July 29th, 30th, 31st, August 1st, 1999
There's absolutely NOTHING like having an opportunity to spend time with your chat buds! Martin and I were so thrilled to get a chance to spend a long weekend in Minnesota with Fred and her husband, John...wait...um...is his name John, or is it BOB? Oh, well...it doesn't matter. Whatever his name is, he's certainly a good shit!
**THURSDAY**
We were picked up at the airport by Troy and Tysca. They were right on time!! After hugs all around, we rode around in the parking garage for a while. Damn, they make those parking garages up North REALLY complicated! (Right, Troy??) I guess EXIT means something else for those from the Mid-West.
FINALLY, we got to our hotel! When we pulled into the parking lot, there was BOB'S TRUCK! Truly a legend, I've heard "BOB'S TRUCK" stories for months now. I HAD to take some pictures!
((Oh! By the way...click on the link for the picture, and then on your browser's BACK button to return!))
BOB'S TRUCK
It's a beauty!!!
Before long, we had checked in to the hotel, gotten unpacked, and then made our way to room 612...THE PARTY ROOM!! There was Fred, and her family, John (BOB), Katie, and Max! It was great to finally meet them all. We messed around in the room for quite a while....check out the pics!
Fred Relaxing
Martin steals her spot.
Martin is ready with the $100 bills.
Fred's reaction!!!!!!
HEY!! What are they smiling about??
Troy and Max try a few competive games...."Thumbwrestling" and "Let's see if the big guy can beat up the little kid."
Thumbwrestling!
Troy says, "I can take ya lying down!"
Guess who wins THIS one!
Now, it's time for the Tysca and Troy Olympics!! First event...the bed jump!
Ty's Olympic jump.
Troy's turn...stylin' and profilin'!
Ty gets the gold medal.
Troy gets to sit beside Ty!
Aww....he's upset cause he dint win.
LMAO..not really!
Ty decided on the way to Minneapolis that she was going to go skydiving. John (BOB) and Fred told her about a wonderful skydiving place that was near their home, and only about an hour from our motel. She called and got all of the information, and I offered to try it with her....on TWO conditions! 1) Martin would let me go. 2) The skydiving place dint have any health restrictions for allowing you to jump. (ummm...well, it asked on the form if you had any heart problems...but...um...I LIED!)
Ty calling home.
She's telling her family that we plan to skydive. GO, MOM!!!
We went out to eat, and then to hunt for a liquor store, but everything was closed when we got there. I guess that the Olympics took longer than we thought. We headed back to the bar in the hotel for awhile, and then decided to adjoun the proceedings to the party room. We sat around and talked and talked and talked and talked. Funny, how you can say SO much when you don't have to type it all. Ty got in the bed, and drifted in and out of sleep all during the "party time." (Either she was really really tired, or we were really really boring!)
Kay takes a picture of the mirror.
Troy watches, Ty watches.
LMAO...no wonder she is bored!
Ty sleeps, while Troy calls and checks in with Laurie.
No, Dear, I'm NOT gonna jump out of a plane.
Ty wakes up when Troy starts rearranging the furniture.
We talked into the wee hours of the morning....cause that's what you are supposed to do at chat reunions! Finally, I gave up and headed to bed. Little did I know, but Friday was gonna be a fun-filled action-packed day!!! One of the exciting activities...We find the liquor store...and it's OPEN!!
**FRIDAY**
We woke up bright and early on....wait.....no...we woke up draggin' a bit, and it wasn't as early as it seemed, but we were awake and we were ready and it was Friday! We all met in the lobby and headed to the restaurant for breakfast...FREE BUFFET! After a leisurely breakfast, we loaded up and headed shopping...first stop....THE LIQUOR STORE!
Martin and Troy pose after looking over the possibilities.
Ty waits to pay for her beer.
