There were a few things that we still wanted to see in Chicago, mostly downtown. Because Lisette doesn't have a battery charger for her eBike and we didn't want to risk it dying while she rode, we left Sheila for about an hour and got on Michael's bike. We hadn't done it before, but it was easy for Lisette to hop on and sit on a cushion at the back. The only challenge is that it's a much lower seat, so Lisette's feet sometimes scraped the ground if her legs dropped a bit, and they also cramped up at times from bending at an awkward angle for too long!
We rode down the path alongside Lake Michigan on yet another beautiful day, seeing people swimming, walking, running and cycling, before arriving at the Tiffany Dome, which is in the Chicago Cultural Center building. The dome is over 60 meters (200 feet) in diameter and the largest of its kind in the world, with 105 square meters (1,134 square feet) of colorful mosaics.
Besides the Tiffany Dome, the Chicago Cultural Center has a dance studio, is a venue for events (there was a wedding reception happening that day), and there were a number of exhibits. We saw a beautiful exhibit by Haitian artist Fabiola Jean-Louis, called "Waters of the Abyss: An Intersection of Spirit and Freedom." Here, she used glass, crystals, shells, sand, metal, and stones with paper to explore the Black experience, particularly the historical representation of women, through her artwork.
After all the roadside attractions we'd visited at different points on Historic Route 66--from Arizona, to Oklahoma, to Illinois--we made it to the sign that marked the beginning (or end) of the Route! It's located on a pole on 50 E Jackson Drive, and it's probably a sign that many people walk past but easily fail to notice.
Since we were so close, we headed to the Crown Fountain (a reflecting pool flanked by 2 massive LED towers with people's faces beaming from them) and "The Bean" (officially named Cloud Gate, it's a massive, kidney shaped reflective sculpture). Both of these were tourist attractions that we visited last time we were here and are "must-see" stops for anyone visiting Chicago for the first time, so of course they were incredibly busy, but it was great to see it again and collect another memory of coming here.
Thanks, Lincoln Park!
And with that... we got back to our RV, and drove off! How fortunate were we to find a spot that we could park at with no issues for 2 nights in a busy city, made even more hectic with Lollapalooza, a baseball game, and perfect weather for everyone wanting to be outside.
Before we left Chicago completely, we stopped at a couple of places further north. Less than 10 minutes from where we'd parked is the Kwa-Ma-Rolas, a 12.2 meter (40 feet) totem pole that was carved by the chief of the Kwagu'ł tribe in British Columbia that features a sea monster, man riding a whale, and a Thunderbird on top. Since we were still in Lincoln Park, it was teeming with people, so we had to take a photo from inside the RV (which we are sometimes apt to do), as there's just nowhere to stop and park.
And while we'd already had our hot dog fix on Friday evening, we are partial to our quirky roadside attractions, so we briefly checked out the Superdawg Drive-In, where customers can still order Chicago-style dogs, fries & milkshakes to this day. There are two eye-catching and funny hot dog characters, Maurie and Flaurie, standing on the roof that also aim to attract hungry passersby!
We didn't get any hot dogs, but we also didn't get any more Filipino food either--still in Chicago, we saw a strip mall with Filipino grocery chains and restaurants--including popular places we've frequented in the past like Jollibee, Seafood City, Max's Chicken, and others. So now we know where the Filipino stores are concentrated!
The Leaning Tower of Niles
North of Chicago is the Village of Niles (we're not sure what makes Niles a village rather than a town or city). Randomly, there's a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, that's half the size of the one in Italy. Of course, this one is called The Leaning Tower of Niles. The concept was developed in the 1920s by a successful businessman, Robert Ilg, with construction occurring between 1931-1934. Like the one in Pisa, there aren't tours available to go to the top of the Leaning Tower of Niles at this time. There's an interesting plaque that shows the comparisons in features between the two leaning towers. There's even a hotel next to the Leaning Tower, which we also found to be a bit random!
Wilmette and The Baha'i Temple
About 20 minutes' drive north from Niles is Wilmette, another village in Illinois. This was a really pretty area--we saw a lot of expensive-looking and immaculate homes, sitting on big blocks, with well-tended lawns and gardens. Some of the blocks were so massive that the houses (or should we say, mansions), couldn't be seen from the road, as the driveway leading up to was so long, and there were numerous hedges that hid the mansions from street view.
