Tag: adventure

Uncategorised

What Pandemic?

We planned a trip to Magic Springs today, so I got cleaned up and waited for Summer to bring all three kids over. As soon as they got here, I remembered the souvenir cups were at her house, so she and Autumn ran to get them while we waited for Dad to get here. Then we hit the road.

It was a pretty good drive down, in spite of getting stuck behind every Jeep. Seriously, if you drive a Jeep down Highway 7, screw you, buddy. When we got to Hot Springs, Summer and I decided to go back to Rolando’s for lunch. The strip was absolutely packed though, and we made it all the way to the top of the parking garage without finding a space. Luckily there was a lot of foot traffic back to the garage, and we found two people leaving just as we turned around at the top.

It was a pretty good, brisk walk to Rolando’s. I was surprised they weren’t completely packed, but we got right in and sat in the 1920s-30s speakeasy themed floor. The rest of the visit was pretty disappointing, unfortunately. The food looked great, but it was all just barely warm. It didn’t take much time to come out, so I don’t know if it just wasn’t cooked fresh, or what. Evidently they also didn’t serve chips and salsa for lunch unless you ordered it as an appetizer. Then the salsa didn’t taste as good as any of us remembered. Overall it was super disappointing compared to the incredible experience we had on their rooftop deck last time.

From there, we made our way to Magic Springs, and wandered through to a few rides. They were pretty busy too, with really long lines for the roller coasters when we first got there. We split up a little bit to get some rides done, and then all ended up back at the Gauntlet, where the line had diminished to almost nothing. We all rode it twice, and then everyone but Summer and Autumn rode it a third time since there was hardly a wait.

We wanted to get some funnel cakes on the way out, but we got really lucky and missed out, because they stopped making them over half an hour before they would close. Instead, we went back downtown and walked all the way to the end of the strip to a place called Kringles and Kones. Kyle, the sole person there, was an amazing and friendly host. It was a bit weird to be so Santa-themed, but the Santa’s Way danish and ice cream was incredible.

After that, we walked back to the car and filled up some water bottles while Dad checked on some tickets to see Maxwell Blade’s show. It was a packed theater, but he got us tickets in the back corner, and it really wasn’t that bad. It was a great show, and Dad got to visit with him for a bit after it was over. Everyone was exhausted by that time, but it was a great way to end the day.

I had to hit the brakes pretty hard on the way home to avoid hitting a deer, and that lead to about a gallon of spilled spring water in the back of the car, so when we got home I had to sponge a big pool of it out from under the spare tire. Of course it’s all in the carpet and everything too, and it won’t evaporate very well in the cold weather. I’ll just have to deal with it tomorrow. Along with replacing my car battery.

And I won’t take “no” for an answer.

Uncategorised

Conquer the Everything

We got up early this morning to get Summer to Little Rock for Conquer the Gauntlet. Some guys from Splash were running, so we caught up to them and got her started. Then the girls were hungry, so we ran to the Pilot and Burger King for something small to eat. The girl at the drive-through said their system was down and they couldn’t serve us, but then I talked to a group of employees standing outside, and the girl there said they would have our order out in just a few minutes. Food did come out, but the fries were unsalted, and we didn’t get any condiments at all.

We made it back to the course with just enough time to finish our food and make it to an obstacle near the end. Autumn caught the guys first, then Summer came along shortly thereafter. It was the same thing Hannah and I got to see last year, and Summer powered right on through.

Summer finished with a time of 1:35, then we went back to the Pilot so she could get a shower. I accidentally left the car running on battery power while we waited, so when I got back to the girls it was completely dead. I pulled out the jumper cables, and almost immediately had two different guys offer to jump me. It really could not have been a more convenient inconvenience. The car was super dead, so it took a couple minutes of charging to start, but we got going and didn’t have any more trouble the rest of the day.

First we went to Red Lobster for lunch. Our waitress even brought Summer a sundae for her accomplishment. Then we went to McCain Mall and spent an eternity walking around that place. I don’t remember ever spending any time in the furniture area in the past, but they actually had some interesting looking stuff. The department did seem very unfinished in a lot of places though.

After the mall, we went to The Original ScoopDog for some ice cream. They were only operating at the drive-through, so we ended up waiting there for probably half an hour at least, because they didn’t actually have a speaker set up. We just had to give them our order at the window, and they turned around to make it.

