(no subject)
Hooray, more glorious stories from Dallas! However, I must pick up where I left off yesterday. We ended up going to the Improv Comedy Club in Addison, TX and seeing Bill Buhr and Cash Levy. It was fun, I got to meet Alex Weigel and got to sit with Denise and Jess (yay!). When we came back, we decided to go to the zoo instead of Six Flags (like everyone else). So we got out our public transportation (DART) map and spent an hour figuring out how to get to the zoo on the bus. We had internet resources, all sorts of maps and the giant bus-map of Dallas all spread out in our hotel room, circling all sorts of intersections. It was great -- anyone who would have seen the map and not had any idea what was going on would definitely have thought it be an underground drug ring.
So we get things figured out and then decide to go tell people and invite them along (those who weren't going to Six Flags). So we ask the Poker crew and Grant, and Grant says he'll go. On our way back we decide that we need to invite Mr. Smith, but it was nearly midnight by then and figured he'd be asleep, so we started to make him an invitation. We got a bunch of pamphlets and markers and cut out the animals and stapled them to a piece of paper and gave them word bubbles that said things like "...too the Zoo!" "The price is right, only $8.75!" and "It's Gravy Baby!" We also put pep band songs on there -- we cut out "Eye of the Tiger," wrote "Jungle Boogie" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit to me!" -- we're such nerds. It was the highlight of our night. Then we snuck to Smith's door and slipped it under. We didn't sign it, hoping that it would add to the intrigue and he would at least meet us in the lobby to see who had written it. He didn't join us, however. We had a great time making it, and couldn't stop laughing.
So we woke up early in the morning and caught the DART to the zoo. We made it there in an hour, which isn't too bad considering we went through Downtown Dallas. We got to see chimps and elephants and rhinos and giraffes, and all those fun animals. We saw penguins, but they were plastic. Not real=not cool. Oh well, we had fun taking a picture of Grant's imitations. The zoo ended up being a really good time, except radio Disney was there, right by the lions, where there was a sign saying explicity to keep down the sound because it scares them. We didn't get to see the female lion. Stupid Radio Disney. But we were sure to get a picture of all of us before we left.
After the zoo we got back on the DART. The wrong direction. So we went around the first half of the loop and then back to the zoo bus stop. And then we missed our downtown bus stop because one of the streets was different, so we ended up going around the other half of the loop. On our way around, I saw a sign that said "Let DART take you on an adventure." Too real. All in all, we spent an hour and 45 minutes on the bus. And that was only the first leg of the trip. Once we got on to our transfer bus, we made it back to our hotel pretty quickly. We were on that bus for so long that at some point we all had taken a nap, and Grant memorized a poem they had posted (entitled "A Birthday") and then recited it to Crispy, ironically enough, for his birthday. I felt a little sorry for the kid; who would want to spend 2 hours of your birthday on a DART bus? My motto for the day: It took us 2 hours, but we didn't get shot!
We finally got off the bus, at the Galleria and went in for some ice cream. We conquered Dallas and wanted ice cream. That part was pretty uneventful.
After that, we got back to our hotel and decided to go swimming. Denise had bad allergies today, and I don't know what I had -- I'm guessing I had allergies too, even though I don't think I have allergies -- but we were both sneezing up a storm today (still are). We thought the hot tub would be a good thing for our ailments, so we went down to the hotel swimming facility, and there are kids everywhere. kids in the hot tub, kids swimming inside, kids swimming outside, everywhere. And the parents really weren't supervising. So we went outside and decided to swim until it was "suppertime" for them. I've never heard so many swear words coming from a 10-yr old's mouth -- and plenty of f-bombs. Stupid teeny boppers. Eventually we got into the hot tub...scared a few of them out. It felt great.
Since we'd only have Zoo food to hold us over, we got pretty hungry and decided to make a trek to Wendy's. What takes you minutes going 50 mph takes much longer on foot. At least there was no DART. On the way there though, I thought I saw the moon. And I saw Crispy look behind him and I said 'no, it's over that building' and pointed forward. He said, 'yeah, I don't think that's the moon,' and proceeded to point upwards, at the REAL moon. Needless to say, two hours and a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger later, here I am.
We leave tomorrow at 2. I'll have a little time to sleep in, I'll probably pack tonight so I don't have to worry about my cold/allergies/whatever it is acting up tomorrow. There's enough dramamine to get me home, and I can't wait to have a glass of wine. That's the thing about alcohol -- I don't really have the desire to drink any until its forbidden. And since it's been forbidden all week, I could easily get plastered tomorrow night. A few of us are thinking we should hit up the bar as soon as we get back, we'll see how well we're holding up; our flight gets in at 11pm.
