Let me be start with OMG what a riot this weekend was. Starting with Friday night through Sunday. I can’t believe the havoc we all caused in Visalia.
Anthony and I started our road trip to Visalia Friday afternoon. It was a fairly quiet ride down with very little traffic and some really good conversation. But then Anthony and I always have pretty good conversations. It was sad that our usual road trip buddies were not with us and we did miss Anna and Nicole being in the car with us. We arrived at the Lampliter Inn around 4:30pm, got ourselves checked in and into our rooms. While we didn’t get to stay in adjoining rooms, Anthony was only a few doors down. The Lampliter Inn is exactly that, a small little Inn on the side of the freeway. Very quaint, well groomed, clean and a tad retro. The rooms were clean and comfy although just a tad hot. Couldn’t seem to get the heater to turn off and that seemed to be a consistent throughout the entire hotel. I still don’t understand why hotels don’t put groups like us all in one area so that we don’t have noise issues at night. I don’t think I ever will. Might have kept the complaints down to a low minimum had they done that.
We headed to the bar at the bar and grill next door and decided to have ourselves a drink while we decided on dinner….All I can say is that the bar closed at NINE pm…WTH..I found thought odd that a bar would close at 9 but who am I to say different. We headed out and met up with a bunch of ladies from SPRSI. I didn’t really know many of them but was glad to meet them that night. They were nice enough to invite us to join them for dinner and we headed out to Big Bubbas Bad BBQ. Nice place, great atmosphere and really did seem like a great place to take your family for birthdays, or just to have a good night. We managed to get Julianne and Hilary on the bull, sang, laughed and got to know each other. Again reminded that Fraternalism is important, that it was important to set aside differences and remember that we are all out for the same goal, to keep Luso going and enjoy our culture and our friendships. After dinner we headed back to celebrate Tish and Erica’s Anniversary and I learned to play Beer Pong which I was immediately fired by Anthony because I couldn’t make a shot..lol Good times people…good times.:-)
Sadly I spent the weekend nursing a cold and ended up heading up to bed early that night and spent most of Saturday morning trying to get a handle on the stuffy head, ears and nose. After the Education Foundation luncheon, Luso Federation meeting we all got ready for the Christmas party that was hosted by Visalia Convention Committee for Mr. Tony Sozinho, who is slated to be Luso President in 2012 in Fresno, CA. The hors d'oeuvres were delicious, the drinks as always great but most of all it was great to see old friends that we only see maybe once a year or at a visit.
The food was great, desert and a shotzinho of Porto followed by a Portuguese group from the HS dancing folklore then followed by dancing thank you to Frank Rosa’s Iphone. We laughed, we drank, we danced, we drank some more, we danced more and just had a great time all in all. When the party was over we moved to the hotel where I believe we were chased out of a total of 3 rooms by the Visalia Police Department. Don’t these hotels know that when Luso and SPRSI come together they need to lump us all in one building…so that we only disturb our own!!!! I am not all together sure the Lampliter or Visalia wants us back again! Good times and thank you to Visalia and the Convention Committee for the wonderful holiday party!
Sunday started off with a fraternal meeting and then we were off to Tulare for Council 29B’s Breakfast Brunch and Toy Drive. What a great idea and wonderful turn out. I had never been to Nielson's Restaurant but had already started hearing nothing but good things about it. The brunch was delicious especially their biscuits and gravy.omg..yum! It was a great way to sit with friends, get our bellies nice and full before our 4 hour trek home that afternoon.
Anthony, Anna, Nicole, Joe, Lenor, Marilia and Americo headed home around 1pm. WE may not all have been in the same car but managed to share in some laughs as we trekked down 99 heading back to the bay. Thank you Anthony for letting me bum a ride from you and Thank you everyone in Visalia and Tulare for an amazing weekend filled with laughs and some amazing memories. I’m very glad that I was able to attend this year’s Christmas Festivities.
I wish you all a very wonderful Holiday filled with love, family, friendships and fraternalism! Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy New Year.
I’ll see you all at our first official visit of the New Year on January 16th in Watsonville!
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