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A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles.
– Tim Cahill
So when we last left off, David and I had collapsed into bed in our beautiful European-inspired hotel room in Chicago. That was Monday night. Tuesday morning we prepared to head back to Detroit. I had hoped to somehow meet up with Jane on our way out of town, but she had her own adventure to tend to, so we didn’t get the chance. Instead, David drove us along Lake Shore Drive to head out of the city on another beautiful day in Chicago so I could see the waterfront and Soldier Field and Comiskey Park (which isn’t called Comiskey Park anymore, but whatever). It was lovely. We stopped for breakfast at what David tells me is the only rest stop (anywhere?) that’s built on an overpass (that is, it serves both sides of the big highway). He tried to win me a Nintendo DS from a game machine, but didn’t have any luck. Oh well.
By the time we got back to Detroit, we had just enough time to change and grab the tickets and David’s brother and head downtown to Comerica Park to watch the Tigers take on the hated Cleveland Indians. I had walked around the outside of Comerica at Christmastime, but this was my first time inside. I immediately went to the team store to purchase a Tigers visor so I could credibly root for the home team (and without betraying my Braves – the Tigers are in the AL).
We walked around the stadium so I could see everything, and I even got the boys to ride the mini baseball Ferris wheel with me!
I also got a half-yard frozen daquiri, but that is neither here nor there. We then got a beer and something to eat (I had egg rolls. Egg rolls! At a baseball stadium! And chili-cheese fries. Breakfast of champions.) before settling into our seats.
David’s dad snared excellent seats down the right field line off Stub Hub, and during warm ups, I looked up and who did I see? One Grady Sizemore, centerfielder for the Indians, stretching and jogging not 20 yards from me! He’s hot, let me tell you.
Once David figured out what I was doing, he tried to take my camera away, but I didn’t let him. It’s my duty to take pictures of hot baseball players, and I take that responsibility very seriously.
The game itself was great – the Tigers won – and we headed home to do a little laundry and fall in to bed.
Wednesday morning, we packed up and got back in the car, this time headed for a little town just northeast of Buffalo, New York. My cousin was to be married Saturday, and Wednesday evening was her bridal shower (she, and a lot of wedding guests, was from out of town, but nearly the entirety of our moms’ side of the family lives in this town, which is why the shower was there and so close to the wedding). Since she had asked me to be in her wedding, I needed to be at the shower that evening, so we left around 9 or so and headed for the border. The Canadian border.
As David is fond of telling me, if you head due south from Detroit, the first foreign country you come to is Canada. Going through Canada would save us several hours, assuming the border crossing didn’t take long, and time was of the essence that day, so with our passports in hand, we made a quick entrance into the Great White North.
We had a lovely Canadian day. First, we had breakfast at Tim Horton’s. Donuts, yum. Then we stopped at Canadian Tire. It’s hard to explain Canadian Tire – it’s a little like a KMart crossed with an auto parts store, I guess, but David has been talking about it as long as I’ve known him, so we had to go.
We found Canada t-shirts there, on sale for $8.99 (or “Nine dough-lers” as David was fond of saying), red for him, white for me. Then we stopped for lunch at Harvey’s, a Canadian fast food joint. This one was located inside a Home Depot. Thank goodness for GPS. Our burgers were delicious, and people in Canada are so friendly!
We made an equally smooth entrance back into the U.S., and made our way through the Western New York countryside on a gorgeous afternoon, and I honestly don’t know if there’s any better place to be. We got to my aunt’s around 3:30 and David encountered the first wave of family introductions. The shower was girls-only, so I left him there to await my uncle, the District Attorney, who had agreed to take David and Steve (the boyfriend of one of the other bridesmaids) out to dinner. He was not happy that I couldn’t be there for the introductions; I’m sure he had Sopranos-like visions of my Italian uncle picking him and “going for a ride,” but he was a good sport.
