bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2023-10-30 11:59 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2023-10-30 11:59 pm
Ohio Halloween trip, 4 of 9
MONDAY
I woke up about 4:30 AM to pee, then got up with the alarm at 7:30. I took care of the one critical issue from work I'd been expecting, then showered and dressed. Gary was awake and surfing the net in bed when I was done in the bathroom around 8:30, so I suggested he get dressed for breakfast and shower later.
At breakfast I noticed a lady in brightly colored clothing and a tall dude on crutches. After breakfast we sat briefly in the lobby watching TV, then returned to the room about 9:30. Since the room hadn't been serviced, I decided to hit the pool and Gary took a walk on the elliptical machine. I did a set of five laps and followed up with another set of ten; Gary got in a mile in 16 minutes. After my second set of laps, Gary joined me at poolside and nodded off in the lounge chair. I texted Colleen to see how she was feeling; she said she was much better, and was on her way back to Matt's house where she was babysitting Milo. I got dressed and woke Gary to return to the room briefly before lunch.
I changed out of my swimming trunks, then we grabbed jackets and headed to Frisch's Big Boy for lunch. Gary had a club sandwich platter with coleslaw and cottage cheese; I had a Super Big Boy burger with the soup and salad bar. Before the burger arrived I had a bowl of bean soup, and after finishing the burger I had a salad and fruit. The waitress liked my Dear Dorothy T-shirt. After lunch, we went shopping at Walgreens at Reading and Glendale-Milford Roads, southeast of the hotel, as this was closer than the usual Walgreens we shopped at.
We returned to the room to find it hadn't been serviced (as it happened, it would not be serviced all day), so we hung out in the lobby and I drank several cups of coffee from the urns by the front desk. I went to use the bathroom in the lobby and as I was washing my hands, my phone rang. It was Sheila, making plans for the evening. We chatted briefly, and she mentioned a German restaurant in Cleves, Kreimer's Bier Haus, which Colleen had recommended. We agreed to meet there at 5:30, and returned to the room about 3:30 having given up on getting it serviced. I napped while Gary watched the replay of Sunday Night Football. At 4:40 my alarm went off, and I went to the bathroom and noticed there was almost no toilet paper left, and no hand soap. On our way out the door for dinner, I told the fellow at the front desk we needed both items and gave him the room number.
We drove to the restaurant, but were stopped just short due to what we later learned was a car crash on the shoulder of the road right in front of the place. A fire truck and command car which had been blocking the other side of the road left the scene, and as I reached the driveway I signaled the turn and the officer directing traffic waved me into the lot. I texted Sheila to let her know we'd arrived and the restaurant was open despite the wreck. We went inside and sat on a bench waiting for Colleen and Sheila to arrive. We were seated quickly and ordered soon after. Gary had chicken in a sweet sauce, and I had the special: two huge, bone-in pork chops and broccoli in beer cheese sauce. We chatted about Colleen and Sheila's trip to Ireland in September, our trip so far, and other topics. We decided to meet again after dinner at Sheila's house for coffee. On the way out, I spotted a sign that read "It's all fun and games until someone loses a weiner!" with a cartoon of stick figures roasting weiners over a fire. Across the driveway, a cat sat under the bumper of a pickup truck and meowed.
Around 7:30, we arrived at Sheila's before Colleen (who had driven Sheila to the restaurant), so I rang the doorbell and Len let us in just as Colleen arrived. So he went to open the garage door which they usually use to enter the house. This confused Colleen and Sheila, because the car we were driving leaves its lights on for about half a minute after the doors are closed and the key removed; so there was an empty car with lights going and an unseen hand opening the garage door, with the two of us nowhere to be seen. We sat around the kitchen table for a couple hours conversing, and left at ten. Google Maps routed us over the Cross County Highway to I-75 instead of over 275.
We arrived in the room and noticed the toilet paper and soap hadn't been replenished, so I filled the ice bucket and went downstairs to ask for the needed supplies. When I arrived at the front desk, there were two bearded dudes who looked like they worked construction checking in, and a big and tall bear waiting to check in who likely was driving a truck, based on his build and the camouflage shorts he wore. While the other two were occupied at the desk, tall bear and I kept turning around to keep tabs on the Monday Night Football game across the lobby. When tall bear reached the desk to check in, the clerk asked if we were together, and I said no and stated my errand. The clerk handed me a roll of toilet paper and a tiny bar of soap, and I thanked him and returned to the room.
We watched the end of the game (Detroit over Las Vegas 26-14), plus the World Series game (Texas over Arizona 3-1) and the Kraken game (Seattle over Tampa Bay 4-3 in overtime). When all the games were played, we watched news and I completed my journal for the day. I prepared for bed around 12:15 and turned in around the bottom of the hour.
