Metropolis Illinois...
these dogs were partying at a rest stop with friends
But the friends couldn't necessarily "let loose"
After freshening up and taking a power nap from the 8 hour drive, I met up with Jon and the Freestyle guys at the Superman Festival in Metropolis. They've put on their BMX show for 5 or more years at this festival and I couldn't wait to go people watch and check it out. Here are some characters you may or may not recognize...
Pedro or Canadian Superman fan? Either way he was Jon's favorite.
Rob and Russell chatting it up with a character
We asked a guy to take our photo, but he didn't think about shooting a vertical. Either way I like that about it, us and superman's great big package - though looking at it this close, shouldn't they give him a little more?
Keeping her pup's little paws cool
Kyle as Superman and Russell as a fairy? Kyle even announced part of the show in Hank Hill's voice, but I don't know if the crowd thought it was as funny as we did.
At night we went to Harrah's Casino (might be spelling that wrong) and I lost 40 of Jon's dollars... that's not too bad though? We did better in Vegas. I just don't have luck with gambling, that's why I used Jon's money : )
Also interesting, I don't remember this happening in Vegas but here they make a video of you before you enter so obviously the guys had fun with that.
Next, Jon and I had a beer at a place called "TailGators" with our new friend Abby Jensen, then we split from the guys and headed to Chicago. It started to get thundrous looking on our way
Driving thru some looming but pretty clouds
We arrived in Chicago & Jon fulfilled his flatland fix with some friends during a warehouse session. I just watched and did computer stuff and enjoyed a cold Heineken with them after.
After the session we headed into Chicago for a grilled cheese plate special at a corner diner and headed to our friend Beth's house for the night.
Beth's roommates gave their cat a haircut and here it is...
You have to see it in person.
Beth has an awesome apartment she shares with equally awesome roommates. We only got to meet Diana in person but the other 2 on a coffee mug I happened to find in the cabinet the next morning. See I thought it was a plain ol' black mug... but when my hot beverage was poured into it...an image was revealed! Cool.
We walked around Chicago the whole next day, not really anywhere particular, just around. We did have tix to the Planetarium per Matt Wilhelm (thank you very much!). It was nice and cool and foggy and I loved it! Beth took us to a cool sandwich shop for lunch, then we ate hawaiian tacos for dinner at a trendy/cool kinda place I wish I could remember the name of...
Here are some foggy Chicago pix:
I remember Jon regretting he didn't bring his nail brush.
Jon learning about the stars in the planetarium
The next day Beth reminded us we could get into the Contemporary Museum of Art for free, so that's where we headed on our way out but first stopping for a big fat gyro plate just around the corner.
The most interesting exhibit was watching Jon's puzzled face. In this pic. he's standing by his favorite piece to hate.
This one was awesome! The photographer projected his image onto barrels of water. Read the info. below if you want.
at the farmer's market outside of the museum
raining on the way out
Awesome Parking Garage in Chicago
We left Chicago and met up with Jon's dad in Gary, Indiana. He's a trucker and happened to be in the area just in time. I failed to bring my camera with me for some odd reason, rain or something? Anyway, it was a nice visit : ) though we didn't get to eat at the buffet like we normally do when we meet up b/c he had already eaten. I love the buffet's at truck stops mmmm mmmmm!
After the brief meet up we headed to Saline (I think), Michigan but not forgetting to stop in Kalamazoo for Shawarma King - an AWESOME middle eastern restaurant referred to us by Dane Beardsley : )
After sharing a heaping plate of shawarmaness we were completely stuffed! Seriously, we SHARED a plate and we could still hardly finish it but we did : )
We arrived in Saline around midnight and met up with Jon's friend, who served us 2 free beers from his bar but wasn't able to offer us a place to stay when we left at 2:30am, so we just slept in the car for the night.
The next fresh morning we headed to Ann Arbor and Jon was ecstatic to find out about a natural history museum on campus. We missed the opportunity to view the cave men and what have ya while in Chicago - so we took a little visit...
Jon is such a little caveman : )
He really looks like one to me, but that's a good thing.
They were overwhelming, can you imagine coming up on one of these?
(Jon I mean)
We then moved along, not forgetting to reminisce in Jon's old neighborhoods and favorite Ann Arbor places from way back, then headed to Toronto for wonderful burgers and awesome salads and sweet corn on the cob and family at Jon's Aunt Cathy's house.
The next day we went into Toronto to the Beaches area - which was really cool! Jon rode flatland with his peeps while I walked with Rudee along the water. There were sooooo many dogs around b/c it's a very pet friendly place. They even have special brown paper bags for recycling and composting the dog poo!
I stubbed my toe when we got there, now half of my nail is missing...
Jon's friend Jay Smith - who spent the day with us : )
Having a beer in the park with Jon's friends
Jay's sister Summer's dog Chuck
Dogs can ride on the streetcars in Toronto!!
Don't know if it shows up, shoulda zoomed, but all I could see is her red lipstick.
Jon and I at Casa Loma in Toronto with my new hat from Chinatown
Jon wearing the Chinatown hat
Pizza Pizza - $5 for 4 slices and it tastes sooooooo good!
Next we went to Jon's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill's cabin on Snake Island. It was Bill's birthday but that didn't matter b/c apparently there's a party every weekend at this place! All the residents get along and go from cottage to cottage on the weekends for parties - it was awesome! While we were there we went peddle boating, swimming, played volleyball, had a wonderful birthday dinner with Debbie & Bill's sweet friends, and went to a crazy hat party at a cottage further down the island. It was awesome!
Neighbors cats
The same neighbors really fat cats!
Before the hat party
got this pic. outta order but this is the fat cats neighbor's pig
Bill's seriously scrumptious birthday dinner
Bill's seriously smashed birthday cake
Bill's birthday card (lady with a huge rack)
Our way back to the car : (
bye bye fun snake island... until next time!
So we made it next to Shannonville to see Jon's mom. We had a dinner of tofurkey bratwurst, real cheddarwurst for Jon & I, potatoes, salad, and lemon poundcake for a birthday dessert for Jon's mom. We had a nice but brief visit, and Jon's mom read to us the next morning about Buddha. She has four new kittens and had just spayed the frivolous cat to prevent further suprise litters. The kittens are so adorable, climbing ladders and jumping out at ya when leaving the porta potty and such!
One of the cute kittens
Another one of Jon's mom's cats
Outside of the breakfast place on our way out - I think he was howling for bacon?
On the way back to the border, we stopped to do a little wine tasting in Prince Edward County, which has a plethora of little wineries and artists. We chose one called Huff Estates, which also had an art gallery called Oeno Gallery. The current exhibit was a local photographer named Etienne Labbe, who takes pix out of the window of the car to produce beautifully blurred images with colorful streaks and designs. Check it out:
This was our red wine and cheese plate... mmmm mmmm
We camped in New York at a site we thought would be on Lake Ontario but it backed up to a shallow creek that looked more like a ditch instead. We were pretty tired by then so it didn't matter.
On the way home Jon stopped at his friend Steph Sera's house to ride a little flatland. This guy has his very own sweet flatland warehouse right beside his house in Scranton, PA. Pretty awesome for him.
And last of all finally... Rudee's friend she met at a hotel in West Virginia.
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