Author: thetinyhousetravelers

One thing that I am still getting used to with our traveling is that it isn’t cold and snowy for Christmas. Having grown up in Central Ohio, many of the Christmases I remember from my childhood included snow on the ground and bundling up in our heavy coats and boots as we went from house to house to visit family members. Once you started to feel that icy, crisp air you knew that Christmas was just around the corner. I still haven’t adapted to being able to wear shorts at Christmastime so it takes a little bit of extra effort to get me into the Christmas Spirit. Thankfully, we were able to find a lot of fun experiences to make us feel all holly jolly.

Our first Christmas activity was the Christmas Parade in nearby Fairhope, Alabama. The whole town was decorated and there were a good number of floats in the parade ranging from local businesses to scout troops to the high school marching band. They threw candy, toys, peanuts and beads so it was kind of like a Christmas themed Mardi Gras parade. Santa even made an appearance at the end riding on top of a giant firetruck. The parade was so much fun…until I got hit in the eye by a string of beads thrown by an overeager boy scout. Temperatures were around 40 degrees which made it sting even more when the string of hard plastic beads whipped me across the eye and down my cheek. It took a little while to be able to see out of that eye and it was swollen for a few days but thankfully there was no permanent damage and we still had a fun evening.

We had also stopped for dinner and to admire a gorgeous view of Mobile Bay on the way to the parade. We watched the sun sink below the horizon and the light shimmered on the water and it really made us stop and realize just how amazing our lives are and how lucky we are to get to have these experiences.

Our next Christmas adventure was the Christmas Market. We are frequent visitors of the Farmer’s Market in Foley every Saturday morning but they also have a special nighttime market in December for Christmas shopping. The Saturday markets usually have a lot of produce vendors, butchers, bakers and more. The evening market was mostly crafters selling handmade gifts. Some of them are there for the weekly markets but some were vendors we had never seen before so it was a lot of fun to walk around and look at everything. The market itself was decorated with giant Christmas trees and members of a local choir were there singing carols. They even had a snow machine flowing fake snow for the kids (and the kids at heart) to play in.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the lights. I absolutely love walking or driving around a neighborhood to see all of the dazzling decorations. Some people in the campgrounds decorate if they are staying long-term but for the most part we don’t get to see a lot of decorations where we are staying so we usually try to find somewhere to go see lights. We got lucky and found TWO great parks this year!

The first was Graham Creek Nature Preserve in Foley. They had lights and inflatables and animatronics. We got hot chocolate and wandered the boardwalk and had a great time- and admission was just $5 per person. There were sections devoted to different Christmas favorites like The Grinch, A Christmas Story, Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney, Charlie Brown and more. They also had lots of great photo ops throughout the park and tunnels with fake snow blowing at you!

The second park was a little bit further away but definitely worth the drive. Bellingrath Gardens in Theodore, Alabama had some of the best Christmas lights displays that I have ever seen. This park consists of a historic home and 7 acres of gorgeous gardens. We did not tour the home but we did see all of the outdoor lights and it was amazing! It was like walking through a fairy tale and a winter wonderland all in one! They also had different themed sections like Under the Sea, Mardi Gras, The Twelve Days of Christmas and more. There were smore stations where you could buy the ingredients and make your own smore and Santa was there for the kids.

Our campground also happens to be near a theme park called OWA and we attended their Sugar Plum Festival. The park consists of an outdoor amusement park with a roller coaster and other rides and an indoor water park. There is also a free section that serves as their shopping and entertainment district (think Downtown Disney on a smaller scale) and that is where the festival was. There were several restaurants and a ton of specialty stores. Craft vendors were set up on the sidewalks so in addition to the regular candy shop, toy store, spice/tea shop and souvenir shops you could also check out handmade goods from various crafters and artists. We walked all around and took a ton of pictures of the decorations.

OWA also has a fun arcade and we spent a little time there, too. We played a few video games in addition to my all time favorite arcade games- skee ball and basketball. We spent $20 and were entertained for quite a long while. At the end, we gave our tickets to one of the kids that was playing there (which is one of our favorite things to do).

Thanks to some heavy rain in the forecast, we also decided to spend Christmas at home. We really enjoyed our turkey breast for Thanksgiving so we ordered another one for our Christmas lunch. We picked up some rolls from Texas Roadhouse and once again had some items to snack on throughout the day while we watched Christmas movies and exchanged gifts. And of course Harley and I rocked our matching Grinch pajamas.

We were also so excited to receive a few packages from home! My aunt Penny sent us a TON of Cheryl’s cookies (a local company from Ohio that we like) and my parents sent us a box with treats and toys for the animals and almost 2 dozen cookies from John’s favorite local bakery in our home town. My best friend also sent me gifts and the cutest Grinch card! And showing up a little late but still very much appreciated was some candy from my Grandma- I had been complaining that I couldn’t find chocolate oranges in the stores down here so she sent me some!

I think we will end this post here with a few photos of some miscellaneous Christmas shenanigans. Enjoy!

A huge part of the reason that we built a tiny house on wheels instead of buying an RV was the fact that we have so many pets. At the beginning of our tiny house journey we had SEVEN cats and a dog. Sadly, Mama Kitty passed away in December 2023 but that still leaves us with seven total pets. We realize that for any size home -it’s a lot. But going from an 1800 square foot house to a 250 square foot tiny house with so many animals was definitely an interesting experience. We absolutely love our animals, though, and could not imagine leaving them behind. So we did what any pet lover would do – we built our house with their comfort and needs in mind.

Because we love them so much and because they are such a big part of our lives, we thought it might be nice to make a post dedicated completely to our four legged family members! We have picked up some new followers in the last year or so and we thought it might be nice to reintroduce ourselves…starting with the animals. We hope that you enjoy meeting these special souls and getting to know their stories.

Our oldest cat is Pandora Belle. She was adopted in December of 2009 from the Union County Humane Society through PetSmart in Columbus, Ohio. We had just lost a cat to a freak accident and made the mistake/happy accident of going into the pet store while we were out to lunch one day. That’s when we saw this tiny little white maniac. She was named “Bell” and was in a cage with another cat named “Jingle” and was looking for a home for the upcoming holiday season. We fell in love immediately. We filled out the application and paid the fee and went home to begin the 24-hour wait period. It was hell! It felt like years but finally, the next day, we were able to go pick up our girl from PetSmart. We already had a cat named Antigone and I was really into Greek Mythology at the time so we named her Pandora. True to her name, she quickly started getting into mischief so when she needed a middle name so we could properly scold her, we just kept the Bell part that the shelter had given her. Dora is now a sassy senior who demands love – on her terms. She is quick to smack and bite if you aren’t doing what she wants and never fails to remind us when it’s time to eat or have treats. She was recently diagnosed with thyroid issues (at the age of 14) but we have finally gotten her dosage properly calibrated and she is back on track.

