Weekend trip
Saturday night found me standing in a bathtub in a Motel 6 in Madison, Wisconsin, toweling off and being very careful to avoid the ugly bruise on the back of my left thigh. I smiled becuase I realized that at the beginning of the week I never would have predicted I'd be experiencing this set of circumstances. An unexpected adventure is always the best kind.
Friday was my last day of school for the year. This year had been a particularly tough one, and so I was looking forward to the end. I was also looking forward to the weekend, which would have a rare occurrance...Mike would have off of work and we wouldn't have any plans. He normally works on Saturdays, and even though there are two more Saturdays coming up that he requested off we have plans for both - a friend's wedding in July and our marriage workshop next week. This was the last time we'd have almost an entire weekend stretched before us, and so we decided to take a trip not only to take advantage of our situation, but also to celebrate the end of the year.
By the middle of the week, though, I wasn't sure I wanted to go anywhere. Sure, I'm always up for a trip with Mike, but I was also just so tired. I was stressed and lacking sleep and the only thing I wanted to do was hibernate. We batted ideas back and forth, neither of us too enthusiastic about anything, and then decided to just go up to his parents' camping trailer on Friday night and play it by ear from there.
Friday morning and afternoon were fun. The students weren't around, and the teachers were downright giddy. My happiness was tempered by the fact that I had been told that morning that they might be taking my office away next year. I didn't have time to bring my stuff back to the Speech & Language Dept office in the district building, so I was busily stuffing as many things as I could into my one lockable cabinet. I was taping a warning sign to the cabinet door ("THE CONTENTS INSIDE THIS CABINET ARE PROPERTY OF THE SPEECH & LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT AND INCLUDE CONFIDENTIAL FILES") when Nicole, a teacher who was keeping me company in my office, suddenly screamed.
Now, we have all manner of vermin at the high school. Mice, roaches, some people say even rats. Judging by her scream I was certain there was a rat nearby, so I quickly and unthinkingly jumped onto my desk chair. Unfortunately my sharp metal desk drawer was open right over the chair, and somehow when I came down on the chair, the back of my left thigh came down on the corner.
A visitor to my office would have found Nicole jumping up and down on a daddy longlegs and me groaning and clutching my thigh. After work that evening I noticed that a multicolored bruise had bloomed beautifully on the back of my leg.
Mike and I set out for the trailer that night with me carefully keeping my thigh off the seat. We stopped at nearly every rest stop, as is our custom, and soon arrived at the trailer. We discussed various courses of action to follow Saturday morning, but couldn't decide on anything.
The next day we decided to just go without a plan. First we meandered to a flea market in the nearby town of Adams where Mike bought several books and I bought a container of Amish candy. Mike remarked that the Amish aren't known for their candy, and I soon found out why. The toffee was better than I could have done, but it didn't beat out your average Skor bar.
After that we headed up to the biggest tourist attraction in Wisconsin, the Dells. Those of you who have never been to Wisconsin Dells owe it to yourselves to go, just to witness it. As Mike pointed out, it's amazing how we can transform a beautiful piece of land, one so beautiful it drew people from around the Midwest just to see it, and then completely obscure that landscape with stores selling cheesecake on a stick and plastic Indian arrows. We found another flea market in the Dells and wandered around it. I tried to spell out my soon-to-be last name in wooden printers blocks, but couldn't find a C. Mike considred buying an old stuffed penguin made by wayward youths. We both ate frozen confections...he had an ice cream cone, and I had the aforementioned cheesecake. We weighed the pros and cons of having an old-timey photo taken of ourselves, but eventually opted out.
As we were leaving the Dells Mike stopped at not one, but two Sinclair stations so I could take pictures of the fiberglass dinosaurs. I love Mike.
That evening we decided to drive to Madison to spend the night so our drive to Milwaukee the next day would be short. We drove through Baraboo and Mike wanted to stop at an antique mall. I wound up being glad that he did, because we found a set of very cool retro (can something be considered "retro" if it really is old?) luggage for much cheaper than you could get it in the store. It was in excellent condition and the perfect size for two-day trips. I shall post a picture later.
We spent Saturday night at the Motel 6 after grabbing dinner, getting our photos taken in a photo booth, and splashing in the pool. I discovered that I was deeply sunburned, but in a way that's nice since the sting of the sunburn balances the ache of my bruise quite nicely.
It was a fabulous weekend, and a great way to end the school year.