The shower was lovely; my aunts did an amazing job, as always. Afterwards, my cousin and I and one of the bridesmaids went to find the boys in town. We walked into the restaurant only to see my grandpa holding court at their table. I hadn’t expected him to be there, but I should have guessed he would be. We attempted to pull up a table to their booth to join them, but the waitresses stopped us, which was not a good idea. My grandpa doesn’t like to be told no. Next thing you know, the wait staff is dealing with an ornery old man, and my cousin and I are laughing our heads off because this is so typical. I think David might have been scared, though.
In the end, we took the booth behind them, and my grandpa came to sit with us for a bit. He told me how much he’d enjoyed talking to David and how glad he was that I’d brought him. Made me so happy. One of my aunts showed up and then the 6 of us – me and David, my cousin, my aunt, the bridesmaid and her boyfriend – headed to the only bar in town to catch up some more and play some darts. And with the exception of the boys, I can tell you that all of us are supremely bad dart players.
It was, however, a lot of laughs. I love my family, and I love how seamlessly David fits into it.
Around 11, we headed back to my aunt’s house where we were staying and fairly collapsed into bed, again. First, though, we had to repack a small bag, because in the morning, we were headed back to Canada: Toronto. I’ll tell you all about Day 7 next time (which, hopefully, will not be two weeks from now)!
I had a total 36-hour love affair with Chicago. It started with our hotel, the Raffaello, where we got a great last-minute rate on hotels.com, especially considering how close it is to Michigan Avenue. It was very European (fairly small lobby, very small elevators), but we had a beautiful room with a flat screen tv and DVD player. My favorite part was the bathroom: it had one of those rain shower heads, where the water falls directly down on top of you; there was no tub, only a shower, and only half a glass door – part of the shower (the part away from the showerhead) was completely open to the rest of the bathroom; and it had a bowl sink, one of those that sits up on the counter. Perfect.
Since we arrived close to 1 am, we slept in a bit on Monday before heading over to Michigan Avenue to see the sights and head down to Navy Pier. It was a gorgeous day, and it wasn’t too long until we came across people engaged in what has to be one of the top-ten jobs I don’t want:
Skyscraper window-washing. NO. WAY.
We hung a left to head toward Navy Pier. The first time and only time prior to this that I had been in Chicago was 10 years ago, when the amusement park I worked for was going to open a Bubba Gump’s in the park. They sent me and my boss to the Bubba Gump’s in Navy Pier for training, since I would be managing the restaurant. Here it is:
Navy Pier is pretty touristy, but I wanted to ride the giant Ferris wheel, because I like being touristy, so we pressed on. Before we got to the Ferris wheel, though, we passed several outfits offering boat tours and decided that would be a great way to see the city. We opted for the SeaDog Architectural Tour that would take us down the Chicago River through the city and tell us about some of the buildings we’d see, and it included a “speedboat portion” out on Lake Michigan at the end. It was totally worth it – we learned all about the big buildings, many of which are quite iconic, and our tour guide was very funny (and punny, too!). There are too many pictures to share here, but you can check out my Chicago album on Flikr if you like. Here’s a couple of my favorites:
By the time we got back, it was lunchtime, so we set off in search of some authentic deep-dish pizza. We eschewed Uno’s in favor of Gino’s East which I had seen on our drive in the night before, and after consulting the GPS on David’s BlackBerry, we made it there without any trouble. It takes a looooong time to cook deep-dish, so we had an appetizer while we waited and I wrote “Melanie loves David” amidst all the (management-sanctioned) graffiti on the walls. The pizza was DEFinitely worth the wait – it was SO good and really hit the spot.
