Chicago is a great place to live. It’s so great, that old friends from across the country are always coming to visit.

The Windy City is a day’s drive or a reasonably-priced flight away for most of my friends. Next to Facebook, living in such a hub is a great way to stay in touch.

But Chicago’s popularity and awesomeness can be a burden for the hostess that doesn’t live in Gold Coast.

Lots of visitors wanting to share your city means lots of people want to hit up all that Chicago has to offer: Museums, food, theater, shopping, food, baseball games, music. Did I mention the food?

So when perhaps my oldest girlfriend – a classmate from kindergarten! – showed up for her first real visit to the city I was, I have to admit, a little relieved when she said she just wanted to hang out like anybody else who lives here.

On a sunny fall Sunday, the choice of how to spend the day was clear. I grabbed my whiffle ball bat, and we headed for Lincoln Park.

A warm day, we took our time walking down there, and my friend got to see the city from plenty of angles. We passed the local pubs, full of regulars arguing football, and crossed a bridge that looked across to the skyscrapers downtown.

We took a detour through the ultimate freebie: The Lincoln Park Zoo. Free every day of the year, we passed on the overpriced popcorn, but took in every slot in the big cat house. We watched the one-armed gibbon enjoy his monkey chow, but saved our spending splurge for later.

We went through the zoo, past the flamingos and into the park. We met up with some friends from the neighborhood and had a full whiffle ball game going for the afternoon.

After a few hours of playing and lounging in the park, we walked back for a nap. Deep dish pizza from the local joint goes a long way, so we had the leftovers for dinner as we made plans for that evening.

It can be hard to have a big night out in a big city when you’re living on small cash. But we were in luck. An off night promotion at Kingston Mines, a famous blues club in our neighborhood, and some not-too-old student IDs meant we could get in for $5.

Every night, Kingston Mines features blues and soul music on two stages. The stages play back to back to back until the early hours of the morning, so you don’t have to stop dancing. The cheap cover meant I had budget space left for exactly two drinks.

Two stages, two drinks, two friends. Who says three is the magic number? Lots of dancing and laughter later, we split a cab back to my place.

Monkeys, dancing, cold pizza, whiffle ball. I’ve given lots of unofficial tours of the city, but this might be my favorite.

Total charges for the day: $15.25.

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