Chicago has a lot of food

After Cleveland, our next stop was Schereville, Indiana, which is about 30 minutes outside of Chicago. We went there to visit with one of Dad's oldest friends, Gary. They grew up around the corner from each other in Rahway, NJ, and have been friends for over 50 years! On Monday, we had dinner with Gary and his family, who would probably make the list of nicest families in America! I enjoyed spending time with them and hearing stories about Gary and my dad! Upon arriving at their house, I accidentally locked myself in the bathroom and had to call dad to come open the door to let me out. Talk about a first impression. Today's picture is of me, dad, Gary, and his wife, Gina.

The next morning, we got up really early and headed to Chicago! I'm not ashamed to say that we basically ate our way through Chicago- there were so many authentic restaurants around! At about 11am I had a Chicago style hot dog from a place called Portillos. It was amazing and there was free cake. FREE CAKE. That's never a bad thing.

I didn't know what to expect from Chicago, but we had a great time there! It is right on Lake Michigan, and has a pier that goes right by the lake. We walked around the city for hours and then met Gary's son, Garett at a restaurant for deep dish pizza. YUM. We ate at a place called Lou Malnati's. I had a beer called a Goose 312, which apparently is the beer of Chicago. It was great!

Today the plan was to drive to Fairmont, Minnesota, which is just an overnight stop on our way to Mount Rushmore. We drove through Wisconsin and stopped at the welcome center, where a woman immediately handed me a "cheese map," listing all of the places in the state where you can buy authentic cheese. We then became determined to try lots of cheese. We went to a place in Stoughton, Wisconsin called Cheezers and sampled A LOT of cheese. There was bacon muenster (yum), basil (yum), blueberry cheddar (weird, but yummy), and maple cheddar (ew). The place had over 100 types of cheese to try. Felt a little gross after eating 5 different types of cheese as lunch, but it was worth it! We drove through Madison, Wisconsin and took a look at the college there.

Finally we arrived in Fairmont, Minnesota. If you want to imagine what it looks like, imagine the green landscape that comes as the background on Microsoft computers. It's as perfect as it looks! There is absolutely nothing here, but it looks pretty! It neighbors a town called "Welcome," labeled with a sign that says "Welcome to Welcome!" They really couldn't think of anything else?

Tomorrow we head to Rapid City, South Dakota!