12:00pm January 23, 2015

Alexa got home around 6pm on Wednesday, which was right about the time we were waking up from our recovery naps. We were in dire need of food, so we walked over to a nearby place that makes specialty salads in an attempt to be health conscious. Alexa lives in a neighborhood referred to as Hell’s Kitchen that is in the heart of Manhattan. After dinner she took us on a walking tour of nearby touristy sights. Highlights included Times Square, The Rockefeller Center and Central Park/Columbus Circle. At this point, we were all a little cold and we headed back to Alexa’s to get ready for the evening. Suzie became a little more territorial when Alexa was around. For some reason, she no longer liked Dan and she would just growl at him and then bite her tail and run in a circle.

Times Square. Sooo many advertisements!

Rockefeller Plaza

Central Park and some tall buildings. Can you tell we're cold?

Our plan was to check out the Manhattan club scene, but seeing as it was a Wednesday night, there wasn’t much going on and we ended up at a nearby sports bar called Beer Authority instead. We had a blast there and Alexa introduced us to pickle backs, a New York tradition. Pickle backs are just whiskey shots chased with pickle juice. It sounds gross, but actually isn’t half bad and the pickle juice is a phenomenal chaser.

Pickle backs! Bottoms Up!

On the way home from the bar, we stopped and got Halal (chicken over rice) from a food vendor. We chatted with him while he made our food and I think we made his day. He told us about his daughter who is also studying engineering and the rest of his family. I would say all of us were friends by the time we left.

Waiting patiently for our Halal

Alexa took the next day off work and acted as our tour guide. We were very thankful, because our day would have been much less cohesive without her guidance and knowledge. Before we left for the day, Alexa asked us how we felt about walking and we told her we were down for a solid amount of walking. She definitely took that to heart.

Our afternoon started with a short walk to the subway. We rode the subway all the way down to Lower Manhattan and hopped on the ferry to Staten Island. We had no business in Staten Island, but the ferry is free and you get some great views of the statue of liberty and the city skylines during the trip. It was a little chilly, but we sat out on the observation deck areas for most of the ride. Standard protocol is that you have to get off the ferry at Staten Island and then get on a different one to return to Manhattan. We had a bit of down time in between ferries, so Kileigh and I bought some post cards while we waited. We quickly learned that small talk with cashiers is not the norm in New York. You simply hand them the item and then hand them money. They don’t even tell you how much you owe unless you ask.

Trying to fit in on the subway with our Dunkin' Donuts

Just posing with our girl Lady Liberty!

Another magical shot from Kileigh's camera. We're definitely glowing...

Once we returned to Manhattan, we began our walking tour of the various neighborhoods that compose Lower Manhattan. First up was the financial district and Wall Street. There really wasn’t much to see there, but Dan took his picture with the bull statue. Next we made our way to the 9/11 memorial. Due to time constraints, we didn’t go inside the actual tribute center, but the memorial itself is very tasteful and a sight to see. From there, we could also see the new World Trade Center. Dan insisted on referring to the World Trade Center as the Freedom Tower to Alexa’s chagrin. She informed us that the nickname Freedom Tower is not a real thing and just a perpetuation of America’s obsession with the idea of freedom. Nonetheless Dan called it the Freedom Tower all day.

The biggest issue we faced throughout the day was finding public bathrooms. For this reason, after leaving the 9/11 Memorial, we found ourselves in one of the strangest McDonald’s I’ve ever experienced. It was multiple stories and had almost a lounge feel to it which was amplified by the fact that they had a DJ inside playing music.

Classic tourist photo. 10 points if you can guess where this was taken.

Dan and the bull. 

World Trade Center or Freedom Tower or really cool looking building. 

9/11 Memorial. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

And old cemetery we stopped by during the day. 

