there are fun attractions that your tour group will definitely want to check out as well.  

Chicago is a pretty big place, but there is a fun and easy way to see it all at once--1,000 feet above the streets, in the John Hancock Observatory or at the Sears Tower Skydeck. These two attractions will give you a birds-eye view of the city as well as enabling you to view the modern architecture of the surrounding buildings.  With the city's many skyscrapers being recently redesigned and upgraded, this is a great way for any Chicago student travel group to experience it all firsthand.  

When I was a small child, I was obsessed with two things: whales and space (I blame Star Trek IV for that), but thankfully Chicago was able to satisfy both of these very different areas.  The Alder Planetarium and Astronomy Museum is certainly something of value for all kinds of Chicago group tours.  This museum, which boasts 35,000 square feet worth of exhibits, also has some fun educational opportunities.  For instance in one of their programs, your students can look up into the Chicago night sky and then talk about the necessities for space colonization.   

Another fun thing to look into, which helped satisfy my youthful cravings for knowledge, is the Shedd Aquarium.  The aquarium, home to over 8,000 species of marine life, is the largest indoor aquarium in the world--and it's right here in the heartland of our nation.  Shedd Aquarium also hosts school field trips so this is a great place for Chicago educational tours.  For those of you who are hungry after either of these tantalizing activities, check out the Bubble Net cafeteria for on-the-go cuisine. Or for a more restful experience, be sure to visit the Soundings Cafe.    

 

By Christopher Graham