Washington DC - Day 4

Saturday was our last full day in DC. We started the day by grabbing a sandwich from Subway and eating it in Dupont Circle. Next we found a stop for the double decker sightseeing bus and got on. The bus drives by all major sights and tourists are able to get on and off the bus at 30 different stops along the way, as they please. The bus drove by such sights as: National Cathedral, Georgetown, Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, and Ford's Theatre, just to name a few. We started our tour at Dupont Circle, stop 11, and didn't get off the bus until stop 1, Union Station. We walked around inside Union Station for a short time and then got back on a bus and rode to Arlington National Cemetery, stop 20. At Arlington we saw the eternal flame at JFK's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. At the tomb we watched the Tomb Guard Sentinels, who guard the tomb 27/7. Upon leaving the cemetery, we took the bus to stop 24, and walked to the Jefferson Memorial. Opposite the Tidal Basin in front of the memorial, people can rent paddle boats and cruise around the basin. Eric and I stopped to see about renting a paddle boat, and were approached by a friendly, single woman who offered to pay the way if she could ride with us. She explained that after numerous trips to DC, she had never been able to convince her husband into taking her. She had decided to ride the boat without him, but didn't think she could do it alone. We thanked her for the offer, but explained that we didn't have enough time to go for the ride. The truth was, we really preferred to go by ourselves. So to back up our story, we walked on over to the Jefferson Memorial to see it up close. Before we left the memorial we walked to the edge, along the water and watched the paddle boaters; planning to head back over to the rental counter to rent a boat of our own. We spotted our "friend" alone on a paddle boat and waved to each other. We didn't want to appear to be liars, so we left after that and missed out on our boat trip. We felt bad that the woman was alone, but we really didn't want to be on the tiny boat with a stranger, since it was sort of a romantic thing to do.
Since the bus had stopped running by this time, we walked to the nearest subway station and took it back to our hotel. We cleaned up and headed back to the area we had just came from to go to dinner. The restaurant we picked out of Frommer's was Oyamel. It is a Mexican restaurant that is also sort of a tapas place. We sat at the bar and each had a Oyamel margarita while we waited for our table to be ready. Instead of the traditional salt rimmed glass, this drink has a salt foam at the top. It was very cool. When we got to the table we ordered a pitcher of traditional margaritas and a bowl of guacamole that they make fresh at your table. After that we ordered a total of 6 dishes, consisting of: Mejillones al tequila con chipotle (steamed mussels with tequila, sautéed garlic and chipotle sauce), Albóndigas enchipotladas con queso doble crema (meatballs in chipotle sauce with crumbled ‘double cream’ cheese and cilantro), Chapulines (the legendary Oaxacan speciality of sautéed grasshoppers, served with shallots, garlic and tequila), Lengua guisada (braised beef tongue with radishes and a sauce of roasted pasilla chili, tomatoes, onion and garlic), Carnitas con salsa de tomatillo (confit of baby pig with green tomatillo sauce, pork rinds, onions and cilantro), and Arrachera con salsa molcajeta y nopales escabeche (grilled skirt steak in a sauce of grilled tomatoes, tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and green chile, garnished with pickled cactus paddle. Even though some of the dishes were a little out of ordinary, it was all outstanding. Our dining experience at Oyamel pretty much marked the end of our trip, since all we did after that was go back to our room to relax and left for home the next day.

Washington DC - Day 3

Friday marked day three of our trip. Eric and I slept in pretty late, like we usually do when we are on vacation. After we got around we walked to a nearby Chipotle and got some tacos. We took our food back to Dupont Circle to eat while relaxing on the benches in the beautiful weather. Following lunch, we purchased our day passes for the subway and then rode to the closest stop to our destination, the National Museum of Natural History. After wandering around inside we saw that there was an IMAX theater, so we decided to see a show. We reviewed our options of movies and chose Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia. While we waited for it to start we looked at some more of the exhibits and got something to drink and a cappuccino gelato from the cafeteria. The IMAX show was pretty cool. It was in 3D, and I sat back in my chair throughout a lot of the show since it felt like the dinosaurs were coming at me. Following the show we went back to looking at exhibits for a few hours. Some of the things that we saw were: the Hope Diamond, lots of dinosaur bones, numerous mammals, ancient Egyptian artifacts, various underwater creatures, and countless other items. While Eric and I were at the museum the weather took a turn for the worse. We stepped outside to leave and it was pouring rain. We waited around for it to stop, but it didn't seem like there was an end in sight. Since we had left our umbrellas in the suitcase at the hotel, we went back inside to the gift shop to buy ponchos. I think they were $5 each. They were pretty much large trash bags with arm holes and a hood and ended up being almost completely worthless. It was raining super hard, so the water soaked our feet in less than a minute and the began working its way up our jeans quickly as well. We stopped under some overhangs for breaks from the rain a few times on our way back to the subway. We went back to the hotel to get into some dry clothes since the stupid rain cut our sightseeing short again. Of course the rain stopped shortly after we got back to the hotel. Sitting on the floor in our room, I used my blow dryer to dry our jeans and shoes that we had been wearing. While we were drying off I consulted my Frommer's book and decided on Hank's Oyster Bar for dinner. We walked to the restaurant and had to wait quite a while for a table since the little restaurant was so popular. We ended up getting the corner table on the patio that we had been hoping to be seated at. The meal was full of firsts for me. I had the first oysters that I really enjoyed, my first ceviche, and my first soft-shell crab. We had a great time and enjoyed a delicious meal. We were going to get a few beers to take to our room, but the liquor stores had closed by the time we had made our way back to the hotel. We ended up having some over-priced drinks at the bar in our hotel before going upstairs to go to bed.

