where do the outdoorsy / artsy people live? (work, recreation)

[Irishtom29]

[quote=mls;5090671] and my favorite thing is to sit out on a quiet porch and paint!! quote]


You can help me paint my porch.

[Mister Mappy]

As others have said most of the artsy type people are in Bucktown/Wicker Park/Ukie Village, also some are in East Pilsen. As for as the outdoorsy stuff, there are forest preserves around. Most are in the suburbs, but there is Labagh Woods on Foster near the Edens, and Whelan (?) Woods on Devon between Milwaukee & Caldwell. Also there are bike trails near the lake & the Chicago River. As far as hiking goes, the only place I could think of is Starved Rock which is in western Illinois.

[via chicago]

Remember you're also not that far from the Indiana Dunes

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (U.S. National Park Service)
Indiana Dunes | The Casual Coast

And there are the Botanical Gardens
Chicago Botanic Garden

As well as the Morton Arboretum
The Morton Arboretum - Home

And more local to Chicago is the forest preserve, which encompasses many different slivers of land set aside throughout the county
Forest Preserve District of Cook County

But as far as "in" the city, outside of parks and the lakefront, no you're not going to find any pristine untouched land.

[Andromeda76]

I would suggest that you move to a suburb that has bike trails, hiking, etc. I'm thinking far west suburbs.....Aurora, barrington, west chicago, etc. Those areas as close to nature as you are going to get.

[Mr Downtown]

There are lots of houses in Edgewater and Sauganash that border forest preserves, and some in the Forest Glen area that are essentially in the forest. Metra's Milw-N line stops at Forest Glen (Devon at Lehigh/Caldwell), giving easy access to Union Station.

The largest tracts (several square miles) of forested areas are southwest of Chicago in the Palos Park/Palos Hills area. Those towns are well served by Metra's Rock Island line to LaSalle Street Station.

[Mister Mappy]

I think you meant Edgebrook, not Edgewater.

[Mr Downtown]

Right. How come I can't edit my own posts on this forum?

[Drover]

The "artsy" people live in Pilsen, Ukranian Village, and Wicker Park. The "outdoorsy" people live in Denver/Booulder, Seattle and Portland.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

The "artsy" people live in Pilsen, Ukranian Village, and Wicker Park. The "outdoorsy" people live in Denver/Booulder, Seattle and Portland.

Or they live here and talk ad nauseum about how they want to move to Denver, Boulder, Seattle, and Portland, to everyone's chagrine.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Right. How come I can't edit my own posts on this forum?

You can edit them, but only for a short-ish period of time (not sure how long)