The Wedding

My whole body aches today. In the last 5 days, I spent 13 hours on a plane, 5 hours sleeping sitting upright on a plane, 2 hours sleeping sprawled on the floor of the Cinncinati airport, danced for 3 hours in heels, drove from Milwaukee to Madison and back again (tense and frantic both times) and got less than 5 hours of sleep per night on average.I'm actually suprised I feel as good as I do.
Coffee was enough to keep me going today; no painkillers necessary.
After a less-painful-than-last-time redeye to Milwaukee, my friend picked Joe and I up at the airport and drove us to her parents' house for showers, cereal and coffee. We then rushed out to see my other friend's new baby (cute!) and then on to the Miller Brewery Tour, because that's how we roll. The actual tour is kinda lame, but they give you quite a bit of free beer at the end, so it's worth it. Also, they will mail a brewery postcard to anywhere in the world. I got an awesome t-shirt too, with the Miller Girl in the Moon in pink on the front.
That night we BBQed and got eaten to shreds by mosquitos, but that was the longest night of sleep we got.
The next day, Joe and I rented a car and drove to New Glarus, home to the greatest beer of all time. Spotted Cow is what they're known for, but the Belgian Red is to die for. The town of New Glarus is know as Wisconsin's Little Switzerland, and the buildings are all decked out swiss-style. There's even a Historic Swiss Village. We ate Wiener Schnitzel and fried cheese curds at one of the restaurants in town. They had nuttin' but New Glarus beer on tap! The food was awesome, though I don't think The Boy got an accurate representation for his first taste of deep-fried cheese curds. They should be breaded, greasy, squeaky little nuggets that were shipped frozen in a cardboard box. These ones were homemade and delicious.The actual brewery tour is great. It's a self-guided audio tour, and it will make you love the owners. I got a t-shirt there, too.
Parents: It's only 20 minutes away, just past Fitchburg, and totally worth an afternoon of your time next time you're down there!
Dinner was had on State Street. Since it was the first Friday of the school year, we were swarmed with students. It was still fun, until I discovered that the Catacombs is gone. My favorite coffeeshop of all time, in the basement of a church at the beginning of State Street is now A SUBWAY!!! STATE STREET ALREADY HAS A SUBWAY!!! Not to sound like a "good ole days" whiner, but come on. How many chains do we need on State Street? I wouldn't be so sad if all these places were being replaced by new and interesting stores, but it seems like the chain restaurants just keep multiplying. It's depressing.
Saturday morning was the Farmer's Market. My friend, after seeing an old lady walk by, and then two students, remarked that she loved the farmer's market because there were so many different people here. I looked around and pointed out that every single person there was white. Some of the sellers were Asian or Mexican. Other than that...white. Discussion ensued.
The wedding that night was by far the most traditional one I've been to in a long time. The bride had a great big veil, her father "gave" her away, they had swans carved out of ice, you got to choose salmon or chicken for your meal, everyone did the hokey pokey...you get the idea. I had tons of fun, since most of my college friends were there. Most of the time we were the only ones dancing, and we were some of the few who closed out the reception.
Man, I miss my friends.

Whirlwind Wisconsin Weekend

Off to Wisconsin for Kelly's wedding soon. We're taking a redeye tonight (ugh!) and arriving in Milwaukee around 9am tomorrow. Then we will have a whirlwind tour of Milwaukee, including the Miller Brewery, and my friend and her new baby. On Friday we'll head to New Glarus (http://www.swisstown.com/) to see the kitchy Swiss buildings but mostly to visit the New Glarus Brewery, my favority brewery of all time.
Yes, that's a lot of beer. But since we're spending the rest of the time with all of MY college friends, I figure I owe Joe that much.
Then Saturday is the wedding, Sunday is recovery and our flight back. Whew!
Then planning for my parents' trip here shall begin! Er...continue, I mean.