An Anniversary Trip with the Prchal's

Part 2 to yesterday's post.  Start HERE if you haven't read "Up North" yet!

I love Tom, obviously.  But sometimes he can be a bit much to handle on my own.  He is very high energy, I am very not high energy.  He likes to do anything and everything outdoors, I like to sleep in and go to the spa.

Last year we went to Lutsen (another "up North" spot) in the winter to get some much needed R & R and ended up hiking a mountain very steep hill with about a foot of snow on it.  Tom literally had to push my fat ass up the hill.  So this year when we started talking about getting away for our anniversary I had a wonderful idea.  Let's invite Eric & Kim to join us.  That way when Tom wants to go hike Eric can go with him and Kim and I can go shop and get our nails done.

So Tom and I went to Pequot Lakes Friday, spent our actual anniversary just the two of us and Eric & Kim came up Sunday.  It was the perfect plan...until the first morning when they were calling at 9am.  The first thing I said to Tom? "We need friends that sleep in!"

Now last Sunday you know there was a BIG football game (Vikings vs. Packers).  The Vikings had to win (which they did) to make it to the playoffs.  We decided to go to a sports bar to watch the game.  When we walked in we saw a line of crockpots on a table and a ton of people.  (spell check wants me to change crockpots to crackpots.  No spell check we did not see a bunch of crackpots when we walked in).  At first I thought maybe we'd walked into a private party or a potluck, but oh no we'd walked into the annual Spam cook-off.  Right up our alley!  The announcer went over the rules on how to vote and told everyone it was $1 to try everything and vote.  Tom tried to give me $1 (probably the only time he's ever willingly given me money) but I quickly refused.  Seriously, you want me to try everything Spam???  No thank you!

Luckily we arrived at the bar a little while before the game started (and the spam cook-off) because we got the last 4 stools at the bar.  They were actually perfect seats.  Right in front of a big TV, right in front of the crazy waitress who told us she would let a celebrity beat her for money or something, and right in front of the popcorn machine.  Within .2 seconds Eric asked the first waitress 55 questions and we basically never saw her again the entire game.  We ordered drinks and got cozy as the game began.

I quickly realized the best "small town" action was actually in the bathroom where one trip lead me to the middle of a conversation between a mother and daughter.  The mother was telling the daughter she was mad that her boyfriend got her a new laptop for Christmas because she didn't want her going to college, and the second trip landed me in the middle of a grandma trying to help her grandson go to the bathroom.  The grandson decided he needed to get completely naked to go (sorta reminded me of my brother and the freezing cold Chinese restaurant in Illinois) and also wanted confirmation that after he went the grandma would go too so he could flush both the potties down.  *Disclaimer...I do realize both of these situations could have happened anywhere not just a small town*

By the fourth quarter the drinks had been flowing for a while and the game was close.  When the Vikings finally pulled ahead and won Eric, who is not small to say the least, stood up in the middle of the bar and started chanting, "MVP, MVP".  At once the bar quieted and everyone started staring.  It was awesome.  Kim and I died laughing and Eric sat down like nothing had happened.  Don't we all fit in so well?!?

The next morning Kim and I decided to do a little shopping at the local stores and get manicures.  We found some sweet fleece lined leggings, grabbed a cup of coffee, and headed to the "salon".  You may be wondering why the word "salon" is in quotes...because really it was in a house.  After Kim and I got a bit freaked out about it we ran inside to escape the -15* weather.  It started out normal enough, the heat was broken, an old lady was confused about her appointment time, and we were 10 minutes late.  You know, normal!  Well things got a bit not normal after that.  I tried on about 77 different nail polish colors while Kim was getting her manicure and ended up getting nail polish all over everything.  Our manicurist started telling us all about how she and her boyfriend broke up but still lived together, the guys called us and told us to go get fishing licenses for Eric & Kim (sam hell do you do that?) and then we learned about how people poop on the floor of the salon.  It was the craziest manicure of all time!  After we were finished we quickly paid and left.  By the time I got back to the hotel and changed my manicure looked like this:

This is not my real hand but a pic I found online.  My manicure looked worse than this.

Biggest waste of money ever.  I tried to hide it from Tom as long as I could, but he noticed pretty quickly and asked if it was a new nail painting technique.  Yes shit paint is a new technique Tom, yes yes it is.

After the manicure massacre we headed out ice fishing again.  We really wanted to catch some big fish so we decided to go out with a guide who would put us right on the biggies, Walleye.  We met "Trax" as Kim thought his name was, it was actually Ryan and followed him to the lake.  He then put a 4 wheeler on the ice with a trailer hooked to it and told us to get on.  We all piled on the trailer with our stuff (you know pizza, beer, whiskey, cookies...regular stuff you take ice fishing) and headed to the house.  The house was a permanent ice house with a wall heater, beds, and 6 holes to fish out of.  Kim was hilarious because she'd never been ice fishing before.  When Tom asked Ryan how deep we were fishing Kim thought that was how deep the ice was, 24 feet!  And when there was a boom Kim screamed and was ready to be done.  I have to admit I was the same way the first time I went ice fishing last year.  Even Tyler, my then 4 year old nephew made fun of me.

