A long day...and an end to our trip.

Today's  drive was another long one, although not as long as yesterday's.  Because our hotel didn't offer free breakfast, we traveled to Glen Ellyn and the Honey Cafe, where we had an excellent breakfast - what a charming little area of Illinois!

After breakfast, we drove from suburban Chicago to Port Huron, Michigan, where there's an entry point into Canada.  On the way we stopped every so often for, as I used to call it when I was a transcriptionist, "conventional emergencies."  At most rest stops, there are signs that contain local points of interest.  Nancy, being the person who reads EVERYTHING at museums, would often read the signs while I was taking my time with a "conventional emergency."  She probably knows more about the Michigan-Illinois-Wisconsin-Minnesota area than the natives do!!

Reading a sign on the way to Port Huron

 For some reason, I had it in my head that Port Huron was sort of a dingy place on the way to Canada.  Wrong!!  It's right on the edge of Lake Huron and the Black River.  After we checked in, we had dinner at a lovely spot right on the water - The Quay Street Brewpub.  What a great way to end a long day.

However, our dinner ended abruptly with a phone call from home.  There was a family emergency back in Pennsylvania, and we left the restaurant and cancelled the Canada part of the trip so that we could leave for home early the next morning.

We made it home from Port Huron by 6:30 on Wednesday evening.   Even though we had to cut our trip short, it was a once in a lifetime experience that cemented our already strong friendship.

ENDING MILEAGE: 54677
TOTAL MILEAGE: 2870 MILES 

The long and winding road...

Today was a tortuous travel day.  After having a lovely breakfast with Allison at Nina's, we said good-by to charming St. Paul and began our incredibly long journey back east - today we made it to near Wheaton, Illinois.  We left at 9:40 and arrived at our hotel at 4:30ish with lunch on the road.

Although we didn't run into any major back-ups, the trip was soooo long.  However, we discovered a trivia website that kept us perky for at least 2 out of the 7+!!! hours. I also taught Nancy how to play the alphabet game although she kept trying to include objects ( like GRASS) rather than actual words on signs.

Dinner was in Wheaton -- the meal was good, but the service not so good.  A quiet day on the road.

ENDING MILEAGE: 53670

Ah, Minnesota!

This beautiful day began with 58 degree temps and clear skies: a portent of the day.  We were off and running to Nina's Cafe on Cathedral Hill in St. Paul for breakfast.  This area is very "grainy" so healthy food is the norm.  And yummy. 

Nina's

 We then headed off down I-94 to Minneapolis to the world renowned Guthrie Theater for a 10 a.m. backstage tour.

The tour took us to two main stage theaters - a thrust and a proscenium, the set construction areas, the costume design and creation area, and a rehearsal room.  Our guide was informative and willing to answer all the group's many questions.  After the tour, we accessed the ninth floor for wonderful 360 views of the city.  Called the Amber Room because of the tinted windows, you will see a yellowish tint to the still beautiful vistas.

Similarly, we went to another part of the building on a lower floor called the endless bridge that jutted out toward the Mississippi River for more fantastic views which were clear and bright due to the excellent weather and low humidity - what a joy after so much heat this summer!

View without tinted windows from a lower perspective

 No visit would be replete without a stop at the theater store where, the big spenders that we are, we blew our money on Literary Rulers - literally (no pun intended) the names of great writers were printed down the back of a ruler!

Our next stop was the 1st annual Minnesota Food Truck Fair just streets away where we were to meet Nancy's daughter Allison and her friend Josh.  Little did we know that there were two 3rd streets that ran parallel to each other (3rd Ave NORTH and 3rd Ave SOUTH - oh, and there's a 3rd Street, too).  Naturally, we went down the wrong one until we figured out we were heading out of Dodge.  Using our trusty phone maps, we corrected our error and made it to the site.  We got in line and waited and waited and waited.  Soon Allison and Josh arrived and then we all waited and waited.  Finally, they opened the gates and we filed in.  The food trucks were all lined up, and we decided to peruse our choices and then share the various offerings from cuisines around the world.  We chose a donar kebob, chicken wild rice burger, and a meat pastie with chips (fries) which we shared all around.  There was beer at this affair, but it was unclear how it was to be obtained.  This odd circumstance is just one example of how this fair was poorly executed.  WE were lucky - relatively since we got into the fair early, were able to obtain food fairly quickly (sans something to drink), and managed to find a place to sit to eat. 

Drinking a ginger - one of the reasons Allison bought tickets for this event!

Signs for the ginger drink

However, the rest of the attendees fared abysmally because they had to wait much longer than we to get in, to get food, and to get drinks they paid for in advance.  When we saw how the fair was devolving, we decided to leave and go elsewhere for food and fun.  Check out the comments on their Facebook website:  https://www.facebook.com/MnFoodTruckFair.


Josh drove us all to the outdoor sculpture garden where we did the required posing in front of the iconic cherry on the spoon with the skyline of Minneapolis as a backdrop. 

We then hiked over the road via a sky walk to Loring Park where an art/craft festival was in full swing.  We made the loop and enjoyed the day stopping to look at the wonderful art for sale.

