Family Va-Cay day 2

This past spring I was in a bit of a fender bender when a high schooler rear ended me close to our home. After all the hulla-baloo I ended up getting a new bumper and the scratches buffed out of my hatch. I believe it was about 5 years ago that Tim and I actually collided in the driveway which long story short resulted in a new bumper for my magnum. So if you are keeping track… that’s two new bumpers. Well, while we were on vacation I had Timmy drive just so I could relax a bit more and keep Bella company while he and Kyra bonded in the front seats. For the most part it was great for all of us. That was until we went to dinner at Marley’s and Timmy backed into a giant rock and scratched my new bumper-argh! This isn’t even the worst part. When we were backing out of our hotel Timmy hits it again!!! Now my brand new pretty bumper has a whole bunch of road rash on it—can’t win I guess.  I got over it though and we started our second day of vacation with another go round at the water park. Bella sprinted to the lil roller coaster and Timmy kept her busy while Kyra and I rode Hates (70 mph wooden coaster that goes underground in the dark)… we went twice. The 90 degree heat was not too bad in the morning as there was a lot of shade to be found but by lunch time we had all had enough. We trekked to the car, changed our clothes and enjoyed a little picnic lunch out of the cooler in the trunk. The girls were tuckered out at this point so we put them both in the back hoping at least Katie would take a little cat nap. Between the videos and the games they got along pretty well and there was little to no arguing. I was happy to sit in the front seat with my hubby and enjoy the scenery on the way down to Iowa which was our final destination. We took the back roads instead of the interstates and I am so glad we did because those types of drives are one of my favorite memories of Wisconsin summers. We just rolled the windows down and listened to some great tunes and awesome conversation.

 

 We crossed into Iowa and I realized I had never seen the Mississippi river except from the shoreline- how impressive! I tried to takes some pictures but I was in such awe that they didn’t turn out so hot. We had to tell Kyra to put on her IPod and look around or she would miss it. Being the typical teenager she gave us lip but then got over that too and it looked like she was actually appreciating the scenery with the rest of us. The first city on the Iowian side was Dubuque and I instantly fell in love. It reminded me of going to Lacrosse Wisconsin when I was a kid and all the fun I had there with my cousins, aunts and uncles on the Herrman side. It took about 10 minutes to get through the city and after that it was pretty much farm fields filled corn, corn and more corn. Hmmm… I guess that stereotype is true in a way lol. We got to our destination in less that 4 hours and were starving which boded well for us as we were meeting Tim’s parents at the Cracker Barrel (I can’t help that I love it and it just so happened to be located directly next door to the hotel we were staying in). Andy and Sharon met us down there to go with us to see the American Picker’s shop and to spend a little extra tie with the girls.

I tried not to spend too much in the Cracker Barrels little general store (money and time) but that was a folly because I did both… but it was totally worth it. When we walked out we noticed that the storm clouds were rolling in, and boy did they ever. WE got a little wet on the drive over to the hotel but no big deal really. The hiccup in the trip now was that at some point while we were eating or walking, lightning must have struck the hotel generator because they were full on without power. REALLY? SO we hung out under the awning out front of the building visiting with the other guests who didn’t want to roast in their rooms without air-conditioning and who could blame them. While we were waiting there was a double rainbow that emerged right above us. And as most of you know, I am always looking for signs from up above so this made me wonder what was coming our way. Hmmmm we shall see what that becomes. There was a cool double rainbow right above us though so that was cool. Bella had fun visiting with one guests pet puppy mentioning how much she missed her own doggy named Spunky :(  After the power was restored we got changed and the 6 of us walked down to the pool for a bit. I had had enough swimming over the past few days but a hot tub sure sounded great. And it was.

Side note: when we checked in and the power was out the desk clerk said it may be a few hours. After waiting quite a while we went back and clarified if he had called the utilities to notify them that the building was without power. He stated (now get this) that his cell phone was dead and his charger would not work. When we asked if the house phone was working he said no it was digital and “besides with no power how can he google to number to the power company?” At this point I had just about had it… ummm duh? Borrow someone’s cell phone and use this silly thing we grownups call a phone book DUH... It was hilarious!