If you actually read my post on day one you know that I said I would post less and less on this blog during our vacation. I would have posted more but we were so busy with so much I was too tired to stay up late to write and I was too busy during the day. This is a brief summary of the last 4 days of the trip. Two of which were spent in the truck getting us back to Lubbock.
Day 6 started at 06:00 with a walk with my dear bride down by the river. We hit up a Starbucks and had a lovely stroll in the morning chill. At 0800 Kendra had to go into a final sales meeting and at 0900 I took my Monther-in-law to breakfast. We, and the other wives, started our brunch buffet before the men returned. I led Kathy through the line and got her food, sat her down and then got my own food. A fairly good buffet with fruit, potatoes, build your own Caesar salad, eggs, ribs, bacon and sausage. Good vittles.
The rest of the men came in at 0930 and they all went to their wives, gave them a kiss and headed to the buffet. I sat there waiting for my love and she never showed. I felt lonely and left out. I sat in the middle of the room surrounded by happy couples greeting each other with kisses and hugs so I got up and moved back toward the buffet line. There was my sweet, standing at the doors.I went and got my kiss.
Everyone finished breakfast and headed for the elevators to get ready for their perspective tours that day. Kendra and I would go on a Frank Lloyd Wright tour while others went on a architectural river tour. The lines at the elevators were quite long so I suggested we take the stairs. 18 floors. If you know my wife you know she never backs away from a challenge from her husband. So up we went. It was a good work out and we got up there with enough time to dress, grab a camera and head downstairs.
31 one of us including a pregnant women loaded on a bus and headed to Oak Park. We had three docents who would lead our tours split into 3 groups. All three were very nice and two spoke well about Architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright. The third had a voice that grated on my soul. Monotone and raspy she was given the nickname "Captain Obvious". As an example, we were all sitting on the bus leaving the area headed back to Chicago and she had been talking non-stop for 15 minutes without inhaling once and an ambulance past us going the other way. She said, "That ambulance must be going to a hospital" and then she continued her ramble about rendering all the souls in hell submissive to her will. Or she could have been talking about architecture, not really sure.
Anyway, the tour was great. I felt funny walking around neighborhoods with groups of people but I got some decent shots for the lighting being horrible. See the shots, here Frank Lloyd Wright Tour. The biggest surprise of the day was being invited into a William Drummond house. That's when it got really weird. I did manage two crappy photos from chest height but it just felt wrong. Our pregnant tourist did manage to fall asleep in the bus and missed the last part of the walking portion. She got a good nap though.
We returned to the hotel, souls still intact, just in time to dress for dinner. It was in the ballroom and as good as it was the more impressive item was our seating assignment card. I grabbed the small envelope that said Mr and Mrs Patrick Mitchell, table 23. Yes I got top billing. the envelope had our tickets for "Motown". Beyond that, after dinner the VP of the company stood up and said, "It is raining and we are walking to the theatre which is just a block away so once you leave the ballroom there are 175 umbrellas on a table. Grab one and enjoy the show. So we all got up and walked down to the Oriental theater.
The show was good. That is to say Act 1 was fantastic. Act 2 was merely OK. Act 1 was packed full of great singing and dancing. Act 2 was acting and some iffy songs. The Finale was very anti-climatic. After the show Kendra and I went for another walk looking for ice cream to no avail. I did get a call from a neighbor in Lubbock about a plumbing question so that was different. Our latest night yet. We got to bed around 0100.
The last morning in Chicago we walked down to St.Peter's Church about three blocks away and attended one of the best masses I have ever attended. Holy cow, if you can make a Sunday visit to down town Chicago get to that mass. Starts at 0900.
We got back to the hotel and finished packing for the trip back to Downers Grove. Our car picked us up and this time it was not a Chevy Impala but a Lincoln Town car. Much better. We picked up our truck, the kids and headed to Naperville to a hotel for the night. On the way I was able to drive by my grandparent's old house in Westchester. The neighborhood brought back memories of summers sitting outside with my grandpa watching the planes approach O'Hare. We made a few people nervous driving slowly down the road but we didn't stay long and we headed back to our small hotel room. Really, this was a tight fit at this hotel. The queen beds appeared strangely like full beds. Miriam and Kendra in one, Bridget and I in another and Sean on the floor.
We woke early and made our way toward Oklahoma City. 12 hours in the truck. The kids did great. By the end we were a bit sick of each other but we made it. Kendra drove for a couple hours in the middle and I took a nap. We got to our hotel at 2000 and so we could relax a bit I got two rooms. The girls in one and Sean and I in the other. I was on a true Queen size bed and Sean....on the floor.
The long Monday allowed a more comfortable ride into Lubbock. Only 5 hours and without incident we pulled into our drive at 1400. The trip was over and both Kendra and I started to work almost immediately. Kendra got 90% of the Laundry done and put away, she got the Gross receipts taxes done and entered an order while I started on playing catch up at work.
2313 miles and 38 hours 20 minutes 33 seconds were spent in the truck. We had fun as a family and Kendra and I had fun together. We have never been away from our kids for more than a night since Miriam was born. My children will be moving on their own soon enough and I love to spend the time with them. I have never seen a need to get away from them. I only wish I could have taken them with us.
I did get to spend a maximum amount of time with my wife though and that makes it one of the greatest vacations ever.
Until next time,
Cheers.
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