From Philly to Pittsburgh to Chicago

Up at 4:45 AM, on the road at 5:57 AM (cereal and rearranging the car set us back from our original 5:00 AM departure time); fourteen and a half hours later, we made it to our final destination for the day: Chicago, Illinois (with a Pitt stop--literally, in Pittsburgh). 

[ 5:57 AM, 8.11.10: Rockin with the Dobkin's...GO TIME. Not pictured: Mario the Travlin Teddy]

It all started rather dark in the wee hours of the morning, but in little time, we began to see the light:

[ Farewell, Philly ]

It occurred to me as I sat buried in the back seat peering out the window, that the sunrise was creating a little path in the sky for us---a yellow brick road in the air if you will; it was the perfect send off to the Emerald City. 

[ Please note: path in sky ]

[ Happy trails ]

As we headed to Pittsburgh, we encountered many tunnels, lush green scenery, and cows.

[ Moo ]

As we entered the Steel city, I knew instantly I was going to like this place when I looked up to see a disco ball dangling from the overhang of a building. 

[ Shine ]

Furthermore, I saw this shop and knew only good things awaited us here: 

[ Yummm ]

Indeed, we did find good things awaited us as we parked Tellulah at JoJo's, a diner Dave found in his handy ROAD FOOD book. What a find! Not only was the service fast and friendly, the food was beyond words delicious. We all ordered omelettes, (and I have to ask, I've been trying to figure out for the past five minutes the proper spelling for this delicacy, omelette or omelet?) and devoured every savory bite.

[ Thumbs up from Dave ]

[ Happy Mikey ]

[ It was hot, in addition to the hot sauce I threw on there ]

Leaving full and satisfied, we went onward to find some more gems of this city. Personally, I was thrilled to stumble upon the Andy Warhol Museum. 

Of course, I had to peep in.

[ Andy Warhol Museum ]

Meanwhile, Dave found his own gem at PNC Park. 

[ Dave in his happy place ]

What really stands out to me about Pittsburgh is all of it's many yellow bridges. Never have I ever seen so many little bridges, and yellow at that. 

As we drove out of Pittsburgh, I noticed this board which really left me holding this city in high regard:

[ Clean Energy for America ]

Onward: we cruised on through a rather rainy Ohio, Indiana (where we did a quick drive by of the College Football Hall of fame), and finally began to make our way into Chicago. 

[ Approaching chi-town at sundown ]

[ This sign = the amen at the end our our day ]

Here in Chicago we are staying with my friend and room mate from Semester at Sea, Ashley. I told Ashley as we rolled into Chicago and saw the skyline, after this long treck, I felt like I was on our ship again docking into port...which she can relate to as such a great surge of energy to feel. 

By the time we unpacked our bags from Tellulah, we were STARVING. Don't get me wrong; those omelettes (and I am still stunned as to the spelling of this word) were incredibly filling, but we were nearing 8:30 by the time we arrived at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria for some classic deep dish pizza.

[ Ordering THE deep dish pizza ]

[ Starvin Marvin's waiting for a table ]

[Apparently, the BEST Chicago-style deep dish pizza in the world ]

[ Mike finishes it off right; not one slice left on the deepest of dishes]

As we finished our deep dish pizza, we realized we practically had the same thing as we did for breakfast, but on dough instead of in eggs (oh well). I walked back to Ashley's in a food coma and exhausted; the food coma has faded, but the exhaustion remains, so I am going to say, goodnight moon.