To hear some politically-motivated people of a certain ilk talk, you’d think Chicago, the nation’s third largest city at three million people and a metro area of nearly 9.5 million, is a consistently raging hellhole of uncontrolled gun violence in the heart of this country. Others look at the city’s history of machine politics and generally left-leaning views with disgust.

Of course, these are the same folks who will argue that gun violence (which includes Chicago’s input) is a nothing burger in the scope of things, saying that an area’s, school’s, church’s, etc. tragedy in lives can never exceed an individual’s right to own every firearm they can afford in existence. And if anything, Chicago is but the more socially liberal version of political shenanigans that have been a staple of U.S. society forever, including but not confined to the right to vote, Gerrymandering, outright violent, racially-tinged overthrows of the elected governments (see Wilmington, NC, 1898) and so forth.

The truth is almost always somewhere in the middle, and our second trip into the Second City for both of us proved that in spades. Yeah, if you want trouble, you can certainly find that here, based on some of the neighborhoods we drove through. Corruption and machine-preferred politics? That’s hardly a mystery to anyone – my current hometown has some of those workings too.

But how about stuff that caters strictly for the tourists? Where have you Bean, buddy? A load of free ways to entertain yourself, regardless if you’re a tourist or not? Check. A cornucopia of regional favorites and favorites from those who settled from afar? ¡Sí, Señor!

Granted, my personal impression is based on limited input, but my gut says the average Chicagoan is just as proud as any other resident of a major city is of theirs. And in that traditionally blue-collar attitude that runs through the history of this metro, the average Chicagoan really don’t give a hoot of what outsiders might think of them, especially if it comes from “I’m not an expert, but I’m an expert Facebook user” perspective.

I figured this is just another on the vast heap of media written on the Second City, but frankly would be a shame to not write about our fun times here…

THE HIGHLIGHTS

Despite the earlier reference to the seemingly ubiquitous Bean sculpture (known officially as Cloud Gate), we did not venture anywhere close to there. In fact, that’s one of the best features of Chicago – you can completely avoid the most popular (i.e. touristy) attractions and still have a marvelous time.

Lincoln Park: Perhaps another less considered factor with Chicago – there are plenty of free attractions that are totally worth the visit. Lincoln Park totally fits the bill here – this 1,200 acre plot of land provides a welcome swath of nature in the urban jungle in a similar manner as Central Park in New York. Not only is the park (a more than worthy destination in itself) admission-free, but the accompanying zoo and conservatory are as well.

Our intent was to visit everything, but the park and zoo by itself were more than enough to fill a good several hours on their own. The zoo itself is small but sports some lovely architecture and has all the usual animals in well-tended exhibits. This proved to be an interesting contrast to the zenful walk around the park’s pond, which teemed with birds, fish and other wildlife unrestricted by fences. You could bring a lunch to dine out in the park, but there are plenty of in-park restaurants and similar where your money will help keep this gem of a place healthy and ongoing.

Unlike other places closer to the Miracle Mile and Downtown proper, the L-train, Chicago’s main form of transportation, does not have a stop super close to the park. However, similar to Toronto (which we loved on our visit last Fall) Chicago’s transit does have day passes available for visitors, which would allow you to connect to a bus to the park. We didn’t invest in one since most of our travels didn’t venture into the central core of the city, but I would say a pass is a must if you do.

Even without the use of transit, we found the parking fee for Lincoln Park and Zoo ($27) is reasonable considering that everything here is admission-free.

Lincoln Park/Zoo/Conservatory | Address: 2391 N Stockton Dr, Chicago, IL 60614 | Website: https://www.lpzoo.org | IG: lincolnparkzoo

National Museum of Mexican Art – Another free attraction (even street parking around the museum is free; a small fee is required for the parking lot next to the museum), this Pilsen-located museum holds one of the largest collections of Mexican art in the country at 18,000 works both old and modern. Established in 1982, this facility not only holds artworks by established Mexican artists, but also features local children’s creations and hosts community-oriented programs and cultural events.

Descriptions of displayed works are both in Spanish, English and, in some cases, the artist’s indigenous language. The collection taken as a whole gives the viewer with a rich palette of artistic talent and vibrant colors and concepts – you leave craving more, wondering if your future travels will uncover a treasure trove of similarly vibrant artworks.

National Museum of Mexican Art | Address: 1852 W 19th St, Chicago, IL 60608 | Website: https://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org | IG: explorenmma

The Jibarito Stop – We haven’t eaten much in the way of Puerto Rican food (more a lack of opportunity than an active avoidance), and we certainly haven’t had the Jibarito, a Chicago-birthed Puerto Rican sandwich featuring a protein of some sort, lettuce, tomato and cheese stuffed between two flattened and fried plantains.

We figured a place named The Jibarito Stop, again in the Pilsen neighborhood, would be a perfect place to sample it. Opened in 2015 when the city’s food truck laws didn’t allow the owners to prepare the sandwiches the way they wanted, this eatery has all the Puerto Rican standards like Mofongo, Empanadas, and Arroz con Gandules, but we were here for the Jibaritos. The shop itself is appropriately muraled and attired with media related to this Caribbean island, which many still don’t realize is part of this country of ours.

These Chicago-birthed creations are just a bit messy and equally divine. A half-sandwich is probably more than enough food for one person, considering that each sandwich comes with a side of either Arroz con Gandules or White Beans and Rice. Various condiments and cheese (American or Chihuahua – we obviously went with the latter.) Beverages are something of a secondary consideration here, but the Parcha (passion fruit juice) proved a perfect complement.

