Soak Up the Fun, Part $

Vacation: Omaha through Chicago
Months ago, I made plans to drive to Wisconsin for my high school reunion.  (My 40th, if you can believe it!  Ha!)  Getting fired didn't change that, in part because I had already paid for some things that I would be doing that weekend.  In other part because going home usually comes out a wash, financially, thanks to my mom's generosity.  (I've learned to walk the fine line between protesting and fighting gift horses.)

As I was packing Wednesday, I found myself trying to think of reasons to not leave Wednesday night and see Iowa as it was meant to be seen: in the dark.  Er...uh...under the stars.  Being unable to find any, I left as soon as my car was packed and my phone was charged.
I, of course, made a few sleep stops.  Which I realized was not a good idea with such new lube on Nuella's chain.  Front seat it was for the other stops.

Sunrise on the left, eerie windmill on the right.

At 6:00 a.m., I found myself somewhere between the cities of Kellogg and Montezuma, Iowa.  Watching the sun rise and listening to a country station, of course.  Then the Star-Spangled Banner started playing, and I thought, "How cool is this?!"  Then a semi hauling onions passed me, and I soaked up the moment by pulling off the interstate, where I was greeted with an abandoned gas station.

Even though it was kind of out of the way, I wanted to go to the temple in Chicago.  It was either there, Nauvoo, or St. Paul.  I hadn't been inside Chicago, and anticipate seeing inside the St. Paul on future summer sister trips*. 
Because of that choice, I stopped at a Cedar County rest stop in Iowa, where I learned that quilts were used as a means of communication within the Underground Railroad.  I have a friend who is really big into quilting, so I took tons of pictures.

There were 12 quilt patterns featured.

I got to the temple in Chicago just in time to do some family names at the 2:00 session; I got out around 4:00.  This is when I began to realize I had created a bit of a problem for myself.  Especially because I was going to take pictures, come hell or high traffic.  Add that to construction that left me at a stand-still long enough to read an entire chapter out of a book a few sentences/paragraphs at a time, and I barely made it out of there by 6:00. 

Here are some of the best pictures I took.  All in all, I'm pleased with my decision, but if I had it to do over again, I'd just stay and participate in the 4:00 session.

The water-based landscaping.

Lots of steeples!  I think there are 5 or 6 total.

Miscellaneous shots.

You can't really see it, but the stone behind me in the picture says
"Erected 1985," which was the year I was born.

*Mall of America is approximately equa-distant from all 3 of us, and the high schooler will need school clothes.  She doesn't know it yet, but my other sister and I plan to offer to pay for anything she chooses that's modest.