It’s 7am at the bark park. Blue-green waves crash against the cement shoreline just south of Addison. Red wings bicker with blue jays over nesting rights in the tree-tops. And everywhere–dogs. I have two myself. Two little shits, really. Sage and Disney. Mother and son. A few years ago, little Sage, all of seven pounds, went out and, much to Bob Barker’s spay-happy dismay, bred with a whipper-snapper yapper of a Yorkie. A few months later, out came this needy Ewok of a creature, Disney. Bark park is just about their favorite place in the whole wide world. Ah–a dog’s life. But Chicago has lots more to offer pooch-people than just one stretch of Lincoln Park. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago has been synonymous with landmark events in black history almost since Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable became the first non-American Indian permanent settler in 1772. Now the city’s most prominent museum of African-American history bears DuSable’s name; but black history also lives outside museum walls, in less-familiar spots throughout Chicago. This summer provides a chance to explore black history still in the making.

Jesse Owens outraced the field at the 1936 Olympic Games, giving a slap to Hitler in the process. But even Owens couldn’t outrun Father Time, and he now lies in a plot at Oak Woods Cemetery, Greenwood Avenue and 67th, (773)288-3800. Due south of Hyde Park, Oak Woods’ 280 acres of trees and lawns can seem more like a park than a cemetery to visitors coming to pay their respects to Owens, Ida B. Wells and other famous permanent residents (including Illinois Senator Charles Chew and physicist Enrico Fermi). Oak Woods is the final resting place of Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor; a free brochure offers directions to notable grave sites. 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 Mary Wilds

If the briskness in her voice is any indication, the woman at Elkhart County Visitors and Convention Bureau takes no prisoners. “What dates will you be staying?” she barks at a caller requesting information. “What were you planning to do while you’re here? Do you prefer a bed and breakfast or a hotel.”

I suppose she can’t be blamed—Amish Country in Indiana is a business. The visitors’ bureau serves thousands of tourists each year who come to see the plain folk in action. The bureau also sends a veritable avalanche of brochures to those who dare to inquire about visiting the region. To say that the Amish lifestyle in Northern Indiana has fallen victim to the Walt Disney syndrome is an understatement. The plain people of Northern Indiana are as commercialized in the same spirit as Epcot Center. Dozens of flea markets, erstwhile craftspeople, buggy rides, painfully quaint shops, carefully orchestrated harvest festivals are all here for the sightseer who wants a quick taste of the Amish lifestyle. Read the rest of this entry »

By Frank Sennett

The Skyview in downstate Litchfield is the drive-in of dreams. The screen backs out onto Route 66, where a hand-painted sign proclaims: “$1 per person at all times.” Past the short, winding driveway and small ticket-taker booth, a perfectly manicured gravel lot spreads out in the distance. Its darkest corners butt up against a railroad track, feed silos and the beginning of a business district that includes The Rural King (“For all your farm and home needs”). Red and yellow lights glow atop the speaker posts surrounding the low-slung concession stand, which has offered the basics—soda, candy, corn—along with a friendly greeting since 1949. On hot summer nights, patrons gather on the dozen or so benches arrayed in front of the snackbar loudspeakers; others spread out in the beds of their pickups while the kids run around on an expansive fenced-off lawn that’s overshadowed by the whitewashed, corrugated-metal screen. And when it’s all done, everyone wends out on a driveway devoid of gates and devices that cause “severe tire damage.” 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 the truly hard-core Cubs fan, a day in the bleachers is just this side of heaven—shirt off, beer belly full of overpriced swill and a gaggle of similar- minded hoodlum buddies to party with. But there is a whole ‘nother class of Cub fans that spend their days and nights among the stars, their bellies full of food cooked to their specifications, their whistles wet with unlimited ice-cold brew and their bladders not full-to-bursting thanks to easy toilet access. Who are these heavenly bodies and from what perch do they take in the action? Well, just call them the rooftop rooters. The lucky few who (for a nice chunk of change) have these amenities taken care of, in addition to their birds-eye view of all the action from across the street atop one of the many rooftops that cater to Cub fans. Although many of the rooftops are booked solid for this season (mainly because of the overflow from the six weeks of canceled parties due to last year’s strike) there are some dates available in September and, as any Cubs fan knows, there’s always next year. 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 »