The Road Less Traveled

Having stuffed ourselves over the past three days, my only regret was that we didn't have another meal (or stomach space) left to squeeze in a pizza from Monical's. Next time. *sigh*

We polished off the leftover bao for breakfast, and then loaded up the car to head back up to Chicago. But we couldn't leave before taking the usual photo of the boys with the grandparents.

For grins, here's a 5-year and 10-year throwback for comparison... 

2016

2011

Just as we did on our way down, we decided to take smaller highways back and drove thru Eureka to Chenoa on US-24, then on Historic Route 66 to Pontiac, where our destination was the Route 66 Association Hall of Fame & Museum. (Why yes, there is a passport stamp here!)

World's largest Route 66 shield mural

The museum has a large collection of artifacts and memorabilia related to Route 66. They had a gallery of photographs capturing images of locations along the Mother Road. It was pretty cool to recognize many of the spots from our own travels over the years. One day we will have to drive it in one contiguous road trip!

The Livingston County War Museum is located in the same building. It had numerous displays of military uniforms from World War I to the present, along with the stories of the local servicepeople who served while wearing them.

Afterwards we spent some time walking around, looking at the other murals (there are more than two dozen) decorating the buildings downtown. There was a small fair/market on the grounds next to the courthouse, where we treated ourselves to homemade ice cream. Let me also comment here that there were nice public restrooms right next to the public parking lot, clearly meant to accommodate tourists - very much appreciated since COVID closures have impacted availability of such facilities! Then it was back to the car and lunch on the go. Leftover Avanti's is still yummy!

We arrived in Chicago mid-afternoon and went straight to R's aunties' place. Both M and J dialed in to a session of their online summer conference (aka Chapter Camp, as we IV alums would know it), while I joined a meeting for work. R's dad came over, so once we were all finished "zooming" and "webexing", we decided to hit up Dengeo's for dinner. 

Last, but not least...