raspberry adventures
I’m not going to fireworks tonight, but it still was a a good holiday.
I wasn’t with the boys, but still had fun and got to relax.
I got to be wrong many times today, and I learned a lot…not much useful in the grand scheme of things but useful none the less.
It all started this morning by waking up at 2 minutes before 7 am. XH was supposed to be here to pick up the boys at 7, in order to go to the Guitar Center’s big 4th of July sale. (I don’t even want to contemplate the possiblity that he has money to spend at the Guitar Center while I’m trying to figure out how to buy groceries next week.)
I jumped out of bed and woke the boys, let the dog out, and hit the bathroom myself.
Woke the boys again.
Let the dog in, unlocked the front door, fed the dog, the downstairs fish and started the tea pot.
Boys came downstairs around 10 after and sat in the living room.
X showed up around 15 after.
From the porch asks me: “so, are they up yet?”
Hand X his Rolling Stone magazine and he informs me that “I’ve changed the address on this so this should be the last one that comes here.”
[I think...gee, only 20 months after you move out, why the rush?]
I say “ok”
DS1 goes upstairs to get something.
DS2 puts on shoes.
I hug them and they leave.
Now it’s time to feed the dog, load the car and get going! The plan is to pick up YM, and drive out to my mom’s and pick them up then go raspberry picking. Hang out at mom’s for the afternoon and take part in her neighbor picknic then hit the road and be home before fireworks.
On my way to YM’s house I call the raspberry farm…just to check.
“No, we’re not picking raspberries until tomorrow. It’s every-other-day right now.”
Great. Call mom, tell her. She doesn’t get the newspaper, have internet or even, apparently a descent yellowpages. So when YM and I get out there, they have no plan B.
Sis has her computer with her, but no internet access. No problem! There’s lots of corporate coffee places in the area, we’ll go find one with wireless. So YM, Sis and I hop in the car.
Walking distance from mom’s house is a Dunn Bros. Coffee. I drive past saying something like “It’s always a crap shoot whether these have internet and I don’t want to stop a million times…let’s just go to Caribou.” And we drive on.
About a mile away we pull into the Caribou. Sis tries the computer. There’s a wireless network but not free. T-Mobile and they charge a pretty penny.
Hop back in the car, try the starbucks a couple blocks back.
But wait! There’s a signal from the Bruegger’s Bagel Shop. So we pull in there. Nice strong signal but for whatever reason, Sis can’t get out to the ‘net.
Back in the car, across the street and the parking lot to the Starbucks. Got a signal. Yes! It’s T-mobile. Damn.
At this point, gentle reader, we’ve been gone about 30-40 minutes. I’m a little testy so decide that we will drive out to the Dakota County airport and check the “other” berry/apple farm we passed a couple of weeks ago when we went strawberry picking.
Beautiful day for a drive.
The apple farm is about 6-7 miles south of mom’s place. And it has lots of apple trees, lots of strawberry plants and not much else.
Ok, drive back north to mom’s.
Quick detour into the parking lot to check the Caribou in Lakeville. At this point, I’m ready to put in my T-Mobile ID and spend the money. Sis sits down to boot up the computer and YM and I go to the counter to order. Me a small dark-roast and she gets a cinnamon scone to share and some gum…get rid of the coffee breath, no doubt.
Sis is laughing at this point. This Caribou has no wireless. But now we have this scone, so we sit down for a coffee break. We’ve been gone a little over an hour at this point.
There are a couple of Lakeville’s finest in the coffee shop so I ask them. “Know where there’s any raspberry farms around?” They haven’t got a clue. Ok. Well, how about wireless access. Sure. They know where there’s an internet cafe. There’s this Dunn Bros. Coffee on the very south end of Apple Valley, on Galaxy Drive.
O
M
G
By this point we are laughing, because really, what else could you do? They’re laughing at me and I’m laughing at me, too.
Back in the car. Back to the Dunn Bros. Not only does this Dunn Bros. have free internet access, they have surfing computers available on the counter…just like at the library.
They’re slow as molasses but they get the job done. 20 minutes later we have a list of places and have talked to one for directions.
Now sadly, summer raspberry patches are not as common as strawberry patches, so we have a bit of a drive…43 miles one way, down to Faribault, to be exact! But again, it’s a nice day for a drive and it’s a beautiful day to pick, even in mid day. Low humidity, not too hot, a light breeze. We picked 4 flats…about 25 pounds between us in about 90 minutes.
Now by this time, after paying and driving back down the dirt road, it’s about 2 o’clock. The drive home is going to be another 45-50 minutes. I suggest lunch. We end up at an A&W. YM, being from Japan, has never been to a drive-in before. Drive-thru, yes. Drive-in, no. So, we drive-in. Yummy yummy yummy.
Back to mom’s by 3:30. The dogs are relieved to see us and I’m personally realieved to see that there’s no accidents or blood in the garage where Libby and Harry were sequestered.
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
