Day 2: Notre Dame and more

Day 2 had us going from Hudson OH to South Bend, Indiana.  South Bend was our first sightseeing stop, as one of DJ's favorite movies is Rudy, and he has sometimes admired the Fighting Irish football team.  We attempted to do a letterbox in the library at Notre Dame, but that didn't work out as planned. Oh well.  Walking to the library did find us staring at the The Word of Life mural as it overlooks a very pretty reflecting pool and outdoor park.  The World of Life mural is more commonly known as TouchDown Jesus, which seriously-that's exactly what it looks like.  Jesus with his arms in the air, forming the touchdown sign, overlooking the football stadium.  It's pretentious, hilarious and spectacular all at the same time.

We signed up for a 3pm tour and had an interesting time listening to John and Don, our learned tour guides.  Notre Dame has an insane amount of athletic facilities all in a concentrated area. (See that UConn?  No need to drive to Harford/East Harford/middle of nowhere ice rink) Their basketball arena is seriously impressive-huge, air conditioned, with a full restaurant and museum area wall of fame for ALL sports, not just football & basketball.  We were hurried through it during the tour, but headed back later for a closer look.  During the tour, Don & John discussed the varying successes of basketball, football and fencing and couldn't resist a few comments on certain other women's basketball teams, likely in response to Alex and DJ wearing their UConn hats.  Speaking of-on our way out, we saw a rather tall lady on the phone near the women's basketball offices.  Ruth Riley, in the flesh.  She said hi, but we didn't stop to chat-in fact, we did a double take shortly thereafter before we confirmed to ourselves, that yes, it was Ruth Riley.  I wonder if she noted the hats?

The stories and tour of the football stadium was pretty fun, the locker room is huge and the tales of the coaches and why they always play Navy were interesting as well.  DJ was way more fascinated than I was and was nearing a level of giddy that's usually reserved for superbowl wins and final four victories. After that we headed to dinner on campus at a cute little pub place, then settled in for a long drive to Illinois. We had originally planned on traveling through Iowa, but waze told us that going through Wisconsin and Minnesota was faster. So, here we are in Rockford, Illinois, home of the Rockford Peaches.  :)  Incidentally, traveling on the various turnpikes through Illinois is highway robbery-I lost count at 4 tolls, and of course, they don't take EZ-Pass. Also on the note of Illinois turnpikes-their rest stops/service plazas/travel areas are called oases.  I wonder who thought that up?


Daily stats: 
442 miles
3 states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois) including 1 new one to add to my list. (Indiana)
Lots of horses, sheep and squirrels
1 storied university
Lots of construction traffic
Too many tolls
3 Notre Dame souvenirs (magnet, shirt & football. I'll let you all figure out who got 
what.)
Corn. Lots of corn.