Everyone was pretty exhausted, so we came straight back home from there. We got settled in, and Summer and I watched a couple episodes of Cobra Kai before Eaddie came around. Then we watched a couple episodes of Glee with her. We ended on the memorial episode for Cory Monteith, which tore us to shreds. It really just felt like the day would never end.

It’s an even more powerful kick that you deliver while standing on your hands so it frees up both legs!

Uncategorised

Yeehaw.

We all got up this morning and Summer made waffles for breakfast. Autumn drove me to Dollar general so we could pick up some peanut butter for them, and we had a great breakfast. On a bit of a whim, everyone agreed to go to Magic Springs for the day, so we all got up and ready pretty quickly. We had to stop for gas, then by my house to check on the cat. Dad wanted to go with us, so he came over and drove down with Autumn while Eaddie and Noah rode with us.

It was a pretty uneventful drive down, and Dad just happened to get right behind us after we got stuck behind a box truck that was just creeping along. We got to the park in the early afternoon and sent Summer and Autumn off to swim while the rest of us went down the hill for some rides.

We really only had time to ride a couple of the rides. Dad took Noah and Eaddie on the Hawk while I took pictures from below. Then we all rode the Gauntlet. That line experience was the worst we had all day because of all the trashy people cutting in line ahead of us, but we eventually got our turn.

The others tried to ride the X-Coaster, but it got stuck while they were in line. We wanted to ride some more, but we ran out of time before having to meet the others back at the top. It was hot and humid, so we wanted a chance to cool off in the waveless pool before eating. Eaddie insisted that someone else brought her swim suit, and instead learned another important lesson in doing what I tell her to do even if she thinks she knows better. At least we had someone to sit and watch our stuff.

After a brief swim, we went up to the Split Rock Grill and had a bunch of hamburgers. Except Eaddie, who had a sad three little chicken strips. The burgers were surprisingly satisfying, yet devoid of any extras. The kids went off to ride a few more rides while we went to get chairs for the concert. Then we all went down the hill for Lee Brice.

The lawn was absolutely packed with people. It was nearly as crowded as any other popular, non-pandemic concert I’ve seen there. We squeezed in between a few people, quite a bit closer than we really should have, but nobody seemed upset. We watched for a few songs, then left pretty early to beat the traffic out.

We stopped to fill up on some spring water on the way out of town, and decided to do a lap around a few blocks. It was a bit too late to get into any shops, but the kids had fun hanging out together and seeing the night life. Then it was a slow drive following Dad back home for bed.

Lemme hear y’all holler if’n y’er a country bumpkin!

Uncategorised

Model Whee!

Today was our makeup holiday for Independence Day falling on a weekend, so I had the day off with the girls. They slept in pretty late, so I played a little Overwatch before getting ready to leave the house.

Ethan finished training a bit early and came to town to show me around his Model 3. We didn’t waste any time getting to the ride along, and I was kind of surprised how quiet the car wasn’t. Everyone always goes on about how electric cars are so silent, but I think the wet roads made everything quite a bit louder than usual. The road noise, some low music, and the air conditioning made for a pretty normal sounding ride.

He demoed the self driving for me, and I was surprised to see that it worked in town except for lane changing and braking for lights. I don’t know if that has changed for current models, but if it hasn’t, then I don’t really see much need to drop another $8k for the full self driving package yet. We made a pretty big loop around town, and then he said I could drive.

Holy torqueamole.

I expected the driving to be a bit different, but it didn’t take long to get used to the regenerative braking. In fact, I really liked how sensitive and tight the controls felt, and single-pedal driving was pretty awesome. I didn’t wind it up too high, but he let me floor it a couple times and the instantaneous torque was just incredible. It really was like nothing else, and it didn’t even matter what speed I was already going. It just went.

We stopped to say “hi” to Summer, then chatted for a while longer after the drive. We ended up getting rained out by a sudden and slightly heavy shower, so we both dove into our cars and I headed to Mark’s office to do some more work.

We wrapped up pretty quickly, and I got a check made out to the description I wrote for the job. Then I stopped across the street to chat with Robert for a bit. He seemed excited for company, and eventually Felix showed up as well. He gave me a tamale, and then I went back across town to check in with Summer before going home.

The girls were still laying around watching TV. Eventually I started the oven to warm up a loaf of bread for an Everything Sandwich. Summer got home after work, and they watched TV and ate. I poked around at a few things for a bit, and it wasn’t long before everyone filtered off to bed.

