Days 555-561! Sorry for another late blog post. This week starts off slow, but picks up pretty dang quick with lots of stories to share! I saw family and friends, with stops in Milwaukee to see my grandparents, Chicago to see an old friend, and a spontaneous road trip with my dad and uncle.

We kick off another week in the US with a couple pretty relaxing days.

Thursday, July 10th and Friday, July 11th were spent playing cards, watching TV, and lots of guitar playing.

Thursday evening, we had a group of my parents friends over for snacks and drinks on our front porch. I joined them and chatted with them about life updates and all the fun things going on in their lives and the world.

Saturday, July 12th I decided was finally the day to clean up the mop that’s on top of my head. I walked to campus town to the barber I went to back in May… it had been 2 months since my last hair cut.

I felt much lighter post haircut and I think they did a nice job at J&B Studio.

I still need to do a haircut comparison from around the world, it’d be fun to see all the different costs and outcomes.

The rest of Saturday was spent doing the same ol’ relaxing, until another family friend showed up for dinner!

One of my mother’s childhood friends was coming through town with her son. I personally hadn’t seen them in years. We had take out pizza from one of our local favorite spots, Fedoras. There was plenty to catch up about and we had a very nice time doing so!

Sunday, July 13th was a special day. My dad was performing in a new musical written and scored by a local musician, David Getz. The musical was called “Ruth” and it was all about the book of Ruth.

It was more of an oratorio, but it was very well done! It was obviously religious based, which isn’t necessarily my taste. But the music and singing was great and my dad, as the narrator, was fantastic too (I may be a bit biased).

My dad does a fantastic job when he partakes in musical theater! I was very happy I got to see him perform and proud of him!

After the performance, we went to a nearby restaurant and had the biggest soft pretzel you’d have ever seen (delicious). We had a few other dishes as well before heading home and relaxing the rest of the night.

Monday, July 14th, my mother and I got in the car and headed out on the road. Before leaving the US, I wanted to spend more time with my grandparents! I got to see them while I was in Wisconsin for my cousins wedding, but I wanted to spend more quality time with them!

We stopped for lunch on our way up at Jersey Mikes and since it was our first time’s, they gave us a free cookie!

We arrived in Milwaukee at 1pm and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with my Bubbie and Zeidie (my grandparents).

We played lots of cards and a couple rounds of Rumikub, chatted a bunch, and had a delicious dinner.

Food is definitely a big core memory in my childhood. Growing up, we’d have big family get togethers at my Bubbie and Zeidie’s house. For Thanksgiving, other religious holidays, etc. Some of my favorite memories are lamb chop dinners where my Zeidie would work away on the grill and cook up the most mouth watering dinner.

And that’s what we had this time around. It was a blast from the past and made me very happy to have this meal after so many years.

We played some more cards after dinner and called it a night. It was such a wonderful way to spend the day, I love my grandparents very very much!

We were staying at my Auntie Sharon and Uncle Brad’s house for the night. We didn’t have a ton of time at their daughter’s wedding to sit and chat about life and travels, so we made up for that tonight!

My Uncle Brad is the main reason I started this blog! He was really excited about my travels and wanted to hear all about them. I’m really glad I listened to his idea because I’ve loved keeping track of my days and it’ll be an amazing thing to look back on in the many years to come!

The following morning, Tuesday, July 15th, my mother and I went back to my grandparents house to make them breakfast and serenade them on the guitar.

It was a really nice quick trip up to Wisconsin to see family and I’m glad my mom and I were able to make the trip!

On our way back to Peoria, we stopped through the Chicago suburbs to meet up with a college and post college friend of mine, Corey!

Corey and I first met back at the University of Kansas when we led a trip to Israel together. It was an amazing trip where we learned all about the conflict, met communities on both sides of it, and met communities that were living in harmony. It was an insanely impactful trip and every night we’d debrief, debate, and discuss. And that’s where we quickly became friends!

Post college, we had an apartment together in Kansas City! He was my last roommate before I left to travel the world.

We had lunch at a local restaurant, he works in community development and knows all the good spots. So much so, a handful of people throughout our lunch said hello to him.

I’m really glad our timing worked out to see him because I wasn’t sure if I was going to have the chance or not. It had been too long since our last time hanging out!

You’d think after a road trip I’d want to just sit at home and relax. Well, Wednesday, July 16th had other plans.

My Uncle Ken, who I hadn’t seen in many years, was coming through town to pick up my dad for a roadtrip to southern Illinois. I last minute decided to join them on the adventure! We piled into my uncles Mini Cooper and I squeezed myself into the very small backseat. It was almost like a clown car since all of us are fairly tall men.

My uncle was wanting to head to southern Illinois to get peaches! Apparently this is an area of the US where peaches can grow well and he had found an orchard last year that he loved, so he wanted to get the peaches again.

Our 4-5 hour drive down was full of catching up over the past few years, hearing my dad and uncle commiserate over childhood stories, breaking out into goofy songs of their childhood, and lots of quips and laughs.

My dad and I were under the impression this was a pick your own fruit orchard… but a few hours in, we found out that it was actually just a place to buy peaches… so we were going on a goofily long adventure for a grocery pickup. BUT, it meant quality time with family, so I was here for it.

We stopped a few times for rest areas and to stretch our legs, but it was a race against the clock as the orchard closed at 6pm. Luckily we made it with just over 30 minutes to spare.

The ladies at Flamm orchards were kind enough to let us try a peach before we bought a couple bushels worth. I’m not the biggest peach fan, but these peaches were tasty! Worth a 4 hour drive? I’m not too sure, but this trip was going to be a very memorable one and I was glad I tagged along.

Turns out, the orchard delivers to peoria every so often… but then we wouldn’t have had such a goofy story to share.

My uncle isn’t the biggest fan of using Google or Apple Maps, which made the adventure extra adventurous as well. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Carbondale, Illinois. We then crammed back into the Mini Cooper and made our way to Peoria.

We had plenty to talk about, a New York Times article about AI, discussed engineering university’s benefits and flaws (my uncle is an mechanical engineering professor and I have a degree in mechanical engineering), and I pried more stories out of both my uncle and dad. And of course, more spontaneous singing.

There was a lull in the conversation for the last 30 minutes to an hour or so. But we were all tired and chatted out. It was a very spontaneous (and not the most comfortable) trip, but I’m glad I was able to tag along and spend quality time with my dad and his brother, which is a rare treat.

This week may have started out slow, but there was plenty of fun adventures had by the end of it. It makes my heart very full to spend time with family and friends, especially since I haven’t seen most of them for the past (almost) 2 years.

My weeks in the US are quickly coming to a close, but there’s still a few more adventures to be had! Next week I’ll be hopping on a train to Omaha to enjoy time with my friends and the following I’ll be heading to North Carolina! But more on that later!

See yall soon!

– Elie

Listen to “Life’s a Trip”