Day 6: 4/12/2012

Chicago, IL to Crofton, NE

In order to get a relaxing evening at our hotel for the next night, we woke up at 5am to get on the road early. Bruce and Pim even got up to see us off! After a few days out of the car, we'd both repacked a bit. I was especially relieved to get things better organized so I could just carry in one bag and my books, computer, papers, etc. in one crate each night. Much better! We said goodbye to Bruce and Pim, and while we were ready to hit the road, it was hard to say goodbye so soon! Here's to more visits in the nearish future, both in Alaska and maybe elsewhere :-) We very subtly (not so much, it was 5:30am...) left them our standard thank you goodies for the trip of Starbucks iced via coffee, of which I managed to get quite a bundle, and a handful of "thank you" Hershey's Chocolate Kisses from our trip to Hershey Park. Hey... They were on sale, so we got a 10 pound box. Which rocks.

Driving through both Illinois and Iowa there were tons of farms of varying sizes, and especially in Iowa, the farmland was really pretty. Little rolling hills and some more flat areas, very cute :-) We saw the border between the two states on the GPS, and looked for the "Welcome to Iowa" sign, but found something better! The sign telling us were about to cross over the Mississippi River. Very cool, so much history, so many stories, and of course, so many jokes about the spelling that we've grown up with. 

At some point, I think in Iowa, we stopped for breakfast supplies and some veggies at a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. Sadly, no breakfast sandwiches, but yogurt and fruit made up for that. We also got our much missed veggies (carrots). Soon after that we saw our first wildlife of the trip! (Despite my jokes beginning in Akron about wildlife when we spotted an adorable squirrel enjoying some bread, and a variety of birds not seen in DC). The wildlife was (drum roll) a Bald Eagle! Probably not as exciting as we made it, but it was neat to have it fly over the road in front of us. 

We continued across Iowa, following the GPS onto US Route 20... Where she (the GPS) flipped out for over twenty minutes because we were driving the new Route 20 Freeway, which she didn't believe existed parallel to the old one. Lots of amusement until at last she won out when we got to the end of the finished new section and drove three miles across to get to the old Route 20. The GPS was pretty darn happy. :-)

We stopped later on for lunch at a Dairy Queen. It was a fairly old little restaurant, with a small town feel that reminded Mathew of his time in Dickinson for college. We did split an excellent Nutter Butter Blizzard, and I was very intrigued by the Dillie Bar. Another time... 

We found Nebraska (one of the very few states with a "Welcome to" sign) and almost immediately after saw the first sign for Yanton, South Dakota, 33 miles away!!!! Yanton (until we researched the roadtrip route a few weeks ago, I always thought it was Yangton, spelled with a "g"... It's not, lol) is the town where my Mom grew up, so we managed to make it a destination on the road trip! I think that first sign is the only one I didn't manage to get a picture of, hehe. 

We weren't quite going to Yanton yet, though, first we were spending the night in Crofton, Nebraska. We found the "Historic" Argo Hotel easily enough, even with the GPS trying to misdirect us slightly, because Crofton is small enough that Mom's response when we told her where we were staying was "OMG! Can't believe you're in Crofton! Who'da thought there was a historic hotel." Apparently the kids from Crofton went to Yanton for the big city experience :-) The only thing I knew about Yanton before this was from a newspaper article comparing small town (Yanton) with big city (New York City), so I figured it was pretty tiny... 

The "Historic" Argo Hotel is 100 years old, so apparently the quotation marks are just for effect, hehe. It was a hotel for years starting in 1912 but feel into disrepair later in it's lifetime. When one of the women who grew up in Crofton was home visiting in the early 1990's, she heard it was for sale and decided to fix it up and open it once again! Lucky for us, Sandra did an amazing job and it was and incredible place to stay. We found our key for Room 1 left at the front desk and went up to explore before bringing stuff in. Really, really cute! Because it was a slow night, Sandra even upgraded us to a room with a private bathroom, pretty cushy. 

