3rd Anniversary Party - Adolla Ceryia's Review
By: Adolla Ceryia in the Tower Parties Forum on the Old Boards
I figured I'd do a quick run down of my weekend because I'll never remember it if I don't. Robert, the elusive hubby, dropped me off at Branwyn's house Wednesday evening where Nadine and I ate pizza and fell asleep before either of them got home. Branwyn stayed up practically all night on call at the hospital. We started out packing all our crap into two cars. I couldn't figure out how we plan on driving two cars the whole way but we set off down the road. After awhile of play "Spot the RV," us two Brown's not getting the hint, we pull into the RV lot and "Surprise" we're traveling in style to Chicago. wOOt!!!
We finally get everything packed into the RV and head off down the road. We stop for lunch before getting on the highway and get the worst, or so we thought, service in the world. After awhile the three Aes Sedai fall asleep leaving Brad, Branwyn's husband, to drive alone. We get into Cleveland for a late dinner of Chicken/Veggie Marsala with Ban and Karassa. Very delicious!!! The girls start chit chatting and the guys go off for a walk. Ban comes back soaking wet. Apparently he went for a dip in the pool next-door while Brad played look out.
In the morning Ninya, Derrin, Aleyna, and Darian met us for a "caravan." Derrin, aka speed demon, quickly left us in his dust. After awhile we stopped for gas and Ban and I switched. I drove with Karassa for a while and learned that there is another adult in this world who knows all the words to Aladdin. :D In the afternoon we pull off for lunch. A severe thunderstorm blows up and we decided to take shelter for the duration. This storm blows over an 18-wheeler up the road causing major traffic delays. But we eventually make it into the campground.
Our arrival barely proceeded the storms. We got the tents set up just in time to get thoroughly soaked. I spent the evening in a pair of wet shorts, very bad idea. :( The evening was fun. We showed that apparently Brown's do very poorly in trivia when under duress. :P I settled in for the night in Branwyn's nice, dry, comfy, RV. :look But my clothes spent the night in the Brown's cabin so when I awoke I headed down to find them. I come down to the tent sites to find no one up and about so I figured I'd take a shower.
I didn't think too much of the puddles around till I opened the cabin door to find wall-to-wall people. I found Kati lying in the middle of the floor and hopped into bed with her. She informed me that she was awoken early that morning to find herself, Shana, and Taylor floating on their air mattresses. I hugged her and went out to inspect, since I couldn't find my clothes in the cabin till more people woke. I walked down to the tents and found several with newly installed pools. I decided to sleep another hour and got up and chopped potatoes with the breakfast crew.
After breakfast I showered and put on dry clothing. I tried to hang my shorts out to dry but it didn't work to well. At noon I went with Wil to Sam's club. Arisaema and Arn came with Raina in her SUV and Jodea and her husband Jer, followed in their vehicle. We ran around Sam's happy to be dry and warm. The bag checker at the door insulted Jer so we got him fired. lol Wil and I were sent back with the food for lunch while everyone else stayed behind to replace a belt on Raina's car and proceed to the grocery store to pick up a few items we still needed. Little did we know they'd be in the parking lot for the next three hours. :(
We stopped and picked up some sodas and got gas. I fell asleep only to wake up awhile later to release we were back at Sam's. Some how Wil drove us in a big circle. To my tired mind this was utterly hilarious. :P Sorry Wil, I didn't mean to laugh so hard. lol We dropped the food off at the little theater area that became our kitchen for the weekend. I joined the "sewing circle" in not sewing for a bit before we decided to find a laundry matt, the one at the KOA flooded. We gathered up a small pile of clothes to be washed or dried and Kati, Wil, and Yelenia headed out in Old Blue to find the alleged laundry in Union. It wasn't there but we headed down to Marengo. We stopped at a store and found directions to the laundry from there. I realized that I should have written the directions in my own hand but we managed to find it eventually.
After we got back I joined in a game of Apples to Apples. It was an interesting game but it broke up shortly after. We changed into our formal gear for the party and all had much merry making. It was a bit hard to hear anything over the wrath of God pouring down on the tin roof. In the end it turned out to be the most enjoyable part of the weekend. After we were kicked out of the theater people broke off into smaller groups and carried on. I retired back to the RV with Branwyn and Ubah and we chatted for a bit longer.
The next morning everyone helped break down the camp and after much confusion we headed out to a different IHOP than we planned on. Fortunately they saved a room for us and everyone sat together. The service was great and everyone scrambled to sign books, which finally got handed out. We moved the leave taking into the parking lot and eventually headed out on our way. Some time in the evening we stopped at a rest stop. Everyone commented on how funny it would be if Ban and Karassa caught up with us at the rest stop. We were sitting there and suddenly Nadine and I started freaking out and pointing out the window. There getting out of the car was Ban. After much yelling and scaring the locals we got Ban's attention. Karassa was tired so she joined us in the RV for a bit while Branwyn drove the car. We pulled off at the next rest stop to switch. Not far down the road the signs told us off a major accident that closed the entire turnpike. We braved the back roads and made it out of Indiana before Derrin and crew who started before us.
We spent the night at a rest stop and ate at Panera's in the morning. We were muchly surprised at decent turnpike food. @,@ The rest of the way home was pretty uneventful until we had to stop and deal with the loud screeching noise from Hades. While trying to figure that out we found the worst service in the world at a Perkins. But I did get my meal free. :D So home and dry we finally are. I wish it wasn't over. :(
