Adirondacks

 We left Syracuse at 8.13 am. 690-481-90 (freeways we took to get closer to Adirondacks) Normal and pleasant drive. Into the park. Nice and green country. It was interesting and in a way strange, there were houses along the road, however there were great distances between them. Nice roads. Many small towns and villages (hardly ten to fifteen houses that we could see). Forest, lakes and rivers. Not many places we could stop or do something. There was some camping and probably water activities, unfortunately the sightseeing was not the greatest (in general the country was really nice looking), there was not many places to visit easily. The park is collection of state and private lands. It is well kept (mostly) and very manicured. Town of Speculator, change the direction. Instead of east we drove south for a while. Town of Northville on Great Lake Sacandaga. Small town, few shops (J. visited and was not happy). Small park. Driving along the lake to the town of Hadley. Some old buildings, water structures and similar stuff. Lake George, a village, we drove through the main street and were not happy with the tourist trap setting (shops with shirts and bunch of trinkets). We tried to take another road to Prospect Mountain, we found it and were not sure about it. There were two tunnels underneath the freeway, I walked through to check it and it looked fine. We drove through and continued for maybe two hundred yards, the road was horrible and we ended up by small waterfall, there was a “platform” and pretty much nowhere to go. We turned around and drove back, Lake George Village again, busy and quite a bit of traffic, a tourist trap, closed information center. Strange place. We found the real way to the Prospect Mountain (state park), had to pay an admission (ten dollars) and drove up to the mountain. Three vista points (really nice view of the area). Big parking lot, there was a shuttle running to the top (maybe third of a mile). Nice views from the top, some remains of hotel and cable train that used to be there in 1910s. Back in the village, our motel was further down in town of Lake George which was bunch of shopping outlets. I was craving a cake, so we drove to neighboring town of Glen Falls, a river, a paper mill, very similar feel from the town – old and industrial, some impressive huge houses and parts that seen better days. I got a cake and we were done for a day. (Tuesday, May 28^th 2013)

Lake George morning, when we open the curtains we saw bunch of rain. The weather was unfortunately against us. We took it really slow and easy. The rain just kept going and going. Coffee. Interstate 87 for a bit and then smaller roads inside the park. Town of Warrensburg. Few stops along the Hudson river, cloudy and foggy. The rain stopped. At least something. We decided to take a walk up to the Sawyer mountain, about 1.4 miles one way. It was nice and pleasant to start with, going up it warmed up and there were more insect. Foggy. Muddy. Top of the hill, nice views, unfortunately too humid and buggy. Walk down, sweating and bothered by bugs. It was nice, the weather was not the greatest. Back on the road. Rainy. Bunch of lakes, forest and time to time a house. It is hard to describe the landscape or take a pictures of a whole area. We almost missed the turn to the Buttermilk waterfalls. It was probably 50 yards from the road. Really wide falling water, in some way it looked like buttermilk. Nice stop. Rain on and off. We stopped by Adirondack visitor center, smaller exhibits, few trails around (we did not do them because it started to rain again). Unfortunately they did not have many maps or brochures. Small talk with the girl there (from Syracuse). Apparently the area is very humid during summer. More driving, similar landscape, we tried not to miss the turn to get onto interstate 87. For one exit on the interstate, quick stop by the rest area (they had some maps and leaflets). Off the interstate and heading to Lake Placid. The country of High Peaks. Raining again. Few towns, green peaks and bunch of rivers. Lake Placid. On the beginning of the town, there were two towers (ski jumping), we turned there got close to it and parked. There was a chairlift to the top of the ski jump towers. Except one, all the towers had some type of surface for skiing without snow. There were four guys jumping, it was pretty amazing. The town itself, big stadium and some other large Olympics buildings. After that there was main street with many shops and restaurants. Actually pretty nice. We drove along and came back to check in into the hotel which was on the beginning of the main street. We parked behind (even now the main street was pretty busy) the hotel and walked to the visitor's center (not much helpful). We walked along the main street (J. went into few stores). On the way back to the hotel it started to rain again (seriously). Sixth floor (the top one) of the hotel with really nice view of the Mirror Lake. Not bad. (Wednesday, May 29^th 2013)

