Thursday, January 12, 2012

Thing 2 - My Sunday Drive

Take a drive with no directions or plans; leave the city, travel to a new place and dine at a new restaurant.

Done!

Saturdays are my Sundays.  To most of society Sunday is a day of rest.  Not the case with me. But when have I ever been known to conform to society's rules?  Saturdays are typically my free days; I do things around the house and for the most part lay pretty low.  Sundays fill up quicker then I have time to process it.  More often than not I have Sundays that consist of me teaching Sunday School, rushing home to eat lunch, maybe a football game thrown in there, transcribing a CD from a meeting (which takes about 2-3 hrs sometimes), maybe a quick snack and then off to work - where I have been known to be until 2am on some occasions.  Needless to say, Sundays are pretty much my most rush-rush/busy-busy days of the week.

This past Sunday was an unexpected surprise for me. 
      I didn't teach Sunday School. 
            I didn't have to transcribe. 
                  The Packers had a bye week,
                        and I didn't have to work.  Holy crap! 

I hopped into the car after church, made a few calls to people and then decided that hey, this is the perfect day for me to tackle one of my road-trip oriented "things".  And that is exactly what I did!  My sister was in migraine-town, so she gladly lent me her car and I headed on my way out of my city.  Stopping first at my house, of course, to kiss the kiddos good-bye, feed Miss Gassy Pants, tell Mr. Man he was in charge till I got home; grab my ipod, garmin and a can of cherry Pepsi and then I hit the road, Jack!

Let me tell you, there is just something about a Sunday drive that makes me all happy and giddy.  It's not weird for me to sing and bounce around while I'm driving by myself usually, but on this day I was even more carefree.  I could feel people looking at me as they passed by and I didn't even give a rip.  I was 'Ridin' Solo' with Jason Derulo and I didn't care who knew about it.

When you take the time to explore your backyard it is amazing what you will find.  There are so many places (very close by me) that have that "small town" feel to them, and are really cool.  The thing about it is that I have never really cared to check them out.  Completely my loss!  And I learned that full well on my drive.

About an hour and a half later it was time to eat.  My stomach wasn't havin' it anymore, it needed fuel.  The car coasted down the road until it dead end stopped (pun intended) at a massive cemetery.  Of course I had to investigate it.  And I am thrilled that I took the time to do so.  It was amazing.


There is something about cemeteries that has always called to me.  Not in a weird 'goth' sort of way.  But in a peaceful way.  Often times I've taken strolls, paused to write, taken pictures, or just spent a lot of free time in random cemeteries.  There is something eerie and peaceful about them, both at the same time.  I enjoy it.  And every time I enter one and walk among the dead, I say to myself a verse from the Bible, 'Death is the destiny of every man, the living take this to heart.'  There is something sobering about it.  Something that immediately puts life and our 'trials' into perspective. 


I also find it a fun little game to search for the oldest gravestones...

Back to being hungry.  So, back in the car I circled around, found a main street and ended up in Delavan, WI.  Home of Barnum and Bailey?  I'm not sure, but there definitely was a LOT of circus stuff throughout the brick laid streets.  And that is where I found my restaurant, perfectly named the 'Brick House'.

Camera in hand I walked inside and sat at the bar.  Mr. Bartender greeted me and asked for my drink order.  I was caught off guard and ordered a Pepsi.  Hardcore drinker right?  I know.  As he turned away I noticed he was sporting a jersey, number 80 from the Packers.  80 = Donald Driver.  Donald Driver = my boo.  I knew this was the right place.

And there I sat...

