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DAY SIX – JOLIET, IL TO LOWDEN, IA
FIrst thing this morning, we passed through Plainfield, where the Lincoln Highway and the later alignment of Route 66 actually share the same three blocks. Two of America’s most iconic roads overlapping for just a moment… it’s small, but it feels like a little wink from history. Indiana has this whole series of thirteen Lincoln…
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DAY FIVE – FORT WAYNE, IN TO JOLIET, IL
Last night was spent at The Bradley designed by Barbara Bradley Baekgaard … pause and think of where you know that name from … co-founder of Vera Bradley. The Bradley feels like someone took Midwestern charm, shook off the dust, and gave it a modern glow‑up. It’s right in the middle of downtown, and the…
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The Smoke House
When I took The Warner Brothers Tour in 2019, the tour guide mentioned that behind the studio is a restaurant called The Smoke House. Not only is it an old Hollywood favourite, he proclaimed, but George Clooney ate there so much during ER, that he name his production company, Smoke House Productions. So when I…
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ABQ Biopark
What a zoo!!! I wish we had had more time to explore the aquarium! The Goldielocks of zoos! At 64 acres, it wasn’t too small nor too big…it was just right! And once again, zookeepers who cared. When the elephant keeper noticed Hunter, he brought the elephant over to say hello…just so special!
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Endangered Wolf Center, Eureka, Missouri
I pulled up to the gate ten minutes early, and was quickly told that I was 24 hours and ten minutes early…yeah, I cried. Like full on cried because we were day two into out 18 day Route 66 adventure and I feared for what else I had screwed up, and Hunter really wanted to…
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Miller Park Zoo, Bloomington, Illinois
We stopped at this small zoo during out Route 66 journey, and it did not disappoint. The animals were clearly taken care of and well loved. With roaming zookeepers engaging in on-the-spot educational moments and a walk though wallaroo and wallaby walkabout that rivals the kangaroo exhibit Columbus Zoo in Ohio, I was wildly impressed…
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John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois
Hunter watches a show called Animal Atlas which featured The Shedd Aquarium and a very special sea turtle named Nickel who lives at the Shedd Aquarium, so the moment I announced that we would be going there, I was taught all about Nickel and his odd float. On a plaque on Nickel’s tank: “Why does…
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Johnny Morris Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri
Attached to the Bass Pro Shop Flagship store in Springfield, Missouri, this is by far the best aquarium I have been to yet! Whoever designed it should win an award and go on to redesign every parking lot that doesn’t make sense! Seriously, the traffic flow of the aquarium, the way the exhibits were laid…
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Route 66 – Day Seventeen – Los Angeles
So this is it… We got a pic of Hunter at the Hollywood sign, grabbed breakfast at a restaurant I read about in a novel, went to La Brea Tar Pits, and had dinner with the friend I made my last night in Cali this summer. Epic Trip!
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Route 66 – Day Sixteen – Disneyland and California Adventure
Stephanie and Hunter, you just completed the 2,400 miles of Route 66 plus several side trips, what will you do now? We’re going to Disney!!!!!! I mean…duh (in Billie Eilish vocals).
