Pin and Amy's Great Adventure: 09/01/09

Day 4: Madison / Minneapolis

Our first real day of long haul driving, and it was super fun! Amy and I are both officially (in my mind) qualified truckers.

10am - Woke up in Chicago, about 2 hours later than we had planned. Whoops!

11am - Waiting for the bus to get downtown, and it turns out that the bus we wanted didn't run after 9am. Figured that out after about 45mins of standing on a street corner looking sketchy and lost. Double whoops!

12pm - After deciding to drive into downtown, we finally make it, meeting up with Jing at Fox & Obel's (Chicago's answer to Whole Foods) to grab some food. Heading down to Navy Pier, we eat in the park and take a quick stroll down to Lake Michigan. Unanimous decision to avoid a hive of yellowjackets is made, and we head back, to drop Jing off at work.

2:30pm - We swing by Giordano's Pizza to pick up a famous Chicago deep dish pizza, and head off to Minneapolis. So long for now, Windy City!

4pm - Wisconsin! First sign that we see upon entering Wisconsin states, quite simply, "Cheese, Gifts, Fireworks." I immediately get the feeling I'm going to like this state.

4:45pm - I realize that Wisconsin has nothing but endless fields of corn. Love for Wisconsin beginning to fade.

5pm - We take a quick detour to Madison, Wisconsin, to visit Amy's cousin at the University of Wisconsin. It's a beautiful campus, though the main street area was fairly uneventful. After taking a quick tour, we head back out, only to see a guy protesting along the highway. Wisconsin interest is once again piqued.

7pm - Continuing through the state, more driving, more singalongs (Weezer was the artist of choice), and a whole ton of interesting rock formations / hills / valleys off in the distance. The pizza from Chicago meets its partial demise somewhere along the line here.

9:50pm - Gas stop. Debate about whether or not to buy a giant 44oz blue raspberry slurpee for $1.29. The yays beat the nays 2 - 0, and brain freeze takes its toll.

10pm - Minnesota! Fail at attempt to doubleback and get a picture of the "Welcome to Minnesota" sign.

10:30pm - Arrival at Lucas' apartment. Horizontalness begins, as we discuss many very serious subjects, like seahorses with Lucas, Boris, and Dani. The apartments are super nice (especially Dani's curtains), and we learn to call the futon home.

Special thanks to Jing for letting us stay at her place and being such a wonderful hostess, as well as taking time away from work to have lunch with us. Also big thank yous to Lucas, Boris, and Dani for staying up to meet up with us and hang out, as well as giving us a wonderful place to spend the night!

Distance Traveled: 421mi
Total distance traveled: 1391mi
$ Spent: $106.90
Total $ Spent: $274.43

12. A bison

Submitted by Amy: a bison or buffalo

At the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History

Day 3: Cincinnati/Chicago

Our favorite sequence of photos: Kevin interacts with the cannon onboard a steamboat in the Cincinnati History Museum

9am - We woke up in anticipation of Kevin coming home from his morning meeting.

10:30am - We finally get out of the house and head to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I love Cracker Barrel, though surprisingly have never had it for breakfast (this was Pin's first ever time at Cracker Barrel). Pin tried to solve that triangle peg game, unsuccessfully. Kevin got the Grandfather platter with Chicken Fried Chicken (we still don't know what this means), and me and pin split Blueberry pancakes and eggs in a blanket. Everything was really good, though how could it not if its fried in butter? The pancakes came with cute little jars of syrup and blueberry syrup - I swiped them. I was successful in finding 2 servers with the name Amy (see "6. Likenamed Servers"). Afterwards, we walked around the store and each got some candy and I bought a blue blanket (60% off - yes we found room for it in my car).

11:45am - Finally set off to Cincinnati downtown, to the Cincinnati Union Terminal where Museum Center is. Museum Center is basically an old train terminal that was converted into 3 museums - The Cincinnati History Museum, the Cin. Museum of Natural History, and the Duke Energy Children's Museum. A ticket for all 3 museums was only $12pp.

