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Chicago
Millenium Park with Andrew and CherylFINAL PAGE
Friday 4th July HAPPY 4TH JULY EVERYONE 😊 a public holiday here of course and 150,000 people including ourselves travel to the Navy Pier in Chicago. We take the shuttle from our hotel and then catch the train, not entirely sure where to get off we alight a couple of stops too early but eventually find a trolley bus going straight to the Navy Pier. We meet up with my brother Andrew and meet his girlfriend Cheryl for the first time, they both live in Indiana and have come in on the train for the weekend. We all stroll along the 3,300 foot pier which is at the edge of Lake Michigan and on to Millenium Park. The architecture is impressive, including the Trump Tower and the gardens are spectacular, there are lots of boats on the lake. Lots of people are dressed patriotically, it is very hot and a real family day, a good day to 'people watch'. The traffic police are not 'pulling any punches' keeping traffic and the huge number of pedestrians in order and the police helicopters are constantly circling. Unfortunately we leave the pier and sit in the park for a while, then
Millenium Park
The Water Spout when we queue up to get back on the pier around 7pm they close the gates just in front of us and say that the Navy Pier is at capacity and they will not allow anyone else in. This becomes a big news story as there are a lot of TV cameras around."Navy Pier closes gates two and a half hours before fireworks start" !
We go and have a meal in an Irish bar and watch the spectacular fireworks on the 20 television screens that are visible from where we are sitting. We say goodbye to Andrew and Cheryl around 10.30pm their hotel is just a few blocks away but we have to join the huge crowds heading for the station! Walking along the Magnificent Mile which is a shoppers dream we look for the train to O'Hare where we know we can get a shuttle bus to our hotel. The first station, "The Green Line", has long queues and we carry on walking to "The Blue Line" which we know goes directly to O'Hare, we manage to cram onto the train. It is very uncomfortable with more people getting on for the first few stops and few
getting off. We are very pleased that the hotel shuttle runs 24 hours a day and it is 12.30am when we finally get to our hotel room. We have had a wonderful day but we are both exhausted.
Saturday 5th July We have both slept soundly and the
local news this morning is; four people have been killed in a road traffic accident, an escaped double-murderer has been chased and caught, there has been two shootings and 150,000 people celebrated 4th July at the Navy Pier!
We check out of the Best Western and pick up a car for our final few days, this time a Hyundai Sonata as George fancies a change from the Chevy. We drive out of Illinois and into Indiana around 11.30am and the temperature is 77f. Indiana is called the Crossroads of America because several major interstate highways cross the state and it is nicknamed the Hoosier State, residents are Hoosiers and Cheryl is proud to be a Hoosier. One of our favourite eating places in America is The Cracker Barrel and there are not many on the west coast so we have not come across one this
Chicago
Fire Engine trip - until today, we see that there is one in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is where we are now heading for two nights. The Cracker Barrel Restaurant and Old Country Store prides itself on real homestyle cooking and George is already looking forward to chicken dumplings.
The Best Western in Kalamazoo is really lovely and we have a kingsize suite which is huge. The time here in Michigan is one hour on from Chicago so we are now just 5 hours behind the time at home; in San Francisco we were 8 hours behind. We go out to eat at the Cracker Barrel and it is exactly the same as the last one we went into, it never changes, they have rocking chairs outside that you can either sit in or buy to take home and there are games to play while you wait for a table, there is a lovely comforting feel about the place and yes George has chicken dumplings.
Sunday 6th July There was a party going on in the hotel last night, lots of children running about until around 1am also a lot of fireworks were going off nearby so a bit of
Douglas Michigan
Lots of bronze statuary a disturbed night for me although George just slept through it. When we went down to breakfast there was a huge butterfly on the hall floor near the stairs and it looked as if it had changed colour to blend in with the carpet, I took a photo and then helped it out of the window as I did not want anyone to stand on it.
