Sweet chilli Philly (which I also love)

The streets of Philadelphia…

We left Washington in a ball of rage. After getting to the train station, we realised (or rather, remembered, having discovered this before the greyhound bus… ick) that all things American are deliberately oversold, and then - too late, so sad. And then they have standby as well, so all american transport companies make a killing - and all areas for gathering people for mass commercial transport are crap-diddle. Stand, wait, get a seat, old person arrives… feel guilty about sitting, offer… But getting on the train itself was easy, so was the trip, and you’ve already got your bags with you. And the leg room is completely superior to that of planes, and (for some reason) noone brings screaming children on trains. Ahhhh (blissful sigh). Trains rock. Trains are better than planes (apart from in speed of getting somewhere) and are waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than greyhound buses without toilets. With people on there whose religions prohibit them from using deodorant. Noone’s pointing any fingers (hint hint Amish people, who apparently don’t want to HAVE cars, but are OK with taking buses… Whaaaaa????)

So basically, we got there - Philadelphia. To be honest, it was probably one of the places on the US itinerary that I was least interested in. Hadn’t really heard that much about and didn’t know what to expect. Especially after the barren, boring, hell-on-earth that was Washington D(on’t) G(o). So not my joke, but so funny.
The taxi ride from the train station was noteworthy in that I think I still have some of the guy’s back seat upholstery under my nails. We HURTLED there. Thankfully I couldn’t see the speedo as was on the wrong side (and had my eyes closed), but Nick said we were up around equivalent 170km/he which is nice…

The comfort inn was so aptly named. For the first time in a long time, the air conditioning was cold, the bed was a King, the bed was comfortable, and not only were we comfortable walking down the street - in day and in night - there were places to go. And the lift didn’t take 20 minutes to pop up a couple of floors. God forbid you leave anything behind in the room at Chicago - it was dead to you til the end of the day.

The comfy comfy room, and the view from one of our windows. Yes, we were between two major roads, but it was quiet as, and only a 10 min walk into town.

First day’s walk around in the stinking heat brought us past maybe 6 or 7 pub/bars, more delicious-looking small restaurants than you could poke a stick at, philly cheese-steak vendors, beautiful old buildings, narrow streets - a crap load of coppers, showing their presence - and not a bad vibe in the place. It was an OASIS after the horror of dry (where are the watering holes???), dull but irritating and apparently dangerous (I’m hungry! But I’m back at the hotel… But the pool party is driving me mental, after 3 damned days… and I can’t go out to get food because it’s either ’not for our type’ or 5km walk, and even then, dull and tasteless… Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Back to Philly, beautiful Philly. We walked, we had a couple of quiet beers in a nice big air-conditioned sports pub - all the while gob smacked that an hour and a half away from HOE (“hell-on-earth“, get with the program) could be such a pretty, character-filled town that was so laid back. Philly cheese steak was delicious, although being from a beef farm I kind of have a question about calling chopped up meat (even beef) ’steak’. For those who don’t know, it’s pretty much chopped beef cooked on a hotplate over a flame, and with ’juice’ (meat juice) poured over it to keep it juicy, then cheese melted onto it while it’s on the hotplate and then juice poured over your finished product as well. We had onions on the shared cheese steak on day one, and then day two Nick had the same and I was (cough cough) convinced into having ’hot sausage’. Which is a mildly spicy hotdog sausage on a roll. Just so you know. The cheesesteak is delicious and the hot sausage, so so.

Philly cheese steak - not much to look at, but way delish.

After a nap, it was my turn to decide somewhere to go for tea. OMG! Yayyyy! “I’d like to thank my family, and my fans…” Anyway, being such a comfortable and helpful place, the comfort inn had a book of eats (a FULL book, maybe 200-300 local bars/cafes/restaurants of different persuasions) and I chose McGillins Irish pub, Philadelphia‘s oldest continuously operated Irish pub. Or something. I chose it based on… pretty much nothing. But then, when the shuttle bus guy (’free’, but you tip - thankfully we‘re saying goodbye to that nonsense, with Europe!) was taking us there he mentioned how popular it is, and it’s crazy at St Paddy’s time (hopes start edging higher) and then after a crazy trip through the town stopped at the end of a small alleyway between two streets in the city. A smelly alleyway, but we could see the sign. And on the topic of ’smelly’, I think we forgot to mention that lots of American cities have open sewer grates. No doubt a leftover from the past (excuse my disgusting pun) but still, the streets often stink like you-know-what.

