Hello, Internet! Cole here. Last week, I went on Christmas vacation with my family. The vacation, like most major events, deserves to be recorded for posterity, so I will transcribe its events here. I hope you will enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it.
Day 1: Travel
Most vacations begin with travel – after all, one can’t scale the Eiffel Tower without first flying to France – and this vacation was no exception. On Wednesday, the 20th of December, we crowded into our brown van with our belongings and set off. Our destination, Chicago, was about fourteen hours away from us – fourteen long, uneventful hours on the highways of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, broken only by a few modest rest stops and a night’s stay in a hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. I staved off boredom by napping, staring out the window, playing my 3DS, and reading a library copy of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. (Tyler was mostly tolerable during the ride, if memory serves; in fact, he’s grown up quite a bit in general, and I commend him and my parents for his progress.)
After eight hours of driving, we reached the Kentucky hotel where we would spend the night. For dinner, we drove to a jazz-themed road and walked to a local TGI Fridays, where I semi-unintentionally ordered two meals (appetizers, supposedly, but when eaten by one person they’re basically the same thing), ate half of each, and silently kicked myself for burdening Dad’s wallet. Finally, we retired to our room, sleeping two to a bed – an unusual setup for me. I tried to get forty winks of sleep but only managed about twenty-one.
Day 2: Arrival
Louisville, as it turns out, almost directly neighbors the border between Kentucky and Indiana. We spent most of the morning driving through the latter state, then passed into Illinois; one or two hours later we pulled into the parking lot of the Chicago hotel where we would spend the next two days.
After unloading our essentials, we idled a bit; then we returned to the car. My grandparents live in Chicago, which is why we often travel there; now, we were going to pay them a visit. They were very happy to see us, and I was very happy to see them and eat their M&Ms. My pand—-arents did most of the talking; I made some contributions to the conversation, like mentioning my current classes, but ultimately Mom and Dad were a bigger part of my grandparents’ lives, so they had more to discuss. At 8:00 central, we said goodbye and returned to the hotel to sleep. I got 22 winks this time.
Day 3: Visiting a Friend
In the morning, I worked out in the hotel’s fitness room for about forty minutes – and came to regret it when I realized that I would have to change my clothes and shower afterward. My expected reserve of clothing for the hotel, needless to say, would not last our stay with my habit of exercise; we’d have to get some more. To that end, we drove to a local Kohl’s (enjoy your free advertising, friendos) and purchased more clothing FOR LOW LOW PRICES! (Maybe. I don’t know how much we spent on the clothes.)
Anyway. We bought our society suits, and then we visited our grandparents again. They were still quite happy to see us. As it turned out, they had made a puzzle based on some of my cousins; Mom, Grandma and I worked on it together and solved it moderately quickly.
When it got dark, my family departed for Nick’s Pizza (enjoy more free advertising, moi druz’ya), an unusual lodge-themed restaurant that provided complementary peanuts and allowed customers to drop the shells on the floor after eating them. Here, we met Uncle P – not actually a blood relation, but Dad’s close friend – and had a stimulating conversation about my current scholastic prospects and my plans for the future. After eating our food and saying goodbye to Uncle Pat, we returned to our room for the night. I got 27 winks.
For the sake of brevity, I’ll end this article here. The “Feast” I promised will come next article (sorry), so stay tuned. Thanks for reading, Internet, and I’ll be seeing ya’!
Cole is our young adult monthly contributor. He is an incredible asset to all of us. He is in the IT program in Henrico County, has Asperger’s and is also an animal whisperer.