South Carolina Travels
with Kerri
Dick and I just shared another memorable weekend with Kerri and Ron in Spartanburg, South Carolina and this time were even blessed to have Mark with us as well. So it was a real bonding family experience.
I can usually tell how things are going to progress when I wake up the morning we are leaving on the trip, and last Friday was no exception. The weather forecasters had predicted all week that we would have rain on Friday, but since they are usually wrong I just thought we would luck out and the bad weather would pass by us. That was not the case however because when I woke up at the crack of dawn (that would be around 5:30) I could hear the rain and wind outside our bedroom window and knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant day. Since Kerri and Ron weren't scheduled to fly into Spartanburg until the evening we decided to leave in the late morning so Dick and Mark slept in. Mark had flown in to see us a few days earlier and was still trying to adjust to our time zone.
They were finally up and ready to leave around 10 after packing our luggage in the car in the pouring rain. We also had several boxes of Kerri's books, CD's, shirts, etc. which somehow had been shipped to our house, so that filled Dick's Expedition and also took care of the back seat where I usually spread my pillows and take a nap along the way. The sacrifices we make for our children.
To say the driving was difficult is an understatement as it was a steady pouring rain with no let up. While Dick drove and Mark slept in the front seat I tried out Kerri's birthday present which we had bought to give to her in S.C. Her birthday is Halloween and we planned to celebrate with her sometime during the weekend. She had asked for a portable DVD player that she could use on the many plane trips that she makes almost every weekend. Well I thought that I should find out how it worked so I could explain it to her without her having to read all the details and also to make certain that it worked properly. Actually I asked her ahead of time if that was okay since she knew what she was getting and she said by all means, try it out. So I watched a movie which kept my mind off the weather and passed the time nicely since I couldn't crawl in the back and take a nap.
Mark's favorite restaurant is Chick Filet and since they don't have any in California he likes to eat as many chicken strips and fries as he can while he's home. So we stopped and had lunch at Chick Filet in Commerce and I managed to eat without spilling anything on my black and white striped shirt. My family thinks I have a problem since I usually manage to spill at least one thing per meal in my lap, on the floor, or on whatever I'm wearing. Since we didn't have any dessert at Chick Filet I decided to partake of the mini Baby Ruth that I had in my purse, just to cut the grease from all the fried chicken. After I finished the snack I looked down and there in the middle of the WHITE part of my striped shirt was a spot of chocolate. Now why couldn't it have landed on black stripe? So I got my bottle of water and a napkin and managed to get most of the spot out. Of course I didn't say a word to Dick and Mark so avoided some jokes about my problem.
About 12:30 my cell phone rang and it was Kerri calling from Bethlehem, PA where she was speaking at a Breast Cancer Awareness Luncheon in a Presbyterian Retirement Village. She said it was very elegant, but 80% of the attendees were over 80 and she was worried that they wouldn't think she was funny. Guess she wanted me to give her some material since I am closer to that age than she is, but I just said do your jokes and they will laugh. She also wanted to know if I had anything that I wanted her to say about my cancer and I just said that I was very blessed to have had surgery with no treatments afterwards. She called after her talk and said they seemed to love her and laughed quite a lot so she felt very good.
She had told us the night before when she was picked up at the airport and taken to her room at the retirement facility that they gave her one of the apartments in the retirement home. She said it was very large and she loved having a bell pull by her bed and one in the bathroom. They had nurses on duty around the clock so she could just pull the bell if she needed anything. She said she wondered if she could get room service by pulling the bell. I was just happy that she was in a nice safe place.
After what seemed like an eternity but actually was less than 3 hours we found our hotel in Greenville. If you have read any of my other narratives about traveling with Kerri, you know that I told her that I wasn't staying in anymore 1* hotels, so I made the reservations for this trip. After looking on the internet I chose the Embassy Suites Golf and Tennis Resort which is actually in Greenville but not far from the airport where Kerri and Ron were both flying in and out of so that was convenient. It was a beautiful hotel in a beautiful setting but the golf and tennis courts didn't look too inviting in the pouring rain. However the warm dry interior of the hotel was a welcome site. Dick registered and he and Mark unloaded all the luggage and boxes of Kerri's Stuff and we took the elevator up to the 4th floor. Since the elevators were open to lobby I didn't have quite as much anxiety riding in them if I didn't get close to the glass. I just figured if I got stuck I could yell and wave my arms until someone saw me and let me out. Fortunately the elevators worked fine.