McGillins was all I could hope for (http://www.mcgillins.com/). We paid USD43 for 3 pitchers (each about a jug and a half in Aussie terms), plus two main meals - and they were big and delicious and fresh tasting. It was why we went back the next night. And THEN I had an USD8.50 mussel pasta, with probably 30+ mussels in it.

Day two we looked at the ‘sights’ of Philly. It’s a very historical place, being that it played a role in the civil war and the constitution was drafted there (hence all this ‘liberty this’ and ’freedom that’). We were actually pretty nonplussed by their Liberty Bell, which is actually a replica, but it used to ring to tell the government guys (in Franklin’s time) that it was time to get their butts to parliament. Basically, it was interesting, but neither of us is likely to have a photo with a replica bell (which made us the exceptions there rather than the rule).

Below: City Hall

But our first stop was actually something Nick had picked out in all the considerable internet research that was done on our likely destinations - Eastern State Penitentiary. THAT place was cool. We walked across town to get there, and did a walking tour of the joint with headsets on. Which sounds way nerdy, but it meant you could choose which stations you cared to listen to. Here’s the webby http://www.easternstate.org/
But basically the place was built by the quakers as the first ever ’penitentiary’, inventing that meaning of the word, I.e. to make you contemplate what you did to get in there and essentially do your penance before getting out. Won’t bore you too much, but there was a mock-up of Al Capone’s cell (apparently it was really pimped out, even though they weren’t supposed to have gramaphones, rugs, comfy beds and cognac, so by then the whole system was obviously at least a little corrupt) and the place was really atmospheric, having served as an active prison for 150 years, been abandoned for 20+ years, almost been sold to make shops and units - like Boggo Road, and then been rescued for its historical value. So they’ve done up parts of it, for tours and are slowing the degradation of the other areas to preserve it as a ruin. It’s like ’Old Town’ in Philly, in that you can see the plan is to eventually save and restore as many historical (they are ALL historical) buildings as possible, but for the moment, because its such an expensive process, they’re just stabilising a lot of places with scaffolding etc. I thought it was really cool that they valued those buildings (up to around 300 years old) rather than knocking them down and building high rises.

Here are two shots of cell blocks in Eastern State Penitentiary.

Mock-up of Al Capone's cell...



Nick getting in my shot... AGAIN. LOVE fountain, in Central Philly. Yes, it's blue (no reason apparent to me).

Left: Just a cool street shot.
Below: Some of the street art around the place.

Below: Just a shot of the bridge, at night, from the pedestrian bridge... our last night in Philly. Sob!

Day 2 night was McGillins again, where we spent considerably more money as we were there pretty early, having skipped the weird hotel bar (which was actually just some bar stools in the lobby of the hotel - talk about shags on a rock!)

We wished we could have had more time there - just to hang out and soak up the atmosphere, which is the best bit about Philly, but we’d locked in 5 nights in New York to attempt to do the place justice, so it was off on day 3.
Sorry if this was a boring post! We loved Philly, but it was mostly the atmosphere and culture we loved, and I forgot to strike while the iron was hot re blog. or rather, because Hotel Carter in New York was such a dive, we didn’t have wifi access in our room. New York will go up in next day so stay tuned….

Washington D (on't). C(ome)

The room... promising. me scrambling to get my bikinis on.







