Days 6-9: Rain at the Lake

We had one glorious, sunny afternoon when the kids played outside on the deck and we took walks between cabins. After that it's been mostly rain and dreary weather.

We're all keeping busy and having fun inside by playing card games, knitting, reading, playing with the kids, eating all the time, Trivial Pursuit, Scattegories...

...smoking cee-gars...

...knitting hats...

...wearing new hats...

...learning to fish...

...catching fish...

...stitching and playing cribbage...

...and swinging!

Day 5: Cabin on the Lake

Miles: 1,534

States: 9

Kids: 5

Yesterday Ben and I picked up Andrew, then Mom, then Dad from the MSP airport (they all came in on separate flights). We had lunch with Jodi and Ethan at the mall of America before picking up dad, then crammed into the car for the four hour drive north to Marcell, Minnesota, for five days at the lake with dad's family.

I probably won't be posting for a few days, maybe a week, because the cabin is a black hole with no television, internet, or cell phone reception. It's gorgeous though, and so fun hanging out for the week with the cousins and aunts and uncles. There are ten of us here now, and the remaining 11 will trickle in over the next couple days. The 21 of us are likely to have at least a couple heated games of Trivial Pursuit, in the Meyer-Wilson-Damico-Terseck tradition.

I'm posting photos now for the last couple entries; check them out!

Route So Far

Day 4: Madison to Minneapolis

Miles: 1,293

States: 9 (although we saw Iowa, but I'm not counting that)

Kids: 4

Today we took the scenic route along the Wisconsin then Mississippi rivers to Minneapolis. We stopped in La Crosse, WI for a scenic overlook on "Grandad Bluff." The scenes were nice, although perhaps not worth the extra three hours the route added to the trip time. Three cheers to Ben for driving the entire 7 hours.

I was surprised at the size and quality of the homes on the farms in very rural parts of the state. It seems farmers are - or were - doing pretty well for themselves. The landscape along the Wisconsin river was also interesting; there are huge limestone bluffs now covered over with foliage. The land here was shaped by the massive glaciers that created the thousands of lakes.

We met Jodi and Ethan at 5 in downtown Minneapolis and walked two blocks to a street concert in a park. It would be great to live in a city for these types of perks and events. We ordered pizza in at Jodi's apartment while she put Ethan down for the night. That boy is growing so fast. I saw him less than a month ago in New York and I swear he already looks older.

After dinner we drove thirty minutes to the St. Paul suburb of Mahtomedi where my Dad's sister and her family live. Their kids are also growing faster than I thought possible. It's so fun and easy to sit around chatting with the Wilsons. We swapped stories and chatted until now, and I'm completely beat. I'll upload photos in the morning.

Day 3: Chicago to Madison, WI

Miles: 952

States: 8

Kids: 1

Yesterday morning we took a cab from the hotel to see the "Mag Mile" and did a little shopping. The area reminds me of shopping in NYC except nicer and cleaner. Huge stores, and blocks and blocks of them. Ben did, in fact, find new shorts - seersucker and madras.

We left Chicago around noon and fought traffic again on our way to Madison. The drive was nice after we put some distance between us and the city.

We arrived in Madison around three and had a warm welcome from the Jaskowiacks. Chuck and Chris and their kids have been good family friends since before I was born; it was really good to see them all again. Chris, Ben J, Andrea, Ben M, and I went to check out the University of Wisconsin after chatting a bit. It's a pretty school. Ben liked the gorgeous, brand-new boathouse and

the Engineering campus looks top-quality as well.

We had drinks and snacks on the porch, Ben and Ben played lawn games, and I hung out with Andrea while she played in the pool. Trix, the cat, is one of the most friendly animals I've ever met. And he tolerates four-year-old Andrea remarkably well. Chris made an excellent dinner of chicken, veggies, rice, and fruit. It was great catching up with those guys. I forgot how conservative Chuck is - he was decrying "those moderate Republicans in Washington, like your dad," and I went to watch cartoons with Andrea when we put on O'Rielly in the evening.

We're taking our time this morning, watching more cartoons, Sports Center, and James Bond movies. We might take the scenic route up the river today, have dinner with Jodi, and stay at Aunt Nancy and Uncle Scott's tonight.

Great day. Fell asleep watching cartoons with andrea. Hope to post in the morning!

Day 2: Chicago

Total Miles: 799

Total States: 7

We started off yesterday morning a little after 9 and drove the last three hours into Chicago. This was our first real experience with massive road construction and traffic on the trip. We came into the city on I-90, which, even though it runs through an industrial sector and smells terrible, had a number of tolls.

I think these factors may have colored Ben's impression of Chicago; he decided pretty promptly that he doesn't want to go to school in a huge, stinky city. And I can hardly blame him.

Even so, we headed for Hyde Park and the University of Chicago first thing in the afternoon. We

were planning to grab a slice of Chicago's famous deep dish pizza at the Giordano's in Hyde Park. Unfortunately, Giordano's in Hyde Park appears to have been under construction for at least three years. Starving, and far away from the sandwiches in the cooler in the car, we settled instead on the Subway across the street.

Hyde Park reminds me of the Capitol Hill area in DC. It has beautiful old townhouses, many covered in ivy, adjacent to housing projects and seedier-looking buildings.

The University of Chicago is doing itself no favors by placing its undergrad admissions office a half mile from the parking garage and not providing clear directions. We saw most of the school (and the University Hospital System) just on our search for the admissions office, which no one on campus could identify for us either. But the school is beautiful, with ivy-colored stone buildings and leafy quads. We didn't waste too much time evaluating dorm and classroom

spaces as Ben decided a city school isn't his style. That made the trip valuable enough.

