By Shelly Ridenour

The hunter, weary from hacking through the road-rage safari that is Lake Shore Drive, scans the familiar terrain of the concrete jungle. Towering above and blocking out all traces of sunlight  are not trees but the massive monoliths he has come to know as “skyscrapers.” The natives scurry along, careful never to make eye contact lest they are accosted–not for their scalps, but for spare change. It is a sensory overload: the sound of honking cabs, the smell of bus exhaust, the occasional sight of a disarmingly domesticated pigeon. From tiny speakers hanging above the store windows of Marshall Field’s, the call of the wild blares forth; today it’s Toni Braxton, mooning over a broken heart. Donning his bravest gameface, our modern Hemingway takes a deep breath and reinforces his resolve. Today’s holy grail: to bag a restaurant wait time of less than thirty minutes.

Just another day in the Chicago “wilderness.”

The term may seem about as relevant as “jumbo shrimp,” but there actually is such a thing—at least according to the Chicago Wilderness consortium. Recently, the granola league came up with what it calls the Twelve Natural Wonders of the Chicago Wilderness. No, we’re not talking Sears, Hancock, Monadnock, et al; this is a serious collection of classic Midwest landscape–prairies, savannas and woodlands. Since we love dirt and plants as much as the next person, we couldn’t resist the temptation to check out this list. We even came up with some wonders of our own.

So, whether you’re itching to get back to nature or whether the very thought of purple loosestrife makes you itch; whether you’d rather hike a trail or a sidewalk; whether you’re into the song of the dunes or some honest-to-God Chicago blues, we’ve got the perfect summer day escapes—a combination of Chicago’s twelve natural wonders and their dozen man-made, citified parallels. Read the rest of this entry »

By Thomas Washington

A City of Chicago truck pulled to a squeaky halt behind our apartment building with a crew of lumberjacks perched in the back priming their chainsaws. They came to chop down a century-old elm tree that stood in the way of plans for a public housing site next door. I gathered something ominous was in store for the tree months earlier when men in hard helmets painted a red ring around its midsection, perhaps some sort of death code among city planners. Days later they followed up by spraying fluorescent orange stripes along the property. It’s never a good sign when you see these guys in your neighborhood. Read the rest of this entry »

By Annabelle Villanueva

Honking at carriages on Michigan Avenue and wagering at off-track betting parlors are the closest most city folk come to bonding with horses. Yet the summer’s filled with options for equine fanciers in the great outdoors, especially if they’re game for trekking past the 312/773 area codes to one of several stables and trail rides listed in the Yellow Pages. Another notable alternative is at the Oak Brook Polo Grounds (31st Street, a quarter-mile west of York Road, Oakbrook, 630.990.2394), where weekly national and international polo tournaments are contested on Sundays from June 8 to September 14; admission is $8 and kids get in free. This year’s highlights include the June 22 and 29 “Diamond Jubilee Cup” celebrating the Oak Brook Polo Club’s 75th year, and the season’s international opener between Jamaica and the USA .(“It’s always fun when the Jamaicans come to town,” says polo director Karen Martino.) Spectators whipped up in a polo frenzy can head to the Naperville Polo Club (23700 119th Street, Plainfield, 815.436.9500) for individual lessons.

As for Chicago proper, the only riding stable within city limits is Old Town’s The Noble Horse (1410 North Orleans, 773.266.7878), homebase for those carriage horses trotting around downtown. Plus, the stable offers lessons in Western saddle riding, English-style dressage and jumping in beginner to advanced levels, as well as boarding for horse owners. Private lessons start at $25 per half-hour and group lessons cost $24 an hour, but children may join a special student work program, where they toil in the stables in exchange for $4.25 -per-hour wages that go toward riding lessons. The Noble Horse also periodically rotates sending its horses out to Old Triumph Ranch in Will County, which offers a bed-and-breakfast and guest house packages with trail and hay rides. Read the rest of this entry »

By  Sam Weller

Evenings in Hiawatha Park have a rhythm all their own. The setting sun blankets the area in a warm ember-glow that belies the early May chill. The crowd of bocce-ball regulars arrive from the surrounding neighborhood and adjacent ‘burbs, piling out of cars and appearing from quiet side streets, cowboys approaching a gunfight. Even greater in numbers are the spectators who gather here each evening from roughly 7 to 10pm. Some nights, it is said, the games roll on much later.