Next we continued on to check out City Hall, China Town and Little Italy. By the time we got to Little Italy it was time for lunch. We picked the first restaurant we came to that had decent lunch specials on their board out front. The place was called Da Gennaro and it turned out to be a great choice.  Kileigh and I both went with the crab stuffed ravioli in a pink sauce. No regrets there. Lunch was also a much needed break for our feet. Especially since we had decided to forego taking the subway home and walk instead so we could see more of the city.

I think they put that sign up just for us.

After lunch, we walked through SoHo, NoHo, NYU campus, Washington Square Park, etc… Our next destination was Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market is an indoor market with a variety of shops and vendors. We found ourselves getting coffee and specialty mini donuts. The mini donuts were made fresh and you got to pick from a variety of flavors. The vendor also had the fryer machine out front so we could actually watch them get made. On our way out Chelsea Market, we walked past this awesome 3D printer setup. Basically they have a large circular studio with cameras at all angles and it takes a 3D image of whatever you put inside, typically people or pets. And then it uses that image to make a miniature action figure/statue of the person or thing. We were thinking we could use one of these with us in our classic road trip picture pose.

And just another place we thought was a good photo op. Name that President!

New York still has Kmart. Unbelievable. It seemed to be about the same quality as the one Eau Claire. Low. 

The doughnut machine!

Walking through Chelsea Market.

At this point, it was getting late, so we more or less headed back to Alexa’s. We walked through a pretty Highline Park for a few blocks which is neat because it an elevated park. We also saw the Flat Iron district, Herald Square, and the Empire State building on the walk back. Dinner consisted of $1 New York pizza slices that we picked up at a place nearby Alexa’s. We have had a lottt of pizza over the last week. I’m even starting to consider myself a pizza critic.

Highline Park

And another one for good measure. 

Once back at Alexa’s, we got ready a littler earlier than the previous night and headed out to the club we had wanted to go to the night before. It was called Sky Room and had a rooftop lounge with an awesome view of the city. From there we went to a bar called Mercury in Hell’s Kitchen. It had a neat vibe and they had a deal where you could get a domestic beer and a shot of fireball for ten bucks. By New York standards it was a steal. We ended our night there and headed back home at bar close.

We had intended to get up early and leave, but after cramming so much in the last few days sleep ended up being more important. We left the city just before noon after saying goodbye to Alexa, Jason and Suzie. New York was a crazy whirlwind of tourism, good eats, and partying. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. We’re now headed to Philadelphia in search of the classic Philly cheese steak and from there we’ve got a quick stop in Baltimore and will finally end the day in Washington DC. 

Looking fancy at the Skyroom.

The view from the Skyroom!

Suzie didn't want us to leave!

12:30 pm January 21, 2015

I dozed in and out for most of the drive to New York. As usual, Dan drove the whole way except for when Kieligh and I each took hour or so shifts so he could take a couple power naps. Although it was dark, Pennsylvania had some beautiful landscapes. Late this morning, we approached New York City. I have spent the last few days in back and forth communication with my friend we are staying with in NYC, Alexa Halcomb, about the parking situation. At one point, we considered parking outside the city in Jersey and taking public transit from there. In the end, we decided to just bite the bullet and pay the extra money to park about a block from Alexa’s place. This is definitely going to be one of the more expensive stops on the trip. We started off by paying $14 to go through the Lincoln Memorial Tunnel just to get onto the island that is Manhattan and then paid the guys running the parking lot $110 to park our car for the next day and a half.

Pennsylvania State Line

It definitely took of a lot of faith on our part to leave the car in this parking lot. Although, they have someone on duty 24/7, they leave the cars unlocked with keys in the ignitions also. This seems really scary, until you realize that they park the cars in so tight that there is absolutely no way anyone could steal one of the cars. I mean it was still a little concerning, but we had no other choice. We just brought all of our valuables inside with us and crossed our fingers in hopes all would be well and we trekked to Alexa’s place.

This sort of shows the crazy parking situation. 

