Rain, rain, go away; come again another day—preferably after our baseball journey. . .

We’ve been through an interesting few days with rain and worry about rain and rain delays and, well, being consumed by the thought of rain. It’s been so rainy that Randy alphabetized the contents of our kitchen cabinets—well, not really but he DID reorganize them. Now I don’t know what we have or where it is! Our baseball schedule is pretty tight and if a game is rained out, our schedule pretty much goes out the window!

For the next week or so our games are PLANNED every other day with between 200 and 600 miles between games! So you can see what a rainout would do! But, so far, so good! St. Louis Cardinals was our biggest worry (so far!) as there was a huge band of rain and their game the day before was rained out. It came close to a rainout but started 30 minutes late and didn’t rain again! Well, it rained again in the middle of the night, but I don’t count THAT.

We were in Chicago for almost two weeks but in spite of that, only got to see one of our friends, Lisa. Things just conspired to keep us from seeing our friends in the area. We were there so long I almost got used to their way of freeway highway/tollway naming: If you ask somebody how to get to I90 or I94, for example, they will look at you as if you came from another planet. It’s NOT I90 or I94 or I290 or I55—nevermind that that is what ALL the highway signs say, Chicagoans call them the Kennedy (I90) or the Edens (I94) or the Eisenhower (I290) or the Stevenson (I55). It’s just what they do in Chicago. I think the only reason is so they can tell who is new to the area!

For the Cubs game we forgot we had planned on taking the L (“Elevated Subway”—yes, I know that’s a contradiction. It’s Chicago.) and I bought a parking spot. Yes, a particular spot in parking lot. In this case, someone’s designated parking spot behind their apartment. It’s sold through a company called SpotHero and it was right across the street from Wrigley. Easy, right? Well, not exactly. SpotHero sort of forgot about the general mayhem that ensues around Wrigley at game time. All worked out in the end but it was a bit of Who’s on first chaos for a while.

It is difficult to see over the person sitting in front of you at Wrigley because of the shallow slope of the seating. But we got to meet Frankie, an avid Cubs fan (are there any other kind?) sitting next to us. We talked off and on the whole game and Frankie found Randy’s camera that he had dropped. One highlight was the homerun ball that Cincinnati hit was thrown back on the field by the fan who caught it. It’s an old tradition at Wrigley that no opponent’s home run ball ever remains in the stadium seating. Presumably, if you try to keep the ball, you will be mugged by one or more Cubs fans. And Cubby Bear got his photo with the Cubs mascot!

Had to go to the highly recommended Old German Beer Hall!

And have brats from Usingers.

This is the row of great restaurants on 3rd in Milwaukee. Across the street is Usingers (and yes we bought some brats to cook), in front of which Randy fell and injured his knee!

On to Milwaukee! Got to do some touristy things in Milwaukee, including a tour of the mansion of a relative of a friend of ours, Fred Wurlitzer. His Great-Grandfather was Frederick Pabst and the Pabst Mansion, the only remaining mansion of a string of them built in the late 19^th century. It has been partially restored to its former glory and it was great fun to think that our friend, Fred, was related to old Frederick!

The Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee

This was part of an exhibit at the Worlds Fair, was moved to Milwaukee and the rest of the house was built, attached to this rotunda.

An entrance to the mansion. We weren't allowed to take photos inside. Too bad, because it is beautifully restored with many pieces of art and furniture given by the family members to the organization that maintains the mansion.

We also went to Discovery World, the highlight of that visit being a tour of really gross things like snot. Yes, snot. The exhibition of Les Paul’s guitars paled in comparison to the snot exhibition. After that, the game was anticlimactic.

Is this gross, or what??!!

Even grosser, if that is possible!

The most memorable thing about the Brewers game and their stadium was just how inconvenient the parking was! First of all, hard to find. Second, it was so far away—HOW far was it? I think the parking lot needed a different zip code. On the plus side, they did have a small (4 people) golf-cart style shuttle FROM the parking lot. But after the game we still had to walk all the way back across a bridge (over the “Select” parking) and go under the freeway, at least 5 miles away, uphill, in the snow, I estimate.

Of course we had to bring Cubby!

Didn't have to worry about rain in Milwaukee!

But Brewers fans do the best tailgating we’ve seen! They just set up like they’ll be there for six hours. And in some cases, I think they were: we were offered a couple of beers after the game from two guys with a keg I guess they didn’t want to haul home. There were practically full kitchens set up, along with games and chairs and tables and TVs (we heard that some fans just come and set up for tailgating and don’t even bother going to the game). All the comfort of home, if your home is in the middle of a parking lot!

But finally we are heading west, young man person! I know, I know, we’ve been heading west since Boston, but I mean West, capital W, and that means toward the wide open spaces. Like the drive from Kansas City to Denver will be.

OK, who said, “I was faced with being honestly arrogant or hypocritically humble”. . .

Frank Lloyd Wright's signature: a red square. He incorporated it into almost everything he did.

I am definitely getting behind in my blogging. Good thing our lifestyle doesn’t depend on my being productive and/or timely!

When last you heard from me, we had been to the Detroit game and headed to the Chicago area. We have now been camped (“camped” is a euphemism for living a pretty nice lifestyle in our motorhome with microwave, air conditioning, satellite tv, and no—well, not many—leaks) in Marengo, IL (where??), where we are staying for 11 days.

We have been spending time on that swing!

