I'm finally a published scientist!

Merry early Christmas to me!

I have gotten my first publication in my scientific career. You can read it at this link. It's entitled, "Root-Zone Glyphosate Exposure Adversely Affects Two Ditch Species," so I know it's not the most exciting light reading. At any rate, I have cleared a major hurdle toward my graduation! It's a very proud day that I will revel in for some time. Then, back to work!

My First Lucid Dream

I’ve been trying to lucid dream for a long time without any real success. I’ve had dreams in which I realized I was dreaming, but, in these previous instances, I did not take control over the dream content. Andrew playing a few Grateful Dead tunes on his guitar the other night evoked the memory of my first lucid dream a few nights before.

It’s pretty brief, but when I realized I was dreaming, I remember feeling kind of sheepish and telling my dream companions, “If I can do anything now that I couldn’t do in real life, I’m going to a Dead show to see Jerry play.” Obviously, my dream companions weren’t Deadheads or I wouldn’t have had to explain this and wouldn’t have felt sheepish. So I went to a show at Minglewood Hall, a nice venue here in Memphis, and saw a Grateful Dead concert with Jerry playing and singing his way through an electrifying set. One way I knew that I was definitely dreaming was because the Jerry I saw playing was an animated illustration of the cover for “Not For Kids Only.” It was a great show in my head, and I can’t wait for more lucid dreams!

Labor Day Weekend 2013

Labor Day is a mixed bag for Team Saunders. One the one hand, the long weekend makes for our favorite past time, travel. The holiday also marks the season of our wedding anniversary, September 5th; sometimes our anniversary is on Labor Day. But the weekend also marks another, less pleasant anniversary. August 31st is the date of Clayton's untimely passing. So we take the tough stuff right along with the good stuff, and always remember how very blessed we are to share time together on this earth.

This holiday weekend, we got to travel to one of our most favorite and beloved places in the world: Monteagle. Peavine Cottage was a luxury that we too often took for granted when Missy was alive, and so we would often travel to new destinations when we could have come to the Assembly. Now that the house is on the market, each visit could be our last, and we do our best to make the most of it. The cottage has been in the family since the 80's and has been the site of many great Saunders memories.

When I met Andrew, coming here with Madison felt like entering another world. The Assembly has the feel of the setting of Dirty Dancing: rich people vacation homes in a tranquil woodsy setting. The houses look like something out of a fairy tale:  beautiful gingerbread cottages with huge porches adorned with swings and rocking chairs. Being in Monteagle, the Assembly is perched at the top of the Cumberland Plateau, with different vegetation than in the valley: lots of hemlocks and mountain laurel and oak leaf hydrangeas and moss and ferns everywhere. The temperatures are generally about 10 degrees cooler than in Memphis. With the South Cumberland State Park and the extensive grounds at Sewanee, the Plateau offers endless opportunities for hiking and enjoyment of the natural setting, one of my favorite attractions. The four hour drive from home feels like a real escape. The Monteagle Sunday School Assembly, as its properly called, also has the interesting distinction of being an explicitly Christian community and hosts an 8-week summer "season" of classes, lectures, and workshops aimed at the "advancement of science, literary attainment, Sunday School interests, and the promotion of the broadest popular culture in the interest of Christianity without regard to sect or denomination…and to hold stated public meetings from year to year upon the grounds of the Assembly,” according to the MSSA Charter from 1882. We've never been here for the season, but I am certain that it is something fascinating to behold. It's hard to describe, but, suffice it to say, it's a place unto itself. Now that we've been coming here for over ten years, it feels like a real home away from home. When someone else takes over Peavine Cottage, we will surely miss it, but until then, we will be here to enjoy its unique charms as often as possible.

On this trip, Andrew and Cuba left Thursday night for a little male bonding time. Maddi and I departed Memphis on Friday, hitting the road when Maddi got out of school. The trip was pleasant enough and was broken up by a stop a wildlife management area along the Tennessee River, a place we refer to as Birdsong Road, after the name of the exit. That name has a positive resonance with one of my favorite Grateful Dead tunes being named, "Birdsong." Delta and Melody enjoyed the time to stretch their legs halfway through. I was thrilled with the unexpected bonus of finding a plethora of snail shells along the shoreline of the water. Andrew had dinner waiting for us when we got to the cottage: roast beast, candied carrots, and fresh lima beans. After dinner, we hung out for a little while and then hit the hay.

