Places we have been, places we have seen

2 October, 2010 – Catching Up at Custer, South Dakota

CHICAGO – once used to stink of rotting onions!

From Glen Ellyn to Chicago in the Metra Rail. The sights, the wonder and the beauty of Chicago Downtown. Traveling in the ‘L’ – the elevated – for most part – metro-rail or subway as I knew it, catching the buses – I wondered at the movement of life in this part of the world. Going to work and coming back home has a different quality – different from that back home in Delhi/India. The two commuter systems that I experienced were spaces and moments to catch up and allow breath and life to re enter the frenetic-paced individual who uses these travel services. People drink their morning coffees and their evening and night coffees. Sometimes, surreptitiously their Draft Lites. Tupperwares of yoghurt and salad come out and are delicately consumed clean by the time the train reaches the second stop. Crossword puzzles, daily news, fiction, the latest about celebrities and ofcourse laptops of work. Sleep. Most people in the Metra Rail have lives in the train. Friends meet and catch up on gossip.

Carol and Komal too were there. The first morning we sat on the top deck of the Metra and ooh-ed and aah-ed the lovely streets of Oak Park as we passed them, remembered Cyrus and Aban as we passed Elmhurst, ogled the quarry, the downtown condos, the water left over from the rain. Disembarked at the Ogilvie Center and walked on the streets of C H I C A G O. It is a city that I have dreamt of seeing even more than New York. I did not know what to expect. The only architectural reference point that I had came from a movie – what else! – and the names came from years of reading about Chicago and answering multi million trivia quizzes. Yes, I looked for each one of them. Some of them I met by the end of the next day and some of them are waiting to be destroyed or discovered.

Chicago has been a beautiful ambulatory discovery. Millenium Park, Chicago Yacht Club, Navy Pier, Michigan Ave, Magnificent Mile, Oak Street Beach, Water Tower, Water Tower Place, Southside, the Aquarium, Arlington at the Science and Industry Museum, Hyde Park, China Town, all the Universities, Grant Park. We walked and we walked and we walked. Talking about the city, about associated memories and about the joy of discovering this incredible city – which was surprisingly non busy for Monday and Tuesday.

Absolutely stunning was the Oriental Theater on Randolph/Street Ave, where we saw the Broadway musical Billy Elliot. The show itself was spectacular, but the theater was stupendous.

I feel extremely grateful that I saw it that I was there.

Oh, by the way, the name Chicago came from the Native American name that I know I am right now not pronouncing correct – Chicogua – it means stinking of rotting onions, because of the sweet onions that used to grow here and they obviously had quite an odor as they rotted!

That little nugget of information came from the docent of the Architectural Boat Ride – and that my friends was fantastic.

CHIPPEWA FALLS, WISCONSIN

Somewhere along the way between Chicago and Custer National Park, we found ourselves at Chippewa Falls at the Hancock’s. This was the last point of family, not to mention home living. And it was a fitting finale! In the love and caring of Aunt Jean and Uncle Dave and the absolutely gorgeous house on Wissota Lake I was ready to stop and stay right there. Idyllic day – we saw the furniture making plant, had lunch at Applebee’s, and saw the tiny tiny little towns of Eau Clair and Chippewa Falls. I actually remembered reading in 10^th grade Geography, about the lumber industry in Chippewa Falls, that has been around for centuries. The expanses of space and the neatness of row, yard, lane and house was all the more stunning in the backdrop of the wildness of the changing colors of the trees and shrubs.

And then – canoe-ing. It was absolutely mindblowingly – Peaceful. Once I accepted that the worst that could happen is that we would spill, and the Loch Ness Monster or the waiting crocodile would come and grab me and take me under to his lair for supper and afters, I was fine. I allowed myself to enjoy the thrill of being on water. On this ultra deep blue water, surrounded by water, and all of that rimmed by the oranges and flame and green of vegetation, houses and ducks and geese – I was fine! It’s a great life.

We paddled to the island, across the lake. Walked on the beach there. Cooked up a storm of pirate and ‘I could’ stories and paddled back again.

MINA LAKE, MINNESOTA – Camping: An Ode To Those Who Told Us So!

‘Twas the evening of the sunshiny lake.

The trees did sway as the wind she blew.

Two of the Intrepid Tribe on cross country drive

At Mina, with stuff and joy they did arrive.

And the lake did ripple as the wind she blew.

From the Discovery pulling out camping stuff

Wrapped in winter coats, pulling out stuff

Neither noticed the blowing wind and the setting sun

Sleeping bags, tent pegs, tarp and such

Wrapped in shiny fake brightness they pulled out stuff.

Sated with propane fired hotdogs and Chocovine

They did settle – did I say settle? – down to sleep.

Cold butts, freezing toes, slippery sleep bags

In their heads voices of warning, of soft beds left behind

They did not settle, but they slept.

Came the morning and all the moaning.

“Head cold runnin’”, “strange creatures howlin’”

“Fingers are a frozen and breakin’”

Cheerful conversation through un-pegging-n-tarpin’

Yes, they were making “never again” noises.

But the sun did shine on the colors again

Breathing in the wind and moving again

Teeth unclean and faces unwashed

They bought more stuff to camp next stop.

Breathing in the wind and moving again.

Thank you Manna, Rahul, Shalini, Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Flip, Rohan, Anjali, Alok, Barb, Dave, Aunt Jean and Uncle Dave Hancock for all the gear, advice, information, food and the “Are you sure?”, “Camping in this weather??!!!!”, “Go ahead and do it!!!”, “Camping! Hee hee hee! You’re joking! Right?”

Love