Archive through July 21, 2003
MoveCloseDeleteAdmin

TV ClubHouse: archive: 2003 June - July: Road Trips (ARCHIVE): Archive through July 21, 2003

Tess

Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 11:16 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Love you back, RG.

Whooohoooo!!! An official Owl countdown. I love it!! You'll be up on the news Owl. I'm already planning what to pack. :)

I can't believe that in one week I'll already be in Nebraska and will have met the whole Worm family earlier in the day. Can't wait. And after about 5,000 miles (give or take) and 18 days we'll be back home and summer will be nearly over. Ack!!

Now I'm really going to bed.

Pamy

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 08:42 am EditMoveDeleteIP
That is so great! You all sound like it was blast!!!

Zachsmom

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 08:43 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I woke up this morning with kisses from Zachary..before that I heard him whisper "I love you Mommy and you love me...that's why you came back" broke my heart in a thousand pieces.

I still miss everyone and it's kinda weird not seeing everyones face and saying good-morning and how are you doing today. I miss the sound of the lake. I miss RG. I miss the laughter. It was a wonderful time.

Tess..Zachary loves his T-shirt & book. He told me thank you thank you thank you. I told him he needed to thank Tess. He went looking in my bag and when I asked him why he said he was looking for a Tess..lol.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful time..through laughter and tears..y'all are a bunch of very special people.

I'm still wondering what happened to that third button on Catch Phrase

Squaredsc

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 10:30 am EditMoveDeleteIP
hi 'mom <waving>. glad everyone had a blast.

Karuuna

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 02:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
well, now that I'm a bit rested, I thought I'd jot down a few more notes about the trip...

Even tho I was only there for two days, I had a blast! Thursday afternoon I couldn't do much more than lie on the beach (oh darn! ). Thursday evening we had a wonderful Italian meal, angel hair pasta, 3 cheese ravioli, vegetable lasagne, salad and garlic bread. The Italian sauce courtesy of Zmom was absolutely delicious. For dessert there was cheesecake and some other Italian dessert I'm not even going to try to spell, tho Spy says it means "stand me up". It was also to die for. And of course, there was wine to accompany both dinner and dessert, generously provided by Lance.

Evening we played Catch Phrase, although it took some of us a while to figure out the rules and the buttons (Zmom, there really were only two the night I played!) It was silly, non-competitive, (well, mostly ) fun. And afterwards we sat around a campfire (no, we didn't sing Kum ba yah), and shared silliness and stories till the wee hours.

Friday there was more beach and boat time, and the second round of the bridge jumping event (pics to follow). It definitively answered what really happens when you tell a TVCH Moderator to jump off a bridge....

We went out for a delicious dinner (even in just the two days I was there, I could tell great food was a central theme of the week), served to perfection by RG's daughter. She's just as beautiful and caring as her wonderful mom. Then back to RG's to watch BB and hoot and jeer at the HGS together. We finished up the evening with more delicious desserts, and then Tess, Zmom, Spy and I eventually had a bit of a girls' night out - it's been a long time since I've laughed as hard as we did that night!

Saturday morning it was really tough to say goodbye. It felt like I just got there. Oh yeah, I did! :)

There's too much to say to tell it all, the thoughtful gifts from chocolate to Mary Kay to fruits and wines, the wonderful camaraderie, the shared one on one moments, the laughter, the excellent hosting by RG (two years in a row!) trying new things, and in general meeting both old and new friends who are just plain fantastic folks.

Bring on next year!!

(And stay tuned for the bridge jumping pics)

Bookworm

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 03:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Thought I would take a moment to contribute to this thread. We did not take a road trip, but were so happy that Spy and Glenn could use our house as a stopping point on their return trip.

Well, as you can imagine we are running on Colby's schedule around here (funny how a 10 day old can take over the house...). So we were a bit late meeting up with Spy and Glenn. Thank goodness they were still on a loose 'vacation' schedule as well.

