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Sweet home, Chicago
On the top of the Best City in America List. Seriously, Chicago is Awesome! Hello all. Sorry for the serious lapse of travelblog writing. Since the last entry, we've criss-crossed throughout the upper Midwest, drove through the Dakotas, and worked our way south to the brink of the Southwest. For your sanity and mine, I'll keep focused on the upper Midwest: a land of great friends, stout beer, big cities and small country towns.
After crossing the US-Canada border into Detroit, we made our way past 8 mile to about 14 mile where we met up with Pat and Maria in their community of Birmingham. The small village filled with high-end stores and nice pubs was different from what we expected from Detroit, but we were both happy to see that there ARE areas still thriving despite the automobile company failures. After spending some time catching up and BBQing homemade burgers from Maria's farm, we made our way into town - that's Birmingham not Detroit. We made our way to the local hip pub where as it turns out, Pat is the "godfather" of the entire Detroit metropolitan area. Not kidding, I honestly saw a couple of younger guys come up to Pat and kiss his ring, I swear. Post-pub, a friendly game of
With Pat in Detroit
I want a Taquito. And Pat thought no one would ever come to Detroit. poker ensued at Pat's house only after a stop for some late night eats (mmmmm, taquitos). Thanks Pat and Maria for showing us the great Detroit.
Next on the hit list of upper Midwest stops was Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our great friends, Kelly and Matt have been living in Ann Arbor since the start of the school year and totally have the entire place covered. We toured the campus of the University of Michigan and hit up the food Mecca known throughout the foody world simply as Zingerman's. If you haven't heard of Zingerman's and you love food, do yourself a huge favor and check out their website www.zingermans.com. Zingerman's is awesome! The passion for food Zingerman's workers and followers have is intoxicatingly addictive. Did you know that there are 100s of different kinds of salt, all of which actually taste differently? Zingerman's itself could have totally made Ann Arbor, but the eclectic and energetic atmosphere took it to a whole other level. And, Kelly even gave us both Chocolate Easter bunnies (which came up huge in Wall, SD, look for that story later) on Easter! Awesome. And many thanks to Kelly and Matt. We'll be seeing you in
With Kelly and Matt
A foodies paradise. Zingerman's rocks! SoCal sometime soon, surely. But wait, I bet you thought that was it for Ann Arbor. As it turns out, Marisa's good friend from the Army, Jerome and his wife met us for lunch before we left town. We had a Mongolian Grill lunch. After some serious all you can eat, our bellies were geared up for the drive to Chicago. It was great seeing you, Jerome, good luck with the job hunt.
"Sweet home, Chicago". Have you ever met someone from Chicago? Have they ever talked about how cool Chicago was? And then did they go back to Chicago? Yea, I have, and I have always wondered what was up with Chicago. Let me tell you what is up, Chicago is up. That is to say, Chicago has got it going on. Throughout our travels we've been it great art cities or great sports cities or great park and rec cities or great public transportation cities. Well folks, Chicago is all those greats wrapped up in one. We stayed with the infamous MC and her family in Hinsdale, Illinois for three days and loved every second of it. Hinsdale was about a 35 minutes train ride outside of
With Jerome in Ann Arbor
Thanks for lunch, Jerome. Nice car! the big city, after which you are dropped directly into the middle of town. Chicago is a great walking city with multiple parks and paths that can get you anywhere you wish. If you don't feel like walking, no worries, just hop on the "L" and you will be whisked off to wherever your heart desires. Baseball game, no problem. Art museum, right down the street. Free zoo, got that too. Honestly, I could probably go on and on about Chicago and not get across to all of you out there how much we enjoyed the city and our stay with the Nelson's in Hinsdale. We were also able to catch up with Marisa's friend, Vickie, who she had not seen for 9 years (which for a 30 year old, is a freakin' long time, people). And if you ever have any problems in the Chicago area in a year or two, do yourself a favor and hire Vickie as your lawyer, she don't take sh#t from nobody. And she is really nice too. You go girl. Oh yea, you want some of the best architecture in the US, take a tour, Chicago's got it. I really can't say enough
Chicago Architecture
The Student on the left rebelled against his teacher on the right. about Chicago and hopefully we will be able to go back for the wedding of the year in Chicago. MC good luck with the planning, if it gets to crazy you and your family totally has a seat in the Durango. Thanks for the wonderful time!
Figuring anything following Chicago could not easily match up; we decided lay over in Madison, Wisconsin for a night. We had heard that Madison was cool, but honestly, it is Wisconsin right? How cool could it be? Well, if you consider a mouth watering Afghani dinner, a bustling college town and an on campus bar with a patio and stage right on a lake, cool, then head directly to Madison, Wisconsin. Possibly one of the best college towns we've come across, if you have the opportunity to visit, you should. And if you like beer, good music, and fun people, you definitely should. A fun city for sure.
Oh, and by the way, the drives throughout the upper Midwest were completely breathtaking. Just when you think you've seen the most picturesque farm house on top of the greenest rolling hill, you turn a corner and find another scene straight out of "Greenacres".
With MC
Thank you soooo much! Hope we can make it out for the wedding. You're awesome! Luckily we had great weather for our drives and relished every second. Especially the hour we spend at Dr. Evermore's Art Park. Just about the last thing you think you will see in farmland USA, other wise known as Wisconsin, is a scrap metal art park. Check it out, www.drevermor.com, and you too will be amazed at one man can do with a metal spring, a car door, and a train track. DJ Tango the Dirty Durango thanked his lucky stars with we tried to pick up one of the sculptures and almost throughout our backs. But you just wait, future Walter house, you will definitely be getting a metal bird with a horn for a body as your yard art. Oh yes, it will happen.
Off to Minneapolis and our traveling mentors Greg and Megan. Greg is Scott's (also known as Scotty the Hottie and from previous entries as Tampa and Savannah happina') older brother and before entering into the world of house payments and 9-5 jobs, Greg and Megan did a very similar trip about 2 years ago. Our inspirations showed us a great time in Minneapolis. We were actually quite amazed to learn of all the
The Art Institute of Chicago
Before you ask, I do have a series of pictures leading closer and closer to the little girls face, just like in Ferris Bueller. different large companies making their homes in Minnesota. Of course, we had to hit up the Mall of America, were I think Marisa was just too overwhelmed to buy anything. However, Marisa is not one to accept defeat easily so I would not count out a trip back to the largest mall in the world soon. Looking for some good clean Minnesota fun, we decided to step into a Gameworks arcade and test our luck at some skeeball. Now, you can either believe that we are professional skeeballers or that the game malfunctioned and spat out approximately a heap of tickets, either way we ended the night with two martini shakers, two decks or cards and enough sour gummy worms to last a lifetime. Awesome, and an awesome time in Minneapolis! Thanks Greg and Megan and good luck with the lil' one on the way. Again, you are our mentors and we will probably following you in that realm in a couple of years once again.
We loved the upper Midwest. It is filled with wonderful scenery, awesome buildings, and the best part of all, shinny happy people holding hands. The southern charm has a lot going for it,
Lincoln Park Zoo
One of the last free zoos, in the world. Totally awesome. but the upper Midwest hospitality and kindness will sit you down, give you a beer, and show you the time of your life. Da Bears.
And of course Giant Ditka wins due to his massive brain capacity. Just imagine the amount of strategy capable of coming out of a huge Ditka brain. Imagine.
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Mom
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Yard art
Gosh, wish I had some!