New Thing #68 - Bless Your Beautiful Hide

The title is a bit tricky to figure out unless you're an old musical fan. Although I wouldn't necessarily consider myself to be a die hard musical fan, as there are many that I've never seen or don't like. But there's one in particular that I've always loved. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I don't know what it is, but whenever I see it on tv, it makes me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I think it's because it brings back memories of my childhood and watching the movie at home and with my grandparents. It holds a pretty special place in my heart, plus it has some kick ass dance sequences in it. ("Bless Your Beautiful Hide" is one of the songs.)

I've never seen the musical live before, but that was just the icing on the cake. The real new thing this week was going the Muny, the nation's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre. It calls Forest Park it's home, and in the nine and a half years I've lived in St. Louis, I've never made it to a show. I have no idea why. I've talked about it nearly every summer I've lived here, even made tentative plans with friends, but I just never quite pulled the trigger to actually go and see a show.

I thought for a long time that it was expensive, and in the beginning, I didn't really have the money to spare. Then someone told me there were free seats way back in the nose bleed section, and you just had to get there early to snag one. Okay, that sounded perfect. Except for one teeny-tiny obstacle to overcome. It's an outdoor theatre. In the Midwest. In the summer. Did I really want to sit out in the suffocating Missouri heat to watch a musical, when I could just as easily sit in the air conditioned Fox Theatre downtown? Granted, the Muny is cheaper, but it's open to all the perilous weather we get in the summers.

So, needless to say, I've been lax in my Muny attention, but this year, I vowed to go. Brenda agreed to be my date, shocked that I hadn't graced the Muny seats yet. When I saw that 7Bfor7B was coming to the prestigious stage, I nearly peed myself with pure excitement. I'm not sure it was Brenda's first choice for what to see, but she was a good sport and allowed me this guilty pleasure. We also opted to purchase tickets to fully engulf ourselves in the Muny experience.

We started off the night with another first for both of us. Dinner at Fitz's Restaurant. A St. Louis staple in the Delmar Loop since 1947, it's a restaurant, and a bottling plant for their famous sodas, or as they call them "pop". We didn't really have time to truly soak in all the history, nor were we able to catch a glimpse of the bottling in action, but we did dig into their food, and found it pretty tasty. Instead of a famous burger, I went with their fish tacos, and they were pretty damn good. Considering the sweatbox we were about to endure, I didn't want a half pound of masticated cow expanding my pants. Of course, dinner wouldn't be complete without a drink. My favorite flavor of soda has always been orange, and their Orange Pop rivals my Sunkist favorite. Brenda's drink of choice was a frosty mug of cream soda. Tasty, but in my opinion, a little too sweet to pair with a full dinner.

We headed back to Brenda's condo after dinner for a quick cool off in the A/C before we hauled ourselves off to the show. Brenda fortunately lives within walking distance of the Muny, but in 100+ degree heat, it wasn't a pleasant walk. I wore a sundress, but short of a bubble wrap jumpsuit filled with ice, nothing was really going to ease the discomfort. Luck did happen to be on our side since there was a slight breeze cropping up now and again.

It's through the trees.

The gazebo in front.

It doesn't look that big from this angle, but it's what's behind that's the real masterpiece.

Lovely view of the sunset through the gazebo.

Essentially the "front porch" of the Muny where you could congregate to escape the rain.

Big damn chandelier.

Show flags advertising the dates.

Little Shop of Horrors was another show I wanted to see.

Unfortunately, cameras of any kind are prohibited inside for the shows, so I didn't really get any additional photos. I snuck a couple of the stage before showtime, but I was paranoid an usher would take my camera from me.

We arrived with less than a half hour to spare, so we moseyed over to our seats to try to siphon off some of the fan breeze. It didn't really work. They have giant fans towering over the seats that they turn on before, after and during intermission. We were dead center, so we didn't get the full effect of the fans in the wings. We did however, get to be totally creeped out by the girl sitting next to Brenda who stared at us during our entire conversation. The ENTIRE thing. Was she really so enthralled with stories about Brenda's dance team, and plans for my mom's birthday? She was also getting impatient when the clock struck 8:15 and the show's orchestra dared, DARED, not to start promptly playing music.

Why is it I always have crazy people sitting around me?

I guess that means that I'm not the crazy one, right?

