Scary cowboys and their mamas

My experience on the Metra the other day-- when I teasingly yelled at Tony and the guy sitting near him has got me remembering another story from a few years ago.
I thought I'd share it with you today.

We were going on a 2 week camping trip out west with a big group of friends. There were around 5 or 6 families that all spent the previous year planning this trip. Each family had their own itinerary but we were meeting up in certain places out west and camping together. Each day we were together we had one event planned. The husbands each picked a day, then planned something fun to do for the whole group and then planned a devotion to lead around the camp fire at the end of the day. For example, one day we went white water rafting, another was horseback riding in the Tetons, another we went to a rodeo in Red Lodge, Montana. We did a lot of sight seeing and travel as individual families but it was fun to meet up as this huge group.

Our family got to the Red Lodge, Montana campground a day earlier than everyone else. It was the most interesting group of campers we had ever seen. The entire camp ground was filled with cowboys for the upcoming rodeo. I had never seen a real cowboy before. The majority of these guys were "huge, cowboy boots and hat wearin', tobacco spittin', foul language usin', scary looking guys"! We checked in and were assigned our little campsite. After the office guy gave us the whole "don't walk to the bathroom by yourself in the middle of the night--you might get eaten by a mountain lion" lecture, we found our site and proceeded to set up our little pop-up.
It was impossible to not notice the guys at the campsite next to us. They were camping in one of those huge deluxe campers with the TV and air conditioner inside. There were 3 men and they all were at least 6'4" or taller. They each had a woman with them and a there were a few little kids running around too. I don't know who belonged to who. And then there was a very small older woman with them. We found out later that these 3 men were brothers and did an event in the rodeo as a team. They rode horses after a wild Stallion and tried to capture it and put a saddle on him and ride him. It was something they did at the very end of the rodeo. I don't know if it was an actual rodeo event but it was very impressive!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening setting up our campsite getting dinner and playing games with the kids. We didn't really "socialize" with any of our cowboy neighbors. That night as we lay down and tried to go to sleep, we realized that Hubby and my side of the camper was right next to our neighbors camp fire, and they were all sitting around it talking late into the night. And I mean LATE into the night...come 3 am, Hubby and I still were unable to fall asleep. It wasn't that they were crazy noisy, firing pistols off and hootin and hollerin, but they were definitely drunk and they were talking, laughing, and swearing. Hubby and I debated what to do. He finally says "I'm gonna go out there and ask if they can just keep it down a little" I'm frightened for his life! "Are you crazy? Have you seen how big they are? And they are drunk....They might kill you!" He started climbing out of bed and pulled some jeans on "It's after 3 am....the kids will be up as soon as it's light out..."
I laid there and prayed "Please God, don't let those big huge cowboys hog tie my husband and cook him over their campfire..."
After a very long couple of minutes, which I couldn't hear anything (I tried really hard), Hubby came back in. "What happened?" I asked. It was all of the sudden really quiet outside. Hubby says "I just asked them if they could keep it down and that was it".
Wow. I was amazed. That's all it took and now it was quiet.

The sun rose way too early the next morning and I stumbled out of the camper feeling like a cowgirl who got bucked off a wild bronc....well probably not but I thought I'd throw in a little rodeo analogy. I'm figuring that I at least looked that bad, because remember the little older lady I mentioned seeing at the cowboy neighbors campsite? Well, all 4 foot nothing of her greeted me good morning and then she said "I had the air conditioner on in my camper last night so I didn't hear anything. Did my boys keep you awake last night?" I didn't want to say anything bad. I had a feeling that these guys could make our stay miserable....a list of how they could do that started playing in my head....just the thought of them giving me the "stink eye" set my knees to shaking. She could see my hesitation, "It's alright you can tell me. I don't want my boys causin' no trouble" she said. "They were just a little loud by the campfire" I finally admitted. "It wasn't that bad". Just then, my two youngest complained that they needed to use the bathroom. So I excused myself.

