DC United Game

I know that I said farewell to RFK last week when I was at the Nationals game. So maybe I lied. Ok not really ... but they aren't the only team that plays at the stadium. The DC United, our soccer team, also plays there (don't you just love how you can see where the baseball infield is?!?). Sadly, in the 5+ years that I have lived in DC, I have never been to a game. Until tonight. The DC United took on the Guadalajara Chivas. We certainly felt like minorities amongst all the Mexicans (and all of them drunk to boot - I have never seen so many empty cans of beer and broken bottles on the way INTO the game as I did tonight). I think I was the only one who didn't understand Espanol in the whole stadium! ha ha

Apparently it was the opening round of the Copa Sudamericana tournament, and it was a great game, especially since DC won 2-1. I need to go to more games like that!!
It was a good way for me to branch into a new sport now that the baseball season is coming to a close (and because my team will not be in the playoffs this year) ... at a stadium that I am already familiar with ;) I haven't been to a soccer game since the many Friday nights we spent at BYU's field in college ... good times those were!

Kelli's Trip

Kelli and Eric flew into town on Thursday night for a long weekend in DC. It was so much fun having them in town for a few days. Saturday afternoon we headed down to Georgetown and visited the National Cathedral - somewhere I'd actually never been. Little Sydney liked to hear her voice echoing inside! Then we went to one of my favorite restaurants in Georgetown, a little Italian place called The News Cafe. It was really good, as always. After dinner, we walked up to Dean & Deluca, and then headed back to the car. Sydney got her first taste of chocolate on the way back ... there's no turning back now!Then we drove downtown and walked by the Vietnam Wall and over to the Lincoln Memorial just as the sun was going down.
As many times as I have been downtown to see the monuments, I never get sick of them. They are always just as stunning as the first time I saw them. I love looking at them at night especially. Of course sometimes you just need to sit down and take a break from all that walking ...

On Sunday after church, Heidi & Justin were nice enough to have us all over to their beautiful new home in Ashburn for an awesome dinner. It was so much fun to be able to spend time with everyone again. We don't see each other nearly as often as we'd like to, so thanks to Kelli for giving us all a great excuse to get together! Michelle, Nick & little Nicholas, Heidi, Justin, & little Sydney, Abbie & Jon, Kelli & Eric, Anne, and me. They were some of the first friends I made when I moved to DC and Its hard to believe it was 5+ years ago. Nicholas is running all over, and starting to talk, and Sydney even started crawling yesterday! It was a great evening of catching and up and renewing friendships (of course while we ate and watched those darling kids play, along with the Redskins game). I'm so lucky that we still keep in touch and spend time together! I couldn't ask for better friends.

Shallow, Selfish, & Singed by a Spring

SHALLOW. I think that's a good description for me lately. Maybe not in all aspects of my life but I'm talking about specifically about my hair. I schedule my hair appointments every 7 weeks. Every other appointment I have it highlighted. So, my last appointment was last Monday. 2 days after the triathlon, a few days before Kelli came into town, and almost two weeks before my birthday. When I got to the salon, I waited for a few minutes, after the receptionist told me she was finishing up her last client. No big deal. Then another lady came in and said she was here for her appointment - with my same stylist. Um ... what?? So I went up to the desk, pulled out my appointment reminder card, and proceeded to look very confused and even more annoyed when the rude receptionist told me that "oh, sorry, we changed computer systems and it looks like your appointment somehow didn't get transferred." Are you kidding me?? Jen, my stylist, said she'd call me to figure it out. Ok fine, I talked to her the next morning, she would fit me in on Thursday night in between another client, and we were set. Until I get a phone call that night from the salon saying that she'd just called and cancelled all her appointments for the rest of the week. So they scheduled me for October 1 at 11:30am. First of all - that is the day AFTER my birthday. Second, that's in the middle of the day - the work day. I don't really get a 3 hour lunch break to get my hair done! So ...

SELFISH. That is just how I felt when I learned the reason WHY she cancelled her appointments ... Jen went in for her ultrasound that afternoon and apparently found out that she'd lost her baby. Poor thing. I feel so bad for her. She was far enough along that she was showing, and everyone knew. She was so excited and thought it was going to be a girl - that's what she went in to find out that afternoon. So now I feel really selfish that I just want my hair done and she's dealing with such a tragedy.

