Karen and I just got back. We had a really nice... adventure, I guess it was.
I woke up yesterday about 12:30 and decided that I'd had enough sleep. Karen, Kim and all three kids (I hadn't mentioned that Brian was here, had I?) came back from Patrick's soccer game. They left shortly to go eat and I elected to stay home. When they returned, Karen and I go ready to go have some fun... but first, we needed to drop Brian off in Lawrence.
After we dropped him off, we continued heading east on a country road, passing corn fields and other agricultural stuff on the dirt road. We came to a sign saying, "Bridge out 1/2 mile" and I said the hell with it and struck out for a highway. The caddy was getting really dirty and hitting bottom in a few places..
We decided to go to the Great American Mall in Olathe, Kansas. We had heard about this place, but it wasn't very well publicized at all... just the announcement that it opened six months or so ago.
We just happened to get lucky and found it pretty easily. And it was large. And filled with mostly junky stores. We went in an entrance to a store named Kitchen ?something? and we were pretty impressed with that store... all kindsa kitchen stuff. But when we got into the mall proper we were de-impressed. It's like an outlet mall, only not really. We found one other store that was pretty good, a book store, and Karen bought a paperback that she'd been looking for forever, and I almost bought several computer books, but didn't. That was our sole purchase. Well, no, we also bought a cinnamon roll and a cuppa coffee. That was an excellent purchase. Best one I've had for a long time. Can't remember the name of the place, though. Cinnaroll or something like that, not that it matters.
We then headed back for Lawrence, watching the sun set as we drove. There was a lot of dust in the air, and the sun was really red and beautiful. As the sunset progressed, the heavier layer of dust nearer the earth obscured the lower part of the globe for a really interesting effect.
We drove aimlessly around Lawrence for a little while, just looking around, thinking that we might run into an interesting place to eat, but we didn't. Karen remembered a place out on the highway, the Barber Wire restaurant, so we wound up there. Not too bad, it's one of those places that serve you roasted peanuts in the shell while you're waiting on your food. Not a good place to go when you're wearing sandals, though... and I was. Shells all over the floor.
We were thinking about finding a jazz joint, but after supper I was really tired (and I think that Karen was too, but she wouldn't admit it) so we found a motel. We watched the last part of the Chief's game (They finally won one) and went to bed shortly after 22:00.
And we slept until 10:00 this morning. It was a really good bed. Twelve hours... not that unusual for me, but it was for Karen. And she said that she wasn't tired!
We missed the free breakfast at the motel, so we went to the Country Kitchen for their breakfast buffet. Well, Karen did, anyway, I just got steak and eggs. I'm not fond of buffet-style eating at all... I'd rather just sit there and have someone bring me my food. Maybe it's all of the choices that need to be made, or something, 
I don't know.
While we were waiting to be seated, two girls came in and it was pretty obvious to me that they were gay, but Karen didn't believe me until they sat down and one of them started rubbing the others leg intimately. Now, this doesn't bother me at all, and I think that it did bother Karen some.
Lesbians don't bother me, because if I were a female I would surely be one. Women are pretty neat, I think, and why would anyone want a man when they could have a woman? I'm very glad, of course, that all women, especially Karen, don't feel that way.
Gay men, of course... I don't understand that. It doesn't really bother me that much, but I don't understand... once again, going back to my feelings about women. Again, why would anyone want a man when they could have a woman?
On the other hand, most of the gay people that I've met and worked with, got to know, are very nice, and they seem to generally be smarter than the general populace. But that could just be that I meet them and work with them at the hospital, where most of the workers are above average.
Got off on a tangent, there...
Karen and I drove around the campus at KU before heading home. Beautiful place, old and new buildings, very hilly and picturesque. We parked down by the football stadium and walked up a long steep hill to the bell tower, and I once again realized how bad my legs are getting. I think that I'll make an appointment Monday to get them fixed.
So, we're back home again, and it was a very nice time. When Karen and I are alone together, everything is wonderful. It doesn't matter if we get lost, or don't know where we're going or how to get there, it's always fun just being with her.
We need to do that more often, though... like once a week, instead of every four or five months...
I also eliminated some stuff in the nav section, after I discovered that I had about three more tables there than I needed... so let me know if anything looks really funny...