on the 28th we went to see C's dad and jane again in ohio. we went out to dinner with them and met his aunt diane and uncle bob at the restaurant. afterwards they came back with us to the house and we chatted for a while having beer and wine. it was really nice. we stayed the night and went to brunch the next day before we had to head back for physical therapy. i don't even really remember what we did the rest of the day but we probably just relaxed around the house and watched a movie or something.. on the 29th we went to indianapolis just for the day after booking our new year's hotel at the library. we stopped in fair-something (don't remember the towns name) where james dean grew up and visited his grave. that was kinda cool because it really was just one small simple grave looking like the next door farmboy's with a regular stone and not fancy or special at all. not like elvis' grave or anything like that.. he's buried there next to his uncle or something along the road. which btw i found pretty weird - that you can drive over the whole graveyard by all the graves and all. here in germany you park in a lot next to the graveyard and walk to whichever grave you wanna visit. i think it's so rude and disrespectful to be taking your truck all over a place that's supposed to be peaceful - but that's just me.. so after stopping there on the way - we really didn't spend any time - we went on to indiana, went to a mall and just kinda drove around. it was okay but unfortunately we never found the new and great mall his sister had told us about. we went to olive garden for dinner (hmm, hmm, hmmm..) and got home late.

on the 31st we tried to get up and going not too late and went to cleveland. of course it took us a while to get there because we did a gazillion things in the area before ever making it to the highway and on the way. so we got there some time in the late afternoon, checked in the hotel and just snuggled up on the bed. C fell asleep pretty fast and i just relaxed and watched TV with him snuggling up to me snoring and all. btw - i think one of the most comfortable things in the world.. ;o) after a while we opened a bottle of wine we had brought, took showers and got ready to go out. of course we took our time (as usual) and never made it to the flats (bar/restaurant/club area downtown cleveland) until after 11 p.m. so we strolled around starving trying to find a place that would still serve us. we finally found one and it was already after 11.30 p.m. so we were just happy to be seated and ordered a wine kinda waiting for a menu. which never came. instead the waiter told us about how there was the appetizers buffet and once we were done there we could flip over this card-thingy and about 8 - 10 different kinds of meat were gonna be brought to the table one by one.. and that's when we started to sweat. because a new year's special meal deal like that could have easily meant 65+ bucks each or something like that and we really didn't feel like spending that kind of money. so we called the waiter back (embarassing, especially since they seated us even though we were late and all but oh well..) and asked how much it was. luckily it was only 35$ each which seemed reasonable and after we saw the buffet and all the rest of it we felt like we got the greatest deal on new year's eve ever. the appetizers buffet offered nothing but yummi and awesome stuff like muscles, shrimp, california rolls, sushi, four different warm meals like a casseroll, potatoes with seafood and stuff like that as well as different kinds of pasta salads and fresh salads, green beens, asparagus.... it was awesome. then at the table we had rice, baked bananas, special kinds of rolls and dips and the waiter came with one yummi kind of meat after the other. it included the best filet mignon i have ever had, turkey and chicken wrapped in bacon, little bratwursts and tons more i don't even remember. i couldn't try them all, it was just too much but the way best food i've had in a while and just perfect for a new year's dinner. we got champagne at midnight and left the place stuffed and full probably around 12:30/1 a.m. we talked about maybe going out to a club on the other side of the river but decided to head back instead. we actually walked the 25 or so minutes back to the hotel which was really nice. it was fairly warm for january 1st and the walk was perfect after the big meal. i still can't believe it is 2005 but new year's was very nice. we actually took a few pictures that i'll post once i get them developed...

we stayed in cleveland another night but other than shopping we didn't do a whole lot. we drove around for a little bit, checked out the rock'n roll hall of fame and the browns' stadium at the lake, went for a walk downtown, snuggled in the hotel and went to the house of blues for dinner (one can never eat too much ceasar's salad ;o)) we decided to go to cleveland because we had spent last new year's in chicago and every other city that sounded interesting was just too far away. we didn't know how the weather was gonna turn out to be and didn't really feel like spending two of the few days i had left in the car either. so cleveland it was.. i wasn't overly impressed by the city though and the hotel really wasn't great either. i also missed my friends especially when we were still in the hotel and it was midnight in germany already.. luckily we had this great new year's dinner but i still almost wish we would have just went to chicago again.
we went back to fort wayne on the 2nd and got in late. we had dinner at one of the places we got a gift certificate for and grabbed a movie on the way home.

....to be continued....

i'm just too busy at work and wanted to at least give you somewhat of an update. more to come over the week..... promise.