There Was a Wedding - Part 9 - Cleaning Up and Going Home

On Sunday, there was a luncheon hosted by Carole and Larry for their attendants and family. I have a guild member who lives in Roanoke. He can't travel the distance to the guild meet ups owing to a very bad back, so Doo and I decided we were going to Roanoke to meet him. It was a wonderful day to make a 3 hour, one way, drive. Mom was picked up at the house, by Larry and Donna and they dropped off all the gifts before heading to the luncheon. Mom said the meal at the restaurant was fantastic. The kids brought her back to the house so she could sit in the sofa and watch her NASCAR race. Plus, she could have 'bonding' time with her great-grand kitties.

Tobey, while exceedingly mellow, is Carole's cat, 100%. He allowed us to pet him, but he wouldn't get that close. He doesn't like to be picked up, even by Carole, but he sits next to her wherever she happens to me. Sunday evening was a case in point.

Faux is Faux. He liked to be in the hallway.

He knows he won't get stepped on, that you'll step around him. This was his supervisor position for all the activity in the house.

He tolerates, up to a point, being petted, but he's become Larry's cat. When Larry comes home from work, Faux runs to him. Larry scoops him up and flips him over and they would wander about the house. The two boys have twice as much space now to explore but I'm told they are enjoying having all sorts of places to go.

When I got back from Roanoke, the kids were opening gifts. Mom and I enjoyed seeing all the wonderful items. We had leftover cake.

This was the bottom layer and was the Boston Cream Pie layer. We took our cake pieces and watched Iowa lose, badly, to Gonzaga in the NCAA men's basketball tournament while Carole wrote out 'Thank you' notes for wedding gifts. Larry signed and addressed them. Mom and I had to laugh when we received our notes 10 days after we'd returned home. Carole was waiting for the new address labels before mailing them out. That was good because I needed to update my address book.

When that game was over, we watched University of Northern Iowa's game before flipping to Wisconsin-Oregon. This is one of Faux's favorite places to be.

He won't be able to do this in the new house as the TV is going in the basement media room and will be hung on the wall. We didn't finish watching the game as we were all tired and everyone had places to be in the morning.

6 a.m. is early, regardless of which time zone you're in. Mom and I got up, had breakfast, finished packing the car and left. This was the last time to see the house Larry had purchased a couple years before meeting Carole.

The next time I visit, I will be learning a new place to travel to.

Sunrise is pretty regardless of where you are, like in Warrenton, Virginia.

We headed west into a beautiful day.

There was still snow in the mountain ridges and the temperature was cooler than the weekend. It wasn't until we got into western Ohio that the weather took a noticeable turn.

The clouds got really think. It seemed like we were driving into snow. Wait, it had just been 70. Snow? As we passed into Indiana, it was clear. This was snow.

Mom and I looked at each other when I stopped for gas, to make sure we made it back to the house without having to stop in a snowstorm. Snow? Oh yeah, the closer we got to Chicago, the heavier and wetter the snow became.

You can see that the Interstate is wet, but it was never slippery. It was also never not clear so we made decent time as we drove into and out of the snow bands. In Indiana, we passed a UPS truck that had been towing 3 trailers. He had lost control and flipped one trailer over the shoulder guard rail and onto its side. People were emptying that trailer into a larger one. The middle trailer of the three, was standing upright although its hitches were mangled and the first trailer was still attached to the cab. Traffic was slowed to a crawl for several miles before passing the wreck. Otherwise, there was nothing awry, other than snow, to keep us from making time to get to my house.

Look at this.

Whose crazy idea was this?

It was six inches of sloppy snow. It was still 70 degrees in Virginia. Mom and I shoveled the front steps and walk and unpacked the car. We went to bed early that night.

In the morning, we had a lovely brunch at a local Wheaton restaurant.

The melting had started but there were heaps of snow everywhere. After brunch, mom packed up her car and headed back to Iowa.

By the time she left, all the roads were clear and it was sunshine all the way home for her. I returned the rental and started the process of doing wash, dealing with mail and loving up two cats who were very happy to see me. We haven't had a measurable snow since this date.

We packed a lot into 6 days, from travel to and from to buying a house to food and friends. It was a wonderful, wonderful wedding. It went off without a major hitch. Carole and Larry got exactly what they deserved, a perfect day on which to build a forever life together.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

There Was a Wedding - Part 1 - Getting There

On Saturday, March 21st, Carole and Larry married. It was a glorious event. In contrast to the previous wedding Carole was a part of, this one was more relaxed, much more fun, a celebration in the truest sense of the word.

