Homecoming Weekend in Madison

Thursday, October 1-Sunday, October 4: Taliesin, Badger Win, Home Depot, Laurent House

Mr. E picked up a rental car on Thursday morning, and we headed up to Madison later that afternoon, in the midst of rainy weather. Our hotel was the Residence Inn in Middleton, in the same area as the Madison Marriott West where we've stayed in the past. After checking in, Mr. E went out to get provisions while I did yoga. I'd been battling with a really nasty cold since Monday, so continued my routine of earlier bedtime and no drinking.

Our destination on Friday as Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin for a 2pm Highlights Tour that lasted 2.5 hours. On the way there, we stopped briefly at the Spring Valley Inn, which was another Frank Lloyd Wright design that I'd read about in one of my new books by Kristine Hansen. I had seen her at an author talk at Bookends & Beginnings the week before and picked up both her Illinois and Wisconsin books, which was a great way to learn more about these sites.

Our tour started at the Visitor's Center, and we then boarded a small shuttle to go to the estate, where we toured the main home, some of the grounds, and the school and studio. I had been here once before with Mom when I lived in Madison, but I think that was nearly 30 years ago (!), and there have definitely been changes and upgrades to the sites and the tour operations. We had a beautiful day for the visit and could really appreciate how the buildings fit into the landscape.

I really love the unique and iconic light that we saw several of throughout the property. A large and small version were available at the gift shop and even on sale, but both Mr. E and I decided that it might be too risky to have something in our home that would be so tempting to our climber kitties!

Our evening was pretty low-key again, with some reading, browsing at a few nearby shops, and another takeout dinner. Oh, and during a trip to Target, Mr. E was able to get his COVID and flu shots, since he hadn't been able to do so when I did the previous week at our Evanston CVS.

On Saturday morning, we made our way to campus for the tailgate at the Olin House (Chancellor's residence) before going to Camp Randall for the homecoming game. We had been invited to watch from the Wisconsin Club, which gave us access to much comfier seats as well as food and drinks throughout the game. This was really the primary reason that I had wanted to attend, as otherwise Mr. E goes with his friends who are more into the game than I am. We had a great view of the entire field and saw some amazing plays as the Badgers won 31-3.

We left a bit early and decided to take advantage of having a car to visit Home Depot and do some recon for various items we'll need for our condo projects (paint, faucets, cabinet handles, etc.). We also picked up some items at Metcalfe's Market and Paper Source at the Hilldale Mall. Then another relaxing evening at the hotel.

I took advantage of the decent length and rectangular shape of the hotel pool to swim laps on Sunday morning and finished with perfect timing, right before a family with two kids came to use the pool. After breakfast, we packed everything up and hit the road to drive to Rockford, IL, for our 1pm tour of Laurent House, the only home ever designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for someone with limited mobility. The tour was quite lovely, and I really enjoyed seeing the modifications to accommodate Mr. Laurent and his wheelchair, as it reminded me so much of how Dad had to navigate and move through the world, first on crutches and then in a wheelchair as he got older.

We got back to Evanston in the late afternoon, so we had plenty of time to unpack, do the grocery shopping (with a car for a change!), and spend some quality time with the kitties. 

Evanston Activities

Mr. E and I took advantage of a few fun local activities last month, including a book signing by chef Carla Hall at Bookends & Beginnings, a Chicago Cubs game to benefit Hubbard Street Dance Company, and a bike ride to the Bahai'i Temple.

I've also had some amazing sunrise views during my morning walks to the Lake over the past few weeks. And Mr. E and I were lucky enough to catch the big harvest moonrise when we [very coincidentally] happened to go to Cafe au Lake for drinks one evening. I couldn't really get any photos that truly captured how amazing the moon looked over the Lake, but the sunrise images are pretty darn good.

 

Family Visit to Evanston!

Friday, September 4-Monday, September 7: Chicago Sights + Evanston Events + Family Time

My sister J and her family and my cousin (aka younger sister) A and her family all came to Evanston for the Labor Day long weekend holiday. So fun to have them visit and get to know our new second home city! 

