Bridgestone Trip Diary: Monday

Started out around 7:30am and ate at McDonalds before I began my trip. About 40 minutes in, I contacted Onstar and asked for directions to the zoo. I had a nice drive, except that Ohioans are a bunch of lead foots. And I didn’t screw up on the driving until the evening. More on that later.
The directions from Onstar were pretty good. When it says “Bear left” or “Bear right” it means “don’t take the exit”. Hyper drivers, like my dad, might have issues with that.
The zoo was cool. Plenty of animals and play areas for the kids. I walked and walked and almost got a sunburn. I did put some sunscreen on this morning and again after I got into the car to leave the zoo. Unfortunately, that must have done something because my eyes started burning and watering and just wouldn’t stop. I spent about 10 to 15 minutes trying to make them stop. Eventually, I was able to go to the mall. The Summit Mall isn’t much bigger than a mal near my town. That was surprising. But the real surprise was that there was no bookstore in the mall. I did learn something very important: women should have at least a Coach handbag or a Vera Bradley bag. It seemed like all of the women there had them. And if you go to the Coach handbag store, there are no prices listed. You know that old saying, “If you have to ask, then you can’t afford it.” There was a man who worked for CBS in the luggage shop. He apparently was a camera man and he was talking about his experience at the Canadian Open. He prefers American currency and it seems the course superintendents there apparently had some issue with the CBS crew filming on the driving range or something. I left the store before hearing the rest of the story. You can only fake an interest in luggage for so long before you have to move on.
I walked and walked in that mall for about 2 hours and the only thing I bought was dinner. Maybe if there had been a bookstore……
So, I left the mall, and using Onstar, I drove to my hotel. There’s a Walmart close by so I shopped a little in Walmart before checking in. Once I had checked in, I rested my tired feet, called mom to let her know I made it there okay, then sorted through some of my stuff. At the zoo, I bought a T-shirt, mood ring in the shape of an elephant, and a necklace with a giraffe pendant.
Deciding I was a bit hungry, I went back out and drove around a bit before going to Walmart for some donuts and milk. This is where the screw-up happened. I was driving up and down the main street looking at all the restaurants and drove the wrong way on a one way street. That was a downer. But the good thing is that I’m a stranger here and no one knows me. They just know it was some kind of crazy West Virginian.
As for my hotel room, it has a fridge and a microwave and was really cold with the AC on just a little bit. I had to turn the heat on. And I can’t figure out how to use my prepaid calling card to call Mom. So, I used my cell phone instead. I would have preferred a room on the 2nd or 3rd floor but mine ended up being on the ground floor.
Bad news: It looks like they are calling for thunderstorms on Wednesday. I’d better get all the pictures I want on Tuesday so I can leave the camera in the car. I don’t need my hands full of stuff if it’s going to rain.