Fashion Outlets Chicago, Rosemont: Outlet Mall Experience Taken to a New Level

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois, Shopping January 26, 2015February 5, 2015chicago fashion outlet, Fashion Outlets Chicago, fashion outlets rosemont, outlet chicago, outlets in Chicago, premium outlets chicago, rosemont outlets 0 Comment

Last week I was introduced to the Fashion Outlets Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois. It’s surprising I hadn’t been there before because I am drawn to outlet malls, and this one is less than 90 minutes from home. There is something about an outlet mall that lures me in. Could be signs like this:

Fashion Outlets Chicago has taken the outlet mall experience to a new level with both shops and service. With over 130 stores from Gucci to Gap, Coach to Claire’s and dining options from Villagio to Sbarro, Fashion Outlets Chicago has something for everyone. Whether you’re on an extended layover at O’Hare, just a few minutes away; attending a convention across the street at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center; or driving in specifically to shop, the indoor mall is easy to access.

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My trip to Fashion Outlets Chicago was part of a Rosemont tour prior to attending the Chicago Travel & Adventure Show. The visit started with what was described as “light bites” at Villagio, one of two full service restaurants in the mall. The food was plenty to fill up on: meatballs, breaded calamari and zucchini, and several specialty pizzas, including one with prosciutto.

During an orientation to the mall we learned the shops are strategically located, so that similar stores are close together, with convenient entrances to each area. Upscale shops are clustered at one end of the upper level, fragrance shops at another end, and children’s shops near each other on the lower level.

We also learned about the convenient guest services that the mall offers, including shuttles from nearby O’Hare Airport terminals and the Chicago CTA blue line Rosemont station. Travel concierge service, operated by BAGS Inc. at the guest services counter includes airport baggage check-in and boarding pass printing. They also offer packaging and shipping, as well as delivery service within a specified a zip code range.

After the orientation we had about 45 minutes to shop. My husband and I browsed a couple of the shoe stores (38 stores sell shoes) and then found the chocolate. We spent the rest of our shopping time in the Lindt and Godiva Chocolatier shops.

Dark chocolate bars, buy four get one free. How could I resist?

In the Godiva Chocolatier shop I noticed an entire box of only dark chocolates.

I was tempted, but I resisted. Instead, we watched as macaroons were dipped into white chocolate. The shop offers chocolate-dipped strawberries, Oreos® and other delectable treats daily.Wandering back to our meeting place, we noticed large colorful art pieces throughout the mall. Fashion Outlets of Chicago partnered with The Arts Initiative, a newly formed organization dedicated to placing visual art in public spaces.

Forty-five minutes isn’t nearly enough time to even browse a mall as large as Fashion Outlets Chicago. I vowed to go back that weekend but couldn’t squeeze it into the schedule. That means I’ll have to make a return trip, specifically to do nothing but shop.

Fashion Outlets Chicago, located at 5220 Fashion Outlets Way with convenient access off of I-294, is open seven days a week and offers free covered parking. Check the web site for directions, transportation options and hours.

Disclosure: My visit to the Fashion Outlets Chicago was hosted by the Village of Rosemont, Villagio and Fashion Outlets Chicago. However, all opinions are my own. Photos taken by Skip Reed and Connie Reed.

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Eating Breakfast with the Chickens at Egg Harbor Cafe

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois January 22, 2015February 17, 2015Egg Harbor Cafe, Egg Harbor Cafe Rockford, Restaurants in Rockford, Rockford, Rockford Illinois restaurants 0 Comment

Lobster for breakfast? Yep. Lobster Scrambler is on the menu at Egg Harbor Café. So is Joe’s Healthy Scrambler with fresh veggies, no-cholesterol eggs and low-fat cheese, served with fresh fruit and a wheat English muffin. Egg Harbor offers lots of other healthy options, too. What did I order? Meat, meat and more meat—Matt’s Meaty Skillet, loaded with bacon, ham and sausage and topped with melted jack and cheddar cheese. That’s besides the two eggs, potatoes and an English muffin. Sheesh! I’m almost embarrassed to admit it. That was before I went on my much needed calorie-counting kick. I didn’t eat the whole thing, but I’ll tell you what. It sure was yummy.

