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By admin, January 18, 2010 4:40 pm

With the holidays and gift giving now over and no sunlight in spectacular sight, we thought we’d share the results of our customer survey about fun things to do, to help you enjoy this winter season.  To make things a bit interesting, we scratched off anything that included lots of drinking and debauchery -- as the Time Outs and Yelps of this world pretty much have those events covered.  Our list is geared towards helping you stay fit and saving you from the grim effects of seasonal depression.

Extreme Ice Climbing Near Chicago

1) Ice Climbing Near Chicago. Some view ice climbing as a rather mysterious activity, not really sure with what its about and quite afraid of the risks involved.  There appears to be the myth that climbing ice is an extremely dangerous sport with hazardous conditions that require a super-hero body. The truth of the matter is that ice climbing is quite safe and can be tailored to your preferred level of difficulty.  Luckily, for local Chicagoans, climbs are offered on 60 to 100 foot frozen waterfalls about 2 hours away from Chicago.  These ice climbing runs can be top-roped just like rock climbing.  So the rope is anchored to the top of the cliff, waterfall, or ledge and the climber never drops more that a foot or two.  The climber wears a helmet and goggles, some beginners can wear a full face shield for extra precaution until they get use to the ice tools. Crampons or “spikes” are worn on the feet to stick into the ice.  Again, protective material can be put around your lower legs until you get use to the kick and stick motions.  If you decide to go ice climbing with us, we take care of all the gear – just bring your own set of ski or snowboard boots.

2) Snowmobiling Wilderness Tour.  Snowmobiling truly is a fun and exciting recreation for people of all ages. Some of the best snowmobiling you are likely to find is in Wisconsin, especially northern Wisconsin where the winter scenery is quite picture perfect.  While snowmobiling fanatics usually do it for the adrenaline rush or need for speed, snowmobiling is also a great way to enjoy sparsely populated winter towns. Lots of trails in northern Wisconsin have supper clubs and lakeside resorts for you to pull in and take a break from the scenic trails. After miles of snowmobiling, what better way than to warm your body with artisan hot chocolate.

Drill For Your Fish

3)  Ice Fishing.   While usually considered a summer activity, fishing in Wisconsin is almost as popular during the arctic months of January to March as it is during the summer.  A lot of highly desirable fish species, including walleye, panfish and northern pike, are active and easily catchable throughout winter. The emergence of high technology in ice fishing has helped as well. Power augers and heated fishing shanties make the act of ice fishing a lot more comfortable and less taxing than in the past.  With a higher-than-normal proportion of Wisconsin’s unmarked roads clear of snow, anglers in recent winters have access to small lakes and ponds that can usually be reached only by snowmobile, if at all. Like all our other winter packages, all you need to bring is yourself and warm clothing to experience ice fishing near Chicago. Our expert guides will take care of you and bring the equipment for you to make your winter catch.

4) Midwest Dog Sledding. Mush mush! Nothing compares to the exhilaration of rushing through deep powder, across frozen lakes pulled by a team of fresh dogs, ice and snow flashing past your face. Dog sledding has been a fixture of the northland for hundreds if not thousands of years. Don’t be afraid to venture out into the Upper Peninsula to experience this ancient rite of winter.   The groomed trails nestled in the UP’s forests seemingly transport you into an Alaskan type wilderness.  As the dogs glide across the snow, you’ll be able to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature along with a pristine winter landscape.

5) Outdoor Winter War Games. Wars have been won and lost due to harsh weather conditions.  Why not prepare yourself for the worst with outdoor winter paintballing.  More enjoyable than a summer game, winter scrambles allow you to tumble, frolic, and leap structures, with the protection of falling on fresh powder.  The difficulty of the games are not only increased by the lower visibility, but the snow on the ground adds texture to the games and forces your enemies to tread carefully.  As long as you are wrapped up for the weather, the temperature shouldn’t bother you – make sure to maintain your peak awareness at all times though, or you may just get shot in the back.  Located near Chicago, outdoor paintballing can be  a perfect weekend escape for you and your friends.

6) Sushi Making Lessons. Enhance your culinary skills this winter with a sushi making class.  Hobby classes cover an in-depth study of the essentials of preparing, presenting, and serving rolled Sushi, Nigiri Sushi and Sashimi, as well as principles on a wide range of Japanese dishes.  Why spend tons of money dining at expensive Japanese restaurants, when you can learn how to make the best sushi at the comforts of your own home.  Your skills coupled with a trip to the Mitsuwa Marketplace will guarantee Tokyo quality sushi instantly.  These classes are held monthly at a specialty fish market and are in high demand – go ahead and take the step necessary to become the next Iron Chef of Chicago!

