Thursday, August 7, 2008

My Kind of Town

So the trip to Chicago was great. Really great. It was everything I hoped it would be and more, honestly.

First of all, I suppose I lied a little bit when I said I was going to Chicago. Really, we only spent one day in Chicago. The rest of the time, we mostly hung out in Cas and Jay's hometown an hour south of Chicago. We also took our road trip through Indiana to go to Ryan's show in Indianapolis. You know what I never thought I would do in my life? Take a road trip specifically for the purposes of going to Indianapolis. But it was actually really fun. The whole trip was fun.
Everyone got along great, for one thing. Cas and I picked up right where we left off and it was just like we had never been apart. We talked pretty much non-stop the five days I was there. In fact, I think the only time we weren't gabbing away was when we were in separate bedrooms at night. When Penn and I got into bed the first night we were there, following a couple of hours during which the boys played pool and Cas and I laughed our way through an old box of high school pictures, he said to me, "You and Cas are like mirrors of each other. You already talk so much, but she talks just as much as you do. I can't figure out how two people who both like to talk so much can carry on a conversation." Haha.
Luckily, Penn and Jay were very patient with the nonstop gabfest. The guys got along well, too, which was great. I have always enjoyed hanging out with Cas and Jay as a couple, and Penn fit seamlessly into our mix. It's a good thing we ended up meshing so well because we spent a lot of time in the car. On Friday we went from their hometown to Chicago (1.5 hours) and then from Chicago down to Indy (3 hours) and then on Saturday morning we spent about 2 hours driving back to their hometown. That's a lot of time driving through corn fields! [Incidentally, Penn kept teasing me for being excited about corn fields, but I'm from the desert! Edible things don't grow there. Corn fields are still a bit of a novelty for me.] Since the guys got along, Cas and I were able to sit in the backseat and chatter away as our men sat in the front and talked about cars or maps or whatever it is that men talk about. Cas and I determined that we have about a dozen different conversations in the time the guys have one. The thing is, we'd be in the back blabbing away but the second we heard anything that sounded remotely like, "wrong turn" or "doesn't look right," we'd both pop our heads into the front seat to find out just how lost we really were. Jay was like, "How can you even hear what we're saying up here with all your talking back there?" We're women, we multi-task, what can I say?! There was also this really funny moment during the road trip where Cas and I were trying to figure out how to fold down one of the back seats but despite Jay's specific instructions we couldn't figure it out. Finally Penn was like, "You can't figure out how to fold down the seat and you have how many degrees between the two of you?" That sort of good-natured teasing went on all trip. The majority of my friendship with Cas involves teasing each other constantly, only now that we're older we can tease in teams! Nice.
Anyway, we had plenty of fun that was not car-related, too. On our trip up to Chicago we went to Giordano's for delicious pizza, wandered around on Michigan Avenue, and went to the top of the Hancock Building for a drink. I highly recommend that, by the way, should you ever find yourself wanting to do something touristy in Chicago. The Sears Tower may be a tiny bit taller, sure, but you have to pay to get up there and go through security and then what do you do at the top other than look at the view? At the Hancock Building it's free to go to the top, you don't have to deal with security at all, and at the very top there's a bar where you can get a cocktail as you admire a view that is just as amazing as the view from the other building. Sure, it may be a $12 cocktail, but it's still a much better deal overall.
The trip to Indianapolis pretty much revolved around seeing Ryan's show. It's a good thing we decided to try to get there "early". If we hadn't been aiming to get there early we would have missed half the show because we had all forgotten about the fact that Indiana doesn't want to observe Daylight Savings time like most of the rest of the country. But we made it on time and the show was really funny. Good thing, too, because it would have been awkward to have to stand around and talk to Ryan afterwards if the show had been a flop. We lucked into a funny opening act guy, too. Our faces were sore from two hours of laughing. We didn't get to hang out with Ryan much afterwards because he didn't have his own transportation and was at the mercy of the club emcee to get him back to his hotel, but we did get to have a drink with him afterwards. It was actually worth driving three hours for, so thank you, Ryan, for giving me an excuse to cross the state of Indiana off my list. I have no idea how it would have happened otherwise!
From that point on I spent most of my time hanging out on the river. Cas and Jay have a pontoon boat and a jet ski and let me tell you, there is nothing in the world that is more fun than a jet ski. Seriously, Penn and I decided it's the most fun you can possibly have with your clothes on. I mostly rode with Penn, and we would fly down the river super-fast, sometimes getting up to 60 mph. It's incredible how fast that feels when you're not surrounded by a car. I don't think I've ever moved that fast before. Maybe you get that fast on skis or on a roller coaster, but not for such a sustained amount of time. It's awesome! My favorite part was when Penn would do donuts and send us bouncing around on our own wake. I almost fell off about eight times over the course of the afternoon, but almost falling off is the best part. I went out with Cas a few times over the course of the trip, too, and she and I get crazy air on the jet ski. We're both pretty small people (Cas is particularly tiny, so combined we weigh a grand total of about 240 pounds) so crossing the wake of a water bug sends us flying! There's a comedian that says something like, "Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy you a waverunner!" and then he goes on to say, "Just try frowning on a waverunner. You can't." And he's so right. All you can do on it is smile. And scream. And smile even more. Penn is now just as addicted to the jet ski as I am, and he was pricing them as soon as he got home. Unfortunately, there are many things besides the price that are currently preventing us from owning a jet ski, like, oh, the fact that we both currently live in third floor walk-up apartments with no immediate water access. But I am determined that someday we WILL have a jet ski. Don't you think that would be the best possible tool for a successful relationship? Every time we felt like fighting we could just get on the jet ski and all would be well!
Anyway, on Saturday night we went to the boat club luau with some of Cas and Jay's family members and friends. We didn't actually hang out at the luau itself, we just sat on our boat enjoying the drinks Cas's mother-in-law made and people watching. Then once we dropped everyone else off the four of us cruised the boat around in the dark for another hour or so stargazing and making fun of the endless stream of horrible music that was on the radio. At one point the DJ said, "Coming up next, Nelly Furtado and Air Supply!" Seriously?! Still, it was a nice night in spite of the horrible music. ("Playing Illiana's greatest hits! Coming up next: Chaka Khan!")
Penn had to go home on Sunday (boo!) but I stayed with Cas and Jay until Tuesday evening and we had a few more adventures. We took the boat out again on Sunday and cruised to a fun restaurant where you could just dock the boat and hop out and eat. On Monday it rained most of the day so Cas and I did some shopping and then that night the three of us went to the movies and almost got killed by a tornado. Well, maybe not killed, exactly. But there was definitely a tornado warning in effect as we drove home, and there was more lightning than I have seen in a very, very long time. We woke up on Tuesday morning and there were tree branches sticking straight up in the yard and the power was out pretty much everywhere other than Cas's house. It was a heck of a storm. I had to catch my plane home on Tuesday, but not before I spent more time hanging out with Cas. She and I just get closer the older we get. We have so much in common, from our sense of humor to our ideas about relationships to the fact that spending a couple of hours lying on the bed reading sounds like a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I'm so glad we got to spend time hanging out this summer. I only wish we could have stayed much longer. Now it's my turn to pester her and Jay endlessly until they visit me!