I’d seen Egg Harbor restaurants scattered around the Chicago area for some time but had never eaten at one until I was in Rockford. I had assumed they were a national chain. Not so. There are only 18 Egg Harbor Cafes: fourteen in Chicago’s west and north suburbs, one in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and three in the Bucktown area of Atlanta.

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The Rockford restaurant is located in a non-descript strip mall, but the inside is decorated in rustic country a la chicken. Decorative chicken statuary is everywhere in the restaurant. I could almost feel chicken eyes on me as I ate their unborn.

The company is family owned, and talking with the managers of the Rockford restaurant, I found out that turnover in management is almost non-existent; the company is that good to work for. The company’s mission statement, “Improving service in every sense,” is based on food, service and atmosphere. Judging from my visit, they live their mission statement. The atmosphere is casual fun, our service was top-notch and the food tasty and plentiful with a range of breakfast options from sweet pancakes to savory Benedicts. Soups, salads and sandwiches are available at lunch.

I’m looking at the Egg Harbor Café menu as I’m writing this, and I see lots of choices that would fit my new eating plan, like a fruit cup and whole wheat pancakes. And then my eyes rest on a new item: Boston Cream Pancakes, layered with vanilla custard and thick dark chocolate sauce. Dark chocolate. If I were eating there right now, I don’t know if my will power would be strong enough to stay away from such a temptation. I do know, however, that the next time I’m in an area of an Egg Harbor Café at breakfast time, I’m going in.

Egg Harbor Café, located at 1603 North Alpine Road in Rockford, Illinois, is open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Check the web site for the menu and additional locations.

Disclosure: My visit to Egg Harbor Cafe was hosted by the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Egg Harbor Cafe. However, opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Oliver Mansion, South Bend Indiana: Glimpse a Family’s Lavish 1930s Lifestyle

Connie Attractions & Events, Indiana January 20, 2015February 17, 2015History Museum South Bend, Oliver Mansion, Oliver Mansion South Bend, South Bend, South Bend attractions, South Bend History Museum, South Bend IN, South Bend Indiana 0 Comment

It isn’t often that all of the furnishings in a historic home are original to the house, especially a 38-room, 12,000 square foot mansion. That’s what you’ll see when you tour the Oliver Mansion in South Bend, Indiana, immersing you in the lavish lifestyle of its owners, the J.D. and Anna Oliver family, as it was in the 1930s.

J.D. Oliver’s father James immigrated to the United States with his family from Scotland when he was 12 years old. He took a job working on a farm where he became familiar with plows. As an adult James was a partner in the South Bend Iron Company and experimented with improving the field plow. He registered 45 patents on improved plow design during his lifetime. The company flourished, and James Oliver became wealthy. J.D. eventually took over as President of the company. By that time the company name had been changed to Oliver Chilled Plow Works.

J.D. married Anna in 1885, and in 1886 they moved into their new Indiana fieldstone Romanesque Queen Anne home. The Olivers had four children, and as the family grew, so did the Oliver Chilled Plow Works, becoming the largest plow factory in the world at the turn of the century. The family lived lavishly, were socially active and also deeply involved in community service. The family’s community service continued through the generations, as J.D. and Anna’s grandchildren donated the mansion and its furnishings to South Bend’s Center for History.

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The home is set up as a working house in the 1930s. Though daughter Catherine, who never married and lived out her life in the mansion, sold or gave away furnishings, recipients of those items have returned many of them.

Each of the 14 fireplaces is different, some more ornate than others.

Carved woodwork on fireplace hearths, railings, even on the ceilings exude richness.

The office and the game room have especially masculine features.

