Today and yesterday have been something of a whirlwind.
I got up at around 8:30 yesterday morning. (I seemed to be able to get up a lot earlier than usual while I was in Kentucky, probably because I was eager to do the things I had to do every day.) I read my webcomics and news and blogs and things, and then got ready for Uncle Jeff’s visit. He and Mavis came by at around 10, and AJ and Faye brought Connor and Logan over and we all visited, except Sean, who hadn’t been sleeping well the past few days and needed to get some extra rest for the drive.
Connor and Mavis and I played with his ESPN Sportscenter game for awhile, then played I Spy until finally it was time for Jeff and Mavis to leave. After they headed out I told Sean it was time to get up…but he was still very tired, so I decided to let him sleep. We’d packed up all the stuff from Aunt Carol and all the Christmas presents the night before, so really all that was left was to grab our clothes and toiletries and hit the road. I decided to visit Grandma by myself and then come back so Sean and I could leave. This gave Sean plenty of sleeping time, and he felt much better because of it.
At Grandma’s, I was pleased to find that Gabrielle and her three boys were visiting. It was actually Joshua’s birthday, so we sang to him and ate some cake. I hadn’t seen Gabrielle in quite a while, so we sat at Grandma’s table and talked for a long time. Uncle Steve came by and hung out as well.
Finally at around 3 I headed back to Mom and Dad’s. Sean was up and in the shower by that time, so I set about packing up all the clothes and my computer. We hit the road at around 5:30.
Dad had suggested that we go south on 27 and cut across on 80 to get to 75, so we tried that. We actually ended up cutting across on 151 (or something like that) because there was a sign that said “to 75″…but that ended up being a 25 mile drive. Sean calculated that this way was actually longer than going north to Lexington and then turning around and going south again, but I don’t know if I believe that. Regardless, it destroys fuel efficiency to be starting and stopping that much, so we probably won’t do it again. It was pretty neat, though, to see the Christmas lights in Lancaster and the small towns along the way.
The ride was long, as usual. I faded in and out; having been up since the morning, I was rather tired. We stopped at Steak ‘n Shake for dinner, both of us getting a double cheeseburger combo with an eggnog shake. Sean had bacon on his burger. It was sooo delicious…but I think I ate too fast, as I felt a little nauseated as we continued the drive.
After that we only had to stop once more a little ways outside Atlanta to get something to drink before finishing the drive. It was around midnight, and I went into the gas station to get the drinks, and this other customer was totally flirting with me. I didn’t realize this at first. He said something about “I hope you have a lovely holiday,” and I said, “You too!” in a pleased voice because I thought that was a nice thing for someone to say, and then as he was leaving he said something I didn’t quite catch, so I said, “Good night!” and he said, “You won’t tell me your name?”
Then I knew he was flirting. So I smiled at him, waved my rings, and said, “I’m married,” which has been my typical getting-hit-on response.
After we made it home, we dragged most of our regular luggage into the house and fell into bed, leaving the boxes for this morning. We had to get up at 10 so we could unpack the SUV and get it back over to National/Alamo at the airport. Fortunately, we had no problem doing this. We then went to Sean’s car to get the rest of his things out of it, and I took some pictures of the damage.
After that we had lunch at Arby’s and ran a few more errands, and now finally we’re back at the house relaxing (and doing laundry).
I had a great time on the trip to Kentucky :) Actually, I wish I was still there…
But we’re home now, and I’ve got things to do, and David’s visiting, and there’s a party coming up, and life goes on.