We spent today at the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, OH. The park is situated on an island in Lake Erie off of the main part of Sandusky. It is a beautiful spot, and we had heard a lot of great things about the park. It’s not easy going to an amusement park with the three kids. Ethan likes roller coasters, Brian not so much, and Amanda likes kiddie rides and some faster rides. So it’s not always easy finding a way to keep all, or even two, of them happy at the same time.
To start the day Ethan and I went to one of the “Double Black Diamond” rides near the front of the park. Bad mistake. Like most of the eastern part of the country, today was a scorcher, and since this ride was near the front, everyone stopped to go on it and the line was long and in the baking sun most of the time. We were so hot we bought water along the way. The line took 45 minutes for a 45 second payoff [insert your own joke here]. And it turned out the ride was average at best. It compared to Great Bear at Hershey, but it wasn’t as good. I could spend a lot of time comparing Cedar Point to Hershey in this blog post, as the parks are similar in nature, but I’ll be brief. Both have a lot of rides for all ages, both have water parks, and both have a lot of heavy people walking around.
While Ethan and I were roasting, Debbie and the other kids went on a bunch of kiddie rides. Then we met up and tried to figure a plan where we could stay together for a while. That worked for a bit, but then Ethan and I went off again in search of roller coasters while Debbie, Brian and Amanda stayed with the tamer rides. Ethan and I stumbled onto a ride called Iron Dragon, which we both thought Brian could handle.
Then we went on a ride called Mantis. Now we had stepped it up a notch. For this ride you enter the vehicle standing up. There was an adjustable seat (kind of like a bicycle seat in style, with the place to sit and the protruding end that goes between your legs) that was really to be used more for balance than sitting. The instructions were to get comfortable with the seat while having your feet flat on the ground for more balance. Problem was that in the split second before they locked in all of the seats in their positions, I was a little uncomfortable and went up on my tippy toes to adjust myself. But before I could get back to flat ground, the seats were locked. So, while 40 or so people on the ride were sitting/standing comfortably with their feet flat on the ground (maybe even with knees bent a little like Ethan was for more leverage), I was stuck too high with my toes touching the floor. Then we took off on a series of upside-down loops and corkscrews. Plus, it was a little bumpy. The only good news was that I have had all of the children I am going to have, so I didn’t have to worry about that. The bad news was that the ride “beat me” and afterwards I was pretty lightheaded and had a headache. After getting some water and resting for a bit, I recovered, but as a tip if you ever go on that ride, adjust early.
The rest of the day was pretty typical of an amusement park (some good rides, overpriced lunch and bottled waters, etc.), and I will not give you a ride by ride description. However, I will tell you about one ride I went on alone, because Ethan didn’t want to go (don’t really blame him). It’s called Dragster, and it is basically a drag car that goes from 0 to 120 MPH in about 2 seconds, then climbs 420 feet straight up an “reverse U” filled with corkscrews and then comes basically straight down to the ground, before it flattens out just in time for the ride to end. The whole ride literally takes 17 seconds. But what a rush. For those Hershey veterans, it takes Storm Runner and speeds it up by 40-50 MPH, and then throws in Fahrenheit, but going down instead of up at maybe 100 MPH.
Also, along the way Amanda was feeling brave and wanted to go on some of the faster rides. But she inevitably fell about 2 inches too short for them, which resulted in tears. Brian got up the nerve to go on Iron Dragon, and liked it a lot. We even thought Amanda would like it, and for this ride she just made the height. She was thrilled and away we went. I rode with her, and the whole time she was screaming “I love this!” and she did. She went again with Ethan alone, and would have gone again but it was getting time for dinner. We opted for the oh so fancy Johnny Rockets, then headed out of the park a little before closing time at 8:30-8:45. We had an hour drive to Cleveland, and got to the hotel around 10:00 (had to stop for gas along the way). We are staying at an Embassy Suites (in the nicest room we have stayed in so far) not far from Progressive Field (where the Indians play) and we will probably walk to the game tomorrow. The Indians are playing the White Sox and noon, and we have tickets that I bought on StubHub for $6 each before we left. I haven’t checked the box score for today’s game, but I believe that it will be the first game that Manny Ramirez starts for the White Sox since being traded from the Dodgers. After the game we will visit the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Other than that, not sure what else we will do in Cleveland tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Day 14 - Can't Believe It Took 2,550 Miles
Today was a driving day - Chicago to Sandusky, OH. As expected, Amanda did not make it out of the driveway of Marti & John's house before she started crying. And no, I am not exaggerating the time it took for the tears to flow. In the morning, she went looking for John because he had said that maybe they could do some more gardening before she left. John was in his office with the door closed, but as soon as Marti returned from her walk Amanda very quickly went to Marti and casually mentioned John's comment about the garden. Marti somehow got the incredibly obvious hint, and went to get John from his office. Then John, Amanda and Brian went out back to pick some basil leaves for John's pesto sauce he was going to make. Not really sure if John wanted to make pesto sauce, but I guess that was the one item that was ready to be picked. Amanda was so happy.
Once we left Glencoe, after a stop at Starbucks and the Post Office (for more stamps), we were on our way. The plan was to stop in South Bend, IN for lunch and to visit the College Football Hall of Fame. The trip was about 2 hours from Glencoe, but at some point during our crossing of Indiana we reverted back to Eastern Time, so we lost an hour, which threw the day off whack. Anyway, we got to South Bend a little after 2:00, and the person at the Hall suggested we go to a sandwich place around the corner called Jimmy John's. Excellent suggestion. Evidently, this is a chain with a ton of outlets in the Midwest, but only one in NYC. They have very funny signs on the walls, and (tada for Debbie) a reportedly delicious "unwich" which got Debbie back into The Land of Gluten Free.
The College Football Hall of Fame was more interesting to the whole gang than I thought it might be. There were a lot of interactive activities (kicking field goals, throwing passes, agility tests, etc.) that kept everyone entertained. There were also film clips of bloopers, memorable plays and a short film on the Heisman Trophy.
Side note. In both the "memorable plays" clip and Heisman film, they showed the Doug Flutie Hail Mary Pass. Very much like when man walked on the moon, many people remember where they were when Flutie completed the pass to Gerard Phelan to beat Miami. I am no different. However, the difference for me (and my father and brother) was that we did not actually SEE the pass. No Kimosabe, we were waiting in a lobby of some sort waiting to go into the Bat Mitzvah of my 22nd cousin, twice removed (although Derek I believe snuck out to the car and heard the play-by-play on the radio). Gun to my head, there is no way I will be able to come up with the name of the bat mitzvah girl.
At this point, I think I need to set the scene for the car (or as I now call it, our "Mobile Command Center") during our driving days. I am in the driver's seat. In my control are the GPS and the ipod gadget I bought before we left that allows us to play an ipod via our tape deck. The ipod just needs to be connected to a cassette tape and a wire. I also have my cell phone nearby.
To my right is "More Than Paper On The Go." A few years ago we had purchased a device that plugs into a car lighter outlet which allows us to plug in regular power cords into it. The original purpose was for a DVD player in the car before we had the minivan. But now it is the life-saver for More Than Paper. Debbie sits in the passenger seat with her laptop on her lap, with it plugged into the device, and the wifi card connected so she has (almost) constant Internet access. She also has her Blackberry and cell phone nearby, as she has her MTP phone forwarded to her cell during the trip. Due to all of the things that need charging, we are constantly plugging and unplugging chargers.
Many times someone will call the business line looking to place an order, and she will go through the whole thing with the customer as we cruise down the highway. She also checks and sends emails, deals with order issues, and on occasion invoices orders. On many days, she has taken an order in the morning, sent the order to the printer, gotten a proof from the printer, sent the proof to the customer, had the customer approve the proof, and OK'd the order for printing - all in one day on the road.
Behind me is Ethan. He is normally staring at a movie, totally oblivious to everything going on around him. We could encounter aliens on the highway, and he would miss it.
Next to Ethan is Amanda. She is either sleeping in her car seat, or talking to us. When she is talking, she usually tells us stories of things that happened in school or at camp, months ago. Either that or she is asking me how many miles we have gone. She is also my bathroom buddy. Whenever I go, she goes. It's our bonding activity for the trip. She gets car sick if she watches a movie with the headphones on, so she either glances at whatever movie Ethan is watching or just ignores it.
In the way back is Brian. He has his own little bedroom set up back there, with his pillow. He sets up his bed before we get going, and either lies down and takes a nap or watches the movie with Ethan.
Anyway, we left the Hall of Fame shortly before 5:00, but while we were in the Hall Debbie had a panic attack because all of a sudden she was getting a whole bunch of orders, and she knew we would not be to the hotel until about 8:30, and we would still need to have dinner before we could start processing orders. So today, the Mobile Command Center went where it had never gone before - we set up the printer in the back seat and Debbie was printing as we drove. It's too bad we didn't get a picture of this, because it was a sight.
After about 2 hours of the trip from South Bend to Sandusky, it happened. Since we left I have driven over 2,500 miles, on highways and byways (what exactly is a byway?), through tunnels and over bridges, on local roads and dirt roads. Most of the time I go about 10-15 miles per hour over the speed limit, and have seen a cop or two along the way. Today was the day my luck (almost) ran out. I was going about 80 in a 65 MPH area (in my defense, most of the highways since Missouri were 70 MPH roads), when I saw a cop to my left. I slowed down to 73-74 by the time I passed him but it was too late. I saw him pull out onto the highway and start to follow me. And then the lights went on and I pulled over.
