Having a Blast in the Windy City

Here’s one that will stump the kids: Name the city with the only river in the world that flows backward. Hint: This river also turns Kelly green one day a year.

We’re talking about a town both kids and parents will like; a town with one of the last free zoos in the United States that is open every day of the year, the biggest aquarium in the country, a 150-foot Ferris wheel strung with thousands of tiny lights and offering a fabulous view of the city’s skyline, and a museum with a coal mine and a submarine under the same roof.

It has miles of beaches adjacent to downtown, more than 500 parks and plenty of children’s theater. Soon there will be a 57,000-square-foot children’s museum overlooking a giant lake. The city is also home to the world’s tallest building and first-rate ethnic eateries of every stripe--from soul food to Mexican, Thai to Greek, Italian to Polish to Chinese (there are 6,000 restaurants). Some think the pizza here is the best anywhere. Ditto for the ribs.

Welcome to Chicago, home of the water-front Lincoln Park Zoo and a place that celebrates its sports teams, win or lose. (The Chicago Cubs, for example.) It’s also home to the White Sox, Bears, Black Hawks and, of course, Michael Jordan and the Bulls. It was my home for 17 years, before my family’s recent move to the East Coast, and this town--referred to, appropriately, as the Windy City--is one of the most kid-friendly places I know.

Let’s start with the landmark Navy Pier on the Lake Michigan shore. Built in 1916, it reopened earlier this summer after a $150-million renovation.

It now offers concerts on the Skyline Stage (Bill Cosby and Raffi were among those who recently sold out the 1,500-seat outdoor theater), a Ferris wheel, carousel, IMAX Theater and Dock Street, a mall that runs the length of the Pier’s South Dock and is reserved for pedestrians. Navy Pier is easily accessible by public transportation--a good bet since parking is limited. Free trolley service runs the length of the pier. (For Chicago transit information, call 312-836-7000; for information on pier events, call 312-595-PIER. “Chicago,” a guidebook by Jack Schnedler, Compass American Guides, $16.95, is a great resource.)

Rent a bike or in-line skates on the pier and enjoy the show of jugglers, musicians and passersby. Shop for souvenirs. In the winter, skate on the outdoor rink in the new Navy Pier Park. In early October, the Chicago Children’s Museum will move to new, expanded quarters at Navy Pier. There, kids will be able to get inside a gigantic bubble or scamper up and down the Climbing Schooner, a replica of a lake-going ship.

Take a half-hour cruise on Lake Michigan ($6 adults and $3 for children) and admire the skyline. Chicago has long been known for its architects, including Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Helmut Jahn. The world’s first skyscraper was built here in 1885; the Sears Tower remains the world’s tallest at 1,454 feet. (Yes, you can take kids up to the top.) Stop in to see Chicago’s elegant new Harold Washington Library Center. It contains the world’s largest children’s library.

(For a free Chicago calendar of events, call the Chicago Office of Tourism 800-487-2446.)

Parents will insist on hitting at least one museum. There are plenty to choose from. Among our favorites: the Field Museum of Natural History (don’t miss the dinosaurs); the Museum of Science and Industry, where the kids will love the German U-boat submarine and the coal mine; the Shedd Aquarium and Oceanarium and the Art Institute, where the current Monet exhibit is drawing huge crowds.

Oh, and about the river: At the turn of the century the Chicago River’s flow was reversed by the Army Corps of Engineers so that the sewage being dumped into it wouldn’t end up in Lake Michigan. And in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day--a big event in this Irish city--the river is dyed a Kelly green.

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Taking the Kids appears weekly.