Hotel packages for Halloween
Chicago's dana hotel and spa with its Vertigo Sky Lounge create an Alfred Hitchcock-themed Tower of Terror this Hallows Eve. The weekend-long series of events re-creates images straight out of a classic Alfred Hitchcock film: a ghoulishly revamped lobby, Bates Motel bell hop costumes, haunted hallways, an elevator ride to remember and a staged “Rear Window” murder across the way at midnight.
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 29-30, at 2 W. Erie St. Chicago. $40 admission ticket gains access to the open bar from 9 p.m. to midnight. (312) 202-6060 or danahotelandspa.com.
Scaring up free fun
Take little Morticia and Pugsley to Daley Plaza for Chicagoween and bags full of free fun. Midnight Circus performs breathtaking acrobatics, Pyrotechniq specializes in fully immersive Fire and Ultraviolet kinetic performances, there will be free arts and crafts on Franken (Daley) Plaza for the children, and the Monster Bash will offer a costume contest and treats.
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Oct. 29-31, at 50 W. Washington St. (312) 744-3315 or visit chicagoween.us.
Trumpeting Halloween
Trump International Hotel & Tower may trump other local lodging this October with its Room with a Boo package that serves up an awe-inspiring experience without having to leave the property's swanky environs. Upon check-in, patrons will get a s'mores treat created by the executive pastry chef. Afterward, two specialty Dra-Kahula cocktails and a Halloween maki roll from Rebar will be delivered to the room. The overnight stay in a deluxe guest room, with views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, includes a continental breakfast the next morning in the hotel's Sixteen restaurant.
The package is available for stays through Sunday, Oct. 31, at 401 N. Wabash, Chicago. Rates start at $499 per night, based on a family of four. (312) 588-8000 or trumpchicagohotel.com.
Midwest
A swimmingly spooky Halloween
Combine swimsuits with Halloween costumes and you have a family getaway to Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. The October Haunted Weekends Room Special includes an overnight stay in a hut or desert room for up to four guests, admission to the indoor water park for each registered guest, four indoor theme park ride passes for the entire stay and four tickets to the Haunted House, which includes a wagon ride. Throughout the weekend, enjoy free activities like making your own scary masks, monster hands and trick-or-treat bags, and on Saturday, Oct. 30, there will be a costume contest, trick-or-treating throughout the resort and a family Halloween bash.
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 29-30. Rates are between $189.95 and $209.95 per night. (877) 525-2427 or KalahariResorts.com.
A smashing pumpkin festival
There are festivals featuring pumpkin decor and then there's the Pumpkin Festival in Sycamore, Ill., with a 2010 theme of Pumpkins Across America. With all kinds of decorated pumpkins on display on the courthouse lawn, there will be art and craft shows, a carnival and fun fair, games and a house walk. Don't miss the pie-eating contest on Saturday or the parade Sunday afternoon. There also will be plenty of country cooking available.
10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31. sycamorepumpkinfestival.com.
Aliens and earthlings invited
It all started Jan. 16, 1987, when a Belleville, Wis., police officer reported seeing a cluster of lights in the sky and soon he and his partner saw what they believed to be a UFO. More than a dozen reports of UFO activity from January to April of that year spurred the creation of UFO Day in Belleville. Visit the “UFO Capitol of the World” on UFO Day when aliens and humanoids get together for a craft fair, kids' games, a pet parade, pumpkin decorating, lots of food and a beer tent, film festival, a monster ball and a costume parade in the riverside town 17 miles south of Madison.
9 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, in downtown Belleville. (608) 424-3336 or belleville-wi.com/ufoday.
Worth the trip
What started as a two-week survey after a fossil was found by crews digging at a landfill turned into a 17-year scientific find culminating in the new Fossil Discovery Center of Madera County, Calif., which celebrated its grand opening last week on National Fossil Day. To date, some 15,000 fossils have been recovered from the Fairmead, Calif., site with 20 more years of active digging planned. The center is across the street from the largest deposit of fossils on the West Coast, and there has been a discovery of a new species of carnivore a smilodon skull that looks like a new species of saber-tooth cat.
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays at the Fossil Discovery Center, 19450 Ave. 21frac12;, Fairmead, Calif. (559) 665-7107 or maderamammoths.org.