Magnificent French Duck Ready to Serve

7) French Cooking Classes. If raw fish isn’t your favorite culinary dish, why not enroll in a night of romantic French cooking classes? Learn how to cook the French way with master French chef, Vincent Colombet, at his French cafe. More popular than a French kiss, the couples classes offer you a chance to improve your culinary skills and turn up the romanticism.  The Chef’s approach to learning to cook is all about being relaxed and having fun together: a little bit of wine, some conversation, some laughs, some bread and cheese, some more wine, and a lot of cooking in between! Whether you consider yourself a novice or advanced in the kitchen, you’re sure to be challenged and entertained.  While the winter in Chicago may be dark and cold, your cooking class will be guaranteed to be refreshing and warm!

8)  Go Karting Chicago. Enhance your ability to escape traffic and navigate the Edens with an indoor high speed go carting experience.  This may seem like an innocuous activity, but we guarantee sore arms and tighter ab muscles from fighting the G forces involved in a multi-lap race.  While the indoor race track is guaranteed to be free from ice this winter, the crazy drivers from Chicago may likely be behind you. Go alone or create havoc with your friends -- with all the technical turns and high speed straightaways throughout the track, you can all claim to be a step closer to becoming the next Mario Andretti or Michael Schumacher.

9) Indoor Golf Lessons. Whether you want to swing like Tiger Woods or hit like Elin, indoor golf lessons this winter will save you from summer embarrassment.  The golf dome protects you from the elements and the prying eyes of the nasty paparazzi, while your instructor will patiently improve your swing and take your game to the next level.  Our PGA certified instructor can work on improving anyone’s game and will tailor the perfect swing for your body type.  Golf is an amazing sport as long as you play it right, so save yourself from lost balls and embarrassing bunker shots, and make the best use of your winter by improving your golf game.

10) Digital Photography Classes.  For those not interested in outdoor adventures or culinary adventures, perhaps a

Digital Photography Classes

digital photography class can cure your boredom this winter.  With the emergence of digital SLRs to cater to any skill level, the eye behind the shutter becomes even more critical in developing good photos.  If you are planning a trip this summer, don’t leave without learning how to use your digital camera.  Lessons in digital photography will give you the opportunity to develop your own photography style and allow you to create professional quality photos.

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By admin, May 8, 2009 4:15 pm

Lauren the Kansas native

We met up with Lauren while she was enjoying a dark lager in one of the recently opened up beer gardens in Lakeview. Although we usually don’t mix alcohol with work, the weather was just too great and the beer too cold to resist. Growing up, Lauren traded in one “farm” for another moving from Kansas to Stanford and graduated with a BA in International Relations. She currently works for the world’s largest candy company, specifically around crunching very large-numbers-with-dollar-signs for their gum division. She told us to write that she makes the gum, but unfortunately for her, we decided to print what was “off the record”. Outside of work, she enjoys playing volleyball, cooking and biking – the only problem is her bike was stolen, so she spends most of her days pretending that she has a bike. If you see someone “biking” around lake shore drive without a bike, that is definitely Lauren. Please cheer “Go Stanford! Beat any Division I team…please!” when you see her.

Lauren came prepared with very well thought of answers, but we ended up asking her some pretty irrelevant questions:
Did you see a lot of tornadoes while you were growing up in Kansas? Did you ever chase them? Never saw any. And no, I never chased them, do I look like I have a mullet?

If you could ask the wicked witch of the west one question, what would it be? Can I have the shoes? Is that even the right witch?

Going to school at Stanford was like summer camp, but there were too many squirrels so I moved to Chicago, where it’s only like summer camp 3 months a year and not too many squirrels.

My bike was stolen multiples times, then I got yelled at by my friends and family, and found that you really do have to lock it despite how nice you think your neighbors are.

My favorite gum flavors are Tropical, Blueberry, and Sweetmint, but I always wanted a sweet potato fry flavored one so I could chew it with my favorite burger.

Favorite igo car is a Civic hybrid, but, this one time, I found a bag of rotting fish in it.

Driving in Chicago is like playing “paper boy”, so I travel with NPR playing, and try to make my voice sound like an NPR voice (wow you really do sound like the radio…how do you do that?!).

I like MafiaWars because I’m addicted, I NEED TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL!! If I become Don (Vito) Corleone, I will return to playing scrabble on my phone.

