[ Guest Blog: A Minnesota Vacation ]


Is writing, being creative, imaginative or just thinking outside the box even if it is with a pencil or crayon hereditary? Is is something that can be taught? Honestly, I don't know. I like writing, being imaginative and I'm not the only one. Some of my family members are also very talented writers, musicians, painters, singers, storytellers, song writers... the list goes on and on and one. I asked one my sisters to write a guest blog... enjoy!

A Minnesota Vacation
Kylie asked me to write a guest blog about the last week and a half that I spent with her and Jay. For some reason, it’s been really hard to figure out what to say…it might be due to the fact that I didn’t do much of anything while I was there; one afternoon, all I did was lay in the sun and stare at the green trees, although I think that may have been shock after emerging from bare, stubbornly brown Calgary into shockingly green Minnesota (So beautiful! I’m in love!). 

Still…I didn’t really do much of anything while I was visiting, which was exactly what I wanted to do. Somehow, Kylie always manages to accomplish everything on her To-Do list while simultaneously hanging out with me, who is plagued at the beginning of each summer with a desperate, almost feral desire to never work another second of my life (I’m just coming out of this phase, buuuuut I’m not quite in the clear). If I remember correctly, this completely made-up, delusional phase justified the following: I sat in the kitchen and drank coffee while Kylie cooked delicious enchiladas; I curled up with Remy on the floor while she washed the dishes; I laid in the grass while she cleaned up the yard and weeded her front garden; I rode in the back of a trailer while she dragged lawn debris to the burn pile; I slept in while she was up and doing stuff around the house…I’m sure there’s more, but what I’m not convinced of its being interesting enough to put on the internet for people to read, so I’ll stop there.

Despite my post-school apathy (how is it that I’m writing more about myself than Kylie, when this is her blog? Switching the focus as of NOW), we actually did do some stuff! The whole McCoy family went to Wisconsin Dells, which Kylie wrote about earlier. It was so fun! It’s weird how a vertical drop that throws you into a cylinder of raging water can be fun if you just add a tube and three other terrified people to watch on your way down. I really like the McCoy family too, they’re great! So glad Kylie married and became a McCoy, so that my family could include such awesome people!

Also, Kylie and I took a day to go downtown St. Paul. The history center had an exhibit about George Washington on one side (very stately) and a chronology of underwear on the other (not so stately? How would George feel about that, I wonder?). Within blocks on one another is the history center, the capitol building, and the St. Paul Cathedral, so we walked to all of them (actually saw some real live lobbyists in the capitol building…so we have proof that they actually exist. If you don’t believe us, we have pictures!). I loved going downtown and seeing all the history that’s in Minnesota; Oregon’s got nature on its side, but honestly, I’m really tired of hearing about the stupid pioneers. But Minnesota’s older and…cooler! There, I said it, downtown St. Paul has better history than Oregon does. Really cool!

Capital Building Rotunda
Capital Building Supreme Court
St. Paul Cathedral

Haha, also, I can’t write without mentioning our visit to Betsy Simons' house on the lake in order to fulfill my bucket list items of 1) fishing, and 2) going canoeing (Technically, my list specifies my owning of a canoe, but canoeing with Kylie and Betsy while wearing a plaid lifejacket and singing Pocahontas was even better). If you don’t know Betsy Simons, but are reading this blog, you need to immediately befriend her, because 1) she’s incredible, and 2) her house is awesome! She has a tire-swing, a fire pit, a boat, a canoe, a fisherman father who’ll teach you to fish for as long as you want, and a mom whose an excellent cook. AND, to top it all off, they’re all really really nice! Definite friend material, Betsy, definite friend material. 

Swinging, at the courtesy of Jay

Otherwise, we just hung-out. I loved getting to see the life they’ve set up in their farm house since last August. Their home is so pretty, inside and out! Kylie and Jay are good decorators and I can’t believe how beautiful their lawns and woods are. I’m feeling a little homesick, and 1) I was only there a week and a half, and 2) it’s not even my home…that’s how cool it is!

Also, Jay is awesome. Can’t write about my vacation in Minnesota without mentioning how much I love my brother-in-law. He’s really great: he works hard, plays some mean softball, drove us all the way to Wisconsin Dells (or almost all the way? Can’t remember), let me shoot his rifle (was that a rifle? I don’t know now), isn’t ever in a bad mood…yep, the list could keep going, but I’m going to stop. Love you Jay!

Learning to shoot a gun

Practicing campfire skills with lighter fluid & a Christmas tree

  And Kylie. I’m so glad I got to go visit her so soon! I had imagined what her newlywed life was like, but nothing that I imagined was as nice as what it’s actually like! The cuteness of Remy and the mischief of Aruba can only be understood when you meet them (particularly Aruba…you don’t realize how awesome she is until you’re playing hide and seek and she’s taking swipes at your face. Doesn’t seem like that’s how it should work, but that’s how it is). And I know I said this before, but it is so so so beautiful where Jay and Kylie live! The house, the yard, the acres behind them, Minnesota in general: so beautiful. 

Anyway, that was my vacation. Everything was perfect, except for the long plane ride home, which reminded me how inconveniently far Minnesota is from Oregon…can I trade California’s Paris Hilton for Minnesota’s Paul Bunyan? 


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