Summer travel during pandemic

Ishta+Wabaunsee+and+Rene+Cabrera+pose+next+to+the+Chicago+bean.+

Provided by Rene Cabrera

Ishta Wabaunsee and Rene Cabrera pose next to the Chicago bean.

This summer was different compared to other years.  Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, whether U.S. has been on “lockdown” since March; however, this did not stop some students from traveling this summer.

This summer Ishta Wabaunsee and Rene Cabrera, both sophomores, traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois with Wabaunsee’s mom and two sisters.  They explained how they stayed safe while traveling.

Cabrera said, “We sanitized our hands constantly, wore our masks always whether they were in a hotel lobby or just walking, and socially distanced.”

Wabaunsee and Cabrera were able to travel for a special reason: Wabaunsee was a part of the farewell at the Minnesota/Wisconsin pageant.

After the pageant, they said that they “shopped and toured the city.”  While in Chicago they said they went to the bean and took pictures.

Wabaunsee said, “While we were going to our hotel, we got a flat tire and had to wait multiple hours for maintenance. It was kind of scary because we weren’t familiar with the location and we were surrounded by drunk people (the bar district).”

Cabrera also said that while they were waiting, they got to experience so many cool and weird people like “someone in a Wonder Women costume riding a bike.”

When asked if there were any major differences between the last time they visited and this trip, they said when they visited current locations, “there were restricted times and longer waits.”

Cabrera also said we visited the silver bean, the time to visit was reduced to only daytime.

Wabaunsee also said “On our first day we ate at Lou Malnati’s and Portillo’s, which is a famous pizza restaurant.”

This summer senior Lily Sadler traveled to Utah with her dad and stepmom.

While in Utah Sadler did a college visit and many other activities.

“I went ziplining, saw major tourist attractions, went kayaking, saw my brother, and met up with some people I haven’t seen in a while.”  Said Sadler.

She also to try the Boston Crème Pie for the first time.  Sadler said they stayed safe while traveling during a pandemic by wearing masks in public places and using hand sanitizer frequently.

Even though this summer was different some people still got the chance to travel out of state.