Saturday started off in the most relaxing way, enjoying being first awake with my coffee on the porch. It really is a sublime moment, like now as I write. When the rest of the crew awoke, we puttered around until setting out for Tracy City, home of the much-loved Dutch Maid Bakery. We got some goodies for the weekend and some take-out lunch to fuel our hiking that afternoon. We made our way to Beersheba Springs where the Stone Door State Park is located, part of the larger South Cumberland State Park system. Thunderous dark clouds encroached as we approached the park, so we opted for a shorter loop trail instead of the oneway hike to Stone Door and back. Melody enjoyed running around the trail. Laurel Falls were running swiftly, but the creek was peaceful at the top of the falls. We tried to get Melody in the water, but she displayed her mortal fear of entering water to the extent that she wouldn't even drink from the creek. Maddi had fun using my camera to take lots of pictures along the way. We got back to the car ahead of the rain and headed back to the house. That night, we went to the High Point for dinner, the best restaurant in town! We had a delectable meal and drinks and wine. It was really a nice time. We weren't home long before I retired for the night.

Sunday began the same way. I spent some time coloring, a favorite way to relax. I arranged my snail shells neatly and photographed them for submission onto a blog called, Things Organized Neatly. The day before, I had done the same with my art supplies. When Andrew and Maddi woke up, we hung out at the house, ate some lunch, then took off for Chattanooga. The predicted rain for the day made the perfect excuse to go to the Tennessee Aquarium. We had a great time seeing all our favorite animals (cuttlefish, jellyfish, and sturgeon; oh, my!) and taking pictures of everything. We all had cameras, so that made it fun. Maddi had the fancy digital camera, Andrew had a film camera, and I had my trusty waterproof point-and-shoot. Among the three of us, we got some cool photos of our outing. We had splendid luck avoiding all the pouring rain, both in Chattanooga and on the road. We got back from the aquarium and went to the house to get ready for dinner. I had seen a Chinese buffet advertised on the interstate, and everyone thought that sounded okay. We set out for the place, which, fortunately, was nearby. We pulled into the parking lot and assessed the situation. A faded sign and two cars in a huge parking lot at dinner time greeted us. We all decided that it looked about a sketchy as it gets. I pulled out of the parking lot and tried to make it look like we were just turning around, feeling thankful that we had not but more time into that debacle. Instead, we went to Dave's Modern Tavern, which we always refer to as Modern Dave's. Modern Dave's is one of those restaurant anomalies that shouldn't work but does. In a town where rednecks rub elbows with the well-heeled, this automotive garage cum restaurant doesn't seem like something that would work. Decorated in a beachy theme (why? who knows!), it doesn't try to hide its previous life history. The silver insulation shows along the roof and walls, and the back garage door is opened to reveal a patio area. We tried sitting on the patio, but that proved unsuccessful when a septic-tank-y smell drove us inside. From then on, we were fine. Good food and drink were enjoyed by all, despite our bumpy start to dinner. After our meal, we returned to the house, and each of us pursued our own relaxation: Maddi played on the internet (a rare treat), Andrew read comic books, and I drew and read. After Maddi and I turned in, Andrew and I sat on the porch with the dogs and enjoyed to cool air of the evening.

This morning on Labor Day, I am blogging and doing laundry in preparation for our departure. I love it here and don't really want to leave yet. Back in Memphis, there's a lot on my plate, but, here, high on the mountain, it's easy to forget about all that.

Our end of August went fine. Maddi started school at St. Benedict at Auburndale, a Catholic school. She loves it, and so do Andrew and I. The University of Memphis started back, my last year of education. The BioGSA threw a fall mixer last week, and it was a huge success. I was a little choked up at one point, seeing the fruition of my dream for a biology grad student association that really brought people together. Andrew's work marched on, as it does. We ate dinner at the school one night, which was cool and included tableside flambe, which is awesome. All in all, August was a good month. Now, looking down the barrel of September and the fall semester, I have a lot of work to do to stay on track for graduation. It's hard to believe that it could actually be near: both an exciting and daunting prospect. So it goes!

