chicago to mequon. miles 997-1147.

after stopping in des plains, refueling maddie with some ridiculously expensive gas and myself with a ridiculously large iced coffee, i was back on the road. maggie-ellen worked her magic again and managed to get me back onto the highway headed north to wisconsin! ali and her sister had just returned from safari in africa (yes, africa.) the night before, and timing worked out perfectly for an afternoon and evening visit in mequon before the wills headed "up north" in wisconsin and i headed on to madison.

after surviving the road construction for the 35 miles north of chicago (ugh), and perhaps illegally avoiding a toll plaza (does it count if they gave me a choice - "cash =>" and, well, an empty lane - and i just kept driving forward? and, um, chose not to pay cash? ah well.), i made it to wisconsin! and was welcomed, soon after, by...

that's right, the mars cheese castle! you can even just see the little towers. it was pretty fabulous.

i arrived in mequon (about 10 minutes or so north of milwaukee), easily followed ali's (and maggie-ellen's) directions, and arrived at ali's house in time for some of ali's mom's fabulous shrimp gazpacho. after a tour of the will homestead, ali and jenny and i hopped on our bikes for a biking tour of their childhood! first stop: a nearby park (the name of which escapes me) right on the edge of lake michigan. we sat on the bluffs. it was pretty great. after a quick ride along the ridge to see if we could find a path down to the water - passing a shady businessman making drug deals at the park in the middle of the afternoon - we decided against falling down the bluff, and continued on our bike ride.

look erica, bluffs!

next stop: donges bay elementary! where we found lots of good learning equipment and advice for young growing minds. and a pretty great playground.

ali wants us to remember to live, laugh, and play.

i took her advice.

ali likes to survey all she can see.

too much living, laughing, and playing for jenny and ali.
they're on the wall.

all in all, always remember that you are the sum total of your choices.

C:haracter, the foundation to accomplishments
H:onesty, always the best policy
O:wnership, take responsibility for your actions
I:ntegrity, do the right thing
C:ourage, to be yourself
E:ffort, do your best
S:ervice, help others when you can.

after donges bay, ali and jenny showed me their middle school (and we rode through "the back 40" scientific and environmental study area).

then we headed over to homestead high school, where we decided it would be a good plan continue our mode of transportation... inside. no worries, it was mostly summer sports programs in the school, so we were just, um, showing the children our committment to an active lifestyle. ahem. but i did get to see a fair bit of their school, their swimming records immortalized in plaques, and had a chance to chat with ali's roommate's mom. a lovely ride through will childhood :)

after another scrumptious meal courtesy of mrs. will - including blackberry raspberry pie, oh my! - we watched a bit of "gone baby gone", made a quick trip to kopps for the most amazing frozen custard i've ever had - twix-flavored: caramel custard mixed with chocolate and shortbread cookies, then home again to finish the movie. ali also watched "city of god," which i would love to say that i watched, but, um, i think i'm going to have to see it again to fill in some pretty significant gaps. ah well.

the next morning was pretty busy as i got ready to head to madison, and the wills prepared to head up north for the rest of the week. it's kind of hard to believe i don't know when i'm going to see ali again... but i'm so so so glad that i had a chance to stop and say hello on my way through... plus, who would've guessed wisconsin would be so cool? little did i know about madison to come...

awww