Reviewing The Trip So Far

Now that I’ve been here a month (it will be five weeks tomorrow) and the first third of my holiday is over, I feel it is the perfect time to reflect on what I’ve done up to this point. In other words, what has been good, what has been bad and what has been sheer ugly (more on that shortly) about my trip. Firstly, the good!

Good (in no particular order, except for the first one):

Vanna -

After months apart, I’ve been able to spend time with her again. So obviously that has been huge.

Cycling -

I’ve been keeping fit and exploring the area at the same time. The only downside is that it takes a good five miles to get anywhere new or interesting. But, on the plus side, that encourages me to get fitter so I can cycle for longer, and so see more of the Pequot Lakes area. Hopefully Vanna will join me soon.

Food -

Sometimes it has been a bit spartan or depressing, but for the most part I’ve tried some interesting things in my efforts to eat healthier. Couscous has been a big part of that, but the chipotle bowl we had was also delicious. As was the Salmon we had at a dinner party a few weeks back. Honorable mentions go to the chicken fajitas we had two days ago, the plate of stuff I had at Applebees (I can’t remember the dish but it was lovely) and the food at Olive Garden. Might not have been healthy but it was still damn tasty.

The Weather -

I know that I like to complain about the weather (like how I did earlier this week), but for the most part, I have little issue with the weather I’ve experienced in the past five weeks. It’s gradually been getting warmer, but overly so, while the sun has been shining consistently; even when it was snowy I could see it. Not sure I’ll be keen on the next few months mind, as the level of humidity and mosquitoes rise…but for now, it’s golden.

Driving -

This has been an important experience for me. I’ve loved being out on the road, and Vanna has been a very good teacher. It has shown me what I’m missing out on. Whether I’ll feel the same about the roads at home is a different thing entirely.

Drinking (but not while driving) -

One of the best things about this trip has been the fact I can now legally buy alcohol when I’m…well, anywhere. We’ve had mostly cheap drinks at home, but I cannot forget about the frozen margarita I had at Olive Garden. It was probably the best thing I’ve ever tasted, especially in the alcohol department. I’m tempted to go back, just for that.

Another bonus to being able to drink anywhere is that Vanna can’t. So while I have these delicious cocktails or whatever, she is sitting there having water. Hahahah.

I mean…I love you Vanna.

Entertainment -

Iron Man 3 (and 2), Bernie, Looper, The Place Beyond The Pines… I’ve done pretty well so far in the film department. Next few in the pipeline: The Hangover Part III, and Mudd. Vanna also wants to watch The Great Gatsby, so I’ll probably see that too. Once I have, you will, no doubt, get my thoughts on that a day or two later.

I also got my Xbox Live hooked up this week. Sure, it takes forever to connect to a game (often it just flat-out refuses) but it’s better than nothing. Next purchase will be a new headset, as I don’t have one here, and the one at home is on the way out (too many parts need replacing for me to bother with it). So far Vanna and I have bonded over Mass Effect and L.A Noire. I might show her Dragon Age too.

Oh, and I’d almost forgotten about the football! Last two games are on this weekend, but I don’t mind too much. It was enjoyable watching the games, as the timing has been perfect for my schedule (normally the match starts just as Vanna is leaving the house for work), but I’m ready to move on now. I can’t Xbox and watch the football every day…I should really be doing other things. Which brings me to…

Writing -

After a slow start, I’m beginning to get somewhere with my novel. I managed over 2000 words in 3 and a half hours yesterday. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when I’m in the zone. Hopefully that will continue over the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted.

And now I’m onto the bad. There hasn’t been many bad

things, but still, it’s been frustrating to deal with the

following.

Work -

Obviously, we both knew that we’d get less time together this visit because, well, Vanna has to work to support us and the apartment. That knowledge hasn’t made it any less annoying to not see each other for hours of every day, however. Still, I’m grateful to see her so I can’t complain too much.

Well, I can. But I won’t.

Rising gas prices

It’s over $4 dollars now! In a matter of days, it shot up by 50 cents. Ridiculous. Even I can see that.

Needless to say, going for trips around the place have been restricted as a consequence. Vanna and I love going for drives together, but between time constraints and money constraints, it’s been difficult to do. Fortunately we have a trip to Duluth on the horizon. That will make everything better.

