She and Al (who went by "Eggy" while there) had a lot of fun together. This trip was long overdue--we hadn't seen this group since the wedding four years ago!
After the baking excursion, we hit an Italian restaurant called Michael's. Al ordered a gorgonzola pasta that was fabulous. I had mannicotti, which was also excellent!Tuesday was a busy day. We went to the zoo, which is where we took the most pictures.
The bears are adorable. They have quarter machines that let you buy treats for the bears, only a lot of people miss--I think on purpose. The bears have learned to adjust. The petting zoo portion was great fun, albeit very stinky.
When the zoo was building its otter habitat, they sold personalized bricks to raise money. Al's dad loves the zoo so much that he asked for a brick for his birthday.
It was a big joke during the trip that Al ("Little Al" or "Eggy") wasn't included on the brick. Of course, he was out of the house, living on his own in Utah, so...
I think the donation was a great idea because the otters were so fun to watch! And here's a few more pictures:
That night, Karen invited her parents and Al's dad's family over for dinner. I met a lot of new people that night, but some I'd met before. It was my first time meeting Karen's parents, who were just amazingly kind people. Al's aunts, Val and Verona, added to our dessert collection with German Chocolate Upside Down Cake and Cherry Cheesecake.
On Wednesday, we went to visit Al's Mom's side of the family. We spent a few hours there and I met a lot more people. We spent the afternoon with Al's dad and sister and went to see The Hulk, then went home to a nice social visit with Tiff and Shannon. As I understand it, Tiff is Al's cousin in some way or another. Al and Shannon went to high school together. Now Tiff and Shannon are a couple and we had a great time visiting with them! The cat story was told once again, but since most of you guys don't know it...Al's dad and stepmom have three cats. The night we arrived, we had piles of stuff in the front room. One thing in particular was the plastic shopping bag with our shirts from Reptile Gardens. As we sat and visited, Tiramisu, the super fluffy calico, was sniffing around and batting at the bag and she had her head almost completely through the bag's handle. I made some comment to her about how she was going to get caught in the bag. At just about the same moment, Karen said "Tiramisu, what are you doing?" which caused the cat to jump, get her head in the handle, get completely freaked out, and rocket around the entire house with the bag whipping in the wind behind her. She ran back through the bedrooms, back out into the living room, knocked over a glass in the windowsill, ran downstairs... Me, Al, Al, and Karen were all incapacitated with the laughing, so Abby is running all over the house chasing the cat. She finally managed to grab the bag, which tore away from the cat. Then we hear Abby yell from downstairs, "I can't find her!" It was all too funny. We retold the story all week.
On Thursday night, we went to one of the places Al and I knew about and requested. It was actually one of the placed Dad and Karen wanted to take us, too. It's called 10 North Main (which conveniently is also the address) and was opened by Josh Duhamel and one of his friends. He is one of Minot's claims to fame. You all probably know him as the soldier from Transformers who is trying to get home to his wife and daughter. Anyhow, he and his friend felt Minot deserved some fine dining.
Al got some sort of fish--marlin I think. It is shipped in fresh, so they served it medium rare. The whole fish thing is gross enough for me, but Al is a sushi fan, so he really enjoyed his meal. I had a butternut squash ravioli in a parmesan sauce that was AMAZING! We had a party of 10, so we got one of the private rooms. it had a record player and a bunch of records you could listen to. If you ever find yourself in Minot, North Dakota, you should really check this place out!
Friday, Dad and Karen had their rummage sale during the day, so Al and I did some shopping. That night we went to a restaurant called Wild Things, which I can't really explain. It's a restaurant/gift shop/framing store. Apparently, the owner is a hunter/taxidermist and wanted to share the joys of Alderwood grilling. For such a weird place (there was a giant table with a centerpiece of a taxidermied deer and wolf posed like the wolf had just killed the deer) it was great food. Their baked beans were fabulous!
We left just after 6am on Saturday morning and drove 16 hours home. It was a short trip, but they made it so fun!
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