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Saturday morning started bright and early at 6am when I woke up, got ready, and hopped in the car for a 2-hour drive...I headed off in my black pickle with an empty pickle jar to Caledonia, IL. You know you are literally in "boofoo" when all of a sudden the road turns into gravel and when lost while trying to waste a few minutes, driving down a deserted road you pass a small cemetery and almost hit a giant Welcome to Wisconsin sign...
On my attempt I totally missed the farm because the road sign was only facing in the opposite direction so I didn't see it. But on my turn around I saw it and found my way there.
Yes, I was headed to a farm two hours away from home on a Saturday morning. Why? For a cheese-making class!
Once there we dove right in. Everyone paired up and tackled a cheese. My partner and I worked on feta and ricotta. Ricotta was amazingly simple. We just heated some unpasteurized goat's milk to a high temperature then added some vinegar. The teacher said that we'd see the reaction really quickly and right away. I poured it in and stirred and it still looked just like foamy milk. But then all of a sudden it just separated and was curds in a clear/yellowy liquid. Amazing. A few more steps later and I customized my lump of it by mixing in some chopped garlic tops. It was delicious!
The feta would have actually taken about eight hours, so we never got to completely finish it...but it was pretty easy all the same. Others in the class made mozzarella and chevre and queso blanco. It was all yummy.
When the cheeses were about done we went outside to milk a goat. It's harder than it looks.
And goat's milk tastes like regular milk but was kind of icky to drink right away just because it was warm.
After the class, since I was out that far anyways I decided to take a mini-trip to Rockford for some cheesy sites! The first stop was Midway Village.
Midway Village is one of those old-time towns that shows authentic and replicated buildings of how things were in the past. A dressed-up guy took us around on a tour (by "us" I mean me and a few families and old people). So I saw lots of old-timey buildings and such.
After that I walked through the dollhouse museum and the rest of the museum. The museum housed the real reason for going to this particular attraction: The Sock Monkey Exhibit!!!
This exhibit showcased tons of sock monkeys (knit AND fiberglass) and showed how the town of Rockford and the invention of the seamless sock led to their being. SOCK MONKEYS!
They had a bunch of other weird little exhibits too...including a real airplane!
After the museum I drove off to Lockwood Park. I got out of my car and walked towards to farm area not seeing what I was looking for...but then I saw it...right there in front of me...a 19-foot high COW!!!!
Totally worth a 15-minute detour to see :) And a great ending to a cheesy day!
More photos here!
Pop Quiz: Alina's plane leaves at 7:30am. Val's plane leaves at 8:40am. Who arrives at the airport first?
If you guessed Alina, you are sadly mistaken and do not know me at all...
Friday
After arriving at the airport ridiculously early, going through Southwest's new seating procedure (which is the most basic thing in the world, but, apparently, impossible for most others to understand), and sleeping through much of my flight, I arrived in the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada to...rain? It rains in Vegas? Apparently Vegas doesn't know this fact either because it seems to break when it rains: the escalators all stop working, the porn guys stop coming out, employees go outside to sweep the water from the streets...sillyVegas.
I met up with John and Alina and headed to the hotel, the MGM Grand, where we checked in and waited in our room for Mike who was driving in now that he lives oh so close in California. Once he arrived we headed downstairs, found that the lions were not going to be out (I demand my money back), ate sammiches at 'wichcraft (yummy steak, egg, and oyster mushroom sammich), and waited for Alina and Mike to get married. Joe's plane hadn't arrived yet, so she had to take what she could get...
Then it was on to gambling! Alina and I played penny slots while waiting for JoeJoe to arrive. Penny slots is one of those games that you just desperately want to lose but can't. It takes forever to lose a dollar. Alina managed to only gamble $2 the entire weekend and retained every cent.
Joe came and he and the boys hit the tables. I played $20 at the roulette table but soon after everyone at the table left and it was just me. That makes for very boring gambling because it goes way to fast and there is no interaction. I was prepared to leave anyways, but played one more and won $54. :-) My lucky number 13 and its corners helps me every time!
I told Joe that I was up fifty and he thought "so what" because he assumed that when I said fifty that I meant cents. And he did an awesomely amusing double take when he saw that I had actual chips :-)
After gambling a bit and drinking a bit we headed across the street (leaving MGM for the first time since arriving) to New York, New York. We settled on a dinner at a Mexican place: Gonzalez Y Gonzalez in the heart of NYC where I got me a soso chimichanga. And then it was off to the show!
We went to see Zumanity...the sensual side of Cirque. We decided on the show because I had never seen Cirque du Soleil and Alina had seen many but not this one. It was kind of more a Cirque du Soleil burlesque show. While sitting and waiting for the show to begin, some of the actors started going around looking all hot and kind of flashing people and such and then there was a little pre performance.
I think my favorite act was the first one, which had two naked women swimming in a giant fishbowl. Yes, that was my favorite. The tricks they did though were phenomenal and really unique, like nothing I have ever seen. It was at the same time so graceful and dance like and, yes, a little erotic. It was beautiful though. The rest of the show was neat too. I am just glad I was not pulled up on stage though. It was more like a burlesque show than what I'd think a typical cirque show would be. It was mostly just individual acts mixed with comedic filler and singing. But it was very amazingly good and a fun show.
After the show we hit the streets and everyone made me get a giant margarita. I ordered a strawberry one and asked for it to be in a pink glass. If I was going to be forced into caring around and drinking a margarita as big as me, it was going to be pink damnit.
We walked the strip with drinks that trailed down to my knees. Surprisingly I was the only one who didn't think it was a bad idea to sip the "free extra tequila shot" that they poured on top directly from the top of the drink. How am I the only one who can take her tequila straight???
We checked out the new Planet Hollywood casino which replaced the Aladdin and looks like a crappy giant billboard from the outside. The way I see it there are two types of Vegas hotels: the shiny fancy purdy ones (see: Bellagio, Wynn) and the over-the-top themed ones (see: Excalibur, Treasure Island, New York, New York). This fit neither and wasn't even Planet Hollywoodesque. It was just kind of there. Inside though it had one of the best redeeming qualities of any hotel on the strip. There were certain sections deemed "pleasure pits" that had go-go dancers in the gaming area. Now, I know you're all thinking Val this is the second time you've said that the naked women are your favorite thing. But fear not my friends, what made these Pleasure Pits so awesome was that the game tables were PINK! :-)
After a bit of gaming and trying and failing to chug down the remaining margarita, we headed back to the MGM and called it our first night in Vegas.