The wedding competition

I’ve tried to keep my mouth shut on this. And I plan to do so for a little while longer.

But still, what an absolute load of bollocks (and I’m not just saying that because we aren’t going to win).

And finally…the ugly.

The plumbing

Our toilet is blocked AGAIN! We know why it keeps blocking and it isn’t our fault (our building has two apartments; the block is caused by flushed cigarettes; we don’t smoke…you figure it out). But we’re the poor sods who have to deal with the consequences.

…the very, ugly and smelly consequences.

Bleh. Suppose I should go deal with that now.

 

Wish me luck…I’m going to need it.

 

 

Hmm…

Well, I started to write about Xbox One (the new generation of Xbox; even those of you who don’t like games must have heard something about it in the last few days…surely?), or more specifically what I thought about it (I watched the press conference and read/seen nothing else), only to then hear other people’s opinions on the matter…and now I’m not quite sure what to think. Except, of course, for the following:

• The name is rather stupid, and makes me think of the original Xbox
• It isn’t the most beautiful looking thing in the world, and again, reminds me of the old Xbox. At least it is a sleek brick this time.
• Despite all this, I’ll still buy it when it comes out. And I won’t be buying a PS4.

But other than that, I’m not really sure what to think. Hence my ‘hmm’ title.

Now, I could just write about it anyway, but considering what a big deal the Xbox One could be (future of entertainment? One device to rule them all? Ooh, maybe that is why they call it the Xbox One, like the One Ring from LOTR…hmm), or indeed, is (if it wasn’t, I suppose, nobody would care), I feel like I should research fully into the matter first. There has been a lot of information flying around in the last few days and I don’t want to jump in without giving it some thought (I’m not going to simply be in the ‘ohmygoshxboxxboxxboxIjustloveyou’ camp, nor am I switching into the ‘itlooksuglyitwillbestupidI’mnotbuyingwahwahwah’ camp either…I’m going to think first!).

So – and this is a blog first, ladies and gentlemen – I’m going to hold off for now, and talk about it once I know a bit more.

As a result, I uh, don’t really have anything else to say today. It’s sunny outside…which is something. I might go for another bike ride while Vanna is at work.

Umm…ooh, I took a picture of the cat yesterday! That should be enough to distraction you while I sneak off!

She got onto the ledge above the kitchen! How cute!

She looks mad but she loves me using the flash!

…suckers…

It’s Still Raining…

My poor bike. Out there, alone, vulnerable to the elements. We haven’t got a place to store it so it just sits under the smallest section of ledge. *sigh*

Yeah, I’m getting sick of this now. It was nice to begin with (as I said the other day, it has helped kick-start spring). But this is the third, or fourth day of rain and well, I want to be out there doing things! I tried going for a bike ride yesterday, and it was just miserable. The wind was constantly in my face, and the rain, though sprinkling, was an irritating enemy that never seemed to go away. Still, I didn’t let it bother me too much. Managed 13 miles!

Anyway,  today is Vanna’s day off so I’m going to keep it short. I took a few pictures of the garden before the rain came, so I’m going to upload them and head off. We’re going to Crosby today so we can visit a few people, and more importantly, pick up some things that we need/want, including a crock pot, Vanna’s laptop and some sports equipment. Last year Vanna bought me a tennis racquet (I honestly can’t remember her getting it for me) but we never got around to using it (apparently it is still in the packaging), so we’re planning to find a court and try that out this summer. Vanna really likes tennis and it’s good exercise…so we’ll see how that goes.

Look at me, eh? Cycling, driving and now (possibly, don’t bet on it just yet) tennis!

Agh, I’m being called. Here’s the pictures. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow, as I’m probably going to share my thoughts on the new Xbox One (I am a gamer after all). Have a great day everyone!

The water fountain. And my bike in the background. Poor thing…

 

 

 

See, the grass is starting to turn green…

Pretty cool, huh?

And back to the top. See that red thing off to the left? I cut open my leg on that yesterday. Fun times!

Nisswa Pictures (They Really Like Turtles…)

Sun. I’d almost forgotten you existed.

