Saturday, March 12, 2011
Hockey Night in Rapid City
A few weeks ago, the UND Alumni Association sponsored gatherings across the country for UND hockey fans to meet up and watch the "rivalry" game between the Gophers and the Sioux. Twenty four hockey fans turned out in Rapid City--most of us didn't know each other, but we easily conversed over cold beers and the game. As the evening ended we agreed to meet again for another game. Last night, clad in Fighting Sioux attire, I joined a group of die-hard fans at Valley Sports Bar to watch the first WCHA playoff game. Although many of the same folks were there, some newcomers joined in the party. We sat around the tables, cold beer in hand, cheering at each and every goal. I sat back and took in the crowd--several groups of basketball fans cheering for their home girl's basketball teams, a few dart players and a rowdy group of hockey fans. UND students on spring break joined the (older than average) alumni to cheer on their team. We talked about the local hangouts, the drinking games of college, dorms and classrooms & even the Red Pepper! It occurred to me that there is a bit of magic in school spirit --sometimes it takes us back in time. How great is that?
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The comedy of travel
Friends and I spent a week in the Dominican Republic in early February...none of us had ever visited this beautiful place, so we were eager to get photos and souvenirs of our trip. One of the little shops along the beach had the most colorful fish mobile I have ever seen, so of course I had to have it. Not my best choice...I clearly gave no thought to transporting it home. And so the comedy begins.
The center of the mobile is made of bamboo with dowels crossing through the middle holding 42 multi-colored fish. It did not appear that the mobile could be disassembled. Lucky for me, my sister had an empty gym bag that actually held my prize possession. Carrying the bag on the first leg of the return flight was manageable and nothing was broken. Since Cindy & I were staying in NYC for a conference, I had left my winter clothing in a carry on bag at the hotel. I sent my huge suitcase back to South Dakota with my sister--leaving me my carry on suitcase, large traveling bag and the bag with my fancy souvenir. My friend, Cindy, had to medium sized suitcases and a large traveling bag.
The fun started when we left the Newark hotel to find the New Jersey transit line which would send us by rail to Penn Station in NY. Remember neither of us has ever utilized this mode of transportation and we have no idea what we are doing. A nice man with a Jersey accent tells us how to buy our tickets and how to find the landing. What he didn't clearly tell us was which side of the track we should stand on, and once you have carried all of your luggage down two flights of stairs (no elevator) and trains are arriving on each side of the track going both directions. Neither of us has a clue which direction we should be traveling. Cindy attempted several times to ask other travelers for direction, but not one acknowledged her desperate attempts for clarification. The prospect of running up two flights of stairs with 5 bags and a fragile fish mobile was far from appealing. Thank goodness there was a conductor on the train who reassured us that we were indeed on the right track.
We appeared to be the only people on the train carrying more than a purse and even more problematic--the pull-up handle on Cindy's suitcase refused to retract. So picture two "far from 30" women crowded into one train seat with one broken suitcase, two additional suitcases, two large travel bags and a fragile fish mobile! (It really was a Kodak moment). After we arrived at Penn Station, we had to find the right subway connection and figure out the token system. Again, new experiences-- as we made several attempts to buy tokens an old woman struggled to get out of the turnstile with her walker. She noted that we had several large bags and demonstrated how we had to work together to get them through the turnstile for each other--as the alarm bells rang it appeared the turnstile was also the emergency exit. Once in, we had no idea which subway to take; but a lovely little gal pushing her baby in a stroller came to our rescue. Once again we were in one seat with all of our bags & a fragile fish mobile.
We were so relieved to arrive in Manhattan in one piece, until we pulled all of our belongings from the subway to discover that we had to climb 2 flights of stairs to the street. Before we even got to the steps Cindy ran over her shoe with her broken suitcase and lost her shoe. She spoke to me several times, but I couldn't hear her over the noise of the subway station. At the point she is repeating herself for the third time she becomes so exasperated that she screams "If you say WHAT one more time, I will smack you". We laugh!
As we slowly make our way up the stairs (Cindy one suitcase up each step at a time) a young man runs past us. He then turned around and ran back down to assist Cindy with one of her bags. At first, she declined his offer, but he just grabbed her bag and raced up the steps. After a few seconds she considered that he might actually be stealing her suitcase so she tried to race up the steps behind him dragging her broken suitcase. Praise the Lord, he was waiting at the street and graciously handed over her bag. Like two bag ladies, we carted and pulled our belongings three blocks to our hotel. We checked in and found our way to the elevator.
Before the elevator door even closed, we started laughing so uncontrollably we both had tears in our eyes. Probably one of those times where we would be crying if we weren't laughing! At least I did figure out how to disassemble my fragile fish mobile before I left NY to travel back home. Oh--and we paid for a shuttle to get us back to the airport for departure--a valuable lesson learned!
Traveling can be such fun.
The center of the mobile is made of bamboo with dowels crossing through the middle holding 42 multi-colored fish. It did not appear that the mobile could be disassembled. Lucky for me, my sister had an empty gym bag that actually held my prize possession. Carrying the bag on the first leg of the return flight was manageable and nothing was broken. Since Cindy & I were staying in NYC for a conference, I had left my winter clothing in a carry on bag at the hotel. I sent my huge suitcase back to South Dakota with my sister--leaving me my carry on suitcase, large traveling bag and the bag with my fancy souvenir. My friend, Cindy, had to medium sized suitcases and a large traveling bag.
The fun started when we left the Newark hotel to find the New Jersey transit line which would send us by rail to Penn Station in NY. Remember neither of us has ever utilized this mode of transportation and we have no idea what we are doing. A nice man with a Jersey accent tells us how to buy our tickets and how to find the landing. What he didn't clearly tell us was which side of the track we should stand on, and once you have carried all of your luggage down two flights of stairs (no elevator) and trains are arriving on each side of the track going both directions. Neither of us has a clue which direction we should be traveling. Cindy attempted several times to ask other travelers for direction, but not one acknowledged her desperate attempts for clarification. The prospect of running up two flights of stairs with 5 bags and a fragile fish mobile was far from appealing. Thank goodness there was a conductor on the train who reassured us that we were indeed on the right track.
We appeared to be the only people on the train carrying more than a purse and even more problematic--the pull-up handle on Cindy's suitcase refused to retract. So picture two "far from 30" women crowded into one train seat with one broken suitcase, two additional suitcases, two large travel bags and a fragile fish mobile! (It really was a Kodak moment). After we arrived at Penn Station, we had to find the right subway connection and figure out the token system. Again, new experiences-- as we made several attempts to buy tokens an old woman struggled to get out of the turnstile with her walker. She noted that we had several large bags and demonstrated how we had to work together to get them through the turnstile for each other--as the alarm bells rang it appeared the turnstile was also the emergency exit. Once in, we had no idea which subway to take; but a lovely little gal pushing her baby in a stroller came to our rescue. Once again we were in one seat with all of our bags & a fragile fish mobile.
We were so relieved to arrive in Manhattan in one piece, until we pulled all of our belongings from the subway to discover that we had to climb 2 flights of stairs to the street. Before we even got to the steps Cindy ran over her shoe with her broken suitcase and lost her shoe. She spoke to me several times, but I couldn't hear her over the noise of the subway station. At the point she is repeating herself for the third time she becomes so exasperated that she screams "If you say WHAT one more time, I will smack you". We laugh!
As we slowly make our way up the stairs (Cindy one suitcase up each step at a time) a young man runs past us. He then turned around and ran back down to assist Cindy with one of her bags. At first, she declined his offer, but he just grabbed her bag and raced up the steps. After a few seconds she considered that he might actually be stealing her suitcase so she tried to race up the steps behind him dragging her broken suitcase. Praise the Lord, he was waiting at the street and graciously handed over her bag. Like two bag ladies, we carted and pulled our belongings three blocks to our hotel. We checked in and found our way to the elevator.
Before the elevator door even closed, we started laughing so uncontrollably we both had tears in our eyes. Probably one of those times where we would be crying if we weren't laughing! At least I did figure out how to disassemble my fragile fish mobile before I left NY to travel back home. Oh--and we paid for a shuttle to get us back to the airport for departure--a valuable lesson learned!
Traveling can be such fun.
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