Day 3, Chicago to Michigan...

Thursday, April 3rd, we enjoyed our drive across Iowa. In Galena, we learned that Ulysses S. Grant once lived there. We crossed the Mississippi River again. This was the third time I remembered crossing it. The first two were getting into and then out of St. Louis. Somewhere else we crossed it and I could not remember where that was. I am guessing it was to get into Iowa. Then we hit the toll roads and the traffic that is Chicago. We are not a fan of traffic like that at all.  

We found the parking garage Hayden told us about and secured our parking spot for the afternoon. Then we went in search of Hayden's apartment. The address indicated it should be close. The parking attendant could see us trying to figure it out and he came out to help us. He assured us it was across the street. We found the building and a key pad to buzz an apartment. However, I didn't have Hayden's apartment number. I tried to call Hayden to tell him we had arrived. The call went to voice mail and there was no room in his mailbox. After a could of attempts at this, I then tried to send him a text message to come and retrieve us. It was a very cold day for us. Claude went back to the car for his sweatshirt and I sent Andie a text asking for Hayden's actual apartment number so we could ring his room. She gave us a three digit number but all these numbers were four digits and not of them started or ended with the three numbers Andie gave us. Finally she was able to get in touch with Hayden and he assured her he would be right down. Claude got back, Hayden came down, and we were all ready for our afternoon together. 

Hayden took us up the back way to his apartment. We looked through the bag of treasures he had secured from his Poland trip last November. Then we set out to find Mr. Beef for a bite to eat. We went to the platform for the L that is near Hayden's apartment. Hayden had our stop picked out to get to Mr. Beef. Between the time we got on the L and the time we got to the Chicago Street platform, Mr. Beef had closed. Time for a second option. Hayden set to work with his cellphone to find us another option. He found an Italian place named Giordano's that specializes in deep dish pizza. Yum. We only had to walk a half mile to get there!! We did and were quite happy to be seated to rest our weary bones. The meal was delicious. I got the Italian sandwich and Claude got a personal deep dish pizza and we shared with each other so we could have a taste of their menu. It was a very good meal. There were leftovers which Hayden would take home.

Time to find the Bean. I assured Hayden that Grampa and I didn't want to walk that far again. He pulled out his cellphone and found a bus that would take us across the street. This is where I became a fan of the public transportation for this part of Chicago. When we first rode the L that day, we purchased an all day pass for Claude and me at $5 each. We would use that same pass to ride the L, the bus, and the underground rail that day. Very nice. 

We got across the street to Millennium Park where the Bean is located. 

The first feature we saw was the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. It is a beautiful venue for concerts and things of that nature. 

Then we walked to the Bean. It is really named Cloud Gate but, because of its shape, people call it The Bean. Hayden took a selfie of us. I would leave the boys and walk all the way around and under it. My reflection is in the pictures on The Bean's shiny surface. I loved walking under and looking up in the center. It is a really amazing piece of architecture. 

Hayden also wanted us to see Crown Fountain. The fountains were not going but there were two walls that looked to be made of bricks facing each other. We stood for just a minute and then pictures of faces appeared in each brick wall. Turned out they were not really bricks. They were screens made to look like bricks until the projector inside displayed these pictures. This was very cool. Happy Hayden took us there. 

When we visited Chicago a year ago, Hayden took us to the Loop Campus of De Paul University. He has classes there but he also sponsors a gaming club. The university was making a gaming room for these types of things. It was under construction when we first visited. It was not complete and we went to see the finished product. It was full of young people enjoying this part of there downtown campus.

Time for dessert. Hayden found a donut shop named "Firecakes" that specializes in craft donuts. Hayden would have two sprinkled donuts with strawberry ice cream between them. Claude got two and shared parts of both of his with the resident bird population. The little tiny brown birds are hard to see as they ate mostly from the planter and they matched the soil in the planter. One of the pigeons had a lame leg and was very grateful for this meal. To get to Firecakes we rode the underground rail. 

Time to head back to campus. We would take the underground rail to get back to De Paul in Lincoln Park. It was packed as it was now going home time. We got to the apartment and there was a protest of something going on up the block from the apartment. There was a police presence. We dropped Hayden off so he could put his left overs away. Then he came out and joined us outside the parking garage and we found the Buick. 

Our next thing to accomplish was a visit to Target with Hayden. Time to replenish his food stash at his apartment and make sure he has plenty of toiletries. We were surprised to find Buffalo Trace shampoo for men on the shelf!! I want to record how careful Hayden was with his shopping. I was greatly impressed with him. He was careful not to purchase that which he did not really need yet. He didn't purchase chips or cold cereal as they are not nutritious enough. I tried to get him to buy some fresh strawberries. He looked at them and said they were too expensive. I told him they were the organic ones and would always be more expensive but if we looked at the other end of the counter there were strawberries that were not organic and they were much more affordable. He was happy to get them. It was a good shopping trip and our grandson was not ready to go a little longer in his apartment. 

We dropped Hayden off in front of his apartment and we headed to the Versey Hotel for the night. It took us a while to get into the parking garage a couple of blocks away but we finally found the entrance. This is one of our big frustrations with Chicago. No parking. This was the most expensive hotel for our trip. No little frig like all the less expensive hotels. We have to walk two blocks to get to and from the closest parking. It is not a warm and friendly hotel feel. It is Chicago. 

We had a great visit with Hayden and were very happy he had time to spend with us. He is a great host.

Friday, April 4th, we would leave the Versey Hotel in Chicago and make our way to Muskegon, Michigan. This time Google Maps had us drive along Lake Michigan to get to I-90. It was a lovely drive. 

Then it was back up on the Interstate. Through a time zone change back to Eastern Time Zone. Then to Port City Automotive for hugs with Nissa. Todd had the day off.

Once we checked in with our daughter, we stopped at Family Dollar and picked up plastic Easter eggs, bags of candy, and little bags to be used as Easter baskets. This would be for Saturday's activity with the great grandmonsters. 

We next stopped at the Roper home for a brief visit. The great grands at this home were very happy to see us. We started making friends with Kennedi. She was very little the last time we saw her and she really doesn't remember us. The other three did remember us. 

I made a couple of bibs for Rosie. She is Lexie's daughter. Lexie is Katelyn really good friend.

We left the Roper's and went to Lee's Fried Chicken to pick up dinner for Nissa, Todd, Claude and me. This seems to be a tradition now. It is a good tradition. 

We drove to Holton and unloaded the things we would need for the next several days. We would stay with the Tyler's through Monday night.