D.C?? What happened? You promised so much, but let us down so badly…. I’d like to say its not your fault, but it is. We did our bit. We showed up keen and ready to go. We even flew in to make sure we had enough time to enjoy your city. As I sit here blogging on the Amtrak train out of town, it seems pretty definite that, at this stage, barring some unfortunate turn of events which means I become a u.s senator or the Australian ambassador, I/we wont be back.
We arrive at your hotel nice and early on day one after you traumatised lauren with turbulence from take off to touch down (yes im blaming you for that!), not to mention the kid in the row in front who had the deaf mom who obviously grew up haaving to shout at her to get a response who WOULD NOT SHUT UP!, to look out the window of our much improved hotel’s window to discover a beautiful big pool with what going on? A pool party! We were pretty pumped, as that seemed the perfect way to relax and unwind with a few beers after Chicago worked us over so much (in a good way). We get our boardies and bikinis on, me going topless, and headed straight down and found somewhere to set up shop. After a quick dip and a coors light or two, I started to notice something about the majority of the party’s attendees. The guys seemed to be wearing hotpants and greeting each other with a bit more than a handshake or a high 5. Not that theres anything wrong with it but you led us unawares straight into a gay pool party! The guy that I liked best was wearing a bright pink mini skirt with leopard print bikini. We sat there for a while with a few more beers and cocktails contemplating whether or not just to get smashed,before deciding to leave the pool party for those whom it was intended and setting off to find some food. I would of let you off the hook, if it had of been the end of it, but how much more did you have up your sleeve?
Ok, so we thought wed try and find some food. Your map is useless so we thought wed pretty much just walk out the front door of the hotel and take left. ‘we’ll find something’, we thought. We walked through what seemed like another murder town, USA, before stumbling across ‘Fish Wharf’. to the unaware, this place really needs to be experienced to be believed. Thousands of people jostling themselves into position to buy anything from fish to crab to jumbo shrimp, practically straight from the trawler and into the boiler or steamer to be cooked for you ‘while-u-wait’. we walked through the car park that resembled a demolition derby arena and continued on past the bar with some crazy hardcore rap blaring out of a monster p.a system, with rastas out the front staring at us like the honkies that we were. It really wasn’t a place for innocent, clueless little backpackers (white) like us so lauren snuck a photo before anyone had achance to steal the camera and we were on our way. I must say though, we never felt unsafe so much as we felt uncomfortable. Tho they def were eyeing off the camera.
We were so damn hungry but were too scared to get ourselves caught up in that ridiculousness, so we found the first of few all you can eat joints near by. This place was unbelievable. There was no way you could sample everything you wanted to, there waas just too much good stuff. Crab, ‘shrimp’, chicken, ribs, roast beef, fish, whatever you wanted, it was there and it was fresh. We walked back home satisfied and were pretty pleased with what you had dished up at this point. We got home and the shitty pop music with a heavier, quicker bass beat layered over the top was still playing but we could handle it coz it was only for the one night….. Or was it?
Woke up the next morning keen to check out some of the most famous sites/sights in the u.s. little did we know at time of booking, that it was labour day weekend. Yet another weekend when americans drape themselves in shirts that look like they were cut directly out of an american flag (isn’t that a capital offence?) and make the pilgrimage to the home of independence, liberty and patriotism. We got some good shots of the capitol, the monument etc. because we got out early while the rest of Washington was still hooking into their bagels and waffles the size of our old wooden dining table. By around midday though it was absolute overload though. Too many crowds and too many families all colour coordinated either with the stars and stripes or the college football team they support. I don’t quite understand the urge to display, every time im out of the house, the college I went to but they are dead set mad for it over here. At first its funny but after the thousandth family with mom, dad and the 6 kids all dressed from head to toe with ‘boise state university’ plastered across the front, it becomes a bit sad. We battled through to the Whitehouse, then had a crack at the national air and space museum but threw the towel in after the first floor because the place was teaming with loud kids and people that were just annoying the crap out of us both by that time…. that and our legs were sore.
Got home and what seemed like exactly the same song from the night before was on constant rotation down at the pool. Yay. Here we go again!
Tried to find a place to have a drink and some food but that was impossible. It never helps when you call the hotel desk to ask if theres anywhere good to drink and eat and the response you get is a flat ‘no’. so we opted for the hotel restaurant. We had to. It wasn’t too bad I spose.
The next day was a carbon copy of the first, complete with same song blairing through our window till well after dark. The only difference was the dinner we had was the worst food I can remember eating. But we had walked 45mins to get there so we both choked it down while a sweaty, rude waiter proceeded to explain the tipping system in america while at the same time sounding like begging for a few bucks because he knew that his service was shit. We still gave him a fiver pretty much out of pity.
Not talking anymore about you, Washington. Were gone and we wont be back. You couldn’t feed us and shelter us satisfactorily. How were you ever gonna entertain us?
Philly will be a breeze compared to this.
Sorry about the rant guys! Lauren is going to post the Philadelphia part so that should be a lot more positive and well written. Probably still as long tho…







The view from our window. you could understand our excitement. you should also try and imagine kanye west tracks shaking the glass in said window.














