04 June 2010
So, for possibly the only time this year, I’ll be spending a long weekend outside the Twin Cities. Today, Jennifer, Owen, and I drove up to the town of Hinckley. We picked Jennifer’s mom up along the way, too.
We arrived in town a little too early to check into our hotel, so we stopped off at the local museum, The Great Hinckley Fire Museum. I had only a vague recollection of this bit of history before today, but it turns out that back in September 1894, after a summer of little rain and two decades of over-logging, a firestorm ripped through Hinckley and several other, smaller towns. The museum’s proprietor made a point of informing us that the fire on that day destroyed more acreage than other fires (such as last year’s blaze in California) that lasted for several weeks. The fire was so large that people in Wisconsin reported seeing it. The flames reached over four miles high (though I’m unsure how this was measured). Inside the fire was its own weather system, including tornadoes.
One bit of artwork at the museum was a relief of faces peaking out through the surface of water. I think the piece was titled “Surviving,” a reference to the face that many residents had to lie down in the shallow river for hours with only their nose and mouth peaking above the water in order to survive. The museum also displayed plenty of artifacts that survived the blaze, though many of them were forever changed, such as a block of printer’s letters that were now melted together.
Later, after we checked in to the hotel, we decided to go visit the obelisk and mass grave of the fire’s victims. I asked the woman at the front desk where the monument was, and she told me to just head east down the street, which, in retrospect, I should’ve known, since the street’s name was “Fire Monument Road.” So, we went there and wandered around, looking at the graves and reading the inscriptions. Owen asked a lot of questions.
05 June 2010
Today we celebrated Jennifer’s grandmother’s birthday. The rest of the family came to the hotel and, around 4:00, we ventured over to Grand Casino, where a sign welcomed me on behalf of the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe. I’m not a fan of casinos, but it didn’t really matter since our purpose in going there was to eat at the restaurant. The family was spread over two tables and Jennifer’s grandmother included among her celebrants her brother, her two nephews, three of her children, five of her grandchildren (one of them is Jennifer), and two of her great-grandchildren (one of them is Owen). Many of them have significant others (one of them is me), and so they were all there, too. She received many cards, a couple of gift a cake that read “happy birthday,” and a kiss from the busboy. I think she had a good time.
Me, I ate too much.
06 June 2010
Today started off in the hotel. The hotels rooms, I should mention, have beds that are a little on the small side. I mean, if you’re all alone, there’s plenty of room in the bed, but if there are more than three people staying in your room, then someone’s gotta share a bed, and there ain’t much room. On Friday night, Owen shared a bed with Jennifer, but last night, he slept in my bed. I didn’t get much sleep. I hate that realization when, after tossing and turning for about two hours, your realize that this is going to be “one of those nights.” It wasn’t totally Owen’s fault. I’ve slept just fine with him against me in the past (though now he’s bigger). But I couldn’t seem to get the sheets right – in fact, the sheet I was sleeping on ended about six inches before the mattress, meaning that my toenails caught on the fabric of the mattress a few times. The pillows were right, either. Plus, like I said, I ate too much last night, and even a quick foray into the casino’s bathroom to vomit some of it out didn’t seem to rid me of the weird tasting beer, the too-much-caffeine, and the red meat I’d consumed.
So, anyway, I probably got a total of three hours of sleep last night. We took in the continental breakfast (I went very easy on my stomach), Owen and I jumped in the pool for the third and final time, then we packed up and left.
I was looking forward to a relaxing evening today, and a good sleep tonight, but just as we got home, we realized we left Owen’s stuffed bear (“Hop-hop”) at the hotel. Why didn’t I realize this sooner! This bear was custom made by Owen at the Build-a-Bear Factory last year on his 4th birthday, and has become, in the 12 months since then, his most prized possession. The bear has really helps Owen with his imaginative play (something he never did before last year) and has been a mainstay of Owen’s bedtime routines.
I’m not sure how we forgot him. As my wife said, that bear is just something that’s always with us, so we just assume he always there, the same way you don’t contentiously think about grabbing your keys or your wallet. Hop-hop must’ve gotten hidden under the blankets during the night, and was out of sight at the time we were exiting the room for the last time.
We called the hotel in the hopes of locating Hop-hop and getting him sent home. The lady I spoke with found the bear, verified my address (a good thing, since she had the address wrong), and said he’d be sent out in the mail tomorrow.
Tonight, as I suspected, Owen was a little saddened by the absence of his favorite stuffed animal. When our intercom system buzzed (just some kids hitting it by accident or as a prank), Owen thought it was the mailman, making a special 9:30pm run to our apartment. Sorry, buddy, no such luck.
All in all, though, I think Owen handled the situation better than I did. We’ll be on the lookout for a friend to arrive via US postage later in the week…