Heather Maanum (Whitten): Heather and Meg met in Ms. Behrendt’s second grade class at Glen Lake Elementary and spent the rest of elementary school as two of four members in a group of best friends who bonded over, among other things, some truly amazing fashion sense. In the twenty years since they met, Heather and Meg have continued to share their love of the outdoors through summer weeks at Wolf Ridge and weekends up North. Heather is now an architect and lives in Minneapolis with her husband Erik.
Alex Green: Dave and Alex became friends over a shared passion for whitewater rivers. Numerous road trips paddling by day and camping out by night ensued and neither of us will forget the good times that were had. As life has progressed, Alex moved to Colorado with his family where he now lives with two energetic and brilliant sons. The past few years, every excuse to visit has been made and the usual outdoor antics involving bikes, boards and boats have ensued.
Lisa Rubinger: Meg was incredibly lucky to end up with Lisa as her freshman roommate at Amherst. They lived together throughout college, and though their interests were very different (swimming and Asian Languages and Cultures vs. hockey, rugby, and rocks), Meg couldn’t have asked for a better friend. After living in Japan for a few years after graduation (where Meg was lucky enough to visit her), Lisa is back in the States and living in New York with her husband Tommy. Meg had the honor of being one of Lisa’s bridesmaids in June.
Brian Castillo: As high school seniors, Brian and Dave spent almost a month on the road in Ontario living their dream paddling whitewater every day without a care in the world. From their time in Boy Scouts 'til heading off to college, the two tended to follow a similar path, or rather river. In school at Northland College, Brian studied outdoor education with an emphasis on universal design and special needs students. He now lives the dream, migrating between guiding sea kayakers in Bayfield, WI and coaching athletes with disabilities in Park City UT.
John Dickoff: Meg’s older brother by 16 months, John had some interesting ways of showing his “affection” for his little sister when they were growing up, but Meg somehow still always thought he was the coolest kid on the planet. John’s lived up to that title pretty well, and now uses his mechanical engineering degree to measure anything, anywhere, that needs to be ultra-precise. He lives in Minneapolis with his fantastic wife Julianna, their tennis-ball-OCD dog Zoey, a garage full of tools and toys, and an impressive garden.
Ben Blodgett: Growing up, Ben mostly was nice and watched out for his little brother. However, there were a few incidents involving duct tape, cattail fuzz, and daring little brother to do stupid things. On the whole, Ben is an awesome big brother. Ben spends his days putting his perfectionism to great use as a lead carpenter, custom remodeler and home builder. Now that they are all grown up, Ben and Dave are still close, catching a Packer game whenever they can or just taking a little time to hang out in their all too busy lives.
Matt Dickoff: Meg spent many years trying to protect the “baby” of the family from John, and she still sometimes has to be reminded that her “little” brother has been bigger than she is for almost ten years now. Matt graduated this spring with a degree in electrical & computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon, where he also minored in beard-and-moustache-growing, and he's now living and working in Washington, D.C. He’s pretty excited that Meg is bringing somebody else into the family who understands what he’s talking about when he gets going on computer security.
Megan Blodgett Minnick: Megan's first question after hearing that Dave had met Meg D. was, "She's not one of those Meg(h)ans with extra letters is she?!?" Having gone through thick and thin, Megan and Dave have a very strong, and often strong headed bond. Dave always looked up to Megan as a kid (as much as he would deny it then), has learned to love real food from her (something that can't be understated), and is thrilled that she has put down roots in Madison. Megan is now the manager of the best produce department in Madison, a true master in the field of locally grown food.