The Jibarito Stop| Address: 1646 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608 | Website: www.thejibaritostop.com | IG: thejibaritostop

Logan Square Farmers Market – we’re suckers for a good farmers market, and the Logan Square edition, one of a number of markets spread out throughout both the metro and the week, has as much energy and life as any that we’ve visited.

Maybe when we say suckers, that honor should go to our wallets – we don’t necessarily go to these community events with the idea of spending money, but as we often do, that’s what we did. An hour after we arrived and wandered in and through the nearly 70 vendors, we ended up with some Kenyan coffee beans from Kikwetu Coffee, chili oils from Chilee Oil, honey from Bee in Beezyness with God, a lovely vegan breakfast treat from Baskethouse (think the love child of an empanada and a muffin), and some baked goods for the road from one of the most popular stands in Zeitlin’s Deli. Didn’t mind the thinner wallet one bit.

Logan Square Farmers Market | Address: 3025-3113 W Logan Blvd, Chicago, IL 60647 | Website: https://www.logansquarefarmersmarket.org/services| IG: lsfarmersmarket

Unity Temple – Chicago is home to numerous buildings designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. However, we decided to visit Chicago (unbeknownst to us) during the weekend of this area’s annual Wright Plus Architectural Walk, an event that allows you special access to eight different residential homes for one price. This initially meant we’d be missing visiting this time around, but a slight tweak to our itinerary due to weather meant we managed a visit to one of Wright’s few religious works in The Unity Temple.

There are plenty of “typical” (and beautiful, in the traditional style) churches in the section of Oak Park where Unity Temple resides, but the Unitarian congregants then were clearly NOT seeking out that look they were going for (Wright’s father was a preacher for the church) when they asked the architect to design a replacement for their original church, destroyed in a lightning-caused fire.

The only remaining building from his Prairie phase, Wright’s church (still home to an active congregation) made the best of a limited budget in designing something totally unique, emphasizing his principles of compression and release found in his residential houses and placing it in a spiritual setting. Unlike many churches, the main gathering space allows congregants to actually look at each other (instead of a bunch of backs of heads) and gives off a sense of intimacy that typical church architecture lacks.

As one will find out on the tour, this lack of funding did have some longer-term implications for the infrastructure of the church (a few renovations were needed over the years), but none of those have really dulled the spiritual vibes emanating from within. In fact, my favorite quiet moment for the entire trip was finding a remote corner of the church after the tour was over and just letting those vibes course through and around me.

Unity Temple | Address: 875 Lake St, Oak Park, IL 60301 | Website: https://franklloydwright.org/site/unity-temple/ | IG: flwtrust

OTHER NOTABLES: Caribella (Logan Square) and Alter Brewing (Downers Grove) really only fall into this section because the highlights section is stacked. The former features Caribbean styled breakfast/brunch favorites (the Guava French Toast is excellent) while the latter offers better than average beer and bar food (didn’t feel the need for another burger the entire trip after their Southwest special offering…Life can go to the dogs (or not) at Montrose Beach, perhaps the most popular place for locals and tourists to hang out by Lake Michigan. The beach offers dog- owners some nice amenities (several dog washes) and a sectioned off portion from those who’d rather not have a canine encounter. As we’re currently weighing the thought of a dog in our household, we hung around the dog-oriented end, and we were only more intrigued by the thought of bringing in a dog after our stay…While it’s touted as one of the area’s best antique stores, Woolly Mammoth Antiques is far more exhibition gallery of the weird and unusual than it is a comprehensive gathering of antiques. Worth a drop by if you’re in the Andersonville neighborhood…Lovers of good coffee could do far worse than to hit up Brew Point in Oak Park (reminds me of a much larger Florin Coffee in Columbus) or Dark Matter Coffee (horchata iced lattes for the win)…We hadn’t had a Filipino Halo-Halo (a shaved ice dessert that contains evaporated milk and/or ice cream plus a whole host of mix-ins) in a long while, and a warm afternoon proved perfect to sample Lola Tining’s version. This Oak Park shop is easy to miss (a nondescript corner strip mall near the freeway frontage street) but packs a turo-turo and a decently large selection of Filipino goods inside its small space…Finally, fans of Grandview’s Acorn Bookshop might feel right at home in Bridgeport’s Tangible Books, a used bookstore with an ample selection of books and also a passing resemblance inside to the also departed Village Bookstore in Linworth.

FINAL NOTES – can’t vouch for areas closer to downtown, but parking was ridiculously easy for us on the outskirts of the city, with several instances of driving up to the front of the business and parking. The ParkChicago App is pretty much a necessity if you’re going to be parking a lot on city streets, and it turned out to be not as much as we thought we’d pay for parking during our time in Chicago. Not sure if that was just sheer luck or not…Joliet (as well as Schaumburg) are a bit of a drive from central Chicago. Having some time to kill before our baseball game in Joliet, we kicked around a bit on the city’s ode to Route 66 (the signs and similar around the Blues Brothers topped Rich & Creamy Ice Cream could use some spiffing up) and the old Joliet Iron Works, essentially a memorial to the blue collar immigrants to the area who powered the area’s economy during the Industrial Age…We couldn’t not get a Chicago Dog in the Windy City, and the More Than Dawgs food truck (parked conveniently next to the main parking lots at Guaranteed Rate Field allowed us that pleasure. Those who don’t mind a little bit of a walk can venture instead to more of an institution in 35th Street Red Hots…Last and hardly least: everyone needs a place like Taste of Lebanon in their neighborhood. Does this place put out the best Mediterranean-style wraps in the world? Not really. But what they did send our way were almost certainly some of the best bang for the buck (thanks to a cash-only policy) food we’ve had. The gaggle of locally-based regulars who waited for their orders with us would seem to validate our thinking.