When we returned from the bathroom I started getting ready to make breakfast. I came around the end of the camper to plug in my electrical cord for my griddle when I saw the three cowboys from next door. They were standing in the gravel road on the edge of our campsite. I stopped in my tracks. My heart stopped for a second and then started pounding. Like I said, all three of them were at least 6'4" or taller and rough looking. "Excuse me ma'am." Said the oldest looking one. I took a tiny step forward. All three of the enormous men had their hands in their jeans pockets. One of them I could only see the top of his cowboy hat because he was looking at the ground and kicking the dirt with the tip of his cowboy boot. "yes..." I said hesitantly. The oldest one shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and looked down at his boots and began kicking at the dirt also "Our Mama says that we need to apologize for keepin' you up last night." He continues to kick at the dirt..."so... we're real sorry..." the one next to him whose top of his hat I could only see before, takes a quick look at me in the eye and then looks back down and says "yeah sorry ma'am". The third one doesn't look like he wants to be doing this at all and doesn't say anything for a moment till his older brother elbows him. He also looks up real quick and says "sorry".
At that moment these three huge guys look like tots to me. I can picture them getting yelled at by their mama and having to apologize and then scurrying off to wrestle or throw rocks or poke dead animals with sticks or whatever little cowboys do when they are young.

We had a very nice stay at that campsite. Later we had some great conversation with the cowboys and their families. We got to see them "do their thing" at the rodeo the next day and it was absolutely crazy! I just want to add that our cowboy neighbors won their event....but were later disqualified. It seems that one of the brothers (I bet I know which one) actually bit the horse so they could get the saddle on.

Seeing how those cowboy looked like little boys after being scolded by their mama, was surprising. But the thing that put me in awe was the power that little woman had over those big men and the respect they obviously had (or maybe fear) for their mama.

Chicago's Prince Charming

Lori, her daughter, Daltyn, Mac and I took a trip into the city. I felt I needed to redeem my directionless self after my mishaps with Pam. I spent some time looking online at the bus schedules so we could avoid looking like complete idiots again.

It took a while, (and I'm asking myself..."is it supposed to be this confusing or am I just that much of a ninny?") but I did finally figure out which bus to take and where it picks up.

The train ride seemed longer this time....maybe it's due to the fact that we had teenagers along asking "how long is this gonna take" and "how many more stops do we have to make before we are there?" or maybe it was the lack of the entertainment of sloshed college students.

The train station was a lot less busy on a weekday. We were able to take our time exiting the station instead of being swept up in the current of a massive crowd and being spilled outside the train station disoriented and confused.

We walked directly to our bus stop and boarded the bus without much incident.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch (I know very "touristy" of us) because we were all in need of some absurdly large slabs of ridiculously over priced cheesecake. When the waiter came to take our cheesecake orders, Daltyn asks "can I get the cookie dough cheesecake without the walnuts on top?" The waiter says "I'm sorry but its baked that way." and then Daltyn very seriously asks "well, can I pick them off then?" and the waiter looks at her like she is crazy, while Mac, Lori and I burst out laughing. That look on the waiters face alone, made the 5000 calories worth it.....maybe you had to be there....

We spent some time shopping on the mile which for me, isn't all that fun because I hate shopping (go ahead--another thing about me for which I'm regularly ridiculed). But Lori, always a great friend, indulged me by going to look at the architecture.

The architecture is my favorite thing about Chicago. I could spend all day just walking around with my neck bent back looking up.

This is the top of the Tribune building.... So pretty.
This is the Wrigley Building. It has some amazing details.

as you can see here....


This is the new Trump building. I can appreciate it's beauty and size but I prefer the more ornate older buildings.


like this one with the gold top on the right. This is my absolute favorite building. It's the old Carbide and Carbon Building. You really have to see it in person to appreciate it's beauty. On the first architectural tour I took, the tour guide told this story of how the building was set to be demolished years ago. It was covered with black soot from all the years of coal burning in the city. Then someone discovered that underneath all the layers of pollution was this beautiful black polished marble and green and gold terracotta. It was spared because of it's beauty. I have tried since then to find if this story is true....I've taken other tours and never heard it again....

I don't think it is. But I like the story so I'm gonna pretend that's what happened....

isn't it pretty?....

kinda like kissing a frog and ending up with Prince Charming..... I like fairytales

heights

Yesterday, Lori and I came out to do a little yard work and this is what we found.
Mac and Daltyn sitting on the roof...just for fun.

Most of my friends know about my fear of heights (especially my camping friends).