SINGED BY A SPRING. As if that's not enough hair trauma for a few days, this morning while I was blow drying my hair, all of a sudden, I hear a loud pop, then smell smoke (or something burning), and feel the back of my head all of a sudden getting very hot and quite possibly burning. I turned off my blow dryer, and started rubbing my head to figure out what was going on. That's when I pulled out a little spring, one of the hot coils from my blow dryer, out of my hair ... along with a chunk of my hair!! AAHH. The coil snapped and singed itself to my head, burning my hair and scalp. So yeah, that smell wasn't just burning blow dryer - it was my burned hair! Gross. It still stings. Pieces of my hair kept coming out in my fingers. I had visions of a total bald spot on the back of my head - just what I need now! Luckily, not too much came out, so no one will even be able to tell, but I'm still paranoid that more hair is going to fall out as a result! I will be buying a new blow dryer today, thank you very much.

All of that being said, I don't have any real lasting damage - just some emotional distress. Ridiculous, I know.

A Bad Hair Day, Indeed

So remember how I said "no real lasting damage?" Well, when I came home from work, I decided to pull my hair back and see if I could see what was really going on. It has been hurting all day, and I swore I could feel something where the hair was singed. People at work laughed at me when I told them the story and kept rubbing my head (and I do have to admit, I have been laughing all day too) - this would ONLY happen to me! Freak accidents apparently seek me out these days.

First, let's keep in mind the culprit of this humorous event --The evidence of the spontaneous combustion of my blow dryer -- You probably can't see since the picture is small, but on the ends of my hair (where it was in my scalp just moments before), there are little black balls where it was singed together. There are also a few pieces of the coils - the biggest one was the one that managed to stick itself in my head.

And now, the victim --
Yup, that's right ... an entire spot singed hair-less by a disfunctional hair dryer. Who would have thought drying your hair could be so hazardous?? Luckily for me, it is underneath quite a bit of hair, so no one can see it.

Here's a closer look -- obviously its not huge by any means, but the whole episode kind of cracks me up!
Rest assured - I went to Costco on my lunch break today and picked this up:

Hopefully this is the first and last time my new blow dryer (or any blow dryer for that matter) appears on my blog!

Goodbye RFK...

Sunday is the first official day of Fall. Baseball season is officially coming to an end. The Nationals began their last home stand today against the Philadelphia Phillies. Tonight was "Mormon Night with the Nats" - something I've never chosen to participate in years past. But tonight we went. Kelli is in town with Eric, and he'd never been to a game before, so we decided to go. I picked Anne up and we met up with Abbie and Jon at the game. It was so much fun to catch up with them since I hadn't seen them forever! Unfortunately, I went to get a drink when they decided to leave, and so missed the photo opportunity with them. Anne, Kelli, and I did have Eric snap a couple of us before we left though.

One last time at RFK for me ... I can't really say that I am all that sad, because it is a total dive (and hopefully I will be back soon for a DC United soccer game), but it is still kind of nostalgic being the last baseball game I will attend there. A moment of silence, please ... ok, that's enough ... hooray for a brand-spankin' new stadium next year right here in Washington DC!!!

Dewey Beach Triathlon

After my first triathlon experience in June, I decided I needed to do another one to prove to myself that I could do it without having any unforseen circumstances! So, I found the Dewey Beach Sprint Triathlon and decided to start training again. Of course "training" is relative and I could have always done more for it than I did, but I felt a little more prepared for this one at least - barring my recent ear injury and the fear that I wouldn't be able to do it.

I roped some friends into it with me - Katie and Ben did the Pocomoke Tri with me and they were all for it, Sharyn wanted to do another tri, and Tyler wanted to do his first. So, we all set out for the adventure. Katie's parents have a beach house in Bethany, DE, about 15 min from Dewey, so the plan was to head up Friday afternoon, stay the night, and do the triathlon on Saturday morning.

Ben left first, and of course missed all the traffic. Tyler and I left around 3, and got stuck in a ton of traffic. Oh how I love the Beltway. We all made it there though and headed over to the YMCA to pick up our race packets - where we saw our hard-core competition. Yikes. We drove the bike path as well as the running path so we were at least a little prepared for what was ahead of us. Straight and mostly flat - kind of a boring course, especially without being able to have iPods or any kind of headphones!

Then we went back to the house, and we were starving, so I made dinner and by the time we sat down and ate it was about 9:30. After dinner and cleanup, we gathered our things to prepare for the race, and went to bed a little while later. Or tried to go to bed. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the constant rain throughout the night, maybe it was restlessness, but I certainly didn't sleep well that night. It was after 1am when I think I finally fell asleep, and then I heard every person get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Strange for me, who usually sleeps through anything!! I woke up at 4:30 and was glad when I realized I could go back to bed for another hour.

