A Double Second Cousin Homecoming: Patty Mugavero (Day 1)

It's a knick-knack, Patty Whack, give the frog a loan. Is that the punchline to my favorite joke, or is that a hint to this week's guest? It is both!!! My double second cousin once removed, Patty Mugavero came down for a visit, and we had the longest It's My Treat in the history of the series. Going to have to break it up into two because it was two days long.

Day One: This is a special family member post. Patty is my mom’s double second cousin, so that makes her my double second cousin once removed. Why is she a double? Because back in the lineage two brothers married two sisters and we are all descendants of them. I don't understand it, but Patty does. She is one of the ones who keeps track of our family history. We spent a lot of time talking about family members that I never met or don't remember. I'd tell you some of that history, but I have already forgotten all of the names, so I am no help. If you know me, you know that I am horrible with remembering a single name when I hear it, so when I get a bunch at once, I am lost.

While I am sure seeing me was plenty of reason to come down from the West Suburbs, one of the real reasons she wanted to visit was to see her old college stomping grounds. She was a U of I grad back in the 70's and hasn't been back since the early 80's. A couple things have changed since then, so it was an eye-opening experience for her.

But let's start with the food. Patty was an Urbana person when she lived here, so she wanted to concentrate on that side of things for her visit. She wanted something down-home, so we chose Courier Cafe in downtown Urbana. That used to be my go-to recommendation for people who were coming to visit. Good food and a great interior space. It never disappointed. But recently I've had a couple of less than stellar meals there, so I wasn't sure about going back. But I had heard that the breakfasts were still great, so I had the French Toast and Patty had a bacon omelet. I was happy with my choice. It was very good. Our waitress, India, was also a joy. She was nice and attentive even though we were on the far side away from everyone else.

It is always good when the start of a journey goes well, so we were ready to take our next step. It was exploring time. Patty had a list of places that she stayed when she lived here and wanted to see if they were still around. The only thing we had to go on were street names and a general idea of the distance from campus. Paint colors confused us when we were looking, but we found all of the different places that she lived. It brought back a lot of memories.

The next part of our journey sure didn't bring back memories. We headed down Green Street for a tour of the main drag of campus. Everything is changed there. No Steak and Shake, no Deluxe, but lots of high-rise apartment buildings and new restaurants and businesses. And lots of students. The University had added tens of thousands of students since I started at the school in the early 90's, so it must have been even smaller when Patty was there in the 70's.

After driving around for a while, we parked and headed to the quad. Now this is the best part. The quad has not changed much at all. Patty was a Rhetoric major back in the day, so we both have fond memories of our building, the English Building. One of the nice students on campus even got a picture of us standing in front of it. Even though I live here in Champaign, I hadn't been on campus for a while, so it brought back a flood of memories to me too. I still remember the tree I used to sit at when I was contemplating life and writing poetry. Glad that the old trees are still there.

We continued our walk toward ISR and then down to Krannert. More good memories. She mentioned the Thunderbird, so we walked down to see the Canopy Club which is at that location now. They still have the Thunderbird signs and mosaics up so it was nice to have a little bit of that history still in place. We then walked over to the Music Building and by Smith Hall. Lots of music going on on campus.

But our choice of music for the night was not on campus, but instead back in downtown Urbana at the Rosebowl. Ryan Groff was playing a solo show outdoors. It was a prefect night to sit out and hear great music. Patty was very impressed with his singing. Not bad for a Thursday night in a small town in Central Illinois. I knew she would like to hear him, because who wouldn't? Great voice and songs. I love his band, Modern Drugs, but even solo he commands the stage. It was also nice to hear some old Elsinore songs mixed in there too.

After a long day of walking and driving around we closed off the night with a small meal at Perkins. Patty was staying at the hotel in the same location, so it made sense to get something there. We both got some soup (mine was chicken noodle and she got tomato basil) and she also got a salad. It was a perfectly fine Perkins meal. Love that they stay open late, and you can get an expected meal when you go there.

So that was day one. We mainly reminisced about family and going to school down here. It was fun to catch up and see each other. The next post will be about today's adventures. Here is a tease to get you to stay around: today was filled with lakes and creeks and talks of writing.

Things we missed out on: if any of you remember old time downtown Urbana, Patty said there was a place that had all you could eat BBQ one day a week where you could go and get a good meal. We didn't find any trace of anything like that. If you remember a place like that, let me know.

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