Okay, the trip plans had been made - we'd had the reservations in on the Hotel since February, and the Festival registration had been sent in by May. Clearly, we were mostly ready to go.

First order of business was to pack up similar clothing. As I've said before, you can feel pretty silly as a twin if you are dressed alike in public - but at a Twins festival, it's almost required! Really, it's a lot of fun to do that when you know you 're in good company.

John and I have accumulated a few similar items over the past 7 years of shopping before the trip. A few phone calls between each of us over the 3-4 days prior to the festival made sure that we had everything we would need. Okay, I'm not being accurate . About a MILLION phone calls over the preceding week, and we had everything we needed!

From the Twin Cities, it's a relatively quick 12-hour drive to the Greater Cleveland area. We set off on Thursday morning, the 31^st of July. A full tank of gas, a couple of booklets full of CD's for entertainment (not many, just the 100 or so we felt would make a good selection for a road trip) and we were off! Two food/gas/driver change stops later, and we were pulling into the Holiday Inn Hudson parking lot. 12 hours and 20 minutes. Not bad! A personal record.

Yay! We were HERE. Sure, the festival wasn't scheduled to start for another day, but what the heck. This way, we had an extra day to relax and get ready for a very busy weekend. We checked into our room, unpacked the TONS of clothing we'd brought (it turns out we had enough to change every time we went back into our room - but we didn't. I just mean that we could have if we'd wanted to).

Not having eaten since lunch at 11:30 this morning, we set out to get something to eat. "Sure, let's just stop in the bar to see if anyone is here", we thought. Sure enough, some of "the regulars" are already here, enjoying themselves. Many hugs and warm greetings abound. We have to eventually tear ourselves away to go find some food - but already it's a great feeling to be back.

This is a weird thing to explain. John and I have been coming for 7 years now, and each time we meet tons of new people (and miss seeing countless others who, for some reason, don't come back). Here were some people we'd seen each year reliably for at least the past 5-6 years (we missed 'em the first year). We have probably spent a grand total of 20-30 hours of our lives with them if you added it all up, and yet it felt like a reunion with our best friends in the whole world. Being welcomed back, even by twins you'd never actually MET, but who recognized you, gives you a wonderful feeling.

After dinner, we come back to the bar at the Holiday Inn, and spend the rest of the evening catching up on old times with a number of the "regulars" and quite a few new sets of twins who were making their first journey. On a Thursday, there's plenty of time (and quiet) to chat calmly in the booths. Just about the only excitement musically is provided by a Karaoke setup in the middle of the dance floor. Someone got up and sang "My Way" - he wasn't a twin, though, was he? It's quiet now, but by Friday night, this would be a CRAZY scene.

Here's where the "official " activities start. For a couple hours prior to this there had been "children's games" taking place at the school ground. I should explain that the largest age group represented at the festival is probably from about age 4 to age 14. So, a little something to help 'em unwind after a long flight/drive is just the ticket. ANYWAYS, at the hot-dog dinner we have a chance to pick up our registration packets - these contain programs, coupons, and tickets entitling us twins to a FREE dinner. The volunteer staff work long and hard doling out food to the hundreds and hundreds who show up. They're always cheerful, and so are the guests. The air rings out with many cries of: "It's great to see you again!", or "Hey, you ca me back!", and "Oh my, you brought those kids by yourself!?!?". A hot dog, a can of pop, and some Oreo cookies later, and we're done with the food. Snapshots are going off left and right, and the cloud of journalists is far smaller than in past years. We spend time wandering around the school, meeting and greeting everyone. Finally, it's time to go back to our hotel room and get a little nap in before the madness would begin. The next 36 hours are a blur.

