Flying back to Minnesota this morning. Early. On the plane by 6 A.M. A packed flight, of course, with an aisle seat. (Multiple shoulder checks with orbiting beverage carts.)

Lugging back a monster pile of posters was an interesting challenge. First off, they’re too hard to check just keeping them flat. Second, they weigh a ton. Dale solved the problem with some concrete foundation tubing. Good call, brother. We rolled up 150 of the things, filled the negative space with DDC trinkets and sealed off the ends. The thing looked like a pyrotechnic of some sort. Always fun for flying.

Straight shot to Minneapolis. Met up with DJ Stout from Austin and David and Eric from Hush from New York City, loaded up a family van and headed straight downtown for some lunch at the Walker, a quick stop to exchange peaceable sentiments with the good people of Wink (some of the BEST stuff going in Minneapolis. Two guys. Nice as hell. Seriously.) and then hit the big road north.

All I could think of in that van was this, “How awesome is this? Hanging out with incredible designers…Northwoods…Minnesota…October 1st.” Just great, all around.

We got up to Nisswa a couple hours later, checked in to our Grand View Lodge rooms, then met up for a big supper of steak nuggets, shrimp-on-a-stick, curried veggies, basmati rice and jello. Hell of a feast. We visited with our hard-working AIGA hosts, which was great. Fellow graphic design people. Laughing about Pantones and printer drama and shit. So fun.

Got back to the room and put the finishing touches on my little presentation. Fell asleep to the sounds of some creature howling at the moon in the courtyard. Really.