Michigan and Chicago and Maander goes to the ICU

Alex and I had a really good week, despite some minor cold weather.  We had a great time with old friends, new friends and family.  We have gone from Cleveland, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois. It was truly a wonderful week. Then it ended very badly....  After leaving Chicago we had a really good feeling, like we were on our way home and stuff. Our plan was to put in a really long day of driving to Des Moines, Iowa, but plans don’t always turn out the way you’d like them.  I’m writing this blog as we are waiting for a tow truck on the side of the road of interstate 88………………..Why???????? I don’t know, but the van completely lost power when we were driving at about 65mph on a busy hwy in the middle of farmland.  That doesn't sound good... Now all I can think about is what the heck we are going to do. We found a car mechanic shop not too far away, but I have no idea what kind of financial damage it will cost or if it will be worth it to even get it fixed. Thinking about all this negative stuff about the van is making me forget about what a great time I had in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Chicago.  I’ll try to remember as much as possible.

Alex’s birthday was on May 14^th and we were in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the time. Ann Arbor is a really neat town. It’s a college town, home of University of Michigan. There are lots of unique restaurants and shops.  We had a great breakfast at a popular local favorite restaurant in the downtown area.  After that we walked around the town, browsed through a farmer’s market and little shops along the way.  The Farmer's Market had a ton of raw and vegan stands. it reminded me of being in California again.  We drove through the University campus and it seemed like a really nice college. The weather wasn’t so nice, it was cold and damp.  Ann Arbor is near Lansing, Michigan, which is the state capital of Michigan. So, we stopped by there and took a few pictures of the capital. The building was closed because it was Saturday, but the outside still was nice to see. 

State Capital of Michigan

We made our way to Grand Rapids, Michigan and stayed with one of our friend’s parents for two days.  His parents are Dave and Linda Eastway.  We had never met them before, but as soon as we arrived they made us feel so welcome like we were a part of their own family.  I wasn’t really expecting too much out of the city of Grand Rapids, but I was quite surprised.   Grand Rapids is one of those cities that has a small town feel to it, but it’s not a very small town. The Eastway’s gave us tons of tips on where to go and places to see.  We went to The Fredrick Meijer Botanical Gardens, had a great lunch in Downtown Grand Rapids and just walked around the city for a few hours.  The sun was out and spring flowers were in bloom.  Many of the old homes in Grand Rapids are Victorian style, which reminded me of Downtown Sacramento.  

Cool looking Cactus at the Botanical Gardens

Beautiful orchid flower. I had never seen one so blue.

Venus fly trap

Another type of insect eating plant

More beautiful orchids

A bearded man standing next to a bearded palm tree

Pretty tulips

Alex's wannabe Grandparents

Now that's a huge horse!

The botanical garden had a really cool sculpture park. This is a neuron.

The poet

We left Grand Rapids and stopped for lunch in Holland, Michigan.  We actually stopped in Holland because one of our old pastors from an old church Alex and I went to lives in Holland now. Well, two of our old pastors live there now, Doug Swink and Steve Rimes. We were able to see both of them, but only had lunch with Doug. It was neat to stop and catch up on life. 

After Lunch we continued on to Chicago to stay with some of Alex’s family that he hadn’t seen since he was about 4 years old.  We stayed with them for two days. That’s actually where we left from today.  His family lives in Willmette, Illinois, which is a little north of Chicago. They live in an absolutely beautiful home.  I would say the area they live in is kind of like the Land Park area of Sacramento; beautiful old big homes with nice trees and well kept yards. Each house has it's own unique style.  His cousin, Mary Beth and John, were so generous, kind and hospitable.  They bought us tickets for the commuter train into Chicago, helped us plan out our itinerary while in Chicago, introduced us to the best Chicago-style pizza ever, and just really made us feel comfortable and at home.   Our time in Chicago was short, but  well worth our while.

The only Baha'i Temple in North America. I'm not exactly sure what they believe, but it was a beautiful building

While in the city of Chicago we went to the Art institute and enjoyed lots of fine art. We didn’t get through the whole thing, but we spent a good three hours in it. After seeing so many paintings it can be exhausting.

At the Chicago Art Institute

I really liked this one. It was my favorite

I liked this one too

The downtown area of Chicago is really beautiful. All the buildings are made of brick or stone because after the Great Chicago Fire a law was put into effect that all new buildings had to be made of brick and not wood.  The fire destroyed 60% of the city. So, I can understand why it would be important to build with brick rather than wood. 

This was one of the buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire

The River in the middle of the city

Chicago Cityscape

Sears Tower. We didn't go to the top. There wouldn't have been anything to see.

There was a lite drizzle while in the city

This was in the Sculpture Park in Chicago. We had a ton of fun with it.

It's my twin.

Love:)

It’s actually pretty crazy how the Great Chicago Fire started.  You would be shocked. I was going to make up some elaborate story, but I’m really not in the mood since having the car problems, so I’ll just tell you straight up. A guy was milking a cow and the cow kicked over a candle, which in turn caught fire to the whole city destroying 60% of it. Pretty crazy!!! That’s actually the real story. Well, at least the story I heard.

A 100% Alpaca hat. I think it's a good look.

Well, we are still waiting for the tow truck to pick us up. Blah… I can’t post this blog at the moment because we don’t have any Internet reception. So, by the time I post this we will have already been towed.

We were towed. Maander(our van) went to the ICU. It was really hard physically and emotionally for both Maander and us. Read the next blog to find out more details........