Alexa is at work still, so her brother, Jason, just met up with us and let us in to the apartment. Naturally, we are exhausted. The only things on the agenda for the next few hours are showers and sleep. We also met the little dog that Alexa is currently fostering. Her name is Suzie. Alexa warned us that she might be a little feisty since she is a rescue dog, but she was as friendly as could be to all of us. 

Suzie in her cutest outfit

Our progress thus far.

12:00 am January 21, 2015

The drive to Valpo was uneventful and short. Kileigh and Dan finally got to see the wonderful state that they have heard so much about. At this point on the trip, not a single person that we have stayed with has made a positive or even neutral comment about the state of Indiana. Don’t get me wrong, I love Valpo, but it is one of Indiana’s only redeeming qualities.

Indiana State Line

We drove directly to campus and parked in a lot near the softball fields. It was evident just by the lack of available parking that there has been a significant increase in the student population in the last few years. It was also weird to see the massive new dorm building that went up across the street from Scheele in the last year. We started off our campus tour in the Union, mainly because it was time for our regularly scheduled bathroom break. We then headed over to Scheele to meet up with my friend, sorority sister, and junior civil engineering student, Dana Hinaman. Josh Young, another one of my remaining Valpo friends and fellow Hesse Scholar also met us there. Josh and Dana filled me in on the latest Valpo gossip and changes while we gave Dan and Kileigh a tour of campus. We started at Scheele, where they were amazed that I managed to spend three years living in the tiny cramped space that is a Valpo dorm room. Next we trekked across campus over to Gellersen, the engineering building. There were definitely some familiar faces around there still. We stopped and chatted with some seniors in the senior design lab area before continuing on to go meet up with Allie Pohl, my one and only little, at the Christopher Center.

Once we picked up Allie, we continued the campus tour and walked through the library and the chapel and ended up back in the union. It was a little surreal to sit in the café again and just hang out, but at the same time I really enjoyed it. We chatted about engineering, Valpo drama, and the future. As much as I wanted to just sit in the café for hours for old times sake, Dana, Josh and Allie had studying to get done and we ourselves were on a pretty tight schedule, so we said our goodbyes and well wishes and headed off to our dinner destination, Duffy’s. Duffy’s was our go to bar senior year. Mainly because it was the only one within walking distance to our apartment. It’s really just a smoky townie bar with cheap drinks, nothing too spectacular. But, they do have a great wings and you can’t go to Valpo and not at least stop at Duffy’s. After dinner, it was time to hit the road once again. That was my first trip back to Valpo since graduation and I’m glad to know that things are still well there and it’s been left in good hands.

The BEST Little ever :D

Just hanging with some of the coolest civil engineers around. 

Cheers to Valparaiso and Duffy's!

We were headed to Fort Wayne, to spend the night with a good friend of mine from High School, Casey Bresser. About ten minutes into the drive, Dan came up with a crazy idea. The idea came out of the fact that we were concerned about getting to New York at a decent hour the next day, as well as figuring out parking in the city. He suggested we just make Fort Wayne a pit stop/recovery location and drive through the night to New York. At first, I thought this was a dumb idea and I was not keen on another overnight drive. But after thinking about it some more, the idea grew on me and it really did seem like a good option. I called up Casey to see how she felt about the change of plans and she was totally cool with it. And as quick as that, the plan was changed.

We got to Casey’s place about 9pm. Kileigh and I decided to downsize the amount of luggage in our suitcases to make things easier in New York. So while Dan napped, we sorted through piles of clothes, shoes and toiletries. My suitcase was definitely lighter after repacking, but somehow Kileigh’s got heavier. Overall, we spent a few hours organizing, relaxing and chatting with Casey. She told us about her PA studies and let us page through some of her very large pathology (or something like that) books. I would call it a very educational stop.  We hit the road again around 11:30pm and stopped at a Wendy’s for Frosty’s on our way out of town. After the frosty, my voice regained some of its strength. It’s still not completely back though. 

Casey and I, both looking our finest.

