Monday, June 11, 2012

Day 2, Part 2: Hanging with the Coopers

We arrived in Naperville about 5pm. After some Walmart shopping for camping essentials, we finally got to the Coopers (Brian's aunt, uncle, and cousin) around 6pm. They've got a beautiful house in Naperville and it was a beautiful day to sit outside by the pool and pet their dog, Buddy. We chatted with them for a while before deciding to reorganize the Jeep. After the Walmart run, we'd just thrown all our new stuff in the back and needless to say, it looked like a disaster. So we took everything out and repacked it so that I had a prayer of seeing out the back window and we could access everything we would need for camping. Mission accomplished.

I can almost see out the back window


The job was finished just as dinner was ready so we sat down for some amazingly delicious turkey kabobs and salad. The kabobs not only included the most moist turkey I've ever had, but there was also some grilled pineapple thrown into the mix. Heavenly. For dessert there were homemade icecream sandwiches with mint chocolate chip icecream between chocolate chip cookies. Definitely better than store bought. I'd say the Coopers fed us pretty well.

After dinner we needed to walk off some of the icecream to we headed to downtown Naperville to check out the Riverwalk. It was a gorgeous night and there were plenty of people hanging around downtown. The riverwalk and surrounding park were very cool. It was a little too dark for pictures, but there was a path down by the river, an enormous quarry that had been filled with water to make a community pool, a skatepark, baseball fields, a cool fountain, and a very cool statue of Dick Tracy.

Dick Tracy statue! (bonus points: can you find the child?)


I also discovered that having a dog makes you the cool people in the park. We brought Buddy with us on our walk and he was definitely the life of the party, garnering attention from kids and older folks alike.

Cool fountain in the park


When Buddy's belly had been sufficiently rubbed by park goers, we headed back to the house for a few beers and conversation before calling it a night. We were definitely wiped out. Driving really takes it out of you, apparently.

Next up: Brian and I explore Chicago and get to hang out with Brian's cousin Emily.

Zach, me and Brian before we headed out of Naperville

Zach, Brian, and Uncle Mike

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