We didn’t go in that place but we will next time.

The, uh, Medicine Man. Apologies about the glare.

It doesn’t get any better closer up. And by that I don’t mean the glare (I mean the racism).

Still. Looks nice though.

Across the street.

Vanna doesn’t let a little thing like approaching traffic bother her.

Where we went to eat (Rafferty’s, not Martins. I don’t know what Martins even is…).

Aw, isn’t that cute? Vanna then tells me to look down…

A turtle!

Oooh, and another one!

Brief seque before I turn around and see…

A bin with a turtle on it. Okay, I’m starting to see a pattern here…

Aha. Let’s go check it out.

But first…

Handsome.

Back on track. Turtle!

Let’s see if there are any more turtles over here…

Nope. Pretty door though.

Vanna wanted to document my return from the bathroom.

While I wanted to check out the trees.

But wait. Is that another turtle I see?

TURTLES!

“I love my cat”. That she does.

“I love Jesus”. That she…doesn’t.

And finally…(sorry, no more turtles. Maybe next time).

Miserable Monday

Where to begin, where to begin. Oh I know…

It’s raining outside.

I actually liked the rain on Saturday. It kick-started summer. Suddenly there was colour on the trees, and grass was growing rich out of the ground. It was a necessary evil.

Now though, it is just getting tedious. I can’t go out without getting soaked (it has rained almost nonstop since last night). Furthermore, I haven’t cycled since Thursday and I’m starting to miss it. I now have a mileometer but I haven’t been able to try it out yet. And with the weather forecast saying it’ll be horrible for the next few days, it might be a full week before I get back out there. Bah.

My bank locked my card

Used my card at around 3pm yesterday. No problem. Tried to use it again a few hours later. Refused to work. Every time I’ve tried it since…nothing. Turns out my bank have locked it, and they need me to authorize it. As I don’t have a phone (and we’ll get to that later), I’m not quite sure how I’m supposed to do this.

Now, I’m glad in some ways that they’ve gone to such measures. What if my card had actually been stolen? At least I know they are doing their job.

But…are they? I’ve been using this card for over a month now. I’ve spent quite a lot of money too. The horse has already bolted the stable. They should have done this in the first week. Doing it, without warning (I haven’t even had an email from them), is just irritating.

Thankfully I can use my other card. But I’m not impressed.

Phone bill is higher than usual

Not much higher, I grant you, but it should just be the basic contract charge BECAUSE I HAVEN’T USED MY PHONE FOR A MONTH! I took the Sim card out to prevent such a problem from happening. I haven’t send any texts, I haven’t called anybody. Nobody has texted me (or at least, I haven’t received them) or attempted to call me. Why the hell am I getting charged?

Grr.

The football is pretty much over

A smaller gripe, but a gripe nonetheless. After being treated to more football games than I thought was possible to watch, I’ve now been cut off. Two  more games (Wednesday, Thursday) and I’m done. What will I do with that time? Talk to Vanna? Clean the house? Cycle more? Write?

Hmm.

Suppose I should write. Given how that is my future career and all that.

Which brings me onto my final whinge…

I haven’t written as much as I should have done

Blah. A month in (there will be a blog about that shortly…I was going to do it this weekend but I got distracted…and now I’m just mad) and I’m not hitting my targets. Hopefully, I’ll be able to capitalize on the lack of football, and the bad weather (while it lasts), to catch up. Sound like a plan, right?

Oh wait…

I’ve just got Xbox Live working!

…never mind.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom…(even if I make it sound that way)

Vanna and I had a lovely time in Nisswa yesterday. We tried some really delicious chocolates, had a nice walk around town, and we took some pictures. I’ll upload those tomorrow.

I’ve also booked the trip away for our anniversary. But more on that later.

For now though, I’m just going to stare out the window and mope. And play Xbox. And maybe write.

 

 

 

 

We’re Foodies Now

With the weather still awful (no storms; just overcast and drizzling…could be back at home!) and lacking anything new and/or interesting to talk about (I did take the wheel for another drive to Brainerd though; it went well), I’m going to enlighten you all today with some pictures of my food! Woo!

