Saturday, June 19
The last morning of our vacation was spent at Williams Restaurant. Once again the family was meeting there for breakfast. But this time there would be more of my family there than there was on Thursday morning.
In addition to all my sister's family, my Aunt Eileen, Cousins Roland, and his wife, Paula; Pam, and her husband, Bernie; Lynn, and her husband Larry; and my cousin Linda were there as well. It was wonderful to see them all again. I hadn’t seen some of them in over 5 years. I was a bit disappointed that my cousins Roger and Gary weren’t there but that’s life.
Anyway with breakfast as a backdrop the conversation went up and down and across the two rows of tables. Actually the omelet we ordered to split was really bad so we did more talking than eating.
Of course there was quite a bit of talk about our weight loss, how “good” we looked, and how we did it. We showed everyone our “before” pictures. Paula actually had a picture taken on of her in her office her last day at work before her surgery. I just used my driver’s license picture.
I got a chance to talk with just about everyone for an extended length of time. It was great catching up with them as much as it is possible in such a short period of time.
After breakfast was finished, about 11AM we said our “goodbyes” and left the restaurant. A quick stop by a the local market for some Cooper’s Sharp Cheese (6 pounds of it) and Sweet Lebanon bologna to take home and freeze we hit the highway back to Kentucky.
Our trip was long but went pretty smooth with the exception of one stretch through western Pennsylvania. To give me a chance to rest and recover from my day at Dorney Paula drove a stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike; about 100 miles.
We stopped at the last rest stop on the turnpike before our exit to stretch our legs and use the restroom. The sky was really becoming overcast and threatening. I took over driving since there were turnoffs and rain looked inevitable.
Just after we exited the turnpike and got on the highway heading toward Washington, PA and Wheeling West Virginia it started to rain. I mean it really stormed. I had to slow down because of the large amounts of water under my tires and in the wheel wells. I could hardly see the road because the rain was coming down in sheets. Fortunately I had a pick up truck ahead of me and I could follow its taillights. After about 20 minutes the rain passed and it was easy driving again. I’m really glad that I had taken over the driving and so was my wife.
After we got through the interchanges in Pennsylvania and West Virginia arriving in Ohio we headed for Columbus on another long stretch of road. Paula took over driving again and gave me another 90 minute break. I napped during that time. After Columbus I took over the driving and finished the trip.
By the time we got to Cincinnati it was about 10 o’clock. I was looking forward to seeing King’s Island amusement park lit up in the dark. Unfortunately it had just closed before we passed it. The only thing we saw was the taillights of the cars exiting the parking lot.
Our GPS took us straight through downtown Cincinnati so we passed The Great American Ballpark and were soon across the border into Kentucky.
Once we hit saw the sign confirming that we were once again in our home state (pictured above) I got my second wind. I quickly became anxious and determined to get home as quickly as possible. My foot hit the gas and we made it to our front door in about 3 to 3 ½ hours. It was about 1:15AM central time Sunday morning when we got home.
Our vacation and long drive were over. As always it was great to see the old homestead. The dogs were overjoyed to see us and we were overjoyed to see and feel the comfort of our own bed.
The last morning of our vacation was spent at Williams Restaurant. Once again the family was meeting there for breakfast. But this time there would be more of my family there than there was on Thursday morning.
In addition to all my sister's family, my Aunt Eileen, Cousins Roland, and his wife, Paula; Pam, and her husband, Bernie; Lynn, and her husband Larry; and my cousin Linda were there as well. It was wonderful to see them all again. I hadn’t seen some of them in over 5 years. I was a bit disappointed that my cousins Roger and Gary weren’t there but that’s life.
Anyway with breakfast as a backdrop the conversation went up and down and across the two rows of tables. Actually the omelet we ordered to split was really bad so we did more talking than eating.
Of course there was quite a bit of talk about our weight loss, how “good” we looked, and how we did it. We showed everyone our “before” pictures. Paula actually had a picture taken on of her in her office her last day at work before her surgery. I just used my driver’s license picture.
I got a chance to talk with just about everyone for an extended length of time. It was great catching up with them as much as it is possible in such a short period of time.
After breakfast was finished, about 11AM we said our “goodbyes” and left the restaurant. A quick stop by a the local market for some Cooper’s Sharp Cheese (6 pounds of it) and Sweet Lebanon bologna to take home and freeze we hit the highway back to Kentucky.
Our trip was long but went pretty smooth with the exception of one stretch through western Pennsylvania. To give me a chance to rest and recover from my day at Dorney Paula drove a stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike; about 100 miles.
We stopped at the last rest stop on the turnpike before our exit to stretch our legs and use the restroom. The sky was really becoming overcast and threatening. I took over driving since there were turnoffs and rain looked inevitable.
Just after we exited the turnpike and got on the highway heading toward Washington, PA and Wheeling West Virginia it started to rain. I mean it really stormed. I had to slow down because of the large amounts of water under my tires and in the wheel wells. I could hardly see the road because the rain was coming down in sheets. Fortunately I had a pick up truck ahead of me and I could follow its taillights. After about 20 minutes the rain passed and it was easy driving again. I’m really glad that I had taken over the driving and so was my wife.
After we got through the interchanges in Pennsylvania and West Virginia arriving in Ohio we headed for Columbus on another long stretch of road. Paula took over driving again and gave me another 90 minute break. I napped during that time. After Columbus I took over the driving and finished the trip.
By the time we got to Cincinnati it was about 10 o’clock. I was looking forward to seeing King’s Island amusement park lit up in the dark. Unfortunately it had just closed before we passed it. The only thing we saw was the taillights of the cars exiting the parking lot.
Our GPS took us straight through downtown Cincinnati so we passed The Great American Ballpark and were soon across the border into Kentucky.
Once we hit saw the sign confirming that we were once again in our home state (pictured above) I got my second wind. I quickly became anxious and determined to get home as quickly as possible. My foot hit the gas and we made it to our front door in about 3 to 3 ½ hours. It was about 1:15AM central time Sunday morning when we got home.
Our vacation and long drive were over. As always it was great to see the old homestead. The dogs were overjoyed to see us and we were overjoyed to see and feel the comfort of our own bed.
So there you have the recap of our June 2010 vacation. It was a long wonderful trip and yet, at the same time seemed really short. I guess time spent with family and friends you don’t get to see very often always goes too quickly.
I would like to say “thanks” to my wonderful wife for hanging in there and being so understanding about all we had to do on this trip. I know she had a good time but it really wore her out. She was a real trooper especially since she had to leave for a 5 day business trip to Central America the day after we got home. Let’s hope we can make our next vacation a bit more relaxing. But I think that's what we said before we went on this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment