Leaving Chicago

Fountain at Chicago's Millineneum Park

Sister Susan from California meets Illinois' favorite son!

It's been an amazing 3 weeks visit packed with activities, special family events, and weather Florida style. Susan and I had 3 great days in Wisconsin which included celebrating her birthday by attending the American Players Theatre production of The Syringa Tree.  A one woman show running 2 hours without interruption was inspiring, amazing, and emotional.  Set in South Africa toward the end of Apartite, the role required playing a child as well as the characters with which she interacted.  To learn more http://americanplayer.org/

A home grown feast at sister Margarets in Rock City was a big treat and we were able to "camp" in the driveway.  The route back to Chicago took us along the Rock River and a close up of the Loredo Taft Chief Blackhawk statue amidst the "Oregon Trail Days" festivities.

Since Susan's Sunday departure, I've been busy catching up with old friends, breakfasts, lunches and dinners.  One afternoon I had great fun flying a kite with step grandson Josh.  It had been a long time since I tried that!

Now I want to head south for some home time before I return to the area for my 50th HS reunion.  I'll first stop in Springfield to see the new Lincoln Museum and other sights before heading to Mississippi for a little family history research. Tentative arrival home Thursday, July 29. 

Wedding Report

Katherine Barton comes down the aisle

The wedding begins

After months of preparation the wedding weekend is over and the happy couple off on their honeymoon.  It was a beautiful occasion full of love and happiness.  Rain fell off and on but no one seemed to mind and the crowd reluctantly stopped dancing at 11 p.m. 

The cake cutting

Today I took an architectural boat tour of Chicago.  It was my third time but the best ever.  Tomorrow it is back to the road heading to Wisconsin for a few days of camping.

4th of July

Granddaughter in the print dress looking hot on Daddy's Float

I arrived in the Chicago area late Saturday afternoon to record breaking heat.  Of course I felt right at home with the temperature.  We celebrated the 4th in traditional style with the Villa Park parade featuring (in my opinion) my son, daughter in law, granddaughter, and 2 step grandsons.  It was a fun parade and we joined them for an early dinner in an almost empty restaurant afterwards.  I guess everyone else was picnicing but most of the group preferred the AC offered by Houlihans!

Now we are into the countdown for Saturday's wedding.  I've been staying in Clarendon Hills with long time friend Ginny and she'll join me at a Wicker Park (near west Chicago neighborhood) B & B.  We plan to do some Chicago touring as well as the wedding activities.

Here are some notes I took on the trip up:

July 1, 2010 I was awake before the rooster crowed, but not by much. He was really an attractive bird and wandered around together with what looked to me like a “pea hen”. It rained overnight and the morning was misty until north of Montgomery. The KOA campground was ok but I think they should put gravel on the pads. It was pretty muddy when I walked around as I detached my electric cord.

At the advice of the Welcome Alabama staff I didn’t do my planned route past Birmingham. Apparently I 65 is still very torn up with construction. It was a problem that I had last summer and didn’t need again. I took US 82 NW out of Montgomery toward Tuscaloosa. Most of it was four lane. The GPS and I disagreed on a route to NE Mississippi where I had reserved a spot at JC Coleman State Park but I finally reached my destination around 5:30 and had a fantastic site # 53 overlooking the Pickwick Lake area. You can see boat traffic on the Tenn Tom Waterway.  Surprisingly it isn’t hot or mosquito-filled as I feared. A wonderful breeze is coming off the water and there is no need for the AC. YEAH! My site is so much nicer than the KOA and $10 cheaper. After dinner my neighbors invited me over to enjoy their campfire and we had a nice get acquainted visit. They live not too far from here and drive school buses. He also coaches baseball. Other family members are coming tomorrow for the weekend. The park has a swimming pool and cabins for rent. It’s a ways off the road but well worth the drive. It was a long day at the wheel but I always enjoy these back roads with there small towns that fit the “time forgot”
 
July 2 I am camped at Reel Foot Lake Campground, a Tennessee State Park in the NW corner of the state.  This area was created when the New Madrid fault earthquakes of 1811-12 moved the channel of the Mississippi River.  I was concerned I could get a space since there are no reservations and it is a holiday weekend but even with my 7 p.m. arrival I had a number of sites from which to choose.  Again the temperature was very comfortable and the setting delightful.  I had a leisurely start in the morning and arrived in Jackson around noon where my cousins had lunch waiting.  We were able to visit a couple of hours before I headed for other family in the small town of Bradford where members of the family have lived since the early 1800's.  I was encouraged to stay the night but declined knowing that I would not be able to get as early a start in addition to adding at least 2 hours to what would already be a long drive on the 3rd.
July 3  After pumping the holding tanks, I was on the road by 8 a.m.  Today would be almost all interstate working my way up the long state of Illinois.  Fortunately traffic wasn't too bad and all construction and associated barricades halted for the holiday weekend.  However, it appears that most of I 57 is under repair and requires it as I bounced along the pavement.  I will be sure to avoid that route heading south.
 

 

Off to Illinois

The Bride to Be touring Athens.  The Acropolis is in the background.

