My Getaway

Early Friday morning I caught the Amtrak in Lapeer to go and visit my good friend Gidget that lives in a suburb outside of Chicago. It was so nice to ride out there and not have to stress over sitting in construction traffice or the craziness of going through the notorious Chicago Loop. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I enjoyed some great magazines and an awesome page-turner of a book, My Abandonment. I made it there in record time, about five hours which never would have happened if I had driven. From the Union Station I caught the Metra out to the burbs. People on the train are interesting to me, there's the readers, the computer users, the ipod listeners, and the ones that are compelled to be on the phone for the entire ride. You can actually see their little brains thinking, 'who can I call now-who can I call now.' There are so many different nationalities in the city I swear I heard no less than five different languages being spoken by people on the hour ride out to the burbs. Being in the crazy, smelling union station makes me realize however why I live where I live. Gidget's she-owner picked me up from the station, we had some Chinese for lunch then headed to their house.
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Gidget is one lucky dog! She lives in a beautiful house with many artifacts that her he-owner brought back from all over the world on his travels as a corporate pilot. I couldn't even do them justice by trying to take pictures. The bedroom in the collage is my favorite in the house. I love the colors, this was not the room I stayed in, but I hope to next time. We had several wonderful dinners which included fresh vegetables from their cute little backyard garden.

Saturday I was treated by Gidget's she-owner to a massage and a pedicure at a spa near their home. Wow, what a friend, it was great. For the rest of the day we just hung out, played some frisbee, and chase games, then watched Avatar. I had never seen it before, it was awesome even without 3-D.
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Sunday I went to church with them and although the music and service was quite nice, whenever I go to other churches it makes me realize how much I love my own. After service we went downstairs so I could check out the rooms where they held their children's ministry. There were so cute! Each room had a theme, nature, space, Suessville, very well done and security was tight! I couldn't even really go in the rooms because I didn't have a card. Cool. Here's a couple shots of the hallway which impressed me tremendously.

But the best site of my entire trip was their supply room. It was unbelievably organized and from what people told me it always stays that way which means teachers are trained to put things back from whence they came. What an amazing concept.

After church we went to one of the most popular public parks in the area. Gidget's she-owner works for the county forest preserve so we pretty much entered like rock stars with our Staff pass to check out a pavilion for a party they are hosting next weekend. What a fabulous park with a great beach, playscape, biking/hiking trails, and more.

The park system there is very green concience, I was most impressed with their parking bumpers which are made out of recycled tires!! They also have rubber mulch down on the playscape, super thickly too, it feels squishy beneath your feet.

After a quick stop back at the house to get Gidget we headed out to a farm market that had a small petting zoo. Gidg got some great sniffs and had fun visiting with Macaroni the calf, and some baby goats, Dora, Boots and Swiper, and a motherly duck that takes every new arrival under its wing.

Monday morning I got a good walk in with Gidget's she-owner then after a shower, packing, and a great lunch at Olive Garden I started the reverse trip on the Metra back down to the city to catch the Amtrak back to Michigan. It was a wonderful trip with some folks I am greatly honored and humbled to call my friends. They made me feel special at a time that has been extremely troubling for me. But I continue to press through as I am buffeted, knowing I will come out stronger on the other side.