{"id":1868,"date":"2014-08-09T21:34:14","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T04:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=1868"},"modified":"2014-08-09T21:38:23","modified_gmt":"2014-08-10T04:38:23","slug":"chicago-is-everyones-kind-of-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/lifestyle\/1868\/chicago-is-everyones-kind-of-town","title":{"rendered":"Chicago is Everyone’s Kind of Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Billy Joel, on the stage a few weeks ago at Wrigley Field, warbled a few lines of the standard \u201cMy Kind of Town (Chicago Is),\u201d he represented the feelings of people of all ages – from the foodies dining at Joe\u2019s Seafood Prime Steak and Stone Crab, to the hip professional crowd swilling custom cocktails at Henry\u2019s Swing Club and even the doll-toting darlings at the American Girl store in Water Tower Place. People come to the <\/span>Windy<\/span>City<\/span>, especially in the summer, for a combination of reasons, including thrills now that \u201cTilt\u201d has opened in \u201c<\/span>Chicago<\/span> 360,\u201d the observation floor atop the John Hancock Building 1,000 feet above the Magnificent Mile. \u201cTilt\u201d provides visitors the experience of standing against the window, holding on, and being gently tilted forward, along with the window, outside the building in order to look a stomach-turning straight down. The Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, just a block from the J.W. Marriott hotel in Chicago\u2019s \u201cLoop,\u201d offers a similar experience from 1,353 feet up with \u201cThe Ledge\u201d on its\u2019 103<\/span>rd<\/span><\/sup> floor.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"seadog_Chicago\"

A Sea Dog cruise from Navy Pier provides a thrilling view of Chicago by day or during nighttime fireworks<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also directly next to <\/span>Chicago<\/span>\u2019s elevated \u2018L\u2019 train,\u201d says Steve Conklin, J.W. Marriott\u2019s director of sales and marketing, who knows that while guests will be tempted make no plans and remain in the hotel \u2013 especially to enjoy the unique \u201cClarity Chamber\u201d Turkish Bath in the 20,000 square-foot spa. Some like to be on the water and not just in it, so Sea Dog Cruises takes guests and their families from the carnival atmosphere of Navy Pier out into Lake Michigan and onto the <\/span>Chicago River<\/span> aboard smooth speedboats for stunningly scenic architectural tours, fireworks shows and thrill rides. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Exciting cocktails and a sense of sassy fun are presented at Henry\u2019s Swing Club, a new, creative and casual bar in the River North District. With Michigan-native Michael Rubel serving as beverage director, the menu presents a Hamtramck Boilermaker and Corktown Swizzle. The very name \u201cHenry\u2019s is taken from a lyric about a <\/span>Detroit<\/span> bar in the John Lee Hooker song \u201cBoogie Chillen.\u2019\u201d Maybe the most inexpensive menu in all of Chicago is one of the most whimsical, too: slider options include fried bologna; peanut butter and banana; fried oysters; and eggplant, to name a few, and you can roast campfire s\u2019mores right at your table or even at the bar, for dessert after you play pool, Uno, or even \u201cspin the bottle.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Serious diners understand the 100-year legacy of <\/span>Miami<\/span>\u2019s Joe\u2019s Stone Crab, which is both honored and enhanced at its\u2019 <\/span>Chicago<\/span> location on <\/span>Rush St.<\/span> \u201cChicago is a town known for its\u2019 beef, so we give our guests the best of both worlds,\u201d says general manager Eric Schuster as tuxedoed waiters dish out Madagascar shrimp, calf\u2019s liver, and Joe\u2019s famed key lime pie (though Mackinac Island Grand Hotel\u2019s Ken Hayward prefers their Havana pie.) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Choices abound when you <\/span><\/span>ChooseChicago.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Michigan-based travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at <\/span>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/span><\/a> or via <\/span>www.TravelTattler.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He may be heard and seen weekday mornings in <\/span>Lansing<\/span> on 92.1 FM and Fox 47 TV.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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