BYE401K

Uncategorised

If the Boat’s a’ Rockin, Don’t Come a’ Dokkin

We only slept in a little this morning before trying to get the kids up and at it. Summer took Autumn to the gym while I went home to clean up. I loaded up some camp chairs and empty bottles for our trip to Magic Springs, then stopped by Lowe’s to pick up an order before making my way back up to the girls.

They were still cleaning up and getting ready to go, and I was too hungry to wait and eat after the drive, so I cooked a whole package of Petit Jean pepper bacon and we all made big bacon salads before we left. We finally hit the road pretty late in the afternoon, but I was determined to get us there.

We made it nearly to Centerville when I realized I didn’t grab our season passes. We probably could have gone through guest services to get in, but I didn’t want to drive all that way and chance it, so we made our way back home to get them, and then drove back down into Hot Springs. We wanted to eat at a phở place we saw last time just outside of Magic Springs, but when we got there it was closed and we didn’t even bother to get out to read the sign.

Summer did a quick search for restaurants and came across a hibachi place we had gone to before without the kids, so we made our way to the Osaka Japanese Steakhouse. I didn’t remember loving it the first time, and I felt like it was pretty overpriced this time, but everyone seemed satisfied enough. The service was a bit slow for me since I was already on edge about leaving late, then having to drive back for our passes.

We finished up pretty quickly and headed to Magic Springs to try and catch the main attraction. The park had closed down all the rides, and the openers had already finished their portion of the concert by the time we got down to the amphitheater. Fortunately the pandemic had most of the crowd gone, so we had our pick of where to sit.

I didn’t recognize a single song of theirs, but fortunately Summer did. At least she enjoyed it if no one else did. It wasn’t too hot and miserable out, so I enjoyed just going to a concert at all, but I still would have liked to have some more time in town.

There was hardly any traffic on the way out since attendance was so low. We made our way to the spring water fountain to fill up my bottles, and then hit the road. Summer started having nerve pains again, but she would have gone straight to bed regardless of that. Everyone but Eaddie was pretty tired since she was the only one to really sleep in late.

Wait… the lyric is “lucky!”

Uncategorised

COVID Springs and Corona Falls

I got up as early as I could will myself out of bed this morning and got ready for a day out of town. The girls were ready and waiting for me, so I picked them up and we stopped at Arby’s for lunch before hitting the road. We ate at the park across the street, then I had to send off some pirate mail, and finally we were off to Magic Springs.

The drive always seems faster than Little Rock just because it’s more fun going through the mountains. Summer informed me an hour into the drive that she didn’t bring her swim suit, so we stopped by Walmart in the Village so she could buy another one. They didn’t have a great selection, but we pieced one together that worked well.

The parking lot seemed absolutely packed when we got to Magic Springs, but I got pretty lucky with a spot close to the gate. We made our way through the season pass processing for Autumn, got all of our souvenir bottles, and started down the hill toward the roller coasters. We got down to the bottom and realized that they had signs up on a lot of the rides that masks were required, and they didn’t hand any out at the front, so we had to walk all the way back up to the car.

By that time, we were all so hot that we just wanted to go to the water park, so we rented a locker and got changed, then made our way around to the lazy river. That thing was packed to capacity, and they were limiting people to one loop at a time since there was a line of people waiting for tubes. I never could really figure out why they offered tube rentals, since they have tubes available at all the slides. They weren’t allowed in the wave pool, so I don’t even know where else they were relevant.

Eaddie got a nose bleed on a trip to the restrooms, so I hung out with her for a while, then Autumn and I went to go get some drinks. They loaded two $5 coupons on each of our passes as a means of compensation since they refused to refund anyone due to the pandemic. I assumed it was $10 that spent like cash, but it was a use or lose it in one transaction. The girl at the counter was so nice that she ended up just giving us four drinks for free so I didn’t have to go back for money or burn my coupons.

We spent a little time in the wave pool, then did another water slide before changing and going back to the roller coasters. It was much cooler by that time in the afternoon, and we had a pretty good time. Pretty much nobody was social distancing though, so I’m pretty certain we all have COVID now. We could hear the concert in the background, but none of us had any interest in staying late for some fellow named Zach Williams.

By the end of the day we had all worked up some pretty good appetites, so I found a restaurant called Colorado Grill. We made our way across town and had some of the best chips and salsa I’ve ever had. The fajitas were amazing, and the girls had a couple huge burritos that looked really great too. Our fajitas came with some barbecue ribs on top that seemed kind of pointless. I would have preferred more fajita stuff, especially after I rolled a saucy rib down my shirt and onto my pants.

