Go Illini and The Best Pizza

We had an enjoyable weekend as we headed down to Champaign/Urbana to our Alma Mater, the University of Illinois.  I hadn't visited for almost 30 years and Jo hasn't been there for about 5 years.  Needless to say, there were lots of changes from when we went to school there.  What astounded both of us was the number of new buildings and missing old buildings in Campus town.  You kind of assume that the buildings would stay put even if the businesses in them change.  The downtown theater is gone (now where do college kids go to see Rocky Horror Picture show at midnight?) and the McDonalds that helped put Jo through college is gone - who tears down a McDonalds right next to campus?  Along with the changes was the pizza place that we were planning for dinner when we got into town on Friday night, Garcia's Pizza in a Pan.  Fortunately, they are still in business but the only location, according to the net, is on the far side of Champaign.  We settled for two Zorba's gyros which has gone significantly upscale since we were last eating there.

After dinner we walked around the quad reliving memories of our various classes in the buildings.  We also walked through the Illini Union (best union in the Big Ten in our unbiased opinion - it definitely beats our other Alma Mater's union, Memorial Union in Madison) and went by the place where we first met each other.  The cafeteria in the basement of the Union.  The cafeteria is completely changed but we figured out the approximate place where Jo was sitting when I met her.  We then headed to the south part of campus to see the dorm I stayed in for 2 years and walked through a little bit of Urbana before heading back to the hotel to rest up for our big day on Saturday.

Saturday we got up and ran through campus trying to find the apartment I lived in my senior year.  Unfortunately, we turned right when we should have turned left and missed it, but we did have a great run down the east side of the campus.  Then after checking out, we headed back to campus to see all the buildings in the light of day.  We were able to get into the various chemistry buildings where we both spent a lot of time and saw old classrooms and the lab where I did my undergraduate research.  One nice surprise was finding that our names are displayed in the hallway along with all the other graduates from 1872-2002 (that is Jo pointing to her name).  Next up was a quick visit to Lincoln Hall which has just reopened after a major renovation.  From what we can tell Illinois is renovating most of the buildings around the quad as the chemistry building was all torn up along with the main library and Gregory Hall.

We then headed over to the southwest side of campus to see the Armory where Jo and I both remember walking around trying to register for classes and the challenge of figuring out what order to do them in to maximize the chances of getting your ideal schedule and minimize the number of times you had to go back and make a change.  Oh the fun and stress of class registration before computers - where is the fun of doing it all online with instant feedback, plus where is all the stress.  We next visited Jo's old dorm and then it was time to see the Illini play Indiana.  Unfortunately, not a great day for our football teams as Illinois lost to Indiana and Wisconsin also landed losing back in Madison.  But we enjoyed being in the stadium, the hot chocolate on a cold day, and singing the old fight songs (well Jo did anyway, I didn't remember all the words). 

After the game we headed into campus town to buy some Illinois sweatshirts, try to find the house Jo lived in her senior year, and hit the last highlight of the trip - Papa Del's.  Unfortunately time has not been good to Jo's junior and senior year houses.  Both have been torn down since she left.  One the university built over and the other has become a large apartment complex (all of the places I lived in at Illinois are still standing, I'm not implying anything there, but obviously someone thought they were important enough to keep as compared to where Jo lived).  Then it was finally time for us to tuck into the best pizza we have ever found, Papa Del's.  This was one of the big highlights of the trip for us and we were not disappointed.  It is still a great mix of extra thick, sweet crust, tasty sauce and enough cheese to make a Wisconsite proud.  YUM. 

As this is such a great pizza we came prepared to take several of them home with us - which meant we had saran wrap, aluminum foil, plastic bags, and a cooler with ice in the trunk of our car.  We bought 3 extra large pizzas to take with us and took the remains of our dinner along (which was another extra large pizza).  So all told we had 44 pieces of pizza to wrap up and bring home.  We did the wrapping in a parking lot on the hood of our car, but since we now have a freezer full of Papa Del's pizza for the next several months to enjoy it was so worth it.  We did get a fair number of interesting comments from passersby while we were wrapping.  After our pizza wrapping we jumped in the car for the four hour drive home.