J had arranged for a grocery delivery on Friday afternoon to their VRBO, so Mr. E and I headed over there to make sure nothing went missing and to put perishables in the fridge. When we arrived, the hosts were still finishing up the cleaning, and the home was quite warm. Ugh! Granted, the temperature was unusually warm that day, but the a/c in the house definitely wasn't strong enough to cool everything down, especially since they had the windows open to "air out" the place. When J's group arrived, B went off to Lowe's to buy two window a/c units for the weekend after confirming that they could be returned within 48 hours. Brilliant! A and her family unfortunately were "treated" to a full-on O'Hare experience, with a long time on the tarmac after landing followed by a lack of cars when they finally made it to the rental car center. Ugh again! Not a great way for the visit to begin, but luckily it all got much better from there.

The two families headed off to the Museum of Science & Industry on Saturday morning while Mr. E and I took care of some administrative stuff related to our recent purchase of a condo here in downtown Evanston. It had been a whirlwind week, since we had flown from Sac the previous Saturday, saw the unit and made an offer on Sunday afternoon, had the offer accepted with minor modifications on Monday evening, and completed the inspection on Friday morning before my family arrived. Phew!

In the early afternoon we met up at Mr. E's mom's building in downtown Chicago, where we were fortunate to find parking for all three cars, and headed to the nearby Mariano's to grab DIY lunch. Mr. E and I got to spend a little time with his mom before everyone else arrived. After lunch, our group of 10 (6 adults, 4 kids) strolled over to Millennium Park to visit The Bean and the awesome "spitting people" fountains. The kids were all-in on getting wet, especially since it was pretty warm, and it was a great activity for M in particular to run around and have a safe space to expend his energy. We then walked across the "snake" bridge and found our way to an awesome area with multiple big playgrounds. Eventually we made our way back to Mr. E's mom's place, where A and her family got changed in the condo while J and her family went to the pool for a bit before getting ready for our group dinner.

One of Mr. E's wishes for his 60th birthday celebration with family was to go to Fogo de Chao so that all of the meat-eaters could really take advantage of the restaurant's offerings. His sister L and brother-in-law M met up with us there, so our total group was 13. It was quite an extravaganza! Luckily, we also knew there would be enough options for the non-meat-eaters in the group, and we all enjoyed the dinner once we got a couple of initial service issues figured out.

The two family groups each headed back to Evanston, L & M returned to Oak Park, and Mr. E and I took his mom back to her place, since we'd driven her over to the restaurant. Just as we were about 3 blocks away, I happened to look at my phone and saw a text from my sister that she and A had decided to go for a walk and were asking us to come pick them up. What??!! That was a surprise!!! Good thing I checked my phone when I did, and we were able to loop back around to get them before dropping Mr. E's mom off at her place and then all returning to Evanston together. It was actually rather nice to have some extra time with J and A to visit with during the drive.

On Sunday morning, everyone came over to our apartment and took advantage of the roof-top pool for a couple of hours. Then the boys took over the game room for the pool table and the big wall Scrabble while J, A, and I took a walk by the Lake and checked out the [very small] North Shore French Fest at Fountain Square. By the time we finished our acai bowls from Deep Purpl and returned to the apartment, we were all ready to go to the Chicago Stars game at the Lakefront Stadium. 

R drove since he was still recovering from knee surgery, but the rest of us walked along the Lakefront path. We had plenty of time for the pre-game activities, and Mr. E and I were able to meet up with R to get him into the stadium since we had all the tickets on my phone. I had hoped that our seats would have a view of the Lake and be at least somewhat shaded, but I totally struck out on both counts, as our location in the front rows on the west side were sunny the whole time and too low to see the Lake. Ah well. We'll know for the future, if necessary! The game was fun to watch, even though the Stars lost.

Our group dinner that evening was hibachi at Todoroki, which was fun for everyone and provided lots of leftovers to take home.

J had decided to change to an earlier flight on Monday since they had a busy week ahead, so we didn't get to see them before they left. Once A and family checked out of the VRBO, they came over to our place and we all headed to the Clark Street Beach for a couple of hours before they left for the airport. It was nice to have some dedicated time with a smaller group, and I wished I'd worn my swimsuit because the water was surprisingly warm, especially given how cold it had been when Mr. E and I had gone to the beach one evening the previous week! 

We're so glad that we were able to figure out the logistics to bring both family groups here to Evanston. We'll get to see the Denver folks again at the end of October when we visit them for Halloween weekend, and I'll be spending time with the Austin folks in mid-October thanks to having a conference in nearby San Antonio.