Any Suggestions for the weekend at Great Lakes

[cotysmom]

I got the invitation to graduation on Tuesday and my son sent a letter along with it saying to make sure that my tickets were refundable and all of that . You could tell that he is worried that he will get held back and not graduate. He says that his whole division talk about it all of the time. He will be graduation on the 17th of July (hopefully) and I am not sure of where to stay and what to do for the weekend because he says that the division will get liberty weekend. I am keeping my fingers crossed because I really want to see my son. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.Thanks,Christy

[Russ Pike]

Hi Christy,
My son is also graduating on July 17th. My search found lodging at Great Lakes Navy Lodge. Of course we haven't been there yet and can't give you any reviews, but it is for military members or families only. It is only $65 per night and includes two queen beds and a kitchen. I had to call and wait on hold for about 45 minutes but they were very helpful and it sounds much better than the other hotels that I checked out. All other hotels started at $84 per night. The number to call is: 847-689-1485. What ship is your Sailor on? Our son is on the USS John F. Kennedy.

[Phil]

christy-
Our son PIR ed in Nov. We stayed at the Mariott. They were great. They arranged the shuttles from the hotel to base so we did not have to wait in line to enter the base. There is a limited time you have on Friday. We wandered the Gurnee Mills Mall. James wanted a a thick juicy cheeseburger and fries that weren't baked. There will be more opportunities for things to do beacuse of a July graduation. Just about anywhere you go you will see "shipmates", it is very cool. Many of the grads ended up at Sears Tower. Visiting Chicago you need to try Chicago style Pizza. the best is at Unos or Dues they are a block apart. Leave plenty of time for travel from the base to downtown and back. Check with the City of Chicago website to see if there are any special events. We almost failed to get James back on time because of a parade whiched mucked up traffic. We parked near the pizza place and took the free trolley to navy pier and from navy pier to michigan ave and from there to Sears Tower. Taxied back to the parking lot. Have fun and take plenty of kleenex. there is no way you can watch your sailor graduate and keep dry
eyes. The area hotels have this down to a science. even though my wife and I grew up in the area, I handed everything over to hotel and we were not disappointed. Let your sailor know that we are proud of him and all of us in the NAVY family wish him the best

[Kyle Cannon]

hey christy,Our sailor graduated march last year .We stayed at the quality inn in waukegan .I believe it was about 59.00 a night . the rooms were clean and the hotel was nice and friendly. the good thing about this place is its not far from the base ,maybe 10 minutes. do not stay at the ramada inn the pictures of the hotel on there web site are very mis-leading.go to wal-mart and look on the back of a rand -mcnally road atlas, if they have different hotel chains listed for vacation destinations they will have a travel code under the hotel chain. use that code to get a little discount off there price. good luck to your family and tell your son thanks from all of us families.we are sure proud of all our sailors.

[NavyDads Admin (Paul)]

Check out the PIR-Tips and Hints group for lots of suggestions for PIR. Also check out some of the PIR groups and discussions in the Bootcamp group. there are a bunch of places to stay and suggestions of what to do in the Chicago Attractions group as well.

[Cindy]

Hello Christy ~ Tell your son that as long as he does what he's told and passes all the PT stuff, he'll graduate. His division needs to start thinking more positive as a team. They will graduate. He'll love Battle Stations, which is the "final" test. They will be putting, into practice, everything that they have learned. Continue to send encouragement and support. I do remember those days, all to well, of worrying about Morgan and bc. I still do even though he's a corpsman at Camp Pendleton. Regarding liberty, he'll have the weekend; however, he may have to report back to base each night at a certain hour. We thought we'd have Morgan the entire weekend, and we didn't. He had to move his things over to A School (next door). They had briefings and debriefings, etc. Just know that what they kids are told, may or may not happen. Don't tell him that though! As for things to see, kind of leave that up to him and try not to schedule anything for a certain time until you do know his schedule. There's a Six Flags very close by, huge malls, you can take the train into Chicago and spend some time there. Lots of families go to the Navy Pier, but I've been told its packed.

We stayed at the Navy Lodge, it was very close to the base. They also have a list of shuttles that can pick you up and drop you off graduation day. You can also take a shuttle back to the Navy Lodge. I highly recommend taking the shuttle. It will save you a lot of time. If you reserve early, they have a few rooms with kitchens.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.