Saturday
Saturday we all dragged ourselves out of bed and headed downstairs to the Stage Deli for some yummy sammiches. I had a brisket on sourdough and i was indeed yummy. Then we hit the strip again for a walking tour of the wondrous city. We stopped at Bellagio to check out the new garden setup...unfortunately it was still under construction. It was all decked out for Christmas with penguins and trees and reindeer. We went in search of a restaurant for dinner because I was determined to go to a fancyshamancy place and thought I knew just the one, so we found it and made reservations. John and Mike headed back to MGM to watch some sports so Alina and Joe and I went off to explore.
We found the new Trump hotel, which is just a big golden phallus. We walked through Wynn because I think it's pretty. They replaced the floating flower balls that usually hang from the sparkle trees with sparkle balls for the holiday. And they had PINK poinsettias :-) We went through the Venetian and watched the gondolas go by. We stopped at the creperie in Paris to share a crepe (delicious!)
After our snack we headed back to MGM for sports and gambling then back to the Bellagio for dinner. We ate at Todd English's Olives because all I really wanted to do in Vegas was eat at a celebrity chef's restaurant. We had an amazing view with the Eiffel Tower right out the window and the spectacular fountains going off right outside.
They start you off with some olives and two different olive spreads. I'm not a big fan of olives but the spreads were just very salty and I like salt. I decided that if I was going to do this, might as well do it right, so I ordered myself a $42 kobe hanger steak with foie gras mushroom sauce, polenta, and a crispy mushroom frisee salad. It was the most delectable steak I've ever had. The mushrooms in the salad were breaded with a crunchy texture and the steak was so tender and the sauce was thick and delicious. Mmmmm. Sorry, I was not able to get a good picture (there is still one crappy one).
I also shared a bottle of Syrah with Joe and Alina and it was tasty as well.
The waiter asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu and almost thought we said "No" so we had to yell at him...as I said, if I'm going all out, I'm going all out. I split two desserts with Alina and Joe: a creme brulee and a chocolate volcano cake with a hot fudgy center. Drool.
After paying my $80 tab Alina and I headed off to the Rio for show #2: Penn & Teller. Damn you people because now when I saw them all I could think of was KennyK and ScottyMcHotty and how they would look awesome if they went as them for Halloween. :-(
The show rocked. Especially when they showed you how they did the tricks. Like they did that cup thing where the balls magically appear under the cups...and then they did it again using clear plastic cups. Of course, even though they explained it it still made no sense and they still kind of magically appeared :-)
They did a knife trick where they brought someone in from the audience blindfolded them and pretended to throw knives at them. They actually did this same trick at cirque as well. So, even if I knew it was a trick, I still could imagine that if I was brought on stage I would be crying and screaming so loudly they'd hear me three casinos over.
I think the best quote of the night though was just before juggling broken bottles Penn, explaining on the level of injury it might cause said "I won't be rushed to the hospital or anything. I'm not Roy."
After the show Alina called Joe who said they were headed to the Venetian. So off we went to the Venetian. When we got there, we saw that Joe had tried calling and that they went to O'Shea's to play beer pong instead. Which was way closer to where we started. :-( Needless to say , we were pissed. Now I am definitely one to see both sides of most arguments. I agree that they did try to call us to tell us several times. I was pretty upset though that they did not do the polite thing of staying where they told us they'd be until either we arrived or they were able to get in touch with us. What fueled the fire even more was that minutes after we got to O'Shea's, John announced that they were done there and we were heading to the Venetian...
So I was pretty pissed because I thought it was rude of them to not be where they said they'd be and to leave without actually getting in touch with us. But at the same time, I do understand that they (and by they I will mean Joe) at least tried to tell us. Alina on the other hand is a bit more stubborn than I am...and when you pair that with John, you're not going anywhere for a while. They argued for a bit, resulting in this conversation between me and Mike as we sat there watching:
Mike: This will be a while. Let's just go in the back and make out.
Me: OK!
Mike: After all, love solves everything.
Me: Wait wait wait. Don't bring love into this.
We walked through the Venetian and the Wynne again...
John: Mike, look this is your first time in the Bellagio.
Me: Did you just say Bellagio?
John: No Val, this is the Venetian.
Me: Those two drunk are like if Bert and Ernie grew up and got wasted. Except slightly less gay.
Alina: Slightly.
Me: Mike, will you buy me that dress?
Mike: Only if you sleep with me.
Me: Yes! Totally worth it for three seconds of work.
That plus Johns drunken ramblings, John and Mike completely failing at picking up women, Mike's trying to get me to make out with him the whole night, and John trying to throw me in the waterfall pretty much sums up our time there...
We cabbed it back to MGM where Alina retired and the rest of us gambled. I finally got to play the pony game I'd been dying to play. It's this really old game from the 70s or something with a race track. There are five plastic ponies that race in a circle. Odds are given and you place quarter bets on the horses you think will come in first and second. It actually isn't hard to win at because if you for the most part stick to 3-1 odds ones you're most likely to win and will make your money back. I, however, managed to make $26 by betting on a horse combo with 104-1 odds!!! :-) I also like the machine because it is so old that it actually clinks out quarters :-)
I decided then to walk away so that I'd finish with a profit of about $50 in all. Not bad for really only playing roulette once and the ponies once :)
Sunday
Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to downtown Vegas to the Golden Gate for $6.95 prime rib and $1.99 shrimp cocktail. Mmmmm. Counter balances the $42 steak :-) John left earlier, so it was just Mike, Joe, Alina, and me.
Downtown Vegas is not nearly as fun during the day because none of the lights are on :-(
Back at MGM the boys wanted to watch the Bears game and Alina wanted to chill. So I headed to Bellagio myself to catch a "Oh, Holy Night" fountain show. The show was beautiful as always and amazing because there were a ton of tricks where the fountain reached heights well above the height of the hotel. Then I browsed through the garden that was now fully open, grabbed some Jean Philippe pastries, and headed out to catch another fountain show before going back to the hotel.
Alina and I got some Starbucks and ate the Jean Philippe tiramisu and pumpkin cheesecake, which each cost about as much as the prime rib I'd had for lunch :-) Then we joined the boys for the final ten minutes of the game to watch the Bears lose :-(
Mike headed back home to California and Joe and Alina and I headed off to the airport. We sat around for a while because we ended up leaving even before the time I wanted to leave at :-) Then it was the plane ride home where Alina taught me the real rules of Sudoku which made the game so much easier to play (I thought you just went up and down/side to side, I didn't realize the boxes counted too) and we snacked on snack packs.
