8.10.10 -- 9:27 p.m. Vegas in April. Emily and I took our first trip together [excluding honeymoon] and
what better destination than the city of sin/that-never-sleeps a.k.a. where we got married? The Planet Hollywood towers had
just opened so
after much debate [and wriggling by Emily] we booked a flight, room, and prepared ourselves to win lots and lots of monies. Well the
winning of monies part didn't really happen however, massive amounts of food were consumed. A couple of late night stops at
the Earl of Sandwich, Todai, Pampas Brazillion all your can eat
fine meats, and In 'N Out burger contributed to our 5000-calorie-a-day-diet. We didn't see any shows, didn't do any tours, we just ate,
drank, slept, gambled, sun-tanned, and relaxed the entire trip. It was spectacular.
My thoughts on the new Westgate towers are as follows. It's new, it's nice, you get a full kitchen and everything electrical
in the room is controled by the TV remote [which is just so fitting for us Americans] and the pool was fantastic. Is it a pain to walk
through the Miracle Mile shopping mall come 3 a.m. when all you want to do is be carried up to your room on a stretcher? Yes. This
didn't take away from the fact that it was an excellent and much needed vacation that I thoroughly enjoyed with my wife. Pics of
the event found here:
The Sigys came to visit Burnsville in May. All the way from Davenport, IA and Spring Valley, WI, Cole, Chris, Bridg and Paige
came to party serious. Cole and I learned that no one sings Journey quite like Chris Segerstrom. I think we all learned that
when it comes to Gastronomy, particularly the serving of wine, Chris does it all. Not too long after that, Em and I tripped it to
D-port Iowa [even though it was only six hours and quite less than our trip to TX (I'll discuss this later) it was a brutal drive]
. It was my first time ever in the quad-cities and Cole pulled some strings, got a foursome tee time at the TPC Deere Run.
What a spectacular course that was. Even though I shot a 108 [it was my first round of the season, lay off!] the course was in
exceptional condition, and I had a heck of a good time considering how terrible I played.
While us men were golfing, the girls
were shopping and boozing. When we got back from doing our man thing, some of the girls were already half in the bag and it wasn't
even 8:00 yet. Davenport has quite a few bars that brew their own stuff and I got to sample some delish pale ales, and beers with
more [voice crack] HOPS. The Loop is a one-time-pay bus that takes you around the quad cities so we were all responsible and safe
[don't worry mom]. By the end of the night The Loop was packed tighter than an airplane sandwich, I was drunker than a skunk, and
Emily passed out on the lazyboy. Pics:
Emily has now been alive for twenty five years as of this June. Cheaper insurance for the win.
To celebrate we visited the EauC and DnD treated Nate,
Laura, Emily and I to dinner at Stella Blues. Boy was that a tasty
dinner. That weekend also happend to be the same weekend as the Arcadia parade. Nothin beats small town folks out to have a
good time on a blazin hot day with an infinate amount of 'princess parade floats'. Dan and I also dropped the tranny pan on
Tonya, swapped her over to AMSOIL torque drive fluids, and put on a new gasket/tranny filter/Allison transmission deep pan. Even
after 150,000 miles, Tonya is running like a dream. Damn I love owning a diesel. Argh argh arghhhhhadklgasdklgjasgj. Fotos aqui:
June was amazing. I was lucky enough to marry a woman who not only entertains my crazy and financially un-wise desires, but also
supports me all out of love and to see me happy. What a gal. Where is this going? Well, in June, Emily and I rented a Nissan
Cube, drove 1247 miles to San Antonio, TX and bought another Subaru. As you millions of dgDOTcom readers may recall, Nadine was my
previous automotive lover. Remember
her?
Well when I sold her, no more than six months later, the buyer did
this. to her. Awesome huh? Nothing like seeing
something you once put hours and hours of work into careing for get destroyed by some scrub nub who simply wasn't ready for
286
wheel horsepower and 342 wheel torque. I digress.
