New Year's Eve and South Dakota!

After my harrowing trip to KC I was finally back with James! Ok, it had only been two weeks but it feels like two years when you're as crazy about someone as I am about James. I know, I am a mushy romantic, I can't help it. We had an amazing time in KC though, where he met almost all of my friends and it felt like we also gained about 8 lbs each b/c all we did was eat! I had planned a load of lunches and dinners in order to see everyone and it just wasn't kind to our waistlines.

Our first day in KC I hadn't planned much as I figured James would be jet-lagged, which he was. Either that or he was just using it as an excuse to sleep till his normal 1 pm. Either way, we just spent the day running a few errands that I needed to do in KC (like, for example, spending an hour strolling around Target. Ahhh...Target) while I drove the long way in between to show James all of my favourite spots around the city. We had Chipotle for lunch and it was superb and delicious. James loved it as well and still mentions it from time to time - he just did today when we were wondering what to have for lunch! That night was Monday Night Football and James, Myers, Young, and a couple of other guys all went to the ESPN sports bar on the plaza where I introduced James to fried pickles. We all made an effort to teach James the rules to the game and he was getting a few details, but as I've said before I never realised how complicated football was until I tried to explain it to a Brit! He will learn slowly, this fall we're planning to go to Ohio for an Ohio State football game so I will try to teach him before then!

The next day we accidentally slept in ridiculously late and got to lunch 30 minutes late with the girls from GT (well, none of us actually work at GT in KC anymore!). We ate a very large amount of Italian food at Brio, James accidentally ordered the dinner size portion of lasagna and it literally came in a serving dish - he had to turn it sideways just to fit it in front of him. Even with this massive meal though he managed to have burnt ends at Jack Stack that night with Rach, Ang, Jackie and their men. Even though Jack Stack is nice, once everyone got wind that this was James' first BBQ experience they couldn't stop going on about Oklahoma Joe's being the best place in town. I ended up taking him there on our last day in KC. He marveled at the line out the door, ate the Z-man (tried to order it as the "zed-man" and the man behind the counter looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language) and posted pictures of it on facebook he loved it so much!

But rewind a few days - Tuesday night after Jack Stack we all made our way to the Cashew for a few drinks, and loads of people from the GT KC office turned up to say hello! Of course Jenni, Meisel, and Jenn were there as well. It started snowing while we were in the Cashew and James ended up having to push me out of our parking space b/c the car was stuck! Fortunately we made it home safely before the roads got too terrible.

Wednesday afternoon I took James to the only touristy thing I could think of in KC - the war memorial near Union Station. Unfortunately the tower was closed due to "weather conditions" so we couldn't go to the top, but the view from just the base is pretty fantastic, so we kind of got what we had gone for. That evening we met my friend Kelly and her bf for Mexican food on SW Blvd, it was soooo good. We didn't get there until rather late though and were the last ones in the restaurant - we kind of had to rush b/c the wait staff were giving us the evil eye! Still didn't take away from the deliciousness of the food though.

The next day was NYE, and as I mentioned before, I took James for lunch at Oklahoma Joe's with Jenn and Myers. That evening we had dinner at place downtown called 1924 Main with Young and Ashley, Myers, and another couple. The dinner was fancy and very good! I had scallops in some creamy sauce with walnuts, but most of the rest had a delicious steak. After dinner we made our way to the piano bar in Westport, where we had purchased tickets in advance but we still had to wait in the queue for a bit and it was freezing! We finally made it in though and had a blast. James had never been to a piano bar before (I've never seen or heard of one in London), and he thought it was awesome! I also ran into a very old friend from KU named Zach at the bar, it was such a weird coincidence that we were both there!

After the evening of debauchery, James and I had to rise VERY early to catch a greyhound bus to Omaha. We were on our way to South Dakota for my friend and old roommate Heather's wedding, and found that it was cheaper to get the bus to Omaha then rent a car from there than it was to rent the car in KC and drop it off in Omaha. Weird. Anyway this was my first experience on a greyhound, and I wasn't let down by the reputation they get. Let's just say that our fellow passengers were, well, unique. But the service was very good and we even arrived a little early in Omaha. We had an uneventful drive to South Dakota after stopping in Omaha for McDonald's - hangover food. The woman at the cash register had to keep asking James to repeat himself when he ordered, and when I explained that he was from England, she said, "Oh, that's why I couldn't understand a word he said!" Poor James. Anyway we made it to South Dakota and the coldest temperatures that I have ever been in. It hovered around negative 19F (neg. 28C) the whole time we were there. It was so cold that you could feel your nose hairs freeze every time you breathed in! Even if all we had to go was one block, I would get in the car and drive.

That evening was the rehearsal dinner, and unfortunately was also the Rose Bowl, in which Ohio State was playing. I was able to watch the first half, but missed the second. Gladly, Ohio State won. The rehearsal dinner was delicious and I cried when Heather gave me my gift - I'm such a sap. It was just so good to see her! After the rehearsal dinner we went back to the hotel for a small reception, and I introduced James to Sandy and Cameron, some of Heather's friends from grad school. They really hit it off, which was good b/c James had someone to hang out with the next day while I was with the wedding party. I was very impressed with Sioux Falls - the wedding was beautiful! In between the ceremony and reception Sandy, Cameron, James and I all went to this dive bar on the edge of town that Sandy and Cameron had discovered a few nights before. It was awesome and had the dodgiest people, and we got 4 beers for 5 bucks - bargain!

James and I left for Omaha that evening as we had an early flight out the next morning (Omaha was the closest commercial airport to Sioux Falls), and we ended up driving through the worst snowstorm I've ever driven through. It was so scary and didn't let up the entire way. Eventually we made it safely, thank God, and I felt like I had just run a marathon - I had been so stressed and tense. My fingers were sore from gripping the wheel so tightly! I was glad that we had gone that night though b/c I bet they wouldn't have had the roads plowed enough for us to make it back in time for our flight if we had gone that morning. As it was the flight was right on time and we made it to Chicago just fine. We then connected from Chicago to New York, and from New York to London. Except the flight from Chicago was two hours late, and then took another two hours to get us our bags (we had booked the flights separately so had to collect and re-check our bags). So we missed our flight to London but thankfully were able to be put on the last flight out. The only downside was that we didn't get to sit together, but really I just slept the entire time anyway. So we made it to work a bit late (we had planned to land at 7 am and be on time for work), but all was well in the end. We'll just never fly American airlines again - they were the airline that had a two hour delayed flight, and then took another two hours to get the bags from the plane to the baggage claim, and when they finally got there James' bag was cracked on one side! Miserable service. Oh well, as I said all's well that ends well.

Oh also, there are pictures from all of our adventures in America on facebook, if you'd like to check them out.

Heather xoxo