That’s what I sang as we drove past the Illinois state sign this weekend. It actually made Mark laugh, he only laughs at one out of every twenty songs I come up with so I thought I should share it with you. The ’s’ is silent of course.

As you read in Mark’s Sunday post, we’re in Illinois visiting his family. Everyday I think “Oh no, what am I going to write about to make the readers think this is the most exciting time of my life?” You see, I imagined that by this point of the trip we would have mountain climbing, horseback riding, finding hidden waterfalls where we camp for days, and discovering delicious restaurants in cities we never visited before, all under our belts. Sure, we have found some good restaurants (Cleveland was surprisingly delicious) but we haven’t done much of the other romanticized road trip activities. Well, we haven’t done those yet, but believe me, if mountain climbing, horse back riding and waterfall camping do not happen on this trip, I’ll continue road tripping until it does. So far it’s been a drive through Amish country, a drive through RV country (apparently lots of RVs are built in Indiana) and a visit to Mark’s family (both sides of his family, to be exact). All of these destinations were planned out before we ever left Montclair, and have forced us to rush past peach orchards, winery tours, and Saugatuck, Michigan to arrive on time. Well, we’re left Monticello, Illinois and Mark’s family this afternoon and we’re headed towards Chicago, but believe me when I say that hanging out with Mark’s family beats waterfall camping any time!!! I mean, really, how could we sleep with a loud waterfall crashing down behind us anyway? I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe we’ll just opt for a day trip to a secluded waterfall we stumble upon after throwing Samantha out the window and getting lost (Just kidding Samantha, I love you and need you).

I believe Mark told you about our first day or two here in Monticello. In my story, we open after a night of sleeping at Uncle Lee’s country house. Originally we were to stay in the ‘Little House’ over at Aunt Louise and Uncle Larry’s, but the basement flooded (come on rain, leave Illinois alone already) and we moved to higher ground. We slept in the T@b and it felt pretty damn awesome waking up with a red barn and horses in the background the next morning.

This is Rosco, a handsome mutt with his own super large dog run, shed/house and pool. Before we met I heard he was a huge dog who would eat Mister. It turns out he’s not as huge as that other Rosco I know, and is as sweet as his twin Lennon (Kate’s dog).

I think they might have been Mules. That white one and one of those brown guys are in love, and it’s also a little creepy because the white one is so small, she’s got to be too young for him. But a couple of serious cuties nonetheless.

After stretching out, washing our faces, eating some breakfast and locking Mister in the T@b (sorry buddy), we headed out to Allerton Park. Mark often wears a red shirt with the Sun Singer printed on it. As it turns out, it’s not just any old shirt handed down from his father, it’s an Allerton Park souvenir. And it’s not just any old souvenir, Mark’s mom, Jann, grew up in Allerton, where her family rented the “Bride’s House” from the park. Mark’s grandfather, Monroe Robinson, was apparently the coolest guy in the town besides the park’s founder, Robert Allerton. Monroe fixed everything and did anything that park needed. Mr. Allerton was a highly respected fella in Monticello and all of Illinois and was a personal friend of the Robinsons. No, not best friends, but he visited their house every time he came back to Monticello to visit the park after he donated it to the University of Illinois. Otherwise, Mr. Allerton lived in Hawaii with his adopted son John Gregg.

Jann, Louise and Larry took Mark and me on a tour of this Allerton Park. Our first stop, the Fu Dog garden.

Jann led us up a set of spiral steps to look out at the Fu Dogs.

This park is interesting and all on it’s own, but when you’ve got tour guides who know every story this park has to offer, it’s waaaaaay more interesting than just trying to guess why this man would import twenty+ Fu Dog statues for a park in the middle of the country in Illinois.

Tree arch and Fus.

Free tours by Jann…

Tour Guide Jann tells us these are some funky apples you can’t eat, but horses sure do like them. Louise calls them by another name, but to her they’re not apples, they’re oranges. Does anyone know what they really are?

Louise, Larry (Mark’s aunt and uncle), Jann (Mark’s mom) and Mark. Now you’ve been introduced.

Louise can really tell a story like no other. Any other person who tells stories that are as long as hers might cause my brain to melt - seriously I once had a therapist who talked so long when I looked at her the lights played tricks on my eyes and turned her green shirt pink and her pink arms green. Freaky. But Louise, her stories are GREAT! She could go on sometimes for twenty minutes with the same story and I’d still be at the edge of my seat waiting to hear what happened next. And sometimes these stories are about mundane subjects but that doesn’t matter! It’s still the best story I’ve ever heard! You’ll have to meet Louise to experience her storytelling greatness. For now, you’ll just have to believe it from that photo above. PS Jann in the background = Super cute, right?

