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By kilax, May 14, 2018 7:00 am

(not together, sadly)

We visited Anne and Terry in Cleveland this weekend!

It was the first time both Steven and I had been there, which means… new pin in the map!

FRIDAY!

Most of Friday afternoon and evening was spent driving. It’s a six hour drive, plus some, when you leave during Chicago rush hour traffic. Happily, traffic was a breeze in Indiana and Ohio!

Anne picked up personal pizzas for everyone from Mellow Mushroom (which we’ve had before in Texas and enjoy despite their sometimes odd service), and we ate at 10:00 pm. Totally normal dinner time (ha, the four of us always joke about eating dinner at 4:00 pm so it was funny to be eating so late)!

Teriyaki tofu, caramelized onions, roasted red pepper, and vegan cheese

Of course, Heidi kept me company during dinner!

SATURDAY!

Anne and I had plans to run in the morning, but we decided not to set alarms because we went to bed at midnight. So I was impressed when I woke up and my watch said 5:30 am!

Um, Kim, that would be because your watch hasn’t reset to eastern time yet. It’s 6:30, derrrrr…

But we still got our run in! We went to Brecksville Reservation, part of the Cleveland Metroparks trail system close to Anne and Terry’s place.

The park was gorgeous! It’s a treat to see so much green, after our forever long winter. And I enjoyed seeing the places in person Anne’s told me about. And of course, getting to chat during a run!

After our run we were off to a main event of the day – getting donuts at Brewnuts. Anne is a supporter of my Vegan Donut Tour of America, and Brewnuts has several vegan flavors each day! This weekend’s flavors were Oreo P’Nut Butter and Lemon Ginger (the rest of the group tried Raspberry Chiffon, Hot Nut Frycake, and Strawberry Sprinkle).

The flavors were AMAZING! Everything tasted light and fresh. I thought the Oreo one was going to be my favorite but I ended up loving Lemon Ginger! Definitely four drooly faces.

State	Date	Name	Flavor(s)	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin	4/1/18	Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts	Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter
Ohio	5/12/18	Brewnuts	Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter

We went to a park by Lake Erie after. The sunny skies from the morning were replaced with fog and it was chilly (naturally) by the lake, and also, windy enough for paragliding (ha, not by us, but maybe next time!)!

Guess what we did after that? Got MORE donuts. We went to Anne and Terry’s favorite donut place, Becker’s, so Steven could try those donuts too… but not then because we were all full (duh don’t be silly).

But not too full for lunch, which was leftover pizza and hummus and carrots! YUM!

After lunch was the main main event – more donuts! Just kidding – axe throwing (really, hatchets)! We tried it at Cleveland Axe Throwing. We’d already signed up online and signed waivers so we got to walk right in and get to throwing, after a brief safety instruction and a little bit of guidance and practice of two-handed and one-handed throws.

I’ll admit, at first I was really frustrated because nothing I threw would stick, but I eventually got the hang of it, as I thought of it as a strength move and talked myself through it like one – step and hard release, throw with your hips, exhale as you throw, etc.

Steven and I got matching bullseyes once

We were on teams of girls vs boys and had to come up with team and individual names (we kind of wished we had known that and could have prepped those in advance!). We were “You Axed 4 It,”  featuring 2 Axe 2 Furious and Lil’ Orphan Axie, and the boys were “Maxe Professionals,” featuring Maxe Payne and Mad Maxe (Why didn’t I think to use my maiden/middle name which has “ax” in it?! I don’t know!). The teams competed in several point tallying games and a version of tic-tac-toe.

I had fun, but it’s definitely something that can be frustrating if you aren’t successful at least a few times, or don’t have good pointers (for example, halfway through, our guide suggested I move my hands down the axe and I did much better after that… maybe we should have spent more time on form to start?).

Steven won the final competition, so he got the “Lumber Lord” tattoo!

We chilled at home after axe throwing (my arm was tired!) then got dinner at Taco Tonto’s. The service was baaaaaaaad, but I enjoyed trying their vegan nachos, and tacos!

And of course, we had to continue to vegan tour after that, by stopping at Mitchell’s for ice cream!

Steven casually showing off his tattoo while eating the vegan Salted Caramel Pecan ice cream

So. Much. Good. Food.