Washington DC - Day 2

Before heading out for sightseeing on Thursday, we went to James Hoban's for lunch. It is an Irish Pub across the street from the restaurant we ate at the previous night. To my dismay they were out of bangers and mash, so I settled for Chicken Pot Pie while Eric chose the Shepard's Pie. Both dishes were delicious. With full stomachs, we headed to the nearby subway station. We both found DC's subway system to be very nice; it was clean and easy to navigate. We ended up getting day passes each of the remaining days we were there. Eric and I took the subway to the nearest stop to the National Archives. We had to wait in line outside the museum for almost an hour before getting in. It was pretty hot, and there was no shade so it wasn't much fun waiting. Admission to the National Archives is free and there are lots of interesting things to see. Besides the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights you can see a variety of documents such as the Magna Carta, a map of the battle of Gettysburg, Rosa Parks' police report, and a number of additional items. The lighting in the room where the Declaration of Independence is shown is kept very dim, and the temperature felt cooler than the rest of the building. There are beautiful murals on the upper portion of the domed room. The documents themselves are faded and somewhat difficult to read.

After we left the National Archives we walked to the Capitol Building. I had to take more pictures of the ducks in the pond in front of the Capitol. There is a clear view of the Washington Monument from the front of the Capitol. Unfortunately we were not able to go in the Capitol Building. Our sightseeing was cut short because a storm came up. We quickly made our way to the nearest subway stop and headed back to the hotel. Eric and I got cleaned up and went to dinner at Sala Thai, which was recommended by Frommer's. Frommer's is usually pretty spot on with recommendations, but was wrong about this place. We were not impressed at all. After our disappointing dinner we went back to James Hoban's for a few beers before calling it a night. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the bar had a talented live performer, Willard Dickie, who played guitar and sang cover songs.

Washington DC - Day 1

Eric and I were in Washington DC May 27 - 31. Unlike our usual rushing around to make our flight, we got to KCI with time to spare. Wow!! We arrived in DC around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. We took a cab to our hotel, located near Dupont Circle. I was starving since we hadn't had lunch yet, so after we got checked in we wandered around to find a place to eat. We came upon a bookstore that had a table set up outside with piles of of cool, old hardcover books for sale. We picked out some to buy, but decided we would come back later since we didn't want to have to take them back to the hotel or carry them around. So we set back out to find some food. After much walking around and a stop at Dupont Circle, we chose Eli's Restaurant, a New York Style deli. We made the wrong decision. Our sandwiches were not very good and also were over-priced.
Following our late lunch, we headed towards the Lincoln Memorial. Even though by the end of the day my feet were tired, and Eric's were blistered, I was happy we walked. We got to see several parks and neat architecture that we might otherwise have missed. The Lincoln Memorial was amazing. The statue of Lincoln was remarkable. On the walls to the sides of the statue were Lincoln's famous speeches. I enjoyed experiencing first-hand the grandeur I had seen on movies. The only thing that damped our experience were the throngs of tour groups full of annoying teenagers. We sat on the steps in front of the memorial for a while and took in the view. From the Lincoln Memorial we walked along the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument. We stopped several times so I could watch the ducks and take pictures of them. I wished that I had something so I could feed them. Between the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument was the the WWII Memorial. The grassy area surrounding the Washington Monument was full of people playing co-ed softball. Being encircled by the monuments and White House, it looked like a cool place to play. We took a break and sat on the benches facing the monument for a few minutes before heading over to get a view of the White House. I was surprised to find out how far back the White House sat from the surrounding fence. When I had seen it on TV, it never seemed that far. By that time, it was getting late and we were ready to head back to clean up for dinner and drinks. On the walk back to the hotel we walked through the George Washington University area. I could not believe the number of blocks the college and housing spanned. That night we went to dinner a few blocks from the hotel at The Front Page. The menu was full of tasty choices, but we both decided on sandwiches. I had a French Dip and Eric had the Bully Cheese Steak. Both were outstanding. Before heading back to our hotel to crash, we had a few beers.

