Mynee's Musings

Hawaii 2011 - Part One

Well, I finally finished this post about our Hawaii trip.  I actually started it about 10 weeks ago but I just never finished it.  Don't get me wrong, we had a great time while we were there.  We relaxed on the beach, ate great food, saw beautiful scenery and took over 250 pictures.  It's just that I wasn't sure how I was going to blog about it without getting all emotional about baby Greta.  Now that Greta is back to her usual spunky self, here's a recap of our trip:

Saturday, September 3 - We arrived in Honolulu at about 2:30pm local time.  As is our tradition, we checked into the hotel, the Moana Surfrider, and then headed down to the Beach Bar for our first mai tai.  We did a little shopping and I bought my first pair of yoga mat Sanuk flip flops, THE most comfortable flip flops I have ever worn.  I bought an orange pair like these...

We ate dinner at Duke's which is also our tradition.  They have yummy crab & macadamia nut won tons and macadamia nut encrusted mahi mahi.  Sooooooo good.    

Sunday, September 4 - We ate breakfast at Duke's and then headed to the beach by 8:00am.  We're always up pretty early the first day since we haven't fully adjusted to the time change yet which is great because we get to maximize our beach time.  We spent 4 hours relaxing on the beach and then we ate a light lunch at the Beach Bar followed by another hour of beach time.  We then cleaned up and headed to Punch Bowl National Cemetary.  It is very very windy but the view is pretty. 

  

We decided to eat dinner at Kona Brewing aka Koko Marina Pub in Hawaii Kai.  It turned out to be one of the more expensive dinners, not because of the meal but because of the cab ride.  It was over $40 each way!  Hee hee hee...it really didn't look that far on the map but the taxi driver did say that it was 12 miles.  Apparently she doesn't have too many fares to this part of Oahu because she had to call her brother to confirm the location.  Anyway, the food and beer were great.  We had eaten at their other restaurant, Kona Brewing, in Kona 5 years ago.  Anyway, here's a picture of the marina...

Monday, September 5 - We had a repeat of yesterday only this time, after the beach, we walked through downtown Honolulu and did a little shopping.  We also walked the grounds of The Royal Hawaiian Hotel.  It was my grandma and grandpa's favorite hotel on Oahu and I stayed there with my mom and dad back in 1982. 

We ate dinner at Ocean House and although they lost our reservations, we were still seated fairly quickly and the food was great.  Crab stuffed mahi mahi, need I say more?  After dinner, we had one last drink at the Beach Bar.

Tuesday, September 6 - Our shuttle picked us up at the hotel around 9:30 and we headed to the airport.  The flight is only about 20 minutes and we arrived around 12:30 or so.  We checked into the Sheraton Kauai and then ate a light lunch at Lavas, the new restaurant/bar in the hotel.  We walked on the beach and also checked out some of the shops.  We had reservations at 6:00pm at The Beach House, one of our favorite restaurants that definitely has one of the prettiest sunset views.  Here are a few photos we took during dinner...

Wednesday, September 7 - We got up extra early because we had to be at the pier by 6:00am for our Napali coast tour.  This was seriously the best tour we have ever taken.  We even saw a bunch of spinner dolphins following us.  The scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  

We snorkled before lunch near a rock outcrop just off the coast of Ni'ihau called Lehua Rock.  Now, I had never really snorkled before, not in deep water anyway.  I'm not afraid of water and I am a good swimmer, however, the whole "not knowing where the bottom is" kind of freaks me out.  The thing is, we had to snorkle in pairs so if I didn't do it, Bill couldn't either.  I knew he really wanted to snorkle so I put on my fins and mask and jumped in the water.  They had swim noodles that we could use but wouldn't give them to us until we jumped in the water and could prove that we could swim.  I guess it's because they're not approved safety devices and could easily slip away from you.  Anyway, after I got the noodle and put my face in the water, my fears quickly vanished.  It was so cool watching the fish swimming around.  The water was about 15 feet deep within 20 feet of Lehua Rock and then it quickly dropped off to 90 feet.  We snorkled for about 20 minutes and then got back on the boat and ate lunch.  Typically the ride back to Kauai is pretty rough but it was really smooth this day.  In fact, the captain said that it was one of the smoothest rides he has ever experienced.  We got back to the hotel around 3:00 and decided to do a little shopping before dinner.  We ate at Keoki's Paradise.  We had eaten there 10 years ago and I remembered how good the Mahi Mahi was.  Yum!     

