Dabs' VirtualTourist Home Page

Indiana usually has no say in the Presidential primary, our primary is one of the last in the country and by then candidates have been chewed up and spit out or run out of money. But the 2008 Democratic primary is still going strong and Northwest Indiana finally gets to see some of the Presidential candidates! Hillary Clinton was in Hammond recently and on May 1, her husband Bill Clinton, former President of the United States, made an appearance in Whiting. I was just a couple of feet away when he made his way through the crowd, I think one of the secret service men even grabbed my butt ;-)

This was our 5th trip to the island of Jamaica, the 3rd time staying in Montego Bay. Jamaica is a good winter break for us, we can go for few just a few days, it's a quick 3 1/2 hour flight from Chicago, the weather is sunny and warm, the Caribbean waters are the temperature of bath water. And when you've been having a winter like we've been having this year, it's just what the doctor ordered!!!

January 23-31, 2008
I really need to convince Kat (keida84) that London is better in the summertime, this was our 2nd time she talked me into going to London in the winter but we were fortunate to have sunny weather for the whole trip. We managed to complete Kat's long list of must sees with stops in Windsor, Oxford, Stonehenge/Salisbury and Bath, met up with a few of London's Lovely VT ladies for dinner and celebrated Jen's (Jenniflower) birthday with the help of a cross dressing magician.

We decided to try somewhere new for our December getaway from the snow and cold of Chicago, you can read more about it on my Aruba page. I can understand why people keep coming back here, the water is the temperature of bath water, the sand is pure white and soft, no one hassles you and there are good, albeit pricey, restaurants.

Some of the people I've met on VT have become some of my closest friends in "real" life, I've been blessed to find Kat (keida84) who's become one of my best travel buddies, we've tackled Toronto and Chicago in 2005, London, Spain, California, Orlando and Chicago in 2006, Los Angeles twice, Maui and Windsor in 2007, coming up is Kat's 3rd annual visit to Chicago in December and we will be returning to London in January 2008!

I'm also blessed to have met the dynamic duo from Windsor, Hansi (waalewiener) and Lori (LoriPori), who spread joy and sunshine at every VT meeting I've been to with them, Toronto, London, Marbella, Baltimore, Portsmouth and more personal visits to both of our hometowns.

When I'm not busy trying to persuade people to visit Chicago, I'm trying to persuade people to come to Pierogi Fest in Whiting, IN held the last full weekend in July. If you didn't come this year, you missed out on the limited edition Babushka Ladies calendar, yours truly is Ms. December!

Since 2003, various VTers have come to the Fest and 2005 I had my first VT parade participant, sambarnett donned a delightful floral housedress and marched with me in the parade as a babushka lady. In 2006, Pierogi Fest was invaded by Hansi (Waalewiener), Lori (LoriPori), Jen (coair13), Ethan (coair19) and Chet (Yooperprof). In 2007 Hansi and Lori made a repeat visit although I couldn't get Hansi to put on a dress again!

In 2006, Hansi and Ethan were the two loveliest babushka ladies in the history of the Fest. But I think Hansi, decked out in a lovely red lace dress, may have been enjoying himself just a little too much! For some more pics, see my travelogue on my Whiting, IN page, Hansi's Whiting page and Lori's Hammond page.

I joined VT to take advantage of local folks giving help with local stuff, who knows a city better than the locals? So I started amassing my now huge Chicago page, which is updated regularly, to share information about this marvelous city that I have lived in and around since I was 8 and found as I was developing it, I was actually learning a few things! And best of all, I've made virtual friends along the way some who have become real friends, many of which have visited me in Chicago! So if you are coming to Chicago, drop me a line, I'm always happy to answer questions about Chicago or play tour guide to folks from out of town.

OK I confess....
I actually live in Hammond, Indiana, just minutes from the Chicago border. But tell people you live in Indiana and they automatically think you live in a cornfield and spend your mornings feeding the chickens and milking the cows (just ask fellow VTer rmdw)! That assumption couldn't be further from the truth, NW Indiana is surrounded by industry and development is pushing further and further south.