Thanksgiving Journey Day 5

Wednesday afternoon, Michael, Ryan, and I headed to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport to pick up Brock at 5:00pm.  It was about a two hour drive.  Then we went to check in to the Residence Inn and went out to eat at a place called The Marketplace:

When the bill came and the waiter asked how we wanted it split, I jumped in and said, "You can put it all on one, and he's paying" and I pointed to Michael.  It is amazing how often this works!  I encourage you all to try it next time you're out to eat with someone =)

Throughout the day we kept getting updates about my mom and her flight status'.  She had hoped to fly out standby all day, but with no seats available she wasn't able to get on an earlier flight.  Her expected flight was on an hour delay out of South Bend.  When she finally boarded the plane, they sat on the runway for an hour and a half.  Needless to say, Carol missed her connection at O'Hare, and since it was the last flight out for the night, had to get a hotel room and didn't come in to Arkansas until Thanksgiving morning. 

Ryan and I went to bed for the night, while Michael and Brock went back to airport to pick up Kelly at 9:00pm.

Thanksgiving Journey Day 4

Michael's here!

And so is a cute little chipmunk!

Ryan, Michael, Dad, and I went back to Branson to go zip-lining.  

We did a total of 7 zip lines and 3 hanging bridges.  On one line, none of us made it all the way across.  Ryan got the closest, about 5 feet away.  So he turned around and pulled himself in backwards hand by hand.  Dad did the same method from much further away.  I stopped REALLY far from the platform.  My dad yells to me that I need to turn around and pull myself in hand by hand.  As I'm doing this, and have moved all of about 8 inches, the guide zips out to me, wraps his legs around me, and he pulls the both of us in hand by hand.  Michael is the last to arrive, and again, he doesn't make the platform.  So the guide throws a rope out to him that Michael grabs, and the guide pulls him into the platform. 

This is us with our tour guides Kyle (on the right) and Dakota (on the left).

After zip lining we went to Reeds Springs, MO to try the "Best Pizza in Missouri" as hailed by USA Today.

We took the pizzas home so Teri could enjoy them too.  After inhaling the pizzas, Michael, Ryan, and I, turned around and headed right back to Branson to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Imax.

Thanksgiving Journey Day 3

As luck would have it, there is a Lambert's Cafe right here in Springfield.  So Ryan and I went there for lunch.

It was VERY exciting!  This kid throws rolls across the restaurant at people.  You must catch it to eat it.  Some of them hit the floor, or fall short the person who it was meant for, but overall this kid has really good aim.  And I love his suspenders...

 After lunch we headed down to Branson, MO.  We started off by going to the Titanic Museum.  Upon entering you were assigned an actual passenger on the ship.  I was Sarah Sage, the eldest child in the Sage family.  The Sage family was the largest family on board the ship.  There were two parents and nine children, and they were traveling third class.  Sarah made it onto a life boat, but upon realizing none other of her family members did, she got off of it to go find them.  None of the Sage family survived. 

After that we went to the Hollywood Wax Museum.  See facebook for more photos!

We tried going to the Veterans Museum, but we arrived less than 30 minutes before it closed so they wouldn't let us go through it.  As it got darker we ended up driving through a festival of lights.  It was like Washington Park in Michigan City, except they charge $10 per car in Branson.  We had dinner and then went in search of the World's Largest Banjo that we kept seeing signs for.  We finally found it!

 

 But the whole reason we were in Branson for the day was because we all had tickets to The Shanghai Theater's production of the Acrobats of China.  Michael, Teri, and Tom all came down and met us at the theatre for an 8pm show.

There were no pictues allowed inside expcet this one!

Thanksgiving Journey Day 2

Today was a rather long day of boring driving.  We took 60W all the way from Paducah, KY to Springfield, MO.  It is flat, deserted, and long. 

Of course I had several fun photo opportunities planned for the day:  We were going to see a tiny tiny church in Bardswell, KY, go to Lambert's Cafe is Sikeston, MO, go see the largest ball of hair at some barber shop in Charleston, MO, and then end with the world's largest fork in Springfield, MO. 

Well the day was very overcast and it rained sporadically.  I figured it wouldn't be a very good picture to go stand out in the rain next to a tiny church, so I took that off the list of activities.  Then we were supposed to go to Lambert's Cafe.  This place is hailed as a restaurant where they throw rolls at you.  Well we passed it about an hour after we left Paducah, after we had eaten breakfast, so we weren't hungry, so we took that off the list also.  

