So, this past month has been beyond a whirlwind, filled with faces, places, spaces! I can't believe how amazing and hospitable my friends in Chicago have been, really. Opening their homes to me for weeks at a time (thank you Tricia Mahoney, Emily Smith and Misha Stone!), as well as taking me out and showing me a good time.
In the past few weeks, I've spent an abundance of time in Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit, and everywhere in between. There's been museums, parties, hangouts, pubs, grassy knolls, long conversations, short conversations, dinners, lunches, coffees and everything in between. I am the luckiest girl in the world! It's such an incredible feeling to get to hang out with the people that I love, everyday, without having to worry about getting up for work in the morning. My life has been purely social, ranging from 1 to 5 social engagements each day.
I spent the last week or so in the Detroit metro area, catching up with old friends, going on adventures, attending the wedding of close friends (while having beyond a blast), as well as spending some quality time with my family (gosh, how I missed them!)
So now, Big Mike and I have embarked upon the most epic road trip of my life. I've never spent more than 8 days on the road, and I really haven't seen much of America. An old friend and I took a trip that spanned the northern east coast of the USA,where we visited Canada, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia; but that's really the last time I was afforded the time to do extensive traveling domestically. I'm more of the stay-put-and-get-to-know-the-local-culture kind of gal, but now, I've got a chance to blast through the United States.
For the next 3 weeks, Dad and I will be taking in all the scenery and roadside shenanery of America. We left Detroit at 9am this morning with a destination of Madison, WI, some 400 miles away. We KILLED it! Things ran smoothly until we hit Chicago. Shit, I'm used to getting dropped off in Ann Arbor and hopping on the Megabus for the next 5 hours and waking up in Chicago, kind of like a teleportation. It's weird to continue to entire journey all the way to Chicago, and then to pass it, in a car (or truck, in our case).
As to be expected, as soon as we hit Chicago, there were traffic backups. It took us an hour to go about 5 miles, but hey, we're on vacation and it's all a part of the journey. Luckily, I have a "Chicago Traffic App" on my phone, and Big Mike has GPS, so between the two, we managed to avoid any further delays by driving 94W up to Milwaukee, then driving west over to Madison, where we'll be staying tonight.
Along the way, we've seen plenty a dead animal (serious sad face, roadkill saddens me each time I see it, from rats to deer), peed at many different rest stops and been eating home-packed snacks. I'm relatively organized in the grand scheme of things and stocked up on plenty of yummy snacks along the way (including Faygo Red Pop, Annie's Go Bunnies, leftover pizza, carrots and Tootsie pops, to name a few).
Also, we recently purchased an iPod tuner that allows us to listen to whatever music we want along the way, just in case local radio goes awry. This tuner was on the cheap side, so I have to plug it in and hang the iPod in the visor with the adapter hanging in the air in front of the dashboard to get it to work properly, but there's plenty of good jams on the iPod to keep us going strong. As soon as we put on Band of Gypsys, we managed to escape the nasty Chicago traffic. Further, there have been many amazing local radio stations worth a listen (or ten), including WMUK's Grass Roots. We were blown away by the bluegrass this station pumped out on an early morning in Michigan!
Vacation magic has definitely been in effect so far, from radio stations to accommodation. While traveling along this morning I realized that I have an accommodation card by the name of Wilson Kirkpatrick (my lovely brother) sitting in my back-pocket. My sweet brother works for a Marriott property in Hot!lanta, and is always telling my family and I to make use of it. So we did today, and our room here in Madison is beyond sweet, for an extremely affordable price. EXTREMELY! I am so lucky and blessed to have him and his influence with us on this journey; thank you, W!!!!
We were definitely in need of some rest when we arrived, and were in need of some serious food when we awoke. So we cruised over to one of Madison's Great Dane Brewery's locations, for some beer and some grub. We split the tasty little beer-battered, fried cheese curds (when in Rome, or Madison in this case), Dad had the walleye, I had the falafel and several Imperial IPA's (which I HIGHLY recommend, if you like IPA's).
Which brings us to now. We are hanging out, enjoying all the amenities afforded to us at this Marriott property, and planning for the week ahead. Tomorrow, our goal is to arrive in Sioux Falls, SD, yet another northern state I've never visited before. I am effin' PUMPED! See you in South Dakota!
