Vacation - Part 2

Monday's adventures didn't start until mid-afternoon, since I slept well into the afternoon. I was super exhausted, and Eric had to finally wake me up since I wasn't waking up on my own. We had to rearrange our plans since my sleepiness put us behind schedule. We got cleaned up and headed back to the Inner Harbor area,where we were the night before. On the way there we stopped at a Subway and grabbed a few sandwiches for a late lunch. Once we arrived at the harbor, we bought tickets to see the historic ships situated around the harbor. Our first ship was the USS Constellation. The Constellation was the last all-sail ship built by the US Navy and it is the only vessel still afloat that saw active service during the Civil War. Eric and I both enjoyed touring the ship. There were very few other tourists there, so we were able to explore the ship without having to fight a crowd. After the Constellation we made a quick tour through the Chesapeake. It is a lightship that was commissioned in 1930. We spent much less time in this ship, since we boarded it close to closing time. I learned that a lightship is basically a floating lighthouse. My favorite tidbit I learned though, was that the Coast Guard ships used to have dogs for mascots. Accompanied by the history of some of the more famous dogs, were several pictures of the pooches in action. Next, we wandered around the harbor for a while before returning to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We took a taxi to Little Italy, for dinner at Sabatino's. Their garlic bread was absolutely fantastic. Our meals were delicious as well. Eric had fettuccine alfredo and I had lasagna. We walked back to our hotel, but stopped along the way at a bar in the Power Plant live area (which is like a very miniature version of KC's P&L area) for a few drinks.
Tuesday we got up and around much earlier, so we could see more of the sights we had listed on our itinerary. Baltimore has water taxis that shuttle passengers around the area for a flat fee for the day. We took one to the Fell's Point area for brunch. Before our trip, Eric and I had seen an episode of Diner's, Drive-ins, and Dives that featured a little restaurant called Blue Moon Cafe, located in Fell's Point. Ever since I saw the episode I had been dying to try it out. We both had their signature dish of Captain Crunch French Toast. I thought it was fabulous, but it was a bit too sweet for Eric. After strolling through the neighborhood for a little while, we headed back to the water taxi stop. While we waited for one, we looked at a British Navy destroyer that was docked at the harbor. It was enormous! Once the water taxi arrived, we took it to the aquarium. There were all sorts of cool creatures there. Some of our favorites were: an octopus, a sea turtle that was missing one of it's legs/fins, manta rays, jellyfish, and all kinds of sharks. We spent several hours at the aquarium since it was so big and had so many things to see. After we finished there, we took a very short walk to the USS Torsk. The Torsk is a submarine that was commissioned in 1944. It sank 2 Japanese coastal defense frigates in 1945. Next up, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Orioles game. The stadium was just a short walk from our hotel so we headed over shortly before game time. Camden Yards, where the Orioles play, is an awesome ball park to visit. The stadium is in a great location and the park is full of vendors. Eric and I had a wonderful time at the game. We sat along the 3rd base foul line. During the game we partook in my favorite baseball activities; we drank beers, ate peanuts and BBQ, and cheered the home team on to a win. Baltimore beat Oakland 5-1. It was a nice finish to our stay in Baltimore. We left the next morning via train for Washington DC.

