FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, I THANK GOD I'M FREE AT LAST!

After a full day of wedding festivities Saturday, the herd was able to get going fairly well on Sunday. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA oh my, I just peed my pants that was so funny! =)
We were only 1 hour off pace when we left Minot (way to go f-troop!).
We slapped Mike around a little, force fed him some Burger King and told him to get us to Bismarck while everyone took a nap.
The Pope called while we were traveling and offered to make Mike a saint for his good deed of driving but we told him he was busy getting us to Bismarck then Msp.

When we reached Bismarck, we headed straight for the house Granny grew up in.

When we pulled up in front, the neighbor thought she had won the lottery. She came out and asked if we were from Publisher's Clearing House. All that cold weather must have really got to this ladies brain over the years.

We learned from her that the current owner of Granny's house is the Mayor of New Town, and only comes home every couple months. Granny wandered around back to see how the yard looked and found a back door that was left unlocked. To her that was an invitation to enjoy a self guided tour, but she couldn't get anyone to go with her. Add B&E to the list of things that happened on the trip, I say so what, par for the course.

After Granny's house, we drove by the McKinnon's and the community pool then headed over to meet John, Jeanne, Dan and Matthew at the capitol for a private tour. Because that is how VIP's roll. We were disappointed that there wasn't a band, color guard, fire works and the Governor. Don't they know who we are for cripes sake?!

We did get the VIP treatment from John and Jeanne. They showed us parts of the capitol building that NO ONE gets to see, even the room where the state officials go to smoke dope. We all tried to stay on our best behavior, with the way things were going on this trip someone could shut down the state government by accident. (I'm sure we would have figured out how given enough time)







We learned from John that the capitol burned down in 1930, and was rebuilt for under $2 million dollars! In fact, they were given a budget of 2 million dollars and they gave money back! Now that is what I call a working government. The most skilled workers only got paid 50 cents an hour! Ouch.

1st stop was the Senate. Being a family of power, the kids all ran up to hit the gavel and call the floor to order. Way to go kids, every senator present paid attention.

The House was the next stop on the grand tour put on by the wonderful Walstad's, John and Jeanne.

Each chair in the senate and house has the below buttons. The page button is used to alert the page to a congress member. As you can see on the next picture below is a entire light grid so the pages know who can't leave their seat and get something for themselves. The pages sit on the outside isles waiting for the board to light up to spring into action. I would think of it like a ball boy in a tennis game.

The great John Walstad's office was a stop on the tour. We got to see where the true magic of the state government worked. Chris Angel eat your heart out!

All of the books below John has given his stamp of approval that everything is accurate. We couldn't get all of his books in the picture, but this gives you an idea of what a magic worker he is. If you look at the very bottom of the picture you can see his last book, "How to make your family think you authored a bunch of government books".

Off to the last stop, the branch that over turns everything the house and senate does. The supreme court, also the place where Jeanne works. Mmmmm, the spot where the main answer is "no" is where John's wife works.........things that make you go mmmmmmmm.

Jeanne's office!

She does such a great job, the Governor gave her an award!

And that Governor happens to be someone Granny used to babysit! I guess he was quite the bed wetter.

Jeanne works with one of the Supreme Court justices. There are 5 justices. Together they read 30 cases each month, that's 300 cases per year (they don't hear cases in July or Aug, Jeanne says that's when she and her co-workers get caught up)! Each justice has to write 6 cases a month. They hear everything from traffic violations to murder, basically anything that gets appealed in the lower courts. We got to see where they hear each case. Each case gets 60 minutes, that's it. Not a place for, "if the glove doesn't fit. you must acquit". Each side is allotted part of the 60 minutes to make their argument, then the case gets a decision. Seems so much longer on Law and Order.

We also saw an area where they pay tribute to famous North Dakotans. If you look closely, you'll see Dad there on the end. There was a small sign saying that his frame was on back order from China. We continue to keep our fingers crossed for the Chinese to quit making lead toys and start making large wooded frames.

After the capitol, we hit the road again. While everyone else took naps, played blokus, or watched football, Dad read the paper...with a special contraption Donovan hooked him up with.

We arrived home safely in Maple Plain about 10:00pm, Lisa and the kids weren't too happy about it. What I was happy about was the world record luggage off loading process. I'm so proud of my in-laws. sniff sniff. They can move quickly after all.

HEY! GET OFF THE BUS AND START UNLOADING YOU FIVE! Chop! chop! Let's get to it! (great memories of my dad from our family trips)