So where do we find the Stanford kids in Chicago?
North Avenue beach is great when there’s a pick-up volleyball game, but when I want to bike (only pretend biking because my bike was stolen) without fear of small children, wild dogs, or cross-path dodge ball, I would rather take the North Branch Trail to Hackney’s for lunch.

I would definitely check out Kuma’s Corner on the Northwest Side, but never an Irish bar on a Saturday night in Lincoln Park

If I couldn’t use my igo for a day (because of the rotting fish), I would check out Montrose Beach and visit the Dog Beach and kayak on the lake for a bit.

Best place to get caffeine is anywhere that serves Intelligentsia coffee. If all the barista’s stopped serving it, I would have no motivation to wake up on Saturdays, but get my fix from Uncommon Ground instead.

Secret lunch spot: the Japanese Noodle place in the Illinois Center. Now that it isn’t a secret, I will start going to: Wow Bao. Uh oh. I don’t think I have any more secret lunch spots guess it’s Jimmy John’s for the 4th time this week.

When I feel artsy I go to the Old Town School of Folk Music. Otherwise, I just pretend to listen to the music at Ravinia while chatting and eating.

Top 5 places to go around your neighborhood: Diner Grill, Special Export (that’s not the name of the bar, I don’t think it has a name, just an old beer sign) (she won’t tell us because that’s her secret bar), Su Van’s, Wishbone, and Long Room.

The weirdest thing I ever saw in the city was a llama at an outdoor restaurant, but then I realized it’s too cold here for llamas, and it was all just a dream.

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By admin, May 6, 2009 4:12 pm

Vanessa poses for Peter McCain

Vanessa Conway is somewhat of an artist extraordinaire who lives in Lincoln Park. When WE sat down to chat with her at the Nobletree Café, she pretty much created a modern sculpture out of napkins that were lying on the table. Vanessa started her art career when she created her first abstract painting at age 3, formalized it at The Theatre of DePaul University, and is finally living it in the art/casting department of various films and plays, including Batman’s The Dark Night, As Told by the Vivian Girls, and Rock n Roll. Outside of the art world, she reads lots of blogs – apparently, Nutrionista is her favorite (we are trying to convince her to read ours!). If you see a purple bike with a helmet painted like crazy, it’s probably Vanessa – honk or say hi.

We have always been curious about the way an artist’s mind works…so we asked her to complete a few sentences for us.
Growing up around Chicago was like being a kid in a brilliantly designed candy store, except with salt, sugar, and some soy sauce.

The best part of being involved in the art world is that you never know where the wind will take you, and you get inspired easily and by pretty much everyone in your life.

Art is my passion, but sometimes the real world comes a callin’ and wish I could get a steady paycheck sort of like back in the days of the WPA‘s Federal Art Project, which supported artists like Jackson Pollock.

My job takes me all over the city and the two places I think everyone should visit at least once are “Textile Discount Outlet” and American Science and Surplus because you just never know when you will need a sequined platypus appliqué or a box of glow-in-the-dark bones.

This one time, in art camp, I dressed up as a hippie for a themed day and a picture was snapped and published in the local paper. However, the other three people were not dressed as hippies and I looked like a major doofus!

I am currently working on a music video, and the coolest thing about it is seeing how insanely kind and hardcore the girls from the Chicago Outfit Roller Derby League are and/or I got to work with somebody named Queefer Sutherland.

The easiest thing I created was a twenty five foot cherry blossom tree essentially constructed out of cardboard and coffee filters, but it took me years to perfect cutting/painting/drawing a truly straight line.

Vanessa’s favorite things in Chicago…
If brunch lines weren’t so long, I would go to Orange for frushi, Hot Chocolate, and Victory‘s Banner. I would live only on brunch.

When I want to venture out with my bike, I take the lakefront path to Millennium Park or Grant Park for a free concert, if I am on CTA mode, I check out the Garfield Park Conservatory.

My favorite galleries at the Art Institute are Thorne Miniature Rooms and the Modern Wing. If you find a flavorful untitled installation by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, your admission would pay for itself many times over.

If the Art Institute were closed for a week, I would cry my way to the Mexican Fine Arts Center, the MCA, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Columbia College Image Library, or the Newberry Library.

On a snowy/rainy day, I must see double features at Landmark Cinema, Pipers Alley, the Music Box or the Siskel Film Center and go see the NeoFuturist’s Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind at least once a year.

If Alinea weren’t so expensive, I’d be there everyday and eat everything and anything they offer, instead I just go to Cafe Iberico.

I enjoy going to Nobletree Café and the Hideout because their music playlist is magical.

