The kid & I are now back from our Midwestern adventure. Thankfully my mom (the kid's granny) is doing better, after all, that was the purpose for the trip. One other good thing to take from the trip is the knowledge that my little Chihuahua will be a good boy on an airplane. That was by no means guaranteed, but now that I know, he is sure to become my road dog big time. In fact, he is airport bound again this weekend; but I digress...
My paternal grandpa was born in Dubuque Iowa, and most of his family is still there. I have done the drive up to Dubuque many many times and knew it well before I ended up living in Iowa myself during my teen years and almost through my entire 20s. I love Dubuque and consider the upper Mississippi River valley to be God's country. While I am always primed to make the trip to the DBQ, these circumstances were less than ideal. Mom and dad went to DBQ to gamble, and mom had a heart attack. Worse, it wasn't from hitting a big jackpot.
I suppose I could get into the how's and why's, but I am not sure I could explain it all, so I won't try. At the end of the day, 3 of the 4 kids were able to go up and meet my dad in the hospital in DBQ. We saw mom and chatted with her nurses and doctors by day, and for the nights we were there, we pretty much had time to get dinner and go to bed (time changes + red eye flights = tired.) I really wish I had had more time when I was there to just go out and enjoy Iowa, since everything in there is beautiful and green right now. It is still a little bit chilly in the way late spring can be, but a the summer humidity is in the air, and the land looks awesome. A trip to Eagle Point Park or Effigy Mounds woulda been extra excellent. We had to settle for a few quick jaunts into the country.
Thankfully, they eventually sent mom home, and so our caravan headed east back to Belvidere/Rockford from Dubuque on the super awesome US Highway 20. We stopped off in Galena - one of my favorite places on earth, and one of America's best kept secrets - and had some lunch and a walk for the doggie.
Right in the middle of town there was a little doggie haven with poop-scoops, which is mighty nice of the folks there in Galena all things considered. The fact that it is on a very steep angle is to be understood if it is gonna be in downtown Galena. It didn't bother the kid any.
Eventually we made it back to Northern Illinois. By then, my visit was almost over since I had to make it back to go to work on Monday. While the kid was good on our trip, he did eat a lot of people food and didn't get nice walks everyday. I decided to look up any dog parks in the Stateline region so I might be able to take the kid for a little bit of a run/play/walk. I was most pleasantly surprised by the awesomeness of Rockford's dog parks! What they lack in quantity they make up in quality.
Even though Boom Boom has a little bit of the racist in him (he sometimes barks at pigment), I decided to get Nephew Vance to come with us so we could bring Grandma's dog Kip and so that Vance could bring his dog Taylor out to have some quality dog park time.
Kip (black), Taylor (brown)
The two dog parks in Rockford are HUGE. The bigger one is almost 4 acres! They have paths through the woods, big open areas for playing fetch, some uncut weeds for hiding in, and lots of space to play chase with the other excited pooches. Even the smaller one had a full gazebo complete with a wood stove and supply of cut wood for the chilly wintertime. So so awesome! No wonder they charge (they make it tough to pay if you aren't from there since you can only pay at one of two rec sites and not the parks themselves...even so, they are still fresh.)
Eventually, we had to get to the airport and head back to Cali. I would have been remiss as a parent if I hadn't taken the kid for his first Gene's & Jude's Chicago-style hot dog before we got on the plane at OHare. He did as they all do and fell in love. Personally, I think he loves the natural casing.
I felt bad when, in East Dubuque, I couldn't really share the Mulgrew's chili dog with him (doggies can't eat cheese and onions, no matter that they think they can.) I couldn't force him to watch the weenies be eaten without him twice!
Not only did the kid have his first world-class wiener, my little nephew Ben had his first Gene's & Jude's dog-n-fries too. We pulled up in his papa's pickup and we had a little tailgater right there. Such good times! As it turns out, before mom got sick, I had planned for me & the chi to fly down to Oklahoma to visit nephew Ben and his ma & pa before that whole clan heads to Japan! Yes indeed - the Enid OK crew is moving to Japan! I am excited because I can't wait to visit the Land of the Rising Sun, and having them there will make it easy. I am a little bummed since I can't go there as often as I have been able to visit them when they lived in the states, but Tokyo offers much that Enid OK just can't. Since this is likely my last visit to Enid, I will try to take lots of photos, especially since the kid is coming with too. It is his first visit to Oklahoma too!
I just hope they don't eat him! I know they have recipes for him kicking around...
Posted by rudayday at June 10, 2009 01:20 PM