Adam's Blog July 7th, Day 2!

Day break on the second day. We wake up and start moving. We get everything all packed and started moving out to the van. The plan was to get to Chicago for breakfast at a famous fixture on the route and head to a donut shop that we heard about on Sirens, comedy TV show. Before we get in the van we are already getting asked, when is breakfast. Keeping in mind that we are an hour out of Chicago, this was an interesting debate. We finally get pulling into Chicago along Lakeshore Drive and are welcomed by some great views of Lake Michigan and the city skyline, Sears Tower and all. As we get near the start of the route there is a beautiful fountain that we pass but this is where we get the first clues that something isn't right. Fences are up everywhere around the park and we are supposed to drive through the park to the beginning of the route. No big deal, we'll just drive around the block. Holy cow there is a lot of traffic here. Worse than Boston actually, very unexpected. Then we see the signs "Chicago Free Festival". Well, that explains that. Things are terrible downtown for vehicle and pedestrian traffic. We miss the turn that's the official start of the route because of all of the people on the road so we decide that the breakfast place isn't far out and there's some protests in the back of the van so let's just get breakfast and make our next plan from there. We pull in to the parking area that was suggested by Lou Mitchell's website and it is pretty full. Only like 4 or 5 spots but they would all be parking someone in and there are big signs in the lot that cars that park in other cars will be towed. Great. Then a very helpful man comes out from a little booth and explains things and get parked. Everyone out and around the block for some food, finally.

Lou Mitchell's was pretty good food. Abby had pancakes with Milk Duds between them which was cool and Gideon had Mitchell Mouse pancakes with Milk Duds for eyes. This place is keeping the Milk Duds people in business! It also has a lot of cute Route 66 decor and a general older feel which is nice and welcome. Then we get the bill. Wow, that was an expensive breakfast all things considered. Still, worth the price for the atmosphere and as a celebration that we were finally starting the trip. We decide that we are going to go back to the place with the sign that marks the start of the route and give it one more short to see if we can get a picture of it. As we get close it seems obvious that we are not going to get a parking spot for this so I stop at the corner before the sign and let Courtney out to get the picture. As I pull around the corner I see Courtney smiling and pointing. I think she's just happy to see the sign so I head on by and go around the block. I get a call on my phone. Apparently the smiling and pointing was because there was a parking spot right in front of the sign. So I go as quickly as I can around the block. Remember again that there are a ton of people around because of the festival so this was not a speedy thing. I finally get around the block fully expecting to not see anything there. As I pull up, the spot is still there! Awesome! So I get ready to pull in and parallel park this van when the van next to me pulls out as well and I get a huge space to park in! This is even better. We park, get some pictures and head out to the donut shop. Getting to the donut shop was actually pretty easy but it was in an area I would have never expected, a quasi-industrial park. We find a parking spot and head in. There are a good amount of donuts to choose from and you can tell that this place was a by hand kind of joint because the selection wasn't expansive but what was there looked yummy. We grabbed four donuts and headed on our way. Enter the first argument about directions and by noon we were heading out of the city.

Next stop was Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. What a beautiful place with lots of flowers and open space. We park to go on a hike and I manage to pop part of the fender out on the stop. Oh well, I pop it back in and away we go on our hike. We get to see a few old ammunition bunkers on the walk and a lot of pretty flowers. Away we go again. We have the donuts for a snack as we leave. I had a white chocolate passion fruit. Not what I had expected from the looks of it. The cream inside was white chocolate and the icing was passion fruit, I had expected the inverse. Very good though. I convince Courtney to try the blueberry lemon that she kept insisting I should eat. She was in love, that was now her snack.

We pull into Springfield IL to stop for the night but first I have to try a Cozy Dog. This is the place that invented the corn dog as we know it today. I head in and order one from a woman at the counter when I realize that the guy at the grill cooking is actually the original owner's son. I recognize him from a video I had watched about the joint online when I added the site to the list of places we had to go. How cool! The decor is all Route 66 as well and there's a little curio stand in the corner. I get my corn dog and we head to Steak and Shake for the rest of the family. Two more eateries that we wanted to visit done! The corn dog is great. I highly recommend stopping by if you are in the area ever. Now it's the end of the day and we head in to the hotel room. Here we realize that we can't find blankie. I head out to the car to look for it while Courtney tries making some calls. I am standing there in the parking lot like a mad man, pulling out suitcases and rifling through them. I practically completely unpack the van in the parking lot, no luck. I head back in and Courtney informs me that they found it at the previous hotel, now we need to figure out how to get it back. Abby's immediate answer, "Let's just drive back and get it". No dice kid. She is very brave about it through and gets throught he night without her blanket.

Previous Day! Next Day!