In Motion III - July and August, so far

In Motion


July

The month was kicked off by an epic visit from Emily, Eva, and Graeme. As a wonderful best friend, Emily had heeded my plea for help to get out of my home organization and decoration rut and came to save the day more than I could have imagined. When she and the kids got here, we went down to Beale Street and ate at Dyer’s. A motorcycle rally had convened on the main drag to the interest and delight of the kids. The next day, my dearest friend was fearlessly cleaning, organizing, decorating, and decides to renovate our bathroom. We took a break long enough to go down to Mud Island and watch the Independence Day fireworks with the kids. That was a lot of fun, except for a monorail debacle at the end of the night where Emily and I misplaced each other. The next day, we were back to working on the house and making more unimaginable progress. 

Emily saw Andrew’s chef coats hanging to dry on the shower rod and was inspired to do our bathroom in black and white, playing up tile in that color we already had. Our hideous blue sink received numerous layers of white epoxy, and its off-white cabinet with dated gold details got a coat of shiny black gloss. She tiled around the sink cabinet, painted the medicine cabinet and light fixtures, and hand-sewed a new curtain for the window from a fabric scrap. By hand, she added a black ribbon to a new white shower curtain, the handmade curtain, and a new hand towel. The effect was totally reminiscent of Andrew’s chef coats, which was the source of Emily’s inspiration. By the time she was done in there, we had a new curved shower curtain installed, a new over-the-toilet cabinet assembled and in place, a drywall repair, and a new epoxy finish on our bathtub. The transformation can’t be overstated. And that was just the bathroom. 

This all took several days, which we interspersed with fun stuff for all. One night, we went to Otherlands for Gerald Stephens CD release party, which was a really great time. Eva and Graeme really enjoyed the music, as did the adults. We got to see Serena, in from Pensacola, and JoDe, who was hosting her, along with many other friends It was great to see such a good friend as Gerald reach an important milestone in his career. Another day, I took the kids to the Woodland Discovery Park at Shelby Farms. This park has got to be the coolest place to hang out with kids outside of Disneyworld. Swings, slides, ropes, and a sandbox comprise the park; all pretty standard, but all with a twist. For example, some slides are super steep and they have sacks for the kids to ride down on, making it really fast! We had a blast and were the last ones out of the park at closing! One day, we got froyo at YoLo; another day, we got Jerry’s Snocones. We also had Gus's crack chicken and Memphis' best, Central BBQ, along with several delicious meals prepared by Andrew. Another day, we went to Andrew’s class’ end of term buffet, and the kids really enjoyed seeing the chefs and chefs-in-training. We went back to Mud Island another day and had a great time exploring the Mississippi River Museum and checking out a bit of the Riverwalk. All of this fun was included around more trips to Lowes, Home Depot, Target, and Walmart than I typically make in a year. When Emily and the kids left after 10 days, we were all exhausted and very pleased with the progress we made all over the house,  especially in the bathroom.

Over next couple weeks, I caught some music here and there. I finally got to see the monster-of-sound that is Memphis’ Mighty Souls Brass Band, led by our good pal, Sean Murphy. I can’t describe how awesome they are except to say that they gave Rebirth Brass Band a run for their money. Mighty Souls opened for Rebirth and just about stole the show, fonky as Rebirth be! I caught two of the trifecta of Minivan Blues Band shows, one solo at Newby’s and the other with Andrew at Minglewood.

A couple days before Emily left, Madison was due to arrive in Memphis on the Greyhound. She missed the bus the first day, and then she made it into town safely the next day. She was around to celebrate my birthday (Hog and Hominy!), Vicki’s birthday (dinner at Kate’s!), José’s birthday (overrun by Clayton’s party), and Clayton’s birthday (pool party at Ricky and Margo’s!). She spent the night with Heather a few time and went to church as well.

The trip was nearly truncated into less than two weeks, when, long story short, Madison decided to stay in Memphis.