Leaded glass windows in several rooms soften the harshness of the dark wood, and fabrics soften the decor in the dining room and music room.

The kitchen isn’t as fancy, but it’s spacious, with multiple stoves and plenty of icebox and storage space needed to prepare for large parties.

Catherine lived her adult life mostly on the second floor, which she had redone in green art deco.

After J.D. and Anna’s son Joseph’s wife was thrown from a horse and killed, Joseph came back to live in the family home. He stayed mainly on the third floor. His seven shaving brushes, one for each day of the week, are on display in the bathroom.

Beautifully manicured gardens surround the mansion.

Besides the mansion, the tour also includes a look at the Polish workers’ house, less than a five minute walk from the main house. The house, comfortable quarters for the Olivers’ domestic staff, was built in 1851. The Olivers added a bathroom and other conveniences. Like the mansion, the workers’ house is decorated as it would have been in the 1930s.

The History Museum provides tours of the Oliver Mansion seven days a week. The main entrance is shared with the Studebaker National Museum at 897 Thomas Street, South Bend, Indiana. Check the web site for tour times and admission rates.

Disclosure: My visit to the Oliver Mansion was hosted by Visit South Bend Mishawaka and the History Museum, but any opinions expressed in this article are my own. Some of the pbotos were taken by Skip Reed and some by Connie Reed.

Other posts you may enjoy:

Studebaker Museum, South Bend: From Carriages to Automobiles

Touring the University of Notre Dame Campus, South Bend, Indiana

Tour the South Bend Chocolate Company Factory

Shop the South Bend Farmers Market Year Round

Unbelievable Customer Service at My Local Culver’s

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois January 16, 2015Bourbonnais Illinois, Culver's, Restaurants in Bourbonnais 1 Comment

I have never before written about a national chain fast food restaurant.* Culver’s, a mostly Midwest chain but popping up in pockets across the nation, falls into that category. However, after our latest visit to our local Culver’s, I can’t keep quiet any longer. I have to tell you about the most exemplary customer service I have ever had in any restaurant of any type, anywhere, and I’ve eaten in some high-end restaurants. I’m not talking about great customer service on one occasion; I mean wow treatment on every visit, from every staff member, at the Bourbonnais, Illinois, Culver’s.

If they aren’t swamped with customers, a staff member opens the door for you and greets you with a, “Welcome to Culver’s.” Behind the counter, no matter how busy, you get another “Welcome to Culver’s.” Service is always with a smile. Tell them thank you, and they don’t mumble “No problem” or even say “You’re welcome.” They reply with, “My pleasure.”

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Culver’s is one of those fast-food restaurants where you place your order at the counter, and if you’re dining in, they give you a numbered table tent to take to your seat. They bring your food to you. On our visit this week, the young woman who delivered our food not only confirmed which sandwiches we ordered, but read the entire list of condiments to ensure it was correct.

Staff members walk table to table asking if everything is okay and clearing trays if you’re finished eating, a rare occurrence in a fast food restaurant. I’ve even had them offer to refill a soft drink cup. They sometimes offer a sample of Culver’s flavor of the day frozen custard.

I’ve eaten at the Bourbonnais Culver’s approximately once a month over the few years they’ve been open. In all that time, there was only one error in my order. I had ordered grilled onions on my Butterburger, but the onions were raw instead. They not only fixed the error, but they insisted on giving me a pint of frozen custard to take home. I felt guilty accepting it for such a trivial error, but I appreciated it.

When you’re leaving Culver’s, more often than not, someone opens the door for you once again and thanks you for visiting. Even if there is no one at the door, someone yells “Thank you” and wishes you a nice day.

I applaud every staff member at the Bourbonnais, Illinois, Culver’s location, as well as whoever trains them. The consistent extraordinary customer service, a rarity in most fast food restaurants, doesn’t go unnoticed, and it is my pleasure to spread the word.

Culver’s Bourbonnais location is 983 Convent Street. Culver’s is known for their Butterburgers and Fresh Frozen Custard, but offers many more menu options, as well.

