As we wind down our traveling season, we have a few more events planned that will keep us busy before the winter socks us in through the end of the year. Let’s take a look at our agenda.
Wake Me Up When September Ends
This coming weekend marks the end of September. What better way to kick off the official spooky season than… by spending $1,000 on a new door for the house…?
The door that leads to the back yard from our living room is a sliding glass door that is so off-kilter that when closed, the bottom is closed but there’s a significant gap at the top. To mitigate that, as well as to “lock” the door, we are currently wedging a length of 1×1 between the frame and the back of the door. The rollers on the door stick something fierce and closing the door is generally a pain in the ass.
This weekend we are driving to Burlington to Warehouse Bargains in West Burlington, a little more than an hour’s drive away, to pick out a new set of French doors. We’re going to buy the ones with the blinds in the glass so we can get rid of the unsightly curtains that are up now. You know the doors I’m talking about, right? Something like this?
We are hoping to have it installed some time the week of October 9.
Enter Fall
The weekend after our trip to Burlington, Brandy and I are going to finally visit Winterset, the home of the John Wayne Birthplace & Museum, as well as a handful of covered bridges. You see, Winterset is the county seat of Madison County, IA. A novel was written in 1992 based around these bridges of Madison County, and a movie based on the book was made three years later.
In addition to the bridges and the museum the town is, as is almost always the case in small town Iowa, home to a charming town square with a centrally located town hall or, in this case, courthouse.
And, I already have a place in mind for lunch- a taproom right off the town square called The Drift.
I’m hoping by the time we visit, the fall colors are out and at least starting to show if not in full bloom, but even if they’re not, I’m still excited to cross a couple of items off of my To-Do List.
Shpooky!
The following weekend is opening weekend for Mayhem Haunted House, the only haunted house in Ottumwa. It’s put on by the local 4H so I’m not expecting a high budget production but I’m always eager to support anyone willing to try.
Now, I would LOVE to go on Friday the 13th, but that’s opening night, so it’ll be crowded, and/or they’ll likely not have all the bugs worked out yet. In my vast experiences with haunted houses, I will say, a crowded haunt helps with the energy but I don’t want to wait TOO terribly long, unless they have something to keep me distracted or entertained while I wait.
Of course, it’s only $15 to enter so if I wanted to wait until later in the season, or even go each of the three weekends they’ll be open, it’d be totally doable. So, that said, there’s no set date that I’m going to this yet.
Short Break
After the season, I don’t have anything planned for a few weeks until mid-November. Brandy mentioned to me last night that she’d like to take a short, two-night getaway to a nearby cabin for the weekend before my birthday. She asked me to do some research to see where I wanted to go but I couldn’t find anything in my initial searches last night, so I’m going to leave it to her to pick a place.
I heard we were supposed to be going to Omaha to meet Christy at some point before Thanksgiving. I’m not exactly sure when that is supposed to be.
Then, November 29, we will be traveling to the Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee, just outside of Des Moines to see Blue October in concert.
That’s A Wrap
That will about wrap it up for travel until after the new year. We might try to plan something in February for Brandy’s birthday but as of now, there’s nothing concrete in the works. By then, I will have obtained several paychecks from my new, higher-paying job so maybe I’ll be able to take her somewhere special.
Who knows.
Of course, in late December or early January, I’ll likely do a 2023 wrap-up, and a What’s to Come in 2024 post.
And to celebrate the joy of life I’ve found, I’d like to start planning an outing each year around the anniversary of the publishing of the blog. That will give cause to ruminate on the extensive change I’ve experienced since January 27, 2019.
Until then, stay tuned!
-Phil