The state trooper (who looked about 11 years old) asked if I knew why he pulled me over. Seriously, why do they ask this question? What I am I supposed to say to that? Yes, officer, you pulled me over because I have an overdue book at the Great Neck Library? He said he clocked me at 80, to which I said that I thought I was only going 74. Basically, I was willing to plead guilty to shoplifting when I was busted for grand theft auto. He asked for my license and registration (no clue where the registration was, so he took our insurance card instead) and I gave him a hang-dog look and explained that I had been driving all day with the kids. He asked when the last time I had a moving violation, and other than my dancing at one of the recent bar mitzvahs, I was able to tell him that it had been 25+ years. He went back to his car, and in a few minutes gave me an early Hanukkah present - a warning. He did say, though, that he had 30 days to submit the violation, so if I got caught again I would have to pay that one and his. So, for the next 47 miles I was on my best behavior. Although, I did feel almost neutered, as I topped out at 70 MPH, while cars (and cows) zoomed past me. But, we made it to Sandusky without another incident.
After grabbing a bite at the sports bar across the street (Manny's Sports Bar), we headed to the hotel room to process all of the orders Debbie printed on Highway 80, and so I could make an online donation to the Policeman's Benevolent Association of Northern Ohio.
Tomorrow, Cedar Point Amusement Park.
Once we left Glencoe, after a stop at Starbucks and the Post Office (for more stamps), we were on our way. The plan was to stop in South Bend, IN for lunch and to visit the College Football Hall of Fame. The trip was about 2 hours from Glencoe, but at some point during our crossing of Indiana we reverted back to Eastern Time, so we lost an hour, which threw the day off whack. Anyway, we got to South Bend a little after 2:00, and the person at the Hall suggested we go to a sandwich place around the corner called Jimmy John's. Excellent suggestion. Evidently, this is a chain with a ton of outlets in the Midwest, but only one in NYC. They have very funny signs on the walls, and (tada for Debbie) a reportedly delicious "unwich" which got Debbie back into The Land of Gluten Free.
The College Football Hall of Fame was more interesting to the whole gang than I thought it might be. There were a lot of interactive activities (kicking field goals, throwing passes, agility tests, etc.) that kept everyone entertained. There were also film clips of bloopers, memorable plays and a short film on the Heisman Trophy.
Side note. In both the "memorable plays" clip and Heisman film, they showed the Doug Flutie Hail Mary Pass. Very much like when man walked on the moon, many people remember where they were when Flutie completed the pass to Gerard Phelan to beat Miami. I am no different. However, the difference for me (and my father and brother) was that we did not actually SEE the pass. No Kimosabe, we were waiting in a lobby of some sort waiting to go into the Bat Mitzvah of my 22nd cousin, twice removed (although Derek I believe snuck out to the car and heard the play-by-play on the radio). Gun to my head, there is no way I will be able to come up with the name of the bat mitzvah girl.
At this point, I think I need to set the scene for the car (or as I now call it, our "Mobile Command Center") during our driving days. I am in the driver's seat. In my control are the GPS and the ipod gadget I bought before we left that allows us to play an ipod via our tape deck. The ipod just needs to be connected to a cassette tape and a wire. I also have my cell phone nearby.
To my right is "More Than Paper On The Go." A few years ago we had purchased a device that plugs into a car lighter outlet which allows us to plug in regular power cords into it. The original purpose was for a DVD player in the car before we had the minivan. But now it is the life-saver for More Than Paper. Debbie sits in the passenger seat with her laptop on her lap, with it plugged into the device, and the wifi card connected so she has (almost) constant Internet access. She also has her Blackberry and cell phone nearby, as she has her MTP phone forwarded to her cell during the trip. Due to all of the things that need charging, we are constantly plugging and unplugging chargers.
Many times someone will call the business line looking to place an order, and she will go through the whole thing with the customer as we cruise down the highway. She also checks and sends emails, deals with order issues, and on occasion invoices orders. On many days, she has taken an order in the morning, sent the order to the printer, gotten a proof from the printer, sent the proof to the customer, had the customer approve the proof, and OK'd the order for printing - all in one day on the road.
Behind me is Ethan. He is normally staring at a movie, totally oblivious to everything going on around him. We could encounter aliens on the highway, and he would miss it.
Next to Ethan is Amanda. She is either sleeping in her car seat, or talking to us. When she is talking, she usually tells us stories of things that happened in school or at camp, months ago. Either that or she is asking me how many miles we have gone. She is also my bathroom buddy. Whenever I go, she goes. It's our bonding activity for the trip. She gets car sick if she watches a movie with the headphones on, so she either glances at whatever movie Ethan is watching or just ignores it.
In the way back is Brian. He has his own little bedroom set up back there, with his pillow. He sets up his bed before we get going, and either lies down and takes a nap or watches the movie with Ethan.
Anyway, we left the Hall of Fame shortly before 5:00, but while we were in the Hall Debbie had a panic attack because all of a sudden she was getting a whole bunch of orders, and she knew we would not be to the hotel until about 8:30, and we would still need to have dinner before we could start processing orders. So today, the Mobile Command Center went where it had never gone before - we set up the printer in the back seat and Debbie was printing as we drove. It's too bad we didn't get a picture of this, because it was a sight.
After about 2 hours of the trip from South Bend to Sandusky, it happened. Since we left I have driven over 2,500 miles, on highways and byways (what exactly is a byway?), through tunnels and over bridges, on local roads and dirt roads. Most of the time I go about 10-15 miles per hour over the speed limit, and have seen a cop or two along the way. Today was the day my luck (almost) ran out. I was going about 80 in a 65 MPH area (in my defense, most of the highways since Missouri were 70 MPH roads), when I saw a cop to my left. I slowed down to 73-74 by the time I passed him but it was too late. I saw him pull out onto the highway and start to follow me. And then the lights went on and I pulled over.
The state trooper (who looked about 11 years old) asked if I knew why he pulled me over. Seriously, why do they ask this question? What I am I supposed to say to that? Yes, officer, you pulled me over because I have an overdue book at the Great Neck Library? He said he clocked me at 80, to which I said that I thought I was only going 74. Basically, I was willing to plead guilty to shoplifting when I was busted for grand theft auto. He asked for my license and registration (no clue where the registration was, so he took our insurance card instead) and I gave him a hang-dog look and explained that I had been driving all day with the kids. He asked when the last time I had a moving violation, and other than my dancing at one of the recent bar mitzvahs, I was able to tell him that it had been 25+ years. He went back to his car, and in a few minutes gave me an early Hanukkah present - a warning. He did say, though, that he had 30 days to submit the violation, so if I got caught again I would have to pay that one and his. So, for the next 47 miles I was on my best behavior. Although, I did feel almost neutered, as I topped out at 70 MPH, while cars (and cows) zoomed past me. But, we made it to Sandusky without another incident.
After grabbing a bite at the sports bar across the street (Manny's Sports Bar), we headed to the hotel room to process all of the orders Debbie printed on Highway 80, and so I could make an online donation to the Policeman's Benevolent Association of Northern Ohio.
Tomorrow, Cedar Point Amusement Park.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Day 13 - And on the 13th Day, They Rested
Evidently the power was restored during the night after the First Night of Solderkkah (hope you all lit candles in our honor), and all was back to normal by the time everyone awoke. After 12 days of driving and running and site seeing, the gang clearly was getting a little rundown and tired, so this day was a perfect day to hang out in Glencoe and recharge the batteries before the last week of the trip. This morning my cousin Gary, his wife Jeanine, and their adorable little 2-year old son, Max, came to Marti and John's for brunch.
Now, when we made the plans for brunch, I kind of just assumed that John might go pick up some bagels, muffins and donuts and that would be that. Just cousins hanging out having a nice simple brunch. But NOOOOOOOOO, in the tradition of our 2 week food eating expedition, Marti and John brought out all the stops. They made cinnamon rolls, cheese souffles, a pasta and vegetarian sausage combo (although I only learned that they were veggie just now), a fresh fruit bowl, shrimp, and fresh from the home garden tomatoes, cucumbers and squash.
Amanda and Brian, who were up early, helped John pick the veggies from the garden. We are now under a mandate from Amanda to grow a garden at home. However, I don't think we will go as far as having an actual greenhouse in the yard like John has, as I think Great Neck Estates would require a permit and I would have to check Paul's availability. I would probably also have to hire someone to grow the plants.
We had not yet met Max, but had heard what a cutie he was. The reports were accurate. After an initial shy period as he got used to the new 2nd cousins in the room, he played with them and they all had fun together. He had so much fun, in fact, that when it was time to leave he said to Gary, "I want Mommy and Daddy to leave without me," or something close to that. I am guessing that he either threw a pretty good tantrum when they left or fell asleep in about 20 seconds.
After Gary left, we hung out for a little while. The boys played basketball in the driveway and Amanda watched some TV. Eventually, we decided to head out and explore Glencoe. And what could possibly be a better way to start that than by getting some ice cream after a huge breakfast. Marti told us about a place that made excellent homemade ice cream in the town nearby, so we went there, and it was very good. For those at home keeping score, I had banana and coffee chip.
After eating the completely unnecessary but delicious ice cream, we headed towards a park near Lake Michigan. There we played some Frisbee, Amanda went on the swings, the boys created a Frisbee/tennis game on the tennis courts that they named "Frisnis" and we otherwise just relaxed. We took the obligatory photo of the kids with Lake Michigan behind them, then headed home to get cleaned up for dinner (it remains quite hot here).
For dinner we decided to head to a local delicatessen, where we once again ordered meals that we absolutely did not need but tasted great. I had a Reuben and Debbie ordered a meal called the Little Nosh. This was neither Little nor a Nosh. It was half corned beef and half pastrami and instead of bread it was served on potato pancakes. The good news was there was no bread, so she has that going for her, which is nice.
