Friday, July 28, 2006

Road Trip Part 1

Thursday:
Well, the first stop was to get our oil changed. We were already 3k over the time to change the oil, and knew that we would be adding quite a few more miles on Cora (the name of our corolla). So off to Valvoline (dude, it was very expensive, now I remember why we were over). Chris, the navigator, took charge and said to head to Versailles. We went Route 60 to Interstate 64 to Louisville. In Louisville we took the bypass (I265) to I65. We took I65 all the way up to Chicago. We passed through Indianapolis, but didn't stop. We had both been there before and weren't too impressed. Indian wasn't all that great, but we were so excited at the thought of what we were doing that it didn't bother us that much. Right outside of Chicago we got on I94. At this point, it was probably 7:30ish. Traffic was pretty heavy. Thankfully we had switched so Chris was driving. I drove most of the time, until I was either too tired or we were going through a big city. I don't handle big city/ heavy traffic that well. Chris was a little nervous becauseof the traffic. We could see the skyline of Chicago and were frantically trying to decide whether to go INTO Chicago or just stay on 94 and get to Wisconsin. I could tell Chris was having a rough time, so I said I was fine either way. I'm not sure I would have been willing to go downtown if I was driving.

So, at the last minute Chris decided that it would be worth it to go see the sights. Neither one of us had very high expectations for Chicago, but we were both pleasantly surprised. We saw the Sears Tower, the Chicago Stock Exchange and lots of cool architecture downtown. We poked around a bit, and then decided to follow Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan. It was absolutely gorgeous!! There seem to be so many things to do in Chicago. There was a long foot path/trail/park between the road and the lake. We spent about 2 hours poking around. The only frustrating part is that it took a long time to get back on the interstate. We hadn't any dinner yet, and it was getting dark. We finally found the interstate, and were headed out of Chicago. We stopped at a sub shop (I'll add the name later, I can't think of it now) and then headed to Wisconsin. One of the things that we didn't expect on the trip was the number of toll roads. So there were a number of times where we were frantically search the car for just a few more dimes. Thank goodness we are so messy . Anyhow, they were doing some major road work on 94/41. They reduced the 3 lanes, into 1 lane. It took us an hour to go 20 miles. And they still made us pay 1.50. By this time, it was very very late. We were both exhausted, and realized it was time to stop. We made it into Wisconsin, and set out to find a cheap motel. Now I was always under the impression that a Motel 8 was a cheap motel. However, I don't consider 54.99 to be a cheap price. However, we were too tired to care. It was probably the worst night sleep in a long time. At home, we have a sleep number bed with a 3 inch memory foam mattress topper. We have a FABULOUS bed. I wasn't expecting anything even close at the Motel 8, but seriously, would have been more comfortable sleeping on the floor. The temperature was really impossible to regulate. And Chris discovered that I snore LOUDLY when we stay in beds that aren't our own. But he couldn't nudge me to get me to stop cause we were in seperate double beds. Chris also had stomach problems, and probably didn't get more than 3-4 hours of sleep.

more to come . . . .

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Journey Starts

Well. I'm starting a seperate blog to record my weight loss journey. I don't plan on telling anyone that I know in real-life about this blog (at least not yet). I have had so many failed attempts at losing weight. I've had some successful ones, but I have gained back the weight plus some. So I'm going to start this site. And hopefully updated regularly. With my progress. With my failures. With my thoughts and feelings. I'm just going to let it all out. And I seriously doubt that anyone will read this. But who cares if they do?! They don't know me anyway. I will probably tell my husband, but that is okay, cause I will have probably already told him how I feel anyway.


****edited to add that I have now combined all my blogs ***** 6/3/08

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

canada trip

We had quite a road trip. It was a fanastic trip. We traveled over 1400 miles in 4 days. That is a ton of driving, which we normally hate, but for some reason, it wasn't that bad. I think it was a combination of seeing completely new things, and a sense of awe that we were actually doing a spontaneous road trip.

On Thursday morning, I headed to Wal-Mart to pick up the groceries for our camping trip, while Chris was going to mow the lawn. However, it was raining so hard when I got back, that I knew that we had to talk about canceling our trip. We looked at the weather channel and the internet forecasts, and realized that if there was even a remote chance that it would rain as much as they said, and it was as hot as they said, that we would be completly miserable. I flippantly said that we should go on a road trip.

An hour later, we were re-packing to go on a road trip to canada via a trip around Lake Michigan. It was very exciting, and kind of out of charachter for us. Over the next few days, I will try and post a re-cap of our trip.

On another note, I tried to order a digital copy of "Dragonfly in Amber" by Diana Gabaldon from amazon.com, and I am having all kinds of fits trying to actually get it. I placed the order, and got the email saying that I should be able to download it from amazon.com's media library. However, when I signed in there is nothing there. I have sent an email to amazon with no response. I found a customer service number on the internet for Amazon, and called and talked to someone, and I am still waiting to get the stupid book. The whole reason I bought it was because I wanted to start reading it immediately, and I didn't want to download an illegal copy. Now, I'm almost ready to head home, and I could buy the stupid book at Joseph Beth. Grrrr.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

camping has been nixed

our plans have changed. because we have the worst luck possible, it is going to rain for the next 10 DAYS!! so we are going to be spontaneous and go to canada. yup, you read that right, canada. wish us luck! ;)

- sarah

: well it seems the fishing trip was a wash.. couldn't really plan on rain for 2 weeks straight in the middle of july.. we didnt want to go south because thats been the default direction for all of our endeavours.. so we're heading north through Sault Ste Marie and see what the road brings us.... i figure I have a much better chance of fulfilling my lifelong tream to fight and eat a bear if we go to canada.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

camping

I love camping. I have convinced Chris that he likes camping too, because he gets to go fly-fishing when we go camping. I'm afraid if I removed the fishing part of the camping trip, Chris wouldn't be as thrilled.

We are going on a short camping trip next weekend (we have a house sitter). I'm very excited. Today I planned our meals. Chris always complains that I try to make meals that are too complicated when we go camping, so I tried to keep things a lot simpler. The menu will be as follows:

  • Breakfast: Omlet in a ziplock, Breakfast Burittos, Squaw corn
  • Lunch: PB & J sandwiches and snacks *3 (we are having that meal 3 times), pizza burritos
  • Dinner: Frito Pie, Pork Chop Foil Dinner, Hot Dogs & Chips & Snacks
  • Snacks: trail mix, cut veggies, fruit, cheezits, diet coke, vitamin water and assorted other beverages

I will hopefully get to spend some time tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday going through our camping stuff, and adding in the new stuff Chris' parents gave us. I also plan on setting up the tent in our backyard this Saturday so I can re-seal the tent. I did a weather forecast for our camping trip, and it says "scattered thunderstorms" every day. Go figure. Well, the 10-day forecast isn't usually very accurate, so hopefully it will change before then.

I found this cool website that will generate a map of the usa, based on where you have visited. A lot of people on the Camping Life forums use it to show what states they have been camping in. So I have decided to create one for Chris and I. We have been camping a lot in the state of Kentucky. I'm kind of fudging a little, by checking off Ohio. I have been camping in Ohio, and I know that Chris has as well. And when we were dating, he came and visited me and my family at the campsite (I think we were dating, NO! we were engaged, and he brought the new truck out to visit us!). Anyhow, I'm going to count Ohio, because we were at a campsite together! It's my map, I get to make up the rules. And later on this summer, we will get to check off Colorado!! It will probably take a long while to get some of the other states, cause right now we primarily do tent camping, and we just go on long weekends. But hey, it gives us something to work towards!