Black Coffee ~~ the piece of land ~~

This was the 2nd visit we are entitled before it's actually switching the ownership. What brings us this decision? Maybe "fate" is a good word to begin this story.

Our close friend Xiao Liu has invested a big farm in the area. We've visited his farm and like the surroundings. We understand that to take care of a farm is not easy, in fact, it's a very hard full-time job. We hesitated to invest in a similar property. Then an opportunity has come.

It was in early May, this friend noticed that a piece of land just near his property is listed for a sale. The size of the land is a little bigger and the price is only half. There is no cottage built up yet in this property, so the price is not as high as others. Maybe that's what we want. We are not planning to live a life as a farmer yet. 

We placed the offer with another friend, who is always looking for rural land for one of the investing profile. Maybe after several years, we would want to develop this land by providing our projects and blueprints. 

Lemon Tea ~~ Town of Orillia

We visited this lovely town on a sunny Saturday morning. 

We stopped by a lakeside, wondering whey there was a group of people gathering in a coffee, laughing and drinking.  A young couple sitting in the shape of a tree told us that because there was a wedding, so people in the coffee were dressing up. We realized what a great day to have a wedding, sunshine, not too hot, not cold yet. I think the butterflies agree with me too. They hang around this light purple flowers that are outside of the coffee. 

When we walked by where the boats and yards are parked, it looks like there was an event today. People were wearing drama clothes. Until we saw the advertisement. Wow, it's the Pirates Festival today! No wonder, we felt into a town full of pirates now ~~

Lunch was at a historical coffee shop. Thanks for hubby's research, we ended had a wonderful meal at the over hundred year's shop. I am sure we will come back again to this town and have another lunch here. 

Lemon Tree ~ Chicago Botanic Garden ~

No more than a better day like this to visit the famous "打卡" spot for this area. Sunshine, blue sky, casual walking along with the greens, sometimes just sit down and enjoy the summer breeze...

Photos, photos and photos...so no more talking, just images!

Lemon Tee ~ Day 1 in Chicago Down Town ~

This is a super city, full of skyline buildings in the scenes. I enjoyed walking along the lakeside. There is a river across the city, most of the people will choose to take a city tour towards the cuisine.

It's late summer now, the soft wind blows summer breeze from the lake. We saw many young couples were wearing their shinning, romantic wedding dresses, taking the photo, chatting and laughing along the sidewalks. What an attractive scenery!

At this moment, hard to believe that this is one of the cities of recording the higher crime rates in North America. 

Lemon Tee ~ Driving to Chicago ~

Because of the relatives of my father-in-law, it brought up a chance for me to join the short visit to Chicago. The 4th biggest city in the US.

The carpool team made up of 5 people, my hubby, me and my father-in-law, another close couple friend. It took us 3 hours to reach the border in the Sonia area. Three of us were holding a Canadian passport, and two need to present to the custom. That day was Friday, so the waiting time is a little bit longer.   While waiting, we saw the customs officer were very patient and asked detail questions to those applicants who are ahead of us. Some of them were even rejected immediately or kept to another small room for further processing. Finally, it's our turn, the officer was a young guy, his questions were very comment, as a result, our group is okay to continue the journey. But it was already about two hours later.  

We drove another 5 hours and approaching to the states of Illinois. Funny stories here was when we were passing the toll road, we could not recognize the toll stations, therefore we were missing 2 or 3 times for the charges. According to the couple friend, if we receive the bill later in Canada, it could cost up to 50 Canadian dollars. No way! We definitely would like to pay off here, on the toll station notification, it showed the route only cost $1.5! Lucky that local friends told us we can search the information online and pay the estimation or pay online with 7 days. 

It's a long and happy journey, we arrived at uncle's house at about 6:30 PM.