5:30am: Wake up time. We tried to eat a little breakfast, which was hard to do for a number of reasons: 1) we were so tired, 2) we are never up at that time of day, 3) nerves, and 4) the late night dinner we ate on Friday was still there. We dressed, piled the bikes onto the cars (in the drizzling rain), and off we headed. The first parking lot was full when we got there, so we crossed the street, unloaded our bikes, and headed over to the site. We got our race chips, had our bodies marked (with our race number on our right arm, and our age on the back of our calves). We set up our bikes on the racks, and generally tried to prepare ourselves for what was ahead.

By the time it was time for the race to start, the rain had actually subsided - which was perfect. Thanks to the storm and warm weather we've still been having, the water (the Atlantic Ocean)was actually quite warm, a nice surprise. I was afraid of it being very cold! We hung out on the beach for awhile for the first few waves to go ... Sharyn went first, then Katie and I, then Tyler, then Ben. Each wave was four minutes apart. I dutifully put my ear plugs in before it was my turn, then put on my bright yellow swim cap (each wave was given a specific color swim cap to wear), fastened my goggles securely on my face, and waited for the fog horn to sound our start. And we're off ... we swam out to a buoy (about 50 yards out) and then turned north where we swam 1/2 mile up the shoreline and then swam back into the beach. I was already tired by the time we got to the first buoy. ha ha It was certainly different swimming in the ocean than it is swimming laps in a pool! I knew it would be, but I don't think I anticipated it being as difficult as it was. We were out a bit, so we didn't have as many waves to deal with, but you are still bobbing up and down and drifting around, the water isn't very clear, salt water is going down your throat, people are banging into you, etc ... but I did it. There was a girl who was swimming next to me and she and I kind of kept each other in check (and by that I mean we kept running into each other) until the end.

Out of the water, onto the bike - after pulling on my running skirt and top, buckling my helmet onto my head and grabbing a quick drink of water. The bike distance was only 7 miles this year because of construction they're doing on the road, so it wasn't bad at all. There was a good headwind on the first leg of it, but since it kind of felt like you were going uphill, I was hoping that it was just my imagination and the headwind would actually be on the way back ... well I soon learned after the turnaround that was not the case. It wasn't bad though, and I enjoyed it. I could have gone faster than I did, but I loved my little bike and I was pretty happy with it.

Then came the run. The first bit of it was sketchy since my legs were still trying to adjust to the running motion after kicking in the water and riding a bike - but once I got into the groove it was fine. I walked a few times, once because I had a kind of funny ache in my back, but other than that it was pretty good. I didn't run nearly as fast as I would have liked to, but I wasn't altogether disappointed in it either. Anything was better than my last race, that's for sure! I passed Katie on the run and talked to her for a little while, and then kept going. Sharyn ran past me on her way back (after the turnaround) and then when I was running the last half of it, I passed Tyler and Ben - of course they had started much later than me, so their overall times were better than mine anyway. I should have pushed myself harder in general (you know, actually 'raced') but hindsight is always 20/20, right?!? I'm new to this whole 'racing' concept since I never played any sports or anything competitively. One step at a time ... All in all, the Dewey Beach Triathlon was a success. It was a very fun short race to do, and we all had a good time. The weather worked into our favor, since the rain stopped just in time, it was overcast, and not very hot at all. I am definitely glad that I did it - at first I said that I needed to do another triathlon just to prove to myself that I could do it barring all the issues I had last time - but now that I've done one "for real" I think this is something that I want to keep doing. I would love to really train for and do an Olympic one next year - that will take a LOT of training (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 10k run) so we'll see if that happens. But even if I just keep doing the sprint triathlons, its a fun thing to do - especially when you have good friends to do it with - and it keeps some variety in your training. Now I feel much more confident telling people that I have done a triathlon now since I kind of view the last one as trial run ;) Dewey Beach Triathlon, check!

Crossing the Bay Bridge

Ok let's be honest ... what trip of mine would be complete without some kind of random experience? On the way home from the triathlon, just before we were about to cross the Bay Bridge, Tyler and I stopped at a gas station to go to the bathroom and to get drinks, etc. As we were walking back to his car, we saw a couple who was parked a little ways away from us. The man (probably 55 or 60 years old) started talking to us, as he was pulling money out of his wallet. We were confused at first, thinking maybe he wanted change or something. Then he said something along the lines of "This is an unusual request, but is there any way that I could pay you to drive us across the bridge - I am afraid of heights and my girlfriend doesn't drive a stick-shift?" They used to have a service that you could pay for someone to drive you across the bridge but apparently they stopped doing that, and he was going to wait for a truck driver or someone to ask, but when he saw us, he thought we looked nice and thought he'd ask.

