Day Twenty-One: Recovery, ice cream and bowling

As you may have guessed, I woke up feeling sick as pike. Large quantities of cheap beer seem to have that effect on me. It took me a while to get started, and I had one hell of a lie-in in the camper – it’s not like we had anything planned. I’ve mentioned already how much I loved that camper, and as it turns out, it’s actually pretty comfortable to drive…

…not that I did anything more than sit in the driving seat, as you can see (aside from anything else, it’s covered up and parked.) Still, there’s something wonderful about being able to drive a house, complete with sleeping space for four, a fridge bigger than mine at home, a full size hob and oven, a toilet and shower. Cracking.

Steph’s brother, Brian, gave me something to drink… I’m not sure what it was, but apparently you usually give it to children with diarrhoea to rehydrate them. It seemed to work, and by dinner time I’d perked up enough to leave the house and do things. Not sure what to do with the evening, me and Steph decided to go to the bowling alley, but on the way we made a pit stop at Twist Cone; Twist Cone is a drive-in ice cream shop, and an Aberdeen landmark. I got this:

That’s a soft serve cone, dipped in chocolate, and with eyes. I decided to imitate it, as you can see. It was also the last day of the season, and Twist Cone was closing for winter the next day. I didn’t take this picture, but I think it’s important to show you the place, because it’s beautiful:

We then left and went to the bowling alley and played two games. I won both, through nothing more than dumb luck (that’s not modesty, either.)

And to finish, the final score:

We drove home, spent some time in the hot tub, and went for an early-ish bed.

Day Twenty: Parade, repair, and inebriation

(Word to the wise: this entry is not suitable for those with a slow internet connection!)

We woke up at an ungodly hour. The Homecoming parade in Aberdeen, called “Gypsy Days”, was starting at 8am, so after a breakfast of sausage biscuits (note: not cookies) we headed down. I was particularly trigger-happy with the camera, so here’s a small selection of photos:

And of course… SHRINERS!!

Fantastic. Each float throws out masses of sweets too, but the kids tend to get in first and pick it up off the street. One particular kid in front of us had a huge bag full – I don’t think I’ve eaten that many sweets in my whole life. Never mind, the dentists in Aberdeen will be rubbing their hands together at the money they stand to make… which they undoubtedly will.

Next up, Steph and her mother (Jo, in case I refer to her again in this blog, and I will) went off to leave me and her dad (Mark) to some “man time.” Whilst I wasn’t too daunted by the prospect of being left alone with my girlfriend’s father, I would like to point out that he took me to workshop… full of wrenches, drills, screwdrivers, power tools, and large machinery. Turns out, we had an assignment – namely, the speakers in Steph’s car. The front right speaker worked intermittently, so I had to fix it whilst Mark changed the oil in the car:

The oil change didn’t take that much time, so before long we were both working on the speakers (as you can see, the inner door panel is removed) and worked out that the front right speaker was knackered. A quick trip to Wal-Mart to get some new ones was made, and we came back and fitted them. Never has a car stereo sounded so magnificent. On the trip, we passed this house…

…yeah, Americans take Hallowe’en very seriously. This was over three weeks before Aberdeen. Also, we saw this fine specimen of a vehicle in the Wal-Mart car park:

We had another project to work on, which was a bookshelf/end table made from an old cable spool. Steph had seen it on Pinterest, and Jo had picked up on it. There’s a lot of old cable spools lying around the workshop (Mark works for a construction company) so he build it, and wanted me to help him finish it. I don’t have a picture of it, but this is the original:

Mark had done a great job, so all that was left for us to do by the time I was involved was to fit the wheels and stain it. Oh, and we signed it with the year, of course.

After a dinner of potato soup and chili (thanks, Jo!) we went to Lager’s Inn in Aberdeen to commence drinking. Steph had arranged for all her Aberdeen friends to come, and we ended up having a great night. I don’t remember much of the end of it, in any case. Thanks to Mark though for picking us up and taking me through the McDonald’s drive-thru; I needed that McMuffin.

There are two specific things I loved about Lager’s, and this is how I’ll close the blog:

1) Complimentary peanuts, which are still in the shell. Patrons simply eat the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. By the end of the night, the floor is covered in peanut shells and dust. Not only is it incredibly satisfying to drink beer and throw your peanut shells on the floor, it apparently makes it easier for them to clean up at the end of the night – the shells soak up all the beer, sweat, vomit, urine etc. so that they just have to sweep up.

