Mega blog update…
Have had a mega time in all places…. Not sure where I got up to with it all on here – writing in Word to upload when I have net access… suffice to say DC was just great – I love the place….still feel like I could spend a load more holidays there and still love it.
Left on Monday afternoon… was easy to get the train, all very civilised… great big seats with masses of legroom and a lay back chair so that you can sleep reasonably comfortably. They put little tickets above your head with your destination on so that they can wake you up at the right place, so you feel like it will be ok if you fall asleep. The train was late by about 20 minutes… I met some lovely people in the buffet car and chatted for quite a while before I went back to my seat to settle down for a bit of a kip.
I recognised Nancy straight away – we had never met and are 5th cousins – very distant, then. It wasn’t too far to the gorgeous place that they live… it’s near Brooklyn, Michigan and literally right on the side of a lake – Wampler’s Lake… absolutely beautiful. I needed a bit of a nap and set my alarm for 9 to try to catch up a bit.
We had a great few days together – we went down to where the Nobbs family had settled when they first came to the US and went to the grave of John Nobbs and Jane, whose parents are our mutual ancestor. It gave me a new appreciation of the uphill battle these pioneers faced when they arrived here – the land was a frested swamp with malaria rife…but the lure of cheap or free land that would be their own was clearly a big oull and they were prepared to work and work until it was productive. It was most definitely not a case of ‘oh, good free land!’ with no work attached. That first winter in Ohio the Nobbs family lived in a covered wagon as they tried to get their house finished. The harshness of the seasons must have been a shock too – cold like they had never known and heat like they had never known could not have been easy. I take my hat ff to them and to the life they carved out and the determination and courage it must have taken to uproot from that little Gloucestershire community and bring their little family so far – just travelling to Liverpool to get the boat must have been the biggest adventure of their lives. The fact that nearly 30 years later they were still writing to family back home, which is the letter written in 1852 that Great Aunt Em currently has, attests to the closeness they must have still felt to those family members left behind.
So we spent some lovely time there, messing about on the lake and me dossing around in the hammock, snoozing and reading – relaxing in to cottage life – I am uniquely adapted to slothfulness when the opportunity is presented – and all too soon it was time to be hurrying on. I was glad tho that I had rearranged my schedule to have that extra day – 3 days was not enough – we had so much to say! We have earnestly decided on another descendant reunion in 180 years although I sincerely hope to spend more time at Wampler’s lake before then!
So, on to Chicago – we had to get up at stupid o’clock (3.15a.m.) to catch the train – AND then it was nearly an hour late so we went for waffles – what else can a girl do? THEN I tried to get on the wrong one! The train managed to arrive in Chicago another hour behind schedule – I was beginning to wonder if we would be days late by the time we got to LA but it has all been on time since then (I’m on my way to Alberqueque as I write)..
Chicago, Chicago…. What a great city…. I walked around from Union Station to the hostel which has a great position near the lakefront, through massive topwering buildings that dominate the skyline. I took the obligatory bus tour and thought I would melt in the heat – it has been an unusually chilly summer in Chcago this year bit it has perked up of late and it was HOT! Too hot to sit on the top deck of a tour bus but a good way to get an overview of the city. The buildings are magnificent and a mix of all different styles and even heights but it gives the city a vibrant feel. The river winds through the middle of the city, crossed by numerous bridges that give access and then the whole city is topped off by the elevated train that snakes around, above ground, forming weird tunnels over the streets and forming strange light and dark pools, thundering their way to their destinations. This all crowned by the glory of ‘The Lake’, which was shimmering an almost unreal blue the days I was there, and gives a holiday feel to the whole place. There was an air show on the weekend so there was the additional excitement of air force jets screeching and diving, weaving in and out of the buildings, looking for all the world like they were too close for comfort.
