Singer/Walker family reunion

 George and I left the house at 5 am on Tuesday to go pick up Nathan.  We were flying to Chicago for a Singer/Walker family reunion.  It will be in Lakeside, Michigan.  Both Robbie and Martin live in the Chicago area.  Lakeside is not too far away.

Apparently they could not find a home for the cuckoo clock so they cut it apart.  I am not sure where all of the parts went.Portland's Cuckoo Clock Taken Apart

Going through security was interesting.  I had the the short TsaPreCk line.  George and Nathan did not. So I zipped along on my short line.  I put my bags into the security checker.  There was one guy in front of me.  "Um, sir, you have a loaded handgun in your bag!"  "Oh darn I forgot abot that."  ARGH!!..... I was stuck waiting.  Finally they removed my bag and took it to a new line.  As usual they did not like my wine bottle opener which is guaranteed ok for flights.  But because they were short staffed dealing with the gun guy, they did not have anyone to look at my wine bottle opener.  Finally someone came by.  Yup it is ok.  So I was on my way.  George and Nathan both were waiting for me. 

We are on our way.

The flight was uneventful.  George could not eat his peanut butter sandwich.  They announced that there was someone one the plane with a peanut allergy.  He ate it while we were waiting for Jeanne to come pick us up.  Jeanne has joined a lot of the Singer/Walker family reunions.  She is a part of the family.

Since we could not check into the hotel until 3 pm she drove us straight to Morton's arboretum.  We wandered around that .  It was huge. 

Some art work both made and natural.

The kids area

The hedge maze

My Monet. ;-)

Because of the Canadian wildfires the air was very smoky.  

The smoky skyline

We got to our hotel and checked in and then went over to Robbie and Ice's place.

Robbie & Ice's place

We had gotten a text from my niece, Linda.  She was in town for the day and she suggested meeting for drinks later.  So we were working on a plan.  Linda was in the downtown area.  We came up with several ideas.  Then Linda told us that here afternoon river boat tour was canceled due to the air quality so she was free.  New plan.  Ice was still at work.  Robbie did not want to go into town.  We were going to take the Metra in but we found out that it did not stop at the close station at that time.  Jeanne did not want to drive to downtown and parking is expensive.  So we took a Lyft to Linda's hotel.  She suggested La Josie, Mexican.  As we walked there we went by Avec (was this the one we had gone  to, Sharon? 615 Randolf?) .  We got our name on the list.  They said that it would be about 45 minutes.  Argh.  We were hungry so we went next door to Rooh, Indian.  No line!!  It had a Michelin star.  

Nathan, Linda and Jeanne

cauliflower

sweet potato chaat and butter chicken

paneer makani 

Every dish was super delicious.  When we were done eating we got the notification that our table was ready next door (1 hour and 15 min) .  I am glad that we had not waited.

Nathan and Linda

Linda will be moving to Chicago in 2 weeks.  The tall building in the middle is her office building.

We took a Lyft back to Robbie and Ice's place.  We played 10, 9, 8.   

Robbie made Jeanne a margarita.  We had wine.

Ice finally made it home.  She had stopped to get take out from a close Indian restaurant. She had some lobster dish.  I guess it was a fusion restaurant.  I don't think that I have heard of lobster in India.

We were all pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel once we finished the game.

Morristown to Portland

 Our flight out was not until noon so we did not have to rush.  We got packed up and had a leisurely breakfast.  Sue took Hoss for a walk before shutting him up in his crate.  Kem came to pick us up at 9 am.  It is about 1 1/2 hour drive to the airport.  The traffic was not bad.  We got to the airport in plenty of time to go through security and to get to our gate.  Our flight was delayed leaving by 1/2 hour.  This made us a little nervous because Debbie did not have much turn around time before her flight to Seattle.  I had 3 hours in Atlanta.  

A ton of star azaleas in the central area of the Knoxville airport. We were late, so I guess the Spirit Hunter was wrong.

Not a very exciting airport.

A lot of rolling hills, rivers, and lakes.  It is a very short flight, so there was no food service. 

Line of Delta planes

Atlanta

Taking the "train plane" to Debbie's concourse.  We came in on D7 and she needed to get to A30, 17 minutes according to my Delta App.  We had 20 minutes.  

I followed her to her gate since I had plenty of time.  

After I said good-bye to Debbie I headed off to my gate.  I could walk to my gate instead of taking the train.

Cool hallway

Once over on my concourse, I looked for a lunch place.  I ended out at Savi's.

The tomato basil soup was delicious and the wrap was ok.  I took 1/2 with me for later. 

I arrived in Portland right on time.  Maybe that was what the Spirit Hunter was referring to.

Cute escape room

I was at the back of the plane so it took me a while to get out and head to baggage claim.  I think that my bag was one of the last ones unloaded. George and Nathan had to circle a few times.  It was nice to have them meet me.  I was home by 8:15 pm.  

Monday

 

Hoss really can't make up his mind where he wants to sit. He kept going back and forth between Sue and Debbie.

2 of Kem's studs were visible today when we went on our morning walk.  I found out that I have been misspelling Kem's name all of this time) 

The lawnmower guy came by.  He drove the mower like a NASCAR driver. After lunch and walk with Hoss we went to the Panther Creek State Park.

Panther Creek State Park

Great view of Cherokee Lake

View point

me, Debbie & Sue

Tulip Poplar tree on Sue's property.

Sue and Debbie continue have problems with the ticks.  I have been lucky.

Kem came over for hamburgers tonight.  Sue got hamburgers from Rachel (sister) at Christmas.  Thank you, Rachel.  

I guess we have not been doing much walking other than the several daily dog walks.

Kem came over for a brief visit after she fed her horses.  She brought some spirit hunters (made out of copper which is sensitive to vibrations).  You ask them yes or no questions while you hold the sticks in front of you.  They spin and then they stop in the yes position or no position.  We each tried it.   I asked if our flight would be delayed tomorrow and the sticks said no.  So we shall see. 

Kem is teaching Sue how to hold the spirit hunters.

Kem and Sue.  Kem asked if she had made any new friends lately and the hunters spun to point at Debbie and me. 

Debbie asked several questions that got a maybe response.  ;-)