Leaving New York
After a wonderful stay in New York with Melody and gorgeous road trip around Vermont and New Hampshire with Alida, it was time for a homecoming. Wini hadn’t been to her house in Indiana for over 3 years, and she was excited to show off a piece of her childhood.
We weren’t the only ones heading to Jasper though; both Melody and her boyfriend David were coming, and Richard (Wini’s dad) had also arranged a big family gathering to celebrate his parents 60th wedding anniversary with family coming in from Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida in the next few days!
After saying our goodbyes to Alida who was catching a flight back to LA later, we hopped in a cab with Melody and David to the airport. It was a clear case of the Haves and Have-Nots at the airport when David and Wini got to breeze through security with their global entry cards, while Melody and I had to slum it through the regular security line where we got thoroughly searched. 🙁
We landed in Louisville, Kentucky, picked up our rental car, and then hit the road towards Wini’s house in Indiana, about 1.5 hours away.
Christy and Richard greeted us at the house and showed us around, sharing stories about Wini’s life here and reminiscing through old photos. The house is a treasure trove of memories, with old pictures and trinkets. There was so much to look at. This whole huge massive house is a shrine to Wini!
We were treated to dinner in the newly renovated garden house, where we enjoyed burgers and bacon from their new grill.
As the night continued, we explored old school poems and diaries, laughed at old memorabilia (did we know Wini was a poet??), and caught up with Richard and Christy.
Chilling in Jasper
The next day, Wini surprised the family with waffles for breakfast, and we enjoyed our meal while watching the birds visit the feeders and bird baths just outside the window.
After breakfast, we went for a drive around Jasper, passing familiar landmarks from her past, and poking into downtown shops.
We spent the next few days relaxing in a way we haven’t since we’ve been on the road. We completely unpacked our suitcases, and hung our stuff in closets. This is our first time feelings somewhat “settled” since January, and it’s a very peaceful feeling. After almost 9 months of constant travel it is a welcome break to just stay for a while.
It was gorgeous early autumn weather, so we spent a lot of time out by the garden house.
We tried our hand at a bit of outdoor sports with David and Melody, kicking around a soccer ball, throwing a football, and tossing a basketball into (or in my case, at) the hoop!
Wini showed off her piano skills, and we continued to pore through old photo albums to glean as much Wini lore as I can hahah.
Family Gatherings
In the next few days, family started to arrive to celebrate Wini’s grandparents, Susan & Don’s 60th wedding anniversary. Within a couple days we went from 6 to 13 people, adding in Wini’s uncles, cousins, and a friend.
Waking up to a house full of people, it quickly became apparent that it was a SPORTS day. All screens in the house were dedicated to football.
We spent the next couple days hanging with cousins, doing Dairy Queen runs, and listening to the hilarious stories the uncles would share.
On our last morning all together, we woke up and played several games of mahjong (a Chinese tile-based game) with the family over coffees and teas.
Wini and Christy prepared a delicious lunch in honour of the diamond anniversary couple. Melody and David were banished to the kids table though.. that’s what you get from being from the wrong side of the family heheh!
We had a great reunion, and it was so wonderful to finally meet that half of Wini’s family. They are such warm, funny, and loving people.
Even quicker than they arrived, everyone left. We went from 13 to 3 in a day! Richard was heading out on a camping weekend, and all the rest of the extended family went home.
We begged Melody to not go back to New York and just hang with us more, but she couldn’t get her flight changed so Wini, Christy and I were sadly abandoned!
Country Bumpkins
Our next few weeks are honestly a blur of relaxed country living. We spent a lot of time in the garden, weeding and planting bulbs for the spring, and did some projects around the house, with occasional simple trips to town.
One day, we had a nice day trip to a charming nearby town, French Lick, with Christy. It’s a sweet little town with some historic buildings, lovely forests, and a laid-back atmosphere.
We visited the French Lick Resort, which boasts a storied history of hosting notable figures from various walks of life. The likes of Frank Sinatra, Michael Jordan, and Franklin D. Roosevelt have been among the many famous guests. During the heyday of the Prohibition era, even Al Capone frequented the resort.
We enjoyed walking through the local artisan shops in the resort, and through the gorgeous grounds.
Visiting Bloomington
After weeks of barely moving from the house, we planned a fun weekend in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Wini’s beloved alma mater, Indiana University. She still has a friend attending IU, and it was homecoming weekend so we drove the hour away through the gorgeous Hoosier National Forest for a weekend away!
First stop? Chipotle, duh! It wouldn’t be a college homecoming experience without seeking out the food that got us through college in the first place.
We cruised through the IU campus and reminisced about Wini’s old haunts before landing at her friend Alicia’s.
Our homecoming weekend was amazing! Our first day we visited the frisbee field and tossed around a disc with the new Calamity Janes, we tried a new speakeasy in town, went out with new and old friends to the fav bars in town (and realized Water Long Islands are still as good as remembered).
We ended the night at The Jungle (a sentence you never want to hear) and danced the night away. It has somehow gotten smaller yet way more crowded in the past ~6+ years since graduation.