Step one of the process was actually getting to Virginia. My mother was able to come along. At first she said she couldn't, but my sister and I did an "end around", so to speak and arranged things with her husband's children to check in on him so she could come. Then, my niece was going to drive her as far as Clinton, Iowa, where I'd meet her so she wouldn't be driving the 5 hours on her own. But that plan fell through. So, mom just hopped in her car and drove herself, taking all the time she needed to make it here.

I rented a car as I have done the last few times I've gone to Carole's. It's so much nicer to rent than bounce out there in the Jeep. This time, I got a Chrysler 200. The dash board looked like the controls of an airplane.

I don't think I'd take this style of car again.

We never did figure out what all the buttons did, plus, it did not come with a CD player. You were to hook up your cell phone to the radio to play your music. As someone who does not have music on her cell phone, this is not a plus for the car. I neglected to take a full photo of the car. It was roomy and comfortable, but the lack of either satellite radio or a CD player made this a "thumb's down". There were a couple good things. The gas mileage was very good which cut the cost of the trip and it had push button start. That took a bit of getting used to but it was nice.

We headed east at 6 a.m. into a cloudy sunrise. Traffic eastbound on Interstate 80 slowed to a stop and we sat and we sat and we sat. There had been one of those rear ender accidents involving 3 cars, one of which was heavily damaged. Of course, people had to slow down to look. While this was being cleared, 5 cars tagged each other so that effectively closed the Interstate for about 20 minutes while vehicles were moved to the side and police could come and sort things out. We met all of this as it was slowly unpacking itself, but we spent a good 30 minutes going 3 miles.

Once away from the Chicagoland area and into Indiana, the sun came up and we had a nice drive.

Ohio is the worst part. Perhaps that's why they have the best restroom and eating facilities. The road is flat and there's not a lot of "scenery" until you get to the eastern quarter of the state. Pennsylvania goes by fast because it's hilly. Then, in quick succession, you go through Maryland, a bit of West Virginia and you're into Virginia. Slowly, the Blue Ridge Mountains start showing up.

We have to go over this thin line of mountains and through part of the Shenandoah Valley to get to our destination. By this time, the sun is low on the horizon.

Twelve hours after we started, we pulled into the driveway. I've done this drive 4 times now. The best thing I ever did was listen to Pam and rent a car. If I can have my tunes with me, the time goes by fairly rapidly.

So we have arrived. The next day is the rehearsal and one more thing sandwiched into a jam packed weekend.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Opening Tomorrow

I get to go amazing places and non-amazing places with my job. One of today's locations was a repeat of the space from back in March, those balmy days in March when it was in the 70's and we were starting this crazy project. We're back in the same spaces and people seem to be reasonably understanding about it. It's one of those, "When it's done, it will be wonderful. It's just the getting to the done part that's awful."

Anyway, today's trek started at the National Hellenic Museum at the edge of Chicago's Greektown Neighborhood.

The museum is located at the corner of Halsted and Van Buren, just off Chicago's downtown, just west of the Kennedy Expressway. You can see the Kennedy from the west side of the museum. We had to invade their space and stick 2 more monitors in the building and I had to inspect the south side again. The previous visit was to an empty exhibit space. It's not that way right now.

We could see, yesterday, when we walked by the museum on the way to lunch, the staff doing the finishing installation of this exhibit. It opens tomorrow, Friday, so there is much scurrying about to get things ready.

The Beetroot Design Group has imagined monsters from Greek mythology and put them in a black, red and white color scheme. The result is, I think, fantastic, and hugely playful.

Look. A cyclops, with sheep.

How about a phoenix rising from the flames?

Or maybe you'd like a minotar, kneeling, wondering what you're doing in the middle of his maze. He was just eating his hay and you've walked in and disturbed him. (That's Gene and our client in the background waiting for the machine to call in.)

  

There are giant panels of painted artwork, too big for me to get into one frame of the camera. 

And pieces which would fit on a pedastle in one's living room 

I would buy a miniature of this piece. It's a black cat. I really love the bold colors. 

Each piece will be accompanied by the name of the monster represented, a poem and a brief few paragraphs about the monster. My Greek and Roman Mythology class, so very long ago, failed me, for I couldn't remember the monster in the painting nor the cat. The minotar and the cyclops are very familiar by virtue of their use in other art and stories. 

