Weekend Visitors

This weekend, we were converged upon from the north and the east by Dad and Marvis, and Laura and Anne, respectively. A fun weekend was had by all. Dad and Marvis arrived early Friday evening, and we all went out to dinner at a restaurant which had delicious food but which stiffed us on the vegetables. Our waitress said our meals didn't come with veggies, the writing on the menu to the contrary. Someone needs to get that straightened out. Anyhow, Laura and Anne arrived late that evening, so we didn't get to see them until Saturday morning.

On Saturday morning, we went on the Secret City Excursion Train, a ninety-minute train ride in the Oak Ridge reservation area. I had decided that I wanted to go on this train in celebration of my birthday, so I used my birthday money from Grandma Mary and from Mom- and Dad-in-law to get the tickets for the six of us. The only problem was, I had to pay by check. But I got Laura to write the check for me, so it all worked out.

(And speaking of my hand, I went to the lab Wellness Fair last week, where they had many exhibits from health and wellness vendors, including health clubs, supermarkets, and an orthopedics clinic. I talked to the folks at the orthopedics clinic booth about my pesky hand, and with their encouragement called their office later in the day and scheduled an appointment for Wednesday. One ridiculous thing is that they sent me a bunch of forms to fill out, but since my personal scribe (a.k.a. Jeff) is now here, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. I will let you know how it goes. But I digress...)

After the train ride, which was lovely by the way, we had a picnic near the Clinch River and then went to the UT arboretum for a while. It was a fairly warm day and the leaves were just beginning to turn. After spending some time at the arboretum, we went and rested up a bit before dinner. Laura and I looked in the phone book to figure out where to go to dinner. We saw a place that looked good in Jackson Square (the "historic" downtown area of Oak Ridge), but when we got there it wasn't open. We saw another nearby restaurant but it was more expensive than we wanted. Then we walked over to "Big Ed's Pizza," a local pizza joint that I plan to try at some point, but the line was prohibitively long. Finally we just went to a Chinese buffet that Jeff and I had gone to the night he arrived here. One of the dishes was labelled "Cheese Spanish," but despite its name was not noticeably Latin. Actually, it was spinach with cheese. There must be a linguistic term for that sort of misinterpretation of words.

After dinner, we returned to our apartment and had birthday fudge and opened birthday presents. I guess it is now official that I am thirty years old. I had been procrastinating about turning thirty, since I really hadn't had much of a birthday yet. But now it's official.

On Sunday we went to brunch at Shoney's before scattering our own ways. Laura and Anne went on to Nashville to visit Vanderbilt University, while Dad and Marvis headed back home to Lexington. I think it was a very good visit and I am glad that they all got a chance to come here. It was nice to be among the first to meet Anne (Rach: nya-nya pthbbbt!), who seemed very nice and I could see why Laura would like her so much.