Don't answer that.

A view of the stage from our seats. The aisle seats were great, and no one sat directly in front of us!

The painted backdrop was only there at the beginning and a couple of scenes. They did have full sets they moved on and off stage.

The free seats are wayyyy in the back.

The show started about 30 seconds after Miss Hissy Fit simmered down. If you've never seen the musical, I highly suggest you watch it. True, it's cheesy and over the top, but it's incredibly good fun. And it's funny. It's not just singing and dancing, but it's a knee-slapping good time. The program discouraged singing along with the music, and I giggled to myself that people would actually do that. But damn if I didn't want to break out into song during the very first number. I do at home! It was actually harder than I thought not to sing along. Great, now I AM the crazy person. I did dance though. The program said nothing about not dancing in the seats.

Dancing also helped get a small breeze going, and fortunately when the sun went down it cooled off slightly. To help combat the heat, Brenda and I packed a small cooler full of water bottles, an ice pack and a wet washcloth. Wet icy washcloth = pure genius.

The show itself was phenomenal. I won't give you all the plot points, but essentially the oldest of 7 brothers marries a girl in town and takes her back to the woods to live with him and his 6 brothers. During their 60 second courtship, he failed to mention the 6 brothers and the fact that she'd be doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, wood chopping, etc. when he married her. Needless to say she was a bit pissed. Well, as pissed as you can be in a musical. The 6 brothers decided they wanted wives of their own, so they kidnapped 6 girls from town and forced them to live in the woods until the end of the winter when the snow melted and the pass was open. (Uh, that sounds way worse than it is.) The girls ended up falling in love with the brothers, and shotgun weddings were had by all.

The dance sequences in the movie were pretty impressive, and the cast of this show were just as spectacular. I was pretty impressed with the athleticism each of them displayed. I had a smile on my face the entire time, even when I wasn't dancing around in my chair. I was, however, ready to go by the end of the show, mainly because my thighs kept sliding off the chair.

Despite the heat, it was a fabulous night, and thanks to Brenda for being my date!

Side note: my cousin went two days after we did and had a blissfully lovely evening minus the depressing heat. Guess we should have gone two days later!

New Thing #67 - Jury Duty

I've kind of dreaded this day since 2007...a little over 3 years since I bought my house. No more bouncing around addresses and putting off registering to vote for the city. 3+ years ago I made it legal, and public, that I'm now a proud City resident. So, I knew this day was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Yes, I know it's my duty and a privilege to be able to serve on a jury. It's part of what makes our country great. I realize all of this. But, to me, that shouldn't involve a day or more full of sitting around and staring at a wall. That's the part I'm not too keen on. If I were just able to get into the courtroom right away, I think I would have a much brighter outlook on the whole thing.

Day 1

I couldn't sleep very well last night. Whether it was over the anxiety of figuring out where to park and where to sign in, or the naivety of the entire process, or possibly just the frustration of missing work when there's so much to be done, I slept like crap. I tossed and turned and woke up every hour or so thinking I had overslept my alarm.

I've been to downtown St. Louis before, of course, but never on a Monday morning, so I wasn't sure what the traffic situation would be like. So, to be on the safe side, I was up at the crack of dawn to make the designated 8am registration time. I needn't have worried though. I made it downtown in a breeze, barely having any difficulty at all. I was also lucky enough to be one of the first people to park in the assigned lot of the Scottrade Center, and was just inside the entrance.

I made the short 4-5 block walk to the Civil Courts building in no time, arriving by 7:20. I thought surely I would be the first one there, but there were at least 25-30 people that had the same idea I did. Fortunately, it was only 66 degrees outside, so I sat on a bench to enjoy the breeze before the heat came to follow it. It was absolutely beautiful downtown at this time. Not a lot of noise yet, a cool breeze and a peacefulness I wasn't expecting. I assumed we wouldn't be allowed into the building until 8, but people started filing in around 7:45, so I followed suit.

We quickly went through security and the metal detectors, got our juror number badges and had a seat in the jury assembly room. And I pretty much had the same seat from then until the lunch break. I'm surprised there wasn't a butt imprint when I left. I watched person after person file into the room, while the minutes ticked away. 8:00 came and went and people were still filing into the room. So much for being there by 8. Two ladies tried to register, but they were turned away due to wearing shorts. The summons had clearly outlined that tank tops, t-shirts and shorts were forbidden in the courtroom. Neither one of those women were happy about it because they had to go home, change and then return for their duty. I don't feel a bit sorry for them. Stupid people.