Back on topic here, so we drive to Texas, we leave Thursday at noon, and arrive in San Antonio at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning [thanks NOS
energy drinks for cold sweats and cardio workout] When we arrived, Dorothy looked even better than in the pictures. Emily and I
signed the paperwork, returned our rental car and headed back home. Now, you'd think the drive home was wayyyy better than the
drive there. In some ways it was and in some ways it wasn't. We were cruising in one of the sexiest Subarus I've ever laid eyes on
and I did have about 400 more horsepower at the touch of the throttle. However, the suspension setup is very
aggressive and with Emily, Tatortot, camping stuff, cooler, other crap and I, the back tires were rubbing like a bastage. Also, Texas
is brutal HOT, not just humid and warm. Everytime I stepped out of the car there was immediate perspiration. Dorothy is also
proffessionally tuned to run E85 ethonol. In the midwest, E85 is plentiful. In the South, it is not. This forced us to carefully
plan our stops, call ahead to the gas stations to ensure that even though they are listed online as an E85 distributor, and haul
an extra five gallon gas can full of ethanol in the trunk.
As we headed North, we realized that our initial plan to setup a tent and camp outside was just plain dumb and not well thought out.
It was so stinking hot, I was exhausted from driving straight through the night prior, my body ached, and there really wasn't much
that could deter us from the thought of a air conditioned nights rest in a hotel bed. Thus, once we hit Oklahoma City around 8:30 p.m.
we pulled off the road, and the fourth or fifth hotel we checked [that allowed pets] had vacancy. Stepping into that hotel room was
a slice of heaven. I remember showering, laying down in bed, closing my eyes, and then the alarm clock went off after what seemed like
only seconds of sleep. It was awesome.
In the morning, we hit up the contenental breakfast, and hit the road at about 8:30 a.m. By around 8:00 p.m. we were in Minnesota
and the weather to the North was looking awful. Emily and I were constantly checking my fruit phone for weather updates and watching
the storms come in. Alas at around 9:00 p.m. we made it home and tucked Dorothy safe and sound in the garage. Never again will I drive
so far, in such short of time, with so little rest, ever, again. Was it worth it? Yes. I love this car even more than Nadine.
Dorothy has the same clutch and six-speed as Nadine, a massive turbocharger, and puts down
512awp and 440wtq. . She is stupid fast.
Considering how many hours we were in the car, I only took a couple pics:
July means the 4th and one of the greatest and most favorite summer traditions, Wisonsin Dells. This year the crew consisted of
Mike L, Mini-horse, Dave, Mark, Lindsay, Lauren, Emily and I. Cole made a late showing Saturday night. Everyone
saddled up for some horseback riding in Mauston. I hadn't been on a horse for like 10+ years and damn, in comparison to when
I weighed like 90lbs, riding is not as easy as I remember. My ass was sore for like three days and my knees ached instantly
after dismount...old man, old bones.
We did Noah's Ark big time
this year. Their new water slide is the coolest slide I've ever been on. Imagine yourself in a coffin, only instead of laying
parallel with the ground, your standing at about 70 degree angle, and a speaker phone inside the coffin says, "3...2....1..." and
then the side of the coffin [what your feet are standing on] drops out and you plummet down faster than you've ever gone. It is
crazy genius waterpark design at its finest.
Post Noahs, we went to
Moosejaw Pizza and brewery. We ordered one BBQ pizza and one taco pizza
and they were pretty damn good. Aune and Lauren sampled the "6-point and 12-point buck" [sampling of 12 different house brews].
Moosejaw gets high remarks from me, I'd definately go back. Mini-horse kicked everyones ass at putt-putt and shot like four
hole-in-ones. I bought a wolf-moon t-shirt while we were galavanting downtown. Paul Bunyans breakfast was exceptional, as expected.
The rest of the time was spent boozing, playing bags, and cooking meats n mellows over the campfire. This was the first year Emily
and I actually bought a real tent from a real outdoor store [previously we used a leaky K-mart tent] and not a single drop of rain
the whole time, it figures. Dells pics:
Lately, Emily and I have been on a Pizza Man kick.
If you like cheap, thin crust, delicious pizza, go there. They got coups online you can print out, no shame in using
coups. Also, went up to Crommie for a work weekend last month, check out the update on
mmoDOTcom to see progress of the cabin. Last weekend, was
the wedding de la Franks N Beans. Emily and I went to Eau Claire, I swapped rotors/pads/fluids fixed weather stripping, performed
exhaust coat hanger mod, and fixed the rattle dash on Berta. Saturn power +++. Nate, Dan, and I also squeezed in 9 holes the
morning of the wedding, shot a respectable 46. Dori made her infamous TatorTotHotDish and it was pretty much the culmination
of my being. Pics of the wedding here:
Longest dgDOTcom update evar!11!!1??/1!11? This weekend is Izatys. Emiy and I are really looking forward to some QT
with the donald, mummy and squatty. Y'all stay fresh to def .