The joint has started jumping! The temporary bar has been set up in the lobby to handle the overflow from the bar/disco. The bar and lobby are crammed full of twins and triplets, all dressed up for an evening of entertainment. There is d ancing going on in the bar, to an odd mixture of 60's, 70's, and 80's music. It's not unusual for them to play a mixture which slides oddly from such classics (well, maybe) as "Boogie-Oogie-Oogie", to "The Electric Slide", to "You Shook Me All Night Long" . Really! Well, I guess the beauty of it is there's a little bit in there for everyone.

The drinks are flowing (for those who drink) and the chatter is going loudly all over the building. One of the more amusing aspects of hanging out here right now is watching the "normal" guests here as they walk in sort of a daze through the lobby. You see, although the hotel is booked probably 75% or more full with twins, there are still the regular vacationers and business-trip people who had NO idea that this would be happening. Heads turn, double-takes are taken, and we're all having a pretty good time dancing, talking, and taking pictures left and right.

Now, I wouldn't necessarily condone this, but there are those who choose to augment a good time in the lobby with a larger (and less expensive) arsenal of refreshments in their rooms. John and I certainly just store the beer in our rooms for those rare moments when, maybe, the bar isn't open and we're in the mood for something (yeah right). In any case, we had fun at one point when some "pals" of ours took advantage of a security oversight. Imagine our surprise when we went back to our room around midn ight and discovered that - gasp! - the COOLER was GONE.

We should have laughed. But we thought maybe that management had determined that our low-cost refills were against some sorta policy. After being assured by management that this was NOT the case, we went through the trouble of trying to track down who had been in there. A short time later, we were approached by Peggy and Patty from Jasper, Indiana. "Hey, you guys want some nice beer? We've got a LOT in OUR room!". Aha. We'd been had. Horrors of horrors, though - they'd sampled one of the Red Hook ESB's, and finding it not to their liking they had poured it down the sink. Sadness! (A moment of silence to commemerate the loss)

Finally, 'round 3:00am, it's decided that we should get a good night's rest - the REAL festival takes place tomorrow morning!

Now we've all had a wonderful 5 hours or more of sleep, and the hangovers are long gone, right? Time to rise and shine, put on more matching clothing, and head out to the parade!

The parade is an interesting affair. There are clubs and organizations from the nearby communities, there are Shriners in tiny cars. There are bands, dancelines, fire trucks, and floats. Interspersed between all of this are long long LONG lines of twins. You don't have to register to be in the parade, you just have to be willing to walk. And, come to think of it, if you're not willing to walk there are a couple of trailers (more like hay wagons) to cart you along in style. Talk about service!

The entire 3/4 of a mile to the festival grounds takes maybe 45 minutes to walk, tops. But there are so many MANY twins in the long line that, when you get to the end of the parade, you can sit and watch for an hour or more before the last of the twins have finished walking. We're talking a lot of twins, folks!

As you are walking in the parade, you can wave to the people lining the street along the whole way. A surprising number of twins choose to watch timidly from the sidelines. Probably, like John and I our first year here, they feel like they don't necessarily belong in the parade. Well let me tell you, the only thing it takes to "belong" in the parade is being a twin. Join on in the fun and practice your parade waves!

Now we're "on the grounds". Normally, this is a public area for the people of Twinsburg. There's a sort of meeting hall, a natural ampitheater with a stage, and a water park. Unfortunately, due to the extreme danger of overcrowding and subsequent drownings, the water park is off-limits during the weekend. I'd sure love for them to change that.

(By the way, if you haven't yet registered for the festival, there's a booth where you can do so. Remember, without registering you can't be counted - and it's fun to see the numbers climb every year! Upon entering the festival grounds, you are faced with a large number of options: )

• Arts and crafts you can purchase - much of it "twin-related"
• Greasy and not-so-greasy fair food. Y'know - burgers, funnel-cakes, cotton candy, etc.
• Official Twins Days memorabilia. Gotta get them bumper-stickers and fridge magnets!
• Hey, there's a beer tent for those who can't get enough drinking in during the evening. I view this with just a bit of distaste, as my stomach is usually recovering from the night before - as well as preparing for the night ahead. I try to give my body a break every once in a while!
• The "twin competitions". In the amphitheater, there are contests running all day in front of a panel of judges who determine most-alike, least-alike, and various other categories for how twins can look alike and look different. In case you're wondering, I believe there is even a category for most-alike boy-girl, as well as just comparing boys to boys, and girls to girls. You must be registered to compete, though (see? Another reason!)

