My Travel Blog
Well, after leaving Chicago near the end of July my blog-writing went straight down the toilet! I'm not sure what happened, but I do know that the rest of our trip was a blast and I regret not having documented it at the time.
We went to Michigan for 3 days where we visited with our good friends that we met when we lived in Iowa in the late 90s. It was really fun hanging out with them and their family, and a good time was had by all! We spent a night on Mackinac Island which is a quaint (yet touristy) place that doesn't allow motorized vehicles. After parking our vehicle on the 'mainland', we took a ferry to the island where we encountered a lot of horses, bikes, and fudge shops. We stayed at an old, historic hotel where the kids had a blast swimming the afternoon away while the adults chatted and enjoyed some adult beverages. It was very civilized. :) The following day we all rented bikes and rode the 8.3 mile loop around the island. It was a hot day, but the ride was fairly flat and the scenery was fantastic.
We left Michigan and went straight to Toronto where Chloe had a pointe shoe fitting at the National Ballet School of Canada. She was beyond excited to go there as one day she strives to be a prima ballerina. We took the opportunity to explore Toronto a little bit and had dinner at the top of the CN Tower in their rotating restaurant. It was a gorgeous, clear day and we could see until we couldn't see any more due to the earth's curvature! In Toronto we returned the rental car that we had used for the past nine days, and we were amazed to see that we had put on over 3500 km! I will admit that we had a small panic before digging out the rental papers to ensure that we had signed up for unlimited mileage! Phew.
We said goodbye to that part of the continent and headed back to Vancouver where we were to spend the final 3 nights of our crazy cross-country journey. Vancouver was, as usual, beautiful. We had a beach day, did a 25 km bike ride one day, and spent a very important evening with Taylor Swift for her concert at BC Place. What a full and fun trip we had, but I will admit that it was not as relaxing as we are used to with a summer vacation. We saw a lot of cool things, but we were happy to get back home and spend a well deserved rest for a few days at my parent's cabin doing nothing more than rolling over now and then to ensure even tanning.
**Side note - We were beyond pleased to find out that Jeff passed his Diplomate exams and is officially part of the inaugural class of DCCJPs. Lots of letters for lots of brain power. :)
We have spent the last few days in Chicago and are just packing up our bits and pieces to get ready to leave. Having three nights in the same place has allowed us to shake out the wrinkles from our clothes and get a bit more organized.
On Friday the kids and I made the grand adventure downtown on the train as Jeff stayed in the hotel and wrote 3 tests. (This is the end of a 3 year Diplomate course for him - lots of brain power used!) As we took the 35 minutes train ride downtown, we spoke to a local man who told us to take the water taxi to Navy Pier for a different 
view of Chicago. We got off at a different downtown stop than him and his family, so we thanked him and went on our way. We wandered a bit, ate a snack, got a tad lost, and then eventually found the water taxi stop that we were looking for. As we approached the boat we heard "Final Call!" so we quicky ran and hopped on. There weren't any seats left, but we were directed to a giant box that held the lifejackets and told to sit there. We got settled, and as we took a look around we couldn't believe the fact that RIGHT IN FRONT OF US was the same family from the train! What are the chances of that?? Pretty funny.
We disembarked at Navy Pier and did a little walkabout. We originally intended on riding the Ferris Wheel, but it was a super hot and sticky day and those little glass boxes looked like torture. That may explain why the line-up was so short... Instead, we explored a bit and then went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. It was located in a little greenhouse oasis that was cooler than outside but not blasting with air conditioning. It was perfect. As we finished our meals we couldn't believe our eyes as we saw THE SAME FAMILY walking in to the restaurant! Seriously! We all have a giant chuckle about it and they assured us that they weren't stalking us.
Julia really wanted to go to the giant reflective bean (an art structure actually called Cloud Gate) that we had visited when we were here in the winter about 2 years ago. 
We took a taxi as it was so hot and we were getting a bit tired. We took the requistive photos, bought some ice cream, and then decided to head back to the hotel for a rest. (We kept our eyes out for that family, but it seems like that was the end of our encounters with them!) The train back to the hotel was much busier than the one heading down and we had to stand up for most of the way. Eventually the 3 of us shared 2 seats, and finally for the last 10 minutes we each had our own seat. Busy busy!
Friday night was super fun as we went to a great restaurant/bowling alley close to the hotel. There were 15 of us (including the kids) and we ate great food, had delicious drinks, and bowled our arms off. (Admission - I think I strained my left glute from all the lunge-bowling!) It was a lot of fun, and it's nice to have a place where kids and adults can both hang out like that.
On Saturday we hit the Fashion Outlet that is quite near our hotel. The girls and I went over and did a bit of shopping and then Jeff met us there for lunch after his test. He had the rest of the afternoon off, so after our leisurely lunch we went back to the hotel for a swim and a nap. Then we met up with a bunch of his classmates at a Mexican place for margaritas and snacks. It was kind of happy/sad as it was the last 'hurrah' for them after spending 3000 hours together in this program. They quite literally have been together one weekend a month for the last 2.5 years - that's quite the commitment for everyone. There were a few margaritas consumed, quite a few toasts given, and general merriment had by all. The girls were a little bored but did well considering that we were there for about 3 hours! Thankfully there was a candy store a few doors down and a giant grassy field for them to play on. They were little troopers.
As I write this Jeff is taking his final oral test. We will all be happy and relieved when this is over... I am immensely proud of him and his dedication to this program; he certainly loves what he does. As soon as he returns we will hit the road and head to Michigan to visit with our good friends the Kowalczyks - we are so looking forward to seeing them! :)
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