The Tucks and Chi Town

Day 1: After a sad litte goodbye to little Xhosa on Friday night after we dropped her off with T & J, Sharl and I woke up at 4am to catch our early flight to Lexington, KY. I had a full fledged cold and was feeling yucky. But i was armed with Cold & Flu meds, throat candies and nasal spray.

The airport perked me up becuase I get happy anticipating an upcoming trip....travel included.


Flying from Chicago to Kentucky, I noticed the square plots of land get bigger and greener. The high rise appartments transformed into ranch style homes with acres of fenced in land in between.


Nicole and Serge and Noah greeted us warmly at the airport in their (surprise surprise) SUV. Everyone in the South drives a large vehicle. We drove 20 minutes back to their "adult" home. Adult because it has a staircase, 3 bedrooms, proper furniture, and baby toys strewn across the livingroom floor. The four of us chatted all afternon and I absolutely ADORED playing with little Noah. HE is just the sweetest little baby. Though talking about epidurals and watching the birth video confirmed that I am not ready to have one of my own anytime soon. I did feel a natrual maternal vibe though as I was playing him and carrying him around... I'll admit that much :)
Nicole cooked up a frittata for lunch and then salmon for dinner. She is an amazing cook!

I wussed out at 9pm becuase I was so tired and stuffy from my cold. I said I was only going for a nap....but I woke up in the morning. :S


Day 2: Kentucky just so happens to be the horse capital of the world. We went to a horse park and watched a polo game. During the 'halftime' the sports announcer invited all the spectators on the field to stomp on the divits. Afterward, we were called to this huge white tent where we feasted on (free) champagne, cocktails, JUMBO shrimp cocktail, steak, fried chicken and salads. I totally felt like I was in My Fair Lady or Pretty Woman!



Day 3: We went to a waterpark on Monday for a day of fun in the sun. This was also the day I got a little too acquainted with people in the south. Over 75% of the people at the waterpark were shamelessly obese. One particular girl couldn't have been older than 14, and she was round all over with pre-mature cellulite, and her choice of swimwear was a NUDE colored one-piece. I'm still trying to cleanse my mind from that vision. Also from the row of shameless fatties bronzing their dimpled skin to a freckled leather brown.


After the waterpark, we all went shopping for a bit at TJ Maxx, and Sharl and I both got some great finds. We had dinner afterward at a bistro by the lake and then ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. So good.

Then at night, Nicole stayed up late to pick songs for our road trip the next morning. We had way too much fun singing and reminiscing throwback songs by Salt 'n Peppa and SWV (to which we sadly knew all the words from copying lyrics the old school way.... rewind-play-pause...rewind-play-pause.)



Day 4: Tuesday, we took a drive out to Cincinati to attend a Reds baseball game. I hadn't gone to a baseball game since Roberto Alomar played for the Blue Jays. I did recognize one player's name thought....Ken Griffey Jr. He was clearly the best player on the team. My favourite parts of the game were the intro songs, to which Nicole and I would bust out dancing. Sharl said that my intro song would be, "Fat Bottomed Girls" >:(

In the middle of the 7th inning, some real action started. Rain down poured out of the blue into the open stadium. As the fieldsmen rushed out to cover the infield, the tarp billowed in the wind as a crew member flew off like he was on a giant slip-and-slide. The audience all tried to hustle up the stairs for shelter.

10 minutes later, the sun came out and we resumed the game and then headed out to visit Serge's aunt who was visiting in Cincinnati as well. She didn't speak a word of English, which gave me the opportunity to exercise my French, which is sadly disappearing. His aunt didn't seem to mind my Franglais when my vocab didn't quite make it, and she just seemed grateful to have someone other than Serge making conversation with her.

On the way home to Nicholasville, it rained again, so we had a pretty anti-climatic Independence Day. A few neighbours were lighting fireworks on the street and we saw a few bursts of lights in the distance, but it was a little less than I had hoped for.

Day 5: We were supposed to do some museums in Louisville, but we took a little too long to get ready that we ended up just shopping and eating when we got here. I managed to take a picture with Colonial Sanders in some Guest Centre, which made my day....because I was in Kentucky and KFC was about the only thing I could think they were known for.
For dinner we did it up at this Crab shack and feasted like kings. Sooooo good.

