A Fair of a Fair with the GFK touch

This weekend was pretty Grand Forksy and pretty great. We went to the Fair and my Aunt and Uncle came up from Illinois.

On Thursday we headed to the fair grounds after work. We saw some winners getting out the car and knew this would be a great experience. We walked toward the fair and a person flew from a cannon! How could things get better than this! people flying from cannons!! seriously...we walked through the greeeeeasey food admiring all the people who had waited all year for fried everything in the shape of who knows what. We then headed to the carnival. They were blowing up Rutgers basketballs for prizes and I saw lots of bananas w. eyes...made me think of that movie Adventure Land. The carnival was full of games you'd never win and prizes you didnt want. What a site...We made our way across the grounds to the livestock show. Probably one of my favorite things about a fair is the livestock. I'd always wanted a pig when I was growing up so this was as close as I ever got to having one. I used to hang out w. the pigs at the rodeo for hours while my sister and mom went on rides...yup I was pretty much the weirdest kid there was...so I avoided staying too long by the pigs..they were pretty muddy anyway. There was this screaming though...and then i figured out it was just a horse and no one was crying about their funnel cakes. We saw lamas and bunnies-two animals I wouldn't expect to see at a livestock show...but it was pretty good.



We then walked over to the food stands again to get some dinner. I dont really eat fair food b.c. I just dont know whats in it. Its like, here's a good idea..Y dont you eat from a vat of grease that is in a stand that doesn't even have a grill...just a huge tub of hot grease that cooks everything for days and days on end w. out cleaning it. Oh you don't want a fried hot dog from 5 day ol' dirty grease? Y not? uhhh anyway, we went for "italian" sausage which just looked like one of the cows took a super long dump and they put it on a spinning hot plate. Nate seemed to think this looked good so he had that w. some onions on a bun....pleh! We then headed over to the stand that had the funnel cakes. We r standing there for a min before the lady goes..yes i remember your names...you're lisa and you're nate! I look up from watching nate shovel the disgusting contents of his "sausage" into his mouth and see our Credit Union Ladies serving at the funnel cake booth! This IS a small town! Loved it! It made me order a cake from them and then we waited. We talked some, but its kinda awkward when you know someone b.c. they know your entire financial situation and deal with all your money (or lack there of) all the time...What do you say to them? I donno it was kinda weird. Then we got the over-sized doughnut and headed for the "eating area" that should really just be called a mess. The tables were sticky and tipsy just as they should be at a fair, full of old snow cone syrup, grease, and powder sugar. I sat across from Nate and stared at this atrocity of a "cake". He started pulling off pieces and well I wasn't just going to sit there. I took a small piece...then another...then another...pretty soon I was eating half the thing...Once I was done I looked down at what I had just ate. The plate was coated in grease and sugar just like the tables and I officially was no better than any other fair go-er. I suppose that's how everyone feels. They go in saying they wont eat the great American fair food, and end up w. a hot dog, a funnel cake, and fried cheese! That's the fair for ya and what a great time it was!

Cha-cha-cha-chasin'

Soooo Its been a while as usual. Its probably b.c. my computer got a big ton of mallllware and decided to take a trip to the hospital. It is all fixed up and ready and so am I. Lots has happened.

It was an ordinary day...just sitting around the GFK, when a phone call came from someone not so tame.

They wanted to go to Fargo to catch a storm, but tiredness and sleepiness had me torn. I'd just got off a midnight and was still in bed, when i had to grab my phone and scratch my messy head. I said no and went back to sleep, only to be awoken by another friendly peep.
"Hey Lisa", Nate said, in a not so friendly tone, "why didn't you ask me before hanging up the phone?" I glared at him and said "later" as I snuggled my pillow, hoping he'd stop asking and just go with the flow.
.....
I heard shouts from below and excitement from the tv, the storms were moving close- how could this be? I live in GFK-the well known weather hole, but the storms weren't stopping and weren't takin' a tole. We jumped in the car thinking of driving east, when the radio told us that was the least. "By the airport" it said, and not too far. Adrenaline, excitement filled the car. We made a U-turn and headed west, ready for anything-looking for the best.
.....
We found the farm roads- muddy and bad, but we were thrilled at the great position we had! Rotation was seen from up above, and down came a funnel spinning with love! It flirted with touching till the ground called its name, and out came debris looking for fame! And fame it got from all the GFK lovers, the wx geeks of town stepped far from covers. They flashed their cameras and jumped for joy-for this tornado was not being coy. It came for a while, not causing much trouble, and left leaving a few broke trees and very little rubble. Seeing this beast was the first one I'd seen. I'd wanted to see one since I was just a teen. I loved every second and couldn't get enough...we headed to see more, not that it was tough...Multiple vortex this time and what a site! It was smaller but pretty and in the yellow light. After watching we headed back, and awaited the stories and tales from the pack. Most everyone saw the same stuff- making the tornadoes as famous as marshmallow fluff!





What a day in the GFK- loving every min-not much else to say...

A year ago today...

