Illinois Railroad Museum and Volo Musem

Another weekend trip for me and Nick, this time to the Chicago area. We first stopped at a pizza joint called Bruno's Pizzeria in Elkhart, IN, that I had seen online, since it was along the way. It was a carry-out only, but I had some tools for us to eat outside on the picnic table following our one-hour wait, "for the cheese to melt." This is the first ever pizza I would describe as 'obnoxious'. It was good, probably weighed more than five pounds, and Nick finished nearly all of it over two days after shoehorning it into our hotel fridge 'college style'.

First day was the Illinois Railroad Museum, which has nine buildings packed full of old engines, cars and equipment. We lasted about three hours, and left with our usual t-shirt and some good photos.(I tired out earlier and sat watching some woman wrangle her kid outside the diner while Nick covered the last hour of engines.) Impressive setup, and as Nick says, 'love the smell of oil'.  We had lunch at what we expected to be a fancy steakhouse overlooking a golf course, but turned out to be another elderly cafeteria attached to a Del Webb community. Admittedly, food wasn't bad, and it put Nick into a three-hour nap which ended our day.

Second day we headed north of town to the Volo Museum, an eclectic combination of classic cars, historical exhibits like jukeboxes and RVs, tractors, and some family-focused stuff.  Again we toured about three hours and had seen most of it. The Titanic exhibit was small and borderline silly, unless you consider sticking your hand in cold water exciting. The vehicles were all for sale which was a unique twist, but all over-priced and more fun to see than shop (too many families bouncing strollers off the cars.)  I fell in love with a 1961 Buick Electra 225, Nick picked the 1969 Shelby GT500. See, enjoy, and then go home without buying, that's our thing.

Stopped at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, IN on the way home, one of our favorites, the Amish buffet. Even before I ate myself sick Nick had mumbled earlier that I could 'cosplay as a walrus', so it's clear I need to get serious about reduced caloric intake.  Overall my annual checkup was good this time around, although the AI transcribed the voicemail from my doctor as, "...come in for bloodwork before your disappointment", so even AI knows I'm out of shape.

In the background Nick is winding down his summer class at MCCC, with two weeks remaining, he's holding onto a 'B' (he'd have an 'A' if he could turn his assignments in on time). And Brandi made us an impressive shish-kabob spread for Father's Day, so we ended the weekend as it started... over-eating.  

Cedar Point 2026

Fayling brought the boys into town for a week, and we filled a weekend. Todd and Nicole's oldest son Aiden graduated from high school, along with his nephew Ben, so we celebrated the graduation on Saturday afternoon with BBQ, then headed to the bowling alley for video games and food. It's fascinating how the quick-witted exchanges and general potty humor never seems to fade, we can still keep up with each other quite well thirty years later (and catch up on all the inter-connected gossip from the people in our youth who have fled the country for drug trafficking!) 

Sunday we went to Cedar Point as a posse, with three of Todd's four: Ben, Nick, Avery, and then Seth and Thatcher, and of course our Nick. Todd's kids love the coasters, so I wandered off with them to see how the old rides have fared: Steel Vengeance (formerly Meanstreak) has been retooled and is much smoother, Gemini is still a favorite (I yelled alone, the new generation just sit and ride), the rest of the boys did come along on the Mine Ride, and we took the Sky Ride across the park. I don't know how these kids eat fried cheese all day and still function. What a great bunch of kids, all of them, for conversation (Nick and Aiden's idea of a good time is debating tolerances in soldering techniques, meanwhile I'm telling crude jokes with his dad) and just easy with which to spend a day.  Avery owes me a bracelet from her side business, in exchange for the five 'Obama bucks'. It was a little like herding cats, but we got everyone there and back, finally to Bubba's late for a snack before bedtime.

In between we managed to take the Corvette out as Seth is gaining interest in 'old cars' and it now qualifies as old. He shot a few photos of the cars, and Thatcher took photos of almost everything we saw all weekend. But ask him what draws him, why he shoots the images he does, and there's intent behind every shot. 

East Broad Top Railroad

Nick and I took a weekend trip to PA, turned around in barely over 24 hours. We drove out to see the East Broad Top Railroad in Rockhill Furnace PA, which is a small rail museum in the center of the state. He was able to ride along in the engine, and I was in an open car in the back, following a technical tour of the shop where they repair and fabricate parts for many of the US railroad museums and operations. It was a good tour, and Nick did some networking. in the photos of Nick aboard the engine, the fact it was named Nick is a coincidence. The second photo here is inside the shop where Nick is looking on to one of the six steam engines being refurbished. (Don't comment on his pants!)

We ate a small local place in the middle of nowhere, the Path Family Restaurant in Shade Gap, PA, where the waitress was likely on the last job of her career (and still younger than the patrons).  The old-people food was good, but needed salt just to have any taste.  We then hustled back home after one overnight stay.