US trip: Chicago to Hershey

My writing about this trip seems to be dragging on... partly due to having a busy routine with work and the kids, and partly due to my sheer slackness (ok, ok... mainly due to my slackness!). I will push on but try and finish up this series fairly quickly :)

So last time I wrote, we had made it to Rockford and had caught up with my family for dinner. Before leaving Rockford the next day, we stopped in to tour my uncle's jewellery store, where another of my uncles also works. It was great to catch up with family who I hadn't seen since I was a little girl!

With my uncle, Luis, in his shop Zavius Jewelers

 From Rockford to Chicago the traffic quickly started to build up, and we couldn't believe the speeds people were doing. Driving at the speed limit was apparently dangerous as it meant holding people up and being a nuisance! We went from being in shock and concerned we had missed something to laughter. And before we knew it, we were coming to a halt as traffic slowed to a stand-still... we had made it to the CBD and rapidly became aware of the chaos that is Chicago traffic and how much they loved using car horns. Once we found parking and checked into our accommodation, we opted for a hop on/hop off bus tour to see the city, although as it had started to rain we took the best photos we could from inside the bus! (The next morning however we did manage to get a good view of the city from the 360 degree Chicago Observation Deck, where we also did the 'TILT!' experience—so good!)

View from 360 degree Chicago Observation Deck

In the evening we sought out an Italian restaurant and tried a famous Chicago deep-dish pizza. This ended up being one of the best meals we had on our trip to the US... the wine was excellent, the company was the best (ok, I'm somewhat biased!), and the pizza was amazing.

Deep dish pizza for dinner in Chicago

From Chicago we were en-route to Hershey, Pennsylvania, via Columbus, Ohio (and meaning we also completely crossed the state of Indiana). We stayed overnight in Dublin, on the outskirts of Columbus, to break the journey. These couple of days were pretty much just getting to our next destination, however we did stop at some small towns such as Bedford, PA, where I found a beautiful little quilt shop I just had to stop at... and of course I couldn't leave without some fat-quarters and a new book (which ironically turned out on closer inspection to be by an Australian designer!).

Quilt shop in Bedford... sadly I can't remember the name :(

Finally we made it to Hershey, where we had tickets to see comedian Gabriel Iglesias (aka Fluffy)—one of Al's favourites. It was a great night where we got to relax and have a good laugh. We were asked to put cameras away so no pics from that night, but I'd recommend looking him up on YouTube! And of course, the next morning, we couldn't leave Hershey without touring through the Hershey Chocolate Factory :)

We made our own chocolate bars!

My last instalment on the trip next time!