I missed the smell most...

Ahhh, mountains...



Ahhh, Seattle...



Ahhhhh, home...



And yeah my place is somewhere in the middle of that pic.

We got in right at sunset last night, which was really kind of cool (I never get tired of looking out the window while flying).

There's something though I have to comment on, this being the first time since 1997 that I've flown anywhere, it was a bit of an adjustment getting the hang of the airport security measures, like the whole taking off of shoes thing, and removing laptop from bag thing, or the whole having questions mumbled at you while your head is still congested and ears haven't popped from being 30,000 feet up in the air thing... I'm just glad no one told us "You have been randomly selected for a more thorough screening." God, we heard that told to the guy right behind us as we were leaving Seattle, and not only was the 'government' voice used creepy but the look on the selected guys face was so freaked out.

Man how I miss the days of just getting on and going, not spending an additional 4 hours per trip at the airport, think about all those wasted vacation or work hours... No wonder this economy is in such a funk. Eh well, at least we're adaptable I guess.

Anyhoot, it's good to be home, our cat missed us something horrible and she read us the riot act when we came in the door (having mom & sis take care of her just didn't cut it I guess). But now she's all blissfully napped out next to me as I catch up on things here.

There's only one really sucky thing about this trip...

I didn't get a damn thing done on BadBlood >_<

Geh.

~Liriel

Duxbury, MN

Duxbury, MN
Population: 2

Yesterday we went up to Duxbury, to check out the 80 acre private hunting grounds that the extended family holds in trust. Very pretty location, if way out of the way, and the surrounding area being mostly all public hunting grounds which of course experiences floods of hunters during the various seasons.

This is a pic of the nearly collapsed chicken coop and the firepit that the local Indian Reservation kids like to trespass and come drink around:



Originally the property belonged to a Great Uncle, who lived, farmed, and hunted the area as a bachelor. When he died the extended family bought it out from under the state to keep it in the family. Unfortunately though, everyone has busy modern lives and the place is still in the process of being cleaned up and refurbished (like installing indoor plumbing since the out house is about to collapse as well). There's all kinds of rusted out cars, refrigerators, trailers, tricycles, and tools in the overgrown yard (here's a rusted tiller):



There's talk of organizing a family reunion / work party to get the property in shape. That'd bring in about at least 100 work ready folks.... *not used to big families @_o *

Craig ended up with a parting gift from the property that we didn't find out about later.

Now about Duxbury... it's not even an intersection. Just a gravel road and off to one side of the road is the Duxbury Store -- Eatery, Gas Station, Fire Warden, Hunting Licensor, provider of Snow Plowing Services, orphaned fawn raising, and all around general place of buiness, social or otherwise (the Sheriff stopped by to swap gossip just as we were leaving):



Duxbury really does have a population of 2, the husband and wife that run the store -- and yeah sure it's a tourist trap of sorts. We were treated rather gaurdedly until it was discovered that the wife had a highschool crush on another of my father-in-law's uncles, that's when we got treated like family, even being regaled with tales while we ate the best burgers in the world (tiny buns and inch thick patties - the way that old lady in the 80's Wendy's commercials would have wanted them).

Oh yeah, and this pic is for Frown (who has a fake deer butt hanging on his wall), this one came in two parts but I forgot to snap a pic of the deer's front coming through the wall on the inside (next to the defunct vinyl record juke box - 5 plays for a dime):



On the way back we were finally able to stop for a photo of a Snowmobile Crossing sign which I find utterly hilarious and yet scary at the same time (that'd be way to much snow for me):



And this pic was just me being fascinated with the oak trees in the front yard of Aunt Mona's (where we had dinner last night):



Oh yeah and about that parting gift that Craig picked up... it was a tick. XD

Being city folk we were freaking out wondering how to get rid of it. Until I remembered we had internet access and I found all the answers I could possibly want (and then some... now we gotta watch for Lyme Disease >_< ! ). *phew*

And so... today things are winding up and we fly back tonight.

There's so much I've experienced on this trip that I'm barely scratching the surface of it here, but at least I can say I've had lots and lots of fun. ^_^

~Liriel

Foley, MN

So we went into Foley, MN yesterday -- where my father-in-law grew up.

Here's the water tower just outside of town (and as a side note I've never seen so many watertowers as I've seen in Minnesota - they make great landmarks):



Foley's City Hall, Police Department, and Public Library all in one:



Foley's Post Office (I've also never seen so many POW/MIA flags as in Minnesota):



Foley's Timeless Antiques, and also the fanciest old bulding in all of downtown Foley:



There were three meat stores in downtown Foley (which was really just an intersection), but this one was interesting because of the folks just socializing outside in the sun.



~Liriel

Don't Panic

The BadBlood site & forum is currently down due to a server migration - the host is well aware and working on the issue.

And I'm sorry I forgot to mention the server migration and possibly outages like this before I left... :(

But it'll all be back soon :D

~Liriel

Ain't Nothing but a Party y'all

Woo hey, what a wedding! Being from a small family I wasn't used to the 300+ people that showed up for this wingding. I tell ya though I think it's the last time I'll give Craig the camera, as he only took this one photo the entire day (and that was right after we first got there):


(Craig's aunt Mona, cousin Jenny, myself, cousin-in-law Lisa and husband Bill -- all a very fun bunch of folks ^_^)

His mom though was taking lots of photos so maybe I'll get some of those to share ^_^

Anyways, I got to film the ceremony which was very touching, and then run around with the camera afterwards to document the event and such. Was lots of fun and yet very, very exhausting.

When Craig and I got back to the hotel we headed straight for the hotel bar (the wedding and reception was unfortunately a 'dry' one) - where we discovered the best bartender in all of Minnesota (an Austrian native who loves quoting fellow native Arnold Schwarzenegger) - ultimately though he was evil and we stumbled back to the hotel room - what a day XD.

Gonna got out and see stuff today, so prepare for more pictures XD

Laters,
~Liriel