Although we’ve kept in touch, Ted and I have not visited our Wisconsin friends and families since 2018.  It was time to head north. On (to) Wisconsin!

Our grandchildren are growing up and moving away from home, so Sky no longer lives only a few minutes from our house. Our first road trip stop was in Rockford, IL where Sky relocated for his job with Quik Trip.  The apartment where he and Adelle live is charming, in an older house with lots of windows. 

Sky might have enough Lego to build a Legoland of his own.  For his recent birthday, he bought himself the Lego Star Wars Venator—one of the biggest Star Wars kits to date.  It’s nearly as large as the dining room table.  On the shelf behind the table, you can see the bouquets of Lego flowers Sky has built.

Luckily, the apartment has an extra bedroom that Sky can use to store all of his Lego.   The walls are filled with shelves of boxed Lego pieces, all sorted by type and color.  Here are some of the Lego people Sky has—all sorted, of course.  He said he has three more shelves to add to this wall for additional Lego.

The living room, like that in many older houses, has multi-paned windows and crown molding.

When we sat down to visit with each other for a little while, the oversized teddy bear seemed interested in our conversation.

Because the weather was so nice, we decided to take a walk along the Rock River before going out to dinner.  We saw this colorful sculpture.

These benches accommodate adults (left) and children (right).

A little later, we walked past this pretty gazebo.

Before long, the sun was setting over the Rock River.  It was time to have dinner and then to take a guided, personalized tour of the new Rockford Quik Trip where Sky works in a beginning management position, and which he helped set up for its grand opening.

After our visit with Sky, Ted and I stopped for gas.  While Ted was paying for it, a Black man at the gas station asked if that was Ted’s car.  Ted told him it’s my car, to which the man replied, “If that’s your wife’s car, she’s a hot mama!”  Maybe I should change my car’s name from Gigi to Hot Mama. With a full gas tank, we drove to our hotel in Madison, WI.

The following morning, I met with two of the six members of the Orchard Street Gang–the women I shared a house with during my senior year of college. Four of us had known each other from our freshman year dorm days; the other two were wonderful additions to our group. Eileen lives in Marquette, MI, but was in Madison for a college football weekend and to visit her son; Leila has lived in Madison since we graduated from college. It was a great opportunity to see both women, so Ted and I planned a stop in Madison.  Leila was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 15 years ago and is in an assisted living unit, making it the easiest place for all of us to meet, eat, and visit.  Eileen (left) and I are standing; Leila is in the wheelchair.

Eileen brought breakfast food, and we had a wonderful three-hour visit.  There was so much to catch up on—our families, our current activities, and even some long-ago college memories that we shared.  All these years later, we are still BFFs.