Phantom

A few weeks ago Eric and I had a super fun Saturday. Merry and Glen (Eric's mom & her husband), drove to KC Saturday morning. After they arrived that afternoon we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and looked around, which I always enjoy. Then we came back to house to get ready to go out for the evening. We ate dinner at Houston's on the Plaza. Dinner was fabulous. We all chose to start with a salad and move on to the mouth-watering filet for our main course. The main event for the evening was to watch Phantom of the Opera at Music Hall. The show was spectacular. My favorite song of the musical was performed right before intermission, "All I Ask of You." (I have been pulling the song up on YouTube frequently since the show to listen to it.) Following the show we drove to Crown Center to have a drink at Benton's and listen to live Jazz. Unfortunately we were only able to stay for about 30 minutes since it was almost closing time when we arrived. The band, consisting of a vocalist, pianist, bassist, and drummer, was outstanding.

Louisiana - Part 4

On Wednesday, March 18th before we left Biloxi we went back to the beach for a few minutes. I wanted to get a few more pictures and collect a little sand before leaving. We didn't linger long because we needed to hit the road for New Orleans.

Upon our arrival to New Orleans, we checked into our hotel. The last time Eric and I were in New Orleans, we ate at Acme Oyster House in the French Quarter. It was really tasty so we decided to go there for a late lunch. At the hotel, we looked up the address and entered it into Eric's phone (that has GPS). We followed the directions it gave us, which seemed like a good idea at the time. We didn't think the idea all the way through because they were driving directions and we ended up doing a lot of back-tracking because of the one way streets. After we arrived at the restaurant and were seated, we ordered a round of beers while we looked over the menu. Eric and I ordered a dozen oysters on the half-shell for an appetizer. Eric has eaten oysters several times and really likes them, but this was my first try. The slimy appearance of the oysters had previously always creeped me out too much to try them. I found them to be not too shabby. I ate mine on a cracker with some Chipotle Tabasco sauce. (I still wasn't brave enough to just slurp them out of the shell.) For my meal I ate a shrimp po-boy, Eric had a combination plate with jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice, and Jim had some fried crawfish. We had a few more beers and made our way out to wander the French Quarter. I wanted to go to Fat Tuesday to have one of their delicious mudslides, but we spotted a neat little courtyard and meandered inside. It was a little bar named, Pat O'Brien's. The courtyard was set back from the street and was full of tables with plants all around. We found a table and started ordering Hurricanes. The drinks were huge, and the bartender was generous with the amount of alcohol in each glass. Before we knew it; it was dark, we had a table full of empty glasses, and we were extremely impaired. I guess I should also mention that our drinks were $10 each. We each had 4 drinks. For the low price of $10 a drink, patrons are allowed to keep their glasses. If you don't want to keep the glass, then you can turn it back in for $3. Well, as I mentioned we had each had 4 drinks so we weren't thinking clearly enough to get our $36 back and just left the glasses on the table. When we finally left Pat O'Brien's we headed across to Fat Tuesday's for the much anticipated mudslides. With mudslides in hands, we stumbled around the French Quarter joining a ghost tour group, grabbing a slice of pizza, and ducking into bars to hear bands. Before heading back to the hotel, the guys decided it would be a good idea to get another mudslide, while I managed to have enough sense to decline. We somehow made it back to our hotel and crashed.
The next day the guys seemed to feel pretty good, but I felt absolutely horrible. We got checked out of the hotel and drove to the market area to find Cafe du Monde; where they are famous for their beignets and cafe au lait. We found a table in their courtyard and ordered our breakfast/lunch. The beignets were loaded with confectioner's sugar and were marvelous. We decided to walk along the river walk a while to look at the boats and rest of the scenery. Jim got tricked into getting a shoe shine by some guy along the river walk. We ended up getting back to the car just in time. We hadn't noticed when we parked there, but we parked in a no parking area. The officer was issuing citations and we managed to pull out of the spot before we got one. After that we headed back to Baton Rouge for a peaceful evening at Jim's brother's house. We went out for a little bit to Buffalo Wild Wings for some wings and beer.
The following day we went to a goodbye lunch with Jim's family at Ralph and Kacoo's (it is a nice seafood/cajun restaurant). From there we headed back to Kansas City. We stopped in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where we had planned to stay the night. Jim went to school there, and drove us around the campus area. Natchitoches is famous for their meatpies. Unfortunately the restaurants where they are served are closed on Fridays. We decided to head on home because we couldn't get our meatpies and we were ready to sleep in our own beds. To help the lengthy trip go faster for me I decided to sleep most of the way home. Jim's long drive ended when we arrived in Olathe sometime around 3:00 in the morning.

