Wednesday's Child: Washington/New York Trip Photos!

Maybe a new theme?

Wednesday's Child could be the day I tell you something delightful about The Kid. But then every day is that day, so basically a) I wanted to share trip pictures and b) "WTF Wednesday" didn't quite fit.

So! Trip photos!

As requested by The Kid, I did not delete even one of her pictures. This means there are about 600 or so, but there are some really awesome ones I thought I'd share!

Do yourself a favor and click the pictures to see them full size!

This is a nice shot from the plane:

Very clear, considering it's through a thick piece of plexiglass!

They went to the Jefferson Memorial first.

Really cool building. She took some neat perspective shots, but this one is my favorite:

This is a nice combo shot with the Washington Monument in the background:

The Kid on the steps of the monument...looking like she will when she's 18. SCARY.

Later in the evening...

The next day they went to the National Cathedral. She learned all about gargoyles at the cathedral for a report she did before the trip, so she was thrilled to get to see them in person.

It's hard to get good stained glass shots, but she managed!

And they got to go up into the Washington Monument! Awesome.

They went to the Capitol Building as well, and she took a nice shot of the inside of the dome.

Finally they went to Arlington, and she got a good closeup of a cherry blossom. At least I think that's what this is!

She didn't take many pictures in New York, since she was fearful of losing her camera, but she did take a really nice photo in Central Park! Very New Yorky.

Unfortunately they couldn't take photos everywhere, like the White House and such, but she did take those nice camera-phone photos of 30 Rock and the Statue of Liberty I showed you, so that's something!

All in all I think she had a great time; I know she'd like to see both places again and have more time. Next time I'll go with her!

Weekend Catchup: The Devil Went Down To Tucson

Travel is a funny thing.

There's so much anticipation and planning that goes into it, and then it seems to be over so suddenly. I swear if I had a bajillion dollars I would take last-minute grab-a-bag trips that lasted a month. That seems like the more pleasant ratio of planning to enjoyment, don't you think?

I did get to travel alone for the first time in a few years, which led to some interesting observations that either a) prove me to be the introspective, deep thinker I'd like to believe I am, or b) prove me to be completely insane. You pick!

Don't believe me?

Things that went through my head during the 2 hour wait:

* The airport smells at that hour of the morning (7am). I don't know why, but it really does. I was wishing desperately for a bottle of patchouli.

* I love small talk on the train to the terminals. A nice woman and I were chatting about the weird fans in the tunnels and how sometimes we almost expect the train to just shoot out the end of the tunnel like the Wonkavator. The guy next to us laughed rather more loudly than the joke warranted, and then did the accidental boob graze on his way out. Ah, just like sweet home Chicago!

* I was deeply amused by 2 rather old women (probably early 80s) who were giggling like teenagers over pictures of Brad Pitt in "US" magazine, and who were chatting cattily about Kate Gosselin's goofy hairdo.

* I love to look around at all the people and wonder where they're all going, don't you? Is that girl with too much makeup some kind of runaway? Is this just the first leg of her trip or the last after a long and disappointing foray into internet love? And how about that large family there... they're all doing their own thing (iPods, laptops, phones), and you wouldn't even know they were together except for their almost Osmond-like similarity of features. Where are they off to? Are they just on their way home and totally sick of each other, or is this just the start and the way they are?

* Old men shoes... I love them. They just don't give a hoot what you think of their Bass Weejuns with socks.

See? Insane.

I was happy to have ended up with a window seat; my favorite part about flying is the takeoff and we had a particularly spectacular one, as it was a bit overcast. We headed up and up and then into the low-hanging clouds, and then popped out above them into a magnificent view of the Rockies. There were shadows on the tops of the clouds from the higher ones riding the atmosphere... glorious.

And so, on to Tucson! (You can see photos of the trip this here... if you have a few minutes to kill, go look!)

Upon arrival at 9:30 AM, it was already pretty toasty... it hit 107 that day. It's actually not that bad if you stay in the shade and take it easy, but still.

I was really glad to see my mom and of course the kid... it had been a more different two week break from motherhood than I've had in... hm. I couldn't even tell you. Not different in a bad way, but rather in an "oh yeah you have a whole life of your own to lead...get to it!" sort of a way. I've been in mom-mode so completely and for so long that I sort of forgot that about the fact of my own existence, if that makes any sense? It was nice to have the touchstone of their familiarity and routine.

