Two Recommendations for a Visit to Oak Park, Illinois

Today I have a guest post from Amanda, one half the blogging duo at Married with Miles.

Chances are, with the large corporations and the local convention business, if you travel for work, you will have opportunity to spend some time in Chicago. It’s also a great city to visit with your family.

We recommend a day trip to Chicago’s neighbor to the near west, Oak Park, Illinois. Many visitors find themselves in Oak Park to explore the Frank Lloyd Wright sites of his home and studio or Unity Temple.  Each of these are early examples of Wright’s work, but essential for the Wright tourist.

However, there’s more to Oak Park than these anchor sites and it also happens to be where Married with Miles calls home.

The main attractions for most of the tourists we see in our city are the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio and his Unity Temple. Wright’s philosophy on architecture seems very relevant to many people now concerned with the environment and merging design with the natural world. I also recommend the book Loving Frank for background on him and a sensational true story set in this very town.

But what else is there to do to make this side trip from exciting Chicago worthwhile?

First, getting here from downtown Chicago is a breeze via either the blue line or the green line. The best way to get to the heart of Oak Park, Lake Street, and the Wright sites, is via the Green Line. Stop at either Oak Park Avenue or Harlem. Oak Park’s business and shopping districts will be along the way to the Oak Park Visitor’s Bureau or to the Home/Studio itself to buy tickets.

The best place to stop to eat is our new Marion Street Cheese Market for artisanal cheeses and meats, a great beer list, and a full menu of small plates with big taste. Take a seat at the bar for some good conversation and enjoy the beautifully designed restaurant space where every detail of the (green, environmentally-concerned) design, down to the plates and the tiles on the floor is impeccably chosen.

Along Marion Street are some boutiques for browsing and unique gift-buying from several locally owned boutiques (mostly home and gift-oriented). If you walk all the way east to Oak Park Avenue, you’ll find another cluster of great shops: Magic Tree Children’s Bookstore, Gepetto’s Toy Box full of imported, handcrafted toys, and Fly Bird for more unique design items for your home. You won’t find a Restoration Hardware or a Pottery Barn, but instead a growing locally-owned economy with laid-back shopping experience.

If you found yourself in Oak Park as a side trip to enjoy more history and architecture, note that it’s also the birthplace of Earnest Hemingway and you can also visit his childhood home.  We also have a beautiful main library that’s a treat to you if you’re interested in public space or books.

This is also a city of parks and on the corner of Lake and Oak Park is Scoville Park, a great place to relax in the outdoors before heading back to the bustle of Chicago.

Rob and Amanda stay connected despite work travel through their blog, Married, with Miles.  It allows them to see more of the world together and write about it.

Photo credits:  amanda.rea.also @flickr (Unity Temple) (Cheese Market) – all photos used with permission