Zip Trip

Sunday we left on a virtually unplanned trip to see my parents. By unplanned, I mean we decided at 9 am and by noon we were on our way.  We went a different route, avoiding the Ohio Turnpike altogether and also the city of Norwalk...on a route that wasn't as speedy but more entertaining. The town of Clyde was visually interesting. They have an actual diner car there and an ice cream parlor shaped like a soft serve cone.  So if anyone is heading toward Norwalk from Toledo, I'd recommend US 20 East.  Its a bit slower, but there are more farms, more interesting things, and once the construction clears up, it will be two lanes headed East, two lanes headed West. 

                I couldn't find a better photo.  The diner actually looks more 30s than it does here.
                Guess I should have made Jon pull over so I could whip out my camera.

                                                                        Yum!
                      
We didn't do much in Ohio since we only had time to stay the night then drive back.  We did manage to eat at the Mexican place we love.  The pizza place was closed because the town of Killbuck was having the annual Early American Days festival, which strikes me as odd. I think they'd do a grand amount of business during a festival, but maybe I'm wrong.
                                                    

                                                                   More Yum!

I scratched and made over my old pal Bean.  The dogs romped outside and went on a walk. Emma found a spine of a dead thing and decided it made for an awesome object to roll on top of and carry about.  She didn't get too stinky, so I assume it had been dead a long, long time.  Emma also wasn't shy of my parents this visit. No barking at them when she first sighted them.

My dad waited until my mom hit the showers after a very muggy walk to tell me that she'd had another episode where her heart decides to pitter patter along at 200 beats per minute and that the pill they'd given her for such an occurrence didn't do its job so they ended a walk last Friday in the emergency room.  Mom didn't want anyone to know.  But my Aunt Maxine had been staying there for a visit, so she knew.  And NO ONE told me.  I mean, I know my mom has been off work for quite a while because she has had both her hands operated on because of carpal tunnel, so I guess it would have been difficult for dad to call without her knowledge, but still.

So now I know why all the weird, mixed up dreams/ nightmares about home last Friday night.

My mom has finally agreed to see a specialist, dad says. I told him to make sure to call me if anything happens, because I know I can get some kind of paid leave for a family emergency.  He said he would. 

We had a nice lunch yesterday. My dad cooked hamburgers on the grill and we ate sweet corn, tomatoes, and all kinds of good garden food.  My dad's garden, he says, has done the worst ever this year. Not too surprising because of all the 100 degree temperatures and the scant amount of rain.  So they've been wanting to can tomatoes and having problems with rot, and in general even getting enough tomatoes to can.

Then we were on our way back home.  Traffic was crap, but then, that's what we get for picking a national holiday to travel. Gas was 20 cents cheaper in all those tiny little Ohio towns.  I guess Michigan is just price gouging.  Usually the little places charge more. We did travel on the Turnpike on the way back. Didn't know which way would be better with the holiday traffic. And we went through Norwalk, OH, which is a pretty cool town, actually. So if anyone happens to be traveling on US 250 heading west you will see this:

                                The buildings in Norwalk are amazing and old.

And that leaves us with planning our next trip.  We are thinking of traveling to Jon's Family's cabin in the U.P. somewhere the first week in October. He doesn't have any vacation coming, but we'll see what his boss says.  Sounds fun if we can manage it, though.