Well… vacation is over. It was wonderful, although not nearly long enough.
Friday, afternoon, Jules and I went out to my mom and dad’s house for the weekend. We were both really excited. I don’t get to see my family nearly enough, and there is nothing more relaxing than spending a weekend out there. This trip didn’t disappoint.
On Friday, I ran my dad out to get his vehicle at his place of work. He retired from a major automotive corporation this year, and has been working for a guy he knows for a while now. (My dad is one of those guys who can’t stand to sit around, and will probably work until the day he dies.) He showed me his shop, and I was amazed. He and my brothers fix tractor trailers that have been wrecked or damaged. Dad is one of the world’s top welders (really), and when he started describing all of the stuff he did to these monstrosities, my eyes kinda glazed over. If you rolled up a wrecked tractor trailer and told me to fix it, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Dad, however, was able to make them look like new again. It was unreal.
Jules and I also brought our bikes out there, and on Saturday morning, we went for a ride at the local state park. (“We” consisted of me, Jules, and my brothers Matt and Jake.) It didn’t take me long to figure out that I was in much better shape than I’d led myself to believe. No more than five minutes into the ride, Matt had stopped and was sitting on the side of the road, huffing and puffing like a freight train. He gradually slid further and further down, until he was lying on his back in the ditch.
I thought it was great. Matt likes to give people shit a lot, so when I have an opportunity to reciprocate, I’m always certain to take full advantage. After all, that’s what older siblings are for, right?
I leaned over him with a blatant lack of mercy and grinned from ear-to-ear. “How ya doin?” I asked. I received moans, and something incomprehensible in response. This was followed by, “Unnnh… I’m gonna throw up.”
He didn’t throw up, although I was certain he was going to have poison ivy in places he didn’t know he had. Finally we moved on, and I stopped every so often to make sure that I could still see him behind us. Matt later declared that bike riding was not a pastime he intended to take up. He was found lying in the ditch on two more occasions. On the third, Jake and I walked back down the massive hill we’d just ascended. As we neared the bottom, I saw a tire sticking up out of the grass to the right of the trail. As we approached, I saw Matt had lay down on top of his bike and was moaning again. Showing the utmost sympathy, I picked up a large stick and poked at him with it.
“Do you think it’s alive?” I asked Jake.
“I don’t know,” he responded.
“This certainly doesn’t appear to be its natural habitat,” I went on. “I wonder how it got this far. You’d normally see a specimen like this in a darkened bedroom surrounded by video games and computer hacking ezines.” Jake agreed, and took a few pictures on his cell phone for good measure.
Finally, we made it back to the starting point, where my dad and other brother, Josh, were waiting for us. Josh had decided to purchase a bike in our absence. Matt drove home in the Durango, and Josh and my dad joined us on another attempted ride.
We did much better this time. We made it all the way around the trail. We rode about 15 miles over the course of the day. It was a lot of fun, although we were worn out and starving by the time we got back home. Luckily, mom had fixed a huge dinner for all of us.
The remainder of the time spent at home consisted of talking, eating, discussing wedding stuff, and playing board games. We all played a lot of board games while we were there. Scattergories, Taboo, Last Word, Boggle, Apples to Apples, and Smart Ass, to name a few. It was a good time.
It always sucks when we have to leave. The weekends never seem long enough. It certainly provided some much needed relaxation, though. Hopefully, we’ll get to go back soon.
Hope you all had a great weekend as well!





























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