Cloudy and foggy view from our hotel room, probably the best view we ever had in a hotel room. We were thinking about driving on the top of Whiteface Mountain, but it did not look good for the views. We left Lake Placid before nine o'clock. The landscape was even nicer and it was pleasant to see that the Olympics did not do much damage to the area. About 7 miles north of Lake Placid was privately owned High Falls Gorge (almost 12 dollars a person). Surprisingly, we seen many privately run or owned natural places, interesting. Three or four cars there, not too hot yet. We went in and walked on their bridges and walkways along the gorge. To some degree it was surprisingly great, the falls and water running through the gorge. One drawback, there was incredible number of flies and mosquitoes and other insects that it was more than unpleasant. Still, we were glad we saw the place (even it was pretty short visit, as we decided not to take any of their nature walks). Another 8 miles further north in the town of Wilmington we had hard time to find Wildlife Refuge. Very narrow driveway into the woods, small parking area on the dirt (seven cars and it was already full, they opened at 10.00 and it was just few minutes past that). We continued and hit the refuge area (few cages, several houses and shed, pond in the middle), we were allowed to park between the houses. It was somewhat confusing (the parked people had about twelve small children) so we ended up with the older guy who started to tell something about wolves and the place. The place was a non-profit run by the couple (the guy was one of them, the lady was walking with the children group). We talked about animals, life and many other things and it was more than interesting. They had two wolves as a “pets”, some owls and other birds etc. J. was really happy to visit that place. It was almost noon when we left. We passed through Lake Placid and were more less heading home (four hours drive). For a while the country was really beautiful (Lake Placid and then Lake Saranac) and afterward it slowly changed into nice and mild country that we saw when we drove into Adirondacks. We stopped few time, we had “picnic lunch” on the lake and kept driving. It got warmer and sun was up and shining. Talk about good timing. For most of the time the speed limit was 55 and there was not much to see, few small villages, many lakes, some farms … the same. We drove into the city of Watertown (just drove through) and got on the interstate 81. We had around 70 miles on that road (forest around the road, nothing else), really exciting driving. Syracuse (the traffic is nice – not really busy), unpacked the car and just relaxed. J. took a bike ride to check the gym near by and enjoy full sun. I went to sleep and J. had to stay up to switch for her work. (Thursday, May 30^th 2013)

Syracuse - Week 3

May 20^th – 26^th May 2013

Monday. J. got home from work and went to sleep. The same routine for me. J. got up at 1.13 pm and it took her over an hour to get moving. It was her switch day, to sleep for a bit, stay awake and go to sleep during the night. I found a word describing her state in the afternoon “Monster Inc.”. She did some reading, had some food and then I had to force her to get out of the apartment. At the end, we agreed on smaller walk to the downtown of Syracuse. It was sunny and really warm. Underneath the highways, nicer and uglier streets. On Erie Boulevard we found Erie Canal Museum. As we learned, it used to be weighing building (to check to weight of the ship and determine the toll), nicely restored free museum. We went in and went through the museum and were more than surprised. There was even a ship in what probably used to be a canal and we could walk through it. Some nice stuff and pictures from the era when Syracuse was thriving (long gone). We continued via Hannover Square to Clinton Square. Clinton Square was on Erie Canal and there was a port. Who could imagine that today? There is a water feature in the middle of the square (I guess it is supposed to remind of a canal). Walk back. Nothing special, some big old homes and some abandoned ones really close by. Syracuse is strange. Light dinner, reading and relaxing and movie “Couple's Retreat” in the evening (movie highly recommended). 

