Upstate New York - 3/19/2011

Day 45 pictures!

Saturday morning we woke up to a lovely view out of Christine and Barrett's front windows.  We even saw a train and then all proceeded to say choo choo!  However, not too much dawdling as it was Maple Festival this weekend in New York and we were ready to explore!  First up, pancakes, bacon and of course, maple syrup.  Yummy.  The food was delicious and the restaurant was actually part of a three story house with all sorts of fun trinkets, candles, purses and other pretty randomness.  This required much exploring and picture taking :)

tapping the maple tree

Our next stop of the day was an actual Maple Farm.  Here we tried a few samples (maple coated nuts, mmm) and explored the store for a bit before heading back to the tour.  Apparently it had been too warm the night before to have real operations up and going, but they did show us the machinery and had a large tub of syrup boiling which smelled heavenly.  It was interesting to hear how their processes differ from others, from the size of the hose going into the tree to the chemical processes they use or don't.  We also got to hear about their many side endeavors like the maple cooking classes and eventual wheat mill.  Random note, they even had gluten free and vegan pancake mixes in addition to their regular organic, Kosher mix.

view from the back of the hayride

A hay ride finished up our time at the maple farm and though it took a while before we got going, the views were as amazing as they had promised.  It was nice to sit back, take in the mild weather and enjoy old friends.  Also nice to take goofy pictures with old friends :).  The taking of pictures continued as we went on a brief tour of their town.  While small, I loved the ambiance and enjoyed their stories.  When we got back to their place Kat and I decided we should take some time to get a little bit of motion on our next few blogs.  Christine was kind enough tonshare some maple, cream tea with us and after adding large amounts of maple syrup and milk it did taste like maple, cream :)

We passed a place earlier called the Dairy Diner which is actually a Thai restaurant.  Upon finding that out, Kat was eager to try it out.  Kind of a surprise, the food was actually really good.  I'd recommend the Pad Thai, yumminess.  Kat's Green Curry was delicious too, although quite spicy.  As soon as dinner was done we hurried home to catch the sunset.  Too bad there was a large hill (mountain?) in the way.  A few pictures and it was time to break out the chocolate, peanut butter ice cream.  We enjoyed this over a rather funny movie - Knight and Day - and with a fire burning in the fireplace.  It was yummy and cozy and very hard to move when it was done.  However, the tantalizing pull of the hot tub finally got us going.  Apparently, the moon was as close to the earth as it's been in quite a while and was supposed to look huge.  Not sure it was crazy big, but it was crazy beautiful (despite the fact that our camera doesn't always like the dark).  Time in the tub passed very quickly and we were all soon tired again.  Day 45 to an end.

Boston - 3/18/11

Click for pics

We had been thinking about going to Portland on Friday, but it was farther away than we had realized, and the drive back passed straight through Boston again. Instead, we decided that we would finish the Freedom Trail in the afternoon. In the morning, we spent some time blogging, and then Lauren, Tricia, and I set off to find a crepe restaurant on Harvard Square. Lauren tried to drive there without using the GPS, since she and it have a love/hate relationship. Apparently the British lady who lives in the GPS likes to change directions mid-route.

At Harvard Square, we drove past the crepe place and it looked very closed. With the iPad, Tricia always has Google at hand, so she looked it up and it is in fact very closed. So instead we made our way to Mr. Bartley’s Gourmet Burgers. There was a line out the door because this restaurant has been featured on the Phantom Gourmet. An impatient man took our order while we were still in line (so much for sitting back and perusing the menu), so Tricia and I split a Lady Gaga burger (with provolone cheese and grilled peppers), sweet potato fries, and a milkshake. We eventually were called into the restaurant, and were ushered through a cafeteria-style room with closely packed tables and chairs. Our food arrived, and I will say that Mr. Bartley’s has the best sweet potato fries in Boston, and we’d tried sweet potato fries at several different places.