Thursday, September 8 - We ate breakfast at the hotel and then spent a few hours on the beach.  It's a beautiful crescent shaped beach and they have covered lounge chairs and a great pool.  We stayed at the same hotel 10 years ago and the beach was one of the things that made us want to stay there again. 

After enjoying the sun and sand, we cleaned up and then headed north towards Princeville, stopping at Coconut Marketplace in Kapa'a were we had yummy Lappert's ice cream.  Afterwards, we checked out all of the little shops and I bought my second pair of Sanuk yoga mats, this time in turquoise.  My sister, Lisa, called at about 2:20 Hawaii time to let us know that she was at the vet with Greta.  She said that Greta wasn't eating and the vet suggested that she bring her in.  At that point, we were hoping that she was just lonely for us and that the vet could give her something to make her eat.  We continued our drive north and Lisa called about an hour later and said that the vet wanted to talk to us.  He said that her heart rhythm was irregular and her blood pressure was low.  He suggested that Lisa take her to Veterinary Specialty Services (VSS) so that they could watch her overnight.  We then continued to Princeville, stopping to take a few photos of the famous taro fields.

We then walked around the shops in Princeville although I don't think either one of us were very interested in shopping at that time.  The admitting vet at VSS finally called to say that Greta's low blood pressure was caused by too much amlodipine.  The vet had prescribed one 2.5mg pill twice a day and it should have been no more than a 1/4 of a 2.5mg pill twice a day.  They were monitoring her and said that she was resting comfortably and would call us in the morning.  We felt a little better but were still concerned, of course.  We ate dinner at Hanalei Dolphin in Princeville and while the food was good, our minds (and hearts) were with Greta.

Friday, September 9 - We ate breakfast at the hotel and then received a call from Greta's cardiologist (who knew that cats could have cardiologists).  She confirmed the amlodipine overdose and said that she didn't feel that it was something that would be considered fatal and that the medicine just needed time to work out of her system.  We decided to head to our planned outing which was tubing on a sugar cane flume.  The water was cold and I mean cold.  It was also cloudy (it's the rainest spot on earth) so that made it even colder.  It was fun but again, our hearts just weren't in it.  I did take a few pictures with the water camera but I still haven't gotten them developed.  We ate lunch after the 1 hour float at picnic tables set up by the side of the flume and then we headed back to the tour office.  We drove back to the hotel and spent a few hours at the pool/beach, trying to assure ourselves that Greta was going to be fine.  We talked to the vet again and everything seemed ok.  We ate dinner at Brenneke's Beach Broiler.  The food was ok but I don't think it was a reflection on the chef, it's just that we weren't really in the mood to eat so at that point, nothing would have tasted good.  We went back to the hotel and had a drink at Lava's after dinner.

Saturday, September 10 - Bill woke up early and talked to the cardiologist.  She was much less optimistic this time and didn't know if Greta would be ok or not.  I woke up and Bill told me about the conversation he had with the vet.  He said that if I wanted to leave, he'd call to see if he could arrange it.  We ate breakfast at the hotel and discussed our plans.  We decided to try to fly home so we went back to the hotel room and called AAA to see what arrangements we could make.  They could get us on a 9:00pm flight from Kauai to Honolulu and then a 10:50pm flight from Honolulu to Phoenix and a 9:00am flight to St. Louis, arriving at 2:00pm on Sunday.  The only problem was, it was first class on all 3 flights.  We hadn't really planned on flying first class but we wanted to get home so we booked it.  I then called the vet and told her that we were flying home and she said that that was probably a good idea.  OK, that didn't do much to reassure us.  We called Lisa and told her our plans and she said that she and Randy would go visit Greta and call us.  By this time, it was almost noon and we were hungry since we really didn't eat much breakfast so we headed to Keoki's paradise again for a few appetizers.  While we were there, Lisa called and gave us a report on Greta.  They were able to pet her and talk to her which made me feel a little better.  We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the hotel room just watching TV.  I know, the beautiful beach was just steps away but neither one of us were in the mood to go to the beach and we were basically just counting down the minutes until we could head to the airport.  

Greta had her checkup with her cardiologist on Wednesday.  She is 100% recovered.  The vet tech, Carrie, was so happy to see Greta.  She said that Greta even hissed while they were drawing blood and Carrie loved it.  She said that it was so good to see her back to normal.

We're planning part two of our Hawaii vacation for May 2012; three nights on Oahu and six on Maui.  I can't wait.                  

