Going: Indianapolis

For the last three years, my sister and I have gone to the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. It has become one of our favorite weekends of the year!

The tournament was back in Indianapolis this year. We LOVE the tournament in Indianapolis. Downtown Indy is easy to get around (we don't even get a rental car - you can walk everywhere) and the city does such a good job of hosting big sporting events. The streets are renamed for the teams, there are designated bars for each team, the hotels are decked out and prepared for all of the fans.....it is all such a fun atmosphere. 

We were lucky to get a hotel reservation - we literally couldn't find a room for months in advance, but I have a higher hotel status due to travel with my old job, so we were able to finagle a reservation. We stayed at the the Homewood Suites - a brand I've never stayed at - and we really, really liked it. The room was huge and they even have dinners during the week, so we could have had a nice, free meal on Thursday (but we chose to go to our favorite downtown restaurant). The breakfasts were great, too.

We went to all of the 11 basketball games in the four days. It really, truly is SO MUCH FUN to see so many good games. We enjoy chatting with people sitting around us, eating stadium food, and doing our best to participate in the festivities (I played a halftime game this year). My sister has Gopher season tickets and she generously takes me to quite a few games, so we get very familiar with the players on the Gophers, as well as the other Big Ten teams. 

Scotty's is our favorite place to grab a bite to eat and a drink between game sessions. If you are ever in Indy, you need to get their pickle chips and a flight of martinis. So good. 

Of course it's great to have four days of uninterrupted time with my sister to catch up and relax, too. All in all, it has become a tradition that we really look forward to, and one that makes us bummed when it is over! 

Going: Kansas City and Camp

Four days after I got back from Vegas, I turned around and went to Kansas City for the weekend. My best friends' youngest kid was having his 1st birthday party and I just couldn't miss it. We had a great weekend of just relaxing and talking and eating and not getting out of our pajamas. I drove down with a friend (who is actually my best friend's sister) and we also had a good road trip - talked about all kinds of good things and hard things, sang LOTS of songs, and just enjoyed the drive. It felt like it had been a long time since I had gone on a long drive, and since I love windshield time, it was fun to have a quick road trip.

The following weekend I went to Camp for Quilt Retreat. I brought along two friends who were new to Quilt Retreat, so it was a fun weekend of them seeing Camp (which is such a significant part of my life) first-hand. We happened to be there on what would have been Grandpa's 95th birthday. I've missed him a lot since he passed away in November, so it was very special to be at Camp on his birthday. He was one of the founders of Camp in 1947. I always feel so at home and spiritually refreshed when I'm at Camp, and that weekend was no different. 

These quick trips made the month feel pretty busy, especially in the midst of all kinds of other travels, but I'm very thankful for quick weekends away with people who know me well, love me deeply, and truly care about what is going on in my life. These trips were definitely more about who I was with than what we did. I'm thankful for the ability to get away to spend time with people who mean so much to me.

Going: Vegas

Well, it's almost been a month since I've been back from Vegas, and I've already gone on 3 more trips since that time....so I'd say it's about time I caught up on the blog! 

We left for Vegas on a Wednesday night and had a hilarious pilot - we had a ground stop because of the Vice President's visit to the cities, so once we were finally cleared for take off he said "okay folks, we're gonna fly this plane like we stole it!" The general atmosphere on a flight to Vegas is rather festive, so the passengers loved him.

We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental, which was GREAT. There is no casino, which I LOVED. I know, I know, not many people go to Vegas and love having no casino, but I just can't handle the smoke and the noise! Seriously, just get me my AARP card now! :) There was also a nice pool at the hotel, which I sat by every afternoon, and there were great (free) workout classes, which I love so much more than working out on my own, so that was awesome! 

Because of the time change, I ended up being awake VERY early every day. It was nice to get a coffee, do some reading, go to a workout class, sit by the pool....and still not even be noon! We typically ate lunch by the pool and then got cleaned up to go out for the evenings. 

I would say my favorite buffet that we went to was at the Bellagio, and I would say you could skip the buffet at the MGM. My favorite meal was at Olives, where we sat right by the Bellagio fountains. We made a reservation for right when it opened at 5, which allowed us to get a great spot to sit. I would highly recommend it!

We went to the Tim and Faith show and the Donny and Marie show. Both were SO GOOD! We had the perfect seats at both shows and I really, really loved them both!

Other than going to dinners and shows, we just had a really nice, relaxing time. Vegas has never been a place that I've been dying to visit because casinos and night life is not really my scene, but I had a great time with Mom and Ang, and I'm so glad I was invited along. Thanks for making it a fun, relaxing, affordable trip, Ang!