02 June 2000

I feel like such an interminable geek if I don't have any social plans on Friday or Saturday nights. Never mind that I went out to dinner and rented a movie with Emily last night, or ate out for nearly 3 days straight when my parents were here earlier this week. Oh no. Staying in on a Friday night, at least on some unalterable level of self-consciousness, is as good as scrawling "loser" on my forehead with a Sharpie.

Memorial Day with "the fam" went pretty well. They showed up late Sunday afternoon, just late and hungry enough that instead of attempting any organized activity right away, we just shot the shit for an hour before going out in search of dinner. After the first place we tried turned out to be closed, we stuffed ourselves with Mexican food at Boca Chica in District del Sol, Saint Paul's officially sanctioned Hispanic neighborhood. We took a digestive walk on the Mississippi River Boulevard and then went to Grand Ole Creamery for gigantic amazing cones of ice cream. My god, the stuff I was missing out on when I was vegan! Aside: See, when I gave up ice cream in the first place, all I was sacrificing was the boring store-brand vanilla that my mom buys. No problem. Now that I have nearly unlimited access (constrained only by my budget) to Ben and Jerry's, Haagen Dazs, and Grand Ole Creamery, the stuff's like crack for me. I barely go 3 days without it. Now I know why people always marvelled at my ability to stay vegan for so long.

Monday morning we got going fairly early; Mom, Dad and Jenna picked up me and David (he had slept over) at 9am to go out to breakfast at The Good Earth up in Roseville. They have delicious food there, but sadly, it is planted smack dab in the middle of the north suburban wasteland. Having a health-oriented restaurant nestled among freeway overpasses and coffee franchises seems ironic and somewhat illogical to me, but then I'm no economist.

We drove to Interstate State Park in Wisconsin (not to be confused with the identically named Minnesota state park just across the St. Croix river) for the requisite Memorial Day nature fest. Mostly we just hiked and ate, along with a thousand other hikers and eaters. So much for the quiet solitude of nature- I saw more people outdoors there than I do in a week in Saint Paul.

After returning exhausted to the city, we refreshed ourselves with a swim, a soak in the hot tub, and a beer out in the gazebo in the hotel's courtyard. Mom and Dad had earlier wondered aloud why they never saw anyone sitting out in the nicely landscaped courtyard; we soon found the answer. See, the hotel is right under the flightpaths for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, and planes flew over easily every 5 or 6 minutes. Whenever one roared overhead, our conversation came to a dead halt until it was gone.

We rounded out the night with a late dinner at Pizza Luce in the Warehouse District. David was very impressed by the "city feel" of the area and exclaimed much more than once how cool it was. Jenna, on the other hand, was quite vocal about her fear of big cities: There was a sign in the (absurdly expensive) lot where we parked forbidding loitering for more than five minutes. I made a comment, half-joking, to the effect that the rule was to prevent drug deals. Jenna gave me a Look of Horror. "You just scared me even MORE!"

Thirteen solid hours of family time drove me half raving mad by the end of the day (sorry, Mom). I guess I've grown accustomed to being with people who allow me to finish a sentence- I called Jenna and David on interrupting me no less than 20 times during the day. But then, I suppose 13 hours with almost anyone leaves me in serious need of some time alone. Four "anyones" who happen to be related to me can only be expected to have the same the effect.

Tuesday morning was fairly uneventful; the fam came over with some bagels for breakfast, and they took me to get groceries before they hit the road. I wasn't expecting her to, but my mom picked up the bill for the load of food I picked out-- quite a windfall when you're as perpetually broke as I am. Jenna and David were anxious to get home, so they all left at about noon. With that , another family visit drew to a close. Jenna may have begged to go shoe shopping every ten minutes, but overall I'd judge it a success.