12:30 pm January 20, 2015

On our way out of Wisconsin, on Monday, we couldn’t leave without stopping by the Mars’ Cheese Castle. This place is definitely a tourist trap, but was entertaining all the same. It is basically a fancy gas station that looks like a castle and is just off the interstate in southern Wisconsin. The highlights of this stop included tacky souvenirs, Wisconsin post cards, free crowns/balloons and some high quality photo ops.

The castle in all its glory.

We had a random man take our photo and he cut out the castle. Fail. But the balloons and crowns were awesome.

I figured the crown should be colored. Pretty sure this got left in Chicago though..

We got to Chicago around noon. In Chicago we stayed with Melissa Bernat, another of my good friends from Valpo. Melissa is a nurse and had worked the night shift that night and gotten home earlier that morning. But she was a champion and hung with us for the whole day on minimal sleep. She lives in the Wicker Park area of Chicago. After unloading our mass amount of luggage, we were definitely ready for lunch, so we called up Liz Madary and Russell Deghi, a few of our other Valpo friends who live just down the street from Melissa, and decided to do lunch at a taco place called Big Star. Melissa informed us that this place is a big hipster hang out, but had great tacos. It was a beautiful day, so we walked there. The place was packed and we had to wait quite a while for a booth to free up, so we sipped on some margaritas by the bar in the meantime. Eventually we got seated and ordered our food. The tacos were stellar (see picture below). I ate all three.

They tasted even better than they looked. And they look amazing.

After lunch it was time for touristy activities. We took the train into downtown Chicago. Sightseeing highlights included, Millennium Park, The Bean, Sears Tower, various other tall buildings, and the Magnificent Mile. We ended at the John Hancock Center. We found a groupon for cheaper admission to the 94^th level sky deck, so we decided to do that. From there we had spectacular views of the whole city. Later, we got an Uber back to Melissa’s place and then all met up at Liz and Russell’s place for dinner. After much debate and discussion, we settled on ordering in pizza from Gino’s East. This was my first time having true Chicago deep dish pizza. It was phenomenal.  After dinner we hung out for a while and played a game called Snappa. It is played in teams of two and involves throwing a die in an arcing path across a table in an attempt to hit your opponents’ cups which are set up on the other side in such a manner that the other team can’t catch the die before it hits the ground. (I think that makes sense, if not, just know that it is a drinking game.) It is actually rather difficult or at least I thought it was difficult. We were also entertained by Layla and Angus. Layla is Kristen’s (Liz and Russell’s other roommate) dog and Angus is Liz and Russell’s. Angus had more energy than you can imagine and probably would have played fetch for days if we would have been willing.

Classic bean selfie. The only thing it's good for really. 

We are sooooo photogenic....

The bean. Because you have to see it.

Dan taking a selfie/looking at his own reflection. A common occurrence on the trip. 

Check out the cool buildings. Nerd alert. 

Just an awesome photo Kileigh took. 

A nice one of Meowlissa and I at the John Hancock.

And another cool photo by Kileigh. Here phone camera is magical. 

Posing with the entire city of Chicago.

Later in the evening, we decided to check out the bar scene. Melissa knows all the daily food and beer specials at nearby places, so we ended up at a bar called Fat Pour for Fat Pour Mondays. They serve craft beer and on Mondays the deal is that you can get at Fat Pour, a 22 oz mug, of the majority of their beers for $5. It was a great deal and we spent the rest of the evening there.

