Not Laboring

So somehow, somewhere in the universe, the stars aligned and I had this past weekend off. Miracle, I know. So what to do with a weekend off? Go on a road trip of course!

Saturday Ellie and I headed west, to South Bend, and my very first ever ND game at ND.
Here come the Irish!
First play of the season!
The student section celebrating the first score of the season!
Victory formation!
Tradition.
Touchdown Jesus from the top of my section.

I met back up with Charlie, Rachel, Ellie and C4 and we eventually went to Red Robin for dinner - Ellie got some good photos, well maybe they're scary. And then we all went to bed kind of early. Breakfast Sunday at IHOP (pumpkin pancakes!) And things might have gotten a bit silly...
Sarah decided to make a mustache out of her straw wrapper, then the glasses came out, then the hood went up...
And then the bus boy brought us silly glasses.
Not everyone was so amused. But it was fun. All too soon, it was time to part ways - the Jerseyans went directly to Chicago to catch a plane, and Ellie and I went to the Christmas Tree store (I swear if there's one within a 50 mile radius, she will find it). And then we were off to Chicago as well. After checking into the hotel, we headed out to Navy Pier and happened upon the Stained Glass exhibit.
I took a bazillion pictures, but I'll only show you my favorites, and surprise, most of them are the work of Tiffany.
Seriously beautiful.
This one is not by Tiffany and was my most favorite, should have paid more attention to who and what, but I was distracted by the pretty!
I probably could have spent a lot more time wandering and admiring, but we had short time. This last one is by Tiffany, and it took me a few looks to figure it out, but here it is:
So cool how the light changes it!

We eventually made our way down to the Ferris Wheel, and hopped a ride.
Amazing how many pictures you can take on a 7 minute ride (and I probably would have taken more, but I restrained myself).
Then we set off for Michigan Avenue. Did a little shopping, took a few pictures, then started looking for a place for dinner.

We ended up at a Mexican place (so good! we both overate a lot) and then went back to the hotel as it got dark.
So I had to take some night time Chi-town pictures along the way.
Monday came (here's the view from our hotel room). And we went out to get some coffee and see some more sights.

First we went to Millennium Park, to find the bean.
Aka, Cloud Gate. Pretty cool.
Then we found this fountain - not sure what it's called - but it's kind of cool that the faces change, and then they do this:
Too funny. Okay, maybe I'm easily amused. We kept walking, went past the Art Institute and Grant Park, and finally hit the harbor. We sat for a while, finishing our coffee and watching the boats float.
We walked along the lake for a while, almost back to Navy Pier, then headed to the River Walk.
Found another fountain, and happened to be there for the 10 minutes an hour it shoots across the river.
The architecture is just so cool in Chicago, I kept snapping random photos of random buildings.
We happened upon the theater district, I think this picture will make the perfect title for a scrapbook page that will have to be made.
Then we went to the Pizzeria Uno, and had some deep dish pizza. Forgot to take a picture, oops. And then we went down Michigan Ave again, and wandered through the Swarovski store - OMG! I wanted just about everything in there, including the decorative store chandelier like thing.

And then we headed home. And it's back to work today. But it was so great to get away for a little while.

Part 4: The Road Home

So, time for the trip home. That Saturday, after the shopping on Main Street, we attempted to leave Cape Cod. And 2 hours later, we were successful. Yeah, traffic out of Cape Cod was way worse that the traffic we had in NC last year, and we had next to none on the way in. After driving for a while, we found our favorite exit and stopped for Pizzeria Uno's and Coldstone, totally not on WW's plan, but after traffic like that... and we were still on vacation. Anyway, I had been hoping to make my pilgrimage to knitting Mecca - aka WEBS, and was worried that the traffic had put us far enough behind that it would be closed, but miraculously we got there with 30 minutes to shop.
So not enough time, but power shopping can be fun. I hope to go back someday, if only just to wander a bit more slowly, you know, savor and enjoy the experience, at least as much as the back warehouse can really be savored and enjoyed, it's a bit overwhelming.
The acquisitions - at least most of them. Some are being knit into something that I can't show you right now, but you'll see eventually. So, that's a skein of Sheep Shop Sheep #3, like the stuff I knit into my Serpentine Mitts. The red stuff in the plastic is a sweater's worth of the WEBS brand, Valley Yarns Williamstown (fun tweed!). And a skein of Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock. It's 75/25 superwash/nylon, with long color repeats like Noro, but so much softer, and superwash so no felting! Close up of the colors, which are not well represented, but what can I do?
Yeah, probably should have photographed in natural daylight, but I wanted to post now. Hopefully the colors will be better when I get around to knitting and photographing. So, we left WEBS, and continued on into NY. Stopped at the Albany exit where we stayed on the trip in, so to visit the Christmas Tree Store, Ellie is hoping they will progress westward to Ohio soon. Stayed at a round hotel in Syracuse, yet again swanky.
Sunday morning we headed out, hoping to find a Dunkin Donuts or like place for breakfast. Didn't manage to have much luck, had a long drive off the highway to find one in the Finger Lakes district, but DD is always worth it. The weather was a bit funky, but we were hoping to stop in Niagara Falls. And by the time we got close, it was clear blue skies so we headed north.
My first view of the water of Niagara.
Working my way up to the falls.
Look, it's Canada, eh! Where can I rent one of those barrels?
Lots of self portraits were taken that day, this one with Toronto in the background.
That one shows just how windy it was, we let curls fly, no restraints whatsoever!
And just the majesty of the Falls themselves. This was my first visit, and it was so gorgeous. Next time we'll do the Maid of the Mist and hang out in Canada, maybe do the wine tour... Guess that means I need to get my passport. But there's some great yarn shops in Toronto...

So, we set off again. Hoping to find a Wegman's for dinner - we'd been thinking about it since the trip going the other way. And even though no one was around to help us find one via the internet, we found one. And the chicken finger sub is still so good. So good that I couldn't eat a cookie because I was so full (don't worry, I had one later).

After Wegman's we were really on our way, no more stops. Had the camera ready for the Indian though:
And in PA, we had this rainbow chasing us for a while.
All in all, a really good vacation. Now that two-a-days are over, I think I need another one!