the wrap up...

we stopped at the bathrooms.
on the way in, i didn't even notice the really
cool row of phone booths against the wall.

as i came out, they were right in front of my face.
i gasped 'wow! look!'

i glanced over at noah and zakk sittin' on a bench
waiting, and then i slipped into one of the phone
booths. picked up the phone and pretended to make
a call. just cause those phone booths were too cool.
you HAD to go in 'em. zakk and noah saw me and
just kept waiting. they're patient fellas.

when i was done with my call, i went and sat with
them and waited for josh.

josh came out of the men's room, saw the phone booths,
gasped and said 'wow! look!' and headed straight for
them and slipped in the same one i had slipped in.

i couldn't believe it. he did EXACTLY the same thing.
i laughed and laughed and looked at noah and zakk.
they're gettin' so used to this from josh and i that
they just shake their heads.

josh needed pictures of himself. so i took a few of
him in the phone booth. and laughed when he pulled out
his cell and talked on his cell in there.

and then off we went.

when i bought a couple greeting cards at the gift shop,
the cashier handed me my receipt with a confused look
on her face. i had on my 'st. cloud university' tee shirt
that bob had given me. she looked at my receipt with
my name on it. 'does your family own the university?'
she asked.

i smiled.
'my name sorta came from there' i said and left it at that,
lovin' the confusion on her face.

we were at the art galleries again.
we were just here a few weeks ago, and i couldn't
believe it, but the guys wanted to go again.
and i double couldn't believe it when i noticed it was
where zakk seemed to come most alive.

in the art gallery???

i asked him about it.
in his ever verbal way he said 'i like art.'

and so we wandered.
plopped in front of a painter we all really liked.
i was pretty sure they had more of this painter at another
gallery. would they like to see those?

and then i realized that maybe they had enough galleries,
and backed off. we can do that another time.

nope.
zakk pushed for more.

wait a minute.
back up.
zakk pushed for more????

and so off we went to the other gallery....

finishing up with the galleries, we sat with coffee
at a railroad station. waiting for trains.
josh loves trains...he wanted to take some pictures.

so we sat, sipped, and waited.
sure enough....one came along.
and josh went wild with the camera.

the rest of us sat, sipped and waited.

it was our last day of goofin'.
and it was splendid.

as we cozied in last nite we talked of favorite moments,
favorite places...we talked of each stop we had made.
there were so many good ones.

we had packed a lot into the last three days.
vacation.
it turned out wonderful.
budgeting and all.

there'll be more day trips for sure. but it's
the rare thing to hook three days of them in a row.
there's something so festive about it.

and while it wasn't the vacation i wished i could give
them...at the same time, it was.