The Road to Chicago

Well, I have officially joined Phil half way across the country in Lake Forest IL, which is a cute little suburb of Chicago located about 30 miles north of the city along the lake. My mom and I with Maggie on our laps, finally took off on the morning of Sunday the 14th. We stopped in Ellensburg to visit my friend Jan (Jan is a friend from teaching in Cle Elum) and then drove on to Spokane to visit mine and Phil's friends from college, Nate and Kelsey, where we got to join them for dinner! Kelsey and I played softball together at Central and Nate and Phil played football together. Needless to say we did not get very far that first day, but it was great to catch up with old friends! We ended up staying in Coeur d' Alene that night.
We planned on getting an early start the next morning although we could not get out of bed and then spent a little too much time enjoying the delicious breakfast buffet at the restaurant next door. Our plan was to drive all the way Gardiner Montana that day because we planned on touring Yellowstone the next day. It was not a surprise that we only got to Bozeman that night. We tried to avoid driving at night due to all of the deer.

Tuesday morning we got another late start, imagine that. We didn't even get to Gardiner and finish having lunch until around one o'clock that day. (Its a good thing thing that we ate a big lunch too as you will soon find out) We planned on checking out Old Faithful and driving around the park a little bit before heading to Billings where we planned on staying with my moms cousin Bob and his wife Sue. As we were walking through town we ran into this old man dressed in a buckskin suit who had lived in the area his whole life. He told us that we should do the whole loop of the park and then we would end up at the Northeast entrance and would put us in a little town called Redlodge and not too far away from Billings. So, we decided to do this.
We were having a great time checking out the hot springs and the geysers and taking in the beautiful scenery and wildlife which included traffic jams due to lazy bison strolling down the street in herds. We finally got down to Old Faithful and were pleasantly surprised to find out that it was just about to go off. So we saw that and were ready to start heading out of the park. We figured that this would be easy. We were wrong. It took forever and a day to get through the rest of the park due to really slow drivers and crazy steep mountain passes and the threat of hitting some animal with our car. It was starting to get dark and all we could think about was trying to get out of the park before dark. After all we had already almost hit some deer and a coyote that day in broad day light.

We finally got to the end of the park as it got dark and were horrified when we saw the sign that said Redlodge 68 miles! It seemed like three hours before we finally got to Redlodge! It was us and another car in front of us. The only cars on the road for the next 70 miles as we drove through the woods and an 11,000 ft mountain pass that we later found out was called Beartooth pass and we were told that this was the most beautiful scenic drive around. Not so much at night! We were convinced we were going to die. The only comfort was the car in front of us that was lighting the way. That is until they pulled over and let us go in front of them. Throughout our entire drive over the pass there were no signs telling us where we were going and we were climbing steep cliffs and making hairpin turns all the way up 11,000 feet and all the way down 11,000 feet. We probably didn't go above 20 miles per hour the entire time. We were freaked out that we were driving on a road to nowhere and were going to run out of gas and starve and freeze to death in the snow and no one would ever find us because no one ever drives on that road! Finally when we started going down and seeing lights of some city that there was hope. We didn't end up getting to Bob and Sue's till 10:30 that night. Moral of the story is, don't listen to old men!

We had a nice visit with Bob and Sue and were so happy to get to bed that night! The next morning Sue made us a nice breakfast and we ended up hanging out with her till around one o'clock. So much for getting to Rapid City by dinner!
We finally pulled into Rapid City around 9 that night and went directly to my mom's aunt and uncles (Sam and Mary Jane) hotel called the Rushmore inn. We visited for awhile and went to bed. We planned on going up to Mount Rushmore the next morning.

Thursday morning me and mom went up to Mount Rushmore and it was awesome! I have never seen anything like it! We walked around and checked out the museums and went on a couple tours and walked on the trail below the mountain and had fun learning all of the trivial stuff about Mt. Rushmore. If you haven't been there I recommend it! I was bummed that we didn't get a chance to see the light show at night.

