Day Six - Wheeling WV to Philadelphia PA

Day six was not a big picture day. Sorry folks! We slept until 11am, and nearly had to pry ourselves out of the bed with a crow bar. Yeah, we were pretty wiped out. After we saw our first Cracker Barrel (no idea where that was, might have been as early as Coeur d'Alene) we kept looking for one at a meal time. It wasn't until our first meal on day six that we succeeded! Cracker Barrel is some good ol' down home food. I ordered biscuits & gravy - YUM.

We spent the rest of that day on the road to Philly. However it was leaving WV that we missed our first state sign - SHOOT! We thought it was another 5 or so miles and I just couldn't pull it off in time. So, we had about an 8 mile detour to go back and get it again. Dad insisted that I shoot the WV state sign again since technically we were crossing the state line again.





And other than shooting the state lines, I didn't pick up my camera. I was stil pretty beat from being on the road until 3am. The Pennsylvania countryside was lovely! Very green, lots of trees and just some beautiful land. The "service plazas" are pretty incredible. Being from the NW and not driving much outside of WA/OR, I had NO idea what much of the country considers to be a rest stop. I feel lucky if we've got indoor plumbing and a soda machine! I would never have expected Hershey's Ice Cream, Burger King, Popeyes + a pizza place. CRAZY!

Also being from WA, I'm not real experienced with the various kinds of tolls. I was pretty shocked when we got this in western PA -



SERIOUSLY, it cost us $18.05! WTH?!?

Anyway, we found ourselves a room at the LOVELY Alexander Inn. The room was small, though Dad said it was bigger than NYC. It had a full + twin. Yes, I was a good girl and took the twin. I know the pecking order! :D Honestly though, it was comfy and in the middle of things! We went out that night to our 3rd triple D spot - Silk City Diner. Try it. SO GOOD. I took a nuts picture inside the restaurant of their bar with the hipstamatic app on my phone.



I tried to take a picture of our food, but it was REALLY REALLY dark inside. Sorry!

We're in DC tonight having an awesome time. Shot some images of the Lincoln Memorial + Washington Monument. Tomorrow the guys are going to the rally while I'm at brunch with some friends. Good times to be had for sure!

We're seriously behind in blogging...

Eventually we'll catch up! I think. ;) Possibly tonight!

Brief update - Day 4 consisted of getting up EARLY and leaving Minnesota to catch an early tour of Taliesin. No, those images aren't ready yet. Sorry! After touring Taliesin, we headed down to Chicago. Since we'd gotten only 4-6 hours of sleep the night before, we hit Smoque for dinner (GOOD!) and then found a hotel. We ended up at the Best Western down by Grant Park. It was fine except the wifi signal was CRAP. Drove me nuts. Which was part of the reason I didn't blog. That and I was wiped out so I went to sleep. ;) The next morning I got some of the previous days images up but that was it. We took a walk around Grant Park - lovely! I just realized I have a couple of images on my phone, yay! Here is one from Grant Park and one of the Sears Tower w/Chicago River. I'll work on the rest tonight! We're in Philly with an awesome wifi signal. Dad's pretty beat, but I've got some energy left. Stay tuned!

White Palace Grill

White Palace Dinner

1159 South Canal Street
Chicago, IL 60607-4906

Rebecca and I got up Wednesday morning and walked across the Chicago River to eat breakfast at the White Palace Grill. On the show Guy was all about their dinner meals as I recall. Italian and comfort food, not breakfast. Now I know why. I had an omelet and pancakes, neither of which would draw me back for a second visit. I will say the service was was good, but when the best thing being delivered is the Diet Coke it means I won't be rushing back anytime soon.

I did enjoy the building. It has a nice dinner feel to it with the red and chrome motif.

http://www.whitepalacegrill.com/

Day Five - Chicago IL to Wheeling WV

We woke in Chicago on the 5th day of our trip. We both woke early and spent some time online. Or in my case, screaming at the CRAPPY internet signal in our room. Dad's machine didn't see to have any trouble staying connected, but I got booted CONSTANTLY. Hence the limited amount of blogging that occurred.

We hung out for a bit because I was hoping to connect with a friend of mine. We used to work together and spent 7-8 hours every day about 3 feet from each other. Thank goodness we became friends! ;) Alas, my dear friend and I weren't able to get together. She's busy teaching philosophy while completing her Ph.D. Yeah, she's super smart like that. ;) Dad & I eventually headed out to get some breakfast. We had managed to score a room at the Best Western down on Grant Park - awesome location! We ended up in a smoking room, but thankfully it wasn't too bad. Breakfast that day was at DDD location #2 - White Palace Grill. I'll let Dad tell you about that too. The DDD is kind of his thing. ;)

After breakfast we went for a walk down past the aquarium (which Dad says is the coolest one ever - sharks!), along the harbor and so on. Lake Michigan was incredible! I've never been at a lake where all you see at the horizon is water at the curve of the earth. So awesome!

We needed to check out of the hotel, so we grabbed our stuff and then drove north along the lake for a few miles to check out the view. For lunch we hit up Al's for Italian beef sandwiches. SO GOOD. Also a Dad thing, but not DDD! I'll let him fill you in.

