So, Ashley and I left this morning at 8:00 9:00 to
head toward Chicagoland. My life was
threatened, but I managed to behave long enough to NOT get kicked out of the car
in Kentucky. The traffic was great and
we were doing pretty well on time since it’s a week day. Luckily for us, Ashley's parents gave us a
heads up that a major highway in Chicago was closed due to a tractor trailer
accident. Why would an accident close 8
lanes of highway, you may ask? Because
it was an overturned semi full of hydrochloric acid, of course! Just another
example of the ridiculousness that occurs when we travel together…
The detour turned out in our favor though, because we
decided to go through Normal, Illinois.
Normal may sound like your average, boring Small Town, USA locale, but
in reality it is the critically renowned home to Normal Avenue and Normal Police…oh,
and Illinois State University. ISU, as
the school shall henceforth be referred, is the alma mater of the Chicago Mafia
(Ashley, Melinda, Molly, and Kim).
Ashley took me on a little tour of campus, including such sights as the
ginormous library, complete with an Occupy ISU protester camped out in front
haha, and the beautiful quad. We took a
picture of Ashley’s favorite spot on campus, the prominent welcome bridge, from
the top floor non-silent 4th floor of the library. Illinois trivia – there is a building at
every state university campus that is a piece of a full castle when combined
with the other buildings. As the ISU
redbird alums say - Spread the red everyone!
*Product Placement Alert* As we left Bloomington/Normal and
were about to get on the highway, I saw a Schnuck’s grocery store!!! It’s not
really the grocery store that is so wonderful, but the bakery inside the
grocery store. My family is spread out
all over the Midwest, and the best way to get to see everyone no matter where
we have lived has usually taken us through St. Louis, MO. This grocery store
chain is prominent in St. Louis and we would always stop and get Gooey Butter
Coffee Cake. Most Delicious Treat Ever. It is famous on both sides of my family; we
would get in trouble if we ever showed up without some Gooey Butter. Luckily they had one pan of the cake left and
I was able to get it to introduce Ashley’s family to it as well. For all you southern folk, I think it kind of
tastes like chess pie, with a little thicker crust underneath.
Random funny story – my mother called at some point to ask
about watching TV and movies on her new laptop.
She wanted to know if that “Hooha” site charged like Netflix… After
breathlessly sharing this with Ashley and us sharing a good chuckle, I was able
to share with my mother that you can watch many shows on HULU.COM without
paying…the things parents say ;).
It was great to get into town and actually recognize a few
places, since I was only here a few months ago.
I know Ashley was glad to be home and see her mom before she leaves
Thursday for a work trip. After running
a few errands, we just hung out with the Evett family and enjoyed being back in
Elk Grove. Someone forgot to tell her parents about our summer road trip, so
we got to share our exciting plan again! Some things don’t change no matter
where you are though, and Ashley, her mom and I all fell asleep on the couches
in the living room while watching TV.
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