There are many reasons why I love the internet. Email, online shopping, Wikipedia, and of course donkeyporn.com. But my biggest reason, corny though it sounds, is the number of friends I’ve made through it.
One of the most valuable of these is my friendship with Greg. His was the first blog I ever read, and the inspiration for me starting up my own. Admittedly he has let his blog go to fallow a little bit over the past couple of years, but trust me when I say he is the one true hidden genius of the blogging world. I have yet to read anyone who is as funny or as good a writer as him. I keep trying to persuade him into going into a joint blog venture with me, but the swine keeps refusing. No doubt seeing through my transparent efforts to bask in his glory.
Greg and I read each other’s blogs for a while. Then we emailed each other for a bit, sent a few gifts back and forth, and then started having video chats. Soon I became friends with his wife Deb too, and Kerry soon got in on the act. In no time at all they had turned from internet acquaintances into valued family friends.
In 2007 Kerry and I took the plunge and went to visit Greg and Deb for a couple of days as part of our holiday to Chicago. Then in the autumn of the same year they came over here for a couple of days as an extension their trip to Ireland.
And now that we’re pretty confident they aren’t a couple of depraved sex maniacs we’re planning on going back again this April. This time for ten days, and we’re taking the kids too.
There is something that is concerning me about our flights however. Our outbound flight from Manchester leaves at 10:35am and arrives in Chicago at 12:55pm, taking just two hours twenty two minutes. Whereas on the way back we leave America at 5:40pm and don’t land back in England until 7:40am the following day. That’s fourteen hours! Even taking into account that it’s downhill on the way there (nowhere is more Northern than Yorkshire) that just doesn’t make any sense. Kerry keeps trying to tell me that it’s all to do with the time being different in America, but I know that’s a load of rubbish. We were there a couple of years ago and I distinctly remember it getting both light and dark at around the same time that it does over here.
Anyhow, all that aside, both Kerry and I are getting increasingly excited about our trip. We’re forgoing any time in Chicago this time around as we’ve decided as we don’t really want to pay for a hotel. And anyway, surely there can’t be much left in the city worth visiting that we didn’t cover in our three days there in 2007? It’s not like it’s a thriving cultural mecca like Huddersfield or anything.
So we’re going to spend all our time in Madison, Wisconsin. There have been a few emails flying back and forth between the Hughes and the Lee households and it appears that Greg has quite an exciting itineracy lined up for us. Here’s an extract from his last email:
I want you to get the “real” American experience. That’s why I’ve got lists of things for the entire family to do like shopping and laundry. You will want to contrast and compare U.S. cleaning products to your own throughout the inside of the house while I’m sure Kerry will enjoy exterior home maintainence (including wood splitting and concrete spackling). It’ll be April so if Evan is tall enough we may be able to introduce him to American lawn mowing. If he’s not, Amy will mow and Evan will get a first-hand crack at how people in the U.S. insulate their attics.
God I love that man.
I’ve been doing a bit of my own investigation into the opportunities for the tourist in Madison. After all, we are talking about the birthplace of Libby Riddles – The first woman to win the Iditarod sled dog race. I shouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t an entire theme park dedicated to her or something.
Of course it doesn’t help that we were in the area two years ago and probably covered most of the tourist attractions back then. Or at least the ones that will be open in the spring anyhow. We would like to revisit The House on the Rock though, if only to demonstrate that Amy will freak out about being in the dark with a bunch of sinister dolls just as much as his daughter Julia did back when we went last time.
But really we’re not going in order to gorge on tourist attractions and museums. We’re going because we want to spend time relaxing as a family and because we miss our friends and want to see them again.
But I’d also like to see you too. I know America is a pretty big place (apparently it’s even larger than Yorkshire), and so most people reading this aren’t anywhere near Madison Wisconsin. But if you are, or are likely to be between Friday 2nd of April then how about meeting up for dinner? I promise I’ll be on my best behavior and wont embarrass you in the restaurant.
Well. Maybe just a little bit.
Geg and Dan inspect the clapper of the replica Liberty Bell in the Madison State Capital building
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on Jan 6th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
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on Jan 6th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
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on Jan 6th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Anyways, I think Wisconsin has a lot of cows, so perhaps you can experience some late night cow tipping. That’ll be fun.
VegasDads last blog post..let me tell you a little secret…
on Jan 6th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Avitables last blog post..I support my local economy!
on Jan 6th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Oh, and I didn’t realise that I actually come close to Huddersfield on occasion, will have to drop you an email the next time we’re that way.
SingleParentDads last blog post..Best of the British Mummy Bloggers Carnival – First of 2009
on Jan 6th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
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on Jan 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
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on Jan 6th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
But if you happen to see a Virgin plane flying in the opposite direction on your way home, give me a wave! I’m presuming it’ll be you bagging the window seat?
gails last blog post..The Blog for Lard Arses
on Jan 6th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
WOW! I never knew!!
Enjoy your trip sir! The US is kind of okay… most of the time!!
:)
Jeff Ss last blog post..More Christmas!
on Jan 6th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
But, I’m pretty sure we’ll still be snowed in this April.
Maybe you’ll make it to Idaho next time around!
Phils last blog post..No More Snow
on Jan 6th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
See what you made me do?!
Penelopes last blog post..Peas in a pod.
on Jan 7th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
The waiter leaned over the bar to inform me that the passengers on board were arriving in Barbados three hours before they had set off from Heathrow.
I hit him very hard between the eyes and told him not to be so ridiculous, he stayed down for a while then apologised and carried on drying glasses.
Garys last blog post..Toys to Hurt Your Friends With – 1
on Jan 7th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Jeff -You mean you won’t drive a 12 hour round trip to see me? I thought we were friends.
Ed – Only if you come round to our house and help us put the garden furniture away for the winter.
LBB – I’ll only be impressed when you tell me he got there without the use of an airplane.
Vegas – I’m just hoping no one mistakes me for a cow and tips me instead.
Avitable – That’s better than I heard, someone told me you were under house arrest due to crimes against marine creatures.
SingleParentDad – I read the other day that Britney’s twitter had been hacked, so be sure to double check that she really did invite you before you book your tickets.
Kevin – I’m not sure they would allow both of us in the same State.
Xbox – She was just an extra we hired to balance up the photo.
Gail – I wish we were flying Virgin. Our trip to China on one of their planes was the nicest flight I’ve ever been on.
Jeff – But I bet you didn’t know there were 24 West of it too. They are the secret underwater states your govenment doesn’t want to tell you about.
Penelope – You should do a coast to coast tour or something.
Gary – You’re a fearsome man Gary, a fearsome man.
on Jan 7th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Jamess last blog post..On the (Up)Take
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
-Donna
on Jan 9th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
i don’t know, the way you embarrassed everyone last time, pressing your bare ass against the glass of the governor’s office door…i’m not sure they’ll welcome you back.
on Jan 9th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
James – I’ll save that for my other porn blog
Donna – sounds good. I’ll email you nearer the time.
Bon Bon – That wasn’t my ass, it was Greg’s face. Easy mistake to make though
on Jan 16th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Erins last blog post..What is it about celebrities that causes them to frequently end up in lists?