And thus ended my fourth trip to Vegas in four years and the only time I have ever made any money gambling!
Can't wait 'til next year!
MORE PHOTOS HERE!!!
p.s. sorry about the millions of spelling mistakes in the picture captions. I did it late at night with little light in my cramped seat on the plane. Maybe I will fix them later...
Oh have you seen the muffler man,
The muffler man, the muffler man?
Oh have you seen the muffler man,
Standing in the rain?
Oh yes I´ve seen the muffler man,
The muffler man, the muffler man!
Oh yes I´ve seen the muffin man,
Standing in the rain!
***
Sunday Em and I took a road trip. OK, so I am not sure if it really counts as a road trip if the whole thing takes less than twelve hours and you go no further than 45 miles away from home...but it was a damn fun time and we saw many Chicagoland wonders...
Mr. Bendo
I picked up Emily around 10 and we wound our way around Chicago to find our first destination. It's good to know that I am not the only one who reads Google Maps maps completely wrong and get confused. Our first stop was about a mile west of Humboldt Park on Grand and Pulaski: Mr. Bendo. This trip was all about the Muffler Man as we saw a few of these babies. This one was curious to me because his one arm was down instead of both being (as tradition dictates) out in front.
Giant Wagon
We then took off down Grand further into Elmwood Park to find the Radio Flyer Factory and a frickin huge wagon! It was huge! Being Sunday it was, unfortunately, closed and gated off, but we parked in the strip mall across the street to take pics.
Leaning Tower of Niles
Then it was on to Italy...errr...I mean Niles...for the Leaning Tower of Niles! This replica of Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa is roughly half-sized (94 feet vs. 177 feet) and leans about 7'4" off plum (Pisa has a 15 foot tilt) and sits in front of a YMCA. Being holiday season the tower was decked out for Christmas in garland and bows. Purdy. Considering I was too food poisoned to want to take a train ride to the real thing last summer, this made a nice substitution.
Lincoln on a bench :(
This bench unfortunately doesn't exist. We found the place it was supposed to be but the Mr. Lincoln was not there.
Trout Fisherman
Somehow Abraham was MIA but a random fisherman statue in the overgrown woods does??? Of all the things I didn't expect to find, this was it. This large statue was left over from an old mini golf course that used to be on the property. Now they are building condos around it, so who knows if it will still be there for long...but it looks pretty safe and sound for now!
Wadlow's Shoe?
Square Deal Shoe Store in Des Plaines supposedly has a pair of Robert Wadlow's shoes on display...If you remember the Illinois road trip, you will remember that we saw a Wadlow statue and that he was the world's tallest man. You know what they say about the feet on a world's tallest man...The shoe store was closed but they had a giant shoe in the window. It looked a little new to be Wadlow's though, but I am not sure...we will return to investigate some other time.
McDonald's Museum and Store No. 1
Des Plaines is also home to the first McDonald's! While the restaurant no longer sells food, it's been restored to its original glory and houses a museum...which, unfortunately, is only open during the summer :-( We forwent eating at the working regular ole McDonald's across the street and instead ate at...
Choo Choo Restaurant
The choo choo is a tiny little diner. What makes this stop road trip worthy? Going through the kitchen and all around the counter is a toy choo choo train that delivers your food. How rocking is that? Em and I secured spots right at the counter so we could watch it in action. They had a really yummy chocolate shake and a good cheeseburger. And a train! And I even saw the train almost catch fire once! Awesome.
Muffler Man :(
Apparently in Mount Prospect about seven years ago there was a muffler man. Apparently it no longer exists.:-(
Shoe Tree
A couple pairs of shoes does not a shoe tree make. We drove down a long road in Highland Park in search of a shoe tree (a tree that is covered in hanging pairs of shoes. Emily finally spotted it and said that it only had a couple pairs on it. Since there was a car tailing me, we decided to press on.
Ferris Bueller Garage
Does this garage look familiar?
If you have ever seen a small independent art film called " Ferris Bueller's Day Off " it should. This is the garage where they kept and crashed the fancy car. It is on someone's house in Highland Park. Because it is November and there are no leaves it made it easy to see. Finally, one point for the chosen day!
Muffler Man and Bessie the Cow
Another muffler man AND a cow statue! This one is at Lamb's Farm in Libertyville. This is actually outside of the place we buy our devil dogs from. We were a little confusled at first because we say the cow, but not the muffler man. Turns out that the cow is even bigger than the man. We didn't get too close because they were kind of closed. But I'm sure I will return some day.
Big Man with house :(
Who'd have thought with three year old directions that said "on Grand Avenue in Gurnee" that you wouldn't be able to find a giant man holding a house...
Golden Pyramid House
"The largest 24-karat gold-plated object ever created" is the private home of a rich Armenian garage builder and his family. Seriously, this is someone's house. And right next to it on either side are normal looking houses. The place looks kind of run down and like it is maybe under construction...I don't know when it was built, but I know it was a while ago. It also started snowing while we were here. Who expects there to be snow when visiting the pyramids?
30-ft Tall Cigar Store Indian
After the Pyramid we hopped on the highway back to pick up MattyK (who had finally finished working...seriously, that boy needs to stop spending all his damn time working and start spending more time with me...I am way more fun and interesting than finances) and see a few more sights closer to the city. We waited as he changed out of his suit then hopped back in the car for more adventure. The next stop was a big ole Cigar Store Indian in Oak Lawn.
Muffler Man - Bunyan
This muffler man in Evergreen Park was very very shiny. That is because he was painted in Du Pont Chroma base auto paint after having a weather-related accident.
63rd Street Indian
Imagine the scene: you are on the south side of Chicago...in the lane going straight...look up...notice that the Indian you are looking for is on that corner...so you slide into the turn lane...end up turning as it's going to red...pull over into an unpaid metered space, partially in a tow zone...get out to snap a bunch of pics...and then notice the cop car on the corner who then turns and slows down next to your car...as MK put it "they just gave me a look like I'm the guy forced to hold his girlfriends purse and smiled like they understood." hehe. Anyways. So this Indian was creepy. Mostly because he had big white eyes that made him look blind...all while advertising a vision correction center :-)
Large Kielbasa Sandwich
This was just a Kielbasa on a fast food sign. Not too exciting because it is neither freakishly large nor edible. Next.
The Spindle
I've seen the Spindle a million and a half times but MK has never seen it (how can a guy so obsessed with cars never have seen this???). Plus they are trying to take it away from me and build a Walgreens which is just blasphemous, so I try to go and pay my respects as often as possible.
