Goodbye, Harvey House B&B and Oak Park, IL

We hated saying goodbye to Oak Park, and especially to the Harvey House B&B. Beth, her daughter, and the staff made our stay there fabulous! I hope to go back someday and also explore more of the city. Above are pics of the B&B and of our room. Isn't it gorgeous? Did I mention that we were very sad to leave?

Beth's blog is coming along really well, and I look forward to reading it. She really has a lot of knowledge and meets very interesting people. Take a look: Beth's Blog.

We're in PA right now...the drive over Indiana and Ohio was pretty rough (lots of rain, lots of crazy drivers...). I won't even go into the tolls....but psssst...hey Toll CEOs in IN and OH: did you know there's FEDERAL $$ to be had to improve your roads? I mean, we don't charge to drive on roads in WA (except that bridge over in Tacoma, but that's practically a tourist attraction)...

If I have to pay to travel on a road, I'd like some considerations:

- Free WiFi hotspots all along the road
- No speed limit
- None of this "No parking along shoulder except in emergency" - if I want to park there, I should be able to
- There should be a dance troupe all along the shoulders to entertain me while I park there
- and lastly...free slurpees every day in the "Rest Plazas"

Which brings us to today....in Oak Park, IL

Chloe and I stayed in Sioux Falls, SD, last night, in a Days Inn. This morning, we left around 7:40 am, and arrived in Oak Park around 6:30 pm, mostly due to getting stuck in rush hour traffic, and having it lightning and rain like crazy.

We're staying in the Harvey House Bed & Breakfast, which is gorgeous. The owner has a daughter that's a year younger than Chloe, so that's really cool, and she's really sweet. The whole place is beautifully decorated, and we have the run of the downstairs, and kitchen too.

Chloe and I checked in, we all got the luggage up to the room, and we went to dinner at Winberies. It was a short, 6 block walk, since I really didn't want to drive there. Dinner was great - I had flank steak, and Chloe had chicken dinosaurs off the kid's menu. ("How are your dinosaurs, Chloe?" "Taste like chicken.")

We walked back after dinner, even though it had started to rain again, but it was mild, Seattle-type rain. And I got to see fireflies! I've never seen them, and was pretty happy. Here they were, it was dark, rainy, we were in a historic part of town, and little blinkie flies followed us home.