We had hoped to hit Millennium Park, but lunch took longer than we thought, so we just took a short walk back to the hotel to rest a bit before the game. David, who seems to know how to everywhere no matter where we are, led us to the El, where we hopped a train to Wrigley Field. I was SO excited – it’s one of the stadiums I’ve really wanted to go to (when I was in Chicago before, the Cubs were out of town, so we saw the White Sox and what was then Comiskey Park). I had to get the iconic shot, of course:
Then we headed inside. I really loved this stadium. Everyone was so friendly, and although it was packed (Cubs fans are die-hard, you know), it didn’t feel busy – the lines for concessions and bathrooms were not long at all. The only sad part was no Dippin’ Dots. David and I get Dippin’ Dots at every baseball game we go to, and Wrigley was the first we’ve encountered that didn’t have them. Oh well.
(David is not betraying his Tigers – he buys a hat of the home team at every stadium he goes to. He even has a Yankees cap. Boo.)
Oh, if you don’t follow baseball, you might not know that a seat at Wrigley Field can be a tough get. Some enterprising homeowners have made it a little easier:
That’s rooftop seating on Waveland Avenue, which runs behind left field. Clever, huh? There’s also a bunch behind right field.
Ok, maybe the best thing about Wrigley Field, for me, was the rediscovery of something I first saw (and haven’t seen since) at Comiskey Park 10 years ago:
It’s onion grinder for your hot dog! Fresh onion! Right there in Wrigley! David thinks I’m silly, but I dig this so much!
Unfortunately, the Cubbies went down to the Astros, but a good time was definitely had by all.
We took the El back, but intentionally switched trains to ride a little longer and see what we could see before heading back to the hotel. We pretty much collapsed into (the awesome, comfortable) bed when we got back, so that’s really all there is to tell for now!
Day 5 is heading back to Detroit and the Tigers game, and Day 6 has us crossing the border into Canada on our way to Buffalo, so check back later this week to continue our journey!
One day, Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Chesire cat in a tree. “Which road do I take?” she asked. “Where do you want to go?” was his response. “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”
– from Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Where to begin? I can’t even keep track of all the great stuff we did and saw.
We left for Detroit on Friday morning and arrived somewhere around 6pm. On the way, somewhere in Ohio, we passed the Happy Hooker Bait Shop, which made me giggle for about a mile. We also stopped at a place we discovered on the way home from Detroit at Christmas: Beef Jerky Unlimited. And it’s just what it sounds like: barrels and barrels of all types and flavors of jerky, though not just beef – they have pork and turkey jerky (hee) too. Here’s a picture from Christmas:
The sign on the door prohibited pictures, so I can’t show you the awesomeness inside. I did take a picture of the sign, though.
Friday night, we went bowling with David’s best friend from home. Despite my fancy purple bowling shoes, I only broke 100 once in three games. But at least there was beer.
On Saturday, we went to The Henry Ford. We only had enough time to tour the museum, but they have some great stuff. Unfortunately, the pictures are on David’s computer at the moment, so I can’t show you the museum-worthy Ford Taurus. Maybe later. The best part of the whole museum, though, is the Dymaxion House. I want one of these round, aluminum houses so much. Sadly, Mr. Fuller’s financing fell through and only one of them was ever actually built. The Graham family lived in the house, but they built around it so it looked like this. They eventually donated it to The Henry Ford Museum, and my dreams of living in it are forever dashed. Boo.
Saturday night we headed to Dave & Busters with David’s friends for some fun games. I had never played table shuffleboard (or whatever it’s called) before, but it was fun. Must put that on the list of things to have in the game room of our fantasy house. David kicked my butt in air hockey, despite my best trash talk. We amassed somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500 tickets that night, but we opted not to cash any in – they didn’t have anything good in the prize room.
Sunday we had a birthday lunch for David with his dad’s family, which was lovely. After, we played some games with his brother and step-mom, including Clue, which I haven’t played in ages. David won 3 out of 4 games. I won zero. Awesome.
