Wauconda, IL...chickens and cousins!

Roasting cousins with marshmallows

Chickens!!!

Wednesday, September 19th, began our vacation within a vacation. Arriving at Becky and Jon's house in Wauconda, IL, we settled in for a nice looong weekend of family time with the cousins. First, though, we had to take care of the RV. Jon found a local welder highly recommended by several people, and we also located a dealership and scheduled an oil change. After dinner, someone suggested a fire in the fireplace and I promptly mentioned the huge marshmallows. Several rounds of s'mores later, Josh, Jake and Isaac insisted I try one. I have to say, my first (and last) s'more didn't impress. For the purist, the unadulterated toasted marshmallow needs no embellishment and certainly no graham crackers or chocolate to muddy its golden perfection. Jus' sayin'.

Chickens!!!

On Thursday, with the kids at school and Beck and Jon at work, we managed to accomplish several months of chores as well as have the RV in for service at the welder to repair the beating it took in Alaska and the Yukon. With that completed, we dropped it off at the Buss Ford dealership for the oil change and to fix a week old squeak. Perhaps not surprisingly, on Friday, we were alerted of major surgery required on the RV which meant it needed to be admitted for the duration of the weekend. In the meantime, we learned about the silly chickens and fed them garden scraps, collected some eggs and watched them being ridiculous. We had no idea how entertaining backyard chickens are, especially when they fight over a bit of tomato and chase one another around their enclosure. On Friday night, Jon drove us on a tour of tiny Wauconda, after which we all had dinner at Middleton's on Main, a tasty restaurant in 'downtown'.

The candy panic!

Josh, Ken, Jake, Isaac and Beck

On Saturday, we all went to the Wauconda High School Homecoming Parade down Main Street (Go Bulldogs!). Jon, in his position on the school board, walked in the parade, so we didn't see much of him. Meanwhile, the rest of us waited patiently for the floats...well, mostly patiently. Tradition holds that candy is thrown to the kids by the folks in the parade, so the boys came equipped with giant shopping bags. Despite the chilly weather, they each managed to collect an obscene amount of candy and tiny foam footballs. Nice. Afterwards, to warm up our frozen innards, we all retreated to the house for hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) and a nice fire in the fireplace. Yum!

After the hot chocolate, Ken and I drove to Waukegan where Ken attended bootcamp in 1965 and two Navy schools the following year. After being chased away from photographing the base entrance (apparently it's against federal law to do so), we toured the Great Lakes Naval Museum. Ken found out from the museum clerk that the barracks buildings he lived in were torn down some time ago, but several other buildings remain from that era. A small room in the museum had historic photographs of bootcamp graduates from WWII. Another had a display about diversity in the Navy, including information about black soldiers who served in the Vietnam War and how women's roles have changed over the years.

Feelin' organized, punk?

The museum offered a glimpse of life for a new recruit and his or her grueling 8 weeks ahead, including the volumes of information to be absorbed in such a short time. A display of the Navy handbook in one case showed how it has increased in length over time. Ken mentioned that during the Vietnam years, however, the standard 16 week bootcamp was shortened to 6 weeks to accommodate the onslaught of new troops and the closing of the San Diego training center for a spinal meningitis outbreak, but with the requirement for learning all the information still intact. In the main hall we saw a bunk with storage beneath each of the beds as well as a chart for how the clothes and toiletries should be arranged in it. After so many months of traveling, there's no way we're following any such guidelines for organization in the RV, with everything crammed in one cabinet or another. We have a sort of barely controlled chaos approach going on here. Nice.

Beach at Lake Michigan in Waukegan

In any case, we drove around the small town of Waukegan and to the 'beach' on Lake Michigan. Naturally we found a Goodwill and some lunch before heading back to Beck and Jon's place. For dinner, Rachel and Nathan and their three young kiddos joined us for a barbecue. We chatted until their wee daughter, Gracie, decided it was time to go home. She let her displeasure at continuing the evening be known, so they gathered up Matthew and Andrew and bade us a goodnight.

