And Last, But Not Least

On Sunday, after the wedding, I drove to upstate New York and paid a visit to Niagara Falls. We took the Maid of the Mist tour through the falls, which I highly recommend if you're visiting. It takes your breath away. Once you get down into the falls and feel the rain on your face and hear the roar of the falls, you really get an appreciation of just how magnificent it really is.




We spent the entire day on Sunday in Niagara. There's a Hard Rock in the Falls area that we had lunch at before heading back to the hotel in Cambridge Springs for the night. My flight left Cleveland the next morning and before I flew out, I had to visit my Mecca - the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.



For a woman who grew up with the songs of Elvis, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendricks playing in her room, this was like the holy land. To see the actual piece of paper that Purple Haze was written on and the family Bible that Elvis had, or the Porsche that Janis Joplin cruised in, or the piano the John Lennon sat and wrote some of the greatest songs in R&R history at ....well, there really are no words. You're not allowed to take pictures in the museum, but I did snap one of Johnny Cash's tour bus that was outside the meseum.




I know it sounds a bit pathetic, but to be that close to musicians you admired most was awesome! I spoke with some of the employees at the museum who were also musicians and those people truly LOVED their jobs. I don't know if they even cared that they were getting paid to be there every day. The love that someone can posses over a silly little piece of music creates a passion that is overwhelming.

Party Time

And after the wonderful ceremony, the Anderson's must get their party hats on! The social time, reception, dinner, and dance were all located in the hotel where the ceremony was held.

My favorite person in the world....Heather with her husband (aka my cousin) Dave



The other adorable flower girl



Don't know what kind of dance this is but you see a lot of it at wedding celebrations in my family



The father/daughter dance



Cori dancing with her uncle Joel



Joel with a college buddy



Who let these guys get on stage?




Me and the only single eligible bachelor at the wedding



Joel dancing with the flower girl



And yes Just Mom.....I caught the bouquet!!!! What can I say...I made a wonderful bride. Always a bride, never a bridesmaid

The Wedding

My cousin Joel's wedding was beautiful!

The Groom and his boys



How adorable is this little flower girl???



Becky and her father







That magic kiss



The newlyweds

PA - Part 1

Now that my summer semester is complete, I can finally get around to blogging....which is way more fun than going to school in the summer anyway.WARNING - the next few posts will have a mega number of pictures!

After Alex's baseball game, he and I drove to Minneapolis which is about a 4-hour drive from where we currently live. My flight left MSP at 10:00am and Alex was staying with his aunt and uncle in Eagan....which is where we're from. Alex stayed awake the entire trip up to the last 5 minutes of the drive chatting about how sure he was that Terry and Kathy (the aunt and uncle) missed him and how happy they would be to see him. Yeah...no security issues here.

My cousin Jody's daughter LaTasha flew with me since this was her first time flying and she was unsure of where to go and what to do. Being older and wiser and wanting to look out for the best interest of cousin Jody's daughter, I offered her advice that came in a pretty champagne glass called Mimosa's to ease her anxieties.

We had a lay over in Detroit so we met up at another airport bar. The best part about traveling for me is meeting people and I am a social sally when I'm on the road so kicking back in a bar was fun fun fun.



I just packed everything into one bag and carried it onto the plane, but Tash packed her apartment into a suitcase. Upon arriving in Cleveland, we realized that the airline left her bag in Detroit. Tash was singing at the wedding and everyhting was in her bag (literally everything she owned....she packed) so we ended up waiting in Cleveland for four hours until the next flight from Detroit arrived with her bag. The hotel where the wedding was at was in Cambridge Springs, PA and that's a two hour drive from Cleveland. I told Tash...you'd better stay awake and help me navigate. "Okay Amanda" she says. Thirty minutes into the drive...Tash is snoring away.

The area of PA where we needed to be at was located near Erie. The hotel had this antique ambiance to it and both LaTasha and I said, upon walking into the hotel, "It smells like Grandma Anderson's house".
I totally got lost going to the hotel and navigating was difficult because the area is a common wealth area and it is just township after township. The farm houses are right off of the road without driveways and there are tons of curves so you're only driving like 40mph. It's also a huge Amish area....which I will tell more about tomorrow.

No Holla from Detroit

I'm still trying to get back to Minneapolis!!! Holy cats...this flight home has been a pain! First I was running late which is my own fault since I decided to drive to the Rock & Roll hall of fame before leaving Cleaveland.

A 25 minute wait at the rental car drop off, I get to the airport to discover the national security threat level has been boosted which meant they were limiting what I could carry on to the airplane. I hate checking my bags so I just threw the junk out which included a coffee mug that I just purchased from Niagara Falls the day before - bummer dude.

So, I'm sitting at an on-line cafe because I was suppose to have my Money, Banking, and Financial Markets test taken before 11:45 tonight and I was intending to take it when I arrived at my aunt and uncles home in Minneapolis, but obviously that's not happening so I guess I'm taking it at the airport. I was so excited to see Alex tonight...I started crying when I told him I wouldn't see him until Tuesday morning :(

And...I hate the Detroit airport. I've flown in this airport a few times and it smells funny, it's difficult to navigate, Detroit lost my cousin's luggage on the way to Cleveland and we had to wait 5 hours for it to arrive, and the guy sitting in front of me in the cafe keeps burping really loud. I'm 10 minutes away from throwing something at him. Seriously....what's that all about?

Detroit gets no Holla from me - that's for sure~

Holla from Milwaukee

Per amber's advice, I am updating my blog midtravrl from my blackberry. I am currenty in Milwaukee drinking my coffee before I go through security. There are no liquids allowed past the gates because my skinny latte evidently post a serious threat to security.Don't get me wrong, I am very greatful to do what I need to do for security, even if that means finishing my coffee before going through security.
Alex and I had a good drive to Minneapolis last night. Minneapolis is about a four hour drive from where we live now and I use to drive that every weekend. I was clearly out of my mind.
So yesterday I was checking out blogs and I wandered over to my friend Tracy's blog. A four letter word slipped out of my mouth when I saw Dawson in football. Alex was signed up but with me currently in school and Alex participating in, baseball, bible school, and golf, I forgot all about football camp!!
! We are staying in Minneapolis Monday and Tuesday as well so there was no point to take him to camp for one day. Way to drop the ball on that one Tracy!!!
Oh the picture above is of me and my cousin's daughter having mammosa at the Minneapolis airport. We ordered one and the waitress asked if it was 8:00 yet. Hello... It's 5:00 somewhere now give momma here booze! I am on vacation!!!

Weekend Fun!!!

I'm so excited...and I just can't hide it!!! I had my last presentation for my information systems class last night and this weekend, I am flying to Pennsylvania for my cousin's wedding! The bride and groom actually live in Minneapolis, but they are getting married in PA so the Anderson clan is road tripping! I haven't been able to get together with my family for awhile so I am jazzed! When my cousins and I get together, it's non stop laughs!!

So have a great weekend and I'll have lots of pictures and stories to share when I arrive home on Wednesday!