We’ve been experimenting in the kitchen this past week (maybe Vanna thought she’d try something new in case my driving takes us off a cliff) and except for one particular failure (cough, Vanna’s attempt at making home-made guacamole), we’ve been rather successful. Neither of us have much experience in the kitchen (and, I should add, our supplies are rather limited; don’t ask about seasonings), but we’re getting there.

Anyway, here is our first new thing.

Mmmmmm

All for me. As you can see, I didn’t wait long to tuck in.

Artsy close up. I’m getting hungry again…

Essentially I told Vanna I was hungry (I’m nice like that), and Vanna put shredded cheese, fresh peppers, tomatoes, pasta sauce (tomato, naturally) on french bread. She then added olive oil and put the bread in the oven for ten/twenty minutes. The pictures above were the result. Here’s me enjoying it.

That smile originated from not wanting to tell Vanna to buzz off, but too worried about the game I was watching to look super happy for the camera. It was delicious though.

What did it taste like? A slice of pizza…but healthier. Yeah!

Our second new meal was something I have mentioned before…a Chipotle style Burrito bowl. I actually helped out this time, so I can actually tell you what we did, rather than offer a few vague statements (see above). First, pictures.

Vanna’s bowl.

And again…

Now mine. Yum!

Great. Now I’m really hungry. But there is nothing left! Oh man.

Ingredients:

4 chicken tenderloins, which we cooked with seasoning and then shredded. Was delicious.

Brown rice, flavoured with cilantro. Boiled up the rice, then added a mix of cilantro, lime juice, salt and vegetable oil. The rice was a little mushy but this seemed to cement everything together (we used the rice as a bed). Unfortunately there was too much cilantro…it just made the rice taste nasty on its own. Next time we’ll use less of it and hopefully that’ll improve it. Tasted better when reheated though!

Peppers. Chopped up green, red, and orange peppers, which we sautéed lightly in a pan.

Red, pinto and black beans which we, uh, microwaved.

Shredded cheese, spinach leaves, romaine lettuce and pico de gallo were then used to finish off the meal, with tortilla wraps on the side. Vanna then added some ranch or maybe sour cream…I was too busy eating to notice. Sorry.

What did it taste like? Just like the real thing, but even more delicious. Rice could have been better, but everything else was perfect. Very filling, and not too unhealthy either.

Just in case you forgot what it looked like.

I’ll do this again next time we have something new. If you want more information, leave a comment or email, and I will…get Vanna to answer your questions!

 

 

 

 

My New Favourite Hobby

Well it has taken four weeks (give or take a day or two), but I’ve just encountered my first Minnesotan storm of the summer. Shortly before midnight, we had very heavy rain (we have a metal roof, so it is like living in a conservatory), thunder and, my all time favourite, lightning. It stopped after a few hours, but it’s pretty awful looking outside at the moment (overcast), and we’re scheduled for more punishment before the weekend is over. Don’t think we’ll be planning for any picnics today then.

*sigh*

Why do I want to move to this country again?

Oh yeah, love of my life etc etc.

Ahem.

Now, a few days ago I briefly mentioned that I had something to talk about, but I wasn’t going to say anything more at that point (click on the link if you don’t believe me). Well, the time has come for me to share what I’ve been up to this week. You know, when I’ve not been cycling/watching football/eating/writing/spending time with the love of my life.

You ready to hear it?

You sure?

All right then…

…

I’ve been driving!

Yep, that’s right. Vanna persuaded me to get behind the wheel on Monday, and since then she’s been teaching me all I need to know to become a competent driver on the mean streets of…Minnesota.

It started out with me taking control on the back roads, but since then I’ve driven us to Nisswa several times, to Crosslake, and yesterday, I had my real breakthrough, as I drove us to Brainerd and back. The return journey was even more challenging, as we did it at night time.

You’ll be glad to know that we’ve had no crashes or incidents with me in the driving seat. We’ve had the occasional tense moment (construction in Nisswa was confusing for both of us, while Vanna hasn’t always appreciated my late braking/fast turning techniques; in my defence I think I’ve picked those traits up from watching my dad…it’s an English thing), but for the most part I’ve impressed Vanna with my skills. I’ve really enjoyed it so far, and I’ll probably do the majority of the driving from this point on (if I can be bothered to, of course).

