May Edition Where's Wallace

With so much excitement taking place at The Field Museum, I had to go check things out this month. As we mentioned before the awesome Mammoths and Mastodons Exhibit has been open for a while now. It is really impressive seeing these creatures from the Ice Age. Our Mammoths and Mastodons Coloring Contest is coming to an end and the winner will be annouced the first week of June.

You may have also heard that Sue the T. Rex is celebrating her 10th anniversay at The Field museum. There is a new interactive exhibit called RoboSue! You cant miss it!

You also won’t want to miss when a “Walk Around Sue” visits Best Western River North on June 11 at 5pm.

An All Access ticket is now available to the Field Museum. With this ticket you can experience the T. Rex exhibits and the Mammoths!

Go! You will LOVE it!

Wallace and CEO David Kong - Best Western Chicago,
originally uploaded by Best Western River North Hotel Chicago.

Wallace received an Excellence in Service award from Best Western International President and CEO David Kong on May 5, 2010.

We traveled to Sterling Heights Michigan, just outside of Detroit to attend the Best Western District III meeting where the awards were given out to employees who embrace the spirit of Customer Service.

Prior to the awards ceremony on Friday, we attended a dinner/dance on Thursday evening at the spectacular GM Heritage Center. At the Heritage center GM has one of every car they ever made, including concept and experimental cars. Visit our Facebook Page and see pictures from this fabulous evening. After checking out all the cars we enjoyed a delicious dinner and dancing to live motown music.

You can watch a video of the awards ceremony or view pictures on our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/chicagobestwestern

Hello from high above Chicago! This month I went to visit two of the highest points you can reach in downtown Chicago; The Skydeck at the Willis Tower and The Signature Room at the 95th.

The left side of the photo captures me out on “The Ledge”. Yes, thats right, you can stand in a glass box that hangs off the side of the Willis Tower….or Sears Tower and I did it! You can see the day I visited it was a little cloudy, but the views were still incredible.

Next I hustled over to the John Hancock building and worked my way up to the 95th floor. Along with an observatory, The Signature Room is open for lunch and dinner and offers unbeatable views while you are dining. There is also a lounge if dining is not in your plans.

These two places offer a truely unique experience and are must see’s when visiting Chicago.

Where’sWallace,
originally uploaded by Best Western River North Hotel Chicago.

Alright everyone, welcome to the first edition of “Where’s Wallace?” I let the secret out a little early, so you may have heard I was at Navy Pier. I spent an afternoon walking around the state’s #1 attraction, and here is what I discovered.

For over 10 years, Navy Pier has been the place where all of Chicagoland and tourists come together and enjoy a day of fun and beauty on Lake Michigan. I started my day with a walk down “Dock Street”. Dock Street is the outdoor area that runs the length of Navy Pier. Now, you might be asking, what is there to do outside in winter? The answer is plenty! All along Dock street Chicago’s best dining cruise and sightseeing ships dock. Cruises are available all year long! From Dock Street I made my way up to “Pier Park”. Pier Park is located on the upper deck and features attractions like a Carousel, Wave Swinger, Miniature Golf and more. While most of these attractions are not open for the season yet, the one attraction open year round is the 150 foot high Ferris wheel. As you can see in the picture, it was a beautiful clear day when I was at Navy Pier, and the views from the Ferris wheel are spectacular! I think I even saw River North Hotel from the top!

After the excitement of the Ferris wheel ride, I headed indoors for some lunch. With many restaurants and a food court, deciding where to eat was tough. I finally chose the Bubba Gump Restaurant and Market and boy was I happy I did. The food was terrific and so was the service. When I explained to the staff a little about my “Where’s Wallace” column, they were even nicer! So please visit my friends at Bubba Gumps, and tell them Wallace sent you!

After lunch, I strolled around inside and did some shopping. Navy Pier offers 30+ shops. I made a stop by DC Mad Hatter. Here you can have custom embroidery done on a hat, while you wait. DC is a good friend of Best Western River North, so he made me a Wallace hat, check out the picture. We wrapped up my day at the Navy Pier IMAX theatre, now showing Avatar. They say you haven’t really seen Avatar until you see it in IMAX 3D…lets go…