Mummy Thoughts

Day 4 & 5 Milwaukee, Zion, Chicago, Columbus, IN.

Wow, it seems like a worldwind trip.  We left Oakland nice and early 9:30am and headed out to Milwaukee.  So far that is the earliest.  I guess after breakfast and cleaning and putting the tent away.  So far the kids said that they don’t like living out of a van.  They will love the apartment when we get to GA.

We got to Milwaukee at lunch time.  My first experience with the locals was when we were parking our van.  Some guy came up to me and told me a sob story about being flooded out and he and his eight children were tired of walking and needed bus money to get to the salvation army shelter.  It was such a good story, I gave him enough for one bus fare.  Modern methods of begging, can’t argue with the creativity!

We had our WI cheese and crackers for lunch right by the water, at the museum of art.  The kids were so happy to run around.   After which we drove along the coast line.  It was just so nice.  What a treat for the local residents to have a beach in town.

We took the senic drive along the coast from there to Zion, to Illinois State Park.  What a drive.  Kyle and I were enjoying the sites but the kids were not too impressed.  We found a site right by the lake and while Kyle was setting up the tent, the kids and myself went to play by the water.  Unfortunately for them it was a short play as we had to go out to buy dinner.  We had bagel pizzas, on the fire.  It didn’t turn out too good as it got burnt on the bottom.  Good thing the bagels were thick so we could cut off the black stuff.  Kyle kept telling the kids, it is good for their breath.

After dinner we went to the beach to play but it got so dark so fast and then we still had to get ready for bed, the mosquitoes had a good meal that night.  Natalie is covered in so many red spots.

Day 5,

After having a quick breakfast and cleaning up,  unfortunately we missed the sun rise.  Just so hard to drag ourselves out of bed, plus I figured the kids needed their sleep, we headed out to the beach.  Natalie watched daddy go for a swim so she decided that she would too.  It was super cold.  I think about 15C.  He had a wet suit on.  She changed her mind really quick and swam back in.  Good for her for doing it though!   I swam only for about 5 minutes.  Yes the water was terribly cold and not enjoyable.  Unfortunately for me I swallowed some water and mentally did not feel good.  Yuck!  It is lake Michigan after all!!

After playing and getting cleaned up, it was 11am, we are getting later and later by the day.  Just enjoying nature.  Everyone picked a bunch of rocks from the beach and now the van is getting heavier.

After Zion, we headed towards Chicago and did the drive-by tourist thing.  Drove down Millennium Mile, aka Michigan Ave and then along the coast then then south again toward IN.  It was a bit of a crazy drive through Chicago but the kids enjoyed taking in the sights.  Didn’t have lunch till about 2ish.  That goodness we have lots of snacks.

We arrived at Columbus, In at about 7:30pm, unfortunately we forgot the time change and it was actually 8:30pm.  The pool was closed so we were a little disappointed.  We set up camp and then just had fruit and yogurt for dinner, simple.  Good thing the mosquitoes were not bad so it was tolerable.  Dinner and straight to bed for everyone.

Our bedtime music was frog croaking, I guess maybe that is why there were not too many mosquitoes.  Natalie said that she was scared until we explained what it was.  There were tons of fireflies too so that was a sight to see.  Actually there was one on our tent this morning so we were all able to look at it up close.  The back of it looked like a sunflower seed.

So with the time change, everyone was up at 8am instead of 7am.  So here we are updating our blogs before we head out on the road again.  The kids are at the playground and as soon as we are done, we will go for a quick swim and be on the road again to Nashville.  Opps, I better get a camp site for tonight!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.