Work trip fun

Every now and then, my boss lets me travel for work. This doesn't happen often, so I'm always excited when I do get to go...even if it's to Arkansas.

This year, I got to go to training on SharePoint. So excited I was...not. The training was okay. A lot of it was talk, talk, talk by the instructor and then follow the directions on the example/training sheets and call it good. For some reason, a lot of the class had trouble with this. Apparently reading wasn't their forte. I got worried a few times because I was done way ahead of everyone else, but eventually I got over it and enjoyed the break. Of course I used those breaks to go back to my room and work.

I relaxed the first couple nights but then I decided to get out of the room and hit the town. So I hung out with a Chief and LT.

The first night we went to a baseball game. The Chief got cheap tickets from someone, so we were able to get nice seats for low cost.

It was an awesome night for baseball and the boys even bought me a Guinness. I couldn't argue with that. And I got myself some cotton candy. :)

The next night we had our class outing and went to a really great restaurant - awesome food, great drinks, and good music.

Friday was our last day and we got out of class early. The three of us, and one other gal, went out to lunch. Southern barbecue and I wasn't as impressed with it as I was with Texan. E told me later that Arkansas uses a mustard base, which wasn't all that great.

For our afternoon fun, the girl went back to pack, and Chief, LT and I went to the Clinton Library. That was awesome. We got our picture taken in front of the "Oval Office" by a security guard. We had to laugh because he commented on LTs shoes. :)

The library also had a display for the St. Louis Cardinals. I had to send several posts to K, since I know she grew up cheering for them. Gotta love Stan.

After this, we walked over a very long bridge and around a corner and down another block or two (the lady at the Library information desk said it was much closer) to see the USS Razorback. That was very cool. I know I had been on a sub tour one other time, but this was a smaller group and since I'm married to a Navy boy it was much more interesting.

 A big prop and anchor. I kind of wish I could bring this back home, but I don't think it'll fit in my carryon.

I had to take this picture. The cup with the shaving brush is just like one that Dad had. I kind of wonder if Mom still has it.

Friday night, we went out to a place like Carnaval (up here) where you can eat all the meat you want. They served their sides family style, which was okay, but I really wasn't impressed with the food. After, we headed to a hole-in-the-wall club where our teacher was playing in a band. That place wasn't bad (considering it was a true hole-in-the-wall) but I had forgotten what it was like to go to a bar or club where they allow smoking. We walked in and it was like walking into a wall of smoke. Uffda. It was fun though.

The next morning I headed home. All in all, a good trip and I met some great peeps. Not sure I learned a lot though. :) Oh well.

But the bigger kicker was as I was driving home from Mpls (where I flew out of since it was cheaper and because our airport ramps were under construction over the weekend), I ran into two of my friends from college...at a rest stop! How random is that?!? It was so fun to run into Al and Rachel. We caught up briefly but they were on their way to SoDak for a week long vacation. Of all the gin joints in all the world...