Tales of Travel

I picked him up from work that night, stopping on Michigan Avenue and he jumped into my car, taxis honking behind me. The street is one of the most famous streets in Chicago. It contains the Magnificent Mile, Millenium Park, Tribune Tower and more importantly, Burger King and Joyce Ford.
We drove there. I was bubbling with excitement. He got us food and then we went and parked a block away at a very female-centered Ford dealership that plays the most terrible commercials on tv. "If you like Bill here..." cut to a man standing there next to Joyce, a bleached-blond middle-aged woman selling American-made cars..."then you'll love the Ford Focus. But if you like Jim..." cut to another man with a totally different look..."you'd love the Edge."
Emily and I always park across the street and eat our Burger King while it's still hot and delicious. He'd never been and was terrified of the idea of sitting in a dark car on a dark street in a less than savory neighborhood. I think he loved it in the end though. Who wouldn't?
I eat ridiculously fast, so I had to wait for him to finish. He told me he'd only open my presents if I opened his. So I did.
He loved his new wallet. I looked and looked and finally found a really nice one that will last him a long time. (Hopefully.) He opened the box that I wrapped the bell bottoms in. When he realized what they were, he was ecstatic.
"If you had told me to make a list of 100 things I thought you would get me, I wouldn't have put these on it. But now I can make a list of 100 things that aren't better presents than bell bottoms."
I was so happy.
I received romance novels with a Hunter twist. They're all about monsters or something scary (to remind me of him when I read them). I also got a movie that I'd really wanted for awhile.
All in all, great Christmas.
He put them on and they fit perfectly, and to my surprise, looked good. Really good. Now I don't mind the idea of bell bottoms so much.

We left Chicago around noon yesterday. Our plan was to leave a lot earlier, but you know that always works out. Emily and I had to take our recycling to the place while Hunter brought all of our bags down and helped us load up. We made sure that everything was off and that we had everything we needed. I'm not sure that we do, of course.
The drive started out fine, but soon turned terrifying. Simon is a small car, not much weight on his little frame, and not very good at powering through ice and snow. So we hit I-55 and hit blowing snow and ice. I can't pass trucks because getting into the second lane is scary because it's not always road but often snow-covered ice and slush.
The drive that normally takes us 4.5 hours with a couple of stops took us 7. We had to stop twice to get the ice that was building up on my car off of it. I kicked a quarter of an inch of ice off my front. It covered the license plate, the lights, the Honda symbol, the hood and the side mirrors. My windshield wipers worked because I kept them moving the whole time, but they too were covered in a sheet of ice.
It was slow going and I was perfectly content to do that. We arrived safe and sound, albeit exhausted.
I am flying out tonight, having gotten a good night's sleep and no laundry done.

Dairy Queen may have unofficially fired me. I had them put up a note that said that I wanted some hours over break. When I called for my schedule, there were no hours for me. I texted Tonya and asked and she told me: I'm not working much as it is. I need the hours for the kids. blah blah blah. So basically I'm not allowed back and I'm annoyed.
She's never working much as it is. Funny how that works out.

It'll be nice to get home and see everyone. I'll only be home for a couple of weeks, and it'll be nice to get back to Chicago again.
I hope our pigeons are going to be alright while we're gone.