Today Travalon and I took Jilly Moose on a lunch cruise for her landmark birthday, which isn't until next month, but the cruises will end this month. My phone said there was a thunderstorm forecast for right during the cruise, and indeed, when we all gathered to get on the boat, there was thunder and a bit of lightning to the north. Someone said it would pass by us, but the horn at the Union that warns boats to get off the water sounded. Then Captain Rob arrived and said we should all get on the boat immediately because it was about to rain, but on the boat we wouldn't be rained on. Usually Travalon and I sit on the bow, but this time we sat inside the boat because of the lightning. One of the crew members took a photo of the three of us.
This was supposed to be a selfie with the Capitol, but where's the Capitol?
It was wonderful out there most of the time we were eating lunch, but suddenly a huge wind blew up, so I grabbed my lunch and ran back into the boat, advising the others to follow me. I didn't see this, but Travalon did - right after that, Jilly Moose's food got blown into the water. The others did come into the boat, and then the rain and the wind really picked up. I could tell Captain Rob wasn't 100% sure we'd be okay, which was the thing that frightened me most, and afterwards he did admit it was the craziest weather he'd had to run the cruise in. We did make it into port safely, and he said we could stay on the boat until the storm passed, so we chatted, and I was overjoyed to hear that (as I'd long hoped) he does plan to buy the two cruise boats and run one on Lake Wisconsin while keeping the other one here on Mendota. I sure hope this plan comes to fruition!
When the rain had subsided enough to get off the boat, Travalon, Jilly Moose, and I went to State Line Distillery for a drink. It was lovely out then, overcast and cool, so we sat outside enjoying alcoholic slushies or cocktails and admiring the surprising number of babies that were there with their Millennial parents. There was also an adorable dog named Milo who was very happy to make our acquaintance. Here is a photo of the design on the top of Jilly Moose's cocktail.
We were going to walk to Africa Fest from there, but it began to rain, so we went back to the car and got as far as the Willy Street Co-op, where we bought a few necessities and waited out the rain. Then we went to Leopold's for a coffee; I had my usual decaf iced pandan latte, since Travalon sometimes brings me one after work, and if I had caffeine at that hour, I'd never get to sleep. Jilly Moose was going to a book study, so we took her back to her car near the distillery and found a parking spot closer to Africa Fest. The rain seemed to be done by then, but it was very muddy in the park when we went to our favorite West African food vendor for baobab shakes and jollof rice. We found a spot to sit and eat our dinner while watching all the cute kids in traditional outfits. There was supposed to be a band starting soon, but they seemed to be hours behind in the schedule, probably because of the rain. There was a masquerade with crazy costumes, and one of our faculty members (from the Folklore section) was following them around, taking photos. I took a couple myself.
Sorry that these aren't better - they were moving around so much that it was hard to get a good photo. We also checked out the vendors, and I bought earrings and a hat - just what I need.
It's not like I don't already have tons of earrings and hats already. Notice that I am wearing an Africa Fest shirt, and I didn't cave and buy another one this year. Earlier this week I did buy an Irish Fest Summer School shirt - I will probably wear it tomorrow and will try to post a photo soon. Because another thing I don't need is any more T-shirts.
Thanks to Travalon for help coming up with the title of this blog post.
Famous Hat
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