I have returned home from my trip...
I am home now from my trip with friends from Michigan to Iowa. Three weeks ago I tagged along on the return trip of their vacation and spent ten days or so sharing time with the family and friends. It was so much fun. I’d like to share with you all the fun I had.
Oh, do you know whom I traveled with? It was Surrogate and Emerging, two of our friends here on tblog.
There was a bit of a trauma the night before leaving as she had tripped and slipped in the garage at Surrogate’s, missing a step, and her flip-flop sandal twisted and she fell and somehow ripped a hole in bottom of her foot of about the size of a quarter and was hobbling about and in quite a bit of discomfort. She had it bandaged but it was obvious she was having a difficult time walking. I felt so bad for her.
They had vacationed the previous ten days or so in Colorado and points west, and back to Michigan, but I’ll not go into that part as they posted about it earlier.
My part of the trip started out when they picked me up at my home about 9 o’clock on a Friday morning. That way 'E' could see my humble abode, and I didn’t have to drive out of my way and that was easier for me. Not sure if it was appreciated by someone (not mentioning names) but it worked for me. 
We loaded my bags of stuff into the van and headed west. I played “Driving Miss Daisy” again as I got to sit behind the driver and observe the countryside as we traveled along, or even at the congestion of traffic between Benton Harbor MI and Chicago IL, but we were able to move along quite nicely and I didn’t have to lend my advice to the driver, which I am sure was much appreciated.
We took a bit of a side trip to this fabulous store.
It had been the plan to stop at IKEA but with the foot injury it was questionable, but we decided we could make it work as 'E' and I had not been to an IKEA before and we wanted to see what it was like. It was just a short detour from our route and so it was decided we would see how it would go; sort of figured we could get a wheelchair if necessary, and it was. They were looking for a desk chair for 'E's daughter. When we got there I was amazed by the size of the building. There were two floors of ‘a lot of stuff’ to see. We got a wheelchair for E so she could make the tour. I had a shopping cart to use as a walker J … er, I mean to put our items into.
I rested at various room displays to ‘test out the furniture’ and so that worked well for me. I even chatted with some people who were doing the same thing. It is interesting to people watch and listen to their comments about various displays, etc.
That couch is soooo comfortable.
So we toured the store rather quickly and ended up eating lunch there at the end of the tour. Now that was a surprise. They have a fabulous cafeteria and things are very reasonably priced. Swedish Meatballs were a real treat, along with other delicious foods. Lunch was a nice break/rest time before we hit the road for Iowa. We ended up spending about two hours at IKEA by the time we had eaten lunch, and actually we were a bit early for the luncheon crowd and the cafeteria wasn’t so busy, which worked out just fine. Five hours later we arrived at our destination in Iowa … tired but glad to be ‘home’ safe and sound.
On Sunday morning we went to 'E's church, which I found most enjoyable. She and three or four others play the music and I really enjoyed that. She plays clarinet, another on piano, and for the life of me right now I can’t say what the other two musical instruments were represented… (I hate getting old!). The parishioners greeted us warmly and it is plain to see why she and her family feel so welcome at that church.
While in Iowa I had the pleasure of sharing time with 'E's 15-y/o son and 7y/o daughter. Her son “little s” challenged me to play Guitar Hero, but I opted to do it on another trip, that is if I’m invited to return again. And her daughter “little e” is one busy/active 7 y/o. We played games, we colored, we played on her swing set (well she did, I pushed her), we went shopping, we even picked up sticks.
Picked up sticks you say? Yes, we did. A couple of nights it was quite windy and I noticed some small sticks/twigs from the trees scattered around the yard. I was pushing her on the swing set and after she was high enough I decided to let her swing away to her hearts content and I started to pick up some of the branches/twigs so no one would trip over them. The more I walked the more twigs I saw and before I knew it I had a pile of twigs at the base of three trees. This is a beautiful yard with several trees and nicely mown grass and the lawn service was coming the next day and I thought it would be good to get the twigs out of the way, and there was also another thought in my mind. We could have a fire in the fire pit and you know what that means? Yep, S’mores, or at the very least, toasted marshmallows.
I got a bit sidetracked here, but as I was picking up the twigs, “little e” said, “you look like you are having fun, may I join you?” So she did and before we knew it we had gathered up all the loose twigs and we had enough piled in the wood box and they were ready for a bonfire, which we had for the next three nights. It was such a nice time.
Oh, I forgot to mention something. There is this fabulous six-seat glider, with table to hold coffee/cola/marshmallows and I would spend all my spare time on the glider. I love to rock back and forth but when someone else was joining me I’d not rock the glider, but when the others went inside or something I’d just rock back and forth to my hearts content. Oh I loved that part of the trip! Did I mention that Surrogate made said glider? Well he did. He also made the swing set/playhouse/sandbox for “little e”. He is so talented and one of the most generous people I’ve ever met. You ROCK surrogate ~ wait, I rocked … you just build things!
Here is a link for a view of the glider with S, E, and E's brother testing it out. It is in the backyard just waiting for me to take it for a spin, er glide... it is so nice! There is some motion in the clip and hope you don't get dizzy watching it ... 
Before I knew it, it was time for me to return home. So that Sunday morning as E and her family headed off to church, we headed back to Michigan. We needed to get home that evening and it is a ten-hour trip and some people had to work the next day.
So I would like to thank E for inviting me to come to her home and for being such a gracious hostess, and S for letting me tag along. I’m trying to get better about my backseat driving ~ actually he took my BS Driving License away when we went to Florida. That time we met up with some other tblog friends; Almsthvn in Cincinnati, PastorDave and his granddaughter in Georgia; and then we met up with Mimi in Florida; and then we went on further south so he could do some work!
Did I say that man does some great work? ~ Well he surely does! ~ And that was another great vacation for me! I think I posted about that, or perhaps he did, but that was two years ago this coming winter and that is old news.
I am so thankful to have met so many nice people on tblog!
And big ((hugs)) to Surrogate and Emerging ~ love you guys!
