Summer plans, what's cookin'?

[Penny Lane]

May: J Roddy, Willie Nile, Surfer Blood and HANGOUT FEST
June: Mt Jam (tentative dep on work), DBT-NJ, DBT-Asheville, Centromatic
July: Nothing, visit parents and train for marathon, turn 35 and sob a lot
Aug: Colorado--Red Red Rocks for The Flaming Lips and My Morning Jacket

[one belt loop]

LURLEEN! DEXATEENS! NEW ORLEANS!



hells yeah

what about asheville ....hmmmpf

(kidding kidding)

It's still on the maybe list. But it didn't rhyme.

[littlemamma]

camping in June
trip to Minnesota in July.
Disney Cruise in August.
C'mon Hot Summer! It's like Christmas over here!!!

[scotto]

trip to Minnesota in July.

Where in Minnesota?

[Penny Lane]

trip to Minnesota in July.

Where in Minnesota?

yes, inquiring minds want to know...i'd like to make a LM/slobberbone trip this summer, too..

[littlemamma]

In West St. Paul, Scotto! My bestest girl friend from my Freaks and Geeks years lives there.
oh, and I have a big Brother there. But he's nothing like my 3dd big brothers.
Anyone wanna come to Texas for Slobberbone June 18?

[Iowan]

Memorial Day: Friends' house warming party in Rochester, MN. Beer drinking, grilling, and playing guitar with my favorite people on the planet.
June 18th: Tubing on the mighty Iowa River outside of Eldora, IA. Weekend full of beer, grilling, cover bands, water, and good friends.
July 2-3: 80/35 in Des Moines. The midwest's up and coming hipster fest (but some great tunes).
July 7-8: Basillica Block Party in Minneapolis. ROCK SHOW! Also, get to spend a weekend at my brother's place with the same awesome crew from the Memorial Day part.
July 26-28: BAR EXAM.

Outside of those, we'll be squeezing in a weekend of tubing on the rugged Upper Iowa River, visiting friends in the Okoboji area (very close to GW), and enjoying the beautiful city we live in, while I study for that damned exam.

[The Black Canary]

Memorial Day: Friends' house warming party in Rochester, MN. Beer drinking, grilling, and playing guitar with my favorite people on the planet.
June 18th: Tubing on the mighty Iowa River outside of Eldora, IA. Weekend full of beer, grilling, cover bands, water, and good friends.
July 2-3: 80/35 in Des Moines. The midwest's up and coming hipster fest (but some great tunes).
July 7-8: Basillica Block Party in Minneapolis. ROCK SHOW! Also, get to spend a weekend at my brother's place with the same awesome crew from the Memorial Day part.
July 26-28: BAR EXAM.

Outside of those, we'll be squeezing in a weekend of tubing on the rugged Upper Iowa River, visiting friends in the Okoboji area (very close to GW), and enjoying the beautiful city we live in, while I study for that damned exam.

Your a STAR!!!! Iowan, you will totally rock the bar!!!!!

[Iowan]

Memorial Day: Friends' house warming party in Rochester, MN. Beer drinking, grilling, and playing guitar with my favorite people on the planet.
June 18th: Tubing on the mighty Iowa River outside of Eldora, IA. Weekend full of beer, grilling, cover bands, water, and good friends.
July 2-3: 80/35 in Des Moines. The midwest's up and coming hipster fest (but some great tunes).
July 7-8: Basillica Block Party in Minneapolis. ROCK SHOW! Also, get to spend a weekend at my brother's place with the same awesome crew from the Memorial Day part.
July 26-28: BAR EXAM.

Outside of those, we'll be squeezing in a weekend of tubing on the rugged Upper Iowa River, visiting friends in the Okoboji area (very close to GW), and enjoying the beautiful city we live in, while I study for that damned exam.

Your a STAR!!!! Iowan, you will totally rock the bar!!!!!

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm not nearly as confident. I've only been a B/C student in law school, so we'll see.

