Vacation advice, chicago-washingtonDC-chattanooga

For Chattanooga . . .

There's Lookout Mountain (See Rock City!), the Tennessee Aquarium, the Chattanooga Choo Choo (the former train station turned into a hotel and restaurants), Ruby Falls, the Hunter Museum, the Incline Railroad, there is quite a boat ride offered by the Aquarium which takes people up the Tennessee River at very fast speed, and various natural and Civil War areas.

For places to stay, the Read House is a classic hotel located downtown (of course, there's a ghost in one of the rooms). The Delta Queen Steamboat is moored in Chattanooga and used as a hotel.

Of course, Chattanooga is much smaller than Chicago or Washington, but it's a nice small city and a pleasant place to spend some time. They've done a pretty good job making the river front more attractive.

There is so much you can do for free in DC. I recommend the Holocaust Museum. There are wonderful Museums, historical, and government free things to do. You can check on line about seeing Capitol Hill and congress. There's a wonderful guided tour. I'm not sure being foreign you can get into the White House, and honestly, the tour isn't as interesting as Capitol Hill. The Smithsonian is huge, you could take a week just to see all the buildings and parts of the museum and still not see everything.
I love DC.

As I recall, this thing can go about 80 mph at full speed.

There are a lot of museums in Chicago, but I'd say the Art Institute is a good one to see. It's on South Michigan Ave in the thick of pretty much everthing. From there you can go to Millennium Park, walk west to State Street and go shopping (the famous Macys/former Marshall Field's is nearby). The Field Museum is great, it's our natural history museum.

If you like architecture and it's a nice day, I suggest doing one of the architecture boat tours down the river. Probably THE best way to see the city. I think the Wendella company is good. Or, if you want more cheesy than reputable , you could always do the Seadog boat tour (it's a big, yellow speed boat that does a tour of the river, followed by a short speed ride on Lake Michigan).

ETA--one of my very favorite things to do is go to the theater. We have a variety Broadway shows here all the time. Check http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/ for shows playing when you'll be here.

For places to eat in Chattanooga:

Remberants (have GREAT coffee)
Tony's (though I hear it is very expensive but is to die for)
Cheeburger Cheeburger over near the Aquriaum is nice too. Order the onion rings

I had assumed that since you were starting in Chicago that you or one of your traveling companions lived there and you were more interested in things to do along the way. But if not, I second the recommendation for the architecture boat tour. It's one of those fun touristy things to do in Chicago that even the locals partake in. Art Institute rocks, and you're right there near the lakefront.

While you're downtown, you can eat at the Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Wacker Drive. If you want pizza, I highly recommend Pequod's.

You might also want to stop in Asheville and the Great Smokey Mountains (from Washington to Chattanooga).

Stay away from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge unless you want to be with hoards of tourists.

alleycat said:

For Chattanooga . . .

There's Lookout Mountain (See Rock City!), the Tennessee Aquarium, the Chattanooga Choo Choo (the former train station turned into a hotel and restaurants), Ruby Falls, the Hunter Museum, the Incline Railroad, there is quite a boat ride offered by the Aquarium which takes people up the Tennessee River at very fast speed, and various natural and Civil War areas.

For places to stay, the Read House is a classic hotel located downtown (of course, there's a ghost in one of the rooms). The Delta Queen Steamboat is moored in Chattanooga and used as a hotel.

Of course, Chattanooga is much smaller than Chicago or Washington, but it's a nice small city and a pleasant place to spend some time. They've done a pretty good job making the river front more attractive.

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Yes! all of this

We just had a vacation there a couple of weeks ago. Great city - very nice people.

I really do recommend seeing the Biltmore House if you never have. Asheville is lovely. If you are interested in architecture, gardens, visiting little wineries or pretty mountains, they are all combined

The Shenandoah Valley in VA is wonderful, too.