However, we were still thirsty even after some fresh squeezed lemonade, so we headed off for St. Anthony Main along the Mississippi for some refreshment which we enjoyed at Vics' outdoor patio overlooking the falls and locks on the river.  We enjoyed a mix of appetizers, especially a blue cheese flatbread pizza - yum!

We then headed off across the street to a river walk that took us out to the falls and read the signs along the way describing how the river and falls at that area evolved since 1680.  The weather was that very pleasant warm low sun just at the end of the day.  Terrific.

Being exhausted after a long day, we headed back to Allison's house in St. Paul with a VERY rapid drive by tour of the University of Minnesota - it is a Big Ten Tour after all.  Well, we'll just have to return to Minnesota to do it properly one day.

Back at Al's, we collected the rest of our clean laundry and headed to the hotel to regroup for tomorrow's trek heading back east.   This is what we found on one of the beds:

A towel bunny!!!

A very memorable day overall!  

Crossing the mighty Mississippi

We awoke to a sunny, hot day in DeForest, Wisconsin.  Today we would travel to the farthest point west in our journey: Minneapolis-St. Paul.  After breakfast, we again packed up and headed northwest through Wisconsin.  This part of the trip rivaled the Pa. turnpike for scenery -- read "boring."  Today's death march involved a second day of Luna bars for lunch...and here's Nancy eating one as she drives along.  It's really hard to find nutritious food on the road, but I'm on a Luna bar strike right now!!  Of course, tomorrow we'll be in Minnesota, land of varied restaurant choices and food trucks galore, but at about 1PM CDT today, I could have used more than water and a Luna bar!  But the real truth is that they are tasty and nutritious, and the alternative was something questionably edible out of a vending machine.  AND we did have Bob's wonderful gorp!

Here's some of the awesome scenery in Wisconsin -- zzzz, zzzz.

We drove through some rain showers and also came to a dead stop about 16 miles from the
Wisconsin/Minnesota border: apparently, there was an accident about 6 miles down the road.  Took us 15 minutes to go about 2 miles -- grrr.  Finally, we made it to Allison's house at about 3PM.  I took the house tour, and Allison was gracious enough to let us use her washing machine.  She took us on a driving tour of greater St. Paul and showed us the course she'd been on that morning for an inline skating race - very impressive.  St. Paul is a lovely city, and today was absolutely gorgeous: no humidity, temperature in the upper 70's, and a light wind. 

View of  St. Paul's Cathedral out our hotel window

 We stopped by the Mississippi River and chilled for a while before dinner.

Drinks were on the rooftop of a restaurant attached to our hotel where we enjoyed the sun (not hot) and a cool breeze.  Dinner was at Axel's Bonfire in St. Paul.  Allison's friend Josh met us for dinner, and we had a great meal and lots of laughs.

ENDING MILEAGE: 53275

Evanston and beyond.

Today was the first day we really explored the campus of Northwestern University, where Sam spent 1997-2001.  After checking out of our hotel, we first headed for the lake to stick our toes in Lake Michigan.  This, however, was not so easily accomplished. We drove to the north end of campus, where the map showed the student beach.  However, loads of construction equipment obstructed our view, so we moved a little further south and found access to the lake's edge by a university parking lot.  Once parked, Nancy took some pictures of me sitting on a rock by the lake.  I posted my picture on Facebook.

Chicago skyline in the distance

By the lake

Arty shot of Lake Michigan 

Nancy had just walked farther down the access path to take some more pictures when I saw a campus cop park behind my car.  Quickly, I ran toward him, shouting, "I'm moving my car right now!"  I explained that my son had graduated from Northwestern and that I just wanted to take a few pictures.  His response: "This is a private parking lot, ma'am."  I should have said, "Hey, I contributed $100,000 to this private parking lot, buddy..."  Too late.   He said that we should park in town and walk to the lake.  Did I mention that it felt like 1000 degrees at 11AM?   But we dutifully found a parking space and walked to Norris Center, where I bought some stuff for the children of N'western grads.  As we were sitting in the cafe area, my phone vibrated.  Jackie Shapiro, Sam's college girlfriend, had sent me this picture from about 13 years ago:

Of course, I cried.  What a pose - he had his life ahead of him, and he was embracing that...

We then strolled through the arts part of campus, which included all the performance venues.  We found the building where Sam had his RTVF graduation ceremony. Then it was a beautiful setting; now it's a construction zone.  As we were walking down paths trying to stay in the shade, we came upon the administrative building for RTVF.  We took a little tour of the building, but the only person we saw was a current student manning a desk.

Before we left the Chicago area, we still had to dip our toes in the waters of Lake Michigan.  We discovered that all of the Evanston beaches charged, so we traveled to the Evanston/Chicago border and found a beach where we could check out the waters for free -- not that cold, surprisingly.

On this day, instead of taking a death march, we took a death drive.  It took FOREVER to get from that beach to I-90, the road that would take us to Wisconsin.  There had to be an easier way...  And then, when we finally got to  I-90, the traffic was awful.  Finally, finally, we reached DeForest, Wisconsin, at about 5:30.  Open Table app in hand, I searched for a non-greasy, non-cheesy place to have dinner.  Success was sweet - an unexpected treat awaited us in Middleton, Wisconsin, at Tapas Rias.

The drive to this restaurant was through beautiful fields and farmhouses; the restaurant itself was in a strip mall.  As we walked in, the strains of a guitar mingled with the sounds of the flamenco dancer.  Nancy had never been to a tapas bar; I think I've made a believer out of her.  Small plates of all kinds of delicious things, both hot and cold, along with different flavors of sangria.  Awesome.  We had a lovely dinner and then took a leisurely drive through Madison, home of the University of Wisconsin, on our way back to the hotel.  Olympics coverage awaited.

A busy day in Chicago.

Today we awoke tired but game to spend the day in Chicago.  The plan was to start at the Art Institute, walk through Millennium Park, check out the Navy Pier, and maybe hit the Magnificent Mile.  Reservations were made at The Gage, a restaurant near the Art Institute.  After a less than wonderful meal, we walked to the CTA station, where the station clerk told us we should get a day pass.  However, he didn't sell them at the station (REALLY??), but we could go two blocks to the Jewel Osco and buy them there.  After sliding into every morning during our trip, we now had to book it to the store, buy the tickets, and book it back if we wanted to make the next train.  And-- we were totally successful!  The ride took us about an hour, and we walked to the Art Institute to start our journey.

One of the jewels of Chicago, the museum is gigantic!  Our plan was to take in the Lichtenstein exhibit and then look at a few individual pieces we wanted to see.  Both of us had waves of tiredness at different times during our tour -  too old to stay up late and then walk around in the heat, I guess.
Nancy brought her BIG MAMU camera, so she took some arty shots as we walked along, and I took some pictures of her taking some pictures...

We saw the Chagall windows that were created specifically for the city of Chicago - gorgeous!

After the Lichtenstein exhibit, we spent way too much time trying to locate the third floor to see a specific Picasso painting, and when we finally found it -- it was REMOVED.  Oh well.  There were lots of other cool paintings in that section, though, so it was okay. 

Picasso

Dali

Magritte

 

 We also had a light lunch and looked at a sorta weird exhibit of fashion and photography.

Across the street from the Institute is the delightful Millennium Park, replete with a little stream set up specifically for feet dangling! 

Note the people sitting on the right - their shoes are off, and their feet are in the water!

What a fun thing to do on a hot summer day!

Since we hadn't had a death march since State College and trudging to the Creamery, it was time to embark on another long walk...unfortunately, this one didn't end with incredible ice cream.  Our goal was the Navy Pier that featured a ferris wheel (first invented for a world's fair presented in Chicago in 1893, we think; you will remember it from Larson's Devil in the White City).  We could SEE the pier but getting there was another very confusing and frustrating story.  We finally stopped some kind woman on the street who directed us, but because the way to the pier was long and the sky looked threatening, we opted for a pleasant walk along the Chicago riverwalk.  At the end of the walk and in dire need of refreshment, we stopped for coffee and rejuvenation.  We then ambled along Michigan Avenue, a major shopping area, and finally stopped for a pleasant small meal at the Grand Lux Cafe.  By this time, we were fading fast so we hopped on the CTA train and wended our way back to Evanston.  Still gluttons for punishment, we headed off for another walk to a local froyo establishment - our enticement.  Energized by our treat, we headed off in the direction of Northwestern University for a leisurely walk in the waning light. 

Back at the hotel, we settle in for more Olympics hoping little Gabby makes all-around in Women's Gymnastics.

Indiana wants me, but Chicago, Chicago calls.

Our car trip began at about 9:40 after we had our breakfast in Ann Arbor. Of course, we launched into a very raucous "Gary, Indiana" as we passed said city - a rite of Indiana passage! We stopped later in Indiana to get gas (thanks to Nancy's gas buddy app - saved $.12 a gallon - Wahoo!!) and had a sandwich at Starbucks.  I drove the nasty Chicago drive, which wasn't that bad, and we arrived in Evanston at about 3pm CDT. With a few minutes turnaround time, we got gussied up to drive into Chicago for dinner and a show at Second City, the world famous comedy club.

Because we got to our destination with some time to spare, we walked down Wells Street in the section called Old Town - lots of outdoor seating for the many restaurants.  We ate indoors because our restaurant was in direct sun.  The meals were really great - Bistro Margot offered two different 3 course prix fixe menus, one of which involved way more choices than the other, so we both went with the multiple options.  We also ordered a delicious white Bordeaux -- can't get any better to go with a French meal!  

Escargot

Roasted duck breast

Warm apple tart

Here we are enjoying our meal!

After dinner, we walked up the street to Second City.  The show was hilarious: rehearsed vignettes along with improvisations.  The show had 3 sets, lasting 3 hours!!!  We both felt that the improv could have been cut back a bit, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Nancy navigated us back to Evanston, and we arrived back at our hotel at midnight after a very full day.