Chicago with Eli 2008

 Originally published as a Facebook Note August 11, 2008.

Five days on the road with Eli (age 11):

Tuesday, Aug. 5: Drove to downtown Chicago, with picnic lunch in Rock Falls at the huge park with the clown playground. Stayed at the Best Western River North, which has a nice pool on the seventh (top) floor. No sooner had I battled traffic and the parking lot to get there than I got a phone message from Jane that I had taken the wrong vehicle. So we spent the evening driving out to Willow Springs (my sister's house) to leave the van for Jane to pick up, which she did the next day. We also walked to Lake Michigan, about a mile away, to wade.

Wednesday, Aug. 6: Baseball game at Wrigley Field and poking around at antique shops (Eli's passion). We found that antique shops in Chicago mean imports or furniture, which cost. (In Cedar Rapids antique shops have cheap junk people don't want but we do.) The Cubs fell behind Houston, 4-1, before roaring back with an 8-run 3rd. We sat by the Cubs' bullpen and Eli got Jeff Samardzija's autograph.

Thursday, Aug. 7: Morning was spent in Naperville meeting my handicapped brother's new coordinator. Then we went to Downers Grove, where he works, for lunch with my sister and brother. When Mark went back to work, Susan took us by the Peabody estate in Oakbrook, where an art exhibit includes photos by Georgia Velisaris (NCC '80). We went to Susan's house for dinner, then drove up to Kenosha to be out of the metro area by morning rush hour.

Friday, Aug. 8: We drove toward home the long way, across Wisconsin. We stopped at an antique mall in Keewaskum, the Cave of the Mounds west of Madison, and wound up at Galena. After dinner we walked around the Grant House grounds and over to the Galena River. Our hotel had a pool that was partly indoors and partly outdoors.

Saturday, Aug. 9: We thought about touring the Grant House, but skipped out when the crowd got too thick. We drove down US 52 along the Mississippi River ("like driving on a postcard," said Eli) to Clinton to revisit an antique store where Eli had bought an old Life magazine. He bought another Life, and the owner recognized us! Wish I could remember the name of the place... it's in the Lyons district, near where 67 and 136 intersect [The Gazebo--BN]. Lunch in DeWitt--the "home of John Bloom," say banners all over town, but who is John Bloom?--then home to Cedar Rapids, the "home of Bruce Nesmith."

Next day Jane and Robbie returned from Ohio, where they had been helping to clear out Jane's ancestral home. Robbie had been very helpful, and got a box full of change amounting to $6.02. I hope Eli thought five days with his dad was worth more than a share of $6.02!

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