9:00 finally rolled around and I was pretty much a zombie at that point. I was trying to stay awake, but in the process, my brain shut down completely. I was so effing tired and the monotony of sitting in this one spot was getting to me. I tried reading and working on my crosswords, but that just made me blurry-eyed. Fortunately, they played an "instructional" video showing us what we should expect today and the difference between a civil case and a criminal case. This only helped to alleviate the boredom for about 7 minutes.

I was feeling a bit full in the bladder region, but I was paranoid I might miss some important information. Like when the lunch break was. So, I sat and sat and sat until I couldn't take it anymore. I hurried to the bathroom hoping I wouldn't miss them saying "Heather Jones, if you're in the room, we have good news, you can go home. You're not needed here. But, if you're not in the room, you have to stay here for eternity." I'm assuming that was never said, but you just never know.

They called anyone to a separate room for the "hardship" defense. If you had any reason why you couldn't serve on the jury that day, you were to go and essentially plead your case to a judge. I swear a quarter of the room stood up. I believed about 3 of them. One lady was so pregnant I thought we may have an emergency situation on our hands. Another woman was using a cane and a bailiff to help her see around the room, and another man had a distinct walking disability and physical ailments and seemed to have difficulty sitting for long periods as well.

The good thing about all these people leaving the room was that we had a bit of breathing room around our seats. I wasn't stuck between two women eating smelly chips or softly snoring. Unfortunately, this left me with the old guy who kept dropping stuff on the ground. I do wish that was his only annoyance though. At one point he started clipping his fingernails. All of them. Onto the floor.

I kid you not, he was using fingernail clippers to trim every single one of his nails right there in the waiting room. They were flying all willy nilly around his chair and I prayed that one didn't land on me. I know there's not much to do in that room, but come on. That is just disgusting. I think next to the "No Firearms" sign they have posted, they should add "No Manicures". Blech.

I also had to listen to this old grizzled deadhead who looked kind of like Kris Kristofferson, talk about all of his conspiracy theories to this poor innocent young lady sitting next to him. She seemed to believe everything he said though. He was ranting on and on about how these things were all public record and everyone was going to find out all this information about us. Give it a rest, crazy.

Finally, around 10am, they started calling juror numbers into groups. Usually around 50 people per group. I avidly listened during the first group hoping my number would be called. Nope. I went back to my crossword puzzles, a leftover from my trip to Italy, and stared at the wall for awhile. Before they started calling numbers they had had the tv on, but it was too hard to hear over calling the numbers, so they turned it off.

Eventually, they had called four different groups in the span of an hour, and my number hadn't been called. The numbers all started to jumble together and my brain became mush. I was hoping I hadn't missed being called, but they always had another call for the few stragglers.

I hadn't heard anything about lunch at this point, and my stomach was getting pretty angry with me. I had eaten breakfast around 6:20, a good hour and a half earlier than I normally eat breakfast, and I was not doing so well. I was getting increasing cranky at the boredom, my completely numb arse, and the acrid smell wafting from someone's snack. At 11:30, they finally called lunch break, and we had until 1:15 to get back. Score!!

The good news was that my friend Sam now works downtown only a few blocks from where I was, so I didn't have to eat alone. We stopped at the Dubliner, an Irish bar/restaurant with pretty tasty food, and it was nice to have human interaction with a familiar face. Unfortunately, it couldn't last forever, and it was back to the jury room for me.

This time when I went back through the security line, they asked me to take out my small digital camera. I had forgotten it was even in there. I always keep it in my purse for whenever an occasion strikes and someone's stupidity needs to be documented. I had to leave it with the security team for the duration of the day. What the hell? Who was the lazy one that morning that totally missed it?! I did feel like a fool for not taking it out of my purse though. They also asked me about a recording device and it took me a minute to realize they were talking about my mp3 player. Fortunately, they let me keep that.

I have to admit that I had my camera in the back of my mind the whole rest of the day. I was afraid they would be closed by the time my day ended and I wouldn't get it back. It's bad that I was more concerned with my damn camera than what was going on around me. I think sleep deprivation was kicking in in high gear.