After dinner we (stunningly) did not have dessert and headed back to Marti and John's. The hardest part of leaving here tomorrow will be for Amanda. She and John have made quite a connection (John calls her his little gardener) and she was upset that John was out for a walk when she was going to sleep tonight so she could not say good night. John is a statistician by trade, and he will no doubt understand that there is a 100% probability that Amanda will start crying before we back out of their driveway tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a drive day. We will end up in Sandusky, Ohio, but on the way will likely stop in South Bend, Indiana for two reasons. One, to complete the tour of colleges that Matt Tucker hates, and two to have lunch and maybe go to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Now, when we made the plans for brunch, I kind of just assumed that John might go pick up some bagels, muffins and donuts and that would be that. Just cousins hanging out having a nice simple brunch. But NOOOOOOOOO, in the tradition of our 2 week food eating expedition, Marti and John brought out all the stops. They made cinnamon rolls, cheese souffles, a pasta and vegetarian sausage combo (although I only learned that they were veggie just now), a fresh fruit bowl, shrimp, and fresh from the home garden tomatoes, cucumbers and squash.
Amanda and Brian, who were up early, helped John pick the veggies from the garden. We are now under a mandate from Amanda to grow a garden at home. However, I don't think we will go as far as having an actual greenhouse in the yard like John has, as I think Great Neck Estates would require a permit and I would have to check Paul's availability. I would probably also have to hire someone to grow the plants.
We had not yet met Max, but had heard what a cutie he was. The reports were accurate. After an initial shy period as he got used to the new 2nd cousins in the room, he played with them and they all had fun together. He had so much fun, in fact, that when it was time to leave he said to Gary, "I want Mommy and Daddy to leave without me," or something close to that. I am guessing that he either threw a pretty good tantrum when they left or fell asleep in about 20 seconds.
After Gary left, we hung out for a little while. The boys played basketball in the driveway and Amanda watched some TV. Eventually, we decided to head out and explore Glencoe. And what could possibly be a better way to start that than by getting some ice cream after a huge breakfast. Marti told us about a place that made excellent homemade ice cream in the town nearby, so we went there, and it was very good. For those at home keeping score, I had banana and coffee chip.
After eating the completely unnecessary but delicious ice cream, we headed towards a park near Lake Michigan. There we played some Frisbee, Amanda went on the swings, the boys created a Frisbee/tennis game on the tennis courts that they named "Frisnis" and we otherwise just relaxed. We took the obligatory photo of the kids with Lake Michigan behind them, then headed home to get cleaned up for dinner (it remains quite hot here).
For dinner we decided to head to a local delicatessen, where we once again ordered meals that we absolutely did not need but tasted great. I had a Reuben and Debbie ordered a meal called the Little Nosh. This was neither Little nor a Nosh. It was half corned beef and half pastrami and instead of bread it was served on potato pancakes. The good news was there was no bread, so she has that going for her, which is nice.
After dinner we (stunningly) did not have dessert and headed back to Marti and John's. The hardest part of leaving here tomorrow will be for Amanda. She and John have made quite a connection (John calls her his little gardener) and she was upset that John was out for a walk when she was going to sleep tonight so she could not say good night. John is a statistician by trade, and he will no doubt understand that there is a 100% probability that Amanda will start crying before we back out of their driveway tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a drive day. We will end up in Sandusky, Ohio, but on the way will likely stop in South Bend, Indiana for two reasons. One, to complete the tour of colleges that Matt Tucker hates, and two to have lunch and maybe go to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Day 12 - Line of the Trip
Day 2 of our Chicago stop was another full day of activities and excitement. We started off the day by heading to the American Girl Place on Michigan Avenue. To say that Amanda was excited about this part of the trip is the understatement of all time. She planned on having her doll’s hair re-done into a new style, and Debbie said she could buy one or two new outfits. The boys, on the other hand, would rather have been sitting in school taking a test.
When we pulled up to the store, I dropped Amanda and Debbie off while the boys and I looked for a place to park. In what seemed like a plan hatched by the boys to stall going to the store, every time someone pulled out of a spot the car in front of me took the spot. The boys seemed generally pleased by my bad luck. After about 15 minutes or so, I finally found a spot and we walked very quickly to the store, for two reasons. One, I really wanted to be there for Amanda, and two, the Venti Ice Coffee I had earlier had now worked its way to my bladder.
We got into the store shortly after Amanda’s doll had gotten her new hairdo, and I raced past Debbie and Amanda while heading to the bathroom (which, frankly, could not have been located any further into the store). After that crisis was averted, I was able to enjoy the rest of the experience with my daughter. Amanda picked out two very cute outfits, and she could not have been happier.
When we pulled up to the store, I dropped Amanda and Debbie off while the boys and I looked for a place to park. In what seemed like a plan hatched by the boys to stall going to the store, every time someone pulled out of a spot the car in front of me took the spot. The boys seemed generally pleased by my bad luck. After about 15 minutes or so, I finally found a spot and we walked very quickly to the store, for two reasons. One, I really wanted to be there for Amanda, and two, the Venti Ice Coffee I had earlier had now worked its way to my bladder.
We got into the store shortly after Amanda’s doll had gotten her new hairdo, and I raced past Debbie and Amanda while heading to the bathroom (which, frankly, could not have been located any further into the store). After that crisis was averted, I was able to enjoy the rest of the experience with my daughter. Amanda picked out two very cute outfits, and she could not have been happier.
We left the building a little after 1:00, and figured the appetizers would tide us over until we had a regular lunch later in the afternoon after we took in the Museum of Science and Industry. What we didn’t plan on was spending almost 4 hours at the museum. The museum is located in an enormous building south (I think) of downtown, and has so many exhibits (genetics, weather, internet, planetary, inventions, etc.) and areas that you really could spend a few days seeing everything there. It even has its own coal mine, with a 30 minute coal mine tour. Not sure how much of the mine was real, but it sure seemed real. We tried to hit as much of the museum as we could, but had to stop at some point to have lunch. And once again we channeled our inner-Elvis, and had ice cream for lunch.
We ended up leaving the museum at 5:30 (we kind of had to leave then, since the museum closes at 5:30), walked to our car and then tried to figure out dinner. We assumed the Roadfood book and the travel book would be filled with suggestions on where to get deep dish pizza. However, we were surprised that only one restaurant was listed, and not even in the Roadfood book. Fortunately, it was (evidently) the home of deep dish pizza in Chicago, Gino’s East (no relation, and no similarity, to Gino’s of Great Neck – in fact, Gino’s of Great Neck should change its name out of respect).
After all of the over-the-top meals we had eaten through Tennessee, we had actually gotten into a rhythm of more normal eating, and I was feeling a little less like John Goodman. But, all that went out the window once we got to Gino’s East. When you get there, you just tell the hostess how many people are in your party, then wait in the outside line, which is the line for the inside line. After about 20 minutes, they finally had a table for 5, and in we went.
The walls of the restaurant are covered in the signatures of customers, and we dutifully added our names to the wall in our booth. We asked the waiter how much we should order, and he suggested that one large pizza would be more than enough for the 4 of us. But wait, you say, don’t we have 5 in the family? Yes, but Amanda instead opted for the kiddie thin crust pizza, which she really ended up not liking. We were so hungry from basically not eating all day that we were a little skeptical that one pizza would suffice, so we ordered an appetizer for the table and the large pizza (half supreme and half cheese). Well, the waiter was correct. The one large pizza was plenty, and I once again feel like a pinata, but I don’t think candy is what will come out of me.
After dinner we headed back to Glencoe for what we thought would be a quiet end to the evening. We got back around 9:00, and after the boys watched the end of the White Sox – Yankees game (Evil Empire won) and Amanda dressed her doll in one of her new outfits (and new earrings), we got the kids ready for bed and Debbie and I set up for work.
Let me set the scene here. We are on the 2nd floor of Marti and John’s house, with a house next door. We have the windows in the room open to get a nice breeze. I was working at the desk working on one laptop and Debbie was on the bed working on the other. Sometime around 10:15 we heard a very loud crackle and sizzle. We looked out the window and saw a small flame at about our eye level.
Debbie said “What was that? I think something is on fire!” And in my infinite wisdom I said “I think the guy next door is just doing some soldering.” Why I came up with that response I will never know, because in actuality the power line that connects this house to that one had burst into flames, luckily at the other end. I went in to tell Marti and John what was going on and that they should call the fire department. Right about then, it must have burned through the line and we lost power, along with most of the neighbors.
John called 911, and the police and the fire department showed up, and confirmed that the line was down. Amazingly, a large number of the people on this street have generators, including Marti and John. So John revved up the machine, and sure enough, we have power. Not sure how long the oil will last in the machine, because he doesn’t think the tank is full, but if we are lucky it will last 8 days and we can start a whole new holiday – Solderkkah.
We ended up leaving the museum at 5:30 (we kind of had to leave then, since the museum closes at 5:30), walked to our car and then tried to figure out dinner. We assumed the Roadfood book and the travel book would be filled with suggestions on where to get deep dish pizza. However, we were surprised that only one restaurant was listed, and not even in the Roadfood book. Fortunately, it was (evidently) the home of deep dish pizza in Chicago, Gino’s East (no relation, and no similarity, to Gino’s of Great Neck – in fact, Gino’s of Great Neck should change its name out of respect).
After all of the over-the-top meals we had eaten through Tennessee, we had actually gotten into a rhythm of more normal eating, and I was feeling a little less like John Goodman. But, all that went out the window once we got to Gino’s East. When you get there, you just tell the hostess how many people are in your party, then wait in the outside line, which is the line for the inside line. After about 20 minutes, they finally had a table for 5, and in we went.
The walls of the restaurant are covered in the signatures of customers, and we dutifully added our names to the wall in our booth. We asked the waiter how much we should order, and he suggested that one large pizza would be more than enough for the 4 of us. But wait, you say, don’t we have 5 in the family? Yes, but Amanda instead opted for the kiddie thin crust pizza, which she really ended up not liking. We were so hungry from basically not eating all day that we were a little skeptical that one pizza would suffice, so we ordered an appetizer for the table and the large pizza (half supreme and half cheese). Well, the waiter was correct. The one large pizza was plenty, and I once again feel like a pinata, but I don’t think candy is what will come out of me.
