Combine your trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo or Nature Museum with a friendly 30-minute tour of the Elks Memorial, an architectural gem just a short walk up Cannon Drive. As you step through the ornate 1,000-pound bronze doors, you'll be asked to sign the guest register. A quick peek at its pages reveals that, by far, the majority of your fellow visitors are out-of-state Elks.

First you'll be shown the rotunda, with its marble floors and columns fashioned from 26 kinds of marble from six countries. The 12 allegorical murals above your head are by American artist Eugene Savage. The 100-foot-high domed ceiling and the four statues, Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love, and Fidelity, by American sculptor James Earle Fraser, are adorned liberally with 24-carat gold leaf. As you move into the adjoining Grand Reception Room, check out the three panels in the entryway by Edwin Blashfield. The Reception Room itself is an opulent chamber softly illuminated by colored-glass overlay windows. Bold, imaginative murals by Savage cover the walls and ceilings. If this grandeur has piqued your interest in the doings of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, proceed downstairs to the archives, where you'll find historical photographs, displays of pin-back buttons, and medals from the past hundred years or so. Especially charming is a series of miniature replicas of Elks Tournament of Roses Parade floats. Allow a half-hour.