Afterwards we went next door to Harvard Book Store and browsed for a while. Pretty soon though, a majority of our little group needed to use the restroom, and as usual, there were none in the enormous bookstore. So we walked boldly into a Dunkin Donuts like we knew exactly what we were doing and exactly where we were going. Unfortunately, they keep their restrooms locked, so we had to retreat to the staff and ask them to let us in. L Then we walked through Harvard Square taking pictures on our way back to the car.

Lauren dropped me and Tricia off at the Bunker Hill Monument and then left us to get ready for work. We didn’t know you could climb it (something that’s open in the winter??) but the ranger pointed us to the stairs. Actually, I said “Can we climb up it?” and he said “I don’t know, can you?” People working at National Monuments and landmarks are getting just a little snippy lately. Anyway, the Bunker Hill Monument is 291 stairs. Straight up. Well, in a circle up, but there are no landings or anything to break up the stairs. It doesn’t sound like a lot….but then again, look how tall this thing is! We were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top, but we did get some amazing views from up there. And then we had to head down, which is just as bad as heading up, except it‘s harder on the legs than on the lungs. Our legs were shaking by the time we got to the bottom, and continued shaking for quite a while.

Next we made our way to the USS Constitution, where we had to go through a crazy amount of security and scanners. Once we’d passed the test, we headed to the museum and the to the gift shop. In the gift shop I spotted a game of balancing little wooden blocks on a suspended pirate ship without knocking the ship over. Uncharacteristically, Tricia didn’t want to play, so I asked one of the staff if he wanted to compete with me. He was surprisingly enthusiastic about this, and we spent the next 5 minutes rolling the dice and placing the corresponding pieces onto the ship. We also gathered a small crowd. Possibly because this game is for children ages 3 and up. I eventually lost. But it was my first time ever playing.

When we finally made our way to the Constitution it was about 4:05. It said it closed at 5, but it’s another one of those places that stops letting you on an hour before they close. So, I took a picture with the sailor guarding the gate and we went on our merry way. We had to walk back across the river to get to the subway, and then we returned to my sister’s to pack up our things and head out.

My sister is working at a pizza place while she’s in school, so we stopped by to see her and try some of her pizza. First we had to park though. In general, I can sort of manage to successfully parallel park, but that day I was having problems. After going forward and back, forward and back, forward and back, I was no closer to being in the spot. I got out and Tricia tried, but I’d already pretty well mangled the angle and she couldn’t get it parallel to the curb either. Finally, one of the people watching us from the steps of a nearby building broke away and moved her car from in front of us. It was a little on the pathetic side. J

At the pizza shop we got half bbq chicken and half “The Swellesley”, which is chorizo, red pepper, garlic, cheese, and basil. It’s Lauren’s favorite. I liked the bbq chicken better because I’m not a big fan of pizza sauce, but nothing can beat Mother Bear’s BBQ pizza in Bloomington, Indiana. (If you’re ever headed to Bloomington, email me and I’ll tell you where to eat. Best food ever.) We had salads in the restaurant (I had a yummy Greek salad and Tricia had a house salad), and then we took our pizza in the car since we had to get to Cooperstown, New York that night. (Yes, that it where the Baseball Hall of Fame is located. No, we didn’t go.) We made the 4 hours drive in the dark, and in New York we caught up with Tricia’s friends from college, Christine and Barret. We briefly considered trying out their hottub, but eventually decided sleep would be a better plan.

St. Patty's in Boston - 3/17/11

Library - Click here for pics

Thursday was St. Patty’s Day, and the sun was shining and it was much warmer out than it had been. We were both wearing too many sweaters, jackets, scarves, hats, and gloves for the sunny day, and most of it ended up tied around our waists or stuffed into our bags. But we enjoyed the nice day for once. We didn't have much in the way of green, so we dug through our Mardi Gras loot and found some green beads and a flashing green dragon to wear in deference to the holiday.  We started out by taking the T to the Boston Library, where we tried to get free tickets to the aquarium. FYI - if you have a Boston Library Card, you can get free tickets to various things at the library, but show up at least a month in advance.