Anne had been telling me about how she noticed a lot of places out here have vegan options, and they sure do! Crazy that Cleveland is like that… and that we don’t see more of that near where we live in Chicagoland!

SUNDAY!

We were going to hike Sunday morning but it stormed during hiking hours (much like right now, as I took time off from work this am to run but it’s pouring rain)! Boo. So we had a relaxed morning. Anne and I went on a run (yay!) and the boys watched part of John Wick.

Then we went to the best restaurant ever, Melt Bar & Grilled.

Oh. My. Gosh. The menu is mostly crazy awesome options for grilled cheese sandwiches that you can completely customize. The menu is EXTREMELY vegan friendly with several meat substitutes, and two kinds of vegan cheese. I could tell the waitress really understood veganism too, by the questions she asked.

We got Wild Tofu Wings,

Hangover Fries,

and I got the Melt Vegan Cheeseburger (made with the Impossible Burger),

and Steven got the Backyard BBQ.

Everything was amazing and I found myself feeling giddy with excitement to try my sandwich after the appetizers were so good. I was actually clapping my hands when I saw our dishes come out! It’s totally not healthy, but such an awesome treat (and so fun to be excited about food!). I’ll be thinking about that sandwich for weeks and months.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and left! Sadness! We hit the road at 1:00 est. We did four shifts of driving and got home at 6:00 cst. A little quicker than our way out there, thankfully.

The kitties were happy to see us! They had even given Steven a card to give me that morning, aww.

Although right when we got home, Data did a very messy poo in his litter box that required cleaning walls and mopping floors after. Yeah, I’m calling the vet today.

After that it was our normal trip unpacking and Sunday evening chores!

We had such a fun time hanging out with Anne and Terry and eating our way through Cleveland! We both miss our monthly dates with them. I hope we get to see them when they’re in town this summer, and of course, at their new place in Columbus!

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By kilax, April 22, 2018 4:56 pm

Gawd, what was I thinking when I booked this trip to Dallas? Friday morning through Sunday afternoon?! That’s not much time. I suppose I was thinking “work,” and not about how I was not going to want to stop my vacation and go back to it Monday. Ha.

This was my annual April trip to Dallas to celebrate Luca’s birthday (early) and Gina’s Birthday (late). And while it was a quick trip, I feel like we did a lot!

FRIDAY!

I got in around 11:00 am on Friday. I won’t even go in to the mess that was getting to my terminal at O’Hare. All that matters is that my flight to Dallas was safe (and bonus, early!).

Gina and Steve picked me up and we got salads for lunch then did some shopping in downtown McKinney. Then we picked up Luca from school, and Gina and I ran while the boys cycled.

The sun felt so good!

Luca went to a painting class that night and Gina, Steve, and I got Thai food and adult beverages, woo hoo. We hung out at home after and the adults stayed up late talking. So much to catch up on!

SATURDAY!

I got eight hours of sleep Friday night for the first time in days!!! Gosh, that felt nice. It felt SO NICE, in general, to relax and be taken care of after such a stressful week.

We took a spin class at 9:30, and hung at Starbucks after. For lunch, we checked out Jeff’s Vegan. Gina had looked up a bunch of vegan friendly places for me, which I really appreciated!

Judging the menu, I was worried it was going to be “too healthy tasting” of vegan food but everything we got was delicious! We got Texas Fries and the Pan Fried Onion Cakes for appetizers. I got the Patty Melt as my main dish, and we tried Crispy Sesame Rice Balls and Oreo Cake for dessert.

We liked everything so much we took two more desserts home to try! Yay for vacation indulgences!

We went to Bath & Body Works for funsies after lunch, then went to Main Event to do some mini golf and play a few games for Luca’s Birthday.

Gina made us pasta primavera for dinner and Luca opened his gifts and played with them for a bit. After dinner, we went on a rainy walk, played Operation when we got back, and then the adults hung out!

Operation is JUST as stressful as I remember it!!!

SUNDAY!

Gina and I did a long run with three of her friends. We chatted with them at Starbucks after, then when I got back, it was basically time to pack and get lunch on the way to the airport! Ugh!

We went to a food hall in Plano that had a place that said they have one vegan donut each day (Gina researched and found it for me so I could do my nation wide donut tour there!). Steve actually tried to call the place before we went to confirm, but they had no phone number listed online, and their main location didn’t know the number. Huh?!