Anyway, we met up with them at our local casino where they were enjoying cocktails and appetizers in the steakhouse. I recognized Spy immediately, even though I had only seen a couple of pictures of her before. What a beautiful person she is! Glenn is quite the gentleman (treated us to dinner). They had already made friends with our waitress, so of course we had excellent service.

Over dinner, we dished about the Clubhouse, our friends from here, and their trip to the resort. We shared a lot of great stories. Boy, we hope to get to Minnesota during one of these trips. It seems that everyone always has such fun!

Nightcrawler and I made a brief appearance at his class reunion following dinner, while Spy and Glenn checked out the Roulette wheel. Then we came home. Both boys were sleeping, so we visited some more and checked in here and in chat.

We were all tired so the evening ended around midnight, wish we could have visited more. Somehow both Spy and Glenn slept through the night without hearing Colby cry. I was glad that we didn't disturb them, they had a long trip ahead of them today.

We were up around eight this morning. You can imagine Wiggle's surprise to see these people in his house, when he woke up. And when it was time for them to leave, he had just started to warm up to them. Spy held Colby and he was quite content with that.

We did take the most important butt shot (I even found out that my camera has a timer) before the two of them were back on the road. Oh, and Spy has intentions on meeting several more members of the board. It seems there is a contest of sorts to see who can meet the most members. I think between Spy, Marm, and Tess, they will have met most of the board members by the end of the year.

In the next two weeks two more TVCH families will be in the southern Iowa area. We are excited to be able to meet Tess, Charlie, and Sarah next Saturday as they leave on their westward trek. And the following Saturday, the Duckies will be making a second trip to Iowa this year. We will be enjoying the hot air balloon races with them. I'm so excited that so many of our friends are passing through this way, as we cannot travel far with our young-ens. Hope you all will keep us in mind if you will be in the area. We are just a few miles from I-35 in southern Iowa, but are willing to make a short trip to meet up with folks in this neck of the woods.

(Butt-shot to follow.)

Bookworm

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 03:31 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Ack! Butt shot will follow shortly.

Bookworm

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 03:36 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
test

Bookworm, Wiggleworm, Nightcrawler, Inchworm, Spygirl, Glenn

Tess

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 03:54 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Great photo! I knew ya'll would have fun with those two, Bookie.

I'm going to have to sit down and count up how many people I've met so far. I've completely lost count but Spy will bypass me for certain later this year. She's got more roadtrips coming up than I do. I'm only on schedule to meet 5 more members with assorted family in the next month but they are people I've wanted to meet for at least 2 years. Can't even imagine how we'll be ready to get on the road for 3 weeks in just 6 days. ack!

In the meantime, I've got to say a huge thank you to Spy for encouraging me to try things I never would have dreamt I could do and then assisting me (jet skiing being my favorite - it gives such a feeling of freedom). This whole week surpassed all expectations.

Bookworm

Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 04:17 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yay for Tess and Spy! I'm so glad you all had so much fun!

Schoolmarm

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 09:39 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Well, shoot,I am not meeting ANY tvchers here in Munich!! (Just really cute German men who run the archives!)

Anyone going to be in Rochester NY the 30th to Aug 2? I will be there, but will be taking and all day and night class.

Glad to hear that everyone had a great time at the resort.

I am going to another Opera tonight Orff´s Die Kluge, but it´s a short one, and I have a seat for it. I think that I´m standing for the rest of them this week.

Hugs all around!
Marm
Auf Wiedersehen!

Lancecrossfire

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 03:12 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I’ll throw in my perspective of the week at RG’s. For the entire week, there was Glenn, Spy, myself, ZMom and RG. For part of the week was Kar (she was there the last 2 days), Tess, (she took time out in the middle to get Kar and visit home) and Firebird and her hubby. They were there till Wednesday.

