The Baseball Trip 2012 / Addendum

Odds and ends, afterthoughts, extra pictures...

I think my favorite sighting was the giant sunflower replica. I don't know why. Perhaps because it seemed so vibrant in contrast to the wilted sunflower stalks along the roadside.

At this time last year up at Big Woods State Park in Minnesota, there was no Big Woods State Park in Minnesota. It was under 14 feet of water. Record runoff from snow and record rains (500 year event, I'm told) flooded the lake and swamped the whole area. The nice ranger who took me to the park office showed me the watermarks left on the trees - 14 feet above ground! I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot.

Evan's friend Chris and Evan's roommate Josh (out in Denver) wanted to take me and Randy to a strip club after the game at Coors Field. "We could take pictures, and you could post it in your blog." I declined, but both of them are Chicago area natives so I promised I would send them a Lou Malnatti's pizza via Fedex. That seemed to satisfy them, as well it should.

Extra picture from Canterbury: Coming down the stretch!

When I got home I read through a stack of Tribunes that were piled on the kitchen table, and I learned that most of Illinois had been declared a disaster area because of the drought. So I looked it up on the www and found out that half of the the counties in the US (over 1500 in 32 states) are now drought-related disaster areas. I have a nagging Grapes of Wrath premonition I can't shake.

You know what else I found in the Tribune? Apparently there was a festival in Mankato, Minnesota, dedicated to Little House on The Prairie - Laurapalooza! That's right. The women that attend this refer to themselves as bonnetheads. That's hilarious, no? I will actually post a link to this organization because you might want to see for yourself.
http://beyondlittlehouse.com/laurapalooza-2012/laurapalooza-2012-overview/

Here's the link to the Tribune article written by one attendee:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-03/news/ct-perspec-0803-palooza-20120803_1_bonnetheads-popular-culture-plum-creek

I should repeatedly thank Randy's sister and her daughter for the hospitality they showed us. God, the food was good and it was nice to sit down for an evening in a house.Seriously, fresh peaches on ice cream. You can't beat that.

Lastly:
The monsoon we encountered as we rolled into Chicago shut down Lollapalooza. They evacuated attendees into the Monroe Street underground parking area. That many very high people in very tight quarters? Hmmmmm.......scary.