Um ... ok ... we talked to him for a minute or so and then he said "I feel good about you, I think this is a good idea" and so we concurred. He kept trying to give Tyler money for the trouble, but he wouldn't take it. He asked if that would be ok, and we figured that Tyler would drive them, I would drive Tyler's car and follow them, and then we'd just pull off at the first exit after the bridge. The man asked if his girlfriend shoudl come with me, but that wasn't really necessary. So off we went, Tyler to their car, and I got in Tyler's car and adjusted the seats and everything so I could safely drive, and we were off. As we were pulling out, I realized that Tyler's cell phone was still in the car with me, so I really hoped nothing happened since I now had no way to communicate with him!

We crossed the bridge just fine, and then passed the exit ... um, I thought we were pulling off now? I guess not. Of course I start thinking of the worst possible thing when we pass the park exit next, and wonder when they will pull over and what I would do if they didn't. ha ha of course that wasn't a problem and within seconds, Tyler signaled and we pulled off to the shoulder of the road and he and I traded places in his car, and waved as we passed the nice couple as we passed them again. So very random!! Tyler said he was the nicest guy, talking the whole time, thanking him profusely for doing that. He gets really tense, almost to the point of passing out (which we all know is not a good thing, especially while driving!!) - he was fine in the car if he wasn't driving, but he just can't handle driving across long bridges. What an adventure ... that was definitely something neither Tyler nor I thought would happen on our return trip! But it does make for a good story (at least I think so)! :)

Post Triathlon: Nats-Braves Game

Ben and I decided that we needed to do something 'fun' to reward ourselves for the triathlon, so other than going to Sonic afterward, I found out that the Braves were in town ... so naturally I wanted to go to the game. Lucky for us, Ben has a high school friend who actually works for the Nats and got us tickets ... 20 rows behind the Nats dugout (we later learned that these seats were 'bad' compared to what he usually gets ...) Sweet.

The Nats aren't all that good, but sadly, neither are the Braves this year, but the game was actually pretty exciting (lots of home runs), despite the fact that the Braves lost 5-4 and everyone made fun of me for cheering for the losing team. But the game was good, our seats were awesome, and the soft serve in waffle cones was tasty too :)

Of course, we were all so tired from everything that we'd done all day that it was nice to just sit for a few hours (though the seats are RFK are anything but comfortable) and there was a lot of yawning going on ... but we still had a fun time. We couldn't get home to our beds fast enough though! Maybe we're all just getting too old to keep the kind of hours we did yesterday! ha ha

The Mile Swim

You always have to do the mile run in PE class in elementary school, but what about the mile swim? I don't remember ever doing that (thank goodness). A mile. Its not that far, right? Well, not until you get into a pool!! (or maybe I am just a baby) Last night I went to the pool to do my swimming workout before this triathlon on Saturday. I started (after I went back to the locker room to get the ear plugs that I'd forgotten at first) swimming and felt pretty good. I kept going. I reached my 1/2 mile point (which is the distance in the sprint tri) and figured that I'd swim a few more easy laps...

I got to 40 (which in real swimmer's terms is only 20 - but I hate counting that way, it makes it seem so much longer) and thought I might as well do 48. Then why not round it up to an even 50? Then Ben showed up and I thought to myself "well a full mile is only 14 more laps, so why not do it just to prove to myself that I can?" So I did. A mile swim. Wow, I never would have guessed I'd be able to do that. Granted I wasn't swimming super fast (or even anything close to fast), though I did do a few laps of "sprints" to spice things up a bit. I'm pretty sure that's the farthest I'll be swimming for a long time ... but good to know I can actually do it :)

My ears are ok - after a mild setback this weekend. I bought new earplugs at the swim shop, and used them on Saturday. My swimming was awful that day because I had to keep stopping every few laps to readjust the earplugs. I should have stopped and gone home to get the others, but I didn't. I swam my 1/2 mile, then continued on to bike 7 mi and run 3.5 mi. After I stopped and got home, I realized that my left ear was killing me. I waited for a little while but it still hurt. I called my doctor and left a message on the answering service. It was a few hours before he called back, but luckily he did, and he called in a prescription for an antiobiotic ear drop to stave off any infection that may get in as a result of water getting in my ear. Hopefully its fine - it doesn't hurt anymore, and I threw away the crappy earplugs.

In other news, I think my iPod might have really died this time. I went to turn on my alarm clock last night on my iHome, and it wouldn't even turn on. I'm not really sure what's going on with it, but I'm really sad that it means I won't be able to use my Nike+ chip tonight when I run. I guess if worse comes to worse, it just means that I will have to get the brand new iPod Nano. Hmmmmm. Now that's something to think about. Not until after Saturday's race though.

