C.B.
We stayed at the BWRN about 4 years ago. It is a nice, clean hotel. It has its own parking garage and an indoor pool. I would definitely stay there again.
It is right across from the Rock 'n Roll McDonald's and the Rain Forest Cafe. Ed Debevics, Gino's East (my favorite pizza out of all the pizza places we ate at), Hard Rock Cafe and Lou Malnati's are just a short walk. The subway is about 4 blocks or so away. It is a great location because it isn't right on the Magnificent Mile so it is a bit of a quieter area but it is still close to everything.
If you like to go to zoos, the Lincoln Park Zoo is free. There is a children's museum at Navy Pier that my dd liked (dh took her while my sister and I shopped).
I'll have to see if I can find our pictures to jog my memory on what else we did while we were there. My sister and I did go to 3 scrapbook/stamp stores while we were there and dh took dd to do other things. The thing that sticks out in my mind was that we did a ton of walk even though we got a weeks pass for the subway.