Lilyth is the next oldest but we aren’t really sure how old she is. We adopted her in October of 2011 and at that time, the vet estimated that she was under 10-12 months based on her teeth. It turns out, though, that some of her teeth never came in so we aren’t sure that original estimate was correct. Lil was a stray at the apartment complex that we were living in at the time. She would come to our apartment and play with our cats through the screens of the window. We would occasionally put out food for her but kept hoping that she would be taken back in by whoever owned her when it started getting colder. One day, I ran into one of the maintenance men outside and he told me that someone had moved away and left her behind. He said I should take her in. I told him that I already was at the limit for cats allowed by the complex. He told me that he wouldn’t tell anyone if I didn’t. We ended up taking her in shortly after. She is very timid but has gotten more comfortable in last year, especially since Mama Kitty passed away. She loves attention from us and will even occasionally approach guests. We also got a little surprise once we took her in – she’s a polydactyl or “mitten-toed” cat! She has three extra toes on her right front paw and two extra on her left front.

Harley is our only dog and was adopted in 2017 after years of me begging and negotiating for a pup. John finally relented and one April morning we went to Franklin County Dog Shelter in Columbus, Ohio to take a look. Harley was estimated to be around 3 or 4 years old but only weighed 39 pounds which is a terrifyingly low weight for a pit bull. She had clearly recently given birth but was surrendered without any puppies. The shelter believes that she was used for breeding and showed signs of having several litters back to back. When we decided to meet her and were waiting for them to bring her in the room to us, I remember telling John to be careful with her – we didn’t know what she had been through and we didn’t want to scare her or do anything that might make her feel threatened and bite us. She came flying into the room and into John’s face and they were nose to nose kissing each other before I knew what was happening. The 24 hour waiting period felt just as long as it had with Dora but we finally got the call that we could get her the next day. Her original name had been Stella but she didn’t seem to recognize it or respond to it so we named her Harley Quinn because that’s my favorite comic character. She had a lot of trouble at first with separation anxiety and she was completely overwhelmed when we took her outside. We don’t think she went outdoors much i(f at all) in her old life. After lots of walks and time in the yard and car trips and training, she finally settled down a little. We had to keep her crated when we weren’t home for the first year because she would eat and destroy everything she could. After she got to know us, the house, and the cats she got better. Eventually she would get her own emotional support cat and he would change everything for her. Now, she has helped raised kittens three separate times and enjoys our travels. She loves hiking and running through the woods. But her favorite past time is snuggling up on the couch or in bed with John and I and that’s good. Because we love it, too.

Our Poe Boy was the next addition to the family after Harley. We saw our neighbors outside one day sitting around the opening of a storm drain in their yard. I walked out to see what was happening and they told me there was a kitten inside. It was capable of coming out but when they would try to catch it, it just ran back in. It had been there a few days and didn’t show any interest in leaving and they were worried about it. I went on about my day but it was bothering me knowing that a little kitten was out there and may die if someone didn’t do something. I went out with some food and placed it a short distance from the pipe. The kitten would dart out for the food then see me and go back in. After a few hours, I tried a different tactic. I pulled up YouTube videos of mother cats with kittens and cranked the volume. I tossed my phone into the tall grass a good distance away. When the kitten came out to investigate, he was desperately wanting his mom and was willing to go further out of the pipe to find where the noise was coming from. I was finally able to grab it. I discovered that it was a little black boy kitten and, aside from being a little dirty and skinny he didn’t have any obvious health issues. I took him home to get him some food and care and then try to find a home for him. I showed him to Harley because she was very curious about this little squirming, mewing fluff ball. She immediately fell in love. She started bathing him and snuggling him, playing with him and even letting him try to nurse from her. We ended up bottle feeding him for a few weeks and getting him checked out at the vet. We had intended to find a home for him and we did – with us. He wanted a mommy and Harley wanted a baby and fate brought us all together. They still snuggle each other 7 years later (and Poe still tries to suckle). He has grown into a very handsome gentleman.

That brings us to Herald or “Heraldine”, as we would eventually find out. Herald was a stray that was born to one of the neighborhood cats (also likely the same mother that abandoned Poe in the drain pipe). She first showed up around Halloween of 2019 and would often come to eat on our porch with her mom. That’s when we thought she was a boy and we started calling her Harold. Harold was too wild to touch or get close to so we just went along feeding the cats and assuming we had a little boy. We always intended to trap the cats, get them spayed/neutered, then release them back to the neighborhood but it isn’t the best idea to do surgery on strays/feral cats in the winter and then COVID shut down the spring clinics. Then, on April 21st of 2020, “Harold” blessed us with a litter of kittens in one of the shelters on our back porch. We changed her name to “Herald” and gave all of the kittens “angelic” names – Raphael, Uriel, Lucifer, and Evangeline. Herald and kittens were all very small, weak and sickly and, despite our best efforts, we did lose Raphael after a few weeks. The other three babies quickly started gaining weight and, under our care and the care of nurse Harley, were soon bigger than their poor mother. We found homes for the kittens but ended up keeping our little Miss Heraldine. It took her a little while to come around to us (she would originally abandon her babies to my mercy and run and hide every time I entered the room) but now she is the sweetest, most affectionate little love bug.

Our final addition in the fall of 2020 was a two-fer. That same feral cat that gave us Poe and Herald was FINALLY about to be caught and spayed. We trapped her and took her to the clinic. When we picked her up, we were told to release her as soon as the anesthesia wore off because she was nursing kittens somewhere. We took her back home and turned her loose wondering if she would ever trust us enough to come back. But she did come back for food a few days later. And a few weeks after that, she brought 4 adorable kittens with her and would let them run around the yard while she would eat and nap on the porch. We eventually caught those kittens to get them spayed/neutered and maybe even socialized and adopted. We ended up finding homes for two early on (a tuxedo cat and a ginger) and were left with a tortoise shell (almost identical to the mother) and a black kitten – both girls. The same lady who adopted the first two reached out about getting the tortie too, but we had fallen in love with her. We named her Boots, Junior after her mother. She was the sweetest, cutest, most playful little thing we had ever seen.

The black kitten, however, remained completely wild. As feral and untamed as the day we laid eyes on her. No amount of bribery or slow gentle movements or coaxing would make her like us…or even really tolerate us. We had kept her in the house for too long to release her outdoors and besides, Boots was very attached to her sister. We ended up keeping her and naming her Pallas. If you are curious about her name just Google images of “Pallas Cats”. Our girl has the same murderous glare that her wild namesakes often display.

