Four hours after leaving
Perry GA, I was pulling into the parking lot of the ChattanoogaChoo-Choo. Joe, Elizabeth and Beth Ann were waiting, as I squeezed
into a parking space, and we grabbed all my things and made a hasty retreat
into Hotel 1. About 40 seconds after we walked in the door, the rain
came down in torrent. After catching up for a while and discussing
our options, we headed to the Libertycon convention headquarters where I went
through the registration process. We decided on a new restaurant for
dinner...one within walking distance of the hotel, Alleia. It was
quite good, with wood fired baking and terrific Italian food
choices.
Everyone was pretty
tired from the commute to Chattanooga, so we all turned in early with a plan to
head off base to breakfast at yet another untried restaurant called the
Bluegrass Grill. Everything was homemade, even the bread. Breakfast
was delightful and much more reasonable than the breakfast buffet offered at
the Choo-Choo. We were so impressed that we made reservations for
Sunday brunch.
Of course, we attended
the annual Baen Slide Show on Saturday and made our pilgrimage to the Dealer’s
Room to see if there were any items for sale that we just couldn’t live
without. Saturday’s dinner choice was Ichibana, a Japanese Steak
House. The food was excellent, and the entertainment was
great. I took a doggie bag of filet mignon, veggies and fried rice,
and threw Elizabeth’s filet in for good measure.
Everyone slept in on
Sunday, then we repacked our vehicles, checked out of the Choo-Choo, and headed
back to the Bluegrass Grill for our brunch reservation. As usual, a long
weekend with Joe, Elizabeth, Beth Ann and Pete seemed inadequate. We
made the most of brunch: ate, talked, laughed, and wished we could
do it again before another year passed. Then we once again parted
ways, knowing e-mail and facebook chat would have to suffice for the months to
come.
The drive North, then
East, then North again through Tennessee was arduous. Before I had
gone three exits up I75, the rain began to come down in sheets. Determined
to make Ohio before dark, I kept driving. I only had to actually
pull off the road twice, but lost precious driving time to those stops. The
rain let up as I neared the Kentucky state line. After that, I only
had to deal with two accidents and road construction. I managed to
stop for the night just before the evening twilight.
I was too tired to head
out for dinner, but I had a huge doggie back of filet mignon, veggies and fried
rice. I also had a bottle pomegranate zinfandel. I nuked
my prize, filled a plastic cup with ice and wine and savored a tasty dinner
compliments of Ichiban and Elizabeth. I ate what was left the next
morning for breakfast and once again headed North on 75/71.
Four hours later I
pulled into the parking lot of Bahama Breeze in Beachwood for a pre-arranged
lunch with my friend Monica. We hadn’t seen each other since before
Christmas, so we spent two hours eating coconut shrimp and swapping stories of
the previous 6 months. We parted with hugs, and I avoided rush hour
up 271 and 90 by taking Chagrin East to Som Center and skirting the freeway all
the way to Chardon. I was home by dinner time. But my
week’s excitement didn’t end with the trip.
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