Trail Grazer: Day 1: Flight 93 Memorial, Cleveland, and Chicago

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Day 1: Flight 93 Memorial, Cleveland, and Chicago

This morning, once my parents left and my brother went to school, it hit me that I was actually leaving. I teared up a little, packed a few last minute things, and was on the road at 7am.

It was super foggy when I first left, but I made pretty good time! Once I got to Pennsylvania, I saw signs for the Flight 93 Memorial so I decided to check it out. It was 30 miles out of my way, but it was totally worth it.

I was the only person there besides the Park Ranger (it is a National Park), and it was cold! The bathrooms there reminded me of the bathrooms in the Dominican Republic-- just holes in the ground!

I then headed to Cleveland to visit John Carroll University, where I spent my Freshman year of college.

It was weird being back in the area because I haven't been there in almost five years and so much has changed! There is even a lululemon right down the street, so I stopped by to check it out.

After grabbing lunch at Tommy's (a JCU favorite), I hit the road for Chicago!

The last time(and only time) I was in Chicago was my freshman year of college. I took the megabus from Cleveland to Chicago to visit a friend from high school. We had a dinner stop in Toledo and after we had left and were an hour west of Toledo, our bus driver got a call from dispatch that he had to turn around to get two people who he left behind at our dinner stop. It was extremely frustrating-- I wound up not getting in until like 1am! The trip was 6 hours! When I left Cleveland today, I thought it was going to take 6 hours, but (luckily) I didn't have any passengers I had to worry about leaving behind so I made it in 4-5hrs. My friend that I'm staying with took me to a great Italian place down the street for dinner. My observations of Chitown so far: craziest drivers I've ever seen, highways are huge like Houston, it's so cold it's like the Polar Vortex 24/7 and gas is expensive!