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[AAA] I’m alive.

Hi friends. After 12 hours in the car and 650 miles through two states, I’m still living and breathing.

Today I learned that North Dakota really doesn’t deserve its bad reputation [in my humble opinion – though I also realize it’s August and not January]. I made a pit stop in Lindsay, Montana briefly to stretch my legs and snap a photo. This is also the place that spurred the tweet, “Meeting men in trucks in Lindsay, Montana. #serious.” [Neither of them were my age but we did have a fun conversation.] I gave my heart to the landscape of Montana and arrived safely to Joel and Melissa’s home in Big Sandy, MT.

Here I rest for the night in the company of seminary friends and their visiting family. I plan on not leaving for Canada until late morning/noon tomorrow; there is a carmel roll with my name on it at the Bear Paw Cafe down the street. Tomorrow will be an easy day of only six and a half hours of driving with a hotel reservation made in south Calgary. I figure when in the company of good friends and as a gift to myself after twelve hours of driving today an easy day is acceptable. I’ll blog more tomorrow night when I have no one else with whom to visit; for now, I return to the land of living people and retire to the living room where two young boys battle it out for a ball in their diaper/underwear. [J&M’s nephews. They’re young so underwear is acceptable attire.]

But first, a few photos of my day –

Theodore Roosevelt National Park – the ND Badlands

This is how Montana stole my heart. Now I need a farmer and a truck.

Joel teaches me the beauty of the Hostess Zinger.

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Categories AAA, friends., travel.

[AAA] The plan.

10 Aug

After a great morning conversation with jD and lunch out at the new mexican restaurant in town with my prom date from years past, Timmy, the day has become hectic, nerve-wracking, and crazy. There have been cute stories in and amongst the day – if life is a literary creation, I’m trying to keep my eyes open. I watched an older sister get her younger brother out of the car seat while the mom went to get a cart in the parking lot of a store. She seemed like a great helper. I loved stopping at Starbucks inside Target for an iced coffee and grinning as the [too young for me] barista asked, “How you doin’ today?” all Joey-from-Friends-like. I giggled in response. I had great conversations with the lady at the bank and the women at the insurance office, all of whom seemed to know who I was while I had little clue who they were. I received mail that included a cut-out of my surprise debut in the Blooming Prairie Times. [More on that to come.]

But right now – the plan. Therein lies the hectic, nerve-wracking, and crazy.

What I know now is that I will hope to be on the road tomorrow by 8am. I just scored a hotel reservation in Valley City, ND, which is right about nine/nine and a half hours northwest of here. I figure I will try and front load my trip with long driving days; I’m not much intrigued by MN and ND at this point. Get me to Canada and then I’ll take my time. [Though I will mention that I’ve never before been to ND – this will be the first time!] From Valley City, I have another long day of driving to Havre, MT where I will happily visit and stay with J&M. [So excited. We had talked before school was out about how I would have to take the train to come visit next year – how about this summer instead and I’ll drive? Deal!] I hope to spend a bit of the morning with J&M on Saturday and maybe make it to Calgary for Saturday night. It’s from that day on that the scenery will become my reason to drive. [Melissa’s mom – who makes the drive to summer in AK every year – said she felt like she was in sensory overload on her drive through the Canadian Rockies. I can’t wait!]

Beyond that, I have no plan. [Therein lies the hectic, nerve-wracking, and crazy.]

I’m torn between making reservations a few days out and just playing it by ear. I fear once I begin driving, I might not make it as far as I hope or need to cancel for one reason or another. I’ll be packing blankets and a pillow just in case a night or two needs to be spent in the car at a campground. [While I will be physically prepared for this with proper materials, I don’t think I will be mentally prepared if this needs to happen. Will Lindsay go crazy? Let’s wait and see.] I hope this lack of plan lands me in Valdez on Thursday the 18th if not – even better – Wednesday the 17th. Once in Valdez, I’ll have free lodging, a dog to pet, and be better able to relax and enjoy this place where my brother lives. [And watch the salmon.]

I have seven books on tape [more than I could ever actually listen to on this trip but a variety to suit any mood], an ipod of music and new podcasts, and a bunch of food. [I don’t plan on stopping for food but on occasion. I’d rather stop for photographs and make myself a sandwich while doing so.] Extra oil, a gas can that will give me an extra fifty miles if needed, and a cell phone that will allow me to text for free while in Canada but not make phone calls. [Please note.] With my Milepost in the passenger seat and Borg, the travel gnome, on the dash – here we go, folks.

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Categories AAA, travel.

