D's Notebook

Tag: travel (Page 2 of 12)

Weekend Travel Notes

June 10, 2024 /

A busy weekend back in the Motherland.

KC Trip

Lots of fun on my first Kansas City visit in two years, first solo one in five. As always, it was too brief but I packed plenty in.

I flew in Friday morning and got to experience the new KCI for the first time. Soooo much better than the old airport. I enjoyed how the old terminals are still standing, so if you were ever in them you have a reminder of how weird they were.

First stop was lunch at CharBar in Westport. Burnt end sandwich, solid.

Next was a shopping trip on the Plaza to pick up shirts for the girls.

After a stop at the Lee’s Summit Nesbitts to unload my bags, we headed out for an evening of fun. Started at the Boulevard Beer brew hall, which was a nice place to gather. It was weird that last call was at 8:45, although that ensured we got into El Patron for dinner right before they closed.

While eating dinner, we watched the Royals game. They were chipping into a big Seattle lead but it didn’t look promising.

After the staff graciously let us hang around past their closing time to finish our meals,[1] we headed to the Plaza and decided to roll into the Granfalloon for old time’s sake. On the way we listened to the Royals game. Things were getting interesting! Just as we claimed a table Salvy Perez ripped a ball down the third base line and the Royals claimed a miraculous win. There was much celebrating.

Saturday I decided that L would not think the KU, Joel Embiid shirt I got her would be nearly as cool as I did, so I took it back to exchange it. She had requested some kind of Ochai Agbaji shirt but I couldn’t find one and settled on the Jojo version. I hit a Rally House in Independence and swapped it for a generic, KU basketball shirt. Then I decided to run over to Independence Center and see what the mall where I literally spent months of my life in the ‘80s and ‘90s was like. It was a trip! While I strolled through its massive, mostly empty interior, I was trying to remember when the last time I would have been there was. There’s a decent chance it was sometime in the early 2000s, but a greater than zero chance it was before the turn of the millennium, which was kind of wild.

Later we headed to Gates to grab some lunch to take to the K for tailgating before the Royals game. Mother Nature dialed up some good, old fashioned KC heat and humidity to ensure I worked up a sweat doing nothing. It made the beer taste better!

Our seats were in the Loge level, which I bet I hadn’t sat in since the mid–90s. I remember sitting there for an Orioles game sometime in my O’s fan phase, but never since. Great seats since they were in the shade and we had a breeze. The R’s were nice enough to make the day about perfect with another win.

And, of course, great to sit with a bunch of good friends.

Following the game we gathered at the Brookside Murrays for Minsky’s pizza, drinks, and conversation. It was a beautiful summer night and just about perfect.

Sunday morning my last stop was to meet an uncle for brunch at Homegrown in Brookside. Quite good. Get your name on the list early. On my way I was able to listen to most of the top 10 from 1981 on the AT40 replay. I wondered if I had made the same drive into Brookside with my mom sometime in June ’81 and heard some of these songs.

I had a little time to kill so made a quick walking lap of the Plaza before heading back to KCI.

While the daylight hours were just fine, both Friday and Saturday nights had big, ol’ Great Plains thunderstorms. I swear the thunder is louder in KC. I sleep right through the same storms at home, or at least only wake momentarily. Both nights in KC the rumbles were loud enough it took me some time to get back to sleep.

It was so great to see all of my friends who are reading this. It was great to see the ones who aren’t reading this, too. You know what I mean.

Family Heirloom

Another highlight of the trip was my uncle passing along a treasured item from his past.

He had designs on being a radio DJ back in the day. Sadly, he did not have the voice for it and it never worked out as a long-term occupation. While he was in college, though, he did some summer work at a small station in central Kansas, KHOK. In October 1979 he was working at a station in Hoisington, KS and had the honor of spinning at least one American Top 40. Literally spinning it; back then the entire program was pressed onto vinyl and sent out to radio stations around the country.

The station let him hang onto the records as a memento. As we often text about old music, he decided it was time to pass it along to me. So expect to have several RFTS entries from the October 13, 1979 countdown this fall. I just need to find the proper adapter to connect my turntable, which has been packed away since we moved, to computer speakers. Someone made me ditch my old school, mega-speakers when we switched houses.

Rental

I didn’t take a picture, but I splurged a little on my rental. I put myself into a very nice Nissan Versa. Car And Driver ranks it as their #1 subcompact car, so you know it’s quality.

Honestly I was surprised to look up its specs when I got home and see it had 122 horsepower. Mine might have only had 100 or so HP. There were several times I was literally standing on the gas pedal and the car was wheezing to get up to speed on the highway. I forgot my 1980s trick of turning the AC off when trying to get a four cylinder vehicle onto an interstate in the summer. But I did get around 35 miles per gallon, so while I didn’t drive around a ton it was nice to only spend about $11 topping off the tank before I turned it back in.

I rented from Enterprise. I told the enthusiastic kid who helped me check out on Friday that I had a lot of fun in Enterprise cars back in the day. Shame Cadillac doesn’t make huge cars anymore.

  1. Yes, we closed down two establishments in one night! Don’t call us old!  ↩

Weekend Notes

May 20, 2024 /

Lots of notes from the past several days.

Travel Hoops

Pretty good weekend of hoops in Louisville. For the first time ever, we went 3–0 in pool play at a national event. We won our first game Friday by 11. It was a very tough, defensive contest that we controlled pretty much from the opening tip. However we only scored 28 points for the game, so it wasn’t the smoothest of performances. Giving up only 17 is decent, though.

Saturday we had two games, eight hours apart, which was not ideal for planning the day. We won game one by 10. Again controlled it pretty much the entire time. Our final game we won by 19, but led by just five early in the second half before we finally got things figured out. Both games we were in the mid–40s so a little more typical performances.

None of these teams were great, but we also could have lost any of those games just a year ago. It helps having some more size and for our returning girls to really be locked in.

Sunday morning we had a semifinal game against a team from Southeast Missouri. We watched part of one of their games Saturday and knew they were basically one girl on offense and really tough, pressure D. We figured it would be a good game we could win if we handled the pressure.

That was exactly how it worked out. We did not handle their pressure for about a five minute stretch in the first half and they ran out to an 11-point lead. On consecutive possessions we turned it over in the backcourt and they scored, which is just a killer.

Their one girl was exactly what we thought. She’s probably 6’1” but super fast. Most of her game is just grabbing a rebound and taking off, daring anyone to stop her. She killed us either beating our defense up the court, overwhelming whoever was guarding her, or making a great move to get by the primary defender and then no one was there to help. She hit one three and a couple free throws, but everything else was on a drive to the basket.

We were down nine at the half. Midway through the second half we finally started getting some stops. We got it the lead down to four points three times, but kept stalling there. Then L hit a 3 to bring us to within three. In the final 90 seconds L scored three times – once on a drive when she was also fouled but didn’t get the call,[1] once on a long two, and once when she hit two free throws after her shot barely rimmed out – to cut it to one. But each time we either gave up a basket or they hit two free throws when we fouled to put them on the line. We never had the ball down one or two.

Their best player hit a free throw with one second left to put them up two, then intentionally missed her second attempt. L got the rebound and made a full-court heave that only went about 60 feet. Worth noting we were playing on a college court, which is 10 feet longer than where the girls normally play. So her shot would have only been 20 feet short had we been on a high school court.

Bummer to lose, but a really good game. If we could have just weathered those five minutes – L was on the bench for that entire stretch, by the way – it could have been a different result.

Playing for the championship at a national tournament would have been cool,[2] but it was nice to leave Louisville at 10:00 AM and not have to hang around for a 1:00 game.

LB was fantastic all weekend. It was the best she’s ever played over multiple games. Friday she only scored four points, but finally hit a 3, her first in a real game since December! Seriously, it had been since before Christmas, nearly five full months. Sure, there weren’t any games from the last week of January until the first week of April, but you figure she would have made one in there somewhere.

She scored 12 and 11 on Saturday, hitting another 3 in each game. Then she had 14 on Sunday, hitting two threes and both of her free throws while getting three rebounds, two assists, and three steals. I was pumped afterwards, she was pissed that they lost. Perfect.

Overall she was 16–31 from the field, 5–12 from 3, 4–6 from the line. Again, likely the best she’s ever shot.

She had told me she thought the training she’s doing three nights a week had been helping, making her both stronger and more confident. For this weekend, at least, that seemed to be absolutely true.

Now travel takes a pause for a month, although she still has a week or two of training left. High school ball will start the first week of June. Right now it looks like they’ll lift weights 2–3 times a week, have one basketball workout, then, assuming she gets pulled into the varsity group for summer, play two nights a week in different leagues. I think it’s a good assumption she will be varsity for the summer since A) she deserves it and B) one of the varsity starting guards is a D1 soccer recruit and is usually traveling for soccer and skips basketball over the summer. Then two more out-of-town tournaments in July before this travel cycle wraps up.

Louisville

A few non-hoops stories from the weekend.

We stayed at an Econo Lodge downtown. This was again a tournament where you are required to stay at an “approved” hotel. And the PGA Championship was also in Louisville. So pickins was slim. I read good reviews of the Econo Lodge and figured it was better to take a chance, be downtown for activities, and less than ten minutes from the Expo Center as opposed to staying 30–40 minutes away as a lot of other teams were doing.

They must have paid someone to do those reviews because they were not accurate.

Our hotel was old, it smelled, and it was surrounded by homeless people. Our room smelled like people had been smoking weed in it for years. Friday night starting around 11–11:30 a bunch of kids showed up for what seems to have been a post-party. They ran around screaming and yelling for hours. I guess the cops finally came flying into the parking lot at 3:00 AM and cleared them all out. I think I had finally passed out about 2:45 so missed that excitement. I had Sentry Mode engaged on my Tesla and never got any alerts, so hoped all was well. Some of our other families said they saw kids taking pictures around it. I haven’t gone back to review the footage yet, mostly because I can’t figure out how to pull it up, but there weren’t any scratches, dents, or dings, so I figured it’s all good. I’m glad I could contribute to their fun.