My New Year’s resolution was to give up cupcakes, so I go to these places for my sweet fix: Peet‘s for an almond croissant and the best vanilla latte in Chicago, and Margie’s for the Royal George (with a slew of friends of course)!

I was really sad when the art store closed down, but happy that Dick Blick opened up instead.

When it is sunny, I try to do nothing but bask in it and get all my friends to do the same, preferably in somebody’s backyard/deck/patio/boat/rooftop with a barbecue and maybe a frisbee.

Photo courtesy of Peter McCain

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By admin, May 4, 2009 4:07 pm

Becky the Med Student

BECKY: A Northwestern med school student, Becky is respected for having left Chicago for California, and actually coming back. Having grown up in the suburbs, Becky doesn’t really know how she survived without her favorite coffee shop being a few blocks away. She is looking forward to becoming a doctor, joining the battle against cancer and not having to deal with swine flu. Becky currently lives in Lincoln Park. When not memorizing the 200 different parts of the human arm, she listens to (honestly?) lectures at Bourgeois Pig in Lincoln Park.

8 questions never asked about me:
Favorite TV shows as listed on Facebook: Facebook and I are currently having a troubled relationship. I don’t have any listed.

Favorite TV shows that are not listed on Facebook: The Daily Show is my most consistent favorite; just started getting into Arrested Development on DVD… before that I went through a Nip/Tuck phase (love it)

My neighbors think I am perhaps a little eccentric because when I’m home I blast music that ranges from opera classics to Energy 92.7 to indie rock to Latin pop… (ok maybe they just think I am a gay man) but it snowed one day, so now everything is ok.

When I was growing up, I thought I should be an actress so I could “act out” any career and never really have to decide, but then said to hell it with and went to med school and realized that being a doctor (or at least a med student) involves a lot of “acting” after all…

Brand of my scrubs: the only ones I currently own (as a 2nd year) say “Property of UCSF” – I probably should return them.

Footwear most commonly associated with my scrubs: tennis shoes… although I think I’m going to take the plunge and buy some sexy Dansko clogs

Med school has taught me how to perform old-fashioned physical exam techniques that are apparently obsolete in most contemporary medical practices, while life has continued to march on.

If I saw swine flu in my backyard, I would: wonder if swine flu will be on my boards exam this summer even though it just broke out…

Things I like and am passionate about…
Every time I need sugar, I go for fruit snacks, Red Vines, or my all-time favorite, gummy candy!!! When in need of more sugar, I (that usually does it… usually can’t eat again for hours after all that gelatin). In a worst case scenario sugar craving, I inject myself with glucose.

Best place to work out is BODYPUMP at Lincoln Park Athletic Club. Worst place to work out is a gym that doesn’t have BodyPump.

There are too many guys in charge of countries—there would be less war if women were in charge (but maybe more gossip). There are too many girls in uncomfortable shoes.

Favorite restaurant in the city so many… Greek Islands, Reza’s, Lou Mitchell’s to eat quality food in a festive atmosphere.

When I lose my wallet and only have $5 to buy a meal, I go to: Sultan’s Market, but hate it when I find out my $5 is actually a $1.

Shops that I wish were outside my apartment: Art Effect, the MCA store, Sew Bettie, Lululemon, and Trader Joe’s.

I wish people would protest these issues outside my apartment: global inequality… although maybe not right outside my apartment. Except before 10am.

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By admin, April 30, 2009 4:01 pm

Even though spring still evades the windy city, we thought we’d start encouraging people to start enjoying everything great that this city has to offer.  Whether it be an outdoor bikram yoga class, or a cupcake at Molly’s, we want you to experience bliss.  Together with our concierge service on twitter (@funsherpa), our “interrogation blog” will hopefully provide you with ideas of places to go, things to see, and dreams to live.

What is the interrogation blog?

This is the fun part of our job, where we get to interview locals and find out a little bit about their lives and a whole lot about the city.  Our goal is to talk to interesting people (not necessarily famous, but yeah, if Tina Fey wanted to talk to us, we’d listen) and see inside their soul…Yes, we’d like to know if Ana from Water Tower secretly enjoys going to Hot Doug’s or if Pete, the doorman at our apartment has a mani/pedi Thursday with other doormen in the city.  No, we will not use torture to get the answers that we want, nor will we accept bribes (advertising) for anything featured on the interviews.

Our hope…

We hope you find our interrogations interesting and useful.  We’d like to think that we are better than those pesky tabloids you read on your way to work and leave on the CTA.  Let us know what you think of our interrogations and if you have any ideas for us to help people get out and enjoy!

Sincerely,

Fun Sherpa.