Chicago.

9 Aug

My mom, sister, cousin Connor, and I left Edgerton at 6:15 this morning to board the train at Harvard, IL and reach downtown Chicago by 9:30. One of the main reasons for this trip was to give Connor a chance to show us around his college of choice – Roosevelt University.

Connor, my birthday twin, has always been a bit of a mystery to me. He only eats pizza and mashed potatoes and has always been a bit on the – err – strange side. [Keep in mind I like weird.] He has completely taken me by surprise in his three summer trips to reach out to people in Kenya and by choosing a college in the downtown of the windy city. It was great to see the place he’ll call home beginning in just a few weeks. For a small city kid, he seems completely at home and smart about the big city.

Connor in front of the building that will be his dorm.

I like this.

After a tour of the highrise buildings that belong to the Roosevelt campus, we walked to Millenium Park. It’s just across the street from the university and I can’t hardly go to Chicago without visiting the bean. We sat for a bit, people watched [including a train of preschoolers visiting the sites, all holding onto a ribbon to stay together], and headed for lunch.

Our afternoon consisted of more walking, shopping [I visited my home away from home – an Anthropologie store], and a brief stop at Navy Pier. We took a water taxi back to the train station and boarded to head back north towards Wisconsin. [Let’s talk about train conductors for a minute. What makes one want to be a train conductor? And what do they do besides take tickets and punch them with little letter punches three times in random orders? They get a cool hat that says ‘Conductor’ and there’s likely a little childhood dream involved, but beyond that, what’s the draw? Seriously. I want to know.] Now I’m tired. And really should go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a crazy day of prepping a certain Alaska trip that begins the day after next!

Connor became a window model at Crate and Barrel on Michigan Ave.

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Categories family., travel.

[AAA] Companions.

3 Aug

Thus begins the blogging of the August Alaskan Adventure.

I toyed with the idea of starting a new blog simply to chronicle the hours of driving and sitting in a car but then landed on keeping just the one blog. You all stop here already; no sense redirecting you elsewhere. My August Alaskan Adventure blogs will be identified henceforth by the acronym [AAA].

It’s the real deal now. I bought my return flight ticket last night. I fly from Anchorage to Long Beach to Chicago in the course of 14 hours beginning in the wee hours of Saturday, August 20th. But first, I must to get to Alaska.

I’ll explain once more the reason for this adventure. My brother, Ben, moved to Valdez, AK a few months ago. As he moved, he drove his diesel truck and pulled his camper. Since arriving in AK and loving his new location, he has sold his camper. While he was home oh-so-briefly for the auction this past weekend, he mentioned how he wished he had his car with him in Valdez. [He had left his car at home and actually tried to sell it with no luck.] Diesel is expensive and without a camper to pull, he doesn’t need such a big truck. He doesn’t have the time off to drive his car back and so I raised my hand. I have the month of August and as long as he is paying the gas, I’m game for an adventure. And so [AAA] began to be planned.

Just as Frodo set off from Rivendale with seven [seven?] companions, so I will be leaving Edgerton at the end of next week with a few of my own.

First, meet Betty. That’s what I’ll call the Subaru Outback that will be my constant companion and ride. We think Betty is in pretty good mechanical order, but we might get her in for a check-up before departure just to be sure. Betty already has a hatchback full of things that Ben wants in AK, including old [we’re talking like antique old] skis and rowboat paddles that extend up past the middle console and near the shifter. Betty might need some packing readjustments before we spend a week together.

Second, the Milepost. You likely can’t read the header at the top of this hefty guide so please, allow me. “Since 1949, the bible of north country travel.” This will tell me where to find gas, when to watch out for moose, and where I can stop and have a photo op with a t-rex. [Milk River, Alberta, Canada] This hefty book will be my friend and guide for the next couple weeks as I plan my route, my stays, and actually make the drive.

My cousin, Paul, might tag along too but haven’t heard back from him for certain. I’ll likely bring a gnome too. It will be nice to have someone to talk to when cell service fails me and I need a break from Josh Groban. I’m excited and nervous to take the trip; I honestly think I’m a bit in denial about what 60 hours of driving really means. Here’s hoping I find places to stay with wifi along the way so you can be with me as I slowly go crazy amidst the mountains and mounty men of Canada.

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Categories AAA, travel.

a happy wednesday.

27 Jul

For a day that started off with me sitting in the lounge at the toyota dealership and shelling out a couple hundred bucks for needed repairs on Sprocket, it turned into a happy wednesday. Why the happiness?

