The weekend after I came back from Peru I went to visit some of the bioarchaeology students. We agreed to meet at Beckies’ in Indiana, which was kind of a central location. I didn’t have a license since my wallet was stolen so I spent one of my few days in Columbia standing in line at the DOT (Department of Transportation).
The drive was uneventful which is good. My iPod kept me company. It’s weird driving so far alone because I’m used to taking turns with Kristin. The highlight of our get-together was the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin. That was some week! Over the course of a few days I went from Peru to Missouri to the Renaissance.
The Faire was good, and I had a lot of delicious food like cinnamon roasted almonds and a portabella mushroom burger. It started to rain though. A lot. Since only Andrea’s boyfriend was smart enough to bring an umbrella, the majority of us got completely soaked.
{So very cold.}
The next day I was going to visit Anna and Anthony at their new house and spend the night. I had the morning and afternoon to do whatever I wanted so I went to the Field Museum in Chicago. There was a new exhibit on the peopling of the Americas as well as a few temporary exhibits on dinosaurs and Darwin. It was like it was custom-made for me!
As it turned out, the exhibit on dinosaurs was kind of lame. When I pay money to see stuff on dinosaurs, I expect robots! But instead it was more on biomechanics and adaptation. What?! There was a cool walking model of a T-rex skeleton but the rest was very boring. The Darwin exhibit was also just Ok. They had a lot of actual items Darwin used, but I didn’t find that very interesting. That’s probably why I don’t do historical archaeology. Now if they had his bones….
I did get some cool pictures of the Field Museum. Well, not of the two exhibits I paid for since there was no photography allowed in those (another sign of a ripoff).
{A Moche portrait sculpture.}
I was a little late getting back on the road but I made it to Anna and Anthonys’ that evening. They had just gotten their own house so I wanted to bring them a housewarming present. I didn’t really know what to get so I asked myself “What would I want for a housewarming present?” That was a dangerous question. If I asked “What would Kristin want?” I’d come up with some kitchen gadget or new sheets. But I’m not really into those. I would want a Wii. So back in those few days in Columbia I went to Super Walmart on a lark to see if they had any in stock. As it turned out, they had four so I got one for them and I had it with me as I stopped by.
It was a really fun weekend seeing everybody again. Two weeks later, last weekend, I was on the road again, but only to St. Louis. Anna and Anthony were in town for a wedding and they invited me to lunch at the Schafly Bottleworks. They had an interesting menu with bison, venison, and lots of vegetarian choices, but their food was just so-so. Dinner was a lot better: we went to Gian-Tony’s for some swanky Italian food. The wait staff was eerily helpful and we almost didn’t notice that we sat next to the main hallway in the restaurant. Between us all we had plans to see the City Museum, the Laumeier Sculpture Park, and the zoo, but we spent the rest of the day digesting the gigantic amount of pasta we had. All in all it was a really fun trip. I even found a comic store near the brewery.
My wanderlust is pretty much gone now so I think I’ll be in Columbia for the next month or so. But in the future I plan to visit the family, and who knows what else is out there?