Sunday was pretty relaxing by comparison.  After doing some exercising in the morning we caught up with our backlog of newspapers, had pizza for lunch (yep, Papa Del's) and watched the Packers play.  We made broccoli and potato soup with homemade french bread for dinner and then spent the evening watching a few of our taped shows before calling it a night.  We both went to bed with visions of great pizza in our dreams.

Go Badgers

Friday night we hopped into the car and after fighting through rush hour traffic arrived in Madison for a weekend of Wisconsin football with Jo's sister, Kathy.  Dinner was a tasty barley soup and we sat around afterwards catching up on what has been happening since we were last together.  Unfortunately, we didn't have Rocky Rocco's pizza (our favorite Madison pizza) although I don't blame Kathy since I ask for this every time we visit and I would imagine she likes to eat something besides that all the time.

Saturday morning we enjoyed an early morning run with relatively moderate temperatures (at least for Madison since it was in the 40's.  Then it was off to the football game since it was an early game at 11:00.  The weather was beautiful with just a few clouds and lots of bright sun.  Kathy managed to get us excellent tickets that were on the 50 yard line about 20 rows up from the field.  While it was a bit chilly at first, the sun eventually hit our seats and it was comfortable for the rest of the game.   To complete the perfect afternoon, the Badgers played a great game and came out on top.  Great way to spend the day.  After the game we headed to Target to pick up some miscellaneous supplies and, most importantly, our Halloween candy.  Then it was back to Kathy's for a dinner with several of Kathy's friends before getting in the car for the trip home.

Sunday continued the fine weather and after some morning yoga and weight lifting we took an hour long walk through the nearby Lake Park to enjoy the sun.  Nice thing about walking about town is it easier to chat and walk side by side since you don't have to worry about tripping over roots and stones like when you hike in the woods.  Of course, the scenery is a little less rustic.  We then caught the Packer's game - the copied the Badgers and won, good weekend for Wisconsin sports - and then made barbecued baby-back ribs for dinner.  A nice and relaxing weekend for all.  Nothing too special to report for the rest of last week - Jo worked, I worked about the house, we ran and exercised.

Birthday Girl and Our Lone Pumpkin

We finally had a weekend at home after traveling for the last three weekends.  I would love to say that we used it so productively, but mostly we enjoyed just vegetating along with just a little bit of cooking.  The weather continues to be a little cooler than normal but we haven't had to worry about snow yet although we have dipped below freezing a few nights.  We finally picked our lone pumpkin to decorate our front door.  Even though we planted multiple seeds and had plants that draped all over the bushes on one side of the house, we only managed to have one pumpkin grow.  But it is the largest pumpkin we have ever harvested and it managed it without any routine watering through our drought this summer.  The only funky thing is that it is still mostly green.  We aren't exactly sure what the trick is for turning your pumpkin orange - we just thought that was something that happened naturally.  But even though it is green we still are displaying it proudly by the front door.

Friday night we enjoyed home made sausage pizza - the pizza was homemade, we bought the sausage as we aren't into grinding our own meat products, yet.  We also had an early celebration of Jo's birthday with a homemade banoffee pie (for those not familiar with this UK taste treat, it is bananas, whipped cream and toffee - yum) and in interest of not setting the house on fire we used number candles instead of putting lots of individual ones on the pie.  We then settled in the family room to catch up on some taped shows with a full stomach of pie.

