Last goodbyes/mini road trip
Okaaaay... Weekend report, as promised.
We left here around 12:30 and took the "scenic route" (aka, we got kinda lost) up to Turtle Lake. Was a pretty ride, despite it taking an hour longer then it usually should. But, we saw a *huge* golden eagle who had been sitting on the side of the road munching road-kill. Seriously, that thing had to have a wingspan of 6 feet at least. He (she? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that females tend to be larger then males) flew up right in front of the car (thankfully, we still had a few car lengths between us and him, otherwise we prolly woulda ended up with a broken windshield and a very very guilty conscious) so we got a really good view. Very pretty birdy. We even thought about going back to pester him and take pictures, cause we knew he would prolly be going back to his dinner that was so rudely interrupted by us pesky kinda lost road trippers! But, we didn't cause we were already like a quarter mile or there abouts past the dead raccoon or whatever he was eating.
Rest of the trip up there was pretty uneventful. We stopped in some town that I can't remember the name to (Cerino? Crico? I'm pretty sure it started with a C at least) where my parents are gonna be doing a Native Voice presentation and flint-knapping demonstration later on this month or next month. They had one of the only (if not *the* only) giant log-wencher thingies used way back when Wisconsin was a major logging site. It looked kinda like a giant crane, only wider and no little driver-compartment kinda thingy at the bottom. Was pretty cool.
We also stopped at some gas station like maybe half and hour before getting to Turtle Lake, getting a few gallons of gas and looking to see if they had any hotel rooms available. They didn't. Pretty much every hotel was booked solid within a 50 mile radius of Turtle Lake/St. Croix Falls area. Turns out there were several gathering-type things happening there, a classic car show as well as we figured some sort of motorcycle show/run cause of the wealth of Harleys we saw most of the way down. I think there mighta been an art show or something too, but we really didn't stop to figure it all out.
Anyhoo, finally got there by around 3:30-ish, and dropped by my brother's fiancee's parent's house, where both Ben (my brother) and Shayna (his finance) were staying for a day or two now that they were both moved outta their places, to see Ben. We didn't go inside, instead Ben came out and chatted with us a little on their steps. He was looking really stressed/worried/nervous, but I suppose that's to be expected when you're moving more then half-way across the country to a world apart from the Wisconsin life style he had known all his life in less then 24 hours. Shayna came out and joined us a bit later, and we all sat and talked for maybe 20 minutes. Her dad was outside making a few last minute packs and adjustments to the moving van and such, and once he was done came over as well and suggested we all try to go out for breakfast tomorrow (this was Saturday) before they headed out at 9. Plan was agreed to, and about 5 minutes later (after another hug and worried look from Ben) we were off searching for a hotel.
*This* was the hard part. As mentioned earlier, every frickin hotel with in a 50 mile radius of Turtle Lake was booked solid, or at least every hotel we stopped at along the hour and a half/two hour search. Hell, we even went 20 miles into Minnesota looking, and everything was *still* booked. We had seen two hotels, itty bitty ones, in Barron on the drive down, but they were literally 30 miles on the other side of Turtle Lake from where we were, which was the Minnesota side of Taylor Falls (also known as St. Croix falls), a tourist trap that was so full of cars, RVs, and motorcycles that it was like a city-wide traffic jam. And, Taylor Falls was already about 20 miles *west* of Turtle Lake, while Barron was 30-40 miles *east* of it. Needless to say, we didn't really have hopes of getting back to Barron before both the tiny hotels we saw were also booked.
So, mum and I were getting rather worried since my father was pretty much dead-set against sleeping in the car or somewhere without a bed, so he was planning on just heading back home with only a message to Ben to say our goodbyes. And, considering that Ben will be in California for at *least* 6 years, this was kinda a big deal.
Luckily, only one of the hotels was booked by the time we got back to Barron. The one left was really small, but it was clean and hey, for 35 bucks a night, you get what you pay for. Two beds, one full and one twin or single or whatever. One little bathroom and a 15 in. screen television that had like 10 channels. So, it was okay. Only annoying thing about it, aside from being rather small, was the fact that the full-sized bed was still covered in plastic, like the mattress and the bedspring were new. So, every time one of my parents rolled over or repositioned themselves, the plastic crinkled.
Hotel found, we called Ben and left a message for him that we had found a hotel and that we would be at breakfast tomorrow at 8. Then we headed out to find some dinner. By this time, it was after 7:00 pm, so Maren was huuuuuungry. We went to some Embers built in a truck stop. I gots me a club sub with fries while mum and dad got fish and ribs. Food was okay, but it was cold by the time we got it. Didn't stop me from eating the whoooole sandwich, though, cause I was hungry. Couldn't eat all my fries, though. But, mum and I still got a take-home dessert. I got a nummy piece of coffee cake and mom gut a snickers sundae. Was too stuffed to eat it, but I ate a little an hour or two later at the hotel. It was yummy.
