Two Fridays -- Two Clarion Sightings
Sunday, 10 September 2006 23:53![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsI started this posting on the road over Labor Day weekend -- it's a week late in getting finished and uploaded. Been busy, what with the start of classes and all.
September Brings... Madison?
So we're in Madison WI, and strangely enough staying in the lovely and pleasant Madison Concourse Hotel -- the home to WisCon. We're here for a wedding tomorrow. No one you know. But as long as we were going to be in town, there's no reason not to try to get in touch with 2004 Clarion classmate Trent Hergenrader. Gee -- this is two Fridays in a row, since I caught up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
webpetals Marjorie Liu Friday August 25th.
We took the 4:45pm EDT sailing of the Lake Express Ferry from Muskegon MI across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee WI. They were running a little late -- being jammed full on Labor Day weekend can do that to you, I'm sure -- which was a good thing since US-31 north was jammed solid and barely moving. I didn't really want to take the exit from I-96 to US-31, but I knew there were signs to the Ferry along that way. Otherwise, I could've kept going straight as the freeway ended and taken Seaway Drive in, which simply HAD to cross the road to Lake Express. And I'm sure they probably had a sign for directions via Seaway, but I waffled too long and found myself committed to crawling on the ramp from I-96.
Eventually we made it and got into line. The ferry was packed both ways -- and surprise, there was apparently a wedding on one of the Saturday crossings. Some guy the ferry picked up the other year in Lake Michigan, where he'd been floating for 24 hours... yikes. For us it was a gray weather crossing, with a bit of a rolling motion. The return crossing would be smoother, except we were surrounded by idiots in the line waiting to drive aboard the ferry and we couldn't at first find two seats together -- other than next to The Mouth Breathing White Trash Family From Hell. No, thanks.
Close Down Old Fashioned
Downtown freeways in Milwaukee are all torn apart, but we made it through and over to Madison. Trent called just a few minutes past ten from a bar not two blocks from the Madison Concourse called the Old Fashioned. And Old Fashioneds are what Trent and some of the others were drinking when I arrive. Though I don't drink, I've always liked the Old Fashioned. It's pretty, comes in a nice wide glass and how can you argue with fruit? Of course the default in Wisconsin is a brandy Old Fashioned. No one at the table could remember what the original drink was, but we suspected it was whiskey. Mrs. Dr. Phil saw a gin Old Fashioned on the menu, made with Bombary Sapphire, which I take it is sweet.
The Hat Makes The Shot
The picture's a little fuzzy, but it's okay. Besides you can just make out Dr. Phil's hat which says Alrightythen. Joe and my mother-in-law Momcat got me that hat, probably at a Cracker Barrel, and I have to say I've gotten more reaction to that hat than nearly any other. Old farts, young farts, store clerks, people on the street... "Do people really say Alrighty then?" or "I haven't heard that in a long time." or "That's so cute."
The Wedding Was Spectacular
The weather forecast in West Michigan for Saturday September 2nd was changing every four to eight hours, sometimes predicting sunny and sometimes rain. But Madison managed to pull off a lovely day, even if the late afternoon sun was bordering on the harsh and painful. (grin) The only real difficulty was in getting around downtown Madison because some idiot scheduled this wedding during Taste of Madison. Oh... that would be the bride, Abigail, who wanted to show off to the out-of-town crowd that Madison WI was a wild and crazy city. (sigh)
Speaking of Abigail, someone(s) thoughtfully decided to include Hondo, a very large and thoughtful bear who has been with Abigail for as long as I've known her (1984), in the festivities including getting him (mostly) fitted for a tux. Of course the pants never really quite fit bears.
Postscript
There'll be pictures, but at the moment I can't plug a Memory Stick Pro into an ordinary Memory Stick slot on my old Sony SR33 laptop. Hey, here they are!
Dr. Phil
September Brings... Madison?
So we're in Madison WI, and strangely enough staying in the lovely and pleasant Madison Concourse Hotel -- the home to WisCon. We're here for a wedding tomorrow. No one you know. But as long as we were going to be in town, there's no reason not to try to get in touch with 2004 Clarion classmate Trent Hergenrader. Gee -- this is two Fridays in a row, since I caught up with
webpetals Marjorie Liu Friday August 25th.We took the 4:45pm EDT sailing of the Lake Express Ferry from Muskegon MI across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee WI. They were running a little late -- being jammed full on Labor Day weekend can do that to you, I'm sure -- which was a good thing since US-31 north was jammed solid and barely moving. I didn't really want to take the exit from I-96 to US-31, but I knew there were signs to the Ferry along that way. Otherwise, I could've kept going straight as the freeway ended and taken Seaway Drive in, which simply HAD to cross the road to Lake Express. And I'm sure they probably had a sign for directions via Seaway, but I waffled too long and found myself committed to crawling on the ramp from I-96.
Eventually we made it and got into line. The ferry was packed both ways -- and surprise, there was apparently a wedding on one of the Saturday crossings. Some guy the ferry picked up the other year in Lake Michigan, where he'd been floating for 24 hours... yikes. For us it was a gray weather crossing, with a bit of a rolling motion. The return crossing would be smoother, except we were surrounded by idiots in the line waiting to drive aboard the ferry and we couldn't at first find two seats together -- other than next to The Mouth Breathing White Trash Family From Hell. No, thanks.
Close Down Old Fashioned
Downtown freeways in Milwaukee are all torn apart, but we made it through and over to Madison. Trent called just a few minutes past ten from a bar not two blocks from the Madison Concourse called the Old Fashioned. And Old Fashioneds are what Trent and some of the others were drinking when I arrive. Though I don't drink, I've always liked the Old Fashioned. It's pretty, comes in a nice wide glass and how can you argue with fruit? Of course the default in Wisconsin is a brandy Old Fashioned. No one at the table could remember what the original drink was, but we suspected it was whiskey. Mrs. Dr. Phil saw a gin Old Fashioned on the menu, made with Bombary Sapphire, which I take it is sweet.
The Hat Makes The Shot
The picture's a little fuzzy, but it's okay. Besides you can just make out Dr. Phil's hat which says Alrightythen. Joe and my mother-in-law Momcat got me that hat, probably at a Cracker Barrel, and I have to say I've gotten more reaction to that hat than nearly any other. Old farts, young farts, store clerks, people on the street... "Do people really say Alrighty then?" or "I haven't heard that in a long time." or "That's so cute."
The Wedding Was Spectacular
The weather forecast in West Michigan for Saturday September 2nd was changing every four to eight hours, sometimes predicting sunny and sometimes rain. But Madison managed to pull off a lovely day, even if the late afternoon sun was bordering on the harsh and painful. (grin) The only real difficulty was in getting around downtown Madison because some idiot scheduled this wedding during Taste of Madison. Oh... that would be the bride, Abigail, who wanted to show off to the out-of-town crowd that Madison WI was a wild and crazy city. (sigh)
Speaking of Abigail, someone(s) thoughtfully decided to include Hondo, a very large and thoughtful bear who has been with Abigail for as long as I've known her (1984), in the festivities including getting him (mostly) fitted for a tux. Of course the pants never really quite fit bears.
Postscript
There'll be pictures, but at the moment I can't plug a Memory Stick Pro into an ordinary Memory Stick slot on my old Sony SR33 laptop. Hey, here they are!
Dr. Phil
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
they grow up so quick...
Date: Monday, 11 September 2006 12:51 (UTC)congrats to both the bride & her lucky groom!
from Dr. Phil's sister
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2006 03:07 (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 14 September 2006 15:47 (UTC)Now there's just the matter of meeting the puppy. Or the cat.
Dr. Phil