OK, so it wasn't actually white this time of year. This weekend I headed up to Rochester, MN (home of the Mayo Clinic) with Karyn to attend a wedding for a good friend of hers from college.

We left Thursday night around 9:30 pm and drove all the way to Waterloo, IA without stopping. We hit Waterloo around 2:30 am and decided to grab some grub and a hotel for the night, since we wouldn't be able to check into our hotel in Rochester till around 2 pm the next day anyway. After inspecting the mild damage to my car from the large bird I sent to meet his maker while driving, we stopped at the brand new IHOP where we were the only customers. I had a delicious dinner/breakfast of Country Fried steak and eggs with biscuits and sausage gravy and a side of hash browns. Delicious.

We slept the night away at the local Comfort Inn and got up the next day around checkout time. After a quick stop at the Panera Bread for coffee and a bagel, we hit the road and rolled into Rochester and checked into the Holiday Inn around 3 pm. We quickly showered and changed to make the wedding rehearsal by 5:30 pm which was about a half hour outside Rochester in a small town called Chatfield. Karyn and I soon discovered we were just a bit over-dressed for the rehearsal seeing as how this was a small town wedding.

The dinner was held at the groom's parents house. A beautiful property on top of a large hill overlooking miles of cornfields. The weather was great (clear skies and about 69 degrees at dinner time) and dinner was held outside on the front drive. An interesting dish was served known locally as "Frogmore Stew". Basically polish sausage, shrimp, potatoes, onions, corn on the cob, and lemon wedges all boiled slowly in a pot for a while. The water was then drained and the dish was actually dumped out right onto the table (which was covered by newspaper). Everyone takes the food right out of the pile in the middle of the table, eats with their hands, and has simply salt, pepper, butter, and ketchup to choose from as condiments. Interesting for a wedding rehearsal dinner to say the least.

My favorite part about Friday night was discovering that the beer of choice in southern Minnesota was Michelob Golden Draft Light, and there was plenty to go around at the dinner. By far my favorite AB product, it is wholly unavailable anywhere within 250 miles of St. Louis (and for the most part available only in the northern mid-west) for some odd reason. Fortunately I had my fill in the short time we were there.

As the sun went down the weather got chilly and people started to leave. The stars were out in grand style and being able to actually see them for a change was nice. We headed back to the hotel about 9:30 and Karyn, being tuckered out and having to wake up early ,(she was the bride's attendant) hit the sack. I proceeded over the "The Viking Lounge" which was the house bar at the Holiday Inn. Luckily one of the few bars in the city that you could still smoke in. Not a bad little hotel bar all things considered, although it was Karaoke night (actually held Wed - Sat there) and most of the folks there were singing really bad country music. After downing about 6 more Michelob Golden Drafts, I decided to show them all up by doing a moving rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". I of course brought the house down.

After a quick trip to Denny's for more biscuits and gravy around 2 am when the bars closed, I set the alarm and was out like a light.

Saturday came fast and I raced to get ready and make the wedding in Chatfield on time. I snuck in right in time and sat by myself at the back (since of all the people at this wedding, I was probably the farthest removed from both the bride and groom).

Post wedding I headed back to the hotel after grabbing a sandwich at Wendy's for lunch. Just rested a bit and actually took the time to shave and put on a tie (which there was no time for before the wedding). The reception was at the Elk's Club Lodge in Rochester and started at 5:30. More Golden Draft was consumed, dancing was done, pictures were taken, bouquets were caught (by Karyn oddly enough) and soon the wedding was over. It stormed a bit while the reception was going on, which not only created a full rainbow over Rochester after the dinner hour, but made for some dazzling displays of lighting.

Karyn was again tuckered out, but being the party animal I am I headed back over to the Viking Lounge for more Golden Draft. I had about 4 more in the span of 90 minutes, (making for a total of about 18 beers since 6 pm) but managed to stay away from the Karaoke that night. My last beer proved to be my downfall seeing as how I ordered it about 30 seconds before they started asking people to get the hell out. Not wanting to waste a precious drop of the elusive Golden Draft, I slammed my 18th beer with a sense of pride, said goodbye to the bartender I had befriended and headed back to my room.

After reheating some Wendy's chicken nuggets along with a side of gravy from the previous night (BAD decision), I hit the shower to relax. Apparently I fell asleep in the shower, and when I woke up felt a bit woozy. I immediately rejected the chicken, gravy, and that last beer onto the floor of the shower. Yummmm. It was definitely time for bed after that. Again though, I seemed to have passed out on the way there as Karyn found me naked and curled up with my wet towel on the floor in front of the bathroom around 6 am. So I finally made it to bed and called it a night.

Sunday morning didn't start too well as you can imagine. We got the old late checkout so this hungover cat could catch a couple more much needed Z's. We hit the road around 1 PM and started making our way back to St. Louis. Our soundtrack for the first part of the drive consisted mostly of groans and the sound of multiple bodily functions emanating from yours truly. It was pretty bad. But being wise and using the old hangover remedies of water, Gatorade, about 4 Advil, I was back on track to recovery. By the time we got back to Waterloo I was well enough to actually smoke a cig. We stopped by the Panera bread again for lunch. Soup is a fucking cure all, and a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup looked mighty good compared to my other options of Taco Bell or Burger King.

By the time we hit Cedar Rapids I was back to about 70% of feelin good and was actually enjoying the drive. We stopped in Keokuk, IA around 6 pm to visit Karyn's grandparents. After a quick refuel we raced back home and hit the Lou about 9:30 pm.

We met up with a couple friends at Buffalo Wild Wings for a drink or two (that's about all I could handle) and then went back to Hansonelli's new apt for some after hour fun. I didn't stay too late since after all I still felt like poo.

Monday was a lazy day and I was surprised to find out that absolutely no one was doing anything exciting for Labor Day. I pretty much sat around all day watching baseball and continuing to recover from the weekend. Good Cards v. Shlubs game with a nice game winning three run dinger from Phat Albert, although Izzy's inconsistencies are still scaring the hell out of me.

Monday night I headed down to the Majestic to hand with Takis, Pete, and the rest of the boys down there since there wasn't much else in the works. Upon arrival I found out Pete had a bottle smashed over his head trying to toss some ruffians out of his bar who were disturbing the other customers. Didn't get to talk with him much about how it went down, but apparently he's got a nice cut on both his ear and wrist and also had some glass removed from his melon. Ouch Pete! A strange end to an eventful weekend.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 5:52 PM