We went to the History museum which turned out to just be a "Cincinnati History" museum, not a Cincinnati "History museum". We were greeted by a nice guy at the Information Station, who promptly stated we didn't have the "new joisey" accent. He showed us briefly around the first level of the museum which was basically various replicas of Cincinnati from the 1940s - 70s. We got to feel like giants.

Kevin and I were pretty excited about running into P&G history all over the museum. That is a picture of us with a box stamped with the P&G logo, btw.

After walking through this part and the Cincinnati during war time part, we were pretty disappointed with the museum. Then we found the lower level which turned out to be Cincinnati history to pre-revolutionary times. This museum is pretty kid-oriented, so we got to play around in the "flat-boat era" where people sailed from Pittsburgh on flat-boats until they reached their plot of land where they used the wood from the boat to build their new home. Though the studio apt here was much smaller, I think the rent is much more affordable - I thought about moving in.

There was another part depicting the public landing era where we could visit stores with people dressed from the time period. The apothecary guy was pretty amusing and suggested Kevin and Pin join the steamboat as log-cutters if they were strapped for cash and needed a cheap way to get down to Louisiana. On the steamboat, an super old guy explained the workings of the steam boat - steam engine! Then we visited the printer, where there's an actual guy who casts the letters to put in an old fashioned printing press (it was eerily similar to the batch code blocks at P&G). He was pretty enthusiastic about it and said they print a lot of wedding invitations (hint hint??).

We visited the apothecary guy in his pharmacy where he showed us how they used to make pills the old fashioned way. He also demonstrated blood letting on me - which took me a few moments before realized the leeches we fake.

In the natural history museum, we immediately sat in on a curator's presentation of the polar bear, where he was asking for volunteers to try some polar bear blubber for $1. I volunteered Kevin, who seriously considered it, before the curator admitted he was just kidding - it was Crisco on a bag. In the lower levels of the museum, they had replicas of a cave and an ice cave which were pretty cool and realistic. We had almost too much fun taking pictures - since no one was there. Here's a selection:

Pin is the modern relative of the Pikaea

The natural order of species to save from extinction. We thought I would get most important, and pin was least important. Luckily for Pin, the answer was "everyone is important."

4pm - Afterwards, we headed back to Loveland to get some of Cincinnati's famous Skyline Chili. I was skeptical about it, since I've heard mixed reviews from P&G people and have never had chili. I ordered their classic 3-way Chili and Spaghetti (spaghetti with chili and shredded cheddar cheese). Kevin got the 5-way (+ onions and red beans) and Pin got the burrito - vegetarian style. (see "27. Meals") Turns out I LOVE it, and I ordered another to go.

5pm - Next we went to Graeter's ice cream, where kevin treated us to some great ice cream. Me and pin shared cookies and cream and blueberry pie (see "27. Meals")

5:30pm - We went back to Kevin's place. While we were planning on going to see the largest Jesus statue (in Monroe, OH), we opted for a round of MarioParty. I basically killed Kevin and Pin (I had 7 stars, they had 3 and 2 respectively). Then we had to rush to pack our stuff back in the car as we were behind schedule to leave for Chicago.

7:45pm - We finally leave Kevin's place - definitely sad, as his condo is SO nice, and it was a fun time! Resolved to be more proactive about filling up on cheap gas, we filled up twice on the way to Chicago.

10:45Central/11:45EST - Time zone change! I found out my car changes its time automatically. Though we gained an hour, we were still and hr late getting into Chicago.

12:30am - Finally get to Jing's apartment in Chicago. It's a beautiful apartment and we're happy about the huge couch we are sleeping on. Though we are only in Chicago for a short time - we are pretty sure we won't be waking up for breakfast...

Thanks to Kevin again for showing us around Cincinnati and feeding us so well! And to Jing, for staying up late to meet us!

Distance Traveled: 319mi
Total distance traveled: 970mi
$ Spent: $42.00
Total $: $167.63