Sucked In

I haven't read a good book in a long time. I am ashamed to admit that I'm only halfway through Harry Potter - Book 5. I know, I'm back to Muggle status.

When we were at the airport waiting to leave for our Labor Day trip, I decided that I would pick up "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer, since I'd heard nothing but rave reviews about it, and thought I was the only person in the world who hadn't yet read it. I started it on the flight to Minneapolis. I read, and read, and read. Jenny and Sharyn laughed at me because I couldn't put it down. I finished it the next day, but don't worry - on the way to the Brewers game, I made sure to find a Barnes & Noble (thanks BFF Jill GPS) to buy "New Moon," the sequel. The lady who was helping me find it said she hasn't seen something fly of the shelves as fast as her books have since Harry Potter.

It is a strange series, with a totally bizarre storyline that is completely and utterly different than anything I've ever ready before. But something about it is captivating. Completely intriguing. It sucked me right in. Maybe its because it is written for teenage girls and I will always be 17 at heart. But whatever it is, I'm 100% enamored with it.

I finished "New Moon" last week and picked up "Eclipse" and am reading every spare minute I get - which isn't much these days with work and triathlon training! It certainly gives me something to look forward to in the little free time that I do have! I do not know how she came up with this story line. How people are that creative and have such a vivid way of writing is unfathomable to me. But, I am so glad that there are authors out there like her for the rest of us so for a little while we can be wisked away to another world so unlike our own!

Back to the pool - finally!

I went back to the ENT this week. After telling me that the hole in my ear is now only 1mm and has healed by at least 50% in the last two weeks, coaxing the skin over my eardrum together with something that really hurt (and made me feel like I was going to pass out right there on his table), and sitting in a small box-like cave to take a hearing test, he gave me the go-ahead to swim again - of course wearing earplugs and pulling my swim cap over my ears. Hooray! Thank goodness since the triathlon is next weekend! I was skeptical about getting into the pool again, so last night was the test. The results? Success. No water in my ears, no passing out, and I swam 40 laps (ok 20 if you are counting the 'real' way but that is just too slow for me) - which is good since we swim 1/2 mile in the triathlon (equivalent to 32 laps). Now I just have to figure out how to do it in the Atlantic Ocean ... and I'm set ;)

Hopefully my pool is open this weekend so I can do a mini triathlon test tomorrow. I'm loving my new bike and the Nike+ chip that I bought a few weeks ago (thanks Anne for the recommendation)! Too bad we can't use iPods in the triathlon.

Labor Day Extravaganza - Baseball Road Trip

What does 3 crazy girls, 4 days, 4 airports, 4 baseball games, and 750 miles in a Dodge Caravan minivan sound like to you? Maybe not quite the same thing it does to me ... the perfect recipe for an awesome Labor Day weekend, of course!

About two months ago I noticed that the Braves were playing in St. Louis at the end of August - a stadium which I had yet to visit. I actually thought about making a road trip and going to the game. Then, out of curiosity, I checked to see if any of the other midwestern teams were in town over Labor Day. Much to my surprise, they were - and that is where the idea began. Of course, I never thought I'd be able to convince anyone to go with me, but I didn't have to do much convincing, and the plan that I thought was just another wild idea of mine actually started to become a reality.

The goal of this trip was twofold: first and foremost, to make it to 3 more stadiums I hadn't hit yet. A close second, was to be able to say that I went to a game every month of this baseball season (not counting October). Well, I'm back now and I can officially say mission accomplished!

Yeah, that's right, on Friday morning, Jenny, Sharyn, and I departed for our Labor Day baseball road trip. We flew into Minneapolis, and then over the next few days made our way to St. Louis, via Milwaukee and Chicago. It was certainly a trip never to be forgotten ... I'm going to have to break this one up into separate postings, just to keep things easy.

Key ingredients to the fun included (in no particular order):

* Cheap hotels thanks to Priceline, Hotwire, and Marriott Friends & Family.
* Baseball tickets (thanks to Craigslist, Tickets.com, and Ticketmaster.com).
* Wild and crazy baseball fans in every ballpark - the one good thing about beer.
* Borders & Barnes & Noble to feed my new addiction to the latest series of books I finally caved into reading (more on that later).
* Garmin Nuvi GPS (which I have nicknamed my "BFF Jill" thanks to the Cingular commercial)
* Ipod car adapter (thanks to Jenny).
* Dodge Caravan. Yes, you read correctly. A minivan.
* Portable dvd players.
* Camera.