[Iowan]

Can't wait to be floating under these beauties, beer in hand, surrounded by friends.


(yes, this is actually in Iowa)

[beantownbubba]

Can't wait to be floating under these beauties, beer in hand, surrounded by friends.


(yes, this is actually in Iowa)

Who knew? Certainly not me.

[Erdlivz]

May 26 - Jason Isbell (soft Chicago reopening for me)
May 28 - Welcome Back to Chicago Shit-Show with friends. Cubs game and day in Wrigleyville.
June - Hopefully watching Da Bulls beat the Lakers in the Finals. You heard it here first. Full circle like 1990-91.
June 16 & 17 - MMJ (first shows since 10/04).
June 24, 25 - DBT if this newest job lines up...otherwise I've got two available.
July 4th Weekend - I've worked this weekend for the last fifteen years. I'll be grilling, boating, campfiring, drinking, horseshoeing and whatever other "ing" I can.
July 8-10 - DMB Caravan? Huh. DBT. Flaming Lips doing Dark Side of the Moon.
Lollapalooza - I'm not excited to brave 90* heat in Grant Park with other sweaty Chicagoans but there's some good stuff here.

I'm definitely going to Stand Up Paddle with my buddy. New hobby. Lake Michigan Shore as much as possible. In Michigan and Chicago.

[GW in IA]

Outside of those, we'll be squeezing in a weekend of tubing on the rugged Upper Iowa River, visiting friends in the Okoboji area (very close to GW), and enjoying the beautiful city we live in, while I study for that damned exam.

Iowan, PM me sometime when your headed up this way. I don't get up to 'Boji like I used to, so you could give me a good excuse.

[Iowan]

Outside of those, we'll be squeezing in a weekend of tubing on the rugged Upper Iowa River, visiting friends in the Okoboji area (very close to GW), and enjoying the beautiful city we live in, while I study for that damned exam.

Iowan, PM me sometime when your headed up this way. I don't get up to 'Boji like I used to, so you could give me a good excuse.

Will do! I'm guessing it would be July-August. We didn't get up at all last year, and it was a major disappointment.

[Iowan]

Can't wait to be floating under these beauties, beer in hand, surrounded by friends.


(yes, this is actually in Iowa)

Who knew? Certainly not me.

The real tragedy is the number of folks who live here and have never been on the Upper Iowa. Just beautiful country and not at all whats typical of Iowa.

[scotto]

Scotto, we were in Spain for a week in 2008. Spent most of our time in Granada, but I am super jealous of your trip. We loved it. And the pork, man. Jamon, chorizio, other stuff I couldnt pronounce, I was eating plates of it at every meal. Went through withdrawl when we got back. One bar just had these huge legs of pigs just hanging from the ceiling. Damn that shit was good. Starting to get a chubby thinking about it....

I've spent quite a bit of time in Spain, but not in about 20 years. And yes the jamón--especially the Jamón de Serrano--is revered in Spain the way Maine worships lobster. Those legs of the stuff hanging from the ceiling is quite a site. There's even a chain of restaurants in Madrid called Museo del Jamón (http://www.museodeljamon.es/). I sampled a bit of everything I could pronounce and a lot of stuff I couldn't when I was there before.
But that was then. We're both vegetarians going on about 17 years now, but that just means we won't get filled up on protein and will have more room for vi i cava i cerveza.

['Scratch]

June: DBT-NJ,

Thanks for the reminder!!! Buying tickets NOW.

