Chapter 7: The Post-Reception

When the tables were cleared and most of the "adult" guests gone home, the wedding party and most of the young people boarded yet another bus rented for the occasion--this time, a renovated schoolbus painted green and called The Green Lizard, complete with bathroom and disco ball, owned by two friends of Mark's. The bus was very crowded, and riding it was certainly an experience to remember. At right, you see Vanessa at the front of the bus, and below you see Candy, Dave, and Matt crammed into one seat. Robert and I were sharing our seat with one of the ushers or groomsmen as well. The coolers had boarded the bus with us, again, so everyone (except Robert and me, Dave and Candy by this point, and thankfully the driver, a friend of a friend, as well) was fairly well-hydrated and in good spirits. Since nearly everyone was spending the night at our hotel, the bus delivered us there.

Not too surprisingly, when we arrived, the hotel desk staff declined to let us into the pool area with this many people who, at best, could be called tipsy and this much still unconsumed alcohol in the coolers. They did let us into a conference room on the ground floor, where we moved in all the wedding presents in anticipation of a gift-opening the next morning at 11:00, and so the cousins and friends moved in there and immediately began trying to finish off the remaining drinks.

Robert and I went up to our room and changed into tee shirts and jeans, and then returned downstairs to see what was going on. Candy had already gone to bed, but Dave came back down too, and we hung out for a little while in the party room. When we started attracting completely unrelated guests, Mark became concerned and asked us to close up the room, make sure the gifts and cards were locked up, and usher people out. So, as Mark retired for the night, Dave and Robert and Pauley made sure that people dispersed. Jimmy drove Brian and another of Mark's friends home, and everyone else found their or someone else's room to stay in. I was finally able to talk Dave and Pauley into going to a White Castle with Robert and me, so at 3:30 we found ourselves in a White Castle not too far from the hotel, braving the frosty car and bitterly cold night to eat 17 sandwiches among the four of us. Dave was a stable driver, and Pauley--the only Minnesota native in the car--was able to navigate us to and fro, so that we returned safely. The White Castle didn't have another wedding party enter as we were there, the way the one in Chicago did the night of Dave and Candy's wedding, but it did have people dressed up for an early-Halloween party in extremely short skirts, as angels or baby dolls or something, enter as we were leaving. When we got back to the hotel, we all went to bed and remember to turn our clocks back, as it was the weekend of "falling behind." Robert and I couldn't think of a better use for an extra hour in the day than a jaunt to White Castle.

Chapter 8: The Day After

The next morning we met everyone over donuts, capuccino, and other breakfast fare in the hotel lobby. By this point, on Day 3 of our stay at the Holiday Inn Express, Robert was starting to feel ill from drinking quite so many cups of capuccino, so he stuck to a light breakfast of a donut or two instead. Punky's two little boys--Aunt Martha's great-nephews--watched Robert and his donut longingly, so I took them over to the donut display and let them choose their own. The tiniest blond boy, two years old, chose the largest honey-glazed crueller, and then proceeded to eat quite a bit of it while happily sitting on a luggage cart in the lobby.

Because everyone was quite so exhausted, the gift-opening was postponed, so we helped Mark load the gifts into Dave and Uncle Frank's cars, and then Mark and Vanessa caught a ride back to their house to shower. We packed up and checked out, as did everyone staying at the hotel except Uncle Don and Aunt Loretta, who would be staying an extra day, and met up with Judy and Bill midday.

Everyone went over to Uncle Frank and Aunt Martha's house for a lunch of leftovers from the wedding dinner and the rehearsal dinner, and Mark and Vanessa showed up briefly to pose for a final picture--at left--and then go home to pack and organize before heading out for their honeymoon in--where else?--Duluth.

Robert and I were intrigued at the mention of Duluth, because when we were here this summer Grandma Gracie had been so adamant that we needed to see it--it's lovely, she kept insisting, really something to see. We actually talked to several of Mark's friends who had been to Duluth, and, when we asked one of them what it was like, were told, "Well, I've never been to New York, but I think it's kind of like that." This only made us more excited. Punky said that Duluth was great--you could look out at the Lake and never see the other side, and it was "like being at the ocean." Then, Mark and Vanessa said they were going there for their honeymoon, and Uncle Don added that that's where he and Aunt Loretta had gone for their honeymoon, years before. Clearly, we were sold on Duluth.

Dave and Candy, who had a long drive ahead of them to Chicago, left the house around 1:45, first stopping at the tux shop to return most of the tuxedoes and then at the Mall of America to shop for winter coats. Aunt Martha and Uncle Frank were dead asleep in their living room by 3:00, so we said sleepy goodbyes and left for the airport with Judy and Bill driving us. Our planeride was uneventful, and we were home by 10:00, with the exciting weekend and another wonderful Minnesota experience behind us.