Road Warrior Momma: Day 26

Day 26 - June 23, 2012

Indianapolis, In/Chicago (Elmhurst), IL

201 miles/4 hrs, 15 minutes

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!! We miss you. Some work commitments got in the way of his being with us, but today’s agenda/destination cities, were planned with his birthday in mindL.

Up and out early. I wanted to get to the Indiana Motor Speedway (IMS) early, as we were booked for the 9a.m. tour. I’ve only been to the race track in Kansas City, which was brand new and state of the art, and had a freeway built to deliver spectators directly there. IMS was in the middle of Speedway, Indianapolis (where, by the way, I got gas for $3.25 a gallon!). One minute you’re cruising through a small (admittedly run-down) town, next, there are grand stands on the left, drive through the tunnel, and you’re in the center of the IMS.

The people who work there were very nice. We spent a few minutes in their museum (99% of which was dedicated to Indy racing….Richard Petty was the only nod to NASCAR). Then we boarded the bus.

Won’t bore you with all the details, but very cool, and made me consider, actually going to a race with Hunter, Rich & Aud one day…we’ll see. Hunter was beside himself & we all got to kiss the bricks. You need to be A NASCAR fan to get the significance of that!

Then we headed north to Shy-town. We left Indy at 11:10, and should have been in Chicago in just over 3 ours (with enough time to go to the zoo). Quick drive to Chicago…with one note: Gary Indiana sure does smell bad….picked up speed on that stretch of highway…yuck!

Chicago was traffic hell. Honestly, I don’t know how or why people complain about Atlanta. It was midafternoon, on a Saturday, and it was gridlocked. It was terrible. Made my skin crawl. (For the record, Boston & Montreal are on my traffic Sh** List too.)

After circling Lincoln Park three times, trying to get a parking spot for the Zoo…it was a zoo…pun intended, ha, ha. Eventually we landed, and the zoo was pretty nice, but the kids ranked it third, behind New Orleans & Detroit.

Long drive to our hotel (waaaayyy out in the suburbs) and yet more traffic. We checked into a Courtyard, to discover there was wedding booked there. Oh Joy. Here we go again. I was hauling the luggage onto a bell cart (by myself…no bellman, out in the burbsJ) and noticing how young everyone was….definitely a post-college-graduation crowd. I was feeling very old.

Then, as I wheeled the luggage cart down the hall, with Cam & Hunter “helping”, passing 20-somethings dressed to the nines, with drinks in their hands…I’m thinking they’re going to keep me up all night. Then...bam...I hear battle-like sounds coming from our room. Aud & Bear were going at it…loudly! Guess maybe we’ll be the ones keeping them up.

Took the kids out to dinner…I needed real food. Planning on sleeping in tomorrow….before we fight the traffic again. Planning an all-day adventure in the city.