Go Boilermakers! My first trip to the Midwest. Since most of my family lives in Southern California, Seattle, Alexandria, or New York, I really have never had a reason to venture to the middle of our fair country. This fact was utterly astonishing to my boyfriend, who hails from the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan. Well, the time came when I got to scope out the flat land that lies between the two coasts. Bobby and I flew to the freezing flatlands of Chicago, Illinois, and then drove 2+ hours south to West Lafaye
tte, Indiana.
What's in West Lafayette, you might say? Good question! Purdue University, Bobby's alma mater, home of the black and gold Boilermakers. We flew back for the big rivalry game (comparable to our Apple Cup, but pump up the animosity and the intensity say...hmm...about 100%). It appears Indiana University and Purdue hate each other more than the Huskies and the Cougs, who would've thought? We were lucky to get a hotel right on campus, literally a stumbling distance from all the college bars, restaurants, and popular hangouts. Bobby gave me a driving and walking tour of campus, I got to see the gigantic houses on Greek Row with enormous yards and plenty of parking space (definitely something we were lacking at UW). On Saturday we tailgated in the freezing cold temps with his college buddies, and watched the Purdue reign victorious with a win of 62-10. We celebrated with friends out at the historic hangouts, "Harry's Chocolate Shop," and "Jakes," until the wee hours.
On Sunday, it was time for us to head back into Chicago for our evening flight home. We arrived in Chicago mid-afternoon, just in time to see some sights, including Oprah's home, Lake Michigan (which looks like an ocean, it stretches on forever), the Sears Tower, the Chicago River, and of course, the one sight I
really wanted to see, The Bean. Also known as "Cloud's Gate,"
by Anish Kapoor a famous installation art piece in Millenium Park. As an art history major it was definitely on my list of "must see's." Bobby of course was like..."the bean? Why do you want to see a bean?" Well, it was pretty fantastic, and worth the crazy drive in search of it. We got some great photos of our reflections in and around the sculpture. We closed off our day at Chicago with some deep dish pizza and then headed home.
November is my month of traveling apparently...I flew down Wednesday night after school to LA to spend Thanksgiving with the California cousins. I stayed with Katie at her new swanky house in Hancock Park, and we headed over to Jenny & Marc's house early afternoon on Thursday to help with Thanksgiving dinner. Jenny had quite the guest list - 30+ people, family, friends, neighbors, kids and Katie and her came up with a seating arrangement that managed to fit everyone...phew! Everyone contributed to the feast, I attempted to make a baked brie appetizer but since Katie never uses her oven and 
doesn't really know how to work it, we ended up overcooking our one contribution, and up bringing wine instead. Michael brought his special sweet potato pie, and there were even turkey shaped jello shots, green for the adults (with alcohol) and red for the kids (without). Katie and Jenny made a job jar, so when 
everyone arrived they had to pick a job from the jar, some included grace, water duty, wine duty, dishes, etc. Katie and I were elected dish duty girls to help Jenny in the kitchen. The feast ended up being delicious, 2 types of turkey, like 6 different types of potatoes (from mashed to scalloped), 3 types of stuffing, cranberries, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, fennel gratin, a wide selection of fresh baked bread from their chef-neighbor, apple-cranberry pie, the list goes on. All in all, a fantastic Thanksgiving at the Bolger-Rey's!
