Vacay to Minnes-ota

What a fabulous week away we had! Here's the rundown:

Saturday August 1st:
My body must have known I was going on vacation because I came down with a terrific head cold that started with terrible sinus congestion. Ugh! But I managed to make it to E-burg to celebrate at a friend's wedding shower. I rode up with my MIL and so we had a nice time chatting on the drive even though I could barely keep my eyes open. We also got to see Chris' sister and had a nice family dinner in Prosser before returning home to finish packing.
Sunday August 2nd:
We hit the road for Portland with the adapter to play the I-Pod on our car stereo and a box of Kleenex for my runny nose! It was a HOT drive but the gorge is always pretty and it was great to see not only my aunt and uncle but my cousin Amy, her husband and two boys - Mason & Miles. We stayed with them and got to spend lots of time with the boys. Mason took us on a great tour of their house while Miles mostly smiled and drooled! They are super cute.
Monday August 3rd:
Our flight left at 11:45 for Minnesota. It was a great flight. I got to sit by the window and see interesting sights but my I thought my eardrums would burst on our descent down into Minneapolis. It's not fun to fly with a cold. Linnea & Nestie picked us up and we enjoyed a wonderful BBQ'd meal back at their house. Nestie is very cute and starting to laugh and smile. Dinah also amused us with her begging skills. After Nestie went to bed we played Settlers which was fun! I had never played before.
Tuesday August 4th:
Happy Anniversary! We made it two years. To celebrate, we went on a tour of the Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis. It was very interesting to learn the history of the city and learn how a flour mill works. It was a beautiful day so we walked across part of the stone arch bridge across the Mississippi and watched the loons and fish in the river. We picked up Paul from work and headed to their favorite Turkish restaurant. Yay for doner kebabs! I hadn't eaten a true doner kebab since being in Slovenia and it was delicious! Chris enjoyed his doner kebab style chicken and although he got french fries with it I was glad he branched out to try something new. After dinner we headed to a St. Paul Saints game but unfortunately they lost by 1 run to the Wichita Wingnuts. However they kept up thoroughly entertained with the interesting contests after each inning and parading a pig around dressed in different costumes. Apparently the pig is their mascot. Just as we were walking back to the car my flip flop got stuck in a crack and broke so I had a very dirty foot when we got back home.
Wednesday August 5th:
After sleeping in (which felt very good after the time change) we headed up to Wild River State Park - canoe, Dinah, and 5 people speeding down the freeway in a Honda. We had a great time canoeing on the St. Croix river (Which borders Minnesota and Wisconsin). We saw turtles sunning on rocks, Chris got some craw fish, and we saw two bald eagles. They were amazing. One flew across the river right in front of Chris and I - wow! They are majestic. And on the way back to the cities we got to stop at Culvers (a hamburger joint with delicious custard) and Caribou Coffee - way better then Starbucks if I do say so myself.
Thursday August 6th:
Paul drove us to the airport before the sun came up for our very early flight and with hardly any lines we made it through security in about twenty minutes. As we walked to our gate, we saw several policeman and firemen wandering around. There was an awful smell in the air - like burnt rubber - and they were inspecting ceiling tiles trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. What a comforting sight. Especially as they walked away after about 20 minutes, not knowing any more about the smell or what caused it. They lady sitting near us would not stop making comments about it up until she got on the plane! I'm glad nothing went wrong with our flight to SLC. But it was pretty turbulent which almost added special effects as we were watching Star Trek as our in flight movie. It almost felt like we were on a ride at Disneyland - warp speed! After 2 hours in SLC we boarded our plane for Portland and were welcomed to the Rose City by clouds and rain. We had coffee with a friend and headed to our hotel to celebrate our anniversary. But we were so tired we ordered room service and both fell asleep shortly after eating.
Friday August 7th:
After a stop at IKEA, we headed back to Prosser to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. After a great dinner at Famous Dave's we had ice cream cake at our place and she opened her gifts. I loved watching her open the gift certificate for the Victoria Clipper. She is so excited to choose her trip - thanks to everyone who contributed towards it. And we got to open our anniversary gift - an electric ice cream maker!
I cannot wait to try it out.

Well that sums up our week away. It was so nice to travel together and spend time with dear friends. I'll post some pictures later this week.