Andy and Martin's Antics
This weekend also afforded me the opportunity to engage in another activity I missed out on growing up in the South...sledding. There was a really nice sledding hill not far from the house we stayed in so on Sunday we all bundled up and headed out to the hill. The sleds were big enough so each couple usually went down together. There was plenty of snow but it was frozen so the ground was really hard...it wasn't the nice powder that should have provided a little cushion. I think I got more beat up sledding than skiing. Apparently there was plenty of sledding on the hill before we got there because someone had made ramps out of the snow, creating a couple of little jumps that you could ride the sled on. In addition to the little ones there was one big one...so OF COURSE Andy had to ride his sled over the jump. I will preface this by saying that Martin has taken over for Nick in the "egging Andy on" department. Except now, it's not just encouragement to do stupid things, but it comes with the promise of being photographed.
While we were in Louisiana we were swinging on the playground and Andy jumped off of his swing while it was still moving. This resulted in Martin laying on the ground in order to get the perfect shot of Andy in mid-air.
Andy of course had to swing higher and higher and perform this feat several times in order to get the perfect shot.
This scenario pretty much repeated itself with the sledding. At least this time Andy was wearing a helmet.
Martin laid on the ground next to the jump while Chuck pushed Andy in the right direction for added speed. And this was the result....
On the walk back to the house after sledding Andy commented that if he had been friends with Martin when he was a kid he would have gotten injured a lot more often. I agreed and then he added, "but I'm sure I would have had a lot more fun" I'm not sure this bodes well for the future. I have a feeling "Andy and Martin's Antics" will be a regular feature on the blog.
Labels: travel
Ski Weekend
After talking about it for the past two winters Andy and I finally went skiing this past weekend. This was the first time I had ever been skiing so it was quite and experience. Andy had been once before in Montana, and like every other athletic pursuit, he picked it up really quickly. I was expecting the worst when got there on Saturday morning. I am not very coordinated or very strong so I thought I was going to be a skiing failure. To start off, the worst part of skiing is the gear. The boots are the most uncomfortable things I've ever had on my feet, and they weigh about five pounds each. In addition, if your skis aren't on your feet you have to carry them everywhere and they aren't light either. Both were just a big pain in my ass.
We went with Chuck, Christina, and Cassie who are all experienced skiers and Martin who was snowboarding so I was the only beginner. It would have been more fun to have someone else learning with me so I didn't feel like such a loser, but oh well... So I got out on the bunny slope and after falling on the dismount from the ski lift, I got the hang of things really quickly. The bunny slope is obviously not steep at all so I was just gliding along, doing long turns really easily and stopping myself just by skidding sideways. Everyone was congratulating me on how quickly I picked it up and I was starting to think maybe I had been underestimating myself. Of course, a big BUT is coming....So we walk over to the first slope..a green, or easy run. I start heading down and very quickly I am FLYING down the hill and I realize I have no clue how to slow down or stop myself. About 1/4 of the way down the hill, I'm going 10 times as fast as I was on the bunny slope. So I skid to the side to stop myself which doesn't work when you're going that fast. I start falling and then as I hit the ground my ski catches in the snow and my ski doesn't come off, twisting my knee to a horrible angle so that when I stopped and looked at my leg I though for sure it was broken. My eyes welled up and I fought back tears. Andy came over and helped me up and after a few minutes I tried again....same thing. I had no business being up there since I couldn't stop myself. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill I was scared to death and was swearing that I was done with skiing. Never again. Going that fast really freaked me out.
I didn't want to hold Andy back from skiing so I told him to go ahead without me and I would go back to the bunny slope to practice. I got back on the bunny hill but even that was terrifying. I had scared myself so badly my knees were shaking on the bunny hill and I was practically paralyzed with fear. Andy met up with me again and we took a break in the lodge. He promised to teach me the beginner skiing method..the snow plough..which is basically just skiing with your skis in a V, tips together, to slow yourself down. We went back out to the bunny slope and practiced that about 50 times before I would get back on the green slope. I was still scared but more confident in my ability to slow myself down and stop. After that I was fine, but it look a lot of convincing on Andy's part to get me back out there. So in the end I was right, I am pretty uncoordinated but I was happy with myself for a first time skiier. Andy of course was swooshing around, making it look pretty effortless.
The other problem with being an adult beginner is that there are tons of kids out on the slopes who are much, much better than you which can being pretty demeaning. As I'm going down the green slopes with my beginner style, every ounce of concentration on not killing myself, there are five year old kids in pink snowsuits zooming past me while they talk to their friends about Dora the Explorer. Not exactly confidence building.