[joelle]

summer means roadtrip. this is the story of the first leg. it is long, so no re-posting. cheers.

one thousand miles...
by Joelle Gentner on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 11:45pm
left late(r) tuesday than planned
all on account of a good reason though
gentner metal furniture design
new showroom opening
228 w. kinzie, chicago. brilliant

drove as close to st.louis MO as my eyes would let me
they got 'itchy in the wee wee hours'
and i had to stop 50 miles out of the city of the arch ( and the pujols)
4 hour nap later ( not that kind)
and me and the 3 ladies i am travelin' with are back chasin' down miles
(sidenote: all the other trucks in the parking lot have some sort of hunting/duck logo on their vehicles...
best tshirt seen upon departing: "on the prowl for fowl!" awesome)
we hit st.louis proper at 7:45AM
lily has a 8:30 AM tour of Wash U.
i meet her for lunch at 11 and she shows me around
loves loves the campus and the feel.

back to grab the dogs, find pi has pee'd the hall of the crowne plaza ( hardwood, no carpets. no pet clean up fee) and we are out of there
roadtrip games and good conversation with my daughter, my favorite girl
"favorite ____________" ( food, color, clothing, state, mathmatic function...(guess who asked that one?)
guess the mystery person by only asking yes/no questions
making lily sing a song ( she chooses jingle bells)

lots and lots of stopping for water and walks for the pups
so far so good dogs

oh
but wait
good news
the vet from chicago called
pi has whip worm. aces.
a few faxed records, a few calls, etc
powdered 3 day course of meds from a country dr.
and we hope to make tulsa by nightfall

well,
that did not happen

we were on the way to joplin,MO and we got off 44W
we drove through the deserted, devastated sidestreets
in silence
never before
had lily, nor i, seen the like
beyond shocked and saddened.
it was truly surreal

after that
i could only drive as far as "big cabin"
got a room and lily was fast asleep
so was i
until 4AM
when pi and sirius thought it would be a good time for breakfast and a walk
nice
but early morning brings
big beautiful skyline clouds in OK.
they look like watercolor mountains
but today they were moving fast as a storm was blowing westward
luckily that meant
it was ahead of us
and we were in the clear

"hot breakfast" in hotel speak means toast a bagel or make your own waffle
the chirpy morning TV newscaster spoke of an overturned dumptruck on 44 leaking toxic fluid into the river
so "avoid it"
it was on a bridge. how do you avoid that if you need to get over?
lily said "swim"
well,
i load up on double espresso drinks in a can and
for the hell of it
a 5hour energy drink.
the plan is to get to amarillo
but first we have to get to tulsa, then OK city, THEN amarillo

a long ass haul

all is good
except
today pi decides to have a breakdown
she does not enjoy the roadtrip after all
i am very glad that i tested it out before we left chicago for over 3000 miles of driving in about 10 days
right.
her bark is "piercing my eardrum" literally
she is climbing all over the back seat and back to rest her wiggly lanky body on my arms as i drive
we are going to have to stop to appease her.
finally,
after many enticing roadsigns to ' shop cherokee'
authentic leather goods, homemade pies, blankets, etc
we pull off at exit 108.
honestly,
we have entered hell
literally.
there is NO one there
the restaurnat is closed. there are no tanks at the gas station
there is no water no bathroom no manners
lily walked into the store and was promptly and curtly told with no manners that there was no water no bathroom
so we went to a large, vacant, rolling spot with some shade of beautiful trees
and lily pee'd in the grass
and the dogs ran and chased sticks
and pi ate red clay dirt
and lily ran hills
and it was hot
but it was nice

i promised no more stopping.
except my 'bad stomach' ( maybe the energy drink and all the espresso laxatives?) had other plans
we HAD to stop at the NEXT cherokee wonderland.
except this time, this one had PIE
we got 3 pieces
chocolate, cherry cream, and coconut cream pie
each one had a 2 inch layer of merriugene ( i have NO idea how to spell that)
sounds good, but was a little waxy.
hard to eat a piece of pie with a puppy crawling on you while driving
(* lily said at one point: "i was thinking about all the things they told us in drivers ed. that you should not do while driving. like, eat or pull a dog off you .)

looked online for a hotel in amarillo that will take dogs
if we book the room, i have motivation to get there
we find a nice enough place, outdoor pool, right off 40w, take dogs,e tc
giddyup
we drive for no more than 30 mins of what will be 3 hours
and pi freaks again
so unfun
poor sirius is like "what the hell is wrong with that one?"
but we are getting to amarillo no doubt. no more stopping.