Vacation - Part 1

So, almost a year has gone by since I have posted anything. I feel pretty pathetic now that I realize how long it has been. I may try to go back and post about some of the things we have done since my last posting sometime soon. While our most recent trip is still somewhat fresh in my mind, I'll go ahead and give everyone a rundown of our vacation.
On Sunday, May 23 Eric and I left our house around 4:00am to get to the airport for our 6:00am flight to Philadelphia. (Us being us, we didn't go to bed until around 1:30 am, so we ended up getting less than 2 hours of sleep.) We made it in time for our flight and boarded the plane like normal. Just when we were about to push back, the captain came on over the intercom and announced that our flight was being delayed because of heavy fog in Detroit(our layover). Everyone was instructed to exit the plane and return to the gate for approximately 2 hours. Eric and I were worried about missing our connecting flight in Detroit to Philadelphia so he called the airline to see if alternate arrangements could be made. He ended up booking us a later flight to Philadelphia. We were so frustrated because we only had a few hours planned for Philly before we boarded a train and headed to Baltimore. Pretty much right after we made the change (probably only an hour had went by) they announced for everyone to re-board the plane since the fog had lifted. I called the airline back and told them we wanted our original seats back since we would probably end up making it on time now. The woman couldn't/wouldn't reissue them, however she told me once we landed to run to our gate to see if we could make our original connecting flight. Once we landed we did just that. They switched our tickets back and that flight ended up being delayed anyway and we waited around for a while.
We ended up making it to Philly shortly behind schedule. We even got our luggage. We were a little worried that it wouldn't make it since we had changed our connecting flight, and then changed it back. We decided to just take a cab downtown to the train station to leave our luggage there. It was pretty expensive for a fairly short cab ride, but it did get us there quicker than a bus or train. We stowed our bags for reasonably cheap and then walked over to the subway for a fast ride to the touristy downtown area. We quickly looked at the Liberty Bell. Neither of us were terribly impressed. I found a review on Frommer's for a supposedly great cheese steak place, so Eric plugged the address in his phone and we let the GPS guide us there. The first part of the walk was nice. We saw several parks, historical buildings, nice homes, and cool shops. However, we quickly were guided into a rather dirty part of town. The restaurant, Cosmi's, was more of a convenience shop with a small kitchen. Eric and I both chose the Cheese steak Trio, that had mushrooms, onions, and peppers. They set up a table outside for us, so that we could eat our sandwiches there. The cheese steaks were alright, but I was expecting something much better since we were in Philly and all. After our lunch we headed back to the historical downtown area. We walked around and checked out Christ Church Cemetery (Benjamin Franklin is buried there), Christ Church, walked in a few shops, and then took the subway back to the train station.
Before boarding the train to Baltimore, the Amtrak employees checked our tickets before allowing us to take the escalator down to the train. We were in the right spot so we proceeded down to wait for the train. Eric put his ticket in his back pocket while we waited. Once the train pulled up, we lugged our suitcases on and tried to shimmy them down the aisles without hitting anyone. The train departed the station shortly after we got on, and after we had walked through a few cars trying to find a seat we heard the announcement that they would be coming through the cars to check tickets. Eric realized his ticket was no longer in his pocket! We stopped where we were and I waited with the luggage while he walked back through the cars to see if his ticket had fallen out of his pocket. He didn't have any luck and we started to get a little concerned. My concern was close to a panic when the conductor chewed us out and told us to take our seats, even when Eric explained what had happened. We found a place to stow our luggage and then found seats for ourselves. When the conductor reached us he told Eric (in a rather unfriendly way) that he had found his ticket. I was so relieved. I thought that Eric was going to get kicked off the train while it was going! Next thing we knew, we were in Baltimore.
We grabbed a cab to the Sheraton. I was impressed by how quickly we got checked in. Our room was on the 25th floor and we had an amazing view. We could even see Camden Yards. After the long day of traveling and walking around in Philly, we both decided to clean up before venturing out to find some food and drinks. We walked a few blocks to the Inner Harbor area. We were both really impressed with the neighborhood. The harbor itself was adorned with old ships and the surrounding area had lots of restaurants and shops. However, it was a Sunday night and we didn't get there until late, so most everything was closed. We ended up walking around for over an hour before we finally went in somewhere. At that point I decided not to even eat because it was getting late and the exhaustion was finally taking its toll on me. Since we didn't eat, our dinner was a few beers at a cool bar/restaurant named Burke's. Following the beers we went back to the hotel and crashed.

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.

I Can't Believe it's Not Tuna!

Becca was kind enough to fix me dinner last night, so I'm reluctant to post this and risk it never happening again, but I'm going to take my chances.

She had been craving Tuna Casserole all day yesterday, and even sent me a text during the day stating that she was going to fix it for dinner.

Unfortunately, there would be no Tuna Casserole for us. Not for lack of effort though; Becca spent a good half hour preparing it. Chopping celery and mushrooms for the sauce, preparing the noodles, etc. She then spent another 45 or 50 minutes baking it.

We began eating the much anticipated casserole, and though it was good, it wasn't quite the same as usual. It just seemed to be... Missing something.

It turns out, it was missing a key ingredient - the ingredient from which the dish itself garners its name: the tuna.

We had a nice laugh while eating the rest of our tuna-less noodle casserole.

