pothole turned canyon - musuem - mom on the staircase

dream this morning:

i came back after last night's show. we were living in an apartment with our friend pam. it was on the third floor of a big white house. it was really late and everyone was asleep. i decided to get in the car and drive.

the sun came up. i was heading down an unfamiliar street. the area generally looked like an older industrial zone with wide open lots mixed with old brick factories. i see a pothole in the road and hope to avoid hitting it. as i get closer it looks like the pothole is at least 5 or 6 feet deep. i can see bits of wood and brick in layers in the pothole. my heart rate jumped as i narrowly avoided hitting it. i stop the car 30 feet away and backed up, looking into my rearview camera. the pothole is even bigger now. i get out to take a photo. as i walk around the car the pothole is now an endless canyon off to one side of the road. i see it goes down probably 60 feet. there is a river down below. i see a wooden staircase leading down on the opposite side from where the car sits. i walk halfway down these stairs to a landing. i can see the road above, and what look like ancient roman arches, bricks and wood structures below. this goes off to my left along the river as far as the eye can see. i'm trying to frame the image in my iphone for the photo when suddenly some woman in a red checkered dress is yelling at me.

"you can't take pictures here"
"why not? this is a public space"
"no, it's private property and no pictures are allowed"
"yeah, not really. piss off."

now i can feel people watching me argue with this woman. there are some up along the road and some behind me. when i turn around i'm at the edge of a wide property. there is huge museum about 100 feet away. there is a large concrete courtyard full of people. it's designed with many diagonal lines and some recessed areas with steps. the front of the museum is bright white with unusual, angled windows. suddenly matt stokes is there. we decide to go into the museum, because even though we both were aware of it for years, neither of us have been inside. the tickets cost $25 or maybe $28. i don't want to pay that much but i buy one anyway.

at some point i try to tell someone at the information desk about the woman in the red checkered dress. i tell them she was rude. they ask who it was. i see a red checkered dress and a woman with her back to me behind the counter. i point to her, then she turns around. it turned out to be a completely different woman in a red checkered dress.

then it occurs to me that i should wake my wife and have her come along. she's not answering my texts or phone calls. i go back to the ticket person in the middle of the courtyard. he's wearing white shorts and a white sweater and he looks kind of like ted mcginley from 'married with children'. his hair is all feathered 80s style. i ask him if i have to enter the museum now or if i can just come back later. he asks if i still have my ticket and receipt. i reach in my pockets and pull out both. each one has a nifty little catchphrase printed on it, but i can't remember either one. it was something like "every day above ground is a good day" or "life is what you make it". the ticket and receipt are time stamped and say 4pm. which makes me even more confused because i thought we bought them at 4am. i guess by this point it's more like 8pm.

i told matt i was going to wait to hear from my wife. i'm pretty sure he goes into the museum. a bit later on i'm in my car again. i'm trying to park in the museum parking lot. i see my mom. she is there with a walker and she's following two older ladies. they say they have a parking pass, so i can park in the garage for free. i park the car and follow them to a secret museum entrance. there is a wrought iron spiral staircase, painted bright blue, with a section missing about 10 feet up. the older ladies go up the staircase. when they get to the broken section, they jump up and grab part of the upper stair railing. essentially they do a pull up to get to the next section. i look at my mom and even though she's not very strong she's still going to try to jump it. i climb up the side of the stairs and jump. i grab the upper railing right as she makes a leap for it. she misses but i grab her around the waist. i don't really have a good grip and she starts to slip down out of my grasp. instead she flips upside down. now i'm holding her legs against me as her arms are pointed down towards the concrete floor. i lower her down so she doesn't fall. some people come running to help. i jump down and help her sit up. she says something like "maybe today wasn't a great day for the museum." she says she wants to hit the restrooms before we leave. then she stops at a machine and buys some toilet paper. i assume we have to pay extra for a bathroom ticket. my wife never returns my text or phone call.

then i woke up.