For those of you who actually read this, I apologize for how boring this post might be. But then again, I am grateful that it has no reason to be all that interesting. I haven’t been able to post since I began my journey because the internet is pretty slow here and I just got the password for it this morning. However, for those of you who are interested, here’s how my trip has gone so far.
Sunday night I ended up calling in sick, mainly because I figured a little family time with the Kansas City folks would be absolutely wonderful and a nice relaxing start to my vacation….it was all that and more! I love spending time with the Kansas City Albrights! Nice wonderful dinner, some talking time, and a very early bedtime was exactly what I needed!
Monday it was off to the airport, but not before a quick trip to Hallmark for Katrina’s meeting for work. While she was in her meeting, Paul gave me a little tour of the building, which was really cool. Once we were at the airport, it took me a grand total of ten minutes to get my stuff checked and go through security (I love Kansas City’s airport, it’s so incredibly quick and easy, and it’s got free wifi!). And yes, I remembered my passport.
I must say that this current trip has been running relatively smoothly compared to my previous trips. All my flights left on time, there was no mad rushing to catch the next flight, and even the airports that I had my layovers at were very easy to navigate (Detroit Metro Airport has to be my favorite airport that I’ve been to to date. It has three terminals, two of which are in the same building, and the third is just a walk through a tunnel away.)
The only mishap I’ve had at this point on this trip was the airline temporarily lost my luggage. But they found it and I was only luggage-less for a day and a half. So Sam took me to ASDA (a Wal Mart sister company) for a set of clothes so I didn’t have to wear the same clothes I had on in the airplane. All in all, not too shabby.
Since I have now been here a week, I’ll give a few quick updates since my arrival. Tuesday and Wednesday we really couldn’t do anything since we were waiting for the curriers to deliver my bags. Thursday we went to Chill Factore, where Sam teaches snowboarding, for my private two-hour lesson. I guess I did pretty well. Friday we didn’t really do a whole lot except lay out in the garden and go to see Dark Shadow. For a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/ Helena Bonham Carter movie, I was a little disappointed. The weather has been very nice, bordering on unusually warm since I’ve been here. I even sunburnt Saturday between going to the Chipping Steam Fair and the BBQ we had at Sam’s brother’s house.
The Chipping Steam Fair was really cool. It reminded me a lot of the county fairs we have at home. It was mainly mechanical displays of steam-powered engines, tractors, cars, commercial vehicles, and bikes – both motorized and non-motorized. There were, of course, the usual food stands, games, and goods stands where you can find anything that you may need and a lot of stuff you definitely don’t need. Sam being who he is, insisted on doing the “Strong man” game,
the one where you hit the bottom with the sledgehammer and try to get the thing to hit the bell at the top, and won me a pink blowup guitar.
The BBQ at Sid’s house was fun as usual, except that my sunburn from earlier that day only got a little worse on one side of my body. I did get hit on my bad hip with a tennis ball when we took the dogs out to play, but that was nothing, and the guy who threw it felt really bad about it.
Yesterday (Sunday) we went back to Chill Factore for a special event Sam’s been looking forward too. They were having Nordic Skiing lessons. So he went and did that for 6.5 hours while I sat around deeply regretting my decision to leave my snowboard at his house. He had a lot of fun doing it though, and ended up being really good at it (no surprise there).
So that brings us to today (Monday). It’s about 8 am here and it seems like the sun has been up for at least 3 or 4 hours already (I swear, it seems like it’s only dark for about 5 or 6 hours a day). I think all we have planned for today is laundry and cleaning and maybe a little grocery shopping. So, for now, that’s all I got. Have a great Memorial Day and a fantastic week!
(They wanted to keep me company)
So, even though I am feeling so much better today, I'm thinking at least a mostly lazy day again today. Next week I should have some more photos and some more exciting things to report.
The Chipping Steam Fair was really cool. It reminded me a lot of the county fairs we have at home. It was mainly mechanical displays of steam-powered engines, tractors, cars, commercial vehicles, and bikes – both motorized and non-motorized. There were, of course, the usual food stands, games, and goods stands where you can find anything that you may need and a lot of stuff you definitely don’t need. Sam being who he is, insisted on doing the “Strong man” game,
the one where you hit the bottom with the sledgehammer and try to get the thing to hit the bell at the top, and won me a pink blowup guitar.
The BBQ at Sid’s house was fun as usual, except that my sunburn from earlier that day only got a little worse on one side of my body. I did get hit on my bad hip with a tennis ball when we took the dogs out to play, but that was nothing, and the guy who threw it felt really bad about it.
Yesterday (Sunday) we went back to Chill Factore for a special event Sam’s been looking forward too. They were having Nordic Skiing lessons. So he went and did that for 6.5 hours while I sat around deeply regretting my decision to leave my snowboard at his house. He had a lot of fun doing it though, and ended up being really good at it (no surprise there).
So that brings us to today (Monday). It’s about 8 am here and it seems like the sun has been up for at least 3 or 4 hours already (I swear, it seems like it’s only dark for about 5 or 6 hours a day). I think all we have planned for today is laundry and cleaning and maybe a little grocery shopping. So, for now, that’s all I got. Have a great Memorial Day and a fantastic week! 
