THE BEAN, Chicago

Saw THE BEAN Today

This is an amazing sculpture in Chicago which reflects all around it.  People watching is fun, too, as everyone (including us) experiments with different ways of touching and posing for pictures.

Watching the World Series at a Boston sports bar in Chicago

Priceless!

Wild ride on Chicago River!

Just finished a slow, informative boat tour on the Chicago River with fun tourguide Jake.  Tour ended with a jaunt in the speedboat at a very fast pace into the freezing wind on Lake Michigan...we laughed really hard.  :o. Lynnae

Pretty cold!

Chicago from the river

Chicago at last!

Along Lake Michigan between Lucas's softball playoff games on this beautiful Sunday.

 

Lucas' halloween costume:  "chicken cord on blue (the shirt was actually blue)"

 

Plans Change

So our original plan was after leaving Nova Scotia we would drive to Quebec City, spend a few days there, then drive across Eastern Canada to re-enter the US in Detroit, then on to Chicago.  But when we left Judique, the forecast was getting ugly--frozen mix for several days, lows in the 20's and highs in the upper 30's across  Canada.  It didn't sound like what we wanted to be in.  So we called an audible on Tuesday and took a left turn onto I95 and re-entered the US in Maine and have been driving consistent 300+ mile days and have now (Friday) reached the outskirts of Toledo, Ohio and will get to Chicago tomorrow.

The Desert of Maine

We spent a night in Freeport, Maine at the Desert of Maine, then Wednesday night we got a KOA campground in New York near the Pennsylvania border.  Thursday night we were at Parker Dam State Park in Western PA (near the "highest point on Interstate 80 East of the Mississippi").  We woke this morning in a snow shower and were a bit concerned about driving through it, but the weather settled down and we had a beautiful drive through the mountains of PA and the flat plains of Ohio to land at another Harvest Host winery.

Trying to stay warm in Pennsylvania

Driving through the snow in western PA

Majestic Oak Winery is a real find!  Who knew there were wineries in Ohio?  This one has only been open 4 months and we are their second Harvest Host (www.harvesthosts.com) guests.  As luck would have it, tonight they are having a shindig with a food truck {"she has a full gourmet kitchen on that truck") a DJ coming at 8 and lots of wine to taste.  They are hoping to get the high school football crowd after the games (if you know anything about the midwest, they are BIG on high school football).  So instead of having leftover mashed potatoes, pasta in a doggie bag from last week and other odds and ends, we get shrimp quesidillas and Indian tacos (from a full blood Lakota, no less).

At Majestic Oak Winery in Ohio

Tomorrow it is a three-hour drive to Chicago and we get to spend two weeks hanging out with our son, Lucas, staying in his apartment in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and seeing Chicago.  We have a date with Keith Urban in Peoria on November 11th and from there it will be all South and West to stay ahead of winter.

Ceilidh in Judique

Today is the last day of the Celtic Colours festival and Judique is having a Ceilidh, which is a Gaelic name for a small concert.  We are sitting drinking a Nova Scotia beer and tea while listening to a really great fiddler, Ian MacDonald and watching some locals square dance, Cape Breton style.





We are staying on the property of our neighbors in Plymouth, which is beautifully situated right on the coast facing Prince Edward Island.  We walked some of the coastal trail yesterday, which goes for dozens of miles along an old railroad bed.

Sunset from our trailer

along the Coastal Trail near Judique