My Kind of Town

Friday, April 25

After saying goodbye to the aunties, I loaded up my lone suitcase (R took the other two bags when he flew home yesterday) and headed back to O'Hare to return the car. It was pouring rain when I got to the gas station (figures!) in Park Ridge, but I managed to fill up and stay fairly dry, thanks to my spiffy new raincoat! From the Multi-Modal Facility, I rode the tram back to Terminal 2 and then walked to the Blue Line station to take the train downtown. $5 for the CTA vs. $50 for an Uber - no brainer!

Suburbia

Hanging out with our friends RH and C at the Cubs game on Tuesday wasn't enough, so we also spent the day with them yesterday, too! We met them for lunch at Barnaby's in Northbrook. I guess it used to be a big Midwestern pizza chain, because both R and RH remembered going to Barnaby's (different locations) with their families as kids growing up in Chicago. Now there are only a few left...

Barnaby's is known for their crispy, thin crust pizza

Pressing Our Luck

Our good friends from college, RH and C, are also back here in Illinois. After some discussion in our group text, we decided to see the Cubs-Dodgers game together. However, rather than get seats in advance, we opted to park in the remote lot (free), take the shuttle to the ballpark (also free), and walk-up to the ticket window at Wrigley Field (no service fees). This way if the weather was bad or there were no good tickets left, we could just find a sports bar nearby to watch the game without having to commit any money ahead of time.

Yep, we got tickets!

Wagons Ho!

Our main purpose for this trip was to box up the last of R's family mementos and bring them back with us to CA. I guess we could have shipped most of the stuff, but how exactly do you pack antique samurai swords? That's not exactly something that we'd trust in a checked bag either... 🤔

So, since we had to drive cross-country, I was very excited to map out a route to visit several national park units on our one-way trek, especially because the ones in the middle of the U.S. require some intentional effort for us to get there. For the most part, we will be following the Santa Fe National Historic Trail from Kansas City, MO to Santa Fe, NM, with a few detours in Kansas over the next week. 

Head 'em up! Move 'em out! 

It's the Great Pumpkin

Besides visiting the grandparents, there were two other reasons for the timing of this trip back to Illinois... my hometown's annual Pumpkin Festival and my high school class reunion. 

57th Annual!

If you've ever used Libby's Pumpkin for any recipes, chances are pretty high that it was grown and harvested from fields in Central Illinois and canned at the Nestlé plant in Morton. The "Pumpkin Capital of the World" has held an annual 4-day celebration of everything pumpkin each September since 1967. Imagine a stereotypical small town fair (carnival rides, competitions, entertainment, food, parade, etc.) but on steroids - the Chamber of Commerce and its army of volunteers does an excellent job! However, the bigger draw for me is the chance to catch up with old friends since many people come back to see friends/family who are still in town.

As a bonus for my parents, my brother G and niece C also decided to visit when they heard we would be there (my sister-in-law couldn't come due to work 😢), so they had all of their grandkids together for the first time since before the pandemic.  

From the Seashore to Saint Paul's

Yesterday's festivities didn't end with the reception. The father of the bride convinced R and two other buddies to join him for late night Korean fried chicken at Pelicana Chicken in Bayside (open 'til 2AM!). Guess R and RH thought they could still eat like they did when they were college roommates, which was more than *30* years ago?! 🤣

As much as I would have liked to join them, I stayed behind to finish packing and get some sleep because I knew that we had a lot of driving ahead of us. Even though it's nowhere near the mileage we usually cover on a typical road trip, today would be our longest day in the car on this vacation. 

160 miles

Get Me to the Church On Time

Today was the primary reason for our trip to New York... the wedding of our dear friends' daughter! Since the ceremony wasn't taking place until later this afternoon, I figured we had some time to squeeze in a visit to yet another nearby national park unit, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.

☑ #174 of 424 NPS units for me (#168 for R)

Unfortunately, I goofed up the date when tickets for guided tours of the Roosevelt home would become available online. When I checked the website in mid-May, tickets for the 10:00AM tour were already sold out, and there was only one spot left at 11:00AM, which I immediately nabbed. To complicate matters further, the visitor center/museum didn't open until 11:00AM, so we wouldn't be able to go through the exhibits there beforehand either. Doh! 🤦🏻‍♀️

A Day in the City

Our plan for today was to visit the national park units in Manhattan which are only open on the weekends. More accurately, that was *my* agenda. Thankfully, R loves me enough to allow himself to be dragged all over the city in the spirit of checking off boxes and still be a good sport about it. How blessed am I?! He's definitely a keeper!

We were up early and grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel before driving from Roslyn to the Long Island Rail Road station in Port Washington, where parking in the commuter lot is free on weekends. We hopped onto the 7:40AM train, paid the $9.25 off-peak fare in the MTA Train Time app, and arrived at the Grand Central Madison terminal around 8:30AM. (Alternatively, we could have taken the 8:08AM train, arriving at Penn Station at 8:55AM.)

Be Like Water

Since we didn't walk back for biscuits and gravy at the Stehekin Pastry Company on our last day there, C made us her delicious version for breakfast this morning! What a treat! 

Our agenda for today was to visit a couple places in Seattle. RH, having been baptized into the crazy way we travel, was still willing to tag along with us, but C couldn't go because she had other things she needed to get done today. 