So, surprise! We get there and they tell us they rarely have vegan donuts there (and didn’t that day) and that the main place does. Sigh. How annoying that their website was misleading and we couldn’t check! Grrr.

But we hung at the food hall and got different dishes to try. Those places (overcrowded hipster food halls) make both me and Gina a bit anxious, but we survived!

Then we headed to the airport! Already! Wah! They all came in to wait with me, which was nice, because it took twenty-five minutes to drop my bag (I flew Spirit), then several more to get the ticket check area of getting in to security.

Then it felt like it took forever to get home. Ha, always. (I got to the airport at 3:00 pm and got home at 9:00 pm.)

I felt kind of bummed during the end of Saturday and some of Sunday that my vacation was coming to an end, but I tried to stay in the moment and enjoy what was going on! And be grateful it happened, not sad it’s over.

We take a family photo each visit

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t considering Gina’s invite to Duluth in mid June when she and some friends (that I know) are running Grandma’s Marathon. If I don’t see her then, I won’t until the end of July. We shall see!

Steven was so sweet sending me cat pics all weekend (he couldn’t go on the trip because of work on Friday). I missed my babies. And Steven! I guess it is good to be home! (Just not back to work. Yuck.)

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By kilax, March 8, 2018 6:27 am

• I finished Into the Wild, then rewatched the movie version of it this week (I wrote about the movie when I first watched it – my thoughts in that post are still true!). I enjoyed the book, and took a quick break after reading it to read the fiction book Friendship, then started The Wild Truth last night. I can already tell The Wild Truth is going to give a lot more insight in to the McCandless childrens’ actual relationship with their parents.
• I did a quick day trip to Cincinnati yesterday, for work. I was with coworkers I like, but man, being around the same people all day and not getting any time to myself is VERY challenging for me. Situations like that don’t help this feeling! I found myself cherishing alone time in the bathroom, and being excited when they all went to the Pre✓ line in the airport and I stood in regular security “by myself.” I’ll be traveling more for work (my team now inspects some of the new furniture installations in our six state region, although, yesterday’s meeting was for a construction project) so I’ll likely get Pre✓ soon.
• I got myself a treat at the airport (and used a Starbucks giftcard from my snis)! I typically only get Starbucks mugs for places I’ve been to, and I’ve been to Kentucky so many times for work. It’s not a state in my region, but I’ve flown there to get to Indiana and Ohio, and spent time there.

• Ha. Xaarlin specifically wrote a comment on my Sunday training post to be careful NOT to give myself frostbite while icing my leg, and what did I do that exact night?! Doh.

• DST starts this Sunday! I wish we’d just stay on it the whole year. Losing that hour of sleep messes me up for more than a week to come! Prepare for more withdrawn, quiet Kim!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 170

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By kilax, January 29, 2018 6:27 am

I’d been looking forward to this weekend for a long time – I had no social plans and wasn’t teaching! Laziness, here I come!!!

Okay, that’s sort of a lie. I had ONE plan, to get my nails done with my friend Kim Friday night. It was time to get the gel nails removed that I had put on in KC, and I decided to get new ones put on. They’re doing a good job protecting my nails, and it’s nice not to have them chip (too much, anyway… the left hand started to chip 1.5 weeks in). I wonder how long I’ll keep this maintenance up! So fance. Much self care. Very pamper.

Color is OPI “We Seafood and Eat It.” I love OPI! Background is Data. 

On Saturday, I ran, did errands (at an earlier time that I usually do, which was great because there were less people out), then assisted Steven with installing the antenna in the attic (this is the second antenna we’ve tried, with a stronger signal). My job was very important – I handed Steven tools, and sat on the couch and pressed buttons to see what the signal strength was and let him know, while he messed around with mounting it in the attic.

YOU GUYS. I made a major realization this week – now that we have an antenna we can watch things like awards show (the Oscars!), and sports games (the Superbowl), and Saturday Night Live (if I EVER stay up that late). EXCITING!!! We only got an antenna so I could watch the Olympics, so all of that seems like a bonus!

(Note: we can’t get cable on our street, and we didn’t get an antenna before because it wasn’t important and we doubted it would work with being too far from signals in Chicago and Milwaukee. But this super strength antenna seems to be working! Yay!)

