The Study of A Trip to West Virgina, Part 3 of 7

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

Seeing as JJ had to figure out a way to keep me busy on Thursday as well, Kim decided to take me and April to The Middleton Doll Factory in Belpre, OH right across The Ohio River from Parkersburg.

Our plan was to tour the factory. However, they moved the factory to China. So, we browsed around the gift shop and the museum for a while instead.

This was the doll factory featured in the movie, Bubble. No, I do NOT recommend this movie. It's really bad. However, if you are interested in seeing a bit of the area we visited on the big screen, then you can watch it. Its a terrible movie though.

Since our doll factory visit was cut short, Kim decided to take us to Blennerhasset Island as well.

To get to Blennerhasset you have to travel by The Sternwheeler boat down the Ohio.




Haha. This photo is awesome:

After arriving on the island, we took a horse drawn wagon ride around the island. It is really beautiful there.

After our tour of the island, we got to tour the Blennerhasset Mansion.

(Kim, I hope you don't mind I stole this photo from you. I didn't get a good one on my camera)



I would show you photos of inside house, but they didn't really turn out. Besides, that makes you want to go inside the house. Right?

We left, and decided to go shopping to the outlet center of Coldwater Creek. They are located in Parkersburg, so they have a clearance/overstock/return center. They do have good deals on their clothing. However, I wasn't able to find anything my style.

I guess April thought I should.


(No, she didn't buy this outfit)

We finally met back up with JJ and Mark. JJ took us to the mall, and me and April did some more shopping.

Then, Mark BBQ ed and we hung out the rest of night and watched for Fireflies.

Day Three Complete.

The Study of A Trip to West Virgina, Part 2 of 7

Wednesday, July 25th:

There is something great about going for a run, when you don't know where your running, or where you will end up. This happens when I go for a runs in Parkersburg. Granted I can get around the town pretty well now (this is the 4th time visiting) but, running on the streets of a foreign place is alot more entertaining then running in places that are familiar.

So, that's what I did Wednesday morning, on our 2nd day of the trip. However, I went out a bit too late (10:00am) because of the time change, so I didn't go for very long. The heat mixed with the humidity didn't do well on my lungs. However, I was able to pull a "run-by" JJ's old apartment. Which was thrilling.

I know, I have dork written all over my face.

After I got back, Kim suggested we (me, ape and her) go to the local beauty school to get pedicures. While JJ and his dad shipped his Go Cart he made while he was living in West Virginia.

See something fishy? At the time I didn't pick up on it. Are you picking up on it? They were trying to get me out of the house, so JJ could go shopping. Shopping for that ring.

Me, Ape and Kim walked to the local beauty school. We walked through the historic district in Parkersburg. There are quite a few big historic homes in the area we walked through.

After our pedicures, we met back up with JJ and Mark, had lunch at the local Lebanese restaurant and then went to a really neat old book store in Parkersburg called, "Trans Alleghney Books". Kim has a very informative profile on Virtual Tourist, which is full of information about the area we were at, but the entry on the book store is here. Please click the links, it will explain why the book store is so neat!














That's right. You are looking at me one floor up, kneeling on glass.

Lets read some books, shall we?


















After the good times at the bookstore, we dropped Mark and Kim off and the rest of us went for a ride around Parkersburg. We were supposed to meet up with some of JJ's old friends, but we were not successful. So, we took ape to the river and took more photos!















After our mini-adventure we met back up with Kim and Mark and went across the river to, Historic Marietta, Ohio.

It was nighttime by then, and we didn't get any good photographs of the historic monuments about Marietta,OH. The following photo did turn out.





Day Two Complete.

The Study of A Trip to West Virgina, Part 1 of 7

JJ's dad invited JJ to go to the AMA Vintage days that are held in Ohio in July every year. So, me and JJ planned a trip to West Virgina, and I decided to bring April (my sister) along with me.
JJ's parents live in a town called, Parkersburg. It is right on the Ohio River. It is where I fell in love with JJ. Read about my first time there, here.

I will be posting all about the events that transpired while we were there, July 24th-30th, 2007.

Day One, July 24th:

Here we are on the plane at 6:15am, ready to conquer West Virgina.




Our flight left Salt Lake and landed in Denver, Colorado. Where we sat and waited for 3 hours for our other flight to Pittsburgh, PA.

So, this is what we did to pass the time:



And this:



BUT, never ENOUGH of this:



After our 4 hour flight, we landed in Pittsburgh, PA. We walked through the terminal, and the following shoes were on display in a case.

