Our second stop is Chicago where we’ll spend two nights. Chicago was the destination of the first road trip we made with Duncan when he was nine months old. We stayed very near the riverwalk both times and found that Chicago is really a dog friendly city. However, before I get ahead of myself I need to mention that on before we made our way to Chicago, we made a stop (actually went a little bit backward to get to it) at the Cave of the Mounds, in Dane County, WI. I would recommend this to anyone that is interested in spelunking in a stand up and walk through sort of way. The cave was accidentally found in 1939 (their website has all the background) and opened to the public in 1940. Since then the cave has been very highly studied by the University of Wisconsin and visited by old and young alike. I took my Canon DSLR with 30:1 zoom and took a bunch of pictures that paled in comparison to the photos Dan took with his iPhone 13. While his pictures are pretty good, I would say that the pictures do not quite compare to actually being in the cave.
After this, we got back on the road and had our first fast food stop. Fast food is something we’re destined to do on a road trip so we’re trying to limit it and make smart choices. I suggested Culver’s as I was thinking of their salted caramel ice cream I’d seen on a previous sign somewhere. Just my luck, it turned out that the flavor of today was mint chocolate chip (so I skipped the ice cream) and they made several mistakes on our order, which was disappointing. Ah well. What they do to you in the drive through.
As we were beginning to enter Chicago I have to admit that I was thinking I would never live in Chicago because of the traffic. When I mentioned the traffic to Dan, who was driving at the time, he said he loves traffic because it reminds him of a bustling city. I have to admit, that was a perspective I hadn’t thought of. I realized that to someone who grew up in a metro area of sixteen million people with the worst traffic I had ever seen, Chicago traffic probably wasn’t a deal breaker.
After two river walks and a pick-up dinner from Land & Lake Kitchen next to our hotel, we were ready to rest up for our second day in Chicago.
Tune in soon for the next leg of this road trip. If you want to see the summary page, check it out here.
