holiday madness aftermath report
So! That was fun. And by fun I mean 'oh god, if I ever try that again, please SHOOT ME.'
We left Madison, NJ around 11:45am on Christmas Day (Thursday) and drove nonstop to Iowa. Of course, this meant we crossed from Illinois into Iowa just as the ice storm hit the border. Ick. We were stuck driving 45mph tops all the way from Davenport past Des Moines, and then maybe 55mph up to Denison. On the bright side, the roads had already been salted once by the time we got there, so we weren't in too much danger... and that was a huge blessing, because we saw what happened before the salt trucks hit the roads. Between Illinois and Des Moines, we saw at least 40 cars and trucks that had skidded off the road, spun around, flipped over, crashed into the ditches and the median, etcetera, etcetera.
We arrived in Denison around 9:30am on Boxing Day (Friday), checked in to the motel, and crashed for a couple hours. Then Mom, Dad, and I took Grandma Doris out to lunch at Cronks, which claims to be the oldest restaurant in Iowa; Vicky continued to nap. In the afternoon, we went back to Reed House and did Christmas in Grandma Doris's room. Then Dad installed a second phone for her, in her bathroom, while Vicky and I helped set up some of her gifts (like the necklace holder). We took her to Cronks again for dinner, and then drove around to look at lights for maybe half an hour; they were somewhat disappointing.
It's odd seeing Grandma Doris these days. She's reached the point where one essentially has to manage her as if she's a slightly anxious and easily distracted five-year-old, because she cannot manage decisions on her own anymore. This is actually easier than the last time I saw her, when she had just enough traces of competence and comprehension that she insisted on making her own decisions and was quite touchy about being managed like a child, but was unable to make her choices effective or to follow through on them. That was a very awkward stage. This one is kind of sad, but frankly less stressful for us to negotiate.
(She's also convinced she knew Barack Obama as a child and taught him in school... which is rather worrying as she taught special ed. *facepalm* Also, Iowa and Hawaii are not exactly next door to each other. But we kind of smile and nod except when she's trying to tell this delusion to strangers, because it's not worth the effort to correct her and make her feel unhappy and incompetent.)
Anyway, the next day (Saturday) we took her to breakfast at Ampride, which is a diner attached to a truck stop, and visited in her room for maybe half an hour while letting breakfast digest. We said goodbye at Reed House, checked out of the motel at 11am, and drove down to Des Moines for a flying visit with Uncle Bill and Aunt Carol (Mom's youngest brother and his wife). Then we drove nonstop to Ithaca.
Iowa was in the grip of another ice storm, and Illinois had mysteriously closed one section of Interstate 80 (forcing me to detour onto US-6 for several pothole-infested miles), but the ice turned to rain as we traveled east, and eventually let up somewhere around 2am in Ohio.
We arrived in Ithaca around 9am today (Sunday), whereupon I unloaded my stuff and slept until 2:30pm, after which I had to get up and go to work. I was exhausted and MS was ill, but fortunately it was a slow night (I suspect a lot of people are out of town for the holidays) so we got everything done in a relatively timely fashion.
And now I am attempting to catch up on my life, since I essentially lost the past four days! I'm just grateful I don't have to be at work until 4pm tomorrow, by which point the semi-annual inventory should already be DONE.
*scurries off to read more Yuletide stories*
We left Madison, NJ around 11:45am on Christmas Day (Thursday) and drove nonstop to Iowa. Of course, this meant we crossed from Illinois into Iowa just as the ice storm hit the border. Ick. We were stuck driving 45mph tops all the way from Davenport past Des Moines, and then maybe 55mph up to Denison. On the bright side, the roads had already been salted once by the time we got there, so we weren't in too much danger... and that was a huge blessing, because we saw what happened before the salt trucks hit the roads. Between Illinois and Des Moines, we saw at least 40 cars and trucks that had skidded off the road, spun around, flipped over, crashed into the ditches and the median, etcetera, etcetera.
We arrived in Denison around 9:30am on Boxing Day (Friday), checked in to the motel, and crashed for a couple hours. Then Mom, Dad, and I took Grandma Doris out to lunch at Cronks, which claims to be the oldest restaurant in Iowa; Vicky continued to nap. In the afternoon, we went back to Reed House and did Christmas in Grandma Doris's room. Then Dad installed a second phone for her, in her bathroom, while Vicky and I helped set up some of her gifts (like the necklace holder). We took her to Cronks again for dinner, and then drove around to look at lights for maybe half an hour; they were somewhat disappointing.
It's odd seeing Grandma Doris these days. She's reached the point where one essentially has to manage her as if she's a slightly anxious and easily distracted five-year-old, because she cannot manage decisions on her own anymore. This is actually easier than the last time I saw her, when she had just enough traces of competence and comprehension that she insisted on making her own decisions and was quite touchy about being managed like a child, but was unable to make her choices effective or to follow through on them. That was a very awkward stage. This one is kind of sad, but frankly less stressful for us to negotiate.
(She's also convinced she knew Barack Obama as a child and taught him in school... which is rather worrying as she taught special ed. *facepalm* Also, Iowa and Hawaii are not exactly next door to each other. But we kind of smile and nod except when she's trying to tell this delusion to strangers, because it's not worth the effort to correct her and make her feel unhappy and incompetent.)
Anyway, the next day (Saturday) we took her to breakfast at Ampride, which is a diner attached to a truck stop, and visited in her room for maybe half an hour while letting breakfast digest. We said goodbye at Reed House, checked out of the motel at 11am, and drove down to Des Moines for a flying visit with Uncle Bill and Aunt Carol (Mom's youngest brother and his wife). Then we drove nonstop to Ithaca.
Iowa was in the grip of another ice storm, and Illinois had mysteriously closed one section of Interstate 80 (forcing me to detour onto US-6 for several pothole-infested miles), but the ice turned to rain as we traveled east, and eventually let up somewhere around 2am in Ohio.
We arrived in Ithaca around 9am today (Sunday), whereupon I unloaded my stuff and slept until 2:30pm, after which I had to get up and go to work. I was exhausted and MS was ill, but fortunately it was a slow night (I suspect a lot of people are out of town for the holidays) so we got everything done in a relatively timely fashion.
And now I am attempting to catch up on my life, since I essentially lost the past four days! I'm just grateful I don't have to be at work until 4pm tomorrow, by which point the semi-annual inventory should already be DONE.
*scurries off to read more Yuletide stories*