Kicked Off the Summer 2018 Yesterday

Yesterday was one of those busy, fun days we have so often around here in northeastern Illinois in the Chain O' Lakes area.

First, we went over to Rosie's Italian Eatery (the old Grasslake Landing) and picked up our Chain Crawl stuff including tee shirt and passport book.  met up with a lot of boating friends.

Then, we went to Taste of McHenry in McHenry, Illinois and hit five of the 15 places before we got full and ran out of time.  We went to After the Fox, Little Chef, Bimbo's, Fox Hole and Corkscrew Pointe (all on the Fox River) and tasted boiled shrimp, BLT pizza, brusschetta, loaded mini Bloody Marys, sangria and cranberry tuna fish croissant.

Later, we drove over to the Fox Lake American Legion on Nippersink Lake and watched a duo perform from 3 to 6 in the afternoon.

Like I Said, Lots of Fun Stuff Going On Around Here in the Summer.  --RoadDog

A Busy Weekend Coming Up

Today, I was at the American Legion VA Hospital Fishing Derby and Picnic earlier and in a few minutes we will be going over to the annual Spring Grove Fish Hatchery Fish Boil at Horse Fair Park.

Saturday, we have an outside blues jam at The Grove in Spring Grove and then several bands outside at the Moose Lodge in McHenry.

Sunday is the Taste of McHenry.

I Need to Week to Rest Up.  --RoadDog

Kicking Off the Summer Around Here

JUNE 5TH, FRIDAY  Our friends Kevin and Kelly had their annual "School's Out" party at their place on Fox Lake.  They have admirably continued with our annual "School's Out" parties since our last one in 2006 when we retired.  Many of our Usual Suspects in attendance as well, plus, we know a lot of their teachers.

JUNE 6TH, SATURDAY:  Listen to Wendy Rice's Saturday Morning Flashback to the year 1969 on WXRT from 8 to noon.  Great way to kick off a morning.

In the afternoon, we went to the Taste of Summer in downtown McHenry, Illinois, and wound up going to ten of the twenty places.

In the evening, the Usual Suspects gathered at Sunnyside Tap in Johnsburg to watch the Hawks-Lightning game.  Sadly, we lost.

JUNE 7TH:  Listened to Bob Stroud's annual "Summer of" show where he plays songs from the summer of 40 years ago.  This year, of course, 1975.  See the last two posts.

Then, we went to Kevin and Kelly's for the annual "Day After" party to finish the keg.  (Well, Two-days After.)  Because of the off-and-on rain, we didn't sit out by the lake, but enjoyed their new basement bar.  We killed the keg.

It Must Be Summer.  --RoadDog

This Past Weekend-- Part 2: History in Ingleside, Eating in McHenry

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH:

I went to the Fox Lake/Grant Township Area Historical Society meeting in Ingleside, Illinois, in the morning. Gas in Fox Lake is "down" to $3.13 ($3.12 for most folks, but really $312.9). Learned that Ray Manzarek of the Doors lived in Ingleside from 1960-1961. Also that two major league baseball players, Billy and Bobby Klaus, came from Fox Lake, Illinois. Today's topic was Fox Lake in 1963, fifty years ago.

In the afternoon, we drove to McHenry for their annual Christmas Walk and Taste of Winter. Twenty places had special food items for $1 to $2. I first went to The Vinyl Frontier record store and bought a four-CD pack of music from the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. We went to Old Bridge Tavern, After the Fox, Corkscrew Pointe, Little Chef, Bimbo's, Fox Hole, the Polish Legion, Gambler's and Main Street Station (the old McHenry train station) before being too full to continue.

Watched Northwestern lose to Michigan and that unbelievable Georgia-Auburn game at the Twisted Moose before coming home. We were wearing our NIU Huskie gear and got all kinds of congrats and high fives as well as discussions. It seems that we have made a lot of fans over the last several years.

At home, we watched the JFK special on CBS. Those muffled drums during the funeral procession still really get me.

Busy Day. --RoadDog