Our First Trip Out Of State Since The Pandemic Began

Our First Trip Out Of State Since The Pandemic Began

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for July 19, 2020

It was a big week for birthdays in the Swank Household.  First up were Luke and Avery who became officially legal when they turned 21 on Tuesday.  Naturally what does every red-blooded American boy want to do first when they turn 21?  Spend time with their grandmother of course.  So that's what we did.  Grandma Linda came over for a visit and I think that really set the day off on a good foot.

We tried to restore one of our favorite traditions with their birthday by going to Benihana.  It's the restaurant where we like to spend special occasions.  Crazy how many changes they have going on in the current environment, but it was still nice to have the option to go there.  Next time, we're even hoping they'll start being able to serve food again.

Shocking I know, but we did end up in a bar to finish the evening.  They had a couple of friends come out with them and then mom and dad left the building.  I believe that's when the real debauchery started happening.

I am turning 50 on Monday so the second celebration of the week was on Saturday.  Miss Sheri and I drove down to Clear Lake, Iowa to see our old buddies, "Krazy" Kory Madson and Ron "Sugarman" Myers.  It was our first time seeing each other since the pandemic began, so we had a lot of catching up to do.

Even with good friends, Miss Sheri is still trying to do her best at social distancing.  Lucky for us, Ron & Kory were happy to accommodate her.

We went to the Boulder Tap House in Mason City for lunch.  This was my first time visiting, but I was very impressed with the food and beer selections.

We had big plans to be in Vegas this week for our birthdays, but that had to be postponed.  I was happy to be able to at least have a little bit of time celebrating with friends to commemorate turning the big 5-0.

We stopped at Ransom's in Mason City to play a few games of pool which has been one of our favorite activities to do together for more than 30 years now.

Before leaving town, we thought it would be fun to stop by to see one of our classmates, Neal.  He seemed pretty happy to see us.

I enjoy stopping by Neal's farm because he always has very interesting critters.  Last time we visited, he had a horse that thought he was a dog.  This time he had some hairy chickens who weren't very friendly despite my best efforts to pet them.  That wasn't going to happen!