So this morning I got up at 3:30am and about 40 minutes later Mom got up as well. Since it was so early we thought that it would be hard to find an Uber driver so we drove to the airport ourselves. Once there I had an “I told you so” moment because even at 4:30am there was a HUGE line to get through security. Luckily we had TSA Precheck and made it through relatively fast. On Thursday morning I had gotten up at 5:45am to check in for our flight and ended up getting B3 & B4! Pretty good! In southwest it’s first come first serve. I had a window seat on the plane for the first time in ages and shortly after take off I proceeded to search for movies. I have to say, American Airlines so far has the best selection. They have it all. On southwest I watched Cry Macho (new Clint Eastwood).
After about 2.5 hours we were close to Chicago so I snapped a picture of the boring Indiana countryside. Once we landed we hopped into our Hertz rental and started off towards Pullman National Monument.
Once again, what I thought to be boring was actually really cool. Pullman Co. used to be a premium train car manufacturer until the employees went on strike because management was super nasty. The only thing that the National Park Service owns is the clock tower. (Pictured above) The other abandoned buildings are owned by the federal government and it was explained that no one really knows what will happen to them. None the less, it is still totally worth checking this place out. (Gosh, this sounds like one of my google reviews)
They had a replica train car inside the clock tower building and it is low key nicer than the Acela train that runs from Boston to New York City.
After Pullman the next piece of the master plan was the Museum of Science and Innovation to see the Art of the Brick Lego exhibit. Aunt Brenda had suggested it so I made it a point to go. Since we were about an hour early I called ahead and moved my ticket time. You see, to get in you need to reserve online tickets, have a mask, and show proof of vaccination. Easy! Since we were early that meant we had an hour and a half of time to explore the museum instead of the zero minutes I had planned for.
First we went and explored the U-505 exhibit where they showcase a real life size u-boat. Really really cool how they got it there. Next we went around various other exhibits. I saw a cardboard bicycle. Crazy! We also got to see an exhibit on the effects of climate change. That one had pictures of glaciers melting. There was also an indoor tornado and tsunami generator. And lastly the space museum. Can’t go to a science museum and not talk about space! And finally at 11:50am we went to the Art of the Brick exhibit.
I have been to the one in Boston before, so I was hoping this one would have new stuff inside. There were a few paintings in Lego, a bunch of statues, and a few deep meaningful stuff. I think I prefer Star Wars legos still though haha.
After the museum we headed south to Indiana. Before the last stop of the day we headed to a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts and had somewhat stale donuts, but I hadn’t eaten all day so I didn’t mind. About 20 minutes later we were finally at the Indiana Dunes National Park. It sits on Lake Michigan and is basically a really long beach with a few steel plants dotted every so often.
Just like most sandy shores in the winter…there wasn’t much to do besides walk around. Swimming would be basically a death sentence as it was so cold. One really cool thing was something I saw on Instagram. The National Park Service Instagram posted a picture of some Ice Balls at the park and I was determined to find them.
Have you ever seen ice shaped like this? It was all over the place, although it didn’t look exactly the same as the Instagram post. Really cool. We walked around on the east side of the beach before getting back in the car to go to the west side. Being the completionist that I am I wanted to check out Mount Baldy. It’s the highest dune at 126 ft and sort of an unskippable place.
It was a short hike out to the lake and wow was it worth it. On the other one you couldn’t get near the water because there was such a high risk that the ice would break and you would fall in. Here it was mostly just sand so you could walk right up to it. It was sort of a pain to walk back to the car because of the steep hill back to the trail. Once there we headed towards the West beach so Mom could do the Dune Succession Trail. What she didn’t know was that for doing it you could get a special sticker. She was not pleased.
Just like Coronado and Ft. Bowie, if you hiked a certain amount you get a special reward. This reward happened to be a sticker. Mom thought I was nuts because to get it we would have to drive back away from Chicago to the visitors center to get it. “This is so stupid. All this for a sticker.” Stuff like that. I was laughing so hard the whole time. The trail was only about a mile in length, so not long, but it had super high winds and snow on it. As you can see in other pictures I had my new jacket on and my boots. They helped a lot!
I thought we had to go back to the main visitors center, but it was discovered that we could go to the Paul H Douglas Center for Environment Education instead. This was closer and on our way back to Chicago so we went there instead. After getting the sticker we headed to the hotel. That night we met up with Andrew and Matt to have dinner.
Iowa
The plan was to leave early at 5:45am, however it quickly became apparent that wouldn’t happen. We instead left at 7am! The first stop of the day was the Herbert Hoover NHS, which was about 3.5 hours west of Chicago. I found it was cheaper to fly to Chicago and drive rather than fly into Des Moines / Cedar Rapids. Plus if you fly into Iowa you don’t have the privilege of seeing the farms of Illinois!
After what was a somewhat boring drive we made it. It was interesting how such a boy could grow up in this tiny house to someday become president. It was reaaally small.
In addition to the house there was also a blacksmith, school house, quaker chapel, and up on the hill was where he was buried. One thing that seems to be common in the Midwest / west USA is blacksmith shops. I guess it was cheaper to make your own horse shoes rather than buy them. since it was a wonderful 12F with a ‘feels like’ of 4F we ended up not spending a ton of time outside. Before heading to the presidential library we went to his gravesite.
Did you know that Lou Hoover (wife) basically invented Girl Scout Cookies? That is something I learned in the presidential library. Since I had never been to one before I thought it was really cool and the security guards liked my polar bear hat. 🙂
Since we spent sooooo much time at the Hoover NHS and got up late that meant there wasn’t enough time to see the Captain James T. Kirk’s future birthplace, which was about 30 minutes south of the Hoover NHS. Unfortunately since basically everyone frowned upon the idea and it wasn’t in the ‘official plan’ we weren’t going to make it anyways. Next up was the World’s Largest Strawberry!