Can you guess who these shoes are?



Maybe you want to go visit the land of make believe? Wouldn't you want to be his neighbor?

That's right. It was Mr. Rogers. He's from Pittsburgh.



His red sweater was even in there!

JJ's dad, came to pick us up at the airport. On the way home we stopped in a town called, Stubenville. Not "stupid"ville as Ape kept thinking Mark was calling it.

Then, it was another 3 hour drive to Parkersburg, WV. We took the scenic route home, where I could look out the window and wish all the tree's that grace the east would come home with me.

We arrived safely, and decided to go for a walk to show April around Parkersburg.







Our destination was, The Pizza Place. JJ really loves their pizza. We also go there everytime we visit. So, we went there, and guess what we did, we ate pizza. I know! Isn't that amazing?

On the way back, we saw some bugs flying around. I don't think I've ever been so excited to see a bugs. Because, these insects were:

FIREFLIES!

Now, those of you that get to see these glowing bugs all the time, this might not be a big deal to you. However, to me and Ape it was a big deal.

So big in fact, we didn't take any photos.

But, April was successful in getting a good photo of me and JJ.



Day one complete.

The Study of My Engagement

I've spent the last week in West Virgina/Ohio with JJ and April(my sister). We have been visiting JJ's dad, and step-mom. I will be posting about that trip later, but for right now lets talk about the best part of the trip.

On Saturday, July 28th @ about 9:30pm eastern time JJ said,

"Ash, let's go for a bike ride to that place I almost drove off the road and killed us the first night we hung out."

I said, "Okay. Try not to kill me this time."

So,we both put on our helmets and road JJ's step-mom's purple bike (more on this later) to South Parkersburg on a road called, "Lost Pavement Road". I didn't die, or almost die this time. :-) Afterwards, we road to the highest point in Parkersburg called, Quincy Hill.

On this hill is where me and JJ spent the first hours of hanging out with each other. Where we go visit everytime I'm in Parkersburg. It's "our spot".


So, we sat on a bench on Quincy Hill on July 28th. After sitting on the bench for about an hour, at 11:30PM JJ handed me this:




How about another view:



How about a photo of me posing with it?



Isn't it pretty? It's just what I wanted too.

Then, he popped "the question".

"Will you marry me?"

After I was done crying, I said, "Yes, I'll marry you."




I am the luckiest girl on the planet. I'm going to marry the cutest, sweetest boy ever.

:-) :-)

The Study of My First 5K

After much pushing and shoving from JJ, (and staying up until 2am so I could get a copy of THIS) I ran my first 5K, Saturday July 21st at 7am, for Draper Days.

Here I am at the finish line, being Gene Simmons.

See any resemblance?

GO ME!

The course actually went in front of my parents house. My Mom, Dad, and sister were out in front of their house, cheering me on at 7:15am (it was about the 1.5 mark) and JJ was at the end taking photos.

It was the awesome. Here's to the first steps, soon it will be a marathon. SOON.

P.S.

You're probably wondering what happened to Monday Reviews? Well, it's been postponed. I wanted to talk about this, and I will be out of town this week. I'm on my way to West Virgina from Tuesday-Tuesday with JJ and Ape.

I'll pop in with a post, if something exciting happens. *wink

:-)

The Study of Things You Shouldn't Say

I got a speeding ticket back in the cold month of December 2006.

I fought it in court yesterday.

I lost. But, I almost won.

I'm not going into the details of the case. However, I did learn something.

Whenever you get pulled over by a police officer, NEVER, EVER, EVER admit that you were speeding, or tell the officer how fast you were going. Just a simple "I don't know". Plead not guilty from the beginning. This was the deciding factor in my case yesterday. So, listen.

Also, I am glad I fought the case and didn't just give in and give them the total cost of my fine. I made them WORK to get my money. If I ever get a ticket again, I will always fight it.

One day, I just might win.

By the way, the snake came back. :-)

Further Studies of My Cat

Just when I thought Yzma (my cat) had brought in all the creatures she could, I have something new to add to the list of creatures.

Here is the list:
-Dragonfly
-Numerous Katydids
-Earthworms
-A Mouse
-Baby Bird

JJ was home yesterday, and while I was at work he IMed me to tell me of her latest catch.

THIS:


JJ was so excitied!

A New Pet!

So, he stole it from Yzma before she could kill it. If he didn't, she would have killed it, and left it on the kitchen floor for me to see. Good thing he did. That is the last thing I would want to see hanging out on the kitchen floor, thank-you-very-much.