Dad had made plans for us to go out to dinner in Indiana with his lovely mother-in-law, Rosemary. We got a little confused about what side of town she lived on and ended up WAY later than we planned. Oh well! Life happens. We just rolled with it. Unfortunately, something happened earlier this week and R wasn't able to hear us at all. :( We weren't about to let that stop us though! We went to dinner armed with a note pad, pen and a video camera. We got some great stuff. Hopefully it will be ready later today. It's sooooooooo good!

We'd thought about staying in Columbus OH, that night but there was some concern about bed bugs (the state has had a major outbreak recently) so we ended up leaving western Indianapolis about 9:30pm.

We made it to Wheeling WV (barely!) and pulled into our hotel at 3am. I thought that this one was the nicest we've stayed at so far. And go figure, it's the one we're in for barely 9 hours! We were thrilled to have found it. We thought we'd be forced to go into PA, and were pleasantly surprised to find a bit of West Virginia first!

And then we collapsed.

Smoque BBQ Review

Smoque BBQ

3800 North Pulaski

Chicago, IL

This was the first triple 'D' restaurant we visited. I was really glad that we showed up on Tuesday because we both looked at the door and saw that they were closed on Monday. We would have been really ticked off, After the Voula's disaster.

We had driven all day ending in Chicago rush hour traffic. We abandoned the freeway (parking lot) and Rebecca successfully navigated us through numerous back streets to Smoque. I was very pleased with the aroma as we walked in. The line wasn't too long and we quickly ordered. Rebecca ordered sliced brisket and pork. Looked good. I got the 1/2 rack of baby back ribs, Coleslaw, baked beans and corn bread. Then I finished it all off with some Peach cobbler (small so as not to spike my blood sugar). I found the entire meal quite delightful including the conversation with my charming daughter, navigator and eastward traveling compatriot. So if you are ever in Chicago and must have some good BBQ be sure to check it out. I'm certain I will return in the future to try out some other things on the menu. http://www.smoquebbq.com/menu.html

Taliesin

The trip to Taliesin was an on the fly decision. We were bombing across the middle of South Dakota (the most boring stretch of road I've ever driven with the exception of the Mojave desert). I've been to Taliesin once before but didn't get into the main residence. This was the day. There were many spaces (inside and out) like the one below that compressed and then released you. 

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to photograph anything inside the house but the shots of the 600 acre site were amazing. 

I really love the shot below of the hill across from the house. It looked like it would end near the Romeo and Juliet windmill tower and Tay-y-deri ( a house Wright designed for some family member). 

The inside of the house was very interesting. I loved some the spaces, like a little off to the side of the cantilevered deck over looking to grounds and the valley. The main entertaining room reminded me of the main room at Falling Water. There was a 150-300 year old Chinese rug in the families private living area that wouldn't fit between the columns til Mr. Wright took out a knife and cut the rug around the columns. What an ego, but I will say it looked great in the room. 

The structure seems to be falling apart. I asked our tour guide what the estimate was to bring the entire house up snuff, and after trying to dodge my question, she said that a couple years back the number was 60 million dollars. I hope they raise the money and fix this great piece of thinking. Mr. Wright's way of seeing space was amazing. There was an interaction between interior and exterior, the made you aware of who owned what around the property. The horse stables had a beautiful view (one most of us would kill for) but not one he controlled so the family quarters all over looked a hill across the way the he and his family owned and could control. 

These steps were something that were found all around the property. They drew you into either small intimate places to sit a sip tea (diet coke) or to view expansive vistas of the surroundings. I really enjoyed looking at the detail he placed into everything.  From the repeating of stone in the hills across the way to the little "tv" trays he design from plywood (it was during the depression) for his guests to eat there meals from in the main entertaining room.

I want to added a special thanks to Rebecca for 1) being willing to take this side trip and for 2) for taking these beautiful photographs for me to remember this stop.

I will return to Taliesin with plans to take the "Estate Tour" (4 hours) . We took the "House Tour" (2 hours) and previously took the "Hillside Tour" (1 hour).

http://www.taliesinpreservation.org/

Day Four - Worthington MN to Chicago IL

We got up EARLY (out the door by 6am) on Tuesday morning (after arriving after midnight). We left MN headed for Taliesin in Spring Green WI. Our path took us through south eastern MN, NE Iowa and into WI. Seeing the sunrise was actually really nice. I just wish the sun could rise later as a general rule so I could see it more often!

In Iowa we saw the Mississippi River, lovely!

The property at Taliesin was just gorgeous! I had NO idea WI was so beautiful!

Unfortunately, we weren't permitted to take pictures inside of Taliesin. The house and property have a really interesting story. If you've read Loving Frank, you might recall this house. I won't say what MAJOR thing happened here in case one of you hasn't finished the book yet and doesn't know how it all turns out. It really is a fascinating piece of architecture.

After the tour we made our way into Chicagoland! Can anyone explain WHY on earth it's referred to as Chicagoland? There's gotta be a story there!

I'm going to let Dad blog about dinner. All I have to say is YUM. And, it's after midnight here in Philly, so images from Chicago and our trek across Ohio will have to wait until tomorrow. Night all!