What a state to be in!

It’s Saturday! Treat time! Both the kids have been working really well at doing their jobs on their responsibility chart. If they do them all we go out and do something nice as a family. This works well for three reasons. 1) I want them to understand the rewards hard work can achieve. 2) It gets them to help with the upkeep of the house. 3) We are not stuck indoors all day, climbing the walls. We moved a long way to get here so the last thing I want to do is spend all day indoors and not see anything.

Last weekend I mentioned that we could go to Lincoln Zoo in Chicago. I have only been to Chicago on plane transfers and was keen to see some of the sights of the windy city. The bad news is that earlier in the week the car engine overheated again. I was not going to risk breaking down at the side of the road especially on such a long journey so I decided to rent a car. This was a full size beast of a car with all the gadgets and gismos like, wheels, brakes and everything!

Off we went with pack lunches, a change of clothes and a snow shovel in the back. The thing was that there wasn’t much to see. At this point I wouldn’t say it was foggy but it was mistier in the distance, so there wasn’t much to see. We carried on following the directions of the SatNav until we go to the outskirts of the city. The freeway was closed and there was a diversion taking us another way. We followed this road until we got to a set or train tracks that crossed the road. A train with about 40 fright carriages was right stood completely still in front of us. Kama is telling us we are not going this way!



We knew our destination was on the shore of Lake Michigan so we kept on heading north. At this point I was really glad we were not in our old Kia as this was defiantly not the place to break down. The only way I can describe this place is the dark side of Gotham city. It was very industrial looking with oil refineries and power stations either side of us. Chimneys with steam and smoke coming out of them as far as the eye can see.

We eventually got back on the “skyway” freeway that goes pretty much directly to the Zoo. Once we park up the Zoo was great! It was an open “free” zoo that was more like a park that had joggers running through it.

(When I say “free” I mean you didn’t have to pay to get in. The animals were still in cages you understand). There were very interesting exhibits and you can get very close to the animals.

Before we knew it, the sun had gone down and it was time to start our long journey home. The SatNav ran out of batteries on the way up the Chicago so all we had were the maps on our mobile phones.

Before making our way home I thought it would be nice to have a leisurely cruise around the city to see some of the sights, such as sears tower and… ok that is all I could think of, but there were tall buildings and twinkly lights and I was in a big American city… Just go with will you!

So on we went… “look at the tall buildings kids”… Beep! “hang on, let me let this taxi get past…. Right… on we go, look at the twinkly lights kids with the …” Beep! … “sorry kids it’s another taxi trying to get past.. right then… over that side there is a…” beep beep” oh for goodness sake!” Sod this, let’s get out of here. I carry on down a stretch of road past trump towers and see some horse drawn carriages. I slow down to get past them. BBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPP! Comes the sound of the taxi driver behind me. He then comes around me, cutting both me and 3 horses up! These guys are crazy!

We find the skyway again and go on our merry way when I hear a little voice from the back seat “I need a wee wee”. The timing on this couldn’t be better. On one hand I had just spent an hour telling Zack the importance of letting us know when you need to go so we can do something about it, and on the other, I am steaming along a very fast road that I can only describe as spaghetti junction on drugs. If you make a wrong turn here and miss your exit it could take you an additional 30 miles to correct your mistake!

Its dark, I’m going with the fast flow of traffic…. My boy needs to pee…I see a slip road to McDonalds… I see my chance… I take it! The only problem is the slip road went straight past the golden arches of McDonalds and kept on going. We finally got off and pulled into a gas station that had a little shop type thing next to it. Yes, you had guessed it, I had made a wrong turning into the hood.

I suddenly became very aware that I was driving a very new car in a very poor neighborhood. I didn’t know whether to worry about Zack’s wet pants or mine! I asked Sarah and Katie to stay in the car… and keep the doors locked. Zack and I go looking for the toilet… that turns out didn’t exist. Nothing a pee behind the dumpsters didn’t cure.

Needles we were happy to finally get back on the interstate highway back to Indiana. Happy until the fog crept in. Driving 140miles in 10 meter visibility fog is exhausting!

The car goes back tomorrow!