Oh, and in case you didn’t believe me, I have pictures!

Wooo!

I like to see the road in Vanna’s eyes.

My first time parking the car.

Look at all those other cars I had to navigate around! And no, I don’t know what I’m doing in this picture.

Ahhhh yeah.
That dent wasn’t from me. Honestly.

So, are you impressed?

No? Oh.

Never mind then.

I Think I Overdid It…

Well I went for my third bike ride in four days yesterday, and today I’m suffering the consequences. I suppose it is my own fault for not doing a warm-up routine before getting on the bike. I don’t usually bother with stretches, but when the ride previous to that ended up being over twenty miles (a significant step up from the average), I probably shouldn’t have just got straight on the bike and pedaled. Maybe it would have been a good idea to, you know, limber up first (I’m using the words but I’m clueless as to what they mean; like I said, I just get up and go).

The result of my blase attitude towards being prepared? Tweaked my knee in the first fifteen minutes. Nothing drastic, but enough to slow me down for the remainder of the journey (I continued on, like a trooper).

The annoying thing about the injury was that I wasn’t actually doing anything when it happened. I wasn’t going up a steep hill, or going faster than usual in order to beat the imaginary cyclists I was racing against (in my defence, I get bored easily). In fact, I wasn’t even pedaling at the time! I was going down a hill and suddenly BOOM! Knee pain!

…there was no BOOM noise by the way. My knee didn’t explode and I wasn’t shot (though it was a possibility, given how I was cycling along some back roads). I just used it for effect. You can stop panicking now (what, you don’t get scared when loud noises are written down? Oh).

Anyway, the knee twinge (I suppose twinge is more appropriate than tweak) lasted for quite a while, and between that and the humidity, I did struggle to build up any speed (I was zooming in the first ten minutes though) for most of the ride.

Where did I go?

Well this time I decided to take the road that Vanna and I would have gone along last week, had we not foolishly turned off onto a snowmobile trail, because I was getting bored of the other roads. It was a pleasant trip, with lots of forest, lakes and the like to look at. I must admit the hills weren’t particularly enjoyable (the humidity made them a tough challenge, while the sore knee made them almost unbearable), but other than that it was fun. Shame I didn’t bring my camera really. Not only were there some beautiful sights (I cycled past the golf/resort place three times) I also encountered a dead deer (ribcage open, of course) which smelled magnificently (shame cameras can’t capture that!), and a dead cat (perfectly intact, but it did have flies! yay!).

I bet you are all gutted to miss out on that, right? If I go that route again, I’ll try my best to remember my camera. No promises though. You’ll just have to use your imaginations. Failing that, I’ll draw a very accurate representation on paint. Hey. You’re welcome.

Eventually I wound up on the road to Pequot so I took that home. Though I’d been doing my best to avoid that route, I was rather glad to see it in the end, because at that point I had no sodding clue where I was. Once I’d passed everything that I was familiar with (roughly around the time I saw/smelled the dead deer), my tactic was just to ignore all turnings and continue straight until I saw something else that I recognized. Not my best plan, but they don’t do road signs in Minnesota like they do back home, so all my usual methods of getting around were useless.

Note to America: In England, we helpfully put directions next to every junction. That way you can see what towns are nearby, and how many miles it will take you to get to those towns. For some reason, you don’t feel like that is a good system (at least not in Minnesota). When you arrive at a turn here, there is either nothing, or a sign with a number on. You only tell people there is a town when the person is on the outskirts of that town. Not particularly helpful for tourists (and I’m somewhat reluctant to trust maps after last week’s fiasco). I appreciate there are long roads between places but still…think about the British people who are cycling in the area (I appreciate this is small percentage of the population, but nevertheless, we matter!) and don’t like getting lost.

Anyway, I think I’m going to have a break from cycling for a few days. I’ve done over 40 miles this week so I feel like I’ve deserve a rest. Besides, the weather is about to turn (storms forecast…because I totally didn’t get enough of them last year) and Vanna has a few days off, so I should probably spend some time with her (I know, I’m wonderful).

Speaking of which…I best go wake her up.

Bye for now!