When we were planning the trip, we decided that we would do one baseball game per city (including my idea to take at least one picture of a crazy/wild/weirdly dressed fan at each game - which proved very easy), as well as one state-specific attraction, event, etc. It wasn't hard to plan what those things were going to be. We knew it was a crazy idea, but we also knew that it would be a lot of fun. What we didn't know was exactly what how our ideas of what the trip would entail would actually compare to the reality of what the trip materialized into ...

Day 1: Minneapolis

Let the adventure begin ... we flew on Sun Country airlines (never heard of them? neither had we...) to Minneapolis on Friday morning. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the best experience on an airplane. Somehow they managed to not know that the plane needed to be evenly weighted, so they made about 30 people move to the front of the plane after we'd all boarded, and then we were off. Halfway through the flight, they served our snack - cheeseburgers. That's right, you read that correctly, cheeseburgers. Before you get too excited, let me dispell any thought of mouth-watering cheeseburgers you may have ... these left much to be desired. I think I took one bite and that was it. But, good for them for trying something different, I suppose!

We made it to Minneapolis only a few minutes late, and headed off to rent our car - or should I say - our Minivan. A silver Dodge Caravan. For some reason, that was the cheapest rental car we could find - but it actually turned out to be pretty nice. We laid the middle seat down, so the backseat had a nice footrest to lounge on. We left the airport and headed straight for, where else, but the Mall of America! No trip to Minneapolis could be complete without a stop there. Its only a few minutes from the airport, so it worked out nicely. I'd heard about the roller coaster in the middle of the mall. Knowing that I don't have the strongest stomach when it comes to roller coasters, I was prepared with my leftover dramamine from skydiving. So as soon as we walked into the mall, I dutifully popped 2 into my mouth at the drinking fountatin. We'd decided to go on the roller coaster before eating lunch, for obvious reasons. I'd pictured in my head what I thought this roller coaster would be like, but I was not prepared for real thing - not actually one roller coaster, but an entire amusement park inside of the mall. Wow. Now I'm not the biggest proponent of amusement parks, but we were there, and I'd decided that I would go on the roller coaster - that now meant we had to choose which roller coaster we wanted to go on. We chose the Pepsi Ripsaw Roller Coaster because its the one that goes all the way around the park, and we got a good view of everything else at the same time. Granted it wasn't the fastest or scariest one in the park (just the sight of those that tear from left to right, up and down and in circles makes me sick!), but we went on it anyway. I think the next oldest person on it was 12. ha ha There was one time that I actually felt kind of that roller coaster feeling, but for the most part, it was very tame. Roller coaster, check.Off to lunch. We decided to eat at a little Italian restaurant called Tucci Benucch. It was delicious. We shared entrees so we could try it all. I drank like 4 glasses of water. I had a slight headache but didn't think much of it. Oh yes, and as the waiter came to our table, I spilled my glass of water all over the table ... nice. Never a dull moment ... and that wasn't the only one, unfortunately for me.

We finished lunch, and got up to walk around the mall. I had not walked 20 feet when I said "you guys I have to stop" - I grabbed the chair next to me and sat down and put my head down on the table, and thought that for sure I was going to pass out. It was the strangest feeling. I haven't ever actually caught myself before its happened, since it comes on so suddenly, but somehow this time, I did. I sat there for a few minutes and then thought that it might be a good idea to walk to the Select Comfort bed store across the walkway to lay down on a bed. After standing up and taking a half of a step, I decided that wasn't such a good idea. I needed to lay down there, and elevate my feet. Sharyn went to talk to Mall Security, and Jenny helped push 2 wrought iron chairs together while I mangled myself onto them - head coming out the side of one of them, and feet dangling over the top of the other - and yes, I was wearing a skirt, so I am pretty sure that I flashed the entire Mall of America. I had more things on my mind than that. I was really thirsty, so Jenny got me a drink of water and I turned my head enough to sip it through the straw. The cute little security guard (she couldn't have been over 21) waited with us, asking me how I felt, etc. They didn't have any medical people on staff, and I wasn't about to have the paramedics come - been there, done that, don't need to do that one again!

