Northern Spark was a week ago. We got there around 9:30 and left at 4am. It was busy and there were a lot of long lines, but over all it was very, very cool. Have some pictures!
Kate modeling her headgear.
I made a huge bow at one of the booths.
Michelle made a veil.
Graffiti wall. We all added some.
Gossip Orchestra.
The Gossip Orchestra was the coolest thing. Here is a video. People could go in the middle of the circle and conduct the orchestra using lights.
Michelle, Sam, Susanna, Kate, Me.
On Saturday, Kate and I finally set out on an epic adventure. We had been planning on doing it for years, and the time had finally come.
We were going to Darwin, Minnesota to see the World’s Largest Ball of Twine Made by One Man.
Darwin isn’t far from St. Paul, but we made the trip count.
On the way to Darwin. Orpheus was excited too.
We left just after 10 am on Saturday morning and promptly left the cities, venturing through many small towns. We stopped at an unfortunate gas station in Montrose for snacks and a bathroom. The bathroom was located in the laundromat next to the gas station.
There was no toilet paper, only paper towel.
It was worth stopping, though, for the fifty cent mustaches we acquired from one of those gumball machine thingies.
I think the ‘staches were meant to be style-able. Hm.
Anyway, we drove some more, and Darwin is so small we drove right through. The twine ball used to be right off the highway, but it was moved and we had missed our turn. Not by much, only a few hundred feet or so.
Well.
Obviously we made it to the twine ball, and it was beyond glory.
Oh, also, I cut my hair again.
As you can see, I was pretty stoked. That’s the twinehut behind me.
School bell.
There was an old schoolhouse in town once upon a time. This is what remains.
Encased in plexiglass so hooligans don’t try to set it on fire.
And here is the twine itself.
Kate was also very excited.
We checked out the museum and picked up some souvenirs. I acquired a nifty shot glass with, what else, a picture of the twine ball etched on the side.
After Darwin, we rolled over to Litchfield to see what was up. Lunch at Taco John’s, a visit to the GAR, and some antique store wandrin’ was… what was up… before we decided to make our way home.
Our first stop on the way back to St. Paul was Thirsty’s – the only bar in Dassel, MN.
We enjoyed some Nordeast. Suck it, haters.
After beers and waters, we were on the road again. We made one more stop for ice cream before we rolled into Delano, where we met this chicken:
The chicken was conveniently located across the street from Coborn’s, where we stopped for more goodies to take to the drive-in later that night. Fried chicken (sorry, new friend), spinach dip, Hawaiian bread, grapes, and some tasty smoked gouda. Maybe not traditional movie snacks but super delicious.
So, yeah. after our epic adventure, what better way to wine down than an evening at the drive in?
Except there were storms a-brewin’.
Not long into the first movie – Cowboys vs Aliens – the wind picked up and everyone retreated into their cars. Most people stayed until the end of the movie. We left as the credits started rolling. There were two more movies slated to play for the night, and it looked like some people were going to stick it out, but I think leaving when we did was probably the right choice considering the amount of water on the roads. We made it tour our homes safe and sound, and I for one am still satisfied with the awesomeness of our day.
Not having a phone is super annoying.
Oof. So I took last Friday off so I could roll up north with Kate, Becky, Dims, and Asari for Kate’s Birthday Weekend Extravaganza. We left at about 6:45 on Thursday and made it to her grandparent’s home/cabin at… well, I don’t know when. Pretty late, because we made a few stops. Twice because the diver’s side windshield wiper fell off.
Here I am trying to reattach the wiper. Photo shamelessly stolen from Kate.
We thought we got it fixed but were clearly wrong, because as I noted before it fell off a second time. So we drove on and hoped it didn’t rain any harder.
Once we got there, we sat around eating and entire pan of brownies. Friday was spent sleeping late, swimming, enjoying a visit from Heather, skinny dipping twice, drinking, and eating more than necessary. Also rowing, particularly when Kate and I were attempting to bring Heather to the sand bar but the wind was so strong we were basically rowing in place.
Saturday was much of the same, only minus Heather and skinny dipping but plus Kate’s dad and his boat and tubing that left me sore for a few days.
There were s’mores and hot dogs, cucumber salsa and dill pickle dip, sangria margaritas, late nights, and a chicken puzzle.
Here are some phone pics- the last ones taken before it’s untimely death.
Drink-in-a-Mug and Dims’ sunglasses.
Wulfs! And I probably should have cropped out Dims’ bum.
Nearing sunset.
I came home and learned that we suddenly have to pay a $200 pet deposit for our dog, and the landlords are adding $40 a month for pet rent. That kind of killed my weekend. But whatevah! The awesome things in life tend to make up for the lame stuff.
In other news, I came across the book I made of our wedding cards (our anniversary is very soon!). Kyle wrote a joke in the one from him and Jenna:
Q: What’s blue and smells like red paint?
A: Blue paint.
You’re welcome.
We went up to the “cabin” this weekend for some much needed (if not expensive, oops) downtime.
Darren took the van in for an oil change on Friday and surprise! the sway bar was cracked. $200 gone, plus it means we left town later than we’d hoped.
There was a storm a-brewin’, see. It was heading right for us and Darren wanted to outrun it. We left an hour and a half later than planned and paid for it. Kind of.
We hit traffic just as we got out of Minneapolis. Not regular holiday traffic, but pavement failure. It was so hot that the road broke. We made it past that and everything was just fine as we drove into this:
it was scarier in person
We got up around Rogers and things started looking bad. We hit another traffic jam as the wind picked up and things started swirling. A lot of cars were getting off the freeway or stopping under overpasses. Not us. Darren was in Flee Mode and we bolted. It was pouring rain for a while and visibility was something like five feet.
Traffic was at 20 mph for a while. By the time we got to Clearwater, the rain had mostly stopped but the wind was still kicking ass and we could see the storm coming up behind us. Fleeing again, we made it into Brainerd and the storm had cleared. The sunset was lovely.
of course there was fire (every night)
The rest of the weekend was super awesome, albeit quite hot. We got to see my family – Tyler was home for the weekend, and he took me off-roading in his giant green truck.
We got to see Jakson, who is getting very big.
We had coffee with the Joneses (hooray!), saw Darren’s parents, sisters, and grandparents, and hung out with various members of my family. There was also plenty of relaxing.
We saw a movie (Bad Teacher. It was okay. I’d say rent it), ate pizza, wandered around the dying mall, got sun burns, played with the dog, and drank a lot. Darren’s dad took us out in the boat yesterday and engine problems almost left us stranded. We managed to get back to shore and left late, again.
We made it home in 2 1/2 hours and I took the best shower ever before we were randomly invited to the neighbors’ house for a bonfire. Enli and their dog, Tank, like to play, so we had more beers and watched all the neighbors light fireworks, and went to bed too late.
My sunburn is itchy and we spent way more money than we should have (the car repair didn’t help), but I think we needed the mini vacation more than we expected.
Tonight I am going to bed early. The end.
fearlessly, myself. 