Kalamazoo and Chicago

On Friday morning our day began with a tour of the Ford Rouge Factory where they make F-150 trucks. I have toured other automotive plants, but it was a first for Paul and the kids. The previous day we rarely needed to wear our masks, but we had to wear them on the bus ride to and from the factory and also during the tour. After the tour we had lunch at Subway before we drove two hours to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We spent a little over two hours at the museum. It was very hard to pull Paul away. He loved hearing about the airplanes. We watched one short movie about going to the moon, and the kids also enjoyed riding a few indoor rides. They were disappointed that the flight simulators and such were closed due to COVID, but we didn't have to wear masks. It was a very worthwhile stop on our way to Chicago, especially as we got in free with our ASTC membership. It took us 2.5 hours to drive to my sister's home in Chicago from Kalamazoo, but it seemed like only 1.5 hours because we moved from EST to CST. 

During our twenty-five day trip we plan to drive through twenty-five states. Five of the states are ones the kids have already done something in before (OH, WV, IL, KY, and PA), and Indiana is the only state that we plan to drive through this trip without actually doing anything in the state. We had all already done at least one thing in Indiana in the past. I actually lived in Indiana during the summer in 1993. The kids should be adding nineteen states to their life list during this trip. So far they've added one state - Michigan. The kids were naturally very excited to see their cousins. We arrived at their home a little after 5:30pm last night. Drayton made a delicious dinner of grilled chicken, watermelon, potatoes, and corn bread, which we ate about 30 minutes after we arrived. Wendy was playing her violin at a wedding. She joined us when she came home. I let the kids stay up past their usual bedtimes (according to what time it was EST) to help them adjust to CST as in just a couple of days we'll be in MST. We're never going to be in PST, but Arizona doesn't follow DST so it will seem as if we are in PST when we're in that state whenever we're not on tribal land as the Native Americans do follow DST. 

This morning Drayton made a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, tater tots, and waffles. We left the house around 8:45 to drive to the Shedd Aquarium where we spent about four hours. We ate our packed lunches in the aquarium. We didn't see an octopus, but we saw many different fish as well as sea lions, dolphins, otters, beluga whales, penguins, jellyfish, seahorses, eels, etc. During the afternoon the kids played at their home, and Rachel also attended a ballet class. Wendy had another wedding gig this afternoon. This is Paul's second time being in Chicago in his life. The first time was in December 2001 when he and I were here for New Year's Eve after attending a wedding of one of my cousins and visiting my maternal grandma in Indiana. Speaking of twenty years later, today is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. When the kids and I were in Chicago in the spring of 2017, we went to a zoo, the Museum of Science and Industry, Children's Museum, Field Museum, Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and the Adler Planetarium. Since this trip was much shorter and the most important thing for the kids is just spending time with their cousins, we only went to Shedd Aquarium. The next time we come to Chicago I'd like to take them to the Pullman Memorial (a very small National Park site here in the city), the Navy Pier, and the Art Institute. The Field Museum and Planetarium are very close to the Aquarium, but very little of the Planetarium is open at the moment, and my kids aren't really fans of natural history museums. For dinner tonight we're going to have Chicago deep dish pizza from Pizza Capri. Paul hasn't had that in almost 20 years as we went to Gino's East in 2001. 

There are only 3 nights of the 24 nights on this trip that Paul and I will be sharing a bed. Last night and tonight are two of the three. There is one night on the trip in Utah when we'll all spend the night in one room as the room has two queen beds plus a sofa bed. I was able to cancel Paul's dad's room for that night. Wendy and Drayton each drove one of their two vehicles to the aquarium today, which means today is the only day on our trip that our van will not be driven at all. We'll make up for it tomorrow, as we plan to drive for 9 hours altogether. Nights 1-2 at a hotel in Dearborn, MI and nights 3-4 at my sister's home in Chicago are the only two times on this trip that we'll stay two nights in the same place. The rest of the trip we will only spend one night in each hotel.

Their landlord's dog (whom Susie is paid to walk) is also named Milo!