Adventures in the Midwest!

What a whirlwind!  I meant to post about my Indiana fun while I was IN Indiana, but now, it's a month later and I am finally posting.  It was such an adventure, replete with loved ones, good conversation, excellent memories, and a lot of laughs.  And since then, it has been quite a time in Klamath Falls...  but you'll have to wait for the next post to hear about the exciting goings-on here.

First thing is first...  

Randal and I flew into Indiana late at night.  Cookie and Michael cheerfully picked us up and stayed up, showing us their charming abode.  Miracles of middle-age...  they don't even look tired the next morning.  (Randal and I certainly did though.) 

 We then met up with Kristi and Andrew in their great new house.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner, partially supplied from Kristi's garden, and a canoe ride down the river.  It was gorgeous, as always.  The next day, Kristi took Randal and I downtown via bicycle.  I was completely charmed and impressed by Indianapolis's new bike-friendly routes and we biked around downtown, enjoyed lunch at the City Market, and then headed back up via the Monon Trail.  It was the perfect way to spend a day in Indy!

Mom then picked us up and we retraced our decade-old steps to Gambier, OH for my 10 year college reunion from Kenyon.  I had debated attending, but am so glad that I went.  Our class won a prize for having the highest percentage of alumni return (the first time that a recently graduation class had won in decades) and it was so great to catch up with my liberal arts friends.  We enjoyed the beautiful weather, talked, gossiped, caught up, and told a lot of esoteric anecdotes.  Fantastic.  Randal thought that the campus was beautiful and at least pretended that he enjoyed the whole weekend.  He's a good sport, that one. 

Cassie, my neighbor senior year, shows off  Baby Iris.

Tyler, my roommate in France, is a new father and successful business-something-or-other.

Jessie, my friend in debauchery, is a writer for the Hollywood Reporter and my newest West Coast buddy.  We're spending a weekend together in Napa in August.

And Middle Path is still gorgeously green and just the same as it was in 2004 when I walked down it, graduating with a magnificently unpragmatic and unregretted Modern Languages and Literatures degree. 

And then I was back at home!  Cherishing the time with all of the new babies that have populated southcentral Indiana in the last couple of years.

First, adorable Katie Marie and her adorable mother.  We enjoyed a fantastic afternoon of cooing and talking and cooing some more.  

Baby Katie wonders where the milk is.

Next baby!  Little Avery just turned one year old!  She was almost walking, barely babbling, and couldn't resist a small smile for her aunt Katherine.

Happy, beautiful Mama and Baby.

Avery enjoys War and Peace, her first introduction to Tolstoy.  As you can see, she's as engaged in it as her father is.

We were lucky enough to see so much for our family...  aunts, uncles, cousins.  It was wonderful to catch up with all of them!

Randal and I took a break from all of these family and friends and headed south.  We checked out Jasper and its renowned geode gardens.  Randal was suitably impressed.  We were then awarded for the trek by a delicious German lunch at the Schnitzelbank.  

I paid for lunch, so Randal had to pose.  He is a fine-looking German boy.

We stayed in the luxurious West Baden Hotel and had a luxurious time hiking around the gardens, checking out French Lick, drinking some Pluto water, and lounging in our fancy hotel room.  It was an excellent getaway and we had a fantastic time. 

Randal always celebrates laxatives.

We hiked an underutilized trail at French Lick and I found the signs to be tremendously funny and not a bit helpful.

Can you find Randal?

Our final weekend arrived, which was really the original point of the visit home.  The 10th Annual Chicken Caper.  Can you believe that my parents have been buying chicks in bulk, raising them, and slaughtering them for 10 years now?  It merited a t-shirt for sure.

I was able to work the gutting station instead of Quality Control, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  (And visions of chicken guts danced through my head for several nights afterward.)  Randal plucked and manned several stations, even decapitating a couple of chickens himself.  It was, as ever, a successful day.

Hard working and good looking.

 

After our chicken killing day, I headed up to Indianapolis again to spend time with my cousins and aunts.  We had a great day in Indy, catching up on life, spending too much money shopping, and eating some delicious meals.

Mom, Dad, Randal and I spent a quiet last day at home.  We went on a long walk and got caught in a torrential rainstorm, reminiscent of our wedding.  Randal worked on the tree house.  We played games and drank wine and enjoyed each other.

It was a wonderful visit home.  Of course, they always are!  Much as I love Oregon, I will always be a Hoosier at heart.