Grand Tour Blog  July 1, 2012

On Friday, we made it to Chicago after a mini-reunion in Ann Arbor with David Lauer, ’08, and enduring a vicious storm in Michigan near the Indiana border which is weird because that is the third time I have been on I-94 near New Buffalo and encountered a strong summer thunderstorm.  Hinstrum (Hindstrum?) was navigator.  See photos of his dashboard work and his reconnoitering of food sources.

We stayed with Liz and Randall Dunn (former Head of school) in Chicago who are temporarily living in a beautiful high-rise apartment on the near north-side until a deal on a house hopefully goes through.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Hunter and Chase Dunn as they are away at camp.

The reunion at Tegan’s and Spencer’s went great because of their warm hospitality and the willingness of Roeperians from many decades to meet and mingle.  We had great discussions based on my questions like:  “What should I tell David Feldman about Roeper and your experiences there?”  & “Was it hard to move from Roeper to the ‘real world?’ ” (the latter a question on many current parents’ minds as how can a kid be so happy and comfortable and then go out to a less welcoming place.)

Linda used an IPad to video-record the discussions and we will edit it and get it out to everybody someday.

In addition to “heavy” discussions we spent a lot of time getting to know each other and finding out how our personal lives were doing in addition to talking about how Rahm is managing the city.

Below are photos from the Chicago gathering.

Kristen Underhill Welch, '77.      

Tegan Jones, '01, Lara  (friend of Matt Gardner), Matt Gardner, '03, Spencer (partner of Tegan), Brent Collins, '98.

 Randall Dunn, Liz Dunn, Danielle De Gain, '04

Brent, Kristin, Jeremy Gloster, '11, Emily  (Jeremy's friend)



Danielle, Randall, Liz, Kristin, Em, Hindstrum, Tegan, Phil Hague, '87, Brent, Jeremy, Matt, Emily, Spencer, Lara.

Hindstrum meets Tegan's dog, Zapatista.

After a leisurely breakfast with Liz and Randall on Saturday morning we had an uneventful drive to St. Paul with a stop so Hindstrum  (Hinstrum?) could meet a giant chicken in Northern Wisconsin.  See below.

We are currently staying at Amelia Becker’s home in St. Paul after spending Saturday evening with Suzanne and Tim Lauer  (Annemarie’s cousins and people connected to us in too many ways to explain).

Tonight is the Twin cities gathering at Pad Thai Grand Café from 6:00-8:00.  Although we don’t have a huge number of Roeperians in the area, we have a high percentage numbers of those folks living here who have RSVP’ed and any Roeper discussion is a good one.   I was a little surprised by how few Roeperians we have listed as living in this area.  It is a very livable, tolerant, liberal kind of place with a vibrant arts scene and strong community spirit – just the kind of place I can see Roeper folks living. 

Stay tuned for photos and news of this event later in the week.