Our plan was to drive down to Bisbee, AZ and explore the town... we didn't actually realize it was 100 miles from Tucson until hit that "are we there yet" moment while in the middle of a whole lot of gorgeous nothingness... it is really quite beautiful in the desert, it's not the wasteland you might think.



Once in Bisbee, we found we had it mostly to ourselves (tourist season being over after Memorial Day), and had a nice lunch in the Copper Queen Hotel (reputed to be haunted, but I got absolutely no vibes... not even an "oooh, old building" one. Hm.), followed by some walking in the town. I couldn't believe how much art there was there, from paint and pottery to metal sculpture. It's probably even better in Winter... note to self.

We stopped in what I can only describe as a tschotchke paradise (I think that's the right place, anyway... did I mention it was 107 degrees and my brain was melting?). There was so much stuff in that shop (3 floors worth!) that it was almost painful not to be able to see everything. Each piece in the cases had a hand-lettered tag describing the piece, and it all ranged from 50's-era cowboy kitsch to Depression-era glass to old books that you just know smelled great to an entire basket of Barry Goldwater pins.



There was also this old alarm clock that at some point had a twirling ballerina, but now the ballerina lies dead and tilted behind the plastic. I saw so much looking at this - the little girl's farmhouse room where it was a treasured possession, the dusty spread outside the window where Daddy was trying so hard to make the fields work - but she knew they'd have to leave soon. She just hoped she'd be able to take a few things with.

I don't know what tune this might have played, but I bet that the old woman the little girl became still hummed it sometimes when she cast her thoughts back to that little room at the top of the stairs.



OMG DEEP. :)

I want to go back just to spend awhile there. It's like Needful Things opened an outlet.

My favorite moment... walking past the many art galleries and spying in one of them a woman dressed rather like Holly Golightly, head cocked to the side in her black dress, hat and pumps, contemplating a painting, hand on chin. I tried for a photo (nothing like freaking out the locals, but she was accommodating and posed happily), but it didn't come out. Alas.

On the way home (and man that really was a long drive) we passed by a Border Patrol incident in progress... about 20 adults, sitting in a group under a tree, while the big white vans waited on the side of the road and the officers stood around them with sun-glassed authority. They work so hard to get there that you feel bad knowing that all that planning and dangerous trekking was for nothing... talk about travel being a funny thing.

Friday was busy but fun. We got going early and did a walking tour of downtown Tucson. We saw some really lovely art and old buildings that you just wouldn't see driving by the same place every day for a year... I think every resident should do this once.

The city of Tucson has a lot of art in public places such as underpasses and street signs. In particular there I liked the series of photos of neighborhoods and people from the past 100 years or so, done in black and white tiles. They're almost shrine-like, and really give me the feeling of a shared past of American culture - the bobby-soxers in the barrio neighborhoods of Tucson were no different than the ones in Chicago or New York.

After our walking around the city we sat down to a delicious southwestern lunch and did a little shopping in the art galleries that surrounded the restaurant (the last stop on the walking tour, naturally), then headed to Mt. Lemmon for a little cooling off and some killer views. Halfway up you'd swear you were somewhere north of Boulder; it's absolutely amazing how quickly the climate and surroundings changed. The road up there even gets closed in Winter due to heavy snowfall... not what you'd expect right outside of Tucson!

Near the top of Mt. Lemmon is the town of Summerhaven, a beautiful little mountain town that almost didn't survive the 2003 fire that devastated it. Everything was gone, but these folks came back even stronger than they were. It was deeply inspiring to see the shops and homes rebuilt.

We stopped in The Living Rainbow gift shop and I purchased a few of the owners Fire Beads. She had a shed full of thousands of glass beads behind the original store which burned to the ground in the fire. When sifting through the wreckage she found many of the beads had melted together and were in pieces... but they were still there. She was able to salvage a lot of the glass and make *new* beads which she features in some of her art and which are also embedded in the sidewalks outside of the shop; that she could find beauty and art in all that devastation is an amazing thing.



And the saguaros were blooming.



Saturday we were headed home after a nice breakfast and half an hour of watching F-16s taking off and landing (best reason for a half an hour delay EVER). We hit a bit of turbulence (read: massive air pocket) on the way back that was bad enough to send the flight attendant pogo-ing into the air. I love it even though it makes me nauseated... it's freaky, sure, but what can you do but enjoy it? It's not like you can do anything to stop it, so you might as well treat it like a roller coaster... an untethered, airborne, flying rollercoaster. Wheeeeee! We were picked up by Melissa, who was kind enough to drive out and get us, and then it was back home again. (I totally owe her.)

