On the Road, Again.

On the Road, Again. 
Day 1: July 14, 2013

Owen, Ellie, and Andrew getting ready for another road trip.

The trip began in a low-key way. When you have looked down the long end of a 30 hour car ride, 3 1/2 hours seems pedestrian. But beautiful country and dear friends beckoned so we hit the road on the early side, but not too.  

Our crew has skills in the long car ride arena, so since there was time to kill, we took the long way round on the National scenic byway. The first town we hit was cape Vincent, a lovely town on the tip of a peninsula on the shipping line. Nestled among the Victorian era homes was craft tents celebrating French fest. As far as we could see only one tent had anything French (crepes) but its always fun to happen upon a festival and all enjoyed strolling through it. Cape Vincent is a town of porch dwellers, I don't think I've ever seen so many people sitting on their porch in one town. It made me love it immediately. As we were leaving cape Vincent we took it to a vote whether to visit a light house or not. Owen, thinking he was calling our bluff, orchestrated a no vote. So, no lighthouse. Shocked that the vote was not weighted, the children quickly capitulated and we were on our way to Tibbetts point light house. 

Cape Vincent Seaway

Day 2: Gone to look for America

Gone to Look for America...

Marblehead Lighthouse on Lake Erie

Monday, July 18 began packing our site up at East Harbor State Park. We then headed over to the Marblehead Lighthouse, a beautiful lighthouse on Lake Erie. It looked just like the lighthouse in Pete's Dragon, with a lovely ginger breaded Victorian house next to it. There were crazy trees growing out of the rock, as we examined them, Ellie spotted what she thought was a turtle head but turned out to be a water snake head. The caretaker, a late 70's gentleman with great pride in the place happily answered our questions about the water snake with a story about how he dealt with the only one he's had come after him. The caretaker won.

Ellie with "Handless Jacques"

We did one last drive by of "handless Jacques" a handless muffler man that hangs in a vacant lot on the island, then were on our way.

Our time in Chicago was brief, but full. My Uncle, who is involved with the Field Museum was kind enough to leave tickets for us, which the kids and I had a ball with. If you've nev been to the Field, it's amazing. The museum is dedicated not just to their exhibits, but to the furthering of science. Each exhibit was so well thought out to be interactive, educational, and fun, an amazing combination. Farrell family learned our own things. If you are in a garage with a low ceiling and hear a "broomp......broomp......broomp" then it probably means your car with the roof container is too big for the space. It's not good. Also, if you decide to run down the marble stairs, you are likely to lose control and almost take out several people and at the end wipe out and probably freak out your mother (who, once she finds you only have a scraped knee, will probably push on through the museum).

Kids at the Field Museum with Sue, most complete T-Rex  skeleton, discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota, our next vacation stop!

Robie House

From the Field, we headed for a quick stop to Robie House. Some kids in Owen's class did a book club based on "The Wright Three" by Blue Balliet, which featured Robie House. It was stunning. So worth getting lost to find the little house with the amazing stained glass. Although closed, we were able to see quite a bit of it, it was a treat for all of us.