Vacation Stories, pt. 1

We recently spent a week in the Midwest visiting family and friends. Our original plans were to fly up, but Skybus Airlines went out of business a month before our trip, so we decided to drive instead. We had our car checked out (had to take it in for the State Inspection anyway) and got the thumbs-up from our mechanics to go ahead and make the drive home. It was actually nice to be able to drive our own car -- gave us plenty of room to pack whatever we wanted!

We left Durham after work last Wednesday and drove until we got tired -- about 11pm. We ended up at a little hotel in Beckley, WV (home of Tamarack). It was fine for what we needed and we had a decent night's sleep before getting up and getting on the road Thursday at 8am. The weather was nice and we had an easy drive, arriving in Columbus at 12:30pm. Debbe had lunch waiting, after which we headed over to COSI where Derek showed Uncle Bruce a lot of his favorite stuff.

Cute Nephew Story: We spent Thursday night with Debbe, Duncan, and Derek. As we were getting ready for bed, Bruce had gone downstairs as I was putting an extra blanket on the bed in the guest room. Derek came in and we had the following exchange.

Derek: I'll help you.
Katy: I'm almost done.
Derek: No, you're not.
Katy: What else do I need?
Derek: You need Uncle Bruce!

On Friday we drove up to Toledo. We were caravaning with Debbe, Duncan, and Derek. We stopped at several fun stores and just generally made a leisurely drive of it -- we didn't have to meet Mom and Dad Loebrich until 5-ish, after all. Unfortunately, Maria was not able to join us for our family dinner, but the rest of us had a nice time at the Cracker Barrel in Maumee. After dinner, we went back to the Loebrichs for a while. Dad and Derek played in the yard while the rest of us visited. Around nine (ah the western edge of the time zone, how we've missed the evenings getting dark when they're "supposed to"), Bruce and I headed up to Dad Stahl's where we would be spending the next couple of days.