Before leaving Chicago we decided to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio which was just a few blocks from our hotel. On the way there we also stumbled upon Ernest Hemingway's birthplace and museum.
Frank Lloyd Wright's home/studio
Ernest Hemingway museum & birthplace home:
We were excited to get on the road again so breakfast became an afterthought, briefly. Enter "The Juice Joint"! Marti (sp?) the owner of this fabulous organic juice/smoothie cafe shared with us her semi-recent Pittsburgh adventures as she works for Marion Cotillard "the bad girl in the new Batman movie". Marti was in Pittsburgh during the filming of Batman Dark Knight Rises and had nothing but great things to say about her time in Pittsburgh and said the yinzers were friendly. Good job, Pittsburgh. :)
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| Marti so graciously posing for our picture. Thanks again! |
We practically inhaled these incredible juices ... I ordered "Lady In Red" (Sweet potato, beet red pepper, carrot, orange, fuji apple) and Matt ordered "Wake Me Up Before You Go" (carrot, apple, ginger). We split an orange/cranberry scone and promised to write a great review for the Juice Joint on yelp (pending these lengthy blog updates). Encouraging all Chicago'ins to visit this place and help support local businesses!
<<back on the road>>
On our way to Minneapolis we took a slight detour to Madison, Wisconsin to have lunch at Graze. This would probably be a good time to explain we loosely based our dining experiences for this trip on Food Networks "Tv food maps" mostly "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" (Triple D). Yes, many of the restaurants featured on this show are places I would sprint away from. BUT ... if you look closely that crazy Guy Fieri typically finds unique places mixing up local ingredients that you could feel comfortable calling FOOD and most importantly ... they ARE NOT chain restaurants! Between Yelp and Tv Food Maps we can't go wrong, I am a food snob and proud of it!
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| My buddy took a swan dive on the tiled floor of our hotel in Chicago .. lost part of his tail but all and all took the fall like a champ! |
Anyways ... at Graze it turns out we ordered the first two items pictured on their website's lunch menu. We watched the chef prepare the Beet & Walnut burger on a Food Network show, "$24 a day" (I believe) before leaving for the trip and wow ... this "burger" was out of this world. Matt ordered the Korean Rice Bowl and we shared an ordered of House Pickles as well. Pickled watermelon rind is surprisingly delish! (Mom, I could hear you saying, "ohhh.. pickled foods are good for you on a road trip.")
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| Madison's Capitol building. Pretty impressive. |
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| Is a hamburger container in store for Newt's future? Hmmm .... |
<<back on the road>>
I was so excited about our next stop - the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis. I saw the spoon and cherry sculpture on tripadvisor when researching Minneapolis and was hopeful to get a picture of it. Success! It really is the little things. Several other great sculptures I will have to share if I can ever work this goofy slideshow. For now, here's the spoon and what I call "the ghost" picture.
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| Double-sided Mirror |
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We made it safely to Doug's around 7:30pm and had a nice tour of his guns, home and more guns (yawn) before heading down the road to a little "Italian" restaurant featuring Mexican Wednesdays, huh. I think Doug may have brought a small arsenal of artillery with him to dinner .. I can't be sure. Although, I did find it odd that our waitress was so insistent on us not having to pay for our meals. I thought it was just because we were "out-of-towners". On second thought ....
Back to Doug's to continue "guy talk" between Matt and Doug while I attempt to update this blog before giving up and going to bed. Doug was a gracious host and we were happy to visit finally! Great stay and all we had to do was provide him a case of Yuengling. "Longest beer run ever" as Matt says.
Tomorrow - South Dakota to see the Badlands before making it to Rapid City to our hotel.
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