On Saturday morning, we left town close to on schedule to drive several hours to Madison, Wisconsin for the wedding of our friends Dan and Laura. This was out first little trip with Elaine. Traveling with two girls takes some time. You have to stop because one needs to go potty and then you have to stop because the other is hungry. At no point do the two girls' schedules correspond. Jen continues to prepare for the bar exam, so she listens to law lectures on her iPod during the drive, I listen to music on the radio, and Meredith watches a DVD in the back. It seems so strange to be sitting so close together but all plugged into our own things.
We get to Madison on the late side, ready to get our hotel room and quickly get dressed for the wedding. Running low on gas, we find the hotel, go in, and are told that they have over-booked and didn't have the room that we had recently confirmed with them. We were told that a smaller, smoking room was available and we gave a hearty no thank you. They "generously" told us they wouldn't charge our credit card for a room they didn't give us, when Jen stepped up her negotiating skills and informed them that wouldn't be enough. The hotel made things right by footing the bill at a nicer hotel down the street that did have non-smoking rooms. We rushed there, checked in, got dressed, and back into the car. Meredith and Elaine were pretty well behaved during the chaos.
On the short drive to the wedding, the gas was getting perilously low as we went up large hills and no sign of gas stations. We somehow make it to the wedding without running out of gas. We get seated at the wedding just as it starts. At the reception, Jen investigates gas options and encounters the restaurant owner who simply gives us a couple gallons he has on hand. We no longer need worry of running out of gas after dark on a country road with two tired girls and two tired adults.
The wedding and reception were fabulous and we had a fun time. We get back to the hotel late and get the girls to bed. Before bedtime, Meredith slips off the high bed and nearly cracked open her skull, butt merely bruised it with a relatively softer landing than it could have been. Everyone is a sleep shortly after 11:00. At about 2:00 AM a piercing, high-pitched buzz fills the room. It takes the adults a moment to realize it is a fire alarm. We grab the girls (who are mostly sleeping through this 120 decibel assault), the room keys, and go down the three flights of stairs and spend the next half-hour outside holding the tired, cold girls. Thankfully, despite our fears, everyone gets back to sleep relatively quickly.
The next morning Meredith went swimming with her mom and we packed up. On the way out of the hotel room, I slam my ankle into the hard corner on the bed and have to sit on the floor with ice for a bit before being able to hobble away. Running a little late, we are able to visit my Aunt Connie and Uncle Gary on the other side of town and have a nice lunch with them. Back on the road, this time we go a little faster with the advantage of tired girls who want to sleep much of the time. Of course, tired also means moody when awake. And all four of us were pretty tired.
But we all got home safe. Despite the mini-adventures, we had a fun time in Madison. This was also Elaine's first trip out of state. We'll be headed back to Wisconsin to see family next week and are looking forward to it.
