Wednesday Weekend Wind-Up: First Visit Home of the Year

There have been at least two official failed attempts to visit home this year.  First was at the beginning of June, but then Zharo decided to get sick.  The latest was just the previous weekend, but with temps projected into the 100s, I decided that 8 hours in a hot car with the sun beating down on us for most of the drive was a recipe for a migraine. Not to mention that there is no air conditioning at my parents' house. I don't like to cancel plans, but I was already not feeling so good, so we decided to push it out another week.  Weather-wise, I'm so glad we did - we had temps mercifully in the 60s-70s last weekend.

My parents actually had house guests since three of my dad's cousins had come to stay there temporarily, but I had decided that there was always going to be something that tried to stand in my way. Even with a full house of 7 people now staying there, my mom secured us our own bedroom, and we worked a half-day Friday so we could be up north by dinner time.

We had plans to take my parents out for a gourmet meal at...White Castle!  Haha, they enjoy White Castle, and we were super-excited to finally try the Impossible Slider.  This burger was only available at select White Castles, including the Chicagoland area locations [none in Cincinnati yet!]. I've heard amazing things about it, and I was really excited to try it...and it honestly blew me away. I know I have been a vegetarian for a long time [we're talking 2/3 my life here], so I bring some incredible bias to the table, but this is by far the most authentic vegetarian burger I've ever eaten. Most meat-eaters I know are incredibly skeptical, so I'm not going to force my opinion on anyone, but I was definitely impressed. 

We randomly decided to drive around my old college "stomping grounds". It seemed so much smaller than I remembered it. We would have walked the campus, but there was a steady cold rain coming down. 

On Saturday, Francisco had plans to hang out with his friends to see the latest Star Wars movie [Solo: A Star Wars Story], and I was planning to head into the city to hang out with my cousin Bethann. He headed out around noon, and Beth and Jason came to pick me up about an hour or so later.  Beth was dog-sitting this adorable girl.

Lola

We spent several hours just chatting about various things. We'd intended to play a few games, but we honestly never even glanced at them since it's been so long since we've gotten together. There's always next time!

The townhouse she was staying at actually had a view of the Willis Tower. One of those things you get so used to seeing when you live in Chicago, but you HAVE to gush over when you're visiting from out of town lol. 

Francisco came to pick me up at the end of the evening, and we stopped for more White Castle for dinner afterwards. 

Why haven't I learned not to take photos in front of bright backgrounds yet?

As always, the weekend flew by! There's just never enough time. Inevitably, someone will ask, why didn't you stop by? I've long since given up on trying to squeeze seeing everyone into a single visit, and I always tell everyone, if you want to hang out, let's make specific plans to get together. I've learned my lesson on what's feasible and enjoyable in a limited visit time frame. It's very unideal to rush in and out the door for a quick 15-minute mingle. I value spending quality time with friends and family, and the dedicated effort is worth it. 

I really missed my family after not seeing them in so long! I don't like so much time passing in between visits. I've been trying to convince them to come down more often to help balance the travel, but that remains an uphill battle. But it's important to me to spend time to them, so I'm willing to make the drive.