I told JJ to either kill it, or set it free. He said, "Nope, too late!". He was going to put it in the empty fish tank, and let it hang out in the computer room.

He must have been joking.

He gave it a name too, "Amzy" (that's Yzma backwards).

Oh great, now he's given it a name, now he's attached to it. A SNAKE!

So, JJ started reading online what to feed it. "Hey Ash, are you watering the lawn tonight?" I said, "Probably, why?". He said, "Well, if you see any worms that crawl out of the lawn, will you pick them up for my snake?"

"WHAT! Have you gone mad?!?! I'm not picking up food for your snake! I'll go buy you some worms at the store and never touch them, if you want me to do that instead."

So, after listening to JJ talk about the snake (and he was acting like an excited little kid) I decided it wouldn't be so bad, if it stayed in it's cage and I never had anything to do with it.

Now, wouldn't it be awesome if I had a photograph of this snake in it's new home? (Which, I'm not excited about... at all)

It's already loose in the house.

Time for the cat to go hunting again.

The Study of Eating with a Large Group of People

It seems my blog has turned into negative rants. I'm sorry. I'm really not that negative.

But, I do complain and try to figure out the ways of people alot.

Here is what happened last night:

I went out with a group of 17 people, for my friend Lindsey's birthday. 17, 25-30 year old people. Yes, ADULTS. Anyway, we went to Buca di Beppo. If you've never been there, they serve large dishes, and everyone shares their food. Kind of like a Chinese restaurant with Italian food. Me, Carrie and Jake decided we would share our bill. So, the table ordered, the food came, and we all SHARED it. I mean, when you have a lazy susan on a huge round table with food rotating on it, and the pope staring back at you who wouldn't want to share?

Yes, there was a statue of the Pope trapped in a glass container staring back at our group in the center of the lazy susan.

Anyway....

The bill came and the total was $304.00. Everyone was trying to figure out how much they owed. What a mess. So, I'm sitting back watching everyone. Now, I hardly knew anyone at the table but Lindsey, her boyfriend and Carrie. I've have been to a few bbq's with these people, but don't really "know" them. So, anyone that knows me, knows I hate being the center of attention and I don't really take charge. So, as I was watching (we already figured out how much we owed) I said "Hey, why don't we split it for the whole table?"

So, instead of dividing it by the 17 people that had a plate of food, we did it by 14 (Cause, there were a few that only had dessert.... etc) So, the total for each person was $21.72.

We started to get complaints.

"I'm not paying $21.72 for my pizza!" then me saying "Yes, but you ate the appetizer and some of the pasta I ordered". "We cant afford that much!"

Me, Lindsey, Carrie and Jake were trying to convince people this was the better (and less stressful way to go).

4 against 13. Yeah.... you do the math on that one and see who won.

So, us 3 figured out how much we owed, and put it in the stack. I know for a fact that we our group probably overpaid. I should have counted the cash before it went to the waiter. Because, when the waiter came back he didn't have the change, nor did he even count how much money was there. But, that's another story.

Lessons learned:

If you go out with a large group of people, decide BEFORE you order your food how the group will pay the bill. Especially, if the restaurant you are going to eat at, does not do separate checks for large parties.

Make it easy. Just split the bill all evenly so you don't have to waste time figuring out what the total of your meal is. Again, figure out what you are going to do BEFORE any of the food comes. Set a price limit!

You will save about an hour arguing and trying to figure out what everyone owes.

So, after all the headache I've come to the conclusion to just have a dinner party if you want to eat with a large group. Bring your side, meat and drinks. I'll even host it!

No one complains about prices when there is a collar full of beer, and alcohol in the fridge waiting to be drank.

The Study of Hunting

You know what hobby I do not understand?

Hunting.

Waking up at 4am in the freezing cold to track down a deer? Hanging out all day in a tree hoping an Elk passes by? Trekking through swamps just to shoot some ducks?

And, then IF by chance these things actually happen:

WHY do hunters feel its necessary to pose with the dead animals?

Like this:



"I know! Lets all gather around and show off the DEAD animals, that we KILLED! We are so awesome!!!"

Maybe I'm just being a jerk about it cause I REALLY don't like killing things. I'm also glad my dad isn't a hunter like his brothers are. He has guns, but they just hang out in the closet. From time to time he goes and shoots clay pigeons and raccoons that come in the yard (and then I cry about a rodent being killed...haha) But you know, I guess what ever makes them happy, but still. Why not just knit a sweater or read a book?