After a stop at the liqueur store (for orange juice, vodka, and beer. Priorities, ya know. ;) ), we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night. I took a shower, which was something of a challenge cause the water couldn't decide if it wanted to be cold or hot, and since I hadn't packed any shampoo or conditioner, I snarched one of those itty bitty bottles they have at hotels some times. It worked, but since it was only a conditioning shampoo I had a little trouble getting a comb through it. Conditioner is your frieeeeend, especially when you don't have any... ::sighs::
Headed to bed around 11. Tried to sleep, but none of us really could. Along with the crinkly plastic and my parents occasional snores, our 'neighbors' were bikers who spent most of the night getting sloshed and making noise. To make it even *better*, their friends came around 2:00 in the morning and POUNDED ON THEIR DOOR! As well as shouting through the window at a couple who were probably unconscious due to all their alcohol intake the past few hours. That lasted maybe 10 minutes, and then we were pretty much done for the night. I didn't get to sleep until maybe around 4, and even then it was the half asleep/half awake kinda thing. I don't even know if my parents got to sleep after that.
Mum and Dad got up at 6, and them moving around woke *me* up, so I was running on two hours of sleep all day yesterday. Dad took a shower as mum and I repacked out few things and watched Clifford the Big Red Dog (YAY Clifford!). We left for Turtle Lake at 7:30, cause it was a half and hour drive due to everywhere nearer being totally full for the night. Get to the place we're meeting Ben and his in-laws on time and proceed to have a really really really good breakfast in pretty good company. I amuse everyone with my ability to make origami birds and such with the little paper napkin holders, and all in all just have a good time with lotsa talking and laughing. And eggs and bacon... YAY greasy fatty food that I only have rarely! Cause it was gooooooooood.
After breakfast we had back to Shayna's parent's place and spend 20 minutes or so doing lotsa hugging and a little crying (mostly Ben, Mom, Shayna, and her sister... I almost did once or twice, but didn't cause I'm the cold-hearted bitch nothing can faze. :D And then, with one final hug and lotsa waving, they were off to make their new life in California. ::sniffs:: I'ma gonna have to e-mail him like crazy.
Goodbyes done and my big bro Ben on his way to California, Mum, Dad and I headed back over to St. Croix falls to check out the inter-state park there. We walked along the St. Croix river on the Pothole Trail, where the water in the river created this whirl-pool type effect and carved holes in the stone it that were almost totally cylindrical, making holes that look like they coulda been drilled with a 3-foot bit, except for the inconsistencies in smoothness of the pothole's wall. I guess you have to see it to know what I'm talking about, but it was pretty cool.
Afterwards, dad paid 12 bucks per-person for the three of us to go in this close to two-hour riverboat tour of the St. Croix river. *That* was cool. The tour-guide person pointed out the different shapes and faces in the rock cliffs along the river, as well as the natural 'cross in one of the cliff-faces that gave the St. Croix (meaning Holy Cross in latin, I think) river it's name. There were also lots of rock climbers we saw along the way, and I saw the little cliff-wall that I had climbed when I was at camp way back when I was in like 6th or 7th grade. Lotsa other kids and climber were on it when we went by, so it was a pretty cool picture. Mum and I also think we saw an osprey, some sort of predator bird that lives near water. That was also cool, but I don't think we got any pictures of it.
Then we headed back home, stopping in Hudson along the way for a late lunch at KFC with my other brother, Gus. I slept most of the way, or tried to at least... Maren was tiiiired. We got home a little after 6 pm, and then we had a big, though not all that sever, storm come through that hung around for close to an hour and killed the satellite for more like two, so I sat and read (well, reread) "Wild Magic" by Tamora Pierce (GOD I LOVE THIS SERIES) on the couch and cursed at the satellite cause I wanted to watch Dead Zone at 9. Satellite blitzed in and out for maybe the first 10 minutes of it, but the rest of it I could watch without too much interference. Then, I showered and went to bed really early, for me at least, by 10:30.
All in all, though I will miss my brother, it was a fun trip, and I'm glad I went along.
In other news, according to Cristin, Jennie is doing better. They have her up in Madison and apparently have her back on solid food, which I'm assuming is a good thing. I think it also goes to say that she probably won't need a liver transplant after all, so that's good. And I'm with Cristin on saying that, if she makes it through this, I only hope it will teach her a lesson and give up all the nasty stuff she's been doing, but again, being Jennie, I don't have my hopes up too high. For now, I'm just grateful that the worst of it is most likely over for her family.