Tuesday. Slow morning. J. had big issues to get up and start her day (feeling sick, tired and cranky). Hopefully it will get better (the way she copes with the night shift). It was somewhat cloudy and sunny at the same time and the forecast was calling for thunder storms later in the day. We drove about 8 miles to Clark Reservation State Park. It is still interesting how close the “urban” area is to pretty much countryside. There was some work done in the park (lawn mowing and construction). Few cars in the parking lot. Hot and humid. Cranky J. It was about 2.5 miles walk. There is just about six miles of trails. A lot of rocks, nice tame forest, boring first, later more rocks and more interesting. Small lake in the valley, we did not go there this time. Really steep edge. After the walk we drove via several small villages and some towns east and northeast. Very similar landscape, hilly and “domesticated”. The roads are in really good shape (especially considering winters here). The state speed limit is 55. It looks like the speed limit is posted (in the village for example) and then there is a sign with (end speed limit). Some abandoned houses. A lot of farm lands and farms. Jamesville County Park, on the lake, lawn mowing, road work. I would say that it looks quite a bit like Europe, there are some forest and green spaces, but most of the land is in some type of use, it looks very “domesticated” and manicured. And there is a lot of cemeteries. A lot of them. Lake Oneida. Verona State Park. Empty. A lot of work being done, again. We walked a bit around, very few people, huge parking lot. It looks like New York State has pretty nice recreational facilities and actually takes care of them (no budget cuts?). Still hot and humid. Drive home, more less the same landscape, glimpses of lake for a while, an accident on the road. We quickly stop by the store to get few food items. Reading, television watching, school work and not much. It rained and there was a lot of thunder going around. Strange weather.

 Wednesday. We do not have much luck (so far) with the weather. Cloudy, humid and drops of rain. J. slept until eleven (I tried to wake her up at 8.30 am but she acted as Monster Inc., so I left her alone). It was kind of late for a longer trip to Lake Ontario, so we stayed local. We drove through the city (we saw some new parts), a lot of construction going on. We wanted to visit Zoo. There was a construction in progress by the entrance. Many school children. Some rain, so we continued driving. We drove through some parks that we (apparently) already visited. The weather got better so we drove back to Zoo and went in. Relatively small, nice landscape, again lost in green jungle. Many animals were just sleeping. Hot and humid. Sunny. In was not the greatest, but it was interesting. It seems be in line with the rest of Syracuse area, kind of smaller and tame. Too hot. We drove home. J. did some cooking, we relaxed for the rest of the day. J. had to stay up whole night as she was switching back to the night shift.

Thursday. Pretty much nothing. J. slept during the day. It was hot and humid again. Monkey business at home, I went quickly to the store and took a short walk in the park. Some rain in the evening. J. went to the work (I drove her).

Friday. A huge drop in temperature over night. It got below 45 degrees and it was raining. When I got up, there was fog all over the place and it was cold. Strange, just yesterday we were so hot. Pick J. up at work and more less the same morning routine. It stayed cold and rainy whole day. Nothing special. In the evening, I drove J. to work. Rainy Syracuse.

 Saturday. Empty town. Quiet and sad looking, rainy and cold, empty Syracuse. J. went to sleep and was switching in the early afternoon. It was somewhat better than the last time. She was just partly “Monster Inc.” (never saw the movie or have no idea what is it about). Some food, slow around the house. Later for drove few miles west to go to the used bookstore (I saw some adds). Unfortunately it was catering to people reading romance and popular novels. Not interesting. More less next to it (in the shopping strip), there was a store called “European Specialties”. Small store with some stuff (Polish and Russian), some meats and cheeses. Actually pretty nice selection. Syracuse Arboretum (nice dog park next to the cemetery). Cloudy. Drive back and evening with the movie.

