My daughter and son-in-law return on Thursday. They are asking me about places within an hour, hour and half, drive of O'Hare that would make for a nice visit. She asked me about South Bend... see Notre Dame.... I have been there but long ago...1992. My impression of South Bend, at that time, was not good. Yes, the campus of Notre Dame itself is very nice but the area, to me, was not.
Also, they'd like to at add a few states to their travel history so IOW preferably, not mandatory, visiting a bordering state or two. Their first choice was Green Bay, see Lombardi Stadium, but that's too far from O'Hare... I think 180 miles? They have time constraints... their plane departs about 9pm on Thurs. so early morning to about 7pm is max! And while it's true that because we hail from a very remote area and do not consider a mere 180 miles drive far at all it's still too much for a day AND see interesting sights.
I am not familiar enough with the area to be of any real help. When I visited Chicago, South Bend, we came up touring the area from Indianapolis. I liked Chicago, a lot.. and the actual Campus of Notre Dame... but I don't recall liking much else in that area - - of course that was long ago, memory fades. - JamesJM