They have all adjusted very well to tiny house life. They spend their days lounging on special shelves and perches that we have made for them or sleeping on our bed or on the couch. We even carpeted part of a wall for them to climb! It seems crazy but they are less underfoot in the tiny house than they were in our old place.

On travel days, the cats ride in the house. We used to catch each of them and put them in carriers and put them in the cars with us but they absolutely hated it, they screamed the whole trip, and it took them days to recover. Not to mention, the act of catching them would often leave me dripping blood (mine) and urine (theirs) and absolutely exhausted. Now, they just stay in the house – usually hunkered down under the couch or in our bed- and by the time we park the house and get inside, they are out walking around and checking out the new surroundings.

And Harley and Poe are still as ridiculous as ever. They have spent the last 7 years snuggling and growing up together. Harley has cooled on him a little bit but he is still 100% obsessed with her. I can’t blame her – Poe still tries to nurse from her every single morning and as he is now 7 years old, it’s getting a little weird. But that’s fine. We are all a little bit strange and that’s what makes us work as a family.

Historically, November 2nd has been a rough day for us. I’m not sure why but this day is just a b**ch every year. Prior November 2nds had seen John lose his wedding ring in the ocean on our honeymoon, a family member being hospitalized, household mishaps like shelves collapsing and dropping a cabinet full of heavy Fiesta dishes on my face, huge power outages, and terrible traffic jams. I woke up that morning dreading our move. I actually almost asked John if we could stay an extra day and move on Sunday instead. I wish I had.

The drive started out okay but about halfway through, a small flat piece of metal came flying at my car. I called John and described it to see if it was something that had fallen off of the house and he said it may be but he wasn’t sure. When we stopped for gas, he checked under the house and said everything looked good. We continued on our way.

So, lots of people ask why we drive separately and this is why. Following behind the truck and house, I can keep an eye on things. It saved us from catching fire when the wheelbearing went bad last spring and it saved us from a blowout this time. I always keep an eye on the tires as we are driving and I noticed that one looked a little wobbly. I called John and he agreed to pull over at the next exit. Just a few minutes after I called him, he noticed a difference in the way the truck was driving. We were able to make it to the next exit and pull into an abandoned parking lot. As we got out of our vehicles and approached the tire in question on the house, we could immediately hear a hissing sound. John put his hand on the tire and it was burning hot. He said that we likely would have had a blowout if we had gone on much longer.

On a previous trip to Alabama, we had also blown a tire back in early 2023 and at that time we didn’t have a spare or a jack capable of lifting the house so we had to call roadside assistance. That was a $650 lesson that we didn’t want to repeat. This time, we were at least prepared and John was able to change the tire quickly and get us back on the road. We figure that, regardless of where that piece of metal that I saw earlier came from, he had probably run it over and it sliced the tire.

We arrived at the “campground” (it’s an asphalt parking lot at a sports complex) and pulled towards our spot…only to realize that someone was already there. It was a little early in the day (but still after check-in time) so John went to talk to them to see if perhaps they were just a little late checking out but the people said that they were there for another week.

Because this wasn’t an actual campground with camp hosts or anything, John had to spend several minutes calling around to find someone to ask what we should do. He finally got ahold of someone on the phone and we got reassigned to site #7 which was thankfully empty. Because the whole place is just a giant parking lot, the sites are pull-through so we were able to get in and settle quickly. This new spot was also close to the main building on the property which has a grassy strip down the side of it so at least we would have a nearby place to walk Harley.

We spent a little time getting situated and decided to run out for some dinner. I told John to go on outside, I was going to the restroom and then would be right out. When I walked outside he said that we had a plumbing issue and my pee had gone directly onto the ground instead of into our tank. We went on out to grab food (we hadn’t eaten since breakfast) and found a Home Depot for the materials to fix our plumbing. When we got back home, John had to take apart the toilet and plumbing lines to do the fix. This meant that we didn’t have access to a bathroom until it was fixed (there is no bathroom or shower house here- it’s literally a parking lot). He said that it should take less than an hour and I figured I could make it for that long. Three hours and a two more trips to Home Depot later and it was finally fixed. This killed a lot of time so thankfully, our bad day was over and we could start fresh the next day.

On Sunday, we opted to visit the Birmingham Zoo. It was a smaller zoo but was decent. Parking was $20 per person but parking was free so that balanced out nicely. They have a small reptile building, several bird exhibits, a big elephant yard, primates, a predators building (Pallas’ cats, Black footed cats, coyotes, and more), and a lion. While they didn’t have a huge variety of animals, the exhibits were set up so that the animals could be seen pretty well and a lot of them had been given enrichment and were pretty active.

Between the move the day before and a morning exploring the zoo, we were beat. We grabbed lunch on the way home and spent the day laying on the couch reading and watching tv. We were being extra lazy so we even did something we rarely do- we ordered pizza for dinner.

On Monday night after John got off work, we attended a cooking class at Trimtab Brewing Company. Chef Kelly from Birmingham Sushi Classes gave a great class all about rolling your own sushi. We LOVE sushi and have tried making it at home with mild success but it was great to have someone who actually knows what they are doing to give us some tips and instructions. We started class with a roll that Kelly had made then learned about sauces, rice, and what “sushi grade” really means (basically it’s just fish that has been frozen appropriately to kill any parasites). She walked us through the whole process and we rolled our own rolls at the end. John’s came out quite nicely (as does almost any food he makes) and mine came out….edible. I am quite well known for making food that tastes pretty good but will never win any beauty contests and my sushi roll was no exception.

Regardless, the class was fun and Chef Kelly was knowledgeable and hilarious. Our classmates were all super nice and made a few new friends who gave us some recommendations on things to do while we are in town. Unfortunately, on the way out of the brewery after class, I noticed John walking with a limp. Welcome back, foot problems. We spent most of the week sitting around at the house to let John rest his foot. He was able to get into a doctor on Friday and they prescribed some medication to help.

On Saturday, John was feeling a little bit better so we decided to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. We had visited Civil Rights sites in Memphis (the Lorraine Hotel) and in Jackson (the old Greyhound bus station that saw several freedom riders arrive) so we thought that visiting the museum in Birmingham would be a worthwhile experience. It had a lot of information that we had already learned at other museums but also presented a lot of information that was unique to the Birmingham area and events that happened here. We learned about Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth, a local minister who was a civil rights leader in this area and often worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Civil Rights Institute sits right across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church was organized in 1873 and was the first black church in Birmingham. The congregation gathered at other locations for about 10 years then moved to a building at the corner of 16th Street and 6th Ave North. The current church was completed. The church played a large part in the Civil Rights Movement, serving as a gathering place and a headquarters for leaders in the movement.