The librarian pointed us in the direction of the Freedom Trail. On the way we stopped at a street vendor to pick up some honey roasted almonds. The trail wound around the city, and we went through parks and gardens and by the historical buildings. We saw the cemetery where Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin’s parents are buried (although they no longer know where exactly, since all the tombstones were rearranged into rows with the invention of lawn mowers). We also saw the church where Revere hung the lantern and the statehouse on Beacon Hill (where the dome is expensively covered with gold leaf - $300,000 to have it redone in 1997). Finally there was the Old City Hall - it has been lovingly restored and has been transformed into a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Plums

Before heading back for the St. Patty’s Day festivities (there were already lines outside the Irish bars at 2:00, and bouncers were taking $20 covers to get in), we walked through Quincy Street Market to see the food vendors. On the street we bought plums and then found a McDonalds and had dollar burgers and shakes. Our no fast food or tv on the road thing is sort of disintegrating in these last few days. Then we went off in search of a T stop, but since we were using a Freedom Trail map with only a couple stops listed, we walked nearly all the way back to the house before finding one. We couldn’t get across the river on foot, so we needed to take the T for the last stop anyway.

Stalking

The four of us took off early for an Irish bar called Goody Glover’s. We drank Irish cider while stalking the diners until one of the groups vacated their table. Some of Lauren and Mike’s friends joined us, and we pulled the tables together and drank green beer and ate semi-Irish food like corned beef and cabbage egg rolls.

I ordered a “Celtic” and the waitress brought me a Celtic beer. Now, normally when I make a mistake like this I just shut up and drink, but I really, really dislike beer, and I really wanted the Celtic Martini (btw - there was no Celtic beer on the menu). But because the waitress didn’t put the new order in officially, it never got made. Every 10 minutes she would come by, realize I still didn’t have the martini, apologize, and promise it was coming. I assured her it was fine. After a very long time, I finally got the martini, and she gave it to me for free. (She still charged me for the beer, but se la vi, right?) It was really good, creamy and green with Crème de Menthe, Creme de Cacao, and Irish Cream. Then Tricia and I tried some fruity martinis, which she liked but that I found disgusting (I’m a picky drinker), so we ordered chips so I would have a snack to disguise the taste.  I also had a Preacher's Collar, which is Vodka, Kahlua, Coke, and Guiness.  Yeah, that seemed like a good idea at the time.  :) 

We left the bar at the late hour of 9:00 and bought Cannolis at Mike's Bakery to eat at home.  In the T station Lauren and I danced around to our own theme music, doing our best impression of crazy people.  Back at the house we enjoyed our sugary and fattening treats and watched tv on the couch. And again didn’t blog. J

Salem - 3/16/11

Click for pics

Wednesday dawned rainy and cold, but we still decided to drive up to Salem and see what we could see. We had the place to ourselves - many places were still closed for the winter. Lauren made a bee-line for Derby Square Bookstore. Here, the books are precariously stacked up as high as they can go before reaching the tipping point. And, they are all 50% off. I do recommend stopping here if you’re ever in Salem - it’s a lot of fun. I spotted a pile of Janet Evanovich books and managed to topple two stacks of books trying to figure out if I’d read them all. Oops. The owner assured me that in 20 years he’d never broken a book. When we started taking pictures, he told us we had to buy a book first, so I told him we’d come in with the kid who was then checking out. (Lauren bought a couple books, so we were taking pictures legitimately. Not that I’d have felt bad about taking pictures without making a purchase - this is free advertising for him after all.)

View from under an umbrella

After leaving the Derby Square Bookstore, we wandered into and out of stores downtown looking at witchy merchandise as well as cookware and clothing and other typical downtown shopping fare. In the afternoon we found a seafood restaurant on the wharf where we could look out over the water and the rain. Tricia and I had halibut with green beans and sweet potato fries (they charged us $2 to substitute sweet potato fries for the regular fries - nice, huh?). But the food was pretty good.

Stirring the caldron



This is how you know I'm
a princess.