"I don't know why they call it Hamburger helper. It does just fine by itself." -Cousin Eddie

Day 2 Napa Valley/Sonoma Valley

Neither Eric nor I slept well the first night of our trip. Our air conditioner was not working so it was very warm in our room. On our way out in the morning I requested that maintenance get the problem fixed while we were out for the day. Leaving Fairfield we headed west on Highway 12 until we reached Sonoma. We parked near the city square and walked around Sonoma to get a feel for the town. We went inside Sonoma Cheese Factory. They had free samples of assortments of cheeses. Everything I tasted was delightful. Eric and I considered purchasing items for a picnic lunch (meat, cheese, olives, and wine). After some more thought we decided against it since we would need plates, knives, glasses, and a corkscrew. That all was going to add up. Instead we walked down the block a little further and had lunch at The Girl and the Fig. We each had a glass of Hahn Syrah and a salami and brie baguette. The baguette was served with red onion confit, sherry mustard and a side of delicious bean salad. The wine was outstanding.
Following lunch we hit the road heading north out of Sonoma toward Glen Ellen. We toured Benziger Family Winery. The tour consists of a tractor-drawn tram ride through some of the vineyards, a walk through the cave, and a wine-tasting. We stopped several times on the ride for information about the winery, to pick grapes from the vines to taste, and to check out the area where the grapes are fermented. The cave is where the barrels of wine are stored. Wine needs to be stored at a constant fairly cool temperature, so caves are a cheaper alternative for storage for the vineyards. We tasted six different wines, and I found a chardonnay that I really liked (2006 Reserve Chardonnay). With our purchase of the tour we were given a coupon for free tastings for two at Imagery Estate Winery just down the road. It was not on my list of stops, but I am not one to pass up a good deal so we decided to check it out. I was happy that we did because we were able to taste eight different wines and they were all wonderful. Some of our favorites were Wow Oui, Viognier, Sangiovese, Malbec, and Dragon’s Leaf Red.
There were so many places I wanted to stop, but was unable because of the vineyards all closing between 4:30 – 6:00. We made quick stops without going in at Chateau St. Jean and Ledson Winery and Vineyards. They were both beautiful. We then left Sonoma Valley and drove east into Napa Valley. The drive over the mountains was stunning.
Our next stop was in the town of St. Helena (pronounced Saint Hel-een-uh). Our stops in this charming little town included: Beringer Vineyards, The Culinary Institute of America, and St. Helena Olive Oil Company. After checking out CIA, Eric thought it might be a good idea for us to head out west for him to attend school there. At St. Helena Olive Oil Company we tried an assortment of olive oils as well as marinara and barbeque sauces. Just south of St. Helena was V. Sattui Winery. We sampled some fantastic wines while Eric solicited advice from the pourer. It worked well for us, because we were able to try several of the reserve wines that we had not paid for. Unfortunately, V. Sattui does not sell their wines in restaurants or shops – the only places to get them is at the winery so we purchased a bottle of 2006 Syrah. Before leaving we stopped at their gourmet deli for a late-afternoon snack of salami, smoked Gouda, smoked cheddar, and a fresh baguette. We ate our snack at the picnic tables located in front of the winery beside the vineyard.
On the road again we drove on in to Napa and walked around parts of the town we had missed the night before while looking for dinner options for the evening. As we contemplated our decision we went back to Downtown Joe’s for some beers. We sat on the patio again and after a while we ended up having dinner there. Following Joe’s we drove to our hotel to try to finish the movie we started the night before. When we got there we were disappointed to find out that our air conditioner had not be fixed so I had to call the front desk and request a new room. We packed everything up and moved to a nice cool room. After getting settled we started the movie. Eric made it through this time around, but I did not.