2) This 32oz (2 US pints; 1.7 UK pints) mug of beer cost me $6. They had offers on the swill lager (Coors Light, Bud Lite etc.) which made them $3.50. Plus, they bring them to your table. INSANE.

*glug glug glug*

 

Day Nineteen: Meet the parents

Today was the day of driving to Aberdeen, and more importantly for me, meeting the parents. We started the day right with a Burger King breakfast – sausage, egg and cheese in a toasted croissant is a lot better than it sounds. Also, the hash brown carton made me chuckle:

We loaded up on soft drinks and hit the road…

We made a brief pit stop at the Jorgenson Meat Store, a small independent business that sells nothing but meat products and kuchen (a custard-based cheesecake-like dessert of German origin and commonplace in South Dakota). They notably sold the best beef jerky I’ve ever eaten, spicy Peperami-esque treats called “Texas hot rods,” and Mountain Dew and Pepsi Throwback. Suffice to say, I loved the place. I took a picture, but it was both very windy and very bright, so I look simple:

We carried on, passing through Bristol on our way…

…until we arrived in Aberdeen:

Meeting the parents (and brother) was great. We had dinner, then Steph’s mam had invited a lot of her friends/relatives over for drinks. We got nicely drunk and me and Steph solved Rubik’s cubes to everyone’s amazement.

Additionally, I was challenged to drink a beer on my head by Steve, which I flat out said I could not do (truthfully). Steve, who is 52, put me to shame:

After everyone left, we got into the hot tub…

…in preparation for Wales V Ireland, which kicked off at midnight our time. And yes, I watched it on a laptop, from a hot tub, with beer and jerky:

We won 22-10! A cracking end to a cracking day. We retired to the comfort of our accommodation, and went to sleep:

Camper, sweet camper.

Day Eighteen: A brief interruption; an apology.

Only now, looking at the calendar, do I realise how much I have let this blog lapse. I missed a day or two, and then it snowballed. Another issue is that Steph works during the week, and due to her night shift (which I have almost attempted to match my sleeping pattern with) we don’t really come to life until around 2pm. The days are filled with bumming around locally, grocery shopping or going out for something to eat/drink.

It’s great, but it’s hardly blogworthy.

Looking back at iPhoto, I can see that the day was pretty uneventful. I’ve found that if I didn’t document it with a photo, the chances are it wasn’t worth remembering… and it certainly wasn’t worth passing on. Day eighteen (which is actually the 7th of October) is a perfect example of this. There were two photos taken of the day:

This is a basket of popcorn that was inexplicably served with our meal at the Ground Round. It was seemingly in place of a bread basket, as is usually customary.

This is Irving asleep in a drawer, which I found amusing enough to photograph.

I think this illustrates my point. No-one cares if Irving was sleeping in a drawer except for me, and maybe Steph. Not even Irving himself cares that I find his choice of bedding humourous.

I will catch up on the weekend in Aberdeen (and this weekend just gone) post haste, and furthermore I will attempt to refrain from documenting the more pointless aspects of my time in the States.

Day Seventeen: Another lazy day

This one’s even shorter, and mostly foody. We started the day with Steph making breakfast burritos:

One thing I did do, however, was go to the AT&T shop to get a SIM card for my phone (I now have a US phone number!) I also saw a stunning Corvette outside:

I don’t care that it can’t go around corners. It’s beautiful. We went to Guadalajara for dinner, too:

Yum.

Day Sixteen: The way she goes.

This is the shortest post yet. We literally did nothing, all day, which was fantastic. Sometimes, you just need a day like that.

…I tell a lie, we actually went out for a quick beer at Jim’s before Steph had to go to work:

Whilst at Jim’s, I had my first experience of video lottery. I only put in a dollar, and played the 5c games, but as it happened, I lost it all:

That’s the way she goes.

Day Fifteen: Hallowe’en Boo-tique

To celebrate Steph’s first day at work, we drove down to Sioux Falls for record shopping and curry. I love driving through the midwest:

As it happens, the record shop was pretty poor. I was very excited, but kept getting assured by Emma and Steph that “it really isn’t that great.” They were right. It turned out to basically be a head shop with a few racks of second hand CDs and DVDs, and a small section of vinyl (an even smaller sub-section devoted to new vinyl!) I didn’t buy anything, although I did flirt with the idea of getting a really obnoxious tie-die t-shirt, or a cup-and-ball magic set, or some other form of mindless rubbish that I didn’t really need.

