The Night The Lights Went Out...

So a couple of weeks ago the Husband decided that he wanted to get away for a night.  He didn't want to go far, he just wanted a night away.

So he planned a last minute get away for a Saturday night and decided that we would go to Merrillville, IN. Since we are still disgusted with Holiday Inn (see a previous post) we decided to use our points to stay at the Residence Inn, which had great reviews and was recently renovated at the beginning of this year. Of course his selection of the area and hotel had nothing to do with the fact that Portillo's is across the street.

So we took off on Saturday morning for our nice relaxing and romantic weekend.

We stopped in Lafayette on the way up.  First stop was Rural King, which we do not have near us anymore, since we have moved and this is the place that they sell the jeans at, that the Husband wears to work.  Lucky for us, it was buy two pairs, get one free.  We had to dig for his sizes to find the 2nd and then the 3rd pair but alas we were successful.  Our second stop was at Four Guns, a gun shop.  I had purchased a Deal Chicken for my husband to use there, on accessories, ect.  Honestly, I was kind of disappointed in the store, they did not have a lot of inventory.  So it is not somewhere you want to make a special trip to but he was able to use his coupon.  Third and final stop was at Game Stop, are you getting the picture yet that the Husband is spoiled?  Notice none of these stops were for me?  You would think that HE was an only child and not the other way around, where I am the only child.  I digress, so he had a couple of old games to trade in and you got more money towards a game for the weekend, plus he had received a coupon for his birthday.  I kept telling him that this was not an authorized purchase (smiling as I type this).  He said it was his birthday.  Dude your birthday was like three weeks ago! Anyways, he purchased a game and we were on our way.  Final destination, Merrillville, IN.

So we had arrived and upon check-in there were flowers waiting for me.  Isn't the Husband so sweet, maybe I should take back the spoiled comment.  Nah!  We went up to the room to relax for awhile.  Which by the way the room was super nice!  Upgrades/renovations they made were wonderful.

So around 4:30 p.m. we were getting ready to head over to Portillio's to grab some food to bring back to the room, then we thought that we might go for a swim and if it cooled off maybe miniature golfing.  THAT IS WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT.  A big storm and I mean big rolled through and we lost power, in fact much of Merrillville and Northern Indiana were without power.

Of course this happens to us.  We plan a night away and the power goes out!  It is always an adventure with us.  However, I was optimistic, maybe the power would be back on shortly, no reason to worry.  So we went downstairs to hang out, talk to some other guests and the hotel staff.  We finally decided to see if we could go and eat dinner somewhere, as we suspected that Portillo's had lost power as well.  We spoke with the manager and asked if we decided to leave would our points be refunded.  He said no problem, just let us know.

So off we went. We drove over to Portillio's and of course they were the only place without power right there.  Go figure!  One of the employees was outside though and told us that the Portillio's in Crestwood, IL had power and it was only about 45 min. away.  We thought why not?  Let's drive on over to Illinois.  $1.50 later we were over the border and had located Portillios, we enjoyed our dinner and then decided to head to Hammond, IN to Cabella's, again for the Husband, since he, nor I had been there before.  It was a neat store but I think Bass Pro is better.

Back at the hotel, the power was still off, it was around 10:00 p.m.  The manager called us over and told us that we could stay the night and he would refund our points.  I thought that was super nice of him since the storm was not his fault.  We will stay there again for sure!!!

The next morning the power had come back on.  We checked out and headed to Michigan City, to the outlets there.  I sure do love it there.  I like Edinburgh as well, in Columbus, IN.  I kind of like the Coach store better in Edinburgh but overall I like Michigan City better.  We will not discuss how much was spent there and do not fret ladies, of course I treated myself to a new Coach purse!  Now who is the spoiled one? Let's just say we were both happy with our purchases for the day.  The weather was also nice, so it was a great day to walk around.

It was time to leave.  Goodbye outlets, until next time.  We were headed back home and of course we had to stop in Merrillville on our way back home to eat at Portillo's again!  On our way back there, in Hobart, IN I made the mistake of pointing out a candy factory.  The Husband made a quick u-turn.  Was that legal?  And pulled in to the lot.  I had no idea that place was even there.  In case you are interested the name of it is Albanese and they have a HUGE candy store.  I made the mistake of walking away from the Husband when I was looking for some candy for my parents and he had a handful of chocolate candy, ect.  when I found him.  As we were checking out, I heard a mother telling her son only two items.  Next time I am going to tell this to the Husband.  <Sigh>

So it may not have been the romantic night we originally planned on but it was still romantic and it was an adventure, that is for sure!  It is one of those stories we will be telling in our old age, about the night the lights went out...So we are planning a new adventure somewhere else, to use our hotel points at.  Keep watching for that adventure and hopefully the lights will not go out!

Failed Adventure



Picture of the gun I own.


So what do I mean by the title Failed Adventure?  It is not that the adventure itself failed or that we did not enjoy the adventure.  What it means is that I got sick during the adventure and we were not able to complete it.  I felt so bad about this and I was embarrassed as well.  I guess I will start at the beginning.