The cats were pleased.

We didn't get much done Sunday except for nails and painting pictures and getting out for dinner with Colorado Alterna-Dad; a nice relaxing day.

Tomorrow... the kid's very own travelogue of her adventures in Arizona! I'm going to take dictation tonight and post it verbatim, if I can squash my need to be grammatically correct long enough; at least I know it'll be spelled correctly! (I'm so mean, I know.)

Thrilling Thursday: Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

So my friend Chris is in Turkey. Turkey! She does more travelling, it's awesome. She's been to Africa, Peru... just all over the damn place.

The true beauty of this trip for *me* though (because it's all about me) was that she was able to text me, and I was able to fill in the blanks with my own overly-romantic imaginings of world travel.

Plus, OMG TEXTS FROM TURKEY. How fun!

It should be noted that Chris believes herself to be dreaming all this up - meaning her life, yours, mine, all of it. It just always seems that when she's into something everything around her seems to line itself up. Strangely, this came true as she was texting me while at Elitch's... I was standing outside, receiving a text from Istanbul, when this song came on!

I'm totally serious. (Also, enjoy the earworm... I guarantee you'll be singing this for a week.)

And so for your very own enjoyment, and because I know Chris will just SO APPRECIATE that I'm using her texts in public, the promised half-assed travelogue for the trip I'm not even on!

May 16:
"I'm in a taxi on my way to hotel. Let me know if u get this text." "It smells so good. Sea air, camp fires and kabobs. Oops just passed the fish market."

So descriptive! I mean can't you just picture it? Zipping along the busy market streets, window down in the Turkish-enscribed taxi, face tipped up to catch the wind and all the olfactory goodness riding it, and then BAM slapped in the face with fish-stink.

May 17:
"American brought swine flu here yesterday."

Oh fabulous. Good thing it wasn't her, or she might've ended up in a Turkish prison. I've heard that's terrifying.

May 18th was apparently filled with Turkish towels and baths and delight.

May 19:
"Saw some really cool stuff today. Going to see whirling dervishes now."

I can't tell you how many times I've used "whirling dervish" in a sentence in my life, and I have never once thought to find out what a whirling dervish actually is. Voila!

"I didn't suspect I would be attracted to Turk guys. SO WRONG! Some r crazy hot!"

And how! (Seriously, YouTube, you have something for everything don't you!) She tends to like really light-skinned guys, and I think she was thinking Turkey is much more Middle-Eastern that way.

"I'm getting ready to go up in a hot air balloon."

Can you even imagine? Up in a hot air balloon, looking at this:


Of course I don't know what exactly she was looking at, but this is what Google gave me for "Turkish Mountains".

May 20th:
"Adam lost?!"

I do so love Chris. Even in Turkey she's all over AI.

May 21st:
"You are going to go crazy for these pics I just took. In ancient caravan, big stone building. White orbs everywhere."

And another reason to love her... she hates ghost stories and ghosts, but she knows I totally eat that stuff up.

"I drank a Cola Turka for lunch. It's their own brand. Normal Coca Cola is everywhere. Way better than Pepsi, not as good as Coke. Will drink it anywhere I can get it here. I still prefer Coke, but when in Rome ya know."


Or, ya know, Turkey. That does look refreshing though!

"I'm in the tiny village. 4-bar reception. Walked around and people would join us. People just popping their heads out of windows to say hi. At least 3 people invited us to stay."

Now that's just awesome. I must say though, that it's really sad that she gets better reception in Middle-Of- Nowhere-Istan, Turkey than I do in my own house.

May 22nd:
"Hiked to Mediterranean mountain top. Had lunch overlooking a Roman necropolis."

This, of course, made me immediately think of something out of Army of Darkness (aka Evil Dead 3), but in fact:


That doesn't look like it would be terribly zombie-filled. But it's daytime in this picture, so you never know.

"I'm standing in the Mediterranean now."

I wrote back "Wish I was there!" and she said "Me too." Awwwwww!



May 23rd: Also apparently filled with more bathing, and thankfully no prisons since she texed me the next day. I'm fairly certain they would have taken her cell phone.

May 24th:
"Today sucked. 8 mile hike. Too hot, too humid, not terribly scenic. The ruins at the end could have been easily driven to. Now too tired for the steep 1km and back to the thing I really wanted to see... the Chimera Flames."

