What do party push-ups, non-naked lap dances, falling guitarists and Bob Seger all have in common?
Absinthe.
Or just absinthe at my friend’s birthday party in Indiana.
We took off last Friday for a weekend in Indiana — my friend lives very near South Bend. With a good four-hour drive and a night of sleep, we were up early to bike over to the Notre Dame campus.
Where I found Jesus. Touchdown Jesus!
Six points!
After checking out the gorgeous campus (and not believing it’s been since a band trip my Freshman year since I’ve been there… yeah, band), we biked through the Holy Cross campus as well. There’s a fantastic (and easy) trail called, I think, End River (I saw a hundred signs, but cannot remember). The path followed the route of the river that runs through South Bend which seems to be coursed out purposely for extreme kayakers. By the looks of the rapids, it was probably a III or IV in some places. I really, REALLY want to get a white-water kayak next summer. Really.
Being that it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon, we stopped for lunch at Emporium, enjoying a couple sandwiches and salads on the patio. And a beer — which ended up being a pint of the local Four Horseman Red Irish Ale brewed at the Mishawaka Brewing Co.
We returned on the trail back to our starting point, to return to the liquor stores and clear them of all cases of Three Floyds Alpha King (AB’s favorite brew). Side note, I found a bottle of 2005 Crazy Llama Malbec for only $6.50 at the local liquor store. Awesomeness!
While I checked for more bug bites (seriously, I’m having an outbreak of getting bitten by spiders and what-not over the last month), AB helped the Birthday Girl prepare food for the party. The mix of couples was so fun and then my friend’s very-soon-to-be-husband broke out all the Czech-indigenous alcohol: slivovitz (plum brandy that I did not get to try while in Prague), Becherovka (my favorite) and abinsthe (from the Czech Republic — REAL absinthe!). After a couple shots of each sort of liquor (including an already full stomach of homemade sangria), I began eating sugar that was just soaked in absinthe. Needless to say, I was not only spiked with alcohol, but high on sugar. ADD was definitely kicked into high gear.
There was dancing and push-ups contests and a guitar guy falling flat when he thought there was a chair underneath him. Someone falling out of bed (more than once) in the room next to ours. Oh, I love good house parties. And when one of the guests leaves his Bob Seger’s Greatest Hits CD in my possession.
Surprisingly, the hangover was non-existent on Sunday morning. We drove up to St. Joseph, Michigan for a day at the beach. We kayaked a bit in Lake Michigan (beautiful, smooth beach here, by the way), walked the length of the waterfront… and of course, ended the sunny afternoon with an ice cream cone and a stroll in the little town. What a perfect weekend!
Listening: New Better Than Ezra. Eh. I’m trying REALLY hard to like it as much as the old stuff. But “Nightclubbing” from the new album is fantastic! Review on the HOB concert next week at ATV. Also, geeking out majorly to Thunderheist — who is at Grog Shop TONIGHT!
Drinking: seeing how AB cleared out two liquor stores of their Three Floyds Alpha King supply, I will be drinking those. Or his Great Lakes Christmas Ale. *smooch*
Eating: created our own Indian dishes last night. Put together an awesome chickpea-cucumber salad and my own mustard dressing with no recipe (but a lot of questions about whisking the dressing to AB). I’m proud of myself. It was really a good summery salad addition!
Cheesing: I stayed away from cheese this week. I know, I know… you don’t believe me.
Thinking: I understand that absinthe makes the tart grow fonder — Ernest Dowson
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June 25th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I can’t wait to get to MI and IN in a couple months. I will definitely have to find some of that beer, if there is any left!!
Glad you had an awesome time.
July 1st, 2009 at 7:53 am
South Bend is lovely — it’s my brother in-law’s hometown, and my sister has the pleasure of going to a couple ND football games every fall. Jose and I need to go with them this year
How was the Thunderheist show??