Day 15 - OHIO!

After hanging out with Stacey, my parents and Cayla and giving a 2 hour slide/video presentation of our trip we all hit the sack.

This morning I woke up with lots of work to do for my school pedagogy fellowship. I dug my face into my dads computer while Sean quietly painted next to me.

Around noon Sean started shivering. He laid down while mom & I had to confirm his 102 fever with three different thrometers before we believed it.

He hesitated but I forced him to urgicare where they diagnosed him with a viral flu. He popped his medication and got some rest.

Family and friends started showing up around 7pm, and by 8 Sean was on his feet again cured (or maybe it was firework envy?!)

We poured gasoline on the fire and lit it with a gigantic roman candle













There he is!!


We lit fireworks for a couple of hours:












And just seconds after jeff showed me how to properly hold a gigantic roman candle, it blew up in my face!!
No burnt hair or skin, but some mega ringing in my ears!!
And wouldn't ya know it - my bff Mina got the whole thing on video!! Mina - you got that on YouTube yet?!

More fire, more fireworks, and more friends!










Then the cops came and shut our firework production down :(

Oh well - we saved them for Next year. We didn't even get to blow up the flouescent yellow mega bomb :(

Sean went back to bed soon after...

We all became bored and snuck up to the cemetary behind the house. Scott, Nathan, Corey, Cayla, tons of their friends and my photo prof from Akron u, Penny, snuck around the cemetary and found some graves from the early 1800s - the ealiest we found was a man born in 1750s buried there. The highlight as always was the witch's ball, and we even found a gravestone that told a story of a woman that was murdered by her husband. Oooooohh!

That's it - seans not up to blogging so you all have to deal with my boring song


Thanks to everyone who came out & made te night spectacular!
Xoxo
/A\

Day 14 - Michigan to OH-io!

We woke up just west of Detroit, hoping to go to the city to look at real estate









These lovely homes are in the historic district.










This apt complex is ready for rental, but probably needs a few window repairs (among others).

Were not sure the Detroit community is looking for a couple of artists with unstable incomes, so well probably pass.

On the way to Ohio, Sean about flipped for 40 different flavors of jerky








Crossing the Ohio boundry all we could think about was fireworks.

We went through some beautiful Ohio scenery












And found the firework superstore in Sandusky!








Wait a second - that's not Sean, that's Scott!

30 minutes later:








Were all set!

Scott Sean and I got lunch and made a pit stop on lake Erie









And......









Were home!!

-- Posted from April's phone

Day 13 - Michigan

Breakfast:











Hike:




























































Dinner:










Quote of the day "look Sean, this campground has wi-fi!!"






-- Posted from Sean's phone

Day 12 - Michigan

Somehow we managed to completely skip Wisconsin and all the sights.
Due to time restrictions we also decided to skip Chicago - that will be another trip on it's own - one day won't do it justice.

So sunrise, and here we are on lake superior!




We made it to the 'up' or upper peninsula of Michigan at a crabby 6am and to painted rocks at 8am.

We didn't expect a 2 hour maze on a dirt path without the aid of a map or a gps.




This is as rustic as it gets I suppose - 30 miles of dirt to a campground on the water. Once we set up the tent we snoozed for about 4 hours. Time to hit the trails:


This was our first hike to the log chute. Here we are 500 feet above the lake on a sand slope that goes straight down into the water! The info guide says the logs would sometimes catch fire from the friction. I wouldn't mind seeing that!

Here we are testing gravity jumping off a cliff into the sand. Sean was moving so fast my camera distorted him into an alien!





In contrast we also meditated to the serene lake



On another hike we discovered an old sunken ship stuck ashore, but that didn't stop Sean from dreaming big:




This sorta proves to be worthless considering the prior evidence




In all we figure we hiked 8 miles.

Here is the path from the lake to our camp - about 400 feet away:



And sunset



Sean made some of the best slider burgers ever!



2 smores later, and i'm falling asleep!
We had a very relaxing day!


-- Posted from April's phone

Day 11 - Minnesota

In room 228 of the days inn, fairbault mn, we got the celebrity treatment. Right after this photo was taken April tossed the tv out the window, torched the curtains and punched holes in the wall while screaming over and over "I'm famous!!"


Ok, that might not have happened. But she did go swimming in the pool, and I shaved my beard off. Here I am trying to make a new beard out of coned beef at the cracker barrel:



April had chicken and dumplings. Yum

And wouldn't ya know it, the mall of America is on our way to Minneapolis and so we say "why the foot not!"


April bought some "as seen on tv" thing called bumpit it up, and I got an audiobook.

Quick pit-stop at whitecastle.


Mmm, tastes like heartburn.


Then, quite unexpectedly, seems some guy had the stones to take on the Buick in a good ol fashioned street race. Of course we spanked him. I Took this shot as we came off the line:


Too bad we didn't race for pink slips.

At the Minnesota center for science, they have the largest collection of questionable medical devices. Can you guess what this device is?


If you guessed prostate warmer congratulations, your right. The idea was that a man would stick that 4 inch probe up their ass and then plug it in so that the blue light comes on, heats the probe to 100 degrees F, then cures you hemheroids.

April learning what lies beneathe our thumbs.



Then a break in downtown St Paul. With Charlie brown.


We were a little bummed today because the walker art museum was closed, but we ended the day with a bang.

April found this 2hr riverboat cruise that departed just before sunset on the Mississippi and we made it by the skin of our teeth.








-- Posted from Sean's phone

Day 10 - South Dakota To Minnesota

We are having trouble reaching a cell phone connection in the prairies of South Dakota, but Sean found a strong wifi connection this morning:




Today we explored the Badlands. If you've ever been to the Grand Canyon, and Calico City in California - the Badlands could be considered an offspring of the two:




We climbed them like monkeys!





"All roads lead to Wall Drug" is the slogan, and they aren't kidding. Somehow we found our way back to this magestical place:




Where else can you find the toiletries under a deer?



I realized that with the time zone change that we may not make it to the corn palace in time. This upset me. I drove 3 straight hours with determination.



Looks like we made it!



This palace is a midwesterner's dream. Corn.
I ate popcorn, and bought more corn and learned all about how they build murals out of corn. This whole place is covered in corn.


Even though I was filled up on corn Sean needed a nourishing meal before we hit the road to Minnesota. I thought that Pizza Ranch (cici's of the Midwest/South) is a good place to see central American life (they have one in Iowa, and I love it!). We were also able to connect to their free wifi, but became very suspicious of the network title:




Back on the road for 8 hours



Ahhh, the sun sets on the rolling prairies of South Dakota



Crossing over to the Minnesota border we chased some hot air balloons:




And before we knew it we were whiffing the sweet smell of manure and lightning bugs flickered in the air!! Sean didn't believe me that the bugs lit up after they squish on the windshield, you should have seen his face when the casulty occurred right in front of his face!

Were looking for a cheap hotel (with a pool) in the outskirts of Minneapolis. We've already figured out that the Walker Art Museum is closed on Mondays. Bummer.


-- Posted from April's phone