I called my doctor's office and talked to the nurse. I explained to her what happened, where I was, and that I'd had this perforated eardrum and wondered if there was any way that the dramamine had a weird reaction to the antibiotic my ENT put me on for my ear. She said she didn't think so. She asked if I'd taken dramamine before - yes, when I went skydiving. However, I think I only took one that time, and this time I took two (not really sure why - trying to be precautious I think)! She said she was 99% sure that the dramamine was the problem. Apparently dramamine lowers your blood pressure. Um, that isn't good for me, someone who already has low blood pressure to begin with! That's definitely something that would have been nice to know that before taking it! I felt really weird, was still lightheaded, and had no color in my face for quite awhile. Since every other time this had happened I'd actually passed out, I wasn't sure what to do this time. The nurse told me to drink as much fluids as I could to flush the dramamine out of my system, so I drank a bottle of orange juice and 2 bottles of water. Of course by that time I had to go to the bathroom - no small feat for someone who is now in a wheelchair. Yup, that's right, the security guard brought a wheelchair with her...

After laying there for a good 20 or 30 minutes, I carefully - and very slowly - sat up, sat on the floor for a minute, and then got up and into the wheelchair, which Jenny pushed me around in (again, very slowly so I wouldn't get lightheaded again) to the family bathroom - nice since it was extra large and I had a lot of manuevering space. I succeeded there, and then sat back into the wheelchair to get a handicapped view of the Mall of America. We came across a store called "Field of Dreams" and decided that since it was only fitting, we should take a picture. I got a lot of funny looks as we wheeled through the mall, and after a half hour or so, we headed back to the car so I could lay down - enter the glory of the minivan. I could sprawl out over the whole backseat with plenty of room - and continue reading the book that I'd started on the airplane and was now completely engrossed in (more on that later). So much for going to the Minnesota State Fair that we'd wanted to check out ... oh well, we'll never know what we missed out on!

After hanging out in the minivan for awhile, we headed over to the Metrodome for the Twins-Royals game. Luckily, the ballpark is the exit before the bridge on I-35, so we didn't have any detours due to last month's bridge collapse. We bought the $7 cheap seats, and then snuck passed a security guard to sit up high behind home plate. We were afraid of this lady yelling at us to go back to our own seats - though I am not sure if we were more afraid of moving or of seeing her hair-do up close ;)The game was fine - kind of boring as far as baseball games are concerned, and the Metrodome certainly leaves something to be desired. I think that's why they're opening a new stadium in Minneapolis in 2010 (which can be my next attempt at the Mall of America, this time wheelchair-less). The game was uneventful, which I guess can be a good thing. We were definitely glad that we started in Minneapolis and didn't end there - it would have been quite the anti-climatic ending for the baseball trip! But all in all, we had a good time, and its all part of the goal - Minneapolis Metrodome, check!

Day 2: Milwaukee

Saturday morning we woke up in Eau Clarie, Wisconsin, where we had driven to the night before. We took our time in the morning, knowing it would be the only day we had to do that. We drove to the Wisconsin Dells, and were amazed at the sight of it … everything trashy all rolled up into one. Think carnival, fair, amusement park, backcountry kind of people … seriously, it was soooo weird. The main road had shops ranging in everything from pottery to southwestern garb to tacky t-shirts to beach (“resort”) wear. Um … that’s about all there is to say about that. It was so weird, did I mention that?? We ate lunch at a little café there, which was decent, but other than that, we just walked around and made our way back to the car. I guess maybe if we would have gone to one of the 10 waterparks it may have been a bit different, but as it was, the Wisconsin Dells was just plain bizarre.

We tried to find a cheese factory, since we were in Wisconsin, after all. However, we learned that all the factories are only open during the week. So we stopped at a Cheese Chalet and also found
the Mousehouse Cheesehouse. ha ha ... not much more than a fancy gift shop with expensive cheese, but we had to check it out. We did have fun laughing at all the names of some of the shops … “Curds and Whey,” a “Cheese Castle,” etc. Onward we drove, to Milwaukee. We checked into the hotel, and then headed to Miller Park. It was awesome. When we were walking in, I even noticed the slide at the stadium (which turned out to be kind of name, and only for the mascot to slide from one level down to the next). It was beautiful outside and in though. They played the Pirates, and the Brewers easily won the game. We had great seats there, and enjoyed the play – both on and off the field. As for the not-so-lucky fan in front of us, he was our unfortunate 'fan of the game' that I took a picture of ... enough said.
Some crazy drunk guys got kicked out of the game near the end. Its always funny to me when the fans are cheering louder for the security guards than the baseball players! Miller Park was fabulous though - I'd heard rave reviews about it, and was definitely not disappointed. After the game, we went to a place called “Kopp’s Custard” – apparently a famous Milwaukee custard shop. It was very tasty! It brings a new meaning to the name of the custard shop by my hair salon here in VA – “Milwaukee Custard” ;)

Day 3: Chicago

Sunday morning we went to church in Milwaukee – the ward was, I swear, ALL young couples in either medical or dental school that had at least one, if not two or three, kids. I could hardly hear anything over all the kids. It was entertaining though, to say the least. We were kind of excited to see what a ward in Wisconsin would be like since we had witnessed nothing but a bunch of weird people thusfar on our trip, but it seemed like the entire ward was transplanted from Utah or Arizona (and it probably was)!

