More than corn in Indiana.

Since my last post I have been in Michigan, Northern Indiana and now Southern Indiana. I spent two days in Grand Haven Michigan with Macky. It was fabulous. We had a great time just catching up, going shopping at Sam's Club (I love that they have a wine aisle in theirs) and I got my first Steak 'N Shake on this trip. Nan came over and joined us for dinner but since school had started she was limited on time. It was great to see her whenever she could join us though. Both nights with Macky we went on a walk. The second night we found access to the lake, but we couldn't take the dog down with us. I left Macky at the top and ran down to take some photos. It was a beautiful night.

Lake Michigan

After I left Michigan I dropped my first rental car back in Chicago. Since I had some time until the train to South Bend I went to sit by Lake Michigan and the Aquarium. It was hot but beautiful. I found a shaded bench that I shared with a grandmother and her adorable little granddaughter. Eventually I found myself in South Bend where I got to spend time with Katie B and even got a chance to have dinner with her Aunt Sue. I was in Sue's wedding when I was three so she always refers to me as her "little flower girl". It was fun to catch up with her. I enjoyed spending the evening seeing Katie's new house and just hanging out with her.

The next morning I went to work with her on the Notre Dame campus. Katie had a meeting so I spent some time on her computer trying to buy tickets to Nordic World Championships in Oslo. Then I wandered across campus to the bookstore. I don't think I've spent that much time on the campus before. Usually I just spent time at their soccer field or basketball arena. It is a pretty campus. I eventually found the bookstore and went in to pick up all the items on the list mom had given me. Trinity will have her first Notre Dame shirt soon. When Katie was done with her meeting we went to brunch and then hung out until I needed to pick up my rental car and head for the next stop on my trip. I'm so glad I had the time to spend with my "little sis". Hopefully I can get her out to see me in the west soon.

The next stop on the schedule was Elkhart, IN. My friend Zib and her whole family live there. Since she was at work I started at her parent's house. Eventually the whole family was there and we had a great dinner together. Zib's nephew Caleb is a doll. He is about to turn three and start preschool. So he stayed at the house with all of us while his parents went to parent's night at his school. He was a bit bored with us grown ups since we started comparing some of our favorite authors. Caleb did teach me a new word, instead of ridiculous he says redodo. I think I like that one much better. After a nice evening at the Fackelman's I followed Zib to the house she bought. It is adorable. And I'm completely jealous of the built in bookcases. I hope I can have some of those one day. It wouldn't be a trip to Zib's if I didn't end up borrowing some books. The Elkhart stop was not a long one, only one night. In the morning we went to grab some breakfast before she had to be at work and I had to head to Bloomington. Next time I'll have to figure out how to have more time in Northern Indiana.

Just to make things fun I had to stop in Indy and switch rental cars. That way I could get a round trip rental and drop off the one way. The most fun I've had with a rental was when I ended up with a pale yellow PT Cruise in Baltimore a few years ago. But the rental from South Bend to Indy was a Nissan Cube. Goofy looking car but pretty nice on the inside.

And now I am in Bloomington. The whole trip to the Midwest has been planned around the Towson v. Indiana football game. Unfortunately for me, everything else was tonight too. I'm staying with the Varns who are our neighbors from when we lived in Bloomington. They have two sons in high school who play soccer. The big rival match was tonight, and the varsity game started at the same time as the football game. I did luck out, I was able to go to the first half of the JV game so I did get to see Andrew play some. I should be able to see Daniel play a game later this weekend. And I'd like to point out, North swept South in soccer this week. The girls won and both of the men's team won. Congrats to North! Before I left the soccer game I was able to talk to my first high school coach. Sadly, he was the men's coach so I only got to play for him one year before they started a girls team and made me go play for that one. (Still annoyed by that.) He had some updates on some of my former teammates so it was fun to hear how everyone was doing.

From there I headed over to the football game fully decked out in my new Towson t-shirt and my TU hat. I grew up in Bloomington, but I left town to attend college at Towson. I don't think anyone out East is real sure how I found them. And no one in Indiana who isn't friends with me seems to know where the school is located. I had at least a half dozen people ask me where Towson was. I had gotten two tickets with some help from a very nice person I met at the Vancouver Olympics who works for IU. My friend Ronnie agreed to go to the game with me but he was running a little late coming down from Indy. So I picked up our tickets and went in search of some friends who were tailgating. I lost Heidi but I was able to find Melanie. And I can't thank Melanie enough because they were nice enough to feed me! When her group headed in to the game I walked around to our gate so I could meet Ronnie. On my way these two guys told me that this was not the stadium and it was two miles "that way." I told them that might have worked if I hadn't grown up 2 miles that way. They were disappointed not to have sent me in the wrong direction. While I was waiting for Ronnie I ran into Heidi's older sister Gretchen. (Still haven't found Heidi, but I am hopeful we will meet up this weekend.) Ronnie eventually made it just as the game kicked off. We headed for our seats only to discover that they were in the 5th row on the 50 yard line. Not bad! I know I got on the big screen once, but not sure if that made TV or not. The first quarter was painful. But the second quarter gave me hope that maybe Towson could make it a close game. Sadly, it was not meant to be. At halftime Ronnie and I wandered over to the other side of the stadium to see dad. We ended up watching the second half with him. The hardest part for me was not standing up during the IU fight song. I might not have gone to IU but I grew up on that song and I'm a huge IU soccer fan so I usually do stand up when they play it. I also caught myself a couple times almost cheering for IU. But the first time Towson scored a touchdown I jumped up and yelled. Did I mention that those tickets that I had gotten were from the foundation and appeared to be in the middle of the Indiana alumni? I was the only one celebrating for Towson. Pretty comical. Despite the losing score for Towson I had a fun time.

Tomorrow night I can go cheer for IU at their soccer game. First IU game I've attended since 2007. Can't wait to see how they look under the new coach with an old name.