Fish Wharf. it was really like playing spot the honky.














it took us about 50 attempts to get this pic right. angles and whatnot. and cluess american kooks constantly poking their heads into shot.
























just to prove we were there.
















downtown d.c. boring!











after spending a day and a half in packed museums and observing people in general, it was quite fitting when we learnt that humans are 60% genetically similar to bananas. at least bananas dont have voices.

Chicago

Chicaaaaaago!

Only the best place I have ever been. Ever. Apart from home (of course) but the lure of HUGE skyscrapers, as far as the eye can see - interspersed with huge green (for now, seeing as they'll get a crap loadof snow in a few months) shared spaces with fountains, stages, statues, artworks... it's just fabulous.

The WINDY city it is, indeed too. We actually experienced some horrendous weather, and weather changes, while we were here, but it's just an amazing place. First day was so muggy that even though it was apparently just 33 degrees celsius, it felt like 38-39, I kid you not. And then (having surprisingly NOT learnt from the experience of accidently walking through one of the few bad neghbourhoods in Minneapolis - i.e. that checking gmaps pedometer is a NECESSITY before setting out with a goal in mind) we walked around 20 km in the hottest part of the day, from one end of Grant Park (near the Aquairum, if anyone can be bothered looking it up) then up to Navy Pier and around through the city,and finally back home to collapse exhausted and sweaty in an ever-so-slightly airconditioned apartment . BUT the Travelodge was right in the thick of it (we were about 2 blocks from Grant Park) - there's about 20+ km of skyscrapers and 'proper' inner city in Chicago, and then Greater Chicago is HUGE (check the Sears' Tower pics)... AND the Travelodge was cheap.

Here's the view from our window... that brown thing on stilts you can see is the above-ground section of the railway ("the L") which is oooold and it's completely cool that, even back in the day, they planned their city well and raised it up and can still have a 4-6 lane road underneath. HINT HINT crappy Brisbane planning!

The picture below is from the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. Yes,I did goon it (quite big actually) and yes,I did shriek at Nick when he tried to hop on the same side of the carriage as me 50m in the air. I'm not proud! The POINT of this pic (other than to raise my slight and continuing fear of heights, when in man-made objects that, by their nature, are very very fallible) is toshow how far the skyscrapers go north along Lake Michigan. Which is huge (obviously) and you can't see the other side of the thing... so it was cool to be mid-air flying to Washington DC and seeing both sides at once.

The pic below is taken (from the ferris wheel again) and shows the buildings going south, and a bit of the Navy Pier paraphenalia. It basically WAS a navy pier, but then they changed it into a big entertainement area, with a few rides, a theatre, lots of places to eat and drink, and it's where lots of boat tours go from ("Architecture tour of Chicago", "Tall ship tour of Chicago",Jetboat rides)... that kind of crap. And because they're so many of them (like flies) they've all got stands are are hawking their wares at you, and everyone else. We declined. It was VERY hot, and most things would have been pretty ainful. Apart from, APPARENTLY, walking really far in ridiculously hot weather. We actually had to buy sunscreen cos we were getting scorched, and there came a time where I 'declined' further photos soI didn't look like a molten pig in photos. My peaches and cream complexion is not made for such weather.

One of the many statues/art installations around the city. This is a permanent one... My friend Josh later told us its official name, but then said that locals just call it 'the Bean'. Which is what stuck (seeing that was what Nick and I already called it. Locals-to-be, hopefully...)

