Friday, August 9, 2013

My Week of Vacation...so far.

The past week I've been vacationing in the beautiful state of South Dakota! My family and I wanted to take one last big vacation before I leave for my mission, I have a grandpa who likely won't be here after my mission, solution? Pack up and get out to gramp's house for a week. And so, leaving late Saturday evening, we made the 20 hour drive out here. Fun fact about Lindsey, I was built for road tripping. I love it so much. If I could just pack up some old hippie VW van pimped out with a bed in the back and curtains on the windows I would drive for months. Down the coast line then right across the country! Because I like to pretend to be useful, here are my best road tripping tips!
1. SNACKS! I can't stress how many times a giant bag of pretzels has saved my life in a cramped car. Use common sense while mixing healthy and nonhealthy snacks. A good variety is best ;)
2. A good audio book will make hours of drive time go by really fast! 
3. Bring your own pillow. It's good for sleeping in the car. Plus I have a problem with using other people's pillows if I happen to bumming it on a family friend's couch for a night, other people's pillows are always too hard or too soft or too tall etc... just bring your own pillow.
4. I've said it before and I'll say it a thousand times, skirts and yoga pants. My two favorite travel outfits are a simple shirt with a knee length cotton skirt and yoga pants with a t shirt. Comfort and style (depending on the t shirts you go with...choose wisely.)
5. Buy new music before leaving. This will save you from the same old tunes you've been listening to day after day. Even just adding one or two new catchy dance songs will give you something exciting to turn on when the cross country trek seems like a never ending plain of dirt, grass, and the occasional cow.

Now, the whole reason we took this trip was to visit my grandpa, maybe for the last time, so I thought anyone reading this post should understand just a little bit about him. My Grandpa Steve is one the silliest, sweetest old men you could ever have the pleasure of meeting. To give you a taste of how fun he can be, this is how he greeted us as we arrived at his place a few days ago; we drove up, groggy from our endless hours in the car, and he comes limping down the lawn with his one crutch, a small LED light attached to his wrist, blinking rapidly. As we approach he exclaims, "I knew you had to be here, I was inside waiting and my 'pretty-girl alert' started going off!" gesturing to the light on his wrist. As an uncle and some cousins arrive after us, he turns the light on again and suddenly it's a "handsome-boy alert". As you might be able to tell, my grandpa is a huge flirt. Doesn't matter if you're his granddaughter, daughter in law, a waitress, or a neighbor, he'll flirt shamelessly. My grandpa is also a collector. An avid avid collector. One of his obsessions is old cars. Mostly old Mercedes. He actually gave me my current car, a '78 Benz 230. Among his collection are several Benz's of many years and a giant black Cadillac that I really wanted to take out for a joy ride but never got the chance. But my all time favorite car of his is a sky blue '67 Benz 230E.
It is seriously the cutest little old car you've ever seen. This one I did get the honor of taking out for a short drive and it was one of the most fun I've ever had driving a car! In real life I don't really enjoy driving, but I just had a blast driving this adorable little car that I would most definitely name Dixie if she was mine. Anyway... I'm getting off topic. My grandpa loves cars and could spend hours working on them, restoring them from broken down to beautifully working machines. 

My grandpa also has cancer. Like I said, it's likely he won't be here after my mission, but as we were leaving his house the last thing he said to me was that when I get back he'll take me on a real drive in the blue Mercedes. I had done so well not crying up until then.

Well now you know a little bit about my grandpa! He's the best! I love him!

Now... on a completely different note. As of today, only 47 days until I report to the MTC! I feel like the days are just flying by and I don't have any time to prepare. I've done a lot of shopping for clothes and stuff (any future missionaries out there or girls looking for cute modest clothes, I suggest Sorella Bella), but there's still so much I have to do. I'm so excited to leave though, I want the time to fly by and also drag on at the same time. One of the weirdest thoughts is that I have 47 days to hang out with my friends and family. That's it. I don't get to make weekend plans for after September 25th. I don't get to plan on going to the Catching Fire premiere, or see a big concert that's coming to town a few days after I leave. And yet what I'm leaving to do is so much better than going to see movies or concerts or parties, I get to go serve my church! And I'm beyond excited.

I hope this post has been some sort of entertaining! Feel free to email me or comment below! Also follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

No comments:

Post a Comment