I never really understood phobias before I realized I had one of heights. I would see these people on TV freaking out over a spider or public speaking or the color chartreuse and think "Oh come on! just get over it!"

Then Hubby and I took the kids to the Grand Canyon one year. I didn't feel quite right the entire time we were anywhere near that big hole. We were staying in a campground in Sedona and drove over to the Canyon a couple of times. On the last day of our visit, we were warned by the park rangers that a big snow storm was coming and we should head out. I don't remember exactly why but, we decided to take a short cut home. It looked like a perfectly respectable road on the map....

We turned off the highway onto a side road. We were enjoying the views, the kids were in the back of our full sized van watching a movie. Pretty soon the highway type road gradually turns into a not so nice two laned paved road then into a non paved road. Hubby and I agree that we have been on this road for what seems like a long time, it can't be that much further so we decide to continue. After a few more miles, the road starts to get even worse and we pass a small sign that says "authorized vehicles only". By now it's dark, the wind is starting to blow hard enough to feel it sway our mammoth van, and a sleety icy rain has started to fall. Now we are thinking that if we turn around it will take too long to get back and then we will be in trouble from the storm, besides, we've got to be getting close.

Then everything seemed to change suddenly. It must have been a combination of the snow that started coming down so heavily we could hardly see and it being pitch black outside. The next thing I realize is something doesn't look right outside. I tell Hubby to slow down (not that we were going all that fast because of the ruts in the road) and I look out my passenger side window. Through the swirling snow, I see that we are right next to the tops of some giant pine trees. When I smash my forehead against my car door window and look down I can't see the bottoms of these trees. I also can't see the road under our van. We are on the edge of a cliff. We are driving on a road that is winding down the side of a mountain and it has no guardrails!

I scream for Hubby to stop. With the heavy snow we can only see a few feet in front of us. The road is now more like a two track. Hubby and I roll down our windows to see if we could possibly back up. With the road being so narrow, the wind blowing so hard and barely being able to see the back side of our long van we decide we can only keep moving forward. We inch along the "road" and my heart is now pounding. The road continues to narrow to the point of Hubby having to roll down his window and pull in the side mirror so it doesn't scrape on the canyon wall. I still cannot see the road under our van when I look out my window. Then a sign appears ahead. The first sign we've seen in what seems like forever. My hopes skyrocket. But as it comes into view we read "Danger wash out area ahead". We can see that parts of the road are missing and the angle of the road slants toward the canyon below. Now I'm sweating and I can't breathe. I'm starting to shake all over and there is a rushing in my ears that matches the pounding of my heart. I start to cry...or actually I start to scream..."We are gonna die!" "We are going to roll off the side of this mountain crash into those trees below! No one knows where we are {the days before cell phones}. It will be weeks before they even realize we are missing. Even if we survive the crash we will freeze to death!" I'm hyperventilating. Mike tries to calm me down. He says something about scaring the kids, who up until this point, were clueless. They now look up from their movie and take off their headphones. I don't care. I'm out of control and I can't stop it.

Hubby talks calmly to the kids, telling them that everything is okay and keep watching their movie. He is telling me to breathe and take it easy while he slowly eases the van over the wash out area. It seems to take forever.

Eventually the road levels out and grows wider, and changes back again into a paved road. Once the road switches into two lanes we see a campfire. We stopped and after I finished kissing the asphalt, we ask the campers if there were anymore treacherous roads ahead. I am picturing myself snuggling up to one of the grizzly looking guys in his sleeping bags if there are. A trip that should have taken a little over 2 hours (if we had gone on normal roads) lasted twice as long.

My body has never reacted the same to heights after that. Anything having to do with heights sends my body into the same reaction. My heart starts pounding, my hands sweat, I start to hyperventilate, my body shakes, if I don't remove myself, I will cry uncontrollably. I can do nothing to stop these reactions.

I've discovered it doesn't even have to be me being up high. I get the same reaction seeing other people up high. It can be strangers. Even looking at pictures can make my body begin reaction.

My family seems to find entertainment in my misery.

here's my oldest tormenting me.....climbing trees on the campus on U of M...my heart is starting to pound now....

and here's a little boy in Sudan that Nae took a picture of. Don't know him or anything about him but it still makes my palms sweat.

some random guy mountain climbing out in Colorado. I felt nauseous the whole time I watched him.

