Adventure Time!

The Eaddiest Beattiest Birthday Party

We got to play real-life Tetris today, except none of the luggage disappeared when I got it perfectly loaded into the trunk of the Murano. I’m still not entirely sure how I got everything to fit. I think it was mostly the soft stuff that filled the odd empty spaces. I should invent amorphous luggage.

Once we got everything loaded up, we stopped by Boston Store in the mall to search for deals. I kept getting stuck on dress shirts and jackets, first because non-universal sizing is ridiculous, and then because even at 60% off, some of the prices were still super outlandish. I dig a brand-name thing occasionally, but not for the things I was finding. I did actually end up finding a great deal on a puffy Nautica coat and a Chromecast Ultra. I wished the store was closer to home so I could really spend some time there finding the best deals.

When we finished shopping, Eaddie decided she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s for her birthday. It wasn’t quite as nostalgic as I thought it might be. I think it was mostly due to the location. It was, however, a great time once we got past the eating. They have a new system for gaming where you just get a certain amount of time instead of having to spend a finite number of tokens. I think the whole experience actually lost something for not having the tokens, but at least they kept paper tickets.

From there, we headed out of town, stopping by a Harbor Freight to pick up a locking hitch pin. We made it to Chicagoland in just about the amount of time Google Maps stated, and with only minimal cursing over toll roads. Overall I think I’m just glad we didn’t die while following other traffic at 20 over the limit. Years of offensive driving habits prepared me for this.

You can’t show people how many you are anymore!

Adventure Time!

Dude, you’re going to Dells!

It was finally water park day. Beth got us four tickets to the Mt. Olympus water park in Wisconsin Dells, which seemed like a larger version of Branson. It was basically a series of water park resorts all in a long strip of land near the lake. Each resort was relatively small by itself, but every single place on the road had a novelty statue at the very least, and many places had indoor water slides.

Mt. Olympus was a bit smaller than I expected. We pretty well covered the whole park in just a couple hours. The water slide lines were mostly annoying, and it was pretty hot outside to add to the discomfort. The wave pool was small and tubeless, so you weren’t even allowed to swim out past where you could touch the bottom. I think we all really had the most fun climbing around the kid’s area where they had a couple tubeless slides and tons of random water falling everywhere.

After the park, we went back to Beth’s place to pick up what the girls had forgotten, and then we took Beth and Bryan out to dinner. It was a bit of a drive to Olive Garden, but I’m an expert at multi-lane interstate driving now. Dinner was pretty good, and afterward we had birthday cake for Eaddie and Beth back at her condo.

That wrapped up our evening in Wisconsin. We packed up most everything when we got back to the hotel, and we’ll head to Chicago in the afternoon. Hopefully Chi-Town will treat us at least as well as Madison.

Did you find your retainer?

Adventure Time!

Henry Vilas Zoo

It was a bit too cloudy today, so the girls decided against the water park. Instead, they found a nearby zoo. The Henry Vilas Zoo is a donation-only zoo that was just a few minutes away from our hotel. We stopped for lunch at QDOBA Mexican Eats, which was basically a Chipotle. Everyone loved it, so I felt validated for skipping the McDonald’s.

The girls really enjoyed the zoo. It was smaller, but probably the perfect size before being too big to enjoy in one visit. We missed the aviary that closed earlier than the rest of the park, which was a bummer for me, but otherwise it was a good visit.

After the zoo, we went by a Target to pick up some laundry detergent. It was a bit of a chore to get there through the university campus, but we made it. The Target was big enough to have a parking garage on the ground floor and escalators that carried your shopping cart back down for you. It was pretty impressive. Upstairs it was just the usual stuff, but parking was neat and unexpectedly easy.

Back at the hotel, Summer took laundry to a place just next door to the hotel while the girls and I went swimming. I’ve spent more time in a pool this year than probably the last ten years combined. It’s been fun, but my hair is over it.

That tallhorse is hungry.

Uncategorised

West Towne

We decided to go to the nearby mall today since we were expecting rain. We started with breakfast downstairs, and then headed to the mall. It was pretty big, and there were quite a few sales going on, seemingly due to the death of retail. We’ll probably be going back again before we leave, to visit the Boston Store that’s going out of business. Yet another store selling the fixtures out from under themselves.

Everyone got hungry for a late lunch, so we had some Chinese from the food court. It was really good, and it kept us all going until we got back to the hotel for more evening snacks and pool time. Overall another light, yet successful day.

I miss Russellville water.

Adventure Time!

Costco

I crashed pretty early last night after running on very little sleep over the course of our trip up here. I caught up on sleep well enough that I got up and around at a decent hour. Breakfast at the hotel was pretty good, and after a slow start to getting around, we went to pick up the girls.

I wanted to go to Costco with Beth to see if they had the Nest Hello and Google Home Mini bundle that was available online. We stopped and got Starbucks for everyone on the way. We didn’t spend very long in Costco before Beth had to run, and the rest of us went to another local store to pick up some things for her.

After dropping that off, the girls wanted to go to Culver’s for some burgers. That was good, but I think it made everyone tired. We headed back to the hotel to get unpacked before dropping Summer off at the gym.

The girls and I went to a closing Toys “R” Us to look for deals. The store only had a couple days left, and it was super depressing to see all of the fixtures being sold out from under them. The carcass had already been picked pretty clean, but we bought a couple things before crossing the street to Dick’s to kill some more time. After that we went to a comic book store, and then the Dollar Tree in the shopping center next to Planet Fitness.

When Summer came out, we went back to the hotel to swim for a while before crashing for the night.

Oversnacked

Uncategorised

Pupp Yup?