Sunday. Normal morning, it was cold outside. Sunny. J. slept terrible. We left the house around 9.30 heading northwest. Somewhat similar landscape, rolling hills, a lot of farmland and bunch of small villages and towns. We stopped once in a small town where J. saw a junk shop, so she went in. Besides that we just drove into Fair Haven State Park. I think for the first time I saw Lake Ontario. It was really cold and windy on the shore. The sign “no camping vacancy” was strange, it was pretty cold during the day, but on the other had it was Memorial Day weekend. Parked. Walked on the Federal Pier. The surroundings of the Lake were really pretty. Pond in the middle. Couple smaller building. Nice bay with the vacation homes on one side. Kind of peaceful. The lake was pretty wild. We drove a bit into the park and passed four larger parties picnicking along the way. We walked on the closed service road and were thinking about walking the Lakeshore Trail. Small beach. Swamp behind us. Walking. Going uphill and following the lake from the above. The “mini” trail was just on the edge of falling dirt. The views and nature were really pretty, the lake on one side and nice woods on the other. We were not sure about the trail though. Later, we saw some leftover land masses standing up and created strange looking sharp islands. In a while (probably a bit less then a mile) we ended up on the beach and walked back on Woodlands trail. Really nice nature. And back to the car. Another ten miles or so to the town of Oswego. We stopped on some roadside farm market / greenhouse, it was huge place full of people. We got some fruit and vegetables. Oswego. Nothing really special, we drove by downtown (not much there) and ended up by Fort Ontario Park. At the end of the park, we had “photo opportunities” of the Oswego Lighthouse. It was really nice (still working) structure built on the breaker wall. Not open to the public. Fort Ontario, there was an admission and surprisingly quite a few people. Big (more less) round wall with concrete blocks and grass on the top. Big round space in the middle with three houses and some smaller buildings, which we could tour. Some were really nicely restored with stuff and information inside. From the top of the wall, there were several access points into inner shooting catacombs. There was one remaining canon on the top wall as well, funny thing, the birds had a nest inside it. Almost leaving, we got stopped by the guy in the uniform (there were some kids in uniforms acting as guides) and talk about his gun for a moment. He offered to shoot it (I did not care about it), but J. said yes (according to her he was so excited to shoot). We left. We were getting tired and so far it took quite a while to get here (enjoyable time). We drove east, we passed the village of Mexico. We got on freeway 81. Stopped by the store. Dinner. Movies. Sleep.

Syracuse - Week 2

May 13^th - 19^th 2013

J. had her last day of an orientation on Monday. Another rainy, cloudy and cold day. Still feeling sick. Drove her to work. Nothing special. After the work, we drove to the suburb of Cicero to Walmart to get a bicycle lock. We toot the freeway there and smaller roads back, similar sites and nothing special. It was raining. J. had to stay up whole night as she was going to work night shift on Tuesday evening. She took a nap. Television and some reading. Some crazy weather.

Tuesday. J. slept during the day. We were able to darken the room and make it suitable for day sleeping. There is a loft area in the apartment with the bed, so we can split when one is sleeping. Unfortunately the bathroom is of the bedroom and that makes it very inconvenient. Oh well, we will figure something out. Still not feeling completely fine, did some school stuff, reading and relaxing. It got pretty cold in here, and rainy, so I drove her to work in the evening (it is just over a mile and there is back way with almost no traffic). There were some issues with J.'s contract and work schedule and J. tried to talk to her recruiter and her boss in the hospital to get it fix, still going on.

Wednesday. J. was late as she was talking to her boss about her situation. It was raining. Cold and cloudy. I picked her up around 8.00 am. She went to sleep. Still not feeling the best, I did some school work, reading, television watching and relaxing. I as well finally got caught on blog writing. The place looks more less like “we live here”. We are still trying to figure out our routine and situation and it will probably take another week or so. Even her first work night was not the greatest, there were many positive signs and she felt better about the job situation. So far so good. Nothing special for the evening and the night, J. had to stay up (she is not switching because she has to go back to work on Friday). She decided not to push somewhat bad schedule (she works two days and then she has two days off) and suck it up for now, so we have three blocks of strange situation (she stays up whole night even she does not work). I guess we will live.

Thursday. Not much different. I got up (early) and J. went to sleep. Some monkey business, reading, television and school, really not much. In the evening, J. got up and I went to sleep. Nothing special.

 (City views from two different spots. Everything is so green here.)

