Back from the lake

Back from the lake -- about a 3.5 hour drive for some people, I hear, but I've never done it that fast. Today was a personal record for me in the incredible length of time it took to get home. 12 and a half hours. Yep. Something to be proud of. And I went the speed limit the whole time I was driving -- no traffic jams, really. Here's how I frittered away the day:


9:00 am -- vacate cabin.
10:00 am -- give up waiting in line at freakishly crowded diner, go to coffee shop and buy latte and the two day-old cinnamon buns they have left
11:00am -- finally leave Walker, MN
11:20 am -- swerve wildly to avoid a head-on collision with a truck towing a boat that had been tail-gating a car that decided to stop suddenly to make a turn (why, why, why would anyone swerve INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC ON A HIGHWAY to avoid rear-ending someone instead of swerving onto the shoulder?) Thankfully, ALL cars in both directions had quick wits and there was no accident.
12 noon -- Lunch in Baxter -- subsequent yarn shopping! Stash enhancement: 3 patterns, and 7 skeins of merino-alpaca blend and one Mountain Colors (same shade as the 7 skeins I bought in the same store on the way UP north 1 week earlier)
2:00 pm Leave Baxter
3:00 pm Get gas and snacks near St. Cloud, MN.
4:00 pm (?) arrive at Albertville Outlet Mall
6:00 pm -- stay indoors at mall due to thunderstorm/tornado warnings (not that we were planning on leaving anyway)
8:00 pm Leave Albertville Outlet Mall

All I gotta say is, the COACH store at this outlet mall had WAY better prices that the outlet store in Gotemba in Japan -- WAY better. Everything else I bought at the outlet mall was for the kids' school clothes.

9:00 pm -- arrive in suburban MSP, hitting the edge of the big thunderstorm
9:30 pm -- arrive home, unpack car

I get home, there's a leak in the garage in the corner where my car and stuff are, and I had to spend an hour moving boxes and throwing stuff away that has water damage (apparently there was a lot of rain today). Luckily, most of the stuff was not really important, so I don't feel like I've lost anything but time.

Speaking of losing time, it's 1:19am, and time for me to have been sleeping for hours by now!