Despite the smell, our room seemed clean, which is more important than dodging homeless men and dealing with hours of teenage noise. The AC worked sporadically so I went from sweaty to freezing every 30 minutes or so as it debated what temperature air to pump out.

So qualified success? We have some good stories!

There was actually a good pizza place across the street. We went there Friday after our game to eat and watch the Pacers game.

A bonus of the PGA being in town was the parking for that event was at the Expo center, too. Thus, for some reason, they weren’t charging parking. Two years ago when we played in the same event it was $35 to park for the weekend. I’m sure they’ll get us when we go back in July. It was $70 to get in the door for the weekend, though.

We had a very bougey breakfast Saturday. L and I grabbed some Starbucks and ate/drank it while charging the Tesla.

That evening we had a good team dinner at a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place. Not sure how, but they brought meals for 19 people out at the same time. A team of French Canadian girls rolled in while we were eating. One of their coaches saw our shirts and asked if we knew Jennifer Mathurin, sister of injured Pacer Bennedict Mathurin. She has done some work with girls youth programs in Indy, but isn’t directly associated with ours. He said she had played in his program when she was growing up in Montreal. Nice coincidence.

The Dreaded Procedure

I kicked off the weekend Thursday by having my second colonoscopy, seven years after #1. I put off the second because I’m lazy, justifying it by thinking since I was a little early with the first, I could be late with the second. All seems to have gone well. They did remove a couple polyps, like last time. Thankfully the biopsies came back clean.

The prep always sucks. I don’t mind the “stool time,” for lack of a better phrase. It’s the hunger and headaches that come with that bother me. Wednesday kind of sucked as I dealt with that. But Thursday was fine. Pro tip: pick a flavor of Gatorade you can tolerate but don’t love for your Metamucil dosing. After you suck down those two 32 ounce servings the night before and morning of, the taste is kind of disgusting. You don’t want to ruin your preference for a good flavor.

After my first scope, it took me hours to shake the anesthesia. I only vaguely remember leaving the facility and riding home. My first real memory was saying something at the dinner table and everyone laughing at me because it was, apparently, the third time I had said the same thing.

This time I bounced back pretty quickly. There were some hazy moments in the recovery room, but I clearly remember it being like someone flipped a switch and I was suddenly awake and talking to my nurse. We had a real good conversation, as I recall. It didn’t hurt that she was nice to look at.[3] But later I realized I have no memory of getting dressed. I’m pretty sure I did it on my own. If a pretty nurse helped me get dressed I sure hope I would remember it. Don’t tell S.

Before my scope seven years ago, a friend who had already been through it told me to plan on stopping for some kind of good food on my way home to reward myself for two days of fasting. Which I obviously couldn’t do since I was still sleepy. Thursday, though, I was wide awake, ordered Culver’s from my phone and had S stop there on the way home to pick up a shake, burger, and fries. Which tasted amazing!

I took a couple brief naps in the afternoon but otherwise seemed pretty normal. I slept like a baby Thursday night and was pretty much normal again on Friday for the drive south.

When I weighed in before we left for the surgery center, I was down six pounds! Just in time for pool season!

PACERS!!!!!!!

I’ll admit, I was totally prepared to be let down Sunday. Especially since we made it home in time to watch Pacers-Knicks game seven. Even when the Pacers jumped out to an early lead, shooting nearly 80% in the first quarter, I figured it wouldn’t last. Surely they would start tossing up bricks, Jalen Brunson would score 50, every close call would go against the Pacers, the Nova Knicks would shove with impunity, and the Pacers would slink back home for the off-season.

I was kind of right: the Pacers cooled off to shoot just 67.1% for the game, an NBA Playoffs record. They answered every Knicks run. Tyrese Haliburton turned into the Hali from before his January injuries. The bench was gigantic. The Knicks ran out of steam, other than Donte DiVincenzo, and Brunson’s body finally let him down, his left hand breaking when he tried to prevent a Haliburton break-away layup.

Massive win for the Pacers. This was supposed to be a year to just get back into the playoffs. Instead they are four wins from the NBA Finals. The #1 seed Boston Celtics block their path. It feels like a Celtics in five pick. However, a non-Pacers friend texted me Sunday evening saying he fully expects whatever voodoo magic the Pacers are working with to cause Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown to get hurt in the next week. Giannis didn’t play in round one and Dame missed two games. The Knicks started the series with a ton of injuries and seemingly added another each game along the way. I would be worried if I was a Celtics fan.

I felt terrible for Brunson. You can’t help but respect that dude, even with all his flopping. He works so damn hard and takes on such a huge role for that team, and makes tough bucket after tough bucket. And as much as I hate Jason Hart and DiVincenzo, I give them grudging respect for how hard they play. Granted, they foul on every possession and somehow never get called for it. This series generated flashbacks to the KU-Villanova Elite 8 game I went to in, coincidentally, Louisville, when the Wildcats somehow ran through every KU screen and were never called for a foul. It’s like the refs let it go the first time because they can’t believe anyone would be so brazen, then realize they can’t call it later in the game because they didn’t in the first half. Not that I’m still bitter about a game that was eight years ago…[4]

And how about Minnesota ripping off a 54–24 run in the second half to come from 20 down to knock out the defending champs? I never expect the Nuggets to be the team to fall apart in their season’s biggest moments.

PGA

I guess it was a good tournament. I saw bits and pieces here and there over the weekend. It was a little weird to be so close to the tournament without seeing much of it.

But, HOLY SHIT, the Scottie Scheffler kerfuffle! Obviously this in no way compares to another Louisville Police Department fuck up. Or others if you want to dig into their history. Still, what an absolute shit-show. Saturday when we were navigating to the parking lot there were a bunch of LPD officers directing traffic. You can be damn-sure I followed their instructions to the letter.

Obviously this is going to get “fixed” soon. Major props to Scheffler for handling it with absolute aplomb. Shooting a 65 after spending a few hours in jail is one of the most impressive things he’s ever done. He fell apart Saturday and you have to wonder if the stress of Friday caught up with him. He finished eight shots behind winner Xander Schauffele, so I doubt it cost him the tournament. But you never know how things would have turned out if he had been in the final group, or simply closer to Schauffele, and able to put pressure on him Sunday.

I also had to laugh at how many people were screaming “Free Scottie!” Friday who probably have performative Blue Lives Matter stickers on their vehicles, think George Floyd got what he deserved, and that Black Lives Matters is a terrorist group without legitimate complaints. And how a lot of these people suddenly took eye witness accounts that were completely different than the official police report very seriously when an affluent, white golfer was involved. America, baby!

  1. One of our other parents got a video and you can hear me yelling “AND ONE!!!” I’m generally more laid back at games than I have been in recent years, but for a moment I was That Dad again.  ↩
  2. That sounds cooler than it actually is. There are literally hundreds of teams in every age group at these tournaments. To win the “championship,” L’s team had to win their pool, win a semifinal game against another pool winner, then beat a team that won their semifinal. So this represented just four pools out of eight. And this was just in our division within the 2027 age bracket. There were four different ’27 divisions. I’m not sure if all the others had eight pools but assuming they did, that means there were eight champions just for current freshmen this weekend. I think there are even more teams in the middle school divisions. Wild.  ↩
  3. I’m sorry.  ↩
  4. As you well know I can get all fired up about games from way longer ago than eight years.  ↩

Spring Break Notes

March 25, 2024 /

What a fun week we had on Anna Maria Island, Florida for our spring break. Travel was mostly a breeze, with one exception we had terrific weather, and we were able to enjoy a relaxing week in the sun.

Alarms were set for 3:50 AM a week ago Saturday so we could be at the airport by 5:00. We made it comfortably and it was literally the easiest airport experience we’ve ever had this time of year. We spent maybe two minutes dropping our bags at the Southwest counter and there was one person in front of us in the TSA Pre line. Meanwhile the poor people flying United were in a line that was several hundred people long just to get checked in and drop bags.

Our flight down was direct to Sarasota and we arrived a few minutes early. My first stress of the week was getting our rental car. Two years ago we flew into Sarasota and the line was so long – people told us they had been in it for three hours and weren’t close to the front yet – that we gave up, Uber-ed to our house on Siesta Key, and came back two days later to get a car. This time there were three people in line when I arrived. Other than it taking the Budget worker a couple minutes to dig through his box of loose keys to find ours, it was a quick process to get out of the airport and into our van for the week.

From the airport we drove about 10 minutes to pick up M and her buddy A, who had spent the previous week in Sarasota with 10 UC friends. We hadn’t seen M since Christmas so that was fun. We got them, stopped for a bite at Panera, then headed to Anna Maria. Our house wasn’t available until 4:00. Luckily we have a friend from Indy who was visiting her mom on the island and they invited us to hang out with them. We changed and headed to the beach. The mom handed me a strong Jack and Coke. I took two sips and immediately decided I’d rather take a nap than get lit at 11 AM.

I snatched about 30 minutes of sleep as we baked in the hot sun.

We spent a few hours on the beach, ran a couple errands, and went to our house around 2:00. We were hoping it would open early but the cleaning crew was still working so we headed over to Pine Street to find some food. We went to Pizza Social, which was pretty solid. The only bummer was that two of C’s nemesis (nemesises?) walked in after us and sat at the next table. Awkward!

We were able to get into our house a little after 3:00. It was great. Private, heated, saltwater pool with a hot tub. Artificial turf putting green. Big kitchen. S and I left the girls to do the first big Publix run of the week. I maintain that Florida Publix the week of spring break are a logistics marvel. The place is jam packed from open-to-close on check-in days, yet you can always find plenty of food despite employees never clogging the aisles re-stocking. I don’t know how they do it. And then they get you checked out in record time. Props to the Publix folks.


Our house guests weren’t arriving until late Saturday. I tried to stay awake but passed out around 11. They got there sometime around midnight but I didn’t hear them. They are L’s godparents, K one of S’s best friends from high school and her husband, C, who teaches at CHS. Some of you may remember him as the person who officiated at our wedding in Indy.

After a couple hours of perfect sun on Sunday, I braved the afternoon traffic to take M and A to the airport for their flight back to Cincinnati. It was 45 minutes to SRQ, but over twice that to get back. Not sure why the Anna Maria police and sheriff like to sit in the middle of the island giving people tickets for going 27 in a 25 and not monitor the lights coming onto the island making sure traffic doesn’t completely jammed up when they can’t account for the number of cars coming in. I sat at one intersection for three red lights without moving because the breaks in the cross traffic always came at the wrong times.

K and C’s daughter, a senior at Purdue, flew down to join us Sunday evening. Her friend joined us on Monday. They were fun, taking on the dads in corn hole a couple times. K is really into cards and taught me how to play euchre. I figure after nearly 21 years in Indiana I should learn how. Not sure I totally got it but I have the basics down now.

Monday was supposed to be rainy but after some morning sprinkles the clouds cleared out and it was another gorgeous day. Storms did move in that evening but we got a full day of sun in.

Tuesday it was much cooler – 58 when I woke up – and the highs were only in the mid–70s the next couple days. But in our wind-protected back yard, the sun was still summertime hot. It was great.

Thursday night bigger storms moved in. It was so windy it blew a screen door off the house. The rain was so loud I couldn’t hear the TV audio while watching the KU game. All that stretched into Friday which was the only day we didn’t get any sun.

We caught a couple sunsets on the northern tip of the island. We ate coconut shrimp and grouper nuggets on the pier while a big-ass pelican eyed our food and a dolphin patrolled beneath us. We had a great meal at the Sandbar and walked out just as the sun set. We had some good dinners at home. We had the obligatory lunch at the Indiana native owned Ugly Grouper.


I drove the girls down to Sarasota one day where they hooked up with friends who took them to Siesta Key. L got to hang out with two of her old travel ball buddies. Both girls either had friends over or ran around AMI with friends, too. There were a few too many junior boys around. But C being a teacher at CHS helped keep them on their best behavior.

Mostly we sat in the sun and drank and read and talked and laughed.

Saturday morning we had alarms set for 4:30 but I was awake at 4:00. Another easy process to drop bags and go through the TSA line. I was worried about our connection in Atlanta, which was a tight 40 minutes. But we landed early and even with the obligatory long ATL taxi to the game, arrived in plenty of time to claim our rightful A boarding group spots. Home on time, bags arrived, we stopped for lunch, and were back in our house right around 1:30 Saturday afternoon. It was a little weird traveling with just two kids. At one point L said “When it’s my senior year it will just be the three of us,” which kind of blew our minds.

Much better than our last time in Anna Maria, which was in 2021 when things were still wonky because of Covid. Our location was much better this time, too.

K and C flew home on Friday. I told them how two years ago we got stranded there during the KU-Villanova game and I was unable to watch because of the lack of TVs and flooded cell network. C sent me a picture from their gate, which showed him drinking a beer while watching NCAA games on newly installed TVs. I would have hated watching an NCAA game in a crowded airport. And things worked out ok that year anyway.

Now we’re on to whatever our next trips are. We are both considering what to do if we can squeeze a summer trip in, and about to start planing what C’s senior spring break will be next year.

Weekend Travel Notes

November 13, 2023 /

It was Adult Fall Break time for S and me, the first time we’ve done this in a couple years. This was for a medical conference, the first time we’ve done that since before Covid. We spent Thursday through Sunday in Clearwater Beach, FL, staying right on the beach. Like in a hotel, not in a tent or something.


The weather was perfect, low 80s each day. Someone told us it was a little warmer than usual for this time of year. I did not complain. Being off the beach we always had a nice breeze so it never felt too hot. We go back to the Tampa area in four months for spring break. Really hoping we get weather as good as we had this weekend.

Our trip was pretty casual. S did the morning education sessions. I took a couple long walks, read a lot, and generally killed time until she was done. Then we’d head down to the pool where we met up with friends and had a few drinks, followed by an early dinner each night, then we were old people and usually asleep by 10 and awake around our normal time well before 7. Kind of lame but also pretty relaxing.

A few assorted highlights from our stay.

There is a Hulk Hogan store and museum in the main drag where a lot of shops and restaurants are. Sadly I walked by before it was open, brother.


For breakfast Saturday we went to this cute little place I had found ahead of time. We walked in and the hostess/waitress was wearing a KU shirt. We Rock Chalked each other – I was wearing a KU shirt as well – and later learned that she grew up not too far from where I went to high school, although probably a few years ahead of me. I was hoping that meant good things for the football game that day. Alas…

There was also a big CrossFit competition in a little park right north of our hotel. I hung out and watched a bit of it on my walk Saturday morning. That stuff is intense. And the competitors are insanely fit, but in all body types. Made me feel real good about the three-egg omelette and three pieces of toast I had pounded for breakfast.

I ate a lot of shrimp and grouper over our three days.

We watched three gorgeous sunsets, but just missed sunrise each day.


Our travel was easy both ways, other than some two year old kicking the shit out of the chair next to me in the Tampa airport and his parents just sitting there and watching him. Finally after half an hour the dad said, “Ok, buddy. That’s enough.” Not sure what their deal was, they decided to come sit next to me, but more evidence that people are the worst.

I decided I really like taking trips in November, especially if we go someplace warm. In recent years we’ve done Tampa, Italy, Hawaii, San Antonio, and Phoenix after November 1.[1] They are nice breaks from the growing midwestern chill – although it was 78 in Indy last Wednesday – plus as Christmas decorations start to appear it feels like an informal start to the holiday season.

Some sports happened while we were away. Let’s bullet point them

  • In high school hoops, JV and varsity both got crushed Thursday by a really good program. JV lost by 17, varsity by 19. L said she played pretty much the entire JV game and was shooting a lot, but not hitting. She scored four. Rudely no other parent kept complete stats for me and shared them. She’s been frustrated by some of her teammates’ focus and dedication in practice. I told her to keep her head down, keep working hard, and it will pay off. Not coming out of the game is a sign her coaches trust her. Her next game is this Friday.
  • In high school football, CHS played an amazing regional final against Ben Davis, losing 27–24 on a late field goal. CHS gave up a pick-six in the first half and fumbled at the BD one in the second half, which was kind of the ballgame.. They came back from 10 down twice to tie it. Might have been better they lost since their quarterback got hurt late in the game. He played through it but not sure he would have been ready for Center Grove this week, and CHS did not need to play the three-time defending champs with a 5’7”, 140 lb backup running the offense.
  • Speaking of backup quarterbacks, I was able to watch the first half of the KU-Texas Tech game Saturday. We discovered why Jason Bean avoids contact, and that third-string quarterback Cole Ballard, a walk-on freshman from the Indy area, is actually kind of decent. Hell, he played amazing for someone in his situation. KU played better once he came into the game, but that was more about adjustments on both sides of the ball than anything he did. The Jayhawks really should have won, which is amazing when the third stringer plays three quarters of the game and KU was getting run over in the first quarter. Another sign of how far the program has come that fans were upset losing this game under those circumstances. Bad time for the injury, with K-State coming to Lawrence next week. That’s not a team you want a walk-on freshman facing. But maybe you play Ballard anyway then hope Bean is healthy for Cincinnati and try to get win #8 there?
  • I was able to watch a good chunk of KU’s manhandling of Manhattan Friday night. Not sure KU fans should get too up after two blowout wins over weaker opponents last week. Just as we shouldn’t have been too down about how the Jayhawks looked in the scrimmage against Illinois. Tuesday night against Kentucky will tell us more than any of those earlier games.
  • M went to her first UC basketball game Friday. She got good seats and they won, which was cool.

As mentioned, I read a lot over our trip, finishing one book and knocking a ton of stuff out of my Instapaper queue. Be looking for a links post sharing some of those articles soon.

  1. We also did Chicago one year in December. Although the holiday decorations were in full force, that wasn’t enough to make up for the wind chill in the teens.  ↩

Weekend Notes

October 23, 2023 /

It was a pretty good fall break/long weekend around our house. It included another trip to Cincinnati, a new family toy, and a variety of news on the high school sports front. Let’s dive into the details.

CHS Fall Break

C and L were off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for their fall break. L had basketball practice all three days and the weather was crappy, so we didn’t do much. Our pool guy was supposed to show up Thursday to close it for us, but it rained so much he didn’t make it. He’ll now be here Tuesday.

Aficionados of my fall break posts will not be surprised that we went up the block to Walgreens and got flu shots on Thursday, which is a bit of a tradition. The girls also ran around with their friends a little bit. L got to go the final Pacers preseason game of the year Friday, sitting in the front row behind the basket. She got pictures with Cavaliers Caris Levert and Donovan Mitchell after the game, which was pretty cool. One of her friends accidentally dumped a bottle of water on Levert when he slid into them during the game.

UC Family Weekend

We drove down to Cincinnati Saturday morning for Family Weekend. The Bearcats were taking on Baylor, but I doubted the girls would be interested in an entire game between two bad teams so we opted to let M do her greek life tailgating thing and picked her up right after kickoff.[1]

We headed to the Findlay Market area and ate some pretty solid barbecue. While we were eating I could see L whispering to her sisters and they were all laughing. When I asked what was so funny, so said, “This is way better than Oklahoma Joe’s.”

Then M lost it, “LOOK AT HIS FACE! HE IS SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU!”

I mean, it was good barbecue, I won’t lie. But if she wasn’t just messing with me I may have to disown her.

While eating we ran into some Indy friends who sent kids to both St P’s and CHS. I’ve sat with the dad at multiple football games this year. Their oldest daughter is a senior at Xavier and it was her sorority’s parents weekend. Small world.

We went downtown to check into our hotel then walked down to the riverfront and visited the Underground Railroad Museum. It was fascinating. They suckered us into getting a membership since that is cheaper than five individual day passes. That’s cool because I definitely want to go back and spend more time there. Not going to name names,[2] but some folks in my family tend to breeze through museums where I like to take them in slowly and get into the details.

Back to the hotel for some down time. I watched football while all three girls took naps. Then we headed back to the dorm so M could change and grab her high school bud who was joining us for dinner. A’s parents couldn’t make it for the weekend so we made her an honorary B girl for the night. We went to Sacred Beast in the Over-The-Rhine district. It was quirky and good. And we sat in a booth next to another group of folks we know from St P’s and CHS. Twice in one day! So odd.

We dropped M, her friend, and C back at the dorm and returned to the hotel for the night. C was going to spend the night with M since her roommate was gone and get a taste of college life. Seems like that went ok, although C’s back was bothering her and M dropped C off after a couple parties, locked her in the room, and went back out. This might be the moment to point out that despite being sick for 87 consecutive weeks, M apparently doesn’t miss a chance to go out.

Sunday morning we got the girls then headed back downtown for breakfast at the tremendous Maplewood Kitchen. One of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. And we got there just before the rush hit and were able to get a table without too long of a wait. By the time we left the line was out the door.

After eating it was back to campus so M could show us around. We got to see her sorority house and meet her pledge mom, J, who is awesome. M had told us a lot about her but meeting her made it all click. They are VERY similar, but in a good way where it works. We made a stop at a bookstore so both C and L could get some UC gear, ran into Target to get M a few things, then headed home. We were back in our house in time to see the second half of the Colts game.

Cincinnati is cool. I’ve been to one Reds game in my 20 years in Indy, and that was a quick in-and-out for a day game. I forget where but I had heard plenty over the years about the geography of the city, but until you see it, it doesn’t really make sense. It is a river town, like Kansas City and St. Louis, so all the roads are kind of fucked up based on that alone. Then it is built into some serious bluffs that rise straight up out of the Ohio. Parts of it look kind of California-like just because of the rapid increase in elevation. It is definitely more St. Louis than KC, as it feels a lot older than my hometown. Even then Cincy has a very distinct feel from the Lou. I imagine I’ll get to know the city even better over the next few years.

New Toy

We made the trip in S’s new vehicle, a Kia Telluride. It is very, very nice. Her lease doesn’t end on her Grand Cherokee for a few weeks, so we kept the Telluride in the garage for the first few days we owned it. She got it early specifically for this trip, so M could bring a friend (or two) if needed since we again have a seven-passenger vehicle. I drove the entire weekend and loved it. Between having a kid in college and another joining her in less than two years, when my Audi lease is up I’m going to have to do some serious financial downsizing. I dig the Telluride enough that a smaller Kia SUV will likely be in the running.

High School Hoops

I mentioned above that L had basketball practice last week. To answer the obvious question, yes, she seems to have recovered from her concussion.

Monday was the first official day of practice in Indiana, and she was cleared to return that day after taking a week off. Her coach did keep her out of scrimmages, though, just to avoid contact for a little longer. L said that made practice boring but I reminded her she didn’t need to get hurt again and then miss weeks of the season.

Wednesday was roster day, when the girls learned what team they would be on. We kind of knew what to expect, but it was still a little nerve-racking to drop her off, run to the grocery store to grab a couple things, then wait for her to come out.

Options were freshman, JV, varsity, freshman-JV double roster, or the JV-varsity double.

Each player had a one-on-one with the coach where they learned their fate. She texted me about 45 minutes in asking if I was there. I said yes, but she didn’t come out for another 20 minutes, which concerned me. But when she came out she was with a few older girls who I knew would make varsity, and they were all laughing.

She got in the car, I asked how it went, and she just said, “Fine.”

“Well…what did you get?!?!” Jesus, this kid.

She made the JV team, one of only three freshmen to make it. When I asked her what the coach said to her she said that L had done a great job in preseason camp, was already a leader in the program, and she expected that she would get some varsity minutes this year. So not double-rostered but the window is open to play up. My expectation/assumption is that she will be the starting point guard for JV. The head coach had the girl who will start as PG for varsity guard the hell out of L all preseason to get her toughened up for high school ball.

Pretty cool! I was pumped and told her I was proud of her. She kind of blew me off, because this is what she expected, but I think she was pleased on the inside.

Thursday night she had four of her friends over, all of whom made varsity. She knows how to get in good with the older girls.

The first game is November 7. Practice goes up to 2.5 hours this week, plus they have JV and varsity scrimmages against another school Wednesday.

Other CHS Sports

The football state tournament began last week. Class 6A gets a week off before their tournament begins, so no game for CHS. The Irish open sectionals against an 0–9 team this Friday.

CHS had three other teams playing Saturday, two of which could affect how quickly L gets to at least sit the bench in a varsity game.

The girls soccer team was playing in semi-state, a week after knocking off the #1 team in Indiana. Two varsity basketball starters are on the soccer team, and if they won and made it to State, those girls would not be eligible for the first two basketball games of the year.[3] The volleyball team was playing in the regional round, and if they advanced to semi-state next week that would knock another varsity basketball starter out for two games.

Unfortunately – except for basketball, I guess – both teams lost. Soccer lost 1–0 to the #11 team (CHS was ranked #6), and #4 volleyball lost in five sets to the #6 team (they would have played #5 Saturday night if they won the morning match). So bummers there.

Boys soccer balanced that a bit, getting a 2–1 win to advance to State. But our girls don’t really know any of those kids so would have much rather one of the girls teams won.

Colts

LOL. That was an insane game, and I missed the entire first half which was apparently totally off the rails. If I was fully invested I would be pissed about the second pass interference call on the Browns’ final drive of the game. I wonder what that Twitter user I mentioned last week, who likes re-tread white quarterbacks more than first round draft picks who happen to be Black, thought of Gardner Minshew turning the ball over four more times this week.

  1. (Speaking in a Troy Aikman voice) Folks, I gotta tell ya, the Bearcats might really stink. They may well be 2–9 when the Jayhawks roll into town Thanksgiving weekend. Which means I probably just jinxed KU into an L. Idiot.  ↩
  2. My wife.  ↩
  3. In Indiana you have to participate in ten practices before you can play in a high school game. Even if you are coming from another varsity sport, which is super dumb to me. Those kids are in shape.  ↩

Weekend Notes

October 16, 2023 /

Another very good weekend that was focused on travel, football, and friends.

For the second time in three weeks I left Indianapolis to attend a Big 12 football game. This trip was to Cincinnati to watch M’s Bearcats take on Iowa State. Making the trip even better, I would be hanging with my buddy, Super Clone Fan #1 Sean, and we would get to spend some time before the game with our old pal O-Dog.

I drove down Friday evening, just ahead of the storms that were blowing through and wiping our very late summer warmup away. While I drove L was at the Center Grove – Cathedral game getting soaked. CG generally pounded the Irish, or at least until CHS scored two touchdowns in about a minute to turn a 21-point deficit into a seven-point gap very late in the game. They could not corral a second-straight onside kick, though, and ended the regular season with their third loss, 45–38. This is a bye week for 6A teams in Indiana, so CHS will begin the state playoffs in a week against 0–9 North Central.

I was fortunate to be invited to stay with Sean at his sister’s home. We hung out and had a few beers after my arrival, something we regretted a little the next day. The beer part, not the catching up.

The Iowa State-UC game was at noon, thus we were up pretty early to head to campus for tailgating. His sister works right across the street from campus and her employer has a private parking lot. She graciously gave us her pass so we could park very close for free in an almost completely empty garage. I think actual parking on campus for games is a true nightmare so this was a huge bonus to our day.

We strolled over and grabbed a spot on the edge of the main tailgating area to meet up with O-Dog. I hadn’t seen him in 16 years, give or take. Many of my readers know O-Dog and probably haven’t seen him in longer. I’m happy to report he’s exactly the same dude. It was like he picked up our conversation right where he left off the last time we saw each other. We fought a dicey cell connection to FaceTime with the central point in our respective friendships, John N back in KC.

We hung with O-Dog awhile, ran up to where his family was tailgating to say hello, and then hooked up with M. I had been checking her location all morning and it seemed like she was hopping from fraternity house to fraternity house. She finally found us right before the game and we headed in. It had been gray, dreary, and cool all morning but just as we got to our seats, the clouds disappeared to reveal a gorgeous blue sky and bright sun. We all muttered that we shouldn’t have brought our jackets (Foreshadowing!).

Sean got our seats from Iowa State so we were around plenty of other Clones fans, tucked into the corner near one endzone, 13 rows behind the ISU bench. This became more significant later.


That sunshine lasted about 10 minutes until thick, low clouds rolled in. Right before halftime it began sprinkling. Then misting more steadily. Most of the fans departed for cover under the upper deck at half. M and I walked around to find food and it was hard to move. The second half was filled with intermittent light showers, never heavy enough to soak you but still wet enough to make everyone kind of miserable. M took off in the fourth quarter. Her roommate had run a half marathon that morning and she wanted to find and congratulate her. I think she also wanted to get out of the rain. Sean, being the good Clone fan he is, wanted to hang around and see every minute of ISU’s impressive win, which I totally understood. By late in the fourth quarter the stadium was basically empty except for every ISU fan who had crammed into our area. I was glad no one tried to high five me. My Bearcats sweatshirt was a pretty similar color to a lot of the Clones fans gear.