August, so far

Immediately in the middle of this massive change to our home life with Maddi moving back home, Andrew and I were in the process of buying new cars. I found one I loved out in Virginia Beach, and Dad helped me get a great price. All I had to do was go get it! So, time for another road trip! This time, Maddi and I set out in a rental car toward the East Coast. We got a late start on the day of our departure because I got caught up in the excitement of Andrew buying his brand new car, a Hyundai Accent. The late start on the road was totally worth it to see his happy face, but it meant that the 10 hour drive to Greensboro, NC took until 4:30am. I had made plans to stop and spend the night at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Sean’s house outside of Greensboro, but we got in so late that I only managed to get a nap in after sitting up with Aunt Debbie and drinking coffee with her while she got ready for work. After my nap, we headed east and then north along the Outer Banks. We stopped by Kitty Hawk which closes incredibly early, so we didn’t get to really check it out as much as we would have liked. We got to Dad’s by dinner time, which was perfect. We ate grilled chicken out on the deck, drank mojitos, and the kids went swimming after dinner (myself included).

The next day, we went to buy my car. I found a 2008 Kia Rondo with superlow miles on it and fell in love with it from the pictures on the dealership website. So, when I finally saw her in person and got to drive her and then got the keys to her, I was ecstatic! I can’t imagine a better car for me and my lifestyle and activities; I am surprised they don’t make that model any longer. At any rate, Ramblin’ Rose was a great reason to go see my family and is a great ride.

Maddi and I made the most of our four days in Virginia Beach. It was great visiting with everyone! I hadn’t seen my family since Dec. 2011, so we were overdue. In one action-packed day, Maddi and I went to Sandbridge beach, then kayaking at False Cape with Dad and the boys, and that night, I caught a Dark Star Orchestra show at the Norva. Other fun family activities included boating in Broad Bay, seeing the boys play baseball, and playing in the pool. All in all, it was a really wonderful visit.

From Virginia Beach, Maddi and I went up to D.C. to do some sight-seeing. Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery and the Changing of the Guard. No words can describe this ceremony, but, suffice it to say, Maddi was extremely moved and impressed. We caught a cab over to the Lincoln Memorial where we spent a lot of time. It was a little disappointing that this time that I finally “go” to the Memorial, rather than just drive by it, that it was in the middle of cleanup from the crazy lady throwing paint on him. They had scaffolding around on side of the monument, so it wasn’t just a pristine moment with two Hodgenville girls and their favorite hometown hero. Still, it was really cool. Maddi and I had a lot of fun helping people take photos of tourists from everywhere in the world. We walked around the Mall area a bit and saw the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial. Then it was time to head to Jamie and Selma’s house. We caught some terrifying rush hour traffic but made it to La Plata in one piece. We sat up and talked past everyone’s bedtime, which was great because I hadn’t seen these guys since 2011 either. 

The next morning, Maddi and I rode the commuter bus into D.C. under Selma’s thoughtful instruction. This was great because we got to take a nap before being dropped off right by the Smithsonians. The museums weren’t open yet when we got there, so we walked around by the Capitol Building and dodged some rain at the Botanic Gardens café’s umbrellas. Then we hit the Air and Space Museum. Maddi loved it! I was pleased that she was so impressed with the artifacts on display. We marveled over the Apollo capsules, Sputnik, and the Lunar Rover. We touched a moonrock, saw the Wright Flyer and the Spirit of St. Louis, and saw every possible representation of aviation under the sun. We headed to the National Gallery of Art next. I didn’t include this on our original itinerary, but Maddi picked it, so off we went. We saw Titan, El Greco, Raphael, Rembrandt, Bosch, Munch, and Rubens. That was in less than ¼ of one building. Feeling somewhat overstimulated, we ditched the rest of the museum and strolled around the adjacent sculpture garden. Our last stop was the Natural History Museum. Typically, this is my favorite Smithsonian museum but, during our visit, the number of other visitors really overwhelmed the place. We saw about ¾ of this museum before heading out again. We had time to grab a coffee from Starbucks and feel very metropolitan before time to catch the commuter bus back to Waldorf. An hour later and we were settling in for a 5 hour drive back down to Aunt Debbie’s house.

