We had the best time ever! It was a mom and daughter road trip! It was disguised as a college visit trip. It peculiarly landed on a weekend that no one was available but she and I. 

What made it so fun were the spontaneous stops, U-turns, sleepy towns, quiet roads. None of which were on the itinerary. All of which were the most fun! Whenever we felt like taking a detour, we did! We didn’t hesitate. We visited antique shops, farm cemeteries, candy stores, and even a witchcraft store, by mistake. 😮

Some of our adventures were being swindled by a little Cub Scout, propositioned by a mature man at the McDonalds, parked illegally by the advice of a lady shopper, stayed on the wrong side of the tracks in one town, and hiked a desolate street after dark in the next town as we chatted about kidnappings. 

We lucked out with great chick flicks, The Proposal and The Holiday, in our hotel rooms. We had delicious breakfasts and chocolate covered pretzels for dinner one night.  

After the second day on the road, we decided she had to see 2 more schools, even though she had 0 interest in those schools. We had to give her dad a logical reason for the extra day and night away. 

That worked out perfectly because it allowed us the additional time to hike on a sunny, warm day in Starved Rock State Park. It was perfect until we couldn’t find our way back to the parking lot. That even turned out because we got directions and split a warm sandwich with fudge for dessert.

Some of our other sweet finds were the Lemon Shake Up and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies with milk. Although the sweetest find was time with my daughter who has become a silly best friend. 💞 Our only regrets were we didn’t take enough pictures, and we didn’t look at more colleges across the country.  

P.S. The next weekend were more college visits with her dad. We stayed on schedule, and she and I whined as we passed all the fun. 🤣 Get in the car with your child and drive anywhere, while you still can. 😌