Louisiana Trip - Part 3

Tuesday morning we got up and hit the road for Biloxi, Mississippi. I wasn't looking forward to this part of the trip because I didn't figure there would be anything to do other than gamble at the casinos. As soon as we got close to Biloxi, I was happily surprised. All along the coast was an exceptionally wide, white sand beach. It was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't wait to take my shoes off and walk in the sand. When we arrived at Hard Rock, we had some lunch and drinks at the cafe before checking in. After we got settled into our rooms we went downstairs to check out the casino. We were underwhelmed by Hard Rock's casino. It was small, so it was fairly hard to find a table. We decided to walk next-door to Beau Rivage to see what their casino looked like. It was very nice. It is owned by MGM, and we noticed it has a similar feel to Bellagio (also owned by MGM). Eric and Jim played black jack for quite a while. I walked around the casino, but wasn't in the mood to gamble so I sat down and people-watched. I noticed that the majority of the people in the casino were over the age of 65. I'm not sure how long I sat around, but after a bit I walked back to our hotel room to read. Eric met up with me not long after and we decided to go for a walk on the beach. We strolled along the beach to find a place to sit and watch the sun set. The view was picturesque, and the sand was soft and cool between my toes. I decided that I wanted to roll up my jeans and put my feet in the water since it was my first time to the gulf. The water was pretty cool at first, but I got used to it quickly. I convinced Eric to test the water as well. The waves picked up and my jeans ended up getting pretty wet while he managed to stay fairly dry. When it got dark we headed back to the hotel to find Jim and get some dinner. Eric and I decided that Mexican food sounded good, so we had the GPS in Jim's car find us a place to go. If I remember correctly we ate at El Saltillo. The food wasn't the best I've had but it was still good. Following dinner we went back to Hard Rock for some more gambling. I still wasn't in the mood to play so I just watched the guys play black jack. A few times I was about to sit down to play, but someone beat me to the open seat. After a while I got tired of standing, and also tired in general, so I went up to bed. The guys continued to play for probably a few hours.

Louisana Trip - Part 2

Monday morning we drove west/southwest to Lafayette where we had lunch at Blue Dog Cafe. The restaurant's walls are adorned with paintings by a local artist that each include a blue dog. That, along with the fine reviews of the food lead me to add the restaurant to our to-do list for the trip. We ate entirely too much food, but it tasted delightful. For appetizers, we had Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms, Andouille Sausage, and Crab Cakes. My main course was the Crabmeat au Gratin. Eric was going to have the special (I don't remember what it was), but they were out so he ordered the Crabmeat Florentine. With full stomachs we drove south to Avery Island. Here is a link to view the restaurant and some of the paintings: http://www.bluedogcafe.com/gallery.php.

Avery Island is where Tabasco is made. We took the dull tour when we arrived. Luckily it was only about 20 minutes long, and we also each got miniature bottles of the regular Tabasco and the Green Pepper Tabasco sauces. After that we went to their Country Store where they have samples and sell various Tabasco items (shirts, sauces, and other touristy stuff). We tried some sauces, as well as Tabasco ice cream, and Tabasco soda. There were two flavors of the ice cream. My favorite was the Sweet and Spicy. While at Avery Island, we also toured Jungle Gardens. I had a great time at Jungle Gardens. It consists of a 5-mile drive full of trees and lagoons teeming with plant and wild life. Jim drove through the area and whenever we saw something cool, we pulled over and got out of the car. Shortly after we drove into the gardens we came upon a large pond where the guys spotted our first alligator. I had them pull over so I could take some pictures. When we first walked up to the shore of the pond, the alligator was probably almost halfway across. After a few minutes he headed our way. Pretty soon we noticed that he must have called for his friends, because there were two more nearby. When he was about 10 feet away from the shore, I decided it was time to get back in the car and move on. All of the alligators we saw were fairly small, ranging in size from approximately 4-7 feet long, but they were big enough you wouldn't want to mess with them. I made Jim pull over pretty much every time we saw an alligator, which was very frequent. There were no barricades separating us from them which was cool and also a little chilling. We assume that the gardens keep an eye on the alligators, since they were mostly the same size, and remove them once they get large. Also I think it would be a liability for them to have the larger, more dangerous ones where they could easily reach the tourists. Jungle Gardens was full of beautiful trees and brilliant pink azaleas. One section of the gardens is labeled Bird City. There were hundreds of Egrets (striking, white water-birds). Swimming in the water under the overlook for the birds, were more alligators. Eventually we checked the time and realized we were going to be late for dinner with Jim's family, so we hurried back to the highway.
All of Jim's immediate family gathered at his brother Brett's house in Baton Rouge for dinner, which was fantastic. We were welcomed by tuna steaks, shrimp kabobs, and asparagus fresh off the grill. We had all kinds of other food to go with our meal. We spent the night at Brett's, so we lounged around his house the rest of the evening.

