Twelve Oaks at Northbrook

... long trip. Most of them were passing through as part of a longer journey, on their way to or from another far-away land. We hiked Volcan Baru with a solo Swedish hiker who latched on to other backpackers and seemingly traveled wherever the wind blew, and 3 Israeli 20-somethings who were traveling for 10 months, or "until we run out of money". For me, this was an introduction to this type of travel, and seeing people doing it first-hand made me realize the ...

Another year, another trip! However, this year, it's only Nathan and I setting out on this adventure. Frank can't make it this time because, well, I have no idea to be honest. So, please keep your fingers crossed that we come back friends - we're going to need the extra luck! <br><br>We're setting off to Costa Rica and Guatemala for 12 days. We decided to go for a shorter trip this year because of 2 reasons: 1) we would kill ...

... water. They had free kids' shows there but we headed straight to the also-famous Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. After unloading ourselves of US$24 we got a total of one revolution of the wheel! Still the views were great and at least we can say we did the Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier. We then grabbed lunch &#8211; everywhere packed again &#8211; kids had McDs while Tracey and I wanted to try one of the famous Chicago Hot Dogs. They were ok but nothing to write home about we thought, but then we were ...

... smaller shops inside. When we first got there the stores hadn't opened (a lot of stores open at 10am over here) but by the time we'd been inside for a short while, lots of people started coming through. Lots of sales happening in the stores, got a nice top at JC Penney's for $2.97 on Clearance! Bought Josh a jacket and Fred &amp; I got some good brand sneakers from Sears (Fred's Sketchers $30) , before back on Interstate 90 heading East ...

... pond that had ducks and swans. The ducks had , i think, 11 ducklings with them, and the swans had two fluffy little cygnets (baby swans. i learned that today by one of the senior residents that lived there). She in joyed that. I took a picture ( o my god, i spelled that right for the first time ever... YAY me). Well I would love to type more but my hands feel like they are going to feel off, so night all.

... SUCKS! It has gone underground. just POOF!- there goes the GPS signal! So since we all had to pee at the time and we tried to find the place for a realllly long time, boating didn't happen. In stead we went pee, found our hotel, had Domino's, and Then we went to go see Grandma' Nana. & SHE IS ADORABLE. She is so nice and fun. Today we are going back to see her so I have to go get ready, Hasta Luego!

... We stopped in the American Girl store but only bought a couple of books for the girls. We ended up deciding on Giordanos for the pizza and it was fantastic. On our way back to the hotel we stopped by the Hershey's store and then walked back to our hotel. Tomorrow it's a day for Michigan Ave shopping and just exploring downtown, Navy Pier, and maybe a bike ride along the lake shore.

... in Rio was beautiful. Although the climate includes a lot of rainfall. Also, Rio de Janeiro is warm all year round. Summers, between November and March, are very hot and humid. Winters are cool and dry, never cold, with some precipitation ...

We set out for Lincoln Park this morning, to visit the zoo... The zoo is free! I wasn't expecting too much for a free zoo, but it was great. We saw: zebras, otters, white-lipped deer, giraffes, bears, a pygmy hippo, meek rats and more. The zoo also had a farm animals section and a children's zoo. There was a cool crawling maze in the children's zoo, but I think I was too big for it so I didn ...

So this is my first entry on my travelpod. I am still in Northbrook, leaving 71 hours from right now on an Iberia flight to Paris with a stopover in Madrid. Our first week includes Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Berlin. I'll try to give you the next week's itinerary so that you can send us suggestions for places to see, eat or stay, or daytrips that we just have to take. I tried packing my backpack today, a red ...