A cheesy soap opera was on TV when I got back, but it didn't last long once they started calling numbers again. I also had the pleasure of sitting next to a woman who unbuttoned her pants to readjust something while sitting in plain sight. Why do I get the inappropriate people sitting next to me?! Three more groups were called and it was after 2. I held on to the slim chance that I wouldn't be needed today, and I would get to go home.

Nope. Not gonna happen. At 2:30, my number was finally called, number 51 out of 54 jurors. I nearly missed it because I had been zoning out again. We had our parking validated and were then led to the Carnahan Courthouse across the bloody street. Our deputy led us to our assigned floor, gave us a minute for a final potty break, and then escorted us into the courtroom.

It wasn't really what I was expecting. I always thought the lawyers sat facing the judge with the jurors to the side. This time the lawyers sat facing the juror box with the judge to their right. All of the potential jurors filled the room, from the box to the spectator seats. We were read the rules by the judge, explained what kind of case it was and what the charges were, and were sworn in.

For obvious reasons, I can't really go into detail here, but I can say that all that happened today was one lawyer started her interview process. She asked questions and then asked people to raise their hand that agreed, or disagreed in some cases, with the question. We had to stand and explain why. This lasted for close to two hours and we were nowhere near being finished. The first lawyer wasn't even finished, and we still had the second lawyer to go.

It was amazing though, how many people had been affected by a crime of some sort. They ask that on our questionnaires, but when people explained how they had been a victim or a close person had been affected, it amazed me. So many people have dealt with the unfairness of this world. It was a bit sickening and humbling at the same time.

Despite my weariness, I was able to focus on all the questions and what was going on around me, but I did have the time firmly on my mind at all times. It was getting closer and closer to 5 with no end in sight. I eventually realized I would have to come back the next day. The judge had assured us if we were selected, we would only be here this week, and not the next. Great. But, since the selection process is only partially over, I will have to spend at least another day here.

I don't necessarily mind doing my part as a juror, but I will admit that the subject matter in the case is not desirable for me to listen to. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Oh, and even though I got out after 5, I was able to go back to the Civil Courts building and pick up my camera. You bet your ass that bad boy is staying at home tomorrow!

Day 2

I was able to sleep in until my normal hour since we didn't have to be at court until 9:15. I made it around 9am, after stopping to have my parking validated. More waiting ensued while I worked on yet another crossword puzzle. You'd really think I'd be done with that book by now. It wasn't until nearly 9:40 before we were even escorted into the courtroom. I should have known we wouldn't be on time.

The interview process continued with the first lawyer, and she finally finished around 10:35. Another break was allowed before the second lawyer started his line of questioning. He mainly wanted to clarify answers from certain people from the morning and day before. He did not call on me, but then again, I only answered two questions and I had been pretty explicit in those answers.

It was creeping closer and closer to noon, and I was getting increasingly disgruntled by the gurgling in my belly. I'm a creature of habit, and I really need to eat on a semi-regular basis. I don't do well if I haven't eaten, and I was outright starving at this point. Plus I was getting very aggravated at one potential juror who seemed to be using this interview process as his own personal venting session against the PO-lice (as he pronounced it) and the judicial system in general. We get it, buddy. You don't like cops. Now sit down and shut up.

The interview process was completed at 12:15, and the judge said the lawyers were ready to select the jury. He tossed around the idea of letting us all go to lunch and then choosing the jury, or keeping us for another 45 minutes to an hour while they deliberated. By now, I knew that nothing was ever on schedule, so I was about ready to hop out of my seat and demand we get our lunch, NOW!

Okay, not really. I was thinking it in my head, but I would never actually do that. Maybe the judge read my mind, because he decided to give us a quick lunch break. I hoofed it over 7 or 8 blocks to meet Sam again for a bite to eat. He had already eaten since he had to be ready for a meeting at work, so, I grabbed a quick sandwich at the grocery store and chatted with him while I scarfed it down. I'm not really sure what I ate, I was just trying to get food into me as quickly as I could.

Less than a half hour after I met up with Sam, we went our separate ways again, and I made the trek back to the courthouse. I don't think there were many dry spots left on my clothes by the time I got back. Heat indexes in the upper 90s to 100s don't really help with perspiration.

