“We pretty much all showed up here at Laqutis' humble abode and had a pretty good time! There were fish net stockings, handmade balls, salty, creamy dips, dirty stockings which contained very nice gifts, and last but not least, a bottle of bubbly which was opened nakedly by Ewker, and shared gratiutiously among us all!! Sassafras broke the base of her champagne glass when Tawanda paraded up the stairs in her fishnets, and we all tried to figure out how the breakage happened! We had so much food, we made the Lutherans come down for a look! The Nigal's showed up and yes, they are still here...”

“pictures, we need pictures!”

“Yeah! Such a good time deserves its own webshots album!”

“Alright, if one of you crazy cats busts out the lampshade for a hat, I'm leaving TT forever.”

“a bottle of bubbly which was opened nakedly by Ewker,


- exactly what does that mean and we DEFINATELY need pics of that!!”

“Trip Report!!!”

“At least it was a good thing that Ewker yelled "DUCK!" before he threw the chair out the front window.

I'm on my way to bailout Tara, Sass and dHutch outta jail. Seems they ran into a little trouble on the way home....”

“OMG!!!”

“Just funnin'!

I don't have enough Buddha in me...


It was a very goodie time!”

“I heard of somebody opening a beer bottle like that....

Aw Hell. Let 'em cool their heels a while in stir --- the stories will be better.”

“aww shucks. I am so bored tonight-coulda used some excitment! ;)
(glad you were just just kiddin' though!)”

“<raspberry>”

“there will not be any pics of me opening that bottle of bubbly using my #$&*$ cheeks”

“Did the camera break? LOLOLOLOL”

“no it didn't break, only certain people will get to see it”

“That's oooooooooooooookay!”

“When's the private showing? lol!”

“;-)

photos,

photos

,

photos

,

photos!

”

“There's goes the reputation of TT.”

“What reputation? That we're a bunch of drunken lushes?”

“I'm hoping you have the BEST time ever!!!!!”

“I thought we were respected for our high morals.”

“I think it is "high morale".”

“No smoking from me or Birch.


And just know, we only dress that way for the pictures! ;)

It was a gooood time! We missed all of you that weren't there. Sunshine, so sorry about your deer troubles. Next year!”

“Boy am I relieved. I was afraid I was going the have to drive to MI and bail out poor ewker.

Take it easy on the guy, being a gentleman from the South, I am sure he knows nothing of drunken parties.”

“And don't take advantage of him. He is in a precarious emotional state.”

“What an awesome party!!

A super huge thanks to the Laqtis clan for hosting us all.

I havent seen so much fishnet since the last time I was in Bar Harbor Maine. I made out like a bandit at the gift exchange...2 multitools, a pedometer, an Asics wicking T, an a photon LED.

Thanks everyone for the great time!”

“g$% #$%#@% #@%! #$%@% !!!

Where are the $%#%$@ pictures!!!”

“There will be no photos because the Michigam/Ohio TTers are a sack o'liars.”

“I humbly disagree viOliN. Photos of previous Michigan Mountaineers parties have told volumes (our should I say gallons) about that group.”

“"handmade balls, salty, creamy dips"

Exactly what kind of party was this? Forget it I don't want to know!!!”

“Mama told me not to come!”

“Now that I am finally home from work, and still feeling the beers from last night, I do want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Laqtis for hosting such a great party! They have a beautiful, warm home and two cute boys! Their home was decorated with all sorts of holiday cheer. As mentioned before, there was a ton of food (enough for the Q's to take to their Detroit Lions football tailgate party), a ton of different kinds of beers, a great collection of people, and Ewker seemed to have enjoyed himself. The man brought up a Jack Daniels fudge cake from Tennessee and it was a big hit! One bite tasted like you just downed a shot of Jack!

Everyone is still running around and doing fun stuff with Ewker so I'm not sure when pics will be posted. You all will have to be patient as we up here party for days and not just one night. I only took four so will wait to see what else anyone else got before posting those.

Sassafras handpainted very beautiful ornaments for each person. Very thoughtful on her part and very appreciative on our part.

There really was fishnet stockings and high heels. Those picures, I do believe, are on DHutch's camera.

The gift I received was a hiking boot ornament, and two packages of jerky spices! Way cool because I received a dehydrator for Christmas this year.

This group of TT'ers really know how to have a great time and are extremely hospitable. If the rest of TT is this way, then I would have to say that we have one hell of a great group of people from all over the U.S., and I am honored to be a part of it.

Again, thank you Laqtis for the great time.”

“My favorite moment from the whole night…

Nigal: [picking up a beer off the counter] Who’s beer is this?

Unnamed TT Chick: Mine.

Nigal: [picking up a glass of Jack] Who’s Jack?

Unnamed TT Chick: Mine.

Un named TT Dude: I’m driving.

Nigal: Well of course because otherwise she’d only be drinking one or the other!

I later spotted the same TT Chick with a glass of bubbly added to her collection of drinks and told her, “Well you’ve got all three food groups represented here!”! LOL!

It was a great time and I was glad to meet everyone new and see the old friends. I wish I had more time to get to know the new faces as a party is so helter skelter and it’s tough to spend time with everyone. I do not think I have ever met a more honest and genuine person as Wolfeyes. She is an amazing and funny lady!”

“The un named TT chick made it home juuuust fine. Not only were all three food groups represented (beer, wine and liquor), but we ate too. Great food from the pot luck crowd.

