Chicago and Beyond

Our next stop after Cleveland was one that we've been looking forward to all summer. We spent all weekend in Chicago with our friends Ben and Claire and their two kids Charlotte, 3 (as of last Tuesday), and Carter, 10 months. I've known Ben and Claire since the ninth grade and Ben and I were roommates all through college, so it was exciting to have a chance to catch up over the weekend.

They were very kind to welcome us into their home, from which we walked to Old Town on Saturday and to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Sunday.

Charlotte and Carter were sweet with Michael. Charlotte is so cute and such a helper. Here she is as Aurora (her favorite princess), playing with Michael in the jumper.

I was also happy to realize over the weekend that Carter and Michael will be in the same grade, so plans are already in the works for them to be roommates at Chapel Hill (Class of 2032), just like their daddies. I don't know if 554 Hinton James and 414 Mangum will available, but we'll see what we can do! (Note from Emily: This is all presuming, of course, that Michael passes up the superior education he'd receive at the College of the Holy Cross.)
The highlight of the weekend, besides just spending time together, was the concert we attended on Saturday. We joined two more friends and watched (or at least heard) the Counting Crows perform at Ravinia, which is an outdoor venue north of Chicago, near Highland Park. Thanks Ben, Claire, Charlotte and Carter for a fantastic weekend in Chicago! We can't wait to return the favor in Seattle!

Leaving Chicago on Monday morning, we headed west on I-90 and made a pit stop in Milwaukee to visit Marquette University, which is a Jesuit school like Loyola University where Em worked and like Seattle University where I'll teach next year.

It was a beautiful campus, kind of urban (it is bisected by a major thoroughfare), but it also had some large quadrangles. The school was founded in 1881 and named after the 17th century Jesuit missionary, Jacques Marquette. This is his statue on campus which I originally confused for Aramis, one of the Three Musketeers.

The funniest part of the Milwaukee pitstop was when I ran ahead to the van to feed the meter and left Em with Michael to grab a bagel for herself. When she got back to the van about ten minutes later, her lips and tongue were both dark blue and I asked what she had eaten. Her first answer was, "Just a bagel," but after looking at her lips in the sideview mirror, she confessed that she also had one of the blue-glazed cookies on display. She had kindly eaten it before coming back to the van, so as not to tempt my gluten-free diet. (Note from Emily: I won't even try to defend myself here. I was totally busted!)

Leaving Milwaukee, we headed for Austin, Minn., which was our stopping place for the day. It was selected for no other reason than it is about six hours from Chicago and that is generally the max we can drive with Michael. After our room was booked, we learned that Austin is the home of Hormel Foods (just check that can of Hormel Chili in your pantry) and, even better, that it features a museum devoted to Hormel's most famous product, SPAM!

We woke up this morning, restocked on fruit and snacks, then stopped at the museum when it opened at 10 am.

It was a terrific museum. I would say the highlights were the exhibit about George Hormel, who founded the food empire, and the exhibt on SPAM's vital role in feeding troops during World War II. Plus, we had our picture taken with "Spammy."

The SPAM museum was undoubtedly our favorite place in Austin. Another establishment worth noting, however, is the town's "The Tranny Shop."

(Apparently, they also service cars here.)

Tomorrow, it's on to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore!