Dinosaur Days: Day 2

Special K bar for breakfast.

I awoke today somewhat early, hoping to go to Paisley Park at 9, but then 9 passed and I wasn't ready. I had to do my hair and pack for the day. There was an impending tropical storm headed for Myrtle Beach, which was all over The Weather Channel. After a while, I may have switched over to Animal Planet. After 10, I was ready, so I took all my things, put them in the car, and walked around for a little while to see the pond by day and enjoy the fresh air.

When I got outside, however, I was surprised to see a few little bunnies hopping around the parking lot.

The flowers made the parking lot smell very nice.

I had written out the directions to Paisley Park to help prevent me from getting turned around and lost on all of the Minnesota highways. It was overcast, but not yet raining, and the drive in my brand new Altima was very nice. Soon enough, the blue dot got closer to the pink blob and I turned onto Audubon Road. There weren't so many cars there that I couldn't park on the street, but there was a steady stream of people coming to pay their respects, including me.

The grey weather seemed very appropriate, just like when I went to Graceland seventeen months earlier. We all walked past the tributes, poems, and letters, somberly stopping to take a photo or read something.

Messages from around the world - mostly the US, but one pictured from Kosovo.

Then I realized that there were more tributes in the front, facing the highway, so I turned the corner and walked down to the creek.

Click the image on the left for a video of me reading a letter posted down here.

Hearts made from the foliage and some shameless Vikings fan paraphernalia. 

But it was getting close to 11:30 now, and it was time for me to head over to the whole reason I came up to Minnesota for Memorial Day Weekend: The Trex Tuesday Prehistoric Party. I calculated directions directly to the school where the party was being held, but decided to get off on another exit to try to find food. I ended up seeing some signs for a deli near a synagogue where an event was taking place. Unfortunately, the restaurants were not open, so I went off to the Party without lunch.

Back in my car, it was a short drive off to the high school where the Prehistoric Party was being held. The media restrictions said that I could not take video at the event so I grabbed a couple from the parking lot and went in.

Inside, there were so many T-rexes! Dinosaurs, and even a couple eggs. I took a walk around the football field, then got myself some snacks since there wasn't any lunch yet.

T-rex kisses!

The dinosaurs there in spirit.

My snacks. Cheetos and a Trex Sea Salt and Caramel cookie.

I'm going to refrain from posting any more photos of the event from here, but I got to see a few of the shoots out on the field. It was starting to rain, and I helped move the speakers to under the bleachers. I asked if they were planning anything for after the shoot, and was also trying to plan dinner with friends. I had been able to confirm brunch plans, but nobody was really available for dinner. The lack of good sleep and excessive carbs I had eaten were making me quite tired, so when the dinos went into the school for the rest of the shoot, I decided to head back to the hotel.

I decided to find food via the Yelp app, and found a place called Pei Wei, which is an Asian food chain. I ordered a bunch of food online, including pad thai, then drove off to the location. As I drove, the rain started coming down, hard. When I got back to the hotel, I decided that I was going to stay in that night and nap, rather than continue with dinner plans. After all, I already had more than enough food for that night.

Brunch, however, was shaping up nicely, so I called the restaurant and made reservations for 8 people. I chatted with a couple people before I began my lovely nap. After a few hours, I awoke and found that the brunch group had grown and I called the restaurant back to increase the possible group to 12. I also got up and showered, then had the rest of my pad thai (which was the vast majority of it) while watching Animal Planet's Monster Week and a show about people that had rabies and poking around online. I also took a little walk outside in the actual fresh air. I ended up staying up past midnight, packing and starting the blog posts. Fortunately, I was going to be ready to go quickly after getting up the next day.

.aaaand since there are no issues with my photographs or the video posted from the Prehistoric Party, I can publish this post.