Missing the wide open spaces

On Saturday Logan and I drove southeast across the border to Valparaiso, Indiana to visit Logan's cousin Michelle, her husband Matt and darling son James. They recently moved there so Matt could attend law school at Valparaiso University. As we hit the Indiana border just outside of the Chicago area, we noticed all the wide open space along the highway. We also noticed the changing colors of the trees and laid-back feel of the towns. The roads were wide, the traffic was bearable, and you could actually drive more than 40 mph. The area made us both miss our homes in Texas and Utah, and we longed to be living somewhere away from the overcrowded hustle and bustle of Evanston and Chicago.

We also passed a long stretch of restaurants, shopping centers, and stores including a Red Robin restaurant (my favorite) and Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy (the one place we have to eat every time we're in Texas). The only Red Robin we had seen so far in the Chicago area was in Naperville and an hour away from us. We were surprised to see Abuelo's too, because we thought it was only in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We wanted to move to Indiana just so we could go to both restaurants.

Michelle and Matt were generous enough to share pizza and a homemade cake with us. James provided us with entertainment the whole time as he was playing with their cell phones and trying to poke and pat Leah. He also tried to unlock the bookshelf with Michelle's keys. We walked the two blocks to the school and then up the street to see the huge Lutheran church affliated with the school. The sun was setting by the time we reached the church, and the temperature was dropping as we realized it was six o'clock and we should probably head back to their home. We had so much fun chatting with them that we forgot to check the time. We headed back to our humble abode just in time for Logan to watch the end of the Auburn-Florida game.

Logan's note: We'll be driving there again soon to eat at Abuelo's.