I took this next part from their official website ( https://www.16thstreetbaptist.org/our-history/) as I didn’t want to get any details wrong: “Sunday, September 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m., the church became known around the world when a bomb exploded, killing four young girls attending Sunday School and injuring more than 20 other members of the congregation. Later that same evening, in different parts of town, a black youth was killed by police and one was murdered by a mob of white men. It was a shocking, terrifying day in the history of Birmingham and a day that forced white leaders to further come to grips with the city’s bitter racist reputation.”

The Civil Rights Institute has a detailed exhibit about the bombing and subsequent investigation (it took 40 years for justice to be properly served) and a park across the street includes a statue of the four girls who lost their lives that day.

The Civil Rights Institute was a very somber and moving experience and we needed something to lift our spirits a little after our visit so we drove to nearby Vulcan Park to see the giant statue of the Roman god Vulcan which watches over the city. This is the largest cast iron statue in the world and is the symbol of the city of Birmingham. It was created for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri and was moved to its current perch above Birmingham in 1939. The statue underwent repairs and renovation from 1999-2004 and was coated with a durable paint to protect it from the weather. You can take an elevator to the top of the tower and walk along the observation deck around the statue but we opted not to because it was starting to rain and we had to make a mad dash for the car.

When you visit the statue, you cannot help but notice its rather…voluptuous…rear end. They actual sell “bobble heads” of the statue in the gift shop but instead of the head bouncing, the part that wobbles is it’s amble buttock. I will always regret not buying one.

On Sunday, we drove the short distance to Pelham, Alabama to Oak Mountain State Park. For just $5 per person, we got admission to the entire park which includes hiking trails, a water fall, a lake with swimming beaches, and the Alabama Wildlife Center.

The Wildlife Center was very small but makes a HUGE impact on area wildlife each year. The center takes in birds and some other animals that have been injured or are sick and works to get them healed and released back into the wild. They have some reptiles on exhibit inside the center itself and a nice exhibit with Shelby the Bald Eagle and a Eurasian Eagle Owl (I can’t remember its name) behind the building and off to the left who are permanent residents as they are unable to be released.

Off to the right, there are a few buildings that house birds that are in the rehab and release program and will hopefully soon be returned to the wild. Because they will be released, their contact with humans is limited. They are visible through very small windows that are heavily tinted so that they can’t see the people looking in at them. I managed to get a few photos but they aren’t my best work as it was really hard to take good pictures with the poor lighting and less-than-optimal viewing angles.

The Center also has a small gift shop area and a sitting area that looks out onto several bird feeders. We enjoyed sitting at the window and watching the wild birds outside come to eat.

After the Wildlife Center, we tried to hike to the waterfall – Peavine Falls. The trail isn’t long but it was super steep. (Full disclosure I think we wandered off the main path at some point which probably would have been easier) I stopped about 3/4 of the way down for fear that my knees would give out (it was basically a vertical rock climb at that point) and that I wouldn’t be able to get back out or that I would fall and get hurt. John managed to climb to the very bottom but said that it was a little underwhelming and that I didn’t miss much. We did enjoy some really pretty views along the way, though.

John was also off on Monday November 11th for veterans day but we just ended up running errands and hanging out at home. We had some bad Chinese food for lunch while we were out and we were exhausted from our activities over the weekend so we rested.

We really didn’t do anything else the rest of the week. We spent a lot of time relaxing around the house and giving John’s foot plenty of time to heal. We wanted to make sure we were reading for our 4+ hour move on Friday from Birmingham to Foley, Alabama so a few days of rest was absolutely what we needed.

We woke up on the morning of Friday October 25th and got ready to move again. No, that wasn’t a typo. While we usually make our moves on Saturdays, we were traveling on Friday this time. Move days typically go smoothly for us but we never know when we will hit a snag and be delayed. We had plans for Saturday night in Nashville so we opted to move a day early to give ourselves plenty of time. Thankfully, things did go well and we arrived on Friday afternoon with no issues. We settled into our site at the Grand Ole RV Resort in Goodlettsville, TN, grabbed some dinner, and had a relaxing evening.

On Saturday, we had a little bit of time to kill in the morning and early afternoon so we went out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel then visited the GOODfest in the Park event going on at Moss-Wright Park. The park itself was very nice with a lot of paved area, restrooms, and a historic fort-like building. There were tons of vendors set up selling all kinds of items, food trucks (and my favorite- Kona Ice), dancing and live music, and a trick or treat area for the kids. We ended up buying an art print and some cute fall earrings.

We went back to the house for a little bit in the afternoon to spend some time with Harley and to take naps.

Saturday evening, we went into downtown Nashville for a hockey game. John doesn’t miss a lot about living in Ohio but he does miss going to the Columbus Blue Jackets games. We used to be season ticket holders and go all the time so not seeing a hockey game in person in over two years had been rough for him and it just so happened that the Jackets were playing at Nashville while we were in town!

We got there early and walked over to the food hall at Fifth & Broadway for dinner. John got a sandwich from Prince’s Hot Chicken and I had a lobster roll from one of the other vendors. While we were eating, we realized that the game started at 8:00 EASTERN which meant 7:00 Central which was in 15 minutes. We made a mad dash to the area and arrived just in time for the start of the game.

We have really enjoyed going to different sporting events this last year but this time was a little different as we were rooting against the home team. We ended up losing in overtime but it was still a good game and we had a blast.

The arena was really nice, too. It was very clean and the seats were roomy and cushioned! They had a live band playing during the period breaks so that was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, morning we lounged around the house a bit (we have bounced between Eastern and Central time several times in the last few weeks and we were out late because of the hockey game). We drove into the city for lunch at our favorite Nashville restaurant, Hattie B’s. I had the chicken sandwich Southern style (not spicy) and John got the medium chicken tenders (hot enough to make him sweat a little). For our sides we had pimento mac & cheese, fries, and cheese & bacon grits and for dessert we had banana pudding and peach cobbler. It was a lot of food and it was all delicious. We still managed to come in under $50 (we have definitely spent more on worse food) so it was a win.

After lunch, we needed to walk a little bit so we intended to visit the Nashville Farmer’s Market. When we arrived, however, we realized that they were having a book festival in the park near the market. We have NEVER been able to turn down festivals or books so this was perfect for us. We spent the afternoon meeting local authors, discovering new books, and browsing lots of book related merchandise and art exhibits. I just recently hit my reading goal for the year – 100 books!- and felt like rewarding myself. We found a booth selling miniature bookshelves with little tiny replica books. Since a lot of my reading this year has been Agatha Christie, I bought myself an Agatha Christie shelf. It’s absolutely adorable and the perfect thing to commemorate my awesome reading year.