We had always talked about getting out of town, at least overnight, during our stay in Detroit, but we hadn’t decided where to go. Around dinner time, we started discussing it in earnest, and tossed out Toronto (we knew there was more we wanted to do there than our brief trip from Buffalo would allow), Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and “Up North.” We had considered Chicago before we left on the trip and dismissed it because David said the Cubs were out of town. Well, we double checked Sunday evening, and he had been wrong. We saw that we were able to get tickets, which meant I could fulfill #64 on the list (go to three Major League ballparks I’ve never been to) in this one trip, and that sealed the deal. We quickly booked a hotel and packed a bag, and left for Chicago at 8pm, and arrived around 1am Monday morning. That’s the most spontaneous trip I’ve ever been on in my life, and it was so fun!
And I’ll tell you all about it next time!
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
– Lao Tzu
I’m such an un-prolific blogger that it’s taken me nearly a month to write a 4-part series on our trip to Las Vegas. I suck. In any event, Tuesday was my favorite day there, I think, so this is the best part.
It was, of course, Inauguration Day, the reason we fled the D.C.-area to begin with, but we didn’t want to miss the big event. Unfortunately, the captions on the TV in our room didn’t work (and we’ll let it slide how that’s a violation of the law), but we needed breakfast anyway, so we headed down to the cafe in the hotel, where they were showing the Inauguration on three screens, one of which was captioned. We watched, and I teared up when President Obama took the oath. I remember saying out loud to David, “I can’t believe it really happened.” What a day.
Then we headed to Red Rock Canyon, about 20 miles outside Vegas. We were lucky enough to have another gorgeous day, and I couldn’t stop marveling at the beauty of it all. This is what we saw on our approach:
We stopped at the Visitor’s Center for a look around, but then we drove up to the first stop on the 13-mile road through the park. We got out of the car to take some pictures, and I thought we’d move along to the next stop, but instead, we started walking – hiking, really – and before we knew it, we’d gone far enough toward the next stop on the road that we just kept going til we got there, and then we walked the road back to the car. Here’s some of what we saw on our hike:
I don’t know that the pictures really do justice to the scale or the intensity of the color of the mountains. It was truly amazing. I loved being there. We’d be hiking, and all of sudden I’d just have to stop to just take in the moment, to really focus on the beauty of this place I was in, to simply be present. It was such a breath of fresh air, in more ways than one. At one point, I looked at David and said, “This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been in with you.” And it’s true. And wherever we travel together in the future, it’s going to be hard pressed to live up to this day.
Speaking of David, I did promise you another Pouty Picture:
And, yes, he is kind of smiling here, as he is in the one from the last post, but I call them Pouty Pictures because he only grudgingly posed for them – the pouting came before the shutter snap.
There are so many good pictures from our day here that I want to share, but the Gallery feature on WP is what messed up the last post, so I’m just going to share this Photobucket slideshow I made (I’m sure I’m doing something wrong, which is why it won’t embed, but just click on “view all images”):
We spent more time than we intended to out there, which is why we ended up missing our last chance to see the dolphins, as I mentioned in Part 1, but it was definitely worth it. We headed back to town to shower and change; I had promised David dinner at House of Blues, and I had to deliver on our last night.
But first, we headed to the Bellagio, for the fountain show. This is a 5-minute or so water show choreographed to music and lights, and it is amazing. I should have taken video of it, but I was too busy taking pictures:
When it was over, I said to David, “It’s like water fireworks.” He said, “That’s exactly what it’s like.” I bet you could find a video of the whole show on YouTube, if you’re interested.
We headed to dinner, and managed to get a table and our appetizer before the band started and made it too loud for any meaningful conversation. The band was pretty good; the food was only average, so we were a little disappointed. Afterwards, we walked the strip a little more and ducked into a few casinos – David was on the hunt for a $5 Let It Ride table. We finally ended up at Excalibur, a medieval-themed casino, where I saw this funny sign:
Totally authentic. David found a table and joined in, and his poor-to-average luck continued for several hands. Then, with one lucky full house, he won $310. And he cashed out shortly after that, wisely I think. So he was a happy camper, and we headed back to the Palms for our last (very short) night in a really, really great bed.
