The dude abides…

Whew. What an utterly wonderful, utterly exhausting weekend.

kitanzi and I flew up to Michigan to attend my sweetie aiela‘s wedding to davehogg. We had a marvelous time, the ceremony was wonderful, new friends were made and old friends were seen. Lacking the wherewithal to do a full report, here’s some highlights:

• We flew up into Flint, MI, on a CRJ-200 50-seater. While the seats were smaller than I’d like and there was no in-flight entertainment at all (even music), it wasn’t an unpleasant 90 minute flight, and by flying to Flint rather than Detroit, we saved $80. We rented a silver Jeep Liberty, which appears to be some sort of native Wildlife in Michigan, judging by the number of them I saw out and about over the weekend.
• Proving that yes, sometimes Kit and I are still in grade school, we had a huge giggle over the fact that Exit 69 on I-75 in Michigan is “Big Beaver Road”. (Later, we had even more fits over noticing that the Hooters on Big Beaver Road has a couple of letters burned out in its sign, so that at night it proudly identifies itself as HOORS).
• Hanging out with Dave and Angie and various friends and family before the rehearsal, before and after going to pick up the rental tuxes. (While I own a tuxedo, I went ahead and rented because they wouldn’t rent just the matching accessories, and if you’re going to pay the whole price, why lug a suit all the way to MI? I was pleased with the fit…aside from the shoes, it was very comfortable. Formal wear *should* be comfortable, IMO…)
• The rehearsal dinner was at a very meat-oriented establishment called Camp Ticonderoga. I spent a large part of it chatting baseball with my fellow honour attendant, Dana. (She was the Best Gal, and I was the Dude of Honour.) During the dinner, the bridal couple gave those of us n the party gifts…mine was a copy of Kermit the Frog’s autobiography/self-help book. I could not have asked for anything nicer. I read it on the plane ride home.
• After we finished dinner, we went bowling. Now, I have to say that in spite of the fact that I had not picked up a bowling ball in close to twenty years…..

  I was terrible. Oh good Lord, was I bad. I remember once being not-half-bad at this, but that was long ago and far away, and I was miserably bad. But I had a great deal of fun hanging out with all the folks who came by, and flirting with the girls. And it was classic rock on the loudspeaker, what’s not to like?

• The Red Roof Inn on Dequindre Road in Warren is very comfortable, and hardly a pit like the Knights Inn across the street. We stayed in the latter Thursday night, and checked out promptly the next morning and moved across the street.
• A limo came to take us from the house to the church on Wedding day, and then later to the reception. This was traveling in posh style, but more to the point, it was fun watching the kids reactions.
• The actual ceremony itself was wonderful. Pretty much everything went off the way it was supposed to, nothing major got screwed up, and, yes, I cried.
• The reception afterward was tremendous fun, as everyone finally breathed out and started to enjoy themselves. During my toast, i apparently amused a great number of davehogg‘s friends by revealing that I’d originally friended him on LJ for the express purpose of keeping an eye on him when he started dating aiela. The food was astonishingly good, and I had a great deal of fun dancing through the evening, despite my constant bemusement at the DJ’s mix of music. (Who plays “Careless Whisper” at a wedding reception dance??).
• We finally got a ride back over to D&A’s with Dave’s brother and sister-in-law (who are delightful people…I need to send Jill some mp3s), changed clothes, and went back to the hotel to crash. The next morning, we got up early, had our third breakfast in a row at Tim Horton’s (mmmmmm. Can we get those down here, please?), and drove back up to Flint, where I took advantage of the lovely little business center to surf on my laptop until our flight boarded. The trip home was uneventful, we orded pizza, and then collapsed into a deep sleep.

So that’s the weekend highlights, on an event level. I did want to save out a few things that were more personal for last:

• Getting some unexpected quality time.
• Watching someone dear to me heal some old scars and let go of some old fears.
• Finally getting to meet the mysterious Dana, who I’ve heard so much about
• Getting to spend a little more time with cjdoyle and jenx
• Last, but certainly not least, getting to meet the delightful renniekins. Thanks for all the dances, and for just being so very you. 🙂

While my pants are not entirely bankrupt, some funds may have been directed into unmarked accounts without my notice, so please direct my attention anything I missed that you’d be heartbroken I didn’t see.

Good weekend.