Today we had a fairly short rides on either end of the day. In between, we had a couple of very lovely visit with friends in the Chicago area. We started off the day with a very full, nice breakfast, including make your own waffles, cereal, hard-boiled eggs, bagels… Indeed, a real breakfast. Most hotels so far had had very minimal plastic wrapped pastries and fruit. Obviously, Covid restrictions vary state by state.
We met Laura, Dick’s friend for over 45 years, at a lovely Chicago park called Contigy, on the grounds that were previously the estate of Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The park was beautifully landscaped with great gardens. The grounds, including a golf course, museum, and gardens, are still privately owned and open to the public for just a parking fee. The museum, which we had visited on a previous visit, was dedicated to the First Army Division and told its history from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War, especially its most famous battle during WWI. No time for a return visit to the museum today, but after having a lovely lunch with Laura, we had the opportunity to stroll through the beautiful gardens and take photos of many beautiful flowering plants.
Patti was enchanted with the couches that were put in strategic places around the park, inviting people to take their photos of them.
The time with Laura was filled with lots of good sharing stories and inquiring about family members. Patti and Laura exchanged experiences in being therapists in times of Covid. Then it was time to move across the city to spend time with our friend, Mike.
Chicago always has lots of traffic, which made the drive not so fun. But, we were glad to pull up to Mike’s city apartment and invite him into our car. He had recently had surgery on his hip and so we were glad to pick him up and put him and his walker in our car and head off to spend time at a local ice cream parlor. We had great ice cream and conversation for the afternoon. Again, many wonderful stories to be told, and areas in our lives to get caught up on. All too soon it was time to drop Mike off and head down the road.
The hardest part of leaving the city was getting to the freeway. We went through terrible traffic, and were relieved once we got on I-90 headed west. Little over an hour down the road brought us to Rockford, Illinois further night. Another wonderful day of visiting.
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