Do you have a local restaurant that consistently delivers wow customer service? Share your experience in the Comments below.

*As part of my Wise Choices series, I will occasionally highlight lighter menu options in various regional or national chains, since most of us dine at them now and then while traveling.

Cable Natural History Museum: Be a Superhero

Connie Attractions & Events, Wisconsin January 12, 2015January 12, 2015Cable, Cable Natural History Museum, Cable WI, Wisconsin attractions, Wisconsin Northwoods 0 Comment

Imagine being so strong you could pull a dinosaur. When I stepped on a scale at the Cable Natural History Museum in Cable, Wisconsin, I found out that if I was a dung beetle, I’d be strong enough to do just that, as dung beetles can pull up to 1,411 time their body weight. I’m glad I’m not a dung beetle, though. What a poopy life that would be! The dung beetle is one of several insects and flowers highlighted in the museum’s Nature’s Superheroes exhibit.

Everyone who visits the museum gets a chance to be a superhero, too. As you enter the museum you are asked to don a superhero cape. This goes for adults as well as children. If you’d like, you can enter the phone booth an ordinary person and emerge as a superhero.

Skip and I chose to evolve into our superhero personae in the wide open museum lobby. I was a tree frog and skip was a dragonfly.

What superpowers do a tree frog and a dragonfly have? Superpowers in nature are actually adaptations given to the species for survival. The tree frog can become nearly invisible, or at least blend in with the tree so well that predators don’t see it. The dragonfly flies fast, really fast, at speeds up to 30 miles per hour. Its four wings, which can each flap separately, allow them to fly in all directions. They can even do aerial stunts.

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Among plant life, the bunchberry’s superpower is also speed, whose pollination mechanism takes less than half a millisecond, making it the fastest flower on earth.

The force behind the Nature’s Superheroes exhibit was conservation sidekick Naturalist Educator, Emily Stone. She put the exhibit together with help from staff and volunteers, creating hands-on and interactive activities that make learning fun, like the opportunity to appear on screen flying along a nature path in your superhero cape.

Elsewhere in the museum are exhibits of species native to the area, as well as a large room used for education purposes. On the day we visited, children were making owl puppets from paper bags.

The museum offers over a hundred public programs throughout the year. The night before our museum visit, Skip and I participated in the museum-sponsored Owl Prowl with host naturalist Susan Thurn, where we learned to call barred owls.

The Cable Natural History Museum will celebrate its 50^th anniversary in 2017. However, its building is only five years old and very impressive. If you’re in the area, it’s a fun small museum to visit, especially if you have children.

Afterwards, visit the museum’s property down the street, the home site of the museum’s first naturalist. The big attraction there for kids is the huge fallen limb from the oldest and largest tree on the property. Kids have enjoyed climbing on the limb for some time, so steps are now being built into the limb, and a small “fort” is being added at the base of the tree. What a fun way to adapt to nature’s occurrences.

The Cable Natural History Museum, located at 13470 County Highway M in Cable, Wisconsin, is open year round. Check the web site for exact hours and admission rates.

Disclosure: Our trip to northern Wisconsin was hosted by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

The Palms Grill Cafe, Atlanta IL: Route 66 Diner Restored to its 1934 Look

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois January 7, 2015February 2, 2024old route 66, Palms Grill Cafe, Palms Grill Cafe Atlanta IL, Route 66 attractions, Route 66 Restaurants, The Palms Grill Cafe, U.S. Route 66 6 Comments

People from all over the world come to the United States each year to drive Historic Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. Although many sights once along the Mother Road no longer exist, including much of the pavement itself, several businesses are making a comeback, either in their original states or as museums. One such business is The Palms Grill Café in Atlanta, Illinois. The diner has been fully restored to look as it did when it opened in 1934. The diner, including home-style entrees and fresh-baked pies, creates an authentic Route 66 dining experience. Read more