I woke up about 4:30 AM to pee, then got up with the alarm at 7:30. I took care of the one critical issue from work I'd been expecting, then showered and dressed. Gary was awake and surfing the net in bed when I was done in the bathroom around 8:30, so I suggested he get dressed for breakfast and shower later.
At breakfast I noticed a lady in brightly colored clothing and a tall dude on crutches. After breakfast we sat briefly in the lobby watching TV, then returned to the room about 9:30. Since the room hadn't been serviced, I decided to hit the pool and Gary took a walk on the elliptical machine. I did a set of five laps and followed up with another set of ten; Gary got in a mile in 16 minutes. After my second set of laps, Gary joined me at poolside and nodded off in the lounge chair. I texted Colleen to see how she was feeling; she said she was much better, and was on her way back to Matt's house where she was babysitting Milo. I got dressed and woke Gary to return to the room briefly before lunch.
I changed out of my swimming trunks, then we grabbed jackets and headed to Frisch's Big Boy for lunch. Gary had a club sandwich platter with coleslaw and cottage cheese; I had a Super Big Boy burger with the soup and salad bar. Before the burger arrived I had a bowl of bean soup, and after finishing the burger I had a salad and fruit. The waitress liked my Dear Dorothy T-shirt. After lunch, we went shopping at Walgreens at Reading and Glendale-Milford Roads, southeast of the hotel, as this was closer than the usual Walgreens we shopped at.
We returned to the room to find it hadn't been serviced (as it happened, it would not be serviced all day), so we hung out in the lobby and I drank several cups of coffee from the urns by the front desk. I went to use the bathroom in the lobby and as I was washing my hands, my phone rang. It was Sheila, making plans for the evening. We chatted briefly, and she mentioned a German restaurant in Cleves, Kreimer's Bier Haus, which Colleen had recommended. We agreed to meet there at 5:30, and returned to the room about 3:30 having given up on getting it serviced. I napped while Gary watched the replay of Sunday Night Football. At 4:40 my alarm went off, and I went to the bathroom and noticed there was almost no toilet paper left, and no hand soap. On our way out the door for dinner, I told the fellow at the front desk we needed both items and gave him the room number.
We drove to the restaurant, but were stopped just short due to what we later learned was a car crash on the shoulder of the road right in front of the place. A fire truck and command car which had been blocking the other side of the road left the scene, and as I reached the driveway I signaled the turn and the officer directing traffic waved me into the lot. I texted Sheila to let her know we'd arrived and the restaurant was open despite the wreck. We went inside and sat on a bench waiting for Colleen and Sheila to arrive. We were seated quickly and ordered soon after. Gary had chicken in a sweet sauce, and I had the special: two huge, bone-in pork chops and broccoli in beer cheese sauce. We chatted about Colleen and Sheila's trip to Ireland in September, our trip so far, and other topics. We decided to meet again after dinner at Sheila's house for coffee. On the way out, I spotted a sign that read "It's all fun and games until someone loses a weiner!" with a cartoon of stick figures roasting weiners over a fire. Across the driveway, a cat sat under the bumper of a pickup truck and meowed.
Around 7:30, we arrived at Sheila's before Colleen (who had driven Sheila to the restaurant), so I rang the doorbell and Len let us in just as Colleen arrived. So he went to open the garage door which they usually use to enter the house. This confused Colleen and Sheila, because the car we were driving leaves its lights on for about half a minute after the doors are closed and the key removed; so there was an empty car with lights going and an unseen hand opening the garage door, with the two of us nowhere to be seen. We sat around the kitchen table for a couple hours conversing, and left at ten. Google Maps routed us over the Cross County Highway to I-75 instead of over 275.
We arrived in the room and noticed the toilet paper and soap hadn't been replenished, so I filled the ice bucket and went downstairs to ask for the needed supplies. When I arrived at the front desk, there were two bearded dudes who looked like they worked construction checking in, and a big and tall bear waiting to check in who likely was driving a truck, based on his build and the camouflage shorts he wore. While the other two were occupied at the desk, tall bear and I kept turning around to keep tabs on the Monday Night Football game across the lobby. When tall bear reached the desk to check in, the clerk asked if we were together, and I said no and stated my errand. The clerk handed me a roll of toilet paper and a tiny bar of soap, and I thanked him and returned to the room.
We watched the end of the game (Detroit over Las Vegas 26-14), plus the World Series game (Texas over Arizona 3-1) and the Kraken game (Seattle over Tampa Bay 4-3 in overtime). When all the games were played, we watched news and I completed my journal for the day. I prepared for bed around 12:15 and turned in around the bottom of the hour.