I should probably cut this update short, since it's so long (Dallas is just so big!). So when you hear from me again, I'll probably be back in Ames. Cheers!
So we get things figured out and then decide to go tell people and invite them along (those who weren't going to Six Flags). So we ask the Poker crew and Grant, and Grant says he'll go. On our way back we decide that we need to invite Mr. Smith, but it was nearly midnight by then and figured he'd be asleep, so we started to make him an invitation. We got a bunch of pamphlets and markers and cut out the animals and stapled them to a piece of paper and gave them word bubbles that said things like "...too the Zoo!" "The price is right, only $8.75!" and "It's Gravy Baby!" We also put pep band songs on there -- we cut out "Eye of the Tiger," wrote "Jungle Boogie" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit to me!" -- we're such nerds. It was the highlight of our night. Then we snuck to Smith's door and slipped it under. We didn't sign it, hoping that it would add to the intrigue and he would at least meet us in the lobby to see who had written it. He didn't join us, however. We had a great time making it, and couldn't stop laughing.
So we woke up early in the morning and caught the DART to the zoo. We made it there in an hour, which isn't too bad considering we went through Downtown Dallas. We got to see chimps and elephants and rhinos and giraffes, and all those fun animals. We saw penguins, but they were plastic. Not real=not cool. Oh well, we had fun taking a picture of Grant's imitations. The zoo ended up being a really good time, except radio Disney was there, right by the lions, where there was a sign saying explicity to keep down the sound because it scares them. We didn't get to see the female lion. Stupid Radio Disney. But we were sure to get a picture of all of us before we left.
After the zoo we got back on the DART. The wrong direction. So we went around the first half of the loop and then back to the zoo bus stop. And then we missed our downtown bus stop because one of the streets was different, so we ended up going around the other half of the loop. On our way around, I saw a sign that said "Let DART take you on an adventure." Too real. All in all, we spent an hour and 45 minutes on the bus. And that was only the first leg of the trip. Once we got on to our transfer bus, we made it back to our hotel pretty quickly. We were on that bus for so long that at some point we all had taken a nap, and Grant memorized a poem they had posted (entitled "A Birthday") and then recited it to Crispy, ironically enough, for his birthday. I felt a little sorry for the kid; who would want to spend 2 hours of your birthday on a DART bus? My motto for the day: It took us 2 hours, but we didn't get shot!
We finally got off the bus, at the Galleria and went in for some ice cream. We conquered Dallas and wanted ice cream. That part was pretty uneventful.
After that, we got back to our hotel and decided to go swimming. Denise had bad allergies today, and I don't know what I had -- I'm guessing I had allergies too, even though I don't think I have allergies -- but we were both sneezing up a storm today (still are). We thought the hot tub would be a good thing for our ailments, so we went down to the hotel swimming facility, and there are kids everywhere. kids in the hot tub, kids swimming inside, kids swimming outside, everywhere. And the parents really weren't supervising. So we went outside and decided to swim until it was "suppertime" for them. I've never heard so many swear words coming from a 10-yr old's mouth -- and plenty of f-bombs. Stupid teeny boppers. Eventually we got into the hot tub...scared a few of them out. It felt great.
Since we'd only have Zoo food to hold us over, we got pretty hungry and decided to make a trek to Wendy's. What takes you minutes going 50 mph takes much longer on foot. At least there was no DART. On the way there though, I thought I saw the moon. And I saw Crispy look behind him and I said 'no, it's over that building' and pointed forward. He said, 'yeah, I don't think that's the moon,' and proceeded to point upwards, at the REAL moon. Needless to say, two hours and a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger later, here I am.
We leave tomorrow at 2. I'll have a little time to sleep in, I'll probably pack tonight so I don't have to worry about my cold/allergies/whatever it is acting up tomorrow. There's enough dramamine to get me home, and I can't wait to have a glass of wine. That's the thing about alcohol -- I don't really have the desire to drink any until its forbidden. And since it's been forbidden all week, I could easily get plastered tomorrow night. A few of us are thinking we should hit up the bar as soon as we get back, we'll see how well we're holding up; our flight gets in at 11pm.
I should probably cut this update short, since it's so long (Dallas is just so big!). So when you hear from me again, I'll probably be back in Ames. Cheers!