Day 3.3: Buffalo Grove, IL to Traverse City, MI

We woke up and chatted with Lisa for a bit before departing to head into Chicago. We met up with Kevin, a high school friend of Abe’s, and his wife Stacey, who we hadn’t seen since their wonderful wedding back in September 2017. Luckily, there was one parking spot left in the lot behind Ann Sather’s, which saved us a lot of time from having to find a metered spot on the crowded Lakeview streets. The place was insanely crowded – and very loud – but we only had to wait about ten minutes before we were seated. The restaurant is known for its giant cinnamon rolls, which are available as a choice for one of the two sides each main dish comes with, and they were incredibly delicious! Abe and Arielle split one side and also got the biscuits and an order of hash browns each, both of which were decent. Abe got the garden omelet with mushrooms instead of peppers (which initially came out with peppers anyway). Arielle got the garden omelet with egg whites, sub mushrooms, well-done onions (that didn’t come out well done) and cheese instead of zucchini, peppers, and carrots, leaving the broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach intact. Kevin got a breakfast wrap and Stacey got a bagel sandwich, and we were all happy with our food.

It was great to catch up with Kevin and Stacey, and we got back on the road to head back east and then north. We hit some traffic getting out of Chicago and crossing back into Indiana.

We next crossed into Michigan, a state we’d both been to but not before by car.

The rest areas along the highway in this state were pretty nice too. As we approached Grand Rapids, we realized that we weren’t too far from the two Gerald Ford presidential libraries but decided that it wasn’t a stop we had time for this time. We did, however, locate a Tropical Smoothie Café, the chain we had discovered in Little Rock back in March, and arrived to each order the Chia Banana Boost. Abe got his with more banana instead of peanut butter or strawberry (which Arielle got), though he was once again initially charged an extra fifty cents for the substitution, something he’ll have to clarify in the future.

We continued along the road to head up to Traverse City, arriving around 8pm right as most of the dinner places we were finding on TripAdvisor were closing. We ended up going to Sparks BBQ, where Abe got a two-meat plate with brisket and pulled chicken and Arielle had the sides: mac and cheese, baked beans, and a salad. We walked out briefly to the water while we were waiting for the food and then got into the car, driving slowly up to where we were staying and stopping frequently so that Arielle could take pictures of the incredible sunset view.

We were greeted by a friendly note for Abe’s cousins Noah and Kit at the cabin owned by Noah’s grandparents, which we had visited for a rehearsal dinner the night before Noah and Kit’s wedding back in 2013. We settled in to the comfortable cabin, watched some TV, and went to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 370

Day 3.2: Kent, OH to Buffalo Grove, IL

We decided to get up around 8am to try to fit a few activities in to the long drive, and left the house with Aaron in our car before 9am. It was easier than we thought to make room for a third passenger in the car, which was reassuring. We drove a few minutes into town to eat breakfast at Wild Goats, a local diner. After perusing their lengthy menu, Abe ordered the garden omelet with onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach, choosing hash browns and an English muffin as his side. Arielle ordered an à la carte option: two egg whites with hash browns and an English muffin. Aaron got the avocado benedict. We enjoyed a nice meal and then stopped down the road for a short walk to a dam-turned-waterfall and a forested nature walk alongside it. We dropped Aaron back off at home, planning to return in exactly three weeks.

We drove about half an hour to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which Aaron had highly recommended. There’s no entrance fee for this park, and we drove right to the Octagon Shelter parking lot. We knew there was a short path to a worthwhile viewpoint but weren’t sure whether to follow directions to the Ledges Shelter or to the Overlook, choosing the latter. We ended up walking up almost a mile through the trees past cool rock formations, which we think were the aforementioned Ledges themselves, arriving at a view of trees that wasn’t nearly as impressive as what we saw on the way up. There were numerous black squirrels and tiny chipmunks darting around, but they weren’t too fast for Arielle’s quick fingers as she managed to get a picture of a chipmunk!

We returned to the car and hit the road for our six-or-so hour drive to Chicago. Our first stop was at a fancy-looking travel plaza, which Abe thought resembled a school, to use the restrooms and get lunch. Abe ordered a beef burrito from Red Burrito, which was cheap and actually a lot of food, while Arielle ate a yogurt she had brought with her. Arielle had a call in the car while Abe caught up on TV watching and reviewing. We crossed into Indiana (and the central time zone) and stopped for gas at a travel plaza with 347 miles on the odometer and the empty light not yet on.

As we approached and then entered Illinois, we started hitting a lot of traffic.

Luckily, we had just enough extra time to spare, and made it to Buffalo Grove in time to make a quick supply stop before pulling in to the home of Lisa, Abe’s former colleague from USY. We enjoyed an incredibly delicious dinner prepared by Lisa’s husband, Michael, who also happens to be the uncle of our good friend, Laura, who Abe met in college. The highlights were grilled chip-thin-sliced salami with brown sugar as an appetizer, and the family steak and potatoes as a main course. We also had the opportunity to meet Sandy and see Eli, Lisa and Michael’s youngest son, who just graduated from college, and Rachel, another former colleague of Abe’s from USY.