Okay those are too cool. Somehow she had to get it done! Sure enough, 4 hours later...

"I made it to the Chimera Flames."

I knew she could do it!

She managed to call me too, and told me she picked up the Turkish version of Twilight. Now *that* is a souvenir I can get behind!


YES!

Alas, her Turkish version must have included a lot more secrets of the Volturi (oh cram it, haters!) because all of a sudden she was awash in bloodletting of one kind or another. Gross.

"Have I mentioned there are tons of stray cats here? I got scratched by one today. Blended in with the rocks. Stepped on its tail."

That and she apparently stepped in human blood while in the village - the remnants of some violence in the street. The police were in the process of cleaning it up. Yikes!

May 25th:
"I stepped in human blood and have had minor injuries that drew blood 3 days in a row. Can I get through today blood free?"

See?

May 26th:
"Boat ride, gorgeous hike, had tea with a goat farmer. Good day. So far no blood. Knock wood."

I said something snappy about "knock wood, but hope there's no nail in the wood upon which you knock". Because I'm me, that's why. I guess that blood sacrifice paid off though... sounds like a delightful day!

"In an upscale bar listening to the wife of a friend of our guide singing The Cure. She's a brit."

Just Like Heaven, in case you were wondering. I was!

May 27th:
"My sunglasses died today. I bent them about a week ago and today one side just popped open at the end of the day. It was my fav I ever had. Alas."

A small price to pay to the Travel Gods, I think.

Well, hopefully she didn't laugh at bad karaoke, since that's the last I heard from her, but it was just yesterday and she's probably on her way home. Hell, she's probably still sleeping!

I hope you enjoyed THRILLING TURKISH THURSDAY!

Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks.

Tomorrow... What's with the weird scrapbookification of this photo? It's a mystery.

UPDATE! SHE SPEAKS!

In order to get more out of her, I posted the tantalizing text "I'm blogging about your trip."

She wrote back:

"Do I get a final edit?"

I of course simply laughed, but I reassured her it's all good. :)

Later, I heard from her again:

"Just saw a freight ship that crashed on the Bosphorous Strait and almost hit a house. Look for it on CNN. Did you see a story on Paris Hilton in Turkey a few days ago?"

I assured I would (and did! - and am now terrified that there's a website called "Russian Spy"), and told her I hoped she didn't get herpes from Paris's mere presence in town, which is SO MEAN but I couldn't help myself. However...

"There was a story that she was thrown overboard for doing it with with her boyfriend on a ship in Antalya."

Ha! But untrue, per Paris herself. Also that's not nearly what I had pictured, which was the actual flinging of Paris Hilton from the side of an ocean-going vessel, post-coitus, which was funnier though of course I would never actually wish her harm.

Finally, she said:

"Back in Istanbul. In a hookah bar."

Naturally I initially read this as "hooker bar" and had to look twice because that's not really Chris's thing.

I quite like hookahs (hahaha say that out loud I *dare* you) - they're pretty, they don't stink when you smoke em, and they're basically just flavored water. Like a big, pot-free bong.

Except when you add marijuana. I'm just saying.

Travel Post the Last - Friday to Sunday

Didja miss me? I was on vacation, dontcha know.

Let's see, my last post was super-early Friday morning, detailing a nice Thursday which culminated (oooh $10 words!) in lovely Chinese food, going through my books (which were stored at Carolyn's all this time), and packing the car.

Friday, after a few hours sleep (I always get so restless on vacation - all that planning) I got up and said goodbye to Carolyn as she headed off to work, then finished up the packing and headed out. I got to spend about an hour more with my aunt, which was nice - we really got to see her a lot this trip!

We headed downtown to pick up my sister Lesley and go have lunch and conversation with my dad and his wife Darlene. I forget sometimes how much I hate driving in the city of Chicago, and then I drive there and remember. I also forget how beautiful the city can be, and there's nothing like getting gridlocked to really give you the chance to look around!



There's more of course... check the album!

Lunch was nice, we had an exceedingly odd waiter who I named Frahnk. He had just that accent. We had yummy food, and then it was time to split. We had hoped to get to Lincoln Park Zoo (one of the last free things in Chicago), but my dad wasn't feeling great. It was just as well, since we still had to head west to Westchester, to see my friend Christine.

Her house is so cute. Alas, I didn't take a picture... I was so tired! Actually her whole neighborhood is adorable, all these nice older homes on good-size lots with actual backyards. I got to meet and get yelled at by her dad (I felt like one of the family!), after meeting her lovely and super-nice grandmother. We had excellent Thai food and I attempted to stay up and watch Twilight again, but I was tuckered.