After dinner we headed back to Glencoe for what we thought would be a quiet end to the evening. We got back around 9:00, and after the boys watched the end of the White Sox – Yankees game (Evil Empire won) and Amanda dressed her doll in one of her new outfits (and new earrings), we got the kids ready for bed and Debbie and I set up for work.
Let me set the scene here. We are on the 2nd floor of Marti and John’s house, with a house next door. We have the windows in the room open to get a nice breeze. I was working at the desk working on one laptop and Debbie was on the bed working on the other. Sometime around 10:15 we heard a very loud crackle and sizzle. We looked out the window and saw a small flame at about our eye level.
Debbie said “What was that? I think something is on fire!” And in my infinite wisdom I said “I think the guy next door is just doing some soldering.” Why I came up with that response I will never know, because in actuality the power line that connects this house to that one had burst into flames, luckily at the other end. I went in to tell Marti and John what was going on and that they should call the fire department. Right about then, it must have burned through the line and we lost power, along with most of the neighbors.
John called 911, and the police and the fire department showed up, and confirmed that the line was down. Amazingly, a large number of the people on this street have generators, including Marti and John. So John revved up the machine, and sure enough, we have power. Not sure how long the oil will last in the machine, because he doesn’t think the tank is full, but if we are lucky it will last 8 days and we can start a whole new holiday – Solderkkah.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Day 11 - Ever Heard of Guster? Me Neither.
Today was our first full day (of 3) in Chicago. But before I give the run-down of today, here are some "action" shots from yesterday's fun at the Field of Dreams:
We started the day around 11 by driving 10 minutes from Marti & John's house to the owner of Pen At Hand's (Ronnie Horowitz) house in Northbrook, where she runs her business. Debbie had met the owner a bunch of times, but not her assistant, so she was excited to meet her and see how they processed all of the orders. Ronnie has a very large home office (at least compared to ours) and a large staging area for her products that are ready to ship. However, it's not nearly as organized or sophisticated a process as we thought it might be. It's certainly efficient, as they have a place and system for everything, but I guess we were just expecting a more streamlined set-up.
Debbie brought an actual order with her, so we could see how an order form goes from our office to a finished product. Again, not nearly as complicated as we thought it might be. Lots of cutting and pasting and manipulating by hand. But again, it works. Debbie had ordered stick figure bag tags for the kids, and had told Ronnie we would just pick them up when we got there, so we got those and Ronnie was also nice enough to make a little dry-erase activity thing-a-ma-bob (don't know what to call it) for Amanda.
We left Pen At Hand around 12:15 or so, and headed towards Wrigley. The Cubs are not in town, so they had tours every 30 minutes. We got to Wrigley in about an hour, found a place to park on the street and headed for the park. It was about 1:30 and the kids were hungry, so we bought the tickets for the 2:30 tour and went for a quick lunch at the Capt. Morgan Restaurant that is part of Wrigley. The selling point for this place was that our ticket stubs got us 30% off the bill. I think that was the highlight of the lunch.
We finished about 10 minutes before the start of the tour, then headed over to the gate where the tours began. At 2:30 we started the tour by watching a short DVD on Wrigley and the Cubs. Stunningly, there was not much on the Cubs or their successes over the many years at Wrigley, for obvious reasons.
The stadium is close to Fenway in its coziness and size. I am sure you will be just STUNNED to know that I like the look and feel of Fenway more. Wrigley is the 2nd oldest stadium in use (built in 1914, behind Fenway's 1912) and the next oldest is Dodger Stadium, which was built in the 60's. We went to the right field bleachers, then to the mezzanine suites behind home plate, the press level, the visitors' locker room, the Cubs locker room and finally onto the field and the visitors' dugout.
They have a lovely store and we stayed there just long enough for the kids to get restless and start goofing off to the point that we were afraid they would take down some displays with their fooling around, and then we left around 5:00.
We decided to venture to the Lincoln Park Zoo near downtown. The appeal for this place was two-fold. One, we had not checked out any zoos in any of the cities we have visited. And two, it's free. We got to the zoo and miraculously found parking on the street right near the entrance. We headed for the entrance and saw a long, curious line near the entrance. Being that it was almost closing time (7 pm) and free, this confused us. We reached the end of the line and asked someone if this was the line for the zoo. Much like the look we got in Memphis when we asked for bottled water, the woman looked at us and said, "No, this is the line for the Guster concert. The zoo closed at 5 today." Seriously, she looked at us like we were aliens for not knowing that the Superband Guster was playing that night. Quick, name a Guster song (without using Google or any similar source). Exactly.
We were all disappointed, as you can see (I will let you figure out which tears are real):
We hung out there for a short time, long enough for Debbie to torture the kids by making them take pictures next to some flowers. Then we headed further into town and to the Navy Pier, Chicago's answer to the South Street Seaport. The Navy Pier was packed, as the Tall Ships were in town. We passed on spending about $70 to get a close-up view of the ships, as the kids were getting hungry and we were wary of mimicking the excitement of the Country Music Hall of Fame. So we picked a place to eat on the Pier, and ended up with a nice view of many Tall Ships that sailed by. We ended the evening with a typical Chicago dessert - Haagen Dazs, and headed back to Glencoe for the night.
Tomorrow on the agenda are another try at the Zoo, a hands-on museum that everyone raves about (can't remember the name right now) and, drum roll please, the American Girl Store. I can't tell you how excited the boys are to be going there, knowing how much Amanda will enjoy it. The look on their faces when we told the boys we were going there tomorrow would make any parent proud, because they know how important it is to Amanda and are ready to be so selfless with their time and are going there with such a good attitude.
And if you believe that crap about the boys, I have a bridge over Lake Michigan I can sell you.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Day 10 - If You Build It, The Volks Will Come
[Warning, this will be a relatively short blog post, and probably not very funny. The day was basically uneventful, other than the first activity. You may now proceed.]
Today was Field of Dreams day. We awoke in beautiful downtown Dyersville to a gourmet breakfast at the hotel (being nice), and headed over the Field of Dreams Movie Site around 11. It was just as it looked in the movie. There is no admission fee, no commercialization and just a souvenir stand selling reasonable priced stuff (t-shirt for $15, etc.). When we arrived there was one other family on the field, so we joined them for some batting practice. It was a blast playing and hitting on the field, and all of us got into the action. [having photo upload issues now, so pictures may have to follow]
When we finished batting practice, we headed out into left field to check out the "magical" corn. All of us then disappeared into the corn (the kids disappeared a lot further than they needed to), and then we went back to the area near the house (you can't go in the house, it's for family and employees only) for some more pictures and to buy some stuff. The boys and I got t-shirts and Amanda got a key chain. Evidently, she has a large collection. I think she is up to 5, counting the 4 she has gotten on this trip.
Before we left, I made each kid come with me near home plate, and one at a time they said to me "Hey Dad, wanna have a catch?" And I would reply, "I'd like that." And then I had a little catch with each of them. It was a great moment, for me anyway. The kids kind of went through the motions, but it's the thought that counts.
We then headed off on a typical Iowa dirt road to head to the Chicago area. For lunch we stopped in idyllic Dubuque for another rousing meal, this time at Ground Round. I think we peaked food-wise in the early part of the trip. Although I do have high hopes for Chicago.
Chicago will be the longest stay in one place. We are actually staying in Glencoe, north of the city, at my Aunt Marti and Uncle John's house. And we hope to be seeing my cousin Gary and family sometime over the weekend. After resting a while at their house tonight, we headed to a very good sandwich restaurant, where good food was had by all.
Not sure what we are doing in Chicago yet, although I do know that the tour will start with a quick trip to one of Debbie's vendors, Pen At Hand. Now we can write off the whole trip. After that we will have to figure it out. Maybe we will do a tour of Wrigley tomorrow.
[Told you it would be short and pretty dry. I'll try to do better tomorrow.]
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Day 9 - The Long and Boring Road
Today was another travel day. But unlike other travel days when there was a fun stop (or outrageous food) somewhere along the way, this was a day with very little options. We were driving from St. Louis to Dyersville, IA (for the Field of Dreams tomorrow). The only town along the way that I had ever heard of was Hannibal, MO, birthplace of Mark Twain. So, after two hours of driving we pulled into Hannibal around lunch time. Driving through Hannibal was kind of like one of those old Westerns, where a guy pulls into town on a horse and the town is empty. Hannibal is empty. Building after building had vacant stores, and there were about 3 people on the streets. We parked right in front of the Mark Twain Museum, and at that point decided to check on tropicana.com to see if they had any 2-1 coupons (side note: if you drink Tropicana orange juice and noticed the codes on the caps it's worth entering them into an account, as they had pretty good coupons all over the country. We have saved a decent amount of money by using them.)
Usually we check the night before, but this time we (read: I) forgot to look. Sure enough they did have a 2-1 coupon for the museum. So, I unpacked the printer (yes, in addition to our own drying rack, we have also been traveling with our own printer - what, you don't?) and set it up in the front seat and printed the coupons (good thing, because we saved a whopping $7.50 - it all counts).
Before we entered the museum, we had to find someplace to eat. Being that the choice was between an incredibly smoky bar/restaurant and a place that had a $6.29 all-you-can-eat pizza buffet ($3.50 for kids), we went with the deluxe buffet.
The museum was mostly about Twain's books, and since Ethan has only read Huck Finn (or so he says), and Brian and Amanda knew nothing about Twain (and Debbie and I could not remember if we had ever read any of his books), the museum was not really all that exciting. That is, until we met Mr. Twain himself. Then the fun started (not really, but it was something).
After we left the thrilling Hannibal, MO, we headed out for another 3.5 hours or so towards Iowa. This could have been the most boring ride this side of the NJ Turnpike. Basically, unless you are a huge fan of corn farms, there is nothing else to see. Picture a corn farm. Nice looking, right? Now picture them for 220 miles, one after another (after another after another...). You get the point.
