Road trips/ I hate Illinois.

Last Monday I packed up the Vibe for her first maiden roadtrip voyage to Minneapolis, MN to go visit my dear friend, Candace. It was a little spontaneous but well worth it to spend time with her. Monday night we walked around the lakes near her apartment, creeped on a couple having a picnic by the lake.... okay I'll explain that a little more. They were all dressed up and had a bottle of wine plus it was almost sunset so we thought he was going to propose and we wanted to see it so we hid behind some bushes to watch them for awhile. Nothing happened and other people walking on the path were starting to stare at us so we kept moving. After that we had dinner at "The Cafeteria" and ate delicious Tuna melt sandwiches as we sat upstairs at their rooftop seating.

Tuesday Candace had to work all day so I explored around Uptown (the little town where she lives that is just South of Minni). I went in some stores -The North Face to look at sleeping bags, and -APPLE, to play with the iPad and iPhones of course! :) I ate lunch on the edge of Lake Calhoun and watched sailboats and people kayaking. For dinner that night we went to "Chino Latino" a super cool restaurant that is considered latin/asian fusion. We had tasty nachos for an appetizer that instead of regular tortilla chips was served with fried plantains! Delish! We also ordered mojitos, I had never had one and it was pretty good.

donkey on mojito / I am no good at taking pictures in low light

Very fresh and light. It also came with a little character on the glass. A good summer drink. Except the fresh mint leaves made it taste slightly earthy, like I had taken a bite off of a bush and started munching... The main course was california crab roll sushi! Also very delicious and oh so filling. After dinner we drove out to Minnehaha Falls.

It's one of the only waterfalls in the Midwest and it flows into the Mississippi so we followed the trails out the the Mighty Mississip and sat on it's banks and chatted for awhile. Actually until it was almost dark so we decided to go back to the car and go home.

Wednesday I hung around the apartment in the morning then took the bus downtown to meet Candace for lunch. We ate in little park outside the Symphony Center near a fountain. Since she had only 1 hour for lunch (which usually I would consider 1 hour a long time for lunch seeing as how teachers usually get 20-30 minutes, but since we had so much to cram into that hour it felt too short) we did a whirlwind tour of the downtown skyways. I had no idea that downtown Minneapolis' buildings were connected by more than 7 miles worth of skyway passages! It's like a giant anthill only above ground. You don't even have to go outside if you don't want to! And it was actually pretty good planning on the city's part because I've heard Minni gets pretty cold in the winter... Anywhoooooo, Candace then gave me a quick tour of the Target Headquarters building. It's HUGE! Her cubicle is on the 25th floor! Her cubicle by the way is covered in Halloween decorations because she is in the "Seasonal" department. It was fun to see where she works and what it's like in Corporate America.

downtown

cool fountain

When we parted ways after lunch, I quick went to this other park downtown to see this cool fountain when an old guy saw me taking pictures of it and asked if I wanted one of myself in front of it. I said, "Sure," and he made me hold his dog's leash so he could take the picture. It was pretty funny.

at the fountain holding the photo-taker's dog's leash

Then I hopped the bus back to the apartment, toweled off all my sweat (it was stinkin hot that day) and drove over to the Mall of America. That place is GINORMOUS and I want to go back! It's three stories high with a roller coaster in the center and I only made it around half of one floor. Yep. I'm going back. Except next time with more money and more time. Going back to the apartment I got stuck in rush hour traffic --- I will never again complain about rush hour traffic in Big Rapids ever again. We made burgers for dinner and had some of Candace's homemade bean salad as a side dish. For dessert we walked to an ice cream parlor and I got "Nicollet Pothole." I don't remember exactly what was in it but it was chocolatey, crunchy, and salty goodness all at once. Unfortunately, the serving size was quite small, so when we got back to the apartment to watch the movie "Tangled" we delved into some amazing brownies that Candace had made. Dark chocolate brownie with crushed Oreos in the batter. Covered with vanilla frosting. Topped with three kinds of berries: strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. SO GOOD. I think we might have eaten half the pan. Wednesday night was probably my favorite night because it was so relaxed, comfortable, and happy. It felt like we were roommates just hanging out for the night and it felt so nice to be in the company of a friend. Especially one that you get along with so well, can talk to, and love so much!

Thursday morning I left to roadtrip home when she left for work. It was sad. :( Next time I'll stay longer and over a weekend so she's not a work all the time. :) That was about my last smile of the day because I got stuck in horrible construction traffic on I-80 East outside of Joliet, IL. Now, let me just tell you why I was so irate.... on my drive out to Minni, my GPS (Jill) took me straight through the downtown Chicago skyway. That would be fine except traffic is awful and they have OUTRAGEOUS tolls! I spent $9.80 on tolls in Illinois --- the kicker is when leaving the state I saw a sign that said, "Thank you for driving Illinois tollways!" --- like I had a choice! After spending an hour in Chicago, I decided to take a different route home so as to avoid Chicago and as many toll roads as possible, even if it meant driving a few extra miles. Well, my plan would have worked so well if it weren't for that construction in Joliet. I sat in the Vibe (which ran great) for TWO HOURS in construction. Guess how many construction workers I saw.... ONE! And he was cleaning a port-a-potty or something insignificant that had nothing to do with fixing the road. I'm thinking of sending them this letter:

Dear Illinois,
Your tolls are expensive, your roads aren't good, your traffic is slow. And if you're going to hold up traffic for two hours on a Thursday afternoon for "construction work," I suggest you should hire some people to actually do the constructing.
Sincerely,
Annoyed Traveler

13 hours later I arrived at home with a sore behind and a raging attitude. Thankfully Zach is so calm all the time and so happy to see me I forgot about most of my traveling blues.

Friday morning we were up and out the door to a Leadership Convention in Columbus, OH. Road trip #2 for me. Another 6 hours in the car. But at least I got to stop and stretch my legs while Zach looked at tractors at a used tractor dealership. Here's some pictures from that:

little Vibe surrounded by big tractors

This is me, amazed at the size of the tires on this particular tractor

If Mater (from the movie Cars) had a cousin, this would be him

checking out one on the lot

tractor from inside the shed that we test drove

kid in a candy store...

I could write so much more, about the convention, my squished finger that is awfully black and blue, how the corn is "tasseling out" and how many bales of straw we put up last night... but you're probably tired of reading and my bruised finger is tired of typing.

There's always many more stories to come.

Love,
Sarah