Well that was another successful Bock Fest - filled with drinking and laughing until your face hurts.

Despite how awesome it was, Rico had to drop out at the last minute, which was LAME... however Cedric stepped up and stood-in for him. Tobbie also tagged along since she's been fitting in with our crew so well.

So this year I felt more prepared than ever. First of all I wasn't sick... But we seemed to have all the right gear - including my giant beard and Kari's 4WD vehicle. The drive for real took us about 2 hours longer than normal with complete white-outs all over. It was a rough, rough drive... However, we prevailed, pulled into Morgan, grabbed a beer at Josh's, and met everyone at Front Street.

The first night was all too similar. We show up with plans to not be hungover for bockfest, but we all get so excited that we just end up getting hammered and staying up too late. It was awesome.

Saturday morning we were surprisingly on the ball. We got to New Ulm fairly early, had our subway, and wound up in line by noon! (which is like a new world record). We even had our first beers shortly after 1.

So I've blogged about Bock Fest for 4 years now and there's not really much new to say. It's just an amazing festival. I mean, you're drinking outside in the Minnesota cold with polka music playing, surrounded by nothing but friendly drunks. If you're a non-friendly drunk, you probably shouldn't attend. I swear that anyone you run into at that fest is your friend the second you spot each other. Then, if you start talking, the conversation is nothing but hilarious. This year I had an entire conversation with one girl that consisted entirely of the word "Pertinear."

So anyway, there's not really much else to say other than the fact that weather was great (low 20s, sunny, and snow on the ground) and we had an amazing time. It also seemed that no one really got hungover this year (either day). It was a great visit. Can't wait for Bock Fest Number 5 - the rooms are aleady reserved.

Here are a ton of pics.