Again, we waited longer than we were told, but eventually we were all called back into the room. A little while later they chose the panel of jurors, and I was not called. Whew! I thought it was pretty funny that the woman who fell asleep during the interview process, called voir dire, ended up being chosen. That's what you get for not paying attention! We were allowed to go on our way, picking up our payment voucher in the process. I was then free to head home and do with my day whatever I pleased. There wasn't much time left to head all the way to work, so I just headed home to the sweet bliss of A/C.

I appreciate our justice system, and the fact that I'm allowed to serve as a juror in a trial. I just didn't like all the waiting involved with it. Oh well, I guess that's all part of the process. I'm sure I'll be right back in this spot in about 2-4 years! :)

New Thing #66 - Indy 500

Vroom vroom, baby. It's time for a little high-speed action, Indy 500 style.

Happy Memorial Day weekend people. I hope everyone is enjoying the gorgeous weather, a little grilling action, and remembering our armed forces. This weekend took me to Indy for a much-needed visit with my best friend Mere, who has been absent from the blogs for way too long. It's the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see hoosiers in cut off jean shorts drinking Coors Light. Oh, and the race of course.

The weekend has been jam packed with race related events, but we opted not to join. For one, they cost major moolah, and two, we both loathe big crowds of stupid people. Going to the race today was going to be about as much stupid as we could both handle.

The race started at noon, but the speedway opened to spectators as early as 6am. And I think the grounds/parking areas themselves had been open for a few days. Good grief. Talk about your serious tailgaters. We took a more leisurely approach and didn't even get there until around 11:30. Which was actually the best choice because we didn't run into a single traffic delay. It was smooth sailing the whole way there. There were still plenty of people stumbling, I mean walking, into the speedway and it was a people watcher's dream. Hoosiers and rednecks as far as the eye could see.

The "start" of the paid parking areas. You couldn't even see the speedway yet.

I assume that some guys wore cut off jean shorts to be funny. But I also assume that some wore them because they thought they were hot shit. I cannot count the number of boys/guys/men going topless, rocking the jean shorts and carrying a cooler. There were so many youngun's, I thought surely they would get arrested for underage drinking. Or maybe I'm just old enough to think they're not old enough to actually drink. The 21 year olds look younger and younger every year. Good grief, they were born in 1990 for crying out loud.

Inside the grounds but behind the bleachers.

Coming out of the tunnel that goes under the track to the infield.

Under the infield bleachers.

By the time we parked, walked the mile or so to the speedway and wound our way into the infield, Florence Henderson was singing God Bless America. Wait, Florence Henderson?

Really?

I love me some Mrs. Brady as much as the next person, but I can't say she would be my first choice to sing God Bless America at one of the biggest races in the country. Interesting choice, race officials. She's still got it though (although to be honest, I had no idea she was even a singer), and finished with resounding applause from the crowd. Whether that was because she was Mrs. Brady, or the fact that she finished, who knows. It could also be because the crowd was full of beer-drinkin', America-lovin' hoosiers. God Bless America, indeed.

Mrs. Brady! On the jumbotron.

We had purchased infield tickets which allowed us all around the track barriers and throughout the infield. We didn't have dedicated seats in the bleachers, but we could pop a squat on a grassy hillside if we wanted to. Since we had just made it into the infield, we stood by one of the jumbotrons to await the National Anthem and the starting of the engines. This is the first year in history that a duet has performed the song at the Indy 500. The singers? Kelly Clarkson. And Seal. Say wha? I do like both of these singers, but neither would I put together to do a duet. Were the organizers drinking Natty Light while they were planning this shindig?

A view of some of the infield crowd with the bleacher seats in the distance. People had coolers, tent/awning things, games of cornhole and washers, blankets, picnic areas, you name it. These people were here to stay for the long haul!

No, those two guys are not holding hands. Nice camera angle though, right?

B2 Bomber flying overhead.

Releasing balloons at the end of the National Anthem.

Anywho, shortly thereafter, some lady who looked like she might have dated the 1911 winner called for the racers to Start Their Engines. I braced myself for the inevitable eardrum-splintering noise, and it never came. Did they even start the things yet? We had absolutely no idea where on the track we were at this point, so I assumed we were at the far side of the starting line and that's why we couldn't hear them. I've never been to a race before, but I assumed it would be loud as hell. The website even warned us to bring ear plugs (which I did, but only after Mere mentioned it).

