Putting NY Far Behind Me

Although we are still seeing a lot of snow on the ground, the scenery is changing and it is nice to be away from New York, finally! We've driven over a thousand miles but have taken our time and had a lot of fun already.

We left Gettysburg early on Sunday morning and headed through the rest of Pennsylvania, taking a route through Cleveland, Ohio and along Lake Erie:

We stopped at a random family restaurant in a small town called Lorain. The advertised special was Lake Erie Perch Dinner, so I figured I should give it a go! It was actually delicious - hand breaded, too! Then we had hours and hours to go through Ohio and Indiana to get to Chicago, Illinois.

My mom and I met up with some friends for dinner at The Grand Lux Cafe - it was soo good! Great company as well. After a good night's sleep, we started our morning off with a walk to the beach (what these people call the beach!) on Lake Michigan. Lakeshore Drive parallels the shore here and it was full of traffic. It was a super foggy day so we couldn't see much of the lake.

We stopped for breakfast at The Corner Bakery and hit the streets looking for fun shops on our way to Sears Tower. Unfortunately, it was too foggy. The elevator attendant advised us that we would be unable to see anything, so we passed up the $15 trip to the top and kept walking. Too bad - they've got a new glass "ledge" you can step out on and look down to see the street beneath your feet. Freaky!

Next up was what everyone refers to as "The Bean", a piece of local art. It is SO COOL! I was glad that there weren't too many people around checking it out as well so we could get some good pictures.

Along the way we stopped into some chocolate shops (of course!!!). One of my chefs had recommended that I check out Vosges Chocolates since their headquarters are located in Chicago. We didn't get to the headquarters, but we were able to see another location. We picked up one of their famous bacon bars and a box of other assorted chocolates.

I'd never heard of Fannie Mae chocolates and my mom informed me that it is the equivalent of See's Candies, so we went in and had a look, and exited with some more chocolate! I was like a happy kid in a candy store, literally! It was mostly cool to see the chocolates and know that I knew how to make them. Fannie Mae is known for Mint Meltaways and Pixies so we made sure to get a few of those.

Our last stop was Sarah's Candies, which I just had to see based on a recommendation from my future mother-in-law. It was cute and I checked out her portfolio of cakes. Quality stuff! I think she's only 30 years old too and has a thriving business.

The afternoon was full with a little bit of White Castle (not as good as In-N-Out!), a short tour of the neighborhood where my mom grew up, and more driving to our next destination!