Looking for tips on 4-5 day trip from Chicago
 

Hi,
anyone has the ultimate tip for 4-5 days from Chicago? (day 5 can be only the flight back to chicago to get my connecting flight).

I love special nature, culture and other things. Willing to fly 2-3 hours NOT more for sure from Chicago. Have already seen the up north in MI.

Chris

Two to three hour flights can get to to a huge swatch of the United States and Canada. Care to share more about budget, time of year, other places you've enjoyed, interests, etc.?

For special nature:

Banff (elk in town) and Lake Louise (elk, bear, longhorn sheep, maybe a moose if you're really lucky)

Boundary Waters, on the border between MN and Canada, including the North Shore of Lake Superior

Yellowstone if you've never been there

Culture? Quebec City, Minneapolis/StPaul, Chicago itself, Washington DC, Montreal, Toronto, New Orleans (but not in summer), Denver (plus maybe Colorado Springs)

Budget like 200-250 USD for a RT flight. Car hire if needed but just cheap car probably will do. Hotels, will take care of.
don't want to spend thousands on these few days.

interest: culture, nature but must be unique. Like yellow stone unique....

time: mid august 2015.

PS> Chicago itself i have seen. been there few times.

in short UNIQUE is most important and can be nature or culture. and i prefer to fly a place where i not have to fly back later to see more....

going to look at the few suggestions now. more help Always appreciated. i'm in the US once or twice a year and every time have this time. the "big" cities i will cover as i travel to another each time; need places now I would not end up for my business.

This is a pretty good list, but it's a little tougher if you want to avoid big cities and have already been to northern Michigan.

Here are a few different ideas, not as great as the the ones above, and some would be drives rather than flights:

- Drive to Green Bay, tour Lambeau field (the ULTIMATE in culture for those of us who are Packers fans :) ), and then continue on to northern Wisconsin. Rent a house on a lake for a weekend.

- Nashville

- Memphis

- Madison

Don't know if you have made your visit yet but as you can see from my signature line i am a bit of a Frank Lloyd Wright follower. A simple search for his name in Chicago will yield many results. Much of his early work is concentrated in a small area in Oak Park just west of Downtown. His home/studio is open for tours as well as the Unity Temple Church. The Robie house is on the grounds of the University of Chicago.

Not yet made my trip; i keep this into account too. still checking out also with the new pointbreaks of IHG now.