  Highlights & Lowlights of M & A's Week of Wildin' Ridin' Overall the trip was amazing. M was at his very best behavior which makes me forget all of his previous shenanigans. Here's the day-by-day play-by-play. * Stayed in a $20 room our first night after driving 8 hours. It was called Winners Casino & Hotel in Winnemucca, NV. * We got 2 speeding tickets the following day (me in Nevada; him in Wyoming which he had to pay on the spot).
Nevada is nothing to look at although there was a sign that said "Basecamp of the Mountaneering Community". I don't believe it. * We grilled up steaks at Yellowstone after driving 14 hours on Tuesday. Went on a 5 mile hike the following morning to a waterfall. We walked through what looked like a huge Christmas tree lot. It turns out redwoods are a California thing.
Still, it was all amazingly beautiful, complete with herds of bison and deer running around and about a million steaming geysers. Despite signs prohibiting this, we put our fingers in one of them and it was hot. * We passed by truck stops with names like Kum & Go and billboards that said "Abortion - the choice that kills" and "Abortion - Aren't you forgetting someone? (picture of a baby) " . We laughed at these. We stopped laughing when we realized that Bush is going to win.
* I used my awesome new Canon camera to make one-minute movie clips of the towns and roads we passed through(they all ended up looking exactly the same). In each one I would eventually ask M "M, what are your thoughts on (Nevada/Idaho/Utah/Wyoming/Minnesota/South Dakota..)"..where he would do a little dance and smile at the camera. I end up crying like a retard when I watch these now. * After Yellowstone, we had the best breakfast in the world in Cody, Wyoming at a diner called "Our Place".. for $4/person! * Later that day we were baffled while at Mt.Rushmore , not at the architectural marvel that is the monument, but by how big and pink Americans are. Many looked like made-up piggies, with their baseball hats and sweats and pouffy hair and chinfat.
Lots of chinfat . * That night we drove through Sioux Falls, SD where I fell in love with the town. We ate at an eastern european restaurant where the waiter looked just like my dad. M tried sourkraut for the first time and liked it. We stayed in Minnesota that night and watched Conan while curled up on a bed of a stinky hotel room. * Next day we drove to Chicago and drank lot of beer.
* We saw teenage Amish couples at the Chicago Museum of Science & Technology , with their white bonnets and long frumpy dresses and beards. M & I couldn't figure out why they would go to the museum of Science & fucking Technology ! Think about it! * Then we ran around the Chicago Art Institute . M looked at photos while I checked out the Paperweights and Quilts exibits in addition to all the permanent stuff. I loved Modigliani paintings and spent a long time looking at these.
* We navigated our way around Chicago , got lost in random neighborhoods, shopped at H&M , went to a Jazz club where a big black woman sang just like Etta James and drank way too much wine. M fell asleep and I stayed up that night to watch the most spectacular lightning & thunder show ever witnessed from our 10th floor hotel room at Hotel Wacker . * M & I had our lovely last date on Saturday night at some famous Chicago pizzaria . We split a medium deep dish without realizing how enormous it was. The couples at the next table told us they got another pitcher of beer just so they can watch us eat. We took pictures.
* I had a slight breakdown in front of all the nice folks at the Chicago airport at 5:30 on Sunday morning after kissing M goodbye. I called my brother just to say hi half hour later because I still felt shitty. I apologized profusely after realizing that due to the 2 hour time difference, it was 4 in the morning in SF (not like it's okay to call at 6 am on a Sunday either). He took me to see the Bukowski documentary when I got back. I love my brother. Too bad he's leaving in a month.
Shit. I have to do this from home because I'm starting to tear up and Karl just walked by and said 'Don't cry' kinda loud and now everyone around me knows I'm a wailing idiot. And I was doing so good this morning. Crap. 