Nae again, rock climbing. She either likes heights or like to take years off her dear mothers life.....

This will do it too...Tony on the trampoline

Oh! look at this one! Wait, that's my other phobia....watching my teenagers drive....excuse me while I hurl.

Cavalia! and two ADD girls in the big city (part three)

I know it doesn't seem like it from my first post on Cavalia, but I did put some time and thought into planning our trip into the city....

I really wanted Pam to have an unforgettable time.

When we originally talked about our trip, we decided to eat out afterward....so I did some Chicago magazine reading and googling and Internet surfing to find a unique restaurant....and by golly! the place I picked was "unique"....and "unforgettable"....


just a note here....I am going to change the name of the place that I am going to talk about for my personal safety....seriously....or maybe not, but I'm not taking any chances....see what you think....


After Cavalia ended, Pam and I hopped into a taxi cab. "Celandia's restaurant please" I said. "Where?" the cab driver said. I repeated myself a little louder. "Never heard of it" he said.


**note to self....next time you ask a cab driver to take you somewhere and he's never heard of it, this is NOT a good sign!!!**


So I gave the cabbie the address. Pretty soon we are pulling up to the restaurant but I hardly notice it because the the big pink and purple neon sign next door promoting certain suggestive paraphernalia.

**second note to self....pink and purple neon signs never sell ANYTHING good and I should probably not go any where near them**


Pam and I exit the cab (and the cabbie, I'm sure, now thinks he knows what kind of girls we are....). We notice two very large Greek looking men standing outside the door. But they seemed to be very polite, very large, Greek looking men because they opened the door for us and greeted us with grunts.


The inside of this place was amazingly beautiful. The Internet said that it was inspired by a 13th century fortress in Granada, Spain. Hand laid mosaics, stone carvings, brilliantly colored silks, huge glass chandeliers...it was a lot for our ADD minds to take in.


A very pretty hostess greeted us in the lobby behind a huge innately carved sideboard. She explained there was "entertainment" upstairs and downstairs and we could choose where we wanted to be seated. Pam and I were still a little freaked out by the "surrounding neighborhood" and the big burly grunters out front....so, we decided on the very noncommittal bar area.


We decided to people watch for a while....and we noticed a certain "trend" in the people were we "observing". Let's just say that a lot of older gentlemen seemed to be taking their "nieces" out for dinner and drinks.


**third note to self....when the ratio of beautiful young women exceeds the ratio of balding, homely, old men by 4 to 1 it's time to leave the premises**

Pam and I ordered some food and drinks and settled in to take in everything around us. The next thing that we noticed were the numerous, muscular, Greek looking men in three piece suits with ear pieces.

**fourth note to self....when the ratio of muscular, Greek looking men in three piece suits with ear pieces exceeds the ratio of visible customers....something else is probably going on in this establishment besides dinner and drinks.**

While we waited for our food and drinks, Pam and I debated....maybe we should go upstairs and check out the "entertainment" (yes, we were really that clueless at that point...). I walked back over to the hostess to ask if we could be seated upstairs. She informs me to go upstairs there is an extra "cover charge" of $10 per person. This is the moment when I'm just not feeling comfortable....Yes! I know! Just call us SLOW! or CLUELESS! or whatever.....

I go back over to Pam and we start noticing even more "peculiarities"....

.....the muscular, Greek looking guy, with the ear piece guarding the elevator....

.....the many hidden alcoves....

.....the grandeur of the place...within this "neighborhood"....supported by the sale of just food and drink?...

Needless to say, we would have liked to leave at that point, but decided to stay in the bar area and finish our food. Everything was delicious.

When we were ready to leave the big burly grunters were very kind and got us a cab....there was never a time I felt unsafe....just a little weirded out.

Pam and I had a great time recalling the experience in the morning over coffee and debating what the place was all about...really....

Maybe I don't need to change the name of the place....

Maybe everything we did witness was just all a bunch of coincidences....

Maybe Pam and I were making too many assumptions....

but I'm not taking any chances....I don't want any of those guys in the three piece suits with ear pieces coming after me....

I have to remember that things are different around here....and I'm definitely not in Kalamazoo anymore.....