I would give myself a C+ on my overall first day performance. The main problem is that I really want to go skiing again....right now. It's near the end of the season so we probably won't make it back until next winter but I'm already looking forward to it.
Labels: travel
...and back
Pictures are up from our all too brief visit to Chicago. For the most part we just hung out with Kevin and Michele which is what we wanted. On Saturday we did ride the EL through Chicago which was cool and we walked around down by Lake Michigan. The lake is absolutely gorgeous. At one point Andy asked me if I had noticed the Sears Tower and I said, no, which one is it.... not my finest moment. Anyway, we went to the Field Museum and saw Sue, the T. rex, some man-eating lions, and a really cool exhibit called "Evolving Planet." Saturday night we had dinner with some friends of Kevin and Michele's. One of them has a really cool job at a liberal newspaper and the other is in law school, but had a really interesting job before that. This really brought me down for awhile....b/c frankly I don't have anything exciting to talk about in terms of my career. This has also been a major downer lately and dinner was just a really big reminder of that.
Sunday Michele and I had brunch and then headed back to the apartment to cheer on the Saints with some more of their friends who unfortunately, were Bears fans. Michele mocked all of Andy and my's football related superstitions. She made cupcakes for the game, half Saints colors and half Bears colors and at one point there was retaliatory eating going on until all that was left was my "touchdown cupcake" that I took a bite of every time the Saints scored. Unfortunately I still had half a cupcake left at the end of the game. Kevin cheered for the Bears, being from Iowa, and at one point I threatened to smash his "Honorary Cajun" mug. Everyone really got into the superstition thing, employing rally caps and even switching the seating arrangement. The insanity is contagious. We couldn't pull them to victory, but we still had a good time.
The flight home was uneventful but apparently it was the weekend for slow drivers. Our flight was delayed about 30 min. so we decided to take a cab home because it was faster than the subway......the subway would've been quicker. The guy said we were his last fare of the day and then he was going home. Well, his wife must beat him because again, it took over an hour to get home. I was fuming, yet again. The guy was slowing down in order to catch red lights, probably significantly increasing our fare.
So even though the trip was bookended with horrible car rides, it was still a lot of fun...We'll definitely be back to Chicago again soon! (for visiting only...don't get any ideas!)
Labels: travel
To Chicago....
I have returned from the Windy City, in a better mood and hopefully with a few less worries. We almost didn't make it to Chicago in the first place. Our flight left at 7 on Saturday morning so I arranged for the car to pick us up at 5:15. Of course we were packed and ready by 5:00. 5:15, no car...5:20, no car...5:25, no car...the phone finally rings and its the car service calling to tell us they're running late...yeah, no shit. The whole time I've been impatiently pacing up and down, now extremely concerned about missing our flight. I figure everything will be fine once we get in the car. It had snowed the night before and as we get in the car I see a cab skid through the red light in front of us...not a good sign. We start to creep down 5th Ave. It takes us 15 minutes to get to Atlantic Ave. which is about a mile. There is plenty of traffic on Atlantic so I figure the guy can speed up now..but no. He creeped along the entire way to the airport while cars are passing us going a normal speed. Things get worse once we enter the airport.....now there are lots of twists and turns which causes him to slow down even more...and remember that he was 20 minutes late to start out with. At this point I'm about to jump out of my skin. I seriously could have walked faster than this guy was driving. We finally get to the airport and check in at exactly 6:30 for a 7:00 flight. Then the woman at the ticket counter tells us that we have go upstairs, through security, and then take the shuttle bus to our gate. We get through security really quickly, surprisingly enough, and dart over to the shuttle bus. One is waiting, so I think we're going to be fine....but then, the ramp to the shuttle bus that could have been five feet long, literally has instead been expanded into about 6 switchbacks, making the resulting ramp about 30 feet long and only three feet wide. This made it impossible to pass the extremely small elderly couple strolling down the ramp or the patient Asian man patiently following them with a half-smile on his face that said...my car was on time and the driver was competent so I am in no rush to get to my gate. Halfway down the ramp the shuttlebus pulls away. We finally make it to the bus and I suffer the worst moment of the day, I realize I have lost my gloves. At this point I am hung over, working on four hours of sleep, and have had to suffer through an hour long ride to the airport and the elderly so I lose it. I bent my arms and clenched my hands into fists and literally shook...shook with anger. A look of shock passed over Andy's face which made me even more angry and resulted in me giving him an elbow to the stomach when he tried to console me. The bus finally pulled up to the gate at about 7:50 and we boarded immediately. Then we sat on the runway for an hour.....and this is why I LOVE flying.
Labels: travel