P.S.-Here's a nice, non-identifying photo of me and Penn hanging out on the river. Cas took this when we were on our way home after our fun-filled day of jet skiing. I really like this picture. Think we maybe like each other just a little bit?

P.S. Again-Speaking of Penn, he's reading the blog now. This is a huge thing for me. I generally don't like people involved in my immediate life to read my blog. I mean, I know more or less who reads it and most of you are friends, but you are friends in distant places that I don't generally write about on a daily basis, so it's a little different. None of my grad school friends know about this blog, and I like it that way. It's weird to know that Penn can pop over here and read about things that directly involve him. But when I mentioned the blog and then told him I wasn't sure if I could let him read it, he said, "I see you completely naked all the time but I can't read your blog?" Which seemed like a pretty valid point to me. That, and I'm realizing that I don't want to have secrets from him. If I can't say it to him I shouldn't be saying it to the world on the internet, anyway. So, yes, this is being vulnerable in a relationship in a new way for me because somehow sharing anything I've written is a million times more nerve wracking than, well, being naked. But it feels like the right thing to do. And I did warn him that I'm full of neuroses and obsessions and there is no better way to realize that about me than to read the blog, but he read a lot of it already this evening and said he's still not scared of me. Which is saying a lot, I think.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

he reads it now??? wow. i'm impressed. penn say hello to kiki..."hi kiki"...."hi penn"...

now we can have comment wars. i'm excited, a.

-kiki :)

Anonymous said...

Only a portion of Indiana doesn't observe daylight savings. It's a hard thing to deal with...much like the state of Arizona not observing daylight savings (except the Navajo Reservation...) and then having your entire family constantly forget what time you're on because they can't remember if you're 1 hour or 2 hours behind them. Craziness!

Your trips sounded super fun and I loved the pics I saw on your more public social page. ; ) You two look very happy together.