Humbird Cheese., originally uploaded by smooth_d.

This was one of the stops we made on the way home from Madison. We heard they sold cheese flavored with Guinness. Brilliant! I’m sure I could use the internets to locate where Humbird actually is, but I don’t feel like it. (actually, I believe it’s in Tomah) I did find a nifty Wisconsin shot glass and fridge magnet with black and white cow coloring. I’m that hip.

Before getting to the cheese/beer awesomeness, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel just outside Madison to clog our arteries. I had a delightful conversation with a little old man who told me speed metal was his favorite music. Well, Christian speed metal to be specific. After eating delicious meat filled meat covered with meat, we stepped out in the gift shop area to snicker at the crazy, sometimes interesting, baubles and whatnots they had passing as souvenirs. Jeremy found this wonderful sweater to keep him warm on chilly nights. Hot. While snapping the picture with my phone, the saleslady who was amused by this asked me if I was going to put that on the internet. I had already gone and judged them all (yeah, yeah, yeah, like you don’t do it) as those folks too scared of computers to know that the internet was not designed to steal your identity and your soul, let alone know you can put pictures from your phone!!!OMG to the internet. So, I just nodded and giggled a little and then suggested we take our leave. Between speed metal grandpa and the internet lady, I was overwhelmed. Anyway, check out ze flickr for more foto goodness, jes?

We’ve had a couple interesting weekends and the next few are just as busy, but it’s nice to know we won’t be traveling for a couple weeks. Also, me and my kidneys need the break, apparently! More on that later.

You Can-Do Better in Cando!, originally uploaded by smooth_d.

Cando, North Dakota. Where the magic happens.

The Sunflower, originally uploaded by smooth_d.

This is the neighboorhood I used to live in. Once upon a time it was a nice gated community with nice looking manufactured homes. More specifically, this was my old house.

See the sunflower thing in the garden? That was left there when we moved. It used to be a nice garden and the sunflower was mine. The house is occupied with new owners.

The plan was to upload some of the most wonderful pictures I have taken over the last few days, but unfortunately, I cannot locate a free Wi-Fi spot in Yakima, and I am not paying $10 to connect at Starbucks again. Screw that shit.

Oh, how I miss Minnesota and its Wi-Fi hot spots a-plenty. I miss having all of my saved websites and the saved passwords and cookies that I no longer take for granted. It was a chore just to remember how to get logged into my Movable Type from a different computer.

And yes, I miss you, too.

I will be out of town from the 10th to the 18th, so you won’t see much action here, if at all, until I come back. I know you’re all going to miss me terribly, but calm down, it’s not the end of the world.

The weekends just are not cutting it anymore.

Work, life, no life, traffic, people I talk to on the phone daily, and all of the everyday little stressors seem to be piling up, and I really need to get away for a few days. Who knew that when you cleared your life of all financial stress that it would make room for everything else?

But when I say a few days, I mean in late July or early August. It could be sooner, but it’s better than nothing.

So, I cruised the cheap ticket prices out there for ideal destinations, and there are some pretty sweet deals for round trip tickets and 3 nights in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at a beachside hotel. And how cool would it be if I could round up the girls, with their busy wife and mom schedules, and make a ladies weekend out of this?!

It did not take much convincing at all to get Star on board, who was pumping gas and telling me about the possible tornado warning making its way across the Range, and pending a successful conversation with the hubby and in-laws, she’s a ‘yes.’ Tomorrow, I’ll hit up Dee and Crys to see if they’d be interested. But, c’mon, who wouldn’t be?!