Alex

Yesterday…

…was very hot. For most of the afternoon, the temperature was around 90 degrees Fahrenheit (for those of you who prefer a more logical temperature gauge, that is about 30 degrees Celsius). So, like I said, it was very hot (especially if you are a pale Englishman).

It was also quite windy. But not a cool, pleasant breeze. Oh no. It was a dry, hot wind that blew sand into your face, your arms and your bare legs.

There were no clouds in the sky either, so there was no respite from the searingly bright sun.

Why am I telling you this?

Because, in the middle of this hot, uncomfortable weather, I went for a bike ride. At the hottest time of the day…I went for a bike ride.

I did it without water (my bike doesn’t have a bottle holder).

I did it in one of my thickest T-shirts (I was too stubborn to turn back).

And I did it in the grey shoes I bought the other day, you know the ones; the ones that don’t offer any air to my feet whatsoever (I didn’t think it would matter).

As you can imagine, this wasn’t the most comfortable of bike rides.

My initial aim was just to get to Nisswa. The last time I attempted the route, I found it rather unpleasant, as the rough road and lack of a hard shoulder left me in a rather perilous position when cars tried to get around me. But I thought it would be different this time, as I’d be spending less time on the bad road and more time on the smooth terrain of the Paul Bunyan Trail.

It wasn’t different. It was still horrible. Even with a bigger portion of the ride on smooth ground, I was riding into the hot wind the entire time, which was not only powerful enough to make the pedaling sections twice as hard, it also slowed down my few attempts at freewheeling.

Oh, and if that wasn’t bad enough, I was in desperate need of water too. I hadn’t drunk anything for hours, and the hot air had dried out my mouth.

But I’d made it to Nisswa. 5.3 miles. All I had to do was find a water fountain and replenish myself before I started the return journey. Easy, right?

Well, sort of. I did indeed find a fountain. Two in fact. They were both shut off.

Hmm. At this point I had three options. Well, two options, plus a third, foolish idea that popped into my head.

1. I go to one of Nisswa’s many gas stations or bars, and ask for a glass of tap water. They are highly unlikely to charge for it (Oh I forgot to mention, I had no money with me).
2. I cycle back home, and try not to overdo it. As the wind would be behind me at this point, the road home shouldn’t be too difficult.
3. Alternatively, cycle the extra 6 miles to Pequot (which would take me nearly 10 miles from home) and get a glass of water from Vanna’s work.

Obviously, I did the sensible thing…and went for option 3.

Oh boy, that was hard. Sure it was a pretty route (I wasn’t right next to the road, and I went right past two lakes; Lower Cullen Lake and East Twin Lake) but it was a gradual incline for the most part and, don’t forget, it was still boiling hot.

I made it though. I had two glasses of water and headed straight out, because when you are hot, tired and sweaty, the last thing you want to do is spend time with children.

This time I cycled the Breezy Point way home, as it was slightly shorter and I find the roads a lot easier to navigate. It was still a good 9 miles though, and involves a lot more uphill cycling than the Nisswa way. There are two hills in particular that can take you by surprise.

Yeah…I forgot about those hills. Fun times…fun times indeed.

But I got past them. I got to Breezy without too  much pain (I didn’t cry, I didn’t cry!), and thirty minutes after that, I was home.

I had left the house at 3:40 pm. I arrived home at 6:20 pm. Considering I was only planning to be out for an hour, a total journey time of 2 hours 40 is…well…surprising.

So there we have it. 20.7 miles. Not bad.

My route.

And I didn’t suffer any injuries! I’m just, you know, terribly sunburned.

Oh man.

Let’s Catch Up

It has came to my attention that the last two blog posts didn’t really talk about what I’ve done in the last few days (I’d like to think that I was left numerous comments asking about my life, but in reality, I just happened to notice it by myself this morning), so I thought I’d use today to bring you all up to date on my exciting adventures, because, well, I don’t really have anything else to say, and I’m too tired to think about anything interesting (so please, read on!).

But, we’ve had some really exciting times, as you’ll find out soon enough, starting with…

Saturday

Oh yeah, Saturday was a good one. We did…

Um. We went to…

Hmm. I’ve forgotten. Well isn’t this a good start?

Oh wait.  I know! I bought shoes!