Friday was my last day of school for the year. This year had been a particularly tough one, and so I was looking forward to the end. I was also looking forward to the weekend, which would have a rare occurrance...Mike would have off of work and we wouldn't have any plans. He normally works on Saturdays, and even though there are two more Saturdays coming up that he requested off we have plans for both - a friend's wedding in July and our marriage workshop next week. This was the last time we'd have almost an entire weekend stretched before us, and so we decided to take a trip not only to take advantage of our situation, but also to celebrate the end of the year.
By the middle of the week, though, I wasn't sure I wanted to go anywhere. Sure, I'm always up for a trip with Mike, but I was also just so tired. I was stressed and lacking sleep and the only thing I wanted to do was hibernate. We batted ideas back and forth, neither of us too enthusiastic about anything, and then decided to just go up to his parents' camping trailer on Friday night and play it by ear from there.
Friday morning and afternoon were fun. The students weren't around, and the teachers were downright giddy. My happiness was tempered by the fact that I had been told that morning that they might be taking my office away next year. I didn't have time to bring my stuff back to the Speech & Language Dept office in the district building, so I was busily stuffing as many things as I could into my one lockable cabinet. I was taping a warning sign to the cabinet door ("THE CONTENTS INSIDE THIS CABINET ARE PROPERTY OF THE SPEECH & LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT AND INCLUDE CONFIDENTIAL FILES") when Nicole, a teacher who was keeping me company in my office, suddenly screamed.
Now, we have all manner of vermin at the high school. Mice, roaches, some people say even rats. Judging by her scream I was certain there was a rat nearby, so I quickly and unthinkingly jumped onto my desk chair. Unfortunately my sharp metal desk drawer was open right over the chair, and somehow when I came down on the chair, the back of my left thigh came down on the corner.
A visitor to my office would have found Nicole jumping up and down on a daddy longlegs and me groaning and clutching my thigh. After work that evening I noticed that a multicolored bruise had bloomed beautifully on the back of my leg.
Mike and I set out for the trailer that night with me carefully keeping my thigh off the seat. We stopped at nearly every rest stop, as is our custom, and soon arrived at the trailer. We discussed various courses of action to follow Saturday morning, but couldn't decide on anything.
The next day we decided to just go without a plan. First we meandered to a flea market in the nearby town of Adams where Mike bought several books and I bought a container of Amish candy. Mike remarked that the Amish aren't known for their candy, and I soon found out why. The toffee was better than I could have done, but it didn't beat out your average Skor bar.
After that we headed up to the biggest tourist attraction in Wisconsin, the Dells. Those of you who have never been to Wisconsin Dells owe it to yourselves to go, just to witness it. As Mike pointed out, it's amazing how we can transform a beautiful piece of land, one so beautiful it drew people from around the Midwest just to see it, and then completely obscure that landscape with stores selling cheesecake on a stick and plastic Indian arrows. We found another flea market in the Dells and wandered around it. I tried to spell out my soon-to-be last name in wooden printers blocks, but couldn't find a C. Mike considred buying an old stuffed penguin made by wayward youths. We both ate frozen confections...he had an ice cream cone, and I had the aforementioned cheesecake. We weighed the pros and cons of having an old-timey photo taken of ourselves, but eventually opted out.
As we were leaving the Dells Mike stopped at not one, but two Sinclair stations so I could take pictures of the fiberglass dinosaurs. I love Mike.
That evening we decided to drive to Madison to spend the night so our drive to Milwaukee the next day would be short. We drove through Baraboo and Mike wanted to stop at an antique mall. I wound up being glad that he did, because we found a set of very cool retro (can something be considered "retro" if it really is old?) luggage for much cheaper than you could get it in the store. It was in excellent condition and the perfect size for two-day trips. I shall post a picture later.
We spent Saturday night at the Motel 6 after grabbing dinner, getting our photos taken in a photo booth, and splashing in the pool. I discovered that I was deeply sunburned, but in a way that's nice since the sting of the sunburn balances the ache of my bruise quite nicely.
It was a fabulous weekend, and a great way to end the school year.
posted by Danulai at
1:01 PM
.jpg)
2 Comments:
Awesome! It sounds like you two really had a nice time. Yay for unplanned roadtrips!
By
dave, At
9:59 PM
I love road trips! Unfortunately I don't get to go on them often enough. I like discovering places nearby too, like within an hour's drive from I live. You never know what you may find.
By
Anonymous, At
8:22 PM
Post a Comment
<$I18N$LinksToThisPost>:
Create a Link
<< Home