Saturday dawned rainy so instead of an early morning run we headed to the gym for some cardio and lifting.  After enjoying watching the Badgers win over Purdue, Jo spent the rest of the afternoon reading while I did a few outside chores.  That evening we had dinner with Tim and Rosalie and then took in the show, Microcrisis at the Next Act Theater.  Interesting show as it parodied the CDO crisis in mortgages and actually did a really good job of explaining it using microcredit loans.  Sunday morning was rainy again so after working out downstairs we both plopped in front of the fireplace to read the newspaper.  The afternoon found both of us catching up on some sleep and all to soon it was evening and time to ready ourselves for the following week.

Lobster Rolls...yum

Jo was in New York last week for a conference and we decided to take advantage of the trip and visit Connecticut.  I flew into Providence on Thursday and after navigating the rental car pickup process drove down to New Haven to pick Jo up from her train trip on Metro North.  Fortunately, the timing worked on both ends and we managed to find each other without too much difficulty.  Then we drove to Sheri and Bruno's place who had graciously agreed to our staying with them.  Thursday night we caught up on the happenings in their life especially enjoying seeing their new solar panel array.  It was quite impressive (the picture only shows one of the four panels they had installed)and I thought large enough to power a small neighborhood, although they claim it is just enough to meet their energy needs. 

Friday dawned bright and sunny and after a long run in the morning we headed to Waterford to see our old house and neighborhood.  Not too many changes (at least on the outside that we could see) on the house besides cutting back the forest a bit.  Then it was to Captain Scott's for lobster rolls.  This is one of the taste treats we really miss from not living in Connecticut.  We enjoyed lunch with two of Jo's colleagues from her HR days at Pfizer especially with how warm the temperatures were.  Dinner that night was with all our old friends, Deb and Rich, Mary and Dave, and Sheri and Bruno at the Daniel Packer Inn where we managed to close down the restaurant.  It was really nice catching up and hearing some fun Pfizer stories along with what everyone has been up to.

Saturday had rain threatened for the evening so we decided to do a hike while the sun was out.  We headed over to Arcadia forest in Rhode Island and spent a couple of hours enjoying the fall colors and getting a little exercise.  The highlight for the wildlife was seeing two garter snakes squiggling off the hiking trail - we could be especially calm since we saw both snakes well in advance of stepping on them!  Then after a pizza lunch it was home to rest and relax - well for three of us anyway, Bruno decided to work outside until it started pouring.

Sunday, after a morning yoga class, it was off to the Mermaid Cafe for brunch (Jo's gingerbread pancakes were quite tasty, my tortilla omelet thingy not so much) and then it was time for sad farewells before we headed to Providence and our flights home.  For the rest of the work week, nothing too noteworthy.  I continued to work on getting the storm windows painted and installed many of them yesterday as our weather has been cold.  I also harvested the onions, scallions, and the last yellow squash from the garden leaving only a few parsnips to go.

Visit to Quincy

It is official, Joann's college roommate got married for the first time this weekend in Jo's hometown of Quincy, IL.  We took a long weekend to go back and visit with some of her friends and relatives while enjoying seeing some of her old haunts.  Quincy has changed a bit since my last visit which was almost 10 years ago.  Seems to be more traffic and new houses are up where there just used to be corn fields.  The most amazing thing to me with the growth was how Jo's old house, which used to be on the outskirts of town when I first started dating Jo, now seems to be solidly in the middle of town.  The wedding was a very nice affair and it was great to see how happy they both where.  Also, nice to see that Jo's childhood home, that her Dad built himself, is still in great shape - unlike my childhood home in IL which was torn down (not because of me living there I should add - although it might be due to my brother or sister living there, but you would have to check with them to be sure).  Weather was perfect all weekend, cool and crisp in the mornings with lots of sunshine throughout the day.  Made our morning runs through downtown Quincy enjoyable.

That is now two weddings in September, must be something in the air.  Not too much news for the rest of the week as we both did our usual things.  Chores and cleaning for me and work, work, work for Jo.  Jo did get her flu shot which left a nice bruise on her arm for a couple of days - but then Jo bruises easier than a ripe peach.