This thing is a giant outdoor (der) stage, permanently assembled in Milennium Park. I heard a guy taking a Segway tour say that it fits 35,000. Nick (being more mathematically minded, and for some reason knowing the capacities of most sporting stadiums around the place) said that that was not unrealistic, if everyone was standing... so yeah, it's big,and it' cool. Such a great space. All those black dangling things are speakers.

Returning to the segway tour issue - Yes, those things do tours. There is actually a plague of segway tours going on in America! We've seen them in Washington too!)

PS I chose the photo of the stadium to demonstrate something I am fast discovering. That, if I have the camera out, Nick will find a way to get his mug (or just his contemplative pose, as shown in this one) in the shot. Very cute. Like a little kid, or a doggy. Sometimes...

Nick was excited by this. We had actually seen it advertised (and considered it for accommodation, for hilarity value) but Nick said it would be too weird. Stick in the mud... but Travelodge was cheaper anyway,off Hotels.com.

So, that was day 2 - we got in at a hideous time on day 1 (9:30pm) after a bus ride from hell. About 1 1/2hours from Menomonie to Minneapolis, waited for a greyhound, which stopped at every bloody stop, had a broken toilet, and two talk-0under-water, loud sorority types, and went for 9+ hours. Awesome fun! Then SUPER grateful to be told by Josh that there was probably a direct route from Minnie to Chicago through Megabus,that would have been cheaper, quicker and comfortable. Aaaah. Bad decision on my part! And have been too scared to look it up and see that he was right, RIGHT, oh-so-right. :)

Then we met Josh (work mate from the UQ Staff Club from 2005 or something, who now lives over here with his lovely Chicagoan wife June) for drinkies and foodies with his workmate Kim (beautiful lass, tiny and can hold her drinks!) to be met by June later. We went to 5 places, all over the city and suburbs... and it was great. We would never have got to ANY of those places (figuring out transport, and danger levels of suburbs, and even HEARING about the places) and oftn a mate of Josh's HAPPENED to be on the bar, and was pretty generous with the bar tab. It... was... heaven. We went to (for those who care):

- big star (http://www.bigstarchicago.com/) - best food, cheap drinks, sitting out in the warm sun...;

- violet hour (http://www.theviolethour.com/) - fancy pants, secret unlabelled door, sitting at a dark plush bar);

- bar deville (memories... are lost);

- fat cat (http://www.fatcatbar.com/);

- green mill (http://www.greenmilljazz.com/) - famous as one of the oldest speakeasies still around... also where Al Capone hung out sometimes. PRETTY cool!!!
This is us all (plus the random guy who told us that that was Al Capone's booth - have verified Al Capone's presence at bar, but not necessarily that that was his booth. Still completely cool!)

The line-up is: Me, Nick, Random, Random's girlfriend, Josh and June. CANNOT BELIEVE Kim wasn't in the damn photo when random and his girlfriend were. So polite to take the pic!

And after we were done here, we went back to Kim's (awesome) house in another cool part of town. We could NOT have got around like this, if June hadn't of been driving us, and I appreciate that (as well as the spectacular company and generosity of the Chicago kids taking us around at all!) so much. Much love!!!

Needless to say, considering we got back when it was getting light (famous dumb/drunk quote from Lauren "Wooooowwwwww, we just don't have enough lights to get that weird reflection off the clouds!!!") the next day was a write off. Most of it... I went for a cruise at lunch time (walked about a block in search of foodies) and found something we'd completely forgotten about... Buddy Guy's Legends bar! Literallyon the next block from our hotel. So rushed (as far as my aching everything would allow) back, got Nick up, he insisted on having a shower (yawn... delay! delay!) and then we went down and had some sweet (and hip-widening) soul food for lunch, listening to a youngish blues dog, do his thing.

We subsequently went back for tea on the same day, got strong-armed into paying the cover (when the beefy, hardass bouncers camearound early to collect), got pissed, met some cool people from the outer suburbs, met Buddy, bought merch... wait a minute... what was that??? We MET Buddy Guy?????

Nick and Buddy Guy...

Nahhhhhh, just winding Dogger up with that one. Here's the real deal. The man is the MASTER of cool. He was rocking a hawaiian shirt, white shoes and socks, white pants and a white beret. He belted out a tune or two with the night's band a bit later, and it was really really one of the best things I've been there for.