On Saturday night, we had a “date night” in Milwaukee, and tried Beerline Cafe, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. The food was delicious! It’s a treat to go to a restaurant where I can order almost anything off the menu!

Yay, I satisfied my nachos craving!

But the restaurant was in a super quiet residential area and I couldn’t come up with anything to do after! I suck at finding things to do OTHER than food, in any town. We don’t drink much, so going to bars and breweries is often out. I was looking for shows, and movies, etc., but it was too last minute. I need to work on that!

Sunday was another quiet day. More exercising, a few chores, knitting, short napping (Saturday too!), and relaxing. Yay! My next quiet weekend isn’t until March (if I get one!) so I am glad I had this one!

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By kilax, January 17, 2018 7:35 am

The other part of our Kansas City trip was to celebrate a late Christmas with my parents and Christina and Will! This is how we typically split our holiday celebrations with our families – one in December (on Christmas) and one sometime in January. I like spreading out the cheer (and do not like trying to cram two families in to back to back weekends – too draining).

We drove to Kansas City because we had gifts to bring, and would have gifts to bring back. It’s about five hundred and seventy-five miles, one way.

GAH.

We did the first drive in four shifts. One of our stops was at Hurts Donuts in Des Moines. Steven loves sharing his love for Hurts Donuts with everyone!

Crazed, been in the car too long eyes

Nine hours is a loooong time to be in the car (we left at noon and got there at 9:00). We were definitely getting punchy well before we arrived. Ugh. But I know all about raising chickens now (that is what Steven researched while I was driving).

William waited up for us! Aww.

On Saturday I ran in the morning with Dad (William did not want to come, ha),

helped with party decorations and food prep,

ate Minskys,

then we had our Christmas!

Aka, all the ladies exchanging things we bought each other at Bath & Body Works. Seriously – my mom and I bought each other the same candle. Steven said it was somewhat painful to watch us open each item and ooh and ahh over it and smell it and pass it around. Ha ha ha. Ha. Don’t worry, it wasn’t ALL Bath & Body Works.

After presents, Christina treated me, Mom, and Alyssa (our sister-in-law) to manicures! Can you tell which hand is mine?

Then we ran errands for the party, and picked up Chinese food for dinner! I got the tip on where to order from from a worker at Bath & Body Works <— yes, we have a problem.

Why did the restaurant ask if we were having a party? This is food for six people. Ha.

Sunday was all about the party (and a morning run with Dad, and Steven met a friend for breakfast)! After the party, we went to see my brother-in-law Andrew’s new office, and he encouraged me to write my signature equation on his whiteboard. Ha.

On Monday, I ran with Dad again! I feel lucky we got to work out so much together. It’s a treat for me to chat with him, one-on-one, for so long, uninterrupted by other things!

We also went to Mud Pie, then headed out around 11:30. And made the long-arse drive back home (three shifts this time). I’d say we were less punchy this drive, yay!

Something exciting happened on our drive – we saw a sun dog in person for the first time! I was so excited! It lasted for a couple hours, and became most prominent/beautiful right before sunset. I was only able to get a bad photo through the car window.

And… that was our trip! Ha. My post makes it sound like we didn’t do much, but we were busy the whole time! I hope we have more relaxation time during our next visit! And that we take more photos together!

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By kilax, December 12, 2017 5:24 pm

Last weekend was my annual December trip to Dallas to see my otra familia – Gina, Steve, Luca, and a new family member, GINGER!!!

Steven didn’t come on this trip since he’s too busy with work in December to travel

Gina is fantastic at finding fun stuff for us to do when I visit. We did our annual trip to see Santa, tried Goat Yoga (!!!), and went to a “Holiday Balloon Glow”!

We ate at some of my (and their!) favorite restaurants – Silk Road Thai Cuisine and Mellow Mushroom.

Photo we sent Uncle Steven as we were leaving the Thai restaurant to let him know it was us turning off the holiday lights from afar…

Conversation with Luca at Mellow: “What is Uncle Steven doing right now?” “Draw me what you think he is doing!” (using a weed wacker)

We had some home cooked meals too (Gina found a yummy vegan frittata for me!), including these amazing nachos.

