back highways happy birthday

I turned twenty-two two days ago. July 16. It always disturbs my coworkers when I say that I was born in 1997 and have been able to legally drink for a full year, but I guess I'm the same way with people born in the 2000s--like, kids born in 2001 are all turning eighteen this year, and that's a little disturbing.

So for my birthday I decided to go to Aberdeen, SD. It's about two hours away from my apartment in Nodak, but it's where we'd always go when I was little, because it's about an hour and a half away from my parent's house, give or take, and at Aberdeen they've got Storybook Land, which is free, and let me tell you, young Aurora loved running around that place and seeing all the admittedly incredibly creepy statues of various fairytale characters. Plus they've got this massive Wizard of Oz segment that has these creepy trees that talk at you when you walk past them, and between the ages of four and eleven I was terrified of those things.

Also, they've been promising statues of flying monkeys since before I was born, and so when I went yesterday, because obviously I stopped at Storybook Land as a lone twenty-two year old, obviously, they had the fucking flying monkeys finally and so I no longer have to go back there ever again, because my Dream is Realized. But then I went into town and made an appointment for Tattoo #2 so I have an excuse and I'll be back in Aberdeen next Tuesday.

But the way there--my GPS took me down all these back highways through North Dakota, and the thing was--I came out for the last straight stretch on this highway I know well. Like I could have turned onto 46 and then made it there and I would not have had to drive twenty miles on each highway, gradually making my way south and west, but I'm kinda glad that I did? I dunno, I dig driving down all these back highways. I don't mind gravel, either, I mean; I grew up driving on gravel. But back highways are some of my favorite things. I love 'em. And The Who's "Who's Next" is the best album for driving down those highways, by the way, in case you were curious.

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