In preparation for Halloween, we spent a lot of time during the week watching spooky-themed movies (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Death Becomes Her, A Haunting in Venice, and more) and on Tuesday night, we carved the pumpkins that we had picked at the patch in Indiana a few weeks ago. We sat opposite each other outside and secretively made our creations while listening to live music at the campground. When we were all finished, we cleaned up and waited until dark when we lit up our Jack-o-Lanterns and showed them to each other. I had picked a green pumpkin at the patch but it had ripened and turned kind of a weird speckled orange and green so I painted it with some leftover craft paint and carved it to look like a cat face. John intricately carved his to look like our house! We had a lot of fun and I think they both turned out super cute. We ended the night with carry out from Hattie B’s.

We were also celebrated our wedding anniversary and Halloween while in Nashville but we kept things really low key. We spent our anniversary just relaxing at home and watching movies. I made a homecooked dinner of smoked sausage and veggie with a maple dijon glaze and John mixed us up a couple of drinks and we lounged on the couch with Harley and the cats. On Halloween, it was rainy and gross so we spent the evening checking out a few hobby/comic shops looking for cards for the game Lorcana, which John has recently started playing. We picked up Hattie B’s (for the third time!) and had a quiet dinner at home while watching the Halloween episodes of John’s favorite television show, Brooklyn 9-9.

And with that, it was time to move again. Next stop, Birmingham, Alabama!

On Saturday October 19, we packed up the house and headed for Indianapolis. Aside from driving through construction almost the entire way, it was a pretty uneventful drive and we managed to pull into our campground at around 2:00 in the afternoon. We were really excited to arrive so early in the day because it gave us time to get settled, rest for a bit, then head out for dinner and to explore.

The campground was very conveniently located so it was just a quick drive into downtown where there were a ton of food choices for dinner. We decided on The Garage at the Bottleworks. This is a beautiful building that used to be a part of the Coca Cola Bottling Company and has been converted into a fairly large food hall. We tried food and drinks from several local restaurants before returning home to watch movies and snuggle on the couch.

On Sunday, we were excited to find that the Indianapolis Colts had a home game and that we were only about 20 minutes from the stadium. We found some very affordable tickets and headed down to Lucas Oil Stadium for the game. Neither of us are big footballs fans but we are always up for something fun and different to do and, since neither of us have ever been to an NFL game, we decided this was the perfect way to spend our only free day in the city.

We parked about a half a mile away and enjoyed walking through the city to the stadium. We got to see the Soldier’ and Sailors’ Monument in Monument Circle (although we had to keep our distance because of construction) and several other gorgeous buildings.

The stadium was beautiful, too. Lucas Oil Stadium opened August 16, 2008 as the new home of the Colts, replacing the RCA Dome. It has a capacity of 70,000 and has a retractable roof and a large window on one end. The roof was closed while we there there but the window was open, providing a beautiful view of the city and keeping the fans a perfect temperature during the game.

Although the Colts did end up beating the Miami Dolphins, the game wasn’t really what you would call “action packed”. At halftime, they held a short ceremony to induct Dallas Clark into the Ring of Honor and several other inductees were there to celebrate. This is of special note because one of those prior inductees was former quarterback Peyton Manning, who I happen to be slightly obsessed with. I never watched much football but I enjoyed his television appearances and just find him to be an all around cool guy. I even used to have a cat named Jackal Peyton Manning Luke. It was definitely a pleasant surprise to see him there. Overall, we had an amazing time, got to breathe the same air as one of my sports idols, and added a new foam finger to our collection.

We also ventured out one evening to run a few errands and decided to grab some dinner out. We ended up at Ale Emporium where we enjoyed a pretzel with raspberry wasabi honey mustard and some wings. We always enjoy eating local foods so we also had to get the pork tenderloin sandwich, an Indiana specialty.

Unfortunately, this was the extent of our Indianapolis adventure. We only had six days in Indianapolis due to making our next move on Friday so we didn’t have a chance to really get into anything else. It was a really nice, restful week for us and we definitely needed it after our busy couple of weeks in Chicago. We were thankful to be able to head to Nashville feeling refreshed.

On Saturday, we visited the Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s a free zoo located in Lincoln Park (kind of obvious, right?) in Chicago. (Admission is free and there is some street parking nearby but it was the weekend of the Chicago Marathon so things were a little busier than normal so we paid $28 to park in the lot behind the Conservatory – still worth it). It was a little on the smaller side but they had some nice exhibits and some animals that you don’t see in a ton of zoos like the Sichuan Takin, Pere David’s Deer, and African Painted Dogs. They had a nice exhibit for their seals and sea lions and an incredible variety of birds.

The zoo had lots of shady spots with benches and tables to take a break and tons of options for food and beverages. John has a tradition of getting a soft pretzel with cheese at every zoo that we visit and we also shared a funnel cake. As part of their Fall Festival, there were also stands selling delicious elote (Mexican street corn), which is one of our favorite foods so we really enjoyed that.

Lincoln Park itself was also really pretty. A ton of people were there having picnics or just hanging out among the flowers. I found a statue of William Shakespeare while I was waiting for John to park the car (he dropped me off at the gate) and also enjoyed the Eli Bates Fountain.

We were completely exhausted after the zoo so we picked up a Chicago Deep Dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s. Ever since I worked at Pizza Hut as a teenager and they had a limited time “Chicago Dish” pizza, I have been obsessed with Chicago style pizza. We have had it several times, alternating between Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s and it always makes me happy. They quoted us about 35 minutes and I went in to pick it up at around the 30 minute mark. It ended up being another 15 minutes on top of that but they were so nice about it- they brought out my pizza just as I was going up to the counter to ask for an update and they apologized for the delay. They even sent me home with an extra frozen pizza for later to make up for it. That was so kind!

On Sunday, we set out with the intention of doing some sightseeing but we ended up visiting several comic shops between our campground in Cedar Lake, Indiana and the city of Homewood, IL. I have a small collection of comic books that I have been trying to complete the entire time we have been on the road and we finally bought the final issues that I needed to finish! We grabbed breakfast and then found a Krispy Kreme because I have been CRAVING a good donut for months! We tried a few bakeries and donut shops in Michigan but they just weren’t very good.

We ended the day by returning to Harvest Tyme Farm for the nighttime Jack-O-Lantern viewing. They had lights set up, a ton of carved pumpkins, and snack stands. There we hundreds of individual pumpkins but also stacks of them them that created large works of art. We absolutely loved walking through and seeing how many we could identify. We saw carvings of animals like deer, fish, racoons, and turtles and several television and movie characters like Spongebob, Disney Princesses, Ghostbusters, and more. They also had classics like black cats, ghosts, and spiders.