We left here around 12:30 and took the "scenic route" (aka, we got kinda lost) up to Turtle Lake. Was a pretty ride, despite it taking an hour longer then it usually should. But, we saw a *huge* golden eagle who had been sitting on the side of the road munching road-kill. Seriously, that thing had to have a wingspan of 6 feet at least. He (she? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that females tend to be larger then males) flew up right in front of the car (thankfully, we still had a few car lengths between us and him, otherwise we prolly woulda ended up with a broken windshield and a very very guilty conscious) so we got a really good view. Very pretty birdy. We even thought about going back to pester him and take pictures, cause we knew he would prolly be going back to his dinner that was so rudely interrupted by us pesky kinda lost road trippers! But, we didn't cause we were already like a quarter mile or there abouts past the dead raccoon or whatever he was eating.
Rest of the trip up there was pretty uneventful. We stopped in some town that I can't remember the name to (Cerino? Crico? I'm pretty sure it started with a C at least) where my parents are gonna be doing a Native Voice presentation and flint-knapping demonstration later on this month or next month. They had one of the only (if not *the* only) giant log-wencher thingies used way back when Wisconsin was a major logging site. It looked kinda like a giant crane, only wider and no little driver-compartment kinda thingy at the bottom. Was pretty cool.
We also stopped at some gas station like maybe half and hour before getting to Turtle Lake, getting a few gallons of gas and looking to see if they had any hotel rooms available. They didn't. Pretty much every hotel was booked solid within a 50 mile radius of Turtle Lake/St. Croix Falls area. Turns out there were several gathering-type things happening there, a classic car show as well as we figured some sort of motorcycle show/run cause of the wealth of Harleys we saw most of the way down. I think there mighta been an art show or something too, but we really didn't stop to figure it all out.
Anyhoo, finally got there by around 3:30-ish, and dropped by my brother's fiancee's parent's house, where both Ben (my brother) and Shayna (his finance) were staying for a day or two now that they were both moved outta their places, to see Ben. We didn't go inside, instead Ben came out and chatted with us a little on their steps. He was looking really stressed/worried/nervous, but I suppose that's to be expected when you're moving more then half-way across the country to a world apart from the Wisconsin life style he had known all his life in less then 24 hours. Shayna came out and joined us a bit later, and we all sat and talked for maybe 20 minutes. Her dad was outside making a few last minute packs and adjustments to the moving van and such, and once he was done came over as well and suggested we all try to go out for breakfast tomorrow (this was Saturday) before they headed out at 9. Plan was agreed to, and about 5 minutes later (after another hug and worried look from Ben) we were off searching for a hotel.
*This* was the hard part. As mentioned earlier, every frickin hotel with in a 50 mile radius of Turtle Lake was booked solid, or at least every hotel we stopped at along the hour and a half/two hour search. Hell, we even went 20 miles into Minnesota looking, and everything was *still* booked. We had seen two hotels, itty bitty ones, in Barron on the drive down, but they were literally 30 miles on the other side of Turtle Lake from where we were, which was the Minnesota side of Taylor Falls (also known as St. Croix falls), a tourist trap that was so full of cars, RVs, and motorcycles that it was like a city-wide traffic jam. And, Taylor Falls was already about 20 miles *west* of Turtle Lake, while Barron was 30-40 miles *east* of it. Needless to say, we didn't really have hopes of getting back to Barron before both the tiny hotels we saw were also booked.
So, mum and I were getting rather worried since my father was pretty much dead-set against sleeping in the car or somewhere without a bed, so he was planning on just heading back home with only a message to Ben to say our goodbyes. And, considering that Ben will be in California for at *least* 6 years, this was kinda a big deal.
Luckily, only one of the hotels was booked by the time we got back to Barron. The one left was really small, but it was clean and hey, for 35 bucks a night, you get what you pay for. Two beds, one full and one twin or single or whatever. One little bathroom and a 15 in. screen television that had like 10 channels. So, it was okay. Only annoying thing about it, aside from being rather small, was the fact that the full-sized bed was still covered in plastic, like the mattress and the bedspring were new. So, every time one of my parents rolled over or repositioned themselves, the plastic crinkled.
Hotel found, we called Ben and left a message for him that we had found a hotel and that we would be at breakfast tomorrow at 8. Then we headed out to find some dinner. By this time, it was after 7:00 pm, so Maren was huuuuuungry. We went to some Embers built in a truck stop. I gots me a club sub with fries while mum and dad got fish and ribs. Food was okay, but it was cold by the time we got it. Didn't stop me from eating the whoooole sandwich, though, cause I was hungry. Couldn't eat all my fries, though. But, mum and I still got a take-home dessert. I got a nummy piece of coffee cake and mom gut a snickers sundae. Was too stuffed to eat it, but I ate a little an hour or two later at the hotel. It was yummy.
