"Now Serving Beer. Happy Easter."

[grrr78italiana]

Hit the road Friday night with Laura to check out and photograph Peshtigo, WI- the city wiped out by fire the same night as the Great Chicago Fire.  Their devastation and loss of life far surpassed ours but was overshadowed nonetheless.  Laura is the perfect roadtrip companion in that the first words out of her mouth were "You're going to have to let me know if you want to eat or pee because otherwise I intend on stopping for nothing other than good pictures or cool sites."  5 hours later- neither of us had peed, needed to eat anything beyond what was in the car and spent the first hour competing who could unwrap Starburst faster using only their mouth.  (I so win, but really no one was takin' that bet anyway *grin*)  We blared into Peshtigo around 2am to "Laid" by James singing at the top of our lungs.  We set the alarm for 7:30am so we could take advantage of the continental breakfast before hitting the library to look up some of Laura's family history and check out the local sites.  We laughed our asses off while caught up in reading the microfiche of the newspaper from the 1800s.  (There were articles such as "Mrs. Johnson tripped on her rug on Saturday and broke her arm.", "Arthur McSomething was arrested this weekend again, as usual" THEY ACTUALLY SAID "AS USUAL"! LOL, and an advertisement for a chastity belt.)  We tried to check out the cemetery from  the 1800s but it was LOCKED until May 20th the sign said.  Boo! On the upside, that means we get to go back again in summer.  We ate at a local diner and then decided to head to Michigan.  We immediately learned that Michigan still allows smoking in bars. Bleh.  We did get some pretty pictures there though as well.  Best picture taking place was an abandoned farm we found where the bedroom of the house had been destroyed by fire but the rest of the place had apparently just been left to fall apart after that.  Creepy and awesome.  For lunch we hit the souvenir shop and munched all the free samples of cheese, jelly & crackers, pretzels and such that they had, then bought ice cream cones. :) We ended our day with pictures of the local architecture and  confirming the fact that no where else can make pizza like Chicago no matter how good it looks on the menu.
Pics coming soon.
Back in Chicago this evening the first thunderstorm of the season is here, and I am enjoying the deep rolling thunder and amazing lightening.  It's perfect.
Much love to all in my life <3