Milwaukee to Kirtland

Man do I love a good road trip. We live in the best country in the world, and it is cram packed full of all kinds of wonderful things to see. Sara, Zoe and I set out to quench a bit of our travel thirst, by way of our own little Tour de Midwest. Or I should say, Tour de Eastern Midwest, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania. Sara spent the better part of March planning every mile of our journey, and I helped by way of mentioning all sorts of places that we didn't have time to drive to, such as Fiji. But we made it a point to visit every place of significance between Milwaukee and Scranton and back.


The longest leg of our trip was the first day. We left at 3:00 am to avoid Chicago traffic, and were at the point of Lake Michigan while it was still dark. Right over the Illinois/Indiana border (after paying the second of thousands of tolls) we drove through Hammond, Indiana which is the city where the movie "A Christmas Story" was based. Ho Ho Ho!! It was cool to see that the place looked just like the movie. We didn't stop to put our tongues on any lamp posts because Zoe was asnooze and we didn't want to waste any of the precious moments.


Kirtland, Ohio is a few miles east of Cleveland, and a must-stop for any road trippin' Mormon. It was a pretty cool town, though nowhere near the production that Nauvoo is. A nice missionary lady showed us around the restored buildings. The coolest one by far is the Newell K. Whitney store, which has seen little change since the roaring 1830's when the Church was teeny tiny. Joseph and Emma lived in the upstairs room of the store, and it was in this same building that the School of the Prophets was held. Newell is one of those British names that I wish I had the guts to force upon one of my kids. Newell McArthur. Another one is Liam, but I think it would sort of melt into McArthur, LiaMcArthur.