We then found the Hallowe’en Boo-tique that we had seen advertised on the interstate. Americans take Hallowe’en way more seriously than us, and set up temporary shops selling nothing but spooky merchandise. We bought a beer bong in the shape of a skull, and tried on a lot of hats and masks:

This outfit in particular made me laugh hard. I love that someone is going to go to a Hallowe’en party dressed as a satirical BP worker:

After working up an appetite by having that much fun, we went to Shahi Palace for Indian food:

It was interesting to see how different Indian food is over here (or at least in the restaurant we went to). For one, they don’t have onion bhajis, and they don’t serve poppadums with a pickle tray. I usually order a rogan josh, but they only seemed to offer a lamb rogan josh, and the waiter was reluctant to allow me to have it with chicken. Completely unlike Britain, where you pick the curry and the meat. Also, rather than a certain curry being a certain heat, you get offered how hot you want it. I said I wanted it hot, and the waiter repeatedly warned me that it was hot. I said it was fine. He came back later to check my order, and once again warned me and told me it was very hot, until I broke down and let him have his way. I wanted a hot curry, but I wanted to keep my waiter happy also. Steph had a vindaloo “as hot as you can make it” because that’s how she rolls. The trouble with this approach is that the curry doesn’t seem to be a balance of spice and flavour; rather, it tastes like a curry with a certain amount of raw chili added to it. The chili flavour doesn’t seem to be cooked in, which spoilt it a little for me (well, when I tried Steph’s vindaloo… mine was like a korma). It was an experience, but I can categorically state that Indian food in the UK is superior.

We went to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert, which is literally the best thing ever. Mine consisted of cake batter ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and chunks of cookie dough. We all gorged on creamy goodness…

…then drove home, and Steph went to work.

 

Day Fourteen: Slave to the wage

We had a long lie in, because Steph was starting her new job at 10pm in the evening (she works nights). We also made sure we had a fairly lazy day, as she hadn’t done anything to modify her sleeping patterns prior to this. She managed to convince me that a sandwich can be a meal, by ordering Jimmy John’s:

Their slogan is “Subs so fast you’ll freak!” Between ordering online and the delivery guy coming to the door took 17 minutes. Steph swears they’ve done it in less time. It was good stuff, either way.

Steph had some sort of chai drink with hers – the bottle of chai mix made me chuckle:

“Retrieval portal”?! Bloody hippies.

To get out of the house, we decided to go for a walk. We naturally ended up downtown at Jim’s Tap, and on the way I saw this guy…

…who gave me a wave for taking a picture of his awesome pickup. I want that car. Oh, we also saw a squirrel:

On the way back, we took the long way home, crossing the train tracks to the other side of Brookings and walking back along the street adjacent to the tracks. As we came to cross the tracks again, there was a train coming, which was insanely cool. I was stood about fifteen feet from the biggest (and loudest) train I have ever seen:

I also forgot how long trains are over here. We stood for a solid five minutes whilst the train passed.

And then it was time for Steph to go to work:

Her first day! Awwww…

I cleaned the apartment up, had a cwtch with my new best friend…

…and went to sleep.

Day Thirteen: Sports!

I woke up feeling a little fragile, but mostly, I was excited. Today was the day I’d be watching my first real American football game (sorry Canyon), and also the day I will introduce Steph to rugby. The fact that it was Wales V Fiji didn’t hurt, either.

We popped to Hy-Vee to stock up on supplies and pick up a few things we didn’t get at Wal-Mart earlier in the week. I managed to finally find some decent cheese there (imported Welsh cheddar, made in Crickhowell, no less) – as a result of this, I decided to not be greedy and leave these on the shelf:

After calling back into Wal-Mart on the way home to get our supporters’ shirts, we headed for the game.

Many thanks go to Scott Waltman, who holds season tickets and made it possible for me to see my first football game… and how! Six rows up on the 50 yard line! The band began with a medley of American music, including the Star Spangled Banner, of course.

The players took to the field…

…and I was too busy enjoying myself and trying to follow the game to take any more photos. Despite all my apprehension, I picked it up pretty easily and by the end of the first quarter I was well into it. It’s definitely a slower game than anything I’m used to (the clock stops and play resets every time the ball carrier is downed, so even though there are a total of sixty minutes of play the game can last up to four hours) but it held my attention. Nick’s Hamburger Shop had a food truck there, so I got a bag of burgers at half time. This is a bag of burgers with my name on it:

The twelve-year-old in me found this amusing (more of him later):

Here’s a quick snap of me and Steph supporting the team (who actually lost 38-28, but it was still a damn good match):

Go big! Go blue! GO JACKS!!