After a stop at the liqueur store (for orange juice, vodka, and beer. Priorities, ya know. ;) ), we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night. I took a shower, which was something of a challenge cause the water couldn't decide if it wanted to be cold or hot, and since I hadn't packed any shampoo or conditioner, I snarched one of those itty bitty bottles they have at hotels some times. It worked, but since it was only a conditioning shampoo I had a little trouble getting a comb through it. Conditioner is your frieeeeend, especially when you don't have any... ::sighs::
Headed to bed around 11. Tried to sleep, but none of us really could. Along with the crinkly plastic and my parents occasional snores, our 'neighbors' were bikers who spent most of the night getting sloshed and making noise. To make it even *better*, their friends came around 2:00 in the morning and POUNDED ON THEIR DOOR! As well as shouting through the window at a couple who were probably unconscious due to all their alcohol intake the past few hours. That lasted maybe 10 minutes, and then we were pretty much done for the night. I didn't get to sleep until maybe around 4, and even then it was the half asleep/half awake kinda thing. I don't even know if my parents got to sleep after that.
Mum and Dad got up at 6, and them moving around woke *me* up, so I was running on two hours of sleep all day yesterday. Dad took a shower as mum and I repacked out few things and watched Clifford the Big Red Dog (YAY Clifford!). We left for Turtle Lake at 7:30, cause it was a half and hour drive due to everywhere nearer being totally full for the night. Get to the place we're meeting Ben and his in-laws on time and proceed to have a really really really good breakfast in pretty good company. I amuse everyone with my ability to make origami birds and such with the little paper napkin holders, and all in all just have a good time with lotsa talking and laughing. And eggs and bacon... YAY greasy fatty food that I only have rarely! Cause it was gooooooooood.
After breakfast we had back to Shayna's parent's place and spend 20 minutes or so doing lotsa hugging and a little crying (mostly Ben, Mom, Shayna, and her sister... I almost did once or twice, but didn't cause I'm the cold-hearted bitch nothing can faze. :D And then, with one final hug and lotsa waving, they were off to make their new life in California. ::sniffs:: I'ma gonna have to e-mail him like crazy.
Goodbyes done and my big bro Ben on his way to California, Mum, Dad and I headed back over to St. Croix falls to check out the inter-state park there. We walked along the St. Croix river on the Pothole Trail, where the water in the river created this whirl-pool type effect and carved holes in the stone it that were almost totally cylindrical, making holes that look like they coulda been drilled with a 3-foot bit, except for the inconsistencies in smoothness of the pothole's wall. I guess you have to see it to know what I'm talking about, but it was pretty cool.
Afterwards, dad paid 12 bucks per-person for the three of us to go in this close to two-hour riverboat tour of the St. Croix river. *That* was cool. The tour-guide person pointed out the different shapes and faces in the rock cliffs along the river, as well as the natural 'cross in one of the cliff-faces that gave the St. Croix (meaning Holy Cross in latin, I think) river it's name. There were also lots of rock climbers we saw along the way, and I saw the little cliff-wall that I had climbed when I was at camp way back when I was in like 6th or 7th grade. Lotsa other kids and climber were on it when we went by, so it was a pretty cool picture. Mum and I also think we saw an osprey, some sort of predator bird that lives near water. That was also cool, but I don't think we got any pictures of it.
Then we headed back home, stopping in Hudson along the way for a late lunch at KFC with my other brother, Gus. I slept most of the way, or tried to at least... Maren was tiiiired. We got home a little after 6 pm, and then we had a big, though not all that sever, storm come through that hung around for close to an hour and killed the satellite for more like two, so I sat and read (well, reread) "Wild Magic" by Tamora Pierce (GOD I LOVE THIS SERIES) on the couch and cursed at the satellite cause I wanted to watch Dead Zone at 9. Satellite blitzed in and out for maybe the first 10 minutes of it, but the rest of it I could watch without too much interference. Then, I showered and went to bed really early, for me at least, by 10:30.
All in all, though I will miss my brother, it was a fun trip, and I'm glad I went along.
In other news, according to Cristin, Jennie is doing better. They have her up in Madison and apparently have her back on solid food, which I'm assuming is a good thing. I think it also goes to say that she probably won't need a liver transplant after all, so that's good. And I'm with Cristin on saying that, if she makes it through this, I only hope it will teach her a lesson and give up all the nasty stuff she's been doing, but again, being Jennie, I don't have my hopes up too high. For now, I'm just grateful that the worst of it is most likely over for her family.