After Wisconsin we camped at the Indiana Dunes State Park, adjacent to the newest National Park in America, Indiana Dunes National Park. It was just made a NP in February and they still hadn't gotten around to posting the sign, so I made the kids get down to take the picture anyway. I need my sign pics! The park is on the Indiana border with Lake Michigan. We waded around a bit in the lake and Paul taught Darcy how to catch the waves while skipping rocks. They would skip 8-10 times if you hit it right. It was a nice place that we wished we had allowed more time to visit and swim. Maybe next trip!?
We camped in Indiana and backtracked the next day into Chicago to spend the day sightseeing. And we saw a lot of sites! We started out at the underwhelming Navy Pier and walked the River Walk through the city, all the way to Willis (Sears) Tower, to Millennium Park, and back to the Pier. 7 miles in all, with a few dodges in doors or under overhangs to avoid the sporadic rain showers. It was a long but very fun day. Chicago is a beautiful city built on the river, but once again, I give the people of Chicago a big fat "F." While Bree and I were in line for the bathroom at the tower a woman passed us all by saying, "Hannah? Hannah?" and then standing by one of the stalls. I assumed she was waiting for her little daughter until an old lady walked out of the stall and gave the other lady a look like who the heck are you and why are you standing here? The fake-concerned-mother slipped into the stall! She totally cheated and bypassed the line and cut in front of my 9 year old little girl! Just like Chicagoans do when they are driving! Bree and I loudly expressed our incredulity to each other, hoping the mean lady would hear. I have never experienced that before. So yes, you Chicago people need to take some manners lessons or something. The world does not revolve around you! Other than that though, we had a great experience in the Tower. We all stood on the Skydeck Ledge without falling off the building! The first step out sure makes you pause while your stomach does flip-flops, but once you're out there its pretty cool. We took all allotted 90 seconds to take pictures! We also saw the "Bean" in the park which is a metallic reflective weird shaped thing. Not sure what the purpose of it is other than a cool place to take selfies. Just an addendum, we learned last trip about all the toll roads in the east and how you needed change on hand and it wasn't always safe to avoid them, so this time we have an E-ZPass transponder which allows us to drive right through the toll booths and feel like we're getting away with something by not stopping. Until we look at the account and see the exorbitant charges from just one day in Chicago. How in the world do people around here afford to drive? And where in the world is this toll money going? Certainly not to road repair! I'm convinced someone will become a billionaire if they can come up with a road surface that can withstand the weather in the Midwest. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana have the most torn up road systems we have ever experienced. Its incredibly awful and is enough to deter me from ever moving here. That, along with the heat, humidity, bugs, rude people, incredible amounts of deer road-kill, and flat landscapes with no variations except the grassed over garbage dump mounds. Pretty sure if it wasn't for the really, really great Erickson family members who live in the area, I wouldn't vote no if the Midwest wanted to secede from the Union. A couple of good things though, the Midwest has HUGE flags flying everywhere and seem very patriotic. Also, the gas has been pretty cheap, averaging in the $2.60's. So I guess it isn't all bad?
From Indiana we headed north into Michigan to spend some time at the family farm which has been in the family since 1925. In order to find this place on a map, you do as Michiganders do and hold your left hand up with fingers together and thumb a little apart - its shaped like Michigan sans the UP. Then, you point to a place on your knuckle or back of your hand to explain just where something is located on your "map." I love it! What a fun way to relate to your state. So the farm is on the lower part of your ring finger or there-abouts. We stayed 3 nights and had 2.5 days full of fun. The 4-wheelers are always a hit and all 4 kids tried their hand at driving this time. The 3 oldest loved it but Bree wasn't too thrilled about it. She drove with me behind her helping and she only drove about 100 yards. At least she can say she drove. The stargazing was AMAZING and so were the fireflies! Oh how I love fireflies! Since Michigan is on the very western edge of the eastern time zone it didn't get fully dark till about 11:30 so we had late nights but it was so worth the lost sleep. Gorgeous stars meeting up with fields full of fireflies. Probably my best memory of the trip so far. The second day we played a mean game of cut-throat croquet and went to the Amish store, Yoders, for lunch and a bunch of delicious baked goods. The Amish have created a large presence in the area in recent years and we watched horse carts with families driving by and waving quite often. That was a neat experience too. I love when the kids get to see all these different people doing their best to get by, living life their way, even though its very different from ours. Except for the Chicagoans of course. The second day Paul's Aunt Merrie and Uncle Arnie came to visit with us. Cousin Laurie and her 2 boys Logan and Brady were there too. That was fun hanging out with them all. Once again, Paul's family is amazing. They are all so kind and great to spend time with. I married into a wonderful family. We had fun visiting, playing baseball in the searing heat, and fishing with some of the kids, once again in the searing heat. Darcy caught her first fish and was so happy she actually kissed it! Mason caught a couple, too, in the same pond he caught his first fish 6 years ago on the best day of his life! It was all catch and release and I noticed the kids caught and the parents released. None of the kids wanted to touch the slimy fish! We visited with a bunch of cousins who live in the area too. It was a very nice family time. Paul took some amazing drone footage of the farm and surrounding area at sunrise that he has on his YouTube channel. It can be found at https://youtu.be/qyYv6M7AWUY Its a beautiful area but once again I had to convince myself there were mountains behind clouds so I could catch my bearings. The wide open land does a number on my mind. I feel landlocked or something? Not sure what it is but I need some mountains or beaches nearby for my sanity. We had a little gopher in the lawn who was very interested in our comings and goings and we decided to name him Bob. By the end of the stay he had disappeared, probably because his home had been run over one too many times by 4-wheelers. Sorry Bob! We were sorry to say goodbye to family yesterday as we packed up and moved on a bit further east in Michigan for one more night.
Things I have learned from week 2:
1. Google takes away all the fun conversations we used to have speculating about so many questions on our trips. Now we just google the answers and its not quite as engaging. And I lost my job as the walking encyclopedia since Google usually knows better than I and is less long-winded.
2. So far we haven't had too many misdirections from our GPS system, but she must have steered us wrong a time or two that I can't remember because we have officially dubbed her Beans - as in "full of beans." Paul has 3 GPS systems set up in the car, plus my phone and the over-sized travel atlas I have on my lap at all times. Usually we can get a consensus on which is the right road to take. But I'll take the good old paper atlas any day.
4. Bree gives amazing massages! She sits right behind me and every once in a while her little hands steal up onto my shoulders and give me a very nice massage. She's a sweetheart, always trying to please. She seems to be the most homesick, wishing she could sleep in her own bed. I think everyone else is doing fine. I hardly even remember St Helens during the course of the day. I'm pretty sure I could be a full-time RVer.
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