Sandra chatted with us a little bit about the hotel and made sure we were comfortable, turning on the fire place in the lobby downstairs. We spent an hour or so doing computer stuff and writing letters to mail to Mom and her siblings from Yanton the next day. Sandra also had a few albums with clippings and photos of Crofton area history, including some things about Yanton! One was an old post card saying "I drove the Yanton Bridge over the Missouri river!"

We went into the dining room for dinner a while later, and had the place to ourselves almost the whole meal! Sandra made a point of clarifying that her hotel was an inn, not a B&B, even thought breakfast was included. That was apparent in lots of little things once you looked, pretty interesting. Unlike a B&B, where you're usually in somebody's home, this hotel was more businesslike, especially in the restaurant. But it was also very personal, and Sandra came out to talk several times with small talk about the hotel. What a great place! 

After dinner, we shared a dessert drink called the Pink Squirrel, which was almond and white chocolate liqueurs with ice cream. Very pink indeed, and very tasty! I finished up a last couple of letters, and then it was up to the room for the evening. 

Mathew and I caught up a little bit on The Voice, a fabulous show (though better last year, when it was much smaller). We paused the show for a while to call Mom before going to sleep and got many more stories and places to see in Yanton! Grandma told us the address of one of their houses, and about the dam where Grandpa worked when they were there, but Mom told us a few more places to check out while we all used Google Maps to find things :-) She told us both houses, the schools, Memorial Park with the swimming pool, the Black Steer Restaurant where they would go eat sometimes, and about the lake and dam. 

After the very fun phone call, it was time for sleeeeep! If I could calm down enough for it... Yanton here we come! SO excited!

http://g.co/maps/5vbxv

Day 5:

Day 4: 4/10/2012

Chicago, IL

Mathew and I woke up to a great simple breakfast with Pim of British muffins (just go with it, they're English) and fruit. After so much eating out and on the run, it was a real treat for both of us. Mathew started our laundry, which means the Starbucks Coffee aroma is officially gone from my black work pants! The three of us walked to the Glenview Metra Station this time, the bigger of the two stations nearby, so that we could buy a ten ride ticket card from the agent, and then we bought two single trip ones so we'd have enough for the three of us into the city and back both days.

Once we arrived at Union Station, Pim lead us over to where Bruce works so we could bring him something, and see his office! I guess he used to be on the 7th floor in an inner cubicle, but recently moved up to the 14th floor. Wow! He has an office next to windows now, with great views into the city. As the train station is right next to his building, no tall buildings are really close to it. Bruce walked us around to the kitchen area, with even more amazing views in a different direction! And then around to a corner conference room with curved windows for yet another view! Pretty awesome.

We stopped at Starbucks for a quick lunch, the fabulous numbers are still working so far :-) Pim loves the green tea frappucino, which made me think of a regular customer who always gets a green tea latte. Yay Starbucks regulars, I shall miss you all.

We walked over to the subway/metro or "L" station as they call it here because of the loop all the trains make in downtown and were checking the balance of some transit cards from Ina when we were kind of accosted by a rather overly helpful transit station manager... Woah. Despite he incredibly pushy method of giving information (and slightly scary... I think I actually cowered and Mathew ran away to leave Pim and I to fend her off ourselves) she did tell us about a one day pass from CVS. We would have spend $6.75 each that day, and the 24 hour "fun pass" is only $5.75, so we lucked out. Plus there was a CVS across the street! She also told us to take a bus after the L to get to the Field Museum, a maybe two block walk :p I guess we look lazy? 

We successfully snuck past the transit lady without her noticing us after getting the passes across the street without her stopping us again and caught the orange line a few minutes later. The gates to get in are more confusing than in D.C. because after you put your ticket in and get it back, you have to push the gate, rather than it opening automatically. And then we saw a dinosaur! Or rather, a sculpture of a skeleton, outside the Field Museum. 

Bruce and Pim had a family pass that got us in for free, which was awesome. It also got us into the special exhibits, which normally cost extra. We went to the exhibit on Ghengis (sp) Khan first, which was very interesting. The man who lead to the largest world empire, ever. Crazy! The exhibit was set up very well, too, with a few artifacts and such, information to read, and short videos about various aspects of his life and his armies. We also walked through the Early America's section, which quickly became overwhelming with the large amounts of artifacts and info, but very interesting. It lead to a section on Arctic People's, and older exhibit that looked very similar to the old section of the Museum of the North in Fairbanks! They had totem poles brought down from Canada for the World's Fair in the 1890's. 

We saw the diamonds, gems, and jade before deciding to head outside and on to our next stop! The bus took us right to Navy Pier, where we walked down to the end of the pier in the wind, stopping for churros just as the booth was closing, yum! Then we walked back through the buildings, which was more interesting than expected. At first it was fairly empty, and then we walked through a surprisingly well done stained glass museum in the hallway, with art from Tiffany and Co. and various others. Beautiful! (And free...) 

Inside there Mathew and I also found our flattened penny for Chicago :-) After that it opened up to where all the vendors and shops were located, way more activity than I thought! Upstairs above all that was "Crystal Gardens," which was a highlight for us. An indoor area with huge trees and fountains. One fountain had four corners with water spraying across the center each way, and you could easily walk under and stay dry. The other fountains would spray ever few seconds onto a mat, making a little "plop" sound as the water hit and disappeared. Those ones were hidden among plants at the base of most of the trees. A really fun place! 

Mathew and I went on the ferris wheel while waiting for Bruce to arrive for dinner. We originally thought it was from the World's Fair, but found out the next day on our Architecture tour that it is much newer. This one held six people in each car, while the original held sixty, and was twice as tall! Understandable why that one isn't around now... Also nice, because the original apparently took 23 minutes to go around, and a ride was two rotations! That's a very long time to sit on a ferris wheel. Mathew and I really enjoyed it, kissed at the top, and even bought the photo they took when we were getting on :p 

Bruce was looking for us on the ride, but we were already off it by then, so we met back in Crystal Gardens where Pim was waiting. We all decided on Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. for dinner, and showed Bruce the stained glass museum while waiting for a table. It was a fun place to eat, but maybe not the greatest food... Still good though :-) Back to Bruce's office by bus for his bag, then to Union Station, arriving early this time and not running. We played games on Bruce's Google tablet thing on the train, then rode home in Bruce's VW Beetle. 

And as if the day hadn't been enough fun yet, time for dessert! Pim had apple pie and marble pound cake, plus some really delicious coffee ice cream. And -then- (yeah, still not done) time to Skype with my cousin Ed, his girlfriend and their adorable little boy. Strange, but alot of fun :-) And then.... Sleep. Thank. Goodness. :-)

Day 3: 4/9/2012

Akron, OH to Chicago, IL

421 Miles

We woke up and hit the road pretty early on monday, leaving behind nothing but my shampoo and conditioner... Sigh :p Because we were still using the "avoid tolls" setting, it was a while before we found something for breakfast, but we finally stopped for and early lunch at A&W', which is so much better when the root beer is served in an ice mug :-) Yum! A while later we stopped at a welcome center just before entering Illinois, thinking we'd just get a Chicago visitor guide... And woah. Indiana knows how to make a crazy (slightly scary) over achievement of a visitor center... This place was... Crazy is truly the best word to describe it. It was like walking into a carnival but everything was just life sized displays. Much like a horror movie with wax figurines who you're sure are about to come alive and get you. Seriously. Woah. I took a brochure for their Annual Perogi Festival as a remembrance... Really thought that guy was going to come alive, go mad, and throw perogi's at us after he lit them on fire. And then we ran...

 On the way around Chicago, we hit a tiny bit of slow traffic, but mostly kept moving smoothly. We saw several signs for "Accident Investigation Areas" around there, which were interesting. It seemed to be pretty good sized pull outs to one side or the other of the highway, presumably somewhere the police would direct accident vehicles so as not to block traffic. We arrived at Pim and Bruce's house around 3pm and had a late lunch of pizza, yum! Afterwards, Pim walked down with us to the Glen North Metra station to take the train into the city. We were able to purchase tickets on the train, and then got tickets for a later ride back once we arrived at Union Station. We got to ride on the upper level of the commuter train, kind of a fun treat :-) 

