Christmas 2009 Part I

I hope everyone had as good a Christmas as I did. We took a week off and drove back to Ohio. We've been longing for a road trip for months so we decided to drive rather than fly. Our first day we got up at 3:00 pm, had breakfast at the IHOP. We were trying something different and actually having a good solid meal instead of a bag of chips and a Mountain Dew from the gas station. It worked out nicely. We took our time and hit a winery and Russell Stover's factory outlet. We stopped the night in Columbia Missouri and prepared for the next big leg of the journey, a two hour drive to St Charles. We decided to stay at the Ameristar Casino on the river and do some shopping in the down town area. These were two things we could never really afford while living there. Lisa also surprised me with chocolate covered strawberries and champagne (already in place in the room) for my birthday. She's certainly a romantic. The best surprise was my gift card for Mark Twain Hobbies which is my favorite hobby store. We did our own economic stimulus spending at the stores downtown and then headed to the hotel and casino. I'm not a gambler (although I could spend hours playing Texas Hold'em on my Blackberry) but when staying in a casino you've kind of got to do some gambling. I won $.25 at video poker. There is a decimal point between the dollar sign and two by the way.

After a great start to the trip we took off early the next day. We arrived in Columbus and visted my brother, sister-in-law, and terminally adorable nephew for a few hours. We got to see sweet old Kirby, their German Shepherd Bryce rescued from a life on the streets. He wasn't in very good condition and I had to go out on the porch and give him a cheek rub. I remember how soft his hair was and peaceful and dignified he was. He passed away the next morning and I'm glad I got to say goodbye. He had a good life. After the visit we checked into a rather run down Super 8 across from the Budweiser brewery. I think there was literally us and two other guests. It was as Lisa noted, a good place for a murder mystery to take place.

The next morning we departed for Zanesville and the second part of my story...