Monday, July 14, 2008

I'm alive

The Vollrath family July travel extravaganza is well underway.  July 2nd through July 8th we were in Wisconsin for the Zimmermann family reunion.  I just got back from Boston on Saturday from a quick two day trip for a conference - I'm back in Boston this week for another quick conference.  Then on July 21st the Bataan Death march of our road trip begins: Houston to Little Rock, Little Rock to Nashville, Nashville to Roanoke, Roanoke to New Jersey.   A few quick thoughts so far:

1) It turns out that Abby is the Cow Whisperer.  We spent most of two days on the farm during the reunion, and Abby could not get enough of the animals.  She fed cows, holding the grass right up to their faces and letting them grab it out of her hands.  She never got scared, and just laughed when they licked her arm.  (This is more impressive that it sounds - imagine being licked by a wet piece of coarse grit sandpaper the size of my forearm.)
2) Pleading ignorance of where you are can get you out of a speeding ticket in Weston, WI.
3) Although things change, enough is the same in Wisconsin that I could still drive around blindfolded.
4) If you get to Madison, try the Contorter Porter.  Tasty.
5) Landing in an airplane with some kind of sinus infection sucks.  Your ears just clog up from the pressure and never actually pop.  I've been half-deaf for a week and a half.
6) Kirstin thought central Wisconsin was really pretty.  It is.  Someday we'll go back in January and re-evaluate.
7) The great hope for our long car trip is that we made it through the Wisconsin trip (which involved four different two hour drives) without any major meltdowns in the car.  In the hotel room, another story.
8) I have a crap-load of relatives - mainly because they refuse to die.  The reunion is for the family of Herbert and Esther Zimmermann (my great grandparents).  Of their 7 kids, only one (my grandfather Harold) has died, and that was in an accident.  These seven Big Zimms had roughly 25 kids (including my mom), and I can't tell you how many kids these cousins have (but it includes me).   We're now kicking out the next generation (Abby and Madeline), so the reunion saw 4 generations all in the same spot.  People are worried that at the next reunion (in 5 years) we will have lost some of the Big Zimms, but I'll put $20 down on the fact that all 6 remaining ones are alive in 2013.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i'll add to your "Contorter Porter" comment to mention that it's from Ale Asylum, a microbrewery on the east side of town. and if you want an excellent smoked porter, the "Three Feet Deep" by Furthermore is AMAZING, but a little harder to find.

i feel you on the sinus/flying problem. landing is very painful for me sometimes...feels like my head is going to explode. call the TSA...