$\"Northwestern$ <\/strong><\/strong>
Northwestern Campus shot by Vanessa Quirk<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/strong>As I munched on my Pad See Ew, the Hulk stared me down. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t alone either. A magnificent display of nostalgic kitsch (in the form of lunch boxes, license plates, and robots) that covered the walls observed my progress. It was enough to make you look around in wonder \u00e2\u20ac\u201c certainly to talk about during every lull in conversation – but not so much that it overwhelmed your sense that this was, indeed, a well-loved spot.<\/p>\n
$\"Inside$
Inside Cozy Noodle, Evanston<\/p><\/div>\n
Cozy Noodle, a restaurant packed with a diverse clientele that comes for its bright atmosphere and comfortable Thai fare, was one of those finds that makes you feel like a local, fills you up with good food and offers an experience you couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get anywhere else \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the kind of stuff you live for when traveling. But, it definitely wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in my guidebook, and unless you knew its name, it would have been impossible to find online.<\/p>\n
Evanston, a college town an hour north of Chicago, has tons of fabulous restaurants (like Cozy Noodle), boutiques, and cultural sites that are completely under the radar of most tourists – which is a shame, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only town I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever been to that manages to mesh a collegiate, cultural atmosphere with truly family-oriented, friendly establishments.<\/p>\n
$\"Hotel$
Hotel Orrington, Evanston<\/p><\/div>\n
Evanston\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s restaurant and caf\u00c3\u00a9 scene caters to all types, and it should be no surprise that Evanston eateries made up about half of North Shore Magazine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s October round-up of great places to eat in northern Chicago. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a coffee fiend, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Peet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Coffee & Tea or The Brothers K; if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a tea geek, savor the loose leaf goodness at Argo Tea. Should your appetite demand something heartier, Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop (the Hyde Park location is a favorite of Barrack Obama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s) will fill you up with cheesy, Cajun goodness in no time.<\/p>\n
For shopping, Evanston has major department stores, but it also has a few small boutiques that are definitely worth your while. For the environmentally and price conscious shopper, Crossroads Trading Company is a brilliant shop that sells lightly used and recycled clothing at great prices.<\/p>\n
Northwestern University has provided the backdrop for Evanston \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and contributed greatly to its continued popularity – since 1850 (if the University is your main point of attraction, check out Hotel Orrington, a four star hotel half a block away). A walk on campus gives you beautiful views of Lake Michigan and provides ample beach front when the weather turns warmer, but it also offers beautiful architecture and many cultural exhibits.<\/p>\n
Of course, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re an architecture buff, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one place you absolutely should not miss.<\/p>\n
Click “Next page” to read more on the Chicago suburb that inspired one of architecture’s greats<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Oak Park: Meet the American Masters<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
$\"Interior$ <\/strong><\/strong>
Interior Image of Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple in Oak Park, IL<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
Far more self-consciously a tourist attraction than Evanston, the western suburb of Oak Park nevertheless deserves your attention as an American gem. Both Francis Lloyd Wright and Ernest Hemingway called Oak Park their homes at some point in their lives, and the town has done its utmost to preserve the historical artifacts on its soil.<\/p>\n
To truly appreciate a Francis Lloyd Wright home, you have to experience how it coexists with nature \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a perspective you just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t garner in a city. And only in Oak Park can you find the building that Wright called his own home \u00e2\u20ac\u201c complete with a willow tree that grows through the walls.<\/p>\n
The town is a veritable treasure trove of Prairie School Architecture that you can experience via a self-guided or rickshaw tour. Not only will these tours take you to Wright\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s famous constructions, they will also guide you to Hemingway\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthplace.<\/p>\n
Okey-Skokie<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
$\"Sculptures$ <\/strong><\/strong>
Sculptures from Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
Perhaps more known for its silent film and gangster past, Skokie \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a northern suburb just west of Evanston – has emerged in the last few years as a cultural spot where you can find great food and art.<\/p>\n
Top on your list should be to visit Skokie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Farmer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Market. Running every Sunday from June to October for more that thirty years, the Skokie Farmer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Market offers cheeses, baked goods, and freshly picked fruit and veg from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
After satisfying your yen for fresh and delicious foods, walk off the calories with a stroll through Skokie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s delightful and free Sculpture Park or explore one of the many nearby art galleries. Fill in the Blank Gallery<\/a>, which technically resides in Chicago’s North Side Ravenswood neighborhood (easily accessible to Skokie and Evanston residents), you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to experience art, film, and music that transcends the provincial borders you may expect of small town suburbia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The intrepid travel writer is always looking for the next undiscovered, unknown, and \u00e2\u20ac\u201cmost importantly- unwritten about location. And while the jungles of South America or the deserts of Africa are likely to come to mind, the greatest unknown destination of our time is closer than we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to admit. Its existence has troubled academics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[803,800,798,799,802,801,804],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}