We stopped in South Bend, IN to check out Notre Dame - it was awesome as expected but everybody who knows me knows that I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Mt. St. Mary's is just as gorgeous......
We couldn't have picked a better day to tour the campus - sunny and cool - kids riding bikes all over the nice wide paths. The coolest thing about the place (besides the revered stadium, of course and the library) was the bookstore!! I have never seen such a huge bookstore - 2 floors and mammoth. This is me in the bookstore - "I'm not going to buy anything here - I didn't go here - I can buy ND stuff anywhere." Hello????? I'm in a store and I'm a tourist - we bought 2 shirts - BUT you won't find these shirts in NJ - they are cool.
We headed back onto the turnpike - destination Chicago. The ride should have been under 2 hours but we hit major traffic closer to the city. I think a White Sox game had just ended. We ended up at the Millennium Park in downtown Chicago because Mike wanted to see the Cloud Gate (or the mirrored bean) - this was a sight to see - apparently everyone knows about this and a photographer's dream - Mike went to town. There was a lot of neat artwork in display all throughout the park . We walked down to Lake Michigan and looked at the boats - much like Ocean City, NJ but the people on the boats talk like they're from the Midwest.
Mike met up with his college buddy, Lenny and I went off on my own to the bed and breakfast Harry set me up with in Oak Park (a suburb). This is where Frank Lloyd Wright designed his house and that of his MISTRESS - it's a beautiful neighborhood - full of huge trees and people walking their babies and running. Unfortunately, the lady who runs the B and B (called the Ghingko Tree) is visiting her daughter and unable to serve breakfast this morning. This is a tragedy - why else do you go to a B and B? I walked up to a coffee shop today to get my coffee.
Next stop - Lincoln, Nebraska -
I loved the line, "Much like Ocean City, NJ, but the people talk like they are from the midwest." That is great.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a really cool trip. Sorry about breakfast.