Then we hit the road again and headed to Chicago for the Cubs game. Wrigley is awesome. We’d all been there before, but it is just such a classic that you can never go there enough. It is totally ghetto on the outside, I don’t think they have done one thing to update it since it was built. But that’s the beauty of it. Its all part of the charm. The Houston Astros, Jenny’s team, was in town, so she was excited to see them. When I bought our tickets to the game, all that was left (since I didn’t want to pay a ticket broker a million dollars for lousy seats) were 3 aisle seats – they were all in consecutive rows, and on the end of the rows, so we figured that would be fine. It was, but it meant that we were not actually able to sit next to each other. We were close enough that we could still talk, but it made it a bit more difficult. The Cubs came back in the bottom of the 8th and won the game (sorry Jenny), so it was exciting, even for us sober folks. (sidenote: we didn't even know this kid, who we call Pedro, jumped into our picture until we looked at it later...sneaky, sneaky!)Luckily, we had some VERY entertaining people around us. I have never seen people drink so much beer as we did in Chicago. The guys in the section on our right each had 6. There was a big group in front of us that were all so very interesting … our favorite we have appropriately named “Candy” … here’s a picture of her, in true form … she naturally won the 'fan of the game' award in our eyes. ha haAfter the game we walked down to the field and waited for the crowd to dissipate and then headed out to catch the bus back to our minivan (there is no parking near the ballpark). The couple Jenny was sitting next to (actually 2 couples) told her about the pizza place we had to go to – so we checked into it and found one with a shorter wait in Naperville (ha ha – where all the Mormons live, and also where PJ’s brother Andy lives on my new favorite show “My Boys”), which was on our way out of town anyway. We put our name in, and headed there. We hit a little traffic, but made it there and had our pizza. It was actually kind of disappointing … too bad. The dough was kind of hard, it tasted like it hadn’t risen all the way or something. Sad since last time Sharyn and I were in Chicago we went to another place that we absolutely loved and had the best pizza of our lives. Oh well. Time to hit the road again …

Day 4: St. Louis

Monday morning we woke up in Normal, Illinois (what a name for a town, although I think the actual name is Bloomington-Normal?!?) and headed out to the road again, where we drove about 2.5 hrs to St. Louis. We visited the Gateway Arch (which is very impressive - even though I have seen it before). Sharyn went up the Arch, while Jenny and I stayed down. I decided it wasn't the best idea for me to do anything else that might throw my body out of wack - besides, I'd already been up it when we lived in St. Louis (ok that was a long, but still...)Then we walked over to the baseball game, all of about a 5 minute walk. It was sooo hot and humid there, so we were definitely glad that our seats were in the shade!
The Cardinals were, well, less than stellar on Labor Day. And despite the fact that they are actually in the pennant race right now and it was Labor Day, there didn't seem to be that many fans there. Numbers-wise, it was about the same as Milwaukee, but it seemed like fewer. We did, however, manage to find this man sitting in front of us who decided it was too hot to keep his shorts where they belonged ... Whoever designed Busch Stadium was smart though to put all red seats in - that way it looks like the stadium is full at least. Maybe it was because the Cardinals lost to the Pirates 11-0, but whatever the reason, it was kind of a sad day for Cardinals fans. Busch Stadium is awesome though - though the only place it says Busch is outside (inside there is a huge Budweiser sign and also a Bud Light one). The outfield is open to the skyline, including the Arch. We enjoyed the game (I especially did once we adjusted seats so the little girl kicking my seat wasn't behind me anymore) and enjoyed our huge snocones. That was the perfect thing to eat at that game!
After the game, on our way back to the car, we deliberatly walked past the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame ... thanks again to BFF Jill for cluing me into the fact that it a) existed and b) was right there near the stadium. So funny ... we didn't actually have time to go in, but we snapped a couple pictures.
Then we took a couple more pictures in downtown St. Louis ... and then headed back to the minivan.Time to head to the airport. It was kind of hard to believe that after all of that, our trip was coming to a quick end. We did it - 4 stadiums in 4 days. Kind of crazy? Yes. But a lot of fun? Definitely.

So my official count is now up to 24 stadiums. Only 6 left! That will have to wait until next year though ... summer has ended, and so have my baseball travels. But I went out with a bang, that's for sure ;)