New to the mix this year were ZMom and Birdie w/hubby. In talking to ZMom before the trip, I was certain she was thinking it was gong to be a fantastic week and lots of fun for herself. I hadn’t talked to Birdie at all, so wasn’t sure what she thought going into it—and didn’t know at all what her hubby thought about this whole thing. One of the highlights for me this year was getting to see how much fun and how god of time both Birdie and her hubby had—so much so they did everything they could to see if it was possible to stay the whole week. Unfortunately for them and the rest of us, it just didn’t pan out so they could. But having them show such enjoyment and being able to blend in with everyone was great for me—and further shows what is possible from people from all walks of like. And that murderers (ax and otherwise) can have fun together. Ok, so we aren’t a group of murderers as far as anyone knows.

Birdie and Birdie’s hubby—if you are out there—thanks so much for being there and adding so much to the enjoyment that I and everyone else had. I look forward to you both being there the entire week next year!

ZMom was the other new cast member. As I mentioned, she was figuring it was going to be great fun—and I think she went away feeling that’s exactly what happened. Well, at least as best as I can tell. She was making plans for what she was going to be bringing next year for supplies, so it sure seemed like she enjoyed herself. I think getting away from her normal routine for a few days was also something she was appreciating as well.

I’d like to point out that some folks can get very creative and resourceful—not just anything will do for a dancing surface when the floor isn’t considered acceptable. But you will need to ask ZMom and RG about that—their creativity is well above my level.

It seems like the most often participation activity was the Jet Ski. A big thanks to Glenn for providing that for the week. I’m not too sure who didn’t get on it—I think only Birdie wasn’t on the Jet Ski. Most others took a number of rides on it as either the driver or a passenger. I have to say that Spy and Tess made quite a team out the on the lake. Tess was having a wonderful time out on the lake being driven around by Spy. Now her biggest challenge may well be trying to explain to a certain little girl why they won’t be getting one next week. Hehe

There was lots of really good food—a number of folks had a hand in making sure that happened. Being a huge fan of avocados, I appreciated Birdie’s expertise at creating some awesome guacamole. For those of you who like mushrooms, you might want to see of Birdie’s hubby will post his recipe for what can be done with mushrooms.

RG and her hubby were wonderful hosts—actually they both spent a lot of time with the rest of us. I think RG’s hubby sees us as being ok folks by now—haha. Actually he adds a lot to the fun. He may not be as talkative as RG, however he is a very nice guy who can enjoy a good joke, a good life story, a good beverage and good food with the best of him. It’s easy to see why RG is so impressed with him.

You know, if you throw out the good food, the beverages, the water activities and all the long talks, it was just another vacation. No special recipe for fun is what I’m trying to say. It was just a group of us relaxing, enjoying each other’s company, having some really good food, some good beverages (not all were alcohol based—haha) and watching BB together and sharing stories, thoughts, feelings and cooking and dishing duties.

It was great getting reacquainted with those who had been there before, and it was wonderful getting to know those who were there for the first time. I’d like to thank Glenn for proving a week of the Jet Ski—for me it was a first for that activity. More importantly, it was an activity just about everyone really got into and had fun with—including RGson. And it was great getting to see the smile on Spy’s face for being able to get Tess to go, and the smile on Tess’ face flying across the lake at 50 mph. A big thanks to RG and hubby for the use of the boat for the water skiing, boat rides, and trips to the bridge for jumping into the lake (yes, I’ve been told to go jump in a lake before, so figured I should do it). Tess, thanks for the chocolate—it never fails to hit the spot.

For anyone thinking of doing this trip next year, it’s one of those things that is hard to convey what it feels like being a part of with just words. Words alone just can’t do it justice.

Whit4you

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 03:44 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Sounds like you have had a great time on this road trip - sure hope I can go one of these years :)

I'm dying to know what Sage means by being treated like a princess ... missing out on that story.

Bigd

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 04:14 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I have been watching this thread with great interest since I had originally planned to go on this trip. Could someone please tell me who is "Glenn"??

Heyltslori

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 04:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Bigd, If you scroll up and look at Bookworm's nice buttshot photo, Glenn is the handsome man on the far right. :)

Bookworm

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 04:43 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Glenn does post here, not as often as he used to. He is a great guy! Seems to enjoy hanging out in the shadows of the board lately. You might see him posting in Adven's folder occasionally. I have a feeling that like me, he lurks more than he posts these days. However, if you ever get a chance to meet him, take advantage of it. You'll never meet an easier guy to talk to.

