Today I am back at class after a wonderfully peaceful and productive spring break. This year, I decided to intentionally ignore all my homework and responsibilities for the entire week, thereby forcing myself to actually relax. It was a fantastic experience. I did many things that I would never have otherwise had time to do.
My older brother took me out to the shooting range where I shot a rifle for the first time. It was a 22 caliber rifle (which according to my understanding is pretty small), but the guys down the range let me shoot their Russian rifle. It was much like a 30 ought 6 (which according to my understanding is pretty epic). I finished reading The Silmarillion and made it all the way through The Hobbit (which actually is part of an epic). I engaged in comparison shopping and bought a new camera (which allowed me to take a-pic… okay, I’m done). I traveled to the University of Northern Iowa to visit a good friend away at college. I reorganized my closet. And I bought a scrunchie (which I proceeded to wear in public.) A well-rounded vacation, if I do say so myself.
The other noteworthy thing I did was to go on a morning adventure with my club mates. I am involved in The Core, which is a student group hosted by my church. Among other things, we have a weekly Bible study on both the Mount Mercy and Kirkwood campuses here in Cedar Rapids. Each year, the Core hosts a spring break trip for each campus.
For Kirkwood’s spring break, the crew traveled to Decorah, Iowa where they spent five days helping our sister church, Lifehouse, with various projects. They worked hard, came back exhausted, and did a lot to help Lifehouse accomplish some project goals.
For our Spring Break Trip, the Mount Mercy gang cleverly coordinated an adventure of much the same magnitude.
And by that I mean: we dressed up as breakfast foods and drove out to visit the Brandon Frying Pan in Brandon, Iowa. It was a great journey. Much like The Hobbit actually (minus mythical creatures, gold, battles, and the ring of power).
Here we are! Taking in the impressive Brandon Frying Pan.
(Photo by Andrea Bonifazi)
We call this one the band shot.
(Photo by Ben Kromminga)
For those who are a little less imaginative than we are, I have compiled a list explaining our attire:
Chris: a slab of butter
Myself: an egg, sunny side up
Ben: a green egg with ham
Ann (Lauren): an omelet
Lauren (Ann): pancakes
Sam: bacon
Andrea: sausage
Not such a bad little assortment, eh?
The Brandon Frying Pan is the largest frying pan in Iowa (not in the world, or even just in the U.S… but it sweeps the competition here in our fair state. Feel free to be impressed.) After taking far too many pictures of ourselves in the frying pan, we visited the local café for a rather local-café type lunch and then journeyed back to C.R. A road trip for some lame sightseeing and back is never a bad thing when building friendships. It was a good time. I might even call it… epic.
Epic!
You would be sunny side up ….