Finally we went to the Salem Witch Museum. We didn’t have time to do the tour, so we hung out in the gift shop. We tried on hats and stirred a caldron with invisible sticks. Tricia and I have spent 2 months honing our taking-embarrassing-pictures-in-public skills, and it took my sister a few minutes to warm up to this. But she’s a good sport and we have some goofy pictures of her too.

We next decided that we needed ice cream, but all the local places were still closed, so we went to Rita’s once again and had Blendinis. These are custard, Italian ice, and a candy or cookie mix-in. Lauren had pumpkin with Nilla Wafers, Tricia went with Chocolate Raspberry Oreo, and I had Strawberry Kiwi Raspberry Chocolate with Reeses Cups. Mmmm. J Then we went back to the car where we’d put 2 hours worth of quarters in the meter and then never returned. But, since we were just about the only car there and it had been raining all day, it probably didn’t make any sense to pay someone to write tickets, so we were fine.

At home, Tricia went off to Simmons again and Lauren caught me up on all the American Idol I’ve missed this season. (For the record, I’ve watched 2 seasons of American Idol - the one in which Fantasia one in circa 2003, and the one in which David Cook won in 2008. The former because all my friends were watching it in college and I succumbed to the peer pressure, and the latter because I was unemployed and had cable in 2008.) We also watched the latest House episode. I actually am depressed to be missing House, but am putting this blog before my House obsession. House and Burn Notice are the two things I wish I was still caught up on right now. L

Wharf in Salem - I have no Rino's pics

After the tv veg, Lauren and I decided to give Rino’s a second chance. This time it was late - 8:00, and they closed at 9. And yet - hour and a half wait. We put our name in anyway, and they promised to call when a table opened up. And we drove away to find a less-popular restaurant. While we were driving around in circles trying to find a parking space, Rino’s called - barely half an hour later! Since we were out of luck finding parking anyway, we drove back to the East Side to Rino’s. I had the Gnocchi, which is what I always have since I discovered it during Madison’s Restaurant Week two years ago. It was good, but do I think it was worth $20? Eh. As my sister says, the restaurant knows they’re good, so they don’t necessarily need to try as hard anymore.

And then it was back to the house and one final episode of American Idol before hitting the sack.

Getting to Boston - 3/15/11

 

Click for more pics - mostly sky.  :)

In the morning we left Aunt Leslie’s and stopped by the Dunkin Donuts to use some more coupons and get iced coffees and Big and Tasty Sandwiches. I thought the sandwiches were much better the second time. J We needed to drive back to the house because we’d forgotten our seafood leftovers and the cream cheese for our bagels; driving in circles would become a theme for the rest of the day (I imagine it’s a theme for anyone who drives in Boston). But the drive from Lakewood to just outside of Boston was uneventful.

When we were about 15 minutes from my sister Lauren’s place in Boston, we realized we were an hour earlier than we’d estimated (I wasn’t going that fast, I swear!). We were near Harvard, and decided to get off the highway and drive through Harvard Square to get gas. It was beautiful, but between the traffic and the lights it took us a long time to get to the gas station. We recalculated our route from the gas station and were farther away than we had been when we got off the highway. Our drive took us into the tunnel. We were supposed to get off at an exit inside the tunnel, but the signs were confusing, and we missed it. We missed the next one too, and finally took the third and made a u-turn to get back into the tunnel. This ended up taking us up an on-ramp on the left, but we were then supposed to take an exit on the right in less than a mile, which was a physical impossibility. As anyone who’s driven in Boston will tell you. And it was rush hour (you know, 3 pm). So we missed our exit again. Tricia’s iPad gave up on us ever making it through the tunnel, and found a new route. And suddenly we went from 5 minutes away to 20.