We had 2 suites in the corner area and they were extremely roomy and nicely furnished. Since Mark would be staying with Dick and me it was nice to have a separate room with pull out couch so he could watch TV all night and we could sleep. Ron was supposed to arrive at 5:30 from LA and it was still early afternoon so we decided to check out the nearby mall which was very large and all the stores were having sales. That's always a nice bonus. By that time Mark was hungry again as he is a growing boy so he went to the food court and ordered a piece of pizza while I went in search of a cinnamon sugar pretzel. Hey, if there are no Krispy Kremes, then pretzels are the next best thing. I looked at the mall directory and decided to go to Macy's and then the pretzel shop which was a mistake because after an hour in Macy's and no purchases I was hungry. Then I couldn't find the pretzel shop so that was a bit frustrating. Dick was sitting patiently in a chair out in the mall conversing with 2 local ladies and asking about restaurants where we could have a nice dinner. They gave him a couple of places that were convenient to our hotel and the airport since we were picking Ron up around 6:00.
Well about that time, my cell phone rang and it was Ron saying that his plane had been delayed in Atlanta for 2 hours so we should just go ahead and eat dinner and he could get something later. We hated not to wait for him but the way things were going he would probably be delayed longer, so we chose a Greek restaurant that had been recommended and headed out in the pouring rain again. I forgot to mention that I have a very "fashionable" plastic rain hat which I wear even with my umbrella since my "store bought" hair does not hold up well in dampness. Well, Mark thinks it looks awful and was probably a little embarrassed to be seen with his mother wearing something like that so he kept trying to pull it off and I was getting a little perturbed with his behavior at age 29. Doesn't he know to respect his mother no matter what she chooses to wear? He was probably paying me back for nagging him about wearing faded blue jeans all the time.
So we made it to the restaurant and thankfully they had tables, probably because of nasty weather. Mark ordered a special steak, Dick just had soup, and I had a Greek chicken dish and everything was delicious. However, while I was eating my Caesar's salad I happened to drop a piece of lettuce which was coated with dressing into my lap. Well my mother always taught me to put my left hand in my lap while I'm eating and my arm just happened to catch the piece of wet lettuce. You guessed it. Right on the white stripe and not the black. I tried to blot out the spot as best I could but it was grease and no way was all of it coming out with a drop of water. Oh well, I thought it's dark and who's going to see my sleeve. Just about that time I started to take a bite of my chicken and somehow hit the end of my fork and it flipped a piece of chicken with sauce right into the middle of the front of my shirt. Right again. On the while and not black stripe. So there I was with 2 spots on the front of my shirt and one on my sleeve. Dick and Mark were having a great time laughing at me and attracting everyone's attention at the surrounding tables.
Thankfully about that time the owner of the restaurant came over to our table and asked how our meals were and we said wonderful. He was a rather large man who looked very Greek but when he opened his mouth he had a southern accent which just didn't seem to fit. His father was from Greece but he had grown up in Greenville and now owned five restaurants so was very successful. So that was a distraction from decorated shirt.
During the meal Ron called to say his plane would probably not arrive until 8:30 so since we had time we stopped at Stein Mart. Never pass up shopping time. But even though they were having sales I just didn't find anything except a few pairs of socks. Mark did find some shirts so he felt like it was a worth while stop. Ordinarily he hates shopping.
During that time we got several calls from Kerri saying her flight had been cancelled and they were trying to get her on another plane. Her original flight was scheduled to arrive at midnight and she had to make a connection at 11 in Atlanta since that was the last flight at night. She had gone back to the retirement home room after the first 3 hour delay and then back to the airport so was getting very frustrated. Delta would not pay for a hotel if she got stranded in Atlanta and she had already taken 2 taxi rides in Bethlehem which were adding up in dollars. As we were waiting in the airport for Ron, she called to say that she couldn't make the Atlanta connection and was just going to spend the night and take a 6:30 flight the next morning. That would get her to Greenville at 10:30. We were all disappointed but secretly I was thankful that she wasn't flying in so late in rainy weather. The one good thing she said was that she got to stay in the room with the bell pulls and around the clock nurses. She said she thought she might enjoy the life of a senior citizen.