We arrived at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Sean’s house at around 11pm, so we did much better on the return leg of the trip. We slept like rocks and got up in the morning to drink coffee and visit with Uncle Sean a bit before hitting the road back to Memphis. Uncle Sean and I rapped about Leonard Cohen and all kinds of musical topics before we headed out. Eleven hours on the road, and we were back in Memphis.

For two nights over this past weekend, I went out to see the Perseid meteor shower. While the conditions in Memphis were less than ideal with cloudy skies, I did see about 50 or so beautiful meteors on the two nights. I love star-gazing more than I can possibly explain.

Now, today, I am getting Maddi registered for school and setting up the lab for knocking out a summer’s worth of experiments. Keep your head inside the ride at all times, ladies and gentlemen, because today is only August 11^th.

In Motion II - June

In Motion

June

I was home from Monteagle for two days before setting off on my Up North trip, which clocked in at over 2,000 miles roundtrip. I drove from Memphis to Madison, Wisconsin, the first day, about 10 hours. I spent the night at a great hostel in downtown Madison. I walked down to Lake Menona at sunset and strolled around the many pubs and restaurants in the blocks adjacent to Capitol Square. I met a cool hosteller from Australia, Fiona, who shared the room with me. We had dinner at same time at the hostel’s kitchen and then sat around shooting the breeze while I drank a six pack of a yummy regionally local brew, New Glarus.

The next day, I set out for Duluth. I arrived in the late afternoon, checked into the hotel, and went to find Bob Dylan’s boyhood home. It was cool to see the home in which he lived until he was six. After my pilgrimage, I headed downtown to Fitger’s Brewery for dinner. I made my way along the Lakewalk, taking in the sights of downtown Duluth and the scenic shoreline of Lake Superior. Dinner was delicious; I had a salad where I got to try all the cool local goodies in one dish: smoked white fish, wild rice, and cranberry, with lettuce and stuff. They also had a great beer called Evil Rabbit, so named for tasting very tame at 9.2% ABV. After dinner, I poked around the gift shops, looking for some cool swag for Andrew’s birthday, upon which I would be up in Minnesota. Then I headed back to the hotel to turn in early for a good night’s rest.

On my second day in Duluth, I had the whole day wide open for exploring until the opening reception for the Society of Wetland Scientists conference, the real reason for me being in Duluth. I set off toward Two Harbors, a location suggested by someone who grew up in the area as a jumping off point for exploring the North Shore. I pulled up to the old lighthouse in Agate Bay and watched the intricate loading process of what looked like coal (but was actually taconite, an iron ore) being taken along this incredible system of conveyor belts. It was really interesting. Then I walked out onto the jetty in the bay. The winds were whipping up at about 20 mph and the temperature on land was about 50 degrees, so it was pretty intense out on the open water, June or not! I took some pictures and headed back to land to investigate the rocky shoreline. I spent hours walking and looking and scampering around on the rocks, taking in the tall conifers lining the shore into the distance and the giant slabs of ancient rocks being continually lapped at by the greatest of the Great Lakes’ waves. I didn’t pay to tour the lighthouse interior. I was interested in heading further north on Highway 61 to see more of the lake shore. I headed up to Split Rock Lighthouse without stopping, although I was driving pretty slow at some points as I admired the beautiful scenery. I stopped off at a scenic overlook for the lighthouse and enjoyed just hanging out here mostly alone and taking in the vastness of the lake and the picturesque lighthouse perched on a tall craggy cliff face. I didn’t have a clue how varied the geography would be along the North Shore. I made it as far north as Little Marias before turning back. I had to be back in Duluth in the evening for the reception and wanted to have time to stop at some of the shops I’d seen along the way up, still hunting for cool birthday gifts for Andrew. I had success in finding local food specialties for him: wild chokeberry jelly, wild rice, real maple syrup, cheese kurds, and beef sticks. It was fun poking around the little towns. I stopped in Beaver Bay for lunch. The menu said that the herring was caught fresh daily from the lake, so I tried the fish and chips. The fish was so tasty, I knew they weren’t lying about it being fresh that day. Still, I couldn’t resist asking the waitress after I’d paid up and was leaving (so she knew her tip didn’t depend on the answer and was more likely to be honest). She assured me that it was lake-caught daily. No surprise there! 