The Spindle is probably better known as "cars on a spike" or the "car-ca-bob". It's at Cermak Plaza in Berwyn and had a starring role in the movie Wayne's World. It also rocks. I will miss the Spindle terribly when it is gone. At least I got to share in someone else experiencing its wonder for the first time (and got him to agree to go back during the day some time...you are going back damnit!). :-)
Piece
For dinner we headed back to the city for pizza at Piece. MattyK wanted a boring ole mozzarella, tomato sauce, and sausage pizza...But then the rest of us ate a pizza topped with olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, mashed potatoes, and bacon. Yes, a mashed potato pizza! Brilliant and yummy and I think it was a perfectly fitting food to cap off the day.
MORE PICTURES HERE!
Let's start with Saturday
I woke up at 5am on Saturday morning surprisingly awake. I think it was kind of like when you're a kid how you can wake up on Christmas morning before anyone else and be completely ready to go. Except instead of waiting for Santa Claus I was waiting for Joey Chestnut and Pat Bertoletti. I showered and packed up my car then went to pick up Nadia and Bryan.
Before 7am we were already on the road to Chattanooga for the Krystal Square Off, the only Major League Eating sanctioned hamburger contest, and one of their top two competitions. The Square Off is held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 600 miles away and a nine and a half hour drive.
The drive was boring and fun and beautiful and crazy all at the same time. The road signs wanted us to play pong but we determined that may be a bad idea. We also determined that there has to be some sort of street called neutralville between the neighboring towns of brownsburg and whitestown.
At about one or so we made it to our first destination: Cave City, Kentucky. Cave City is an anomaly of a town that is basically my idea of heaven. Our first stop int he town was Big Mike's Rock and Gift Shop and Mystery House. We wandered the gift shop for a bit and then purchased our $1.06 admission for the guided tour of the mystery house...
The first room we went to was full of posters. You know the things: the sentence that has an extra "the" that you completely ignore, the drawing of the two hands drawing each other, the staircases that you can't tell which way was up, etc. etc. Pretty basic everyone's seen it stuff...
The next room was blacklight posters. A room filled with blacklight posters. That was all. They glowed. It was psychedelic or something.
And then on to the good stuff...
The next room was freaky deeky awesome. There was a water fountain and the stream of water ran UPWARDS. And there were pool balls on a ledge that fell UPWARDS and stayed there. And there was a chair that balanced on the wall and I sat on it and was like floating. And the whole room felt like I was going to topple over because it was on weird gravity-defying angles. It was hard to even stand in there!
The next room had a little house thingy and when we went in depending on where you stood you looked either really short or really tall. And then there was a ledge that looked like it was completely on an angle, but in reality was the only thing that was perfectly straight across so when you stood on it you felt completely in balance even though it looked lopsided and you were toppling over everywhere else.
Then it was on through a hall of portraits...those things that look normal at first but then change to look all freaky when you pass...and that was that. The most awesomest Mystery House ever! Totally worth the buck admission. We tipped an extra buck to our fourteen year old tour guide Alex and headed on our way.
We were going to go to the old decrepit wax museum...but it was closed...perhaps permanently :(
We passed by the KY action park (mmmhmmm) but did not go...
We stopped at Dinosaur World, which is kind of a park like Jurassic Park but I don't think the donos are real. We didn't feel like paying the $10 admission though...
Then we stopped by Wigwam Village. It's a motel...where all of the rooms are wigwams. Seriously, these babies have real beds and cable TV and everything. And are shaped like wigwams. I am so making JoeJoe take us canoeing or something around here sometime so we can stay in these :)
Then after it was a quick bite to eat and we headed off to Tennessee, Georgia, Tennessee (silly directions)...
The views through Tennessee are awesome...but we especially loved the runaway truck ramps going up the mountains...
By about seven we made it to Chattanooga and our wonderful Days Inn! Ideally we would have stayed across the street at the Sheraton (they sponsored the Krystal Square Off and so we assumed they hosted all fo the eaters there) but in the interest of saving $100 we opted for cheap motel. Once there we basically passed out for a bit watching a crappy movie. Then we walked a couple of blocks to Sticky Fingers BBQ for dinner. The food there was amazing. I got a pulled pork/half slab combo with Tennessee whiskey bbq sauce. The meat completely just fell of the bone. I picked it up an the bone was completely dry. And it wasn't fatty at all. That's a rib!
We were thinking of doing something afterwards but we were all pretty much exhausted so we went back and called it a night. Needed to rest up for the Krystal Square Off and the long, long drive home...
***MORE PICTURES HERE!!!***
Friday:
Nadia picked me up and then it was off to Cleveland! OK...sort of... First, we took a pit stop at Freddy's (it was basically on the way). Nadia indulged her childhood memories of thick pizza squares and some limoncello gelato...I got myself a fried artichoke (YUM) and some pistachio gelato (DOUBLEYUM).
Then we headed to the city to pick up the boys (Bryan and Jim) and swap cars and then we were finally off!...But not before driving around the city for about 20 hours and stopping at the Skyway McDonald's (I'd never even known that that place existed until earlier this year. It's a McDonald's...smack dab in the middle of the highway. And it's kind of scary.)
So then we were finally off to Cleveland! On the way we discovered the great musical stylings of cereal (otherwise known as a promotional Halloween CD from General Mills that was in the car for some reason...catchy stuff), sang aloud to Kelly Clarkson (at least Jim did), utilized ghetto mapquest, stopped at a gas station that accepts cereal as payment, and ate some symbolic cheetos (because I wouldn't let anyone eat anything orange on my roadtrip).
Then we finally made it to Cleveland!!!!
We checked into our hotel and asked the desk clerk for suggestions on anything that would be open at 11pm in the somewhat-deserted at that time of night downtown area that would still have dinner. The guy rattled off a few places but he was hard to understand because of his "off Cleveland accent" (aka, Jamaican). Then some random dude told us he'd take us in his limo. Nad and I declined and Bryan whined but we weren't about to get into some random dude's random limo.
We walked a couple of blocks and came across the restaurants that we think the Jamaican dude was telling us about, but, surprise surprise, they were all closed.
Luckily one of the places that looked like it was just going to be a bar and was open turned out to be a restaurant and so we ate and watched some Sox. I had a yummy steam and cheese and mushroom and onion sammich on garlic bread with cheesy bacony fries (because I'd left my bird seed in the car). The garlic bread made it. Then we wandered back to the hotel, stopping to check out the guitars (like the Chicago cows) and Jacob's Field, which was kind of right there in the open.