Ron's plane finally arrived around 8:30 and he was exhausted from traveling and waiting in the Atlanta airport for hours. He of course was disappointed when we told him that Kerri wouldn't be arriving until the next morning. After all they are still newlyweds. I told him not to worry because Mark would be happy to sleep in the extra bed in their suite so he wouldn't be alone. I was also thinking that it would be nice for me to be able to get up early and have my coffee without worrying about waking Mark up. It was still pouring down rain when we came out of the airport and we asked Ron if he would be happy to just get fast food and take it back to the hotel and he said that would be fine. So we made a quick stop at McDonalds and headed back to the hotel.
As I was getting ready for bed I noticed some kind of bug crawling on the edge of the bedside lamp and immediately thought about bed bugs which have been all over the news lately. Never having seen a bed bug I didn't know what they looked like but I told Dick to look at it and see what he thought. Upon closer inspection he said, "it's only a June bug" and then I felt a little sheepish for making such a to do about it, but I'm not fond of bugs especially next to my bed. Well I started looking around the room and there were June bugs crawling on the ceiling, the walls, and the window ceils. Here I'm thinking that we were staying at this wonderful new hotel and my room is filled with bugs. Mark came in then and said "oh mom they're just June bugs and you can't kill them" and I said, "okay don't kill them but get them out of my room". So he and Dick got tissues and started collecting the bugs and I'm not sure what they did with them. Maybe released them out in the hall. Every night after that they had to collect bugs before I could go to sleep and as far as I know and I don't want to know we didn't have any real bed bugs.
The next morning I awoke at my usual early hour of about 7:00, made my coffee and had a cup while I got dressed. Then went down to fabulous free breakfast buffet. Only problem was that I wasn't the sole invited guest at the buffet. There was a soccer tournament in town so what seemed like several hundred teenage girls were joining me as well as hoards of young children who were there with their parents I assume, although most of them were running around without supervision. The best thing about the buffet was that they had Krispy Kreme donuts along with every other breakfast item imaginable including made to order omelets and pancakes. I thought I restrained myself very well when little kids broke in line in front of me or ran into me all the while grabbing at whatever food they could reach. Once in awhile a parent would come along and help them fill their plates with more food than a sumo wrestler could eat much less a 5 or 6 year old child. Guess I just needed another donut and cup of coffee to calm my nerves. It was too early in the day to be stressed out over the manners of children who weren't mine in the first place.
So I filled my plate with the healthy foods like sausage, bacon, grits, English muffin, donuts, and a few slices of cantaloupe for color. Does that sound like the plate of a sumo wrestler? As I was enjoying my meal and reading the morning paper, my cell phone rang. It was Mark saying he needed the key to our room because Ron was snoring so loud he couldn't sleep and he had been awake most of the night. So I left my tray and went upstairs to open the door for Mark and then went back downstairs. Luckily the bus boys weren't in a hurry to clean up because my plate was just as I had left it and I ate the rest of the lukewarm food.
Later in the morning Dick and I left to pick up Kerri at the airport after deciding to let Ron sleep in and rest. Thankfully Kerri's plane was on time, but she said she had only slept 2 hours and was exhausted. So I told her I guess the sales at Macy's would just have to wait and amazingly she perked up and said she thought she could at least stop by for a few minutes before going to the hotel. We spent about at hour at Macy's and she tried on lots of clothes but didn't find anything that she couldn't live without. I think she was just too tired to be interested so we went to the food court and bought some carry outs for everyone and returned to the hotel. After lunch, Kerri rested while Ron and Mark watched football.
Dick and I went in search of a birthday cake for Kerri. Since her birthday is Halloween we decided to celebrate Sunday night after their performance. The lady at the hotel desk told us about a bakery just down the street and it was indeed a wonderful shop but alas did not sell Krispy Kremes. People were lined up to buy Halloween confections so Dick and I had time to look at everything and decide on a cake. We chose chocolate fudge with dark chocolate icing and rings of chocolate mousse all over the top. Really looked decadent. Dick had the girl put a big yellow K in the middle and then while I looked around at all the other goodies, he got in the line to pay. As we walked out of the bakery, he said "I got you a small surprise". When we got back to the room, I opened the box and there was a huge Napoleon and chocolate éclair. He gave the éclair to Kerri and Ron and supposedly the Napoleon was for me. I did in fact have a bite of it after dinner that night, but when I got up the next morning a little elf had gotten into the refrigerator and it was all gone.