I finally saw the last Harry Potter movie. Cousin Colin and I went in fear. In fear that we would cry a lot. In fear that we would be so sad that it’s come to an end. In the car ride to the theater, we both said more than once, “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.” Ready or not, two weeks past release, we watched the Harry Potter saga end. What did I think? I’m still processing.

I received these in the mail today. Quite honestly, they are more beautiful than I ever expected them to be. I love them. I love them a lot. [I’ve been crushing on these bowls from Anthropologie for well over a half year. This set was bought as an ordination gift and shipped to me.] I’m in love … with latte bowls.

I spent nearly an hour in phone conversation with a friend. The reason for the call was not happy to begin but it was great to connect. Miss her.

I received a reusable sandwich/snack bag from the Reilly clan [who are also behind the bowls!]. I’ve actually been meaning to sew a few of these – I think the idea of reusing baggies like this is genius. Now I’ve received one that matches my lunchbox in theme – gnome. The sandwich bag reminds me that gnomes also walk their dogs, have gardens, play trumpet, and may possess creepy teeth.

I drove back to Madison tonight to pick up my younger brother, Ben, from the airport which he arrived at via bus. This is my brother who moved to Alaska a few months ago and is making an appearance at home for the auction this weekend. He flew out of Anchorage and into MSP early this morning. His first flight out to Madison was cancelled. His rescheduled flight was cancelled. Apparently, no other flights existed and so at 5pm – five hours after he was originally scheduled to arrive in Madison – he boarded a bus to get to Madison. Poor guy. But fun to see him and catch up! [Did you know they don’t have thunderstorms in Alaska? There’s your fun fact for Wednesday. I had no idea.] Right now it’s a shot in the dark but there might also be a bit of Alaska adventure for me in the next month. You see Ben has a car here. He wouldn’t mind having it in Alaska. Enter Lindsay with a wide-open August. I might take a tour through Canada to Alaska with my brother’s Subaru. The idea has only just surfaced … but here’s hoping it might work! [With maybe a stop in Havre, J&M? According to google, it would only add two hours to the drive. So worth it!]

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Categories gnomes., travel.

Hello.

9 Jun

Hello. You’ve reached the voicemail of Lindsay.
I’ll be out of the office until Monday morning.*
Please leave a message** and I’ll return to blogging as soon as possible.
Have a happy day and a great forever!***

* Where am I off to until Monday morning? Two nights at the cabin [no wireless there – no electricity!] with Joel and Melissa, perhaps a day trip to Wisconsin Dells [though perhaps a bit chilly for a waterpark day?], and then onto the Cities where the main attraction is Paige’s ordination at Luther on Sunday evening!

** Comment.

*** I designed and ordered tshirts for a senior week activity at seminary. I was put into contact with the tshirt point person for Luther at a specific company. I left this specific person a few messages as we played phone tag back and forth. How did his personal voicemail message end? In an overly enthusiastic voice, “Have a great forrr-ever!” It made me giggle every time. What else about him made me giggle? His name was Rocky. Exactly.

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Categories friends., outdoors., seminary., travel.

synod assembling.

7 May

I am beat. [sleepy, tired, exhausted, fried, etc.]

This lady just returned from the Southeastern MN Church Assembly. Held in Rochester, this annual event is the place where each church is represented by their clergy and voting lay members. Two days of sitting in a convention center listening to reports, amendments to the amendment of the amendment, and thumb wrestling. [I kid not, but really wish I was.] I went with Paige and Jonathan [also new assignees to the SE MN synod], and Jonathan’s wife, Lauren [P, J & L). We were assigned to sit in the very front of the assembly so the bishop knew when we weren’t there [like that one time we sat and ate breakfast instead of going into the assembly] and when we were doing things other than listening [passing notes, iPhone games, magazines, etc.].

Irresponsible? Maybe. But we are not voting members [yet] and have so many other things going on in our lives [like trying to complete finals so we can actually graduate and get calls to SE MN], that we simply could not focus for so long. [I’ll at least speak for myself here when I say that I entered that assembly hall with very little energy for what was happening. Synod assemblies don’t exactly get me any too excited.]

It simply made me exhausted. We left at 6:45 yesterday morning, did a lot of sitting, and it was a lot of people and small talk that did me in. Being around people – and so many people at that [about 500 at the assembly] – just makes me tired. [Introverted and proud of it.] But it was good too. We met a lot of people, a lot of pastors, and were able to get some insight as we enter into the synod as new clergy.