We finally pulled into Dyersville around 8:00 and the choices for dinner were Dairy Queen, Subway, Quiznos or the Country Kitchen (a local restaurant). Frankly, based on what we had just driven through, we weren't really sure there would even be this large of a selection. We went with the local establishment, and it was surprisingly good.
We wrapped up the evening with some work while the kids watched Field of Dreams. I have told the boys that they are obligated to say to me on the field "Hey Dad, wanna have a catch?" If they don't, I am leaving them in Iowa.
Usually we check the night before, but this time we (read: I) forgot to look. Sure enough they did have a 2-1 coupon for the museum. So, I unpacked the printer (yes, in addition to our own drying rack, we have also been traveling with our own printer - what, you don't?) and set it up in the front seat and printed the coupons (good thing, because we saved a whopping $7.50 - it all counts).
Before we entered the museum, we had to find someplace to eat. Being that the choice was between an incredibly smoky bar/restaurant and a place that had a $6.29 all-you-can-eat pizza buffet ($3.50 for kids), we went with the deluxe buffet.
The museum was mostly about Twain's books, and since Ethan has only read Huck Finn (or so he says), and Brian and Amanda knew nothing about Twain (and Debbie and I could not remember if we had ever read any of his books), the museum was not really all that exciting. That is, until we met Mr. Twain himself. Then the fun started (not really, but it was something).
After we left the thrilling Hannibal, MO, we headed out for another 3.5 hours or so towards Iowa. This could have been the most boring ride this side of the NJ Turnpike. Basically, unless you are a huge fan of corn farms, there is nothing else to see. Picture a corn farm. Nice looking, right? Now picture them for 220 miles, one after another (after another after another...). You get the point.
We finally pulled into Dyersville around 8:00 and the choices for dinner were Dairy Queen, Subway, Quiznos or the Country Kitchen (a local restaurant). Frankly, based on what we had just driven through, we weren't really sure there would even be this large of a selection. We went with the local establishment, and it was surprisingly good.
We wrapped up the evening with some work while the kids watched Field of Dreams. I have told the boys that they are obligated to say to me on the field "Hey Dad, wanna have a catch?" If they don't, I am leaving them in Iowa.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Day 8 - Meet Me In St. Louis
Today was a day spent in St. Louis, the Gateway to the West. The downtown area near the Arch is a nice place, with office buildings, parks, the Edward Jones Dome (Rams) and Busch Stadium (Cardinals) all within walking distance of our hotel. We started the day with a tour of Busch Stadium. We have done 6 ballpark tours now (Yankee, Red Sox, Phillies, Giants, Padres and Cardinals). I think this tour was an average one, not bad, but not great.
The tour guide seemed very excited about pictures on the wall and all of the great places to eat. We got into the radio booth and the Cardinals dugout, but not into the locker rooms, even though the Cardinals were away.
It is a very nice looking stadium, with padded seats everywhere and a beautiful view of the Arch from most seats. But the tour just lacked a little pizazz. Can't put my finger on what was missing, but something was.
After the tour, and a completely unnecessary spending spree in the Cardinals Clubhouse Store, we headed for the Budweiser Factory Tour. There were two main draws for this tour. Number one, the tour was free. And number two, at the end of the tour they give each adult two free beers. So, do the math - Free Tour + Free Beer = Perfect Combination.
The tour itself was a little bit of a letdown, as our tour guide Nathan talked just about as fast as that guy in the old FedEx commercials and held the mike closer to his mouth than Elton John does. Not a conducive way to getting your message out. We saw some big machines that hold beer, some big machines that fill beer bottles and cans, and some other big machines that do other stuff, which I can't explain since I couldn't understand Nathan.
But, the end of the tour did not disappoint, as we were led into a room with beer taps and could choose any of the beers they sell. Once again going with the "When In Rome Theory" I chose a straight Bud for the first beer (tasted pretty much as I remembered, which is why I don't drink Bud) and an Amber Bock as the 2nd beer. Much better. My wife, the lush, also partook in the free beer festivities, and was dancing with a lampshade on her head after imbibing half of her Bud.
It was now about 2:15, and time for our daily food orgy. For today's completely over the top meal of the day, we decided to head for a place called the Crown Candy Kitchen. To get to this restaurant, we had to leave the nice, safe feeling confines of downtown and head towards North St. Louis. It was only about 10 minutes from the Bud factory to the lunch place, but about 15 income levels down. There was nothing but vacant buildings with open windows and run down houses in this area. I am pretty sure when they filmed part of "Vacation" showing Chevy Chase driving in St. Louis, it was in this part of St. Louis. As we were looking for the place, I said to Debbie "maybe we won't stop here." But as we found the place we saw people coming out with nice looking ice creams, so we decided to risk our lives for some more food.
Once again, the Roadfood book was on the money. They made excellent sandwiches, Debbie and I had the gluten-free, dairy-free Reubens (but with the gluten and dairy) and they were outstanding. And not to insult the establishment, because who are we to turn our backs on tradition, we felt obligated to partake in their specialty - desserts. The boys shared an ice cream, as did Debbie and I (banana for those scoring at home), but Amanda won the prize for best dessert - a chocolate malted milkshake. When she was done she proclaimed "This is the best day ever!"
After we rolled out of lunch around 3:30, we decided to head back towards the Arch and try and catch a 4:30 boat ride on the Mississippi. After parking the car at the hotel and walking to the Arch, and getting bad instructions from a park ranger on where to go, we sprinted to the boat and got there just in time for a 1 hour trip down on the Mighty Mississippi. Frankly, other than some power plants, bridges and barges, once you left the Arch area there wasn't much scenery to enjoy. But, we can say we sailed the Mississippi, so that's nice.
After leaving the boat, we walked back to the hotel and got into our bathing suits for the first time on the trip and went swimming in the hotel pool for about an hour, before showering and heading downstairs to another relatively boring dinner at the Irish restaurant in the hotel.
Tomorrow is another driving day, as we are headed to Iowa to see the Field of Dreams site. We debated how far we were going to drive tomorrow, but ended up deciding to drive all the way to the town where Field of Dreams is located, so we can just get up and be there on Thursday. So, tomorrow will be a road day, and I just hope I see a place where they make Throwed Starbucks.
The tour guide seemed very excited about pictures on the wall and all of the great places to eat. We got into the radio booth and the Cardinals dugout, but not into the locker rooms, even though the Cardinals were away.
It is a very nice looking stadium, with padded seats everywhere and a beautiful view of the Arch from most seats. But the tour just lacked a little pizazz. Can't put my finger on what was missing, but something was.After the tour, and a completely unnecessary spending spree in the Cardinals Clubhouse Store, we headed for the Budweiser Factory Tour. There were two main draws for this tour. Number one, the tour was free. And number two, at the end of the tour they give each adult two free beers. So, do the math - Free Tour + Free Beer = Perfect Combination.
The tour itself was a little bit of a letdown, as our tour guide Nathan talked just about as fast as that guy in the old FedEx commercials and held the mike closer to his mouth than Elton John does. Not a conducive way to getting your message out. We saw some big machines that hold beer, some big machines that fill beer bottles and cans, and some other big machines that do other stuff, which I can't explain since I couldn't understand Nathan.
But, the end of the tour did not disappoint, as we were led into a room with beer taps and could choose any of the beers they sell. Once again going with the "When In Rome Theory" I chose a straight Bud for the first beer (tasted pretty much as I remembered, which is why I don't drink Bud) and an Amber Bock as the 2nd beer. Much better. My wife, the lush, also partook in the free beer festivities, and was dancing with a lampshade on her head after imbibing half of her Bud.
It was now about 2:15, and time for our daily food orgy. For today's completely over the top meal of the day, we decided to head for a place called the Crown Candy Kitchen. To get to this restaurant, we had to leave the nice, safe feeling confines of downtown and head towards North St. Louis. It was only about 10 minutes from the Bud factory to the lunch place, but about 15 income levels down. There was nothing but vacant buildings with open windows and run down houses in this area. I am pretty sure when they filmed part of "Vacation" showing Chevy Chase driving in St. Louis, it was in this part of St. Louis. As we were looking for the place, I said to Debbie "maybe we won't stop here." But as we found the place we saw people coming out with nice looking ice creams, so we decided to risk our lives for some more food.
Once again, the Roadfood book was on the money. They made excellent sandwiches, Debbie and I had the gluten-free, dairy-free Reubens (but with the gluten and dairy) and they were outstanding. And not to insult the establishment, because who are we to turn our backs on tradition, we felt obligated to partake in their specialty - desserts. The boys shared an ice cream, as did Debbie and I (banana for those scoring at home), but Amanda won the prize for best dessert - a chocolate malted milkshake. When she was done she proclaimed "This is the best day ever!"
After we rolled out of lunch around 3:30, we decided to head back towards the Arch and try and catch a 4:30 boat ride on the Mississippi. After parking the car at the hotel and walking to the Arch, and getting bad instructions from a park ranger on where to go, we sprinted to the boat and got there just in time for a 1 hour trip down on the Mighty Mississippi. Frankly, other than some power plants, bridges and barges, once you left the Arch area there wasn't much scenery to enjoy. But, we can say we sailed the Mississippi, so that's nice.
After leaving the boat, we walked back to the hotel and got into our bathing suits for the first time on the trip and went swimming in the hotel pool for about an hour, before showering and heading downstairs to another relatively boring dinner at the Irish restaurant in the hotel.
Tomorrow is another driving day, as we are headed to Iowa to see the Field of Dreams site. We debated how far we were going to drive tomorrow, but ended up deciding to drive all the way to the town where Field of Dreams is located, so we can just get up and be there on Thursday. So, tomorrow will be a road day, and I just hope I see a place where they make Throwed Starbucks.
