There are many routes to the Westin North Shore, here are a few of them:
The Capricon 31 website has some details:
https://www.capricon.org/capricon40/capricon31/hotel.php
Also, the hotel website:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/area/transportation.html?propertyID=1724
One of our convention committee members travels out from the city and recommends this way:
Okay, the easiest way to approach from Chicago is to take the #270 and #272 Pace buses up. How should I know? This is how I *usually* make ConCom meetings
Some #270 buses also get converted into #272 buses when they get to Golf Mill, which means you don’t even have to get off one (although the timetables on Saturday are wonky in this regard. The only drawback is that there’s no Sunday service. To wit:
http://pacebus.com/sub/schedules/route_detail.asp?RouteNo=270
http://pacebus.com/sub/schedules/route_detail.asp?RouteNo=272
Metra’s North Central line – as limited as it is in comparison to the others, which is quite a bit – also supposedly stops less than a mile from the Westin just west of Milwaukee and Dundee. It has the same drawback concerning no Sunday service but that can probably be gotten around by using whatever other trains are in the area and either a hotel bus or a cab.
http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/ncs/map.html
Near as I can tell, the only other train station close enough to the Westin to be walked to by either the criminally insane or people like me (hey, *wait* a minute…) is the Lake Cook Road stop on the Milwaukee District North line.
http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/md-n/map.html