Thursday, April 9, 2009

How To Make Your Own Spring Break! Part One: The Road Trip

So although I'm no artsy craftsy creative person, I do know how to make some things. Like...okay, I make a mean plate of scrambled eggs. Or grilled cheese, I can make the shit out of grilled cheese. Mix CDs, my bed, "out," I'm really good at making all of these things. Did you get the joke there? Believe it, I said it. And it's all true.

You know what I made this week? A SPRING BREAK! Sometimes, especially when I have like six days off, it may cost like $400 to go anywhere. And sometimes that money isn't given to me for free or for no reason, which is pretty stupid. Because, to me, Spring Break means road trips, catching up with old friends, visiting a new place, trying new food, buying souvenirs...but when it cost a billion dollars just to get somewhere, what's a girl to do? I'll tell you: I take matters into my own hands and make my own Spring Break. Here's how the first part of it went:

For the road trip type of Spring Break, you'll need a full tank of gas. You see, this is how cars go places.


Inside your car, you'll need some good music ready to go - have you listened to Alabama 3? They did the theme song to The Sopranos. Amazing music right here! Perfect for driving, good for the heart and soul. This is deep shit.


Rations! One needs rations for the sexy spring break that's about to happen! Caffeine plus Revive Vitamin Water (great for hangovers, incidentally). Snacks are optional.


And a smile on your face. So exciting!!!


For my awesome road trip, I avoided highways and took Route 12 from Madison to Glenview - the scenic route. I used to take it from Beloit with Sam and we'd take our time and stop for milkshakes on the way. There's something about Wisconnie and Midwest scenery that is really beautiful to me. There's really nothing there, but it allows you to remember the beauty of emptiness, of openness, of land and sky and nothing more.


Though everything is brown right now, thinking about the green that will soon come is pretty amazing.


This is in Fox Lake, I think. There's a McDonald's literally right on this dock. You can park your boat and go get some McNuggets!



One of the great, and sometimes scary, adventures with road trips is the possibility of driving behind a truck like this. Is anybody else afraid of the truck stopping suddenly, too fast for you to stop, and driving up on the back of the truck, and the truck driver going "Finders Keepers!" and driving off with you on the back? It happened in The Simpsons once...


When you take the scenic route, you get to pass many local wonders and sights. Here is a very rare and seldom-seen  Long John Silvers. It was extremely difficult to refrain from stopping here.


Sometimes things have funny names. Although I didn't get pictures of most of them, here are some of them:

Hair It Is (a hair salon)
What's The Point (a diner)
Soup's On (restaurant)
Booze 'n Go (a church. No, it was really a liquor store)
American Cafe (I'm guessing another restaurant)
Say What? (screenprinting and embroidery business)
Dip Stick (oil change place)

I also passed Cheeseborough Rd. and Creamery Rd., one right after the other, and didn't get pictures of either.

I did, however, get a picture os this sexy tattoo store:


And one of the Panty Express!


And last but not least - dedicated to Sara, Ela, and Malissa. JAMAICAN ME TAN!!! In northern Illinois!


Finally, after my arrival in Glenview, I was treated to some of the local Chicago fare. Unfortunately, when Chicago Food is put on the table, there's really no time for pictures. You must eat immediately. There were, at some point, ribs, italian beef, cheese fries, fried zucchini, salad, coleslaw, and cokes on that table. You'll just have to imagine.
Oh wait, here's some ribs!
And cheese fries. Who doesn't love cheese fries? Even the lactose intolerant...


So far, I think Spring Break is a total success.

Coming soon! Part Two: Local Shopping and Souvenirs during which I travel to a little-known store called "Old Navy" and sample more local cuisine, including "chicken."

9 comments:

Luper said...

what's the point sounds great.

SophisticatedBrew said...

See, you make a party wherever you go. Good job. I wish I could go to the Booze 'n Go.

syb said...

i know i've been in nyc too long when a realization like "omg i get to see the sky at home!!!" is a huge deal.

so excited to share my break with you!!! my big conundrum for saturday - chicago pizza or chicago hot dog??? maybe we'll have to run around a park so i'll be hungry enough to have both! xoxoxoxo

RebeccaL-O said...

I am so jealous of your road trip! It sounds like fun, and very funny too. Those ribs look delicious, and I think it is hard to make a photo of meat posted on the computer look appealing.

Sara Ashes said...

nice work sissy!

RebeccaL-O said...

BTW, I am looking forward to hearing about the obscure local specialties "old navy" and "chicken!"

Unknown said...

For a long time, I belonged to the church of Booze n Go. I would go there on Sundays, and sit on a case of beer and listen to the cashier tell me about the wicked ways of the world. It became too much of a drive for me, and I had to transfer my faith to the Luscious Liquors in my neighborhood, but Booze n Go taught me a lot.

jx said...

i've never been to a long john silvers but secretly have wanted to for like, forever. i don't think i'd let myself, though. wellll... maybe. depends on the day.

this sounds like a lamecation to me. mike and i took a lamecation last november to his mom's house and told ourselves that it was a b&b and kicked mama ruth out for a week. nice. these are days. i'm not downplaying it, however. we loved our lamecation.

the one photo op we missed and still hate ourselves for today (from our lamecation, in fact) was of a man in a wheelchair snowblowing his driveway. only in waukau, wi. we drove back and forth 3 times trying to take a photo where he wasn't facing us (we didn't want to be total blatant assholes) and always got him head-on. just couldn't do it while making eye contact.

oops! sorry for blogging on your blog!

can't wait to hear more about old navy and chick-en.

oh, and "out!" ;)

Unknown said...

Jamaican me laugh out loud!!! LOVE IT!!! LOVE U and your hilarity!