So, when John and I get there we usually just whip out the cameras and start talking to people. This year was different, though. We sat around for a while and watched the end of the parade, then got out the frisbee and played catch for a while. Plenty of open space to do so! Then we got out the cameras and started meeting and greeting. We try to talk to as many sets as possible, but it still seems like we miss about a million people. John and I knew of at least 8 sets of twins who were showing up specifically because they had read about the festival on our web pages, yet we met NOT ONE set of them this year. The exception was Julie and Laura Van Tosh, who we actually met in the bar the night before. Didn't see them on the festival grounds at all, though!

We spent the morning/afternoon eating, meeting people, taking pictures, watching some of the contests, filling out forms for researchers (there are always plenty of university types there!), and generally hanging out. The weather this year was beautiful! Hardly a cloud in the sky, and the ground was dry, too. Sometimes it's been a bit muddy, and that can be a drag.

Here's something fun to have. A picture of you and your 2,000+ new friends all standing together.

There's a field back behind the school, just uphill from their track. Come on out and stand inside the white chalk-line and wait for the photographer to ascend in his cherry-picker and run off about 3 rolls of film. All you have to do is have a high to lerance for just standing there. This is another good time to chat with others, take their pictures, and generally hang out until the photographer is ready.

If you REGISTER, you also get the opportunity to order copies of this photo. It's fun to collect these year after year. You can show your friends this huge photo of hundreds of people, and amaze them by telling them that they are all twins or triplets or quads? It's best to stand near the front if you want to be able to easily pick yourself out, though. John and I got to the field about 2:30 and waited for close to an hour before it was all done. Time to go back to the hotel and...get a nap!

Every evening, between nap-time and party-time, it's fun to go out on the town and have some dinner. During the whole day, we've blended in by dressing alike. Now we can mess with people's heads by going out into the neighboring communities as a team.

This year, John and I went with a few friends to a great Japanese Restaurant called - I think - Fuji. This is one of those places where you all sit around a grill and watch your dinner being cooked right in front of you. This is great for entertainment, good food, (and is an ideal opportunity for sharing food with your neighbors). John and I went with some friends who have been coming out to Twinsburg together for over 10 years - Jean & Jill from New Jersey, and Gigi and Angie (with husband Mark) from Georgia. Go on, [take a look at this cheerful picture and then come back here]!

Well, actually this is much the same as Friday night up to a point. The differences are: there are a lot more people, there are people you've met during the festival whom you have invited out here, and the party lasts longer because nobody has to get up for a parade the next day!

John and I whipped out the cameras again, and took a lot of pictures of twins holding beer and wine glasses. Many people looked quite sunburned too - it was a sunny day! Dave and Don, you guys I think took the prize for "most like a fresh-cooked lobste r color".

When the dancing and drinking finished up in the bar at 2:00am, whoever was left moved out into the lobby. Here we all gathered 'round the few people who had instruments with them and there was much singing and revelry. The songs ranged from old FM classics, to a very touching original tune by Phil and Seth, which they wrote and dedicated to all twins whose twins have passed on. These "twinless twins" are also always welcome to the festival, by the way. The bond you've had with your brother/sister doesn't go away just because one of you is no longer alive.

So, this all went on for another couple of hours. By 4:00am, John and I decided that we had had enough. We needed to get up at about 8:00 the next morning so we could hustle back to our ordinary lives in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Bidding everyone goodnight and farewell, we went off to bed.

We'll be back next year, though!

  -Charles