We had a great night's sleep and some breakfast, and then we were off for home at last! One can only take so much vacation.

Saturday

After a nice breakfast, we headed out. The weather looked to be fine for us getting to Kearney, Nebraska, and it was for the most part. It got a little sketchy closer to our destination, but we handled it.

I enjoyed listening to the CD that Kevin made me for the trip while we drove through Iowa; it was a mystery CD, the playlist for which would only be revealed after listening. It was a strange trip, and seriously fun, and ate an hour and a half of the drive without even stopping to sip water.

The hotel was AWESOME. A great end to our vacation. The only problem was our choice of restaurant for dinner - it was bad enough that I asked for one of the meals to be comped, as neither of the two was edible past the side dishes. Even the salad was bad, what's with that?! If you ever find yourself in Kearney, Nebraska, do *not* eat at Skeeter Barnes.

Sunday

After waking up and having some breakfast at the hotel (it was surprisingly delicious), we got the bad news... I80 was CLOSED due to the ice and wind and stuff. Great! It did finally open up at about 12:30 and we headed out.

Right after I threw out my back. Ug. Must have been all that jumping on the bed.

We made it home in one piece, although it was a fight all the way... not only was it horrendously windy, we were also playing dodge-the-semi since all the trucks had been stranded Saturday night and were now in a mad dash for wherever they were headed. Scary!

Alternadad generously took us out for dinner Sunday night (he called us when we were about an hour from home - he must have gotten a psychic wave from my sleep-deprived brain), which was a good thing because I was barely conscious and couldn't have boiled water if you paid me.

And so now we're home.

All in all, it was a very satisfactory vacation. We got to do fun things, see people we'd been missing, eat food we'd been craving, dodge snow storms, spend too much money...

Yay! Vacation!

Travel Post the Fifth - Thursday

Thursday was lovely! After having some breakfast and hanging with Annette & Curt & Rex the Wonder Dog (Troyer left for school), we headed out to the rest of our day.

We stopped by Fannie May because our asses aren't huge enough. I thoroughly enjoyed their new policy of giving samples, although it means we now have all this candy we haven't eaten yet! We'll get over it I'm sure hahaha.

We met Catherine, Maggie & Hannah for lunch and hanging out after. Maggie rides a unicycle, is almost a registered-weapon type black belt and is 11. (I feel under-achievery now.) Hannah is 5 and a bad-ass. Seriously! Catherine was having a tough day, so I'm glad we could talk awhile.

After heading back to Carolyn's for some Chinese food and hanging with her and her family and Kevin, I got our laundry done, packed up the car and... well, blogged about Thursday and uploaded pictures and balanced my check book and now I'm pooped.

Off to bed!

Travel Post the Fourth - Tuesday & Wednesday

Would that technically be Travel Posts the Fourth and Fifth? Nobody knows.

So! Tuesday!

We went to the Field Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Both were glorious and wonderful and magical and fantastic, and were made all that much more better by the additions of Carolyn, her niece Jessica, and of course Man Award Winner Kevin (should I call him MAWK?).

There are so many pictures that I have not actually gone through them all yet...like, over 300 at first count. Be sure to set aside a bajillion minutes because I got a picture (dimmish but viewable) of each and every one of the Thorne Miniature Rooms, my very favorite thing there. YES!

Other photos of the Field Museum and the Art Institute... click em'!

Wednesday was delightful and relaxed; we took off (just the kid and I) and grabbed a little breakfast, went to McCrae Farms (where the kid used to take lessons thanks to a trade agreement - sounds so involved, doesn't it? - with the owner/trainer), then headed into the city to have lunch with a couple of high school friends of mine, Leila & Atoya. We went to Cafe 28, a Cuban-Mexican place, which was SO AWESOME and reasonably priced as well! Score! We had Cuban sandwiches and these awesome chicken quesadillas, plus some kind of hot chocolate pudding, which Leila & I made short work of. Yum.

After that we headed back to The Auld Sod (aka Skokie, IL) to knock around a bit while we waited for school to get out (alas, the Spring Breaks did not align). We were able to stop and say hello to a couple of the kid's old school chums (who were also my former Girl Scouts), Sinead and Jodie. It was really nice to see them both, but it never fails to amaze me that they just keep GROWING!