It was great fun to spend time with P, J & L. I’m so thankful that I have them in the same synod. We misbehaved at the front table of the assembly together, tried to keep it together when the assembly made us do a few corny things [thumb-wrestling, hand-holding], and struggled to not break face when the photographer for the event would come uncomfortably close to take our picture. We went out for Chinese food [ditching the synod dinner – shh.] and played a three-hour game of Settlers at the hotel. [And we did have a pretty swank hotel. I could have laid in that bed-with-way-too-many-pillows and watched television all day.]

I quite literally just got in the door of my apartment after returning home. I have one hour before I’m expected to be at a CYF banquet and I need to blog. Like, NEED to blog. I have been around people for the very nearly the last 48 hours, but need to decompress and burst with introvert energy right about now. I also need to unpack, sleep, and veg on the couch.

Unfortunately, there is little time to recover right now. This weekend has been labeled in my mind as the weekend from hell for the past month and now I’m in the midst of it; it lives up to its name. Synod assembly has passed but tomorrow morning at 9:30 I must defend my thesis. [But, hey, before I do that, I should probably create the powerpoint and write what I will say, right? Good idea. Hello, late night tonight.] Tomorrow, following the morning of CYF fun [sarcasm? slightly.], I must prepare for a Sunday night group meeting to fine-tune a presentation we make to our class at 8am on Monday morning. From that class, I leave early to assist in the daily chapel service.

After that I can sleep. [Until a 10 page final paper is due and a sermon is to be written for Thursday, a paper outline and reflection paper for Friday, a final paper on Sunday, and one last one for Tuesday.] It will get done. It always does.

End of term: Come faster please.

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Categories friends., se mn, seminary., travel.

everybody loves –

26 Apr

Here’s a longer than necessary story with no point:

My brother’s girlfriend came to stay with us over the Easter weekend. I’d met her before, as she’s a student at the U of M and my brother comes this way to visit frequently. [her, not me. he’s never visited me specifically. hmm.] We weren’t sure she was coming until the day she arrived [my brother could work on his communication skills] and then we realized we had to think about Easter baskets [yes, my lovely mother still gives us an Easter basket]. We needed one for Kim. Off to Target I went. And to a home store to purchase paint primer for my mom. And then, as it turned out, off to the Red Robin restaurant down the street to meet my sister.

Let me explain. My sister was in Janesville having supper with her friends. Her car began making a funny noise and she wasn’t sure if she should continue to drive it or what was going on. She called my mom at home who told her that I happened to be in the same city [about 20 minutes from our house] running errands. My mom told Emma to text me to see if I could stop by to look at the car.

To look at it? I literally laughed at my sister when she told me that. What the heck do I know about cars?

Well, I did know enough to look in the front wheel well and see a large metal spring of sorts rubbing on the tire. I knew that wasn’t normal. And then I knew enough to call my uncle. Yeah, you probably shouldn’t drive it home, the uncle said. Call Farm and Fleet, he suggested. [Farm and Fleet, not Fleet Farm, is what it’s called in our neck of the woods. They have delicious orange slice candies and were conveniently located across the street.] I call. We drive there. We ditch Emma’s car for the experts to learn more about this mysterious metal spring [turned out to be a strut. strut, spring. same diff.] and my sister and her four friends piled in my car. [Do the math. My car seats five. It was illegal, but what more were we to do? Right. Call someone else to come to Janesville to pick them up. But we didn’t do that.]

I was telling my sister about what I bought for Kim’s Easter basket. I listed off a few items and then I said, “And glow sticks because who doesn’t love glow sticks?” [I always have a stockpile of Target’s dollar bin glow bracelets in my office at church. You never know!]

A friend from the backseat, “Glue sticks?”

I say, “Glow sticks. Everybody loves glow sticks.”

The friend repeats, “Glue sticks? Everybody loves glue sticks?”

I’m confused. Why is she repeating everything I say? In my head, in the translation and travel from back seat to front, I still hear glow sticks. What’s the confusion and what’s with all this repeating?

It takes me a minute. [long pause] “Did you say glow sticks?”

The friend says, “No. GLUE sticks.”

Oh. Now I understand the confusion. Emma’s friends now think I’m weirder than I already am because I think that everybody loves glue sticks and I buy them to put in my brother’s girlfriend’s Easter basket.

“Ha. I said glow sticks. Like glow bracelets. Everybody loves them.”

Confusion is cleared. The friends in the backseat agree. Glow sticks are pretty cool. Kim agreed too. She loved them in her Easter basket.

[under my breath]

“But I do love a good adhesive.”