Monticello is a great stop, imho. Again, the architecture, gardens and pretty mountains! No wine, though

The Adams Morgan area of DC has trendy clubs and stuff, as does Du Pont Circle (although Adams Morgan has more, IIRC). DC itself can get pretty meh so you'll have more fun finding where the locals hang out. The Constitution and Declaration at the National Archives are a must. The WWII memorial is impressive, as is the Holocaust museum. Find out who your senators and reps are, and if congress is in session get gallery passes and observe the floor action. One of the local DC papers (I can't remember which one, but not the Post) will list what items are on the agenda for that day. The passes are free, last for the entire congress, and are nifty looking. Plus, it's a good excuse to visit your delegation's offices.

The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago is wonderful. Although I'm not a Cubs fan (Completely Useless By September), Wriggly field is an experience. The Navy Pier was fixed up quite a bit between 1995 and 2001, but I haven't been there since then. I thought the river cruise was nice too. And pizza. You gotta do Chicago style pizza and there is a decent Chinatown (I've not been to San Fran, so I can't compare, sorry).

Only things I know about Chattanooga are Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls, which is a waterfall in a cave. I've not been, but I've heard good things.

If you go to Chicago and don't see the Art Institute, you will have wasted the whole trip. There's always something happening in Millennium Park during the summer. I've seen some kick-ass concerts there.

Have fun.

The Lost Sea is somewhere around Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls, too. It's amazing -- an underground lake that you ride little boats on. I went to all of those as a teen (The creepy blind fish scared me!)

backslashbaby said:

The Lost Sea is somewhere around Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls, too. It's amazing -- an underground lake that you ride little boats on. I went to all of those as a teen (The creepy blind fish scared me!)

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The Lost Sea is between Knoxville and Chattanooga.

I went to Ruby Falls when I was a little kid. No one told me they were going to turn out the lights (to view the lights on the falls). I screamed bloody murder.

DC is disney world with extra paranoid security. All the museums on the mall are worth a trip and free. So is the Capitol building and the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress opens earlier than the others, about 8:30 rather than 10, so it's a good bet for the morning. The Zoo is enormous. And the Newseum is supposed to be worth a couple of days by itself.

Of the monuments, the Roosevelt memorial was my favorite. If you go to the Lincoln Memorial, don't bother reading his 2nd Inauguration address which has been painstakingly chiseled into the wall on the right. They forgot to include the semicolons, commas, apostrophes and anything but periods.

The most fun I had though when I visited a month ago was getting one of the Capitol Sharebikes and pedaling around. It's a great way to see all the memorials. And when you want to party, there's Georgetown. Union Station has a great food court, if people are divided on what they want to eat.

Bring good walking shoes.

Washington, DC is museum-land. Lots of museums to see, so you may want to start be researching the museums to see what exhibits interest you. You can get on a tour bus that takes you around all day for a fee, but researching what you want to see will help you maximize the time.

But some places I'd recommend:

National Art Museum. You'll get an opportunity to see some masters like Renoir in person. Outside the museum is a fantastic sculpture garden--great if it's a nice day outside.

Ripley Gallery. This is next door to the Castle (the Smithsonian Castle, which isn't a museum, so don't waste your time in it). This is very hidden, but they can have some great exhibits.

Natural History Museum. Meteors, gems, butterflies--everything of the natural world. You can see the Hope Diamond here, and there's hands on section for kids and adults who like hands on.

Spy Museum. It's a busy, frenetic museum dealing with spies, primarily of the Cold War area. If you are researching spies for any books, the bookstore is a great resource to visit.

If it's summer and crowded with kids, try these more out of the way places in VA:

George Washington Masonic Temple. Has a museum, George Washington, and a great view of the city.

Fort Ward Museum. A Civil War museum. A museum of CW artifacts and a nice park to walk around and soak up the history.

Great Falls. A state park with a spectacular waterfall.

Lurray Caverns. Out by Shenandoah National Park, so a two hour drive at least. But it's a cave, and how often do you get to see a cave?