A story about that lake, I’m sure.

In millions of years, Jay & Cheryl will be selling these fossilized raccoon footprints for some $$$.

For all of Jann’s life she thought Mr. Allerton never lived in the house he had built in the middle of the park. But Louise informed us that he did call it home until 1946.

Jann packed some major lunchness that day. Not that I talk like that or anything, but I imagine someone would call it lunchness. Cheese and tomato sandwiches on hamburger rolls, vegtables, chips and salsa, it was GREAT!

Everyone looks good when they’re eating.

More Louise stories. If she were sitting next to me I might be getting punched because every photo she is telling a story and I’m pretty sure Jann told me Louise was going to punch me.

We found a frog by the flood trees.

And he was a real cuters.

Hanging out with the Last Centaur. Mr. Allerton imported all these fabulous sculpture installations from all over the world. What I thought was really most interesting about the park was that half the time each installation was at least a mile away from anything else in the park. Imagine walking around this park in 1940 when it was in top shape, taking at least a half an hour to go from one exhibition to the other. It would really make one appreciate what they’re seeing. And it wasn’t just about a single sculpture in each section, it was a whole display of greenery and walkways.

Mark and I thought Allerton Park was really looking swell that day, even with a cloudy sky above. But Jann and Louise couldn’t believe the shape it was in. “You see this?” Louise said pointing to some stray branches of leaves coming from the bushes “When Mr. Allerton was alive you never would have seen these here.” Mr. Allerton had people pruning each bush and sweeping every sidewalk all day long. As soon as she said that and before I could say it Larry was comparing it to Disney World. You know how good looking that place is, hundreds of people keep that dreamland looking like a, well, dreamland.

Louise, you are a blast!

On our way back to Uncle Lee’s house after an afternoon at the park.

Oh poor Mister! He was locked in the T@b all day long with nothing to do but listen to Rosco barking and playing, and watch the horses nuzzle up to each other.

Once we let him out he ran faster than I ever saw that puppy run before! And oh, my heart just burst when I saw him truly enjoying that country backyard as he skipped through the meadow, jumping up and snapping his mouth open and closed as he chased after yellow butterflies. Nature puppy!!!

I <3 MISTER

This guy was definitely scratching his ass real hard on that tree.

Sights in Monticello:

Seriously those were the real colors.

Before getting back to Louise and Larry’s house we stopped by their gallery for a quick tour. I didn’t really need a tour since I’ve seen a bunch of his paintings in Mark’s parents’ house plenty of times. And then the first few days of the visit were spent in a Larry Ziemer dreamland where every building in Monticello, Illinois proudly displays his work. But we went for the tour anyway. It was nice, clean, friendly, open and made me want to buy something, anything really. That’s a good thing for them, because Larry’s got to be the most popular artist in the area, and I think that’s pretty cool how they’re making a living. Larry paints, Louise takes care of everything else in the gallery.

Then we went to Louise and Larry’s house for dinner.

“Every thing in this house has a memory to go with it,” Louise told us. I couldn’t get over and expressed my love for their awesome collection of mugs, plates, cups etc. A bunch of mismatched, ceramic, one-of-a-kind pieces they’ve collected over the years (once belonging to larger, matching collections, their counterparts have since cracked and broken and those are what’s left.) Before leaving Monticello this afternoon, Louise and Larry gave us two Ernest Miller, handmade mugs. I had the biggest smile leaving their gallery, holding the box and knowing I’m going to learn to make hot chocolate as delicious as Raymond’s and enjoy it in those mugs during this road trip if it’s the last thing I do.

It was Louise’s turn to cook and that means we ate pizza for dinner. Of course I was difficult and said “Sorry, I don’t eat pizza (aka I’m a loser) please spend extra money to buy me some spaghetti - also, make sure it doesn’t have meat in the sauce and get me extra Parmesan cheese please, thank you. Oh also, please get me a Dr. Pepper.” They didn’t have Dr. Pepper.

And then it was time for Bananagrams. Every person who plays Bananagrams loves Bananagrams. So when we introduced Jann to it a few months ago, she told Larry and Louise all about it and they promptly purchased their own game. We played with seven people, the most I’ve played with. Look at Grandma go!!! (Did I tell you she’s 90!!!?!?!?!)

I won the first game, you can see that game to the right. Uncle Lee was still working on ‘Jar’. But to Uncle Lee’s credit, he is the best fake word-maker-upper:

I think we all ended up winning a game or so, that’s what makes Banangrams so good. Also, when you say “Peel!” and everyone is “WTF” and I’m like “That’s the point guys.”

And that’s how Monday went.

Tags: Allerton Park, Illinois, Mio, mister, mom, Monticello, Robert Allerton, T@B