Ha ha ha. On Saturday night, we were talking about nachos for dinner, but decided not to have them. Then on Sunday Steve mentioned the Cowboys vs Giants game was going to be on at noon and we decided we HAD to have nachos for the game… even though we only watched the final quarter. Any reason to make nachos!

On Saturday we were on the go (running, Santa, goat yoga, shopping, lunch, hot air balloons). Sunday was quiet, which I needed, because the cough I had during the week got worse, and I was also dealing with chills and sweats (sweats at night only), and achy lower legs. I was run down. And bonus: I got a bloody nose at the airport (waiting to board the plane home), which was a bit of a disaster.

I’m a bit of a disaster right now. Ugh. I’m grateful I could make my annual trip but bummed my body wasn’t feeling 100%! And hopeful I kept all my crudiness to myself. Eek.

On a funner note, now it’s time to start planning our 2018 adventures! We reviewed our 2017 visits on Sunday – five visits (March, April, May, July/August, & December). That’s pretty good for living so far apart!

I know I’ve mentioned this many times but it amazes me that I’ve become close with people I’ve met online. It makes sense – you meet people who share your interests and are more likely to hit it off when you meet in person because of that, but I suppose the “luck” of it is what blows my mind. How is it that we met friends that are like family to us, and like family to my family?!

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By kilax, September 11, 2017 8:30 am

Part of my birthday gift (in July) from my father-in-law was plane tickets for me and Steven to go to Kansas City this past weekend to attend Star Wars Day at the K – a Star Wars themed Royals game (against the Twins). I’ve wanted to attend one of the Star Wars themed baseball games for awhile, and packed my Leia costume accordingly. Thank you, David!

We flew in Friday, and the game was on Sunday, so Saturday’s plan was to spend time with my snister and her family. I was surprised when I got there and saw my mom and dad were there too – I had NO idea they’d be there! My snister had been texting me and my mom that morning about a parade they were at and my mom was responding about how fun it looked, when she was actually there, with Christina. Those tricksters! What an awesome surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We spent the day chatting, eating, watching a movie in their home theater, and of course, baby snugging!!!

It’s so nice when we can all get together – I can’t wait to do it again!

My brother-in-law is missing from the pic because he had to leave for two different birthday parties. Popular guy!

It was hot on Sunday, so I opted to only wear the buns part of the Leia costume to the game. We had great seats on the third base line, but they were in the full sun with no shade until later innings and I didn’t want to make myself even more miserable in that hot costume! 

I was hoping to see more people in costume, but they probably were thinking the same thing as me – they didn’t want to be uncomfortable! We saw a few cool full costumes (on the field and by fans). A few droids were walking around, at times there were characters on the field, and there was a funny moment when the big screen showed Darth Vader clapping in one of the viewing boxes to honor a veteran. A few people had Star Wars shirts on. I got a lot of compliments on my “hair.” And one guy asks me “Is today Star Wars day or something? A lot of people have Star Wars stuff on.” Ha.

I was hoping they’d have Star Wars music and sound effects during the game, but there wasn’t much. But that’s all good, because it was a fun game to watch, with the Royals scoring 6 runs in the second inning, and 4 in the seventh! We only sat in our seats for the first, second, and seventh through ninth innings because we were too hot, so I was happy we got to see all the action from our seats (the final score was 11-3).

This will probably be my only Royals game of the year, and I’m glad it was festive, and a win, AND that I got to go with family! (Thanks for the tickets, Andrew!)

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By kilax, August 26, 2017 6:25 pm

Yesterday was my snister Christina’s birthday. She’s my best friend, I miss her like crazy, and haven’t seen her since MARCH, so I flew to Kansas City to surprise her!

Her husband, Will, coordinated everything with me, and picked me up at the airport (and dropped me off – thank you, Will!!!!!!), and we drove to her office for the surprise. I texted her on the way and asked if she got anything delivered from me. She said no (because I didn’t actually send anything, ha ha) and I acted all mad that “it” wasn’t there yet, and told her I checked and “it” was on its way. Then I showed up with balloons! Surprise!

Only taller cause I’m wearing boots with heels, ha

And she actually was surprised, yay!

And then we got to hang out all last night and all day today (I am flying back tonight), and I got to snuggle with this guy (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!):

What a great trip!