Starting off in 10 rows of 3.

Wow, the track is 23 degrees hotter than the air outside.

Eventually the buzzing got a bit louder, but it still wasn't as deafening as I predicted. But, since they were just doing the ceremonial laps around the track, it explained the lower volume. After a few laps around the track, the green flag dropped and off they went. And the volume rose with it. But, considering where we were at that time, the noise wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It just sounded like a swarm of bees. We left our spot by the jumbotron and went in search of a spot to see the actual cars. We didn't go far as we realized we had been standing close to one of the turns.

We made our way over and snuck in to a spot by the fence and I had my first viewing of the cars. Well, what I could make out anyways. It's a bit difficult to get a real shot of cars flying around the final turn at speeds close to 200 mph. And it's even more difficult to get a photo of said cars when you don't have the proper type of camera for such speedy endeavors. I think I tried 45 times to get a photo before I gave up and switched to video. Looks like my turtle is limited after all. :(

Hey, look I got one in the shot!

And another one!

Switching to video!

We spent a good 10 or 15 minutes watching the race from this angle, but it got boring pretty quickly. I mean, there's only so long I could stand there and watch the small window of track to catch a glimpse of a possible wreck. So, off we trekked to check out the rest of what the infield had to offer.

And caught more glimpses of the jean short phenomenon, girls in bikini tops, and a man wearing a shirt that said "Please tell your boobs to stop staring at my eyes. Thank you." Classy. We also witnessed numerous cornhole (or bags, depending on where you live) games, some guys throwing a football around, and lots and lots of people drinking beer. I can see how this would be a good time if you got a big group of people together to party with.

I hadn't really put much thought into the race or the course or really anything about this whole day, so I wasn't prepared for how effing big the infield was. It felt like we walked for days and had only made it about halfway down the track. While there we got a glimpse of a car getting some work done, and headed up a set of stairs to get a better view. I took off first, assuming Meredith was right behind me. I made it up the first flight of stairs, but couldn't really see the track, so I proceeded up the second flight of stairs. I was following the crowd around me, so I didn't think anything of needing to show a ticket that I was allowed to be there. And no one stopped me.

Getting some work done.

Close up.

Heading up the stairs for another shot.

Once I was at the top of the stairs, I had a fairly unobstructed view down the straightaway. Awesome! I wedged myself up against the railing in between two older gentlemen, when one looked down at me and drawled, "I'm, uh, saving this spot for a few friends." First, there's no way he was saving that one small spot for friends plural. Second, I informed him I was only there to get a few photos and then I'd be gone. Apparently, that's all he needed to hear, because he was more than willing to let me up on the ledge at that point.

Pretty sweet views of the track.

Sorry for the bump in the middle of the photo. Angry guy took an elbow to my arm while he was getting readjusted.

And, it's at that point I should have gotten my ear plugs out. It was loud as hell up there with the cars whizzing by. I didn't stay too long as I realized that Meredith hadn't followed me up there, and the guy's friend (singular) had shown up. I quickly thanked them, and met back up with Mere asking why she hadn't come up. Apparently, she got stopped by the ONE guy keeping watch of the upper deck. It was his first year at the race too, so he wasn't quite as diligent as he should. But, since Meredith didn't have a ticket to be up there, he wouldn't let her go. Nevermind, myself and the countless other people who had breezed right on by a moment before she tried. Bummer. :(

But, I had some great video, and a few pics, so I was happy. Well, I was happy once I put my ear plugs in. It's surprising how well I could still hear Meredith talk though, but at least the bee buzzing sound was muted. We then came up to a commons area with bathrooms and snack shops, and we took a break to watch the jumbotrons project a wreck that had just happened. While I was standing there, I saw two guys off to the side of us, and one was exercising his pointer finger. Or so that's how it looked. He was doing some weird motion with his finger, but I really wasn't paying that much attention. I glanced at him again and noticed he was looking directly at me, doing the finger motion again.

What the hell?

It took me another second to realize he was looking at the camera around my neck, and he was miming taking a photo with his finger. "Do you want me to take your photo?" I asked him. "Yeah!" He actually sounded somewhat peeved and relieved at the same time. "Uh, why didn't you say something?" "Because I didn't want to just yell at you to take my photo."