On our way into the city, we stopped by the salmon hatchery in Issaquah. After seeing them in the wild, it was fun to get a closer look at the chinook and coho through the windows of the fish ladder.

Nidoto Nai Yoni

Since it was almost 90 miles to the state capital, we checked out of Lake Quinault Lodge and were on our way well before 8:00AM this morning. It was quite foggy, so we decided to stick to US-101 through Aberdeen instead of the small, winding roads that the navigation apps were trying to kill us on. As we drove, R looked up online reviews of breakfast places along the way - Phoebe's Pastry Café in Olympia got our business because it was open (some places weren't) and pretty close to the capitol. I had a yummy breakfast burrito, and R's bacon and tomato quiche was quite good, too (no pics, sorry!)

Stamping Shutout

Since everything we had yesterday from the Stehekin Pastry Company was so good, there was some serious discussion about returning for breakfast again this morning. However, with no transportation, we would have had to hoof it 2 miles there and 2 miles back before our ferry departure at 10:40AM. The timing seemed a little tight, so sadly I can't provide a report on their biscuits and gravy. 

I guess we'll just have to come back!

So, with time to enjoy a leisurely last morning in Stehekin, we walked along the lakeshore, and I took a few more photos... 

A River Runs Through It

I'm not usually a morning person, but somehow I rarely have a problem getting up when we're on vacation. Maybe it's because I hate the thought of wasting daylight when there is so much to see and do wherever we happen to be traveling. 

This morning was no exception. I walked along the lake in the hopes of getting some good photos. The sky was still a little hazy, but with very little wind, the lake was like a mirror.

Off the Grid

55 miles by car, then 32 miles by ferry

Since we thought that our food options might be limited later today, we wanted to make sure that we at least started off with full bellies this morning. The Holiday Inn Express served the typical hotel hot breakfast items - biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, eggs, and pancakes. Sufficient to accomplish the goal!

After checking out, the four of us drove to Chelan and stopped first at the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Ranger Station so that I could get the passport stamps for Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and North Cascades National Park. But sadly, the office was CLOSED - boo!

Empty Nesters

Son #1 has flown the coop, working a full-time job and living in his own apartment. Son #2 is back at school for his junior year at UCLA. What are two empty nesters to do?! Go on vacation, of course!

Back in May, I started researching a couple different options. One possibility was going to New England or Acadia National Park for some fall color. But finding a cheap airfare ($178 roundtrip) to Seattle sealed the deal for a road trip thru the Pacific Northwest!

Da Bulls

Starting with the 2nd family reunion in 1998, we have traditionally ended the weekend with Sunday brunch at the Garden Court Buffet at Main Street Station. Since there are limited venues where our big family can easily gather in one place, this is always a nice way to say our goodbyes until next time. 

Afterwards, we checked R's dad out of his room, then drove him and R's cousin B to the airport for their flight back to Chicago. From there, the four of us went straight over to UNLV for a whole day of NBA Summer League games. Because we nearly froze to death in the arena last year, we came prepared with jackets and hoodies this time.

3 F's

Saturday, September 11

Food

It should come as no surprise that we live to eat, more than we eat to live. But unfortunately the capacity of our stomachs puts limits on our intake (unlike that guy from Strictly Dumpling who can pack away absurd amounts of food!) Every time we come back to Illinois, we hit up our most favorite places but seem to run out of meals before we can get to them all. It has been way too long since I've had wings from Buffalo Joe's, so I was determined not to miss out this time around. Knowing that we were going to have Lou Malnati's with family for dinner, we headed up to Evanston for an early lunch. Careful planning maximizes opportunity, people!

The Rookie

This marks our third time watching NBA Summer League games in Vegas. Our inaugural visit was in 2016 when we came with our good friends and fellow basketball junkies. It's pretty funny to look back on our first impressions of the rookies from that year! In 2018, we were in town for a family reunion (but without M who was on tour with his drum corps) and took the opportunity to catch a few games one day. And this year, we primarily came to watch our fellow Illini and Chicago Bulls rookie Ayo Dosunmu, but this time J is missing out.

Beginner's Luck

Our first order of business this morning was to walk over to Donut Bar to grab some goodies for breakfast! The shop is located downtown, just a couple blocks away from Fremont Street.

An Unexpected Journey

A week ago, R's college roommate G half-jokingly floated the idea of going to watch NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, in particular to see the Chicago Bulls' 2nd round draft pick and fellow Illini, Ayo Dosunmu. Despite the short notice, R found someone to switch work days with him, G was able to rearrange his daughters' schedules, and my colleague graciously offered to tend my lab experiment. By Monday night we were a go for launch!

Unfortunately, the bummer was that it wouldn't be all 8 of us. G's wife just started a new position and couldn't play hooky from work, and J had already planned a trip to Seattle with his buddies. 

And what about M?  Having turned 21 at the end of last year, of course he was all in from the moment he heard "Vegas!"

March Madness

Since both the college freshman (M) and the "how-long-until-SAT|ACT|AP-tests are over" junior (J) have spring break this week, we decided to take a quick road trip. Not sure how many more opportunities we'll have to travel like this as a family, so I'm thankful that they still want to go places with us. J's only request was that we visit someplace "Instagram-worthy". 

Hmmm, that's a tall order, son...