I took a bike out along the lakefront trail on the Saturday afternoon and the beaches were tightly packed with people enjoying the water, the sunshine and the air show. I will never again imagine beaches at home to be packed – these were literally cheek by jowel. Saturday morning I took a walking tour from the hostekl with a volunteer who told us he wasn;t go to give us the history of each and evey building and then proceeded to do just that! After we all went back for a cold glass of lemonade – well, that powdered stuff that passes fpr lemonade – and biscuits and it was a good chance to chat to people. I made an arrangement to meet up with some of them for a real Chiacgo pizza that evening. We went to a recommeneded place and the pizza was good – if a little over large, even for the young lads in the party who had hearty appetites. Hat made the evening tho was the waitress who was a real carde – she started off by thinking that Chris, a lad from Merthyr, wasn;t even speaking English! Well, maybe he wasn’t – so they had a charade about draught and bottled beer…the service was dreadful, but the food was good and the company was excellent. We walked down to the lakeside for the fireworks – there was an open air Beethoven concert we wanted to catch but we stopped before that at an open air swing dance o listen for a while, by which time the classical concert was finished.
The fireworks didn’t start until 10.30 in the event – during which time I discouraged Chris from mooning to passing boats (you can take the boy out of Merthyr etc…)…
Sunday morning I went up the Sears Sky Deck with Jess and Charlie (big shout out, girls!) and was so not able to go out onto the clear, perspex decks that hang out of the 103rd floor! The view was amazing tho and had to be done! We wandered over to The Bean near the art Institute – Chicago does street art better than anywhere I have ever been and spent a lot of time marvelling at the many ways it reflected. Then it was time for me to assemble myself for the train station….en route the handle on my suitcase fell off, leaving me feel like part of a Rhod Gilbert sketch – look it up on Youtube! – not quite sure to do with the separated handle – so chucked it. Makes moving my stuff more difficult but I can still manage thanks to the bungee cord I got from Ron – how did life happen without bungees?
Uneventful trip to Kansas, which summed up the whole time in Kansas – was raining when I go there, storming when I woke up and when I hired the car to go out to Independence there was a severe weather warning and a get off the roads message – so I returned the car to Hertz and wondered what to do – soon found out there was little to do in wet town – went to the pictures and saw Julie and Julia which I enjoyed and then looked in vain for a book shop – had fnished dawn French and couldn’t face the 18 hors to my next stop without a book – NO shops in downtown Kansas! ‘None, not a sausage, bugger all’ to quote Monty Python!
Have had a mega time in all places…. Not sure where I got up to with it all on here – writing in Word to upload when I have net access… suffice to say DC was just great – I love the place….still feel like I could spend a load more holidays there and still love it.
Left on Monday afternoon… was easy to get the train, all very civilised… great big seats with masses of legroom and a lay back chair so that you can sleep reasonably comfortably. They put little tickets above your head with your destination on so that they can wake you up at the right place, so you feel like it will be ok if you fall asleep. The train was late by about 20 minutes… I met some lovely people in the buffet car and chatted for quite a while before I went back to my seat to settle down for a bit of a kip.
I recognised Nancy straight away – we had never met and are 5th cousins – very distant, then. It wasn’t too far to the gorgeous place that they live… it’s near Brooklyn, Michigan and literally right on the side of a lake – Wampler’s Lake… absolutely beautiful. I needed a bit of a nap and set my alarm for 9 to try to catch up a bit.
We had a great few days together – we went down to where the Nobbs family had settled when they first came to the US and went to the grave of John Nobbs and Jane, whose parents are our mutual ancestor. It gave me a new appreciation of the uphill battle these pioneers faced when they arrived here – the land was a frested swamp with malaria rife…but the lure of cheap or free land that would be their own was clearly a big oull and they were prepared to work and work until it was productive. It was most definitely not a case of ‘oh, good free land!’ with no work attached. That first winter in Ohio the Nobbs family lived in a covered wagon as they tried to get their house finished. The harshness of the seasons must have been a shock too – cold like they had never known and heat like they had never known could not have been easy. I take my hat ff to them and to the life they carved out and the determination and courage it must have taken to uproot from that little Gloucestershire community and bring their little family so far – just travelling to Liverpool to get the boat must have been the biggest adventure of their lives. The fact that nearly 30 years later they were still writing to family back home, which is the letter written in 1852 that Great Aunt Em currently has, attests to the closeness they must have still felt to those family members left behind.
So we spent some lovely time there, messing about on the lake and me dossing around in the hammock, snoozing and reading – relaxing in to cottage life – I am uniquely adapted to slothfulness when the opportunity is presented – and all too soon it was time to be hurrying on. I was glad tho that I had rearranged my schedule to have that extra day – 3 days was not enough – we had so much to say! We have earnestly decided on another descendant reunion in 180 years although I sincerely hope to spend more time at Wampler’s lake before then!
So, on to Chicago – we had to get up at stupid o’clock (3.15a.m.) to catch the train – AND then it was nearly an hour late so we went for waffles – what else can a girl do? THEN I tried to get on the wrong one! The train managed to arrive in Chicago another hour behind schedule – I was beginning to wonder if we would be days late by the time we got to LA but it has all been on time since then (I’m on my way to Alberqueque as I write)..
Chicago, Chicago…. What a great city…. I walked around from Union Station to the hostel which has a great position near the lakefront, through massive topwering buildings that dominate the skyline. I took the obligatory bus tour and thought I would melt in the heat – it has been an unusually chilly summer in Chcago this year bit it has perked up of late and it was HOT! Too hot to sit on the top deck of a tour bus but a good way to get an overview of the city. The buildings are magnificent and a mix of all different styles and even heights but it gives the city a vibrant feel. The river winds through the middle of the city, crossed by numerous bridges that give access and then the whole city is topped off by the elevated train that snakes around, above ground, forming weird tunnels over the streets and forming strange light and dark pools, thundering their way to their destinations. This all crowned by the glory of ‘The Lake’, which was shimmering an almost unreal blue the days I was there, and gives a holiday feel to the whole place. There was an air show on the weekend so there was the additional excitement of air force jets screeching and diving, weaving in and out of the buildings, looking for all the world like they were too close for comfort.
I took a bike out along the lakefront trail on the Saturday afternoon and the beaches were tightly packed with people enjoying the water, the sunshine and the air show. I will never again imagine beaches at home to be packed – these were literally cheek by jowel. Saturday morning I took a walking tour from the hostekl with a volunteer who told us he wasn;t go to give us the history of each and evey building and then proceeded to do just that! After we all went back for a cold glass of lemonade – well, that powdered stuff that passes fpr lemonade – and biscuits and it was a good chance to chat to people. I made an arrangement to meet up with some of them for a real Chiacgo pizza that evening. We went to a recommeneded place and the pizza was good – if a little over large, even for the young lads in the party who had hearty appetites. Hat made the evening tho was the waitress who was a real carde – she started off by thinking that Chris, a lad from Merthyr, wasn;t even speaking English! Well, maybe he wasn’t – so they had a charade about draught and bottled beer…the service was dreadful, but the food was good and the company was excellent. We walked down to the lakeside for the fireworks – there was an open air Beethoven concert we wanted to catch but we stopped before that at an open air swing dance o listen for a while, by which time the classical concert was finished.
The fireworks didn’t start until 10.30 in the event – during which time I discouraged Chris from mooning to passing boats (you can take the boy out of Merthyr etc…)…
Sunday morning I went up the Sears Sky Deck with Jess and Charlie (big shout out, girls!) and was so not able to go out onto the clear, perspex decks that hang out of the 103rd floor! The view was amazing tho and had to be done! We wandered over to The Bean near the art Institute – Chicago does street art better than anywhere I have ever been and spent a lot of time marvelling at the many ways it reflected. Then it was time for me to assemble myself for the train station….en route the handle on my suitcase fell off, leaving me feel like part of a Rhod Gilbert sketch – look it up on Youtube! – not quite sure to do with the separated handle – so chucked it. Makes moving my stuff more difficult but I can still manage thanks to the bungee cord I got from Ron – how did life happen without bungees?
Uneventful trip to Kansas, which summed up the whole time in Kansas – was raining when I go there, storming when I woke up and when I hired the car to go out to Independence there was a severe weather warning and a get off the roads message – so I returned the car to Hertz and wondered what to do – soon found out there was little to do in wet town – went to the pictures and saw Julie and Julia which I enjoyed and then looked in vain for a book shop – had fnished dawn French and couldn’t face the 18 hors to my next stop without a book – NO shops in downtown Kansas! ‘None, not a sausage, bugger all’ to quote Monty Python!
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