There were several things that I realized on my frolic into new territory.  I even wrote a few of them down on a random receipt somewhere.  They went kind of like this:
  • For as brave and adventuresome as I am, I am too intimidated to ask for a frickin' menu.
Fact.  It took me about 20 minutes to muster up the courage to ask for a menu.  A menu! Everyone there was local and knew what they were doing.  I felt like the biggest idiot in the world.  The only reason I asked for one was so that I could fulfill a "thing".  Pathetic, Heidi.
  • At 32 years of age I learned what Happy Hour is.
I'm not unfamiliar with bars, I just...it's not my life.  I always thought Happy Hour meant that drinks were cheaper.  People, I worked at a bar, running Karaoke, for over a year...and I guess I never really investigated what it meant.  All that to say, I filled my belly with Pepsi and by the time I ordered my meal I needed a drink.  Wild Child that I am I ordered a hard lemonade.  Slammed the crap out of it with my food.  Could I leave?  No.  Bam, Happy Hour means your next drink is free.  Before I could breathe the white Donald Driver had another beverage in front of my face.
  • Harmless people can be terrifying.
Sat at a bar, with locals who were extremely nice...I couldn't muster up the courage to take out my camera and snap a photo of my plate.  Yes, I was a sissy girl.  Had I have been sat at a table, this wouldn't have been an issue for me.  But what kind of loser sits by herself at a bar and takes photos of her plate?  <-- I couldn't stop asking myself that question!

There are other notes I jotted down, none of which I can remember right now, so instead I will list more highlights:

- Delavan, WI has some really great places to be seen and photographed.  It requires more visits for sure.

- Taking photos of myself by setting the timer on the camera can be incredibly fun.  Especially when the locals are watching you and wondering what the heck you've been smoking - because how could taking a picture of yourself across the street from a bar and grill possibly be worth it?  And why on earth would you be soooo overly excited about it.  Weirdo.


- 'Brick House' is a fantastic bar and grill.  It's new.  It's clean.  The food was fantastic - some of the best french fries I've ever had in my life!  And, they have huge plasma TVs all over the place, so I actually got to watch almost half of the Broncos/Steelers playoff game.


- Sunsets in the Midwest are made so much more thrilling when the moon is large over the horizon.  My ride back Eastward was gorgeous.  So much, in fact, that I stopped on the shoulders of several different Highways simply to take pictures.





 


My adventure was well worth it.

Have you ever gotten in a car and just gone wherever the road leads you?

6 comments:

Avo said...

Lol how very American.
Suddenly I picture beat rennaissance movement spearheaded by you (in lieu of Kerouac) and backed by army of cats in turtlenecks and berets. ; j

Miss Taken said...

Sounds like my kind of movement! Beans would definitely enjoy something like that. ;)

P.S. I watched a bunch of videos on your blog yesterday but blogger wouldn't let me comment. I clicked on the button a bunch of times, reloaded the page, did it again - but every time it just went to a sort-of "loading" screen. At any rate, those dance videos were fantastic!!

Asteff said...

Love these! Looking forward to 3-52

Tina said...

Okay so you couldn't take a pic of your plate, but you could manage enough guts to pose for a pic that you set the timer on the camera in front of all the locals? Hmmmm....

BTW- Love that you ordered a hard lemonade. Aaaaand, being the experienced drinker that I am, (haha) I also did not know what a happy hour was and in fact thought the same thing about the drinks being cheaper...

Avo said...

Shrug, no worries about comments... I'm not looking for'em anyways. I was toying with the idea of removing them altogether, but decided against because some of my four readers like leaving messages. : j

Huh, I had a look at stopdropandrollyo... It must be neat to have that kind of written trace of a period of your life. Have you backed it up?

I noticed your high-school reunion post.... So people actually do those? I guess I only know of such things through movies like Romy and Michelle's HS reunion or Grosse point blank.
D-"I should have worn a skirt"
M-"I should have brought my gun."
D-"What?"
M-"I said this is going to be fun..."

Miss Taken said...

HA! I love the references!

High School Reunions - in real life? DO NOT ATTEND!!!!!!!

I actually do not have a backup for my xanga page. I wouldn't even know how to start that. It's something I'd completely forgotten about until just recently.