Saturday the 14th in the morning my work asked me if I could work at a location near Richmond, VA for a week and they would put me in a hotel and give me money for food. I was a little hesitant until I heard the magic wordss "Lots of overtime." Costco has relocated one of its stores and the new store has already opened but the old store still has a lot of unsold merchandise in it. It needs to be counted, recorded, packed up, and sent out to other stores. Myself and three other people from Harrisonburg Costco drove down Sunday night.
The drive went smoothly, we stopped at a scenic overlook.
We got to the hotel around 20:00 and each had separate rooms. Every room came with it's own coffee maker and the lobby had 4 coffee pots but that did not stop Rhonda from bringing her own Keurig.
Rhonda with her personal Coffee machine and
spring water
Swag, Dave and I went out and got some grub before heading to bed but it was already 9pm on a Sunday night so many of the restaurants were closed, except for chains like Applebee's.
06:00 is when we had to report to work; the hotel pretty much shared a parking lot with Costco. At a quater til, down in the lobby, we were able to meet the other Costco travelers. Two other stores had sent employees making the total 13 people plus the handful of employees who were still working at the old store.
Swag excited to be done with day #1
11 hours later we were sweaty, tired, and hungry.
After dinner at the outback we went for a swim at the hotel pool.
Dave lounging at the bottom of the pool
Underwater splash
Air bubbles
The next few days stayed relatively the same. Worked at 06:00, either went out to lunch or had lunch brought to us around 12:30 and were off around 17:00 each day. We never strayed to far for dinner, we were always so beat after work. We ate at mostly chains, Outback, Ruby Tuesdays, O'Charlies, Bonefish. Bonefish had some amazing food though. Our per diem rate for dinner was fifty dollars not including alcohol and Bonefish is where I got closest to hitting that limit. My entree was about 30 bucks and I also got a calamari appetizer.
One baby squid
Sea Bass
The last two nights we decided to do something relaxing so we went to the driving range and putt-putt.
The last day we had almost the entire store emptied of merchandise.
April27th2011
Ce and I took our first overnight trip together. Iron & Wine played in Richmond and I got two tickets after calling into WNRN. I asked Ce to take time off so we could go to the concert together I as well took the time off. We left as soon as I got off work at 10:00 and first stopped at the scenic overlook on 64, even though it was cloudy and wet.
Ce and I
Ce
We continued on our way, got some food, and went to Maymont Park which was beautiful.
We arrived at Maymont Park at about two PM
The sun came out and the flowers looked great throughout the park.
The park had a lot to offer but we spent the time we had at the Japanese Garden and the Italian Garden.
All the pictures from Maymont park can be seen here.
We wanted to check into the hotel before the concert so we did not have to deal with the check in process so late. Traffic was horrible, I think it took us 45 minutes to move 4 miles on the Midlothian Turnpike.
Ce's friend Ken lives in Richmond so before the concert Ce, myself, Ken and his girlfriend met for lunch and cupcakes.
The line at The National was not long, and picking up our tickets was not a problem. We made our way inside and found a nice spot to stand by a railing near the back. Once the opening band started to play the venue was packed with skinny jeans, v-necks and flannel. The Low Anthem started out quietly and slow, with one of the four band members playing the saw with a violin bow. After each song the musicians changed instruments, guitars, banjos, bass guitars, dulcimers, clarinets, accordions, flutes and
occasionally all crowd around one mic with just a guitar or banjo and sing.
Iron and Wine
I had been up since 4 that morning and was getting pretty sleepy but Sam Beam finally came out and started playing. I didn't know a lot about Iron and Wine except for the album Our Endless Numbered Days and this Tiny Desk Concert .
I was used to him and his acoustic guitar but was not disappointed when 12 other musicians and back up singers came out and started playing.
It all sounded really good but it was hard to enjoy because of how tired I was. Ce and I dipped out after four or five songs and made our way back to the hotel to get some sleep.
The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and drove home.
