M and I did her highway driving road trip. She chose Chicago and we didn't know until 1 day before we left if she would have her permit back and could go at all. She had forgotten her wallet on the bus home from FSY and it took a while to get it back. She drove up to Indianapolis where we car camped outside the city at a hipcamp location.
We visitited a sculpture garden in Indianapolis and went to walmart to stock up on food before going into Chicago. M drove us to south Chicago and I switched drivers at the most sketchy gas station I've ever visited. We went to the zoo and walked out to enjoy the waterfront. We drove to our city camp location then rode the train back into the city to enjoy the evening. We saw the bean and other city sights along with lots of other tourists.
Tuesday we rode the train and bus down to the University of Chicago and M signed up to do a campus tour. We were trying to visit a free art space and got onto a train based on Google Map instructions. It turns out the train wasn't part of our $5 all day pass. Live and learn. The train was just $3.50 and took us all the way up to the Millenial Park area. We got back on the CTA and took a bus to the art place. After the art place (with very cool fabric arts) we planned to ride a bus to campus for the tour. The buses for that area were not running because of a nascar race the previous weekend so we had to walk a few miles. We did get back in time for the tour but it was a haul.
We left Chicago as it was lightly raining. As we navigated to our hipcamp for the night it was almost like we were driving through a hurricane. In fact it was Tropical Storm Beryl. The gps took us on small roads with construction so we didn't arrive until almost midnight. The camp gps pin is off so it took us to the neighbors driveway. Unable to find the camp, and so late at night, I decided to go and park at a repair shop I'd seen on the way in. As we leaned our chairs back, ready for a long night, a car pulled up. The camp host had been prompted to go see if his cab windows were open and he'd seen us in the neighbors driveway and come to bring us in. He literally took pity on us and let us use the cabin lodging for no extra fee. It was raining torrentially at this point. The cabin was so nice and had a bathroom inside. So nice.
We went to DC through more Tropical Storm weather and arrived at 9:30. Cousin B was there and we all went to bed. Thursday morning Cousin B went to her program and M and I went to visit my dad. He offered to drive us in to DC and pick us up to save us time and money. We got to see museums and monuments for 8 hours! You can see a lot when it's just 2 adultish people able to walk a lot.
Friday we went thrift storing and had lunch at the Green Olive with my dad and his wife Janette. Afterward we played Scrabble. M wanted to go to the botanical garden so we headed to at 4 hoping to get a street parking spot. Our plan worked! The botanical garden was awesome. Like a zoo but plants. We went to pick up cousin B and then went back to the thrift store and shopping for milk.
Saturday we went to the zoo and then started our trip home with cousin B.
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