This post details the second leg of my month long transpacific journey, in which I (vain)gloriously return to the USofA, stop in a few of my favorite cities, and see many of my favorite people along the way.
Flying east over the Pacific Ocean is kind of like time travel. Except not really, because anyone who has studied modern physics (and who was also not a cast member of Interstellar) will tell you that until we actually discover wormholes and learn how to fly to/through and survive them, time travel ain't happenin'. What I mean by 'kind of like time travel' is more a Twilight Zone where you are in a pressurized box (and a very large box the A380-800 is) miles above the Earth's surface, for 15 hours, screaming over the international timeline. This east to west traversing suddenly subtracts 24 hours from your life. Poof, gone. And then you are awkwardly experiencing an April 22nd that lasts 40 hours. Luckily for me, I was on an oddly empty Sydney to Dallas flight, giving me two extra seats on which to be recumbent.
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| So posh. Dallas isn't a destination that Aussies desire? |
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| Pacific sunset, compliments of a 15 hour flight. |
The reasons for my visit back home? A bachelor party, a Madison reunion tour, and my sister's wedding, all very good reasons.
Damian's bachelor party, beginning as I landed in Chicago after 20 hours of travel, was intense. It turns out if you party for 36 straight hours you never experience the dreaded transpacific jet-lag; rather, the numbing cocktail of caffeine, alcohol, two puffs of a cigar, seemingly endless pizza, and crisp spring air overrides whatever circadian disrhythmia one accrues on a long flight. Downtown Chicago is home to many locations/things (too many to count) that lend themselves to a good bachelor party, including:
Drinking and a comedy show at Second City,
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| 4 hours in - photo appropriately blurry. |
drinking and hanging out on a swanky condo roof,
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| Reunited. Sunglasses covering Jordan's tears of joy. |
and drinking and...some other stuff that guys normally do during a bachelor party
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| Probably the wildest picture I have ever posted on here. I can't believe I was allowed to post it. What a crazy weekend. |
Then it was on to Madison, my second home. Did I have to be in Madison for anything in particular? No, but I think there's a certain pull to places in which one has spent their mid-twenties. A sense of total ease in a place that is familiar and comfortable. Madison feels that way to me.
During my busy couple of days in Madison, I got to see a lot of my old favorites: the Madison zoo, Nattspil, the former lab and colleagues at UW, Jordan's couch, and I even got to ride a bike around town. I miss riding bikes. Plus Jordan has FIFA 16 on his Playstation, so that's definitely worth spending a few days doing.
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| The perfect reverse selfie - a few Sunday beers on Dakota's front yard. |
I don't really have any other pictures of the visit. And ultimately it was pretty short. I had a wedding to get to after all...
Loyal readers will remember that Lee and Keegan were in New Zealand at the beginning of 2016. So while I had seen them as fiances, I had not seen them in full last-minute-wedding-prep mode. Considering 1) it was almost certainly going to rain on their wedding day, 2) they had made their own favors and pre-planned all the decorations themselves, and 3) they had many day-of things to do (ya know, aside from getting married), their preparedness, composure, and easygoing natures were outright admirable.
It rained during the brief and intimate ceremony in the MSU botanical gardens, though I think it added to the scene. I will never forget leaning into Grandma to get under her umbrella, the look of pure joy on Emmett's face as his bubble-gun (in lieu of carrying flowers) fired into the sprinkling rain, and the difficult to recite yet heartfelt vows the newlyweds exchanged.
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| First dance. Loyal readers will also remember that Keegan broke his foot while travelling overseas. Here he dances in a moon boot (sandal? jandal?). |
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| What do you think they're talking about? I bet it's an argument over who gets the wedding leftovers... |
The reception was a kaleidoscope of conversations with family I hadn't seen in years on my mom's side, family members I didn't know willingly and attentively read this blog on both sides, and the heavily facial-haired and extremely magnanimous Peters clan. All of which is to say it was a blast. If everyday could be Lee and Keegan's wedding, I would do it. I would also only live for like one year more maybe (eating and drinking myself to an early grave), but I would do it. As icing on the cake (or for this wedding chopped peanut butter cup on top of ice cream), I got to invite of bunch of my friends (also Lee's friends) as seat-fillers:
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| Tired of looking at the back of Dakota's head yet? Me neither. |
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| Dance crew. |
I delighted in the fact that the wedding was in Michigan. It afforded me not only the chance to catch up with so many friends and family in the area, but to also experience a lot of the things that make Michigan home in my mind: giant Jenga at the Riv in East Lansing, a multitude of Michigan-brewed beer (most notably Two Hearted Ale at the reception), shopping at Meijer's (including sending Rhiannon like 20 Snapchats of various cheap American produce and sugary cereals), and experiencing a little outdoor time in Portland.
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| Dipping, in which a net on a lever literally scoops out fish resting in calm waters. Probably the easiest fishing in the world. Accompanied by America's pisswater and fire. We even caught a somewhat impressive catfish. |
Though it was a vacation and a homecoming of sorts, it all went too fast. Before I knew it, I was being chauffeured (thanks Dad) to Chicago to board a plane for Hong Kong.
Thanks USA, let's do it again sometime soon...
Cheers!
Bonus: Pies. I was inspired by some pie at the rehearsal dinner,
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| That pecan caramel pie, ungh. |
to make a very rich and delicious (sour but not too sour, sweet but not too sweet) key-lime pie (yes using real key-limes).
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| And then proceeded to leave half of it with my Dad as I flew out of the country... |
