Kansas 2005

It started out as a wedding I couldn't attend. Historically, the UNC High School Music Camp has taken place during the first week of summer after the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools let out. This year, that would put it from 2 PM on June 12 until noon on June 18. The wedding (of my cousin, Chris, to Jacqueline, his girlfriend of six years) was scheduled for 8 PM on June 17. These times didn't work together. However, when I received news that Music Camp had been postponed until early August, I hopped on the bandwagon, because I enjoy seeing people and doing things.

Like all wonderful things, the vacation occurred in three parts, each carefully planned by my mother, who is the very best vacation planner ever.

Part 1: The Wedding

Of course, this part was the entire reason for the trip in the first place. However, it was used as an excuse for a great deal else.

The voyage began far too early in the morning on Friday, June 17. With my brand-spanking-new Casio EX-Z750 digital camera in tow, I boarded a roomy Boeing something-or-other with my dear parents and brother. We had a brief layover in Chicago, during which we ate at Chili's. The next plane trip, to Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, was ridiculous. We flew in a jet that I couldn't have stood up in if I'd been on my knees. I sat, rather uncomfortably, in a window seat. The entire situation was made worse when the person in front of me decided it would be good to lean his or her seat back a few degrees...the few precious degrees of space that my legs were clinging to for the illusion of nondiscomfort. At that point they gave up and sent various nerve impulses to my brain for the remainder of the voyage.

Fortunately, that terrible plane ride ended, and we were arrived in Wichita. We drove to the hotel, where we encountered countless members of my family, all staying in the same hotel for the wedding. We spent the afternoon visiting with relatives. The evening, of course, was the wedding. It was a nice ceremony. It took place in the gigantic sanctuary of Wichita's largest church. The sanctuary seats 3,000 people, which makes a couple hundred (our group) quite small. However, it was happy and good. After the reception, the romantic plan was for the bride and groom to drive away in a horsedrawn carriage after walking down a line of cheering, sparkler-waving fans. The problem with the plan, though, was that horses don't like sparklers. Or smoke. Or cheering. Some combination of these three caused the horses, with driver, to bolt, stopping only when they'd run into and become entangled with a Chevy Suburban, owned by the bride's uncle. The driver was thrown forward out of the carriage and was caught in the riggings. An ambulance was called (neither the driver nor the horses were badly hurt) and the newlyweds drove off in a Toyota Corolla.

The next day, we mostly visited with family at the hotel. It was fun, but I tired of it after a time. Andy, who had brought his discs in hopes of playing disc golf in one of the many Kansas locales, got one (the Orc) stuck on the roof of the hotel, which was unfortunate. I thought about using my natural talents as a trained monkey and climbing on top of the roof to retrieve the disc, but instead we went to the front desk and told them it was there. I figured it was the adult thing to do.