The holiday is over, and it’s back to the grind. What an amazing time we had, though!

I bugged out from work early at 11 AM and stopped to pick up takaza, then it was down to Chicago to pick up woodychitwn. As expected, traffic on the Kennedy Expressway was painful as we inched out of town, but once we got past the Circle Interchange everything was fine. Lunch was a quick stop at Arby’s in Lowell, IN; their pecan chicken salad sandwich was surprisingly tasty.

We ran into more traffic on I-465 around Indianapolis, but once past that it was clear sailing to Columbus. We arrived at fordshepherd‘s place at around 8 PM. We were joined by kai_darkwolf and roby_panther for dinner at Bexley Monk. Dinner was quite amusing, and our waiter may have been the gayest man in the room, which is saying something. After dinner, at Dan’s suggestion (by way of Frank DeCaro) we went a few blocks down to Graeter’s Ice Cream. Wow! That was some good stuff. My mocha chip ice cream was great, and Dan’s toffee chip milkshake was amazing.

After dinner we went back to Ford’s and watched a little of Wizard People, Dear Reader, then Ford ducked out for a few minutes and returned from the airport with bajahyena, who arrived on a late flight. We chatted for a bit then it was off to bed.

Most everyone slept in a bit, since we didn’t get to bed until late. We enjoyed a lazy morning before Ford, Baja, Dan, and I went out to First Watch for breakfast, then it was off to do a bit of grocery shopping. This was far more entertaining than it should have been, but eventually we wound up with a huge cartload of stuff (and some good booze). Woody, Jack, and ajpyropup rejoined us for a dinner of delicious grilled steaks, mashed potatoes (equal parts potatoes, butter, and sour cream, apparently), and baby bok choy. Yum! There followed a lovely evening of chatting, boozahol, and a showing of All Dogs Go To Heaven.

Dan slept in a bit, so Baja, Ford, and I enjoyed some great episodes of Venture Brothers. Once everyone was up and about, we were joined by rayneepanda for a trip to North Market for lunch. As I enjoyed my banh mi from Lac Viet Market, Ford and Julie mugged for the camera (and Baja refused to smile for the camera).

Dessert was delicious ice cream from Jeni’s, always so good. This time around, I had Thai chili, lemon & blueberry, and backyard mint ice creams. Oh so good! Alas, Julie had to take her leave, so it was just the four of us going back to Ford’s.

We got there just in time for folks to start arriving for Ford’s Labor Day party, though! I can’t begin to list all the folks who were there, but it was a whole lot of fun. I was able to help out by grilling up ten pounds of marinated pork tenderloin, which came out pretty good, though a little overdone for my liking. After dinner the giant animal people came out of hiding and Takaza’s suit got to play around a little bit. (Shhhh, don’t tell anyone about this, though!) Needless to say, the booze was flowing freely, as was the laughter. What an awesome party!

Monday arrived far too soon, and after getting lunch at The Old Bag of Nails with a small group of 14 (great folks, one and all), it was time to hit the road back to Chicago. We didn’t actually get on the road until 3 PM EDT, so after dropping off Woody in Chicago, we didn’t get home until 10 PM CDT.

Thanks to Ford for a wonderful time – your hospitality was wonderful, and as always your home is delightful. Thanks also to Jack and AJ for putting up with our imposition as well (thanks especially to Jack for his help with sleeping arrangements – that was very generous of you). It was so great to get to know Baja, Roby, and AJ a bit more, and it’s always a pleasure to see Kwik and all of the rest of the Columbus crew. We need to get down there more often than just once a year!