Dr Pepper, Fireworks, Ice Cream, and Ow!

[vakkotaur]

I think it was Ezra who was curious about the Dr Pepper in Waco and eventually it was decided that we'd go there. That took a while, and the morning passed fairly quickly as I recall. Perhaps that was a result of sleeping in a bit. jmaynard really wasn't feeling well and decided he'd best stay and take a nap rather than go to the museum.

The rest of us went, stopping for lunch along the way. Ezra drove, with pharwarner, verypinkygirl, and myself riding with him. I'm not sure exactly why, but I felt like something was lacking at the Dr Pepper museum. It was as good as could reasonably be expected, I think, and I know I wasn't looking at it with the perspective Phar (who is a museum curator himself) has about such things. What really made the museum was the soda fountain which had Dr Pepper made with proper sugar rather than mere corn syrup.

The group split up on the way back, as some folks wanted or needed to stop at a Wal-Mart and others did not. That took a fair amount of time, but I don't think any of us regretted it. We all picked up a few items. One that I hadn't expected was a keyring with the Cadillac symbol on it. pharwarner had wanted to get a V8 Cadillac for the drive from Dallas to Los Angeles, figuring this would be his chance to drive a big V8 cross-country. Naturally, between the rental company and his travel agent, that seemed like it wasn't going to happen and he was told he'd have to get a Buick (for more money?!) instead. I don't know what eventually happened, but when I saw that keyring, I had to buy it for him.

Back at the lake, it was getting late enough for supper and it was decided that it would be taken care of with a quick trip to Sonic. This seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately things went wrong and I'm sure not they got anybody's order right. Folks drifted apart after that and mr_fu had another game, Nuclear War, which a few of us played. This particular game escalated rather quickly and in fairly rapid succession knocked out 4 of 6 countries (players), leaving only two players left and it wasn't much longer before it was down to one and the game was over. I recall mr_fu saying he hadn't seen a game turn that devastating so fast before, which I found a bit surprising. Anyway, it ended in time for the real fireworks.

Or so we thought. It had been raining and drizzling on and off and there was some doubt or debate if a nearby town would have its display. It eventually did, and I'm not sure if Jay just wasn't feeling well or if it something more. I know he doesn't like people talking over shows (which is why he can't stand MST3k and things like it) and there was much conversation during the display. He went inside, away from (almost) everyone. I realized I had no idea where pharwarner and verypinkygirl were, and went looking. I expected to find a locked door, but found it open and the room empty. I started to get a bit worried as one of them had seemed to be a bit out of sorts earlier. I even went outside and started walking down the road a bit just to be sure. It wasn't until the fireworks display was over that they revealed themselves. They had, quite understandably, been watching the fireworks from a more private deck.

After the display was over, the owner had ice cream for her guests and neighbors. I felt a bit awkward here, partly from the large group or two groups, and partly as it was a mix of folks with a bunch of strangers. That was only a very minor issue, however. The real matter was that between the rain, the dark, and all the steps on the deck, verypinkygirl slipped and seemed to have sprained her ankle. Ice was applied, and shoulders lent for the remainder of any walking. It wasn't the best way to end the day, certainly not for her, but that's about how it ended.