Road Trip to Grandma's Farm

This is still a working farm. My uncle was getting some of the stored grains to sell.

Over the plains and through the fields to Grandmother's house we go.  I had to change the lyrics because while there are a few rolling hills and some scattered woods, those are not the predominant features between Colorado and Illinois. We just got back home yesterday from making the 1,000 mile trek each way to rural Illinois to see my grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was pretty heavenly to sleep in my own bed last night!

My grandma as a young woman.

My grandma now.

When we visit we stay at my aunt and uncle's house, which was my great-grandparent's house. I even get to sleep in the room that belonged my grandma when she was young. It's less than 1/2 mile from my grandma's house so most days I walked back and forth a few times. My grandma is a pretty amazing lady. She's 90 (she'll be 91 in November) and still lives on her farm. She also refused to let me help with the dishes, and she doesn't have a dishwasher, just an old farmhouse drainboard sink that was most likely installed in the late forties.

This isn't her actual sink, but this image shows pretty much the same setup that she has, minus the dishwasher they have in this photo.

I offered to pick black raspberries for her one morning in truly enlightened self-interest, and she made me 5 jars of her homemade black raspberry jelly one night, after cooking chicken pot pie, corn, potatoes, and apple crisp for lunch (and hand-washing all the dishes herself). She did let me mash the potatoes for her, but I think it's only because she knows I enjoy doing that. She told my aunt she was going to be lonely when we left, but she might also get a little more rest.

Sunset on the plains.

Stormy sky late one evening.

The old chicken house in my grandma's yard.

The one thing that's always a little hard for me is missing my grandpa. He was such a kind, gentle, patient person. While I always miss him, being out at the farm and not seeing him there always makes it more poignant and raw. But I'm still glad we went and spent some time with all of my family.

My kiddos in the tree at my Grandma's house.

A pretty barn down the road from my grandma's farm.

My grandma's "little" garden. She still takes care of this one herself.

On the way out we did a little sight-seeing. We spent the first night on the road in Omaha and they have a very cute downtown area. We ate a local brew pub and had some amazing ice cream at a little shop that makes small batches, so was erasing flavors that they ran out of as we were standing in line (a very long line, always a good sign). There was also a nice river walk in the city, so I was pleasantly surprised with our evening there.

The next night we drove into a Chicago suburb and took the train into Chicago the next morning to spend the day. We shopped, ate lunch at Giordano's, and were planning on eating dinner at Frontera. But it got really rainy in the afternoon, and my husband is slowly recovering from plantar fasciitis and I was dealing with recent shin splints. So after walking 10 miles and narrowly avoiding an impressive rain storm because we went into the atrium area at Navy Pier right before it became a downpour, we decided to cancel our reservations at Frontera. My husband made those in April and we still couldn't get in until 8:30 at night. We took the train back early and ate at a little suburban restaurant. I'm sure it wasn't as tasty, but we were better rested.

On the way home we just made time, although we did have dinner at Al's Chickenette in Hays, Kansas where we ate last summer when we visited my brother-in-law in Oklahoma. That may be some of the best mid-western fried chicken I've ever tasted. Obviously instead of having about 4 pounds to lose to hit my ultimate goal like I did before we left, I now have about 8 pounds to lose!