Hello folks,
I'm back into town and am getting settled back into the routine. You know, the working, sleeping, eating thing... Vacation went really well. Even though it seemed to just fly by, I was able to do pretty much all I wanted. I wanted to visit and catch up with friends - which I was able to do a lot of, to visit with family - which I was able to, and to relax - of which, I did quite a lot of, as well.
Traveling went pretty smooth... I ended up getting on the road by 12:30am on Friday the 4th, and with the weather cooperating, I nearly made it home in record time. Besides some hang-ups within the Chicago suburbs, traffic flowed fairly well. To avoid the apparent heavy construction on I-80 south of Chicago, I decided to take Highway-30 east off of I-39 in Illinois. This routed me through several very small towns and through Aurora, Plainfield, Joliet and Chicago Heights... and with construction going on within Plainfield and Joliet, it went painstakenly slow through that area. Still, I made it back into Bluffton by 4:00 pm. The same was true on the way back west on Friday the 18th, but the travel went even slower with scattered, light showers affecting traffic-flow through much of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Heavy rain in western portions of Minnesota really slowed things down... I was going 30 mph at one point because I couldn't hardly see in front of me.
The first night in town, I spent over at Jeff's (Justin's brother)... Justin and I decided to go swimming in his pool, since it had been a rather warm afternoon. Plus, it sounded really good to me, since I had been stuck in the car all damn day! Then it was off to Webster Lake, Saturday morning... Amy and Chris went along with us this year - it was the first time they had gone up with us. We had a pretty good time. Most of the time Saturday we were out on the water, tubing, or hanging out near the cottage, talking, drinking, and catching up with each other. It was nice to be around some of my closest friends again. It was nice to see Brian and Becky again, as well. I hadn't seen either in a long time... Sunday, the boat broke down, so we were forced to stay ashore most of the day. It got a little boring at times, but it was still nice to just be there with friends, relaxing.
The rest of that first week I was home, I spent down at Amy and Chris' down in Fishers... Chris is still in the process of beginning his real estate venture, so I was helping them out fixing up a home in Greenfield. It went pretty smooth and I enjoyed just helping them out and hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law for a week. Plus, they took me to Carrabba's - and damnit, that made it all worth it! I love that place!
Back in Bluffton, on Friday, I had to make it out to my dad's that evening for a cookout he was hosting for me. Several from my step-mother's family wanted to see me while I was home, so they were all there. It was nice to see them and visit for several hours. Saturday, I spent much of the day with Justin, Brian and Amy. Brian evidently had bought a new gun, so we were out at his parents shooting away. I have never enjoyed guns, per se, so I didn't shoot much, but did shoot his .45 caliber hand-gun. I didn't think it was going to be so loud, so I didn't have ear plugs in, initially. After that one shot, I put a pair of headphones on. As if my hearing isn't bad enough already! Then Sunday, my mother had yet, another cook-out for me. Members of my mother's family wanted to see me, as well, while I was home. It was nice to see them, as well, since I hadn't seen them in nearly 2 years.
Most of the second week, then, I spent at my mother's home in Bluffton. I was able to hang out with friends during the week and mostly just relaxed. My mother and step-father took me up to Bandido's for lunch on Wednesday (the 16th) and Justin, Brian and I all visited Bummies for dinner on both Tuesday and Wednesday. That's the one thing we lack up here in Grand Forks - a drive-in restaurant. As far as I know, we don't have one at all...
Thursday, I primarily spent packing things up... I wanted to visit with my dad, once again before I left, so I went out to his place for dinner Thursday evening. It was nice that they offered to make anything I wanted. :) I asked for my dad's famous fried potatoes. Ahh, were they good. Plus, they know how much I love steak, so they had steak on the grill ready, as well!
All in all, it felt really good to be back in Bluffton. And even though, I always said that I wanted to make it out of that small town, in a lot of ways, I miss it. I miss my friends a lot of the time and miss being close to my family. It was sad having to leave Friday morning - but I still have this thing deep in my heart for my career and know that eventually, I'll have a family of my own someday to love and support.
Maybe that will be my next "thing" to accomplish this year... To finally meet someone that just may be my next serious relationship. We'll see!
Enough for now... Phew!