Saturday:
Saturday we headed out bright and early to go see the thing we actually went to Cleveland for in the first place...THE WORLD'S LARGEST RUBBER STAMP!!!!!
Ok, OK, so maybe it wasn't the entire reason for going to Cleveland...but I think it's awesome!
So after we pondered the greatness that is THE WORLD'S LARGEST RUBBER STAMP we headed off another block to see what I guess technically was our whole reason for going to Cleveland: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
We basically went because we wanted to see the Warped Tour Exhibit. There was a Clash exhibit there too, which made it even better.
The Hall was pretty oddly laid out, but we got to see a lot of neat things (sorry, no cameras were allowed, so no pics for you :( ). I liked it a lot because music photography is some of the most interesting photography you can find. I love it.
The Warped Tour exhibit was cool, especially the Lisa Johnson photography and some of the really random things they displayed (I especially liked the hair clippers used to keep the mohawks coming!)
Other hall highlights: Michael Jackson's rotating glove, Madonna's wardrobes that look really well made compared to others, wondering why the Monkees weren't featured :(, wondering why the hell they had a special music of Ohio exhibit until we realized we were in Cleveland, Pink Floyd Wall, weird mesmerizing TV installation, the Hall, the Clash, hearing everyone who commented that they never knew the Clash had more than one song, what may be the World's biggest Hot Dog, Fries, and Coke (The hot dog was actually used to fly Phish into a concert once)...
All in all, it was a pretty fun museum!!!
After the museum we headed back to the hotel to grab the car and then took off looking for the "house with the leg lamp in the window" and we found it!!!
This was the house that they filmed "A Christmas Story" at. It's apparently in Cleveland! Technically they just shot the outside scenes there. But some dude in California bought the house for over double its market value and fixed up the outside and did what he could wit the inside to look just like it did in the movie. He also paid over double what the house across the street was worth to build a gift show and museum. Crazy.
It was kind of neat though. They fixed it up with everything from the leg lamp in the window, the turkey in the oven, the BB gun in the corner, soap on the ledge, and a Red Ryder comic on the bed.
I can't believe I paid $7 to see it, but it was totally worth it I say!
After the museum we wandered the market a bit, grabbed some yummy coffee, and went on a Brewery Tour of the Great Lakes Brewing Company! I've never been on a brewery tour before...not like I like beer, but it was still interesting. Especially since it was a small 25-person operation and not a giant beer conglomerate. They gave free samples (technically we had to pay a quarter to abide by the law). Notyum.
We did dinner at the Great Lakes Brewing Company restaurant. Nadia and Jim both partook in the beer sample...For $10 they got 4-5oz. samples of all nine beers that they had on tap. Since I do not like beer I ordered a Coke, but I wanted beeryness so I go the Stilton Cheese Soup that was made with beer (YUM) to go along with my Pretzel Chicken (I think there was beer in the mustard sauce too).
Jim said that I look like Luke Wilson. Which then resulted in the following conversation:
Bryan: She looks like Helen Keller.
Nadia: Do you even know what Helen Keller looks like?
Jim: Helen Keller doesn't even know what Helen Keller looks like.
We capped it all off with chocolate chunk ice cream that was also made with beer (SOOOOOOYUMMMMM), who knew beer could give ice cream such a good taste!!!!
Sunday:
Before heading back to Chicago, we decided to check out the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. We saw Dinomasaurs, and stuffed creatures, and glaciers, and earthquakes, and butterfly photography and Balto the Wonder Dog.
There was some dog training demonstration going on where they had doggies doing an obstacle course right in the middle of the museum. Of course, the doggies were in a smaller space and much closer to the crowd than they were used to so some of them got distracted. Like one who instead of going through the tunnel decided to come say hi to us, and then went into the tunnel, paused for a few moments, and then came back the same way. Toofunny.
Anyways, they museum was literally filled with dogs wandering around. Odd.
What we really cared about though: Jewels!!!
I picked out all of the pink stones that would be appropriate to include on my future engagement ring. They are all in the photo gallery. Gentlemen, take note. :)
One last note: On the museum and rest stop, etc. there were signs on the window telling people that they are not to bring guns inside. Umm, thought that was a given! Who knew!
So, that is Cleveland in a rather large (dare I say World's Largest?) Nutshell.
PICTURES HERE
Things I learned last weekend...
...exit numbers correspond to mile markers (who knew!)
......google maps does not know the difference between a legitimate road and a rocky unpaved stretch of hilly gravel.
.........southern Illinois towns really have to get on labeling their roads with the county road number or at least the right name
ROAD TRIP MISSION: SEE THE ABSOLUTE STUPIDEST THINGS WE CAN FIND IN ILLINOIS IN 2.2 DAYS!!!!
DAY 1.
I managed to thoroughly impress JoeJoe with my roadtriping skills by not only showing up early but also bringing along goody bags (that included car games, snacks, and Simpsons pens). He then proceeded to eat all of the fruit rollups I brought him before we even reached Jen's House.
With Nad, Joe, and Jen in tow we left "Chicagoland" and headed off to the strange distant land called "Illinois."
WILMINGTON: GEMINI GIANT - SPACE AGE MUFFLER MAN
The Gemini Giant is a Muffler Man wearing a space suit and carrying a rocket that advertises the "Launching Pad" drive through that it is attached to. We stopped inside for some mini corn dogs (how did 3 of the 4 of us decide on mini corn dogs?), fries, and milkshakes. yummmmm. Great food and a great giant? What a way to start a trip!
NORWAY: AGRICULTURAL CRASH MONUMENT
So, have you ever come across a crashed airplane on the side of the road? Maybe it was an agricultural crash monument! This was a crashed plane on the side of a country corn road, just kind of hanging out. It was dedicated to farmers who lived "thru" the Agricultural crash of the 1980's. It's kind of graffitied up by now...but kinda neat.
PERU: WORLD'S LARGEST POT OF COFFEE
The "World's Largest Pot of Coffee" in Peru isn't really the world's largest pot of coffee...it's a sign for a chain of truck stops. I knew this, and it was a pretty pathetic site, but, as I told the crew, there was nothing else for over two hours, so might as well stop there!
