vacation: day 3

Most of day 3 was taken up with driving back & forth to the large city to the SE. My dad had an appt for his CR-V (it was making a noise - he could tell you more than I can) at 9:30 at the dealership. We all (Mom, Dad, me) trooped down there and hung out while Dad's car was serviced. Then we trooped home. Along the way, I took pictures out the window.
    After lunch, Dad & I went back, because my car had its 60,000 mile checkup at 3:00. Dad was supposed to get my iPod's FM transmitter working during that trip, but he was as frustrated as I was regarding its reluctance to accept presets, so we gave up on it pretty quickly.
    My appointment was scheduled to take 2 hours. Do you know how hard it is to kill 2 hours with my dad, away from home? We walked around downtown. Sweated like non-pigs. Popped into Pearl Street Books - it would be my favorite bookstore, if I had the money! - and the adjoining coffee shop. We each had an 8-ounce [glass] bottle of Coke, which was perfect. Wandered around for a while. Saw a shop that does nothing but repair clocks. Seems like a pretty specific mission for this economy.
    Found a bar with a funny name, and an even funnier sign
and some shops that featured typical Midwestern...stuff.
    Once my car was finished ($272 and about 1 hour, 40 minutes later), we headed home. I had just enough time to freshen up a bit and change my clothes before hopping back into the car. I had a date at 6:PM: taco pizza and hanging out with college BFF & her daughter. First, I spent a little time with their kitty, Sparkles (named by the 7-y-o, natch).
While the two humans worked on Second Grade homework, I carefully studied my new shoes.
Dinner was at a new cafe in a very small town that was flooded last year. Just a couple of doors down is the establishment at which I received my first 2 tattoos.
    Dinner was awesome - cheese curds, draft rootbeer, and a taco pizza that kicked ass - and I ate enough to *ache* afterward.
    college BFF & I talked with the child until her Daddy came home, whereupon she was read to sleep and the adults got down to business. In this case, "business" involved sitting in the basement telling stories and laughing until our organs burst. Par for the course with those two. And we tormented the other cat - the one that I call "the cross-eyed bowling ball."
    We also watched a couple of comedy clips and laughed until we cried.