There's a story about that beer! Ty bought ONE of those beers, cause she wanted to try it out. The rest of the beer was Sam Adams Summer Ale, but this particular one caught her eye. When we got all the beer back to the party room and in the cooler, that poor beer just sat there being ignored. Late on Saturday night, Troy reached into the cooler and grabbed a beer and dint notice that what he grabbed wasn't a Sam Adams, but was instead Ty's SPECIAL beer. He, of course, opened it, took a drink, and immediately knew that he had made a mistake. He knew right away that he was in trouble....BIG trouble. He had, supposedly by mistake, opened the ONE bottle of Ty's special beer. Of course, he had to do the "man thang" and begin plotting a way to blame it on someone else. Ok...here's his plan: he figures that no matter what he says, he is gonna get the blame, cause we were blaming him for everything. So he figures that if he says that Fred did it, she would automatically say that HE did it (which he did), but he was hoping that Ty would think that Fred was blaming him just because we were blaming him for everything anyway, and he wouldn't be in a HUGE amount of trouble...follow? Well, you had to be there, I reckon!! Oh, and btw, IT DINT WORK....he still got yelled at! And all for about 2 sips of "some kind of tequila-lemon flavored SHIT, LMAO"<---his words!!
Fred loads up on Sam Adams.
Ty finishes paying for "the beer."
After the liquor store, we shopped for awhile at Target, and then headed for the Mall of America. WOW!!! We scoped out Camp Snoopy, and Ty and I KNEW that we were gonna have to ride the Mighty Axe and the Roller Coaster. It was already planned that we were gonna ride the Ferris Wheel...BUT..we dint have time...we needed to get back to the hotel, cause it was time for Mkate to get there!!!!!!!!!! We headed back to the hotel, and hung out in the lobby to wait!
Fred behaving...Troy NOT behaving.
HEY! Ty is stealing my digital welcome!!
Mkate makes it safely to Minneapolis!!
Mkate isn't gonna get to check in until 4:00, so we load up and head to Hutchinson to check out the skydiving. We wanna get more information and find out what we can before we commit to actually jumping out of a plane. It took about an hour to get there, and man, were we impressed with the whole operation. We talked to Rose, one of the owners, and she set our mind at ease about the safety, and we lucked out..she had two openings to jump in the next group to go!! WE WERE PSYCHED!! But, dang it, a storm was coming, so no one was able to go up. As soon as she told us, we asked about the possibility of going on Saturday. Whewww, we got lucky again....she had two openings to jump at 4:00...YEE HAWWW..WE WERE GONNA DO IT! We hung around for a bit to watch the skydivers that were lucky enough to make it up before the weather changed.
Fred and Martin sit outside and watch as the skydivers land.
Mkate and Ty watch from just inside the building.
We all watch the skydivers as they land.
The chutes are loaded, and the divers get ready!
While we were in Hutchinson, we were only about 10 minutes from Fred and John's (BOB'S), so we talked her into taking us to her house for a visit. We were anxious to get to see where she lived....um...well, we were anxious to get at her computer!
Ty sits quietly and plans.
BOB entertains his guests.
Ty makes her move.
Troy relaxes with a beer,
while Ty tries to figure a way to get at Fred's computer.
Fred at her computer...
Ty has to wait her turn.
Fred is a great sharer! Ty and I both get a turn at the keyboard...well, I guess you can call it a keyboard. Fred has one of those split thangs...I swear, I couldn't tell where my fingers were supposed to go!! Before we left, we all went outside with John to admire his boat...TFB!
Troy sticks a hanger up (on) (in) (something) his nose.
Notice that he has ANOTHER beer. (Troythebeerboy!)
Ty takes a picture of me taking a picture of her.
We loaded up once again and headed back to Minneapolis and the hotel. After supper there, we headed BACK to the Mall of America...it's time to take over Camp Snoopy!!
First stop, the Mighty Axe...one hellacious ride! Ty and I figure that if we are planning to jump out of a plane, we can conquer this ride! God, it was a blast!! The first thing it does is turn you upside down....and then starts swinging you around! Then, you go around and upside down...YEEE HAWWWW!!
Next, the roller coaster! Again, only Ty and I went rode it...it was fun, but NOTHING compared to the thrill of the Mighty Axe!!!!