Friday. Not much different. I did some shopping. J. use her bicycle to get to work in the evening. Still not feeling completely fine. The weather is fine, everything is green, so we just need some days off to explore the area and enjoy ourselves. Should be coming up. The night shift does not work very good for us, unfortunately.

Saturday. We continued with the strange life when J. is working night shift. We are trying to adjust and find some balance and system, but so far we have some difficulties. J. came home in the morning, her first bicycle work ride was successful. I had similar morning, some school, reading and doing nothing. Even it was sunny early morning, by the mid day it was cloudy and gray. I planned a walk through the close neighborhoods, so I took a walk around 11.09 am. It was again interestingly strange. I went through three large parks which were really children friendly. Some streets were fine, I passed through some parts of the town that were fabulous, huge older homes with immaculate landscaping. Michigan comparison: Birmingham. Yet, within few blocks I was in somewhat goofy streets. It is really hard to understand Syracuse. I passed few people on the streets and many of them said hi, conclusion: people are pretty friendly here. Throughout the whole walk (5.574 miles) I was (still) impress with all the greenery, it is like the whole city would be lost in the green ocean. It is pretty hilly (smaller hills), yet the whole picture is mostly relatively flat. Many children playing sports (one of the parks was next to the school and had several different sports fields). It was either really humid or I am still not completely fine, because I was sweating like a pig. Big cemetery. Few stores. Even main roads relatively small. The church with the school (used to be Holy Trinity) for sale or lease. The church was visible from quiet a distance. Strange. For couple block I did not have the best feeling, as it looked like ghetto, dirty and messy and shady looking. On the top of that there was a car with three people and they were screaming at each other, oh … beautiful life. Strange. Safely home. I was really tired and took the rest of the day even more easy than normal (yes, it is possible). I drove J. to work in the evening. 

(From three bigger parks I went through on my walk.)

Sunday. Same morning routine, I was about around 6.03 am, had my coffee and read news online. Pick up J. at work (on time, short drive). I was up and she went to bed. Not much until about 11.30 when I took a drive and did some town exploration. I got lost a bit and ended up in the countryside, interesting. Along the way, there was self car wash, so I washed the car a bit and exchanged some bills into quarters (as our basement laundry takes coins). I was in the town of DeWitt. Stopped by the park along the road which was part of the Erie Canal Way. This park had remains of aqueduct, it is a interesting structure. I took a small walk along the canal. Driving home on Erie road (many shops), got few things in the store. Basically same evening, drove J. to work. It is different and somewhat difficult start of our time in Syracuse. We have issues with J. night shift and as well with getting the soul and sense of the area.

(Butternut Creek Aqueduct in DeWitt.)

Syracuse - Week 1

May 6^th – May 12^th 2013

Monday was our last day at home, in Michigan. J.'s friend spent a night in the house and were having relatively late breakfast. It was time to finish packing and get ready for our last trip (for the moment). J. went out and goofed off with her friend for most of the day. I took last trip to our house and finished cleaning around (kind of strange). I felt pretty sick. Finished packing, loading the car some and finally at the end of the day just relaxing some.

Our alarm went off before 5.00 am. Our aim was to leave around six o'clock. It was not easy (especially for J.). I packed the rest of the car and we were moving pretty good. We were going to move the car into the driveway and the alarm went off, we had some issues and had to disconnect the battery. Not the greatest start of the day. We left about 10 minutes after six. About an hour of driving in Michigan, nothing special. Cross to Canada, no lines and no waiting. Over three hours of driving in Canada, really boring and without the end. Unfortunately. We just drove, the road changed the name few times, few turns and we were heading towards Buffalo, New York. More cars waiting at the border crossing, it got hot (becoming a rule for our moving day). It was not too long, maybe 10 minutes of waiting. Quick look on our passports and we were back in the US. We got lost a bit but made it successfully onto I-90 New York thruway. Toll road. Again, we did not stop and wanted just be there and not to drive anymore. Over two and half hours of driving on the interstate. Somewhat interesting landscape, not for such a long time though. About 2.30 pm we were in Syracuse. Shorter drive from freeway. It looked strange, I just could not figure out how I am feeling about what I was seeing. Some empty lots, abounded buildings, some nice houses, pretty nice parts of downtown. Really strange mix. House and apartment. Pretty good. We moved in, went to a grocery store and were done for a day. While driving, the strange feeling about Syracuse stayed with us.

