Hotels By City: Cheap Hotels, Hotel Guides & Hotel Blogs

If you have kids who like trains, one of the coolest things you can do in Chicago this Christmas season is go to the Botanic Garden. The Wonderland Express, located at the site's Regenstein Center, is full of holiday fun and fantasy.

 You'll travel through rooms and halls decorated with gingerbread houses and wreaths of candy, along with Christmas trees (of course). Then you'll come to the trains--traveling through and around evergreen displays, ...

There's still plenty of time to get out and enjoy the many Halloween festivities this town has to offer. My pick for a ghoulishly fun time this year, if you're from out of town and looking for a scary, hip and happening celebration: Navy Fear at Navy Pier.

Navy Pier's Halloween Celebration includes Demons of the Deep and Ghostly Gardens. You can experience Demons Mild or Demons Wild, depending on your ...

The Billy Goat Tavern is a legend here in Chicago, and it was one long before "Saturday Night Live" parodied it in the mid-‘70s. You know that curse on the Cubs, the one involving the goat? Well, it was the original owner of the Billy Goat, William Sianis, who was responsible for that. When he was not allowed to bring his goat into a 1945 World Series game, he cursed ...

You may know The Second City as an incubator for comedians like Mike Myers, Tim Meadows, Bonnie Hunt, Jim Belushi, Bill Murray and many others. The improv troupe's connection with "Saturday Night Live" has been well-documented. Once called the Compass Players when the group started in the mid-1950s at the University of Chicago, this Chicago treasure is still going strong. I have a friend who insists on attending a show ...

I don't know about you, but the muggy heat and gloomy weather in Chicago is getting to me these days. I'd rather spend my days in air-conditioned comfort. Fortunately, Chicago is a mecca of culture. That's why I recommend some of this area's many low-key museums for weeks like this...

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
3001 Central St. Evanston

If you're interested in the history and culture of North American Native peoples, ...

August is always chock full of fun in Chicago, and one of the reasons is this weekend's 49th Annual Chicago Air & Water Show. The great thing about this exciting event is that you don't have to be in one particularly crowded area to see the planes and boats, although it does help if you're near the lakefront. In the past few years it always seems like we're always at baseball games ...

The summers are just packed in Chicago. Every weekend, especially in August, seems full of festivals of every kind--food fairs, art fairs, concerts, Venetian Night, fireworks, the air and sea show. The place to be this Friday, Saturday and Sunday is Lollapalooza, of course. I plan to go, and so about 50 percent of all the people I know. The other 50 percent are going to avoid the city like ...

Just this week, I had the chance to take an architectural boat tour on the Chicago River with an alumni group that I belong to.  I have lived in Chicago for almost two years now, and this was the first time I had the chance to get on a boat and see the skyscrapers from a different angle.

If you have the chance to take and architectural boat tour, I highly ...

Admittedly, trekking up to the Genesee Theatre in downtown Waukegan is a bit of a hike-about 40 miles from Chicago. Waukegan is one of the far north suburbs, and not a particularly pretty one in many areas (you may know the city as the birthplace of Jack Benny and hometown of Ray Bradbury). But here's why the trip is worth it; Genesee is one of those grand old community theaters ...

I'm sure if you've visited Chicago, you've probably visited The Lincoln Park Zoo, especially if you've visited with a family.  If you are a first time Chicago visitor, or if you've never made the trek in the summer months, I would highly recommend you make the trip.  If you didn't notice the headline, admission ...