MOTD

At around noon on Friday I got in my car and pulled on to I-35W heading north, stopping only to patronize the rest stops, eat, gas up, and buy a new button-down shirt. I made it to my friend's place in Duluth by around 4 and hung out with him until he had to go to work. Just before 8 when I was about to head out to the airport to pick up CrackMonkey and Zen I got a text message saying that they were going to be delayed for a while, so I had a bit to eat before heading down to the airport. By the time I got there I found out that the delay was going to be over two hours. So I entertained myself the best I could, found on old envelope and wrote "Monkey Bros." on it in as big of letters as would fit and made contact with Inkblot. The plane finally arrived and by the time all the baggage was acquired Wisconsin Point, the location of the pre-wedding bonfire, was closed, so we had a drink at the Buena Vista's lounge and went our separate ways. After that my friend got off work and we had a few beers at the Old Chicago, where he works.

Then, before you knew it, it was Saturday. On account of the late night I skipped breakfast with Inkblot and TBM and slept in a bit later. Then I got showered, dressed and went out to the wedding. I was a little confused because Enger Park was a bit further out than I expected, but other than that the ride was rather uneventful, and I snagged a great parking spot by simply making it up. After tying my necktie with a cheet-sheet I made the day before, I caught up with Inkblot and TBM, and we fiddled around in the shade a bit before heading up to the tower where we got programs and chairs in the sun. The clearing at Enger Tower has a wonderful view overlooking the bay and is the perfect spot for a wedding, except the slanting of the terrain makes it hard to see over the person in front of you. After the ceremony we went in the tower which was rather cool both temperature-wise and view-wise. Then it was back in to the nicely shaded park for hors d'oeuvers and signing the guestbook while the happy couple and the wedding party posed for pictures. After the pictures the couple rang the peace bell, which signaled peace and lunch.

Lunch had all the standard wedding reception speeches, clinking of glasses, and fish baseball caps. At the table there were PAP+ALH mix CDs for the guests, which are rather heavy on the love songs. Lunch was served buffett style and was quite delicious. Then the cake was announced and a line quickly formed. Due to a few seconds of hesitation on my part, I became separated from Inkblot and TBM, and I later realized that the cake line was also secretly a reception line as the bride and groom thanked everyone in the line for coming before letting them at the cake. After we had some cake we examined the peace bell and went off. Apparently there was some confusion on whether I had left Duluth on Saturday or not, so to clear that up, I didn't. I ended up down at Canal Park on Minnesota Point where I got a hot dog and a root beer float and watched the boats come and go under the lift bridge. Eventually I went back to my friend's place and got off work and we hung out a bit, and then after a pause for sleep we did the same into the afternoon on Sunday before I left. On the road back to Minneapolis I was joined by everybody who had gone to their lake cabin for the weekend and took advantage of the 70 MPH speed limit to travel at 85.