Our March trip was a visit to Evansville Indiana to celebrate Art's (Jan's dad) 97th birthday.
But before our trip north we headed south. For one of my varied aliments I see Dr. Castro at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston Florida. I can't say enough good things about the Doctors and staff of the Cleveland Clinic. Every time I visit I am made to feel that my care is their first thought. Also there is some great artwork on display through out the clinic. I really enjoy seeing all the art on the walls. And I got a good review by the Doctor!
After visiting Weston we headed north via the Florida Turnpike. Jan and I traveled the entire length of the Turnpike. All 312 miles of it. Along the way we passed several Turnpike Travel Centers. These advertised gas and food as well as restrooms. We decided to stop and give it a try. These are really big rest stops. They are in between the north and south roads so if you don't pay attention or get a little confused when leaving you could end up going the wrong way. We almost did.
On the turnpike there was offered 5 or more different restaurants but when we got there only 3 were open. These three were also very lightly staffed. So we had a very long wait for a simple order of burgers and fries.
Needless to say if we travel the turnpike again we will find other places for lunch.
Heading north to Evansville we had to travel through Atlanta. This trip was surprisingly easy through that traffic hub in Georgia. Usually there is some traffic hold-up. Last time we drove through Atlanta it added about 4 hours to our trip. This time we hardly had to slow down. Not sure why but I'll take it.
During our time in Evansville we celebrated two birthdays. My brother-in-law Tim and my Father-in-law. The main event was Art's 97 birthday. Yea Tim turned 62 but the big show was 97th birthday. Art is getting closer to getting his picture on a jar of jam!
For his birthday we had lots of cards and gifts as well as pineapple upside-down cake. We also zoomed in with family who couldn't make the party to sing "Happy Birthday" I ate a little extra cake for them!
Art had 4 of his 7 kids present to celebrate his birthday. During covid that is a good showing. We did practice covid safety and wore masks except while eating or taking pictures and tried to sit at a safe distance from each other. Most of us have had one or more of the vaccine shots.
While we were there Jan was in charge of checking out the new power scooter that Art got through the VA. It is really a very nice "electric chair" as Art calls it. As you can see Jan gives it her stamp of approval.
On Thursday we celebrated Tim's birthday with a chocolate cake with white icing. We had a lot of birthdays this trip.
The trip home was fairly uneventful till we got to Adel Georgia. There we decided to stop for gas and a bite to eat. From the interstate exit 39 looked hopeful. Several gas stations and fast food spots. So we pulled in and went to the side that had the most offerings.
We got to the gas station and filled up and looked down from there and saw three different restaurants.
Jan thought she wanted some vegetables so we parked and went to the Zoku Hibachi restaurant. When we went in and waited in line. And waited. During this wait time I had a chance to look around. Hummm? Not the cleanest I've seen and ooh the floor is kinda sticky. And there is a family with young kids running around playing in the drink machine.
Ok there are two other options and life is short, maybe shorter if we stay here.
So we moved on to the next option. Captain D. Seafood is a healthy choice! We went in and got in line. And waited. And waited. There was much action behind the counter. People talking quietly to each other and messing with the registers. But no food coming out and the line getting longer. Apparently the cash registers had crashed and were not coming back...
Ok on to the third spot. Burger King. I could tell Jan was hungry because she never chooses Burger King, something about the creepy king on their commercials. So in we go and just like Goldilocks the third time was a charm.
While we were waiting Jan struck up a conversation with the girl in line before us and she recommended the Jalapeño Cheddar Bites. I ordered those along with my burger and they were not bad. Even shaped like little jalapeño poppers.
So exit 39 will now be on my list of spots to pass on by.
Day 6 , October 15, Hot Springs. Here we stayed at an AirBnB on Lake Hamilton. It was very nice but before we got to our new residence (If you are keeping track this is the 5th place we've stayed so far on this trip) we stopped by downtown Hot Springs for a tour. We started at the Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center. This is the park headquarters and has been beautifully restored. We were able to tour the bathhouse and see how it looked in its prime. The sculpture of the Spanish Conquistador and the Tiffany stained glass ceiling were in the men's tub and steam room. The ladies section was not quite as well appointed. Here is the women's dressing room . While nice and functional it was not quite up to the standards of the men's room. Down the hall from this room was the third floor sun deck where the ladies could catch some sun without any prying eyes. I'm not sure how much sun they got because the outfits displayed there were long sleeved, ankle length dresses...
Now that I'm retired each morning really is a new day. In the past most days have been planned out well in advance. Get up shower, eat breakfast, go to work, repeat till the weekend. Weekend, do what I could not get to during the week. Now I got a more open schedule. I find that my mornings consist of getting up when I open my eyes. Then fixing coffee and drinking a cup. While I'm doing that I decide what I want for breakfast. Jan is not as infatuated with breakfast as I am and can get by with just a bowl of cereal. But I need something cooked and more coffee. So I start the morning with no more plan than to fix a nice breakfast and have coffee. I watch the news, read the paper, and eat breakfast. Some days I mix it up by eating out on the patio. My signal now to start my day is when I reach the bottom of my cup of coffee. As you can see I'm now at that point. Today my plan is to get out all the suitcases out and see which ones we will be taking on our upcoming trip t...
Going out for lunch with friends and family. Something I have missed doing for the past several years. Now with the pandemic seemingly under control we all can start getting back to normal. Today we visited Hellas Greek restaurant and bakery. We started with Saganaki . I had one of my favorites, grilled octopus. For dessert it was chocolate covered baklava. Overall a great way to spend lunch.
So many adventures on your trip!! Can’t believe Art is 97, he makes it look easy, right??! 🥳 Glad y’all made it back home safely! 🏝😄
ReplyDeleteEvansville (or as Art calls it "Heavensville") is always an adventure.
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