As much as I love the cat, these are, hands down, the stars of the exhibit, for me. 

Look at these. If this doesn't bring a smile to your face, you're too far gone. Chickens, flying chickens. You can see a graphic representation panel of all the monsters they have designed at the lower right. It's 35 feet long and 7 feet high. It was fun to just stand there and admire the images. These are representations of the Stymphalian Birds. Dealing with them was Hercules' sixth labor. According to the myth their feathers are bronze and they can shoot them like arrows. Their beaks are like swords and they fly at anyone who comes to kill them. Their poop is highly toxic and will kill people who touch it. They were terrorizing the town of Stymphalia and needed to be eradicated. 

Chickens. That's what theses are. I laughed. It was so fun to stand under them and just watch. When you heard the air conditioning come on, which you'd probably not hear at the start of the opening due to people noise, you could watch a very faint sway to the birds as you stood looking. It was not hard to imagine a flight of millions of these. I think I would be laughing too hard to do much about them. 

I am sorely tempted to return to the museum to see the final installation. I also have to admit that I'd pay money for a cat and a chicken. I love art that's imaginative and this certainly is. If you're a reader from the Chicagoland, NW Indiana, SW Michigan or SE Wisconsin area, do come and see this. It's delightful. 

Beverage:  Water

Deb

On Vacation-The Trip To Virginia

I left Thursday, May 22nd. The day dawned cool and clear.

Realizing I had a 12 hour drive ahead of me, before stops for gas and food and to simply walk around, my goal was to leave at 6 a.m., which is 7 a.m. in Virginia. I packed as much as I could on Wednesday night. There were just a few things to pack on Thursday and, at 5:45 a.m., I kissed my girls goodbye, told them Pam would be taking care of them and headed out the driveway. The first stop would be breakfast.

Of course I'm going to start my vacation with Dunkin'. I did it last year. I think it should become a tradition. I told the manager I'd see her again in June. She wished me a good trip and I was off, officially.

I couldn't have asked for a better driving day. The sky in Chicagoland was completely clear. Leaving at that time of day means getting to Indiana is a breeze, unlike about an hour later when it can be stop and go.

The perfect weather continued through Ohio. I had to laugh because in middle Ohio, Interstate 80 is undergoing major repairs. Road destruction doesn't phase me, but how the road was divided was confusing to people.

I'm in the "express lane". This is for cars only who don't want to exit at any time during this 25-mile stretch of construction. We have these all over Chicagoland, even when there isn't construction. I got behind more than one car that found themselves in these lanes but needing to get off. Once the lanes ended, they would head to the shoulder, map in hand, to figure out how to get back to where they needed to get off.

The rental car was great here. As long as there was no slow traffic, I could set the cruise control for the mandatory 45 miles per hour and not worry that I was accidentally exceeding the speed limit. I saw more than one person pulled over upon existing the construction zone. With a fine of at least $250, that puts a huge damper on a vacation.

Interstate 80 is often referred to as "the artery of America". Running coast to coast from New York, past Chicago, to San Francisco, it's probably the easiest way to get from point A to point B through the mid-section of the country. Memorial Day weekend is when Rolling Thunder hits Washington DC. This event, which brings awareness of the POW/MIA situation, sees thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts arrive in DC for events, speeches and get-togethers. I was vaguely aware of this as I headed east. The farther east I went, the more motorcycles I saw.

At rest stops, they would congregate together, asking where each other was from and if they wanted to ride together to DC. I often heard, "Oh I'm not a vet. I just ride to show my support." A lot of people were riding to show their support.

I think we all had the same directions because I saw the same people over and over. You know the feeling when you pass a truck, get off for gas, and pass it again when you get back on. I passed the car pulling the trailer here in front of me several times from western Ohio as I headed east.

And the thing about Internet or GPS directions, they often send you out of the way in the drive for fast. I'm picking up US 522 to head south here. I had to leave 522 to get to 37 to get to I-66. I'm leaving Interstate 70 east here. US 522 runs from I-66 straight north to I-70. The only fly in the ointment for speed is that 522 goes through downtown Winchester, Virginia, a very old city where George Washington lived for a time. I know this because, on my way home, I opted not to completely retrace my steps, but take 522 straight north. I lost it south of downtown Winchester and wound up spending 30 minutes driving around the downtown before I found it again. Downtown Winchester is a pedestrian mall with a museum dedicated to George Washington's law office. I think it merits a visit some day, but not when I'm trying to go home.

