HotelTonight – Gurnee Hotels Are Ready and Waiting
When you spend time in an enormous metropolis, such as Chicago, you tend to get a feel for what life is like near the center of the city and perhaps in a few nearby communities, but rarely do you have time to do anything else. That's always been the case with me, and that's usually because I'm in a particular city for work. I've been to Chicago many times, but other than downtown and a few other nice areas, I can't say I know a whole lot about the city as a whole. I hoped to change that someday but didn't see an opportunity forthcoming. That all changed on my last trip there. I was driving from Chicago to Milwaukee when I got a call telling me that my meetings for the rest of that day had been canceled. Rather than continue driving, I decided to stop in the community I was driving past at the time. It was a place called Gurnee. I was interested in getting to know a place that I hadn't heard of before, and I was not concerned about finding lodging. I travel with HotelTonight, so I'd be able to book a Gurnee hotel room as soon as I was ready.
The Community
Gurnee is not a big place. Only about 30,000 people live there. It's even still classified as a village, so you know it's going to have a different feel than just about anywhere else in Chicago, even though downtown and the Loop are only a relatively short drive away. As soon as I got out in the middle of the village, I knew I was somewhere else. It was more like a small town, as the people walked around and greeted each other with a sense of familiarity that I liked. I was going to enjoy my time there.
The Open Spaces
Gurnee may be known for being home to Six Flags Great America, but I wasn't in the mood for all the excitement an amusement park brings. Instead, I wanted to get outside as it was a beautiful day. I was happy to see that there were parks all over the place, and I chose one to walk around in for several hours. There was a perfect canopy of trees and foliage above where I was walking, and the locals who were there could not have been friendlier.
The Dining
After all that walking, I was hungry. A couple at the park told me about an Irish pub nearby, so I decided to give that a try. I was almost immediately glad that I did. I ordered a steel bucket of tater tots that came with a cheese sauce in a separate dish – really tasty. Their burgers were also big and juicy, so by the time I was done with all of that and a local craft beer I was more than satisfied. I also enjoyed a couple more pleasant conversations with locals.
HotelTonight – Gurnee Hotels at the Ready
I was exhausted and ready to get some sleep. I opened my HotelTonight app and booked a Gurnee hotel room in seconds. It was just up the road, and I couldn't wait to get into my room and fall asleep, happy that I had gotten to know another lovely community.