We headed back to the hotel, and did the required late night talking thang again. Troy and Martin and I even played cribbage for awhile! Finally, we all headed for bed....we have a BIG day tomorrow!
**SATURDAY**
This is it...THE DAY!! Man, I was excited! I knew that at some point, I would be jumping out of a plane!
We started the day at the breakfast buffet, and then loaded up and headed for the mall...again! Today, we did some shopping and then went to Underwater World! What a wonderful aquarium! We stood on the "people mover" while we went thru underwater tunnels and watched fish swim all around us. God, it was AWESOME!
After the mall, we headed back to the hotel. Mkate had a note from Bazzie and NPN that they were in, but they were nowhere to be found. I checked the pool, while others checked all of the rooms. (They were at the mall, LMAO!) Mkate decided to wait at the hotel, and the rest of us loaded up for our trip back to Hutchinson...YEEEE HAWWWWW! It's time to skydive!!!
We get there, and YES, we are totally completely excited. We watch the video that tells us all of the legal ramifications involved....bottom line...don't sue us, you are the one who is stoopid enough to jump out of a plane!
We have to wait for a bit before it's time to get ready. That was the HARD part...just hanging in the hangar!
Martin snaps my pic.
Troy messes with a camera.
Martin was so precious during all of this. He DID NOT want me to go, but he wasn't about to tell me "NO!". Bless his heart, he really held together pretty well during the whole thang! (I have, however, been requested NOT to do anything like this again!!)
Bless his heart!
(Poor guy has to put up with a lot!)
Finally, it's time to start getting ready!
Ty starts to suit up!
Almost ready!!
Shawn helps Ty with the rigging.
Totally intense??...or totally skeered??
Worthless talks to Ty and helps calm her fears.
Where would we have been without Worthless? Bryan Worth was the videographer, and was "assigned" to Ty to do her video! What a wonderful guy with a wonderful sense of humor, and a wonderful way with people! Sighhh...he was just WONDERFUL!
I check out the "hat" I'll have to wear.
This does NOT look very fashionable!
Please check out the cutie on the left!
That's Jay...MY tandem guy!
Nope, not at all fashionable!
Hey, Worthless? What are you laughing at???
A pose with Worthless...
Oh my...what is Shawn doing to Ty??
Now it's my turn to get ready.
Don'cha just love it when a guy helps ya get dressed?
Jay helps me with the LONG sleeves.
Ty and Worthless continue to work on those nerves.
I watch closely as Jay makes all the connections on my rigging.
It's important that he doesnt forget something....
....and do you really think that I'D have a clue if he forgot something??
One last look back as we head for the plane!
And then....we took off!
Fred, BOB, and Martin wait.
Martin points out the plane to Fred.
By then it was a tiny silver dot in the sky.
It was an incredible experience....no doubts about that!
And I was out of film...so I don't have any "after" pics, BUT...check out Ty's Skydiving Page...there's a link at the bottom of this page!
After we celebrated, we moved the group to Applebee's for supper! We were all so excited, we announced to everyone there that we had jumped out of a plane!!
And then...back to the hotel! We were all looking forward to seeing Bazzie and NPN...assuming that they had been found! We made it to the party room...and I found my other camera...and I HAVE 2 PICTURES LEFT!!!
We had to relive it again!
Ty is "freefalling" from the bed...
...I'm in the first position...the one where the tandem guy does all the work!
And my last picture......dang it!!!
Bazzie, Martin, NPN, and Mkate sit around and "chat."
Saturday night was SO much fun...we hung out on the balcony, had LOTS to drink, and just had a blast being together!
**SUNDAY**
Sunday morning, we all met together for breakfast...that free buffet again, and then it was time to get ready to go! After tearful goodbyes, Troy and BOB took Martin and me to the airport to head back home. WHAT A WONDERFUL AND EXCITING WEEKEND!!!
Please check out these links.....
Ty's Minnesota pics.
And...don't forget to take a look at how BRAVE we are!
You've GOTTA see....
Ty's skydiving pics.
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