zombie pub crawl, october 2008, minneapolis

the night of the living dead!  

even better than halloween, hundreds of zombified minnesotans gathered in minneapolis for a pub crawl like no other.  we saw zombies from the titanic, dead joe the plumber, abe lincoln, siamese twins and many more.  not only did the zombies take over the bars at seven corners, but invaded chipotle as well!  the streets of minneapolis were doused in fake blood and human brains as evidence of the massive zombie march.

zombies unite!

zombie friends are allowed to pick at each others' wounds...

...or eat pop corn off of burn wounds

the beer just kept leaking out :(

zombies have cell phones?

count down for home! (takes a while to load)

ahoy apostle islands!

3 days and 2 nights at the islands with about 30 miles of kayaking. great times! we arrived at bayfield, wisconsin where we rented our kayaks. we plunged right in and took a 3 hour safety course. it consisted of different rescues and general awareness about the 5 Ws: weather, water, winds, waves and wshorelines (yeah, our safety instructor was creative and amusing!)

it was a little cold at first and flipping over the kayaks were kinda scary, but after some water in our noses and 2 different rescues later, we were ready for the real thing. the first paddle to basswood island was quick and painless. the campsite was great too, right by the water. after an uneventful night and some bear pawing on the bear cage, we were ready for day 2.

the day was calm and the water was mostly still. it was great to be out in the open water and in the sun. what a way to spend the weekend. the water was really clear and at most places along the shore, we could see the lake bottom. nights at the campsites were quite ordinary, dinner and... sleep!

paddling back to the mainland on the 3rd day was really tiring, after a full day in the kayak, we were faced with high winds and choppy waters at our last crossing over open water. it took probably an hour to paddle the last mile and a half! but we all made it safely back home.

ali leading the front in our tandem

taking care of our rear

cove at hermit island

cool, clear waters at stockton

the 3 Cs

canoeing, camping and the como park zoo! the summer here has been great, cool and sunny. the humid days are present, but i can count the really humid days with my fingers. 

the zoo; who can say no to a free place of animal fun? actually the best part were the lily pads that were hanging out outside the conservatory, they were the coolest plants i've ever seen, well besides the venus fly traps and pitcher plants of course. alison, what is your favorite plant? "i dont know, plants you can eat!"

Gorgeous!

i think if i wanted, i could have jumped onto the victoria platters

must be a long day for our furry friends

the weekend trip to the st. croix was beautiful! even though we scraped our canoe bottom many times, we managed to keep our canoe intact. i had to jump out many times to push our little boat off the rocks. 

it's break time, all work and no play = crabby

a scrumptious noodle lunch along the river

breaking camp before it poured

we were too late! 15 min into the paddle and the rain came down on us, hard. i couldn't really see anything with water droplets constantly jabbing my eyes. we were soaked and paddled as hard as we could to avoid being struck by lightning. ok, it's not that bad, but we would not want to battle the storm again, at least not before alison gets a hat. =p

turkiye

atop the cliffs at antalya

browse our photo album on flickr! the trip to turkey was amazing, it brought us back to an ancient era with unbelievable scenery and bizarre local customs. 

the days at antalya was the most peaceful and rejuvenating. laying by the beach on beds and being waited on, what more can you ask for?

moving in!

my (Howie's) stuff has finally arrived! when it all gets consolidated in a room, well a living room, it gets really overwhelming. really, why do i need boxes and boxes of stuff to get by? 

a tiny path to greenery amidst tall structures

a bird's view from above

what do you think alison? 

honestly, i have to say that i am quite thankful that i missed so much of the action!  it was a bit scary to come home after work to a house full of stuff, but howie did most of the hard work and the stuff was cleared away soon.  much appreciated!  its been fun organizing and rearranging and finding spots for every last knick knack,  but the best part is that we ended up transplanting the baltimore living room into the minneapolis apartment.  occasionally it feels like i'm visiting you in B-more!  

a taste of minnesota

4th of july is afoot! time to burst into the interesting local scene celebrating independence day or rather a day of indulgence in unhealthy food and gazing at the varied personalities that gather at harriet island.  

laying on the grass after a hearty meal of tom thumb mini-donuts!

prowling near our picnic patch is an ever enthusiastic uncrustable man in purple stretchy pants

carmelicious is the flavor and into our bellies it went

8 food tickets cost $5 and we cashed in $20 to start with. it bought us a meal of mini-doughnuts, two ears of sweet corn and a waffle cone of carmelicious indulgence. happy to say it went down smooth and brought smiles to us both! the crowd was definitely interesting, peppered with mullets and bigger than normal minnesotans gobbling down turkey legs and onion blossoms. ahhhh... after 2 hours of walking around and gawking at passersby we decided we had enough and made our way home. who needs to watch fireworks anyway.

we went home with our bellies full and looked forward to our hike the next morning.