Day Thirtysix - Jul 18, 2004

Our day began in the undeniably exciting interior of a house. Don't get us wrong, we love the bus and all, but occasionally a house and bed are a very nice change of pace. When we finally surfaced from the opulent spledor of our private room and bath, our gracious host family was already in full swing. Something about children, we hear. After breakfast, we headed back to Lake Geneva for a hike along the shoreline. Lake Geneva is an area where Chicago's elite have historically had weekend and summer homes. These second (or more likely one of a multitude) residences are of a whole other level on Lake Geneva, originally being the turn of the century vacation cabins of the Wrigley's, the founder of U.S. Steel, the founder of Marshall Fields, the guy who invented the milk bottle cap, and the like. Some are still in the hands of old money, many more are in the hands of new money, but the common thread is money.

So, where is the place for four teachers in all of this, you might ask. Ironically, it's right in the mansions' front yards. The is a public access easement along the entire 20 mile distance of the lakefront. It's a fun path, with each section maintained by the land owner and representing hundreds of different feelings about commoners on their lawns. We walked along quite a section of the trail, marveling and ogling at the houses. We've now got some good ideas as to what we'll do with our second and third million.

After our trek, we climbed aboard a boat for a well deserved ice cream social and Lake Geneva mansion tour, and saw much more of the lake than we did by foot. It was a neat ride, sort of like a museum on water with ice cream. After our lake cruise we headed back to Joey and Anissa's more modest turn of the century home to eat more excellent grilled food, enjoy good conversation, and to continue to watch two ridiculously cute children. After the kids were put away, we kept Joey and Anissa up well past there bedtime for the second night in a row.