The blue line is our new route

Our new route took us into crazy back roads that would have been scary at night, but we eventually made it to my sister’s. We sat and caught up awhile, and then Tricia went off to Simmons to check out the school and a talk on the Library Sciences program. Lauren, her boyfriend Mike, and I decided we’d try an Italian place called Rino’s. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall place with about 12 tables. Unfortunately, it was recently featured on Diners, Dives, and Drive-Ins. Even though we were there early on a Tuesday, the hostess told us it would be a 2 hour wait! So we left and went to Lauren’s favorite restaurant, Border Café. It’s a big noisy Mexican/Cajun place. We shared queso with our chips, and then I had a giant burrito with jambalaya on the side. Mexican/Cajun! I’ve also had the Eggplant Royale, which is eggplant covered in cheese and crabmeat, and which I recall being excellent.

My sister lives on the third floor of a house which originally had 2 bedrooms, but which were converted into 1 bedroom and one giant closet. She put a mattress on the floor in the closet and so we had our own room (at least until they needed their clothes in the morning). And then we spent the night watching Law & Order SVU. Because that’s what my sister and I do when we get together. J

New Jersey, Monday, Part 2 - 3/14/2011

Click here for day 40 pictures!

After breakfast we headed back to my aunt's to change into real clothes before taking off again.  Our next stop of the morning was the Asbury Park Public Library for a music exhibit put on by the Smithsonian.  It was a pretty neat display describing the evolution of music in America and all of the different influences over time.  Though rather small, we still managed to spend a decent amount of time absorbing the actually fascinating information.  (I did sneak off to the book stacks for a little while as Kat finished up).  Next we headed to the neighboring town of Ocean Grove to look around.  Three were some interesting buildings and the place has quite a bit of history.  However, what most caught our attention was the beach.  As it was a beautiful cloud day, we decided to get a closer look and of course, take a bunch of pictures :)

We took a short break to blog a bit and go through a few pictures before it was back to jersey family and food!  Kat had mentioned before that she didn't like lobster bisque and so I decided she needed to try some real stuff.  For this, we headed over to a restaurant called Shore Fresh.  The food was amazing the first time I'd been there and the second time did not disappoint.  Up first was the lobster bisque and it was a success!  Kat even got a second helping.  We followed that with some scrumptious scallops and delicious blackened tuna bits.  There was much sharing of food, making of fish faces and telling of stories.

We ate our fill at Shore Fresh and then it was back to my Aunt's for Girls' Night In!  Tea and snacks were put on the coffee table (along with some pretty nifty napkins) and the blow up couch was pulled out and filled for us extra guests (very fun to sit in, by the way).  Wild Hogs was the movie of choice and my goodness, did it have us laughing.  A story of four grown men who go on a road trip across the US seemed appropriate.  Now, they had tossed their cell phones while we would have been rather miserable at times without the iPad.  These guys also traveled by motorcycle which pales in comparison to the comfy, roomy CRV.  Beyond those and a few other small things, it was Kat and I!  On the open road, exploring places and meeting fun and interesting new people.  Letting loose, learning about ourselves and coming back with new eyes.  Not a bad way to end day 40 of our trip.

Last day in Lakewood (Pt 1) - 3/14/11

Since we were staying in New Jersey on Monday, we’d decided the night before to go to Shut Up and Eat with Tricia’s Aunt Margie for breakfast. That morning, Tricia and I searched through all of her Aunt’s pajamas looking for a matching set. The waitresses at Shut Up and Eat wear pajamas, and the diner gives 13% off to customers who make the same effort. I actually called to find out if nightgowns satisfied the requirements (sweats or pajama pants with an old T-Shirt do not). Tricia ended up in a glamorous green nightgown with matching bathrobe, and I found red and pink pants and a red and pink top that may or may not have gone together. But it worked.

The crazy restaurant is filled with old books, toys, kitchen-ware, skeletons (there were more than one), funny signs, and pretty much everything else you could possibly display or hang from the ceiling. The menu has crazy prices where everything is misspelled along with hand-written inserts of daily specials. I ordered the Strawberry C.C.C.C.S.F.T. which I highly recommend. This is Strawberry Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Stuffed French Toast. Amazing. Tricia ordered the Sloppy Mess, because it’s a plate of everything piled on top of each other, which is how she usually eats. J It included home fries with meats and cheeses with eggs and toast. It was less good than the French Toast, but still good. Aunt Margie gave the waffles with bananas and walnuts two thumbs up as well. And, if you’re trying to do breakfast on the cheap, bring them a dinner plate and a coffee mug. They will trade you a pancake and a cup of coffee. This is why none of their dishes, silverware, or salt and pepper shakers match.

