23 days, 11 states, One minivan, 4300 miles

[kyl]

Queenie,
You are a card, you just had me laughing out loud at your rain bullets......sounds like a full on day. But nothing a hot shower in a nice hotel room wouldn't of fixed hey?

 

[heidispidi]

Now me, love rollercoasters. But that things looks DAMN scary! I might have sided with the 'fraidy family' on that one

 

[queenie82]

Time to go back to Chicago!! Via a most beautiful Oasis in the middle of nowhere.

When planning a holiday as an Australian the thing you do immediately after reaching your destination is something you give a lot of thought. Especially if you are moving onto a connecting flight from San Fran or LAX to your final destination.
Even just that initial 13hour flight messes with the body clock and makes you tired. So once you reach your final destination you don’t want to do much straight after.
For us it was Syd-LAX-O’hare. We were set to arrive in O’hare at 5:30pm. So not that late compared to what we were used to (11pm or so in MCO) but our initial thoughts were to not to do the whole 5.5-6hr drive to Sandusky immediately after but rather go part of the way. Then do the rest in the morning. But where was part of the way???
I don’t mean to insult anyone but there isn’t much to do in Indiana. Except for visiting Indianapolis. Which I would love to do. LOVE Indy cars and NASCAR!! But I actually had someone who used to live in Indiana ask what we did there because there was nothing much to see. So it isn’t just me. But I went to google maps and zoomed along the interstate to see what towns were along the way and see what each had. Especially anything about halfway between O’hare and Sandusky.
The only thing I found that met the criteria of having accommodation of any substance was South Bend Indiana!!! Home of the Fighting Irish!!! The beautiful Notre Dame University.
It was only 2.5hours along leaving at least 3 for the next day. But if we weren’t going the whole way…this was the only option.

We ultimately decided that we should just drive the whole way. Changing hotels is always a pain etc etc. There are so many reasons.
BUT…because of this research I found the beautiful Notre Dame University. Which was a real highlight of the trip. This is a Catholic University and has a wonderful Basilica and other range of other buildings. I have previously visited MIT and Harvard, which are both great campuses. I also visited Stanford this trip. And as a Sydneysider I’ve spent a considerable amount of time at UNSW and Sydney University. But I’ve never seen anything quite like Notre Dame.
You will notice in my album there are quite a few photos from there. I might add more later. But I have to sort out Chicago first.

You may well ask the obsession with Campuses at this point. But it isn’t really. It is just depending on the design of them and the age of them there can be fascinating and beautiful architecture found there. And as this is the Catholic Church…they have the funds to make a cracking good campus
But the funniest thing to me was that it was like this oasis in the middle of nowhere. The City of South Bend was basically entirely there because of the University. There was a lovely shopping centre and lots of hotels. And I tell ya it was the first time the ladies at the Hallmark shop had ever encountered an Aussie! It was so funny. A few places they were so surprised and couldn’t work out why we were there. A running theme.

So we had a lovely time looking around there. There was a nice outlet mall nearby and then we hit the road to Chicago. A most wonderful city. And this was the trumped up view from our room.

 

[playtimeover]

Hi shushh. Same here.

 

[queenie82]

Sorry no new updates in terms of trip report.
I have started the next part but haven't finished it

But I have put up a few night photos of Chicago as seen from John Hancock Tower
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowqueenie82

 

[kyl]

Have you been busy queenie:rotfl2 . Loving the trip report and photos Hope all is going well for you

 

[PrincessInOz]

 

[queenie82]

Oh you crack me up....

You asked for it...
Here is the very beginning of Day 1.....
incomplete...
but there you go...

Day 1
Tour number 1 - Chicago Old and New: Intersections
http://caf.architecture.org/Page.aspx?pid=682
This tour was awesome. And the perfect tour to start with. It was a tour looking at buildings but also in conjunction with the happenings in the city at the time and the reasons things were happening the way they were. It is a tour I would recommend to anyone…regardless of your thoughts on Architecture and whether you care about the differences or not; Especially if you got a docent like ours.

You see it is important to realize that the buildings built tell you about the people of the time. The way people felt. The kind of lives they were living was reflected in the buildings around them. So the buildings are used to help explain the history of Chicago as a city.

A constant event of importance is the Great Fire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire

Debate still rages as to what caused the fire. But regardless of what caused it…it destroyed an entire section of Chicago. Which left a whole lot of land to rebuild on right in the middle of Chicago.

To me one of the most interesting things to look at was the Michigan avenue strip. And how it was affected by the fire. You see there was a great deal of debris as a result of the fire. So it got to a point where much of it just got shoved into the river. This in turn created reclaimed land that could be used.
Michigan Avenue has a similar relationship to that seen in New York along 5th avenue with the highrise on one side and Central Park on the other. Also in Paris on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

Now the Architecture Foundation is located on South Michigan Avenue right near the one main building that is found on the opposite side of Michigan Avenue. The Art Institute of Chicago. Where the tour begins.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm taking notes on the Architecture tour. I think the architecture in Chicago is great - and it would be so much more enjoyable (not only just looking at the building) to know a bit more about what the construction thoughts were.

 

[ehsmum]

My best friend travels to Chicago several times a year for work and she loves it. It's somewhere I'd love to visit one day

 

[aussietravellers]

Have just caught up on your trip report Queenie. Oh I was laughing away I love the humour in your writing. Looking forward to your next update.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Queenie...Completely off topic but somewhat related to our on-going conversation on our favourite subject. Check out the last statement in this article.


http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/americas-worst-airport-named-20101201-18fyz.html

 

[PrincessInOz]

Queenie - have you checked your PM mailbox size lately??? Overflowing....

 

[PrincessInOz]

*Ahem* If you're not careful, I would have finished 2 PTRs and 2 TRs before you even warm this one up........

 

[queenie82]

All worship her royal highness PrincessInOz

We all bow to your greatness in completing PTRs and TRs

We all bathe in your greatness

Now...I'll get to it when I get to it...OK!

 

[PrincessInOz]

A Queenie STILL ranks higher than a lowly Princess....

Hopefully there might be an update before 2012....

We'll be here....waiting.

 

[jacs1234]

Great TR I'm really enjoying it. I'm struggling with my own trip report which involves just 8 days of disneyland, so I understand.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome back Queenie.

Just wondering....
1. Which one of the 5 castles is your favourite and how would you rank them?
2. Outside of the two in the US, which one of Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong would you recommend to anyone else?

 

[usnuzuloose]

Welcome back Queenie.

Just wondering....
1. Which one of the 5 castles is your favourite and how would you rank them?
2. Outside of the two in the US, which one of Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong would you recommend to anyone else?

Okay just saw this and the date. You do know what I am thinking right?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Okay just saw this and the date. You do know what I am thinking right?

Ummm.....just remember.....we're on the Aussie section of the boards....

(Please try NOT to banish me to Siberia!!)