Keeping Warm - Travelling South...

Typical red farm barn near St. Donatus IA

Throughout the cold-snap affecting the north eastern United States we notice that the usual expression "have a nice day" when you depart a business has been universally replaced by "keep warm". TV, radio and print media are full of "be careful" and "stay indoors", but we haven't noticed any exhortations to say "keep warm". We don't know how this has become so common! Maybe we don't use the right apps? The news is now pointing out how the temperatures are lower than at the south pole! One hundred year records have been broken.

Spectacular church under steep bluff near St. Donatus IA

As we head south, following the Great River Road on one side or the other, keeping warm is becoming just slightly easier. The polar vortex has gone somewhere else. It's not that temperatures are rising much, but we just feel that it is just a little bit less bitter. In the Quad Cities IL/IA, for example, we were prepared to park and rush into shops, cafes and bars without our full compliment of clothing on. Maybe we are getting acclimatised, but the temperatures were still well below zero in Celcius.

Christmas themes decorate many houses, this one near Bellevue IA.

Bridge over Mississippi River between Sabula IA and Savanna IL

Every town features unique Christmas decorations. This example, Savanna IL.

Over three days, we made the drive from Dubuque IA to St. Louis MO, with overnights at the Quad Cities and Hannibal MO. When we are on the west side of the river, we are in Iowa, then Missouri. On the east side, it's Illinois all the way. We swap from one side to the other based on the towns we want to visit, and where the light is, for photographs. But the sky is mostly grey and the light isdead. Sunshine increasingly became a rare commodity. For the first time, we saw clear water on the Mississippi River at about Port Byron, IL. But the water was still mostly thinly frozen and no sign of any attempts at navigation. No ice fisherman any more - we suppose the ice is too thin. The countryside is still 100% snow covered. We made some navigational blunders following the river road stretch from the Quad Cities to Hannibal. The area is called "yellow banks" which we assume is a reference to the endless cornfields which are, at the moment, covered in snow. We were slowed down by a snowstorm and a whiteout for about half an hour. We did see an unexpected covered bridge somewhere in Henderson County, and the huge Mormon Temple in the tiny riverside town of Nauvoo was an amazing sight. The river was really wide along here. And departing Hannibal, we had to deviate from our planned riverside route because of a train derailment. We passed some pretty towns on the Illinois side of the river, and managed to miss entirely the supposedly must-see village of Elsha.

Penny farthing sculpture in Port Byron IL town square.

Suprise discovery of a covered bridge in Henderson County IL

Wherever we stay at night, we have adopted the habit of calling into a bar somewhere within walking distance (if possible) of our hotel. We get tips from the hotel receptionist and the app Yelp. Our drinking habits have solidified. Clare chooses a cocktail from the menu, and Mike has taken to ordering Jim Beam neat. It's cheaper than drinking Glenfiddich, and much more available. We are enjoying these bar visits - we go to trouble to engage the bar-keeper in conversation - this is not difficult because they know it helps them get a better tip. Mostly, barmen and servers easily recognise that we are not locals, but they can rarely guess correctly where we are from. A waitress at the Crumbles Cafe in Savanna IL seemed to think we were the most unusual customers she had ever dealt with - it's a small town way off the tourist trail!

The Quad Cities straddle the Iowa/Illinois border and comprise Davenport (where we stayed), Bettendorf IA, Moline (where we found a good Walmart) and Rock Island IL (where we got lost getting out of town). Our Great River Road bible Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen, had warned us that the Quad Cities was an "enormous sprawl". We didn't hang around here any longer than necessary, but, superficially, we'd agree with that assessment.

Iconic Mormon Temple in the tiny town of Nauvoo IL

Hannibal MO is the boyhood hometown of Mark Twain, and it has the cutest historical downtown. On our visit, you could shoot a cannon up the main street and not hit anyone. Then we realised, this is a tourist town that may only come alive on weekends. Some shops were only open Friday - Sunday. But we found an open cafe, Java Jive, where, despite language and nomenclature difficulties, they tried very hard (and succeeded) at getting our coffee order right.

Snow clearing by the Mark Twain museum, near his boyhood home, in Hannibal MO.

The Mississippi River is crossed by dozens of spectacular steel bridges, this one from Louisiana MO into Illinois.

Road signs highlighting the Great River Road and the St. Louis MO area where the Illinois and Missouri Rivers join the Mississippi.

Approaching St. Louis, we had seen flocks of swans flying overhead with their necks outstretched in a beautiful formation, then we heard on the radio that rare Trumpeter Swans could be seen at West Alton on the northern outskirts of the city. These swans were hunted to near extinction decades ago, but are reported to be making a comeback. As we went through West Alton, we saw a bird sanctuary right at the intersection of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, and went into it. Lo and behold, we spied some of the endangered species on a rare patch of open water. There was only one other car there, and they had a camera with a much longer lens than ours! This tiny encounter with rare wildlife was a major highlight of the day.

Lighthouse at Grafton IL, together with statue of trumpeter swans?

Rare trumpeter swans have been seen in open water patches near St. Louis MO, and is distingishable by his black beak.