In the past few weeks, I've spent an abundance of time in Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit, and everywhere in between. There's been museums, parties, hangouts, pubs, grassy knolls, long conversations, short conversations, dinners, lunches, coffees and everything in between. I am the luckiest girl in the world! It's such an incredible feeling to get to hang out with the people that I love, everyday, without having to worry about getting up for work in the morning. My life has been purely social, ranging from 1 to 5 social engagements each day.
I spent the last week or so in the Detroit metro area, catching up with old friends, going on adventures, attending the wedding of close friends (while having beyond a blast), as well as spending some quality time with my family (gosh, how I missed them!)
So now, Big Mike and I have embarked upon the most epic road trip of my life. I've never spent more than 8 days on the road, and I really haven't seen much of America. An old friend and I took a trip that spanned the northern east coast of the USA,where we visited Canada, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia; but that's really the last time I was afforded the time to do extensive traveling domestically. I'm more of the stay-put-and-get-to-know-the-local-culture kind of gal, but now, I've got a chance to blast through the United States.
For the next 3 weeks, Dad and I will be taking in all the scenery and roadside shenanery of America. We left Detroit at 9am this morning with a destination of Madison, WI, some 400 miles away. We KILLED it! Things ran smoothly until we hit Chicago. Shit, I'm used to getting dropped off in Ann Arbor and hopping on the Megabus for the next 5 hours and waking up in Chicago, kind of like a teleportation. It's weird to continue to entire journey all the way to Chicago, and then to pass it, in a car (or truck, in our case).
As to be expected, as soon as we hit Chicago, there were traffic backups. It took us an hour to go about 5 miles, but hey, we're on vacation and it's all a part of the journey. Luckily, I have a "Chicago Traffic App" on my phone, and Big Mike has GPS, so between the two, we managed to avoid any further delays by driving 94W up to Milwaukee, then driving west over to Madison, where we'll be staying tonight.
Along the way, we've seen plenty a dead animal (serious sad face, roadkill saddens me each time I see it, from rats to deer), peed at many different rest stops and been eating home-packed snacks. I'm relatively organized in the grand scheme of things and stocked up on plenty of yummy snacks along the way (including Faygo Red Pop, Annie's Go Bunnies, leftover pizza, carrots and Tootsie pops, to name a few).
Also, we recently purchased an iPod tuner that allows us to listen to whatever music we want along the way, just in case local radio goes awry. This tuner was on the cheap side, so I have to plug it in and hang the iPod in the visor with the adapter hanging in the air in front of the dashboard to get it to work properly, but there's plenty of good jams on the iPod to keep us going strong. As soon as we put on Band of Gypsys, we managed to escape the nasty Chicago traffic. Further, there have been many amazing local radio stations worth a listen (or ten), including WMUK's Grass Roots. We were blown away by the bluegrass this station pumped out on an early morning in Michigan!
Vacation magic has definitely been in effect so far, from radio stations to accommodation. While traveling along this morning I realized that I have an accommodation card by the name of Wilson Kirkpatrick (my lovely brother) sitting in my back-pocket. My sweet brother works for a Marriott property in Hot!lanta, and is always telling my family and I to make use of it. So we did today, and our room here in Madison is beyond sweet, for an extremely affordable price. EXTREMELY! I am so lucky and blessed to have him and his influence with us on this journey; thank you, W!!!!
We were definitely in need of some rest when we arrived, and were in need of some serious food when we awoke. So we cruised over to one of Madison's Great Dane Brewery's locations, for some beer and some grub. We split the tasty little beer-battered, fried cheese curds (when in Rome, or Madison in this case), Dad had the walleye, I had the falafel and several Imperial IPA's (which I HIGHLY recommend, if you like IPA's).
Which brings us to now. We are hanging out, enjoying all the amenities afforded to us at this Marriott property, and planning for the week ahead. Tomorrow, our goal is to arrive in Sioux Falls, SD, yet another northern state I've never visited before. I am effin' PUMPED! See you in South Dakota!
I'm hoping to catch "Welcome" shots of each an every state we cruise through along the way, no matter how horrible they may look :)
Milwaukee, from the road, while raining.
Home of the Brewers, complete with a retractable roof!
Sunset in Madison.
You missed the Indiana welcome sign!
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