Having fun at Fat Pour

We once again slept in on Tuesday morning. This is becoming the norm, but is definitely needed. We woke up in time for Melissa to watch the majority of the Price is Right which she was quite happy about. But due to extreme hunger, we headed out for brunch before the final showcase. We picked up Liz and Russell again on the way. Melissa chose West Town Bakery and Diner as our brunch destination. She once again described this place a hipster hang out. I’m starting to think that all the places in Chicago are in hipster areas. But hipster or not, the food was once again on point. I went with an avocado benedict option. So good. Melissa also mentioned that this place made cake balls. I inquired at the bakery and found out that on Tuesdays their cake balls were half off. That was all the convincing I needed so I went ahead a bought a dozen in assorted flavors. Don’t worry, I shared them instead of eating them all myself. After the cake ball purchase, we walked back to Melissa’s and said our goodbyes. Our time in Chicago was short, but just as enjoyable and excitement filled as each of our previous stops.

So many cake balls, but they were soooooo good.

We’re now headed to Valpo for the afternoon and evening and then scooting off to Fort Wayne, IN to spend the night. Brunch put us slightly behind our originally planned schedule, but it was worth it and we should get into Valpo around 2 pm. 

12:00 pm January 19th, 2015

I am cramming all of our Milwaukee experience into one blog post, this is a bold move, but I think it will give a better overview of the time.

The drive from Wisconsin to Milwaukee was the shortest drive of the trip thus far at just four hours. Wellll, four hours of drive time, but with our bathroom break regimen it was about five hours of road time.  Overall it was a nice relaxed afternoon drive. As we got close to Milwaukee we got some practice pronouncing Wisconsin city names such as Oconomowoc, Waukesha and Pewaukee. The best fail was Dan pronouncing Waukesha as wah-Ke$ha.

We got to Sarah’s place in the middle of the afternoon and received the most extravagant welcome of the trip yet. Sarah had made a welcome sign for her apartment door and had also set up Prosecco and cupcakes with a ‘Congrats Grads!’ sign. So we started off our weekend with a toast to graduation and Milwaukee. Next on the agenda was the famous Lakefront Brewery tour. I had heard from so many people that this was theeee brewery tour to attend in Milwaukee. We decided to get to the brewery tour a little early so we could sit in the tap room and have a few beers before. We also met up with another Valpo alumna, Brittany Popa, who lives in the area. Uber was our transportation of choice. Kileigh, Dan and I all downloaded it for the first time so we got free rides all weekend, which was awesome.

Hand made signs by Sarah. She's an artist.

Cupcakes and Prosecco :D

The outside of the brewery and an American flag.

Lakefront lived up to my expectations. The beer was on par and they gave you a lot of it! We also ended up with an enthusiastic tour guide. It was definitely the best brewery tour I have been on as it seamlessly wove entertainment into general brewing information. And our guide was not afraid to toe the line as he incorporated quite a bit of adult humor throughout the tour.  At the end I even volunteered to act out the opening scene from the old show Laverne and Shirley on an old bottling line they had acquired that was actually used in the show. I can’t say I ‘ve ever seen Laverne and Shirley, but this ‘acting’ consisted of me placing a glove on a bottle as it went down the line as the show’s theme song played and everyone sang along. The older folks seemed to get more of a kick out of it, but It was still fun.

Sneak photo of the tour guide.

Selfies for days!

The Laverne and Shirley thing. 

After the tour, we went back to the tap room and had a few more beers. We met a couple of guys that went to college with one of Sarah’s teachers from high school and we also met a guy that was obsessed with UT. This trip continues to confirm that we do in fact live in a small world. The other highlight of the Lakefront experience was that Dan and Kileigh both experienced their first deep fried cheese curds. Of course, they fell in love with the delicacy immediately. I mean come on, who doesn’t love cheese curds?

CHEESE CURDS!

Giant Beer Mug.

Naturally, after the tour and a few beers we were all ready for some dinner. We walked over to a nearby bar/restaurant called Stubby’s because the brewery had given out coupons for a free beer to everyone on the tour. Dinner was slightly rushed because we were worried about making it to our next event, the roller derby, on time. Even though it was rushed, it was excellent. They had possibly the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever had.