Eric and Ryan were the only successful catchers.  Ryan caught a walleye and Eric caught a walleye and a northern.  Although it wasn't great fishing we still had a ton of fun.

We had reservations that night (NYE) at Manhattans.  They were serving a 6 course dinner.  It was fancy and delicious.  They had loaded Bloody Mary's that lived up to their name, and food that was to die for.  During dinner Eric and Kim got to witness what I deal with everyday.  Tom's mumbling and asking what every 5 seconds.  Eric started saying what constantly and has now been a running joke ever since.  WHAT??  They say it when it doesn't make sense, at the end of almost every sentence, and just because it is too quiet what.  Now I don't know if Tom is really asking what? or just saying what.  My life is confusing.

Kim and I rang in 2013 getting a tan in our pj's (sitting on lounge chairs inside the pool area at the hotel) and the guys rang in 2013 in the pool with some other weirdo.  It was magical to say the least what.!.  Tom had bad acid reflux and Eric had bad butt flux (you can decide what that might mean) but we kissed them at midnight just the same.  We love our guys :)

The Prchal's and Mullin's certainly hope your NYE was as magical as ours, and wish you health and happiness in the coming year.

XO XO,

what.

"Up North"

8 years ago I was a shop-aholic, had never really been camping (unless you count OLS at Camp Wawenock), and defined a vacation as somewhere out of state with a beach.  Not that there is anything at all wrong with that, secretly I sort of admire people who still get to be / think that.  But 8 years ago (give or take) when I walked into that stupid Stretch & Tone Class, my life changed...I met Tom.

During our first summer together we decided to get-a-way for a week.  Tom suggested the Wisconsin Dells (the waterpark capital of the USA) and I was totally on board.  I hadn't been to many water parks, but figured it must be better than White Water University in Des Moines, IA with its two water slides and a wave pool.  He said he would make the plans and I was happy to let him.  When the time finally came I packed my bags and drove to meet him in MN (I was living in IA that summer) and we would head to Wisconsin (No I don't know the abbreviation for Wisconsin and am too lazy to look it up) from there.  When I arrived in MN he was packing a lot of stuff.  Coolers, Flashlights, big long bags with poles in them, wood, and I was a little confused to say the least.  I asked him what all the stuff was for and his answer??? "for our campsite."  Pretty sure my jaw hit the floor when I realized we were going camping for a week.  He swears he told me, but I must have had selective hearing or thought he was joking.

Something close to the look I probably gave him when he told me we were camping for a week.

Well I obviously survived that camping trip, and honestly it was one of the best / most fun trips (most fun???  Not sure if that's proper grammar but whateves) I've ever had.  A whole new world was opened up to me.

Tom and me at the Wisconsin Dells...man we were skinny.

The whole point of telling you that story is to give you some idea of how much my life has changed (for the better) since meeting, dating, and marrying Tom.  Let's now fast forward from 2005 to last week.

Last week December 29 was our 5 year wedding anniversary, my how the time flies.  It seems like just yesterday I was getting ready to walk down the aisle.

Love this pic from our wedding.

Since 5 years is sorta a big deal Tom and I decided we wanted to get-a-way for the long weekend.  We didn't have the monetary means to go some where far, and didn't want to have to drive too far, so we decided to go "up north".  Now to many of you who think I already live in Canada, I know I live up North already.  But there is a saying Minnesotans use when they are going to Northern Minnesota...they say, "we are going up north" and everyone just knows what it means.

So our "up North" meant the Brainerd Lakes area, more specifically Pequot Lakes.  Pequot Lakes is no more than 2 miles long and has maybe two gas stations, a bait shop, some cute local shops (and by some I mean 2), a salon, and a grocery store.  It's small town at its best.  Everyone is super friendly.  There is not a Starbucks for miles.

We arrived Friday evening to our luxurious jacuzzi fireplace suite and pretty much didn't leave the room until Saturday afternoon to go ice fishing.  Yes, I did say ice fishing.

Last year Tom and I finally found something outside we like to do together, ice fish.  I mostly like to do it because I am a fish slayer and always catch the most fish.  Tom says the only reason I catch the most fish is because he is doing all the work like putting bait on my hook, setting everything up, and taking the fish off my hook, but I say if he really wanted to catch fish he could :).  So yes, we spent our 5 year anniversary ice fishing on Pelican Lake and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way (unless there could have been a beach involved).

Our little set up.  Thanks to Tom's Dad & Mom for letting us borrow steal their ice house these past years.

We literally walked a half mile out to the middle of the lake to set up.  All the white is snow covering the ice that is the lake.

Sunset "up North" in the middle of the lake.

Tom...too concerned with his stogie to catch any fish.  Ladies he's taken...

See I actually have a line in the water.  And yes I am sitting on a bucket, but that's the price you have to pay if you want the seat with the heater facing you :)

Part 2 of our trip "up North" will come tomorrow.  You should probably hold your breath because it's gonna be a good one, maybe, not sure really...well nevermind don't hold your breath that puts too much pressure on me.  It will be mediocre.  We will talk football, spam, more ice fishing, butt flux, and how the word "what" has changed forever.

XO XO,

Fish Slayer Molly