Pictures from Museum and Walking in Chicago
Miles 726-726: Chicago
In the morning, we wanted to run again, but Jackson opted out. Mom stayed at the hotel with him and my dad and I went for a Father’s Day father-daughter run around the North-Western campus. We did a little less than four miles in a little over 30 minutes. Check my dad’s Instagram post for some pictures. Shout out to Elizabeth and Beckett: North-Western is right on Lake Michigan and we got to see all their boats and where their rowing team practices. When we got back, we got dressed and made a plan. We wanted to visit the Museum of Science and Industry (suggested by Jackson’s teacher, Mr. Pollard, who used to live in Chicago) and had an architecture tour on the river at 4:15. Apparently since the traffic was bad, it was much faster to take the train throughout the city. I made the very smart decision to wear running leggings instead of pants, which came back to haunt me later. The train rides were cool, as was the Museum of Science and Industry, where I got some pictures and a quote, both of which shown below. Thanks to Mr. Pollard for suggesting that. There was a really cool scale model of Chicago that was really fun to look at, and the weather section was also great. For lunch, we went to a place called Devil Dawgs. I got a legit Chicago Dog there, and it was actually pretty good. Beware: the peppers, called Sport Peppers, were very spicy!! My dad refused to eat them and he loves spice. We visited Lake Michigan and I dipped my hand in. It wasn’t that cold, about the temperature of a non-heated swimming pool. After that, things went a little bit downhill. The temperature started to drop and the wind to pick up. By the end of the day, we were bundled like we were on a ski trip in June. Apparently that’s pretty normal for Chicago. I keep forgetting how far north we are. The architecture cruise was actually really fun, learning about the history of the buildings and the different styles (I know you guys will call me a nerd). I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was protected from the wind or warmer in general. The walk back to the train station was absolutely miserable: 25 minutes in the (what felt like freezing) cold. We had dinner at a local place called Farmhouse. I got the risotto, which I would definitely recommend, and the desserts were insanely good. There were apple cider maple donuts holes and a Blondie sundae, which were both delicious. It felt a lot like Christmas on the way back, having just had very Christmassy dessert and being all bundled up and talking and laughing with our family. Jackson kept making silly jokes by making fun of Donald Trump, who we already insulted when we saw his tower, and mispronouncing famous hard-to-pronounce names, like Vladimir Putin and Saddam Hussein. When we got back to the hotel, we had more drama which I guess was due because I had a calm night last night. The elevator was being so loud and shaking around, so no one felt safe riding in it. You always felt like it was going to plummet. We were in a room right next to the elevator and couldn’t focus, sleep, or do anything because it was so loud. We got moving to the other end of the hall, and we can still hear it. My mom’s spent the past half of an hour trying to call Holiday Inn to complain because 1) the front desk doesn’t act like they’re worried or they care and 2) the elevator is dangerous: you can feel it shaking as you go down. I chose to go down seven floors of stairs instead of taking the elevator. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes, but if you don’t get any word from us, you probably know what happened 😉. When you finish reading this, I need you guys to comment and tell me whether we should run to North-Western again to tomorrow or go the other way on the edge of the lake, where it’s more isolated. I miss you guys!! Love you!
“Science discerns the rules of nature; industry applies them to the needs of man.”
“Don’t do dumb things.”
Miles 409-726: Drive to Chicago
Sorry I didn’t blog yesterday; we didn’t have time. Yesterday morning, before we left Cincinnati, we ran down a path by the Ohio River: about 2.5 miles, in around 23 minutes. XC and track teams: not a word. I really like running while we’re on trips because it’s a really unique way to see the city. For example, did you know that there’s an exact copy of the Brooklyn Bridge in Cincinnati, and that it was built first? Anyway, the drive to Chicago was pretty uneventful. It started raining about as soon as we crossed into Indiana, so there wasn’t much of a view or many picture opportunities, except for once. We drove through a giant wind farm: both sides of the road as far as the eye could see for about 20 minutes. When we finally got within view of the city, it was huge!!! And Lake Michigan looked like an ocean. There was a bunch of fog, so you couldn’t see the top of many of the buildings and couldn’t see very far across the lake. We drove along the shore of Lake Michigan for around 40 minutes to our hotel, and there were buildings on our left the whole time (don’t forget, there was traffic). Then we went to my dad’s friend’s, Mr. Harris’, house. He had three sons: Will (10), Emmett (7), and Sam (6). We played whiffle-ball and hide-and-seek tag. We also tried deep-dish pizza for the first time. It was really, really good. It was basically thicker layers of everything on the pizza. The reason I couldn’t write this later is that we stayed at the Harris’ for a long time, till almost 11 our time (12 your’s). We actually gained an hour on the car ride, which was really helpful for getting ready and staying up later.
“Willis Tower is the tallest building in the country, 479 feet taller than the Empire State Building.”
Miles 1-408: Drive to Cincinnati
We got off basically without a hitch this morning with a lot less preparation than I thought there would be. When we were about 20 minutes away from home, I realized I left my camera behind and I really “needed” it because I would miss so much without it. I felt bad, but we went back for it. The beginning of the car drive wasn’t as anticlimactic as I thought it would be, but after about an hour, driving just wasn’t as interesting anymore. Those of you who know me well enough know exactly what I did then, and those of you who know my brother well enough would know that driving wasn’t interesting anymore for him after about five minutes. We went through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio (and of course North Carolina) and Ohio and Kentucky were both new states for Jackson and I, the first of many. I’ve never really paid attention when we’ve driven through Virginia or West Virginia before; there are some really good views right off the side of the road. It’s actually kind of scary: one wrong turn and you could go off a cliff. Today was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a long road trip. Even though I was reading some/most of the time, it still felt like we spent time talking together, and other things like that. A few times, my parents would snap at us a little bit whenever my brother and I would say a word to each other because they’re so worried that we’re going to make this trip miserable and argue, but so far we’re doing fine. When we got to Cincinnati, we went out to dinner at Montgomery Inn, which has world-famous ribs. Guys, they were so good!!! Then we had some world famous ice cream at one of my dad’s friend’s dad’s house’s roof overlooking the city. #livingthelife. I’m going to try to add a quote or interesting fact at the end of every blog post that I learned or that relates to our day. As part of our homeschooling, we have to keep up this blog and a journal. My dad wrote in the front of my journal and this quote is one of his favorites and it really applies to why we’re taking this trip.
“Always remember there is nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name.”