Mom must’ve been expecting something else because when we got there she exclaimed “That is it?” hahaha So did Andrew and Matt when they saw the pictures. After seeing a few ‘worlds largest’ I know ahead of time what I’m getting myself into, but Mom did’t! Strawberry point is the town name and it seems like a very unpopular place in the winter since we were the only ones there to see the strawberry. While we were there we met a few nice woman in the quilt store nearby.
One thing I was very much looking forward to was my first ever Camel Burger! It’s like a cheeseburger but with camel meat. That was supposed to be the next stop, but since we were running so late we got there just as it closed. Bummer! (If you are interested it’s Schera’s Algerian American Restaurant and Bar in Elkader, IA). Instead we went to an Irish pub. I think the food is probably better in Ireland though.
Next up was the Effigy Mounds NM in Northern Iowa. That was the last stop of the day before heading to our hotel. The ranger behind the desk (Alex I think) used to live near the Indiana Dunes National Park. He was super nice and I ended up showing him all the parks I’ve been to so far on his map. This park is an American Indian burial and ceremonial ground. The effigy mounds themselves are these huge piles of dirt shaped into various forms. Mom and I opted for the ranger suggested hike of Fire Point. It was the shortest one of about 4 miles round trip. (The ranger said 2, but there is no way that was only 2 miles).
The trail was basically made of ice because a few days before we went, winter storm Miles made its way through the Midwest and dumped a ton of snow everywhere. We both had our winter gear on, but even with hiking boots we almost wiped out a few times. There is two sides of the park and they are labeled the North Unit and South Unit. Ah I won’t get into specifics, but this was a really neat park and I’d recommend going if you like scenic hikes. At fire point we got a very nice view of the frozen Mississippi River.
After exploring the Effigy Mounds for a few hours we headed off to Wisconsin for the hotel. Now I searched for hours and couldn’t come up with a single fun thing to see from the Mississippi River to Madison, WI. Mom was in charge of finding the hotel since I wanted to only stay at Best Western hotels. I guess they aren’t good enough for her. We ended up staying at the first ever 3 star Best Western that I’ve ever been to. Andrew and Matt helped find it. Moral of the story is never wait too long to book a hotel or you risk not finding one in time.
We went to Toby’s Supper Club on the outskirts of Madison for dinner. What is a ‘supper club’ you might ask? It’s a strictly Wisconsin thing. When we went inside there was no host and you basically have to tell the bartender you are here and start drinking either standing up or sitting at the bar. I’ve sort of gotten used to people staring at me when I have my polar bear hat on, but when (I kid you not) everyone at the bar turned and looked it was a bit unnerving. The bartender was busy and told us the wait was about 1 hour 15 minutes so I sat myself down at the bar and tried stay sober as best I could in front of my Mom.
I ordered a screwdriver first. (vodka + orange juice) While I was sipping on that, this SUPER hammered guy shows up and sits brown next to me. What happens next will be the most legendary conversation that has ever happened to me at a bar. As soon as he sat down he asks “Do you wear that hat all the time?” and as the literalist I am I reply “Well, not all the time, but a lot”. He stated that the night before he had almost died and asked if we wanted to hear his story. With not much else to do we said yes and listened. He proceeded to tell us a story laden with a ton of expletives. In the interest of a short story I will just give you the basics.
He was out on a lake in Northern Wisconsin with a few buddies doing flag ice fishing when a large snow squall came in. They all headed back to their trucks on the ice to stay warm and while inside the truck this guy sees his flag pop up. That meant that he had caught a fish! Even thought there was an intense wind and the snow drifts were piling up he decided to walk out to his trap in the middle of the storm to get it because he had to “be a man”. ‘There is no problem that can stop a man when he is on a mission’ That was the point of most of the story. (Don’t forget that he was supposedly super drunk during this whole story). Once out there he started reeling in the line by hand, but unfortunately the fish got away. Unfortunately when he turned around he couldn’t find his truck because of the wind and large “5 ft snow drifts” (seemed unreasonable at the time, but we went with it). After a lot of trial and error he eventually made his way back to his truck. I’m glad he was able to make it out alive and able to tell us his story.
Near the end of his story the waitress finally came and we ordered food. Then while waiting for a table we listened to this guy tell his story about 2 more times. The facts didn’t change much so I assumed it was mostly true. When we got to our table I ordered a steak, had 2 Coronas, and thought about how awesome a supper club is.
Walk Along The Lakeshore
The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant (they had a bar too!) and then headed towards Chicago. The original plan was to take a shortcut through rural Wisconsin / Illinois, but it was suggested to us that it would be super boring and that we might enjoy going through Milwaukee more. On the way we didn’t actually see lake Michigan at all from the highway. Once back in Chicago we went and toured Andrew and Matt’s new house and after went for a walk through some parks near the lake. For lunch we went to the Hopleaf bar. It is a German bar and has a really good blackberry sour beer. After lunch we headed back to Andrew and Matt’s house before going to the airport. Overall I’d say it was a fantastic trip out to the midwest and that it’s always nice to visit friends on my trips. I’ll definitely return to Wisconsin some day, but I’m not sure when the next time I will be back to Iowa will be.
Hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll see you next time!
Thank you to Andrew and Matt for being super helpful midwestern guides and awesome hosts!
Thank you to Brother Philip for the awesome new jacket!
Trip Stats
- Miles Driven: ~760mi
- States: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin
- Coldest Temperature: -9F
- Rental Car: Jeep Grand Cherokee by Hertz
- Pictures with Andrew and Matt: 0
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