Wednesday. Our first day in Syracuse, New York state. We already got some groceries yesterday, so we took the morning easy. It was sunny and relatively warm. J. had her physical at 1 o'clock. Until that we stayed at home trying to sort and organize our stuff. Slowly but surely. I dropped her off at the hospital (it is just a bit over a mile). It got cloudy and rainy, when I picked her up it was raining. We went to couple more grocery stores and were not super happy with the selection. It was raining really heavy. Almost like a hell. The evening was quiet. We watched some shows on internet.

- the view from the window in our apartment

- driving along the small lake and some sad site in the city

- city views from one of the parks within city limits

Thursday. J. had her first work day (an orientation). I still felt sick, so I stayed at home trying to finish making our “home”. I as well had to start with my class. Easy day (except being sick). J. was done in the early afternoon. I picked her up and we did not do much for the rest of the day. She had some issues with the contract and the job, so she was trying to get in touch with the agency and had some fun with that. So far it is more less working out.

Friday. J. had shorter day of an orientation, I dropped her off and tried to continue sorting and getting settled. Going “so so” as I was still feeling kind of sick. I as well had to start with my class. J. walked home (a bit over a mile), it was probably one o'clock. A bit later we drove into the town and went into the visitor's center. There were some brochures and information (not much) and unfriendly and unhelpful person. We drove a bit through the town and continue to have that strange feeling from it. Syracuse is really strange. I call it interestingly strange. J. found a word “griddy”. We as well heard the word “desolate”. It is hard to say. Hopefully with the time we will be able to understand it a bit more. It is definitely very different from our past experiences. With the weather being goofy, we drove home and quiet evening.

Saturday. Another slow morning, the weather is changing a lot (quite often gray) and I still do not feel well. There is a marketplace in the town and they have Saturday's farmer's market. Less then two miles drive, very busy, I guess we were lucky to park within two minutes really close to the market. Several buildings and sheds next to railroad and freeway. Actually really large place in many ways similar to Detroit's Eastern Market. Walked around. Windy and cold. Really busy. Onondaga Lake, that is smaller lake within city limits. From the market we sort of drove around the lake, visited one park, again it was interesting and strange. It got really cold and windy. There were some nicer suburbs of Syracuse, a lot of empty land, still the town looked so green (there is so many trees). And again many run down houses and strange parts of the town. We continued driving through the city and found few parks and one hill top one with really nice views of the city. Surprising. We did some cooking and television watching in the evening.

- houses and building in the city, just to illustrate how strange the city is

- pratts falls county park, really green and really pretty

The weather got nicer for Sunday, so we were going to see couple parks near Syracuse. Sleepy and empty town as we were leaving. Actually, for the most part the city is not really busy. It was about twenty five minutes to Pratt's Falls Park. (South East of Syracuse). The city was behind us really soon and we were in really pretty farm land. It was hilly, green and incredibly picturesque. We could not believe what we were seeing. It was strange. Everything was green and blooming or getting ready to bloom. Pretty. Pratt's Falls was a county park, plenty of parking and almost no people (pretty cold morning). We took small walk (less then 0.5 mile circle) to see the falls from the bottom. It was pretty nice view, one would not expect it here. There were some signs about different mills being on the site in the past. We continued driving. In the village of Cazenovia we visited closed Lorenzo historic site. It is still pretty surprising to compare city of Syracuse and close surroundings. It is interestingly strange. It was pretty pleasant drive. Another stop by Chittenango Falls. Bigger falls, state park, smaller parking lot open, the site closed for the season, picnic tables and several cars there. Nice overlook just about fifty yards from the parking lot (and actually pretty large and impressive falls), relatively short walk down to the bottom of the falls. Kind of mild and tame beauty of the nature, it is not impressive as many other sites we seen, but there is something nice and pleasant about the landscape here. And actually the view from the bottom was pretty great and impressive. More driving. We stopped by the grocery store (again, we probably visited most of the grocery stores around here). J. bought her bicycle (hopefully she will use it). It got cloudy and rainy again. Home. End of our first week in Syracuse, mixed feelings, but hopefully it will work out just fine again.

