More visitors!

Last week, my sister and several of her co-workers made the trek up to Louisville in a 15 passenger van. Can you believe they came here of all places for their "fun trip" together? Weird, but I feel like they all had a good time - for the most part - there were a few whiners along the way.

Monday:

They started their trek late Sunday evening and arrived in Louisville around 9am, tired and road-weary, but still ready for an afternoon of adventure in Louisville! After guiding them to a grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner and making a stop in at the Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen for several of them to indulge in a nutritious breakfast of pie, I led them to the Bryans' home where they would be bunking during their stay. The girls (there were only two of them, including my sister) got the pleasure of staying upstairs. One in a double bed, and the other in a twin bed, and they had a bathroom to themselves. All six of the boys were relegated to the basement and had one bathroom to share amongst themselves. After they had sufficient time to stow away their stuff and freshen up, we headed to the Louisville Slugger Museum. Everyone seemed to enjoy the tour and taking lots of fun pics together. All the guys and Kati, also took advantage of the batting cages.

After we'd had our fill of the museum, we needed to fill our bellies, so we headed across the river to Indiana for some river-side dining before going on a tour of Schimpff's Confectionary. Now I must confess, I had some fun leading Chris Carter, who was driving the 15 passenger van, in a few circles around downtown before finally deciding to take the group across the river for lunch. After a most amusing tour at the confectionary, Mrs. Schimpff was simply incredible and bestowed us with many wonderful treats to taste, we headed back to the Bryans' where I dropped the gang off to get settled (and nap). Later that evening, I went back to the Bryans' to assist my sister in making individual pizzas for the whole gang. We created the pizza crusts from scratch using Marcy Bryan's pizza dough recipe, and even put the sauce on the pizzas - only requiring each person to put their own toppings on the pizza. It seems quite simple enough, but we did have a few boys who still needed "help" figuring out how to put toppings on their pizza. A couple of them even made some lovely chauvanistic comments and almost lost their finished pizzas to the hungry trash can. In the end, after Wendy and I had finished making everyone's pizzas - the rest of the gang did eventually pull together to do the cleaning. After indulging in our glutonous pizza feast, we all headed downstairs to watch "Dan in Real Life." If you haven't seen it - you must - if only to understand the hilarity of this line, "You are a MURDERER of love!" Ahhh, one of the poignant moments of communication between Dan and one of his teenage daughters.

Tuesday:

After a lazy morning of sleeping in, everyone decided they wanted to check out Lynn's Paradise Cafe for lunch. At first view everyone was filled with wonder and excitement as they took in the crazy eclectic nature of Lynn's. Ooo's and Aahh's were heard as each person tried to figure out what they were going to order from the delicious menu. Several people were making deals with one another to share their food in order to get to taste the wide array of things offered at Lynn's. My sister and I made such an arrangement, as I ordered the sinful Bourbon Ball French Toast (really much more of a dessert than a meal, but whatever), and she ordered the Greek Scramble - see that way we both got to indulge in savory and sweet. And even if we couldn't finish it all you knew that no one's food would go to waste - one of the boys (or even Kati) would happily finish it off.




Once we'd all sufficiently stuffed ourselves, the next stop was Zappos on our way out to Kart Kountry. I found it quite amusing how excited all the boys were about going to Zappos. I feel as though their anticipation of shoe shopping was more heightened than any of the girls. Most everyone walked away with a purchase from Zappos, and thus we were off to Kart Kountry to experience the longest go-cart track in the world!




Each person was signed up for two laps around the 1.5 mile long track. Annoyingly enough, Chris Carter came from behind to beat everyone in his super fast "Wonder Woman" go-cart. As fun as the go-carts were, it made for a short adventure, so everyone went inside to play arcade games - well everyone played but me and my sister (we're not big video game players).




For dinner that evening, we all split up and went our separate ways near Kart Kountry. Several people were insistent on wanting to go to Waffle House (no thank you!), several others went down to Taco Bell, and my sister and I decided to bond at Fazoli's as being the lesser of all the evils. On the way back to the Bryans' the gang wanted to stop in for another piece of pie at the Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen. Back at the Bryans' several people played on the Wii upstairs while others played Halo in the basement. Those playing Halo downstairs got their rears sufficiently whooped by a 13 year old in another state.




Wednesday:

This day was dedicated to the Frazier Arms Museum. A couple of the guys were not quite able to enjoy the significance of the museum, but for the most part everyone else quite enjoyed their time there. Nearly every hour there was a re-enactment performed on a stage on the first floor. Most were entertaining, a couple were kind of creepy. We also got to watch and learn the process of putting on a suit of armor - quite interesting and laborious.




Afterwards, we had yet another late lunch (all our lunches were usually around 2 or 3pm) this time we went to Mark's Feedstore so they could experience Kentucky barbecue. They loved it! I've even received requests to ship them some of Mark's barbecue sauce. From there a couple of the guys, Kati, and my sister headed over to my apartment to install a light fixture for me. And my sister even helped me get a few more things hung on the walls. The guys were quite frustrated with my apartment's wiring and while in the end they did manage to get the light fixture hung, um, it doesn't turn off! There is a switch on the wall that should turn the light on and off, but apparently it doesn't work because it was in the off position and the light was on, and the only way we could turn it back off was to flip the switch on the breaker. Oh well, good try guys! I have since removed the bulbs, but the fixture still hangs there. I'll figure that out another day!




That evening they grilled hamburgers, and we headed over to the Sooters' home to play Rock Band in their basement. Everyone seemed to REALLY enjoy Rock Band, I even hear that one or two of them have since purchased it after arriving back in Texas.




The gang left early Thursday morning, making a stop in Memphis to tour Graceland before embarking on the long journey back to Texas.

The group was a lot of fun to hang out with, and I'm glad I got to meet all the engaging individuals that my sister works with day in and day out. Thanks to all of them for letting me tag along on their Louisville adventure!