Gordon Beach Inn Union Pier

After driving for another 2 hours, it was 10 PM eastern time. We were on our 4th state of the day. I was beat and we decided to stay in South Bend. I've always wanted to see the University of Notre Dame, so was was our best chance. There wasn't much to look at for this time of night. Upon checking in, we crashed for the night.

We'll see what the mystique is all about in the morning.

... Indiana. We take the old highway not the interstate as these roads take you thru the country side and into the smaller townships. Again more corn. On these roads small farm lets and acreages line the road. We see new houses with large dams beside them these have diving boards, paddle boats and pontoons in them. We wonder if they use them as an ice skating rink in the coming winter.

At about 5 o’clock the van starts to lose power and we limp in to ...

After leaving South Bend this morning, Daniel and I went to the very bottom of Michigan and visited a little beach town called New Buffalo. It was a very nice quaint town and had a little beach that everyone was at. We had to get in just to say that we've been in lake Michigan, so we put on some running shorts (which got us some awkward looks) and jumped in. After we took some pictures and ate some lunch there, we booked a hotel in Chicago and jumped in our cars heading west.

... apartment complex close to the school and crashed there for the night. I set up my hammock between a volleyball net pole and a small tree and Daniel put his sleeping bag in the grass next to me. Neither of us get a good nights rest and we get in our cars around 6 am because it's starting to drizzle a little bit. It ended up raining for about 3 hours ...

we leave the bustling metropolis
of south bend, indiana to embark upon the long journey home. some 2200
miles away my home sits, nestled in a canyon in the santa monica
mountain range just inland from the southern california coast. the
city of angels, surrounded by mountains and ocean, lies in wait,
embraced in the marine layer circling from santa catalina island.

... interested in seeing the soya beans growing for the first time. On the way we called into the Buffalo Bill Museum along side the Mississippi River. This reminded us again of what the wild west was all about. We arrived on the outskirts of Chicago in full peak hour traffic made worse with many road works along the way. The traffic was thick across all 6 lanes at times and the going in places very slow. We arrived unscathed at the car rental depot around 6.00 pm.

... pics). Benjie will be in Japan at the same time as us and may send an email! Even though Benjie objected we left soon after to get a nap at the hotel after being sundrenched all day. We made a quick dinner reservation at the Signature Room @ the 95th floor of the Hanock Tower for 9:30 before falling asleep. Unfortunately we were pretty tired and slept until 9:15 by accident! I dragged Chris out of bed and we rushed into ...

... I couldn't help but compare this serene child with a few forays into dining out that we have made with Eleanor, who doesn't last in her high chair more than 10 minutes and then wants to come down and explore. My free-spirited child does not like being constrained in any way, or having her perspectives limited by convention. She would walk up to patrons, strike a conversation, peer out of windows. After a few necessary outings we stopped trying. Perhaps some day... However, this ...

... flight cancellations. Any time you miss a connection because of the airline's fault, it owes you a booking of the next flight and an overnight stay if needed. Connections missed due to bad weather or general airport congestion do not qualify and so American would not pay for our stay in Chicago. The trick is to figure out an alternative route to your destination and ask to be sent there. The gate agents usually have the authority to alternate your route in such situations ...

... than small potatoes. The fish line was about a foot wide and stretched as far as I could see down either direction of the beach. A vast death row of glazed eyes, broken bones, and drying scales. We'd seen them when we first hit the beach and were immediately disappointed. After all, the dunes themselves were fantastic, and the beach between them and the fish was beautiful. We decided to set up base close to the dunes, as far away from the corpses as we could get. After ...