The next day, was a little rough after the previous night’s shenanigans. We opted for Mother Bears pizza and nursed our hangovers.
Jules (of travelling with us in Bangkok, Da Nang/Hoi An, Boracay, Moalboal, and Oslob fame) arrived to keep the party going the next day (we were feeling far less upbeat haha). It was so nice to see her again after so many months. Jules and Del have moved back to Illinois post-travel, and are having to adjust back to “regular” life, so it was good to hear how it was going for them!
In the evening, we prepared to hit the town again, this time meeting up with some alumni friends at Upstairs.
It was a great night out with friends, but we felt our age as we were trying to make conversation around the table and kept thinking “this music is too damn loud”.
We didn’t stay out too late, as we had an important evening plan of watching Twilight and eating Jolly Rancher gummies.
Homecoming Day had a lazy start, marked by ample pedialyte consumption to recover from the festivities so far. Then, we headed out to join a tailgate party with frisbee friends. The tailgate turned out to be a blast with fantastic weather and great vibes.
After three days of partying and socializing though, we were feeling the effects and we had an even earlier night turning in to watch Twilight: New Moon, and continue eating our yummy Jolly Rancher gummies.
Unfortunately, Alicia’s extremely curious and rambunctious cat Flynn also seemed to have found his way into the gummies later that night too, because I awoke to the tell-tale signs of a cat about to barf. I rushed over to try to move him away from our open suitcases he was currently hunched over… he saw me coming and hopped even further into our bags while projectile vomiting. As quickly as I could, I moved him to the open floor and Jules, Alicia, and I scrambled around trying to clean the chunks off the floor, wall, clothes, and bags that were hit. Somehow Wini slumbered peacefully through all of this and was so confused by the state of the room in the morning hahah.
Feeling the effects of our wild weekend, we packed up and said our goodbyes to Alicia and Jules, and made our way back to Jasper. We were ready for more downtime at the house as we recharged for yet another out-of-town weekend in Indianapolis for Halloweekend.
Death By Shot
In Jasper, what we thought would be a few chill days took a rough turn. We decided to get drive-thru flu and COVID shots with Christy. We didn’t think anything of it, as our past few shots have been easy breezy beautiful, but a few hours later things started to turn ugly… nausea, body aches and chills, and a very sore injection site.
The next day was even worse. We were all zombies, barely moving and speaking only to groan.
Indianapolis Halloweekend
Thankfully, the next day we woke up feeling completely restored (and happy to be immunized against whatever the heck is in the virus this winter?!) We hopped in the car for another fun weekend with friends — this time, up to Indianapolis!
Christy came with us, as she was going up to Bloomington to spend time with her friends. We joined her and her friends Kathy and Yea-Fen for lunch. They’ve been friends with Christy for over 30 years!
We said goodbye, and just Wini and I continued on to Indianapolis.
We had some errands to run in the city (mostly just one, upgrading Wini’s phone). After a successful mission, with the new phone in hand, we headed to our home for the weekend: Audrey and Shannon’s apartment. Amidst setting up her shiny new gadget, we chatted with Audrey, and got ready to head out to dinner with Wini’s childhood friend Arielle.
We had a wonderful dinner catching up with Arielle and her girlfriend Megan. They are both OBGYN residents in Indy so they had some wild stories to share!
That night we had a relaxing night in with Shannon and Audrey, getting our tarot cards read.
We spent the next afternoon walking around downtown Indy, but we didn’t see that much as we wanted to get home to get ourselves sorted for our night out.
After a home cooked meal (thanks Wini!), it was time for costumes, and we transformed into Justin and Hailey Bieber. Audrey became Mia from Princess Diaries, and Shannon was a character from Dodgeball.
We rocked up to Sam’s Bar and met up with some more people, including Wini’s friend Summer, and more of Shannon and Audrey’s friends. We hung out on the patio, catching up and appreciating everyones’ costumes.
Next stop: Metro, the gay club. WINI of all people was feeling tired and almost didn’t want to go, but we forced her. And once on the dance floor, the DJ blessed us with Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” The night was fun and hilarious, with the DJ graciously gracing us with Justin’s hits not once not twice, but three times!
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Around 12:30 am, it was high time for some Mediterranean food. At the restaurant, we executed a sneaky bathroom costume switch heheh. I gotta say, it’s much more comfy being Justin!
We walked back to Audrey & Shannon’s house (Wini made me give her the crocs back though lol), and we made ourselves some nuggets and biscuits, and put on the cinematic masterpiece that is Halloweentown 3.
We woke up the next day, not feeling too shabby. We hung out for a bit and then said our goodbyes. We were a little concerned that the Indy Marathon happening that day would be blocking our exit, but the trip back went smoothly.
Our month in Indiana had flown by, and our time here was almost up. The next couples days we spent having quality family time, enjoying the garden, and getting our bags sorted and packed for the next chapter of our journey.
Our day of departure, we drove up to Indianapolis with Wini’s parents as they were flying to Taiwan, and we headed to our next stop: Denver, Colorado!
