Summer 2014 - Day 7

The day began with waking in the bed and wondering what time it was, but assuming it was early because it was dark and my parents had not started to harass me. I decided to just get up, walked into the living room and it was like 9:06.

9:06!

9:06

9:0 #*c&ing 6!

I was supposed to leave for Minnesota at 8!

I said some snotty things to my mom, then went into the bathroom to prepare. When I came out, my mom started to help me out. When I asked my dad why he didn't wake me up, and he said "you're a big woman now," and that he wasn't going to wake me. I grumbled, got my stuff ready, and mom when to the cheese factory for me to get churds.

Later on, when my mom got back, or maybe before she left, whatever, I mentioned that I forgot to set my alarm clock too. Dad then said, "oh, then you have no one to blame but yourself." He wasn't exactly right - my parents usually harass me to get up when they know that I wanted to be up by a certain time, but they decided to stop doing that without necessarily informing me. So I went up to each of them, gave them a hug and said, "blame is like love, you can never have enough." Mom first, then Dad, who replied, "don't talk so close to me, your breath stinks!" It was quite a moment.

We packed the car up and went outside for photos and a look around the garden. First, the sunflowers.

My mom's ground cherries. They taste like tomatoes.

My mom's hops, in their first year.

My dad planted poinsettias so my mom won't have to buy them at Christmas. He asked me to find out how they flower.

Other garden shots.

Then we saw the cows off in the distance, first with the zoom, then without.

And we did the pitchfork photo.

I got a good, totally intentional, shot of my shirt.

Then I finally took off for Minnesota at 10am, getting photos of my [weird] parents from the car.

I drove and drove, then got to the new 10 and it was wonderful. Then I arrived at two of the three roundabouts south of Marshfield and was suddenly on the old 10, which sucked quite mightily. As I went through Neillsville, I drove by this Pavillion and then turned around to stop. I got some magnets (ZOMG, how do they work?), post cards, Cow Pies, a Wisconsin Passport, and a few bottles of Wisconsin wine. I took a few photos, including a selfie, and then was off for more driving.

Driving, driving, driving, and I was finally in Osseo and on I-94. Near Eau Claire, I got a text, then got off the highway for gas and coffee, then got a call from K2 about my arrival in Minneapolis. Then I was on the road again for more driving.

Minnesota welcoming me.

I got to K2's house just before 2pm, got the tour, and then we were off to Taco John's. The first one we tried to go to did not exist anymore, so we went to another to get some potato oles, tacos and burritos, and churros. Back at K2's house, we chilled with the dogs, I got on the computer, made plans with R and N, and K2 did dishes. D came home, then I was off to R's so we could go to the Pizza Farm.

Well, just after Farmer R watered her tomatoes.

R combines yoga poses with gardening.

We were driving, driving, driving, and then we were there, at the Pizza Farm.

R dropped me off to order our pizza while she found parking, and I found N and his wife, J, and 4 year old daughter, S. We got in line for pizza and R soon joined us.

We ordered pizza and found that the wait was 2 hours. N mentioned that he had to work at 9, so he canceled their pizza and we found a picnic spot. We chatted while R and I drank the Maple Syrup wine.

After N & J left, R and I went to tour the gardens. I took many photos of flowers and the garden, some shown here.

We checked on our spot in line as it got dark. We were 240, and the number was at 224.

As you can maybe see, the number was 224.

We then went and sat by a fire.

Finally, the pizza arrived.

We got the weekly special - beef, sweet corn, tomatoes, onions. It was very, very good. I mean incredibly, OMG-so-awesome good. After a couple more slices were consumed, we packed up and trekked to find R's car to drive back to her place. During the drive, we discussed the practice of wishing people a happy birthday on Facebook and our idiosyncrasies about it. 

Mac and Mika - R's bf J's and R's dogs, respectively - greeted us at her door, then we went out in the backyard where R showed me her hops. 

We went back inside and I played with the dogs. Mac wanted me to play with a ball, but he kept jumping and growling in a way that made me not want to grab the ball from his mouth. Eventually, he got the clue and dropped the ball, which I threw. He bounded after it and brought it back. When I threw it again, he did not go after it, so Mika did. She is a much smaller dog, so it was harder for her to grab the ball, but she eventually did and brought it back, triumphantly. R and I chatted a little more, then I was off to K2's house. 

K2 was waiting for me and tolerated me getting ready to go upstairs for bed. See, K2 has Old Man hours, and I was back at his place at least 2 hours after his bedtime. He showed me the guest room and we both went to bed.