As for the game, it wasn’t the most exciting contest I’ve ever been to. UC was a five-point favorite coming in. They missed an easy touchdown on their first possession and never recovered. Like every time I’ve watched them this year, their offense struggled to put positive plays together. In fact, their offense really seems to have regressed since Big 12 play started. And their defense, which was supposed to be a strength, fell apart as the Cyclones had more time to adjust their attack. Iowa State won 30–10 and it felt like a bigger beatdown than that. ISU seemed like a mess about a month ago but they look like they’ve figured some stuff out. I had them chalked up as a win for the Jayhawks but that is now in big-time doubt. Although UC might be so bad it’s hard to make any inferences based on Saturday. There was a lot of booing by the Bearcat faithful as the offense looked progressively more inept over the day.

After the game Sean and I walked around campus a bit, stopped at M’s dorm to say hello again, then headed to the main drag right off campus. We ended up ducking into Buffalo Wild Wings to get a bite and watch some other football, including the KU game. I’m glad I didn’t get to see that entire game, because I think I would still be upset about it. I did see three KU touchdowns. But I also saw a blocked PAT, a failed two-point conversion, and dropped interception that would have been a sure-thing pick six. All important since they lost to Oklahoma State by seven. And now KU fans are back to wondering where win number six is. I hate football. And sports. Again, glad I didn’t see the entire game otherwise I would be really mad about the result.

But, again, I guess that’s progress, right?

While we were in B-Dubs, this super drunk UC student came up to our table and pointed to one of our chairs. Thinking he was just asking to borrow it, Sean nodded. Instead the kid sat down right next to me and stared at the TV with the Oregon-Washington game on it.

“You guys watching football?” he asked, with slurred words.

Sure, we were watching football.

“You watching the Washington game?”

“Kind of,” I responded. “But I’m paying more attention to the Kansas game.”

“KANSAS GAME? WHY ARE YOU WATCHING THAT?” he said, as he looked at my UC shirt.

“That’s where I went to school.”

“You went to Kansas?” he asked, not in disgust but as if he had never realized someone could go to school at KU.

“Yep, I’m from there.”

“You’re from there?” Again, like he didn’t realize people lived in Kansas.

“Yep.”

“Well, I hate to tell you this, but the Bearcats are going to beat Kansas.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep, I guarantee it.”

“Well, from what I saw today, I’m don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“I guarantee it. I’ll bet you anything.”

“The Bearcats were terrible today. You know Iowa State isn’t even that good,” I looked at Sean and grinned as he protested, “and they pounded UC”

“I’ll bet you anything they beat Kansas though!”

We stared at each other for a minute, then I turned back to my game and Sean. After a few more awkward moments the kid shook our hands, wished us well, and went back to his friends two tables away. I hope he felt ok Sunday morning.

I headed back to Indy that evening. When you drive at night it’s only about 1:45 city-to-city, which is nice. I made it home in time to see a decent chunk of Notre Dame’s beat down of USC. I called the Irish frauds last week. I should apologize because USC are clearly the bigger frauds. I guess Lincoln Riley just doesn’t care about defense, figuring they can out-score everyone, even with their sloppy ass offense that sure seems to get in its own way a lot. I enjoyed the Twitter poster who called USC an “unserious team.”

Sunday was another dreary day. I watched some football but never really committed myself to any games. The Colts were entirely too sloppy to deserve my full attention. I saw someone on Twitter respond to the Indy Star Colts writer this week that they were happy Gardner Minshew was starting over the injured Anthony Richardson because Minshew “isn’t selfish.” I’m not sure what a rookie quarterback, who by all accounts is a great kid willing to listen and learn, and just runs the plays that are called, did to deserve being called selfish. Then I looked at this person’s Twitter bio. They do not like our current president, or vaccines, or masks. They do like our former president who faces multiple indictments and they really like guns. I wondered if their quarterback preference was based on some other factor than whether a player is selfish or now. Anyway, I was secretly glad that Minshew had a terrible day – four turnovers – and that Richardson signed autographs with his non-dominant hand for half an hour before the game. Although I guess sharing the ball with Jacksonville does prove that Minshew is not selfish.

S and I took a walk after the Colts game, and L came along with us. She’s officially cleared to start basketball again today, which is good since it is the first day of the winter sports practice calendar in Indiana. Her coach is still going to hold her out of scrimmaging but she’ll be back on the court for the first time in over a week. Wednesday we find out what team(s) she will be on.

We also started breaking down and storing the pool furniture. I kept the pool open longer than I ever have, since I figured I would keep swimming as long as I could. But it’s been so cool the last two weeks that I should have had it closed when we normally do. My last swim was 12 days ago. The crew will be here on Thursday to shut it down for us.

This is a short week at CHS, with fall break beginning Wednesday. We will head back to Cincinnati Saturday for family weekend. We won’t go to the football game but are spending the night downtown. This will be our first chance to explore the city.

Lone Star Weekend

October 2, 2023 /

With a notable exception, I enjoyed a very good weekend down in Austin, Texas.

There were a couple motivations for going. One of my best buddies from college, E-bro, has lived there for something like 15 years. Another KU buddy, Billy Sweets, lives in Dallas. The three of us text pretty much every day, so much so that our wives and kids refer to the other two not as friends or buddies or pals, but as “your girlfriends.”

Also this was the final time KU will go to Austin to play football before the Longhorns leave for the SEC. I’ve been wanting to go down for a basketball game for years, but I could never work that into my calendar properly, mostly thanks to kid sports and those games often taking place on Monday nights. Once the Big 12 football schedule came out I started keeping my eye on flights for deal and nabbed a $100 roundtrip ticket during Southwest’s anniversary sale.[1]

I flew down super early Friday morning, leaving our house about 5:40. I got a couple Rock Chalks from fellow KU folks on my flight. We must have arrived the same time as a flight from Kansas City, as there were a ton of Jayhawks walking around the Austin airport.

E-bro picked me up and we headed directly to Franklin Barbecue to get in line. Despite arriving about 90 minutes before opening, there were already tons of people lined up in their lounge chairs passing time. We spent about an hour sitting in the rapidly warming sun before the doors opened and we could shuffle into some shade. It was another two hours before we got to the front of the line and placed our order. The only good thing about that was that initial rush had cleared and the tables weren’t completely packed. Even though E and I text every day, we hadn’t seen each other in person in seven years, so there was plenty to catch up on as we waited.

I ordered a Tipsy Texan sandwich, which featured chopped brisket and sausage along with slaw. It was very good, although the slaw was not my favorite style, dry and vinegary instead of creamy. Weird to have barbecue without fries, which Texans apparently don’t do. The food was definitely worth the wait, although I would not say it’s the very best barbecue I’ve ever had. I promise I was eating with an open mind, not reflexively knocking it below KC ‘cue.

The lady who was taking and building orders chatted everyone up as she worked. When she saw our KU shirts she told us she was from Wichita and hoped to move back and open her own restaurant there some day. Our little five minute interaction must have gone well from her perspective, because she gave us a couple big-ass beef ribs for free.

E showed me around Austin a little before we headed to his home in the hills of Westlake. I got to see one of his kids I hadn’t seen since he was a baby, meet another for the first time, and see his wife for the first time in over 20 years. We chilled out for a bit, I took a short nap, then we headed out to grab some appetizers and beer in a fancy suburban area.

Billy Sweets was driving down after work and didn’t arrive until around 9:30. I hadn’t seen him since my wedding, the last time the three of us were together. It was great fun both catching up and doing the obligatory telling 30-year-old stories that still make you laugh until you cry. We went to school with some wackos.

Saturday we kept it low key, just getting breakfast tacos before the game. I’ve been hearing them complain about the Texas heat for four months so was not looking forward to a 2:30 PM game in the sun. We wanted to minimize any time away from AC before we were obligated to sit outside.

We sunscreened- and hatted-up before heading downtown to the stadium. I was trying to think of what the biggest sporting event I’ve ever been to was, and I guess it’s been Chiefs games where there are 80,000 people. So pretty crazy to go to a stadium where there are twenty thousand more people than that, almost all dressed in burnt orange. There were quite a few KU people, but the orange was so overwhelming and we were so scattered you couldn’t really pick out the KU folks in the stands, only see them when you walked around the concourses. Random UT fans came over and greeted/welcomed us, asking where we were from, and wishing us luck while insisting that we enjoy our time in Austin. That was kind of great. One very nice older woman also directed us to a tent where a hospital was giving out free towels that had been dunked in ice. These might literally have been life savers.

It was in the mid–90s all day, with the sun either directly above us or moving so it was in our faces. It really makes you appreciate what the players are going through when you are suffering just standing around.

We wandered about a bit before the game. The concourses were totally packed with people hanging out in the shade as long as possible. As we walked through the crowds E suddenly shouted “DTae!” 2018 Big 12 player of the year and first team All American Devonté Graham was walking towards us. As he passed I shouted “DEVONTÉ!” and he came to a complete stop and looked at me. I reached out and yelled, “WHAT’S UP?” He slapped my hand back, saying, “Hey man,” and moved on to another group of KU people. Good of him to drive up from San Antonio for the game.

You all know I don’t do well with celebrity encounters so I felt like this was a big moment for me. Now I’ve accosted two former KU guards in public, Mario Chalmers being the other.


So we get to our seats – eighth row inside the 20 yard line behind the KU bench, pretty good! – and I get a text from one of my KU buddies in KC saying that Jalon Daniels was out for the game.

Fucking great.

Now we’re going to sit in the brutal heat for four hours against maybe the best team in the country without our starting quarterback.

