The Weekend of a Busy Bee

This weekend is probably one of the most fun, eventful and longest-seeming ones I have had in a long time. Following is the rundown, even though we didn’t take many pictures. Hopefully you can create some visual ones for yourself.

Friday

Even though I got off of work at about 3:45 (trying to keep lake-goer traffic in mind), we didn’t even get out of downtown Minneapolis until just after 5:00, to begin our journey to Duluth to see David Sedaris.

No matter, for the stressful trip (in that nothing could be done about the traffic except to shake my fist and mutter some choice words) was well worth it. David read some of his stories and answered questions for the audience; the two hours he was on stage fairly flew by.

After David Sedaris, we left Duluth and headed to Grand Rapids where somehow I managed to stay awake and conscious until about 3:00 in the morning. We went to Country Kitchen and hung out with Mikey and some of his and Chester’s friends. We had a lot of fun, which included Cindy’s (Mikey’s sister) boyfriend Omar putting some maple syrup into water and stirring it up, which I, in an unusually courageous spirit, sampled and found not at all distasteful.

Saturday

This day we hung out in Rapids a bit longer before heading back to Duluth. We went to Cindy’s synchronized swimming meet, which I had never experienced, and played a few rousing games of Munchkin.

In Duluth, we got to see the house Rudy and Leslie just bought, which is the only place we took pictures this weekend. In the back, in all of its two-story glory, was a playhouse the previous owner built for his daughter. I couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated, a feeling that only got worse when I saw the bunk beds on the second story.

Rudy and Leslie in their backyard.

Me sitting on the floor of the second story of the playhouse...I like the interesting perspective in this picture.

After the tour (wherein many helpful home improvement suggestions were made by the ever-enthusiastic Chester), we made good use of the birthday gift card (doubling as a ploy by Rudy and Leslie to get me to Duluth to visit) for the Black Woods restaurant in Duluth (where they serve the best sweet potato fries I have ever had) before we made the long journey home.

Today

As if we hadn’t already done enough this weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to call a few of our friends to come over for a little barbecue today. I got to meet CJ, a high school friend of Chester’s, and Alexis and Aaron also came. We hung out, I got my bike in working order and then Aaron, Alexis, Chester and I headed to a park a few miles away. We walked the 2.16 miles around the lake and enjoyed the surroundings while we planned a camping trip we’d like to take in the north woods this summer. We also played a few games of Extreme Bocce Ball.

It was great to get out of our normal surroundings and have a bit of an adventure this weekend. It’s always wonderful when you have a weekend like this that makes you realized that summer really is here.