The rest of the trip we spent visiting with relatives and on Friday my mom's cousin Nancy took us on a drive past the Crazy Horse monument and up to Sylvan lake which was absolutely beautiful! While we were up there we also checked out the Needles which are some really cool rock formations up in the Black Hills. I have always thought that South Dakota was just a flat desert but the Black Hills were amazing!

Saturday morning our plan was to leave early and drive to Sioux Falls were we were going to stay with some more relatives. Of course that did not work out according to plan. We woke up and visited with Sam and Mary Jane and went and saw their amazing house that they just bought and then met mom's cousin Donna at Wall Drug. Huge tourist attraction, kinda funny. We had a great time having lunch and walking around town and finally drove off with our ice cream cones in hand around 4:30. (We had ice cream cones pretty much everywhere we went:))

We rolled into Sioux Falls around 9 o'clock and Donna was nice enough to meet us at a gas station so that we could follow her home. We would have never found out way otherwise! We spent some time with her and her husband Glade and we extremely happy to be sleeping at an actual house. Our goal the next day was to get up early and push through all the way to Chicago. After breakfast we left at a decent hour for the first time all trip.

Before we knew it we were in Minnesota. It was a nice state to drive through. Gas was cheap (well cheaper) and Mom was pretty excited when she got a free fountain drink at one of the gas stations! We tried to stop off and eat at an Amish restaurant and were very disappointed when we discovered it was closed for the day. We were excited about sampling some real Amish cuisine. We then planned to stop off in Madison to eat dinner. The drive leaving Minnesota entering Wisconsin was beautiful and green going over the Mississippi river but our plans to stop in Madison was ruined when we were nervous to get off the freeway due to traffic and our fear to switch lanes without being able to see out the back of the car. So we just pushed our way through Milwaukee and into Illinois.

By the time we got to our town it was so dark and I somehow felt my way to where we were going. I was hoping for a sign that said "Lake Forest is this way Shannon" but I was not so lucky. I take for granted that I know all of the streets at home. For aesthetic reasons our little town is against street lights. They are just these cute lanterns on posts. Definitely not bright enough to be useful. When we got there we forced Phil to take a break from his studies so that we could go get my mom an air mattress, then we couldn't wait to come home and have a real meal. While out on our errands Phil's car would not start so we had to end up eating at Wendy's:( When we got home we realized that the kitchen was in no condition to cook in (nasty!) so it was a good thing we ate out.

The first day mom and I spent all day getting little things that we needed like cleaning products and cleaning the house so that we could feel comfortable cooking and taking a shower. We made a lot of head way and finally ate a home cooked meal that night!

The next day me and mom experimented with the train and ventured into the city for a little exploration. We got of the train downstairs and it felt like we were at an airport it was so big. We managed to find our way to State street (where all the shopping is) and then went to Millennium park which was really cool. Lots of sculptures and little relaxing areas and a neat restaurant in the middle. We did a lot of walking. I definitely need to do a little research as to how to use the L train and the buses.

Wednesday was just another day of running errands. We also met up with my friend Julie who took us down to the beach, which looks like the ocean, but the water was 75 degrees! Lots of places to hang out down there and have bon fires and to play volleyball. We also explored around our town a little bit. I also got my I-pass which allows me to go through the toll ways without having to stop. There are so many things you have to know here. Washington seems so much easier. I also now know why at home they call our freeways "free"ways, because they are free! A tollway is where you have to pay to get somewhere or get off an exit! Unbelievable! Later that night Phil took a break and showed us his school and how he spends his long days.

The next morning when I took mom to the airport things went great until I dropped her off. I could not figure out which way to go and I ended up in the middle of the city in rush hour traffic headed towards Indiana. Needless to say I fianlly got off the freeway and called Phil freaking out! He helped me get back on the right highway and just two hours later I got home! What a day! I definately desserved a nap after that ordeal!