fear and loathing part 2

so, brie fills you in on our progress and i fill you in on the behind the scenes. let's talk skydeck. i had no idea about my girl's ridiculous fear of heights. it was her idea why would i think anything could go wrong? although for entertainment purposes everything went so right. she decided to tell me about this issue as we're on the 103rd floor, what?! i stepped out on the cube cuz obv im super brave, but i wont lie i was tingly taking that first step. its crazy. looking down is intense, realizing there arent any lower support beams is intense, watching people lie down on the cube for a photo op is intense. however, this one over here was crazy town. she, for some reason, decided that lying down would be her best option. sure. but im supportive, so i say go for it. ohhh boy. she lies down ON THE CARPET with, in my memory, one strand of hair touching the cube. im looking around to see who is watching this cuz her placement on the floor and her proximity to the cube is beyond ridiculous. it was like she had a seizure watching the other people and just dropped in place. but the sad thing was she was being so brave so i couldnt mock her. i just let her lie there and i took her picture...

so that happened. 

if you look closely you will see that it wasnt as dramatic as my recollection. more than just one strand of hair is on the cube, but everything below her shoulder blades is on solid ground. 

another awesome thing happened. i saw this guy: 

i had to run after him to get the shot and i wished it was better, but alas i had to settle for an action shot. until...

we got in line to go back down BEHIND HIM! how lucky can one girl get?! note: those shorts would be short on us and we're barely 5 feet tall. he was 6.5 feet tall (brie shown for scale). a visit to ANY public place is not the time to pull out your daisy dukes, but especially not if its cold enough to need your windbreaker and leather boots with socks. sorry dude this is all wrong. he's clearly a nevernude. 

some other things i like...

the street sign for the aforementioned gentleman's home

this little lady taking a picture of the ticket booth. her husband also took video of everything including all of us waiting in line. 

two of the worlds oldest remaining women. driving. 

10,000 Lakes

First I would like to point out that contrary to that awful recount of my one strand of hair hanging 103 stories over Chicago, I did loosen up and walk out onto that thing. Note the photos from my last post. It's scary as hell.

So we arrived in Minnesota in a rain storm listening to La Isla Bonita.  Madonna is genius in times of great stress. Barb and Matt had mixed fresh juice margaritas and they were not weak. We each had one and then Barb broke a glass. She will read this and be mad at me. :)

We had a delicious chicken dinner with Minnesota wild rice. It was followed by Barbs famous desserts. See below. If you've had the pleasure of trying the angel food cake ice cream dessert or her ice cream sandwich extravaganza you are lucky. If not, drive X-Country. Stop here. I dare you to say no.

We slept hard in the cave here in Ham Lake. We didn't see the cat the whole night. That guy was busy til dawn. 

The 4 of us had an amazing brunch in an area called Kenwood. The restaurant was also called Kenwood. Here are Jenni and Matt gabbing over salmon benedict and duck confit hash. 

We drove around the lakes and ended up at the Guthrie Museum so that we could show Jenni the Mississippi. My mom loves to spell that out loud by the way. Like she's a proud 2nd grader. 

The view from outside the Guthrie. Stone Bridge & the Mississippi

View from FL 9 at the Guthrie - the walls are yellow this 9th floor viewing area. 

Jenni & Matt

B, J, & M

Here's a quick view of MSP over Lake Calhoun

Jenni and I took a walk around the Majestic Oaks golf course. Behind the houses you will find a fairy forest. We knew Ava would love it. Here's a sneak peek at the fairy magic. 

Here's a shot of Stewie being bad. Look at that mouth. 

Upon returning from our walk we discovered Matt detailing my car. Thank god. Things were looking rough and we have 982 miles to drive tomorrow. Next stop Montana. I can't wait to see my friend Dana and my old town. More from North Dakota tomorrow. That's when this blog should get real. We hear you lose your mind out there. 

Gotta run. Steak dinner is ready. Goodnight friends. 

Fear & Loathing at the Skydeck

We started the day having an early breakfast at Beatrix at our hotel. Delicious. This is what people do when they go to bed at 9:30 the night prior. 

We took a taxi to the Sears Tower. That's what I call it. That's what it is. Who is Willis anyways? We took the 103 flight elevator to the top to view Lake Michigan and the entire skyline of Chicago. 

I will let Jenni tell you the rest. Only then you can understand the title of this post. 

Stewie behaved at the hotel and we slept well. Sneaking him in and out was not fun. The hotel room wallpaper was basically made of cat scratching post material. Jenni put the hair dryer on last night and Stewie climbed up the corner of one of the walls like a lemur. Thank god for cat calming oil. 

The views at the sky deck were pretty phenomenal. There were a lot of idiots there though. 

Scary. 

We just left Madison, WI. Here's what we ate. Mmmmm . . . Curds. 

And here's what we are looking at driving through this cheese state. 

Looking forward to visits with Barb & Matt for two nights. We will sleep hard. Eat a bunch and prepare for our drive to Montana. 

Ham Lake bound. Corn everywhere. 

corn

chi-town to ham lake. mile after mile of caan. i've heard that there's a lot of caan out here, but this is crazy.

baby caan

dead caan

gmo caan 

james caan

it's me

jenni here. brie "promised a guest blogger," so i won't make a liar out of her despite the fact that reading and writing in the car gives me vicious illness. she doesn't care. our trip started with a visit from the most admirable of earth's creatures. we're plowing through this leg like rockstars, but that doesn't mean we aren't getting slappy. things that have interested me...

just stretchin' ma belly rollin' in the cruze (6 inch long plumber's crack not pictured)

chicago feels out of place

requisite selfie. camera positioned so well you can't even see my arm. 

'bout to barf since it took me 20 minutes to link google+ with this thing. elderly. 

Leg 1 Brooklyn to Chicago with a special guest

The praying mantis is the oldest symbol of God. "Mantis" is the Greek word for "prophet". The praying mantis supposedly directed pilgrims to Mecca. "The mantis comes to us when we need peace, quiet and calm in our lives. Usually the mantis makes an appearance when we've flooded our lives with so much business, activity, or chaos that we can no longer hear the still small voice within us because of the external diner we've created. An appearance from the mantis is a message to be still, go within, meditate, get quiet and reach a place of calm. It may also be a sign for you to be more mindful of the choices you are making and confirm that these choices are congruent."*

Imagine my surprise at 4:20 this morning when I went out in the rain in downtown Brooklyn to retrieve my car from the garage. It was pouring and I thought, "what a crap way to start a long trek". And then I saw her. A praying mantis on the hood of my car in the dead center. I pulled up to Jenni to begin packing up and the mantis remained still. In the rain. On a moving car. I said, "Jenni - there's a grasshopper THIS long on the hood."

We packed the car and she stayed. We drove out of Brooklyn after little sleep at the beginning of the first leg of a road trip that would last almost a week. Once we realized it wasn't a grasshopper Jenni researched the meaning of the mantis and we were on our way. Both covered in chills in the dark morning and the spotty rain.

Here she is in her glory on the hood. It is still surreal. I will take it as a sign. We needed a prophet. I've needed one for a while but now I feel so comforted about everything. The madness and chaos has passed. Now we just have to laugh. Drive safe. Take great care of Stewie and each other and get to California. With the guidance of the praying mantis.

*taken from http://www.whats-your-sign.com

This is my favorite photo of the Brooklyn Bridge. I took it in Brooklyn Bridge Park this past spring on a run. I have lived in Brooklyn for 7 years. Tomorrow I set off with Jenni and my cat Stewie to drive X-country and meet up with my husband Dave in San Rafael, CA.

It's 11:00 p.m.  and we are on the aero bed dreaming of our first nights' sleep in a real bed. The alarm is set for 3:35. Jenni and I have an aggressive day ahead as we plan to drive straight through to Chicago.

The past few days in Brooklyn have sure been sad. There were many lasts. Lots of tears. A ton of great food and a lot of looking back on 7 years in a city I dreamed of living in forever and now I am choosing to leave. It is so hard to live here and so hard to leave. Stay tuned for updates on our adventure.

- Brie, Jenni and Stewie