Cavalia! and two ADD girls in the big city (part two)

Cavalia.....how do you put it to words?

the big top alone was amazing to see.....from far away it looks like a huge city of white tents....

the stage was enormous....big enough for the horses to gallop and cantor and some other horse type steps that only a person with true horse knowledge (ie. Pam) would appreciate the difficulty of....but I could appreciate the beauty of their movements.

The horses.....60 of them...22 of them stallions and all so amazingly trained.....at times they galloped around the stage with no saddle or trainer but yet perfectly synchronized and performing on cue, sometimes to the music it seemed.

There was one horse, that I swear, you could just see the enjoyment he was experiencing from being on stage.

And there was trick riding...acrobatics....Roman riding....Libertad....Bungee swinging....and much more.

One of my favorite parts was this little lady with a stage full of rollicking horses. She had the horses galloping in circles around her. The horses were spirited, and lively, nipping at each other yet listening to every word she said....obeying every command perfectly.

Everything about Cavalia was amazing even this....

they brought their own bathrooms.....potties on semi wheels....they were actually pretty nice.

Taking pictures of them....yes, I was the only one doing that....but just for all of you, of course.


You're welcome.

tomorrow I'm looking forward to telling you about the "resturant" Pam and I went to after the show....interesting isn't a big enough word to describe it....hope to see you then.

Cavalia! and two ADD girls in the big city

Yesterday my friend, Pam came from kzoo so we could go into the city and see Cavalia.

I was really excited for a few reasons.....#1, I love Pam.....#2, this is the first time I would be using the Metra to get into the city.....and #3, we were gonna see Cavalia!

Most of you probably never heard of Cavalia. I probably never would have if I didn't drive by all the huge billboards advertising it on the Chicago bypasses.

It's a little hard to explain....the producers call it a "poem written in the language of sound" to "pay homage to the poignant history and fascinating bond between human beings and horses".....it was written by one of those artsy Cirque du Soleil guys....so you get the picture.

I'm not a huge horse person but I do appreciate their power and beauty and Pam breeds and sells some of the most beautiful horses I've ever seen (that's her website there--check it out--its breath taking).

But I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself...

I need to begin with our train ride.

Because this was my first time using the Metra to get into the city I was a little nervous. I didn't want to screw it up... or get us lost.... or end up in Wisconsin....

We only had like 5 hours till the show....I wanted to spend the day before "practicing" riding the Metra....my husband said that was just silly....and I guess it was...but that's just the way I am.

We found our way to the station (through a construction detour-otherwise it's only a little under 2 miles from my house). We parked our car and talked to a couple people about the pay system for the parking lot and then we were ready to board.

The ride in was pretty uneventful except for the 10 college students sitting across from us who were on their way to a Sox's game. A few of them brought these coolers filled with beer and whiskey and proceeded to use the 45 minute trip in to get as drunk as they could-as fast as they could....

We ended up at the Olgivie Transportation Center....ok, the hubby was right, it wasn't rocket science....and exited our train with the deluge of people.

Deluges of people and big transportation centers are not a good mix for 2 girls with ADD. Pam and I were swept along in the current of fast moving passengers, all the while our heads spinning to try to take in everything....."oh look a haircut place!"...."a shoe store?"...."pedicures!"....."Thai food"....."oooo escalators!"

Pretty soon we where outside on the sidewalk surrounded by tall buildings and we realized....we have no idea where we are, or more importantly, what we are going to do. We were so focused on the Metra and parking and chit-chatting and making fun of the drunk guys on the train that we never really discussed what we wanted to do when we got in the city.

So Pam pulls out a map....lets figure out where we are first....I can't even tell which direction Lake Michigan is with all the tall buildings....and that's kinda how I usually get oriented in Chicago.....big lake here....magnificent mile there....I'm good to go!

We look at the map for a good 5 minutes and we can't even find the street we are on (do you realize how embarrassing this is to write in my blog for all to see?)

