This blog is essentially about our current 'world tour' but there will likely be lots of random branches and offshoots into our everyday thoughts/wishes/dreams... all vital information for those who know and love us (and those who wish to)!
Nicki and John recently bought and refurbished a cute house just north of the city. They were super gracious hosts, even going so far as to eat vegetables with us and lock their 2 poor kitties in the basement so Josh wouldn’t go into anaphylaxis! Unfortunately, the weather didn’t hold and we had a couple days of gusty downpours. But we toughed it out like any good liberal 30-somethings and stayed inside watching Michael Moore documentaries, drinking Whole Foods wine and playing Rock Band! ;) We did brave the blustery day to vintage window shop in Bucktown (which involved window shopping for vintage clothes, not shopping for vintage windows).
On Saturday night, we met up with another of my friends from WMU, Jenn and her husband Rex, for her birthday dinner at El Mariachi in Wrigleyville. This place was amazing, with guacamole made table-side, hot tortilla chips and fresh margaritas! Definitely worth a ‘cheat night’ from our usual organic salad dinners. In all, we had a fantastic time catching up with everyone and catching the highlights of the Windy City (including lots of the trademark wind!).
The next stops on our tour were the beach towns of the Lake Michigan coastline. On our way north from the Indiana border, we stopped in the tiny harbor village of New Buffalo for lunch and a stroll to the lighthouse. Optimistic beach-goers clad in swim trunks and flip-flops made for postcard pictures, even in the 60-degree weather. We made a stop at Warren Dunes State Park after lunch and climbed the giant hills of sand as groups of field-tripping teenagers ran and rolled down around us. We sat atop the dune nearest the lake, digging our toes in the sunbleached sand, looking out across the water. We could barely make out fuzzy grey outlines in the distance, the skyscrapers of Chicago, jutting out of the lake like a ghostly island. We wandered back along the beach and dipped our toes in the icy water before making our way back to the car and our discount whirlpool suite at the Holiday Inn in St. Joseph.
St. Joseph and South Haven were mirror images of one another and the two fuse together in my memory. We walked the streets of both in the same day, trying to make the most of the weather before another forecasted downpour. We ate a picnic lunch on the beach in St. Jo, peered into the expensive homes along the waterfront and ducked in and out of antique shops, galleries and shops filled with local fare and beach town flair.
That evening, we arrived at our super-cute cabin at the Covert/South Haven KOA campground. However, our plan to stay there 3 nights was dashed by near freezing temps and an almost flash flood during the night. We did not come prepared ‘real camping’ on this trip! The next morning we made reservations from inside our sleeping bags and high tailed it for Holland and the comfort of another bargain hotel Josh found online. (We are considering buying a bumper sticker that reads: Hippies Need Hot Tubs Too!)
Holland, Michigan's claim to fame is that it is a quintessential Dutch village, scooped up from a fairytale and plunked down here in the states. I believe the only difference might be the cost of admission to the windmills. I have never been to ‘the real Holland,’ but I have to assume that they don’t charge visitors $8 per person to smell the tulips! That being a high price for budget-conscious wanderers like us, we decided to forgo Windmill Island and Dutch Village and view the windmills from afar. We did enjoy visiting the farmer’s market and the shops in town, especially our tasting tour at Fustini’s Oils & Vinegars where we sampled Better Than Chocolate Balsamic and other varietals!
We finished off the whirlwind tour with a couple nights in good ol’ Kalamazoo. I was mostly laid up at the hotel, nursing what has turned out to be a tibial stress fracture (more later) while Josh was training and cleaning up the town with the AmeriCorps crew. We got to visit with my grad school pal Emily and her gorgeous, growing family. We had drinks at Wayside, the dancehall of my youth. What poor college kid could resist $1.50 Leinenkugel and $4.00 martinis (served in a shaker with a straw, no less)! The familiar scenery on the I-94 drive back home was a great end to a week of wandering the shoreline, making new memories and reminiscing with old pals!
So… I admit it. I feel sort of guilty. I slacked off on the last few New Zealand blog editions and just posted a bunch of picture collages last night. I actually did write a story to go with each of the collages. But, somehow the stories didn’t get saved and I just couldn’t bring myself to rewrite them. But I've got all the info up in my head somewhere, if you want to hear about it, just give me a call!
I know that I should write. I should keep writing. I should be a writer (Whoa, too intimidating. Let’s take a step back.). I should write… for me, or for fun, or for you (None of those really gets to the heart of it, though. This isn’t some sort of cathartic self-help exercise, I could think of lots of other things to do for fun, and you may not even be reading it for all I know, though I hope you are!). I should write because I can. I can write. I get to write. I have the time and the opportunity to write. I am so lucky to be able to write… and so, I will.
After a brief hiatus from traveling, Josh and I recently hit the trail again. Having gone across the country and across the ocean already this year, we thought it might be good to scale down and go across the state. Josh was scheduled for training in Kalamazoo this month, so we took off a week in advance on a tour of Chicago and southwest Michigan.
‘Wait a minute,’ you’re wondering, ‘did she say training? I thought they were homeless, jobless, modern-day, train-hopping, couchsurfing hippies. Well… I guess maybe Megan wasn’t satisfied with their mediocre hippy skills. She probably signed them up for tree-hugging training to make sure they were doing everything right.’ That could be true. It definitely sounds like something I would orchestrate. But, here’s the real story…
On the last leg of our long and exhausting trip back from New Zealand, our flight from Chicago to Detroit was delayed. So, we had a few hours to spend lying on the floor of O’hare airport in a delirious, sleep-deprived haze. Naturally, we did what any normal, red-blooded American traveler would do after having no cell phone service for months… we flipped on our Blackberries! Lo and behold, there was a message from the Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator in Monroe. She wasn’t sure where we were or what our plans were for the summer, but wondered if we might be interested in applying for a 3-month AmeriCorps position with Habitat.
We spent a few days discussing the pros and cons of taking the position. Here they are, in no particular order (and you’re welcome to weigh in on which you think are the pros/cons!):
1. We'd be living in Monroe
2. We'd be staying with my parents
3. Josh would make a small living and education stipend
4. He'd get to put AmeriCorps on his resume
5. He could try out a new position, no strings attached
6. Habitat is just plain cool!
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Because we had already decided that South Africa was not in the cards, it made sense to try this on for size. Fast forward a month, and we were on our way to Kalamazoo for Josh’s Habitat orientation and AmeriCorps summer kick-off weekend!
Our first stop on the I-94 tour was Chicago. We left home early on Thursday and arrived downtown early enough to get in some sightseeing. We walked through the park, stopped for pictures at ‘The Bean,’ strolled down the (nearly empty) Navy Pier and even tackled the Magnificent Mile, all in one sunny-but-cold afternoon. The city was in bloom - thousands of tulips (from fancy to frilly to plain, from yellow to pink to black) were planted along the city streets. It was such a sight that novice photographers kneeling to snap the posing petals, were tripping up staunch sidewalk veterans on their lunch breaks.
Of course, what's a trip to Chi-town without window shopping? We had to hit up Lego Land, American Doll Place, Hershey's and the Apple store! But I noticed that Chicago is a much simpler city when you don’t have extra cash to blow on ferris wheels, street meat and Filene’s Basement bargains!
