travelogue
been meaning to get this posted for a week now.
so yes, i went home to baraboo last weekend for my little brother’s high school graduation. it was good. i think its been thanksgiving of 2005 since all of the family has been together at one time.
airplane ride there was uneventful and uncomfortable as usual. i landed in o’hare around 1 am, and my grandpa came and picked me up. nice “comfortable” rest on the floor of the hotel six…
we headed towards wisconsin at about 7 am. the scenery was beautifully green, if only i hadn’t been extremely nauseous and holding a plastic bag in case of vomit. after a stop at the rest stop at the wisconsin state border i felt much better though. it was only 10:30 am, but my grandpa insisted on stopping by the culver’s in deforrest. even with an upset stomach earlier that day, i couldn’t resist a turtle sundae. i am actually a bit sad that i never got around to getting a malt… anyway, we made it home near noon, and it was fun to see everyone. my nieces were quite excited, and so was babe the dog. babe started doing her “bunny run” when i started playing with her, and she got so riled up that she basically gave katie a side check into the couch. plenty of tears, no permanent damage done though.
i thought it would be fun to go hit up the high school and say hi to some people. lots of memories, and i was glad to see they still use the same visitor badges that i designed six years ago. saw my old band teacher. he still has the “king” logo i had torn off of my trombone case ten years ago up on his clock, and he also keeps dixieland duet in the back of his music folder. apparently my old friend had gotten a kidney transplant, so that was kind of a shock. i also stopped up to see coach. he said he was recovering from an injury, so we didnt go running together. it sounds like the team has lost some of the sense of tradition and respect, which of course has made them not do so well the last few years, and coach shared with me his plan to get things back on track. good luck to him. hung with little bro for a bit, made me feel old.
it was nat’s birthday, so we went out to moosejaw. food was decent, we all made fools of ourself wearing moose antler hats. everyone was pretty tired by the end of the night, so we all crashed pretty early.
friday morning was the drive to la valle and the carr valley cheese factory. beautiful drive, lots of amish people. cheese factory was less than spectacular to watch, but the cheese was amazing. the cheese curds were still warm when they put them out, and the room was loud with squeaks while we enjoyed it. drive home things got really humid. felt like the summers i remember growing up with. molecularbond, charlie, and headed down to devil’s lake. the breeze made it really nice and not too buggy. we walked about halfway down the tumble rock trail, took pics and chilled on the rocks next to the water. the wind died down and the bugs started swarming just as we got back to the north shore, so that was good timing. once we got back home, i went for a run along the river path. don’t know how many hundreds of times i’ve gone on that run. it was only in the low 70s but it was so humid i was soaked with sweat when i got back. showered and my dad’s parents showed up for little bro’s graduation dinner. mom made lasagna and did a pretty good job. she started crying and said that she was just so happy that the most important people in the world to her were all together in one place. made me glad that i could make it. weather started getting perfect around 7 pm, so we walked to the high school for the grad ceremony. it dragged… certainly feels a lot different when you aren’t too excited to graduate to care how hot and stuffy it is in the gym. the choir sang sting’s fields of gold. i was confused. saw a few people from high school from a distance. went home, gave little bro his graduation gift (ssb brawl) and then watched the king of kong with molecularbond and charlie. it was good. just a good reminder of how normal i really am.
saturday, molecularbond, charlie and i walked down to the farmer’s market. too early in the season for much of anything, and the old amish woman with the amazing cookies appears to have been replaced with some other amish guy. his cookies had such fancy packaging that i questioned their quality… molecularbond bought some homemade horseradish from a one eyed farmer. hope she doesn’t die. went back home to help prep for the graduation party. mom bought 25 dozen cookies without realizing just how many that is. i think we made it thought like 7 of them, especially after the full sized cake that little bro’s friend (it was a double party) brought. ate a brat, enjoyed it greatly, fell asleep on the couch while surrounded by a ton of people. saw glen, my old boss. it was good to say hi. party finally died down and i hit up luke’s house. we had to grill sausages from a distance so we didn’t get eaten live by mosquitos. sat around, shared stories (apparently andrew j is married!?!), listened to music, and scared ourselves watching 28 weeks later in luke’s theater room. movie was not that great, but when the walls shake as a zombie jumps through the window, it makes you jump. good to see the old boys again.
sunday was church. the ward is growing. they had 157 people the week before, 140 or so that day. if they average 125 for the month of june, they get to expand the church. should be quite exciting for people like my parents who have been serving there for over 20 years. got home after a potluck, had to rush to get packed and off to madison for the bus. had to leave home at 1:30 pm cst, finally got back to sacramento at 11 pm pst. just a long trip. they played fool’s gold on the airplane ride, i couldn’t stand watching any more than 10 minutes. i drove home, and consequently locked my keys in the car. at least i was able to get in my apartment and sleep until 5 am and then take care of getting my car opened.
there was my trip home. i am glad i did it, i know it made my mom happy. missed someone and wished she was there.