We hopped back in the car and faced down another bout of city traffic on our way to the Field Museum. The exhibits on Pirates, ancient Egypt, animals, and Sue, the largest T-Rex skeleton, were interesting, but I'm totally spoiled by the Smithsonian. It seemed much of the museum was a gimmicky attempt to squeeze more money from tourists. Notable: the size of the African and Asian animals was shocking, and the pirates exhibit explained gruesome particulars of the slave trade I had forgotten since school.

At the Field, Dad called to ask if we had booked a hotel yet. We hadn't, and he had 20 free minutes and wanted to play around on hotwire for us. He booked a room at Hotel Allegro, which turned out to be a pretty swank, trendy, music-themed place in the theater district (Ben and I have the most generous parents, it's just the truth.) We drove downtown and self-parked across from the hotel. There was actually a party happening in the lobby, as we checked in during the hotel's free wine hour. Swank.

After checking in and decompressing, we walked out to the downtown Giordano's. The pizza was huge and greasy and thick and delicious, and although I ate just two slices I thought I might be sick. Thank goodness we have that cooler for the leftovers. We'll be eating pizza for days. (Note: Pizza + Red Wine = Win)

I thought Chicago would be more like L.A. or Seattle, but it's really New York-y. We drove downtown around 4:30 and were surprised at the number of people walking and biking through. The buildings, of course, are gorgeous, and that and the cleanliness and lack of signs reminded me of downtown Seattle. But the scale is huge.

After diner we walked over to Millennium Park, home of Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the Cloud Gate, or "Bean." The views are beautiful and the Bean is just bizarre. We got home around nine and crashed we were so exhausted. And our feet are blistered from so much walking.

This morning we're planning to take a cab up to the northern end of Michigan Ave., then walk back to the car though the "Magnificent Mile" - supposedly one of the most impressive shopping walks in the country. Even Ben is excited and hoping to find some seersucker shorts.

After shopping we'll drive to Madison and meet up with good family friends for the night.

**Aaaugh I'm having serious formatting issues! Sorry. I'll try to fix these later.

Thanks dad for amazing hotel. Watching Cubs at classic Chicago pizzeria. Great day. Will post tonight.

Day 1: Travel Day

Miles: 613

States: 6

Ben and I left the Mount Vernon Starbucks at 9:50 this morning and arrived at our hotel just northwest of Indianapolis at about 7:15. At 9 this morning, Mom says, "you guys aren't going to take the turnpike, are you?" And I said, "well, yes, that's what AAA printed the Triptiks for." But evidently I-70 is highly preferable due to fewer trucks and tolls, and being the flexible kids we are, Ben and I switched it up just fine.

With just three pit stops, we saved over an hour by driving fast. We debated driving all the way to Chicago tonight, but decided we'd rather get to bed early and drive the last 2.5 hours in the morning.

Nothing too notable today, except for a brief freakout when we thought my iPod was malfunctioning. It turned out the fast forward button on the radio connector was held down. But at three years old, my iPod has lasted about double its shelf life. It's going to happen sooner or later.

Drove through Columbus, Ohio this afternoon. Other than that the scenery has been the basic Eastern Mid-west fields and towns.

Hotel is excellent, $50 for the night with a pool and breakfast. Lonely Plant calls Indianapolis "snore inducing" - we're actually hoping that's true tonight!

Oh, but we did stop at Super Target just now in Indianapolis. Holy cow was it Super. I think it's actually twice the size of our target in Alexandria. You couldn't see the back walls. Infinity Target.

AAA

Just got home from AAA, where I spent an hour with a trip consultant. She gave me huge maps for each part of the trip, books for each state/region, and triptiks, which have pages for each section of highway on my route.

With all this and two GPS devices, I should be OK for directions.

Pilot Wheels

Just switched cars with Mom! Toyota Camry for the Honda Pilot... seems like a fair trade?

Update: Walkman Unnecessary

Today's best brother award goes to Andrew, who downloaded all 7 Harry Potter books and put them on an old iPod for me. We now have a Harry Potter iPod with over 177 hours of play time. Did you notice I was being coy in the last post, trying not to out myself as a Harry Potter freak? Secret's out.

Abort Project Walkman. Harry Potter's a go.

"And now, Harry, let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."

Request: Walkman?

I have access to audio books on cassettes, of all things. I'm pretty sure if I can get hold of a walkman, I can play them over the radio with my iPod radio thing.

Thanks guys!

Someday Never Comes

So I'm doing it now instead. The planned route is through the midwest with Ben, where I'll spend a week at the lake with Dad's family, to Nebraska to visit my grandma, to Seattle where I'll meet Jason, down the PCH to LA, then to Vegas where I'll switch Andrew for Jason, and home through Texas and the deep south, where I'm hoping I won't be too travel-weary to see some Civil Rights sights.

We're bringing audiobooks, staying with friends and in hotels, and taking the 2008 Honda Pilot. It won't exactly be Kerouac or McCandless, but I'm not a nihilistic anarchist either.

More maps and photos to come.

Days until takeoff: 6

Miles planned: around 9,000

Babies to visit: at least 4

Props to Meg Weckstein for the URL and blog description. I should just let her write this thing. And thanks to Creedence Clearwater for the blog title. And this post title. We'll be listening to a lot of Creedence on this trip, boys...