Museum of Science and Industry

On Sunday, while Beck, Jon and the boys went to a Cubs vs. Cardinals game at Wrigley Field in downtown Chicago, Ken and I took in the Museum of Science and Industry (Josh's good suggestion). The maze-like structure sucked us in and, after a nice lunch in the cafeteria there, we began to wander around like science-obsessed rats. We found information about everything from GMO corn, mechanical cow milking and genetics to steam locomotives, tornadoes and baby chicks. Wow.

Helping destroy enemy ships

The actual U-505 German sub

In one section we saw the U-505 German submarine captured by American troops in WWII. We read all about the daring feat to take it without inadvertently sinking it in order to learn about Germany's encryption methods, warfare technology and submarine positions. Among a treasure trove of items inventoried from the sub, two Enigma machines and the coding information about other German ships were found on board. After towing the sub to Bermuda, the Navy began systematically combing the interior for clues about the German navy's movements and secrets.

Ken with a mock up
conning tower of U-505

The exhaustive museum display was absolutely fascinating. After the war the sub sat exposed to the elements for almost 10 years in the Portsmouth, Virginia, harbor where it suffered a pilfering of much of the interior's removable parts as well as the loss of the original conning tower. Retired Rear Admiral Gallery, the man in charge of its capture in 1944, lobbied to have it moved permanently to his hometown of Chicago. After securing donations to pay for its move from Virginia to Illinois, it was donated by the Navy to the museum in 1954 and then designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. After sitting outside in Chicago's weather for decades, the museum moved the sub indoors in 2004, restored it to its original colors and replaced the reproduction observation periscope with its original, surprisingly found in 2003 in California.

Science Storms exhibit hall

We moved on to the Science Storms exhibit hall where we watched the effects of gravity, spin, friction and weight on landslides. A giant tornado, built mechanically from vaporized water droplets, spun in the center of the room. Beyond there, we learned about the tsunami effects of underground seismic activity on shorelines of varying depth. Much of the museum focused on hands-on demonstrations of science, but most especially in this room. One computer allowed us to control the conditions for an avalanche and another the waves in a pool of water.

Transportation Gallery

Across the huge atrium we wandered into the Transportation Gallery where a 727 hung suspended from the ceiling above a coal-powered locomotive and a spider web of toy trains. The small trains demonstrated the uses of a railroad and how two distant cities are connected after miles of tunneling through rock, over mountains and across the land.

As we dragged our tired legs back to the main entrance, we first strolled through a new exhibit about the Pioneer Zephyr train. The Zephyr was coated with sleek chrome, designed to reduce drag and increase both speed and efficiency. In keeping with the public's fascination with the streamlined look, a variety of products soon followed with their own take on the art deco fad. Several glass cases displayed a host of 1930s products including a vacuum cleaner, radio, toaster, and ice crusher, all with a sleek art deco profile and chrome detailing.

Chicago along Lakeshore Dr.

We strolled back to the car and drove north along Lakeshore Drive where we could see the shoreline of crystal blue Lake Michigan for several miles. After the requisite Goodwill bargains, we headed back to Beck and Jon's for dinner with them and the boys. Though the Cardinals won, everyone reported a good time had at the game, though there was some dissension about low-tech Wrigley Field compared to posh Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Matthew and Rachel

On Monday, after a familiar lunch at Famous Dave's (in honor of Dad's favorite Virginia hangout), we drove south to Lake in the Hills to visit Rachel and her kiddos. We three chatted for a while as the kids took their afternoon naps until we were joined by sweet Matthew. After showing us their gardens and lovely home, Ken and I headed out to while away the little remaining portion of the afternoon hoping the RV would soon be ready to collect.

Thankfully, it was. After depositing a quart of blood each as well as the accumulated life savings of a small neighborhood, we left with the RV. Yikes. At least we feel confident about the quality of the work, even if it cost four arms and three legs. Nonetheless, we returned to Beck and Jon's place and quickly settled the RV back into their driveway. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying their company until the boys went to bed. Then we chatted with Beck into the wee hours of the evening...laughing about craftfail.com, a website for the Martha Stewart failure in us all. Good times, good times.

We said our goodbyes in the evening, and spent Tuesday morning preparing to leave. How nice a stay we had...thank you so much, cousins!