Chicago - cold and Christmassy

From the warm comfort of Santa Monica, watching the extreme storms in the midwest on the Weather Channel made us quite nervous about the flight to Chicago. But it seemed that the bad weather had moved further east by the time we were due to fly, and the American Airlines flight was more or less on time. However, we had forgotten how awful the check-in process at LAX is, and with Christmas on the way, and huge crowds travelling, this turned out to be the worst part of the day's journey. First world problem, huh!

The iconic Wrigley Building towers over the steel bridge of Michigan Ave and the Chicago River.

Chicago is known as the windy city, but for now it is the freezing conditions which best characterise it. Even the locals were complaining about how cold it is. At one sunset, the temperature was -14C, and with the wind chill factor, the TV News announced that it felt like -23C. Walking up the Magnificant Mile of Michigan Ave and the other interesting streets of this bustling city is excruciatingly painful when the wind is up, but delightfully brisk when it is still. Everyone is completely rugged up, some so that only their eyes were showing. Our good clothing kept us pretty warm, but we both suffered in the face and hands. Clare lashed out and bought a knee length coat from Macy's. Not surprisingly, it was the only one in the store not on special!

Seasonal decorations adorn Macy's in State Street.

It's really tough in this weather, but we gather that the present cold snap is exceptional. The road salting trucks are being kept busy, but while it's very cold, there hasn't been much actual precipitation. Some snow fell on Christmas Eve, maybe 20mm, and so we had a white Christmas. But it warmed up to a mere -1C on Christmas Day which seemed to cheer up the locals, but to us, it just turned the sidewalks slushy and slippery.

Freezing in front of illuminated Christmas Tree near River Esplanade.

The most distressing thing about this downtown area of Chicago is the homeless and beggers. There are several on every block and at every corner. Each carries a handwritten sign telling some sad story or another. There's old and young, male and female, some particularly pitiful becuse their children are with them. They are unfailing polite in their requests, even when rejected, and tend to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It must be horrendous for them to sit or stand on the pavement in this bitterly cold city. We saw some young people giving old clothes to these poor souls.

In the 3pm near dark, a Loop Train rumbles over Wabash St just south of the river.

Again, Bob put us into a hotel (Conrad, on N Rush St) which was spectacularly well located, right in the middle of shops and restaurants, and backing onto Michigan Avenue. From here, we could walk everywhere, including to our Christmas Lunch at the Drake Hotel. We discovered some great eating places within 100m of the hotel. We had a good Asian meal at P.J. Changs. Another was Seasons 52, specialising in healthy (but delicious) food with courses all less than a specific calorie level. The friendly waitress there, Tina, gave us some good tips which we followed up. We had one breakfast at the very popular Eggsperience, their specialty being self-evident. And she also told us about the brand new Eataly, apparently an import from New York, which is a huge barn of coordinated deli, eating, coffee and wine experiences - similar to the Fratelli Fresh concept, but much more complex and 10 times as big. Great Lavazza coffee and fresh croissants were had from there!

Lavazza Espresso appeals to the locals at Eataly.

Navy Pier marks the easterly extreme of Chicago as it reaches into Lake Michigan

Navy Pier is a now restored Navy facility complete with restaurants, convention facilities, a big ferris wheel and an Imax theatre. It's nice and warm inside, which is one reason we visited! There is a very interesting Stained Glass Museum inside, but the major interest for us is outside. The harbour around the pier suddenly froze up in the cold snap, and we were lucky enough to see an ice-breaker charging through the fresh ice to break it up and create some navigational paths.

Some contemporary examples from the Museaum of Stained Glass on Navy Pier.

The frozen edge of Lake Michigan just off Navy Pier.

Ice breaker attacking the freshly frozen surface of Chicago Harbour after a sudden cold snap.

Millenium Park is the publicly accessible focal point of a large urban renewal project just south of the Chicago River. This is a beautiful and modern open space, and would be very crowded in warmer weather. When we visited, the free ice-skating rink was quite busy (we refrained from giving it a go) and many people were taking selfies of their distorted reflections in the highly polished and geometrically intriguing Cloud Gate statue.

Disorted reflections of the city in the Cloud Gate in Millenium Park.

We had Christmas Dinner at the Drake Hotel, a special splurge we had planned and booked some weeks ago. The hotel and the dining room were nice olde world, the carollers were very good and a lot of fun, but, frankly, it was not worth the premium paid. The food was delicious and well presented, but the menu was limited and was certainly nothing special befitting the occasion. The items available would have been on their everyday menu. The decadent dessert buffet was quite disappointing. We think Americans enjoy their gastronomic celebration at Thanksgiving, and Christmas lunch is just another meal to them. Other patrons were quite delighted, and maybe we Aussies are just too spoiled and fussy? Maybe we were just missing our regular Christmas Dinner with all the special trimmings which were missing in this meal. The hotel public areas were beautifully decorated. Another large restaurant at the Drake was packed with well dressed people taking high tea. Again, we think this is a daily affair at the Drake.

The carollers at the Drake Hotel didn't know any Australian Christmas Carols, but sang "Rocking' Around the Christmas Tree" at our request.

After our Christmas lunch, we went to the movies and saw American Hustle, a great show requiring no little concentration and highly recommend by David & Margaret. The theatre was packed to the gills. Movie-going on Christmas Day is obviously a popular pastime in this cold climate.