We ate breakfast and packed up our things. The van was loaded and we said good-bye to the creepy little neighborhood and made our way to Chez Elle. It was Ella's birthday and she got to pick where we would eat breakfast before we hit the road. She had been asking to go to the Creperia since we arrived, so it was no surprise that we found ourselves navigating towards this restaurant.
It was such a cute place and the ambiance was so tre chic. The menu was amazing and every plate that went by us caused us to sign with delight. We got 3 savory crepes and 3 dessert crepes. They were all quite good although we pretty much all agreed that Ella's was the best. Salmon, capers, and a dill sauce. Yum.
It was such a quaint little place. No one wanted to leave...especially to get into the van for a 7 hour drive home!
The ride seemed much, much longer that it did on the way there. Not a single person slept (except me...which was only for about 20 minutes) and I was shocked that they were all wide awake. Wide awake and bored and cranky and not interested in sitting in a confined space. I was really unsure if we were going to make it back home without kicking someone out of the vehicle. I was almost ready to walk home just so I could get out of there and away from all the complaints and bickering.
Hattie kept complaining about here tummy which she often does in the car (whether that is because it really starts to hurt from the position she is in for so long or the motion of the car...or if she is just that bored and that she has no distraction and it seems like something to pass the time) but she told me her tummy hurt well over 200 times. I kid you not. I started timing it and she would mention it at least every 1-2 minutes and this went on for over 2 hours. I thought I was going to lose my mind.
We were about half way through Iowa when the van started to shake and the check engine light came on. Luckily we were right at an exit and we got off right away. I had this sinking feeling that we were going to be staying at a hotel in Iowa that night. We crossed our fingers as we went into the gas station and gave the van a 15 minute rest. Jason had looked it up online and saw that a number of people had had this problem when they were using cruise control and once they gave their van a rest, it started right up like nothing had ever happened. We waited our obligatory 15 minutes, prayed and held our breath as Jason turned the ignition. "VANessa" (nicknamed by Ella) started right up and was willing to get back on the road. Woot! Prayers of thanksgiving were offered up and we continued on up I35.
We finally reached home around 8:45pm...about 8 hours from when we first set out. Everyone was so glad to be home and get out of the vehicle.
We had an amazing time and loved every minute of the trip (return trip excluded)...hehe. I learned something...based off of that return trip...we are going to need to fly when we go to Florida. I'm pretty sure a 24 hour drive might just kill me.
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