My, what a weekend!

It was rather a quick decision and transaction, but we decided to buy a new car. Well, a used car, but new to us. It's a 2005 Pontiac Bonneville GXP, which are no longer being made, so we found it at a good price. Hubby says it's a rare car. He has a thing for rare cars. And he wanted something roomier in both the front and back. My only criteria were: 1. Fits in my heated garage and 2. Runs. I'm not very picky.

So this car we found online and it happened to be just south of Chicago. Yes, Chicago. So, kinda quick-like (good Kentucky jargon there), we decide to head to our in-laws house 2 hours out of the way Friday evening, stay the night there and wake up really early, leaving the girls there, and head out with our truck and car trailer for the long 7 hour drive. We left about 6 am, and got to the dealership about 2 pm, so we made pretty good time with only 2 stops for gas and lunch. We purchased the car from Lexus of Orland. It had been owned by a bank president who had traded it in for a Lexus. I would recommend trying to buy a good used car from a Lexus dealer--they treat you well, though we didn't fit in with all the suits and ties around there. Felt like hillbillies that were out of our element. The dealership itself had marble everywhere. A big waterfall flowing down a marble wall greeted us behind the front desk. They had a great big tropical fish tank, big flat screen tvs everywhere (even in the bathroom mirrors), comfy leather lounge chairs, and free coffee, cappucinos, and cookies.

I booked us a hotel--a modest La Quinta inn room with a nice king bed. After we had the car in our possession, we checked in and freshened up before heading out in the new ride. We decided to head to the Sears Tower. Bryan had seen it when he was a kid. His parents had lived in Chicago after they married for about 11 years, so they had taken a family vacation there. He wanted to show me the tower too. We didn't make it before dark and had to brave the city streets and really twisty exits and forking roads after dark--a little scary but neat to see. I even saw my first elevated trains. We found a parking garage and headed for the tower. It was frigid cold walking over there. The temp dipped down to -6 so we didn't waste time getting any pics from the outside. We got into a big elevator with lots of other people all crammed in together (not my idea of fun), but the elevator was very fast, taking us all the way to the 103rd floor and the skydeck in just about 2 minutes. They said it usually only takes one minute, but with the wind gusts, it was slower. We could see the whole city lit up from up there. Awesome views!

We left, got some hot dinner at a Steak n Shake, then went straight to bed in the hotel. We slept in just a little and by 7 am, we were loading the car on the trailer. It was really no fun to do in the frigid air. Bryan had two layers of everything on. I spent most of the time in the warm truck, just getting out to help him line it up and such. Breakfast at the hotel, then on the road, pulling the car behind us. We had to stop at three different gas stations before we found an air pump that wasn't frozen up so we could air up the truck tires. Other than that, 2 more stops for lunch and gas, then back to pick up our girls at 5 pm, back on the road by 6pm, dinner at 7pm and back home around 9pm.

Megan has had a fever all weekend, so keeping her home today and not being productive in the least. I do need to get started cleaning out our Grand Prix to sell it, hoping we can do that soon. If anyone is in the market for a good used car and can travel to Western Kentucky or meet us halfway somewhere, we're asking $13,500 for it. It's a 2004 model, 27K miles, new tires, great car with no problems. We'll probably be posting pics on eBay or some other selling site as soon as we get it cleaned up and ready.

I've made a Photoshop gallery of our trip, if you want to see our pics:

http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=14695&AT=3