Christmas Shopping in Chicago and Getting Snowed In

On Saturday morning, Mom, Courtney, and I headed to Michigan City to catch the train into Chicago. Between icy roads and a semi-truck doing a jack-knife in front of us, we missed the first train and had to wait for the second train, which was late. Courtney and I were pretty sure our toes were going to break off while we waited for the late train! We had a blast visiting the stores, seeing the Christmas decorations, and walking along the lake, which was much colder than when we lived there this summer! I must say...heated sidewalks are the way to go! It was fun being back in the city and seeing the differences from the summer. The way home presented new challenges because there was a winter blizzard and severe icing of the roads in West Michigan. After driving 25 mph and seeing a stretch of highway that looked like the Fourth of July because of all the police lights helping the semi-trucks and cars in the ditch, we pulled off in Benton Harbor and stayed the night. The next morning's roads didn't fare much better and we crawled home on the icy roads. The hour trip to my folks' house took us 2.5 hours. Gotta love West Michigan winter storms! Driving east back to Ann Arbor, I was very glad to see the amount of snow and ice diminish. Terrific time in the city, but crazy times on the road!