The End.
(Apologies for the take down and repost. Technical difficulties, you know.)
The engineer has been, and is, a maker of history.
– James Kip Finch
If you’ve never been to the Hoover Dam, I suggest you put it on your list of things to see before you die. It is truly an astounding feat of engineering. You can read all about it here. The story of how it was built, alone, is worth the price of admission, I have to say. Among other things, they had to divert the Colorado River, which, as you might imagine, was no easy task. The dam is 726 feet high and 1244 feet long, and connects Nevada and Arizona. Despite what you may believe from having seen Fools Rush In, the road over the dam does not have Arizona/Nevada painted on it. The state line is marked by this little plaque:
It was an impossibly beautiful day, as you might be able to tell from the photos. Mid-60’s, sunny, breezy, just a few clouds in the bright blue sky – the perfect antidote to the winter weather we’d left behind in D.C.
We walked across the dam into Arizona, and it was time for another pouty picture:
What can I say? I’m a tourist at heart, I guess! He was a good sport – there are about 10 different self-portraits of us, courtesy of his long arms. Here’s a little gallery of more dam pictures (David got such a kick out of using dam in as many sentences as possible – “We’re going to have a good dam time today!” “That’s dam big!” etc, etc. God love him.):
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- Lake Mead on the approach to Hoover Dam
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- Lake Mead – the resevoir created by the Hoover Dam
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- inside the Dam
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- original cable line, still in use today
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- the building of the Hoover Dam bypass
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- Colorado River into Arizona
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- Memorial
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- intake tanks
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- Us, in Arizona
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- Arizona time
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- Nevada time
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- the high scaler
After the Dam, David had the idea to take me to a third state in one day, so we headed out to Primm, Nevada, right on the border. We pulled into the casino complex there and drove as far west as we could, until we were about 50 yards into California. Of course, I had to have a picture!
This is one of my favorites of us, ever, and it’s now the wallpaper on my desktop.
We spent the afternoon playing $5 blackjack – where David lost miserably and I walked away with $10 in winnings. There was a log flume ride in the casino, and I made David go on it with me – it was so fun!
We headed back to Vegas around 5 or so. By the time we got back it was dark, and I wanted to excercise my touristy inclinations again, so I made David take me to the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign (he spent part of his teen years living in Las Vegas, so he knew his way around pretty good).
I was going to take him to dinner at House of Blues, but by the time we got there, the band had already started and it was way too loud to try to have a conversation. We ended up at the Mexican restaurant at New York New York, which was very good, and then we gambled the night away there (I won about $20 on the Deal or No Deal slot machine!).
Oh, I almost forgot – we rambled by all the shops in Mandalay Bay, and I came across the Lush store! I had heard tell of their bath bombs, but I’d never tried them. I bought one – Sakura, I think – and took a bath when we got back to the hotel: heaven. It was so, so nice. I could have stayed in there all night. Yum.
It was a busy day, that’s for sure, but it was fantastic. Up next in the final installment: Inauguration day, Red Rock Canyon, the fountains at Bellagio, and – you guessed it – more pouty pictures!
For me, Vegas is a vacation from being overinhibited, in the highly overinhabited yet uninhabitable city of complete uninhibition.
– Tammy Bloemzaken
On the way to Las Vegas, we laid over in Memphis, land of BBQ and Elvis:
Oh! On every plane we were on during this trip (4 total), the safety information directed you not to use your portable record player during take off and landing:
So, you know the Grand Canyon? It really is, um, grand. They aren’t kidding. (Forgive the paleness of the photos; they were taken through the plane window. The colors were much more vivid and vibrant in person.)