I especially loved the dinosaurs- of course.

On Monday night, we drove into the city to meet my friend Victoria and her husband Erik for dinner. I forgot to take any pictures at dinner but we did use the trip in the city to visit St. Mary of the Angels Church in the Bucktown neighborhood. One of John’s favorite book series is “The Dresden Files” by Jim Butcher and it is set in Chicago. The main character, Harry Dresden, often takes refuge inside the church in the books so John really wanted to visit while we were in the area. The building was beautiful! We didn’t have a lot of time but we were able to go in and view the sanctuary and John walked around the outside.

On Wednesday evening, we drove back into the city for a tour of Wrigley Field. Wrigley sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood and we were able to find free street parking about a block away. Neither of us are Cubs fan or really even big baseball fans but Wrigley is such an iconic place and we were absolutely thrilled to be able to visit.

The tour started by walking into the stands along the third base line. Because it was really cold that day, our guide walked us around to the outfield bleachers where the sun was still shining so that we could be as warm as possible. It was a little odd because they were in the process of turning the baseball diamond into a football field – apparently Northwestern University will play two home games there this season. Then, on New Year’s Eve, the Chicago Blackhawks will play hockey on the same field! We knew that there were occasionally concerts and special events at the ballpark but we had no idea that other sports were played there, too.

While we were sitting in the bleachers, we got a little history lesson about Wrigley Field. This ballpark was originally built in 1914 (making it the 2nd oldest baseball field in the United States, behind Fenway which was built in 1912) and was originally built for the Chicago Federals owned at the time by Charlie Weeghman. The Federals (later named the Whales) folded when the Federal League closed in 1915. At that time, Weeghman got together 9 other investors and purchased the Chicago Cubs from Charlie Taft and moved that team into what was then called Weeghman Park.

While Weeghman only owned the team for a few years, he is responsible for many baseball traditions that we still observe today including letting fans keep balls that are hit into the stands, playing the Star Spangled Banner at the start of each game, and hosting regular Ladies Night events to make baseball more family friendly.

As a result of the 1918 Pandemic, Weeghman was forced to sell the park to William Wrigley (originally a soap salesman who is now known for his chewing gum empire) who renamed the field Cubs Park until 1926 when the name was changed to Wrigley Field.

This park has seen SO MUCH HISTORY! In 1932, Babe Ruth famously called his shot during the 5th inning of game 3 of the World Series. In 1943, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League held tryouts on this field. And not many people know that the Chicago Bears actually played football here from 1921 until 1970.

After leaving the bleachers, we walked around the back of the stadium and got to look up into the rooftop bleachers on neighboring buildings. We then climbed up to the press boxes behind home plate for a great view of the park.

We ended the tour by heading down to the visitor’s clubhouse/locker rooms. We were honestly very underwhelmed by the plain, 3200 sq ft room where so many absolute legends have dressed for games. In fact, this is the last standing visiting locker room where Jackie Robinson dressed for a game. Because this was a football stadium for 50 years, people like Vince Lombardi once stood in this space. And in more recent history, performers like Elton John and Lady Gaga have spent time here before taking the stage. All in this unassuming little room.

We left the locker room via the tunnel and walked past the visitor’s batting cages and into the visitor’s dugout. We weren’t allowed out on the actual field but we did get to go onto the crushed brick track around the diamond, which was pretty neat, and sit on the dugout benches.

Wrigley Field is now on the National Register of Historic Places. This means that certain aspects of the park can never be changed and the park itself cannot be renamed. Of special note are the following: The iconic red sign out front has been there since 1934, the green hand operated scoreboard that has been in use since 1937, and the ivy covering the brick wall surrounding the outfield which is the original ivy planted in 1937.

Following our tour of Wrigley, we stopped for dinner at Hopleaf Bar in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago for dinner. This restaurant is a 2023 Bib Gourmand award winner. What is a Bib Gourmand? The Michelin Guide website says: “Since 1997, our best value for money restaurants – offering a three course meal at a reasonable price – have been pointed out using a special award: the Bib Gourmand. The price limit for Bib Gourmand consideration varies from country to country, depending on the cost of living, but the inspectors are searching for the same high quality, wherever they happen to be in the world…What Bib restaurants do have in common is their simpler style of cooking, which is recognisable and easy-to-eat. A Bib Gourmand restaurant will also leave you with a sense of satisfaction, at having eaten so well at such a reasonable price.”

We had the mussels in white wine sauce, the poutine, and the CB&J sandwich (cashew butter, fig jam, and raclette cheese). It was all amazing (especially the garlic aioli that came with the fries) and cost around $50. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, really) everything came with fries so even after eating until we were going to burst, we still had A TON of leftovers to take home.

Our final Chicago adventure was on Thursday night when we took an architectural boat tour of Chicago aboard Chicago’s First Lady. The tour was led by a docent from the Chicago Architecture Center. We saw the three tallest buildings in Chicago- Willis Tower, Trump Tower, and The St. Regis in addition to several other beautiful buildings and the navy pier. We also learned a little about the history of the city and the direction in which it is heading. The 90 minute tour was a really wonderful experience and provided some great views of the city.

After the tour, we made a quick stop at Voodoo Doughnuts. I have wanted to try Voodoo Doughnuts for YEARS but have never been in a city with a location. We were actually on the way home from the architecture tour when we saw a man walk by with a Voodoo box so we looked it up and navigated there IMMEDIATELY. They had so many choices that all looked amazing but we ended up with a plain glazed, a voodoo doll (with raspberry filling-delicious!), a strawberry go-tart, a bacon maple, and a sweet cream cannolo. They were all fantastic!

While we were a little disappointed that we didn’t get around to everything on our list, we had squeezed in a ton of stuff in our two weeks in Chicago. Luckily, this is a good stopping point for us for future trips from our home base in Michigan to anything out west so we will most assuredly be back in the next few years.

If you have known us for any length of time, you probably know that we love good food. We eat out often (probably WAY more than we should) and we love trying new foods and regional cuisine as we travel. We spend a lot of time watching food shows in our spare time, too. For years, we have dreamed of eating at a Michelin Star restaurant- the very best restaurants in the world.

For those that don’t know, here’s a little history and information about what a Michelin Star Restaurant is. According to http://www.escoffier.edu, “the invention of the Michelin Star rating coincides with the invention of the automobile. Michelin Tire founders and French industrialist brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin compiled the first Michelin Guide in 1900 with the aim of creating a demand for automobiles—and therefore, a need for more Michelin tires.” The guides were meant to encourage drivers to get out and explore in their cars! The guides originally included “restaurants, hotels, mechanics, and gas stations along popular routes in France.”

