The REAL Reason for the Trip (One Week Ago)

The wedding grounds from the first floor

A week ago, I had my real reason for heading to Indiana-Nashville: my cousin Lauren's (and Adam's) wedding. Not that I wasn't going to see family, because I was and I did. But the event that prompted my visit away from my usual "late summer when the allergens have been all dried up"  time period to the more moist and allergy-laden period was the wedding.

My cousin got married at her family's beautiful house in the middle of a cornfield. It was beautiful, gorgeous, and quintessential Indiana. My uncle had strung lots of lights above their pool and in the large trees that surrounded us to make the place, which is picturesque by day, even more beautiful at night. It was fun, lively and had free booze. The highlight of the night was hijacking one of the golf carts used to transport guests from the parking lot to the house. My cousin Doug, his son Eli, my cousin Austin, and I went rolling around the country roads in pitch black. I hung on to 4 year-old Eli for dear life, as flashbacks of another day when my friend went tumbling off the back of a very similar golf cart flashed through my head.

All in all, a beautiful night where I got to catch up with family members that I hadn't seen in a while, and enjoyed a beautiful wedding.

My Uncle Jeff walking Lauren down the aisle

Doug Smith,  Michael Clark and Me. Cousins reunited for the purpose of party. 

The lights reflected beautifully off the pool and provided a beautiful environment for the fun.

Nashville-Princeton Leg of The Trip: Seeing the Smiths (and Tony Hale)

Aunt Barb and I at the restaurant

Because the trip back east/ south was so packed, even if it wasn't long, I'm going to break it up into lots of smaller blog posts. If I did one long blog post, you would never read it because it was too long and I would write it months after the actual trip because I would dread writing something so long that it would get put off. Then we would both lose.

Me and my Cousin Doug

Who I saw on the plane:
Tony Hale
aka Buster
Bluth

My plane (yes, I'm starting THAT early in the trip, so hang on) was delayed for an hour because President Obama was flying into LAX when I was scheduled to fly out. American also didn't have a seat assigned for me and didn't get one until after we were well into boarding. It made me nervous as hell, but in the end I got a seat. I suppose I can't complain that it was sandwiched with babies surrounding me and right next to the toilet.

As I was sitting there near the the line for the bathroom, the one thing keeping me sane was watching the new seasons of Arrested Development on my iPad. I look up and see Buster from the show looking back at me, but it wasn't my iPad. He was on the same flight to Nashville. It was surreal. And awesome. I was so sure it wasn't him that I didn't say anything and only confirmed it when I checked his twitter account days later.

Anyway, landed, got rental car and drove up to Evansville to stay the night at my stepdad's empty house (he was on vacation). It was nice to get in about 11 p.m. and not worry about waking anyone. Plus I used the time to go through boxes of my stuff that I took to my storage unit. mostly I found my old Glamour shots from when I was 14, but they made you look like you were 40. Honestly they look like something a pedophile would love. Creepily mature.

Overslept but still made it to Princeton to see my Aunt Barb, Cousin Doug and Doug's son Eli throughout the day. We mostly just talked and ate at the restaurant, but it was awesome. Hadn't seen them in about 7 years or so. Crazy. One of our adventures was driving to the local Wal-Mart which boasted a plethora of Duck Dynasty gear and Sold on TV products, but only two brands of imported beer. Seeing the pajama jeans in person was like another celebrity sighting for me.


We got ready for thew wedding, which was beautiful and as it was what prompted my visit, will need it's own blog post. Until then.