We had been counting “wins” all morning, from getting a good parking spot to the cold towel tip to running into DTae. So much for any good karma we had been trying to find in the day. It would be an understatement to say we lost most of our enthusiasm for the day.

We weren’t feeling any better after KU got one first down then punted and Texas scored quickly after.

It was a weird game, though. KU couldn’t do much on offense, running pretty basic sets to account for the absence of Daniels. But we kept hanging in there. The defense would give up a big play, then hold. Texas missed a field goal late in the first half, and another in the third quarter. KU scored a touchdown on a bizarre play and it was just 13–7 Texas at halftime. We dropped some balls, Jason Bean made some bad decisions, but we were still right in it. When Bean threw a 58-yard touchdown to Trevor Wilson to cut it to 20–14, we went nuts.

Then it all came apart when we had third and inches late in the third quarter and called consecutive bad plays, fumbling on the fourth down attempt. I was 100% fine with going for it. It was going to take a lot of crazy stuff for us to win, and I thought it was worth the risk. But Bean made awful reads each time and you should never run the shotgun when you need inches to get a first down. Liked the gamble but hated the play call and execution. Texas scored seconds later and the fourth quarter turned into a rout. E, Sweets, and I watched a lot of KU football losses together back in the Nineties, so it was like old times.[2]

Even if Jalon had been healthy and played well, beating Texas in Austin was going to be very, very difficult. It was a big bummer to get the news early that JD wasn’t playing, and the fourth quarter sucked, but in between KU showed how far the program has come. A couple drunk students/recent students tried to talk some shit as we walked out, which we took as another sign of how far KU football has come.

One funny/frustrating story from the stands. The guy standing behind us was some “football expert” and broke down each play to the people around him before the snap. “OK, see how the safeties are up? This is going to be a run play.” Or, “They’re bringing pressure, we have to go outside here.” We’re not sure if the people sitting with him were listening or he was just talking to himself. The funny part was that he was wrong like 75% of the time when he predicted the play. I wanted to turn around and ask him what high school team he coaches, what their record is, and if he’d ever sent his resumé into UT. But it was too hot to turn around so I kept my sarcastic comments to myself.

It was, of course, a nightmare getting out of the stadium area. That’s a lot of freaking people in a true, big city downtown. It was probably an hour all together from when we left the stadium until we got to where we could drive the speed limit.

We landed at a restaurant for pizza and beers, then back to E’s for more beer, football, and BSing on the couch.

I was supposed to fly back early Sunday but changed my flight to the evening non-stop so that we could do a leisurely breakfast before Sweets headed back to Dallas. After he left, E and I did some more driving around, this time going through campus, his old neighborhood, some of the quirky and fun Austin areas, and the park where they were setting up for the Austin City Limits festival. We even drove by the restaurant one of my sisters-in-law helped open about 10 years ago. It was, again, like 96, so we did all our exploring by car. The Texas guys give me grief about Indiana winters all the time. Not sure how you live somewhere where it’s been in the 90s and 100s and 110s just about every day since early May.

Travel was easy, no real stories from that other than the guy in front of me in the TSA line in Austin attempting to get through security without any form of government ID. He did have a prescription bottle. Not sure how that was going to work out for him.

It was great to get away and have a dudes weekend with two pretty good dudes. They both have kids at Baylor,[3] so maybe the next KU trip to Waco should be our excuse to get together again before another 20 years pass.

  1. I paid almost as much for parking as for my plane ticket.  ↩

  2. Sweets and I even watched KU lose to SMU in Dallas in 2001 together.  ↩

  3. E’s youngest son is a freshman at Baylor and came home for the weekend. He’s actually a bigger KU fan, and went with us to the game wearing KU gear.  ↩

Weekend Notes: Living That Buckeye Lifestyle

July 25, 2023 /

Three-fifths of our family spent the weekend in Ohio. You want details? I got details!

Kid Hoops

L and I went to Cincinnati for the final travel tournament of the year. We’ve never done well in these events but were looking forward to one last shot to prove ourselves on the national stage. We had six games, so I’ll keep the breakdowns brief.

We played Friday and Saturday at the event’s main gym, a building in Hamilton, OH that had 30-ish courts. It was big and nice and as the final stop on Under Armour’s summer circuit, there were some elite high school teams and lots of college coaches around. We peaked into the side where most of the high schoolers were and a few courts were packed with coaches watching. More on that in a bit.

Luckily our first game was Friday afternoon so we got up at a normal time, packed, and drove two hours straight to the gym.

Game One, Friday

Lost to a team from New York by 11. We were down 16 at halftime, trailed by as many as 20, but cut it to seven with about 5:00 to play. They pushed it back up to 15 then we went on another run that included two 3’s by L, the second cutting the deficit to six with 1:00 left. We couldn’t get any closer. This team ended up winning our age group, beating a team from Indy that features one of L’s friends in overtime.

Game Two, Friday

We played a team from Cincinnati and, again, fell behind early. This time it was something like 11–3 before we went on a 20–4 run and were never threatened. We led by 15 with about a minute to play but got sloppy and won by just nine.

Game Three, Saturday

To wrap up pool play we took on a squad from Nashville. Hey, once again we started slow, down 9–0 to start. But we battled back and were up by three at the half. We led by five midway through the second half, had two good looks to stretch it further that missed, and then went cold. Thanks to 3–4 free throws after a personal and technical foul, we tied it at 44. But they smoked us from there and we lost by nine.

Game Four, Sunday

Into bracket play. We were feeling good as the other three teams from our division had already won their opening games, all by double figures. After finishing third in our division we took on the #4 team from another division. They were from Canada. They were awkward and not very good. But they were so awkward that they kept getting in the way and our girls could not shake them. It was a 2–5 point game for the first 26 minutes until we finally put some baskets together and won by 15.

Game Five, Sunday

Semifinal time, against a team from Dayton. These girls were absolute bruisers who took us out of everything we wanted to do. We played solid D, too, so it was a brutal slog of a game. We were down four at halftime, went on an 8–0 run to open the second half, then gave it right back and played from behind the rest of the half. It was just a two-point game in the final minute but we never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. We had to foul and ended up losing by five.

I said it was physical. One of our girls took an elbow in the face that drew blood…and she was called for a foul. The next play the same Dayton girl threw her to the ground…and again we got called for a foul. Not these refs’ best day. Also one of them apparently had to drop a deuce at halftime, as the girls stood around waiting for 10 minutes until he slowly walked back to the court. Then apparently he got into it with the other ref, telling him that he “fucking sucks.” They both sucked but I give this guy extra umbrage. He called L for a travel that was not a travel, wiping out her only basket of the game, so it was personal for me.

Game Six, Monday.

Third-place game, against those Cincinnati girls we beat Friday. As a bonus, in addition to our tallest, most athletic girl who we were missing all week, we lost two other girls for this game. One had to leave for a funeral, the other got strep and went home early. That left us with one sub against a team with 10 players.

They pounded us pretty good, and from the jump. The lead got up to 20 once, we cut it to 10 twice in the second half, but generally played terrible and could never match their effort or physicality. The final was 50–35 but it didn’t feel that close.

As for L, she scored 32 points for the weekend. Which sounds decent until you consider she had 15 of those in our first game again the New York team. That might have been her best game of the summer, as she scored 11 during our comeback attempt. She could never get it going in the other games, although she scored six against the Canadians. She was ok on D but was often limited by more physical guards shoving her on offense. Like playing in the varsity games in June showed, as much as working on shooting and ball handling, she needs to get stronger to compete at the high school level. She slept all the way home and was super sore when she got up this morning.

My favorite moments of hers from the weekend? When she hit the 3 to cut the NY game to six she was right in front of us and she screamed when it went in. She played her ass off in this game, and it was cool to see it pay off with good results. In the Nashville game she had an awesome blow-by hoop and earned a foul to give us the lead, although she missed the free throw. And in the Dayton game, she fouled a girl pretty hard, knocking her over. She immediately helped the girl up and checked on her. After the game they hugged. I asked what that was all about and she after the foul they talked the entire game, the girl starting it by saying no one had ever asked if she was ok after a hard foul before.

I’m proud of L for being a good teammate and hard worker, and especially proud when she has really good games. But I love that she usually handles herself really well and does things like that. There are a lot of shitty, immature, insecure players in these games, and it would be easy to follow their lead.

That was a sad way to end our travel season. It was a pretty good year. We won three tournaments and lost two championship games by one point, once in double overtime. This weekend was the only time we didn’t either play for the championship or lose to the eventual champ.

It was also this group’s last time all playing together as one team. In Indiana (and I assume in some other states), once you start high school you can only play travel ball with two teammates from your high school program. Although we have six different schools represented on our squad, we have four players from one school. So, at a minimum, we have to drop one of them before next March. That’s been a subject of whispered conversations all season. There’s no great answer to it. Even if we can keep eight of these girls together, a good player – and more importantly a nice kid/family – is going to be forced out.

There are other changes as we move forward to high school that add uncertainty, but I think the majority of this team – players and parents – would prefer to stay together at least one more year if the rules allowed it.

Tryouts for next year start in August, so we need to begin thinking about if we want to explore other programs as a hedge. The good news for L is that the varsity coach at CHS also coaches in her travel program. So we think L will have clearance to stay there. She doesn’t want to lose this good group of friends she’s made over the past two years, especially her closest friend who is going to a rival high school anyway.

Lodging

Once again we had a hotel fiasco. Despite its size, this was not a Play to Stay tournament, where registering automatically gets you access to blocks of rooms set aside for participants. Our coach also waited until three weeks ago to start looking into rooms. We all booked at a place together but a mom on our team, who is from Cincinnati, suggested we not stay there as it wasn’t in a great part of town. So another mom spent hours on the phone calling around, not finding any good alternatives that could take nine families.

Eventually our coach found an extended stay place in Mason, getting approval from Cincy mom that it was a nice area.

