Shoptaw Family Vacation 7: Finishing It Off

After our visit in Meigs County, on Thursday it was time to head back to Columbus for two nights and then back home to Arkansas. We stopped and saw Meron's dad on the way out of town, stocking up on snacks and, for me, some local root beer before hitting the road.

Between the Pomeroy/Middleport area and Columbus is Athens, home of Ohio University, Meron's first college (and the one she really claims, though she finished her coursework and got her degree from Arkansas Tech). Meron doesn't get to go back there every time we get up to Ohio, but likes to check in occasionally.

We made it up there and walked down the main strip of restaurants, college bookstores, etc. before heading to campus. We got Sarah a pink Ohio onesie, Benjamin picked out a stuffed bobcat (their mascot) and Meron selected a coffee tumbler.

After we got lunch at a burger place (the name of which eludes me now but I know it was a regional chain, because I'm pretty sure St. Louis has one), we went over to the college. Meron worked in the library when she was going to school there, on the first floor in the Southeast Asia section. One of the ladies that she worked with still is there, so we went to show off the kids. Needless to say, she was suitably impressed!

On the way out, Meron wanted a picture by the school sign. So we didn't have to try to flag down someone to take it (and because I was hot and tired from lugging Benjamin around!), I volunteered to let it just be her and the kids.

We then completed the trip to Columbus and Meron's friend Shawn's apartment, which we found with relatively little difficulty. Shawn was nice enough to let us camp out on her floor on an air mattress. Thursday night, Meron's friends came over for her homemade macaroni and cheese (a legend within the group) as well as burgers and hot dogs. We had a good visit with everyone.

Friday, we were pretty much on our own but we did get directions to Meron's friend Jody, who thankfully (because we know how I hate driving in big cities) lived pretty close to Shawn, close enough that we didn't have to take any real major roads. We stayed over at her place much of the afternoon, letting her son and Benjamin play.

Whenever we go to Ohio, though, we have to go at least once to Max & Erma's, Meron's favorite restaurant. It's her favorite for one big reason--the cheese fries.

Meron gets them with extra cheese and then goes to town. This time around, Benjamin was old enough to have them. He enjoyed them as well.

After dinner, we hurried over to a local mall. We got there at nine and found out it closed at 9:30, so we had to do a quick shopping trip. The mall has a chocolate store and has puppy chocolate snacks, which we always take back for Dax to have. Meron, Shawn and Sarah went there, while Benjamin and I stopped at the Disney Store.

That was a real kick for him. Not only did they have a lot of Cars stuff, but he'd really gotten into Toy Story on the trip, and there was a lot of that around as well. I told him he could get something, and after much deliberation, we finally settled on a Woody doll that talked when you pulled the string. And, apparently, any other time he wanted to. (Before I get into that, we also got Benjamin a couple of hats there, so he did well.)

OK, so we are leaving the mall and the bag we have Woody in keeps going off. We get it to Shawn's and find out that apparently the stomach area is sensitive as well and you can bump him and the toy will talk. Lovely, we think. That wasn't the half of it.

Once we get it back to Russellville, we find out that Woody will go off whenever he feels like it. No one can be anywhere around it when you'll hear, "There's a snake in my boot" or some other phrase. (Speaking of, the first time Benjamin played with the toy, he pulled the boot off looking for the snake.)

The last straw came one night. We had the toy in Benjamin's room when it went off. Scared him into crying (after he woke up hearing it) and I brought it to the other end of the house and put stuff on top of it. It still was going off (and was still loud) so I finally got the batteries out of the thing. Like Meron said, it might not have been so creepy if it had been from any other movie. Now Woody is silent (though I was half-afraid it'd talk without the batteries) and everyone is better off.

Sorry for the digression. Anyway, we left out Saturday morning later than I had planned since we wound up being up later Friday night than I thought we'd be. We left around 5:30-6:00 from Columbus, really had no problems getting home, and rejoiced mightily when we saw the Pyramid in Memphis, the Arkansas border sign on the Mississippi River Bridge, Little Rock, and the exits for Russellville. The trip home took about 14 hours, I think, but it really was an easy trip.

So that's the vacation. Once I get Benjamin's pictures/scrapbook scanned, I'll get that up as well.