Traveling South

Cal and Rachel left yesterday afternoon.  We were sad to see them go, but knew the they had a busy couple of days ahead of them.  Rachel's friend was getting married in Milwaukee on New Year's Eve and they had to be there Thursday.  Cal realized right before he left that he had forgotten to order his tie.  Thankfully, Amazon had one that matched Rachel's dark green dress and could be overnighted to him.  

As Meg had plans with friends most of yesterday, it was only Cameron, Brett, Doug and I at home.  We used our time together to listen to Cameron's new vinyls, play Eels and Escalators and watch A Muppet Christmas Carol.  Afterward we invited Grandma and Grandpa up for a game of Oh Hell.  It was definitely a different game with six players, but a lot of fun either way.

Today was spent cleaning, finishing putting away the Christmas and packing for our trip South.  Brett was the first one out the door.  He had a car full as he had all of his Christmas to take back.  Grandma had also loaded him up with groceries, and then he took the PS2 and Xbox 360 consuls and game with him.  Thankfully, Nick was able to help him get it in the CR-V and we were all there later in the evening to help him unpack.  

Nick and Meg left about twenty minutes after Brett did.  They had to drive separately as Meg would be returning to Bloomington on our way back next week and Nick would have to work.  Doug made it home by 1 p.m. and we were able to be out the door by 1:40 p.m.  Cameron drove the van to the Indianapolis Airport as he will fly back alone on Tuesday.  I was impressed with how well he did.  There was even an accident right behind us that he saw in his rearview mirror.  He didn't let it bother him and kept on driving.  

Doug picked us up at the economy parking and we were in Bloomington in less than an hour.  Once we unloaded Brett's car, the four of us and Nick headed for Tracks on Kirkwood.  Meg stayed behind to pack.  Tracks went well as Cameron found a Drake vinyl that he had asked for Christmas that I could not find.  Dinner was very interesting.  Doug wanted to go to Mother Bear's, but it was closed.  Brett really wanted to go to Yogi's.  The menu looked great, but with no waitress in sight after twenty minutes, we left.  On the way to the car, we saw a new restaurant, Metal Works Brewing Company, and decided to try that.  The atmosphere was awesome, but they were sorely understaffed.  We decided to wait it out as they had board games for us to play.  We, of course, picked Ticket to Ride which helped the time pass quickly.  We all liked our meals and the beers that we tried.  Cameron love his sandwich, but was most excited about his win in North America.  Overall, it was a great first day on our trip south.