Thank you to Q and wife for the great atmosphere. Missed you at Greenfield Village! Hope the game was good. Todays trip proved to at least some that MI TTers can have a good time without alcohol being involved. Although there was some interest at the Tavern in rum cider...

Pictures will be posted as soon as we stop having fun long enough to load them in to webshots. Gotta Go, social life calls.”

“I'm sorry I missed you guys. It was fun talkin' to y'all on the phone (cept' sass, what the hell happened?) Any mistletoe action this year?”

“Buddha Bear,
What use would we have had for mistletoe without you there. But you'll be even more sorry you missed it when the pictures are posted. However, by phoning in, you were there in our thoughts.

dhutch (not really Ewker?)”

“did anybody hurl?”

“Dudes!

I forgot my ornament.

Sass! Those were great. Can you bring one to the undisclosed January event?”

“I'm gonna go out on a limb and say "Tarabull is the unnamed TT chick".”

“Good guess, Rockman. Let's she if she denies it!!”

“Not so, guys. I think I should be offended. lol
I was a designated driver and stopped at 3 Amstel Lights. I followed it up w/ a glass of water. No wine. No liquor. :-p”

“I missed the party, but saw some of the pics already.

Ewker, failed to mention this yesterday while at GV, but you're looking dark skinny!

Mr. and Mrs. Q, wish I could have stopped by your humble abode, I heard it was a lovely time. :)

Sass, thanks so much for the ornament. Its really beautiful! Wish I had just a little bit of your artistic talent!

Mr. and Mrs. Nigal - bummed I missed you guys. I was telling my boyfriend how fun you are.

Reformed Lurker - Congrats, dude! I was thirlled to hear the news!

Wolfeyes - still haven't called your professor friend, but its at the top of my list today. Thanks for your help, and sorry I missed fishnet stocking night. :)”

“Thanks to Q and his wife for inviting me into their home. You have a very nice place, and wonderful little kids.

Got to meet great another tt'er (ewker), a tt'er spouse (nigal's) and a tt'ers parents (tarabulls), and saw good friends, some of whom I haven't seen in almost a year.

The food spread was incredible. I ate very little, haven't been feeling well, but just looking at it all was satisfying.

Thanks also to my secret santa, I scored a great gift (msr 4l dromendary lite bag).

You folks are great. The 2 hr. drive was so worth it. I'd drive lots farther!

A perfect capper to a great Christmas holiday!!!”

“RL, I have a few left and I'll keep them out for you. I have one for Wolfsister I need to bring anyways.

I just want to say that it wasn't me! I didn't touch any whiskey, excepting waht was in the cake.

BB, I don't know. I was waiting for the phone to be passed and then fifty minutes later you were gone. I got pretty excited when you called, thinking you were just around the corner needing directions. Wish you could've been there, Dhutch had some fishnet stockings in extra larger, extra tall just for you!”

“extra larger? lol.

Oh and btw, the Q's are the bestest hosts. Thanks again for opening your home to us again, you guys are the best!”

“OK here's the long version.

Arrived to a warm and festive laqtis house greeted by a host of Michigan Trailtalkers. The second thing noticed after all of the smiling friendly faces was a virtual cornucopia of food! One room and two tables could not hold the spread. LtWtpcker your mac n cheese is the best I've ever had! Birch, the potatoes..excellent. And Nigal, well you caught me sucking the bones! Fantastic ribs. Too many great tastes to mention them all. But Ewker's Jack Daniels fudge took the cake. Need a chaser with that one.

After much mingling, laughter and chatter we settled down around the Christmas tree to perform the gift exchange. These guys know how to make backpackers happy for only $15. Being the last to chose and able to have my pick from the round robin had me wondering if I should take Tarabull's titanium cup, Birch's pedometer and multitools or Sass's Buff. Took the Buff, sorry Sass. Tried it on the next day and it indeed can function as a top, skirt, hat, balaclava, etc.

After everyone revelled in their gifts and thanks were given, more lively conversation and a raucus game of Worst Case Scenario board game. Outright win by the team of Tarabull and Sass. Runner's up Papabull and Mamabull!

Other highlights:
Ewker surrounded by fishnet, yes.
Meeting Nigal's lovely wife.
Adventure racing strategy discussion with Birch.
Every moment of laughter
All Michigan TTers reaching their homes safe and sound in the hands of designated drivers. Thanks designated drivers.

I love these people!

We had a great day at Greenfield Village yesterday. Gathered at the gate at 11am were Sass, Birch and their cutey pie daughter Abbey, Tarabull, Smiley and boyfriend, Cowpatty, Ewker and myself. The weather held at around 40 and cloudy until we leisurely took in the atmosphere of historical buildings for the afternoon. It was fairly mellow as we had all been out late the day before. Rain started as we headed out to dinner.

Highlights:
Abbey moving a 4.2 ton train track at the roundhouse.
Hitting the farmhouse at cow milking time.
Once again lots of laughter and great friendship.

Too much typing in one sitting and the pictures are not on my camera. I defer to Ewker.”

“Dhutch - you underestimate the strength of the Abbster. That track was 42 tons!

I wish I had been feeling better yesterday. I only ended up taking about 3 pics. There were about 50 other great photo opps that I just skipped cause of pure laziness. Oh well... we'll have to return in the spring when the flower are in bloom. We'll take tons more pics then.”

“We here at the Homestead had a blast! I haven't seen a bunch of food like that laid out in a real long time.


Thanks to Ltwt for the custom lightweight starter kit. It's very cool!”

“Please don't post any pics of Ewker wearing fishnet stockings. ;)

Hurry up and post the rest of the pictures!”