Chicago Sentinels?

General GTG Off Topic
1

It's kind of early... but I started planning my GenCon trip already and I think I'm going combine it with my desire to take a cross-country train trip.  So I'm planning to take the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago and arrive there a couple of days before GenCon. Any Forumites in the Chicago area who may want to get a game in the day or two before GenCon? 

Just thought I'd ask...

2

I'm pretty sure that grysqrl is in the Chicago area. In addition, BGG user SnarksandBoojums lives/works in Chicago and is a Sentinels fan (and participant in several PBF games there).

In addition, there are a small slew of forumites in the Indianapolis area. (I'm kind of between the two places, but going from Chicago to Indy via me will be out of the way.)

3

Awesome! I'm in Chicago, but may be on the road in the days leading up to GenCon. Touch base closer to August and I should have a better idea. If I'm around, I'd totally go for a couple of games.

Pydro is also in the Chicago area as well.

4

Yep!

5

Sweet, I think as of right now the plan is to arrive in Chicago on the 1st and head down to Indy on the 3rd... but I'll touch base here again closer to August to see if we can arrange some games (and for general sight-seeing advice on Chicago). 

6

wait pydro and grysqrl are in the chicago area? next time I go home to visit i will have to hit you guys up to play. better than sitting around my parents house thinking what am i going to do today

7

You certainly should.

8

Chicago ... Indianapolis ... St. Louis -- The Golden Triangle of Mods and Admins

9

That's the Midwest for ya...

10

yup I am near St. Louis but far enough away that it takes to drive there half the time unless there is a special event. hint hint GTG

11

I looooove Chicago.

I'm not going to be there, it's just my favourite city and I thought that was worth mentioning. :D

12

I definitely thing that OblivAeon hitting the warehouse deserves a second Gathering of Heroes, complete with trip to entertain kids at Barnes. (not of the noble variety, the children's hospital.)

13

Wow. GenCon is already gonna be next week!! Looks like I'm gonna be in Chicago from Monday to Wednesday. 

Any recommendations on where to stay (neighborhoods) and what to see?

I've been to Chicago briefly once before  and it was like 10 years ago, so I'm pretty open to anything. 

14

What do you like to do (other than Sentinels, obviously)? Chicago has lots of good food, music, theater, comedy, and museums (for example) if any of those are your thing. I believe we have several teams that try to collect sports points, but I'm sure there's someone better to tell you about that than me. What you want to do might inform where you would want to stay. I imagine the hotels downtown are on the expensive side, but I think there's a decent airbnb representation here.

I will probably be here Monday and Tuesday, but my plans are not set in stone yet.

15

Always love to explore food and drink - hearty ethnic street foods and local specialties are my favorite (not big on pasta or pizza though). 

Definitely want to explore the architecture, I enjoy walking around new cities, especially checking out urban parks. I will probably also take one of the water architecture tours. 

I enjoy the theater as well, so I'll probably see what shows are around.

But yeah... food and drink are most important. 

16

I'm not a big food guy (also not big on pasta or pizza), but here are a few suggestions. They're mostly on the north side; accessibility may vary depending on your method of transportation and willingness to walk, but I'll try to pick things near the train:

  • Sun Wah BBQ (5039 N Broadway) - good Chinese food; known for their crispy bbq duck, but the menu is huge; can be difficult to get a table in the evening because they get very busy; there's plenty of good Chinese food in Chinatown if you're down that way
  • Tank Noodle (4953 N Broadway) - I'm not that into Vietnamese food, but everyone who is seems to love this place; several other Vietnamese places nearby, but this is the one that I hear about the most
  • Thai Pastry (4925 N Broadway) - good Thai food (in case you couldn't guess from the name)
  • Big Jones (5347 N Clark) - southern cuisine with good cocktails
  • Hema's Kitchen (2411 N Clark) - most of the good Indian food is west on Devon Ave, which is probably not too convenient for you; this place is more centrally located and tasty; just west of Lincoln Park which is a good spot for an after-dinner stroll
  • Cho Sun Ok (4200 N Lincoln) - supposed to be amazing Korean food, but I haven't managed to eat there yet; there tends to be a very long wait - lunchtime might be better than dinnertime
  • Laschet's Inn (2119 W Irving Park) - solid German-American restaurant/bar
  • Kuma's Corner / Kuma's Too (2900 W Belmont / 666 W Diversey) - heavy-metal themed joint with excellent burgers; often has a long wait
  • Pierogi Heaven (169 N Wells or 329 S Franklin) - hole-in-the-wall pierogi restaurant; my go-to when I'm in the loop
  • Rickshaw Republic (2312 N Lincoln) - Indonesian street food; I've only been there once, but it was pretty tasty

All of the above tend to be small, casual restaurants. There are lots of new American gastro-pub type places, but I don't know enough to make many recommendations. The Wicker Park, Logan Square, and West Loop neighborhoods are likely to have a lot of options. A few that I have enjoyed:

If you're looking for beer, I'm sure there are tons of places, but two that I know about are:

 

Chicago has parks all over the place. Here are a few of the bigger ones:

  • The lakefront is off-limits for development, so most of it is open park/beach area with bike/running paths for most of its length. If you are up as far as Montrose, there's a cool bird sanctuary / local planting area northeast of the harbor.
  • Millennium Park / Grant Park downtown is pretty big and has all sorts of things going on: public sculpture, art museum, playgrounds, music venues (this is happening on Monday) and more.
  • Lincoln Park is a pretty long north-south park by the lakefront. It makes for good wandering and includes a free zoo.

 

I can probably come up with more, but I'm going to hit post before a browser mishap eats the whole thing. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

17

Cool. Thanks a lot. 

Does Chicago have a bike share program in its downtown?  

Also... any good karaoke bars? I like to work on new go-to songs when traveling alone in strange cities...

18
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Yeah, Divvy is everywhere. No clue on karaoke though.