we find it, off exit 65
and drive around and check in.

it is a mad mad mad world
lily and i BOTH recognize it is the SAME hotel she, and sam, and i , and sirius stopped at 6 years ago on our drive out to san diego!!!
we immediately recaled the "cheetah's" mens club. blacked windows and hot mess strippers
we found a dead frog in the parking lot and sam wanted to keep it
sam practiced learning how to swim here
we walked through the parking lot of a vacant shopping mall and musack was playing through large speakers, though there were NO cars
unbelievable
made us miss sam even more
but as we are driving through IL, MO,OK,TX,NM,AZ
he and his dad are in italy shopping italian markets

still, i would not trade a minute of my 48 hours with ( wait! only 48 hours? 1000 miles? 3 pieces of pie,7 hours of sleep, too much bad coffee to mention)
yep and i love every second of it.

best thing so far was when lily said we should each teach each other something the other does not know.
lily is a genius with 6 AP classes under her belt and the brain of a math and science nerd.
i like music, talking to the dogs, planting flowers in pots, and gum.

anyway
i try to teach her what i know about africa and african history, etc.
i go on for a while
and
lily politely informs me she knew most of it anyway.
then i ask her to tell me about glee,
after about 2 minutes she says the story does nto translate this way
she wants to teach me logarithms ( she is sitting next to me here and just had to spell that for me)
seriously.
i can't wait.
( for it to be over)
she starts by telling me there are real numbers and imaginary numbers.
i say, " you mean fake? not real?"
yes
no way. there is no such thing as imaginary numbers i say.
this leads to near uncontrollable laughter on the part of my brilliant daughter and how she sees my view of things mathy.
anyway
she may be a math freak but she sucks at teaching, cuz i learned nothing

secong favorite thing
lily's first time in a KING bed
she lays down in it horizontally and her 6 foot frame fits!
she said the bed this way was longer than her bed at home
she is a dream.

now
it is thursday night
pi and sirius are at the foot of a different king size bed
lily is snuffling from too much air conditioning allegies
i am eating chips ( lays classic, if you were wondering) and french onion dip
and sippin on cold bud light lime

we want to be in prescott AZ on saturday
we need to cover a lot of ground in th enext 48 hrs

even if my stomach still churns
pi still wigs
and sirisu still farts
and lily insists on talking math
those 48 will be as grand as these 48

i love the roadtrip
the miles
this country

and right now,
i need to finish my beers
i will need to walk the dogs through a gravel parking lot, searching madly for a small patch of grass for sirius and pi to fight over and pee on
(how dare i suggest they pee on blacktop)

finally
while i am excited to arrive in prescott AZ
to visit with the lovely gentner and phelan clans
it will be a bittersweet arrival
i am dropping lily frances off for a 2 month stay
she calls it my practice for when she goes to college
i call it a long summer without my golden girl

but we will always have squared numbers, rest stop antics
and the camo "Kum and Go" truckers cap

amen.

so it goes...


wash U. (it's on the list, behind harvard, stanford, tufts, brown, and tulane) yeah, she's that kind of freaky smart


joplin. chair. heartbreak.



stay classy oklahoma


dog friendly parking lots. amarillo style.

"gold" club. literally.

[Clams]

Alsum Joelle, alsum.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Joelle, that post made me smile wide.

[lajakesdad]

Joelle, I love your summertime travel posts. Thank you for that. Lookin good in that trucker hat.

[scotto]

Joelle, that post made me smile wide.

Amen.
Cheers!

[Clams]

The kiddos are away at overnight camp for a few weeks, so the Mrs and I took a little getaway to Chicago for a few days. Had a blast. Mostly great weather, cool hotel, saw lots of sights and ate great food (thank you Joelle and Cubfan for all the recs), even did a little Blues Bros tour (visited the Richard J. Dailey Plaza and said "Well, this is definitely Lower Wacker Drive!" about 476 times) and bought a lemon cupcake from an actual cupcake ATM. Great time.