Batavia, Illinois

Noun: The city of energy, a big city with a small town feel, birthplace of Danny Schmitt, and the town that I have fallen even more in love with.

So we made it to Batavia, which is a little suburb outside of Chicago where Danny grew up. The drive was 15 hours long and let me tell you, I felt every second of it. The first leg wasnt so bad, we drove through Cheyenne, Wyoming which was sort of cool for me, and then we had to drive through the ENTIRE sate of Nebraska and the ENTIRE state of Iowa before we could reach Batavia. Nebraska could be one of the most boring states on earth, and even worse we drove through it at night. I feel as if this trip has brought us every kind of weather imaginable ( within reason I should say) we had rain in Utah, blizzard in Vail, Sunshine in fort collins, HEAVY fog in Nebraska and this weird misty rain in Iowa. The drive started out with twenty questions which was really entertaining but unfortunately only for around an hour and a half of the 15 hour trip. Soon after the gams were over Kate and Justin passed out in the back seat.. (right on time as usual) and I stayed awake with Danny to assure he also didnt get tired. This was rough because highway 80 is a two lane highway that is literally a straight away with barely any hills and little to no curves. We stopped for our token redbulls to keep us awake on these long drives. Soon after mine kicked in and i was ready to roll... but Danny was unaffected and needed a break (poor guy drove the entire trip) so I told him I would drive for a couple hours since I was wired. He took a couple hour nap and kate and I entertained ourselves with the signs and attractions on the road.. did you all know that Nebraska is home to : a zoo, a town called "friend" a town called "dix" and also "beaver crossing", a shine to the holy family, and a real life SAFARI. I have to tell you we found this all entirely too funny and Kate and I laughed the entire 2 hours I drove. Finally we were through the HUGE city of Omaha (where the speed limit was like 50 the whole way UGH) and I switched back to the passenger seat. We made it to Iowa soon after that which is literally an entire state full of agricultural fields. What was cool about this to me is that the fields are also hills, (everywhere im from its flat agriculture) and here they were filled with deer and these little antelope looking things, and they were all SO GREEN, it was so gorgeous. I fell asleep for around an hour here to take a nappy nap and woke back up in time to see the university of Iowa and the biggest truck stop in the world (maybe not the world, maybe America) but it was still cool. OOOHHH i also got to see the Mississippi River for the first time. The very last leg of the trip was the shortest and we were soon in the sweet little town of Batavia, at the Schmitt residence. I cant explain how wonderful it feels to know I have a place to sleep that is not the seat of a car or motel room.

Once in town we all showered, thank goodness because we all smelled rancid, and we headed to portillos for some chicago food then we took an EPIC 4 hour nap. The Schmitt house is so wonderful and homey it was really refreshing to be back here. The thing I possibly missed the most about Batavia is Mrs. Schmitts cooking. Everything she makes is just steaming with deliciousness and last night she treated us to baked salmon, brown rice and green beans (UHM FANTASTIC). This house is always so warm and welcoming and I feel so lucky to know this family. After dinner we headed to Dannys softball game where we caught up with his Aunt Cathy (which is always a really fun time :) ) and watched the boys play. Danny had a sweet catch where he rolled and caught it tin the air and a few good hits as well.

We headed to steak and shake after all this because Justin was craving it where we met up with friends: Anthony Lamy and Corey Cretney and Mikey Mahan. After the best fries in the entire world and a owl of delicious chilli we headed to Coreys to have a few drinks and hang out for the night. Strangely enough stores dont sell any alcohol here after 11, this was weird because in Tempe you can buy it 24-7 and I guess I never realized that isnt how it is everywhere else. Coreys house was fun, we hung out in his basement... yes i said basement, what a cool concept, I wish we had basements in Arizona... everyone here has them and they are all so cool. Anyways, it was nice to see friends that I dont usually see, and wonderful to come home and climb into (literally, its a bunked mattress) bed.

Stick around for our adventures at Batavia High school, Geneva boutiques, and Peter Mitchells 21st birthday.