In Which We Came Back Home

You were so kind to come along with me last week on a virtual vacation to Louisville, and today I shall wrap up that trip with a quick peek at our return home.

Saying goodbye to a vacation is never fun. Even though coming home is a beautiful thing in and of itself, it's hard to say goodbye to a break.

We had to be out of our Airbnb by 11, but we wanted to get home early enough to settle back in to life and routine before REALLY settling back in on Tuesday, so we left a bit earlier than that. We had a couple of stops to make in Indianapolis before we officially came home.

Last May, when Ryan threw my huge birthday party, my best friend, Lynnette and her husband, Mark, gave me a really fun gift of a date day in Indianapolis. Several weeks ago, Ryan and I set out to enjoy it, but we were only able to use the first third of the date. We went to a café/coffee shop that day. We planned to go to a conservatory and gardens, but it was POURING and FREEZING that day, so we didn't go. We planned to finish up with dessert at the Cake Bake shop, but we couldn't get in the door that day. It was so packed.

So I thought we would use our traveling Monday to do the remainder of the date. The conservatory and gardens worked out. I called the Cake Bake shop to make reservations, and it turns out they had no reservations open for the entire remainder of December. WHAT?!?! So I guess we'll try that again in January!

We stopped at the Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens, though, and it was a fun date for us! The outside gardens were "asleep," they told us, but we enjoyed the inside portion so much. It was all so beautifully decorated for Christmas, and they even had a scavenger hunt for extra fun. (It was really for the kids, but you can believe we did it - and completed it!)

Lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvved the village they'd set up. (It was the basis for the majority of the scavenger hunt.)

We also enjoyed the regular part that had some Christmas touches, but it wasn't exclusively decorated for the holidays.

It felt so tropical in that room, I didn't want to leave!

But alas, we had one more stop to make. You might recognize this place:

This was actually the emptiest we'd ever seen this store. It was heavenly. I was able to actually walk through the model rooms without getting pushed out! We also had lunch there. And broke a set of spice jars. All in a day's work.

We came home via the hospital, where we stopped to visit Ryan's mom. We didn't take pictures there, but you probably have a general idea of what hospitals look like, so you can imagine it. 

By the time we did get home, it was late, and vacation already felt like a very distant memory. :( Thanks for traveling along with us! We are grateful we had the chance to sneak away for a little while!