And now, the rest of the story….

Since the whiny beotch finished annihilating the French for the evening I was “allowed” to use the computer. Good thing too as I have things I need to say about this weekend! Now, if I could just get him to stop staring at me yelling “FRENCH!” while I do this!

Saturday morning we were to meet everyone at the Tippecanoe battlefield at 11 am. We arrive 5 minutes early, only to discover that Machelle and Oddy are already there. I think she beat us there because as my husband observed, her maiden name must have been “Duke”. Wes and his wife arrive shortly thereafter and we decide to be sociable with one another and stand outside and talk. We talked…and waited…and talked…and waited some more. A teeny tiny orange roller skate of a car pulled up and we all stared at it wondering “is that them?” and decided that if it was them, it would be like a clown car watching everyone get out! It wasn’t, so Contagion gave Laughing Wolf a call and see where they were at. They were running a bit late (obviously) but were on their way.

They arrived, and so did Harvey and TNT shortly thereafter. We toured the battlefield and gift shop, then decided to head to the Wolf Park. We apparently forgot to tell Harvey and TNT we were all leaving as they were left somewhere out in the woods but managed to figure out where we were and followed us anyway. LW gave us an AWESOME tour of the park, which in and of itself was incredible. I learned so much that I didn’t realize, and will be bringing my boys back when it gets warmer. I got to meet a lot of the wolves and decided that I have a favorite, Echo. She walked right up and greeted us and I fell in love with her right then and there. I’m glad that she has such a great home, and will be looking into sponsoring her in the near future. For more information, see http://www.wolfpark.org/ (that is my shameless plug!)

After touring the park in a brisk 17 degrees, I have to admit, there were only two parts of me that were cold, my right ear and my backside. My husband made may fruitless attempts to warm it up with his hands, but to no avail (by backside that is, not my ear). LW announced that we had dinner reservation at TC’s, so off we went for beer and conversation. T1G had it right when he compared this place to Fritz’s, great atmosphere, great food, but I too am partial to Fritz’s. There were so many conversations going on it’s difficult to know who said what, but I’ll give it a shot. I should know by now at these blogmeets that if T1G gets out his little notebook, we are all in trouble…and he had it out this day. There was talking about loins, and which was better, breaded or spongy, drinks were flying all over the table (SORRY ODDY!) and somehow I made her all wet, lots of LALALALAing from Tammi, and Harvey is a freak because he’s never been camping.

After getting full on food and drink, we headed back to the Wolf Park for Howl Night. Since they weren’t quite ready to start it when we got back we raided the gift shop. YAY SHOPPING! Credit cards were flying! I really tried to restrain myself but still managed to purchase several items. After shopping we all got our blankets and seats, headed to the stands and listened to the program. We got to howl, and listen to all of the wolves howl too! It was so incredible I had goosebumps up and down my entire body…I wish I had brought a camcorder so I could see and hear it again. I don’t think anyone was thinking about the cold during the presentation, it was THAT good.

Once Howl Night ended we all met up at Lafayette Brewing Company for more drinking and conversation. Oddy loved on a wooden Indian, Bloodspite and Tammi tried to gnaw on each other like beavers, and Machelle kept the one liners coming to keep Contagion in line. TNT and I made observations of some of the other patrons, and the “Watch Step” which we both decided was to make sure no one got out of hand. T1G had his handy dandy notebook out again, and we all just mingled. I felt very comfortable with everyone. Sadly the night ended around 1 am as it was time for us all to head back, get some rest and head home the next day.

All in all, I had a FABULOUS time and really look forward to doing this again in the near future. Some people who weren’t there this time (cough BOU cough) need to be there next time. I’d like to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to Laughing Wolf for putting this whole thing together. None of this would have been possible without you!