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

Post from: Blisstree

Two Recommendations for a Visit to Oak Park, Illinois

A very good thing.

One of our fundamental needs as people is to be known for who we really are. Whether we are good, bad, or most likely some combination of the two, we desperately long to be “naked” in the eyes of another. We want to stand before someone, say, “This is the real me,” and have them reply, “Yeah, I know. Now lets get on with it.”

An important element of this deep knowing is knowing a person’s past. Our past does not define our present, but it certainly shapes it. Whether that past is a source of guidance or something against which to rebel, where one comes from holds keys to where one is going.

But this knowing must be something that surpasses an academic understanding. You can’t know a person in this deep way by watching their biography on the History Channel. That knowledge comes only from proximity, time, and shared experiences.

Kerri hates the Ohio State Buckeyes. If you know her, this will not surprise you. The copious orange and blue in her wardrobe are clues to her Illini fan status. And if the colors don’t give it away, the fact that each of those shirts, sweats and hoodies is emblazoned with block print “ILLINI” the it, ought to be enough for anyone to get it.

But Kerri’s hatred toward the Buckeyes and her love for the Fighting Illini run deeper that the obvious causes. These are facts not completely explained by her years growing up near Champaign, Illinois. Though not obvious, I know why. I know with a fair degree of detail exactly how, when, where and why this all came to be. I wasn’t there when it began, but I was there not long after and for most of the developments since that beginning. We’ve shared the stories, and I know them as well as or better than I know some of my own memories.

And that is one of the things that makes a marriage awesome. Between us, Kerri and I know a great many things about the other, things that no one else knows, things we scarcely know ourselves. There a moments when we can anticipate the other’s reaction or response. Sometime that only means Kerri knows the punchline before I utter it for the umpteenth time. Other times, however, it means much more.

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Post from: Blisstree

Blast from the Past