Mechanisms to Counter Boredom

Like Scott said we got in the car that morning and just started driving. The car was a very happy place to be... warm blowing air, a thick sturdy roof and all the heated seat you could ask for! We had a few days to kill, and by few days I mean 7 before the bike festival in Durango, CO this weekend, so we decided to head down to Washington, D.C. to hang with a few of our friends.

It's here that I should mention that directions are a vital and crucial tool to travel. With that said, we had great directions from a friend of our friend Nick's who made the same drive countless times. Directions like' "just head towards Baltimore" worked flawlessly, and with no trouble we arrived at I-495 right in the heart of D.C. The problem is that the 495 works in a circle. The smart thing in our minds would be to use clockwise and counterclockwise as opposed to north and south, but OH WELL, no such luck. We changed direction givers and that's where the confusion began. We were going clockwise and Julie thought we were going counterclockwise. We got LOST. And not the OK lost you can get out of, but the "screw it I don't want to go to D.C. anymore" and "I have no ideas where you are" kind of lost. It was bad. Finally, after a repeated car tour of the city we got to Julie's house!

We had a fun night on the town with Julie and Nick who didn't know each other, but lived a mile away! Look at us bringing friends together :) The next day I went for a run and keeping with the theme I got lost :) Are you surprised? I'm not! After my 20 minute run that turned into and hour Scott and I headed in the city to fill our tourist quota for the day. We walked through the Mall and went to the Air and Space Museum where we learned all about air planes, rockets, space and anything else you can think of that is above ground! We walked to the Washington Memorial and to the new Vietnam Memorial. We ended the day with a street vendor hot dog and pretzel, really, what could be better!

Later that evening we hooked up with my dear friend Laura who cooked us dinner and gave us a warm floor to sleep on! We watched a show on synchronized swimming (very interesting) and played a few rousing games of JENGA! Pooped form a day of getting lost, learning and pushing blocks with our fingers we crashed out for the night and slept likes rocks!

The next day, this would be Monday we headed out of D.C. and ALL the way to Milwaukee, WI where my Aunt Anne and Uncle Tom live. That's a LONG drive which we took turns driving through. Here I need to clear a few things up. I have been give a very hard time ALL my life for falling asleep in the car. Not when I'm driving, but you put me in a passenger seat and I'm out in 15 minutes! NPR makes matters worse. The radio comes on and I'm out in a flash! So, on my turn of driving I decided I would suck it up and drive for as long as I could and then drive a bit longer. By my 3rd hour of driving Scott and wiggling, groaning, and complaining about how bored he was. "Go to sleep. It always works for me" I said, but he didn't. Instead he started pulling out his toe hairs with a pair of pliers! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! OUCH! Personally, I think sleeping is a much smarter potion to counter boredom! So, don't give me a hard time about falling asleep, I'm just keeping myself occupied!

In Milwaukee we were treated to a full fridge and an AWESOME bed in their new house! (they haven't moved in yet) WAY COOL, thanks Aunt Anne! We road our bikes to the Miller Brewery where we had a tour of the factory and soaked up our free samples :) Let me tell you it was MILLER TIME! Aunt Anne took us on a tour of Milwaukee and we had some awesome Chinese food! A highlight for me was when Uncle Tom let me drive his new Mercedes SL coupe. I'm not going to lie, I was scared, but not wanting to pass up the opportunity to tell my dad I got to dive a cool car I got behind the wheel and navigated us home. Tom must have been a bit let down by my cautious driving because when we got back to the house he asked Scott to drive too. I'm not sure what the drive went like, but Scott came back in with a huge grin on his face, and Tom looked a bit pale... sorry Uncle Tom! I'm sure it was a more exciting ride though!

Two days of driving, a HUGE storm, and a cheep hotel room later Scott and I are back at the Rockies! SO CLOSE TO HOME. We're back in Evergreen with the WONDERFUL Wendy and Al and will make our way to Durango tomorrow. IF all goes according to plan we'll be back on Monday!

See you soon!
L