Then we arrived.

Yes, it was a nice area. Until we turned down the street where this place was. It seemed more aimed at folks having rough times than business travelers spending weeks in town. When we checked-in Friday night there were a series of pretty rough looking, but very friendly, people outside smoking weed. The pool looked murky. The inside of the hotel had seen better days. Fortunately the room L and I had was very clean, if reeking of a combination of Indian food and weed. A few of us parents sat by the pool and drank a couple beers while we watching the Friday evening traffic. It was interesting.

Saturday when we got back from our game, there were two fire trucks and an ambulance outside. Turned out they were there for one of the other buildings, and it was a false alarm. The firefighters acted pretty nonchalant, like they had been there many times.

Two of our families were staying at other places, one at a Marriott. We had all tried to stay there initially but it was booked full. A parent called Saturday afternoon and enough people were checking out Sunday that we could slide over there for our last night. Plus the parent already there had a code that got us a greatly reduced rate. Still, we had one more night in the dump.

We ordered pizza for dinner and the dad who took the boxes to the dumpster said he was 90% sure a bunch of dudes were smoking crack behind it. We noticed a lot of very down on their luck looking folks hanging around before the sun went down. Apparently the parking lot turned into a party after we retired for the night.

Whatever, we survived two nights there and happily checked in to the Marriott before our first game Sunday. That new place seemed like one of the hubs for the tournament. We ran into three of L’s friends from CHS, a couple girls we know that she played against in middle school, and another friend from St. P’s. L rode the elevator with an assistant coach from UCLA. And a few parents saw Kim Mulkey in all her bedazzled glory Monday morning.

Other activities

With two early games Saturday we had the afternoon and evening to kill. There was talk of going downtown – we were about 25 minutes outside the city – and going to the Reds game or wandering through the Over the Rhine area. Some people wanted to go to King’s Island. Not everyone wanted to do any of these things so we settled on spending time at Top Golf and Main Event. The girls had fun, the parents had a few drinks, and it worked out fine.

It’s always interesting traveling with a big group. Friday night we went to a restaurant right in the middle of the dinner rush. When we asked if they could seat a group of 18 – divided up however worked easiest for them – the poor girl working the hostess stand seemed overwhelmed. We only had to wait an hour, enough time to run to the hotel and back, and then she realized to ask us if we wanted to sit outside and be seated immediately. Which was fine as it was a gorgeous night. Then she seated us at tables with 15 seats so three of us had to find our own table, which confused the waiters for a moment. At least we got to eat.

M in Toledo

Thursday night M drove up to Toledo to spend the weekend with her future roommate at UC. They’ve met once before and have been talking a lot, but this was their first time spending entire days and nights together. A trial run for the next 9 ½ months. It went great.

M had a fantastic time and really got along with G and her family.[1] There isn’t a ton to do in Toledo, but she met a lot of G’s high school friends and saw her local hangouts. They went to a Mudhens game, sat in the front row, and got a picture with the mascot.[2] They saw the Barbie movie and loved it. All-in-all, they had a great time.

It was also her first extended car trip on her own. That made us a little nervous, especially since there were huge storms between here and Toledo Thursday. But she waited an extra 45 minutes to leave and managed to dodge them. She made it there and back safely.

They will move into their dorm room in 18 days. Oh, and M turns 19 today.

Double audible gulp.

  1. Her name actually starts with an S, but since we already have an S in these posts, I’ll go with her last initial.  ↩
  2. M was amazed that I knew the baseball team was called the Mudhens.  ↩

Weekend Notes

July 11, 2023 /

It was an extra-long weekend featuring many hours in the car.

Hoops in the Lou

L and I drove west to St. Louis for her first out-of-town tournament of the year.

The hoops were good. We went 3–1, winning the championship game by nine thanks to a 9–2 run in the final minute to put away a game we were trying to lose. We led by nine with 8:00 left, five with 5:00 left, but by just two as the clock ticked under a minute. Against a team we had blown a 15-point lead against on Saturday. Tense, but the girls got it done.

That team was a local St. Louis squad. The parents were a little rough. One dad just yelled the entire game Saturday. Mostly kind of positive things at his team with the occasional barb at the refs. But he just never stopped. And as we blew our lead, he was one of those dads who decides he needs to walk onto the court to celebrate when his team makes a big play. He was harmless as he never directed anything at us or our girls. But since he never stopped and thought he had all the answers, he was mega annoying.

We thought it was hilarious that between games he and the other parents from their team were in the parking lot sharing a joint. At like 2:00 PM on a Saturday. I checked and I don’t think this kind of use is protected under the new Missouri marijuana law, but I’m no attorney. I’m not sure if that chilled him out a little for their second game, as I was keeping score rather than in the seats and couldn’t hear him.

Sadly he was missing for Sunday’s championship game. He may have partied a little too hard Saturday night.

L had a good weekend. She scored 23 points across the four games, had 9 total rebounds, 9 assists, and had four steals alone in our Sunday morning game. Our second game Saturday was tight but she helped blow it open with a 3-pointer on one possession, then a bucket, foul, and free throw on the next. That helped push a two-point lead to 12 before we gave up three buckets in the last 30 seconds to only win by seven.

We were in St. Louis because our coach’s wife is from there, and her family was celebrating their mom’s 80th birthday over the weekend. So rather than go to the big GUAA tournament in Louisville, we went to a smaller, local tournament so he and his daughter could be with us. Good thing, since she scored six of our nine points in the last minute of the championship game.

Friday night we hung out at his wife’s sister’s house. I took some good-natured ribbing from a house full of Mizzou fans. I offered to show them the national champions sticker on my car and they politely declined. I spent a good chunk of the evening talking to the brother that played basketball at Central Missouri in the late ‘90s, mostly about the St. Louis high school scene he grew up in.

The big bummer of the weekend was our hotel. In a word, it was a dump. It was one of those places that might have been nice 20 years ago, but probably hasn’t had any renovations or deep cleanings since then. The rooms were all full of stains and disrepair. Some of the rooms – including ours – were only half-cleaned. The room across from us had two dogs in it, plus the humans with them seemed to be smoking a lot of weed. There was a room down the hall that definitely had birds in it. Several families couldn’t get their door keys to work properly. The overall vibe made you not want to touch anything.

The final straw came Saturday morning. We heard the shower in the room above us running and soon heard dripping in ours. The water damage to the ceiling I noticed when we checked in was a result of the tub on the second floor leaking directly into ours. I was off to the front desk to get a new room. Fortunately our second one had been cleaned and was away from the weed-smoking dog lovers.

We realized later that a big, municipal dump was right across the street, thus the terrible trash odor when we tried to sit outside.

A dump by a literal dump.

Hopefully we didn’t bring home bed bugs or anything, but at this point nothing would surprise me.

Also, on our trip home, the craziest thing I’ve ever seen on a highway happened. I’m honestly not sure how to describe it. Basically, it looked like a small cat fell out of the car in front of us as we were traveling at roughly 85 MPH. Like it dropped out of a wheel well or some other space underneath the car, not like it jumped or was tossed out the window. It was skidding and trying to get its footing as I went over it, definitely alive and not a stuffed animal. It was right in the middle of the lane so I sailed past comfortably but I’m assuming it met a horrible fate not too far behind me.

Thing is, I was traveling behind this car for awhile; for 10 minutes at least. Who knows when they had last stopped. Had this poor thing been hanging on for dear life for 30 minutes? An hour? Longer? Or did it come from a car further up? No one in front of me braked or swerved so I honestly can’t be sure where it came from.

Or maybe it was just all that passive weed smoke I breathed in at our hotel that had me seeing things.

There’s an obvious National Lampoon’s Vacation reference here but it feels wrong directly quoting it.

A mostly good, if weird, weekend in the Lou. We’re back-and-forth to Bloomington next weekend.

UC Orientation

Monday morning we were in the car bright and early to make the quick trip down to Cincinnati for M’s UC orientation. For the first time S rode along so she could finally take a look at campus. She approved.

That was pretty much the highlight of the day. Since M had already attended admitted students day and gone through virtual orientation plus done her advising appointment and made her schedule online, there wasn’t a ton of new information for her. They didn’t have the dorms open for tours, which was a bummer, as S really wanted a look to help focus our shopping.

M is supposed to move in the weekend of August 12. She will find out in a couple weeks what her official move-in date/time is. Because UC is such a tight campus you have to request a window for your arrival. Things should be a little easier for her as she’s going down a week before official move-in day for rush, but we still won’t know our time until the whole process does its thing. She’s hoping for August 12, as there are rush events the evening of the 13th. There is a chance, though, we could be moving her in during the day on the 13th.

Spring Break 2023

April 3, 2023 /

A long week in the Dominican Republic to celebrate M’s senior class spring break. Not only did we take the whole family, one of C’s best friends came along with us. There was some drama, a few travel difficulties, but overall it was a pretty good seven days.

Location

We stayed at the Hard Rock Resort in Punta Cana. I never got an official headcount but around 70 kids from M’s class were there.[1] It is a huge complex, something like 120 acres, so we always had plenty of space and could get away from CHS people if we wanted to. There were students from at least three other Indy area high schools there, along with kids from Wisconsin and Michigan.

The draw for going to the DR was the drinking age being 18. As it is in Mexico, among other places, but for some reason the DR has been the “cool” place to go for CHS families for a few years. Which meant longer flights, fewer flight options, and greater expense. Joyous. We warned M and her sisters months ago that this was going to be about as much as we will ever spend on a vacation, so they needed to keep their shit in order while we were there.

Anyway, the Hard Rock was your typical all-inclusive resort. The food was decent; never great but never terrible. The drinks were watered down but plentiful. The service was a B/B+. We later learned from a friend in the travel industry that the DR has a reputation for not being as customer-focused as Mexico. We found that to be true. Most folks spoke English but some of them not very well. Most employees were very friendly but never in a hurry to complete your requests.

