While visiting family in Michigan, we mentioned this to Jake and suggested he make a trip to Kentucky to go see this with us. To our delight, he was very interested. He put it on his calendar and came this weekend for a visit, arriving late Friday evening.
Saturday we all slept in. When we got up, Claude made us cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Our thought had been to take Jake to say hi to Papa followed by a drive through the 'knob country' around Berea, making sure we stopped at the old iron forge. The problem, it was rainy and that just isn't the best for a drive and hiking through grass to visit the iron furnace. So we chilled at home and I started working on a crochet project for Katelyn. We enjoyed conversation, Jake got some of his writing done on his Blog and for a class he is taking.
About 3pm we headed into Georgetown to say hi to Papa. It seems his refrigerator bit the dust and he needed milk. We took Papa some milk, I called the realty company and set up for them to deliver a loaner fridge, then we started our drive to Berea to have dinner at Boone's Tavern. Still rainy but a nice drive and no traffic backups.
However, upon arrival at Boone's Tavern they had part of the parking lot blocked off. Claude drove around to the second half and found us a spot. As we walked across the first part of the parking lot, we realized there was a set outside for a wedding. Hence, the blocking off of that part of the parking lot. The door had a sign on it requesting we use the side entrance. So we walked around to the side of the building. There we saw a young girl in a bright red dress with lots of sequins on it. I'm a little confused because I was thinking she might be the bride and I've never seen a bride dressed in a strapless, red sequined dress before. And the young man with her was in a black tuxedo with a black shirt and a red rose for a boutonniere. To each his own and we entered Boone's Tavern by the side door.
Our reservation was for 5pm and it was about 5 minutes till 5pm. The lobby area was clearly set for reception foods. We walked past that to the dining room which had half the tables removed for a dance floor and half the room set for seating and eating. Hmmm...We had reservations so they must have somewhere for us to eat. We had really hyped this place to Jake and were looking forward to treating him to a really nice evening. This was getting a bit frustrating.
A nice man came over and asked if he could help. I told him we had dinner reservations for 5pm and were not sure where to go now. He asked is we were staying in the hotel. I assured him we were only there for dinner. He seemed concerned. Now I'm getting a bit anxious. Claude had carefully laid this evening out and it was looking to be a bit messed up.
The man led us back through the lobby to the check-in desk for the hotel part of the building. A man came out of their meeting room space and the man with us explained what we were looking for. The man from the meeting room space told us they were not quite ready for dinner yet and that we were 5 minutes early. Geez!! Okay, I assured him we would wait for 5 minutes in the back portion of the hotel where there is a sitting area. It gave us a good view of the podium in front of the meeting rooms being used to assign tables to guests.
We had not sat there long before a girl and her parents came down the elevators. Clearly they were guests in the hotel portion. They went to the podium and talked to the girl who had just told us to wait for 5 minutes. They explained they wanted to dine in the hotel restaurant. She asked if they had reservations. They assured her they did not have reservations. Then she looked at a computer monitor for a bit and told them to follow her. Whereupon she took them promptly to a table in the meeting rooms to be seated for their dinner. I looked at Claude and told him they should definitely have room for us if they seated people without a reservation. We hopped up from our comfy chairs and made our way to the podium.
The girl was back and looked at us. We explained again we had a reservation. She worked with her computer like it might not be easy to find us a table. Then she said, "Follow me, please" and picked up two menus and led us into the meeting rooms not converted into a restaurant. She started to seat us at a table for two by the window. Then she realized there were three of us. So she quickly moved to another table for four people and seated us there and went to get a third menu. Goodness!!
We had a perfectly lovely meal. Delicious and we were all so full we passed on the dessert portion.
While we were dining, Jake was positioned so he could see out the window. The bride and groom came for their wedding while the rain was stopped and they were not wearing black and red. It turns out it was also prom night and Berea was crawling with teens in evening attire and being as grown up as they can be at that point in their lives. It was fodder for remembering Jake's proms. I was happy the young people we saw in black and red were probably going to a prom and not the bride and groom.
After dinner we got in the car and headed back up the road to Richmond to find Eastern Kentucky University and the Performing Arts Center. Claude had located it in hims computer before leaving home and he drove right there. However, there were no cars in the parking lot and we were 45 minutes before the performance. We drove around the building and determined the parking lot we should probably be parking in and Claude backed into a nice spot. Then a man came to Jake's car window and tapped on the glass. He stated their superintendent or someone at a high level had made a mistake. He then said that the performance was going to May 21st!! What? I heard this performance advertised on NPR during the week. This nice man then asked if we were on the 'eMail list'. We assured him we were not. He apologized and then again told us the performance was moved to another date. He left, got in his car and drove away.
Jake suggested we drive around to another door and read the notice taped to the door. We did and sure enough it just said the performance was moved to May 21st and they hoped it didn't inconvenience anyone. Really. Our son drove 5 hours from Michigan just to see this and it wasn't happening. What to do, what to do?
I suggested we go to Cold Stone Creamery since we weren't going to see Hal Holbrook/Mark Twain. Jake, bless his heart, knew we were disappoint and frustrated since he made this great effort to be there with us. He sincerely said something like, "Well, I can't feel too bad after a meal like that!" Claude point the car to Lexington.
Jake started to research on his cellphone and learned that Hal Holbrook was a little sick and just couldn't come to perform. After all he is 91 years old. And this performance really doesn't have an understudy. Now we all knew and understood. We totally enjoyed our ice cream in lieu of Mark Twain.
Once home we all got into comfy clothes and piled up on the living room furniture to watch a little television.
This morning Claude had meetings in Lexington to attend. He was out of the house by 5:30am. Jake and I slept in a bit. Jake decided to hang around for a little while. He is taking a writing class and wanted to work on his homework that needed to be sent in this evening. We did go get a quick breakfast a Hardee's. Then ,I just curled up on the love seat and crocheted away while Jake worked at the breakfast room table. Every now and then one of us would pause and bring up a topic for discussion. It was just such a lovely morning with my son.
We met Claude in Georgetown and had a sandwich as Jimmy John's before Jake hit the road for home. But I requested one selfie of us all before he left. I don't get many pictures of our son and I really want to be better at getting some taken.
This was a fun visit. We missed the performance but we still had great fun being together. I love my kids. And I love having adult time with them when the opportunity presents itself. Turns out Jake will be back in May. He is taking some one-day class in Louisville. So he will come on a Friday and leave on a Monday as it is Labor Day weekend. Yippee!!
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