“You need to come out on a warmer night,” enthuses one gentleman in a throaty Italian dialect. “There’ll be fifty or sixty people here just to watch!” The park itself, at 8029 West Forest Preserve Avenue, is small and quiet, nestled cozily into a Northwest Side pocket where time has stood completely still in the very best way. You get the vibe that only after the dishes have been washed is it time to play bocce. Read the rest of this entry »

Before you can say “cold front” it’ll be September and you’ll be wishing you hadn’t spent all summer watching reruns on TV. There’s a whole world around Chicago, and for three months, it’s not as icy, bitter and unforgiving as a jilted lover. The sun glistens of the concrete, steel and glass menagerie we call home. But since it’s such a pain to find out what’s going on, and to plan things, NewCity did the work. From hot air balloons to Binti the ape who save lives, we tell you where to go to make you want to sing like Brian Adams about the Summer of ’97. Read the rest of this entry »

For summer’s first al fresco meal you may have carefully chosen the thickest peanut butter, the sweetest jelly, the freshest bread and the coldest beer. But if you haven’t put as much thought into the site of your outing, you may find yourself left with little more than sticky fingers, a sore butt, and a headache from all that squinting. Luckily, as a public service for Chicago’s picnickers, the Newcity investigative team scoured the metropolis for the most appealing spots to roll out your red-and-white checks and pull up an Igloo. Read the rest of this entry »

Although there’s no guarantee that some hot-shot kid on a jet-ski won’t cut you off, a lazy sojourn on the lake in a sailboat or a windsurfer is a sure way to unwind from commuter stress and city fever. Because on the lake, no one can hear you scream (which is fine if you are wearing the right floatation device.) A leisurely couple of hours out on the lake offers a lesson in re-evaluating the city, often from a perspective that too few people take advantage of, far away from the hustle and bustle, and with a clear view of the skyline that makes the sometimes overwhelming bigness of it all seem small again. For the land-lubbing urbanite there is a bevy of options for water sports activities, from renting jet-skis, catamarans and sailboats to scuba gear to plumb the murky bottom for tires, treasure and “missing” teamster officials. The following is just a partial list of the many options for water-sports summer fun. Read the rest of this entry »

The only real cure for the city is to get out of the city. Luckily for Chicagoans, there are literally thousands of camping opportunities, many of them 100 miles or less from that little patch of green in your front yard you call nature. Within the tri-state area (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan)a number of parks and preserves offer everything from hang gliding to hiking that will take you far enough to forget the office, but close enough to still be in cellular range. The following is a mere sampling of what is available to the weekend camper. Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah, I’m an addict. I’ve traveled countless miles for my drug, risked death, blown off deadlines, screwed up relationships, wasted buckets of money and hung out with people even I consider unsavory. After a couple days without it, the low-grade D.T.’s hit me: edgy disposition, crawling skin, and the feeling that my muscles have slipped their tenuous connection to the skeleton.

I’m an endorphin junkie and as dependencies go, it works out well; the body has an endless supply, and when you play it right, the high feels like a junior-varsity version of ecstasy: mild euphoria, tingling on your skin, a paradoxical amalgam of exhaustion and world-beating verve. Many ways exist to get that rush, from laughing uproariously to having sex, but my standby method remains a somewhat dirty word in the “alternative” community: sports. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a picture on my dresser of a nondescript dirt path, leading to an unidentifiable footbridge, which crosses a thin, nameless stream, then continues on toward a rising set of foothills and beyond. I don’t remember where the picture was taken, but that hasn’t mattered for a very long time. The snapshot’s there simply to remind me of a search that can only occur outdoors. The goal, when there is something that finite, is often as simple as physical exertion or discovering where certain paths lead. I also know people who believe that things such as sandstone outcroppings, tall prairie cordgrass and stands of eastern red cedar trees represent our most intense connection to a spiritual life, and that nature gives off a rejuvenating energy; so they hike back into the wilderness or tramp through the dunes to recharge and become whole. Read the rest of this entry »