On the way to the Mark Twain Cave and Campground (everything in Hannibal is Mark Twain something) we passed a favorite old restaurant that makes great maid rites and homemade root beer, a ball field that I played softball on, a street I used to live on, a public pool I frequented, and an old market that I used to walk to with my cousins.  This was the first time I was able to share my hometown with the boys (that they could remember), and it was nice.  We were also able to visit lots of family and friends, particularly my Grandmother who’s battling ovarian cancer.   We even had dinner guests for the first time!  We had 8 people in our motorhome for dinner followed by a hilarious game of boxing on the Wii, and if my sister doesn't pay up soon that video will be on You-Tube! 

To truly understand how fortunate we were to have Sandy as a tour guide you’d have to know that Sandy is a retired teacher and a seasoned world traveler.  She’s been to every continent.  She’s seen the Great Wall of China, ridden a camel in Egypt, and watched the Blue-footed Boobies in the Galapagos Islands.  Sandy is a force to be reckoned with.  We were lucky that she was available to show us around Chicago.  Just a few weeks after we left she was off to Croatia!  In the short time that we were in the Windy City we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, had a picnic on the shore of Lake Michigan, walked along the historic Illinois and Michigan Canal and toured the Isle a la Cache Museum.  We also learned to play dominoes and visited with “guest historian” Barbara.  It was like a vacation, only too short.  We’ll definitely be going back.