Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 47

G2 TRAVEL Decatur, Illinois Sunday. May 12, 1991 Hi fis in -c4 'lV If you're going WHAT: Oceanarium at Shedd Aquarium. WHERE: 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. HOURS: 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m. daily. ADMISSION: $7 for ages 12-64, $5 for ages 3-11 and $5 for senior citizens. Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for children ages 3-11 and senior citizens on Thursdays, when the aquarium is free. INFORMATION: Call 312-939-2438, anytime.

TICKETS: Visitor tickets to Oceanarium will be issued at 15-minute intervals throughout the day. Purchase in advance from Tick-etmaster outlets or charge by phone, 312-559-0200, system to find objects and animals in the water. You can watch seated on rather uncomfortable stone steps in an amphitheater or, for a different perspective, through the windows of an Underwater Viewing Gallery. After a day at Oceanarium, I learned a lot.Like the fact that dolphins are small whales mammals, not fish, completely adapted to aquatic life. And that sea otters have ravenous appetites: a 180-pound human would have to eat 144 Quarter-pounders a day just to keep up (one major Maalox moment).

Until Oceanarium, I didn't know dolphins could do 25 m.p.h. (vs. 4 m.p.h. for an Olympics swimmer). Or that those flippers on penguins were probably wings 40 million years ago.

We laughed at penguins and watched whiskered harbor seals at play. We saw belugas glide through the water with a grace that belied their weight pounds. Behaviorists made them talk: imagine metal scraping across a blackboard and you get an idea of their high-pitched screech. There are tide pools for touching shallow water creatures and a mahogany-lined auditorium for multimedia presentations. Interpretive exhibits allow visitors to pet the fur of a sea otter, compare lung capacity with a whale and learn the behaviors of otters simply by touching a TV screen.

To make the whales, dolphins, otters, penguins and seals feel at home, planners re-created a Pacific coastal environment of real and artificial greenery. A sound system implanted among the driftwood, cones, pathways and streams re-creates forest sounds. By RICK SYLVAIN Knight-Ridder Newspapers CHICAGO What Oceanarium isn't may impress visitors as much as what it is. Oceanarium, Shedd Aquarium's slick new $45-million fish bowl on Lake Michigan, is brimming in undersea critters. You'll learn plenty about them.

But you won't find dolphins jumping through hoops or trainers riding the backs of whales or sea otters playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on some honking horn. Oceanarium is Sea World without the show biz. It's also an aging aquarium's answer to newer, glossier aquariums in Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans and Monterey, Calif. The Oceanarium is an addition to Shedd Aquarium, which has been celebrating aquatic life since 1930. The centerpiece is the Harbor, a mammoth saltwater pool with wide windows on Lake Michigan and landscaping all around.

It's center stage for five daily "educational presentations" is not in the Shedd lingo) by beluga whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins. Visitors learn about the natural history and biology of whales and dolphins, their care and feeding, and how their habitats are being threatened. Dry stuff like that can lose an audience quickly, so kids and grown-ups will see dolphins jumping, spinning, belly flopping, somersaulting and doing their acrobatic thing in two million gallons of sea water. Belugas slap the waves with their tails and demonstrate echolocation how they use their sonar Photo courtesy of Shedd Aquarium FALSE KILLER WHALE: He makes his home in the new Oceanarium. a PARK FREE Up to Two Weeks! THE BEST DEAL AROUND FOR O'HARE TRAVELERS! 800-323-1239 ROOM plat tax Mmmm Offer good through October 31, 1991.

Limited availability. ILLINOIS 800-942-0790 FREE 24 hour airport shuttle service HOWARD JOHNSON Hotol at O'Hare International Airport 10249 West Irving Birk Road. Schiller Park. EL 60176 SAVE THIS COUPON FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP! i 5 1 I I I 1991 SUMMER FESTIVALS i. it Family Hotel for (iX X.

