Hey Team!!
So after demands from the parentals wanting "MORE BLOBS!" i've finally succumb to the idea that i will have to catch you up on everything that has happened over the last two weeks.
Apologies for the long break.. however as Diana keeps pointing out, we're in the South now and to fit in you just gotta be extra lazy. Personally i think we've done a pretty good job so far!
So way back two weeks ago saw us leaving Boston on a cool morning with bright sunny skies. We were on our way to Chicago. Boston to Chicago in one day would have been crazy, so we had booked ourselves a room at a little town off the highway called Brookville which was pretty much exactly half way between Boston and Chicago. It should have been an easy (but long) drive along the highway.. alas no.. Mother Nature had other plans. After commenting on how lovely the day was (and forgetting to then touch wood) it soon turned dark and grey.. and then came the snow.. no wait i take that back.. not snow.. blizzard!
For our first real day driving on the wrong side of the road it sure was an experience. The slow moving traffic probably added about an extra hour and a half to our already long enough drive and little incident involving a sliding truck in front and the uselessness of breaks on ice proved to us how easy it is to have a minor bingle. However all was safe and well in the end and we finally made it to Brookville where we chose to have a vending machine dinner before well deserved sleep.
We arose early to grab our free brekky before venturing to the car and thanking those Hertz gods for the snow scraper they provided in the back seat of the car. After clearing thick snow from every inch of the car and making a stop at every Truckers Stop we could see in search of a MP3 jack (the three cheap CDs we bought in Boston got REAL annoying after about 6 hours of straight driving) we were finally back on the snowy/blizzardy road.. next stop Chicago!
We got in to Chicago just before night fall. The first thing you notice driving in to Chicago is just how incredibly industrial it is. Miles and miles of nothing but train tracks, power poles and factories blaring out something dirty in to the ozone. Driving closer to the city i flippantly commented on how strikingly similar Chicago seemed to look to Gotham in the latest Batman movie.. that comment would seem less flippant in the hour to come.
As we made our way though the maze that is the Chicago road system our trust GPS (dubbed Homer) decided Chicago wasn't it's favorite place and dropped out.. so.. left to nothing but my instincts i told Nick "Just go straight" to which Nick replied "It says 'local traffic only' and there's construction stuff" ... "We're local now.. drive on!"
Ooops.
Turns out we took a little scenic tour through what actually was part of the set for the latest Batman film 'The Dark Knight'. After a few miles of industrial road works and strange looks from workmen in hard hats we finally navigated our way back to above ground roads and eventually to our hotel!
Unfortunately Chicago didn't get the treatment it properly deserved. After two full days of driving and only two nights in Chicago we saw as much of the central city area we could but we were weary travelers. I did however get to see 'Wicked' on tour in Chicago at the Cadillac Theatre. It was lovely to notice the small differences to the Australian production and both Jackie Burns and Chandra Lee Schwartz (Elphie & Glinda respectively) were standout performers.
Another early night saw us preparing to return to Frosty for our longest journey for the week.. a 9 hour non stop drive to Memphis Town where our adoring host, Diana was awaiting us!!
Memphis blog to come..
Love & Kisses & Hugs & Puppes
xx