We ended up being slightly late to the Brewcity Bruisers (the roller derby), which wasn’t a big deal at all because it was a wayyy longer even than we were expecting. The derby itself was also quite different than we expected. We spent the majority of the derby trying to figure out the rules and scoring and general point. There were two couples behind us, who we befriended because they were just as confused about what was going on as we were. Basically there is a circular track and both teams have about 7 girls (I think) out on the track all at the same time. One girl on each team has a star on her helmet and her goal is to fight her way through the crowd and make a lap around the track. All the other girls are trying to block the ‘star girl’ on the other team and help out their own ‘star girl.’ If the ‘star girl’ makes it through she scores points. I am still unsure on how they determine the number of points they get for each time the make it through. As far as I could tell, it was arbitrary.  Other components to the roller derby included the ‘cheer leaders.’ They were composed of middle aged slightly overweight women with below average dancing skills. They did a dance routine at half time. So that was interesting. To their credit, they were very enthusiastic and seemed to be enjoying themselves. There was also an Evil Knievel look a like riding a bicycle on only the back tire around the stadium the entire time. Overall, the event was a little cheesy, but we got some cheap (in quality, not in price) beer from the concessions stands, picked our favorite skaters to root for, and had a great time. Some of our favorite skater names included Skittles, Thrash Mama and Frau Kapow.

After an hour or so, we were roller derby’d out. From there, we headed to Red Rock, a nearby country dance bar. A few other Valpo alumni, Carly Anderson and Kim Cottichia also met up with us there. We got there early so there weren’t many people at first, but by 11:00 the place was bumping. It was a neat atmosphere because they played all country songs, but a lot of them were remixed into a hip-hop/pop style. So we danced the night away. Brittany even tried her hand at riding the mechanical bull. If you ask me, she killed it. We headed home just before bar close to beat the end of the night rush. 

The next morning (Sunday) was game day, so we got up early and headed over to a local pub called Steny’s around 11:30 to make sure we could get seats. Keep in my mind the game didn’t even start until 2 pm, but Wisconsinites are die-hards and there was already a crowd at the bar when we showed up. Obviously, 98 percent of the people were Packer fans with the other 2 percent being transplants to the area and Kileigh, who I am pretty sure was the only true Seahawk fan in the whole place. Steny’s is famous for their bloody mary’s so we started off with a round of bloodys and cheese curds. We then proceeded to spend the next 7 hours at the bar playing cards, watching the game, eating and drinking. For those who are not sports fans, the packers did not pull out the win at this one which made for some disappointed fans. There was even a guy who punched a dartboard at one point. A bit of an overreaction if you ask me. Even though we lost, the afternoon was a success.

Much needed Bloody Marys

Sooo many packer fans!

After the game, we headed back to console our sadness with frozen pizza and a Redbox movie. The first movie we watched was not great, so we followed it up with The Aristocats. Fun Fact: The Aristocats came out in 1970. We were all very surprised by this fact. After that, it was bed time so we could rest up for our trip to Chicago the next day. We said goodbye to Carly and Brittany since we wouldn’t see them again. They definitely added another level of fun to our experience in Milwaukee.

Sarah had to work on Monday (as most real people do), so we got up early and had breakfast with her at The Colectivo before leaving town. We had too much fun in Milwaukee and were very thankful once again for the hospitality we received from everyone and wished we could stay longer. Also, the trip has finally caught up to me and I’ve lost my voice. I can’t say I’m completely surprised, but it should make for an interesting next couple of days.

Friendzzzz

And I almost forgot about our stop at the old Pabst Brewing Company on the way out of town. There was no way Dan was going to let us leave without stopping by. He loves PBR and has been talking about seeing this place ever since I told him about it. I went on an actual tour the last time I visited Milwaukee. And I use the term tour loosely. They no longer brew PBR there and it’s really more of just a few historic buildings that they have renovated and a gift shop where you can buy just about anything you could ever want with a PBR logo on it. Unfortunately, they didn’t open until noon that day so we had to settle for a self-guided tour and a few photos.  

The main building

He's in heaven.