We started walking from Union Station toward Lake Michigan (little did I know!) and on the way passed the former Sears Building (to which I was oblivious until later), and along what turned out to Historic Route 66! The second sign said "End Historic Route 66." Pretty amazing to realize we walked the end of such an important route! After treating ourselves to some Starbucks (numbers still in action!), we continued down to Lake View Drive and then down to walk along Lake Michigan toward Ina's apartment. To the east, buildings were faintly visible across the water, some other town on the lake. Very cool :-)

We arrived at Ina's apartment building near Navy Pier after crossing the Chicago River on the bottom level of a two level road and pedestrian bridge, and I was very amused to see the notice in the lobby that "Guests must sign in and be announced." Be announced... So great. The doorman was so good as to announce us and we were buzzed in to the elevators, then ion up to floor 17! Quite an amazing apartment, and incredible views! The view was out over Navy Pier where the ferris wheel is and Lake Michigan. Ina said there are often fireworks, and that she hopes to never get tired of them... That would indeed be very tragic.

Ina made us some fantastic split pea soup with bread for dinner and it was perfect :-) We also talked about various things to do around Chicago and looked for deals online. We found a Google Offer for an architecture cruise half off and purchased it with Bruce and Pim for wednesday, which is exciting! In true Ina fashion, the dinner started with great cheese and crackers and was finished off with assorted desserts, from lemon bars to cookies, with milk and coffee. We've missed your cooking and hosting Ina!

We caught the bus back to Union station, which was scheduled to arrive at 9:37 for a 9:45 train... Of course the bus was late and the next train was an hour later. But did we miss it? Oh no, we ran to catch it! And catch it we did :-) Kind of fun, hehe. We walked back to the house and got to see Bruce for the first time! So much fun to spend time with the uncle who reminds me most of Dad! When I was little, I walked up behind Bruce thinking it was Dad and ran away when I realized it wasn't, hehe. 

Pim had done quite a bit of research for the things we talked about doing, so we sat for a while and planned out our two days in Chicago. We decided on the Field Museum and Navy Pier for Tuesday with Pim, possibly with Bruce for dinner; and then the architecture cruise, Memorial Park (The Bean), and the Chicago Art Institute on Wednesday when Bruce could spend the whole day with us. It has truly been amazing to spend time with so much of the East Coast (ish) Irvings these past two winters, and our time in Chicago is another major highlight! And finally... Sleeeeeepy time. Night!

Day 2: 4/8/2012
Akron, OH

After Starbucks, we met Effy back at her apartment and got ready to search out an open place for lunch. After a couple of less successful tries, we found First Watch, a daytime cafe. It turned out to be the perfect thing, just what we all wanted! We all got omelets, which were really delicious. Then it was on to explore around Akron! 

First we drove in Effy's Subaru (which only recently lost its Alaska plates) to Coventry, a little town near Akron and Cleveland. Along the way she pointed out cute house and big mansions from Akron's more prosperous days. We wandered around Coventry a little bit, but most everything was closed for Easter. There was an open Japanese restaurant, which let us use the restrooms, thankfully :p There were also several Japanese/Korean/Thai restaurants in Coventry... Interesting. There were some really neat cast iron sculptures along the sidewalks, each forming a short fence with various scenes. Each was titled to fit the scenes, everything from biking to sitting with a cup of tea. Very nice!

Giving up on that when we reached the car again, we headed for Cleveland! Effy pointed out the various stadiums in Cleveland, along with the cute houses on many streets. We took the bridge across to Ohio City next, which Effy had already told us about. The bridge had two towers at each end with statues that very much resembled the huge statues seen in Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, when the group has left Lothlorien and is on the river. I'm not obsessed with the movie, but there was a serious resemblance! Each statue was holding an old vehicle, each of them different. 

Effy showed us more cute houses in Ohio City, and we stopped for sweet crepes at a little French restaurant named Le Petite Triangle Restaurant. Fittingly, the restaurant was pretty much shaped like a triangle, down to the open kitchen in the front. Very cute, and the crepes were delicious. 

