We left for Chicago on Friday morning. Dave’s friend Rob was good enough to give enough to give us a lift to the airport, even at 7 in the morning. Anna proved that’s she can be content for about the first two hours of a 3 1/2 hour flight. It never got too bad, but I feel a little sorry for the guy seated in front of her, who receive an unsolicted back massage at our toddler’s feet.

After the flight, which arrived ahead of time, we got our bags (slowly, as it took some time to find the large duffel) and our car (slowly, as the “salesman” behind the counter tried extra hard to sell their insurance to the people in front of me. Our delays in the airport allowed us to depart O’Hare at precisely the peak of Chicago traffic, which we traversed just in time for Illinois traffic, which blended into Indiana traffic. It took two hours to make it into Indiana, when we finally pulled off in Gary.

The town of Gary is generally not considered the most scenic part of northwest Indiana, though the Subway where we stopped for dinner may have been the safest, at least the part where the employees were, behind bulletproof gas. We received our sandwiches through a little bulletproof lazy susan.

Finally fed, Anna passed out for the remaining 2 1/2 hours of our drive (a little early by California time), but she was in good spirits upon reaching Grandma’s house, and had a blast playing with her aunts, uncles, and cousins.

As was to be expected, Anna slept absolutely lousy, and the three of us were pretty trashed by morning.