Finally, one destination that didn't involve us eating while full, nor standing in the rain:  the World's Largest Ball of Hair.   According to the website that I use to find all these fun locations, this ball of hair was featured on CNN in 2007 and was 167 lbs at that time.  We pulled up to the barber shop, and were severely disappointed.  The place was so small, run down, paint chipping, and not open.  I did get my picture taken outside of the place, but I don't really believe that huge ball of hair is in there somewhere...

So far, three out of three photo ops have gone bust.  So we got back on the road, in the overcast and rainy weather, and continue driving amongst the barren land.  Then all of a sudden, I saw the most coca-cola vending machines I've ever seen in one location.  We pulled over, and took some pictures. 

 Then we got REALLY desperate, and saw up the road some weird horses in front of a bank.  We were desperate for pictures, so we took some there too. 

 Upon finally arriving in Springfield, we easily found the World's Largest Fork.

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We ended up arriving at my dad's girlfriend's house, Teri.  My dad was not home, so Teri entertained us for about 2 hours. 

I had explained to Ryan that my dad has hair halfway down his back, that he wears self-made dangley earrings, and some other pertinent information he needed to know about King Tom.  When my dad came through the door though, he had cut off all his hair, and there were no earrings in sight!  Made me look like a liar!!!

So the four of us drank and were merry for the evening.  Dad was on his best behavior, and only said a couple inappropriate things (such as, to Ryan, "I'm an adrenaline junky - that's why I love sex!").

Thanksgiving Journey Day 1

Ryan and I left this morning from GA, headed into TN, and ended up in KY for the night.  Upon crossing the TN border we went to Ruby Falls in Chattanooga.  Ruby Falls is a waterfall INSIDE a cave!  We got out of the car and paid to enter, not realizing it was a 1.5 hour tour! 

It was really  neat though.  Along the way to get to the waterfall, there are a couple "formations" to keep you entertained.  Just like when you look up at clouds and you can see shapes in them, someone saw certain formations made out of the rock:

Of course the grand finale is so tall that I couldn't fit it all in one picture:

We went to the Cracker Barrel for lunch.  Then I drove while Ryan slept, and then Ryan drove while I slept.

We knew we would be staying the night somewhere around Paducah, KY since it is the halfway point to where we're going.  There is an outdoor ice skating rink in downtown Paducah so we went ice skating in 50 degree weather!  Ryan is definitely not so comfortable on ice skates, but I appreciated the effort while I skated laps around him =)  Since we were already downtown we wandered around until we found a place we wanted to eat.  We ended up eating at the Whaler's Catch.  They had this huge upstairs outside deck kind of similar to Matey's in Michigan City, but we ate in the warmth of the heat inside.  The food was phenomenal! 

Now we are situated at the Country Inn and Suites for the night.  Overall, the day was AWESOME and one of the most fun I've had in a LONG time!

Coming Soon

Fear not faithful readers, Ryan and I are leaving for a week tomorrow.  I'm sure there will be PLENTY to blog about =)

The schedule is to take two days to drive to Springfield, MO where my dad and his girlfriend live.  We will be staying with them from Sunday until Wednesday morning.  Yes, Ryan is going under trial by fire meeting and living with King Tom!  Michael is flying in to join us on Monday morning. 

Then on Wednesday we will head to Springdale, Arkansas for the next couple days for the big annual Bulger family Thanksgiving.  Mom, Brock, and Michael's girlfriend are flying in at various times on Wednesday. 

In other news, Ryan and I have officially finished the beginning square dance lessons.  We completed 12 weeks and are now eligible to go on to the next level of classes starting right after Thanksgiving. 

Also, I have a job interview scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving at Marietta Middle School.  It is part of a charter school system in Marietta, GA and I will be interviewing for a contractor position of Title I math support specialist.  Today, I sent in all my official paperwork to the state of GA to get my GA teaching license. 

Ok, I'm over it

I've officially gotten tired of doing NOTHING. 

I have nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to see, and no one to talk to.

I volunteer a maximum of 4 hours a week, and I tutor 2 hours a week. 

I have tennis lessons for 1 hour a week, which ends this coming week, and I have square dancing for 1.5 hours a week, which also ends this coming week.  

So for about 9 hours a week, I'm booked.  Other than that, I have absolutely no where to be at any time during the other 159 hours a week. 

The cycle of doing nothing perpetuates doing nothing.

If it's a really exciting day, I go tanning AND work out. 

Otherwise, I've got nothing. 

I have nothing to blog about, and I have nothing to talk about. 

The high lite of last week was Galea calling me and needing math help over the phone.