Finally, we made our way over to some old friends of ours (Annette, her hubby Curt and their son Troyer, to whom The Child is betrothed whether she likes it or not), and had a lovely time having Hecky's for dinner (because you know I love me some BBQ), catching up, then sleeping like little tiny rocks in their guest room; they were very nice to have us for the night and it's a real good thing they were already ready for us, because by the time dinner was done I was exhausted!!

Today we're going to enjoy some lovely breakfast with these fine folks, then it's off to do some more visitin'... Yay vacation!

Travel Post the Third - Monday

First thing Monday morning is often an unpleasant little blip in the week, however when you're on vacation? Lovely feeling.

We got up and headed to my aunt Susie's for breakfast; we had been thinking of going out but her work required her to have proximity to her computer (stupid jobs!) so instead her husband Chris, the cook of cooks, decided "Oh, we'll just make a little breakfast here," which means that (given that Chris is the product of an immense Italian family) we were in for a feast that would put any restaurant to shame.

The kid helped him at the store and with cooking, which was very funny because she got all fancy with the napkins again, and we sat down to enjoy a seriously delicious meal of coffee, OJ, a cheese-asparagus-scallop-shrimp-mushroom (I picked those out, no shock to anyone there) fritatta, hash browns, sausage and cinnamon rolls.

YUM.

We relaxed awhile, then headed out to see their camper, which is permanently settled in a campground not far from their house. All the trailers there have little porches attached, and some look like teeny houses, it's really amazing what they've done since the Winnebago!

Back at Carolyn's, we got ready to go and headed down to my friend Lisa's, where we'd be having dinner with her, along with her husband and son and Kevin (winner of the Model Man Award). We stopped at Edwardo's and picked up our favorite stuffed pizza, and a good time was had by all. Lisa & Carolyn cooked up a birthday cake surprise for me which was wonderful, Kevin kicked our asses at Trivial Pursuit, and the kid and I both received lovely birthday gifts from him... I told you, he's awesome!

Truly a lovely day... and off to the museums on Tuesday!

Travel Post the Second - Not-So-Manic Sunday

Well, after waking up to this:



...there was no way in hell I was driving up north to Wisconsin. It was really a bummer because although my sister will be coming down this way instead, and that was fine, we weren't able to go see my daughter's great-grandmother and grandmother (they are mother and daughter); it's rare that we see them and we really won't have another chance to get up that way this week.

We ended up just having a calm day yesterday. I got another round done on the craft-a-long afghan I'm doing with my mom, we watched a movie and shoveled snow and went to the store to buy pizza makings. Carolyn makes her own pizza dough, something I can not accomplish AT ALL, so this was awesome!

Alas, I was mentally exhausted and forgot to take pictures, but trust me they were pretty.

It was SO HARD to relax. This was the driving theme for the day. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm usually doing something, and probably two or three somethings all at the same time. Sitting? Watching TV as more than just the evening wind-down (which usually means I'm sewing something or cleaning too)? Nearly impossible.

I felt much more productive after the store run though, I peeled garlic for about an hour (3 heads! THREE! Glorious.) and helped with some of the rest of the meal, and did a little kitchen-cleanup midway through the process.

Also, the sun came out... I needed that.

TRAVELOG ALBUM

Travel Post The First - Snowstorms Suck

Note... To avoid HUGE POSTS, unless it's a particularly telling photo I'll just post links during these travelogs to pertinent photos. You can also just view the whole album (which is in a kind of half-assed chronological order and includes notes) here, since I won't be posting links to *all* the photos.

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I'm currently in lovely Round Lake Park, Illinois. I was supposed to leave Friday morning, and in fact I was going to make a lovely post all about travel and the excitement of a road trip on Thursday, but I decided to get the hell out of dodge (well, I waffled, but finally made the decision after some prodding by Colorado Alternadad).

Good thing I did.

Holy shit!

Schools closed, people stayed off the roads, and in fact it followed me here... had I waited until Friday morning, I would never have made it!

Instead, I dealt with a little bit of upheaval (well, "dealt" is glossing it over... "freaked out, panicked, cryed, shook with nervous energy and generally spazzed out a lot" is probably more accurate), ran home after work on Wednesday, packed our stuff and ran for it.

Which leads me to my first Travel Post of this Chicago trip! I'll probably post daily rather than a big glut like this one from here on in (yay for friends with computers), but for now it's a catch-up.

