Madison!

Update 7/24

I woke up at 6:45 and decided to take a shower just because i could. When i got out, my mom was up, and my dad got up soon after. I was starving, so we woke Cilla up and set out to find a Perkins for breakfast. Perkins has become a rest day necessity.

After breakfast, it was around 9. I needed/wanted to go to REI, and my mom was convinced that it would be open. We drove over, and it turns out that it doesn't open until 10. Whoops. We had 30 minutes to kill, so we decided to drive around and find a nail salon. There was one just a few shopping centers over, and it was open! Perfect. Unfortunately there was only pen guy working, but someone else was supposed to come in soon. We learned from last time, and I wanted to use my own nail polish on my fingers so that i can touch them up when I have to change flats. They didn't sell any 'good' colors there, so we decided to go to Walgreens. We all piled back in the car, and it didn't start! Struggle. Apparently Walgreens was just down the street, so Cilla and I decided to walk over...in the rain. Poor life choice. It was not 'just down the street' but 'quite far down the street.' Double struggle. We made it soaking wet. Luckily I had my rain jacket, but Cilla was only wearing a sweatshirt. Well, I guess the important part os that we made it and picked out some fantastic colors- teal blue and lime green. I eve. Bought a Walgreens pin! We called dad, and the rental car company had sent someone to jump the car. He came pick us up. :).

My mom was already having her pedicure started when we got there. Here begins the epicly long amount of time spent at Natural Nails. An elderly lady with disastrous toenails had arrived just before Cilla and I got back to the nail salon. Since there were only two guys working, we had to wait a long time until we were started. I have a hard time just relaxing, so i took advantage of the time to make some calls and get my prescription situation sorted out. We were finally done around noon with lovely matching teal blue finger nails, and I had watermelons painted on my toenails. Yes, I am 21...

REI was definitely open by this point, but we didn't really find what we were looking for. But then again, we wee rent really looking for anything on particular. My dad kind of needed rain gear if he could borrow Frank's bike the next day, but it wasn't for sure yet. Also, Madison is a huge biking town, and there were plenty of other bike shops to go to.

Then began the adventure of sorting out my medicine. Amazingly I was able to locate 5 bottles on town, but they were between two different Walgreens. Usually you wait to have it all transferred to one store, but I didn't have time since I was only in Madison for a day. We went to the first Walgreens to get the first half of the prescription.
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Then we went to the mall so that i could go to J. Crew. Yes, absolutely necessary. Haha. It was a quick trip, but it was nice to get some real clothes. Spandex gets old very quickly.

Thennnnnnnnn we set out to find the other Walgreens on Banch or Branch. I still don't know the actual street name but regardless, we passed it. Fortunately, there are a million and one Walgreens on Madison, so we stopped in one leas than 3 miles away from the one we were supposed to go to. We backtracked and got to the right Walgreens. It turns out that someone in town needs the same medicine as me, so they keep it on stock! It's my lucky day! :)

We were getting hungry, so we set out to find Ella's by recommendation of the internet. It was supposedly a unique deli and ice cream parlor with lots of toys and a carousel. It was quite interesting, and the ice cream was much much better than the deli.

I still had to clean my bike and do laundry. Since they didn't have self laundry at the hotel, I was dropped off at the dorm where everyone else was staying to clean my bike and do my laundry. Alan left, so I wasn't able to get to the bike cleaning supplies. But, I did get to do my laundry, which was much needed!

My mom and Cilla came to pick me up, and I had found out that my dad could use Frank's bike. Since there was a good chance of rain and I still needed to get more chamois cream, we went to two bike shops to get the stuff. I'm picky about my chamois cream, so I had to go to a second one to find the right stuff. Yes, high maintenance...I know.

By the time we were done shopping, it was pouring. We went back to the hotel and decided to just eat there since the weather was so nasty. My dad was excited to wear the Duke jersey that I got him a few years ago, but it turns out that he had brought mine! Apparently mine was in his closet which explains why I couldn't find it before I left. Struggle. He had another quick dry shirt that he could wear, and I took the jersey to add to my bag.

After dinner, I packed up my stuff and crashed.