Kerri and Ron had to be at the First Baptist Church in North Spartanburg at 5:00 so we watched the last of the football games before leaving and thankfully both Auburn and Michigan won so we were happy. Our dear friends, Sybil and Dave Griffin from our early days in Michigan have recently moved back to Spartanburg where Sybil grew up so they joined us for see the show. Sybil's sister Donna also came so we had a nice visit during the dinner which was served before Kerri's show. The meal was wonderful and included filet, salmon, vegetables, salad, and chocolate fountain for dessert. Wow, I thought "the Baptists sure serve better food than the Presbyterians". The event was a date night for both singles and married couples so there was a wide range of ages and consisted of about 150 people. The church has 6500 members and is the largest church in S.C. so we were told and is a huge facility. We were in one of the smaller social halls and it was decorated in black and white and was very elegant.
Ron introduced Kerri and did about a 5 minute comedy routine about being a newly wed. Then Kerri did about 45 minutes alone before inviting Ron to join her. Then they did a few jokes together and then both pulled off their Velcro shirts to reveal their Dirty Dancing costumes. Ron's tee shirt said "Hot Stuff" and Kerri wore her ballet dress from their wedding. That was a big hit with the audience and I think Kerri and Ron were pleased that they could still do the dance. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the show although it wasn't one of the laugh out loud audiences so Kerri always thinks they aren't enjoying her performance. She's used to women laughing out loud and clapping and waving their arms and this was a more reserved audience. We were sitting on the side and saw that everyone was laughing the whole time so we knew that they did enjoy her show. Even though it was only about 9:30 we were all tired and thankful to get back to our nice hotel rooms.
Sunday was a quiet day and we hope that God forgives us for sleeping late and not going to church. Actually I was the only one who got up early and went down to fight my way through the buffet crowd again. It was maybe even more hectic than the day before and the lines were longer, but I managed to fill another plate fit for a wrestler. I was disappointed that they had no Krispy Kremes or donuts of any kind so I settled for a blueberry muffin. That's really "settling" in my book.
The rest of the troop started stirring around 10:30 and after they were dressed we went to dinner at a local cafeteria which was supposed to have good southern food but it was just average. We then went to an outdoor Flea Market and joined all the locals in search of that illusive treasure which we didn't find. I definitely didn't need any duct tape or kitchen utensils and certainly no broken packages of makeup or drugs. So after walking around in the cold blowing wind for about 30 minutes we decided to head back to the hotel as Ron had a show that evening for 1500 kids and their parents. Dick and Mark wanted to watch football games so I just read and relaxed.
Someone from church picked up Ron and Kerri and Dick and I drove over to pick them up after the show. We had planned to have dinner at the hotel restaurant and then celebrate Kerri's birthday. After they left for the show Dick arranged all (10) of her presents on the table in our room and put the candles on her cake so it looked very festive. Ron and Kerri both said Ron's show was a huge success and we had to wait in the lobby while lots of people came up to talk to both of them. So it was almost 9:00 when we arrived back at the hotel and for me it was too late for dinner, but we ate anyway. The food was actually very good, but I couldn't finish the super size hamburger that I ordered. I knew what was waiting in our room. So we ate pretty quickly and headed up to our room where Kerri ooh and aahed about all her presents and the cake. She pointed out to Ron that our family has a tradition of lots of presents and she wanted him to be aware of that fact. She blew out the candles, opened her presents, and then we all indulged ourselves with the decadent cake which was absolutely delicious. Dick and I brought what was left of the cake home with us and put it in the freezer so Kerri and Ron can eat it when they come home for Christmas.
Then our sweet son-in-law brought out a big bag and proceeded to give Dick, Mark, and me each a present. Along with my present he gave me a bag of wonderful shampoos, conditioners, lotions, sewing kits, etc that he had "collected" from some of the very first class hotels that they sometimes stay in. He said I could use them or display them in my guest bathroom. So I have a big decision to make in the next few days.
We said our goodnights and I went to bed (after Mark and Dick got rid of the June bugs). They watched more television. Kerri and Ron had to leave around 9 the next morning so we walked down to the lobby with them to say goodbye, as they were taking the hotel shuttle to the airport. As always it was difficult for me to say goodbye, but it wasn't quite so hard since Kerri will be back in Atlanta in 3 weeks for a few days. Mark's flight was at 1:30 so we drove him to the airport and I tried to keep my composure and not embarrass him by getting his shirt wet, but it was hard. California is a long way from Georgia and too far for my children to be from their mother.
All in all this trip was less eventful than others we've had with Kerri, but it was fun as usual to be together as a family and as Kerri says that I say, "we're building memories".