522 is a beautiful drive in Virginia.

It's four lanes for a bit in Maryland but narrows to 2 lanes in West Virginia. This moved along swiftly, even taking into account the drive through a couple of towns. Once it gets into Virginia, it's 4 lanes of lovely driving.

This is Interstate 66 heading east to DC. I caught up with some of the cyclists I'd seen back on Interstate 80. From this point, it was about an hour to Carole's. The drive had been most pleasant and is probably going to be my route from now on. I just have to figure out how it goes through downtown Winchester.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Rollin' Home

Thursday, August 22nd, I headed home from Virginia. It had been a lovely visit. I made the decision to go a different route back because of all the construction I had encountered in Ohio.

The morning was foggy.

I love driving in the fog, as long as I either know the road or, in this case, it was Interstate and I could be fairly certain of the highway. The fog only lasted an hour.

The morning was impossibly beautiful. The above photo was taken on I-64 west of Charlottesville. I hadn't seen this scenery the previous week because it was dark.

At the intersection of I-64 and I-81, I went right, north.

I drove north to almost the Pennsylvania border, meeting I-70 in Maryland, and turned left, to head west.

Here's where I met the mountains. I've driven this section before, back in 2011. Some of the scenery seemed familiar but it's still new. I-70 gave way to I-68 and I approached this cut through the mountains. This was familiar.

I noticed on the way out that there just weren't very many bug splats on the window. There were more on the way home, but I remember years of travel where you'd use the windshield wipers and the sprayer in an effort to get the bugs off the windows. Are there less bugs? Did I happen to travel during a time when bugs aren't plentiful? Or was my travel through a bugless area?

I-68 is designated the "National Freeway" and passes through some beautiful scenery in western Maryland. Notice I'm in the right lane. It was this drive where I really encountered the slowness of the Jeep. Try as I might, I couldn't build up enough steam to sustain even 60 miles per hour. My speed dropped to around 50 when I would finally clear the top of these mountains.

This photo is a good example of the "Blue Ridge Mountains". Notice the difference in color. The highest peak I cleared topped out at over 2800 feet. This is the time you want someone else with you so someone could take a photo of the nice sign they put up letting you know that, yes, your ears have popped because you're over 2600 feet. 

Here I am in West Virginia. 

I met up with I-79 and headed right, to the north, to Pennsylvania. 

Western Pennsylvania still contains similar mountains. I knew, from checking the weather, that I could be driving into rain. Although the overcast weather in Maryland and West Virginia, kept the temperatures cool, once I got into Pennsylvania, the temperature went up, even in the mountains, by about 15 degrees. And there, like a wall, were the rain clouds. 

It turned out, however, that I drove around the rain for at least an hour. 

North of Pittsburgh, we met, but it wasn't much to speak of, a brief shower moving from left to right and I drove out of it as quickly as I drove into it. 

It didn't cool off the air at all. 

I picked up good old familiar Interstate 80, turned left and headed west. Oh hey! I know this intersection. 

I waved in the direction of April and Perry's. Next time, I hope my trip allows me to see all the people I know around Youngstown. 

As I headed west, I could see the rain south and west of me. It seemed like all the hype about "heavy" rain or even any kind of rain wasn't going to happen. 

But it was in western Indiana when I finally met the rain which actually cooled things off. I love driving in rain. I love the swoosh of the wipers and the rattle of the rain on the roof. In the summer, I love the change of smells from hot pavement to steamy pavement to cool, wet pavement. I love the look of the land in the rain. 

Beyond this, it grew too dark to take photos and I could feel how close home was. When I pulled in the drive, 16 hours after leaving Richmond, I was exhausted, but nothing is quite so wonderful as knowing you're home.

Would I go that route again? It's all Interstate, unlike the route out. I'm not sure. Knowing that there is major construction in Dayton and how poorly marked the intersection of the two routes was where I had to leave the Interstate and pick up the US Highway, I'm not inclined to want to go that way. But the way out was 2 hours less time and that's a strong consideration in travel. There are a number of ways to get from here to there and back again. If this becomes a yearly event, I'll have a chance to experience them all. 

Beverage:  Lady Gray Tea

Deb