Day 1 Napa Valley/San Francisco

Eric and I were in Napa/Sonoma and San Francisco October 16-19. I did not have classes on Thursday or Friday so we went on a short vacation. Thursday morning we got around, dropped the kids off at Mystic Acres, and headed to the airport. It seemed like we got to the airport in plenty of time, but by the time the bus picked us up from economy and dropped us at the terminal - our flight was already boarding. While checking our bags we were told that our chances of them making it were 50/50 because they were so late. That's is always wonderful to hear. On the plane the flight attendants were making their announcements and kept saying the correct flight number, but for the destination they said Los Angeles. We weren’t too concerned because we figured we must just have a connecting flight. The closer we got to California the more nervous we became that maybe somehow we ended up on the wrong flight. At no point had anyone said anything about a transfer. I just kept thinking that the trip was going to end up being a disaster. Finally (I think we might have even landed in L. A.) a flight attendant made an announcement that anyone headed on to San Francisco should stay seated because the flight would be on the same plane. I was so relieved. The flight from L. A. to San Fran was short. After we landed in San Fran we found out it actually was our lucky day. Our luggage made it. We collected our bags and picked up the rental car. I was the navigator and Eric was the driver so I directed him towards Napa by way of the Bay Bridge. It was around 4:00 so traffic was not pleasant, but not terrible. I was hoping we would make it to the Napa area in enough time to visit a vineyard and start some wine tasting (most of the vineyards close at 5:00). Much to our dismay we came to a stand still just a few miles out of Napa. There must have been a big wreck. The funny part was after we sat in traffic for probably 30-45 minutes (just as we arrived to the intersection that was full of fire trucks, police cars, an ambulance, and tow trucks) it was our turn to cross and all of the vehicles pulled away. I had to laugh. Although that was some bad luck, I figured we had probably used all of our good luck for the day on making our correct flight and getting our luggage. We walked around Napa and I consulted Frommer’s to find location for a tasty libation. We decided on Downtown Joe’s. Eric and I sat outside on the patio so that we could enjoy the beautiful evening. He had some IPAs and I had some Black and Tans. After a few beers and an appetizer of spinach dip we walked across the street to have dinner. Frommer’s recommended a tapas place called ZuZu. The restaurant was very small and had a cute little balcony dining room where we sat. Eric and I ordered a carafe of sangria and five different types of tapas. Two of the dishes we enjoyed were: Moroccan Barbecue Glazed Rack of Lamb with Mint and Red Curry Oil and Niman Ranch Grass Fed Flat-Iron Steak with Roasted Jalapeno Chimichurri. The other three dished featured: duck confit, albondigas, and peppers with garlic cloves. Our dining experience was enjoyable. After dinner we wandered back to the car and drove east to Fairfield where our hotel was. Our hotel room overlooked a pretty courtyard so we decided since it was still fairly early it would be a good idea to go purchase some drinks and have them in the courtyard. Eric’s phone had GPS (which saved us several times) so we looked up a liquor store and followed the directions. Before we went up to our room we stopped in the lobby of our hotel and rented a movie, “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” We didn’t make it down to enjoy our drinks in the open air; instead we decided to watch the movie and have a drink in our room. I guess we were pretty tired because we fell asleep shortly after we started the movie.

No phone, no phone

Effective Tuesday, October 7th Eric and I will no longer have a home telephone. We rarely use that phone so we have decided to have it disconnected. If you would like to reach us by phone please try us on our cell phones. If you need the numbers, just send us an email and we will get them to you.

Weekend-O-Fun

The second weekend in August Alex and Tasha came to visit us. We had a fun-filled weekend. I should have made this post when the events were fresher in my mind, as now that I'm trying to remember what we did, I'm finding it difficult.

On Saturday we started out with lunch at Jose Pepper's. In my humble opinion, Jose Pepper's has some of the best margaritas in the area. I never eat there without having at least two margaritas to accompany my meal. From there we went up to Legends (a shopping/restaurant area up by the speedway). We stopped at Yardhouse to have a beer while we waited for our movie time to arrive. We watched The Dark Knight at the theater at Legends. It was a very cool movie. I would have to say that I like Batman Begins better though. After the movie we went to The Woodlands and bet on the dog races. I do not think I have ever done as poorly as I did that night. I don't think I won a single race. I tried looking at stats, picking the prettiest dog, deciding on my favorite name, nothing would work. Even though I didn't win, I had a great time. After the races we went back to Yardhouse to have dinner before calling it a night.

On Sunday we had lunch at Planet Sub followed by dessert at Sylas and Maddy's. I had the cappuccino chip ice cream. It was delicious. Sunday afternoon we went downtown to the Power and Light district. We bowled at Lucky Strike for a few hours. I love the atmosphere there, it is very retro. We had a drink at Ragland Road before heading to the plaza for dinner. We were hungry for Japanese steakhouse so we tried out Hibachi. It was glad that we tried it, but I probably won't go back there since there are several others that I like better. Following dinner we drove out to Cool Crest for a round of putt-putt. We got there fairly close to closing time so we were rushed. Mack's ball went off the green at one point, so he tried to chip in with his putter. His ball went completely off the course and bounced out of the parking lot so the rest of us took turns letting him use one of our balls. A few rounds later I hit my ball and it disappeared. I think it must have stuck in one of the obstacles. So then the four of us tried to use two balls. It was pretty amusing. We ended up getting rushed out since it was closing time. We weren't ready to go home yet so we went back to P&L. We had a few drinks at Gordon Biersch Brewery. I guess I should clarify that Eric, Alex, and Tasha had a few drinks, I only had one. I ordered a wheat beer. I thought it was pretty gross so it took me longer to finish my drink. That was our last stop of the day.

Monday we didn't do much since Alex and Tasha had to go home. We had a hard time deciding where to have lunch, so we ended up going to one of our usual spots Buffalo Wild Wings. After that we ran to Costco and Sam's Club to stock up on groceries and other household goods. We tried to talk Alex and Tasha into sticking around for a movie, but didn't have any luck.