WEDNESDAY
Freaked the hell out. I made a couple of last-minute Priceline reservations in North Platte, Nebraska and Davenport, Iowa, figuring that the 4 hours to North Platte would get me enough ahead of the storm to get a jump (I was right, hooray)... plus 4 hours was about all the driving I was going to be able to do after a full day of work and panic.

The hotel was actually a little run-down motel, one of those pull-up-and-get-your-key jobs, and let me just say that rarely have I stayed in such a nice place. Not nice as in "Wow, is that Egyptian cotton toilet paper?", but nice as in "I feel completely sure that I will not be killed or get lice". The owner checked us in, his cat helped (should have gotten a photo but I was exhausted and didn't think of it), then handed us AN ACTUAL REAL LIVE KEY (non-copyable, but still a real-live metal key on a numbered plastic keychain) and sent us on our way.

The room was so clean, even the headboard had been wiped down. I slept like a rock and managed no to be shot by my fellow patrons for continually setting off my car alarm (sorry guys!).

I was able to review this on Trip Advisor (an awesoem site) and let me tell you that if you ever find yourself in North Platte, NE and need a hotel room, this is totally the place to go.

THURSDAY
Got up early, had our breakfast (we brought food with, including cereal and milk), and headed out in the dark. I got text message updates during the day from my friend Melissa detailing the increasing number of inches of snow that were falling all over the place... we ended up with something like a foot, the schools got closed for 2 days solid, and everything was pretty much shut down. There was even a state of emergency declared! GOOD MOVE GETTING OUT DON'T YOU THINK?

We, in the meantime, were having smooth sailing. I still wasn't quite rested enough for the 8 hours of driving, but we made it okay... While driving along through Nebraska (the kid was asleep in the back) there's not a whole lot to do but look at farmland, but those early morning hours can really be amazing for wildlife viewing. Grand Island is apparently a hub for bird migration, and were they ever migrating! We saw a flock (!) of cranes flying, another one sitting in a field... it was amazing!

I also got a chance to see the Great Platte River Archway again, which I remembered from when we were moving in 2004. It's just as cool as I remember it being, and I think we'll stop and really explore it (rather than settling for dangerously taking pictures while driving) on the way home.

I also listened to my new Indulgers CD (get it, seriously), and the themes of travel and pioneering, along with my long-standing and deep-seated fascination with Laura Ingalls Wilder, gave me lots of places to which my mind could wander. Lovely.

Finally arriving in Davenport, IA, we found the hotel, which was grody but had excellent management. They really tried, and had done some recent renovating, but some things can't be helped... at least they had a computer!

We also, on a recommendation from one of the staff members, went to Jim's Rib Haven for dinner. It was so awesome we brought the leftovers in the cooler all the way up here to Illinois... I'm thinking lunch today.

FRIDAY
Finally, a day to relax! Seeing as how we were actually ahead of schedule (and secure in the fact that we had entirely missed the snowstorm), we decided to go visit my friend Nova's parents in Streator, IL... a mere 2 hours from Davenport. (And had I known that, I wouldn't have stayed in the Travelodge, but oh well, now we know!) They are a fabulous couple, still loving toward each other after umpteen years of marriage. They have a fun and art-filled home, and we always love staying there...it's truly a haven. Huge thanks to them for letting us stay and feeding us and stuff, it was the first time I had slept decently in a week (since I had been watching the weather reports so closely and was deeply worried).

They took us out for dinner at their local favorite, Mojito, and we had risotto (which was too rich and should be shared) and spaghetti (good enough that we turned around to get the leftovers!), and then went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens at their local theatre, an older movie house that's been renovated and is now totally awesome. The movie was cute, we enjoyed it a lot. I also gave her parents one of THE BOWLS. You know the ones.

SATURDAY
Got up, ate monkey bread and had incredibly strong coffee, dressed and got on our way since OH GREAT HERE COMES THAT STORM I MISSED. (Sorry, Chicago.)

We did stop at Portillo's on the way, I must confess... a hot dog just couldn't be missed any longer. I resisted the urge to stop at Browns Chicken, which I think is commendable.

Headed up to my friend Carolyn's, at whose house we're staying for the week, got our stuff inside and headed over to my aunt's house, where she and her husband were hosting the majority of our family for dinner and company. It was awesome.

There's just nothing like being with your very own family; I'm so often around someone else's, which is totally great and nobody's ever not welcoming, but remember how I was all nostalgic? Being with people who know me utterly really scratched that itch, and gave my daughter some much-needed experience with them all.