This is our third and last Sunday of the holiday and we start the day by watching Wimbledon; the first set of the men's final, Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer, then we head off to Lake Michigan. It is fairly quiet as we drive to South Haven which is a lovely holiday resort. We walk around the beach area and then find a large art exhibition with art and crafts of every description and we buy a couple of presents. We continue up the lake shoreline to a place called Douglas, all very picturesque but possibly the
gay capital of Michigan we have never seen so many men kissing in the streets, George is a bit worried in case it's compulsory!! We don't hang around there too long and travel a bit further
north to the intriguingly named Holland, another really lovely place, we are beginning to like this side of Lake Michigan. It is quite busy and has turned very warm, we eat delicious ice creams and just enjoy strolling and browsing. A nice relaxing day and when we return to the hotel we find out that Djokovic is the new Wimbledon Champion. We spend some time in the spa before going to the Cracker Barrel to eat again, well it is one of our favourites and who knows when we will be in the USA again. George is really enjoying the Hyundai, it is good to drive and extremely economical. We are going to Michigan City tomorrow for our last night and have just booked to stay in the Blue Chip Casino, there are severe storm warnings on the news just now explaining what to do in severe weather it all sounds very serious.
Monday 7th July A thunderstorm raged through the night and we wake up to the news that there have been tornadoes in the area with lots of damage and power "outages" some roads are closed here in Kalamazoo, Michigan; other news items include
St Joseph, Michigan
The end of the pier 60 people injured and 9 killed in gun related incidents in Chicago.
It is warm and humid with thick white clouds as we leave Kalamazoo, after an excellent American breakfast,
there is going to be some serious dieting taking place when we get home. We fill up with gas as it is the cheapest we have seen at $3.60 per gallon, the most we have paid is $4.45 and this was on the west coast when we were nearly empty.
We drive to Silver Beach Park which is on the lakeside, the sand is very clean and there are lots of statues and interesting things to look at especially for children, I have a paddle. We walk along a type of pier which goes out into the lake, there is some fishing going on and lots of people on the beach. We walk up a hill so that we are looking down at the lake which is huge, (well it is one of the five great lakes of North America), it is like being at the seaside, there are high waves and the red flag is flying. The mist is really coming down now and it is impossible
to see very far this is probably due to the thunderstorm overnight.
We have noticed that very few of the cars in Michigan have number plates on the front. Where work is being done on the interstate there are signs saying “Kill a worker $7,500 fine and 15 years in prison” although it is Monday we have not seen anyone working, it has been a holiday weekend so perhaps it is still going on.
We arrive in the state of Indiana around 2pm, we have to put the clock back one hour as they are on eastern time and the sun is now just starting to peep through the clouds. We check into the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City which is just in Indiana. We spend the early evening at the lakeside area in Washington State Park. It is really hot now and we go onto the beach the sand is lovely and clean and is just like a coastal resort, there are plenty of seats and the green flag is flying. We eat in the casino buffet for our last night.
Tuesday 8th July Fruit for breakfast this morning as we are
Silver Beach, Michigan
All the 4th July flags are still flying here planning to have lunch before we hand the car in this afternoon. The news this morning is that Washington State has legalised the sale of cannabis from today and in Chicago they are calling the weekend “Bloody July 4th” as there has been so many shootings.
We have very much enjoyed visiting Indiana, it is a state we rarely hear anything about. The Indiana Dunes National Park is so interesting and we call in at the visitor centre to learn a bit more.We cannot find the case locks this morning so have to buy 2 new ones at the airport and then George has to ask the police to cut the packaging as we obviously have not got anything sharp in our hand luggage!
We have had 7 nights in California, 1 in Nevada, 4 in Oregon, 2 in Washington, 2 in Illinois, 2 in Michigan and 1 in Indiana. Our last night is to be spent on American Airlines, Boeing 777 Chicago to Heathrow which will be a much shorter flight than 3 weeks ago and we have been upgraded to seats with extra legroom so we are hoping for a comfortable flight and perhaps some sleep.
Indiana
Washington State Park Looking forward to seeing all our family and friends.
THE END
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James
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Winnard t-shirt
Nice pics! Glad to see the Winnard t-shirt come out as usual!! :)