- chittenango falls state park

Going East - Week 2

April 28^th – May 5^th 2013

We have spent Monday in Chicago (close enough). We were happy to visit with J.'s sister and her two children. We visited botanical garden (always so much fun with two small children). The spring is just coming here so we even did not see tulips blooming. Still, the grass was growing and there were some plants blooming so it was really nice. As we are moving east, the spring is going with us. It is pretty pleasant. The trip was relatively uneventful (Going East), but we visited many family members that we did not see for a very long time. At the end it was pretty nice. Tuesday morning we walked to the main street and got a bakery treats. It was nice morning in suburban Chicago. After getting back, we had to load our bags and leave. The road was busy but we were (I guess) lucky and did not have to stop or even slow down anywhere. It was quick drive through the city (nice). And boring known drive to Michigan. Home. We stopped once for gas and once to stretch our legs. Even it was relatively short and quick drive, we had more than enough and were looking forward being home. We arrived around 4.05 pm. Unload the car, talk to our family and be happy to be done driving. Pizza for a dinner. It was nice to be at home, unfortunately D. pulled the muscle on his back and was hurting. On Wednesday and Thursday, we did some driving around, saw our house and did some clean up and maintenance. We saw our neighbors. The life goes on. At this time of the year Michigan is pretty nice (it is spring, everything is getting green and blooming). On Friday, most of the family left for Florida (we drove them to the airport). J. spent some time with her friends, I did bunch of work around the house and felt really bad (feeling sick). We could not believe it, but the week was gone pretty quickly.

Going East - Day 7

Sunday, 28^th of April 2013

Cedar Rapids, IA – Chicago, IL

Miles: 274

Slower morning and the same routine, a coffee maker in the room. There was a bakery in the czech village opening at 10.00 am, so we had plenty of time. Blog writing. J. had something to eat. Pack the car again and leave. Quiet Sunday morning. We drove to downtown Cedar Rapids, train tracks, business district with nothing really special. They had sky walks there (gotta be Iowa thing). We drove to “Little Bohemia” part of the town, close to downtown, in some way like Detroit (or maybe older Mid Western towns), some empty lots and quite a bit of space. NewBo market opening at 10.00. We drove to Czech Village, saw a meat shop and cafe (nothing) and got some pastries (kolace) in Sykora bakery. After eating them, we discovered they were not really authentic (or super good), too bad. The market, pretty new, but again nothing special. Left the town. Freeway for 19 miles and then back on interstate 80. We took a break in LaClaire, small town of Iowa and home of the show American Pickers. The town was next to Mississippi river, pretty nice and charming. J. went into antique shop. We went as well to the shop from the television shop (kind of buzz kill), there were few things and then shirts and souvenirs. Oh well. Still, it was pretty nice town. We crossed the river and were in the state of Ilinois. There was a welcome center (a bit out of the way), overlooking the river, I got a map and saw a sign informing people about a budget cuts and closed center. It was a bit past the noon, so we just stayed on the road and were heading to Chicago to visit a family (for two nights). The road became very boring, flat, we saw some flooding (big lakes in the middle of the fields). There was really nothing to see. The road became a toll road. We ended up paying the toll quite a few times (over ten dollars). We were in the greater city, not super pretty. Driving and driving. It felt like forever. Probably close to four o'clock we arrived and were happy to be done. For the rest of the day we just hang out with the family (they had two babies). Fun. Fun. Fun.