Random Thoughts/Comments/Stories Before I Forget
Random Thoughts/Comments/Stories Before I Forget
Just some random thoughts and stories on the trip, before the food makes my mind go mush:
- Since when is bacon a staple food? We stopped at a Quisnos early on and every single thing on the menu, other than the Caesar Salad, had bacon on it.
- The GPS is one of mankind's greatest inventions. Not as good as a store that sells pie a la mode by the slice, but right up there. Could not do the trip without it.
- This country has a lot of farm land.
- Based on the number of billboard signs on the highways, if there are two things Southerners like it's Fireworks and Adult Superstores. My guess is there is quite an overlap in the customer base on these places.
- In Memphis, for dinner Ethan ordered a bowl of chili with tamales. That led to my inevitable joke, "What's the weather forecast tomorrow? Chili today Hot Tamale." The boys chuckled (likely out of respect), and about 5 minutes later, out of nowhere Amanda starts laughing and says "Oh, I get it, Chili today Hot Tamale, like chilly today and hot tomorrow." She has been saying it since.
- Dasani, Aquafina and Poland Spring are not big sellers outside of the northeast.
- When traveling with kids (boys more specifically) the car can start to smell like a [locker room/fraternity house - choose your favorite stinky place], especially after Southern meals.
- I don't think I have hit a toll road since I left Pennsylvania.
- I am guessing most families don't travel with their own laundry drying racks.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Day 7 - Sometimes It's Better To Be Lucky Than Good
Today was a travel day - Memphis to St. Louis. The trip was about 4.5 hours, and like the other long days of driving I tried to find someplace in between where we could stop and maybe have lunch or do some sightseeing. Unfortunately, the only thing between Memphis and St. Louis is a lot of nothing (although we did cut through Arkansas, so that was exciting). So, we decided to just head to St. Louis. We left around 10:30, and figured we would just stop some place for lunch, then head to St. Louis, where we had tickets to go to the top of the Gateway Arch at 5:00.
Around 12:45 we were getting hungry, so we decided to stop at the next exit, where the signs said they had McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's. I know, yummy. We opted for Wendy's, and Debbie and I were kind of looking forward to a lighter lunch after all of the meals I have already written about. I was going to get a grilled chicken sandwich and Debbie was going to get a salad. Well, wouldn't you know it, but before we got to Wendy's we spotted a very large restaurant called Lambert's Cafe, where their slogan is "The Only Home of the Throwed Rolls." I know what you are thinking - what are Throwed Rolls, and what's with the flawed grammar? We were thinking the same thing, so Debbie did a quick web site search and the place sounded great and we decided to scrap the high-class Wendy's for Lambert's.
I am not sure that I can do this place justice in writing, or even in photos. This is the kind of place where wearing a hat is required attire for men. Long ZZ Top beards an over sized bellies were optional, but much on display (and while I don't have the beard, I am getting there with the belly). Menu choices included Hog Jowls (not sure I even want to know how these are prepared), Frog's Legs, Chicken Gizzards and other items that you just will not find at Bruce's.
But the kicker to the whole place are waiters that fling hot, delicious rolls to you if you ask for one. And they don't toss them gently from a few feet away. No, these guys are clearly former high school pitchers who throw heat. We saw a few people fail to make the catch only to be be pelted on the face with a hot steaming roll. Luckily, my boys and I made all of the catches successfully. Also, the waiters and waitresses walk around with vegetables and potatoes in prison-style bowls and scoop whatever you want onto your plate.
So, instead of my nice little grilled chicken sandwich, I ended up with the pork steak, mashed potatoes and fried apples. I also opted for some black eyed peas (boom boom pow) that a prison guard, er... waiter, was walking around with. Debbie got her much desired vegetable plate, and fun was had by all. Needless to say, this was a much better experience than Wendy's ever could have been.
After eating about a third of my pork steak, we headed back on the road to St. Louis. We got to the hotel around 4:30, quickly checked in and headed out on foot to the nearby Gateway Arch. The Arch is a lot newer than I thought it was (finished in 1965), and is the tallest man-made national monument in the country. We headed for the tram up to the top observation deck and waited for it to arrive. When it arrived to take us to the top, we had a brief crisis. See, the tram was much more like Mork's Eggship than an actual tram or elevator. It was small, cramped, and had no windows. Debbie was not a happy camper, and for a minute it did not look like she would be making the 4 minute trip to the top.
Can't you sense the fear?
However, when the doors closed and there were small windows on the door, she was OK.
We got to the top in the aforementioned 4 minutes, and headed for the observation deck. Again, the term observation deck may be a little overstated. It's like being in the room of the lowest priced ticket on a cruise ship. Small windows with very little room to walk around. However, the views are outstanding.
After about 10-15 minutes up top, we headed back down to the ground. Debbie was fine on the trip down:
We did a quick tour of the Museum of Westward Expansion (boring), and headed for a very mudane dinner. But not before taking the obligatory pictures at the bottom of the Arch:
Sorry to disappoint with no gory stories about the dinner, but it really was nothing. We walked to an area called Laclede's Landing, which is a cute cobblestone street with a bunch of similar restaurants/bars. We picked one and ate a quick dinner and headed to the hotel.We are staying at a Hampton, which is fine, but it's a regular room. Most of the rooms we have stayed in were mini-suites (Embassy Suites the last 4 nights), and to say we are a little cramped in here is like saying we have eaten a little bit of food over the past week. But we will manage.
Tomorrow we will likely try and do a tour of Busch Stadium (Cardinals), the Budweiser Tour and maybe a boat ride on the mighty Mississippi. I don't think any of these will involve egg-sized transportation.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Day 6 - Walking In Memphis
First of all, it is very hard to walk in Memphis for two reasons. One, it is a pretty spread out city, and two, it was like a bazillion degrees out today. That was up from the gazillion degrees it was yesterday. Nevertheless, we spent the day around town.
First stop was Graceland. No explanation needed for what this is. The house itself was not that big, but the decorations were very 70's. Shag carpet everywhere, including on the ceilings and walls of many rooms. And the hallways are pretty narrow, so I can't imagine what that place is like when it's busy. You are not allowed upstairs, so that has to be left to the imagination. Elvis was obviously mostly before my time, but I do remember that my parents had tickets for his show in Portland on August 17, 1977. One problem. He died on August 16, so he couldn't make it to the show. They had a lot of videos, interviews, clothing, gold records, etc. all around the place, and for someone that didn't live through the Elvis phenomenon, it was amazing how prolific and decorated he was.
After the tour of the mansion, we went back across the street to a series of other Elvis exhibits, including an exhibit of his movie career, his two airplanes and his automobiles.
This was the reading on our car at 1:00 today
First stop was Graceland. No explanation needed for what this is. The house itself was not that big, but the decorations were very 70's. Shag carpet everywhere, including on the ceilings and walls of many rooms. And the hallways are pretty narrow, so I can't imagine what that place is like when it's busy. You are not allowed upstairs, so that has to be left to the imagination. Elvis was obviously mostly before my time, but I do remember that my parents had tickets for his show in Portland on August 17, 1977. One problem. He died on August 16, so he couldn't make it to the show. They had a lot of videos, interviews, clothing, gold records, etc. all around the place, and for someone that didn't live through the Elvis phenomenon, it was amazing how prolific and decorated he was.
After the tour of the mansion, we went back across the street to a series of other Elvis exhibits, including an exhibit of his movie career, his two airplanes and his automobiles.
Here is Amanda with her favorite car:
We skipped a few of the exhibits in the interests of getting to other places we wanted to see, but before we left we had lunch at Graceland. And to honor The King, we had a lunch that he would have appreciated (in his later years anyway) - ice cream. Yup, that's it, ice cream. Although, to be fair, the boys went for the more well-rounded banana split.
After that nutritious meal, we headed to the National Civil Rights Museum. This is located at the hotel (The Lorraine) where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. You can see the balcony he was standing on when he was shot. The hotel was converted into a museum a little over 20 years ago. And evidently, there is a woman who has been protesting the museum every day since. She even has a sign that counts the days of her protest (22 years, 215 days). The reason for her protest is the secondary part of the museum which is built where James Earl Ray was when he shot King. She evidently doesn't like the fact that he is given so much attention at the museum. First thought was she's nuts. Second thought was that maybe she had a point - why give any attention to the man who committed the crime (if he did commit it - they allude to the possibility that he didn't do it). Third thought was she's wrong. It's part of the history, and people like our kids, who really don't know the story should at least be aware of it.
The museum itself is not all about King. It's mostly about the entire Civil Rights movement. Frankly, being (a) my age, (b) from Maine and (c) pretty much not black, it was a little hard to comprehend all of the exhibits. I was aware, at least on a basic level, about many of the events that were depicted, but not all. And they just had so much info it really was hard to get it all, unless we wanted to spend an entire day there reading everything. Not sure the kids got anything out of it, other than the King stuff, as I don't believe they have studied any of these things in school.
After exiting the museum (and back into the scorching heat of Memphis) we headed to a lighter place - Sun Studio. This is where Elvis made his first recordings and got started, as well as where other legends of music recorded (Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc.). It's a pretty small place, and the tour guide was very animated. The tour is all of two rooms. One a display room and the other the actual studio. The studio is still in use today at night by bands that want to record. And coming soon to a radio near you will be Sun's latest find:
Since we really didn't have much of a lunch, we decided to head for an early dinner and make it an early night (for the 1st time). We had a recommendation for dinner from someone we met in Nashville, so we tried to go there. Problem was this restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays. So, we then tried to go to Corky's, which is owned by Elaine Volk's (my uncle Roger's wife) cousin. The tour book said it was around the corner from where we were. Problem #2 was that it is no longer there. We then asked the security guard at a parking lot where to eat, and he suggested a rib place around the corner, right off Beale Street. So we headed there for another delicious ribs meal.
