October Break with Jonathan, Frustration with GPS, and Roller Coasters!

So this past weekend (October 10-14) was October Break. I got out of work at 4:45 on Friday night, which was awesome because it was before 7:50 which is when I usually get done. We didn't really do much Friday night because there wasn't really anyone in town. We did go up to the house and drink a couple of beers with the very few guys that were there, but I am super cool and I fell asleep on the couch next to the table where everyone else was playing Landmines and partying around me...I know, my lameness factor is just astounding. However, Friday night led to Saturday!

Saturday morning I really needed a kick in the butt to get moving because I was feeling so LAZY! However, we finally got all packed and on the road to Sandusky, Ohio...why you ask? Because we got to go to CEDAR POINT! Yes, Cedar Point is still open this time of year and actually better because it's not so stupid busy. Jonathan had never been there, so he used his iPhone's GPS to get directions. Normally, this might not be a bad idea, but it took us all the way up I-65 to 80-90...which is near Crown Point. That means we went North (good) West (bad). However, it took us through Elkhart, where my family lives. So we decided to stop and visit. I tried to make it a surprise but my family has kind of big mouths and that failed epically. We got to town at about 6:00. First stop, Grandma and Papa's house to see them and Mamie. We stayed there for about half an hour and visited, saw Liv's senior pictures, talked, etc. Then we headed to the high school to see my brother because he seemed like he actually wanted to see me, which was a bit odd, but it's better than him not wanting to see me. He was out there at the soccer game and it was COLD so we didn't stay for long at all. Then we stopped at St. Thomas where my mom was for Trivia Night. We had a whirlwind of introductions to people I don't really know, but Jonathan did get to meet Mrs. Sutula, which was pretty cool. Then my mom told me that Aunt Colleen wanted to see me, so we stopped by her house and saw her, Laura, and Lanie (Jonathan for the first time). At this point it was only about 7:00, if that. Then we ran to my house where my dad was and Jonathan saw where I grew up and all. We were back on the road by 7:30. Pretty impressive right? The only people we didn't see were my sister (she was baby-sitting) and my Uncle John, Olivia, and Drew (Mamie's family, they were at a band competition) and my other Uncle John and Becca (they were at the hockey game). Still, all in all, impressive. So we continued to drive, paying astronomical tolls the entire way until we finally arrived in Sandusky. Now, unfortunately, we did not have hotel reservations. Apparently Columbus Day must be a bigger thing in Ohio than it is in Indiana because we stopped at probably 10 hotels and called at least 5 more before we found one with a vacancy. It was a Red Roof Inn and it was decent, it definitely worked, plus they had free breakfast, which is always a good thing for me!

Sunday morning we woke up and went to Cedar Point! It was awesome. It wasn't super cold, but it was definitely cool. I wore a tank top, a sweatshirt and my Columbia fleece and I was good, except my fingers on the rides. We had so much fun! We went on almost everything, but when we were just about to the front of the line to ride the Top Thrill Dragster, it broke down, so we got out of line and didn't return because it was always too long or broken down. (That's the Dragster to the left, obviously I didn't take this picture because I never actually got on it...but it is 420' tall and goes 120 mph in 40 seconds...ridiculous.) We did go on tons of other rides, like the Millenium Force, Mantis, and Magnum (three of the other big rides at Cedar Point.

I don't really know what my favorite ride was, but I really, really love the Wicked Twister (to the right). Last time I was at Cedar Point with my sister, we went on this twice, back to back. She and her friends made fun of me mercilessly because I do this laugh/scream thing while I'm on roller coasters and it was particularly bad on the Wicked Twister. Well, turns out I still do this laugh/scream thing (luckily, Jonathan thought it was hilarious and cute because it would have been a very long day for him if he thought it was annoying or something.) It also turns out that it is particularly bad on the Wicked Twister still. We got off the coaster and this guy was like, "Oh my god, was that you laughing hysterically the entire time?? That was so awesome! It was hilarious! *insert impression of me laughing*" Needless to say I was a bit embarrassed, but I was still laughing so I couldn't really do too much about it. This has all the technical information about the Wicked Twister, which I am now slightly more afraid of knowing all the details! After the Wicked Twister, we went on maXair (to the left), which is pretty awesome because it is a huge circle with 50 seats facing outward that spins (not super fast though) while it swings like a pendulum. Pretty cool if I do say so myself. Then we headed out because it was about 6:00 and we got there at about 10:45-11:00 and it was starting to get pretty chilly.