We kind of, accidently, were a bit socially unaware of the scheme of the night (Buddy doesn't have pics with just anyone, and it's all at the end of the night in the merch sell-off... WHOOPS!) but Nick spotted him chilling with a wter, listening to the blues, and bowled up and asked for a piccie, and he was very gracious and gave us one.

The next day was practically a write-off two. Damn! Will we ever learn!? But there was a plus, we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken (still called that some places) and had some Chicago KFC. They also like to pretend there's grilled chicken somewhere there, but I certainly didn't see any.

Nick had the double down!!!! No bun... Just two pieces of chicken. He ate it.

Check it out here: http://www.kfc.com/doubledown/













I got something whack for the differentness of it all. Plus, after Popeyes in Atlanta, I've been hankering for some biscuits and gravy. I had the Chicken Biscuit Box. :) Popcorn chicken, potato, a biscuit (see an earlier post), corn, gravy and cheese. HA! It was still tasty tasty food. Like all hgh calorie american food. Lucky we'redoing those kms!

We extended the stay by 2 nights, having had a bit of downtime (it was raining some of those days anyway, so wouldn't have been too much fun out and about) and also having worked out exactly how long the train to Washington would take (24 hours), and that a cheaper,direct-route flight was available on the Saturday...

So the next day, we went to the tower formerly known as the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower, but everyone still calls it Sears. Ha! Sucked in Willis Corp!) It's 103 storeys high, and the lift ride is a lot gentler, although still fast, than the Q1 one. Which, considering that Sears was built about 20 years before Q1 (literally), makes me think that Q1 deliberately did it to make it seem higher. Anyway, Sears rocked. Not literally, thank god.
Left is the view south-east from Sears, along Lake Michigan.
Below is the view north-east.

It's amazing howmuch the building dwarfs everything else, because there are some big-ass buildings through there and they look like babies from that height! Which will bring metoa point further along - SCALE from 103 storeys...

There were these glass boxes hanging off the side of the Skydeck, so you could step on and get a birds eye view of what 103 storeys above a city street looks like. I say "some mysteries are best left untapped" but Nicko jumped straight out and had a dandy old time trying to get the perfect pic. Here's one of them!

Below is Nick actually IN the box. It was all I could do notto scream "get out, get out, we're only1/4 way through the trip, I can't lose you now"... but I refrained. I did squeal "don't run" at some over-sized (yes, most are) early-twenties girl who gambolled into the box Nick was in. I thought then, that maybe I should take myself away from the box. Which I did, quite happily.

Unfortunately, as I was enjoying my stroll around the safe part of the building, a lady there with her son asked for a photo of her and her son in the box... I edged upto the box and snapped. Adrenalin! Then she said she'd take one of Nick and I... I quickly declined, noting aforementioned fear of heights,to which she incredulously replied "WHAT! But when are you ever coming back here???!!!" She shamed me into edging into the box. I pride the pic below on showing that, contrary to everything I have been told my whole life, I DO have a great poker face, but my gripping clawed arm speaks a thousand fearful words unfortunately.

From Sears, we could see Lincoln Park Zoo (Lincoln Park being a suburb to the north. And yes, I am also aware of the band "Linkin Park". No coincidence, that name, methinks). Anyhoo, what looks close from 103 storeys is effed-up-far from the ground. So we walked, and walked and walked (thankfully only city and then posh suburbs this time, no unexpected gang-towns) and finally got there. Only a little bit of whinging. But I'm no good without breakfast or water. Which Nick is fast learning, because I whinge and whinge and whinge without. And it was so worth it. A free zoo? You'd expect it to be crap. But it's not. Everything's up so close, you really get a feel for the different animals. I don't know how THEY feel (smallish enclosures), but none of the animals looked too stressed or anything.

I took about 40 pics of this friendly zebra, cos he just kept getting closer!!!

Gorilla bum. They were really aware that we were watching, but not afraid, but definitely put on a bit of a show!

