Vacation - The final days (yeah, all four of them)

So call me lazy.  Call me a procrastinator.   Call me, well....considering my shape of late, you can't call me late for dinner, that is for sure.

Anyway, I am finally putting down the last few days of the vacation as it ends tonight and I am back to the daily grind tomorrow.  So here it goes.

Day 9 - Nothing.  Literally, nothing stands out from this day.  Just a lazy day in the condo as we look to prepare to leave on Friday.   We went out to eat at Senor Donkeys, and it was pretty good.   I did listen to the Wild on iHeart radio and they got the win, which was good to hear.

Day 10 - So this is the day we pack up and leave the condo.   We load up the car and are on the road a little after noon.   We stop at a couple of shops to get some souvenirs and such of our trip.  It is then on to Harlingen and stop at Jack in the Box for lunch.   I have to agree with Kim that I wish we had some Jack's up here in Minnesota.   We get to the hotel to check in for the night.  We did this because Kim had a very early flight, and I wanted to get on the road.   After check in, we then went out for supper at the Longhorn Steakhouse.   It was a great dinner for our send off on a very nice relaxing week in Texas.

Day 11 - An early start.  Up around 5am, On the road by 6 to get Kim to the airport at 6:30 or so.  Her flight is scheduled for 8am.   I drop her off and then I am off.   I found out the museum in KC wasn't open on Mondays, so I needed to get there Sunday if I want to see any of it.   So I am rolling down the road pretty good.   At 8:30, I get a call from Kim.  Their plane had to turn around due to a mechanical issue and they are off the plane.   I tell her to keep me up to date as I go.  I was able to get all the way to Ottowa, KS, which is less than an hour from KC.  I pull in at 9:30pm and get to wind down.  Kim wound up sitting at the airport all day.  They had to fly a new plane down from Minneapolis.  It landed about 6:45pm, they loaded up and got in the air about 7:30pm.   So I got to my hotel before she landed about 12 hours later than she was originally scheduled.    Obviously the dogs were really happy to see her.

Day 12 - I drive into KC and get to the WWI museum shortly after they open.  It was snowing as a big storm had hit Iowa and the southern edge was through KC.  Fortunately I had a hotel in KC for Sunday night so I wouldn't have to try driving through that morass of weather.  So the museum was awesome.  I spent a couple hours there and could have spent longer, but didn't.   I hope to come back with Kim and maybe some of my buddies who might be interested.   It was amazing the things that are there.   I then drove over near the hotel, but it was too early to check in.  So I found a small sports bar and went in for lunch.  It was really empty, but they were getting ready for the Superbowl later in the afternoon/evening.   I had an open faced cheeseburger with chili all over it.   It was really good.  So after killing some time and filling my belly, I head off to the hotel.  I check in and relax for the evening.   I watch the big game, and it was a pretty exciting game.  Then I crashed in preparation for the home stretch.

Day 13 - I leave KC about 7am and it is cold.    I am glad to get out early though as I don't know how the roads are going to be.   Fortunately, they weren't too bad.   The storm had stopped for a while and some cleanup had already occurred.   As I was driving through Iowa, it was common to see a vehicle in the ditch.   I think around Des Moines, I saw a ton in the ditch.   I got home around 2pm and unloaded the car.   We then dropped the car off after Kim got off from work.

Day 14 - The last day of vacation is relaxing at the house.  I did some laundry, but other than that, it was nice in quiet, except for my return to duties as doorman for the dogs.   We went to the hockey game tonight, and the Wild picked up a big win against the Blackhawks 3-0.    Hopefully the Wild can keep up this winning and get back in the playoff picture.  

Tomorrow is back to the grind, but I was glad to enjoy these two weeks off and away from work.  Now what will be the next trip/vacation/or heck, blog post?

~Swenny