We headed down to Dayton, Ohio for the night because we were going to the Air Force Museum on Monday. We made it down to Lima, Ohio and decided to stop for dinner (we wanted something semi-healthy because we had been eating junk all day) so we stopped when we saw a Cracker Barrel so we could have salad and nothing else really sounded good, but then there was an Olive Garden next door to the Cracker Barrel and Jonathan said that Italian food had really sounded good to him but he didn't want to hold out for an Olive Garden, but since it was right there, we decided to stop there. We had soup (Zuppa Toscana), salad, and bread sticks and it delicious and the perfect healthy(ish) food to end the day. Then we decided that we were too sleepy, and though we could get to Dayton without trouble or being unsafe, and decided to just get a hotel right there in Lima because there were a ton of hotels. And again with the booked out hotels! Luckily, we only had to go to two before we got a room at a Courtyard by Marriott. It was so nice! We had a king-size bed, flat screen TV, plus it was super nice with decorations, art on the walls and it was just pretty!

Monday we woke up and headed down to Dayton and the Air Force Museum. It was really cool, there were so many planes and of course Jonathan was in heaven. Plus, I got my own personal tour guide with all kinds of inside information about the different planes, their history, what they were used for, why they aren't used anymore, what they were good for, why they are famous, etc. without having to read the signs, though sometimes I did anyway. I really liked the nose art on them, but not all of them have nose art, which was a little bit sad. But Jonathan told me that there is a nose art museum in Midland, which I now really want to go to. I kinda liked the Boeing P-26A "Peashooter" (above). I'm not really sure why, I just like it. Isn't it kinda cute?

The North American F-82 Twin Mustang (to the left) was another one that I really liked. It is one plane with two cockpits so that two pilots could fly for long periods of time without having to stop. One would just sleep while the other one operated the plane. It was just really cool to look at it because you think your eyes are playing tricks, but they aren't. The other one that I really, really super liked was the Lockheed F-94C Starfire (to the right). It is awesome! It has 24 rockets in its nose and then 24 more in 2 wingpods (12 on each wing). If you look at the picture you can see the wing pod on the right where there are 12 holes in a star shape to hold the 12 rockets. Pretty much, the museum was pretty awesome and Jonathan loved it, so that was cool. He got to see the Northrop B-2 Spirit, which is a cool, stealthy plane that looks all sneaky and advanced. And of course, he saw his favorite planes, the P-38 Lightening and the P-51 Mustang. It was a great trip all in all. We had a lot of fun, even if we didn't sleep a whole ton like you are supposed to on break, then again, who is to say that you have to sleep on break, it's your break, is it not?

And now for the technological part! As I mentioned before, we were using the iPhone GPS (and a map when it failed) to navigate our trip. As I wrote in my previous post about the Garmin, I think that GPS systems are complete crap. Granted, there is no great way to get up to Elkhart (or Northeast Indiana in general) from West Lafayette, however, the GPS took us possibly the most inconvenient path that exists. We went totally Northwest and then took toll roads the entire way to Sandusky, spending probably about $15-20 on tolls alone. Then, when we used that "handy-dandy" feature on the iPhone to try to find hotels, half the ones that I could literally see from the truck, did not show up in the search. Then there is the fact that it doesn't update quickly enough to be of any use if you happen to miss a turn. Or it won't have service when you are in the middle of nowhere with no idea at all where you are! Additionally, if you try to use the "Current Location" feature to get directions from where you theoretically are to where you need to go, you might as well close your eyes and spin around and start walking in whatever direction you end up facing for all the good that does because it will say that you are on a road that you can't even find if you search up and down for it. Now, possibly if you were a local you would know the 7,000 different names that are often attached to one road, or you would know that the road that the GPS says you are on is in fact the one that runs parallel to the highway that you are actually on, but then you wouldn't be depending on a GPS now would you?

The only "good" thing that the GPS did was to give me a more detailed map of Dayton than the one that we had so that when we got hopelessly turned around (compliments of the damn GPS in the first place), I could tell Jonathan how to get where we needed to go (because I am the navigator on our trips, which is a little bit frightening to some people who know about my mom's complete lack of directional sense...sorry Mom, but it's true...but I can actually figure out where north, south, east, and west are and keep track of it as we turn around and travel. Plus I can read a map and figure out the best path for us to take when GPS fails.) One of the most frustrating things was though, was when the signs on the highway had information about the Air Force Museum and Jonathan decided to follow them because the GPS had sucked so much on the trip. Unfortunately, those signs took us a good half hour, 45 minutes out of our way according to my map. Slightly frustrating, but not the end of the world because for all I know, my map was totally wrong or something. All in all, I think GPS sucks and causes more problems than it solves and I will not be investing in one anytime soon. Instead I will buy a map, and maybe a compass, and call it a day. Old school style. But maybe some people will just think I'm nuts. And I am nuts. Completely pistachios.