Redwood Creek: Top 25 Picnic Destinations

		RAVINIA PARK: A Little Night Music
		THE SETTING Every summer, some 600,000 people flock to Highland Park, Illinois, for the famed Ravinia Festival. The 36-acre wooded park originally opened in 1904 as a theme park and baseball field, but after closing during the Great Depression, the area was reborn in 1936 as the Ravinia Festival. Every year, the world's greatest musicians, dancers and theatrical artists come to Highland Park to perform in one of park's several theaters, including the 3,200-seat open-air Pavilion. But many outdoor lovers prefer to hear the music directly from the lush green lawn, where they can enjoy a picnic dinner under the stars. If you chose to dine alfresco, you can bring your own food, beer, wine, coolers, lawn chairs, blankets and candles. Thanks to recent $13 million renovations that included a state-of-the-art sound system, lawn dwellers can now hear the music from the concert halls loud and clear. Good thing, because with performers such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Tony Bennett and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who would want to miss a beat?
		WHAT TO SEE AND DO If you've got a penchant for Puccini, you might want to stick around and take classes at Ravinia Campus, an offshoot of the Ravinia Association designed to teach people the joys of classical music. If you have a car, consider a driving tour along Chicago's north shore down to the city of Chicago; Highland Park, an affluent town dotted with Frank Lloyd Wright homes, wraps around the Lake Michigan Shoreline and is just 26 miles north of downtown. If you have the weekend, why not stick around to enjoy the Windy City's many sites? While you're in town, take a stroll down busy Michigan Avenue, shop on trendy Oak Street, ride to the top of the John Hancock building or Sears Tower, or visit the Impressionist masterpieces at the Chicago Art Institute.
		HOT TIPS The park opens in the late afternoon, about three hours prior to concert times. Reserved seats in the Pavilion, Martin Theatre and Bennett Gordon Hall are a little pricier than lawn seats, while free tickets to master classes, preview and postlude concerts are distributed to attendees on a first-come, first-serve basis at the West Gate Customer Service booth a half-hour before performances. You can use Ravinia Dollars, available at retail outlets throughout the area, as lawn tickets at the gate, or to pay parking fees. Grills, beer kegs, athletic equipment, rollerblades, bicycles, pets and cigarette and cigar smoking are not permitted in the park. For a small fee, you can rent a lawn chair or side table.
		PHOTO OPS If using your zoom lens to capture fellow picnickers lounging, eating and sleeping isn't enough of a thrill, take a drive along Lake Michigan and capture the beauty of the Chicago suburbs that were immortalized in such 1980s teen flicks as Uncle Buck and Sixteen Candles. Drive south until you hit Lake Shore Drive, and when you see the glimmering lights of the Chicago skyline start snapping.
		LOCAL SPECIALTIES Chicagoans love their ribs and wings just as much as their deep-dish pizza -- how about packing some barbecue specialties in your basket along with fresh fruit and, for dessert, chocolate-mint Frangos from Chicago's own department store, Marshall Field's.