After driving back over the bridge (much better photos with the sunlight on the right side of the statues!) we parked down near Lake Eerie!! My first sight of the Great Lakes!!!! Slightly exciting. Really. We'd probably never actually pay to go inside, but we parked right next to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so I asked if I could us the restroom. They let us in, probably since they were about to close anyway and you have to show a ticket to see the actual exhibits. But I did make off with the brochure of who's been inducted to the Hall of Fame, and the exhibit guide, plus we got a photo with flying cars behind us... All free. Muahaha. It was fun!

After that we walked down close to the lake and got some photos before heading back the apartment for some down time. Effy had some of her friends meet us for dinner at a place called Gasoline Alley, a very fun bar and restaurant with some great local beer. Her friends were really fun, and the food was good, too! The waiter was a bit interesting... Effy pegged him as a rugby player the second he had a hard time hearing us (he was about our age, and admittedly wearing a shirt that said rugby), and he said he's not allowed to play for a year. Maybe time to stop playing the game...? He did pretty well, aside from dumping a pizza for our table face down on the floor and getting a bit flustered... Best of luck to him :-) 

After dinner, it was back home for some goodbyes to Effy and then... glorious sleep. Night!

Day 1: 4/7/2012, 378.8 Miles
Washington, DC to Akron, OH

It was a stormy day, a day meant for... No wait, it was sunny :-) Mathew and I started the day fairly slowly, waking up with a race toward the kitchen (I was aiming for the bathroom, but he's a guy, and was racing purely to race). After a week in DC, we had unpacked most of the backseat, and Mathew's cello was sold, so it was time to repack and organize the car a bit, this time keeping more of our accessible things in back seat rather than the trunk.

Even with the additional room from the cello, our beloved dog (the huge stuffed malemute Mathew won for me at a summer carnival while I was in Alaska) was simply not going to fit. So we took some photos with it (to be posted soon!) and pawned it off on a neighbor who was outside with kids. And then, on the road!

The GPS took us out of town via Constitution Avenue, so one last look at the Capitol Building (with scaffolding around the Freedom Statue!), The Washington Monument (Glad we went up in it last Christmas, as it's still closed from earthquake damage), the White House (getting ready for the Easter festivities) and various other landmarks from our time here. Mathew chose to take the George Washington Parkway out, which is one of my favorite places. A great way to say goodbye, as the trees are all leafy now, and we even saw a crew regatta on the Potomac!

We drove a while through familiar areas from our road trips and adventures, and stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast in Frederick, a bit of a tradition down here for us. After that, familiar was disappearing and we finally felt like we were leaving!!

Some highlights of the day were: four different states! (and a district :-). District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; Passing the exit for the William McKinley National Memorial in Ohio; and confusion over strange un-numbered exits in Pennsylvania.

In Akron we saw Effy's apartment and then went to a graduate opera recital of her friend at the University of Akron. Amazing! Effy and Mathew (who has visited there before) pointed out the similarities between Akron and Fairbanks: university buildings from the same time period, both called "U of A," and various others. Akron used to be the "polymer (rubber) capitol of the world," because of all the tire factories, such as Goodyear and Firestone. Effy also pointed out the Goodyear mansion later on! The town also used to be home to a Wonder Bread factory, which until recently made the university campus smell nice every morning!

After the concert we went to have dinner with Effy's parents at their apartment. It was passover, so we got to participate in a brief seder, which was really interesting! That was followed by several courses of food and topped off with an amazing flourless cake. Seriously delicious. And then... Time for bed!

http://g.co/maps/7cqjs

Homeward Bound

It's finally time!! Home sweet home, here we come. The goal of this blog is to cover the three week drive and possibly the five month summer before we get there! (I may do that second part on the blog I never updated from last summer...) So here goes again!

Mathew and I moved out of our apartment on April 1st and moved in with Laura and Rich in DC for a week. We finished up our DC Bucket List for the most part and then on April 7th, we hit the road! Pretty Car is all packed up, and we're now enjoying some really loud birds at a Starbucks in Akron, Ohio.

And now... To the post for Day 1! (P.S. please ignore the previous seven or so posts, I will at some point update those to the last days of the road trip to DC in 2010... Belated, but it's a great record for me :-)

P.P.S. Happy Easter!!!!