To Chicago on Interstates

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We were both up around 6 to 6:30am today. We slept much more soundly and comfortably than last night! There was an excellent included hot & cold breakfast buffet included at the Fairfield this morning. Clay ate at least 2 breakfasts. I ate a yogurt and a small cheese omelet like you could make a sandwich with. I had some tiny thin slices of Canadian bacon, a faux sausage patty and an English muffin with a cup of instant hot chocolate mocha coffee. Clay advised me to get a yogurt for the road as he had no intention of stopping for lunch. I did. Fairfield Inn also nicely validated parking for the public parking deck behind their hotel. It was worth $5!

We hit the road about 9:30am which meant very light traffic. It would be the only time all day! Clay stopped at Lebanon, IN freeway rest area. There we learned that we had fallen back an hour. We would now arrive in Chicago at the present rate an hour too soon. We started looking at signs for something to do for an hour or so. We found Fair Oaks Farms from their Cheese! signs. It was clearly filling a void on the route for food, tourism and recreation. It was packed at lunch time. We got to see the yogurt fermentation room, the yogurt packaging room and the ice cream room. We had a chocolate milk, a root beer float and I had a half grilled cheddar sandwich and Clay had a half grilled pepper Havarti sandwich. It was all excellent. They also made chocolates there. Clay had some peanut clusters and I had a giant chocolate covered marshmallow on a stick and an angel cup which was marshmallow creme in a chocolate cup. I shared both mine with Clay as they were too rich and sweet. I proposed going on a Slim-Fast diet in August! We bought a carton of Cheddar cheese curds and since they were BOGOF, we got 2! We bought a small strawberry yogurt parfait for me to have another time. Put it in the cooler with the one I picked up at breakfast. Now I have 2 days breakfast yogurts for our stay at the Cambria in Chicago which does not include breakfast or parking!

We killed nearly enough time there and got to Chicago only 15 minutes ahead of schedule. That turned out perfectly timed as well as it turned out that the pre-reserved/prepaid parking Clay had booked online a couple of blocks from the Cambria had a 15-minute grace period.

So, it was busy, construction zone freeways and Clay was contented. I think our Scenic Byways experiment has ended. We didn't see much. Cincinnait was still in the Appalachian foothills but a few miles out and into Indiana and it was all flat and featureless. About 110 to 100 miles from Chicago we drove through miles of giant windmills. What was amazing was that about 20 minutes earlier we'd been out of the car at that rest area and the air was so still that I had actually thought about how they'd never have wind power here. I guess I was wrong!

We are in the Cambria, a Marriott property, that is above the Oriental Theater. It is caddy cornered to the old Marshall-Fields building which is now a Macys. It is very nice. There is a valet stand entry on the ground floor.. You take an elevator up to the 9th floor to find the reception/check in lobby/bar. Our room is also on the 9th floor. The ice machine is on the 8th floor. The room is clean and stylish and on the small side but functionally well designed. The shower is the only downside. It has a giant shower head that sprinkles straight down on you and you just have to stand there and wait to get thoroughly wet. It was a zen shower.

We scheduled online a 2-hour 6pm Segway Tour as soon as we got to the room. Absolutely Chicago Segway Tours. We toured the Lake Shore/Park areas. It was fun and informative. We saw a 16-inch Chicago softball game. That was new to all of us!

We went to Giordano's for a small thin pizza for dinner with half of the rest of Chicago. We waited a very long time as the sun set and it got chilly outside where we sat. The pizza when it arrived was neither very thin or very small. We could barely eat half of it. Clay asked for it boxed as we have a fridge and microwave. I knew I wasn't eating any leftovers. Clay swore he would for breakfast. Instead a woman begged a sandwich of Clay and I told him to take the pizza back to her. She seemed happy enough with pizza instead of a sandwich. We were relieved not to have the pizza in the room later!

It was past our bedtime when we got back to the room, so I am a day late posting this.

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