Thoughtprints

Well, my daughter and I are back from our trip -- finally. It was one of the best/worst/weirdest/funniest trips I've ever been on.

We left Tuesday morning, and as soon as we arrived in Loveland we stopped at a mall just off the highway for some coffee. I, of course, immediately tripped on a slight incline in the parking lot and hurt the big toe on my left foot. It hurt like hell. I sucked it up and went into the coffee shop. The girls (Callie and her best friend) got what they wanted, and after sitting for a few minutes we went back out to the car to take off for Centerra Mall, but guess what? The car wouldn't start. Sooo, we walked, throbbing toe and all, WAAAY across the mall to Red Robin for lunch. We finished up there and walked WAAAY back across the mall to the car, which promptly started. Yay! We then drove on to Centerra Mall, where we spent a good couple of hours or more shopping, then decided to head to our hotel. Of course it happened to be raining buckets, which made the drive there quite unpleasant, as we found ourselves lost in a maze of roundabouts which, for the record, I find COMPLETELY asinine! Anyway, we finally made it there and got all checked in and unpacked, and were very happy with our room. We had dinner in the restaurant/lounge of the hotel and met the fantastic manager, Nate, who was just as nice and accommodating as he could be (he made a special dessert just for Callie a couple days later when he found out we were there on her birthday trip). He told us that it was open mic that night and we should come back and have a listen. We told him we would, then went back up to our room where the girls prepared to go swimming. Their swim didn't last too long, as it began lightning and thundering again, so they came in, showered and got ready to go back downstairs to the restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised and actually quite blown away by what we saw: a two-man band consisting of a very good guitarist and an awesome keyboardist, who just happened to be totally blind. He was absolutely phenomenal in both his playing and his singing! We had a fabulous time!

The next day we headed out for more shopping, and guess what? The car wouldn't start. And my toe was still throbbing. I won't bore you with what followed (a lot of cursing, crying and phone calls!). We ended up calling the friend with whom my sister was staying in Greeley before her surgery that day, and she came to the hotel and picked us up and took us to her house to get my sister's car. Thank God! If she hadn't had her car there, I don't know what we would have done! I had called Hertz, and would you believe they had NO cars available at either their Loveland OR Ft. Collins offices?! Geez! Get more cars, people! ANYway, we kept her car the rest of our trip, but had to extend our stay for 2 more days so that we could pick her up from the hospital and deliver her once again to her friend's house. We were going to bring her home with us on Saturday, but her friend was coming here to our town on Friday evening, so she brought her back with her. By the way, my sister's surgery went very well and she is now recuperating at home. Yay again! :)

We had a real nice day of shopping on Friday, and a great dinner at TGI Fridays. We finally got back to the hotel around 9:00PM and just hung out the rest of night, watching movies on TV. Around 3:00AM we were awakened by some people being VERY loud down at the pool (we were on the 2nd floor, and the pool was out and down -- a great view for keeping an eye on the girls when they were swimming!). I went to our window, which was open, and said SHHHH! very loudly, but they didn't hear me. I then called the front desk and politely asked the night manager to please go ask them to be quiet. He said he would do it immediately (the pool area closes at 10:00PM, so no one was even supposed to be down there). Of course we, being the snoops we are, went to the window to watch. LOL Guess what we saw? Four men in boxers and one woman completely naked, except for a thong, exit the pool! LOL! They were sooo drunk. They kept jumping into the pool whenever the manager would step away to fetch them towels, and the woman pushed one of the guys in after he had climbed out and wrapped a towel around himself. The woman came out of the pool and walked around to the side where her clothes were just as proudly as could be, too. LOL And believe me, she didn't have much to be proud of! LOL It was hysterical.

We got home around 1:00 yesterday afternoon, and were glad to be here. Our dogs were overjoyed to see us! We were overjoyed to see them, too. :) Hubs and Callie went back today with a trailer and picked up the car. It's back home safe and sound. Now we have to have it fixed. Grrrrrr!!! It's always something! ANYway ... Callie and I are going to go see a movie tonight -- Halloween is playing!

Hope you all had a good week and are enjoying a great Labor Day weekend so far! :)

Vacations, Trips, Cars Breaking Down, Halloween, TGI Fridays, Red Robin, Funny Hotel Stories