I wish I was able to see my snister and her family more often. Thank heavens for texting and google hangouts – we’re pretty much chatting all day most days.

And luckily, I already know when my next trip to Kansas City is, and it’s not months away!!! Yay!

I first wrote about August being awesome because I was grateful to have more free time in August 2017 than August 2016, then the second post and this post were about the things I am doing with that free time. I’m enjoying writing about random “awesome” things from the month – maybe I’ll continue it outside of August. 

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By kilax, August 14, 2017 6:23 am

This will be my last recap post from River Trip 2017, I promise! (Ha, last year I recapped nothing, this year, EVERYTHING! But it’s been fun to have things to blog about.)

For me, going to Guttenberg has always been about going to the beach (and seeing family, of course), and we had PERFECT weather this year:

The same storms that damaged Pikes Peak and the closest town in mid July also went through Guttenberg. The island my family has cabins on had a water boil order and was without electricity for a bit. And sadly, my parent’s cabin seemed to get the brunt of the damage on the island – they had several trees down (on the cabin, of course… but luckily not the boat), and spent a lot of time getting that fixed in July. Anyway – all that’s to say I was grateful we didn’t have any storms and had day after day of perfect beach weather! (And am grateful no one was hurt during the July storms.)

That tree’s not supposed to be there

On Friday, we arrived in the late evening and focused on unpacking, and getting ready for RAGBRAI by fueling (and drinking)! No beach time on Friday!

On Saturday, we rode RABGRAI, and played around on the jet skis when we got back!

Photo actually from Tuesday, but you get the idea!

Then helped put the dock in so that we could go to the beach the next day.

The boys (Steven, his brother Andrew, and Steve) helped my parents lift the dock on to the trailer so that my parents could take it to the island ramp to put in the water. Then, Gina, Luca, and I helped my dad bring it down the river to my Grandma’s cabin by attaching it to a fishing boat and floating it down. ANd then we helped set it up and secure it in place. By the time we were doing that, the boys were smoking cigars on Grandma’s balcony, and had acquired paper and markers and were giving us ratings on our performance and style points as we set it up. Oh, boys. Ha ha ha.

We left at 9:30 am on Sunday to get a spot at the beach, and didn’t get back until around 4:00 pm!

We call the beach closest to Grandma’s house “Big Hill Beach” because that is where all of the nearby sand dredged from the river goes. The hill is a different size each year. People often set up man made water slides (tarp and water pump) on the hill, and we saw someone taking one down when we arrived. (Here’s an example, and the story of how I hurt myself on one.)

Every beach visit was to Big Hill Beach this year. The bigger boat that can carry more people and stuff to beaches farther away was out of commission (which my dad planned to fix but no longer had time to because of the house damage), so we were using smaller boats to go back and forth. Works for us – this beach is great – it has soft (HOT!) sand and no mud. The only issue is sun coverage from lack of trees. We used a tent for shade the day we were there the whole day, and went in the afternoons on the other days – since the beach faces east, the sun wasn’t as intense then.

Awesome new pretzel floatie from my snis! She and I loooooooove soft pretzels!

Although, my brain was still pretty fried from being in the sun all day, Sunday. We got back to my Grandma’s and some other family members had come up to join us for dinner and I was a bit out of it from all the sun. Oops! No sunburn though!

On Monday, we went out to the beach late after we got back from ziplining and lunch, and had a very special treat – my Grandma joined us at the beach! She rarely goes to the beach anymore – always cooking and cleaning. Oh, Grandma.

That was the one time we hiked to the top of the hill. What a workout! Of course, Luca makes it look easy!

On Sunday Steve mentioned wanting to try tubing behind a boat someday. I don’t think he knew we had a tube! So we took him out for a ride on Monday. After he got the hang of it, I told my dad to give him hell and try to flip him off. Ha ha ha. It took a while, but we were successful! I decided to ride too (I haven’t in YEARS!) and they got me, too!

Monday also included cake (for my birthday) and an entire dessert bar. NOM!

Tuesday was another afternoon beach day, followed by late night s’mores:

And we also went back Wednesday afternoon, after lunch in Balltown. The Wednesday night excitement was seeing a riverboat go by.

Then Thursday came and it was time to pack up and go. Sad face. Luckily, it was raining Thursday morning, so I didn’t feel as sad that we weren’t going to the beach.

