Tag: adventure

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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

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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.

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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

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Pursuit of Trivia

It was mostly a pretty slow day at work. We spent most of it cleaning out computers at a few campuses. I spent a disproportionate amount of time driving when we had to visit London. Dale, Allen, and I met Summer at Ruby Tuesday for $5 salad bars. The service was pretty slow. I think only one of us ever got a refill at the table. Then the afternoon was more miscellany.

After work, I came home and started washing socks before getting ready to go to The Old Bank for trivia night. Summer wanted to meet up with Jenna, and we ended up joining forces with Summer’s Quiz Bowl cohort Johnny and a couple of his friends. It was a slow night for trivia with a substitute running the show. We placed third, and I wasn’t completely useless. My shining moment was being able to spell “szechuan.” We placed third.

All in!

Adventure Time!

Road Warrior

We didn’t have a whole lot of extra time for adventure today because we had to get back home for work tomorrow. We slept in after an exhausting day and checked out of the hotel at noon. I happened to think to check Craigslist for an Aeron chair since we were in the city, and I found a few listed at a pretty good price. The first call I made ended up not working out because someone else had just bought them, but I arranged to meet another gentleman that had some for sale.

Before that, we headed downtown to find some food. I got us into the neighborhood where we had eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant about eight years ago, and Summer picked out a Moroccan place called Baida. It seemed to be a family affair, and we were one of two occupied tables there. The food was great, and the guy that served us was super nice, though a little slow on the water refills. I had him pick us out an appetizer and my meal, and we chatted for a bit about food. It seemed like a cool place to become a regular.

After lunch, we went across town to meet up with the guy with the Aeron chairs. It was a super nice, older neighborhood, and the people inside were a super nice, older couple. He worked in furniture, and was able to get the chairs pretty cheap. I didn’t love the fit of the B size, and he agreed that a C would probably be a better fit for me, so I ended up not getting a chair. Not thinking about having a full car on our return trip, I asked him to keep me in mind if he comes across a C model in the near future.

From there, it was time to head back home. We made the rest of the trip with only minimal stops for gas, and then for TCBY in Harrison. I made quick work of Highway 7, then hit up the car wash before unpacking for the night.

He doesn’t want lovin’. He wants chicken.

Adventure Time!

STL

Today was the day for our trip to St. Louis. I picked the girls up and we headed up Highway 7 around 9. It was a pretty good day for a drive with just a little rain near the end of our trip. We stopped at the Cliff House Inn for some sausage biscuits for breakfast, then made it to Springfield to eat at Lambert’s for lunch.

The food there was awesome. Everything was cooked perfectly aside from the dry chicken strips, but the girls loved them anyway. It was a ton of food, and they kept coming by with more to serve at the table. Everyone got to catch some throwed rolls, and Summer even got a hubcap cinnamon roll as a reward for cutting loose with the fried chicken instead of a salad.

After that, we made the rest of the trip to St. Louis to meet Summer’s sister Beth. We got there a little late because Waze didn’t have the right destination, but Google Maps got us back on track. As soon as we got there, Beth locked herself out of her car, so we ended up sitting in my car waiting for a locksmith. It got me thinking that I should get the tools to take care of that kind of thing myself, but I don’t know if there are any rules regarding that.

Once we got her into her car and the girls loaded up, Summer and I made our way across the city to get to the Crowne Plaza by the airport for the evening. We got a pretty decent rate of but I was disappointed to find out there was an extra $10 overnight parking fee. The in-room refrigerator was also super tiny, and there wasn’t a good rack for the towels, so they put them on the shelf under the sink touching some pretty gnarly looking plumbing.

I started feeling a bit sick, but I think it was just being so full from everything I ate and drank all day. Hopefully I’ll be over it in the morning so we can enjoy a little bit of the city before heading back home.

What do you mean the continental breakfast is twelve dollars?

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We’ll All Float On

I tend to not let myself get too excited. It helps to mitigate the disappointment when shit goes sideways.

Only days until the finish line. I let myself get excited. Summer was finally here. We were supposed to leave for New Orleans today for the quiz bowl tournament. Not only was I excited, but I spread that excitement to my friends, and they were excited too. They’ve been asking me about our plans, and letting them know I wasn’t going was splitting myself open again every time.

I let myself get excited. Summer had so much in store for us. For the first time in such a long time, I was looking forward to the future. We were going to take a trip to Wisconsin to pick up the girls after their stay with her sister. It was going to be such a fun trip. I was so looking forward to it.

The support structure is here in full force. Hardy and true. Built to withstand so much worse.

But even a clean break leaves things broken.

So, are you coming to the game?

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RJHS hosted – for 10 points – what team’s car show?

After a fit of a night, I got up this morning to go to Summer’s quiz bowl car show at the junior high. We had too many last-minute ideas that we just had to write down for next time, but she and the kids did a great job. They had a pretty decent showing, and I even managed to get Allen and Kristen to show up together.

After the show, I went home until it was time to head to Summer’s house to watch the kids while she and Jenna had a girl’s night out. They went out for dinner, then a show at Front Street while the kids and I watched the first half of the first season of Stranger Things. Summer was ready to come home around the same time we finished our binge session, and then it was bedtime for all.

“This might be too scary for Mom.”
    – The ten-year-old

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Runaround Shoe

Summer went to her half marathon this morning, and it was up to me to get up with the kids to meet her before she got to the end. I watched her on Google Maps as she raced past miles 2, 5, and then 10 by the time I made it out of the shower. I got everyone up, and we drove to Hardee’s where I was going to grab some breakfast and wait for her to run by, but we spotted her just as I parked, so we drove closer to the finish and walked up to find her there. She finished in just two hours and 12 minutes, and paid for it the rest of the day.

We got the girls back home, then I left to clean house and prepare for Jesica’s visit and a Suddenlink appointment in the early afternoon. They arrived at the same time, with him being about half an hour early for his two-hour window. He was super cool, and I ended up helping him run a new line from the pole down to the house. In the end, I was left not much better than before. Three of my 32 channels have a sub-optimal SNR, which evidently causes my modem to completely stop responding until I cycle power about once a day. He left me with enough cable and four ends to re-run my inside wiring, since I already have plans to run a bunch of cable in the house anyway.

Jesica had to leave just before he finished up, and then the girls showed up shortly after that. Summer was still suffering quite a bit from the marathon, so Autumn and I went to her parents’ house to feed their clowder of cats. We stopped by 10Box on the way home to pick up some food for the next day, then made it home to pick at leftovers. My parents stopped by with some bánh mì that everyone but Autumn tried and loved, and we settled in for an episode of Cosmos.

The girls went to bed, and I loaded up some PUBG with Clint, Aaron, and Jack to round out the night.

THE END IS NEAR!
    – Guy in a T-Rex Costume