9/11-9/15: Indiana

I From Illinois we drove to Indianapolis to spend the night in the oldest Union Station in America which has been converted to a Crowne Plaza. We had a wonderful evening exploring the hotel. It was almost magical in the evening light. :) 

The next morning we followed a virtual tour of Indianapolis on our phones. This led to some fun exploration including eating lunch in a dome that is above one of the intersections of the city and climbing up 300 steps to the top of a monument!! Definitely memories to last a life time. 

After exploring to our hearts' content we drove to our next destination near Fort Wayne. The next day was Sunday, and we had the neat opportunity to share about our trip with a church. A few months ago we were on a podcast; the church we spoke at was his church. :) thanks for the opportunity, Adam! Following church we enjoyed the company of people from the church during lunch. Conversations were good, and the burger we ate was probably the best either of us have ever had...!!

Fort Wayne was having an explore your own town day so admission to various places around town was free. We stopped at the fort after which the town was named and walked around. Then we realized we were so tired and needed to go 'home' to relax!

Our last day in Indiana we spent relaxing by the lake! It was a wonderful day of planning, resting, and overall enjoying our time. :) A much needed day of refreshment. So grateful to our hosts for allowing us to stay in this cottage right on the lake!!! 

9/7-9/11: Illinois

Our time in Illinois was spent with my mom's college roommate. She is such a delight! 

One of our favorite places in Wheaton was Cantigny which is formerly the estate of Robert McCormick. The grounds of the estate are full of beautiful flowers! 

There is a tour of his house as well. It is quite an incredible mansion. Sadly they did not allow photos on the inside!

We also toured the war museum about the 1st Division which is on the grounds. It was experiential which made it quite eye-opening. We actually went to Cantigny twice we loved it so much :)

*It took multiple tries but i finally was able to climb up on a tank! 

One of the nights we decided that we had to have deep dish pizza while we were in the Chicago area! It was a little more complicated since we can't have cheese, but we didn't let that stop us!! We drove into the city for Deep Dish Night at Kitchen 17 which is a vegan restaurant. Mmmm. 

My mom's roommate took us out to dinner one night then showed us around Wheaton College where both my mom and dad (and her) attended! Loved seeing where my parents spent their college days. Alyssa and I walked around it the next day to see it in the daylight. :)

*Near where my parents first met :)

*Belltower where my parents rang the bell to announce their engagement!

Another highlight was a Free Tours by Foot tour of 'the loop' in Chicago. We learned about the history of Chicago and saw a lot of different sculptures around the city, including the infamous one nicknamed 'the bean.'

*Inside a government building 

*by Picasso

*every 5 minutes the lips pucker and spit out water!

After the tour we went to the Museum of Science and Industry where we enjoyed their creative, hands-on exhibits. 

*Loved this train set that showed the train going from Chicago to Seattle!! It was huge!

*Inside the middle of a slow speed tornado

*The mirror maze was so much fun! At one point Alyssa said, hey look! I can spin around! We had just been bragging about being able to tell what were mirrors vs open spaces. She spun around...and thwack, went right into a mirror!

One of our days we volunteered at Feed My Starving Children. This organization packs a rice dish for families who need food around the globe. The group we had the chance to volunteer with were adults with disabilities. This just added to the delight of our time and made it so much better!

During one of the days we spent time doing some 'blessings.' These included sending encouragement packages to friends who need them, buying someone's Starbucks drink, surprising some girls who were studying with treats, and leaving out 'lucky pennies' for people to find. These were all inspired by Blessings on Behalf of Becca Boo on the one year mark of her cancer diagnosis. What an amazing way to spend a day!

*All of the packages ready to mail

*Starbucks where we bought someone a coffee :)

*Lucky penny :)

9/5-9/7: Lake Geneva

After Minnesota we headed to the southeastern part of Wisconsin to spend the weekend with my grandma's cousin near Lake Geneva! The night we arrived she made the most amazing dinner with many fruits and veggies. It was a delightful summer dinner on her porch! 

The next day we went to church...and surprise surprise! We met two other girls who are traveling to all 50 states over the course of a semester! How cool is that?! 

*Photo taken in the church library that my grandma's cousin helped start! 

During our Sunday afternoon our hostess showed us around the area. We got to meet some of her friends along the way! We ate lunch near a beautiful orchard!!! Then we wandered around a gift shop, a petting zoo/farm, and the beautiful scenery. 

We then got a tour around the lake. We learned about the different highlights and people as we went. Our day concluded with a swim in Lake Geneva! 

8/30-9/2: Iowa

Iowa was unlike any other state. It did not turn out how we pictured it. Yet the blessings were abundant. 

What do I mean???

We saw very few sights because our time was focused on the people who lived there! Strangers quickly because friends. 

I had 'met' a friend through my Jamberry consultants Facebook group. A few months back she asked me when I would be in Iowa. So we had the chance to meet in real life! A couple hours together turned into a couple days together as we greatly enjoyed each other's company. Alyssa and I loved spending time with her young son too. He quickly melted our hearts!!

Our second day there we had planned to go to a place that I had been planning to go to for months...basically since i started planning this trip. Unfortunately they are closed on Tuesday...which is the only day we had free to go! :( thankfully my friend was with us so she could suggest a new place. ;) we ended up going to a free museum where we learned about Iowa and the Civil War. It was great, but what I will remember the most is getting to spend time with a new friend!!!

During our stay we also had the chance to have amazing conversations with the girls we were staying with. They were around our ages and graciously let us sleep on their couches. We were so grateful. One of our nights there 4 of us stayed up late talking and laughing. It was a refreshing and rejuvenating time. <3

I will forever remember Iowa for the connections formed while there!

Our hostesses :)

 

9/2-9/5: Minnesota

While staying in Rochester, Minnesota we enjoyed times of relaxing and times of exploring. We stayed with a wonderful couple who so graciously made us feel loved during our time there, even though we were strangers. 

Our first full day there we spent the afternoon exploring Mayo Clinic which was walking distance from their home. The views from the 19th floor of the tallest building were spectacular!

We explored the walking subway underneath the buildings. These are tunnels that allow people to go between buildings without having to enter the cold or heat, depending on the season. One of the shops had amazing kettle corn...so we got some!

We fell in love with all of the gorgeous old buildings!!

The next day we set off to see the iconic Mall of America. An amusement park dedicated to Nickelodean was pretty cool to walk around although we didn't do any rides. It was certainly was a huge mall!!

As we were walking by a cupcake store we decided to ask if they had vegan cupcakes (since we are off of dairy and eggs)...and they did!! Yummy!!

Following our time at Mall of America we drove to Harvest America Heartland to help them with packaging food to send to people in need around the U.S. We met some incredible people there who we were able to tell about our trip! (If you are reading this, thank you for welcoming us!) We packed a lot of popcorn during our session!!! More than that we spent time with some amazing people and helped those who are struggling to make ends meet. What a blessing! 

When we were not out touring we had the chance to talk with our amazing host couple who were strangers before the trip but quickly became friends!