I work in memphis and live in Chicago.

I would recommend taking Amtrak up. I've never done the trip, but the travel times and prices look reasonable. You might want to do a walk though of the train a week or so before hand to see how accomidating it is.

Otherwise, I'd just park the car in one of the Midway hotel parking lots. Take the hotel shuttle to the airport and meet your friends. Keep in mind that you'll need to account for cab fare/walking if you're going to park in the hood around midway.

Otherwise, I'd find a nice permit-less neighborhood place to park your car in, then take the train downtown to meet your firend. The Divison or Damen Blue line stops have parking are probably tops on the safe to parking to closeness scale. If you've never been to Chicago, you might have a problem under or over estimating the safeness levels of certain parking areas, but in general it's a rather safe city and parking for 4 days isn't all that uncommon. It's a fun area to check out anyway.


Since you are a veggie.. let me throw in recommendations for Handlebar and the Etheopian Diamond. I'm a meat eater, but these are on the tops of everyone's veggie lists. other suggestions at www.yelp.com