Friday July 20, 2018
Niagara Falls, NY to Chicago, IL
Drive time: 7am-4pm
The amazing sound of birds woke us up by 5:30am today. I have never heard so many different varieties of birds. Usually, I would be pissed to be woken up so early- let’s be honest! But today I knew I really wanted as much time as possible in Chicago so I woke up Jason (risky on my part!) and we got the process started.
I actually can’t take any credit for the food! I am extremely lucky that Jason went on a 4 day hike recently and has all of the camp cooking down to a science! I cleaned up the tent and got the lunches switched out of the primary cooler into the small lunch box cooler. Best idea we’ve ever had! No need to open up the big cooler throughout the trip and everything is kept as cold as possible.
Breakfast
Jason made oatmeal. Quick, cheap, and nutritious! He added blueberries and bananas to his while I like mine with a dollop of peanut butter. Trader Joe’s chunky peanut butter with chia and flax seeds is my favorite! We also had instant coffee with coconut milk.
On the road
We packed up quick, showered, and got on the road just before 7am. The weather was okay until we got to Ohio, which was filled with on and off torrential rain fall. Not so much fun at all. We finished Trevor Noah’s amazing autobiography “Born a Crime” on audible. A must listen!
Snacks 
Again, Trader Joe’s for the win for snacks today! Herbs and spices on popcorn! Yesss! We also ate a half of a bag of plums, which was my first time ever having them. Yes you read that correctly. I was certainly not an adventurous eater when I was young, so when I tell you it’s easy to be vegan, I promise I’m not lying! There are so many options of fruits and veggies I’m sure you haven’t tried yet either! It’s maybe my favorite part about my transition to veganism.
Chicago
First stop- Montrose Dog Beach!! Bear and Patch are such troopers!! They’ve just been chilling in the back seat, mostly sleeping, sometimes whining for treats, but otherwise perfect travel companions! It was pouring when we got to Chicago so our plan of going to Millennium Park needed to be put on hold. In looking along the shoreline on the map, we saw a dog beach pretty close by and decided to go. The pups looooved it!! I must admit, I did not realize the Great Lakes would basically look like the ocean does back home. The dogs loved it! Bear’s limp looked slightly worse today so he will need an extra dog massage every day for a few days to see if we can help him out. He just seems stiff from laying down all day. We shall see!
Second- Millennium Park
The venue looked incredible! They were setting up for an orchestra that night. The sound system looked unreal!
The Bean was next and also very cool! This was something Jason really wanted to see so it was a must do in Chicago.
Video and Water installation.
This piece was SO cool!!! They had a video projection of people’s faces with varying expressions with water coming out from different places. Amazing!! 
Our camper home
Airbnb is so cool! When we didn’t really love any of the campgrounds near Chicago, I decided to check out Airbnb just to see if anything was different and affordable. Well we found the best thing ever! This tiny orange camper in someone’s backyard! They had the most beautiful veggie garden and chickens too! And- Maude! The cutest puppy after ours! 
Dinner
We got to the camper when it was dark, so we decided to quickly unpack and find some food in the area. Our Airbnb renter told us about a place called Munch that had vegan and vegetarian fare and outdoor seating. It was only about 10 minutes away so we headed over. Unlike our area, the restaurants closed early at 9 so we had to do take out. I would’ve eaten here two or three more times it was so good!
I had vegan lasagna with lentil soup! The tomato sauce on the lasagna was incredible! Not too sweet and the best consistency. The tofu was cooked fantastic in it too with mushrooms and eggplant throughout.
Jason had the jackfruit tostada special with an amazing roasted chipotle salsa! Soooo spicy! He even put vegan cheese on it so I could share (that’s true love right there!). Roasted beets were his chosen side and they were straight up earthy and good, everything you’d expect it to be!
They had vegan cake balls for a dessert option, so you KNOW we had to grab those too! Triple chocolate, peanut butter, and mint chocolate! Yum!
Vegan On the Rhode 