It was a quick turnaround for the Old Lady. Arriving home June 12, I departed today, June 30. This time it is literally on the road with my van, Big Mama, GPS aka Greta, and Georgia the Trek Bike. Today I drove 8 hours and am still in the state of Florida. I’m in a KOA about 35 miles west of Tallahassee and only a mile off Interstate 10. It’s more rustic than most of the KOA’s I’ve experienced.. A rooster has been crowing. I guess it is saying goodnight. I wonder what time it will decide its morning.

Much of my time while in Stuart besides catching up on mail, bills, etc. was spent trying to put some order into the over 1100 photos I took on the trip to Greece. The computer gave me problems and my DVD slideshow would not burn on to a disc among other frustrations. I want to show the incredible beauty of Greece, the fascinating ruins that are everywhere, and the group that shared the 14 days of sailing and adventure seeking. There were so many highlights which hopefully can be illustrated in the photographs. Our group of 14 was amazing in their compatibility and comradeship. It’s a challenge to share small spaces and limited resources with people you don’t know. Of course by the end, we did know each other and the parting was similar to seeing a family member off.

I feel so fortunate to have experienced this country in so many aspects. The sense of how developed their ancient civilizations were was mind boggling. The Greek people are very proud of this heritage and of their beautiful country and I think that makes it particularly difficult for them to be the center of negative attention in the world financial crisis. The ones with which I spoke (and it was usually the topic of conversation) are as mystified as any as how it could have become so bad but also say supporting the immigrant population contributes to the governments burden.

I hope to write more about my experiences there but now my attention turns to the exciting weeks ahead. Daughter Emily’s wedding will be the 10th and we have almost daily dialogue on the many last minute challenges of putting together such a celebration. She must do a tremendous juggling act with all the wedding details and a challenging job. Hopefully it will all come together and appear seamless in the final moments.

Tomorrow I head up through Alabama, camping in Northern Mississippi at J P Coleman State Park. This is near the Tennessee border and close to the Shiloh battleground which I hope to revisit Friday morning. Later that day I will try to connect with some relatives and visit some family cemeteries.

Miami

After a return trip of 30 hours beginning with the evening ferry from Naxos ending with late afternoon arrival at the Richmond Hotel on Miami Beach I am recovering this morning by the hotel pool. What a way to end a fabulous trip. I am here to renew acquaintances with those in town for the AIA convention an organization with which Les was highly involved. Of course it also allows me to extend my vacation by four more days. My connections ferry, bus from Pireus to Athens airport at midnight, flight to Madrid and then on to Miami went smoothly and on time. I was very pleased with the ferry accomodations in economy class and the Airport seating areas had better facilities than my last airport overnight in Vienna. I look forward to getting back to my computer and posting photos of the trip. Blog entries from the iPhone are a bit of a challenge. It has given me a chance to share a few experieces of this wonderful three weeks.

Naxos

Ferry from Kos arrived on time for 7:30 departure. Hotel provided a ride to the dock. I was very happy to see luggage rack noted with destinations near the entrance. Loading ferries is a story in itself. Passengers arriving and departing hustle along the gangplank at the same time vechicles are loading and unloading. It seems to be much less orderly than my experiences with the Alaska and Canadian ferries but it works. The ferry was very nice with comfortable seating areas. I had a window seat. As we closed in on Naxos the wind increased and shortly after arrival it rained. It took a while to connect witH Marco who would take my suitcase up to Panorama Hotel in the Kastro (castle) area not accessible to vehicles. The photo is of the harbor from my balcony. The wind continued but the rain stopped causing the evening concert at the nearby Venetian Miseum to be moved inside but was a most enjoyabe two hours of local music and folk dancing concluding with audience dancing something I had wanted to experience the whole trip! This followed awonderful dinner at Lucullus where I treated myself to lamp chops in honor of my wedding anniversary . I also met a couple from Toronto there and we went together to the concert greatly enhancing my evening. What could have been a downer day was instead a real high. Tonight begins the long journey back to Miami. I can't say enough about how beautiful Greece and it's people are. I couldn't ask for a better experience!

Westward Bound

Our last leg of sailing was only 19 miles over glassy seas and no wind. Our crew was reduced by 2 more as Phil and Lynn had to move up their departure to avoid problems with a planned British Air strike. I'm sure Phil will have more details on the Sailing Greece Blog. We did make one stop at a shoreline hot springs sign of the volcanic activity of the past. Part of the group swam into shore to check it out. On returning to Kos we fueled up and took 151 liters. Docking in the very crowded marina was again with the assistance of the inflatable pilot boat. In the evening our hired captain Gilles arranged for transportation to a country taverna were the 9of us remaing enjoyed sampling many local specialities.
I stay tonight at a small hotel not far from the ferry dock where I'll leave Kos. The island has held many surprises including a significant archeolgical site I visited today The Asklepieion a medical sanctuary of ancient Greece. I'll post photos and more information when I can work from a computer; typing on the Iphone is tedious at best and only uses photos from phone. Photo above is part of Kos castle where we walked the ancient walls only 2 weeks ago. On to Naxos !