Chicago transportation??? Neat places to go on a budget?

Question

Coming into Ohare and needing to get to Great Lakes Naval Base, what is the best and most reasonable mode of transportation. also wondering if there is reasonable priced and easy to use public transportation from the base to chicago? What would one recommend, for someone on a tight budget, as places to go see, or things to do in great lakes or chicago?

Answer 1

The cheapest way to get from O'Hare to Great Lakes is a combination of bus and train. From O'Hare's Bus Terminal, you take Pace Bus #250 to the Davis Street CTA station, in Downtown Evanston. This is next door to the Davis Street Metra station, which is on the line that runs to Great Lakes. The base is walking distance from the station.
http://www.pacebus.com/sub/schedules/route_detail.asp?RouteNo=250
http://metrarail.com/Sched/cnw_n/cnwn.shtml

It costs $5.40 each way. You can get an idea of how long it takes via public transportation here (tell it you're going to Great Lakes Metra):
http://tripsweb.rtachicago.com/

More conveniently, you can get a shared ride limo to Great Lakes for $42:
http://www.ohare-midway.com/faq/faq.php?ftype=4#22

Once you're at Great Lakes, you use the Metra Union Pacific North Line to get back and forth to downtown Chicago.

Free things to do in Chicago:

Walk around & look at buildings/holiday decorations downtown. North Michigan Avenue (the Magnificent Mile) is all decked out at this time of year. The big city Christmas tree and the Christkindl market, an old-german style holiday craft market, are at the Daley Center. Macy's downtown has its holiday windows up with a Nutcracker theme this year.
http://www.christkindlmarket.com/

Millennium Park has the Bean, a neat public sculpture.
http://www.millenniumpark.org/

Lincoln Park Zoo, a full featured zoo with a world-class gorilla collection, is the only major cultural attraction in Chicago that is free every day.
http://www.lpzoo.org/

The downtown museums are neat, but they are not particularly cheap. if you only do one, you should go to the Field Museum. It costs $12 for admission, and an extra $7 if you want to see the special Maps or Darwin exhibits. Maps is well worth the money. Darwin is good too, but if you only see one, Maps is the better exhibit.
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/

Answer 2

Take the train. http://www.metrarail.com/
Inside Chicago you can use the "L"
http://www.transitchicago.com/
It really just depends on what you like. There is Navy Pier, Michigan Ave, Wrigleyville, Sears Tower, Hancock Building, Several museums.

Answer 3

Buy a CTA day pass for $5, you can ride all CTA bus, trains all day, and ask for a trasit map, you will know how to get around.

Answer 4

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