[On location in Cumberland, Wisconsin]

Is my vacation seriously nearly over already? Didn't it just start? Well, I've been pretty busy driving all over the place the last few days visiting friends and family and whatnot, so here's some of what I've been up to.

Last Friday morning Carl, his friend Seth & I pulled out of State College at about 6:30am. It's not particularly fun to be starting a long drive on just 5 hours of sleep, but then again that's why Carl drove the first leg. And by the first leg, I mean from State College, PA, all the way to Tomah, WI (where Seth's parents met us so they could go back to Rochester, MN). I drove the rest of the way to Cumberland, and we went through a nice squall line along the way on US 53 from New Auburn to Rice Lake. I'm sure I would've enjoyed the lightning show and gusty winds a lot more if I wasn't driving! But we got to my parents' house in Cumberland a bit before 11pm, meaning we were on the road for just over 17 hours. Ugh. I was very glad to be out of the van finally.

On Saturday Carl & I drove down to the Twin Cities to go to the wedding of our friends Zach & Jolene. Zach's a former roommate of mine from Gustavus, and Jolene was in my physics graduating class at GAC. Their wedding was at Central Lutheran in downtown Minneapolis, and because the church is so huge, it seemed like it was a pretty small wedding because the guests didn't take up too much space. It was a nice wedding though, and pretty short too. Zach got a little choked up while reciting the vows too. Afterwards, Carl said that if he was told beforehand that only one of the two would cry during the ceremony, his money would've been on Zach. Right on Carl, right on. ;-)

During the dinner Zach & Jolene wouldn't kiss in response to glass-clinking. Instead, they had a whole series of questions written out about them (such as where they got engaged, where they had their first date, what's the only sports team they follow, etc), and if a glass-clinker wanted them to kiss, they had to answer a question correctly. Since our table had four physics alums (me, Carl, Seth, and John, who flew in from Switzerland for the wedding!), we decided to be a bit obnoxious and answer a bunch of questions. I mean, we knew most of them, after all. :-) If we had gotten through all the questions, we decided that we'd start asking them questions. [evil laugh] After dinner was a bunch of dancing, which was fun. Jolene had even picked out some rap song for all us physics majors to dance to, haha. All that we were missing was a coffee table on which to dance! At the start of the dollar dance, a bunch of people lined up right away to dance with Jolene, but people were a bit slow to get in line for Zach, so Carl & I got the first two dances with him, haha. We closed the reception down too, it went till almost midnight.

After the brunch on Sunday, Seth went back home to Madison, but Carl & I drove down to Saint Peter for the Gustavus Physics Alumni Picnic. We got there a bit early, so I spent an hour walking around the campus taking a bunch of pictures:

I spent Sunday & Monday nights at my brother Aaron & Eve's house in Minnetrista, Sunday night playing in a poker game with Aaron & his neighbors. Yes, I played poker. And I might've won had I not mistakenly thought I had a 6 on one crucial hand instead of an 8. I could've knocked out two people, but instead reduced myself to pretty much nothing. I bet the wrong hand and called two people's all-ins, argh! Wait, why am I telling a bad beat story? Bad Jared.

On Monday I drove into downtown Minneapolis (well, Saint Anthony, technically) to have lunch with my friend Dan, a fellow PK (pastor's kid) who I've known for probably 15 years. I got a little turned around in downtown trying to find where we were meeting, making me a bit late, which was unfortunate because he only had his lunch break and had to get back to work. I wish we could've hung out a bit more, but oh well. Maybe there'll be more time when I come back for Christmas.

After lunch, since I was already right near downtown, I decided to pay for another couple hours of parking so I could walk around and take some pictures. I didn't have really any pictures of Minneapolis, after all. ;-) I was just gonna go down to one of the parks along the Mississippi River to try to get some good views of the Minneapolis skyline, and then maybe walk around there for a bit. When I stumbled onto the Saint Anthony Heritage Trail, I figured what the heck, I may as well, and this seemed like something I'd do if I were visiting a new city. It was a nice little walk too, going along historic Main Street in St Anthony, by the old Pillsbury flour mills (some of which are actually still in use), over the Stone Arch Bridge (with good views of Saint Anthony Falls), and then along the southwest bank of the Mississippi, crossing back over at the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge. Even though I'd lived two hours or less from Minneapolis for most of my life, I'd never seen St Anthony Falls, except for fleeting glimpses from the 35W bridge (the one that collapsed last August), and I'd never been on the Stone Arch Bridge before. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a walk too, sunny skies, low humidity and temps in the mid-upper 80s. Little did I know before I went on the walking tour that Saint Anthony Falls is the only legitimate waterfall on the entire length of the Mississippi River. Another fun fact I learned is that Pillsbury, with its flour mills in Minneapolis, was one of the first companies in America to offer its employees profit-sharing, way back around 1900 if I recall correctly. Monday was a good reminder to me that there are lots of fun and interesting places to explore, even close to home, wherever home happens to be.

On Tuesday I basically hung around Aaron & Eve's place until mid-afternoon, just relaxing and reading a book and whatnot, then I left to go have dinner with my friends Scott & Katie up in White Bear Lake. I had hoped to swing by either Fort Snelling State Park or Minnehaha Falls Park on my way there, but traffic was bad enough that I didn't have time. Oh well, maybe one of these visits home. Anyway, it was great to see Scott & Katie (and their 4-month old baby girl, Georgia!) again and hear what they're up to. It would've been fun to stay longer, but I had to let Scott study for his insane Chinese class he's taking this summer (class 3 hrs/day, 5 days/wk, for 10 weeks).

So I've been back in Cumberland since Tuesday night, trying to relax and basically not do much. Other than organize photos and blog, of course. ;-) Wednesday night I went over to my oldest brother Nathan & Laura's house for dinner and a game night. Five of us played Settlers: Cities & Knights of Catan, and I finally won a Catan game! I think it was the first time I've ever won a Catan game of any sort. But hey, I still typically have fun even if I'm finishing in last or next-to-last like is usually the case. It's just nice to win one at least once in awhile. :-)

Just for kicks, here's a panoramic of some cool wavy clouds from an approaching storm system I snapped on Wednesday morning right after I woke up:

I think my younger brother Jake's gonna come over tonight for dinner, and then I'll have seen all three of my brothers on this trip home. We're also planning to hit up the Science Museum of Minnesota on Saturday to check out the Star Wars special exhibit that's there. I've heard it's pretty cool. And then Sunday will be here, the last day of vacation, Carl & Seth will get here, and then at 5am Monday we'll set off for Pennsylvania. Another 17-hr drive, I can't wait.