I'm back into town and am getting settled back into the routine. You know, the working, sleeping, eating thing... Vacation went really well. Even though it seemed to just fly by, I was able to do pretty much all I wanted. I wanted to visit and catch up with friends - which I was able to do a lot of, to visit with family - which I was able to, and to relax - of which, I did quite a lot of, as well.
Traveling went pretty smooth... I ended up getting on the road by 12:30am on Friday the 4th, and with the weather cooperating, I nearly made it home in record time. Besides some hang-ups within the Chicago suburbs, traffic flowed fairly well. To avoid the apparent heavy construction on I-80 south of Chicago, I decided to take Highway-30 east off of I-39 in Illinois. This routed me through several very small towns and through Aurora, Plainfield, Joliet and Chicago Heights... and with construction going on within Plainfield and Joliet, it went painstakenly slow through that area. Still, I made it back into Bluffton by 4:00 pm. The same was true on the way back west on Friday the 18th, but the travel went even slower with scattered, light showers affecting traffic-flow through much of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Heavy rain in western portions of Minnesota really slowed things down... I was going 30 mph at one point because I couldn't hardly see in front of me.
The first night in town, I spent over at Jeff's (Justin's brother)... Justin and I decided to go swimming in his pool, since it had been a rather warm afternoon. Plus, it sounded really good to me, since I had been stuck in the car all damn day! Then it was off to Webster Lake, Saturday morning... Amy and Chris went along with us this year - it was the first time they had gone up with us. We had a pretty good time. Most of the time Saturday we were out on the water, tubing, or hanging out near the cottage, talking, drinking, and catching up with each other. It was nice to be around some of my closest friends again. It was nice to see Brian and Becky again, as well. I hadn't seen either in a long time... Sunday, the boat broke down, so we were forced to stay ashore most of the day. It got a little boring at times, but it was still nice to just be there with friends, relaxing.
The rest of that first week I was home, I spent down at Amy and Chris' down in Fishers... Chris is still in the process of beginning his real estate venture, so I was helping them out fixing up a home in Greenfield. It went pretty smooth and I enjoyed just helping them out and hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law for a week. Plus, they took me to Carrabba's - and damnit, that made it all worth it! I love that place!
Back in Bluffton, on Friday, I had to make it out to my dad's that evening for a cookout he was hosting for me. Several from my step-mother's family wanted to see me while I was home, so they were all there. It was nice to see them and visit for several hours. Saturday, I spent much of the day with Justin, Brian and Amy. Brian evidently had bought a new gun, so we were out at his parents shooting away. I have never enjoyed guns, per se, so I didn't shoot much, but did shoot his .45 caliber hand-gun. I didn't think it was going to be so loud, so I didn't have ear plugs in, initially. After that one shot, I put a pair of headphones on. As if my hearing isn't bad enough already! Then Sunday, my mother had yet, another cook-out for me. Members of my mother's family wanted to see me, as well, while I was home. It was nice to see them, as well, since I hadn't seen them in nearly 2 years.
Most of the second week, then, I spent at my mother's home in Bluffton. I was able to hang out with friends during the week and mostly just relaxed. My mother and step-father took me up to Bandido's for lunch on Wednesday (the 16th) and Justin, Brian and I all visited Bummies for dinner on both Tuesday and Wednesday. That's the one thing we lack up here in Grand Forks - a drive-in restaurant. As far as I know, we don't have one at all...
Thursday, I primarily spent packing things up... I wanted to visit with my dad, once again before I left, so I went out to his place for dinner Thursday evening. It was nice that they offered to make anything I wanted. :) I asked for my dad's famous fried potatoes. Ahh, were they good. Plus, they know how much I love steak, so they had steak on the grill ready, as well!
All in all, it felt really good to be back in Bluffton. And even though, I always said that I wanted to make it out of that small town, in a lot of ways, I miss it. I miss my friends a lot of the time and miss being close to my family. It was sad having to leave Friday morning - but I still have this thing deep in my heart for my career and know that eventually, I'll have a family of my own someday to love and support.
Maybe that will be my next "thing" to accomplish this year... To finally meet someone that just may be my next serious relationship. We'll see!
Enough for now... Phew!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 and is filed under family , friends , travel , vacation . Monitor this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You may leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
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