Naperville, Illinois

I hope you all enjoy this fun post by my fabulous sister-in-law, Erin!

Naperville is my hometown, as well as my husband’s and sister-in-law’s, who just happens to be Clare. Growing up here, in this middle class Chicago suburb, it always seemed there was nothing to do, hence the nickname Naperthrill. But once you grow up and return to this blooming city, you realize there really is quite a lot to do, and it is in fact a great place to grow up.

After turning 21, you realize Naperville has a night scene that attracts people from all of the surrounding areas. Downtown Naperville hosts a number of bars, including the popular Jimmy’s and Features for the 20-something crowd. But in the last 5 years, more upscale restaurants and bars have moved in, including downtown Chicago hits like Bar Louie and Hugo’s Frog Bar, which has delicious food, especially noting their Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes and their Sesame Seared Tuna. Here are some pictures of the old main downtown street Jefferson, which now hosts quite a few chain stores, like Apple and Jimmy Johns, as well as some local stores that continue to hang on.

However, once you return with children, you realize that Naperville not only has delicious food to eat and great places to drink, but a wide range of activities for the family. Downtown Naperville popped up around the DuPage River, so they built, and continue to renovate, their signature Riverwalk. Here are some views:

Quite near downtown is Centennial Beach, an old rock quarry turned into a football field size pool that boasts a zero entry sand shallow end and a 20-foot deep end equipped with diving boards, stationary rafts and docks and lap lanes. I use to work their in fact and have amazing memories of my summers spent in the sun protecting the 1000+ patrons a day. With the depth of the deep end and the murkiness of the water (it's Lake Michigan water), all the guards are SCUBA certified in order to patrol the bottom if someone is missing. It’s kinda out of Baywatch when the whistles blow for an emergency, if I do say so myself.

Naperville has also more recently developed extensive bike trails around town and through some of the nature preserves. On a ride through recently, you can almost escape the cement and building world that has become the suburbs of Chicago. There are few spots on the trails where you can’t see either a road or some form of housing, and if the wind kicks up just right, all you can hear is the wind blowing through the natural prairie grasses and leaves and some of the many birds chirping away.

It must be a birders heaven, as I spotted a crane and a pretty cool black and red bird while I was riding at a decent clip.

Naperville also is home to the awesome DuPage Children’s Museum with its huge water table and cool ball pipes, among other things. There are a multitude of parks and the school district is great – Clare, I and many of her readers are Naperville Central High School alums, and I think we all turned out decently smart!

Naperville is a 45 minute car ride or an hour long train ride away from one of the world’s best cities, Chicago. I personally think it is the world’s best city, but I’m not quite as traveled as your bloggers, Clare and Brian!

Thanks for the awesome post about Naperville, E! It brought back so many fun memories.
xo - C & B