Yup, final score of the license plate game 18-14 – Brian schooled me so now I know he was totally faking it Tuesday night. It is on. Also we tied it up in the alphabet game yesterday… neither of us could find a sign with an X. Apparently people in Ohio are very wholesome and never break bones because I didn’t see one billboard for X-rated anything and zero X-ray places! Unreal…
So we got to Uncle Teddy’s around 6 last night and went to a yummy Italian restaurant, it was really good! Oh and I learned that when Uncle Teddy and my Uncle Donald and my grandfather were growing up, their father died when they were young and their mother married an Italian! So they were raised in an Italian household which Brian says makes me absolutely no more Italian but I think it could explain my obsession with carbs. After dinner we went back to his house and heard some more stories which was really cool since I don’t know much about my grandfather’s side of the family (he died when I was a baby). We showed him pictures of what’s happened in the Miller family since he’s last seen us (we’ve actually been quite busy the last 12 years!) We also met his friend Judy who is so nice and has the cutest little bulldog puppies! Oh and Uncle Teddy has a roommate- Charlie. Charlie is a 5 pound Yorkie, she’s really cute and the best thing to do when you’re missing puppies is to see more puppies! Uncle Teddy ordered us to go to bed around 10 and we passed out immediately! I think that will probably happen a lot on this trip! This morning we woke up and went to meet Donna who we’ve heard so much about so that was nice and then we got back on the road! Unfortunately it was a very quick visit but when you’re traveling over 7000 miles in 18 days, that’s all there is time for. Still it was so nice to see him and catch up and we will definitely make another trip out to Fort Wayne! Uncle Teddy, Thanks so much for being part of our trip, it was great to see you and we will see you soon!
As for today’s plan, this is one of our crazy days- Fort Wayne, Chicago & Milwaukee. We left Fort Wayne around 11:30 and got to Chicago around 2. It rained almost the whole time we were driving up but then amazingly it stopped when we got there and it was pretty nice out! We parked in a scary underground parking garage (which was only $16 for like 6 hours!!) then walked up and tried to figure out how to get anywhere. We got to walk through Millenium Park which was really nice but we totally had no clue how to get anywhere. So we got a cab that took us to Lou Malnati’s Pizza so we could try some Chicago Deep Dish. The place and food were pretty awesome. My personal favorite was the dessert we split. A chocolate chip cookie baked in a deep dish pan with ice cream on top. The menu says please allow 10 minutes for baking! Those 10 minutes were the most anxious I’ve ever been in my entire life and when it came out- well worth it! I tried to take a picture but couldn’t really get the cookie because the ice cream kept melting… because the cookie was just baked… amazing!
Moving right along, we left Lou’s with our full bellies and a little more confidence to take on Chicago so we decided to forget the cab! Well I mean we did still have the navigation which helped out a little. But since I didn’t want to look like the nerd I am walking around with a navigation, we devised a genius plan… doesn’t it look like I’m on my cool iPhone? Yup, we’re pretty smart!
We walked around for a little bit and it is SUCH a great city! It’s so nice that I actually pulled out my Dad’s really good camera because I actually didn’t feel like I was going to get mugged! And the best part is, I didn’t! There are about a billion less people walking around than in NYC and it’s so clean and the buildings are just so beautiful! If anyone has even the slightest interest in architecture, you definitely have to visit Chicago. There’s super old buildings, crazy modern buildings, square buildings, round buildings, anything you can think of! Also they have different levels to the city which helps traffic and is just really cool. We walked down to the lower level and walked along the river for a while then took a cab over to Navy Pier. They have a giant Ferris Wheel (I almost threw up just looking at it) and lots of art, a giant Macaroni & Cheese noodle (Brian’s favorite) and tons of bus and boat tours.
We ended up doing the hour long architecture boat tour which was really cool. We went up and down the Chicago River and our tour guide sounded just like Molly Shannon from Saturday Night Live when she does the radio show-awesome! But since we were in the river, we were so low down that it was a totally different perspective than you get from street level – really cool!
Chicago is so nice that they even have a free trolley to take you to and from Navy Piers to a bunch of other stops. After waiting for 25 minutes we decided to just pay for a cab up to Grant Park. They were setting up for the Chicago Jazz Festival so we just went over to the Buckingham Memorial Fountain (which was so pretty) took about 100 pictures then back to the car! Now we’re on our way up to Milwaukee where we’ll be staying for the night. Hopefully it stops raining buckets so we can enjoy WI a little! This might be sympathy rain for everyone at home waiting for the hurricane, stay safe guys! And Carolyn, take care of our puppies, they don’t like hurricanes! We’re staying in a Doubletree and I’m crossing everything that the rumors are true about them having fresh cookies when you check in. Tonight will be a late night as we got some recommendations for some cool places to go in Milwaukee (Thank you Marcus!). I’ll let you know if they’re actually cool, I’m pretty optimistic about it! Oh and fun fact – we’re past the 1,000 mile mark (hit 1,000 in Racine, WI)- woohoo!!
Oh and PS Stacy, totally had no clue there was a Butt Hut?!?! I WISH!! And Carolyn, besides checking the sheets, lift the mattress. So far we're okay! =)
I want a giant mac n cheese!!! mmmmmmm!!
ReplyDeleteI love it Colleen! I hope someday I can have an excellent adventure too :o) Safe travels to you both!
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