More Shenanigans

Well, Calvert, we'll see if I can write more than you this time.


Um ...


Oh! Oh yeah. More adventures ahead -- I'm going to Rochester tomorrow directly after work to hang out with a few high school friends. It strikes me as crazy that I'm still in contact with anyone from high school (yeah, I'm not very good at that), but it's also crazy to me that any of them live close enough for me to go visit for a regular weekend. Very cool.


Particularly Rochester ... I have almost entirely happy memories of that town. My only trips to Rochester (before this coming weekend) were for my sister's soccer tournaments. They played a Memorial Day tournament there ... A couple of those times, it rained -- and rained and rained and rained -- and at least once we had to jump start the van because we camped out in it for a couple of hours when games were delayed due to lightning. It was actually pretty funny, in that, "Huh. Whoops." sort of way.


Mostly, I remember the Barnes & Noble.


I make it a point to go to a B&N in every city I can. The one in Sioux Falls is one of the biggest I've seen (which seems ironic). My least favorite was in New York City -- it was a bit too cramped and had therefore lost most of the bookstore aura. My favorite is in Rochester.


It is -- or was? -- set up in such a fashion that it looks like a castle inside -- instant appeal to a girl who's always been mildly obsessed with fairy tales. Two levels (bargain books were downstairs) and lots of nooks and crannies in which to hide. At one point I ended up going there with one of the moms and her son (a soccer sibling like myself who I happened to have a massive crush on at the time) and they lost track of me when I found Catch 22 and sat down to read. It was also in this particular B&N that I had my first real (read: not from a gas station) cappuccino. After that, there was no going back.


With any luck, I can convince my friends that they want to go there this weekend ... We'll see, eh?


Have a great night, folks!

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