Cooks in Marquette

cooksinindia
Well at least a few of the Cooks...
We finally arrived on Wednesday evening at around 10:30. We were quite exhausted by that at time as we had been up for a total of 48 hours except for the few cat naps we had on the plane. I am still catching up on my sleep- I've never been good with jet lag.

The flight across was great. A daily nonstop from Delhi to Chicago. A total of 16 hours and 7500 miles. The time went by suprisingly fast. We all agreed it was a way better way to go than the two eight hour flights on the way over (especially considering the missed connection and layover in London.) I thought the coolest thing about the flight was the flight map on our individual TV screens. At any time you could get information about speed, air temp, altitude, arrival time as well as a map of where the plane was during the flight. The average speed was 500mph, temp -60 degrees F, Altitude 40,000 ft. The course we followed was a northern one across Pakistan, Russia, Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, Canada. It was pretty exciting to watch the map as we got closer. It looked like we went right over Mackinac Island and Burt Lake where Mike's parents cottage is.

When we arrived in Chicago we went through customs without any difficulty, rechecked our bags and headed into the city. We took the train right downtown and started heading up Michigan Ave. It was the strangest thing to be in a different big city. The contrast from the huge city we left was amazing. The first thing that struck me- It's freezing. It was in the 30-40's and raining. When we left Delhi it was 100 degrees and we were quite acclimated- didn't even feel that hot at the end. The next impression was how quiet it seemed in comparison. An occasional horn honk or siren but nothing like the constant honking in Delhi. The next thing we noticed was that we could cross the street easily. It took us a couple of intersections to realize we weren't going to get mowed down by a car, bus, cab, cow...

We met our friend Denise and her beautiful baby Harlan for lunch and I shared my observations with her. Denise has lived in Chicago for years and she said she would remember that the next she gets fed up with sirens, construction, busy city etc.

We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory at the base of the John Hancock building. It is the ultimate in American excess. Huge portions, $8 slices of cheesecake, 30 oz sodas with endless refills. We all enjoyed our meals. Quinn ordered a hamburger as big as her head and ate at least 2/3 of it- quite an accomplishment for her.

After lunch we headed back to the airport. When we got there we found out that our plane was delayed. We heard there was snow in Marquette and there were other flights being cancelled so I was nervous about having to spend the night at O'Hare. We were all a little like the walking dead by that time. We finally got on the plane an hour late and breathed a sigh of relief when we landed in Marquette. My sister Sarah met us with a hot pizza and a bag of mail.

We are getting unpacked and settling back into a routine. The kids are catching up with their friends and luckily they have a long weekend because of a teacher inservice today. They'll be back at school on Monday. I am experiencing some car problems that I hope are easily solved (I think just a new battery.) We woke up to a dusting of snow and very cold blustery weather. There are still some leaves on the trees and I'm hoping for a little nice autumn weather before winter sets in.

I spoke with Mike yesterday and he is settled in his new flat. He started school fulltime on Thursday. He seems really happy in the new neighborhood. He was able to take an autorickshaw to work without any problem. It took 20 minutes and cost Rs50 ($1.10.) He was also able to go for a run in a nearby park. We miss him...

I guess that is it for me. I will let Mike take over the blog and maybe chime in every once in a while. I think he is arranging for internet access in his new flat so hopefully we'll hear from him soon. Take care...