the farm
last friday, alex and i began our road trip around the states and canada. after a week of relaxing with our families and old friends in milwaukee and minneapolis, we were both ready to hit the road and start our travels! our first stop? alex's family cabin near the tiny town of hanover, illinois.
"the farm" is 44 acres of land that belonged to alex's great great uncle stewie. every once in awhile, his family has walnut trees harvested there. right in front of the cabin sits a 7-acre field, which alex decided would be the perfect place to camp. until last weekend i had never been camping before in my life, so i was excited...but extremely anxious. i love the outdoors, but i'm a city girl through and through, and lots of questions swirled around in my head. how bad do the bugs get? will strange animals come to eat us at night? wait - there's no running water? so i have to dig a hole in the ground to...gaaahhh!!
that said, i am happy to report that my first camping trip was a very fun and successful one, all thanks to alex and his awesome parents, jon and cindy. we made little bonfires, shot rifles (alex's aim is pretty amazing), and made furry friends at the alpaca farm. i also got my first few lessons in driving a stick - which is definitely a bit nerve-racking when you're learning on an M3, ha. we also went into the neighboring towns to grab meals and do a little wandering.
our favorite meal was at a crazy hippie pizza place called bombfire pizza in sabula, iowa, a little town on an even littler island in the middle of the mississippi river. the restaurant's a riot - full of fun little treasures, peace signs, great food, and a funny old woman playing a dinky piano and singing her heart out a bit off-key. you'd never in a million years think that a place with this much personality would exist in the middle of nowhere, but it does! i'm looking forward to seeing what else we come across along our journey.