Tolls are everywhere and insidiously everywhere. By that I mean if you have an electronic transponder (EZPass, IPass, etc) on your windshield, you often don’t even notice you’ve gone through a toll (there is just a huge archway and you don’t even have to slow down) and they don’t tell you how much the toll is if you are using a transponder. We have been unable to get a readout online, either. I hate tolls. It almost makes me glad we live in Arizona the west where there are very few tolls. There are even signs that say, “Speed radar timed” as you enter the tollway. Big brother lives!

We went to the White Sox game with our friend Lisa whom we have known since we lived in Chicago. The most memorable part of that game (other than it went to extra innings) was that there was a complete stop traffic jam on I90 at midnight! Not to mention driving across Chicago in stop-and-go traffic; what should have taken 5 minutes took 30 minutes.

We had to take really quick photos of Cubby in the home of his arch rivals, the White Sox!

This pic had to be really quick or he would have been Cubby-napped!

Randy & Lisa

Randy & Pam

While we were in Chicago we went to the world-renowned International (!) Museum of Surgical Science. Randy was a bit grossed out but I thought it was neat. I got to see the machine I used when I was a young girl to see whether my shoes fit, the Simplex Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope! And old obstetrical tools as well as medical and surgical doodads from way, way back when I was in nursing school (1958 – 1961, AKA the Good Old Days!).

On to Minneapolis for the Twins/Royals game. Since it was a six hour drive we decided to get a hotel in MSP for two nights and see what was exciting up there. Northern lights were forecast but we didn’t get to see them.  

For dinner one night we found Paddy Ryan’s and I had my first Irish whiskey (or is it ‘whisky’? It actually IS whiskey; for a detailed description of how and why, see http://www.thekitchn.com/whiskey-vs-whisky-whats-the-di-100476), Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey. Quite delicious! I also had Paddy Ryan's boiled bacon; not so delicious! The best part was the cabbage which was “flash boiled” (whatever that means, the chef told me that’s what he did) in hard cider.

We also drove around Minneapolis’s Summit Road and ogled the old mansions (still lived in) and walked around St. Paul’s Cathedral, quite beautiful and VERY large. Lunch was at Kip’s Irish Pub (we seem to be into Irish stuff this trip. Maybe someday we’ll actually GO to Ireland) and we bought a bottle of Irish whiskey to enjoy later. MSP has a beautiful and very interesting downtown park made from the remains of the old mills that used to be in town; MSP was the largest flour-milling city, possibly in the world, at one time. There is still a large lock on the river; while we were there it was lowering a boat—one very small outboard motorboat in this gigantic lock!

There are something like 23 stone arches on this old railroad bridge.

Some of the mill ruins near the stone arch bridghe.

Looking through one of the arches to the millrace (I don't know what it is either, it was on a sign!)

The very large lock on the left center of the photo.

And the very small boat that was using it.

A view trhough one of the millstones.

Pam, in case you couldn't recognize me.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Interior of St. Paul's

Stunning stained glass windows all around the cathedral.

One of the smaller altars that line the back of the cathedral, also with beautiful stained glass windows.

Royals won the baseball game. We had nice seats but it was vertigo-inducing to be up on the 3^rd level, front row, with nothing but some thin wires in front of me. WHY do I keep getting front row tickets that are up high? This seat was somewhat annoying because my height is such that I had to sort of slump to see under the top rail otherwise I couldn’t see the 3^rd baseman or shortstop. Such a tough life!

Cubby being a two-fisted drinker. That's Irish whiskey on the left, a Big Ginger (2Gingers Irish whiskey and ginger ale); really, really good!

Pam & Cubby overlooking the field from our high-up seats.

We drove home the next day via Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin (means “shining brow”) in Spring Green, WI. We did a tour of his home (as opposed to the Hillside Studio, or a Preservation Tour, or an Estate Tour, or a Highlights Tour) for two hours. Very, very interesting and beautiful. I could SO live in any of his houses!

Our first view of Taliesin, walking approximately where horse-drawn carriages would have come. Taliesin was built around 1911, although it burned down twice.

Our guide, Livia, very knowledgeable.

Some of the garden art. This was a beautiful time of year to visit Taliesin.

There is a lot of restoration needed.

More oriental garden art.

And more, although this is a reproduction of what was here originally.

Even in the outside spaces, FLW incorporated the surprise opening up to something different that he used so much in the interior spaces of his buildings.

I was just taken by this beautiful old gasoline pump, just moldering away.

He incorporated his signature red square in everything, even an outside gate.

The two white pines that are pushing this wall over will have to be replaced soon but they haven't figured what exactly to do in their place. They have been there for a hundred years.

More art (we were not allowed to take photos inside so I can't show you any of the art place around his home, but everywhere you looked was some piece of art incorporated into the living spaces.)

I love this view of the tower. Most of the rest of the house is very longitudinal.

The garden and sitting area outside his bedroom.

The house in all its glory!

And it was FLW who said he could have "honest arrogance or hypocritical humility." He opted for honest arrogance. He also said and I so agree with him on this (and about many other things), that “art should be lived with.” His homes (we have seen Taliesin, Taliesin West, and Falling Water, plus several in Oak Park) are filled with art, his personal homes most of all. We were told that when he came back from designing the Imperial Hotel in Japan, he sent back two boxcars full of art, much of which is in Taliesin.

And last, in case you wondered what we do when we keep score (there is a separate page for each team):

This is my (Pam's) scoresheet for the Twins/Royals game. I try to even keep track of what order the balls and strikes are. Not always successful at that, however!