So, staring at me and miming with your finger so I think you have a nervous tic, is the better option? Okay buddy.

I proceeded to take their photo and he asked us where we were from then walked away with his friend? What the hell am I supposed to do with this photo now? Post it for you guys to see, I guess.

You're welcome.

The guy on the right is who wanted my photo. I guess he didn't think about the fact that now I would be the one stuck with a photo instead of him.

But look at this cute little guy with his ear muffs. :) (I had to make up for the other photo!)

We kept walking until we made it to the other end of the track and had some more unobstructed views of the race. We stopped by a barrier fence to take a break and enjoyed the cool breeze flowing. It was a hot day, but with the breeze, it wasn't too bad. I could also remove my ear plugs since they were on a few caution laps and had slowed to a dull hum. It was still pretty cool to watch them drive by, but even that enjoyment lost it's luster after awhile. This is why I don't really watch any type of racing. Watching cars drive around in circles gets pretty damn boring to me. Sorry to all of my friends that I know who love it. ;-)

Oh my word. At least he had the body to pull off that outfit.

I switched my camera to the action setting, so it just kept taking photo after photo instead of me trying to anticipate when a car would come into view. It worked out much better this way to actually get a photo of one. I still have about a hundred photos of nothing but fences though.

I like this close up video watching them zoom in and out of the frame so damn fast.

We finally made it to the other end of the track.

How would you like to have a "seat" way up there?!

Bright colorful crowd out there today!

My brother had told me I needed to check out the museum while I was there, so we finally found it at this end. It was only $5 to get in, but it was totally worth it. It was air conditioned and had decent bathrooms. Woooo! Due to the 100th anniversary, they had put together a pretty impressive collection of winning cars throughout the years. Some were a permanent installation at the museum, others were on loan from the owners for this occasion. We got to see photos of all the winners, starting with 1911, all the way through 2010, along with other race-related memorabilia.

Lots of the winning cars.

Toys and other race memorabilia.

Look how cute Mario Andretti was! :) He's pretty much the only winner I know. I don't count Helio Castroneves because I only heard about him while watching Dancing With the Stars.

The winners' quilt with each car and winner signature embroidered on it.

Some of the older cars.

We even got to take our photo inside an Indy car. They normally charge for that, but since their camera was down, they didn't have any problems with us using our own cameras. While Mere and I waited, a kid (probably in his early 20s) asked us if we would take his photo for him. I agreed, and after I took the opportunity to get one with me WITH sunglasses and one WITHOUT (I wanted to be cool), he also had to have one of each. Copy cat. He was adorable though, and was a bit concerned when I joked that I was taking his iPhone with me as payment for taking his picture. Settle down kiddo, I was just kidding.

Finally, there was only so much we could see inside there, so we braved the heat and headed back outside. Another 20 minutes or so of walking and grabbing a hot dog, we were kind of ready to be heading home. We had been at the track for 3 hours, and the race was winding to a close. We headed back in the direction we had started, which of course, was all the way at the opposite side of where we were. (The speedway even has an effing golf course in the middle.) By the time we got to the entrance, there were about 10 laps to go, and we weighed the idea of staying til the end or leaving early.

A parting photo for your viewing enjoyment. I thought it was some kind of dress, but Mere said it was an apron. Either way, well played sir.

Our own sanity won out, so we decided to get a move on before the crowd got going. It was a mile or so trek back to the car, and we really did not want to be stuck in traffic for a couple of hours just trying to get out of the parking lot. Other people had the same idea, but fortunately, there weren't too many to get in our way. We had just as leisurely of a time leaving the speedway as we did getting there.

But, dammit, we should have stayed. The race was won in the FINAL turn of the FINAL lap. The lead car, a rookie, took a header into the wall and lost the lead moments before the finish line. The second place car sped past him for the win by only 2 seconds.

And we missed it.

But, in all honesty, unless we had been watching a jumbotron, we would have missed it too. We didn't really watch all that much of the race to begin with, so as much as I hated to have missed such an epic ending, I'm glad we made it out with little difficulty.

I had a blast at the race and would recommend it to anyone who's thought about going. It would be a great thing to do for a group of people...just stake out an area on one of the viewing mounds and make a day of it.

Thanks to Mere for a great time, as always!