The guides then spread to other countries and eventually made the leap across the Atlantic to North America although it didn’t really catch on in the US until 2005. According to this history, “The guide began awarding Michelin Star ratings in 1926. The restaurants, all of which were in France, were awarded a single star if they were deemed a “fine dining establishment.” In 1931, the rating system expanded to the three-star rating that continues today. Unlike most star rating systems, one star is not considered a demerit. Any number of Michelin Stars granted to a restaurant signals a huge honor and a rare accomplishment.”

An anonymous panel of experts will dine at a prospective restaurant and then meet to discuss and make their decision, sometimes dining solo, in pairs, or even occasionally in a group. There is no limit to the number of stars awarded in a year but they are very difficult to earn and to keep. New restaurants must apply when they feel that they are able to meet the strict criteria and once a restaurant has been awarded a star, they are evaluated annually and must continue to impress the panel in order to retain their elite status.

There are three levels (One, Two, and Three Stars) that can be awarded. According to the Michelin Guide website, “One MICHELIN Star is awarded to restaurants using top quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavours are prepared to a consistently high standard. Two MICHELIN Stars are awarded when the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired. Three MICHELIN Stars is our highest award, given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics” according to the Michelin Guide website.

For our first experience, we chose a One Star restaurant called Sepia located in Chicago. We decided to make this an early celebration for our upcoming anniversary since this was such a special occasion. The restaurant serves a Four Course menu and we also opted to add on the Caviar and the Cheese Course.

We arrived at the restaurant about 15 minutes early but we were greeted immediately and shown to our table. Each and every staff member that we encountered were friendly and made sure that we were having a great experience. Our glasses were never empty and the courses were well paced all throughout the evening.

We began by making our menu selections. There was a personalized menu on the table when we arrived wishing us a Happy Anniversary and displaying the options for each of the four courses being served that night. We made our selections and also ordered a few cocktails to get us started. I ended up drinking two “Out of the Woods” during the course of the evening while John started with a “Hanna-Barbera Presents” which was served in a vintage Transformers thermos and then ended with a “Rods & Cones”.

I feel like here I should address something that a friend of mine brought up when I posted about this on Facebook. She said something along the lines of how she wouldn’t enjoy this kind of restaurant because she didn’t have any idea what was what on the menu. Honestly, neither did we. And we are fairly adventurous eaters who have tried a HUGE variety of dishes. I mean, we obviously understand words like “chicken wing”, “duck breast”, “short rib”, and “cheese” but mostly we just picked dishes that had elements that we recognized as something we liked or things that sounded interesting from their description. Or we just randomly picked something. What better way to try new things?

We were soon served two slices of home-made bread with a delicious seaweed infused butter and an amuse bouche (a brioche crouton topped with balsamic olive oil and Calabrian chili jam and prosciutto)- compliments of the chef. The bread was really soft on the inside but I personally didn’t care for the crust. The amuse bouche was one of our favorite things all night. We had also opted to add on the Caviar Course as neither of us had ever tried caviar before. This consisted of golden kaluga caviar atop a pillow of smoked sablefish and spinach and topped with house-made potato chips. The waiter set the dish in front of us then poured on a sauce that was a swirl of green and white. Neither of us really expected to like the caviar but it was incredible. (It was a struggle for me not to lick the bowl before the server took it away).

For the first course, I had chosen the smoked heirloom tomato toast and John had the smoked beef carpaccio. The photo doesn’t do it justice but the tomatoes on the toast were a vibrant yellow and had such a beautiful flavor and texture. The toast was perfectly crisp on the outside and so light and fluffy inside. The consommé on the carpaccio (poured over the dish tableside) was a little overpowering and made the brioche dissolve a little quickly but it was still absolutely delicious.

For the second course, I ordered the chicken wing zampone and John had the crispy cream cheese gnudi. Sadly, I didn’t care for either dish in this course but John liked them both. The chicken wing itself was cooked beautifully but the bone had been removed and the cavity was stuffed with a sausage of some kind and I just didn’t love the flavor. The sweet corn mousse was absolutely heavenly though- if that had been the only thing on the plate I would have been in heaven. The gnudi had a beautiful leaf tuille on top that really made the dish gorgeous but the cheese flavor was a little too strong for me. John doesn’t believe cheese can ever be too strong so he was quite pleased. The texture was really nice on it, though. It was firm on the outside but had a cloud-like interior. Even though I didn’t appreciate the flavors, both dishes were absolutely beautiful and very nicely prepared.

For the third course, we had selected the grilled short rib and the rohan duck breast. I really liked the short rib even though John didn’t love it. There was something crispy on top that really added to the texture. The white sauce that was served on the side with it was a bit strong – a little went a long way but it was still a really nice combination. The duck was nice on it’s own but I made the mistake of trying the apple butterscotch sauce and it made me want to spit everything out. I DID really enjoy the fois gras corn dog though and wish there had been more of that. It was like a deconstructed corn dog with a bit of meat on top of a fluffy cloud. It was delightful and my favorite part of this course.

Next, it was time for the cheese course. I was so confused when they brought it out because it looked like a white carnation bloom on the plate! They didn’t tell me not to eat it so I assumed it was edible and risked it by cutting a small slice with my fork and hesitantly putting it into my mouth. It immediately melted on my tongue like butter. Everything on the plate was amazing – I really enjoyed this course. And it turns out that you can buy the cheese at Whole Foods (and possibly Aldi but I haven’t verified that one yet). We bought some the other night and I haven’t eaten any yet (why haven’t I gotten into this yet? What is wrong with me?! We will remedy this tonight!) but it looks pretty promising. It’s even shaped like a flower- not as pretty as the one in the restaurant but still pretty neat for a fraction of the price. Check it out if you are curious.

At this point, we were stuffed but we still had dessert coming our way! John ordered the smoked vanilla bean pavlova and I had the toasted hay semifreddo. The pavlova had a beautiful texture but I did not like it because it had a weird flavor – it doesn’t say on the menu but it tasted like maybe matcha to me? Whatever it was, I didn’t enjoy it. Up until this point, John and I had been sharing everything but I didn’t want any more if his dessert. Thankfully, he didn’t like mine either so we didn’t have to share (aside from one small bite each) so I got my dessert (which I LOVED) mostly to myself. The base consistency of my dish made me think of a Klondike bar – a firm shell that melted on my tongue with a creamy center. The little bits of fruit on top gave it a nice pop of flavor and made it look gorgeous. (We do so much eating with our eyes – if it looks pretty on the plate it automatically makes me excited to eat it).

Because we were also celebrating our anniversary, we received a piece of vanilla cake that we saved for last and I’m glad we did. Compared to our other dishes over the course of the evening, it was really plain and anticlimactic. The flavor, though, was beautiful. It was such a subtle vanilla flavor and had such a silky texture – it was the absolute perfect thing to end the evening on.