i THE NEW OCEANARIUM 3 Located just five blocks from the new Oceananum. the ESSEX INN invites you to BE A WHALE WATCHER IN CHICAGO at economical pnces packages are avatlabe from the ESSEX INN for the Oceanarium The ESSEX INN is just minutes away from Chicago most famous attractions all the -museums and cultural sites, shopping on State Street the towering skyscrapers, and the night life SPECIAL FAMILY RATES AVAILABLE TEAR-ROUND. Kids 18 and under are free in your room PLENTY OF FREE PARKING FREE COURTESY SHUTTLE LARGE GUEST ROOMS AND SPAOOUS SUITES FREE CABLE TV 0UT000R POOL AND SUN0ECK NEW YORK STYLE DELI NEAR AIL EXPRESSWAYS Burt en ltlrty R.Mnratwns requirtd 3 INN Another fine Aristocrat Inn of America 13 For information or reservations. ia rut downtown MkMoM An. ttn Street CttleaoA UliMit 60605 call 1-800-621-6909 FAX (312) 939-1605 Across from Chicago Hilton and Towers 3 I 1 CHICAGO GOSPEL FESTIVAL June 8-9 Tramaine Hawkins, Shirley Caesar, The Clark sisters, Albertina Walker, and the Williams brothers.

CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL June 14-16 lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, junior Wells, sunnyland slim. betty everett, john hammond, Champion Jack Dupree, and Willie Dixon. TASTE OF CHICAGO June 27-July 4 America's city picnic. A premier food festival featuring over 70 Chicagoland restaurants. Continuous music, children's entertainment, all ending with a spectacular fireworks show.

CHICAGO COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL July 20-21 Carlene Carter, Rodney crowell, Pam Tillis, The Texas Tornados, and Molly and The Heymakers. CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL August 29-September 1 Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis, Ramsey Lewis, Elvin Jones, Jay mcShann, Ralph Moore, Hugh Masekela, and Yosuke Yamashita. VIVA! CHICAGO September 7-8 beatrice adriana, arturo sandoval, las chicas Del Can, un Solo pueblo, Grupo garibaldi, Eddie Santiago, Ray Baretto, and federico villa. 3 Stay at th Allorton on Chicago's Magnificent Mile The sun is out. the jackets are oil and the streets are blooming with life.

Now's the time to take advantage ol the low weekend rates at the Allerton, where -all the magic ot the Magnificent Mile and miles of beautiful lakefront are right in our backyard. Here, you can search for the treasurers of the Gold Coast. Explore the shops and stores in Water Tower Place. Climb to the top of the mighty Hancock Center. Whatever your pleasure, it's all within reach.

From tine dining to fine arts, nightclubs to nightcaps, the very best that Chicago has to offer is steps outside your door when you start your "Excite Seeing" 9 xzm? s33r-s5 -rsssmssm luimni if i ni8 I fj ('ljt ui iu Auiiuii uiu spring. Available fiidcry. SatuidcY and Sunday Subject to availability Non-commisttonable Children 16 or under Fie Advance rewrvaliont rq.ylied HI IIIIHHI I i I i ITfTTTTTTTTn 701 N. Michigan Ave. (312440-1500 Outside Chicago 1-800-621-8311 Chicago, IL 6061 1 Fax 312-440-1819 YOUR TICKETS TO CHICAGO FUN! Chicago Fun is yours for the asking! When you reserve a room at any one of these hotels: Essex Inn, Chicago Allerton Hotel, Chicago Howard Johnson's O'HareShiller Park be sure to ask for tickets to your choice of these attractions: One pair of Free lawn tickets to the June 15 Steve Winwood concert at the World Music Theater, Tinley Park, IL OR Two free admission passes to the "Here's Chicago" Show on Chicago's Michigan Avenue OR Two-II-for-I admission passes to the Chicago Historical Society in Chicago's Lincoln Park OR Two Free Ticket Packets to Balmoral Park Racetrack in CreteJL Limit one attraction per room reservation.

Limited quantities available. Further restrictions may apply to individual offers and discounts. Tickets distributed upon check-in. See individual Hotel ads in this paper for more details. i I An afternoon oi 11 cH1o5Sa I 11 xnitrtitof music 1 1 horse racing at ti -nMine 1 11 live in concert! I I 4omin.trom II Chicago's 1 sat.

June 15.1 i 1 II colorful past'- 1 cpalngony 1 1 Includes free VJ I uwn seal in3 i i admission and 1 Pdn I 708 614-1616 parking. 1 funda 1 ffinio 1 I Here's Chicago! A one-hour fun tour in historic Water Tower Pumping Station. Michigan Ave. and Pearson. Continuous shows Open daily (312)467-7114 1.