I only got about three hours of sleep, so I was dragging all day long. We survived the night without any permanent injury or loss. In fact, the shower was tall enough for me to wash my hair without bending over backwards, and it had more pressure than the one at the Red Roof Inn we stayed at the night before, so overall I guess it was a success. I still ended up paying over $15 an hour to sleep, but at least I had power and a shower.

We got up and went to Greenbush Bakery to pick up a bunch of donuts that were donated to Beth’s event. I guess I thought she was running the show, but she was one of several volunteers. We actually beat them there right at 6:30, so I felt good about that. Beth had a bit of a meltdown when she found out where they put her vendor booth, but we eventually got things set up to go. I was too tired to be of much help after that. I had no idea there was such a large community of people with concern for canine cancer awareness. It felt a little silly to me, but I understand it at some level.

We finally wrapped up around 2:00, and Summer and I headed to the AmericInn. It ended up being a pretty great score for us. It had good reviews at a decent rate. The breakfast photos looked quite a bit better than average, and as we walked in we saw a sign that they have a nightly manager’s reception with beer, wine, and appetizers. The room was nice enough, so I think for the first time since we got here, I felt like it could be a good week.

Still exhausted, we walked to the dim sum restaurant in the hotel parking lot for an early dinner. It seemed to be pretty authentic, to the point that the menus were in two languages, one of which was not Spanish. It was a kind of à la carte menu, and we ordered five items to share. I think all but one of them were steamed. The last was fried and seemed more Americanized. Overall it was pretty good.

From there we went back to the room where I took a nap until the manager’s reception. They had nachos, popcorn, two kinds of wings, and lil’ smokies to go with the wine and beer. I couldn’t get into either of the wines, but the Spotted Cow beer was pretty decent.

Any time is a good time for sarcasm if you’re brave enough.

Uncategorised

No-tell Motel

We slept in late today after a pretty rough night of sleep for me at the Red Roof Inn. It took us another nine hours or so to get where we were going after all the extra rest stops. We stopped just before St. Louis for some pretty great barbecue and were waited on by a kid from Hector while we watched competition level cornhole on the television. Several hours later we finally landed in Sun Prairie just after dark, and then went through the arduous process of finding a place to stay.

I don’t know what was happening in town, but virtually every place we went to was booked solid. We did find a $200 hot tub suite, but passed since we only had about five hours to use it before we had to be up to go to Beth’s event. That was also news to me. After both calling and driving all around greater Madison, we ultimately crashed at a tiny motel just a couple blocks from Beth’s place. I just knew we were going to be robbed and murdered. I was wholly reliant on Summer’s intimidating looks and extensive karate training. It was exactly the kind of place you stay when you shave your head and the random girl you’re with dyes her hair in the sink because you’re both on the lam with some kind of government conspiracy-proving evidence. I’m pretty sure Bruce Willis was in an adjacent room.

To add to the disappointment, the front desk clerk was the first person I’d encountered on our entire trip that spoke with any kind of an accent, and it was thick Indian. Apparently Wisconsin forgot it was a northern state and people sound the same here as back home.

THUGS WON’T STOP
TO WAIT FOR A COP
GUNS MAKE SENSE
FOR SELF DEFENSE
BURMA-SHAVE

Uncategorised

You ol’ whippersnapper, you…

I spent all morning cleaning and getting packed. We didn’t actually leave until the middle of the afternoon, but it worked out great because we wanted to go to Whipper Snappers in Branson for dinner. The food seemed better than the first time I went. The restaurant wasn’t nearly as packed. In fact, I’d guess at least half of the tables were open. There was the usual, stereotypical Asian family in the back, all working away on the crab legs. They even asked for a to-go box for the dessert they brought back to their table but didn’t have room to eat. I was too busy working on my own crab and lobster to notice, but it seemed like they stuck around long enough after they were denied to eat the food there.

After dinner, we walked next door to Krispy Kreme for a free hot donut sample. It really was pretty cool to see the donuts work their way down the conveyor belt, and then the end product straight off the line was super delicious. From there, we made it to Springfield for the night. My first hotel choice was blocked off by construction, so we landed at a Red Roof Inn. The room is tiny, but it’ll get the job done. I would have liked to make it a bit farther the first day, but all the hard stuff is done, and we’ve got all day to get there tomorrow.

Who puts a full-size ironing board in a room this small?

Uncategorised

The Great Escape

I was mostly on my own today. There were only a few of us there in the morning, and Jason showed up late, so everyone just went to do their own thing. I accomplished what I needed to accomplish. For lunch, I rode with Dale to meet Jason and Allen at KFC.

After work, Summer and I went to Superfast to get my oil changed before the trip. We stopped by her place to pick up her clothes, then met my dad at my house so I could show him how to take care of everything. I’ve worked up quite a bit of traveler’s anxiety on top of just being super tired, so we won’t be leaving as early as I’d like tomorrow, but we’ll still have plenty of time.

Uncategorised

Middled

We actually had a group plan today. Amanda and I ran cable for the 5th grade office while Allen and Jason ran a line from the gym to that same switch closet. We finished first, so then it was up to us to run four more lines for the middle school side. I let myself get aggravated at them again, so I was irritable all afternoon.

After work, we walked across the street and bought my neighbor’s couch to replace my super broken sofa. The two end seats recline, which is kinda cool. Now I just have to get rid of my old one so I can fit the new one in the house.

We went to Ruby Tuesday for a BOGO dinner, then to Walmart to pick up some cat food. Bác Vân called to say she made egg rolls, so we stopped to chat and pick those up once we made it back home. Both of us were pretty tired after the day, so it was an early night for us.

It’s amazing how much stuff a hoarder can fit into a two-car garage.