Finally, with the arrival of the check, we also received two chocolate truffles and two almond bark bites. I was 100% stuffed but managed a bite of the almond bark. I don’t love nuts so I let John have the other half of mine in addition to his. But the salted caramel truffle…that was another story. When I bit into that and the satin-smooth caramel hit my taste buds…mmmmm. I moaned out loud and John says I went cross-eyed a little bit. I joked that the truffle made the bill go down easier but honestly, we knew what to expect and it was not a surprise in any way. John did a lot of research on choosing the restaurant as there were several in the Chicago area and we chose this one based on location, menu selection, ratings, and price. This one was actually on the cheaper end of the restaurants that we were considering. We also would have gotten off a lot cheaper if we hadn’t added on the caviar and cheese and had two cocktails each but we decided that if we were going to eat at a Michelin Star restaurant- a dream come true for us- that we were going all in. We had been planning and saving for a while so we were prepared. If you want to try a restaurant like this, I definitely recommend doing your research so that you aren’t surprised by the menu or the pricing when you arrive.

I guess the other thing I want to point out is that I was honest about our reviews here. I really didn’t like a few dishes or some components of some dishes but I want it to be perfectly clear that I don’t think that is a reflection on the restaurant. John and I both liked different things and that reflects our individual taste. Nothing was “bad”. There were some things that I didn’t enjoy but that’s just because I don’t like certain flavors or textures and not because the dishes weren’t prepared well. Even on the things I hated, I could still tell that the ingredients were top-notch and that so much thought and care went into each item so definitely keep that in mind, too. I had never been exposed to some of the things that we tried that night but I was willing to try new things and that is all part of the adventure and experience.

After three months in one spot, it was so good to get on the road again. We were a little nervous about our first move after sitting still for so long – especially with it being a 6 hour drive when we really don’t like to drive for more than 4 hours per day- so we decided to break it up into two shorter days and leave on Friday. John worked a half day and logged off around noon. While he was working, I finished packing up everything in the house. We got the house hooked up to the truck and got all of our electric, water and sewer lines disconnected and hit the road about 1pm.

We booked a campsite at Dutch Treat Campground in a small town called Zeeland, Michigan (near Holland and Grand Rapids) and pulled in around 4:30. It was a really cute campground with a small pond and a playground. The site was a decently sized pull through and was fairly level so we didn’t have to unhook the house from the truck which saved a ton of time for us. We took Harley for a walk around the place and saw several campers who had decorated for Halloween! They also had a pond that Harley had to inspect. It was so cute and we decided right away that we will be back for another stay in the spring.

We put Harley back into the house and ventured into town to explore. It turns out that they were having a festival so we found parking in the free public lot and walked over. They had shut down a few streets and had stands set up with food, games and even a petting zoo. Several of the businesses were also open and had set up patio spaces along the streets. There was a cornhole tournament going on in one section and the streets were lined with art by local residents. We LOVED the axe throwing truck! They had real axe throwing for adults and also Velcro axe throwing for the kids. It was a first for both John and myself and we had a blast! They had a projected which projected different targets on the wooden wall and, of course, John got a perfect score. I managed to hit the second highest points section on each of my turns so definitely not bad for beginners.

We also enjoyed the petting zoo. They had pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, and ducks. We finished up the evening with dinner at Texas Roadhouse (not something I ever thought I would miss but I did while we were in northern Michigan).

On Saturday morning, we ran out for breakfast in town then got on the road around 11am bound for Cedar Lake, Indiana. Aside from a crazy backroad detour thanks to a bad accident, we didn’t have any serious issues on the drive. Many of the roads were terrible, though, so we had a lot of cleanup when we pulled in to our spot at Cedar Lake Ministries. Yes, our campground is part of a church.

When we arrived, they were in the middle of a fundraiser carnival so we walked over and bought a caramel apple and enjoyed the live music they had going on. Then we ran out to grab dinner at Buona, a local chain that makes Italian Beef Sandwiches – one of John’s favorite foods and a specialty food for the Chicago area.

On Sunday, we got up and grabbed some breakfast at Cedar Lake Restaurant then visited a local flea market for a few hours. We stopped back by the house to walk Harley then drove to a nearby farm called Harvest Tyme. They were all decked out for fall with rides for the kids, food stands, a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, butterfly garden, and a corn maze! I got one of my favorite treats (a pina colada sno cone from Kona Ice) and snacked on that while we road their wagon out into the pumpkin patch. We picked a beautiful green pumpkin and an enormous orange one. They had wagons that we could use so we put the pumpkins in the wagon and hit the corn maze. The maze was cut to depict country music singer Luke Bryan and his guitar so we did what any sane, rational people would do. We found our way through to his nose and picked our own noses while standing in his. Perfectly normal.

We also visited the petting zoo and the butterfly habitat. It was so much fun! They had decorations EVERYWHERE with lots of photo ops. I even got to take my rightful place on a pumpkin throne in recognition of my status as Halloween Queen.

On Wednesday night, we visited a restaurant in Chicago called Sepia which has a Michelin Star! I am going to do an entire separate post about that but it was absolutely delicious and amazing. John and I have wanted to eat at a Michelin Star restaurant for years and years and decided to seize the opportunity here in Chicago where there were several to choose from. We got to see the beautiful Chicago skyline and smell the not-so-beautiful smell of sewage throughout the city. It was still an amazing time and I will probably write up that post and share it next week.

After crossing off an item from our Bucket List with the restaurant on Wednesday, we were feeling good. But then we had another Bucket List experience on Thursday as well – seeing the Northern Lights! We spent all summer in Michigan hoping for a chance to see them. We went out driving around a few times when we saw people posting about seeing them on Facebook but we didn’t have any luck. Of course, right after we left Michigan there were several nights in a row with a beautiful showing. We had pretty much given up for this year but then…it happened! We were laying around in the house after watching a movie and we started seeing posts on Facebook about the lights. We were convinced that we were too far south but then we saw posts coming from further south than we are so we went out to look…and there they were! To the naked eye, we could only see a lightness above the tree line off to the north and the occasional pink patch higher in the sky above us. Our cameras, however, caught so much more detail. It was as magical as I had always thought it would be and I just kept staring up and saying “wow”. I even made John kiss me under the Aurora because it felt to special and romantic to be watching the amazing show in the sky together.

As our first week wound down to a close we were exhausted but so content. Our first move after sitting still for three months went better than we expected and we were having a blast in the Chicago area. We had managed to cross off not one but TWO items from our Bucket Lists and we couldn’t wait to see what other adventures lay in store for us.