Fourth of July in Oak Park

July 2: We left for Oak Park after work, made pretty nice time, and, if I remember right, called it a night.

July 3: And then we woke up in Oak Park! Cornelius is getting more and more comfortable in my old home.

Started the day off with a nice Oak Park walk which culminated with a visit to The Daly Bagel.

And then the family gathered together and we got the L out of Oak Park and down to downtown to watch rehearsals for the 4th of July Concert.

Then we took a little walk through Millennium Park over to the Jollibee — well, let’s be honest, lots of things went pretty wrong at that Jollibee but when we finally had our food, well, let’s be honest, there’s no denying that it’s really good food. And now I’ve finally tried their spaghetti!

Then we went on over to the Art Institute to see what’s good right now. And it turns out there’s plenty! For starters: Raqib Law’s gigantic painting “Paradise Lost” — you can get real lost in this one.

Then there was the Gustave Caillebotte exhibit … seemed like a cool dude. Also, saw signs (literally) that the NASCAR race would be zooming by that weekend.

And then there’s all the other great Art Institute stuff!

Then we took the train back home again and a little later had our first Milly’s Pizza in the Pan pizza. Wow! What a gorgeous and tasty and exclusive pizza! (and then Emily took us on a walk to see something spooky)

July 4: Our Independence Day started off with a bang with an early morning trip downtown to walk along the lake towards or around Montrose Beach and environs. In all my Chicago days I’d never before been on a lakefront walk.

We got back to Oak Park just in time for one of the village’s greatest traditions … the Oak Park Fourth of July Parade!

After the parade I zipped up to Santa Masa Tamaleria with Mom to pick up lunch and boy were those tacos and tamales nice! Heavenly tamales, to be honest. And my first taste of green chorizo.

Here’s an unexpected 4th of July treat … NYC Buddy Jamar was in town with his family investigating Oak Park and stopped by to pay us a visit, too!

Relaxed a bit on the renovated sun porch while Cornelius tried to eat the plants.

This Fourth was our fortieth anniversary of having moved into the house so celebratory photos were taken, then hamburgers were eaten, and finally cake slices decorated.

And then, after night had fallen, it was time to go chase the fireworks (as Oak Park doesn’t host its own fireworks anymore. boooo!) Good thing we have the good people of Elmwood Park to keep us patriotic!

July 5: Up and at ‘em! Walked with Dad to the Farmer’s Market, got donuts and such, came home and soon hit the road and headed back to Columbus, just like that.

All These Pictures are From June 2025!

Liz has observed to me something along the lines of since I’m walking around with a camera taking all the pictures I’m not in a lot of them on the blog. Very true! You will see that that is certainly the case with this summary of our June in Columbus!

June 8: Had a nice walk around Blacklick Metro Park and we may or may not have gotten our Metro Park Passport stamped — I don’t remember! Also: Liz met a caterpillar!

June 11: I got to go with Liz to see the Punch Brothers, one of her very favorite bands. It was great! They played songs that I recognized from being in the car. And they sang “Surf’s Up” in honor of Brian Wilson who had passed that day.

June 14: We walked through a nearby park (not a Metro Park, though) to this trail we sometimes walk down and then we walked down that trail, passing fairy houses and such.

June 21: We went and watched one of Liz’s students dance and then ate at the famous Joya’s and guess what? Joya’s was not a hit with us. This was a surprise! Seemed like it would be just my kind of place. Oh well. Now we know. And may possibly try their brunch someday.

June 25: A big, bittersweet day. Liz’s last day at Bridgeway before heading off to her new job. I got to pick her up as she packed up her last bits and then we went to a very good place to celebrate landmark days: The Top Steakhouse! Wow! Absolutely perfect old school steakhouse with its own flair and an onion ring comes with your steak! And also we did a Bridgeway photoshoot in front of the Bridgeway sign.

June 28: Parked in front of the old Bridgeway before seeing Liz’s soon-to-be new coworkers sing (featuring Alyssa, a former co-worker of Liz’s, funny how that is).

And that’s that for our June Columbus post. Next up? Fourth of July in Chicago! Featuring a picture or two of me!

A Day of Midwestern Excellence

We celebrated June 19th 2025 with a quick drive to West Liberty, Ohio for a visit to the famed Ohio Caverns caverns (“America’s Most Colorful Caverns”). We went whole hog and did both of their available tours — the historic tour (where you visit the first cavern discovered by the farmer who farmed the property and the muddy treks people used to take through its tunnels (fortunately for us they are not muddy anymore!)) and the Wonders of Nature tour where you tour a more recently-discovered cavern. Between caverns we visited the gift shop.

Here’s the gift shop that I mentioned earlier…

Time for the Nature’s Wonders tour! Should mention now that these tours were given by local teens who really knew the tour script backwards and forwards. Great job, teens!

Now at the Ohio Caverns we saw these pamphlets for a “castle” nearby so, hey why not? We went and toured Mac-A-Cheek Castle, a mansion a gentleman farmer built after returning from World War I (if I remember right). And after walking around Mac-A-Cheek we looked at the outsides of Mac-O-Chee Castle, which was built by the gentleman farmer’s gentleman brother just like a mile away (it’s an event venue now and not for touring).

So it seems like a pretty great day so far, right? Well guess what? It gets even better! Because we drove to nearby Urbana, Ohio and got little burgers (and sliced hot dogs!) from famed little hamburger shop Crabill’s and guess what? Those little burgers (and little sliced hot dogs) completely sent me to heaven. They were just so magnificently good, don’t know how to account for it. Magic assembly of onion, pickle, relish and brown mustard? Plus a little dip in the griddle grease? A recipe for magnificence.

And the day still isn’t done! Because we went to Batelle Darby Creek park to get a Metro Park Passport for to memorialize all our metro park visits in…

AND THE EXCELLENCE CONTINUES! On the way home from the park we discovered a … uh … petting zoo without petting? Where you could buy feed cups and feed animals through the fence, just maybe three miles from our house! How fun! There was an ostrich, goats, a zedonk, and a water buffalo! Maybe other animals too?

And THEN we got milkshakes. What a federal holiday it was!