After we landed, we went to pick up our rental car. Our choices were a silver PT Cruiser, a bright blue PT Cruiser, a white Sebring, or a silver Sebring. David, being boring and lacking my sense of whimsy, wanted to go for the silver Sebring. He drives a silver car at home, though, and since we were on vacation – in Vegas, no less – I insisted we choose the bright blue PT Cruiser! He acquiesed, and I took the first in a series of photos I’ve come to call “David’s Pouty Pictures”:
We went straight from the airport to an Eagles bar to watch the NFC Championship game. I have never seen anything like this place in my life, but I imagine there must be bars like this in other major cities, not to mention Philly itself. Nearly every person in the bar was in Eagles gear, the wall was covered in Philadelphia sports paraphernalia, and the place was packed. We stood for the entire first half, and people were living and dying (mostly dying) with every play – chants randomly broke out, there was booing and cheering and more booing – it was awesome. We left at halftime because I decided I wouldn’t be able to take the collective heartbreak that would ensue if the Eagles continued their mediocre play and failed to come back. That turned out to be a wise choice.
We checked into the Palms and headed up to our room on the 12th floor. I suppose there weren’t very many people staying there that day, because we got an awesome, huge corner room with two windows and a view of the Strip (and the pool)!
We headed to Ceasar’s first to watch the second half of the Ravens-Steelers game and to lose a bunch of money on Keno. David introduced me to Keno in Michigan over Christmas, and we have a rule that we always play the same numbers – our birthdays and ages (so, yeah, I guess they won’t always be the same numbers then). Anyway, we lost more than we won, but here’s the $6 we ended up with:
Yay, my first Las Vegas gambling winnings!
That night, we just walked the Strip a bit, ducked into a couple of casinos to lose more money on video poker, and people watched. And let me tell you, there are people to watch in Las Vegas. Sheesh. I guess anything really does go.
We barely made it to midnight, Las Vegas time, but that meant we’d been up – minus a few fitful naps on the way to Memphis – for nearly 24 hours. Needless to say, we were wiped, so we headed to bed with big plans for the next day.
So that was Sunday. Up next, the Hoover Dam, a brief foray into California, and more Pouty Pictures!
Las Vegas is sort of like how God would do it if he had money.
– Steve Wynn
Things I did in Las Vegas:
1. Played Blackjack for money for the first time (and won $10 – it would have been $20 if I’d taken a hit and pushed on the last hand instead of losing, but no).
2. Went to the Ghost Bar. Which looks just like it did on Real World: Las Vegas, but isn’t really anything special except for the view of the Strip. Otherwise, it’s your average bar, only with much worse lighting.
3. Lost $20 in the fastest amount of time known to man by betting on War. Yeah, that’s right, War. Like the game you play with your brother when you’re bored on a rainy day. I kept seeing the game and asking David, “How can you bet on War?” Well, finally, one wily dealer got me to do just that, and in 4 hands – at the $5 minimum bet per hand – I was done. So to save you all the money, here’s how it works: You place your bet, the dealer deals you one card face up, then he deals himself one card face up. If his card is higher, you lose. If his card is the same, you lose. If his card is lower, you win. Dumbest. Casino game. Ever.
Things I did not do in Las Vegas:
1. See the dolphin habitat at the Mirage. We kept intending to do it and then we spent more time on our morning excursions than we planned, and then it was too late, and on the last day, we got there 30 minutes after it closed. Boo. This is my one regret about our otherwise perfect trip.
2. Win more money than I bet. I did ok and had some beginner’s luck at video poker (so addictive), and I stuck to my budget, which is the most important thing.
3. Get married. Four people asked if we were going to get married while we were out there. The answer is, of course, no. Not that it didn’t cross our minds, and we joked about it, but in the end, when it happens, we want our family and friends to be there.
Celebrate, we will
‘Cause life is short
but sweet for certain
– Dave Matthews Band, Two Step
76. watching football games and drinking beer at Champp’s with Nate
77. Becky’s perfect afternoon wedding on a gorgeous summer day
78. walking into Notre Dame in Paris and literally having my breath taken away by its beauty
79. walking though Ft. Detrick with my grandmother when I was 5 and seeing the giant satellite dishes, asking her what they were, having her tell me that they were “dinosaur dishes” and completely believing her
80. “I heard Billy Joel and I smelled eggs, so I thought I’d come see what was going on”
81. the kissing contest between me, Becky, and Lisa in Salamanca – Lisa won
82. when Brian McCann smiled right at me – after I took this picture
83. waking up from a nap on the couch because Pico was peering up at me, tapping my forehead with his soft paw
84. Thanksgivings at my grandparents, listening to stories about when my grandfather was a little boy
85. Opening Day at Nationals Park, even though the Braves lost
86. spoonfeeding Aimee some of my strawberry milkshake because her hands were occupied feeding Ben
87. every night ever spent at Camelot, a dance club in Salamanca
88. telling my little cousin Sophia, at 3, to stop growing up so fast and hearing her say, “No, I have to get bigger so I can reach the cereal.”
89. riding the Drop Tower at Kings Dominion for the last possible time (for me) with Nate the day before my cochlear implant surgery
90. telling the Princess that it must be “so hard to be 3,” and having her respond by putting her little hand on her hip and saying, “Actually, I’m 4.” (she’s not)
91. the fearlessness of the Conductor in everything he does
92. JB and JH visiting me in the hospital after my surgery, bringing me a bag filled with crazy stuff from the Dollar Store and one of those giant cards, on the envelope of which they’d told the illustrated story of their journey from NY to VA to be with me
93. the Sister Hazel concert with Aimee at Innsbrook, still my favorite picture of us together
94. racing golf carts in the summers with my brother and our cousins
95. watching Aladdin with J and cracking up as he recited, word-for-word, the Genie’s first big scene
96. finding out I was going to be an aunt, both times
97. this day – nothing special, but a bunch of little things conspired to make me happy
98. dinner in Monaco
99. the day I scored a whopping 8 points for my JV basketball team and as I ran down the court heard the opposing coach shout to his team, “Watch out for #13!”
100. my first Komen race in Boston (ok, this is cheating, because it hasn’t happened yet, but I know it’s going to rank right up there)
Did you enjoy this? If so, here are some others you might like to read:
And I want you to remember
All wild deeds live on
All good times, all good friends
– Jackson Brown, All Good Things
51. post-high school graduation antics in the Taco Bell parking lot: walking through the drive through, driving through the drive through backwards (“Sir, you’re going to have turn the car around.” Jeff: “My car only goes in reverse, Ma’am.”), dancing to the car radio
52. driving down Route 1 late at night with nowhere in particular in mind and ending up in P’s driveway
53. the post-wing night peeing in the woods at the edge of the parking lot at school (because we really had to pee and the dorm was too far away), followed by someone pulling into the parking spot directly in front of us, spotting us and turning on their brights, and us dying laughing, too drunk to be mortified
54. JB and JH singing the All in the Family theme song (in character) on the CB radio, driving down the Garden State Parkway
55. the hour and a half at the end of the work day two days ago that I spent shooting the breeze with my favorite work person instead of working – laughing, joking, flirting
56. the absolute flood of tenderness that washed over me when I was watching Transamerica with my mom, during the scene where Felicity Huffman’s character got tangled in the hose of the gas pump, and my mom chuckled and shook her head and said, “That happens to me all the time.”
57. riding on the back of the four-wheeler with my arms wrapped around Nick – I’m 14, he’s 17, I’ve just met him, I’m wearing his purple sweatshirt – driving across the bridge across the creek at Uncle Joe’s and through the woods on the other side; we come out of the dark of the woods into a meadow, and the sun is shining and the sky is clear, and it’s as close to a movie moment as I think I’ve ever had in my life. (He only lives to be 23, which makes this memory all the more poignant.)