My husband and I had signed up to take a  Basic Marksmanship (handgun) with Pierce Training in New Castle, Indiana.  My husband was super excited that I was going to take this class with him.  For those of you who know me really well, you know that before I met my husband I had never touched a gun and was not in to them at all, they made me very nervous.  When I met my husband that all changed, as this is one of his favorite hobbies. 

We took off on Friday night to head up to the Indy area.  We were on a tight schedule to arrive to the south side of Indy because my husband had a used gun on hold at a shop up there that he was planning on purchasing.  Due to traffic we were running behind so my husband called the store to let them know that we might be there 10 minutes after closing.  Since they knew he was planning on buying the gun and he knows them personally they said that was not a problem.  10 minutes before the shop was supposed to close he called them again to let him know he would be there 5-10 minutes after close, this time a new employee answered the phone and said they would not stay open, no exceptions.  The manager had left for the day so we could not talk to him.  I was shocked and baffled, they knew we might be a few minutes late and it is not like they are a department store or anything, you had a legit buyer that was coming in to make a purchase.  We tried to get there before they closed but we were five minutes late, he tried knocking on the door and calling but they would not answer.  I felt so bad about this and asked him if he knew of anyone else in the area that had one.  I then thought of Indy Gun Safety (we have purchased two guns from them in the past) and he said that there was one there last time but it was a little more expensive because it was new.  Since they are open only once a week and by appointment only during the rest of the week I thought maybe the owner would come over to make the sale, if he still had it in stock.  So my husband gave him a call, the owner was out of town but his wife was available to come over and meet us to sale it to us.  Yay!  I thought maybe the weekend was off to a bad start but it had just taken a turn for the better.  We were very grateful that she was able to do this last minute, this is what customer service is all about!  So we have now purchased three guns from them and I would not hesitate to purchase from them again.  I find that their prices are lower, probably because he keeps a small stock, a lot of what he does is training.  So if you are in the market to purchase a new gun, check him out and give him a call or check out his website.  http://www.indygunsafety.com/Sales.html  I will not mention the name of the shop that did not sell us the gun because I felt that it was the new employee's fault.  My husband did PM the manager on INGO to let him know what happened and the manager responded.  Unfortunately, they lost a sale that day.

So I thought this was a good omen, everything had worked out, boy was I wrong.  On Saturday, the day of the class, I woke up and I felt a little off.  I figured once I got moving I would be fine.  We arrived at the class before 8:00 a.m. and got settled in, as the morning went on I kept feeling sicker and sicker but I was determined to continue.  I was learning some new techniques and how to draw from a holster and enjoying myself but I still felt sick.  After a quick break we were back at shooting again and I thought I was going to be sick, I will not get in to details on here.  I started walking towards the car and one of the trainers a cop and a trained medic followed me.  Talk about embarrassing.  He put me in his car, a cop car of course and no I was not being arrested. :-)  Turned the air conditioning on for me and gave me some powerade.  I am not sure if it was the heat (heat index was probably somewhere between 105 and 110) or if I had a bug.  I waited a while but we did not think it was a good idea to continue the class.  I felt terrible about this because my husband was really enjoying himself, I would have been if I was not sick and we had friends that were taking the class with us and I had wanted to spend time with them.  In the end we left and we were not charged for the class, which was super nice of them and they did not have to do this, since we did take 1/2 of it.  I believe they will be offering another class in September, which we will probably take.  So this is why it was a failed adventure.  Nothing to do with the individuals training us, it all had to do with me being sick.  So we will give it a try again another time.

I guess the weekend was not a complete waste because we did get to see our friends, even though it was brief and we got to spend a little bit of time with my parents, since we stayed with them.  I did start to feel a little better that night and we watched Tremors (a classic according to my Dad and my friend Lindsey) with my Dad, since my mom was at work.  On Sunday we relaxed for a bit, went to lunch with my parents, mom went to work and we left that night, I still felt a little sick that day.  I went to work on Monday and felt sick, so I stayed home today (Tuesday) and slept and I am finally starting to feel better.  Not sure if I had a bug or if it was the heat but thankfully I do feel better.

Hopefully our next adventure will go much better than this one. :-)

New Adventure For My Husband

Well my husband had a new adventure this weekend and he had a blast.  We went up to Indy so that he could take a home defensive shotgun class. The class lasted for two days (8+ hrs.) a day and was taught by Michigan Defensive Firearms Institute.  They are based out of Michigan but do travel to other locations from time to time. 

If you are wondering if I took the class, no I did not.  A shotgun class is not really my thing.  Have I ever taken a class?  Why yes I have!  I took the Women on Target Instructional Shooting Clinic back in April.

So while, my husband experienced a brand new adventure this weekend, I did not.  However, I did have a wonderful weekend visiting and catching up with family up in the Indianapolis area.  I was able to spend time with one of my best friends and we went to see Bad Teacher.  I was also able to spend time with my parents and visit my new baby cousin who was less than a week old.

As far as adventures go my husband gave his class an A+.  So if this is your type of thing then definitely check out one of their classes, if they are ever in your area. 

Stay tuned for more adventures, there are some that are planned for the near future!