Road Trip to Nebraska

What happens when I hit the road with my 17-year-old nephew and my parents for a weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska? Laughter, entertaining family trivia, and a chance to see my nephew, Davis, as a future college freshman – yikes! When did that happen?

First things first – why Lincoln, Nebraska? Well, the long story is Davis (who will graduate from high school in the spring) has turned into a Cornhusker wanna-be and wanted to see the Nebraska-Minnesota football game at Memorial Stadium. It was also a great way to show his grandparents and auntie the University of Nebraska campus. (And except for that whole Gophers-were-sure-to-lose thing, we decided it was a great excuse to head south for a couple of days.) Plus in an exciting twist of fate, Davis was officially accepted as a student for Fall 2013 just a few days before we left – whoo hoo!

Traveling with anyone, as you probably know, can be an interesting learning experience! So without further ado, here are a few completely random things I learned while on this road trip:

1. My nephew has never eaten a Twinkie. EVER.
2. My mother doesn’t like mittens and feels she can’t grip the car wheel in them appropriately when she drives so she ONLY wears gloves – even if her fingers get cold (which she won’t admit, anyway).
3. My nephew can’t imagine using a bath towel more than one time between washings.
4. My parents and I believe that once my nephew has to do his own laundry at college, he will re-think the whole “one towel per wash” thing.
5. If there’s a wrapper with a Finish dishwasher detergent tablet inside it sitting on the counter of the kitchenette in the hotel suite, there’s a good chance that both my parents may initially think it’s candy.
6. Nebraska fans don’t tailgate like Iowa Hawkeye fans. Not even close. The hotel, however, did have both the Nebraska and Minnesota flags hanging up in their lobby, which I thought was a pretty amazing show of Big Ten camaraderie.
7. My Dad can make a mess of eating his shake at Culver’s. That’s all I’m saying about that.
8. My nephew is quite the 17-year-old gentleman – holding doors for me and even opening the car door for me once in a while. And all this without any prompting. Impressive!
9. Nebraska has a state sandwich – the Runza. (Look it up – it’s true.)
10. If I’m tired enough, I can quite comfortably sleep 9 beautiful hours straight on a pull-out couch without any back problems whatsoever.
11. My mother has an infinite number of iPhone and IPad questions. 🙂
12. I always thought I got my love of magazines from my Dad, but in actuality, I found out it’s probably more of a penchant for stockpiling magazines and I definitely get that from my Mom.

We had such a fun weekend – definitely one to remember. And to see how much Davis really loved the University of Nebraska campus made me so proud that he is following his dreams and heading to Lincoln next fall, even though it will be difficult for all of us to see him go that far from home. He just seems ready for college, ready for all the challenges that it will bring and I am so happy he has found a college that he’s excited to attend.

Crazy how time flies – one minute he’s a toddler and running around with me on the farm; the next minute, he’s this tall handsome nearly grown-up dude showing me around his college campus. And as his auntie and godmother, I am so proud of him and what his future holds!