See how close they are? They had a minor scuffle near the glass, and one of them went flying,but it just seems they do that. Eat... eyeball each other... run at each other... scuffle (or flee)... decide that all's well... eat

Some cute monkeys. The entwine their tails with their babies. :)

Baby hippo! Just chilling.

Meekat manor!

Lioness head. Everynow and then she'd crack an eyelid and a kid'd screech "mommy, the lion's looking at me". Needless to say, though she was a beautiful creature, it must be soundproof glass, because we couldn't stand that noie for 5 minutes, but she lay there for hours.

Us walking back from Lincoln Park Zoo... pretty nice view of the city. And we only walked back because there were no cabs there (most people drive) and we had no idea how to call one. My poor poor leggies!

But we had a half-time at Navy Pier again, and had a Chicago Dog! So many flavours! It's a hotdog sausage, tomato, a gigantic pickle, celery salt, relish and some other kind of pickled chillis (which were HOT). I could eat one every day...

Next stop... Washington DC! And apologies for the long post... we were there for 5 days, and anyone who is considering a holiday to Chicago? DO. It's fantastic. :)

Menomonie

Rolling into Menomonie was pretty bloody surreal actually. it had been 7 yeaars almost to the day and bugger all had changed. the pizza hut was gone,and there was some new restaurant but apart from that, it was the same old sleepy town. comatose actually. the students werent back yet.but all good. we were only there to catch up with a few of my old rugby mates and get smashed with them just like the old days.
we got off the shuttle and were greeted with more searing bloody heat and realised that we were getting dropped off at the 'motel 6' instead of the 'super 8 motel'. sweet. simple mistake. lucky the other motel was only about a km away so we wrestled our backpacks on and struggled our way down the street looking like two turtles on valium. they dont see our types that much in menomonie so we'd get the odd car seeming to slow down, trying to figure out what our go was. getting pretty used to that these days.
anyway, we got there in the end, had a quick swim and went off for another walk. i reckon overall we are averaging about 8km a day at the moment. i spose that makes up for all this massive american food were eating...
it was nice to cruise thru the campus with no one else around to annoy us. checking out the old dorm, rugby fields and rugby house.
the next day the guys came over pretty early and there wasnt much to do but hit the pub and get blind drunk. when in rome, i spose. we all hit this dive bar and hit it pretty hard. a few of the guys had different weddings to go to, which made it pretty cool that they came to see us. Timmy acutally ditched the wedding ceremony he was gonna go to and took us to this dodgy mexican restaurant. it was like being in a time warp. the place obviously hasnt been interested in remodelling since the 60's but the food, like all mexican so far was unbelieveable. and they served beer in 32oz glasses, bigger than steins i think. it took me an hour to drink.
went home and had a nap while the others were at their weddings then kicked off round 2 with jugs of beer so bloody big you couldnt jump over them. the stupid thing was that they gave you 7oz glasses to drink with so you spent most of your time refilling your glass. whatever, it got us pretty pissed. at one joint lauren got her bag temporarily stolen but as it turns out, one of the people we were with left for another club and took it with them because it was unmanned. needless to say we were kicking up a bit of a stink accusing a few dudes who looked the most suss. quite a sight on the street out the front of the club at 2.30am but we got it back so all good.
hungover the next day, but the guys hung around so we had a fairlly big sunday session. at the same dive bar we started at the day before. johnny had a heap of ridiculous kids hats that looked like animals so it seemed like a good idea at the time to each whack one of them on and cruise around in the convertible then wear them to the pub. thought the barflies would of thought we were a bunch of clowns, which we were, but they seemed like them. oh yeah another thing, there was this party getting set up on the pool tables in the pub which turned out to be a baby shower! interesting venue choice but apparently its normal to celebrate imminent birth of a child at a dive bar.
eventually said goodbye to the guys with man hugs and all that crap. but it was good to see them. and good to be back, if only for a weekend.








A 'frolf' hole. scattered allover the campus. for frisbee golf.














my old digs














the rugby house where i had to do laps of it naked in the snow.











little glassfor a big jug. they thought it was sooofunny that we called them 'jugs'.












us at the dive bar. cat, frog, ladybug.















this is what you get your bloody mary in.















me, rue and johnny. frog, bunny, duck.












man love.