On the way out of town, we stopped by the fountain to fill up some water bottles. Shelby spotted me and stopped to say hi, and then we headed straight home and off to bed.

I knew we should have stopped for a funnel cake.

Uncategorised

Summer Float

Julie invited us to meet up with them in the morning to go kayaking, but we didn’t get moving quite fast enough to actually make the rendezvous. Autumn was going to work in the yard with her grandparents, but that fell through as well. Summer took the girls home instead, and then returned with some lunch to take on the float trip while I got things packed up and ready to go. My GoPro memory card was taking forever to back up old data, but I had plenty of other things to prepare anyway. Summer even had time to run out for gas and a couple flatbreads from Tropical Smoothie before we left.

I told Suzanne we were going out, so she waited outside a house in Dover and waved at us as we drove by. We got up to the creek about two hours late, and the place was packed. The water was high, and the COVID-19 outbreak had the camp grounds closed, but the park was waiving kayak parking fees. We got the kayaks in the water without too much trouble, and we were off to my usual start.

We made it through the first set of rapids without too much trouble, but the second or third long run of them got both of us. I really expected the high water to fix that for me, but I went up on one giant rock in particular that almost folded my kayak in half. Summer’s kayak got stuck on another rock and she floated by, and for some reason I felt the need to throw my paddle with my GoPro on it to her. I ultimately managed to free my boat, but then I tumbled over the rapids the rest of the way with nothing left of my shoes but the straps around my ankles. Summer didn’t catch my paddle, but I eventually caught up to my boat.

Summer was across water with her boat stuck on a rock upstream, but luckily an older gentleman was able to get it free for her. It was the same gentleman that ultimately returned my paddle after Summer and I cleaned up and got back in our boats. We assumed we were going to have to split her single paddle, but as I pushed ahead to scout for my own, a group of kids plucked it out of the water and got it back to me. It wasn’t until after pulling my GoPro out and recording a video though.

With that spill out of the way, we made our way down the creek without too much more trouble. We did eventually find Julie with her posse at the big sandbar, in what appeared to be a big frat party. Loud music blowing out poor speakers, and teenagers all whooping and hollering about alcohol wasn’t quite our scene, so we stayed just long enough to say hello and then shoved off.

It was a pretty good time with what was unfortunately probably my normal amount of mishaps and bruises. The water was probably higher than I had ever floated, so large parts of the trip were actually quite a bit better than some I’ve made in the past. At no point did we ever have to get out and drag our kayaks across a long, rocky high point. Summer had a blast, and a quick bite to eat along the bank kept us in relatively good shape.

Taking the boats out and packing back up was its usual pain, heightened by my complete lack of footwear. With just the two of us there, I drove Summer’s car back to Long Pool to trade for mine so we could load everything up. Another guy there helped me load Summer’s kayak, but I still had to pull up to flat ground to re-tie it. We headed back to town, completely forgetting to get Summer’s car until we got back to the highway.

After some extra time and extra miles, and a brief stop by the side of the road to pick up a slice of mouse pad I was using to keep the rope off of the hood of the car, we got everything back home. We didn’t die, and that was my usual win. Summer helped me clean off the boats and stowe them away, then went to get the girls while I cleaned up myself.

Autumn convinced Summer to let her stay with the grandparents, so it was just Summer and Eaddie here for the evening. They brought a family meal from Venezia’s, and they ate while watching The Voice. I needed the quiet and sat in my room, watching GoPro captures upload to Google Photos.

After we ate, Summer went to bed and I did some shoe shopping to score a deal. Then Eaddie and I watched one episode of Luke Cage since I didn’t get to spend any time with her today.

Josie likes Tucker! Josie likes Tucker!

Uncategorised

Off Trail

Summer and I got up late today and went to Walmart for the last few things we needed for lunch. They had a bunch of “everything” bread marked down, so we got all of it to freeze, and I took one loaf to make a sandwich. Since it was already late and a bit warm outside, we decided to eat at home rather than take it all to the bike trail. It was a quick lunch in the back yard, and then we loaded up the bikes and headed to Old Post.

When we got there and unloaded, I climbed onto my bike only to find the front tire was completely flat. I loaded it back up and went home for air, and decided that a portable pump is probably a must-have. While I was gone, Summer and Eaddie checked out the trails but couldn’t leave Autumn behind, so they all rode downhill to the main park area. I made it back and met up with them, and we rode all over the flat park area.

