I started my trip in Canal Winchester, just outside of Columbus, staying with my aunt (my dad's sister). I enjoyed time antiquing with my aunt, a big dinner with all my cousins and their spouseand kids, which includes 2 sets of twins and all around the same ages as my girls. It made me miss my family and wish they were with me. We also ate out a lot....my aunt doesn't cook.
Some of my cousins' kids
New to this year's trip, I added in a side trip to Indiana to visit my nephew, Ryely, at college. He is a freshman at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT), one of the top engineering colleges in the world. RHIT is also known as "Rich Husbands In Training." :) Since I was a college student once, and I remember the dorms well, I made the wise choice to stay in a hotel rather than the dorms. It's a beautiful campus and I enjoyed looking out Ryely's dorm window to the view of a frozen over lake and beautiful chapel. I had so much fun with Ryely! Although we spent some time in serious conversation, there was a whole lot of laughter. With a boy to girl ratio of 4 to 1 at RHIT, I stood out on campus. I was also treated to the hilarious adventures of college boys away from home for the first time. Two of Ryely's friends even went to the local Goodwill to get clothes and dress up as Mario and Luigi. Did I mention one of them was wearing maternity overalls? We pondered duct taping one of the small guys onto the bare wall of Ryely's dorm room. We also pondered painting a meaningless mural on the wall. Instead we settled on writing on the underside of the top bunk so that each time Ryely wakes up he can look up and remind himself of the fun time we had when I came to visit.
It was soon time for the next part of my trip, which entailed a 6 hour drive back to Ohio to a town called Orrville, near Akron. Have you ever driven 6 hours by yourself? It's impossible to stay awake. How do truckers do it? Caffeine became my buddy, which caused me to get dehydrated with a bad headache and sick to my stomach. By the time I made it to my aunt and uncle's house, I felt like death, even though I was greeted with open arms by all my cousins and their families. They were all ready to have fun and all I was ready for was a good nights sleep. My cousin's daughter insisted on tucking me into bed and by morning I felt much better. I spent a few days with that side of the family and as always, it was an adventure! They live in an area heavily populated by the Amish so driving is always interesting. You really have to watch out for Amish buggies while driving. There was one funny moment where I wanted to get a picture of a buggy and so did one of my cousins. I would have been content just taking a picture as we passed by one, but my uncle had the nerve to embarrass us all and stop right next to one on the road and roll down the window. I quickly took the picture while we all kind of ducked our heads and yelled at my uncle to drive. I even got to be with my cousin, Cindy, as she decided to get another tattoo, the scripture from Philippians, "I can do all things through Christ..." on her wrist.
The trip was so much fun and before I knew it, it was time to return home, which proved to be quite a challenge. While I was freezing through winter on the east coast, Southern California experienced some of its worst storms ever. There were even tornado warnings....in So Cal! After 4 canceled flights, being rerouted to Las Vegas, where I was stuck in the airport for well over 8 hours, and 17 hours of travel, I finally made it home, although I had to fly into LA rather than Ontario. My luggage made it the next day to Ontario and I picked it up only to find it soaking wet. Luckily, all that was ruined was a pair of shoes. It was definitely a trip to remember! I'm ready for next year, but I want John and the girls to join me.