This time a year ago I was speeding north on I29 in hopes of getting to Grand Forks by 6pm so we could be let into our new apartment. We overslept in Minneapolis the night b4 and didn't think we were going to make it to our 5pm appointment to get moved in. We did not. But when we arrived in Grand Forks I was surprised. There were actual stores and it seemed much bigger than I had expected. It was my first time here and the first thing I saw when I came off the highway was a Best Buy. I sighed a relief when I realized that ND was not just flat dirt like what I had been seeing the past hours, but in fact there was civilization outside of Fargo!
We made the turn onto Washington and I kept seeing more and more stores! There was a TCBY and a Little Ceasers! State College didn't even have these places. We pulled up to Elite Property Management just in time for them to be closing so we made an appointment for the next day and headed over to our new place to at least check it out. We'd got it completely site unseen but there was someone who also worked at our company that lived in the same place so we figured it'd be ok. We walked around to the back of the place, somewhat pleasantly surprised. It looked a little older than the pictures, but I was excited. Our new neighbor came out and greeted us and within no more than minutes we figured out he was the guy who worked at our company and he was going to be living on the other side of us in the 4plex! Good thing too...he looked pretty cool ;) We decided to get a room at hotel across the street: the Lucky Inn Motel. It introduced me to the rustic towny feel of Grand Forks. There was plywood walls and a sink that stuck out from the wall with pipes exposed. The bed looked questionable as well so we brought in our own sheets.
We decided to go over to MN (couldn't believe how close it was).



We spent time by the river-in awe of the water lines on the trees, had drinks outside of Gilly's in the middle of the day, went to Cabela's and went to a movie. It was crazy. Everything felt weird and new. Not bad though, we had dinner at the Blue Moose and watched the sun set at 10pm!!





It is nuts to think of yourself a year ago and then look at yourself now. I have to say moving here was one of the best decisions I've made, right along going to Penn State. The town is full of energy and relationships. The people here make the town. When you are downtown along the river its almost like you can feel the memories of the floods still living in the water. You can tell that major disaster happened here and the people of the town became stronger because of it...well that and the massive amounts of money the Government provided due to few disasters having occurred around that period. The downtown is new and fresh and the people are happy. The weather is mostly nice in the summer and it is VERY green. I've made great friends, acquired a life long love with a canine, and learned to love the Great Plains. I'd say its been a pretty fucking good year.

If you get too much love in the Forks...head to the Lakes :)

So it was the first holiday I've had off since the 4th of July last year! Memorial Day always has seemed to be one of Nate's favorite holidays. His whole family, and the rest of the town, get together for a huge party in the woods. I've always wanted to go but never been. Everyone always tells stories of these crazy days in the woods where inhibitions hitch a kite and responsibilities are non existent for a weekend. Looks fun, but of course, we could not go. Sooooooo, because I knew he'd be bummed all weekend if we stayed home, I planned a trip to Lake Itasca in MN. Its the headwaters of the Mississippi, but more importantly, its a huge beautiful park only 2ish hours away. We were leaving on Friday for a reservation for 3 days camping that i'd made months in advance.
WELLLLL unfortunately for Nate, he is dating the biggest idiot. My whole life i've never been able to remember dates. I try to tell people if i forget their birthday not to take it personal. I didnt remember my father's or my sister's till I was about high school age, and I only remember my mom's b.c. its on epiphany. Anyway, I seemed to have made the reservations for June instead of May which meant we had to get up and drive at 5 in the morning to get there in time to have a shot at one of the non-reservation campsites.

Well it was a FRIDAY morning so I'd spent the prior night at Bucks being treated like a princess. SOOOO when nate got home at 5 in the morning I was out cold. He was pretty pissed. After an ordeal of getting me out of bed we hit the road for a drive I barely remember and we got a site! We set up camp and chilled that day.

The next day we hit the lake. At this point the dog had started to get cocky and think the trip was about him. We'd let him sleep in the tent, he had free run of the campsite, and ended up finding tons of sticks to chew! Well that all changed once we reached the .....DUN DUN DUN....
THE BOAT DOCK
All of a sudden he realized WE were going to make him get near ...water...
Our dog wont go through puddles much less get on a moving path surrounded by water. We had to drag him to the boat and throw him on. He clenched the bottom as if he were being thrown on a platform above sharks. It was redic...what a drama queen.
Once we got goin' he loosened up a bit but at first insisted on having his head on one of our laps...by the time we got a fish he got excited and decided the boat WAS for him and began to sing the famous words; "I'm on a Boat!" featuring the great T-pain.. i'm figuring this was what was in his head:





Things got real wild when the fish was brought aboard and Rossby decided it was lunch time :)


We caught some fish and the dog chilled but being black was rough on him and we all needed a pee break. We docked and chilled under the shade for a few hours before headin back out. This was relaxing although he seemed to think he also was the reason for the rest and took full advantage of the snooze until he was attacked by the sandwich and too many pictures












We headed back out later that night and it was the same routine until dinner. We decided to make some Mt. Pies I guess which i'd never had. It seems they are just a sandwich cooked on a fire in a pocket skillet type apparatus. very simple and very delicious. we went to bed and this time rossby did not escape via a tiny hole in the zipper...the next day we got up late-ish to avoid the rain and decided to take a hike.

