Everything Ashland

gatti01
Originally uploaded by blountman.

Our whirlwind trip to Ashland, KY, would not be complete without this overview, so as promised earlier on this site, here it goes...

We left Vero Beach at Midnight Christmas Day, arriving in Ashland at 2:20 PM Christmas Afternoon. Elliott had the most interesting part of the drive, as all the idiots in the Charlotte, NC, area managed to get out on I-77 in front of him. He also had the pleasure of driving into one of the worst fog banks I've seen in recent memory as we crossed the Virginia border and started the climb into the mountains. A caravan of three cars thought it would be a good idea to drive in the middle lane on I-77 at 10-15 mph. We cam swooping down upon them driving at 35 mph, causing me to need to change my pants, if you know what I mean.

Upon arrival in Ashland, Peggy's Parents wanted to take us to the Ponderosa Steak House for Christmas Dinner. Exhausted from the drive, and more than a little giddy, we went. While standing in the line of about 50 people, we observed the most perfect she-mullet! It was all we could do to keep from rolling around on the floor laughing! We also saw a lumberjack and his "Babe" (she was even wearing blue)! Oh man, it was a good time while eating the Christmas Buffet.

Of course there was plenty of gas-passing at Nanny & Papaw's house, so that wouldn't really be a highlight, but rather a way of life. We gave Terri & Alvin the great Christmas Classic CD Christmas In the Air which set the proper festive mood throughout the week. We played at least one song from the CD for everyone who came by the house that week...that includes Whitney, Chris & Cheryl, Jim & Debbie, and the Amerines & Sahib. Good times for sure.
I have already documented the playground trip, the Texas Roadhouse outing, our numerous visits with Gran, and the No Moes experience.

Ian, Emily and Elliott went to an Ashland Invitational Tournament basketball game on Tuesday night, because a couple of guys on the Ashland team played ball with Ian in elementary school. On Wednesday night, I took Ian and Emily back to the A-I-T for another game. We saw several folks from the community that we knew, so it was a cheap way to see lots of folks...no extra driving necessary1

Nanny got all five of the Grandkids in a portrait studio at the Wal-Mart in South Point, OH Wednesday morning, all sporting University of Kentucky T-shirts. While in the neihgborhood, we drove up to see Fred Kilver at the Mustard Seed Christian Bookstore. I have been trying to find some soundtracks from the CD of music inspiried by the Chronicles of Narnia to no avail. I knew that Fred could find them for me, and he did. They are on order, and I should have them within a couple of weeks. Fred still runs the BEST Christian Bookstore in America!

But, one of the major highlights of the trip had to be Thursday evening's jaunt to...Gatti-land! Hence the picture with this post. Oh Gatti-land is a pizza buffet and games galore paradise. It has been a tradition in our family since we started having kids, and Elliott was about to cry at the thought that it was our last day in town and we hadn't yet feasted on gatti-land pizza (and I'm pretty sure he wanted to play some games, too). As is the case for many of the events mentioned in this post, there are plenty of picutres chronicling our journey (alas no she-mullet pictures) on my FLICKR site.

We left Ashland at 11:00 PM Thursday, still full of pizza, and made it back to Vero Beach around 2:00 PM Friday afternoon. A most satisfying trip, but it is good to be back home!