That was it for Friday, so we drove a bit more to stop at a Super 8 in Wenona for a good nights sleep...We had a lot to get to! Surprise surprise when our hotel had a fighter jet parked in the parking lot! Add one more site to my list! (JoeJoe kept saying two for two, etc. as we went along...I don't think he believed that we'd find anything I wanted to see...he should learn to trust me more)
DAY 2
ARCOLA: RAGGEDY ANN MUSEUM
After a bit of driving (OK, OK a LOT of driving) we made it to our first stop of the day...Arcola! Arcola, Illinois is the birthplace of the creator of Raggedy Ann. We stopped by the museum, but since we didn't have much time, we didn't really have time to actually go through the museum. But we visited the gift shop! It was run by some very nice people who seemed rather devoted to the doll. And we signed a petition to get Raggedy Ann's (boyfriend? brother? Illegitimate love child?) Raggedy Andy into the National Toy Hall of Fame...you should sign the petition too.
ARCOLA: ONE AND ONLY HIPPIE MEMORIAL
Around the corner was the "One and Only Hippie Memorial." It, well, looked like something that should be memorializing hippies. It was basically a long wall along the train tracks decorated with junk. Very odd. Very odd indeed.
MATTOON: THE ORIGINAL "BURGER KING"
Now, where else would you stop for lunch on a roadtrip of oddities other than Burger King? Now, don't you worry, this wasn't just any old Burger King. It was the Original Burger King, and by that I mean it wasn't a "Burger King" at all! Basically this place had an Illinois trademark on the name "Burger King" before the chain came about, so they got to keep the name. Nice little local hamburger joint with much better burgers than that other place. And they had Chocolate Coke! And I at least thought it was delicious! We also totally got the four double cheeseburger and a half pound of fries special. Mmmmm.
CHARLESTON: WORLD'S LARGEST AND UGLIEST LINCOLN STATUE
Yes, it was tall. Yes, it was ugly. Very tall. Not as ugly though as I hear it used to be (a resort is being built around it, so I think the resort people had him painted and cleaned up...and maybe took the bullet out of his head...). He was very very very very tall though. And kind of awesome, because...well, who builds a gigantic president? This was one of very few sites where we saw other tourists.
GAYS: TWO-STORY OUTHOUSE
Yup, you read me...a TWO-STORY OUTHOUSE! Too bad they don't let you use it :( Or maybe not so bad. But it was once used and actually worked. But it's a TWO-STORY OUTHOUSE!
EFFINGHAM: GIANT CROSS
This is a giant cross. Yeah, that's about it. It is surrounded by plaques of the ten commandments. Each commandment had a rock that spoke affirmations or something. Jen sat there listening to commandment one for about twenty minutes before giving up. Who has time for that? We get the gist of it!!!
OLNEY: HOME OF THE WHITE SQUIRRELS
Olney is the home of the white squirrels. They have some weird breed of albino squirrels that live there, and not many other places in the world. But, after wandering the park, we could not find any. :(
METROPOLIS: BIG JOHN, GROCERY CLERK
Our first stop in Metropolis was not the most obvious. Before getting on to that, we stopped at the Big John to see the Big John. Those are a little-seen chain of grocery stores with giant men with grocery bags in their parking lots. He's kind of a cousin to the muffler man.
METROPOLIS: SUPERMAN STATUE
OK, OK, now it's time to see what Metropolis is really known for: Superman! In the town square they've got an area dedicated to the super hero who graces Metropolis. A giant statue! A museum (again, no museum, it was closed when we got there anyways)! A phone booth to run and change in! OK, so in the scheme of things it is kind of the most pathetic display you'll ever see...but for the purposes of our trip, I don't think you could find a better mecca of cheese! Top that off with the fact that it was 7oclock and there wasn't an open restaurant in site, and the only thing that was open was the kryptonite tattoo shop, and you have one perfectly stupid town!!!!
ALTO PASS: BALD KNOB CROSS OF PEACE
So...you kind of know you're in trouble when it's 9oclock at night and you realize that you next destination is truly in the middle of nowhere, through winding roads of vineyards and your directions stop before the point where you have to drive 4 miles up a mountain...and you didn't even think a mountain existed in Illinois. So, after much assuming because we could not find a single road that was on our directions, we finally found a sign that pointed to the road we needed to take to find the Bald Knob Cross of Peace (read: giant cross at top of mountain). I drove us in the pitch black through a tiny gravely winding road up the mountain. It was damn creepy. DAMN CREEPY! We truly expected to break down in front of a deserted house only to have someone run after us with an ax. Or for the road to just stop and for us to plummet down a mountain. Or some equally creepy horror-film in the making moment. The road was black and covered in trees and I could hardly see a damn thing. Finally (finally!) we realized that we were, in fact up the mountain, and saw the cross...way off in the distance in a place that looked like there was no way we could actually drive to. But with the sun setting behind it, and the sky a beautiful shade of purple, we trudged on. Finally (finally!) we made it to the cross! My camera was kind of wonky and would not take pics because it was basically pitch black by the time we found the cross. And there were these holes in the cross that made it sound like it was breathing. And there was this other couple who drove us but stayed a bit down the hill. And we thought they were murderers who were going to slash my tires and kill us. But it was beautiful to be up there. Amazing really.
After the cross we drove to Chester to look for Popeye and hotels. All the hotels there were either a booked Best Western or very creepy looking bed and breakfasts. And the whole town was very dark. And we'd had enough creep, so we backtracked a bit and went to a Best Western out of town that insisted over the phone that they were not a Best Western. So when we got there we were rather surprised to find that the sign said Best Western...and the soap and the keys and the everything...except the receipt the next day :)
DAY 3
CHESTER: HOME OF POPEYE
By the light of day Chester aint so creepy...unless you count that the town is based around Popeye because the creator was born there. We first found a little park with a statue to Wimpy. Then we drove to the Popeye statue, which was dangerously close to the "cross the Mississippi and no-turning-back leave the state bridge, thus ruining the only in Illinois roadtrip). But we found the Popeye just before the bridge! He was, well, Popeye. The woman at the gift shop near Wimpy told us that they plan on getting the whole crew of Popeye characters to join him in the coming years. We'll have to come back!
NASHVILLE: TINY CHURCH - THE TRAVELER'S CHAPEL
The tiny church was a little wooden church in the grassy alley behind a gas station. It was kind of cute and kind of out of place. Unfortunately they closed it off so we couldn't get inside, but I am still determined to marry JoeJoe there.
COLLINSVILLE: WORLD'S LARGEST CATSUP BOTTLE
WHO DOESN'T LOVE CATSUP!!!!! IT IS MY FAVORITE CONDIMENT!!!! The catsup bottle pretty much looked like the amount I normally take on my hamburger. It was a water tower made to look like a catsup bottle in honor of a catsup plant that used to grace the town. The plant isn't there anymore, but the catsup is!!!! YUM!!!!