So my observation about Louisville was that Sharl and I were the only non-Black people in the nicer part of town. Then by the water there were the rednecks. It was just like television....complete with mullets, and wifebeaters. Seriously the UGLIEST place I'd ever seen. The 'decent' looking women all had bad implants. And when I say they were 'decent' looking, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

As we tried to park it on a bench by the water looking across to Indiana, there was a redneck couple sitting nearby triming their dog with kitchen siscors. Disgusting. The dog's fur was all patchy, and there was dog fur fluff flying everywhere. EW.

We left shortly after.

Day 6: Lovefest

After an amazing chilledback visit with our South African friends in South USA we said goodbye, and headed out to part 2 of our vacation: CHICAGO!

We were greeted warmly and excitedly by Mandy at the airport. It was sooooooooo good to see her, because I missed her terribly. We chatted all the way to her appartment where we met Steve in the parking lot. The jokes began straight away and I knew the weekend would be non-stop laughs.

After some primping to get ready over glasses of zin (Mandy and I always have the most fun getting ready together, and there's nothing more fun than the getting-ready-to-go-out preparation with your best girlfriends!) we headed downtown for some authentic DEEP DISH CHICAGO PIZZA. It was hands down the best pizza we've ever had. When we got home, Mandy and I stayed up really late catching up like old times.

Day 7: After a fun morning of the four of us lounging around in our jammies, over coffee, yogurt parfaits, we headed downtown on the METRA to walk around the city. S-Bucks lattés in hand, we headed down to the Chicago river where we took an architecture boat tour. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we learned about all of chicago's skyscrapers as we cruised down the Chicago River to Lake Michigan.
When we disembarked, the four of us continued our walk down the city streets, stopping at NBC to watch the news live where Mandy and I caught the attention of one of the (cute) anchormen, and he waved at us while he was off-camera.

"Stay tuned for the News at 6...the war in Iraq, the traffic and weather report.......and two hot women staring at me..."

We ate burgers by the river, stopped by the bean to take pictures and then headed back to Mandy and Steve's where we relaxed for the rest of the evening...Facebooking (Soulija!! L.O.L.), Movie watching, and gossiping until the wee hours of the night.

Day 8: Let's just say Steve wasn't feeling so hot on Saturday. So he and Sharl stayed at the appartment to watch movies and hang out while Mandy and I......SHOPPED! She and I scored the most awesome 80s fashion find. Jelly shoes! We each got a pair and headed over to the Hip and browsed through B&BW and Victoria Secret. Didn't get too much though, becuase I reminded myself that I was carrying-on my luggage.

Our last night in Chicago went out with a bang. We got all gussied up and went to town. We went to Sushi Samba for dinner...had some cocktails and shared lots of samba rolls and chef's suggestions. The food was so high quality, and I loved how the sushi was spicy and had a latin kick to it. The restaurant was so perfect for us.. half Asian and half South American...a fusion of Mandy and Kim! Everything was impeccable. After dinner Steve's friends, Angelo and Tony met up for drinks at the Samba lounge upstairs. When it got too packed, we left and went to another club for more dancing and drinks. I had the BEST time. I really missed having my favourite party friend in town.

Day 9: I felt a bit wistful in the morning knowing we were leaving on Sunday. But anyway, we made the most of it and went down to Navy Pier. Sharl and I had some Chicago dogs, and then picked up some gifts at the Children's Museum.
It was sooooooooooo hot outside, but it was nice and breezy on the Ferris Wheel, which took us high up into the Chicago sky.
Goodbyes at the airport were funny, but only becuase Sharl and Steve wouldn't let Amanda and I have a moment without laughing at us and making us laugh. They kept calling our visit a lovefest. Anyway. I guess it's better to laugh than to feel sad...which is how I felt the next day. :(

All in all it was an amazing trip filled with amazing friends. I can't wait to visit again.

At least the happy part was coming home to my excited puppy. I could tell she really missed us and that made coming home sweet.