I made it back to the hotel in time to shower and change and to get right on time to the reception at the Great Lakes Aquarium. I’ve been to few opening receptions at different conferences, and this venue had some pros and cons. On the positive side, the exhibits were really cool, and the food was good. I killed some smoked white fish with cream cheese on crostini. And, I digress. The cons were the floorplan of the venue that made movement restrictive and amplified conversations so that the place was too loud for my overstimulation-prone brain. I tried to chill with some free booze, but we only got two drink tickets. So, I made greeted some familiar faces, chatted with a few new folks, drank my two beers and scarfed some crostinis and got out of there pretty quickly. I hung out on the Lakewalk by the aquarium and watched the Aerial Lift Bridge as the sun set. Then I went to the hotel and hit the hay.

The big item on my agenda the next day was to meet with the South Central Chapter board members in advance of our chapter meeting being held the following day. Due to several factors, the largest of which was federal budget cuts, it turned out that only three of the nine board members made it to the conference. The three of us had a brief meeting near the end of the day. I saw a few interesting talks before that. As our meeting wrapped up, a lady appeared with drink tickets and invited us to go to another reception, this one sponsored by the professional certification company. It was cool because I got to chat with another grad student from our chapter that I like a lot as well as meet some new folks. The lady that gave us the drink tickets also came around and gave a lot of straight-talking answers to questions that we grad students had on our minds. It was nice to hear from someone who hadn’t always taken the safe road in all her choices but had managed to be successful. After the reception, I ventured down to Park Point, the city park with a sandy beach on Lake Superior. It was 10pm, and the sun was just setting! It was crazy cold out there, and I put on every layer I had in the car, again, despite it being June. I enjoyed the sunset and the different view of Duluth’s home-covered hillsides sloping down to the lake’s edge. After a bit, the cold became too much, and I vowed to return better prepared for the arctic wind blowing hard off the water.

The following day’s big agenda item was the chapter business meeting at the end of the day. I started out by going to the awards luncheon, one of the events where they feed you. I couldn’t find any familiar faces and was invited to sit with some ladies. They all turned out to be national board members, so this was a very interesting group to talk with. We actually spent a good bit of time talking about the lingering wage gap and glass ceilings for women in the sciences, despite this being 2013. From there, I went to a couple of talks and perused the posters before the meeting. Then I settled in to take notes during the business meeting. We talked about how the conference would be in Portland next year, which is totally rad. We also discussed our plans for making a bid for the conference to come to Memphis in 2015. After about an hour, all my serious obligations for the conference were wrapped up. A student social was being held nearby after the chapter meetings were over, so I went to see what kind of fun I could get into in that scene. I started out with my pretty tame crowd of grownups in the chapter. Later, I gravitated over to a table with a bunch of grad students I didn’t know. I’d had a couple of beers by then, so I just introduced myself and butted in on the conversations. Soon we were all yucking it up like we’d known each other forever. The bar where the social was held closed at 10pm, which was crazy. It wasn’t even dark yet. So, after Grandma’s closed, a contingent of hardcore merrymakers headed to another bar nearby called Angie’s Cantina, I believe. I ordered a peach margarita in the next size up from a small. It arrived and looked like a small kiddy pool on a glass stem. I gave it my best effort, but I had to abandon it before too long so that I had an hour or so to sober up and drive back to the hotel. Then I crashed out and slept like a log!