And…that’s all I can remember. My bad. Still…they were good shoes. Worth bringing up again. Sort of.

Hmm. Let’s try this again, shall we?

Sunday

Ah, there is no forgetting what happened on Sunday, as we went over to visit Vanna’s mother Lori in Palisade. We detoured over to Crosby first, however, so we could pick up Vanna’s sister Sierra, her (Sierra not Vanna…I hate this possession business) daughter Marley Jo and Damon, her partner. We also had Vanna’s grandmother Carol (Vanna’s mother’s mother…you confused yet?) in the car, so to say it was cramped was an understatement. I was wedged in the back because nobody cares about the person with the longest legs, and it took a good thirty minutes to get there, which is a good thirty minutes too much.

Once we’d got there and the usual pleasantries had been exchanged (e.g ‘hello’, ‘nice to see you again’, ‘I like your *insert clothing or jewellery item’*) we ate dinner, because, if there is one thing I’ve learned during my time in this country, it is that Americans don’t mess around when it comes to food. Dinner consisted of burgers, barbequed chicken legs, corn, and salad, which was all very nice (I did my best not to overindulge). This was followed by dessert, and the three options were; a slice of shortcake (with berries and whipped cream), a slice of banana cream pie, or, uh, both. Unlike Vanna, I went for the healthy option and just had the shortcake (she had both), but I did finish Vanna’s pie off when she wasn’t looking (I was helping?).

After eating, we relaxed for a few hours with drinks (beer for me, water for Vanna; this is why she’s the perfect date) and I took lots of close up pictures of Vanna’s face with my camera (I would share them on here but I don’t want her to kill me, so though they are on my computer, they will not be going on the internet…sorry). Once that had got boring (it took a while to reach that stage, which didn’t impress Vanna whatsoever) I went outside and stalked the cat for a bit (you can see those pictures on the blog! Just click here) before we all got back into the cramped car, said goodbye and went home.

Monday

Vanna didn’t work yesterday so we went food shopping. This isn’t something either of us enjoy, as the sheer volume of people in the supermarket agitate us almost to the point of physical violence (I thought the shoppers at home had no awareness…they are like bats compared to these lot). Add in the fact(s) that I hate spending money (well, I hate spending my money) and Vanna gets very warm in these places, and we have an experience both us hate, and frankly, wish we could avoid. This probably puts us with the other 99.9% of the population who hate food shopping.

We did it though, and, with a few snappy comments excluded, we did it without killing each other. It was an expensive shop but we got lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, as well as the ingredients for a few different meals (a healthier version of Chipotle’s burrito bowl being our main priority). It didn’t take us long to realize that salads are bloody boring, so we’ve picked up a few things to hopefully spice them up (including some actual spices!).

Last night was our first effort at variety. Vanna made herself some guacamole (well, she started to…it’s taking a while to mix it) while I fluffed up a batch of couscous. After deciding that the burrito bowl would be too much effort, we chose to have a colourful salad.

I had romaine lettuce, baby spinach leaves, shredded carrot, green pepper, green apple and red pepper with a small portion of couscous, while Vanna had the same, minus the couscous and plus chicken, croutons and ranch dressing. With hindsight I wouldn’t have used the couscous, as it was so fruity and delicious it made everything else taste a bit bitter (sounds like a typing stutter) in comparison. It was still nice though, and I’m looking forward to having more salads this week.

Another thing Vanna and I did yesterday was to go for a bike ride. We decided to try another route around the Cullen Lakes but much like last Monday, our plans were stopped by a dead-end. We didn’t end up in a bog this time, but it was still pretty frustrating for us. Not only is the Paul Bunyan trail unreachable from our house (meaning we’ll have to detour to Nisswa or Pequot, adding miles onto the journey time), there is no clear way to explore the lakes in our area without committing the crime of trespassing. It was an enjoyable ride but still, a little bit disappointing. I’ll keep trying though. Even if it isn’t successful in terms of exploring, it is still good exercise. Considering I’ve lost twenty pounds since my last trip to America, I’m clearly doing something right.

And that’s about it really. I’ve got something else to talk about but I’m going to save that for now. So, uh, pretend you didn’t hear that.

Speak to you later,

Alex