Still more to come...

Louisiana Trip - Part 1

Last week I was on spring break, so Eric and our friend Jim took off work so we could make a trip down to Louisiana to take part in a crawfish boil with Jim's family. We left home early on Saturday, March 14th and spent the entire day driving to Jim's mom's house in Southern Louisiana. We didn't arrive there until around 10:30 that evening so we just relaxed a while before heading to bed.

The next day (Sunday) we got up and prepared for the crawfish boil. It was such a cool experience. Jim's uncle went to the crawfish pond in the morning and brought back almost 4 full bags of crawfish, which was around 150 pounds. Eric and I watched the entire process enthusiastically. Outside, a gigantic pot was used to cook the crawfish. In the pot was a bag of crawfish, sausage, onions, corn-on-the-cob, potatoes, garlic, crawfish seasoning, and oranges. When it was ready the mixture was dumped on the picnic tables that were lined with newspaper. Eric and I received some lessons from Jim's family on the proper technique for getting to the crawfish meat. (We later discovered that various people have their own preferred way of doing it.) I was a little nervous that I wouldn't like the crawfish. I was happily surprised that it tasted marvelous. I still can not believe how much I liked it. Quickly, everyone had a large pile of empty shells in front of them. Luckily, we didn't have to wait long for the next batch to be ready. All too soon we got full, when there was still so much delicious fool to be consumed. After a while, I had to help myself to some apple pie a la mode. We spent the afternoon eating, drinking, and socializing with Jim's family. Besides enjoying the food, I loved listening to everyone's southern accent. I found myself envious that I'm not from a region that I would develop a cool accent.
After everyone left, Eric, Jim, Brett (Jim's brother), and myself drove a short distance to see the family's old plantation home. Jim's aunt gave us a tour of the house and provided us with interesting historical facts about the home. We stayed there for a while and had a few drinks with his aunt and uncle before heading back to his mom's.

The remainder of the evening was spent relaxing in front of the TV and planning for the rest of the week.

(To be continued)

Day 3 Napa/San Francisco

I've been so busy procrastinating I "forgot" to post about the rest of our trip. Its been like 3 months now, so we'll see how much I can remember.

On Saturday, we left our hotel and headed back for the gorgeous city, San Francisco. On the way back we took Highway 101 so we could drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. (On the way to Napa we took the Bay Bridge.) After maneuvering around several busy one way streets in San Fran, we located our hotel and a parking garage. Our hotel was so close to the Bay Bridge, it was almost under it. I was disappointed to find the hotel lobby under construction. After leaving our luggage in our tiny room we took off for a stroll along The Embarcadero. I enjoy walking along the water. It is soothing to me. Along the way we decided to head over to China Town to see if we could find any restaurants that would strike our fancy. Nothing jumped out at us, so we went north to Fisherman's Wharf. We ended up sitting outside and having some yummy clam chowder in bread bowls. The area was surrounded with pigeons begging for food, so we shared. While we were at Fisherman's Wharf we paid a visit to the sea lions. I love them. Their barking, or whatever you call it, makes me smile. ( I also posted a video I took of them at night, so you can hear them) The rest of the afternoon we bar hopped. At each bar we had some beer, my beer of choice was the local beer Anchor Steam, and watched college football games on TV. That night we walked back towards our hotel and decided to stop in the Little Italy area for some pasta. The restaurant we decided on was Calzone's. The wait was long and the food was pretty tasty. After finishing our food and wine we concluded our walk to the hotel. The following morning we left fairly early for the airport to come home.