The last stop on our soggy mid west tour was Chicago, IL. Ok, we actually stayed 55 miles outside the city since it was the closest KOA to Chicago. I am pretty sure only crazy people would try to take their rv through the actual city. We officially resided in Union City, IL and it was a cute little town with the BEST KOA we have stayed at. It was also the most expensive KOA we ever stayed at, but it was really nice. Our campsite had our own fire pit, picnic table, and wooden porch swing. It also opened up to an open field that was used as overflow parking so we had a lot of room for the kids to run around and play. There was about an acre and a half common area that had mini golf, a super nice playground, gaga ball pit, tether ball, walking track, frisbee golf, and more wooden porch swings underneath the big shade trees. It did, however, lack the cable hook ups so no Hallmark. The girls were very disappointed. We arrived mid afternoon so we decided to play for a bit at the campground before we settled down for the evening. We were leaving really early the next morning to drive down to Chicago for the day.
 |
| The Chicago KOA |
 |
| We loved it. |
 |
| I want one of these cute porch swings. |
 |
| It had a huge amount of green space. |
 |
| It also had a nice walking trail for Maisy. |
 |
| And a fun playground. |
 |
| There was a Gaga ball pit (kind of like dodge ball), but D and A played tether ball. |
 |
| T having a break from the sun. |
 |
| These cute swings were throughout the campgrounds |
We knew that we only had about 4 hours or so to experience the city because it would take 2 hours each way with the traffic. The dog needs out at least every 8-9 hours, but usually we prefer not leaving her in her kennel for more than 6. I asked the kids what they wanted to do most since we had so little time to experience the city. Since we did the zoo in St Louis, they decided to forgo Lincoln Park and instead wanted to do Maggie Daley Park. This park looked super cool on you tube with a ton of neat play structures. The park itself was in fact super neat and if several school hadn't been on a field trip there, we would have had a blast exploring it thoroughly. It just was too much with that many kids running around so we decided to head to the lake front walk. Wow! I did not realize Lake Michigan was so beautiful. The water was blue and fairly clear. It definitely did not resemble any of the lakes in Texas. Along the lake front walk, we found an honest to goodness Chicago hot dog stand. We had to stop. T and I were the only ones brave enough to try it and the others have no idea what they missed out on. I don't even like hot dogs and I would get another one. It was the best hot dog I ever had. We explored the lake for a couple of hours and then headed back to Maggie Daley Park to leave. On our way back we found Millennium Park and the famous bean sculpture. It is a giant stainless steel bean that reflects the entire Chicago skyline. We completed our day by getting an original Chicago style pizza. We enjoyed the city, but with so much traffic next time we will leave the dog at a boarding facility for a couple of days and rent a hotel room downtown so we can really explore. I would have loved to do Lincoln Park and the Science Museum too.
 |
| Ok, technically we were to big to park, but if the luggage rack wasn't there we totally wouldn't have ripped the sign from the ceiling. As it was, it took 20 minutes driving around the garage to get this spot. |
 |
| We picked a day to visit when the children's choir was performing. It made it crazy busy. |
 |
| After 2 hours of traffic, we were happy to be here. At least most of us. D had to run his pocket knife back to the car because he insists on carrying it, but places with security DO NOT ALLOW knives. |
 |
| We have arrived! |
 |
| It really is pretty. |
 |
| Still learning the selfie. |
 |
| This park was extremely large and really fun, but come on Chicago, metal slides, really? Even in 70 degrees they were hot enough to burn. |
 |
| T loved the different play structures, but wished all the children's' choirs weren't there. |
 |
| He decided to not slide on the metal slide on this one. He just came down the way he went up. |
 |
| Park even had a mirror maze. |
 |
| A real Chicago hot dog stand |
 |
| It looks weird, but it was really yummy. |
 |
| The water was so beautiful and the cool breeze off of it was fantastic! |
 |
| Apparently sailing is a big deal here. |
 |
| We had to take a picture with Trump tower. |
 |
| Our traditional Chicago pizza. |
 |
The bean that reflects the skyline. We are in the center.
|
Our original plan was to spend our last day enjoying the many amenities of the campground. However, it rained for about 12 hours straight, and flooded out most of the play area (and the entrance and exit) so we ended up just doing laundry, playing games, and watching movies all day. We were concerned about not being able to get in and out because of flooding so we decided to leave extra early the next morning (about 6am) to hopefully miss the next batch of storms that were suppose to be there around 8am. Since the sun starts rising there at about 4:30am, it wasn't too hard to leave that early since there would be plenty of light.
We were driving back to the St Louis KOA so the girls would have Hallmark for one more night. We decided to not unhook the rest of the way home so we could leave more easily in the mornings. The next leg of our journey was 3 back to back all day driving days. It was going to be brutal. Missouri apparently had more rain while we were gone and the rivers were very full, but had not yet flooded. You could see the water was very close to the roads, but still had a little room. Once again to try to beat a storm system we left at 6am (which meant for 2 days everyone was up at 5am). We managed to out run the storms until we reached Springfield, MO. It was getting darker and darker so we stopped at a truck stop and got in the rv to wait the storm out. I love being able to do this. D took a nap on the couch while it rained, A read a book in her bed, and the little kids and I played games. After about an hour, we made lunch and then continued on our journey home.
 |
| Maisy has no idea why we get in and out of the car to just sit in the trailer. |
 |
| Waiting the rain out. |
Our stop this time was going to be at a Tulsa, OK KOA. As soon as we crossed into OK, we were shocked at how much water was everywhere. We passed mile after mile of flooded lakes, rivers, and creeks. Water reached roof tops in several spots. Pastures were so flooded that livestock literally had no dry land to stand on and were just in water. It is one thing to see it on the news, but to basically drive through a whole state that had this much water was overwhelming. The KOA we stopped at had standing water in several places too. It also had one thing that the girls were super excited about.....THE ANHEISER BUSCH CLYSDALES! They were here. We just so happened to arrive 30 minutes before they left and after being sad they couldn't see them in St Louis last week, they were able to see them in Oklahoma. How random was that! They even got to pet the Dalmatians. Unfortunately, more rain was heading to OK so we once again had to get up early, but this was our final driving day. The road we were taking home flooded out so we had to reroute. It took a little longer, but we finally made it back to the DFW area. The brown grass was shocking to us since we had spend to weeks in areas with bright lime green grass. I know it is green for TX, but while the trees are green a lot of the grass is greenish and brown. I promise it is quite different than the IL landscape.
It was so good to be home and all our chickens survived the chicken sitter! Yay! We love to travel, but it is nice to be home too.
 |
| Yay! The Clydesdales were there! |
 |
| And the Dalmatians! |
 |
| Everything was very full. |
 |
| That use to be a street. |
 |
| This was a "creek". |
 |
| Home Sweet Home |
Comments
Post a Comment