We are only 6 days into the trip, and I think I have gained 237 pounds. Good thing we only have 13 days left. Tomorrow we are driving to St. Louis and will be atop the Arch at 5 pm.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Day 5 - No Reservations Required
Day 5 was another fun-filled travel day. We had to get from Louisville to Memphis, which was about 320 miles, or about 6 hours of driving. Nashville is right in the middle, so we figured we would stop there for lunch and do some short sight-seeing then head off to Memphis.
We left Louisville around 11, and somewhere along the way we moved into Central Time, so we gained an hour on the day. We got to Nashville around 2, and had already determined, thanks to Roadfood, where we would eat. We chose a place known for its hamburgers and excellent side dishes of vegetables. Debbie was very excited to get off the meat bandwagon for at least one meal and have a meal of 3-4 different vegetables. One problem, on Saturdays they only start serving the veggies at 5 pm. So, back to the meat she went. Brian chose the chicken terriaki sandwich, I went with the (previously discussed) "When In Rome" theory and stuck to the cheeseburger, Debbie went with the bunless hamburger and Amanda went with, wait for it, a cheeseburger.
Turns out this little hole in the wall was right on the Vanderbilt campus, so after lunch we quickly drove around the campus before heading downtown (or what I think was downtown) to sight see. It was here that we came across the first nominee for the Palace of the Popes Award - the Country Music Hall of Fame. For those of you not familiar with this prestigious award, I will give a very brief history. In 1980 my family took a trip to France, and one of the stops was Avignon, home of the popes for a time when they were banished from the Vatican. As we started the tour, they slammed the doors behind us shut (kind of like Alcatraz) and began the tour - in French. The tour guide seemed to be giving a very in depth description of something (not even my French-fluent mother was sure), when we realized we needed to get out of there, as we understood the tour to be quite lengthy. We then made like the Von Trapp family (without the musical ability) and snuck out through some amphitheater to the streets of Avignon. Henceforth, any sightseeing event that turns out lousy is a nominee for the Palace of the Popes Award.
With kids aged 13, 10 and 6 who like to listen to today's music, I wasn't sure the Country Music Hall of Fame would be that exciting to them, but it was music and we were in Nashville. However, they charged $75 for us to get in, and frankly, it was mostly boring. The top two floors are museum floors, and the bottom floor is where the actual Hall of Fame is located. It's a little like the baseball Hall of Fame, with plaques on the wall. Problem was, they were setting up that room for a wedding reception, so we had to run through it very quickly. We saw some plaques and left.
We left just in time, as the skies opened on our car shortly after leaving Nashville - no doubt as punishment for not enjoying the Country Music Hall of Fame and for skipping the Grand Ole Opry.
We got to Memphis around 7:45, and once again had consulted the handy Roadfood book (and cross referenced it with the guide book) for a great rib place. Being that this restaurant was in both books, and since it was a Saturday night, Debbie asked me if I thought we needed to make a reservation. I obviously had no idea, so I said to call, but we decided to wing it.
It's too bad she didn't make the call, because the person on the other end of the phone might have fallen off his/her chair laughing. We pulled up to the Cozy Corner Restaurant, and saw all of two other cars in the parking lot. The exterior looked like it hadn't been updated since the end of the Civil War. When you walk in, Shirley from "What's Happening" was behind the counter taking orders. After perusing the extensive menu choices of Chicken, 2 Ribs, 4 Ribs, 6 Ribs or 2 Ribs & 2 Wings, we placed our orders and she asked what we wanted to drink. When my question of "do you have bottled water?" was met with look of almost scorn and "no we don't have bottled water" I asked if she minded if we brought our own from the car. She said OK. We sat down at the bingo parlor tables and waited for our meals.
Shirley's husband (just a guess) brought our food, and I must say it was very good. The ribs were outstanding, and the sides of corn, cole slaw (actually on the side this time), beans and BBQ spaghetti, were all excellent.
Debbie and I were a little perplexed by the gentleman sitting behind us though. He was wearing a yarmulke while eating his pork ribs and sporting a Jewish themed tattoo. This was wrong on just so many levels so I just have to leave it alone.
After going through about a 225 napkins, we finished our meals and headed to the hotel, where we did some work and laundry to get ready for the day in Memphis.
By the way, I don't know what the weather is like at home, but here in Tennessee it's Africa hot. At 7:30 pm it was 95 degrees. Tomorrow doesn't look any cooler, so I hope they have bottled water where we are heading.
We left Louisville around 11, and somewhere along the way we moved into Central Time, so we gained an hour on the day. We got to Nashville around 2, and had already determined, thanks to Roadfood, where we would eat. We chose a place known for its hamburgers and excellent side dishes of vegetables. Debbie was very excited to get off the meat bandwagon for at least one meal and have a meal of 3-4 different vegetables. One problem, on Saturdays they only start serving the veggies at 5 pm. So, back to the meat she went. Brian chose the chicken terriaki sandwich, I went with the (previously discussed) "When In Rome" theory and stuck to the cheeseburger, Debbie went with the bunless hamburger and Amanda went with, wait for it, a cheeseburger.
Turns out this little hole in the wall was right on the Vanderbilt campus, so after lunch we quickly drove around the campus before heading downtown (or what I think was downtown) to sight see. It was here that we came across the first nominee for the Palace of the Popes Award - the Country Music Hall of Fame. For those of you not familiar with this prestigious award, I will give a very brief history. In 1980 my family took a trip to France, and one of the stops was Avignon, home of the popes for a time when they were banished from the Vatican. As we started the tour, they slammed the doors behind us shut (kind of like Alcatraz) and began the tour - in French. The tour guide seemed to be giving a very in depth description of something (not even my French-fluent mother was sure), when we realized we needed to get out of there, as we understood the tour to be quite lengthy. We then made like the Von Trapp family (without the musical ability) and snuck out through some amphitheater to the streets of Avignon. Henceforth, any sightseeing event that turns out lousy is a nominee for the Palace of the Popes Award.
With kids aged 13, 10 and 6 who like to listen to today's music, I wasn't sure the Country Music Hall of Fame would be that exciting to them, but it was music and we were in Nashville. However, they charged $75 for us to get in, and frankly, it was mostly boring. The top two floors are museum floors, and the bottom floor is where the actual Hall of Fame is located. It's a little like the baseball Hall of Fame, with plaques on the wall. Problem was, they were setting up that room for a wedding reception, so we had to run through it very quickly. We saw some plaques and left.
We left just in time, as the skies opened on our car shortly after leaving Nashville - no doubt as punishment for not enjoying the Country Music Hall of Fame and for skipping the Grand Ole Opry.
We got to Memphis around 7:45, and once again had consulted the handy Roadfood book (and cross referenced it with the guide book) for a great rib place. Being that this restaurant was in both books, and since it was a Saturday night, Debbie asked me if I thought we needed to make a reservation. I obviously had no idea, so I said to call, but we decided to wing it.
It's too bad she didn't make the call, because the person on the other end of the phone might have fallen off his/her chair laughing. We pulled up to the Cozy Corner Restaurant, and saw all of two other cars in the parking lot. The exterior looked like it hadn't been updated since the end of the Civil War. When you walk in, Shirley from "What's Happening" was behind the counter taking orders. After perusing the extensive menu choices of Chicken, 2 Ribs, 4 Ribs, 6 Ribs or 2 Ribs & 2 Wings, we placed our orders and she asked what we wanted to drink. When my question of "do you have bottled water?" was met with look of almost scorn and "no we don't have bottled water" I asked if she minded if we brought our own from the car. She said OK. We sat down at the bingo parlor tables and waited for our meals.
Shirley's husband (just a guess) brought our food, and I must say it was very good. The ribs were outstanding, and the sides of corn, cole slaw (actually on the side this time), beans and BBQ spaghetti, were all excellent.
Debbie and I were a little perplexed by the gentleman sitting behind us though. He was wearing a yarmulke while eating his pork ribs and sporting a Jewish themed tattoo. This was wrong on just so many levels so I just have to leave it alone.
After going through about a 225 napkins, we finished our meals and headed to the hotel, where we did some work and laundry to get ready for the day in Memphis.
By the way, I don't know what the weather is like at home, but here in Tennessee it's Africa hot. At 7:30 pm it was 95 degrees. Tomorrow doesn't look any cooler, so I hope they have bottled water where we are heading.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Day 4 - Mmmmmmmm, Pie
Day 4 was the first day of the trip where we were spending a whole day in a city, Louisville.
The first stop on the agenda was the Louisville Slugger Factory/Museum. It is actually where they make all of the wood bats, both the ones you will see at Modell's (or any other sports equipment place) as well as bats for the major leaguers. Today they were making Hanley Ramirez's bats (By the way, this is the 2nd reference to Hanley Ramirez in my 4 days of blogging. Not sure what that means.) The tour was only about 20-30 minutes, and was quite interesting to see how they use the combination of machinery and old fashioned work by hand to make the bats. It used to take 20+ minutes to shape a single bat out of a piece of wood, now it takes about 30 seconds a retail bat and 45 seconds for an MLB player's bat. But they still hand brand the logo onto the bats and hand dip them to get the different finishes on them.
It was when we left the Ali center that we kind of noticed that we were pretty much the only ones in the city. Wherever we walked, there just didn't seem to be many people around. We wondered whether we had missed some sort of evacuation notice about Louisville. If you know something we don't, please text me.
After the Ali Center, we headed to the Louisville Science Center. Finally, we had something for Amanda. They had a whole area with a Sesame Street theme about the body, and the rest of the museum was all hands-on. She loved it. As did the boys.
