Yup, going to the Chicago cousins is a long-standing tradition in family. Now, this was the first year that none of the St Paul cousins made it but the St Paul grandparents, auntie and uncle did. We have a great time.
I started with my parents heading out through Milwaukee. We stopped at the Milwaukee Art Museum to see our favorite Tony Oursler (the talking head video) also Kehinde Wiley, Chuck Close, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and others. We love the Oursler without any back story but even more with it. He has recorded himself answering questions from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI); a tool used to gauge mental health.
Thanksgiving day we had a beautiful meal cooked by Katie, who had made Thanksgiving dinner for maybe 20 years and Billy who went to the Culinary Institute of American in NY. It was delicious. Billy’s addition was duck. I’ve had duck before. Sometimes it’s OK; sometimes not. But with Billy’s prep it was amazing. The whole meal was gorgeous. And a nice addition of cranberry cocktails prepared by Sean.
Black Friday Katie, our mom and I spent at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Chicago and consignment shopping in Evanston. The MCA had an exhibit on the Art in Caribbean Diaspora. including fascinating videos of movement methodical, haphazard, independent, interconnect, so interesting to think about the difference in the voyage. Movement happens regardless and aside from the brick dominoes, it’s hard to know exactly what’s going to happen but there is movement and it seems to be forward.
Then we had an amzing meal at D & J Bistro; it’s a little bit of a drive but worth it. We had all of the fancy food – mussels, steak tartare, carpaccio and some fancy drinks. And now we’re never going to eat again. It’s nice to be in a family where everyone genuinely enjoys a meal together. Like any other holiday table these days there are a lot of no-go topics and I get to hear more about sports ball that usual but also we laughed a lot. And for that we are thankful!
Due to a holiday snowstorm, we spent an extra day in Milwaukee this year with Grandma and Grandpa on the way to Auntie Katie’s for Thanksgiving. (This also means an extra day of uber calories on the eatingest holiday of all time!)
With the extra day, we decided to stay in Milwaukee, instead of Madison. Not to be braggy, but our hotel was famous. For being the spot of an attempted assignation of Teddy Roosevelt. But we felt pretty safe.
We had some ambitious plans; we were successful in checking out the Milwaukee Art Museum. It’s very modern. The building itself is gorgeous and it’s right on the lake. It was pretty grey, cold and windy when we were there, but that just reminded us of Dublin so we went with it.
One of our favorite works was Self Portrait in Yellow by Tony Oursler. You can see why below.
The next day we made our way to Katie’s house near Chicago. We had an amazing meal. My favorite is ham and stuffing. Or pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Anyway there’s a ton of food and something for everyone. There were lots of new folks at dinner, which is always fun. It was warm enough for kids to play ghost in the graveyard at night, which beats the heck out of the 8 inches we had back home.
We celebrated Black Friday with a little consignment shopping and going to the WNDR Museum, which is awesome. It’s part art, part technology and all interactive to the point of totally immersive. It’a really an Instagrammer’s dream. So many great photo opportunities. You
There are exhibits or works from several artists. They all play with perspective, movement and dimensions. The most famous, I suspect is the Infinity Mirror Room by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. We also liked the perspective room – you can see above where I tower over Aine and Grandma. Another fun one, less photogenic is the tin cans and the telephone wires. You put the can up to the wires until you hear something. Very cool.
Filed under: Wisconsin
To celebrate some big birthdays, Grandma and Grandpa brought everyone to a very fancy cabin in Northern Wisconsin for a fun weekend. I’ll just say that the best part of having a brother who is a chef is not eating hotdogs or hot dish at family events. We ate like royalty! We also got to spend time on the boat and just hanging out in a very beautiful location.
So who thought it would be a good idea to drive to Florida? What a dummy!
We started on the trip yesterday. We got on the road about noon, as scheduled. So that was good. We got a free upgrade to a minivan, which was probably good. (Not my dream vehicle – but loads of room for the girls.) Then the luck sort of ebbed.
I got a speeding ticket as soon as we crossed over the Wisconsin. I totally deserved it. I may have been able to talk my way out of it – being less than an hour in a rented car and just getting used to it – if I hadn’t been on the phone. I will give the cop credit for not asking if I knew how fast I was going. (I didn’t but I had some idea.)
Next it started snowing in Tomah. The blizzard started about 40 miles later. They closed schools in Madison about 2 hours before we got there. We were averaging about 40 miles an hour on the highway. I couldn’t read the signs. (Should have used that excuse with the ticket!)
Nearly 8 hours to get to Chicago – that’s an all-time worst record.
But once we got there bbq ribs were waiting and a cake to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. And it was fun to see the cousins. And now it’s 8:00 and we’re already in a new state. I’m not driving. SO that’s good. Mifi is working. So that’s good. And we have plenty of gas. So that’s good because I think you can enjoy Gary Indiana just as much from the car. It seems pretty industrial – and not in a glamorous oils refinery/Emerald City way. Just trains and power lines.
State Count: MN, WI, IL, IN
Filed under: Wisconsin
OK I’ve been super lay about the blog since Halloween. I’m going to try to catch it up. Maybe the best way to do that is to skip right to Thanksgiving.
We went to Chicago for Thanksgiving. It was my fourth trip to Chicago in 2010. We drove down with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Billy – it was a convoy! We stopped in Madison on the way down because we were expecting terrible weather and Katie didn’t want us until Thanksgiving Day, which I can understand.
Madison really is a nice town. And Grandma scored us rooms at one of the best hotels. So we were very happy to stop. We enjoyed a swim and a nice dinner at some Irish restaurant. On the way down I learned how to use my new Droid Phone. Although admittedly most of the apps that are on it are still from the kids who needed no time to make good use of it.
This weekend we met with our girl cousins in Madison. We stayed at a Holiday Inn with a small water park. All we did was swim and relax. We ate pizza on the pool deck. We tried some local beer and it was good. Of course Wisconsin knows beer. We watched TV at night.
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