Feeling Minnesota

Ok, it's been almost three weeks since we got back from Minnesota. I guess it's about time I posted some pictures from the trip.

What blog post about a trip to Minnesota would be complete without the requisite photo of an oversized fiberglass statue? In the case of my hometown, our resident colossus happens to be none other than Big Ole. Now, everyone knows exactly why Alexandria claims to be the birthplace of America, right? Of course you do. So I won't go into that here.

And what would an Ollig family campout be without a law or three being broken? Well, it didn't take long for this group to not only break a law banning the tying of hammocks to trees but to get CAUGHT hanging a hammock from a tree. This is an action photo of the illegal hammock being removed from said tree.

It also didn't take long for everyone to get out and enjoy one of Minnesota's 15,320 lakes. This one is Lake Carlos, home to Lake Carlos State Park (the scene of the aforementioned crime). I think the tubers in this photo include both an Ollig and a Renslow.

Yes, yes, fire, fire, fire. heh heh heh eh eh eh eh...

Where there's a fire there are undoubtedly Ollig children playing with "fire sticks." I'm pretty sure the Ollig family didn't actually invent the idea of "fire sticks" (which basically involves holding the end of a stick in a campfire until it lights then waving it around to watch the embers glow), but I'm almost positive we're the first to turn it into a competetive sport. Of course, the use of firesticks is forbidden for anyone who is not between the ages of 8 and 14, which is why everyone else looks so bored in this picture.

Speaking of being bored...

We didn't spend the whole time enjoying the excitement of a campout at Lake Carlos, though (right Sarah?). We also took the opportunity of everyone being within 200 miles of Alexandria to gather for a visit with Grandma Schweighofer. I think this is one of the largest gathering of Grandma's progeny in quite a while...well, at least one of the largest Sonja and I have been able to attend. There are definitely benefits to moving back to the Lower 48. Being close enough to visit family more often than once every four years being one of them.

So, there we go. A smattering of photos from our recent trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. But while I'm in the middle of posting pictures from Minnesota, I thought I'd add one more thing. I recently purchased a fun new gadget that lets me transfer video from an analog source (ie, VHS) to a digital source. My first attempt to play with the thing was to try to capture some of our old home movies that were originally filmed on an 8mm camera, then transfered to VHS. I'm still working out the bugs, but here's a three minute clip from the summer of 1983.

Ok, so it's not the most exciting example I could have chosen from this video, but that's where the tape was at when I pushed play. So deal with it. Also, I can't figure out why it's so wobbly at times. And it seems to be more washed out than what it looks like if I were to just play it on the VCR and TV. So, if anyone has any experience using Pinnacle software and has any ideas how to fix that, let me know. It might just be because I chose to invest in cables that were advertised as "the cheapest ones we sell." But then, it might be because the movie is from 1983.