Family Getaway

Hilton Garden Inn

In April of 2010 we decided just get away for an overnight trip and take the boys to a hotel that had a pool.  Schaumburg, IL had proved to be far enough away, yet close enough to get to and had reasonable hotel prices.  After using Kayak to do a quick search we found the Hilton Garden Inn  to have everything we needed.  We've had a lot of success with Hilton Hotels, it's just sometimes, some locations are out of our budget.  The great part about Schaumburg, IL is the hotels seem to make the bulk of their money during the week from business class men and women so the weekend rates don't really spike up like most tourist spots would.  This allows for quick little weekend getaways for a reasonable rate at higher end business class hotels.

Sparkling Volcano Brownie Dessert

On the way down we decided to stop in Gurnee, IL at the Gurnee Mills Mall.  This mall is a lot of fun for shopping.  We always enjoy being able to stop by the Apple Store and check out any other electronic and game stores they have.  Our purpose of this stop was to eat at Rainforest Cafe.  This is a fun dining experience just based on the ambiance. If you've never been to one, the first thing you'd notice on walking in is the waterfall sound and the forest creature sounds.  Birds, monkeys, roars of lions and other large cats and on queue large animatronic gorillas pounding their chests and howling.  The food is really good (although on the pricey side when you're with a family.  Plan on dropping about $80 - $100 for a family of 4 - and this was for lunch.  You HAVE to save room for their Sparkling Volcano dessert though.  We got one with 4 forks.  What kid doesn't like to see someone approaching their table with the thing on fire...well sparklers flaring on top.  At the time the cost was $14.99 for it.  Probably worth half, but still a fun experience and it was rather tasty if you like chocolate brownie, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, caramel and chocolate sauce drizzled over the top. YUM! After this meal and dessert our goal was to get to the hotel.

Brad 

Devin

After checking in, the boys wanted to hit the pool.  So, they did.  Armed with a few blow up toys they were happy to just splash around while Tracy and I sat and watched.  I remember being this young and being able to play in a pool until my parents got tired and dragged us out.  Since we were here to relax we just let them play until they were worn out.  After they were done we went back to the room to get dry and ready for dinner.  Since we'd had such a big lunch we all opted to just grab some Taco Bell for dinner before coming back to the hotel to hang out and relax.

The next day we had a little more time for the boys to swim and then we packed up to head back home.  It was a nice getaway and a good way to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring!