Two Backpacks One Couple

Instead of waking up in Chicago to a relaxed day hanging out with friends it was yet another 4:00am wake up for our make up flight. As a reward to myself I had a cotton candy milkshake and an egg mcmuffin for my airport breakfast. Nick got himself a poke bowl. We arrived at 2:00pm and missed out on the group activity of going to the aquarium, a shame since I had not been before. We stayed with friends Ted and Brooke, and Hannah and Jeff also stayed for the weekend with their son Otto. Thai takeout was a super delicious dinner and a nice way to end our chaotic travel day.

On the Sunday Jeff and Hannah (and Otto) started their drive back to Appleton. Meanwhile the four of us did some long walks along the waterfront with Pepper (the dog with limitless energy), had dinner at a surprisingly decent BBQ spot called Smoke Daddy BBQ. One of the water pipes burst in the street near their apartment so an entire row of cars were frozen in thick ice. Chicago was definitely colder than Seattle, but thankfully they had coats and boots we could borrow. We always go to Jeni’s for ice cream when we are in Chicago, and this visit was no exception despite the temperature. Brooke was not yet sick of it, but after a few more visits in the following weeks we did get it too much apparently.

We were going to carpool to Appleton the next day, but Ted’s work trip was cancelled. Instead, we booked a new flight; this time it really was our last world tour flight. In classic bad luck for our domestic flying it was delayed significantly. Luckily we had no rush, though! Our friend Jeff picked us up and we spent the next several days at his and Hannah’s house. They worked from home and we got to relax after our big adventure and spend lots of time with their adorable baby. Otto enjoyed watching his dad shovel the driveway. We even made it out to a bar trivia night with a larger group of friends that live in the area and the girls group won the first place prize! The boys group won second of the packed bar. I’m not sure how many groups there were, but we nailed it. I only embarrassed myself once with a much too loud celebration upon hearing that one of my crazy answers was actually right. Otherwise I wasn’t contributing that much to the team.

Our time in Appleton flew by and Nick’s parents picked us up. We drove to Grafton and spent an evening with some more family to split up the drive back to Iowa. It was a nice way to end our biggest trip. We eventually made it back home to Iowa where we looked forward to much needed chill time. Nick’s new job started that Monday, and I got to start cooking again.