Break Out the Roman Candles, The Handfelts Are Coming!

Fourth of July weekend this year was spent visiting my dad and Chris, along with my step-brother Bart, up at Lake Okoboji. I hadn't been to "the Boj" since Ace of Bass topped the charts (US, not Swedish) and Katy had never been to Okoboji before, making her the last recorded Iowan to make the trek.

We arrived on a drizzly Friday in time for me to get my tenderloin fix at the creatively named "Family Diner". The loin was appropriately large (they must be at least twice the size of the bun...thems the rules), the bun was grilled and the mashed potatoes and gravy were artery clogging. All in all a great success. Bernie ordered a slice of 'sour cream and raisin' pie, which sounds about as appetizing as an old coffee filter, but tasted like God's will. After that we drank some beer on Dad's deck and got our asses kicked by The Smartest Man in the World at Scrabble. I'd be lying if I said that I had any words containing more than 4 letters.

Saturday was spent bumming around town, checking out some shops and going for a walk along the lake. That evening, I busted out the skill set that won me 8th Grade Football MVP and played football with Bart and his buddy Matt on the golf course (aka, Dad's back yard), running routes and showing my age in a matter of no time. My M.O. as a passer has always been accuracy, and once again I showed off the most pinpoint passing by an Iowan since Kurtis Eugene Warner.

For dinner, Chris made honey mustard green beans, grilled chicken and rosemary potatoes, of which I went on record as saying were some of the 'best potatoes ever', and I actually have my Masters in Potato Evaluation, so that's saying something. After dinner we headed down to Arnold's Park to watch the fireworks (along with around 120,000 other revelers). Normally I think fireworks are pretty overrated, but these had some pop to them, so to speak. Very impressive, kind of like my passing display earlier in the day.

Sunday was the nicest day of the weekend and we spent the day going on walk through Arnold's Park, a bike ride down the main drag (that is, until I got a flat and had to stop for a Margarita to get my energy levels back up) and more time napping and lounging on the deck. We went to the Okoboji hotspot The Barefoot Bar for a couple of drinks before ordering some pizza and calling it a night.

On Monday we bid our gracious guests adieu and after a quick breakfast at greasy spoon Kegler's, headed back to Chicago via Minnesota and Wisconsin, which proved to be much more scenic than our normal Iowa/Illinois route. 9+ hours later we arrived back at the Handfelt Hacienda, tired and happy to be home, and a little less sunburned that I would have liked, but grateful for our time spent at that wily Iowa beach town with good company and good (tender) loins.

Chris and Katy at the fireworks.

Me and Bart. Bart is no longer the 5-year old kid I remeber who had an affinity for basketball cards and Pokemon. Well, maybe he still likes Pokemon.

Grilled chipolte chicken, rosemary potatoes and honey mustard green beans. Sweet Lord in heaven.

The tenderloin sandwich will simeltaneously enchance and wreck your life.

Ben and Bern, post-Scrabble butt whoopin'.