Spontaneity for 400, Alex
Shelton and I left Wichita Friday evening to spend the weekend in Lawrence, KS (home of KU, but certainly nothing to do with our being there). This, like every other minute of our lives, has been calculated, planned and discussed at length. I mean, why would two logical people do anything out of the blue? Absurd I say!
We were spending the weekend with my cousin, Wade, and his wife, Jeni. We made it to there place about 9 and conversation began flowing, thanks in part to the white wine. I, as usual, got a little chatty, but all-in-all I think we were enjoying ourselves.
The next morning Jeni had to work, unfortunately, and Wade kept us pretty entertained. We went to the famous Mass Street in Lawrence, which is apparently the 1 mile by 1 block area with ANYTHING to do in that town. We wandered around the farmer's market and then enjoyed a little breakfast at Einstein Bagle's. We then went home to watch a little Sweden/Trinidad World Cup action, and Googled every conceivable question about the sport of soccer/football... whatever. Very educational. For instance, "The World Cup is a quadrennial event.
That afternoon Jeni and Wade had a family emergency to tend to in Wichita, so we packed up to leave. Pulling out of the drive we decided 4pm on a Saturday was too early to head home. So having never done so before, we pointed the Xterra toward KC.
What was supposed to be an easy 45 minutes to 1 hour drive to Kansas City's famous Country Club Plaza, turned in to 2 hours of madness. Completly, lost, not equipped with a map, no hotel reservations... this is why I use a calendar... always!!
Once we made it to The Plaza, we found a neighborhood nearby and started driving up and down the streets looking for an open wifi connection. We finally found one, logged on, found a hotel, booked a room and then got directions to the hotel.
Within an hour we were showered, dressed and ready for an evening on The Plaza. We had dinner at a fabulous seafood restaurant, which turned out to be pretty disappointing. I've never been served that much food, at that price, and left hungry. But, that is life. So to make up for it, we walked over to Cheesecake Factory and ordered a fat piece of original w/ raspberries. HEAVEN ON EARTH PEOPLE!!
We spent the rest of the evening cuddled up in bed, watching a movie and enjoying the rareness of the moment. The next morning we slept in and made the drive back to Wichita.
While we spend most weekends out of town, it's always to see someone. And for those of you we visit, don't take it personally, but it was so nice to spend time just the two of us. It has truly been A LONG TIME since we've done something like that.
Could we afford it? Not at all. Are there other important things we should have spent the money on, and have we asked that 100 times since we left? Absolutely. But would I have traded that 24 hours for anything else? Not a chance.
One other note- we're still new to this digital camera thing, and I gave up carrying my 35mm a long time ago. As such, we totally forgot to take it with us and missed MANY photo opps. Just close your eyes and picture the two of us in front of the fountain, the impromptu Mexican Fiesta parade in Lawrence and wrestling the broken hotel toilet all night.
We were spending the weekend with my cousin, Wade, and his wife, Jeni. We made it to there place about 9 and conversation began flowing, thanks in part to the white wine. I, as usual, got a little chatty, but all-in-all I think we were enjoying ourselves.
The next morning Jeni had to work, unfortunately, and Wade kept us pretty entertained. We went to the famous Mass Street in Lawrence, which is apparently the 1 mile by 1 block area with ANYTHING to do in that town. We wandered around the farmer's market and then enjoyed a little breakfast at Einstein Bagle's. We then went home to watch a little Sweden/Trinidad World Cup action, and Googled every conceivable question about the sport of soccer/football... whatever. Very educational. For instance, "The World Cup is a quadrennial event.
That afternoon Jeni and Wade had a family emergency to tend to in Wichita, so we packed up to leave. Pulling out of the drive we decided 4pm on a Saturday was too early to head home. So having never done so before, we pointed the Xterra toward KC.
What was supposed to be an easy 45 minutes to 1 hour drive to Kansas City's famous Country Club Plaza, turned in to 2 hours of madness. Completly, lost, not equipped with a map, no hotel reservations... this is why I use a calendar... always!!
Once we made it to The Plaza, we found a neighborhood nearby and started driving up and down the streets looking for an open wifi connection. We finally found one, logged on, found a hotel, booked a room and then got directions to the hotel.
Within an hour we were showered, dressed and ready for an evening on The Plaza. We had dinner at a fabulous seafood restaurant, which turned out to be pretty disappointing. I've never been served that much food, at that price, and left hungry. But, that is life. So to make up for it, we walked over to Cheesecake Factory and ordered a fat piece of original w/ raspberries. HEAVEN ON EARTH PEOPLE!!
We spent the rest of the evening cuddled up in bed, watching a movie and enjoying the rareness of the moment. The next morning we slept in and made the drive back to Wichita.
While we spend most weekends out of town, it's always to see someone. And for those of you we visit, don't take it personally, but it was so nice to spend time just the two of us. It has truly been A LONG TIME since we've done something like that.
Could we afford it? Not at all. Are there other important things we should have spent the money on, and have we asked that 100 times since we left? Absolutely. But would I have traded that 24 hours for anything else? Not a chance.
One other note- we're still new to this digital camera thing, and I gave up carrying my 35mm a long time ago. As such, we totally forgot to take it with us and missed MANY photo opps. Just close your eyes and picture the two of us in front of the fountain, the impromptu Mexican Fiesta parade in Lawrence and wrestling the broken hotel toilet all night.