ALTON: LIFE SIZE STATUE OF WORLD'S TALLEST MAN
At 8'1" Robert Wadlow was the biggest man ever! Even bigger than Scott! He was born in Alton in 1918 and he sold shoes because, obviously, he had big feet (hmmm, you know what they say about men with big feet.) They erected a statue (hehe, like my play on words there) to him in Alton. It is life-size so you can see how tall he really was. They also had a replica of his chair. I sat down and just kept sliding and sliding and sliding back. I thought it was going to eat me whole!
ALTON: LEGEND OF THE PIASA BIRD
On the side of a cliff in Alton there is a big painting of the "Piasa Bird." It basically looked like something Napoleon Dynamite would have drawn, with a legend to match. 'Nuff said.
LIVINGSTON: BEACH GUY AND PINK ELEPHANT
The beach guy was not a muffler man, but he was tall. And he made friends with a PINK elemaphant, so he's cool in my book. They stand outside an old high school turned antique mall looking all hawt. Did I mention that the elemaphant was PINK?
SPRINGFIELD: LAUTERBACH TIRE MUFFLER MAN
Another muffler man! This one carried a flag. Not as exciting as a rocket. We make sure to visit the most important thing in our state's capital. We have our priorities straight.
SPRINGFIELD: LINCOLN'S LUCKY NOSE
We did at least go to see Abraham Lincoln's grave. Of course, that was only to rub his lucky nose. But whatever. Lincoln has a very off color nose. Someone should blow it for him!
SPRINGFIELD: 30-FT-TALL SKINNY LINCOLN
Again, when in your state's capital it is always important to go to the things that really matter. Such as a tall skinny statue of our 16th president made to look as if he was truly Greg Brady.
LINCOLN: GIANT LINCOLN ON COVERED WAGON
On to Lincoln to see...more Lincoln! This time he is sitting on top of a large covered wagon and reading a book about law. Man, that men gets around!
LINCOLN: LINCOLN WATERMELON MONUMENT
AND NOW...TIME FOR QUITE POSSIBLY THE STUPIDEST THING POSSIBLE!!!! It was...a monument to Lincoln...that was...seriously and solitarily...a slice of watermelon!!!!! A SLICE OF WATERMELON!!! Isn't melon what you think of when you think of the president???? It had to do with him christening the town with melon juice or something. And I think it's the damn stupidest thing I will ever see!!!! Congratulations Lincoln!!! (oh, I also totally managed to lick it while taking this picture. It was kind of gross.)
ATLANTA: MUFFLER MAN HOLDING HOT DOG
Another muffler man! This one had a hot dog. He actually used to live a lot closer to me in Cicero but was relocated here in 2003. Nadia remembered him from her childhood in that area.
EAST PEORIA: ROOSTER IN A TOP HAT
We arrived in East Peoria only to see our rooster straight off the highway. He was a cock in a hat outside of a bakery that had really dumb hours.
We capped off our day in East Peoria at a Twistee Treat...an ice cream joint that was shaped like an ice cream. They had a damn good fake-strawberry shake. Mmmmmm. A perfect way to end the day :)
So, that was my road trip!!!!! I thought it was tons of fun!!! I hope everyone else did too. Or at least I hope they don't think I am too crazy for dragging them around the state to see a whole lotta crap. I was satisfied :)
I am proud of myself for being able to plan out a pretty awesome trip...and for driving the entire time! I don't think I would have/could have done any of this even a year ago. I'm really happy I was able to convince a couple of people to follow me around the state in search of stupidity...Maybe there will be more trips to come...there is so much stupidity left to see!!!!!!
MORE PICTURES HERE!!!!!
JoeJoe, me, Nadia, and Jen under the World's Largest Bottle of Catsup!
Had a fucking amazing time!
Who knew Illinois had so much awesome crap!
Recap and tons of pics later.
...Roadtripping around the state!
I'll be back Sunday night!
(p.s. isn't it appropriate that my trip starts off on F13????)
(p.p.s. is it crazy that every time I go on vacation or have a major event taking place, I get really excited before I go...about planning the website I will create to showcase the pictures???)
You see, whether igloo hut, or lean-to, or a geodesic dome,There's no structure I have been to, which I'd rather call my home. When I first arrived, you were all such jerks,But now I've come to looooooove your quirks. Maggie with her eyes so bright, Marge with hair by Frank Lloyd Wright,Lisa can philosophise, Bart's adept at spinning lies, Homer's a delightful fella, sorry 'bout the salmonella. (Heh heh, that's OK.) Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? Now here comes the tricky part. Oh, won't you rhyme with me? Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? Their floors are stick-E-Mart, They made Dad sick-E-Mart, Let's hurl a brick-E-Mart, The Kwik-E-Mart is real... D'oh! Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?
Not meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
Forget the Kwik-E-Mart, Goodbye to Kwik-E-Mart, Who needs the Kwik-E-mart? Not me.
***
Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?
I DOOOOOOOOOOOOO
***
It's good to know that the litte stupid things in life can still get you as giddy and excited as a child on her way to Disneyland. And when you're shaking and smiling and lauhing the whole seven miles to a Seven-Eleven-Turned-Kwik-E-Mart, you know that that feeling still exists.
To tie in with the upcoming Simpsons movie 12 7-11s in the U.S. and Canadia have been turned into Kwik-E-Marts!!!
Luckily, one of the twelve was in Chicago and was actually pretty close to my house. So, of course, Nad and I headed on over!
I have never before waited (and never thought I would) for twenty minutes in a line to get into a convenience store, but it was so damn worth it! Not only was the exterior made over, but they had special Simpsons goods and inside was peppered with different signs and some of everyone's favorite characters. My favorite was the window cling on the frozen foods door that showed Jasper locked inside as the frozen man. Awesome!
Nad and I got some Squishees and Buzz Cola and pink donuts (mmmm...donuts). Unfortunatly, the were out of Krusty O's :(
It was totally awesome! How many times do you get to go to a local hauntof one of your fav fictional families???
MORE PICTURES HERE!!!!
1. I'm kicking myself :(
2. While it may have been my EIGHTH TIME at the Taste this year, today was the first time I really got to go and enjoy myself without being rushed to get back to work, catch a train, or find a fireworks spot. Nad and I met up and headed over for a fun day of food! While Nad was perusing the Taste booklet she kept pointing out things she thought sounded good...and I basically said o everything "Yeah, that was good." :)
I love the Taste becuase I think it's the only place in the world where strangers openly walk right up to you and say "What are you eating???"