We stopped for snacks on the amphitheater stage, then made a couple more loops around the drive before packing up to head back home. The girls left pretty quickly after we got back to my house, and I spent a few minutes doing a major trim in my shrimp tank. Then I loaded up and headed up to their house for the evening.

Summer made sloppy joes with mashed potatoes and corn for dinner, and then I planted all of my trimmings in Autumn’s aquarium. Summer, Autumn, and I played a game of Sorry, and then they went to bed while Eaddie and I started the second season of Luke Cage. We both got bored with how slow the first episode was, and decided to quit there for the night.

Back to the grind.

Uncategorised

Burn Everything…

I didn’t sleep very well last night just because I hadn’t slept in my own bed in so long, but at least I didn’t wake up in pain like I have been. Summer had to work, so the girls and I took our time getting up and around. Eventually I started putting together an everything-loaf sandwich for lunch, and we packed a couple backpacks for a bike ride. We rode to Summer’s shop and had a surprise lunch with her while they were slow.

When we finished eating, we rode over to the city park for just a moment, then took the long way around Detroit back to 4th to get home. The girls did a great job of riding together, and the pandemic has traffic manageable, so it was a great time. It was under an hour total, but my hands and arms were still pretty sore by the time we got home.

I let the girls rest for a little while inside, and then we went outside to start cleaning up the yard. They were both pretty slow to get productive, but eventually we got a little bit of a fire going, at least enough to reduce some of the brush we pulled up. They pressure washed the back patio until they ran out of power cord and hose, so there was a strip of black concrete still on the north side.

Brittany stopped by to give me a few more plants and some guppies she had been breeding. I had too much going on, or I would have thought to send her on with a couple little baby shrimp. I guess they’re a little more sensitive to the alkalinity of the water anyway.

Summer came over when she got off, and brought hot dogs to cook over the fire. We spent a good long while trying to get a decent fire going in the fire pit since the logs weren’t burning well at all. It was enough to get the food warm, but it was a lot of work to maintain. I was pretty upset that some embers blew up and melted a couple holes in a couple of the cushions, but it’s all over now. I would have hoped for something a little more retardant.

As the sun went down and we lost all of our light, the girls filtered back into the house and I trudged back and forth getting everything else put away. I could barely move after being so active all day long, but I had to get a shower before bed.

…the calories too!

Uncategorised

Into the Unknown

I spent all morning learning Wikitext to actually start entering articles for work. The translation took a while because even with a visual editor, the markup text made things look way cleaner. I still didn’t even finish publishing my first article, but at least what I have so far looks nice.

Ben got a Fat Daddy’s gift card for doing some work for someone, so he bought us lunch today. I brought prawn chips to fry since I still had the deep fryer there too. It was a really light lunch for me to choose ribs, but it was pretty good. I think I would’ve been happier with one of my usual orders though.

Ben wanted me to go try to break a touch panel before I left, so I went to the high school to a classroom with known issues. On the way, I had to deliver six iPads to the PAC. They had everyone using the main entrance with a sign-in sheet, but I just snuck in with my Technology superpowers before continuing on to the classroom. I could never get the touch to quit working, but I got so frustrated with how bad the SMART Ink was. I could draw in Paint and it would be flawless, but the SMART software lagged so hard. I hated it.

Autumn called when I forgot about her therapy appointment, so I ran home to drop off some things and then got her to therapy about 20 minutes late. Then I stopped by my parents’ house to wish Mom a happy birthday and chatted with them a little bit. She was outside power washing, and Dad was up on the roof cleaning gutters. I didn’t stick around too long though, and let them get back to work.

When I got home, I cleaned up and played a little bit of Overwatch until Summer and Eaddie came over. Then we rode bikes around the neighborhood, stopping by Allen’s, then going over to the high school. Eaddie wanted to take me to the trail that she and Noah found, so we did that. I tried riding over to Julie’s house too, but the field was so long and rugged with too many back yards that I didn’t want to disturb. We headed back around the new practice facility, then made it back to my house.

The girls headed home and I followed a little later. Autumn had some leftover fish sticks out, so I got the deep fryer going again for some of those, some more prawn chips, and some sweet potato fries for Summer. Then Autumn wanted to watch a movie with Summer, so Eaddie and I went to the bedroom to finish The Defenders. The end escalated pretty quickly, but we were happy with it.

Next up: Jessica Jones