With an awesome week of travelling behind me and a few more days of adventure ahead, I have to say–sometimes, its nice to stay stateside and go exploring.

The adventure started last Tuesday, smushed into the back of Lindsey’s Honda Accord. Blake and I shared exactly 1.5 seats next to a boat load of luggage. The rest of Lindsey’s life was packed in the trunk, which was not to be opened until the final destination, lest it explode. EL rode shotgun.

The first day, we drove up through Wyoming and out across Nebraska en route to Omaha, which we arrived in slightly before midnight. Deciding that we had no energy to go out, we crashed in a Marriott in the Old Market neighborhood for a few hours. We got up super early to meet our friend Lindsay for breakfast at a delicious little bakery before hitting the road for Chicago!

Eight hours, lots of energy drinks and a Cracker Barrel stop later, we arrived in front of Allison’s apartment in down town Chicago. We hurried to unload and then drove west to Allison’s boyfriend’s house. Chance was an excellent host and made a feast of steaks, chicken, roast corn and asparagus for us and a few of his friends. We hung out in his back yard for a while before calling it a night.

The next day was supposed to take us to Nashville, but I decided to stay on in Chicago for a few days and head to Culver with Allison and Brooke for the Labor Day Weekend. I spent Thursday and Friday touring Chicago on foot. I enjoyed a few good hours at the Museum of the Art Institute (see the photo below of part of Chagall’s American Windows), hung out in millineum park, the Navy Pier, Michigan Ave and Old Town. I also spent a good afternoon on the beach enjoying the waves of Lake Michigan. Thursday night, I went to a gallery openning at Zia Gallery in the suburbs with Allison. It was nice to do some artist schmoozing and also see some great work!

Friday night, we packed up the cats and headed out to Culver for a weekend with Allison’s family. While we did get a bit of precipitation that drifted up from Hurricane Isaac, it turned out to be a great weekend! We spent Saturday having lunch with Allison’s grandma, touring the equestrian center at Culver Academies (he horses there have Tempur-Pedic floors!) and watched movies while it rained. I made Beef Stroganoff for dinner and Allison managed to get the soaked wood to turn into a great backyard fire for s’mores!

Sunday, we woke up early and headed to the Tipacanoe River for a kayak float with some of the girls’ friends. Mr. Epley made 5 gallons of Sangria and supplied all of our kayaks. It was a blast! Then we headed to the Epley’s house for some excellent BBQ and an afternoon of card games. Allison and I also decided to check out the Angry Czech Brewery, a new Culver addition. It was great! I got a flight of their beer and even sampled the root beer.

Monday, it was finally sunny! Brooke, Allison and I took the boat out for a spin and then we picked up their friend JoJo and went tubing…so much fun. Then we swung back by the dock and picked up Allison’s parents and headed to the marina for a late lunch before heading back to Chicago.

After a quick Labor Day Outlet Mall stop, we made it to Chicago just in time for dinner, Chicago Pizza!~ And some excellent fro yo.

Tuesday morning, I headed out to O’Hare for a flight to ATL. I got into Macon around 3:30 and spend the afternoon tooling around with Mom and exploring the new backyard.  A few more days and a ton of stuff to do here in Macon and then I’ll be heading back to Steamboat on Sunday!