What I Did on Spring Break 2019

I DID NOT GO to the beach during spring break, though I saw plenty of social media posts from those who did. But we had a good Everson “Staycation” anyway. I set what may be my personal high score in bowling when we took Shaun and a friend to Bowlero for an afternoon. (I hit a 195, and while I know I’ve hit the 190s at least once before when I used to bowl a lot, I know I’ve never broken 200).

University of Illinois

We took Shaun down to Champaign-Urbana to see what my alma mater looks like with students roaming around. While we were at University of Illinois, we had an awesome lunch at Destihl Brewery (which didn’t exist when I was there!) and dinner at Papa Del’s, the ultimate downstate pizza destination (which did exist when I went there over 30 years ago!)

We stopped at my old dorm (Scott Hall) which looks exactly the same and the Krannert Performing Arts Center and Music Building, as well as Gregory Hall, home to the Communications/Journalism program (I spent many hours there. We also visited the quad and the student union, where Shaun spied a couple pinball machines and played a game of Ghostbusters.

Galloping Ghost

And on one afternoon, we spent a few hours playing pinball, and other video games — because we finally visited Galloping Ghost, lauded as the nation’s largest arcade. It’s been open for five years, but recently they opened an annex solely for pinball machines, and they had a couple of true rarities, including Alien and Predator (a prototype game that was never actually produced!) Afterwards, we took a drive and had dinner at the only remaining Bennigans in Illinois.

Going home again – CCH and Flossmoor Station

We also drove down to Country Club Hills, IL, the town my wife Geri grew up in (and where I first met her) to see her old neighborhood, and have dinner at Flossmoor Station, a cool little brewery housed in what was formerly the downtown train station. They’ve been there for over 20 years, and these days, they brew a pretty good New England style IPA

So… we may not have gone to the beach for Spring Break, but we did get around and had a good time!