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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

My Adventures to "The Cities"

Just a little background story: I hate to drive. In fact, I loathe it. I didn't own a car until I was 23. I didn't have my license until after I could legally drink. I drive to work and that's about it. Any time I can walk, I will. My longest "road trip" has been to home about 45 minutes away. After Taylor was no longer my date for my friend's wedding in Minneapolis, I started to freak out. Surely, I couldn't get there by myself. I sent text messages, I posted facebook messages and status updates begging for a ride. Nada. Then my best friend from college (who has been in Korea for the last year and a half) called to let me know that she was in Chi-town at her mom's and was going to bus up for the wedding. My new mantra in my new chapter of life is: Fearless. I decided to be fearless and go by myself. EEEEK!!!!
Friday night was spent reuniting with the college gang and college bestie over some Italian style pizza and beers followed by a dive bar where another college alum's band was playing. Unfortunately, both myself and Megan forgot our cameras at home, so no pics to document the evening.
Saturday we woke up and set out for a run along the river. My college buddy Rhode led the way, and I fell. in. love. Seriously, I am not putting it out of the question to movie to Minneapolis in the near future. And I am almost positive that I'm going to do the Twin Cities 10 mile next October, because I think 10 miles would be a fun racing distance. Again, I wished I'd had my camera because it was just a beautiful run, and I rarely get to have my friends come as running buddies. Imagine sweet bridges, sweaty smiles, and lots of catching up on each other's lives.
We did 4 miles in 36:37. Rhode was super obsessed with our mile times (obviously he fell in love with the Garmin a bit). We were pretty crazy consistent with the pace.
1. 9:09
2. 9:09
3. 9:16
4. 9:00
After the run we hauled our sweaty butts (literally in my case, light green shorts SHOW SWEAT, eew) to Chipotle. Eh, not that great. I think I prefer Qdoba. Then it was on to get beautified for our beautiful friend, Kathryn's wedding. Us three chicas were pretty much a packaged deal our senior year of college (randomly we didn't really meet/become friends til then). We did manage to miss the wedding, because of poor directions on how to get from the restaurant we ate dinner at to the wedding. I logged at least 10 miles (or what felt like it) in hooker-high high heels. At least they were cute I guess.

See? Tres cute shoes. :)

We did get disposable cameras, so hopefully I'll get some good ones to turn out, but in the meantime, we took full advantage of the photobooth that they had at the reception. Please enjoy. :)

It was easily the most fun I've ever had at a wedding, and it was a blast to be reunited with my college pals. My feet did NOT have nearly as good of a time as I spent most of the night carrying my heels and walking barefoot. Poor bruised foot pads. :( Totally worth it though.

Sunday was spent lying on the couch watch the Vikes game (boo!! Go Pack Go!) as Rhode is a huge fan, and procrastinating the trip home. I finally decided to get ready to go at 1. I started off for home and within a few minutes was confused as to why the speed limit signs were slowly waaaaay down, and then there were the random stop lights. Hmm...not sure why there would be stop lights on the freeway.... And then I realized a street marker indicating that I was NOT on the road I had thought I was and must have exited accidentally (who knows how long ago). No problem, I can just turn around and take the exit to get back on the free way, right? Wrong. I ended up in a residential area, in some quaint downtown looking area, all over the place.

I tried to use my Spidey-sense to figure out which direction I had come from and somehow made it back to the freeway, but the one that runs east-west instead of the north-south one that I was looking for. Something brilliant in side of me reminded me that the two must connect at some point. So I drove on. Eventually I ended up in St. Paul (ie: the WRONG way) and finally asked for directions. I stopped at a gas station, and after some heckling from the people inside (yes I was wearing a Packers shirt, it is Sunday for goodness sakes, I don't care if I AM in Minnesota, fools!) was finally turned in the right direction. After an hour detour, I was finally back on track and headed for home. :) Despite the detour, I still managed to make it home in 4 1/2 hours, and the way up was 4 hours, so not too bad. Hahah. I think I've put in my driving miles for 2009, I think I'll stick to my running miles now. :)

8 comments:

  1. Whoa whoa WAIT you like the Packers too?!?! Seriously, come to NYC, I'll show you a good time, and I'll bring you to a Packer haven to watch the game! ;-) Why did your main squeeze not go to the wedding?!? Oh, and I drive. A lot. 2 hours to CT to visit the folks, 5 hours to Rochester to visit my hubby's folks, 8 hours to VA Beach for many vacations...yea I drive a lot. And take the subway. Ugh.

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  2. you are so funny, I hate road trips but I can handle them on my own if needed.

    the picks are so cute, glad you went and had a great time

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  3. I'll drive for you next time! I LOVE road trips! Seriously, seasoned Pro, right here.

    And, YES, those shoes are "tres cute". ;) 10 miles in them?! That sounds painful.


    glad you had fun, despite the miles! Sounds like the kind of weekend you needed :) goood friends

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  4. What?!? You like QDoba more than Chipotle? My apartment is a strictly Chipotle, no Qdoba zone.

    It looks like we won't be doing a blogger meet-up at a burrito place, I guess.

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  5. Glad you had a fun trip to the cities! You should run the TC 10 mile - it's beautiful course.

    Go Pack!

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  6. Wait a minute. You don't like to drive? You would bemiserable in L.A. then - we measure distances in terms of driving time. No one knows how *far* it is to Disneyland, but I *can* tell you it's 20 minutes away. Here everything is done in our cars!

    You know - the only time I've been to Minneapolis I think it was December - cold (but not bitter), grey and dreary. I bet it's beaatiful though in the spring and summer!

    Oh - and a little tip if you are directionally challenged - get a Magellan. About $125 at Costco....

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  7. Those pics are adorable. Pretty ladies! I wish I'd have had a photo booth at my wedding.

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