Midlife Creative

Here’s a rough run down of our first 4 days of traveling for those who have shown interest in “following along”.

DAY ONE – Wisconsin

We stayed in Madison, Wisconsin at Ben and Ellen’s apartment. Hannah came over for dinner and brought corn bread to go with the delicious chili. We know these friends from their years as students at Macalester College in St Paul. Mark also DJed their wedding.
I loved how these friends took an interest in Malia and Ivy and asked them lots of questions. Hannah played banana-grams with the kids. Ben showed us his bagpipe and we admired Ellen’s needlepoint. It was a pleasant evening of conversation and a great first night.

DAY 2 – Illinois

On our way to our home stay tonight, we stopped in Mendota, Illinois at the farm of Ben and Esther Hagenbuch. This was a fun stop where we saw chickens, rode a go cart, and had some delicious coffee in pretty tea cups. Esther was someone I could see myself being really good friends with, so our time there passed way too quickly. Maybe we will return another time.

We carried on to Normal, Illinois, where my Uncle Larry and Aunt Marianne live. My cousin McLean and his wife Sandra joined us for dinner. We had chicken nachos and berry pie with whipped cream. Larry told some great stories about his childhood that I had never heard before, and we played a classic board game called Uncle Wiggily.

DAY 3 – Indiana

We took our time getting going today. It’s been an experiment of learning a balance between driving time, visiting time, and quiet alone time. We also don’t want to completely neglect the homeschool while we are on the road. Today we did some school work at a Starbucks before driving to Indianapolis where we stayed with my cousin Delci, her husband Chris, and their 3 kids.
We also made a quick stop to have what Mark calls “life changing tacos” with friends and DJ clients, Ryan and Tori.

It was the perfect fall day at Delci’s house and the kids had fun making a huge leaf pile. Chris is a toy and game collector who has invented several board games. We oohed and ahhed over the arcade games and He-Man action figures housed in glass cases. We had fun playing one of Chris’ original board games called “Trick or Treat”.

DAY 4 – Cincinatti

We woke up early and headed out to meet a friend of a friend, Kells, who offered to show us around Cincinatti. We had brunch at a delicious place called Yuka and did some window shopping. The girls wanted to find stickers for their water bottles. Our main destination for the day was a walk across the John Roebling suspension bridge. This beautiful structure crosses over the Ohio River (the Mason-Dixon Line) between Kentucky and Ohio. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and we were able to walk around downtown Cincinatti and see some historical markers and make some wishes in an impressive fountain.

After our walk in Cincinatti, the girls were ready for a long rest. They were hot, tired, sick of traveling and there was no hiding it anymore. It was melt down time! I figured it was bound to happen after 4 straight days of being polite and kind to new people in constantly changing surroundings and strange sleeping arrangements.
We drove to our next home stay, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. We didn’t know the family we were staying with and had no idea what we were walking into. Russell and Jenna were friends of friends who formerly lived in South Minneapolis, but are now pastoring a small Lutheran church in Greensdale, Illinois. I have to say, this stay was such a lovely surprise. I don’t know if I have ever felt so welcomed or cared for in someone else’s home. Jenna attended to so many details to make us feel comfortable and when we left the next morning we felt refreshed and ready to carry on to our next few days of camping in Kentucky.

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