It seems like years ago that we went on vacation. It was just over a month, but the relativity of time seems to be elastic. Time seems to stand still at traffic lights and accelerate on hikes in the mountains.
I’ll attempt to catch up.
Chicago
We left Nairobi on a cool night in the second week of July, though the start didn’t go as planned. The night we were to leave, we received a message stating that our flight was cancelled. After considerable confusion over the course of several hours, it was eventually confirmed that we would be put on a flight the following night. After all the stress, we woke up the next day to a day that we didn’t expect. I was already officially on vacation so we pivoted towards catching up on things in Nairobi, hoping we would indeed fly out that evening. And thankfully we did.
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| Charles de Gaulle airport with the Eiffel Tower off in the distance |
Our plan was to arrive in Chicago, which is not something that we ordinarily do. O’Hare Airport was my arrival airport during the time that my brother lived there a few decades ago, but I have rarely passed through there since. The change this time was prompted by the fact that we would be ending up in Michigan prior to traveling to Idaho. Chicago made the most sense to be our hub this time, both logistically and financially.
We arrived early evening and the plan was to stay in a hotel near the airport before making the four and a half-hour drive to southern Indiana the following day. Heavily jet lagged, we ordered pizza, hopped in the jacuzzi during a massive storm, watched some bad American TV, and stayed awake as long as we could before falling into a deep sleep.
After a casual start the following day and lunch on the road, we were in Scottsburg by tea time.
Indiana
We would have a shorter time in Indiana given that we would be spending a few days at a vacation house in Michigan. After settling in, we smoothly moved into our routines of hanging out with family, exercising/going for walks, etc.
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| working off the food we are eating |
We often go to a small theater across the river from Louisville. Senior citizens tend to make up a large percentage of their ticket holders, though it can draw a significant number of families depending on the production. We saw “Matilda”, a play that my daughters are familiar with having seen the two different movie versions more than once.
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| the kids' table really doesn't have kids anymore |
The evening begins with a buffet dinner followed by some great (albeit large) dessert options. The plays primarily make use of local talent and I’m always impressed by the quality of the productions. And interestingly, the cast also waits tables prior to the performance, during intermission and after the show. I think if I lived in the area, I would be a season ticket holder. It must mean I’m inching closer to the senior demographic.
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| birthday season |
Of the four people in our family, three of our birthdays fall within 23 days of each other, all while we are usually traveling. I'm usually a failure and making these events sufficiently special. The girls would much rather be in Nairobi celebrating with their friends. The problem is, even if we were to stay in Nairobi over the vacation, almost all of their friends would likely be traveling anyway. But we do the best we can.
Often when we are in southern Indiana this time of year, we are subjected to the usual hot, muggy weather. Though we did have some of that, we did have slightly cooler temperatures and a considerable amount of rain. In fact, many roads flooded and we had a few rather stressful sections where the water was up to the doors of the car.
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After about ten days, we headed north towards Michigan. My sister’s boyfriend kindly invited the family to spend a few days at his family house located on the shores of Lake Michigan. On the way, we passed through South Bend to visit a chocolate factory and an adjacent dinosaur museum. I won’t go into the reason we stopped nor the connection between dinosaurs and chocolate, but I was glad we took the time for the visit. It was much more impressive than I would have guessed.
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| dinosaurs & chocolate...and yes, they had chocolate dinosaurs |
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