With full stomachs, we stayed up for a while chatting and then went to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 435

Day 3.1: Katonah, NY to Kent, OH

After an extraordinarily productive yesterday during which we booked almost all our accommodations for this trip and our subsequent trip to Europe, we got up around 9am to pack up the last of our things. A relatively leisurely breakfast was followed by the swiftest, smoothest loading of the car that we’ve had yet. We can even see out the back window completely, which is really something, thanks to the absence of a large box, a third suitcase, a fourth duffel bag, and a third crate. Hopefully we have everything we need with us! We said goodbye to Abe’s parents and left their house around 12:30pm. Our first stop was at the local Goldberg’s Bagels, where we purchased a bialy with butter for Arielle to eat with a Pickle Guys sour pickle she had brought from home, a pumpernickel bagel with butter for Abe, and a half dozen everything bagels to bring to our hosts for the night.

We were already five hours ahead of the last time that we drove to Ohio on our first road trip last summer, which was a great start, and we mostly made good time en route. Unfortunately, we sat completely still for an hour on a single-lane stretch of 84 West in Pennsylvania due we think to an accident, and then finally started moving. We used the time well to watch some TV on Abe’s computer since the car was parked anyway!

The good news is that we managed to find a Wawa along our route, despite the fact that searches in Waze for Wawa pulled up locations of its far inferior Western PA competitor, Sheetz. Arielle got a 44-oz iced coffee, which she brilliantly split into two far more manageable 22-oz cups to store in the cupholders in the back seat, and Abe got a large Banana Cream Smoothie, once again available for only $3 thanks to the “Siptopia” promotion. We hit some very intense rain but also experienced some incredible skies full of clouds.

The fanciest restaurant we were able to find for over a hundred miles was a Ruby Tuesday located in Dubois, PA. Abe ordered an 8 oz. top sirloin with grilled zucchini and a baked potato on the side, and they even allowed us to add the unlimited garden bar for only $4, which Arielle had as her meal. It was a good find, and worthwhile to know that this chain is a decent option that’s not too pricey and has good vegetarian options, including two soups Arielle may try next time.

We got back on the road with over two and a half hours to go, and luckily didn’t hit any more traffic along the way, soon crossing into Ohio.

We weren’t too late to be greeted by Abe’s cousin, Aaron, who we had seen in Florida just three days earlier at the unveiling for their grandmother. He and his girlfriend, Liz, who had already gone to sleep due to an early morning the next day, have a lovely house in Kent, a nice college town. We brought our things in, socialized for a bit, and then went to bed after a long day of driving.

Approximate number of miles covered: 480

Day 3.0: What We’ve Been Up To

Hello again, readers! We finished our second road trip during the second week of April but neglected to put up many of the posts we had written until just now, so please forgive us! We’re already back on the road after six weeks of sort of staying in one place. We arrived in Katonah a week and a half before Passover, and spent some of the time before the holiday in New York City visiting friends.

We enjoyed two wonderful seders at the Fried-Tanzer home in Katonah with friends, much of Abe’s extended family, and Arielle’s parents and her sister, Cindy, who flew in from Los Angeles.

Midway through Passover, we went into Manhattan to stay in two different apartment of friends who were away, getting to visit with friends around the city and New Jersey throughout the week. Abe covered twenty-eight movies at the Tribeca Film Festival, and we enjoyed time both together and apart back in our old stomping grounds.

We returned to Katonah for just one night before driving to Massachusetts to celebrate the engagement of Abe’s sister, Hannah, at her fiancé, Brad’s, parents’ home, sticking around for a few days to see a number of friends.

We came back to New York in time to go visit the Ramah Sports Academy in Connecticut, where we will be working at the end of the summer, stopping to see our friend, Seth, at his synagogue in Westport on the way home. We split our next few days between time in Katonah and Manhattan before flying down to Florida on Thursday.

We spent a night with Shosh, whose wedding we attended in February, and enjoyed a lovely few hours out by her pool in Aventura after a tasty breakfast at the Original Pancake House. We drove on Friday to Hollywood to spend Shabbat with Andrew and Lauren, which was great, and culminated in a repeat visit to a kosher fried chicken establishment, Dixie BBQ, that luckily didn’t end this time with Arielle throwing up all night.

That Sunday, we moved up to Boynton Beach to see Abe’s grandfather, Grampye, and had dinner with Abe’s brother Ezra, Uncle Bruce and Aunt Nancy, with whom we stayed in Chapel Hill, and cousin, Aaron, who we’d soon visit outside Cleveland. Abe’s parents, his sister, Hannah, and her fiancé, Brad, arrived that night and we all went to the Courtyard Marriott in Boynton Beach. Abe, Ezra, and Nancy watched the series finale of Game of Thrones together and then we all went to bed. In the morning, we drove to nearby Delray Beach for the unveiling service for Abe’s grandmother, Bubbe. We enjoyed a meal together at Ben’s Kosher Deli in Boca Raton afterward and then spent a wonderful afternoon out by the pool. Arielle was even able to get Grampye in the water, which made the experience special for all of us! After a great dinner at Joseph’s in Delray Beach that night, we said goodbye to most of the group. The next day, we spent the late morning and early afternoon out by the pool with Nancy, Donald, and Grampye, and were very impressed that Grampye, who will be ninety-five this October, was able to throw the ball around with us (and often better than we could!).

We drove to West Palm Beach Airport and flew back on Delta via Atlanta to Westchester Airport, where we landed just minutes after Nancy and Donald’s nonstop flight on JetBlue (Abe obviously wanted to enjoy his Platinum Medallion status, and Arielle was grateful that Abe gave her his First Class upgrade). We spent all day Wednesday cleaning, packing, and planning our next trip, and got to bed earlier than we expected to before setting back out on the road the next day.