Last week, I wrote about my rediscovering the downtown Chicago area.  Over the last few days, I visited another region of Chicago, the far southeast side, which is where my roots are.  It is sort of the forgotten part of Chicago.

I first visited the Museum of Science and Industry when I was in high school at nearby Mt. Carmel.  The Museum has over 2,000 exhibits, including a flight recreation using a real Boeing 727.  Based on attendance figures, the museum was the third-largest cultural attraction in Chicago in 2009.

ID 16448223 © Benkrut | Dreamstime.com

The South Side also houses the Skyway, which connects the Indiana Toll Road with the Chicago Loop.  The 7.8-mile road is technically listed as a toll bridge, because Chicago did not have the authority to build a toll road at the time.  It could build a bridge, however, with no limits on the lengths of the approach to the bridge.  Also, at $3.50 for the trip, the Skyway is thought to be the most expensive toll road.

No trip to the South Side is complete without stopping at Calumet Fisheries, one of the few remaining smokehouses in Illinois.  As a kid, we would have fish from here weekly and eagerly look forward to it.  It is located right off of the 95^th Street Bridge, which the Blues Brothers made famous by jumping onscreen.

For a cookie fix, there is none better than Calumet Bakery.  This is another childhood favorite of mine, and the cookies still taste the same.  If my friends know I am southbound, I must always bring back cookies for them.

I moved to the North Side about 20 years ago, but I make South Side visits a few times a year.  I have great memories here, and I hopefully will continue to make new memories on each trip south.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist