Weekend in Madison, Indiana

My daughter’s state gymnastics meet last weekend was okay, considering I don’t think she did as well as she could have done. Watching her was like watching a practice, as I didn’t think her heart was in it, despite performing in front of judges. She qualified to advance to level 9 regionals, but since that meet is in a suburb of Lansing, Michigan, we opted not to go. I wonder how many more years we’ll get out of this sport.

All was not lost, however. We finished the meet in time to go to downtown Madison, where we ran in and out of as many shops as possible before they closed for the day. We bought chocolates, tea samples, and decorative stuff for the house. By the time we shopped ’til we dropped, we had worked up quite an appetite. We ate at Joey G’s, where we had cheeseburgers, French fries, tater tots, and Fanta orange drinks.

Before we left downtown for the Clifty Inn, I took some pictures of Madison. I love the historic homes and businesses. It’s like stepping back in time, right down to the foundations.

Basement of a shop- note the ancient foundation stones in the arch

Downtown Madison shops

One of many well-preserved historic homes

At the Clifty Inn, we soaked in the whirlpool until we were sleepy and ready for bed. The next morning, we stuffed ourselves at the breakfast buffet before heading out through the park to look at the waterfalls. It was threatening rain, so we focused on seeing the four main waterfalls.

We managed to see three of the four and as I had hoped, they all had water flowing over them. Unfortunately, we were just far enough north for spring to not yet have sprung in Madison. It seemed everything was gray– the sky, the vegetation, the rocks, and the water.

 
Tunnel Falls- 83′ drop

Big Clifty Falls- 60′ drop

We had to leave because it was starting to rain and we faced a 3-hour drive home. In all, we had a wonderful mother-daughter weekend. I would love to come back to the Clifty Falls State Park with the whole family later in the later spring or in early summer, so we can see the park in all its green glory.

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Costly procrastination

My daughter has her state gymnastics meet in Madison, Indiana, on Saturday. About a month ago, I made reservations at the Clifty Inn, in the Clifty Falls State Park in Madison. We stayed there last fall after she had a meet and I really liked the hotel, it’s panoramic view, and the surrounding forest. After a drought last summer and fall, the waterfalls were dried up, so we weren’t able to see the park’s famous namesakes.

When I found out we wouldn’t need the hotel rooms for this weekend, I kept putting off (and forgetting) to cancel our reservations. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I called too late and they were still going to charge me for one room. We decided to stay Saturday after the meet was over, even though it meant spending the rest of the afternoon and night in Madison. No other families from our team were going to be there that night, so I couldn’t give it away. I certainly didn’t want to be charged for a room I wouldn’t be using.

I’ve decided to make the best of it– we can turn it into a mother-daughter weekend. If we have time after the meet, I’d like to go to the historic downtown and check out some of the shops. I think it’s amazing how many historic buildings have been restored and preserved in Madison. We can have a leisure dinner, go swimming at the hotel, and in the morning after breakfast, maybe we can hike one of the shorter trails. I’d love to see the waterfalls. With all the rain we’ve had lately, the hotel staff said they should be flowing.

I always enjoy spending time in nature and struggle to get my kids to appreciate it like I do. Hopefully my daughter will enjoy hiking and seeing the waterfalls. I find nature so peaceful and regenerating– it fills up my soul and makes me feel human again. I’ll be sure to take some pictures and post them to my Flickr account. 

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Snow, sports, and shopping

Thanks to the treacherous weather on Thursday, we decided to leave for Indianapolis that night, rather than get up early Friday morning and drive 300+ miles without knowing how long it would take to reach our destination. I had heard the drive to Vincennes, IN, was 5 hours (it’s normally 1 hr.), so I wasn’t taking any chances. In the end, it took 1 1/2 hours to get to Vincennes because we had to drive as slow as 20 MPH in some places. The ice on the road looked like the bumpy back of an alligator and stretched for miles under our tires. It wouldn’t take much to slide off the road in those conditions. I’ve done that twice before and don’t want to turn in another insurance claim for winter driving accidents. They’re gonna think I have a problem.

In all, it took us 3 hours to get to Terre Haute, normally a 2-hour drive from Evansville. We spent the night there and had a hot breakfast the next day before trekking on towards Indy on much better roads, although I refused to drive 70 MPH like the other fools. We made it with two hours to spare– better early than late. Gymnastics waits for no one if they are late.

Laura’s scores were so-so, but surprisingly high enough to net her medals for everything but bars (that score was too bad to mention here). She placed 4th on vault, 2nd on beam, 3rd on floor and 5th all around (lucky for her they went out 5 places).

While we were waiting for awards to start, Laura dropped a bomb on me. She said she wanted to quit gymnastics and do competitive cheer next year. Gaaaaahhh… I do not like competitive cheer (I’ve seen it and still don’t like it, so I know what I’m talking about). I told her gymnastics is the foundation for all her sports, so she should consider continuing it throughout high school. I hope and pray she changes her mind. We just bought a very expensive team leo for her at the start of this season. That day I put a secret hex on her: I hope she has twin girls just like her someday; expensive– times two. May they choose expensive activites and change their minds often about what they want to do.

 After the meet, we shared quality mother-daughter time shopping in the Circle Center Mall, hoping to find something Laura could buy with her birthday money. We went to her favorite stores– Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch. They are not my favorite stores, however.

Both stores assault my senses by blaring loud music and pumping out strong fragrances that burn my nose and give me a sinus headache. In the Abercrombie store, the salesgirl asked me a question, but I couldn’t hear her due to the deafening music. I asked her to repeat her question, but still had no idea what she said. Same thing happened in the Hollister store– the guy ringing us up asked me if we wanted to buy their perfume, but I could hardly hear him across the counter. I didn’t know if I should nod or shake my head. I just wanted to get out of there.

The lighting in both stores is terrible too– dark like my closet, with spotlights focused on selected shelves and racks. I want to ask them to turn on all the lights so I can better see their overpriced clothes. I don’t want to pick up something I can’t afford and have Laura fall in love with it. 

The whole experience in these stores makes me feel like an ancient specimen of motherhood, accompanying her teenage daughter for the sole purpose of handing over her Visa card to pay for thin, over-priced T-shirts and tank tops produced by child labor in some tropical country abroad. My revenge: I secretly enjoy messing up as many piles of tank tops as I can get my hands on. I make sure I touch every neatly folded pile, rifling through it and pretending to look for a certain size or style. I hope the teens who work in those stores hate folding and re-folding those flimsy tank tops.

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Goodbye Christmas…

We finally took down our Christmas tree and decorations tonight. Yes, I know it’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. What’s a crazybusymom to do? I think this is the latest we’ve ever taken down Christmas stuff.

It’s not that we didn’t want to put it away, it’s that nobody ever bothered to do it. I’ve been on crutches since Dec. 7, with a brief reprieve from Jan. 10-15 to attend the ALA Midwinter conference in Philadelphia. But I’m back on them (doctor’s orders) until Jan. 28, when I hope he proclaims me to be healed and free of those wretched things. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

There’s more snow forecast for tonight and early tomorrow morning. The kids would love to have another day off school, despite having had one today for the holiday. I just hope it doesn’t snow this weekend when Laura and I travel north to Indianapolis for a gymnastics meet. There’s nothing like driving for 3 1/2 hours to a city that’s one hour ahead of us and fighting snow and slippery roads on the second half of the trip.

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