The funny thing about coming back from any sort of extended period of travel/vacation, is just how tired and exhausted I feel for the next couple days, sometimes weeks after getting back. This past experience home to North Dakota, was no exception. After doing said, marathon at church (see previous blog entry), we loaded my trusty steed, and headed west. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in St.Cloud that night (Monday 25th). Personally, I love this hotel. Extremely clean, VERY warm kiddy pool, big pool, and the hot-tub lived up to its namesake. But, I made the mistake of actually sitting in the hot-tub for a long time after the drive there and after doing the combat preaching thing...my legs almost failed to work.
Went to Minot, saw the family, saw the G-Parents, and fun was had by all. Most odd Christmas gift of the year goes to my wife. It never fails, one of us in the family gets some gift that no one really knows why or for what, or sometimes who gave it. Now, it might seem like a joke, but sadly it's not. This year, the odd gift out was a roll of bubblewrap. Yes, you read that right! I got assorted things like Batman legos, and the Kiss Anthology DVD set, and a great book, "Roadshow" by Neil Peart (drummer for Rush).
Before we left for Tater Town on the 28th, we had lunch with one of my good friends from high school, and her hubby and their little boy. It was awesome to see her, as I hadn't seen her in something like twelve years or so. She looked great and happy. We chatted for a while about all things and then as quick as it all started, our boys were hitting the witching hour, and we had to go so they could take the daily dose of naps. So, we said our goodbyes, and hit the trail going east. After this whole lunch thing with my friend, my wife and I got talking about high school and all the dramas that happen, and all the expended energy in dating, and how those we dated at the time, unknowingly broke our hearts, and how proms were weird, etc. That passed the time well, and we got to Tater Town just as the sun was going down.
The In-Laws were great, and we all had a good time. Had some adult bevs with my drinkin' buddy and fellow ruffian, my brother-in-law! Went to the local watering hole with said ruffian, future brother-in-law, and my Father-in-law. The name of the hole is "The Spud." I love this place! Definitely a small town bar, where so and so buys you a drink because you have worked with them before or you know so and so, and so they buy you a drink, you buy them one, and so forth. Weird social environment if you are not from around there, but very cool if you hang out with one of the crowd, and you are a spectator!
We left the morning of the 31st. Too much snow to clean off the steed, like 10 inches worth. Drove from Tater Town to Fargo, watching peripheral road lines to stay on I-29 south. Why? The plows had not been out yet, so I watched the speed, and I had the truck in 4 Hi. Passed Fargo, drove all the way too St. Cloud no problem. Got a call from my sister-in-law who was about an hour ahead of us driving home south of Minneapolis. She called to let us know of the fun times ahead. Sure enough as I got near Clearwater, it began to snow. Cars and trucks were slowed down to crawl. I went 10mph for about an hour, visited the Cabelas in Rogers, got back on the Interstate, and kept the truck in 4 Hi going between 10 and 30mph for the next hour and a half. It was the most awful drive around the Twin Cities, I have EVER had! Got into Wisconsin thinking it would clear out...but it took well past Eau Claire before it even stopped snowing, and then it rained, and it cleared by the time I drove past the Dells. The whole trip took us twelve excruciating hours, plus we have the additional enjoyment of having a two year old who does not believe in the concept of patience all that well. He had two melt downs, three mild freak outs, watched three Thomas movies, and read the same book over at least thirty-eight times. Between this, and seeing numerous cars in the ditch, I was on high alert...my nerves were just wrecked by the time I drove into Janesville. The first thing I did was pour myself a Johnny Walker, watched the ball drop, and go to sleep!. I earned it!
All in all, a great Christmas time, but not so much fun traveling back. Definitely a whiteknuckler at times! But, I am back and ready to go. Back at the church thing, already planning some things out, and just excited to be doing what I am doing. Hope you all had a great Christmas, and hope it was without road danger! More later...
Went to Minot, saw the family, saw the G-Parents, and fun was had by all. Most odd Christmas gift of the year goes to my wife. It never fails, one of us in the family gets some gift that no one really knows why or for what, or sometimes who gave it. Now, it might seem like a joke, but sadly it's not. This year, the odd gift out was a roll of bubblewrap. Yes, you read that right! I got assorted things like Batman legos, and the Kiss Anthology DVD set, and a great book, "Roadshow" by Neil Peart (drummer for Rush).
Before we left for Tater Town on the 28th, we had lunch with one of my good friends from high school, and her hubby and their little boy. It was awesome to see her, as I hadn't seen her in something like twelve years or so. She looked great and happy. We chatted for a while about all things and then as quick as it all started, our boys were hitting the witching hour, and we had to go so they could take the daily dose of naps. So, we said our goodbyes, and hit the trail going east. After this whole lunch thing with my friend, my wife and I got talking about high school and all the dramas that happen, and all the expended energy in dating, and how those we dated at the time, unknowingly broke our hearts, and how proms were weird, etc. That passed the time well, and we got to Tater Town just as the sun was going down.
The In-Laws were great, and we all had a good time. Had some adult bevs with my drinkin' buddy and fellow ruffian, my brother-in-law! Went to the local watering hole with said ruffian, future brother-in-law, and my Father-in-law. The name of the hole is "The Spud." I love this place! Definitely a small town bar, where so and so buys you a drink because you have worked with them before or you know so and so, and so they buy you a drink, you buy them one, and so forth. Weird social environment if you are not from around there, but very cool if you hang out with one of the crowd, and you are a spectator!
We left the morning of the 31st. Too much snow to clean off the steed, like 10 inches worth. Drove from Tater Town to Fargo, watching peripheral road lines to stay on I-29 south. Why? The plows had not been out yet, so I watched the speed, and I had the truck in 4 Hi. Passed Fargo, drove all the way too St. Cloud no problem. Got a call from my sister-in-law who was about an hour ahead of us driving home south of Minneapolis. She called to let us know of the fun times ahead. Sure enough as I got near Clearwater, it began to snow. Cars and trucks were slowed down to crawl. I went 10mph for about an hour, visited the Cabelas in Rogers, got back on the Interstate, and kept the truck in 4 Hi going between 10 and 30mph for the next hour and a half. It was the most awful drive around the Twin Cities, I have EVER had! Got into Wisconsin thinking it would clear out...but it took well past Eau Claire before it even stopped snowing, and then it rained, and it cleared by the time I drove past the Dells. The whole trip took us twelve excruciating hours, plus we have the additional enjoyment of having a two year old who does not believe in the concept of patience all that well. He had two melt downs, three mild freak outs, watched three Thomas movies, and read the same book over at least thirty-eight times. Between this, and seeing numerous cars in the ditch, I was on high alert...my nerves were just wrecked by the time I drove into Janesville. The first thing I did was pour myself a Johnny Walker, watched the ball drop, and go to sleep!. I earned it!
All in all, a great Christmas time, but not so much fun traveling back. Definitely a whiteknuckler at times! But, I am back and ready to go. Back at the church thing, already planning some things out, and just excited to be doing what I am doing. Hope you all had a great Christmas, and hope it was without road danger! More later...
2 comments:
Funny thing... I actually got a roll of bubble wrap from some anonymous member of my hubby's family last year. In another anonymous gift to my little man, I found a pair of roller-skates. Yikes.
I was thinking about you on the 31st! We were either behind you or in front of you in that awful mess of snow and ice! Dave was SO thankful we had AWD in our Subaru!
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