58. August 31, 1993
59. finding out my professors had chosen me for a special scholarship at law school graduation
60. the way I could stand on one side of the living room from Sierra, open my arms wide, call her name, and have her come bounding across the room and leap into my arms
61. the party at Aimee’s in high school that included sleeping outside on the trampoline and a trip to the Omlette Shop at 4 in the morning in a speeding convertible driven with the top down by a handsome, blue-eyed boy
62. all of us calling in to work the next day, too hungover to do anything but hit Pizza Hut and then the movies
63. at my parents’ house the Christmas before I lose my hearing, my dad calls me downstairs and plays me a recording of him singing and playing All Along the Watchtower
64. wearing Nate’s jersey number for Powder Puff football in high school
65. taking Karen on her first-ever subway ride – and she survived!
66. knowing dinner at Nate’s house is over when the Princess says, “Mel-mel, would you like to come see my special dance?”
67. the Conductor all decked out in the Princess’s dress up clothes – shoes, rings, tiara, and Cinderella dress
68. finding and adopting Hero and Chaplin when they were just tiny kittens and raising them on formula til they were big enough to fend for themselves
69. catching Grandpa’s eye across the room and getting an impish wink
70. coming downstairs on Christmas morning at age 4, when I lived with my grandmother, seeing a purple tricycle under the tree and asking, “Is it for me?” as if there might be another 4-year-old in the house who’d wanted a purple tricycle
71. laughing through my tears at the end of Bill’s memorial service when Friends in Low Places began to play
72. dinner at Fager’s Island in Ocean City with my grandparents in the summer when they play the 1812 Overture as the sun goes down
73. fresh mojitos at Havana Central in Times Square with Aimee
74. driving to the golf course with Grandma early on summer mornings, passing the time by singing: Mairzy Doats, I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, Do Your Ears Hang Low, Skinnamarink, You Are My Sunshine
75. strolling the Sunday market in Old Nice
Those of you who have done this, I’ve enjoyed reading yours so much. If you’re not planning to do your own, or you’re not a blogger, will you share some of your moments in the comments?
Life is not the wick or the candle; it is the burning.
– Unknown
26. snow in Salamanca
27. being in my parents wedding when I was 6
28. popping grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve on the roof of our house in Barcelona
29. watching The West Wing with the Wednesday night crew at Andre’s
30. rolling down the hill with D
31. my first (and only, so far) motorcycle ride
32. leaving home in the morning, saying goodbye to a fluffy Shad (our Old English sheepdog) and coming home from school to find her with a buzz cut for the summer, everywhere except over her eyes
33. pretending to be asleep in the car so my dad would carry me inside to bed
34. outdoor opera in Santa Fe
35. driving cross country, from VA to El Paso, with my family, listening to books on tape
36. standing on the famous steps at Cannes (50 or so pounds ago, but man, do I love that picture)
37. JB bugging out so bad seeing Max Weinberg when we went to see Conan O’Brien that she couldn’t muster anything but silent tears for Conan, her one true love
38. Yankee Stadium last April with Aimee and Tim, booing A-Rod in the snow
39. meeting baby Ben for the first time
40. Nate and Molly’s wedding, and the reception after
41. the first time I heard the Princess call me Mel-mel
42. playing with the Conductor – “I am the giantest baby ever!” (because he was)
43. riding on the top of a double-decker bus
44. the day my implant got turned on
45. playing Rose in Bye Bye Birdie in high school
46. mom spending 5 days on a cot in my hospital room in Philadelphia when I had to get my appendix out on vacation
47. “Lance and Joey: We’re legal and we love you!” (the big sign Aimee and I made for the last *NSYNC concert we went to. I’m not embarrassed either – that sign got us on TV and got waves from the boys on stage to us in the fourth row!)
48. curling up in a big chair with a cat in my lap, a good book, and a storm raging outside
49. accidentally ending up with a box of my dad’s stuff after a move and finding it full of stuff Nate and I made for him when we were kids
50. slipping into clean, fresh sheets with nothing on
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