Notes from hell which hath frozen over

Wow, ya'll. It's cold. And not just the Tahoe-I-can-tolerate-this-while-skiing kind of cold. This cold hurts your lungs when you breathe in and freezes exposed skin instantly. Add a little wind in the mix and its downright intolerable. I imagine this is what Antarctica might be like...just less exotic and with fewer penguins.


I have a new found respect for all-weather tires, snow plows, salt on the roads instead of on my popcorn, my ugly but oh-so-functional Uggs, Gore-tex, and the holy grail of cold weather climates, the heated toilet seat. My god, I'm in love. Best. Invention. EVAR!!

According to DJC's stepmom, the above pic makes the crappy weather look "pretty". But make no mistake...white Christmas or not, it's hellishly cold. I'd much prefer a white sandy beach Christmas with a Pacifico, but I guess that's out of the question. Bah.

Weather aside, there are a few OK things about Wisconsin. First and foremost, Beans and Barley. This little place doubles as a kick-ass cafe and a uber-hippie health food store. I don't know what they do to make the food taste like it does, but its amazingly good. Every time DJC and I are in Milwaukee, we have to stop. I've consumed a fair amount of chai tea in my time, but Beans and Barley's is by far the best I've had. It may seem silly to look forward to a simple thing like a chai tea, but that's only because you've never tried theirs (and this is Wisconsin, after all...there's not much to look forward to). Trust me...it's the best. And double bonus points for the fact that the Grilled Cheese and Tomato sandwich is described as a "healthy classic" on their menu. Sweeet. Only in Wisconsin. =)

On the more ridiculous side of things, we have the Kansas City airport. Our flight out of SFO was delayed (shocking), so by the time we got into KCI for what turned out to be an extended layover, it was close to 7:30pm. DJC and I wandered around the small terminal (after exiting security) in search of food. Our choices were slim. Very slim. By the time we decided on a place and sat down, we were informed that we couldn't get anything fried because the kitchen was close to closing down for the night...at 7:45pm. Frustrated and close to the edge of insanity, we each had one Ketel One and OJ, and set off in search of real, actual food. The next place we chose informed us that we couldn't get anything to eat because the kitchen had closed. The waitress explained that most flights leave by 8pm, so there was really no need to keep the kitchen open. Dinner that night consisted of pastries from Starbucks, which happened to be the only place opened in the whole terminal. WEAK. With the amount of delays that ALL flights are experiencing these days, one would think that it would make sense to keep the restaurants open a little longer, but noooooooooo...

Anyways, its Christmas Eve, and we're going up to the lake house tomorrow. There is no internet, but the lake is frozen solid, and there will be snow-shoeing. I will take pics and post them when we return to civilization. If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I'll be back soon. Cheers! =)