We finally left the Science Center around 6:00 and needed to find someplace to eat dinner. Louisville has an area called 4th Street with a bunch of restaurants/bars, but instead of going to another Friday's type place, we consulted the Roadfood Book. If you ever do a road trip anything like this one, I highly recommended the Roadfood Book. It gives you places that are not the fanciest places in town, but are fun places with good food. For dinner we went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe, which is kind of hard to describe. The decor is tacky, on purpose, with a gift shop as the entry point that has nothing that anyone would ever really need, but is all funny stuff. The menu has breakfast and dinner foods, and when we asked what was good, the answer was "everything." And the waitress was right. I had an early Thanksgiving, with turkey and stuffing, Ethan had jambalaya pasta, Brian and Debbie shared a breakfast burrito and a Reuben quesadilla, and Amanda went WAY outside her comfort zone and had a cheeseburger with fries (in truth, I believe Amanda will break the all-time record for most cheeseburgers and fries in a 3-week stretch - Guinness World Records is following her progress).
For dessert, we went to another Roadfood recommendation called Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen. This place could be the most ingenious place EVER created. Everyone likes good ice cream. Most people like homemade pies. Why not put the two together so you can order a slice of pie with the ice cream you want? Seriously, why isn't this a national chain? Ethan and I both opted for the Dutch Apple Pie (I had it with cinnamon ice cream and Ethan chose chocolate chip), Brian had Banana Meringue Cream Pie and Amanda went WAY outside her comfort zone and had vanilla and chocolate ice cream (she did splurge with the chocolate sauce). Debbie didn't officially have pie, but let's just say that I ate about half of mine, and there was almost nothing left when we were ready to leave.
After a full day in the city of Louisville we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. Long day of driving ahead tomorrow as we head to Memphis, with a likely stop in Nashville.
The first stop on the agenda was the Louisville Slugger Factory/Museum. It is actually where they make all of the wood bats, both the ones you will see at Modell's (or any other sports equipment place) as well as bats for the major leaguers. Today they were making Hanley Ramirez's bats (By the way, this is the 2nd reference to Hanley Ramirez in my 4 days of blogging. Not sure what that means.) The tour was only about 20-30 minutes, and was quite interesting to see how they use the combination of machinery and old fashioned work by hand to make the bats. It used to take 20+ minutes to shape a single bat out of a piece of wood, now it takes about 30 seconds a retail bat and 45 seconds for an MLB player's bat. But they still hand brand the logo onto the bats and hand dip them to get the different finishes on them.
Our Sluggers
For souvenirs the boys both got personalized wood bats, which at about $50 each they will NEVER, EVER use in a game, as there is little doubt that they will get broken within the first 5-8 pitches they see. These bats will very likely simply serve as additional clutter in their rooms. But, they do look nice.
After we left the Slugger factory and had a "classic" Louisville lunch of pizza and calzones (evidently Louisville isn't known for any special food), we headed to the Muhammad Ali Center. Ali grew up in Louisville, and this center is quite an impressive facility devoted to Ali and his life. We were able to watch the entire Rumble In The Jungle, which introduced the term "rope a dope" to the world. The amazing thing was also how Ali kept talking to George Foreman all throughout the fight. Clearly this served to annoy Foreman, which made him throw more and more wild punches, tiring him out so Ali could finish him off in the 8th round. They just don't make boxing matches like that anymore. In fact, since Tyson went wacko, has anyone cared about boxing? Does anyone know who the heavyweight champion is today? I don't.
Different Versions of Sluggers
After the Ali Center, we headed to the Louisville Science Center. Finally, we had something for Amanda. They had a whole area with a Sesame Street theme about the body, and the rest of the museum was all hands-on. She loved it. As did the boys.
We finally left the Science Center around 6:00 and needed to find someplace to eat dinner. Louisville has an area called 4th Street with a bunch of restaurants/bars, but instead of going to another Friday's type place, we consulted the Roadfood Book. If you ever do a road trip anything like this one, I highly recommended the Roadfood Book. It gives you places that are not the fanciest places in town, but are fun places with good food. For dinner we went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe, which is kind of hard to describe. The decor is tacky, on purpose, with a gift shop as the entry point that has nothing that anyone would ever really need, but is all funny stuff. The menu has breakfast and dinner foods, and when we asked what was good, the answer was "everything." And the waitress was right. I had an early Thanksgiving, with turkey and stuffing, Ethan had jambalaya pasta, Brian and Debbie shared a breakfast burrito and a Reuben quesadilla, and Amanda went WAY outside her comfort zone and had a cheeseburger with fries (in truth, I believe Amanda will break the all-time record for most cheeseburgers and fries in a 3-week stretch - Guinness World Records is following her progress).
For dessert, we went to another Roadfood recommendation called Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen. This place could be the most ingenious place EVER created. Everyone likes good ice cream. Most people like homemade pies. Why not put the two together so you can order a slice of pie with the ice cream you want? Seriously, why isn't this a national chain? Ethan and I both opted for the Dutch Apple Pie (I had it with cinnamon ice cream and Ethan chose chocolate chip), Brian had Banana Meringue Cream Pie and Amanda went WAY outside her comfort zone and had vanilla and chocolate ice cream (she did splurge with the chocolate sauce). Debbie didn't officially have pie, but let's just say that I ate about half of mine, and there was almost nothing left when we were ready to leave.
After a full day in the city of Louisville we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. Long day of driving ahead tomorrow as we head to Memphis, with a likely stop in Nashville.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Day 3 - The Math Was Off
Today was a day where there was nothing big planned. We just had to get from Pittsburgh to Louisville, where we will be spending all day tomorrow. It's our first place where we are staying in the same hotel for 2 nights. Big treat. The drive from Pittsburgh to Louisville is about 6 hours, and in the interest of not torturing the kids (and us), the plan was to stop in Cincinnati (about 4.5 hours from Pittsburgh), have some lunch and do a little sightseeing (Underground Railroad Museum), then head on to Louisville (1.5 hours from Cincy). Problem was, the math was off. And for those of you who go way back with me and know I went to Lincoln (somewhat voluntarily) for math, this was a problem. See, we didn't get moving and ready to leave until about 11. That meant getting to Cincy around 3:30 - too late for lunch and sightseeing. So, I did a quick Mapquest check of the route, and saw that Columbus, OH was about 2.5 hours away. A quick re-program of the GPS, and presto-chango, new plan.
We arrived on the campus of Ohio State University (sorry Matt) around 2:00. After asking in The Union (the Ohio State version of Houston Hall - for my Penn readers) where to eat, we decided on Eddie George's Grill. As we were walking through the Union, Debbie had an epiphany. Either she had been in the Union in a past life, or she had seen it on YouTube. After realizing she was not an Ohio State grad in a former life, she settled on YouTube. And a check of her Blackberry during lunch confirmed that she had seen OSU students doing some sort of Glee homage in the Union. She was very proud of herself.
Eddie George's Grill is a Friday's like place, with TVs and OSU stuff all over the place. After the previous night's dinner in Pittsburgh, I figured I was in for a letdown when I ordered the turkey wrap. The menu said it came with cole slaw and fries. However, like Dustin Johnson on the 72nd hole, it never crossed my mind that they might actually put the cole slaw and fries in the wrap like they did in Pittsburgh. Well, shiver me timbers if they didn't do just that! Can't say it was as good as the night before, but I will give them an A for effort.
After sneaking into the OSU football stadium for a quick look and photo op, we decided to head to Louisville around 4:30.
Once again that darned math reared its ugly head. Even though we had a late lunch, we were in no man's land because by the time we got to Louisville around 7:30-7:45 and got settled, it would be quite late to start figuring out dinner. So, we went back to the original idea of heading to Cincy, but this time for dinner. Debbie checked the Road Food book and the other touring book, and we decided that we would actually head to Newport, KY, which has a whole river front area that overlooks Cincy.
At this point I must digress for a minute. I just have to say that if I was a teenager (or Marc) I would be having a lot of snickers about some of these town and place names. As mentioned the other day, we spent time in Intercourse (PA), and today we drove through Licking County (OH) and past Big Bone Lick State Park (KY). Just saying...
Meanwhile, back on the farm, we settled on an Irish Pub overlooking the river, but ate inside because it was too hot outside. We finally headed towards Louisville after dinner and arrived about 9:30. Despite enjoying the diversions and places we went today, this got us set up for another late night of working, and for the first time laundry. Again, that math problem. Oh well.
Tomorrow it's off to the Louisville Slugger Museum and the Muhammad Ali Center, and whatever else we discover in the city.
We arrived on the campus of Ohio State University (sorry Matt) around 2:00. After asking in The Union (the Ohio State version of Houston Hall - for my Penn readers) where to eat, we decided on Eddie George's Grill. As we were walking through the Union, Debbie had an epiphany. Either she had been in the Union in a past life, or she had seen it on YouTube. After realizing she was not an Ohio State grad in a former life, she settled on YouTube. And a check of her Blackberry during lunch confirmed that she had seen OSU students doing some sort of Glee homage in the Union. She was very proud of herself.
Eddie George's Grill is a Friday's like place, with TVs and OSU stuff all over the place. After the previous night's dinner in Pittsburgh, I figured I was in for a letdown when I ordered the turkey wrap. The menu said it came with cole slaw and fries. However, like Dustin Johnson on the 72nd hole, it never crossed my mind that they might actually put the cole slaw and fries in the wrap like they did in Pittsburgh. Well, shiver me timbers if they didn't do just that! Can't say it was as good as the night before, but I will give them an A for effort.
After sneaking into the OSU football stadium for a quick look and photo op, we decided to head to Louisville around 4:30.
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| "THE" Ohio State University |
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| Hello, Cincinatti! |
Meanwhile, back on the farm, we settled on an Irish Pub overlooking the river, but ate inside because it was too hot outside. We finally headed towards Louisville after dinner and arrived about 9:30. Despite enjoying the diversions and places we went today, this got us set up for another late night of working, and for the first time laundry. Again, that math problem. Oh well.
Tomorrow it's off to the Louisville Slugger Museum and the Muhammad Ali Center, and whatever else we discover in the city.
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