The Long-Awaited(?) DFS Review
This should have been up ages ago, but I got knocked over by some sort of bug that had no other symptoms beyond moderate respiratory zaniness and some pretty impressive fatigue. Now that I'm actually awake for more than twelve hours a day and not battling an urge for a nap for eight of those waking twelve hours: onward!
The trip in: Entertaining for certain, but pretty unremarkable. lowbeyonder came in on the evening of the 29th and I joined the gang at about 9:30AM on the 30th. We hit the road by 9:45AM and broke for lunch around noon at a Burger King/KFC/Pizza Hut rest stop in Indiana, where we were, unsurprisingly, not very impressed by the choices. (I had a salad, which I carefully and deliberately removed the "cheese" from, and some apple fries, because I am five years old. Also, orange juice.) Somewhere in here, I bought a Powerball ticket.
Traffic as we were heading into the city kind of sucked, but I think that's to be expected when you're entering a major metropolitan area at... oh, pretty much any time of day. (Really, it seems to be a choice between "bad" and "I'm going to be stuck in traffic until the end of days, aren't I?") We picked dscotton up at the airport and dropped him and missysedai off at their hotel, which was extremely beautiful and, having been constructed in the 1920s, made my dusty little history degree-ed heart happy.
The vacation itself: a great deal of fun. Seeing everybody was, as always, wonderful. The house was gorgeous (minus one or two questionable decorating choices, and here I am thinking of the painting on the wall of the dining area that propriety prevents me from describing) and generally incredible, with more than enough room for everybody to spread out. (Considering "everybody" was upwards of twenty people, give or take, this is pretty impressive.)
What with it being "fuck I can't feel my face" cold out, there weren't too many trips out of the house (minus a supply run here and there), but a small clutch of us went out to see Sherlock Holmes, which was brilliant, and then to dinner at the (also brilliant!) Star of Siam on Friday. The next day, missysedai, culfinriel, and I wandered downtown, where I bought a solid shampoo bar at Lush and some chocolates at Teuscher. The chocolates were not to my taste, I think - perhaps my tastebuds are just rather provincial - but I think they would be well-liked by most people and I'm glad I got the opportunity to give them a try. (Strangely, while we were seeing if we could find missysedai a hat she would not have to take out a second mortgage to buy, we ran into somebody who lives maybe a mile from my house. Which is about five hours away from Chicago. Small world.)
New Year's Eve was also great, dinner was amazing, and I am very lucky that I got to ring in 2010 with people I love.
The trip back: So it turns out that it can make a drive somewhat difficult when the western half of the state much of a drive to/from Chicago is spent barelling through is being pummelled by a snowstorm! lowbeyonder handled it like a champ, however, and we made it through without losing too much time. There was a bit of an adventure getting dinner, but we eventually managed to track down a Red Robin and fell facefirst into eating before it was once more into the breach.
We hit Toledo, safe and sound, at just after midnight on Monday, January 4th, and I spent the next two weeks sleeping twelve hours a day and sniffing happily at my solid shampoo bar, because I am a little odd.
As noted, Mr. Dilick: Thank you for your ongoing cooperation in staying ON the mortal coil. (Also, for introducing me to Stanza!)
And no, my Powerball ticket didn't win anything. Such is life!
The trip in: Entertaining for certain, but pretty unremarkable. lowbeyonder came in on the evening of the 29th and I joined the gang at about 9:30AM on the 30th. We hit the road by 9:45AM and broke for lunch around noon at a Burger King/KFC/Pizza Hut rest stop in Indiana, where we were, unsurprisingly, not very impressed by the choices. (I had a salad, which I carefully and deliberately removed the "cheese" from, and some apple fries, because I am five years old. Also, orange juice.) Somewhere in here, I bought a Powerball ticket.
Traffic as we were heading into the city kind of sucked, but I think that's to be expected when you're entering a major metropolitan area at... oh, pretty much any time of day. (Really, it seems to be a choice between "bad" and "I'm going to be stuck in traffic until the end of days, aren't I?") We picked dscotton up at the airport and dropped him and missysedai off at their hotel, which was extremely beautiful and, having been constructed in the 1920s, made my dusty little history degree-ed heart happy.
The vacation itself: a great deal of fun. Seeing everybody was, as always, wonderful. The house was gorgeous (minus one or two questionable decorating choices, and here I am thinking of the painting on the wall of the dining area that propriety prevents me from describing) and generally incredible, with more than enough room for everybody to spread out. (Considering "everybody" was upwards of twenty people, give or take, this is pretty impressive.)
What with it being "fuck I can't feel my face" cold out, there weren't too many trips out of the house (minus a supply run here and there), but a small clutch of us went out to see Sherlock Holmes, which was brilliant, and then to dinner at the (also brilliant!) Star of Siam on Friday. The next day, missysedai, culfinriel, and I wandered downtown, where I bought a solid shampoo bar at Lush and some chocolates at Teuscher. The chocolates were not to my taste, I think - perhaps my tastebuds are just rather provincial - but I think they would be well-liked by most people and I'm glad I got the opportunity to give them a try. (Strangely, while we were seeing if we could find missysedai a hat she would not have to take out a second mortgage to buy, we ran into somebody who lives maybe a mile from my house. Which is about five hours away from Chicago. Small world.)
New Year's Eve was also great, dinner was amazing, and I am very lucky that I got to ring in 2010 with people I love.
The trip back: So it turns out that it can make a drive somewhat difficult when the western half of the state much of a drive to/from Chicago is spent barelling through is being pummelled by a snowstorm! lowbeyonder handled it like a champ, however, and we made it through without losing too much time. There was a bit of an adventure getting dinner, but we eventually managed to track down a Red Robin and fell facefirst into eating before it was once more into the breach.
We hit Toledo, safe and sound, at just after midnight on Monday, January 4th, and I spent the next two weeks sleeping twelve hours a day and sniffing happily at my solid shampoo bar, because I am a little odd.
As noted, Mr. Dilick: Thank you for your ongoing cooperation in staying ON the mortal coil. (Also, for introducing me to Stanza!)
And no, my Powerball ticket didn't win anything. Such is life!