Sunday Quiet and Planning

I rose around 6:45 and made coffee. The hotel room needed to be cleaned, and the coffee replenished; I prefer that my hotel rooms be cleaned and restocked with towels, coffee, and other supplies daily. It would be cleaned later in the morning. I started on the blog and would finish it around 8. Breakfast is offered in the lobby until 10, and Deborah would join me there towards the end, and then we would spend the morning together.

We were hungry around noon, and Deborah thought the Red Ox outside would be a good choice. She finds the sports bar too noisy, but the porch is lovely, and the food is a step above the usual sports bar fare. We had salads and water. I try a Malbec from Argentina, but it seems a bit flat. Deborah sticks to soft drinks.

A cardinal, a red bird, lands in the area, and it looks like summer is still going strong. A yellow jacket reminds us that we are outside, but only one appears, and it can be easily waved away. We chat with a manager, and Deborah’s birthday, on 19 October, is available, with a cost of $12 per person for pizza and soft drinks, which seems fair. Deborah will check with a few folks, but it looks like we have a site for the Party now, the Red Ox patio (they have heaters).

We did have Sanders’ bumpy cake with ice cream for dessert.

Before this, Deborah and I had arranged a two-day stay in October at a romantic hotel in Saugatuck, Michigan, with an all-day wine tour. Initially, we found that everything was already booked. The vineyards and hotel combinations were all booked already. I then tried to book everything back-to-back, and that worked. I discovered that the Saugatuck Inn had a nice room available, and then I booked a tour with pick-up at the hotel.

We will then travel to East Lansing for her son’s play and spend the night at The Graduate Hotel, an old favorite, before returning to the Greater Detroit Area to celebrate her actual birthday at The Red Ox. I created a TripIt trip to hold all the details. I can see from the TripIt representation that I have all the days correct (no missed days for hotels or events scheduled in the wrong week). I managed to overbook one hotel, but it was not clear until TripIt showed the conflict.

We spent a few hours at Deborah’s house petting the dogs, Trixie and Zelda, and then headed out to have dinner with a friend. It was a ninety-minute drive each way, but we enjoyed just chatting, and the 75 and other highways were comfortable in Deborah’s hot Mini Cooper. The Mini was recently updated with new shocks and brakes, making it more comfortable.

Next, we watched This is Spinal Tap, which I had never seen. It is funny, but strange to me.

I returned to my hotel. I was starting to get sleepy. There, I ordered the Divine Right board game extension on Kickstarter. The board game dates back to the 1970s and was sold concurrently with the original versions of Dungeons & Dragons by TSR, the company that published the game until the 1980s. It is a guilty pleasure.

And with that, I soon was in bed reading more of the book, How Ireland Saved Western Civilization. I would say the chapters on Irish thinking are less interesting, but I would still recommend the book. I stopped as I reached the last chapter.

I was able to sleep until 6 this night. I am changing to the time zone with only a day left of my stay. Oh my.

Thanks for reading!