New Jersey, Sunday - 3/13/2011

Forgot to mention that for the past three days I had an awful sore throat and my voice rarely got above a whisper.  Ramifications:

Kat had to take all of my phone calls.
We had a lot of difficulty communicating in crowded places.  St. Patty's parade was a lot of laughing.
Kat had to order our food, like the cheesesteaks in Philly and in the freezing cold at Rita's.
At dinner on Saturday, members of the family would ask questions and more often than not Kat had to answer, though I certainly tried to talk as much as I could.  Too many fun stories to share!
Kat told the front desk at Ceaser's that she was Tricia in order to pick up our room keys.  Then they asked for ID and we had to explain, or rather, I croaked and Kat explained.

Wow, thank you, Kat, for keeping our trip going while I was at half power!!


Anyways, that was relevant as our first destination on Sunday morning was my uncle's chiropractic office for some help with my stuffed up self.  Wow did I feel better after that visit.  He got things moving, the junk headed out and the good stuff back in line.  Backing up a bit, the first stop of the morning had been off to Dunkin' Donuts as we had been given coupons and couldn't pass up 99 cent large iced coffees and cheap, greasy sandwiches.  Hm, health and not so healthy.  Yup, life is a mix.  Side plug, I'd had two different people give me some of the traditional medicinals tea and it felt amazing on my throat!

Second destination of the day was church.  We met up with my aunt and grandma for the service and then enjoyed chatting over coffee hour.  It's a great group of people there and I enjoyed myself as I have many times before.  Fascinating stories and random tidbits of sugary stuff, good times.  Once we had our fill there we headed over to the bagel nosh to pick up lunch and then it was back to grandma's to enjoy some of the most amazing bagels and cream cheese.

Link to more pictures

We had everything and egg bagels, some with chicken salad (with dried cranberries, mmm), some with lox cream cheese and most with veggie cream cheese.  After this I felt like going into a food coma but Kat convinced me to go for a walk.  We walked around the lake at the end of my grandma's street and it was a beautiful day for it.  The walk felt great and the fresh air wonderful. This didn't stop me from taking a little nap when we got back and we spent the rest of the day relaxing, chatting and catching up on odds and ends.  Oh yes, and had scrumptious subs and perogies for dinner.  However, our beautiful Sunday of rest, and day 39 of our trip, eventually did have to come to an end.

New Jersey, Saturday - 3/12/2011

Click here for more pictures!

We woke up, checked out the amazing view and enjoyed luxuriously long, hot showers before heading out to find our car.  This was not an easy task.  We thought we were on the fifth floor, but when that didn't work we tried all of the other floors, each labeled with it's own pretty color.  Hm, no luck.  Did you know that there are three garages attached to Ceaser's?  Yup, that's right.  Third time is a charm!  After that excitement we were on the road.  The plan for the morning was the Seaside Heights St. Patricks Day parade.

Apparently the universe decided that since it took us so long to find our car earlier we should spend an especially long time in the car later.  We were stuck in very slow moving traffic for a very long time  (Kat says 6 miles in 45 minutes... Apparently I blocked that statistic out!).  Getting to the peninsula should have brought a sigh of relief, but then there was parking.  The lot was free, yay!  However, this seemed to give people the license to park anywhere they felt like. Many of the passways between aisles of parked cars were also parked in leaving you no way to get out.   

It was a little iffy at one point, we thought we were stuck.  Thankfully no one parked a uniform distance apart and so there was one strange break that we were able to pass through (and by able to, I mean I closed my eyes and Kat went for it).  We should have learned, but the next aisle was even more exciting.  It involved some awkward three point turns, backwards driving and a lot of laughing with the other cars in there with us (one guy even had green dreads!).  In the end we parked with a few other cars in a line perpendicular to a single line of cars, figuring they could just pull out the other way.

