On to Omaha for a Major Family Event!

Once again, it was time for a road trip…this time it was all about spending time with and celebrating family!

Near the end of May, we got up early one morning and headed for Omaha, and our first visit with our son’s family in about a year. 

We don’t follow the Interstate System any more than is necessary.  In this case we followed I-40 from Knoxville west to I-24 north from Nashville.  It joins I-57 north in Southern Illinois and we exited it at US Hwy 50 west at Salem Illinois and followed US Hwy 51 north followed by a couple of state highways all the way to our overnight stop in Springfield Illinois.

I had researched the area near our Hampton Inn on the south side of Springfield…looking for a likely place for us to have dinner.  That was when I discovered a small restaurant chain called “Sweet Basil Café”.  What really attracted me was that the menu was huge and featured a number of Greek inspired offerings…much like the local Greek owned restaurants that we love and frequented so often when we lived in Chicago.  At this point, we were really hopeful...

Laurie decided against the Greek offerings, instead ordering one of her favorites, a “French Dip Sandwich”. (Slices of roast beef on French bread served with Au jus for dipping) For her side, she ordered the “Tri-c0lored Pasta Salad.  Her other choices were French fries, Orzo Pasta Salad or Fruit.

Laurie was thankful that she ordered the pasta salad…because it was the best thing she was served.  The ‘beef’ was flavorless as was the Au jus, sad because a good Au jus will usually ‘cover up’ less than quality beef.

One of my favorite entrees in a Greek Restaurant is the Greek Chicken Dinner.  As is the standard, it includes a half chicken roasted Greek style with lemon and roasted potatoes.  As a side, this entrée came with a small Greek Salad. 

Due to my medications, I can’t eat salad so I asked for the soup instead.  Our waiter proceeded to bring out a huge order of French fries, that despite the roasted potatoes that came with my entrée.  We told him that we hadn’t ordered French fries and he said, “Oh well, then they’re free”.  I once again requested my soup…but it never came.

As for the ‘Greek Chicken’, despite the fact that it was floating in a flavorless broth or sauce, it was overcooked, flavorless and dry.  The potatoes were terrible examples of roasted Greek style potatoes.  If there was any lemon or garlic anywhere, it must have still been in the kitchen.  Even those ‘free’ fries were just OK.  Even the presentation failed to appeal...

Our waiter was untrained plus he was…to put it politely…an idiot.  He did nothing right… In addition, despite the lack of customers while we were in the restaurant, the kitchen was painfully slow and we waited what seemed like forever for our food.  To top it all off, when we went up to the counter to pay our bill, the 2 young ladies at the register were just chatting with each other and no one asked how our dinners were…probably a good thing.  The final item of discontent was that their printer wasn’t working so I couldn’t get a receipt. 

Somehow, this little chain of restaurants has 4 other locations in Illinois…Skokie, Glen Ellyn, Rockford and Peoria.  They have to be better than the Springfield location!  Taking everything into account, our rating for this dining experience is “Horrid”.  I will post my review with TripAdvisor...

Sweet Basil Café’s website is at https://www.sweetbasilcafes.com/.   

The next morning we headed west on I-72 and then, once in Missouri we followed US Hwy 36 west to I-29 and then north to Omaha.  It was time to celebrate and party!

The rest of this post is all about Emmett Lee.  At 18 years of age he is the younger of our 2 grandsons.  As you can see, given all those medals, cords and sashes, he was not only graduating from high school, but he did so with a variety of honors!  I’m not sure what all of them represent but when comparing his ‘regalia’ with others, he was part of a select group of seniors!

The graduation ceremony was held at the Elkhorn Public Schools Stadium.  This photo shows the group as they were assembling at one end of the field.  In total, there were 282 members of this senior class.

Here are some of the members of the Class of 2022 from Elkhorn South High School in Omaha (Elkhorn area) Nebraska.  With his height, Emmett was easy to spot!  At this point, the seniors had been given a white rose, which was the class flower.  It was presented to their mothers or key family members a bit later in the ceremony.

This photo shows all members of the immediate family…parents, grandparents and of course, his older brother.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get out of this photo by being the photographer…as another graduate’s dad volunteered to take the photo.

This view toward the ‘business end’ of the field shows just a fraction of the graduating class.  However it does show the big screen showing the seniors and where the speeches were made and the diplomas were handed out… 

Then of course, we all had to have photos taken with Emmett.  Here he is with his proud parents, David II and Amy.

This is David III with Emmett.  It was only 3 years earlier when David III graduated from Elkhorn South High School… Time flies!  There were too many people taking their photo when I snapped this one…as neither of them were looking my way.

Of course I had to take a photo of Emmett with 'Nana', aka Laurie, my better half.  We are both very proud of Emmett and his many accomplishments!

Emmett Lee posed with yours truly at his home before the graduation ceremony.  There are times when even I want to have my photo taken and this was one of those occasions. 

So what’s next for Emmett Lee?  He was accepted to the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, a school within the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.  This school accepts no more than 45 students each year… On top of that, much to his parents and his personal delight, he got a full scholarship… In addition, he’ll be close enough to home that he can drop off his laundry at home from time to time!

Congratulations Emmett!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave