Wild And Crazy Week[end]s
Like so many things in life, it all started with an email. A late one, for that matter.
“Hey, I saw you were going to have a couple Russian parties, and I thought I might try to make it out for one ... Oh, by the way. I moved to Wisconsin not too long ago.”
What started on that awkward note turned into a great weekend in Superior/Duluth. Saturday, I met up with Danielle (who, much to my jealousy, spent the last year in St. Petersburg teaching English and just this past Saturday started the venture back for another year) and did some sightseeing. Since I had never seen Lake Superior before, most of our activity was lakeside. The beach, the lighthouse, the Rose Garden ... We even went geocaching (which was even more fun because it was Danielle’s first cache), finding one right down on the shore.
After that, we met up with Amy (another member of the 2005 Russia crew) for supper, and then ended up at Marilynn (yep – another one!) and Amy’s apartment to get caught up.
Sunday started at a bagel joint (for me), progressed to a Russian party and the regular service at Danielle’s church, and ended up at the Brewhouse in downtown Duluth with all of the girls. We ate, had ice cream for dessert, and shortly after that I headed back south.
Amazing weekend.
The following week held a company party, my first concert in the square, and the bridge disaster in Minneapolis.
To be honest, I’m not really sure what to say about that. I was glad I heard about it from my sister, since that meant she was okay. I’m quite curious to find out exactly what went wrong. When all of that comes to light I might have more to say.
Like so many things in life, it all started with an email. But this one wasn’t really late, nor was it authored by me.“Hey, I’m going to be working in a town not too far from you periodically over the summer. We should meet up sometime.”
Eric, my buddy from Storm ’04, lives in Bismarck, ND, but travels everywhere for work. In this case, he was referring to Wisconsin Dells, about 2 hours south of Wausau.
A few emails were exchanged as we tried to find a weekend that would work for both of us, and then suddenly his last trip was approaching. This time, though, he had a little more freedom of movement, and lo and behold, I had no plans. Then came miracle number 2: Aaron (who had just moved to Kalamazoo, MI) was free as well.
The three of us made plans to meet up in the Dells and do some waterparking.
My weekend started on Saturday. I drove down a few hours ahead of the guys, wanting some time to explore. Adventure #1 was “Navigating a Tourist-Filled Town.” Adventure #2 was “Taking a Duck Ride.” And Adventure #3 was “Scaring Up a Few Deer While Geocaching.”
Adventure #1 is pretty self-explanatory. It was like Sturgis this week – packed full of people, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and a little frustrating. I managed to find lunch and get my bearings without too much trouble, but it was slow going.
Adventure #2 started because it was raining, and I reached the only conclusion one can reach when it's raining: I wanted to get on a boat. More specifically, an army surplus amphibious vehicle. If anyone’s curious, this is a great way to see the natural aspect of the Dells (that is, the geographic formations for which the town is named). It was gorgeous, relaxing ... and easy to do in the rain. There’s something awesomely fun about taking one singular tank-like vehicle from in front of a building, through the woods, and straight into the lake.
Adventure #3 was actually my first geocaching bust. I came across three deer in the woods (we’ll call it a mutual spook) while I was looking. We were no more than thirty feet apart when we happened upon each other ... Two of them ran off, but the third decided I was rather interesting. When I turned to leave, it even followed me for a bit. Kind of unnerving, actually.
I met up with the guys, and we wandered downtown Dells for a bit before finding food and going to the comedy club. It was an awesome, hilarious evening.
And on Sunday, we went to Mt. Olympus.
Highly recommended. Coasters, waterslides, a wave pool, go-karts, indoor stuff ... The fact that we were able to stay fully entertained for almost 11 hours should be proof enough that it’s totally worth it.
Hmm ... I feel like I should have more to say about that, but there aren’t really specific stories. It was just plain awesome. We got our butts kicked by a few of the rides (like the biggest coaster, which was intense) and we got to relax a bit, too. It was all good.
Now, in my usual timely matter, a week has passed. The last week was almost incurably uneventful, and I spent the weekend sleeping more than necessary (which would explain why I'm still up at 1AM the night before going back to work -- as if Mondays aren't hard enough when you've actually gotten enough sleep).
It's kind of nice to get a break.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.
-Albert Einstein
“Hey, I saw you were going to have a couple Russian parties, and I thought I might try to make it out for one ... Oh, by the way. I moved to Wisconsin not too long ago.”
What started on that awkward note turned into a great weekend in Superior/Duluth. Saturday, I met up with Danielle (who, much to my jealousy, spent the last year in St. Petersburg teaching English and just this past Saturday started the venture back for another year) and did some sightseeing. Since I had never seen Lake Superior before, most of our activity was lakeside. The beach, the lighthouse, the Rose Garden ... We even went geocaching (which was even more fun because it was Danielle’s first cache), finding one right down on the shore.After that, we met up with Amy (another member of the 2005 Russia crew) for supper, and then ended up at Marilynn (yep – another one!) and Amy’s apartment to get caught up.
Sunday started at a bagel joint (for me), progressed to a Russian party and the regular service at Danielle’s church, and ended up at the Brewhouse in downtown Duluth with all of the girls. We ate, had ice cream for dessert, and shortly after that I headed back south.
Amazing weekend.
The following week held a company party, my first concert in the square, and the bridge disaster in Minneapolis.
To be honest, I’m not really sure what to say about that. I was glad I heard about it from my sister, since that meant she was okay. I’m quite curious to find out exactly what went wrong. When all of that comes to light I might have more to say.
----
Like so many things in life, it all started with an email. But this one wasn’t really late, nor was it authored by me.“Hey, I’m going to be working in a town not too far from you periodically over the summer. We should meet up sometime.”
Eric, my buddy from Storm ’04, lives in Bismarck, ND, but travels everywhere for work. In this case, he was referring to Wisconsin Dells, about 2 hours south of Wausau.
A few emails were exchanged as we tried to find a weekend that would work for both of us, and then suddenly his last trip was approaching. This time, though, he had a little more freedom of movement, and lo and behold, I had no plans. Then came miracle number 2: Aaron (who had just moved to Kalamazoo, MI) was free as well.
The three of us made plans to meet up in the Dells and do some waterparking.
My weekend started on Saturday. I drove down a few hours ahead of the guys, wanting some time to explore. Adventure #1 was “Navigating a Tourist-Filled Town.” Adventure #2 was “Taking a Duck Ride.” And Adventure #3 was “Scaring Up a Few Deer While Geocaching.”
Adventure #1 is pretty self-explanatory. It was like Sturgis this week – packed full of people, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and a little frustrating. I managed to find lunch and get my bearings without too much trouble, but it was slow going.
Adventure #2 started because it was raining, and I reached the only conclusion one can reach when it's raining: I wanted to get on a boat. More specifically, an army surplus amphibious vehicle. If anyone’s curious, this is a great way to see the natural aspect of the Dells (that is, the geographic formations for which the town is named). It was gorgeous, relaxing ... and easy to do in the rain. There’s something awesomely fun about taking one singular tank-like vehicle from in front of a building, through the woods, and straight into the lake.Adventure #3 was actually my first geocaching bust. I came across three deer in the woods (we’ll call it a mutual spook) while I was looking. We were no more than thirty feet apart when we happened upon each other ... Two of them ran off, but the third decided I was rather interesting. When I turned to leave, it even followed me for a bit. Kind of unnerving, actually.
I met up with the guys, and we wandered downtown Dells for a bit before finding food and going to the comedy club. It was an awesome, hilarious evening.
And on Sunday, we went to Mt. Olympus.
Highly recommended. Coasters, waterslides, a wave pool, go-karts, indoor stuff ... The fact that we were able to stay fully entertained for almost 11 hours should be proof enough that it’s totally worth it.
Hmm ... I feel like I should have more to say about that, but there aren’t really specific stories. It was just plain awesome. We got our butts kicked by a few of the rides (like the biggest coaster, which was intense) and we got to relax a bit, too. It was all good.
----
Now, in my usual timely matter, a week has passed. The last week was almost incurably uneventful, and I spent the weekend sleeping more than necessary (which would explain why I'm still up at 1AM the night before going back to work -- as if Mondays aren't hard enough when you've actually gotten enough sleep).
It's kind of nice to get a break.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.
-Albert Einstein
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