So the next thing I know Pam is grabbing this innocent guy walking by. I'm not ready to ask for directions and admit defeat....not to mention the fact we still haven't figured out where we even want to go! "Excuse me, where are we?" Pam asks sweetly. The guy looks at us and smiles "Chicago" he says with a little laugh. We both giggle awkwardly. "Where do you want to go?" he asks. Pam and I look at each other...."ummm, we aren't sure" Pam says. Right at that moment I don't think I can feel any more stupid....(but I'm pretty sure I do right now sharing this story with everyone). "You can probably tell we aren't from around here" Pam says jokingly..... So there's another awkward set of giggles....and a perplexed look on the guys face and I'm sure that he is thinking we are a set of fruitcakes. Pam says "well, how about you just tell us where the magnificent mile is and the west loop." With big arm gestures he says "the mile is that way" and then swinging his arm in opposite direction "and the loop that way". "Is it too far too walk?" asks Pam. And the guy starts in on a spiel about "grabbing the Blue Line". As he's talking, Pam and I have both used our ADD superpowers to tune him out. Then I notice Pam turning her head and looking up in the air. I realize what she is thinking (us ADD people think a lot alike)...."Pam, he's talking about a bus" I say. "Ohhh" she says "I thought he was talking about that "L" thing".

Now I can see that this guy just wants to get away from us....."Ok. yeah. we'll grab the blue line thanks for all your help" I say taking Pam's arm walking....to where, I don't even know.....just away from this guy and our humiliation.

As we walk we quickly decide to just go to where Cavalia is playing. We'll check it out and then find a restaurant. I've looked at the location for Cavalia on a map at home.... now we just need to find a bus stop and figure out where to get on the blue line. We walk just down the block to one of the glass bus booths and go in to look at the map. The problem is that it's been in the sun for so long that all the colors are faded. There are three lines that look the same bluish-green. Pam and I are standing there debating color hues when this girl comes up and takes pity on us. "Where do you want to go?" she asks. "Racine and W. Jackson" I say as a bus is pulling up. "I'll help you, but you need to get on this bus right now" she says as she is walking towards the opening bus doors. Pam and I look at each other and nod as we head toward the bus. It's all happening so fast...."how much does the bus cost?" I say...."two dollars" the girl answers.....Pam and I are stepping inside while fumbling through our purses.....We look at the money taking machine thingie....I see all I have is a $20....Pam asks at the same time as the bus doors close and we start moving, "can we get change?"......the big black woman driving the bus says in a stern voice "don't make no change on the buses"......I'm thinking 'how do we get out of here'.....we are driving down the street and having a hard time keeping our balance while continuing to dig through our purses....I look up at a bus full of people and reconsider my earilier conclusion that I couldn't feel any more stupid....we sit down so we can find some cash....Pam finds a five dollar bill and I stagger up and slide it into the machine.

Pam and I sit there for a moment. My head is spinning again. The girl starts talking about which way we go when we get off the bus....she also waves her arms around in big gesture while telling us which way to walk....that must be a Chicago thing I think. Then Pam asks "but how will we know when to get off the bus?" The girl smiles and says I'll let you know....and I think to myself 'I will not blog about this'....

We get off at the same stop as the girl who helped us and we thank her profusely. We find our way to the Cavalia location and find a little restaurant and have dinner. It feels good to sit and relax.....

I think that this blog is long enough and embarrassing enough for today....I will continue tomorrow with my tales of Cavalia and the place we went to afterwards (which that story could be a couple more blogs in itself).

snooty guests

I'm having a great time at the Casa Del Maraville Spa and Resort.....aka "Pam's house" the views here are spectacular!!!
the service is impeccable....love, love, love the foo foo soaps in my bathroom....and the specially roasted "Maravilla Blend" coffee is to die for!

but I've noticed that some of the other guests are a little....well.....snooty.


This one here would hardly give me the time of day....She just kept showing off her beautiful mane of hair "Oh look how pretty I am!!"....when she saw me taking pictures she kept flashing me her "best side"....I hate that!

Then there were these guys.....they were always "hanging" together, too good for everyone else....you know the type....always looking for an opportunity to "strike a pose".....then the breeze started blowing....Oh brother! give me a break!





And don't even get me started on this guy!...he's the "groupie" type....always following everyone around....dying to be everyone's "best friend"......kissin everyone's butt.....sometimes literally!






Then this babe showed up....wobbly legs and all.....pure sweetness!!!





Not a snooty bone in her body!


One more thing I just HAVE to show you....

Baby fuzzy ears!!! So adorable!!!