Lance, you have got to pass through Iowa sometime. The Worm family is dying to meet you. What Lance did not say in his post (that we heard through the grapevine) is that he provided much of the food and beverage for the week at the resort and that he has great taste.

<Still waiting for some pictures...>

Juju2bigdog

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 05:33 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Did Glenn bring the jetski with him? Or rent it there?

Thanks for the big posts, Karuuna, Bookie, and Lance.

I heard Bob and I were also along on this vacation and am anxiously waiting for proof.

Squaredsc

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 05:40 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
ive seen some of glenn's posts and im still wondering who the hell he is. but i guess he is the man with the jet ski?

Rabbit

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 06:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Glenn is an old friend. Did I mention old? Anyway, he is an international man of mystery when he is not undercover as a semi-pro jetski racer. I did mention old didn't I?

Tess

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 06:54 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Uhhhhhhh, there's one picture of Bob that I cannot share but it's proof positive that he had the time of his life! The Juju/Bob butt shot and the photos of you two in charge of the boat still need to be developed.

Here's one of you in my cabin though. You were waiting to go out on the lake. Y'all did know we were all sharing a cabin, right?

juju and bob on vacation

Tess

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 06:58 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
To answer Juju's other question, Glenn rented the jetski there. We had it until Thursday night and I still think it's the most fun I've ever had. I could thank Spy every day for the rest of my life for taking me riding and it still wouldn't be enough.

Glenn

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 07:09 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Squaredsc, I have seen all of my posts and I continue to wonder who the hell I am.

This kind of brings up a point that some people may not consider. You can be the best known member of TVCH or you can be the least known and still attend one of these gatherings and have a great time. An example of this is Firebird's husband and Resortgirl's husband. They are not members of TVCH and yet they were both as big a part of this week as anyone else. Spygirl mentioned to me that the week was like adult summer camp in that you have a lot of strangers coming together and after a week it is hard to say goodbye because you have formed some strong relationships. I have to agree because it was hard to say goodbye to a whole lot of folks and today has been really strange for me because I found myself many times having a thought then turning and looking over my shoulder for someone who I then realize is thousands of miles away.

Juju, I rented the jetski in a town close to where the resort is. What hasn't been made clear is that Resortgirl and Zachsmom put money in to help with the cost of the rental. What I learned from this week is that next year I will buy one and bring it because everyone had so much fun with it. I am telling you, Tess was squealing like a young girl while she was on that jetski, it was a priceless moment.

I wished I had the ability to communicate how special this week was. I think the few people that attended last years event are capable of grasping what everyone has tried to share and can understand only because they have lived it. I think you will get out of it only what you are willing to put in and this past week was extraordinary because so many were giving so much of themselves. I will go again.

Glenn (an old poster formerly known as merlin)

Karuuna

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 07:46 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
It really was a great time, and Glenn & Spy are right, it is very much like a summer camp experience where you bond very closely and then have difficulty saying goodbye at the end of the week. Of course, it helps to have a great group of folks like this bunch is.

Now, on to the bridge jumping event. I missed round one, but participated, uh, willingly, in round two. I understand Spy participated in Round one. RG also jumped in Round Two, however, I haven't included her pix here since I wanted to get permission from her before doing so.

So what does really happen when you tell a moderator or TVCH poster to jump off a bridge? They do...

First, they find a suitable bridge and trudge on up to the top...

bridge1

Glenn

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 07:48 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
My mom taught me that just because everyone else jumps off a bridge that I didn't have to. I am such an obedient son.

Karuuna

Monday, July 21, 2003 - 07:48 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Then they climb out on a buttress and thoroughly assess the distance and likelihood of serious injury... (that's Lancecrossfire assessing, along with a little help from two unknown but apparently equally adventurous teens)

bridge3