The HIKE:
so genius decides we should walk out to the end of one of the arms of the lake without considering what there is to do on the other side of the lake. We started hiking with a few beers. This is something i have never done and never will do again; by the time we had reached the semi-difficult terrain i was pretty tipsy and fuzzy. Not because I was drinking much, but probably do to the physical workout and the very little water I had replaced with beer...hmm things started to get really silly. The dog loved it b.c. he was let free of the leash and just ran around like a wild antelope, frolicking through the weeds on and off the trail. Nate and I made it to the end of the trail tiered and hungry. We had lunch on the pier and discovered we'd walked to the site MOST people DRIVE to go for various hikes....
so due to lack of planning we decided to go home.....
JUST KIDDING
We went for a walk on the "deer trail". It was only a 2 mile loop and it went to a fire tower. I was starting to panic in my head at the thought of this fire tower. I am extremely afraid of heights and i was praying the whole way that people wouldn't be aloud to climb up it. This was not the case, however, the dog saved me. HE could not go. So nate went alone......thank God...
He said it was terrifying. Its about 120 feet high and well above the tree canopy. He got some cool pics, here is one of the fire tower from the trail:


We continued to hike on the beautiful green trail through the hundreds of lakes and loooved every min of it. Some of the most beautiful scenes i've seen are found along this trail - "deer trail" that starts at the lodge end of the park on the left arm of Itasca. I highly recommend- much prettier than Bucks hahaha.. IF you do go...DRIVE there, it is about a 5 mile hike just to the trail head from the campground and once you are there lots more opps are available. We would have done more of the trails in that area but we had to walk back 5 miles already and it was getting late, i wish we would have been able to spend more time in this area :( so YOU plan for it haha






Once we made it back the 5 miles home, we got back to find Rossby had become a host to little friends he'd made along the way on his wild runs through weeds. It was a night full of pulling out ticks, roastin mallows, and toasting hot dogs...OMG nothing better than camping. Other than the unwanted visitors the trip was a blast.

I'd say if you need time to step out of the California of the northern planes (ND)...head to the land of 1000 lakes :)

p.s. in regards to the t-pain ref, if you have been living under a rock enlighten yourself : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU

Long time no seeee

so it seems the Forks is just too busy of a place in the summer for an activity to be mainly indoors (blogging)...i just never find time to do it. I will break this into two posts since it has been a while.

So I've discovered Bucks Roadhouse.

This is a place my peeps seemed hesitant to go prior to my introductions to our neighbor who is a local here. It is a bit much to take in initially I guess, but it is a true GFK bar. You walk in to kind of a steak and lube atmosphere where you immediately are greeted by a man in a mechanic uniform. He is there to check your oil and ID. Then there is a glass box where you put your name in to win a drawing. Sometimes its free gas but its always really cool. I was shocked to hear this; a bar w. enough money/business to give away stuff every night? Why have i not been here?! You then walk in and see that maybe its not EVERYone's cup of tea. There are tables all around the out skirts with a huge dance floor in the middle. There is a "stage" at the end of the dance floor and a bar at the other. Seems perfectly nice, but the girls there are wild. They are looking for a good time. As the music begins w. country the shy ones sit on their stools at a group of people and quietly sip their drinks...the loud ones or possibly the ones that heavily pre-gamed start dancin on the dance floor and attempt to pull their shy friends out. They shys give them a chance and then quickly return to their drinks at the table once the song has finished.
I was able to attend "ladies" night a few nights on Thursdays. The service for this is unbelievable. It is as if they WANT you to get obliterated! I've been to open bar types before, and rarely you get good service. Bucks seems to be the kind of bar from the good ol' days before drinking and driving was an issue and people weren't stupid enough to blame the bar if they did it. It seems like the kinda place that my grandparents would have gone to, where if you pay for open bar you GET open bar. Our waitress was on top of our shit. We never had an empty glass. I didnt even have to get up to get a drink! amazing...sort of...
At about midnight you start to see the bar transform. They shys are out of their seats screaming at the top of their lungs all the words to every song as if their life depended on it. The dance floor becomes full and people start really having a ball.
All of a sudden, the lights go out and it is just the neon flashers! The entire bar becomes rap and old rock immediately and people begin do one of three things:
1. There are the few who started too early who have to head home
2. There are the few who did it just right and continue to have a blast
3. And there are the many that dont know when enough is enough and feel that
since they have one hour left they need to run to the bar and do shots and
live it up as much as they can because they dont know when the next time
they'll be out again....
I'll let you decide which one you think I am. None the less, Bucks gets a 10 on my rating scale of 1-10 (1 being the bars that dont have tap beer and 10 being the overlooked best times of GFK). Basically if its a Thursday, and I'm not working, I'll be at Bucks :)