February 25–26, 2017
Posted here March 29, 2022
An account of our visit to Joe, Elizabeth, and Asha in Winona, Minnesota. Taken from our Family Journal, with minimal editing.
Up 9 am. ~ Little Debbie Maple Buns (new) for breakfast, with Nesquik Kharlie M lattes. ~ I shoveled snow (0.7″) and cleared the van, then soon began packing for the Minnesota trip.
We left the house around 12:15 pm and stopped for lunch at Taco John’s on the way out of town (12:36). ~ Drove straight through to Super 8 motel in Winona, MN, arriving at 4:15 pm. Hung out there for a bit; unloaded the van.
After that, we went to Ulbrech’s house, where Joe and Elizabeth are still living, around 5:20 pm. ~ We hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so eventually Joe ordered Jimmy John’s subs online. I rode with him to pick them up. Wendi got her usual, the Ultimate Porker (#17); I got an Italian sub (#9) on wheat bread. Joe and Elizabeth got subs of their own. I think we ate sometime around 8 pm.
Back at the house, we enjoyed the subs; Joe had made fresh Caribou coffee (from whole bean, freshly ground), and Wendi and I had some of it.
We watched two movies via VUDU (video storage service in the cloud): Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2. Both were about competitive a cappella singing with college groups. The first movie was good; the second was great!
Wendi was still hungry when we left the house shortly before midnight, so I stopped at the Kwik Trip near the motel; she picked out two sausage, egg, and cheese croissants and a Smart Water (12:05 am). I wasn’t really hungry but didn’t have sense enough to say no. (I paid for this dearly early Sunday morning!) We also each ate a Little Debbie PB Round (sort of a sandwich cookie).
I (Charlie) had a terrible acid reflux episode around 6:50 am. Sleeping on a firm, flat bed, I had somehow rolled onto my stomach overnight. I woke up feeling like I was starting to vomit, but it was actually stomach acid shooting up into my throat. I went into the bathroom and coughed until I felt like my head was exploding. Finally it settled down, but I didn’t go back to sleep. Around 8:30 (when we had planned to get up) I woke up Wendi and got ready for the day. ~ We ate the continental breakfast in the lobby; they had a big waffle maker, so we had waffles. I drank coffee and shared a little of Wendi’s apple juice; this all went pretty well. ~ After that, we packed up, and I took everything out to the van. I turned in the room keys to check out around 10:45.
Elizabeth had texted me earlier (8:42) to say that she and Asha were up and wondering when we would be over. I had to tell her what had happened and that we were moving slowly. ~ Wendi and I went to the house, but by now Elizabeth was napping. We visited for a few hours until Elizabeth got up and then had lunch.
Joe and Elizabeth had planned to take us to a toy place (I’m not exactly sure what it was), but it was already getting late, and I was not feeling well, so we took a rain check on that.
Everyone agreed on Chinese food. Joe checked a few places online and decided to try the deli at the Hy-Vee food store. I rode along with him. Wendi got sesame chicken; I got chicken with broccoli. Joe and Elizabeth also got meals. In addition, Wendi had asked for egg drop soup, and Elizabeth wanted extra crab rangoon, so he got plenty.
The meal didn’t go well for me; I think my “taster” was “off” due to the throat irritation. Teresa (and Joe) had been very kind to me; Teresa had given me Mucinex (which helped somewhat) and Joe gave me an allergy pill that was different from the Benadryl that we use. But today, the broccoli tasted more like asparagus, and the chicken was dry and off-tasting. The fried rice was so dry and dull that I could eat only a little of it. ~ Wendi ate about half of her meal. Joe put the leftovers in the fridge until we left to go home. ~ We did get fortune cookies though: one said, “You will travel to many exotic places,” and the other said, “Now is the time to try something new.” (I wrote this part on March 18, so I’m not sure which of us got which message.)
Wendi held Asha quite a bit during our visit; I held her briefly a couple of times on Sunday but managed to get one nice picture on my phone. She is a big girl for just over a year old… tall and solid. She has a cute smile and coos like one would expect; she is adorable!
@wendioh and I got to see our lovely granddaughter
Asha this past weekend. #growinggirl #granddaughter
(Posted via Instagram, 1:34 pm on Monday)
We left the house at 5:20 pm and stopped at the Kwik Trip for gas on the way out (5:32; I also got Wendi a Smart Water). Finally made it to Janesville and ate dinner at Arby’s (9:07). Wendi had a cheesesteak sandwich; I had a gyro… curly fries for both. ~ Then home, arriving at 10:00.