The talks I was interested in at the last day of the conference were being held in the afternoon, so I went an hour up the road to a place I’d heard of: the Sax Zim Bog Birding Area. I’m not much of a birder, but I’m crazy about wetlands and had never seen a peat bog before. So I drove around the Minnesota tiny roads so rural that none were paved, few had gravel, and most were packed mud. I didn’t see a lot of birds, but I loved the peatlands. The landscape was amazing, and I was thrilled to have experienced it. After the talks were over, I set out to see more Bob Dylan landmarks and check out the Leif Eriksson Park to see the replica Viking ship. The park was pretty, but the Viking ship was not really on display, being covered in opaque plastic. The only Dylan thing I saw that evening was a sign for Bob Dylan Way. The next day, I stopped by the Duluth Armory to see the cool silhouette paintings on the exterior of famous musicians that had played there back in the day. I also visited Fitger’s again and found their “Dylan museum display” which consisted of a closet-sized glass cabinet with some old pictures, concert announcement flyers, and other memorabilia. My final time in Duluth included visiting Park Pointe one more time and hanging out at the Aerial Lift Bridge to see an incoming 700+ foot long laker coming into port. It was in the 40’s (in June, people!) and windy on the shore of Lake Superior, but I enjoyed seeing the huge ship up close and the deliberate, coordinated steps that are required by such an event. Finally, I was satisfied that I had extracted as much fun as could from Duluth and hit the road.

I arrived in Minneapolis in the early evening. I found my hostel without any difficulty and was quite amazed to discover that it was in a Victorian mansion. Also, the hostel was directly across the street from the Minnesota Institute of Arts, a fantastic free museum with an outstanding collection. I saw as much as I could between my arrival in the city and the museum’s closing and made a vow to return the next day. I hung out in the hostel that evening and chatted with a few other travelers. This hostel was a bit more Spartan that some of the others in which I’ve stayed, but the bed was comfortable and the location was amazing. The next day, I headed out to the grocery store and got a little lost enabling me to see some of the more diverse neighborhoods in the city. I got groceries, went back to the hostel, ate some lunch, and went back to the art museum again until it closed. I still only saw about half of the collection. That evening, I met up with Ian and Martha; Ian’s a childhood friend of Andrew’s and all around cool guy and Martha is his darling Minnesotan girlfriend. We had a few cocktails with our meal and had a great time chatting and getting to know each other better. I invited them to come with me to explore the Walker Sculpture Park in the dark, and Martha took me up on it. We met over there and had a nice time walking around and talking. But, for a sculpture park that prominently advertises that it’s open until midnight, I was rather disappointed that only one of the parks 40 or so pieces was illuminated. In terms of art viewing, it was a bust. But I had fun hanging out with Martha. She’d worked that day, and she and Ian live about 40 minutes from the city, so I figured that they’d be ready to call it a night. I was pleasantly surprised when Martha was down for joining me for drinks at the Nomad Pub where we could see 3 bands for $5. We got there too late for the first two bands but were right on time to catch the entire Prozac Rat set. Those guys were a lot of fun: a metal operatic hybrid that I really enjoyed. After the show, I headed back to the hostel and crashed out. On my way out of town the next morning, I stopped back by the sculpture garden to see what they had. I was pleased that I did. The garden was really nice and had a couple of extremely cool pieces. Then I hopped on the road toward the campground in Missouri where I was spending my last night on the road.

I took a wrong turn when approaching the campground and wound up in downtown Lagrange, Missouri. The Mississippi River was flooding, and the water was up to the Post Office’s foundation, the city park was underwater, and people were boating where cars would usually drive. I snapped a few pictures and continued to the campsite. I had reserved many weeks in advance and had saved for myself the best site in the park. I quickly set up camp and kicked back to take in the nature experience. After a lovely sunset, some dinner, and some relaxing, I snuggled up in my sleeping bag for my last night on the road of my great trip Up North.

June included other fun times, like Phil and Friends at the Brookhaven with my boo, Father’s Day brunch with Kate and José and the kids at Sweetgrass, shaking it down to George Porter, Jr. at the Levitt Shell, and a week of relaxation in Gulf Shores at the Little Red House on Little Lagoon with Andrew and the dogs. 

June included some not-so-fun times too, like Grandma Marie’s death and attending her funeral in New York, although seeing so much family was truly wonderful. In the middle of Grandma’s wake, I had to step out and tell Jerry that Madison couldn’t go on vacation with us because she hadn’t finished summer school in time, which was a pretty low point. My first manuscript I submitted was rejected. Blah. Back to the good stuff.