This past weekend was the annual Fall Picnic at Conrads in Moose Lake.  This year’s theme was “Lutheran Hot Dish”.  My parents and Allison organized the bulk of the activities while the rest of us brought the good weather and an assortment of Minnesotan hotdishes. 

This year’s attendance was spattered with quite a few more kids than previous years.  In all I think there were 40-50 attendees, with 10-12 being kids under the age of 10.  Activities for the kids (and kids-at-heart) ranged from Hayrides around the 80-acre farm, a scavenger hunt, fox-and-the-hen in the pasture and jumping in mud puddles.  For those of us whose wives wouldn’t let us get dirty in the mud, there was plenty to eat and drink, as well as putting on the boots and walking out to the maple grove.

Jason and I were also lucky enough to get out bow hunting on the land on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Our trail cameras have picked up quite a few different bucks on the land this year.  The biggest reason for this is because Wilbur/Neal Koecher didn’t use the pasture land for their cows this summer.  While I’m sure my parents missed how well the cows kept the grass mowed throughout the property, Jason and I both welcomed the high grass which have given the big deer more reason to stick around the land.  We’re still undecided on whether or not to hunt Conrads this rifle season (November) or if we’ll stick to the public land in Barnum.  I suppose our decision will be made partially from the pictures from the trail cameras between now and then.

 

Shelly and I travelled to Floriday over Labor Day weekend to attend my high school friend, Brant Lagoon’s wedding.  We left the house on Thursday morning at 6am for our scheduled 7:45am flight, but didn’t end up leaving Minneapolis until closer to 11am.  We met up with Troy McCrady (another high school friend) and the 3 of us flew into Memphis for a 2 hour layover, and our connecting flight to Pensacola.  In Memphis the 3 of us met up with 4 other friends whose desitination was the same as our: Kevin and Kay Jensen, and Jon and Shanna McIntosh.  Once in Florida, we were later joined by Bert and Mel Wagner, and Ryan Ascheman.

Our trip basically included multiple trips to the Pensacola Beach, eating far too much seafood, and drinking an equal amount of alcoholic beverages.  Brant and his fiancee, Amy Soo planned out the majority of our activities and their pick of resturants and bars were superb.   Thank you so much Brant and Amy Soo!

Two establishments of note were a little resturant/coffee shop named, Crema and a night club named, Sammys.  Shelly, Kay, Troy and myself found Crema on Friday morning while driving around downtown Pensacola in search of coffee.  The breakfast was so good we brought the whole crew out for brunch the next morning.  The chef at Crema was another reason for our return visit.  He (we never got his name) came over to our table both mornings, and LOVED to talk.  Shelly and I even got a few fried clams from him.  The other establishment we spent time at was a night club named Sammys.  We ended two of our nights at Sammys because it was open until 3am; one of those nights was after the wedding reception where we brought a total of over 20 people. 

Looming over the weekend was the impending hurricane (”Gustav”) and it’s near-miss of Pensacola.  Luckily for us, we only saw a few minor showers on Sunday night (the night of the wedding), and semi-tropical-storm weather on Monday morning on our drive to the airport.

The trip was great, filled with lots of memories and a great opportunity to see Brant and Amy Soo (not to mention the other White Bear Lake high school friends), and to be a part of their wedding, but I’m glad to be home in Minnesota.  It is safe to say I will not be ordering any shrimp, lobster or crab anytime in the near future.