This summer, education and vacation will go hand-in-hand for families that embark on a Real Chicago adventure at The Drake Hotel. Whether raising an aspiring professional athlete or a budding historian-to-be, parents can extend learning opportunities and fun adventures for their curious children by visiting www.thedrakehotel.com and booking their stay.

For the first time, the historic Cape Cod and the Shedd Aquarium will partner to offer families a one-of-a-kind experience exploring the underwater grace and wonders at the Shedd Aquarium with the exclusive hands-on Stingray Touch exhibit and a unique family style meal designed specifically to complement this experience in the Cape Cod restaurant at The Drake Hotel.

The menu, created by Chef Gee Cuyugan, features sustainable seafood items that continues the interactive learning experience from the Shedd exhibit with the introduction of an array of seafood dishes. The menu is served family style, encouraging families to enjoy each other’s company all while exploring these new foods with one another.

“As a father I understand the importance of opening your children up to new experiences,” said Eric Benamara food and beverage director at The Drake. “We feel this partnership will provide families with a unique opportunity, one that encompasses the learning about new species and exploring new cuisines.”

The package includes a 15 minute tour of the exhibit at the Shedd that includes access to the Stingray Touch Exhibit located in a new 20,000-gallon pool, under a tented structure on the aquarium’s south terrace. Here visitors will experience first-hand how a 3 ft long diamond-shaped ray feels as it glides under water, and the movement of approximately 40 cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus) and yellow rays (Urobatis jamaicensis).

Other Recommendations for hands-on experiences this Summer include:

We invite you and your special girl in for an experience filled with pampering, bonding and memories with our American Girl Package. The special experience starts on Michigan Avenue exploring all that the American Girl Store has to offer. At night, you and your special girl will return to our deluxe accommodations where fresh baked cookies and milk will be waiting at turn down service with a special bed waiting not just for you, but also a special sized doll bed for your American Girl!

Create family fun with your little ones when you explore the endless possibilities of our Explore with LEGOs Package. Your family is sure to build lasting memories with this package, which includes our deluxe accommodations, a personalized welcome letter, fresh baked cookies and milk at turn down service, breakfast in Drake Bros’, a voucher for a Roy Rodgers in any of our outlets, complimentary internet and a $50 Gift Card to Lego Store.

If the weather outside is frightful, inside it’s delightful at The Drake Hotel’s Palm Court. Here kids won’t just play tea, but actually get to have the real deal! Thursdays at 2:30 p.m. is story time and present children will be invited to gather around the story wyvern for a story about the Drake Bear.

Drake Bear is the special bear that if shown in outlets, special rewards are given. Bring your bear to Cape Cod and receive a scoop of ice cream or bring your bear to Palm Court and receive a Shirley Temple or Roy Rogers just for bring your Drake Bear along!

If the kids are feeling a bit more adventurous, it might be time for The Drake scavenger hunt! Seeing all the parts of the hotel and learning a bit of history along the way is a fun way to spend some time!

Looking for some warm sunshine? Head on over to one of the city’s finest beaches to catch some rays or play in the sand. In fact, The Drake Hotel is the only beachfront hotel in the city!

A $15,000 wedding ring was returned to a guest after being retrieved by a Drake team member from five tons of garbage in the hotel’s trash compactor.

“It feels amazing to have it back on my finger,” said the giddy Jodi Eastgate while showing off the wedding ring she feared she would never see again.

Eastgate had taken it off the night before, and in the rush of checking out Sunday morning, she forgot to put it back on. It wasn’t until 15 minutes later that she realized it wasn’t on her finger. She rushed back up to her room, thinking she might have knocked the ring into a Cheesecake Factory bag by the bed, but the room had already been cleaned.

She described feeling sick and being in tears when the family departed the hotel for the airport. Once at Midway International Airport, Eastgate couldn’t bring herself to leave. Her husband and daughter boarded their flight home, and she headed back to The Drake in hopes there still might be a chance of finding her ring.

Back at The Drake, it was confirmed that the Cheesecake Factory bag from her room was already in the hotel’s trash compactor, and couldn’t be searched safely until Monday.

Hank Hawerbier, Director of Operations at The Drake said, “I thought it was worse than finding a needle in a haystack, and a lot messier”.

Once the compactor was disconnected, Hawerbier asked staff member David Lyons to help search for the ring. Lyons agreed and suited up, but after three hours, hope started fading. Eastgate took a step away and just moments later when she returned, Lyons had started finding pieces of everything Eastgate said might be found in their hotel room trash, including the Cheesecake Factory bag with the ring inside. Lyons took the ring out of the bag and handed it to Eastgate, who immediately put the ring in its rightful -place back on her ring finger- and as of a week later, she still hasn’t taken the wedding ring off.

Here is the story from CBS