The biggest pain was trying to get change for tips. In Mexico we’ve never had a problem handing over a twenty and getting twenty ones in return. Or at least ten ones and a couple fives or a ten. That was extremely difficult in Punta Cana. Although the hotel website said the front desk could make change, we were often turned down. When we could get a bartender or waitstaff to bring change, they usually brought fives and tens. So we overtipped a lot. My biggest recommendation for others wanting to visit the DR is to take enough small bills to cover tips for your entire stay.

The complex had a ton of pools. Saturday was an awesome day as only a few of us were in town; most of the CHS crew was arriving in that day. We claimed a good spot at a pool with a swim-up bar, the seniors rotated in-and-out, and all was fine. Sunday almost the entire group had arrived and the kids kind of took over our pool. It was a little uncomfortable at times, between seeing them drink, them mobbing the bar so we couldn’t get drinks, watching kids who apparently didn’t pack sunscreen slowly turn red, and then some inappropriate behavior.

By Wednesday our core group of four families found a different pool were able to enjoy the day with the seniors only occasionally checking in.

The beach was ok, although we didn’t spend much time there. It wasn’t raked/plowed daily so you had to be careful where you walked. The water was beautiful, but once you stepped into it it was very rocky. And the surf was heavy all week – red flags more often than yellow – so even if I was a float-in-the-ocean person, I wouldn’t have spent much time in the water.

We never checked out the casino or any shows. We were usually coming in for the night about the time the seniors where heading to the club for their late night antics. M said the club was fun but what does she know?

Travel

Getting to Punta Cana was about as easy as we could have hoped for. We left our house at 3:00 AM for our 5:50 flight, thinking the airport would be a madhouse. I had been watching the parking lot numbers all week and was worried about finding spaces. But we found two next to each other in the covered area and were able to avoid the rain Friday morning. We had to wait maybe five minutes to check bags and enter passport information at the Southwest desk. There was one family in front of us in the TSA Pre line. Our flight was on time, we had a three-hour layover in Baltimore that allowed us a leisurely breakfast, then arrived in the DR as scheduled around 2:30. An hour in the immigration line then we pulled into the Hard Rock exactly 14 hours after leaving our house.

The trip home was a little dicier. We knew strong storms were forecast in the Indy area right around the time we were supposed to land. As we sat in the very warm Punta Cana airport Friday, we were taking collective bets on whether we would make it home or not. We got out of the DR fine, but since our plane didn’t have wifi we couldn’t track the Midwest storms or the status of our second flight.

As soon as we landed in Baltimore we learned the Indy flight had already been delayed from 10:45 until 11:30. That left us four hours to navigate immigration and customs – which was dead easy since we were the only plane that landed at that time – get dinner, and watch the weather. L and I also watched much of the Iowa-South Carolina women’s Final Four game.

We seemed to be boarding on time, albeit slowly, just before 11:00. We got on at the front of the B group, grabbed seats, and began to get settled. Then we noticed when the C group folks should have been getting on, the flow of people stopped. Soon the captain informed us that Indy was closing its airspace because of tornados and severe storms. Rather than have us sit on the plane, they were asking us to go back into the airport.

This seemed bad. There was lots of grumbling. Everyone was tired, sunburned, hungry, and ready to get home. For about 45 minutes we sat as the only people in the terminal, nervously flipping between Indy weather feeds and trying to figure out a plan B if our flight was cancelled. Our plan was easy: since there were no seats on flights out of Baltimore until Monday, we would rent a car and drive home. Problem was the rental car facility at BWI was closed for the night. And I was having a hard time finding a vehicle that could carry our six-person party. We joked about calling our friends who picked us up last year when our flight out of Sarasota was cancelled.

Luckily just after midnight they hustled us onto the plane again and we took off. Rather than fly the direct route and go through the storms, we flew almost to Detroit before hooking back around the front. We landed just after 2:30 then waited an hour for bags. We saw a number of people sleeping at IND. We are guessing their flights out were cancelled because of the storms. We pulled into our driveway at 4:10 AM. We made it!

Man were people assholes getting on the plane that second time! I was position B1, so could watch it all. The first time we boarded there were maybe 10 people in the family boarding line. The second time? At least 25, many with kids well above the age limit. The poor guy running the gate didn’t have the energy to deal with them. I can’t fault him, he was working late so we could get home. My girls were like five spots behind me and somehow at least 15 people squeezed in between us. We had rows 16 and 17 on first boarding. On second we were back in the high 20s.

Again, assholes.

Also, that Baltimore airport is dirty. Just like when L and I were flying out of there in October, the restaurants were running out of food in the evening. Fortunately we all got food or else things could have been even worse as we sat and stressed.

So so glad we didn’t get stuck there for the night.

Oh, and the storms here were legit bad. At least seven tornados in Indiana (as I write this) and several deaths. People were dealing with way worse than sitting in a dirty airport longer than we wanted to.

Nonsense

There was some nonsense of all levels over the course of the week. There was a parent-kid booze cruise that S and M went on. They behaved themselves, but S had to take care of a kid who was in bad shape after. He is a really good kid, just too much booze and sun and not enough lunch. He made sure he got a message to S later that night that he was thankful and loved her, which made us all laugh. Then the next day he found her and gave her a big hug.

Apparently some boys were pissing out the window of the buses on their way back to the resort after the cruise. Delightful.

S also had to take a look at a senior’s hand when we were waiting in Baltimore. He had it wrapped up and said it hurt. He wouldn’t admit it to S, but later we heard he had punched some dumbass sophomore several times.

A parent couple got in a huge argument during dinner one night. Like screaming and yelling and making the people around them super uncomfortable. Their kid was not around at the time (nor were we) but a lot of other CHS folks heard every word. Some friends of ours had the husband ejected from the restaurant. He also had some other serious issues over the course of the week. I’m really surprised he didn’t get his ass kicked by someone. I don’t know him, am glad he’s a stranger to me, and am thrilled our kids run in different crowds.

I know there was some kid drama, but it was fairly low key. M had one kind of rough night where it seemed like something was up with her and her friends. They next day they were fine, though. Teens gonna teen.

There was some other stuff. Like bad stuff. None of our kids were involved but they all heard about it. I think that’s all I should say about that subject.

We are lucky that our kids are mature, tend to follow the rules, and made sure they were always around friends. Still it was a stressful week. Mixing that many kids and alcohol in a foreign country has high odds of blowing up. Throw in a bunch of drunk adults and those odds go even higher. We are glad we survived our first senior spring break with our family all safe. I’m sure it can happen anywhere, but we were lobbying C and L for less exotic locations for their senior years.

Misc.

It may have been a blessing that KU lost before we left. It was very difficult to find a place that had NCAA games on. We hung in a bar Friday night that had six TVs with only one showing the games. The others had recorded soccer and NFL games from a year ago. I never turned on our TV but figure I could have found a game there or just streamed it had KU still been playing.

I met a mom who was in the same pledge class as a girl I sat next to in fourth and fifth grades. Random and crazy!

I was able to impress our friends with my music knowledge several times. I wowed people by knowing that Philip Bailey was Phil Collins’ partner on “Easy Lover.” I knew that Susannah Hoffs sang lead on “Eternal Flame,” not Suzanne Vega. Duh. And one day at the pool we heard a string of early ’90s songs that I knew artist, song, album, and year for each. The capper to that run was knowing that “Ice Ice Baby” came from the album To The Extreme. Frankly I don’t understand why more people don’t know this stuff.

If only I could somehow monetize this useless knowledge.

I learned that Michigan State people wear their gear pretty much all the time. I swear there was a lady who we flew down and back with and every time I saw her she was rocking Sparty gear of one kind or another.

C’s buddy who came with us has celiac disease. We had confirmed ahead of time that the Hard Rock had lots of gluten-free options. We found out that wasn’t necessarily true. It was hard work to find her food each day. It really made us sympathize what she, and others with true celiac, go through.

M burned her back pretty good the first day. So did her prom date. We laughed that you could pick them out in the pool based on their sunburns.[2]

While the week wasn’t a complete, 100% success, we did avoid any incidents within our travel group. I think M had fun, which was the important part. She was completely wiped out and very cranky on the way home. I think C and her friend had a good time. They kind of ignored us unless we forced them to spend time with us. Poor L got the shaft. When we originally booked, we expected a couple of her friends’ families to be on the trip, too. However, they all chose other destinations. The families we hung with had either kids a year or two younger than her or sophomores, leaving her stuck in the middle. She brought a stack of books and read them all. There was a gym and an outdoor basketball court, but she realized on our second day she didn’t bring any shoes suitable for working out. I’m not sure if you asked her she would say this was her favorite trip of ours.

As for S and I, we enjoyed getting away, especially the time we spent with our little group. We knew three of those families well but one was new to us, and we all got along great, reserving chairs together at the pool each day and eating together most nights. That said, I don’t think this trip would rank as our best spring break ever. Nothing bad, just enough to keep it from being an A or even A-.

Last summer I mentioned that we had four big trips booked. The first was our family trip to Kansas City and Lawrence. Then was L’s eighth grade trip to Washington, D.C. Thanksgiving brought our Italian adventure. And finally there was M’s senior spring break.

It’s been a fun and busy eight months. When we got home, S and I agreed if we are able to squeeze in one more trip between summer basketball and M’s departure for college, it needs to be a little more laid back. Not that all travel isn’t stressful, but we’d be fine with a long weekend someplace that is a car trip away.

  1. Out of a class of about 250.  ↩
  2. Not sure I’ve mentioned it but she broke up with her boyfriend awhile back. So this year’s prom date is a new kid and just a friend.  ↩
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