Day Two of Driving to Boston.

I guess I know that something that happened three weeks ago is of zero interest to the world wide web, however, I have turned this into a journal of type so when I am old and crazy I can look back (Im sure I will have forgotten to even bother looking back, but not the point)! So here's a bit more of our journey out to Boston.

The second day we got to at least sleep until a decent hour, but were on the road by 8 in order to maybe hit up a few stampie sites before getting into Hartford. But first, we raced the clock in order to get into Dayton by 2pm so we could have First Watch for breakfast. Yes, people, it is that good. But we were going to miss it by minutes. So what do we do? 20 minutes outside of town, we order takeout. So the food was ready by the time we got there at 2:10, our only chance at getting the deliciousness. Off to the Dayton Aviation stamp site, which was a CRAZY maze of roads and exits to finally get to the site. But we did!

We made it to Hartford in time for dinner before Cirque Du Soleil, and in true Clare & Tim form, found an Irish Pub close by. Tim's shepard's pie might look like an albino cow pie, but sure didn't taste like one!

Next door at Cirque's Quidam, we were....not as thrilled as normal with the show. It clearly was one of their older shows. I mean, I love conceptual art and the whimsical creativity that Cirque brings to their shows. But I equally love the athletic tricks and talented body work segments that each show has as well. And this show was far lacking on the impressive stunts, and heavier on the concept art. Dark concept art at that. It had a very mental institution vibe. But it was a good time nonetheless.

Afterward, we drove the last two hours to pull into Boston for the night. And no matter what time it is, you have to take a walk down Tremont and Boylston as soon as you check in to the hotel. Its just. Demanded tradition! As is NYP....

On the way to Boston!: Driving to Incubus (Ohio)

Apparently despite sleeping about four hours Monday night, and six hours last night, my body does not want to sleep. Bah. I care more because I know today is going to be just as long as yesterday and being tired is just not an option! Well, it is, but coffee as a pick me up. I hate that, knowing that you can't/shouldnt go to the bathroom any time you want, and then that just making you think about it ALL THE TIME, and then have to go ALL THE TIME. Oh well. Yesterday I did pretty well.

We were up at 4:30 (despite being up til near 1) and on the road by a few minutes after 5. There isn't much you can really say about 9 hours of driving. It happened. At seemingly a turtle's pace. By 8am, it felt like mid afternoon. It got a bit better as we realized that our original calculations were quite a bit off and we would be there really early (which would have been nice to know before getting up so freaking early). We raced to make it to Dayton before 2:30 so we could make it to a First Watch. I mean, yogurt and apples and beef jerkey are great, but a real breakfast meal would be fantastic, and First Watch? HEAVEN.

We made it in time that we called about 20 minutes out, ordered takeout, and picked it up about 10 minutes after they closed. Eating in the car wasn't exactly super comfort, but it was still delicious! Stopped at the Macys in Dayton, more to kill time and stretch. Then was the most roundabout backwards way of finding the Wright Brothers/Dayton Aviation National Park Site so I could get my stampie! Worth it though, three stamps in the one location!

Two hours onto Columbus, drove past the venue, went through town (and insane traffic) to find a Whole Foods in order to get a post concert snack for the road. It was seriously the biggest Whole Foods ever. It has to be the largest in the country. It was ENDLESS. It was good we had a time constraint, I would have wandered that store all day. It was so large, there was more than one prepared food station. Like, not just more than one kiosk, but numerous throughout the store. Holla!

Escaping only with one bag, we took the much faster highway back to the venue, got in line, and were annoyed that the concert was supposed to start at 6:30 (we are a-ok with missing the opening act), but they didnt start letting people in until 7. The outdoor grassy area facing the back half of the building venue/stage was ridiculously nice. I'd go there again. Good job PromoWest. Got a good spot, but after so long in the car, sitting longer just wasn't top of the list. Waited, opening act, Young the Giant, was decent. Kind of a 50s vibe, but with the voice of The Killers. Waited some more, finally around 8:45/9:00 Incubus came out. I adore them, and their shows are always so so worth it. Outside you could still smell a LOT of other people more illegally enjoying it too. But their light/CG show is so good. This year it was like a screen save from earlier computers on steroids in the future. Yeah. Like that! ;-) They also know their audience and play at least half of their setlist from old albums. Loved it.

Back in the car, snacks eaten, two more hours to the hotel. Too tired to care about anything else, we crashed.

Boys like Baseball?

Last Thursday the whole Nordyke clan set out across the midwest. Baseball was calling the men. We spent the night in Peoria after watching Veronica Mars the whole way. Ice cream at Chevys (the only thing I personally deemed safe to eat). And while I watched Conan, Tim disappeared with Mitch to the bars of Peoria.

Friday started with free breakfast at the hotel, and now its such an awesome rarity these days that it deserves its own sentence in this post. The long driving day involved a showing of "Hes just not that into you" and "Fanboys." Checked into the Hilton downtown Cincinatti, a magnificent piece of hotel. And hit up some Rock Bottom BBQ before I walked the boys over to the stadium. I chose to work out in the biggest gym I have ever seen instead of feeding my face with free food at the game. But I did get some shots in before the gates opened up.

I met up with mom for dinner, only to be ignored at the hotel restaurant, but ended up at McCormick and Schmicks. (The Carribbean Shrimp salad is DELISH). And then the amazing purse recovery expedition occurred. It involved me barrel rolling over vehicle barriers and spiraling up 7 floors in a parking garage. But then I managed to talk my way into the stadium to get up to the boys to watch the huge fireworks display after the game. It was awesome. 20 minutes of set to music fireworks. Great show.

Chris and I were up early to workout on Saturday, but it was well worth it. I somehow convinced the family to trek to the Cincinnati branch of First Watch.

Oh how I love thee fruit crepes. Hotel check out was far too early and we were forced to wander the streets of Cincinnati as well as Newport, KY. But I did get my stamp at the Taft NHS. We eventually found the zoo, but by then there wasn't time. And the black people museum was too expensive. So we found a strip mall and dad bought me some cute tops at Dillards (because hes the man).

We dropped mom off at the shuttle location so she could go back to the B&N and the restaurant area, and went to the second game of the series. PS. Cubs playing the Reds, hence why we made the hike to Ohio. Game took forever. The boys had to see all of the warm ups, so we were at the field for about 6 hours before we left in the 11th inning because we had to make it to Dublin.

I was well entertained though, I read some magazines, ate a pretzel, and took lots of pictures. Made it to Dublin super late and crashed in the small childrens room on the floor. Woke up, chilled with Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike through breakfast, and then the men left to the Memorial Golf tournament, only blocks from Carol's house. They were gone for a few hours. And Carol's son, wife, and kids came by and we hung out until lunch was put out, the boys got back from the golf tournament and seeing Tiger Woods practice (all nice and crispy from the sun). And by 2pm, we hit the road for the 10.5 hour drive back to Iowa. For our viewing pleasure, we had "Defiance," "Outlander," and "Veronica Mars" but Christopher had other plans.

The kid can sleep in any position for hours. Despite a Frosty break, a Panera dinner stop, and a bathroom break at a truck stop, we were home by 11ish. I swear it was the weekend that lasted a month. A month! But all was grand.