Monday July 5, 2010

6 Flags Theme Park (while hungover) = 5 Flags

Entire time in Chicago (with Meg and Lauren) = 6 Flags
Bridges of Madison County = 3 Flags (flags deducted for unpaved roads)
North Sioux City, South Dakota = 2 Flags (flags added for the time we spent seeing Toy Story 3 in 3D)
What Cheer, Iowa = 6 Flags (best town name)
*note for the Aussies: 6 Flags is an amusement park in the US, and their ad campaign used "6 Flags" as a rating system for how fun/awesome something is, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPL6IIi5HeU&feature=related

Arrived into Chicago, IL - Mon June 28 (Day 18)
To get to Chicago we drove through Indiana, which is apparently the home of wind farms - we saw windmills for miles upon miles - it was kinda reminiscent of a scene from War of the Worlds, except our lives didn't feel threatened by the sleek propellor objects!

We picked-up our fabulous hostess (friend first, hostess second) Meg at about 1pm and she escorted us back to her awesome apartment in Lake View, where we were greeted by Tino (her shitzu). We settled the Duke into a park for the day/night, collected an iced latte from Intelligentsia (the best coffee we've had in weeks!) and headed in to Taste of Chicago for lunch (Meg had to go back to work - boo). Taste was indeed tasty and very well organized, and we sampled many different types of fare (the highlight being a vanilla and sherbet yoghurt - very refreshing!) We spent the rest of the arvo at Meg's (including preparing welcome home cosmos for the worker) and got ready for a fancy dinner at Graham Elliott's (of Top Chef fame). It was a really lovely evening, and the food was very clever!

Chicago - Tues June 29 (Day 19)
We unexpectedly woke up feeling a little seedy, which was bad news as we'd planned to spend the day at 6 Flags. We pulled ourselves together with the help of our mate Berocca and hit the road for a day of high-speed, upside down exhilaration! We did a few rides, and one in particular, the "Raging Bull" left us quite disoriented and in need of some recuperation time! That night we met up with the lovely Lauren at her very grown-up Lake Bluff apartment, and she took us to a local neighborhood called Lake Forest which was very Desperate Housewives/Wisteria Lane. We wandered around with coffees for a bit, then had a big bowl of pasta at the local Italian (very good hangover cure!) We then dragged ourselves back to Meg's where we had the pleasure of meeting Rob (probably not the best first impression we've ever made, unfortunately!), and we collapsed into bed around 11.

Chicago - Wed June 30 (Day 20)
Had to start the day very early as the Duke needed to go to the mechancic (he was veery rattly). Had a Chicago bagel for breakky which was more like toast compared to NY bagels! We snuck in a run along the Lake Michigan shore, and then went to the Museum of Science and Industry (courtesy of Rob's parents and their annual passes!)... for those Adelaideans out there, this museum is very similar to the Investigator Science Centre, but just a lot bigger! They had a great steam engine/train exhibit, and we made a tornado and a tidal wave. We also saw some robots stretching to play soccer, and practicing their kicking technique. On our way back to Meg's, we casually stopped in at Bloomie's where Stacey picked-up a lovely pair of shoes courtesy of a birthday gift voucher, and Tim got his watch fixed. That night we enjoyed some Mexican (maybe too many pre-dinner tortilla chips and salsa!) at Uncle Julios (yummy frozen Swirls - half sangria, half margarita!), then raced out to see the Navy Pier fireworks display.... Although only caught the last explosion! We headed to Howl at the Moon and enjoyed some mighty fine piano duelling! Meg was very pleased when they played her request, "Cecilia", and we Aussies even got a shout out after Meg tipped them off to our presence! Tim's "Underground" request was unfortunately snubbed.... Maybe they would've played something more cliché Aussie, like "Land Down Under".

Chicago IL to Muscatine IA - Thurs July 1 (Day 21)
We had a farewell breakkie with Meg and Rob at Ann Sather's, which is known for their sublime (and moreish) Cinnamon Rolls (you get 2 as a side dish! Ridiculous!) Was sad to do goodbyes and go back to pack-up, but a belly full of Cinnamon Rolls helps! We guilted ourselves into a casual run later in the morning, then hit the road toward Muscatine (stopover on the way to Madison County) in the early afternoon.

The only thing we need to report on about Muscatine is the basement pub in our medievil themed-motel.. It was called Lord Canterbury's. We felt very uncomfortable, but stayed for one beer to be polite, but couldn't hear each other over the very loud, straight-out-of-a-porno music. Never have we so distinctly felt the "we don't belong here" vibe.

Madison County and Des Moines - Fri July 2 (Day 22)
We are noticing that the countryside in Iowa is really beautiful. Rolling hills full of crops, and when the wind plays across the fields, the grass moves like waves in an ocean of green (aaahhh.... a happy place for those reading from work).

Our first destination out of Muscatine was Winterset, the heart of Madison County, where we were headed to check out some covered bridges. But of course, Duke needed some work done first. We had to get 2 new tires, and bought front and rear shocks to be replaced at a later date. Oh the joys of driving cross-country in an old car (but we love him for it). We did manage to see 3 of the 6 remaining covered bridges (which was more than enough to get the idea anyway, as they all look the same and were built between 1870 and 1890). We drove along the only bridge that allows car traffic, the Cedar Bridge, and we were shocked by the amount of vandalism on the bridges we saw. We even caught some punk kids in the act when we arrived at Cedar Bridge (pretty gutsy in broad daylight!) Duke was filthy after the covered bridges tour as they're only accessible via unpaved roads, so we gave him a thorough wash when we got to the motel.

Coincidentally, there was a classic car show in Des Moines at the same time as we were there, so we got a lot of questions from people about whether that was why we were in town. We were happy to have a clean Duke to park at the motel too, as there were a number of immaculate classic hot rods parked there, waiting to be taken home after the show.

North Sioux City, South Dakota - Sat July 3 (Day 23)
Just a stopover on our way to Mount Rushmore. We thought we were staying in Iowa, but regular old Sioux City is in Iowa and NORTH Sioux City is in South Dakota. We should've paid more attention to that, cos Sioux City seemed OK (we went there at night for some pizza and beer, and to see Toy Story 3, which was a bit of fun)... But we were amazed at the difference in people and demographics just north of the border! They even have casinos in gas stations. I think we'll be happy to move on from South Dakota in a couple of days and get to Colorado!

Chamberlain, SD - Sun July 4 (Day 24)
Independence Day. The last 3 of these we've celebrated in NYC so we were excited to see how it was done in "outback USA". We started off in the bar of our hotel (much nicer than the previous Lord Canterbury's!) and had a chat with the bartender (and her family, when they came to say "hi" and have a drink with her!) We headed into town for some dinner, and then went to sit with the locals on the Missouri River while waiting for the main event (the $12k fireworks show funded by the local Chamber of Commerce) to begin at 10:20pm. Everyone had their own fireworks which they were firing off into the River as we all waited for the show - it was incredible how the extra bangs and whizzes going off all around us added to the atmosphere and excitement of it all! We had a ball!!

Wall, SD - Mon July 5 (Day 25)

Heading here today (will be going to the famous Wall Drug store.... we've been seeing billboards for it over the last 200 miles!), and we may end-up at Mt Rushmore, depending on how efficient our travelling is today! More to come later...