A College Visit Road Trip

Last weekend, I hit the road with Garrett and Hannah and headed north. We went to visit Wheaton College which is located just outside the city of Chicago. This was Garrett's 4th college visit and Hannah's 1st. It was a nine hour drive through parts of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The bulk of our drive was across the open country of Indiana. This was the view from our window for about 4 hours... booooring!

Then, we stopped in Gary, Indiana at a park so that the kids could see Lake Michigan up close and personal. You could see Chicago at a distance.

It was cool and windy and that water was a bit chilly. Can you tell by the look on Garret's face?

We drove into Chicago past the White Sox stadium and the Sears (I mean 'Willis') Tower. I've never been so glad for that GPS! Six lanes of traffic with road construction. We made it through and headed toward the burbs. The next morning, Louie's aunt and uncle who live outside Chicago picked us up at the hotel. We spent the day with them, and Louie's cousin Jenny, her husband Jason and their daughter, Emma who is in Kindergarten. We ate at Red Robin (yum!) and they brought me a sundae (it WAS still my birthday month after all and they have a cool birthday song there).

We got to spend some time in a little neighboring community with a riverwalk and the best little candy shoppe you've ever seen- they were making homemade caramel corn in the window. Then, that evening I went to take the kids to the college. Wheaton offers an overnight stay in the dorm as a cool experience for visiting high school students.

The next morning, I met up with the kids in the dining hall and I had to laugh. They were SO tired. Well, there's your first lesson from the college visit. Stay up late and you will be tired the next day. The other thing was that Garrett was terribly impressed by the dining hall. And I have to admit- the food was good. Then we took the college tour.

Wheaton's motto is "For Christ and His Kingdom". It's a nondenominational, liberal arts Christian college. I like that its an academically rigorous school and Garrett loved that they have a brand new science building. He even got to sit in on a college chemistry class. I think it was a good relaity check- he has a lot to learn.

We sat in on a chapel service while we were there. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings for an hour, all students drop what they're doing and gather for an informal service. They have guest speakers and music. It's less of a sermon and more of a devotion. Apparently, they tend to be more serious at the beginning of the semester (the president of World Vision was there 2 weeks ago) and more light hearted as the semester nears the end and students are stressed (the creator of Veggie Tales is coming in early December). They also have a lot of hidden gems on campus like the Billy Graham Center and the Wade Center. The BG Center (Billy Graham was a Wheaton Grad) hosts a lot of events and has an awesome museum. The Wade Center was established because a Wheaton professor was friends with C. S. Lewis and when he died, Lewis donated a lot of his writings and personal possessions, including his desk and pen, to the college. There is even his personal wardrobe that was the inspiration for the one in the Narnia series! The center also has RR Tolkien's desk where he penned the Lord of the Rings series. Cool, huh?

After the tour and an orientation session where we got down to the nitty, gritty about applications, tuition and scholarships, Garrett had an interview with an admissions counselor. He has officially applied to Wheaton and he will hear back from them in December. We ended our day with a brand new experience- deep dish pizza. It was really different than any pizza I've ever had before. Not sure if I like it or not- the jury's still out on that one. Then it was back in the car for another nine hours driving back through the corn fields of Indiana. Hannah handled the trip well as you can see.

I'm really glad I got to take this trip with Garrett and Hannah. In some ways it was really strange and new- dropping my kids off at a college dorm? Since when are they that old? But in some ways, this trip was just like so many of the road trips I took them on when they were little. As I drove and listened to them interact, talking back and forth. Or as I watched their personalities shine through as we experienced new things together... it was just the same as when they were preschoolers!

They've been very much like twins since Hannah was born. Just twelve months apart, they were pushed in the same stroller, went to preschool together, were always in the same class at church , went to the same school and for the last several years have had many classes together. As we drove toward Wheaton, Hannah said she wanted to go to college where Garrett went. But on the way home, Garrett was more convinced that Wheaton was his #1 choice and Hannah was convinced that she didn't like it for her (too cold among other things). I cannot imagine them apart from each other. They've walked side by side for so long. But I know that the day will come- soon- when God may have them going in different directions in order to accomplish His will in their lives. Until then, I'm glad they had this weekend to walk side by side a little while longer.