It seemed fitting, perhaps, that the Baha'i House of Worship would be located here. The Baha'i religion is relatively new, starting in the 19th century in Iran, but has grown quickly so that there are now temples all over the world, including in Australia, Uganda, Western Samoa and Chile. We first entered the Visitor Center and were greeted by a number of volunteers, who all seemed to have the same first question: "Have you been here before?" Of course, they were around to not only greet visitors but to tell them more about the Baha'i faith, but they were friendly and not pushy about it, and there was a museum downstairs that had more information about the religion if you were inclined to learn more.
We then went to the massive temple next door. It's a huge, all-white domed building, with a flight of stairs leading up to the entrance, and a pretty pool in front of the temple. Inside, there are pews facing the front, and we had to crane our necks all the way up to look at the ceiling.
The Home Alone House
Next to the village of Wilmette is the village of Winnetka, another beautiful neighborhood continuing to display grand mansions with pristine gardens. It therefore made sense that the house used in the "Home Alone" movie was here. Leading up to the house, there were signs staying that vehicles were not allowed to stop on this side of the street (clearly they have had a lot of tourists drive up and block traffic).
When we arrived at the home, however, we were a bit disappointed to see that it was boarded up, we guess because it was undergoing renovations. The house clearly looked the same as when it appeared in the movie many years ago (which wasn't the case from when we saw Walter White's home used in Breaking Bad in Albuquerque), so hopefully when renovations are complete it'll still look somewhat the same.
Egypt in Illinois!
We'd been to Italy today which was kind of random, and we also visited Egypt on the same day! On a stretch of road in Wadsworth, Illinois (yep, it's a village again), on a fairly rural area is the Gold Pyramid, a private residence that has a sandstone fence painted with images in an ancient Egyptian style. There's a gate that had a couple of sphinx and pharaohs next to it, and through this, we could see inside to where there was a gigantic gold statue of another pharaoh. Behind this, there was the huge gold pyramid.
The gate was locked and there was nobody inside, but it was so random to see this grand ancient Egyptian place in the middle of nowhere! Upon research afterwards, it turns out that this is a 17,000 square feet private residence built in the late 70s, with the pyramid being one-ninth the size of the Pyramid of Giza.
State #24 and a Castle of Cheese
And with that, we soon crossed into Wisconsin, state #25 on this trip, so we're halfway there with all the states we are visiting! Wisconsin is known for its cheese--car license plates proudly note that they are "America's Dairyland" and if Wisconsin was a country, it would be the fourth-largest cheese producing place in the world, after the rest of America, France and Germany.
So it made sense that our first stop was the Mars Cheese Castle, which has been around since 1947 as a small corner store, but over time expanded to become a huge store, which sells gourmet grocery items, souvenirs, and of course a wide variety of cheese! We tried samples of several cheeses, including a gouda and a cheddar, as well as a cheese dip, which was delicious.
We'd heard that Wisconsin was popular for fried cheese curds, and we saw bags of fresh cheese curds sold in all sorts of flavors (everything from jalapeno, garlic dill, Cajun, and even maple bacon), but we ordered two small containers of fried curds from the restaurant inside. While it didn't seem like a cheese, when it's deep fried and ONLY cheese, it's a lot! It was crunchy on the outside, and chewy on the inside, and we're glad we tried it. Apparently cheese curds can be used for any dish you'd use cheese, like a crouton in a salad, or snacked on by themselves, and have a bit of a "squeaky" feel when you eat them.
We also noticed that the restaurant offered scoops of ice cream for the cheapest price we'd seen--$1.99 for one scoop, and $2.97 for two scoops, and the servings were enormous! So we ended up getting some ice cream to go, but we misunderstood each other and rather than just getting one cup with two scoops (which is what Michael suggested), we got two cups with two scoops! Luckily the ice cream was yummy and it only lasted a couple of days in the freezer.
Beer Sold Only in Wisconsin
Lisette's friend and colleague, Jessica, mentioned to us when we were in Chicago that there's a lot of good beer in Wisconsin, and there's a particular brand of beer, the Spotted Cow by the Glarus Brewing Co, that is only sold in this state. When we were grocery shopping at Walmart in the evening, we spotted a sample of 12 beers being sold for $15, which included an ale, a draft and a couple of other options. Lisette was weary about buying 12 beers we'd never tried before, but Michael assured her that he'd drink them. He tried one in the evening, they're not bad!
Our last roadside stop was to look at the outside of the Golden Rondelle Theater (a theater that sits on SC Johnson's campus, shaped kind of like a golden UFO that was originally built as the Johnson Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair and continues to serve as a theater today). There weren't many roadside stops as we continue our drive northward, but we ended up at a Love's Travel Stop along with a bunch of other trucks (it's always busy at truck stops), a short drive from Milwaukee, where we'd be going tomorrow.
Route Map