Rainy day view of the river

Our cars at the “Blue Cabin” – where we stay with Gina, Steve, and Luca

We made our traditional “last day” pancakes (we try to make these every time we’re with Gina, Steve, and Luca, on the last day of the trip).

Then the sun came out which was great for photos but made me really sad we were leaving. The week flew by!

Ha, I photoshopped the calamine lotion out of one photo (because I was printing it for Grandma), but not the other!

We had such a fun week! It was the perfect combination of doing activities, and lazy beach time. I was very happy we got out to the beach four days in a row. I don’t think I relax anywhere else, like I do on the beach there – whether I am playing, chatting, or resting my eyes.

I came back to our home in a great mood – from having a great trip and from being off work for a week. I didn’t realize how badly I needed a long break from work until I took it. It felt fantastic not to think about work (either of my jobs) for almost an entire week!

So, like I’ve said in every other post about this trip, we are looking forward to doing it again next year. In the meantime, I need to plan our next trip to see la otra familia, because we miss them!

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By kilax, August 11, 2017 8:00 am

Balltown is a tiny town (population 73!) in Iowa, located twenty-two miles southeast of Guttenberg. Why would we possibly be interested in going there with Gina and family?!

2014 Balltown visit!

Well, because of two inside jokes. A few years ago, when we were visiting Guttenberg for Independence Day, my mom suggested we go to the fireworks show in Balltown. I asked “how do you get there?” meaning, “what road do you take/what direction is it from here?”

But my mom interpreted that as “what is the road like to get there?” and started doing big arm/hand signals to indicate hills, then curvy roads, then curvy roads on hills. We found it hilarious, and have to tell the story, including all the wild arm movements, to everyone who visits Guttenberg. (I know, inside jokes are never funny when you explain them.) So, despite never having been to Balltown, Gina, Steve, and Luca have been making Balltown jokes for years, and were interested in going.

And the second reason? Ha – Steven, Gina, Steve, and I planned out all of the meals for this trip and told my mom she got a “wild card” that she could pull at any time (except on my birthday) and we’d do whatever meal she wanted. She pulled the wild card after breakfast on Wednesday the 2nd and said we’re going to the Balltown diner for lunch. Sounded good to us!

And bonus reason number three – it’s called Balltown – snicker, snicker, hee hee.

The diner in Balltown is the main attraction. And here’s your history lesson – Balltown has the “oldest continuously operating restaurant and bar in the state of Iowa,” having been open since 1852. It’s called Breitbach’s Country Dining, and it’s been in the family since 1852! Cool!

They’ve had some bad luck in recent years, though. On December 24, 2007, an explosion in the basement caused the entire original building to burn down (no one was hurt)!

Construction started in March of 2008 and the new restaurant opened in June of that year, and was even more successful than before… until late October 2008 when it burned down by ANOTHER fire (again, no one was hurt). What the heck?! They rebuilt again and the restaurant opened in August of 2009. And hasn’t burned down since, phew. My dad and I thought it was funny that the state fire marshal was there the day we visited, though.

But how is it the “oldest continuously operating restaurant and bar in the state of Iowa,” if they had to close twice to rebuild? They never fully closed. During construction, they used a building across the street for a bar and a few tables! And there you have it, ha ha.

I didn’t take any photos of the restaurant but you can find them on their website. I was surprised how modern it was – I was expecting it to be more like a diner, but the space was really nice (and new, duh, since it was built in 2009). Everyone said they really liked the food (I only had a baked potato since I ate such a large breakfast). We ordered a few pieces of pie (they are known for them) and I can confirm the raspberry was tasty!!!

Balltown also has some gorgeous scenic overlooks over the valley down to the Mississippi River and the Wisconsin valley on the other side.

Photographer photographer

It’s great for photo ops!

We made a few stops on the way back – the first was at the Blessed Mother Shrine grotto built in to the bluff of North Buena Vista,

and the second was at PromiseLand winery, just outside of Guttenberg. On Sundays in the summer the winery picks people up in downtown Guttenberg and gives them a tractor ride (I think) to the winery for live music and drinking. We missed that on Sunday, so I was happy we still got to check the place out.

A few of the wines they make were from Iowa grapes. We brought home a red and a white – sweet, of course. Now I can think of this trip when we drink them!