The Road is Paved with Mezzanites.

Today Cara and I traveled from Evanston, IL (just North of Chicago) to St. Louis, MO. Along the way, we stopped to visit a friend working a summer job in Sullivan, IL - a small small town deep in the heart of Illinois Amish Country. Our friend works for a theatre in Sullivan (or should I say - THE theatre in Sullivan), so her work and social life doesn't allow for much interaction with the Amish, but she did feel the need to warn us of the sheer amount of Mennonites we would find en route. I had never seen an Amish person (apart from movies, books, and TV), so this was very exciting.

Cara and I began to discuss the differences between Amish and Mennonite, but Cara could not remember the word Mennonite and created the Mezzanites - hence the title of this post. Oh those Mezzonites and their lobbies.

It was fascinating to watch the Amish ride by in their buggies or on bicycles. They really look like relics from a bygone time. Seeing them was like looking at a window into the past. I found myself wondering what it would be like to be Amish. Would a life removed from the troubles of modern existence - all the complications like TV, Internet, etc. - truly be a life lived for the better? I do think that we often over-complicate our lives, and perhaps the Amish might have some insight into existence that we as modern Internet users do not. This lead me to wonder what Amish dental care is like. I'm fairly positive they don't get braces, but do they use dentists? What oral hygiene methods are available for the Amish? If you know the answer to this, please let me know...

The road today was simple - no mountains or real hills (until we reached St. Louis) -flat farmland prairie as far as the eye could see. I once had a professor who told me that she hated living on the prairie because it was so open that she felt chronically exposed. There was/is no place to hide; you are out there for the world. She preferred living in the mountains - where the world has clear boundaries - a sense of permanence and place. While the landscape was beautiful, with the corn blowing in the breeze and farm houses and commercial argicultural structures dotting the landscape, I tend to agree with her. The wide open expanse of the prairie is beautiful, but at the same time it is oddly disquieting. I think living on the wide expanses of flat land is best left for people other than myself.

I do think I could live in Chicago, specifically the Evanston suburb. Evanston still feels urban and is connected to downtown via the "L" system, but has a small-town atmosphere, and plenty of things to do within walking distance. Recently, I have been thinking of returning to graduate school - possibly earning a PhD. Nothing is set in stone, and it is only one option on the table at this point, but Chicago really made me long for city living again. I mean real city living - with mass transit trains. I have missed using the Metro since I left DC, and I have even missed using the toy People Mover after living in Detroit. I need to be in a place with a subway or "L" system. Returning to school in a major metropolitan area would allow me that very opportunity...

Here are some photos of Evanston.

Here is the Chicago skyline.

Here are some rural Illinois landscapes.

An Amish woman riding a bike.

Illinois is a state that I had never really considered before this trip. I saw it as home to Chicago, and that was about it, but now the state fascinates me. A place with both the big city and the rural - a place of extremes - corporate executives catching trains while surfing their blackberries and Amish in buggies, thier long beards waving in the breeze.

Once in Sullivan, we toured the theatre, and visited with our friend. We ate at Doug Wilson's (of TLC's Moving Up and Trading Spaces fame) restaurant Jibby's. We did not meet Doug Wilson, and I think that might be for the best. I imagine him as being rather rude, and rude people have a greater probability of meeting my bitchy side.

It was great catching up with our not-Amish friend; here are the three of us in Sullivan. (There was a picture of my hair not in her face, but Cara wasn't looking at the camera in that one.)

The Sullivan Courthouse.

I think I should call it a night. Yesterday I fell asleep while blogging. (I did wake up and finish the blog, as you should know if you have been reading...) I want to make sure I have enough sleep for St. Louis. We are spending the whole morning, and I want to fully experience the city.