Friday dawned a beautiful day and somehow I had gotten some sleep despite foot steps over head until well after my bedtime. I thought I would be up before the others but trucks were pulling out at 6:30. No one here seems to think mufflers are necessary equipment on vehicles here.
I had no set plan except to be in the north side of Chicago to meet Diana for dinner. So if I saw something I wanted to do, I was going to do it. My first stop was a rock shop that had a sign on the freeway.
When we did road trips as a family when I was a kid, we had to stop at every rock shop, every geyser, every rock formation--basically any geological feature--for my brother the rock hound. So this was a stop steeped in nostalgia. I wasn't planning to buy anything. Ha!
It turned out to be a beautiful shop and o got inspired to buy some rocks for the girls. Diana is having some challeneges starting a new life in Chicago, so I got her a blue lace agate, which has properties to give one an "emotional facelift." Plus it was a nice shape for a worry stone.
Amy has been working on setting up a little altar for dealing with grief of her father's death, so I got her a collection of little stones known for healing properties for grief.
For myself, I diverged from my turtle collecting and got a soap dish that looks like a sunfish to me. They had a turtle one, but I liked the fish better. It will remind me of my sunnies until the dock goes back in and I can feed them again next spring.
From there, I went into a thrift store because do I ever love other peoples junk. I mean treasures. It was a good one, but I didn't see anything I had to have except a sun reflector for my windshield. She had some interesting sets include one of occupied Japan China that was shaped like cottages and included salt and pepper, a butter dish, and a teapot. It came with a note from the family. So dear.
My next stop was for apples. I had seen a sign by the road, and I drove down the ever narrowing no outlet road, which surprisingly was skirting a little lake, until I found the self service apple stand. For $7, I got an assortment of Jonathans and Honey Crisps.
Back in the highway, my next destination was Benton Harbor/St Joseph. Mom and Eric and Instopped here briefly two years ago when we did our test garden tour, but they are not ones for lingering and shopping and rambling. Buddha and I started the visit with a wall down a steep hill past a train depot that is still an active Amtrak station in order to get to the beach on Lake Michigan. One can see why this lake has the most drownings of the Great Lakes.
Once I had my feet in briefly and Buddha had a drink she was full speed ahead back up the hill to the car. She went up steep steps like a puppy when normally she struggles with her arthritis. She sat in the car while I went in search of another bottle of red wine that I'd had on th UP.
After three places that stock Michigan wine, I had no success. I did however find aiquor store with a bunch of other Michigan wines including a rare white can franc. I called off the search after that so I could get enroute to Chicago before rush hour. Ha! Except for 3 am. I think it is always rush hour in Chicago.
I elected to go over the skyway bridge because I like the views from there, and I always wonder what this are was like it its heyday. Huge old stone buildings must have housed hundreds or students or workers. Due to lack of planning, once again I did not get my kayak in any of the marshes I pass that are so full of birds. Besides it had begun to rain in earnest and it was getting cold. Fall is getting serious.
Lakeshore drive was a crowded mess, but I had not been that way in years and I drove further north on it than I ever had previously until I found a park where I could pull over and make hotel reservations. I ended up in Skokie due to needing a hotel with surface parking to accommodate the kayak.
Buddha and I were settling in for a nap when I realized I hadn't brought in my Michigan geology book to review my path nor the book I've been reading in the trip Of Time and Turtles. I'm on the elevator and a man about my age gets on and sees my books. Then he quickly announces that's more books than he has read in his whole life. If that was his idea of a come one line....
After a nap, Diana met us to go to the theater nearby where we were seeing My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. It was one of the newer bougie cinemas where you can get mixed drinks and have food delivered to your seat. We enjoyed that but the movie sadly was rather meh.
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