Thanksgiving in Kentucky!

In actual reality, Dad, Jena and I spent Thanksgiving day in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. Riding/driving in a car. The plan was to visit Krissa and Ryan for the weekend and since Jena had off Thursday through Sunday, we decided to take advantage of it. Dad and I drove to Oklahoma City Wednesday to pick up Jen and then head to Kentucky. Here's some bits and pieces from our five day Thanksgiving trip.

Thursday 6:00 am - Headed out of Oklahoma City. Made it to Jena's in good timing last night. However, the night was a different story. Do you know that girl receives text messages in the middle of the night? And she doesn't hear a thing, so it just keeps beeping and beeping. If it weren't for the fact that I would have had to crawl over her to punch her phone, I would have done it. I should have; she probably would have slept through it anyway.

Just passed a sign that said "Free Restrooms at Next Exit". Does that mean they charge for some of them? Must be an Oklahoma thing. ;)

8:30 am - Woke up to Dad saying, "This gps is going crazy. Are you sure it's right?" Looks fine to me and it's right, even though it says we're on that highway when we're really on this one. It's right. Really. Ignore what highway it's listing; just follow where it says to go. (Little did I know that this would come back to haunt me on the way home!)

10:30 am - Time to leave my cherished passenger side front seat and take my turn at driving. Jena's crawled back into her little cubbie hole of blankets and pillows in the backseat, "her area".

1:30 pm - Dad's back in the driver's seat. He's still not trusting my gps, pulling out the printed maps and trying to look at them while driving. I'm not the only one who multi-tasks while driving. Comparing the printed map to my gps....hmmmmm.....

2:30 pm - St. Louis. The arch. Seems like we've been through this city so many times within the last five years!

8:30 pm - Finally...Lexington...only 22 minutes. Getting close!

1:00 am - After Dad and Ryan left for the night, us girls piled on the couch and started catching up with each other and planning the weekend. Chatting, laughing (you know, the laughing so hard you can't breathe kind of laughing) and totally enjoying being together and then finally...heading to bed.

Friday 10:00 am - After breakfast at Krissa's apartment, we started some wedding planning, lists, etc. among other things. Then we headed to the church and several locations they are looking at for the ceremony/reception.

Caught snooping in the windows!! ;)

4:00 pm - Back at Krissa's apartment getting ready to go to Ryan's mom's house for dinner. Jena and Krissa were laughing up a storm in the other room and when Ryan and I went in, they both peeked out of the bathroom like this. I really have considered not claiming them as sisters at this point. It seems as though every time we went back to the apartment, they were brushing their teeth! ;)

Ummmm?!?!?!?!?!

6:00 pm - Southern Lights. If you are ever in Lexington during the Christmas season, you've got to see this. It's a drive-thru light show with so many light set-ups. Everything from Christmas scenes to nursery rhymes to Disney animated movies. As we were driving through, we had a blast trying to figure out what each one was. And then we got stuck on the twelve days of Christmas and could not figure out what the 12th one was, even through we spent much of the drive back home laughing, making up things and trying to figure it out.

Since this is Kentucky and horse country, one of the really cool ones was the horse starting at the finishing line and racing toward the finish line. All lit up with lights, creating the running motion. Very neat!



Saturday 9:00 am - Krissa, Jena, Emily (one of Krissa's friends from church) and I were ready to do some wedding dress shopping while Dad and Ryan went off and had their own plans for the day. Oh my! What a day spent laughing, trying on dresses, laughing, and laughing some more. It was hilarious, plus we'll remember that afternoon for years to come! Especially the swooshing up thing; sorry no details, but those involved will know exactly what I'm talking about!!! Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

5:00 pm - Met back up with Ryan and Dad, walked around downtown and went out to eat at the restaurant where Krissa's co-workers took her when she started work at Thoroughbred Times. Then we decided to go ice skating. Another fun and hilarious evening. I have a new appreciation for figure skaters; that ice is slick and takes concentration to stay up on it.

Yep, that's all four of us!

Dad was the appointed photographer and while he got a few pics, it was hard to get any decent ones. Ryan is an excellent ice skater and so he's been teaching Krissa and they are getting good at it; sorta kinda. Then on the way home, we were telling them they had to go ice skating every week and when we came back to Lexington, we expected to see a show, complete with little twirls and everything. Then Jena said, "Ryan and Krissa on Ice", to which we all started laughing. But you never know, they could be coming to an ice rink near you! ;)



9:30 pm - Dad and Ryan headed back to Ryan's house and someone found the pickles! Ahhh...yes...pickle party time!!! Ok, not Grandma's pickles, but Claussen pickles are a close second pick when Grandma's are unavailable. Needless to say the jar I brought was opened and eaten all in one day. All three of us sitting in front of computers, munching on pickles. Perfect end to the day!

Sunday - 6:00 am - Packed and ready to start the journey home. Since Dad started out driving, sounds like a very good time for Jena and I to take a long nap. Yep, sounds wonderful!

10:30 am - My turn to drive. How come the drive up always seems more exciting than the drive home? Hmmm...we did take a slight unplanned detour through St. Louis and saw more than just the arch this time through the city. Actually quite unexpectedly saw quite a bit of the city. Then got back on track to Oklahoma City. :)

(Note to self: always be sure to check the gps route to be sure it matches with my route! Never thought I would contradict that thing, but let me tell you...I sure did! The thing is that I know where I'm going, but I want it to tell me exactly where to go so I don't have to think about where I'm going as I'm driving. Make sense? Yeah, I know...you're thinking the same thing that Dad said when I told him that exact thing.)

4:30 pm - Jen's turn to drive and then I get to crawl back into "her area" with all the blankets, pillows and my computer. Ahhh...nice!

7:30 pm - Made great time today and arrived in Oklahoma City. Unloaded all of Jena's stuff, dropped her off at her apartment and then headed back out of town. Toward home.

11:15 pm - We're back in Kansas...just passed the border.

Monday - 12:30 am - After almost 19 hours of driving...home!

More pics are here!