What is it about Memorial Day that is always insane? Last year it was Mt Vernon and Chicago, this year it is Des Moines, Dubuque, and Iowa City.

Thursday before Memorial Day, Rico talked me into hanging out with him and the British kids that are staying at his house right now. It was a really good time, we all hung out, then went out. They are cool guys. They thought Royal Mile (our 'london pub') was hilarious.

Friday, Zach and I ditched town for a Heelys demo in Dubuque. We got into town and our hotel dude was a skater like us - so he ended up totally hooking us up - better room, cheaper, and free drinks, ha. We met Zach's cousin BJ and my friend Josh at some fest downtown. It was a fun time, then we went to all kinds of Dubuque bars. We got the complete nightlife tour of that town. It was a pretty crazy time. We found out that East Dubuque has 4am bars - since it's in Illinois - which seemed like a great idea until we realized we had to wake up for a demo the next morning.

We checked out..
-bartinis - great great martini bar
-lot 1 - this frat-ish type bar where i got called 'white chocolate' for having my hat on crooked
-busted lift - this crazy bar in an old cellar or something
-pauls tavern - a bar with stuffed animal heads on all the walls
-mulgrews - for some amazing chili dogs
-coliseum - for dancing til 3ish

Then Zach and I had the brilliant idea to swim a bit at our hotel til 4. We hated waking up.

The Heelys demo was pretty weird. Usually they're in malls, events, or skate shops - always at places with tons of people walking through the area. This was at a strip mall-sports store where people would come in for one reason - mostly golf and baseball stuff. So we didn't really sell any shoes. But there was definitely some interest from kids that will be back. Rico stopped by the demo on his way through town to visit family, which ruled.

After the demo we headed toward Iowa City to visit Jeff. We stopped in Mt Vernon for some food and skating. Once we got to Jeff's we totally expected to be able to nap for a couple hours but were surprised with some kids from our hometown (jason, will, and jesse). They were already playing cards and drinking so there was no way we could sleep - stupid. We then went out for sushi and then more partying. (sushi popo, brothers, deadwood, piano lounge, sports column, jakes, and finally sandwiches at Milios). I ate 3 suppers Saturday, haha.

Sunday we went to M'hamed's grad party, then I hung out and slept a lot. Later, I went out with Kari and friends and sober drove. I was soooo dead tired and sort of killed the fun.

Monday I slept way in, then met my cousin's at Big Creek. It was really nice. I wish there was more beach where we were at though.

So yeah, another insane memorial day. Thursday I was out til 2am, Friday out til 4, Saturday out til 4, and Sunday out til 2. And every day I had to be up early for some reason. Ridiculous.

more pics

12:21 pm