Day 44 - Chicago

Murder mystery Mob stylee

Last night Stacey and Levi (and, by extension, I) were invited to a birthday party in the style of a murder mystery. All I really knew about it was that it was going to involve a lot of talking to mid-strangers which I am really not comfortable with. Complete strangers, fine. Friends, fine. Anywhere in between fills me with an impending sense of doom - a bit like a heart attack. This trip is all about facing my fears though so I decided to brave it like a big girl.

We arrived at the Irish Bistro (?) and had to say we were there for the funeral. After the condolences we were each given an envelope with our character - either a mobster or a fed. On your secret character instructions you were given some goals you had to achieve in order to gain points to win. I was given the role of Al Capone's accountant - I had to hand out poker chips but under no circumstances be caught or the Mob would lose the whole game. I read my intructions, I re-read my instructions. I panicked. I had no clue what the hell was going on. I looked up, saw everyone else had had a chance to read their instructions twice and looked just as confused as I did. Phew.

It ended up being really interesting and fun, I spoke to lots and lots of mid-strangers, I lied a LOT and, when I was kind of found out by Elliot Ness and offered an affidavit to sign, I managed to frame someone else as the accountant. In the end the Mob won which was good.

The funny thing about this game is that the time spent talking about it in the car on the way home and then the following day was almost more fun than the game itself, a real grower.

By the way, Stacey turned out to be Al Capone and Levi was one of the Untouchables which was very apt because they were the only two people really dressed for the parts!

Biscuits and gravy

I've written on here before about biscuits and gravy being a typical breakfast dish but not anything like you'd (I'd) imagine. Levi made us vegetarian biscuits and gravy this morning and they were really yummy. The best is that he came from the store and just sort of whipped them together in what felt like five minutes - he's a very cool haphazard kind of cook which results in some really homey tasty food.

Biscuits covered in country gravy and (fake) sausage

Starved Rock 

Today we drove to Starved Rock State Park (ok, I was driven - I slept the whole two hours there and back) It's a really prett leafy park by a big river. The area that was open now that it's deer hunting season had a couple of canyons that we walked in over and around.

In case you're wondering, it's autumn here.

Can you see how a beaver has eaten this tree?

If you ever see Lincoln it's good luck to rub his nose, so he always has a shiny one!

In one of the canyons we saw a group of Native Americans conducting a ceremony involving some smoke and lots of head touching. It was really interesting to watch though I was sad to hear that after we saw them they got kicked out because they had not requested permission in writing from the Park superintendent two weeks in advance. I also sensed a little resentment of these particular Native Americans on the part of the Park staff which surprised me and made me wonder whether I would have found that in a National Park.

The best bit in this park though, by far, was the fact that I saw two (count them - one, two) BALD EAGLES!! Given that I thought they were extinct that was pretty exciting.

Can you see the tiny black and white dots? Bald eagles!

This stranger (Doug from Ottawa, Illinois) let me use his binoculars to see them more clearly.

The frog

This is the frog in my room (fly) being fed a worm. I fed him a worm too. I am so frickin' brave.

The map

I have now driven over 6,500 miles (10,500km) and this is what it looks like so far:

I actually find it hard to believe that it's only such a narrow part of the country I've seen, it feels like I've seen so much more! I'm really loving it.