Going Places...

My little sister had a soccer tournament about six hours away from hour house this weekend.  It was in a place called Rockford, IL, which, while appearing to be a decent place to live, isn't exactly a hopping tourist destination.  Nevertheless, I decided to accompany my family on their journey.  I don't particularly care for soccer, and Rockford has never even come close to making it onto my Top 50 list of cities I want to visit, but I went anyway.  I just like going places.  I want to see the world; not just the Londons and Parises and New Yorks, but also the corn fields and the small towns and the little local restaurants.  There is almost nowhere in the world that I would turn down a trip to.  So I went.  And I had a good time.

I have officially deemed the weekend a success because I read over 500 pages between the car rides, sitting at the soccer fields not paying much attention to the games, and hanging out at the hotel.  I was well-prepared, as I brought three different books with me.  I started out by finishing the last 100 or so pages of Shada on the ride west.  I recently printed and "laminated" some Doctor Who bookmarks, so I fittingly marked my spot with one of these.

I always travel in style.

Eventually it got dark and I had to read by flashlight for the last 300 miles of our trip to Rockford.  I ended up killing the battery completely on the way back and had to finish my last chapter using the flashlight app on my phone.  I started The Polish Officer by Alan Furst as soon as I finished Shada, and read that for the rest of the drive out and most of Saturday at the soccer games.  It's not as good as The Spies of Warsaw, but I'm enjoying it.  I've read the first 240 pages of it so far.  Saturday night, I started in on Die Trying by Lee Child because I needed a break from WWII era Europe.  I'm now over 200 pages into that one too.  Like I said: it was a good weekend.

Saturday night, my sister's team had a dinner at a local Italian restaurant called Nunzio's.  When we pulled up, we were slightly concerned to discover what looked like tombstones out in front of it.  I didn't take it as a particularly good sign.  It turned out that the marble slabs were actually a war memorial for men from Loves Park who had died in wars.  That was decidedly less worrisome.  They also had an eternal flame in a little fenced off area, but the flame had gone out.  It was kind of awkward.

I briefly considered trying to light it with the matchbook I inexplicably found in the pocket of the sweatshirt I hadn't worn since the winter.

 Anyway, the food turned out to be delightful and even though it took us about ten years to get served, I think it was a pretty good stop.

The only downside to Saturday was that I had to DVR the new episode of Doctor Who.  "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" aired in the United States over 27 hours ago and I still haven't seen it.  This is a truly terrible fact.

On our way out of town today, we stopped at this awesome little restaurant called The Machine Shed.  It was basically a family-run Cracker Barrel.  I loved it.  We got pumpkin bread and cottage cheese with our meals.  And their mashed potatoes were heavenly.  I'd definitely go back if I ever find myself in Rockford again.  After we ate, we browsed through their little gift shop briefly and I found this dinosaur footprint-shaped baking pan that makes little cupcakes shaped like dinosaurs.  I wanted to buy it more than anything I've seen in months.  Unfortunately, it was $32 (!), and my common sense kicked in and I just took this picture.

Dinosaur-shaped cupcakes.  Think of the possibilities!

 After leaving Rockford, we headed toward Chicago.  My little sister was very insistent on finding the Bean (a large, reflective piece of public art that's shaped more or less like a bean) and taking pictures of it.  She informed us that it was located at Navy Pier.  Even though we live only five hours away from Chicago, none of us had been to the city in ten years.  Nobody thought to question her about its location.  We navigated to Navy Pier and my dad waited with the car while my mom, sister, and I headed onto the pier.  There were many highly entertaining things there, but there was no giant, shiny artwork.  I googled the Bean.  It was not located at Navy Pier.

At least the view was nice.

 We then found our way to Millennium Park, where the Bean is actually located.  We made sure to give my sister a lecture about checking directions before she goes places and researching destinations.  When we got to the park, she and I got out and wandered in until we found it.

Expelliarmus!  The camera flash makes it look like I'm casting Harry Potter spells.

Then, because taking normal pictures just doesn't cut it for me, I decided that it would be a good idea to lay down on the sidewalk in Chicago.

This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

After our hour in Chicago, we hit the road again to head home.  On the way there, we stopped for a quick bite at Steak'n'Shake.  I got this giant s'mores milkshake of awesomeness.  It was delectable.  Everyone should have at least one.  Or three.  You decide.

This milkshake will change your life.  And also probably your waistline.