We also watched a crazy demonstration by this Japanese guy who cut fruit and vegetables into flowers and bunny wabbits.
Today at the Taste I ate...
Top: Steak Burger with Blue Cheese and Mustard Sauce (Tutto Italiano), Beignets (Lagniappe)
Middle: Jibarito - Plantain Sandwich with Steak (Sabor Latino), Rice Pudding with Mangos and Dried Cranberries (The Grill on the Alley)
Bottom: Frozen Grapes (Home Run Inn), Southern Comfort Frozen Hurricane (Southern Comfort Frozen Hurricane Booth)
Some of the things Nadia ate include...
No one went to the Potbelly Booth...
I am a floating head!
3. Nad and I found a crazy Target close to her condo. We bought a cable so she can finally watch real TV and so we hooked it up and found weird reality shows on networks we've never heard of where contestants stand on big crosses nd pretend to be scarecrows.
4. I am going to move into Nadia's spare room and be the resident dancer. Whenever she rings the bell I will come out of my room in a tutu and entertain guests.
5. I saw the Leaning Tower of Niles!!!
6. Went to Chilis with Nad, Jen, and Adam. Mananaged to scarf down my entire plate of chicken fingers despite having had too much food earlier. Adam is going to calculate the perfect coordinates for us to meet that will be the same distance between all of our places :)
1. On Stalking
faeriewingtips: i have taken my stalking to a new crazy level
faeriewingtips: i met a realy cute guy today...and tracked him down on myspace
faeriewingtips: but he is "in a relationship" :-(
WetWilli106: if you hadn't stalked your way there you could still have your hopes up
faeriewingtips: i know
faeriewingtips: but i will never see him again anyways
faeriewingtips: the internet makes it too easy to stalk
faeriewingtips: and i needed to find out his name
WetWilli106: ha
2. On Roadtrips
So I don't think anyone is going to go with me anyways :(, but I plotted a map today of all the places that are possibilities for my awesome Illinois roadtrip this summer. Maybe someone will join me???
3. On Dreams
The other night I had two different dreams. I normally don't post dreams, but I also don't normally have two I remember so clearly in one night and I also normally can't so clearly and obviously interpret my dreams either. So deal...
In dream one I decided to park my car near one of those srip malls near Oak Brook and skate to work. I was skating to my old job even though I knew I should be going the other way to Lyric. But I figured that I would turn around once I got there. As I was skating I ran into another guy who was skating as well. He was kind of cute and we started holding hands while we skated. Then we got to this building and I decided to hide, hoping he'd try to find me. But then he just kept on skating and dissapeared. And I felt so stupid that I had hidden. I chased after him though and found him with a bunch of other people. And he was with a friend of mine and i got mad that he never introduced us before because this guy was just my type. And then he told me why and it kind of made sense.
In dream number two I was in my room and my dad came in to ask me if I had fed my birds. I didn't have my own bird but some "training birds" that he'd found in a box in the basement. I hadn't fed the birds, in fact I hadn't fed them, or taken the cover off their cag in a week. I took the cover off and a couple of them were dead and the rest were savage for food and dying. I was afraid to open the cage so I started pouring some food into the cage and poured some water over them.
Picture post...but not of Europe (sorry I am working hard to get them online, but refuse to post anything that's not up to the val standards of prettiness). I will start with a random pic I took on Saturday just because I was at Party City and realized that I don't have a picture of this:
And on to real things...
Friday:
Woohoo! Jenny's bachelorette party! We didn't do anything (too) scandalous, but it was tons of fun all the same. First stop was a Mexican restaurant where I got some yummy flautas and a peach margarita. Mmm. We bought everyone sparkly tats that said things like "Wild" and "Sexy" and pins that had sayings like "bitch," "drunk," "always a bridesmaid," etc. I chose "slut." When everyone had chosen the only ones left were "divorced," "virgin," and "single." I then decided to were both virgin and slut: "I'll go only so far with anyone who wants it." Hehe. Jenny opened her presents and got lots of nice stuff that I won't go into detail about. :) She found my gift of a copy of "Where Did I Come From" amusing. (for those of you who don't know, this is a cartoon video for younger people to help explain the miracles of life. We rented it once in high school. Lets just say there is a creepy duck with bulging eyes involved. I can't wait until we watch it again). We got Jenny to finish an entire margarita. Woo!
Next it was on to the wild bachelorette activity of painting pottery, which was lots of fun!
Nad, Jen, and I all painted large mugs to feed our coffee obsessions. The lady who worked there was very kind and stayed a little late to let us finish up. When I went to pay she said to me "Now, who's that girl from Spiderman that you look just like?" hehe.
Next it was on to bowling. They were playing some good and some bad music that we sang along and danced to. I bowled the highest scores of my life (120something, and 133) and was 2 pins away from a turkey (strike, strike, 8 :( : the first one is a drumstick, then the other drumstick, the the breast). After two games we headed into their bar where karaoke was going on. We all sang "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," although Jenny and I were the only ones who would hold the mics.
Then we refused to leave until Jenny, clad in a tiara and veil would sing "Like a Virgin." Lets just say we all left happy.
More pics here, I made them password protected to protect the innocent, email or IM for the password and I'll decide whether you're worthy of seeing them.
Saturday:
Saturday was the Inline Insomniacs Chicago skate! I haven't been skating in a long long time so now my legs are killing me, but its all good. It was odd because besides Joe and Isla who I went with I hardly knew anyone there. I went out in the morning to buy new skates because I feared my old ones would completely fall apart as they often do. I love my new skates, I feel so much faster! We went by the Sears Tower and the Picasso and the Art Institute. We got kicked out of the bean (I saw the bean!). We rolled past the gay games and stopped in front of the gay is sin people. Joe offered to kiss Stork in front of it, of course he didn't offer this until we were much past it. Then it was down the lakefront to Navy Pier then off to dinner where I got chicken wings that were good but I couldn't finish because they burned my mouth off. Man, that was fun times.
 
 
Sunday:
Went for coffee with Brandana. It was the first time in like a month since I was gone. There was like a whole new staff at Omega. Weird. And no hot girls to serve us. At one point before leaving the table for a minute he took a cream and a sugar and put it by his cup. I asked if he didn't trust me to not drink all the cream and eat all the sugar while he was away. So, of course, I then hid all the cream and sugar and replaced it with the mustard. I am so funny like that. :)
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