it was a lovely time
October 24, 2016,

It almost killed me getting ready, and we are still paying the price for it--but having Dr. Cousin for a visit was outstanding. We all had a blast together.

Spouse and I were off Wednesday thru Friday, so we were able to really throw ourselves into showing Cuz a good time.

On Wednesday, Spouse and I got up early to get the house and yard shipshape for company. We had already done most of what was necessary, so it was all just finishing touches. We were done in ample time to get cleaned up and head to the airport to pick her up. Her flight was on time, and we took her the scenic route down to Racine for pizza at Wells Brothers, then headed back to the house for a quiet evening visit, followed by cousin enjoying the luxury of a long bubble bath, and conking out beneath the electric blanket after a long day.

On Thursday, she slept in, but Spouse and I were up at our usual early time and by the time she rolled out of the sack, we had already gotten cleaned up and dressed so as to be out of the way, bathroomwise. After she was up and dressed, we headed over to Danny's for breakfast, and filled up on corned beef hash and eggs (the ladies) and buckwheat cakes (Spouse).

The plan for the day was a ramble around SE WI, so after breakfast we ran up to Spouse's former employer to visit with everybody. Since they had already adopted The Boy, they were all super-pleased to meet "The Mom". After having a good chat with everyone, and getting a tour of the place, they sent us off with a bag full of goodies--printer supples for her to take back to The Boy.

Then it was off to the boondocks of rural Racine county, to a little old orchard where Spouse's family always went when he was little. Cousin was eating it up--literally, as they kept feeding her different varieties of apple to try. Because it is an old orchard, they have a lot of old varieties of apple--and since they haven't been bred to a state of mediocrity. They are small, juicy, crisp, flavorful, and absolutely amazing. She had never had a Golden Delicious that was ANY of those things, so that one blew her mind. I picked up 5 pounds of baking grade GDs (She'd never seen anyone sell a grade of apples just for baking, either) and 3 pounds of the Moonglow pears--which are also brilliantly perfect, by the way--and a half-gallon of freshly pressed cider.

After we explored a little, and she sat on the old tractor, and we fed our apple cores to the goats, we headed off towards Burlington, to show her Echo Park Lake.

Which is always so lovely. It was not showing to perfect advantage, since the day was overcast, and the leaves hadn't peaked yet. But it is still one of the prettiest, most special places I know, and there were loads of ducks and cranes around the dam and the little island, showing off to the great delight of my critter-loving cousin.

We stopped for caramel apples on the way back from Burlington, and when we got back to K-Town, we went to the Festival for Oktoberfest brats and bakery buns, salads, and some ready-made pie crust. And when we got home, Spouse and Cuz went out back, drank hard cider and built a fire in the fire-pit...while I baked a quickie apple pie, just for Cuz. Good thing I never got around to making a berry pie before she got there--once we had orchard apples, she was dying for apple pie. Spouse even cooked the brats over charcoal for her, and damn they were good. She was feeling chilled, so I got out the electric throw and tucked her up in the recliner with it--THAT was love at first snuggle. I will probably get her one for Christmas, because she had a real hard time parting with it!

Those two watched the first half of the Bears-Packers game, before we all gave up trying to stifle our yawns and went to bed.

Friday was a really big day--we were all up early to take the train down to the loop. We boarded at Waukegan, so that gave us the opportunity to go to CJs in Beach Park for coconut donuts and coffee. The train ride was enjoyable as always; the rush hour was winding down, so it wasn't crowded at all. Cuz was in love with all the little doll-house towns en route, and when we got to the Ogilvie, she just about shit herself. First, she'd never been to a train station where the train pulled into a building, and then, when we got outside and CHICAGO hit her in the kisser, I thought she was going to lose it.

We walked the one block over to the water taxi dock, and got the tickets. It was only a few minutes for the next boat, and we were on our way down to the Mag Mile. The Mag Mile dock is right between the Trump building and the Wrigley building, so the arrival impressed the heck out of her. She was going tourist-crazy snapping pics of all the buildings, the flowers, the statues, the boats, and all of the other amazing and awesome things there are to love about that little area around Michigan Avenue and the DuSable Bridge. So naturally we had to get her into Ghirardelli and pour some salted caramel hot chocolate down her, LOL!

We made our way up Michigan Ave, rubber-necking up to The Water Tower, before making a stop at the Apple store, and going purse-shopping at Nordstrom. I found one on clearance that I loved, but it was marked $83.95, so I decided to skip it. Then Cuz declared SHE was in love with it, and decided she had to have it. Along with a darling ski hat, to keep her frigid little Arizona head warm. Well, if I had know that bag was going to ring up at only $50.00, I probably would have bought it, but oh, well. Let Cuz have the fun!

By the time we got back to the Wrigley building, we wanted ice cream--so we went back to Ghirardelli for another treat! I had my usual--one scoop of the chocolate ice cream. Spouse had a Coke float, and Cuz had a hot cocoa float, which was kind of strange but she swore it was absolute heaven.

We finished eating ice cream and buying chocolates just in time to catch the boat back to Madison Street, and it was an express, so we had no stops. We rode in the open bow that time, to get lots of great pictures.

After we got back to Madison street, we went on a hike--over to S. Dearborn and W. Adams. And lunch at The Berghoff! Spouse and I had the classic hot corned beef sandwich on house-made rye bread, with house-made potato chips. Cuz had an incredible pork chop that blew her mind yet again. Specifically, she had a "Grilled Molasses Crusted Pork Chop", wrapped in bacon, with a Fuji apple reduction. Served with roasted corn-smashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus and young carrots. (Damn, I love the Berghoff. That masterpiece I just described was a ridiculously reasonable $14.95!)

I had a Berghoff rootbeer, but the two drinkers had the beer flight. And after that amazing late lunch--we had to walk back to the train station! We went down Adams, going back, so she could see the Calder Flamingo at the Federal Building, and get a peek at the Board of Trade building at the end of LaSalle. The Station wasn't too crowded, and we grabbed some Garrett's Caramel Corn and I showed her the French market before we caught the 5:03 back to Waukegan. Since it is a limited, we made pretty good time home, and Spouse dropped the girls off at the house so we could take care of the dog, and ran to the store for stuff to make for breakfast on Saturday.

We were all still full from lunch, and totally exhausted, so we didn't do much once we were home but take aspirin (me and Spouse) and soak in a hot tub (Cuz), and hit the sack. I did a good job walking all over downtown, but at the end of the day, my trick hip was killing me, my knees were screaming, and my feet were so swollen I could hardly stand it.

Saturday was a hanging out day; sleep in, Spouse made his fabulous pancakes and sausage for breakfast, with fresh coffee and choice of juice (orange, apple, tomato, or grape), and Cuz did her packing. We took the 3-D printer swag and a CNC textbook Spouse was sending to The Boy over to the UPS store and shipped them out to AZ so Cuz didn't have to schlepp them across the country, stopped in next door at my hairdresser's so Cuz could use the potty and meet Nat, and got rolling towards Milwaukee. Spouse's pathological earliness strikes again--we were too early for Cuz to check in. Okay, that's the second time he's pulled that in the last few months; it's getting ridiculous! So Cuz and I did the only sensible thing. We spent a solid hour having a heart-to-heart in the check-in area while he sat out in the car!

But once it was time, I waited while she checked in and went with her up to security, and we said our tearful goodbyes, with a pinky-swear that I would still come out in February, even though Dad moved back to Illinois.