By this point the parade had already started and so we just followed the loud cheers and crazily dressed green people.  The parade was full of bands, cool old cars, scout troops, a few floats, some military men and even the Shriner cars!  However, the best part was definitely walking up and down the street and admiring the outfits people had put together.  From the very young to the very old and reaching even to the animals, their Irish pride was apparent.

All that excitement and walking worked up an appetite and so we headed up to the boardwalk to look around.  It looked a bit like a ghost town with many things shut down and yet the arcades, rides, game booths and food stands were still exciting to walk amongst.  One stand we passed had a menu that was nearly all things fried, including oreos, snickers, etc.  Yummy.  This idea stayed with us and we ended up buying a bag of zeppoles!  So. Much. Fun.  We had powdered sugar all over us!!  I couldn't stop laughing.  Sugar, laughter and the beach/ocean nearby... pretty neat.  We ended our time by taking a trip down memory lane.  My uncle owns a beach house that I spent many fun times in through the years.  After that stop we were on our way to Lakewood!

Saturday dinner had Kat being introduced to a large portion of my extended family.  She handled it pretty well :)  Between 14 of us we had four pizzas (for you non east coast folks, the pies are about 18 inches in diameter which is quite large compared to the typical size in the Midwest) and a number of other odds and ends.  It was loud and fun and wonderful to see everyone and catch up a bit.  It was also interesting to reflect on the trip with those who already know me :). Later some of us headed over to grandma's for ice cream and more talk and laughter.  Kat had a blast seeing our blog through my uncle's eyes.  At the end of the night we headed to my aunt's place where we enjoyed a relaxing cup of tea to calm our sugar riddled selves.  Soon we were asleep and day 38 came to a close.

Atlantic City - 3/11/2011, pt2

I had been craving italian ice since we had passed a place on south street earlier.  However, with our ticket for the parking lot only good until six we ran out of time and didn't make it back.  This was fine as I remembered a favorite place of mine from my Philly days... Rita's!  They have some delicious Italian ice/custard combinations.  I looked up directions, cleaned up the front seat, looked up info on atlantic city, and then we were finally out of rush hour traffic and on our way.  We got out of the car at Rita's and it was freezing, geesh.  Oh well, ice cold treats are great whatever the temperature.  Kat got chocolate custard with cheesecake and black cherry ice while I got chocolate custard with mango and Swedish fish.  The large was 50 cents more so we had to go with that.  Yummy.

Next up was a bit more traffic before we finally reached the bright lights of AC.  Finding the garage was easy, though finding a spot took a bit longer.  We headed into the hotel and met my Uncle Bobby at the front desk.  As we walked back to our room at Ceasers we passed a beautiful blue ceiling and a number of statues.  It was pretty fun.  We put away our stuff and it was down to the casino.

First up, nickle slots.  We sat for quite a while and were entertained by the numbers running up and down.  I actually left this seat with three times what I started with.  Sweet!  However, this was not where we stopped and so ended the night 5 cents up between the both of us.  Up is good :)  We were up $20 when we decided to try our hand at roulette.  We managed to get all the way up to $24.50 at one point, but at $5 a hand our winnings quickly dwindled to $4.55.  Not having enough to play even one hand, we decided to leave the roulette table.  We headed to the blackjack table next.  At $10 a hand, we still weren't up enough to play ourselves, so we waited until we "felt the vibe" and then threw a dollar chip on Uncle Bobby's bet.  This worked well.  For a while.  And then we lost all our dollar chips.  And cashed out up 5 cents.

Dinner with my uncle in the Diamond Lounge was also good, awesome even.  We had dinner and drinks and told a bajillion crazy stories between the three of us.  Good times.  After my uncle left we wandered around a bit more and headed over to the wild west section.  We didn't wander too long though, comfy hotel beds were calling.  Day 37 to an end.  Definitely awesome, though five weeks and two days, definitely feeling the wilt.