It, of course, SNOWED again, and now here I sit, snowed in (we were supposed to head to Milwaukee to see my sister, but that ain't happenin') and looking forward to having lunch with my family again today... and that's my silver lining. I hate snow, but because of it my formerly hectic schedule for today has been put on hold, and I now get to spend some previously unscheduled time with some people with whom I have to offer no pretense.

And so, now it's off to shower and dress and help shovel if I can, and wake the kid up. She's still sleeping, but that's okay because it's her vacation too!

Mmm, Steak

I know I said I wasn't going to post, but I just had to share two things.

Thing One:

As predicted, my careful waiting gained me a bitchin' deal on Priceline. Seriously, next time you're planning a trip, try it for a couple of weeks and eventually... voila!!! I did pay a *little* more than for the place in Iowa, but only by 10 dollars.

Check it out! It even got good reviews on Hotels.com, and you know everyone on there tells it like it is.

Do you think I should charge them for plugging their site?

Anyway, now I'm feeling great about the trip, the planning for getting there and back is all settled (even if I didn't really want to spend 120 bucks on hotels, it's worth it to be safe), and now I just need to start making lists of other stuff.

Thing Two:

I cooked an awesome dinner last night, not from-scratch really but definitely away from the norm. We had French Onion soup, with some fresh french bread and I pan-grilled two petite sirloin steaks** in some olive oil and seasonings. We sliced up the steak, folded it in the bread and dipped in the soup. YUM. I think, despite it being mostly store-bought, that it gets points for originality at least! I have to give half that credit to the kid though... I made the steaks without anyone telling me how to, and they *were* perfect, but she totally came up with the idea of French Dip. I feel secure about her future as a college girl now; I know she won't settle for Ramen.

** I bought the steaks in 4 packs at Albertsons the other day... 3 packs for the price of 1 OMFG. I used the miraculous Food Saver to split them all into packs of 2 for us, and now we have steaks! I think maybe I'll try that steak salad finally!

Thrilling Thursday: Mysteries of the Diagonal Highway. Also, Priceline RULES!

I had kind of an odd thing happen this morning... I'm driving along Highway 119 into Boulder (aka the Diagonal), minding my own business, when I notice this guy gesturing to me from the van behind me.

No not like that, he was crossing his hands in front of each other, making an "X", and pointing to my bumper.

I'm slightly perplexed by this. My tire isn't flat (I have one of those magic sensors that tells you if your pressure is low or non-existent), so my only guess is that he was either gesturing to my Obama sticker (hello, it's Boulder) or to my Flying Spaghetti Monster plaque. Either way, what did the "X" mean? I mean he wasn't making an angry face, in fact it was kind of beatific and peaceful, and maybe approving... so does he *approve* of my choices of car decor? Is the crossed-hands thing some kind of unbeknownst-to-me symbol of solidarity?

Or did he want to kill me?

Any guesses?

In other news, I effing love Priceline. In realizing that although I *could* drive straight through from Boulder to Chicago, but I'd be a mess after, I decided to get myself a hotel room going to and coming back from Chicago.

I haven't used one of those online-booking places before for this purpose*, so I decided to give it a try. I looked at all the usual places, Travelocity etc., and decided to check out Priceline, since I love William Shatner. They have a feature where you can "name your own price". The way it works is, you take your chances... you designate where you want to go and what dates, then pick some parameters (I chose 2 1/2 stars or above, not only because I'm fancy like that, but because if I'm going to pay $30 for a hotel, I might as well pay $50 and not get lice), and choose a price. In this case, I put $40, and chose the $5 insurance (in case of snowstorms, otherwise you can't get a refund), gave my credit card info, and let it look...

Voila! It was accepted, and after taxes and fees I payed 57.00 for what is apparently at *least* a 100.00 room, *before* taxes. SWEET! It made my cheap little heart fairly burst with glee.

Seriously! Look at this place!

I'm psyched. We're going to leave extra early on Friday just so we can enjoy the spoils of my shopping success. There's a pool!

I haven't booked coming back yet; I tried but I think because it's more than 4 weeks out I wasn't getting the price I wanted. It's fine, they just say "price not accepted" and nothing gets charged. Since I think the closer you get to the date the more likely they are to take your offer, I'll just wait a couple of weeks and try again. Lookit me, all savvy n' shit.

* With the exception of Entertainment Book links when I had one of those...as it turned out I saved approximately $20 over the course of 2 nights stay. Woooo, the excitement is palpable. Really.