After the game, we had a few hours to kill until the rugby match (kick off was at midnight our time) so we went downtown for a beer or two. We tried one in a bar called Skinner’s, but the atmosphere was poor and the beer was shite. I did laugh, however, at this:

That screen constantly displays the current temperature of the cellar. The picture is blurry so it isn’t clear, but underneath the screen the text says “beer that’s too cold to hold!” Strangely, they are incredibly proud of this. We decided to drink up and sink a quick one in Jim’s Tap, where we met up with Jared again. On the way home, I was once again re-united with the twelve-year-old in me…

…but I think anyone can see the humour in it. *sniggers*

<usa> We picked up a case of Grain Belt Premium from the gas station a block away from the apartment, and headed home to watch the game on pay-per-view. </usa>

As if in reconciliation for the Jacks’ defeat earlier, Wales stormed to victory over Fiji 66-0. SIXTY SIX NIL. It was a combination of Wales playing out their arse and Fiji playing abysmally. George North in particular shone through as a top player – that match was one of the first times where I think all the new talent in the Wales squad actually worked together as a driving force, as opposed to being a strong support for the more experienced players. That’s my opinion, anyway. The match set us up for a quarter final against Ireland, which I am really looking forward to. A fantastic end to a fantastic day.

SPORTS!

Day Twelve: “Nobody needs nine feet of hot dogs!”

Before we begin, I feel I should warn you that this blog is practically identical to yesterday’s in that it mostly covers my eating of food and drinking of beer.

We woke up late, and went for lunch with Steph’s friends Marion and Jared in a place on campus called Weary Wil’s. Whilst there were a few offerings that tempted me, I was taken by on in particular; a hot dog incorporating three frankfurters and covered in chilli, bacon and cheese. I added a side of tater tots (which are fantastic, by the way) and a pink lemonade. I had my doubts about whether or not I could eat that much foot, but luckily I had a guardian angel printed on the table:

However, not even Mr. Harding could prepare me for the onslaught of meat. Observe: before…

…and after:

Yeah.

Apparently, if you eat three in one sitting, you get a t-shirt… I don’t think even I could do that. Besides, as it was put when we were discussing this prospect, “no-one needs to eat nine feet of hot dogs.” When I say ‘we’, I am referring to myself and this band of rogues…

…who are, as it turns out, pretty decent at posing for a photo. Against my better judgement, I accompanied them to the Dairy Bar – an ice cream parlour on campus that makes their own ice cream on site. Fun fact: did you know that South Dakota State University is where cookies ‘n’ cream ice-cream was invented? Naturally, that’s what I had:

I know, I’m a pig… but it was good. Steph had something minty and equally delicious.

Walking back through campus was pleasant…

…and this number plate cracked me up. Clearly, this person is a Texas native…

…and they want the world to know it.

The evening consisted of another return to Jim’s Tap – this time for the big planned night of drinking with a lot of Steph’s friends. We were too busy having fun to take many pictures, but rest assured it was a fun (and drunken) night. Steph’s friend Tom introduced me to the game of “quarters” the night before (which I forgot to blog about) and I had a good spell of beginner’s luck at it, so we staged a rematch. Basically, you fill a shot glass with whatever drink you desire. You take it in turns to bounce a quarter (25 cents) off the table and into the shot glass. If you succeed, the other person drinks, spits out the quarter and hands it back, refills the drink, and you get another go. It’s possible to rack up a lot of victories in a row and get your opponent very drunk. Great frat party game which I will definitely be bringing back to the UK.

Here are some blurry photos just to document the event (Steph was four or five whiskey sours in when I tasked her with camerawoman duties):

We conceded that I kicked Tom’s arse at quarters… however, to be fair, he completely annihilated me in multiple games of table football/foosball. I appreciate a man with competitive spirit – especially when it comes to bar games. Me and Steph solved Rubik’s cubes a few times too, which impressed and enthralled everyone. In all, the night was a great success – I even vaguely remember chowing down on a box of mac and cheese when I got home.

Steph and I also observed that as couples go, we’re not obnoxious and tend to stay away from public displays of affection. Whilst that is mostly true, thinking of how much of a good night I had with Steph and her friends whilst writing this entry inspired me to break code for once. Hence, I will close with a picture of us looking like a couple.

*gag heave sick etc.*