Ticket to ride

My weekend trip has been extensive. Redwood City to SFO to STL to Creve Coeur to Urbana/Champaign to Taylor to Creve Coeur. Tomorrow I am flying back out of STL to SFO then heading back to my apartment in Redwood City.

It has been a wonderful time. My sister, Rachel, and niece, Madeline, were in St. Louis when I got in and I had not seen them since I moved out to California. Madeline is getting so big, and has quite a lot of hair. She is very cute and bonded well with her cousin, Arthur.

I had dinner with the family at a Japanese Restaurant named Oishi which means delicious. If you have never had sushi, I really recommend trying it. The first roll you should probably try is a California roll which has crab, avacado, cucumber, rice, and seaweed.

Later that night, I spent some time with the couple whos wedding I was in this past summer. We had a good chat. I really miss my midwest friends. They are both teaching now, and I am amazed by everyone getting married and having real jobs. Life sure moves fast sometimes.

Every year for the last 29 years the Manger family in Champaign has a weiner roast and hayrack ride. I have not missed one in 22 years. They invite back many people who lived in the area over the years. The event got too big for the U of I students and everyone else to come on the same night, so now the students come on Friday and everyone else on Saturday. I made it to both even though I am no longer a student. Friday was wonderful, we had about one rack of students and the moon was amazing. It was one of the brightest nights I have ever seen, the stars were hardly visible because of the full moon. We had a lot of good fellowship and we sang a number of songs on the hayrack ride. As I talked to others I found out that most of the students that I know really well will be graduating this year, and as I said above, Life sure moves fast sometimes.

The weekend was wonderful, and I was able to pack in a lot of good times. I have some pictures, but won't be able to post them till I get back to California. I also have a cold that I think I got from Arthur, for a little guy he sure has strong germs.