 

Curveballs

Baseball?  No, the curveballs that life sometimes throws at you.  You've probably been wondering where I've been.  In fact, a few of you e-mailed me to see what was up since I haven't posted here in over a month.  A lot has happened in the past 4 weeks, some fun and some not-so-fun.  Here's a recap...

September 3 through 6 - We left for our two week trip to Hawaii.  We had a layover in Phoenix and were able to meet my sweet stamping friend, Doris.  We "met" online about 5 years ago but when we finally met in person, it felt like we had known each other forever.  After visiting with Doris for about an hour, we boarded the plane for Honolulu where we spent 3 nights.

September 6 though 11 - We arrived in Kauai on September 6.  We had a great time up until Thursday afternoon at around 2:30.  My cell phone rang and it was my sister calling to let me know that she was at the vet with Greta.  It turns out that the vet (different doctor at the same vets office) prescribed the wrong dose of amlodipine (blood pressure medicine) and it caused an irregular heartbeat and extremely low blood pressure.  The vet recommended that my sister take Greta to Veterinary Specialty Services which is a 24 hour animal hospital.  Well, the next morning, we talked to the cardiologist and she said that she didn't feel that the overdose was fatal and that it would just take time to work out of her system.  We went ahead and went on an outing that day, although our hearts weren't in it.  By Saturday morning, the vet wasn't positive that Greta would make it although she couldn't say for sure because she said that there isn't much information about cats and amlodipine overodse.  Anyway, we decided to fly home and we were lucky enough to be able to get a flight from Kauai to Honolulu at 9:00pm and from Honolulu to Phoenix at 11:00pm and then on to St. Louis, arriving at about 1:45pm on Sunday.  My sister picked us up at the airport and we went straight to the hospital to see Greta.  She looked so tired and sad, definitely not like her usual self.  We spoke to the vet and she was more optimistic that Greta would be ok even though they had her in a oxygen cage so that it would help her breath easier. 

September 12 - My sister called around 10:30 to check on Greta and to let me know that she was going to the doctor with my mom and dad.  Turns out, my mom had an infection in her foot so she was admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics.  Greta remained in stable condition.

September 13 through 18 - We were still on "vacation" so we were at home and would visit Greta twice a day.  We took her favorite food and snacks with us but she refused to eat.  She would drink water and use the litter pan but food didn't interest her at all.  On Thursday morning, the vet was not very optimistic that Greta would be ok.  When we visited her that morning, she seemed really tired and weak but when we visited her late in the afternoon, she seemed much better.  The roller coaster ride continued through Tuesday, with Sunday being the worst day.  The vet had told us that morning that she didn't know if there was much more she could do for Greta.  The were able to stabilize her blood sugar which had risen really high but she had fluid under her skin and also in her chest.  The vet drained her chest fluid each morning since Monday and they just couldn't figure out what was causing it.  She said that Greta didn't appear to be in pain but she just wasn't getting better.  Our visit on Sunday morning was sad because we just didn't know if she'd ever come home again.  Our visit on Sunday evening was much better.  Greta seemed more alert and even meowed a few times. 

September 19 and 20 - My mom went home from the hospital on Monday afternoon and is doing well.  She's still on antibiotics and her foot is wrapped but she's happy to be home and is getting around fine.  When we visited Greta after work on Monday, she seemed even more alert than 24 hours earlier.  On Tuesday morning, the vet removed Greta's feeding tube (it was a tiny tube in her nose) and she actually ate food for us on Tuesday evening and was very alert.

September 21 - When I spoke to the vet this morning, she said that she felt that Greta could go home.  There was very little fluid in her chest, not even enough to drain, and she was eating.  We picked her up at around 4:30 that afternoon.  Carrie, the veterinary tech, told us that everyone in ICU gave her a goodbye pat on the head and were going to miss her but they were so glad she was going home.  Within the first 30 minutes of being home, Greta ate, drank and used the litter box.  She definitely knew where she was and was happy to be home.     

Greta has been getting better each day and seems to be almost back to her old self.  She had a follow-up visit on the 26th and the vet said that she looks great and the ultrasound of her chest showed no fluid and her heart was back to normal.  When Carrie brought her back into the room after the tests, she said that she had to stop by the ICU because everyone wanted to say Hi to her.  :)  We love the entire staff at VSS and are so grateful to Doctor Marshall and her team for taking such good care of our dear baby.  

My sister made a blanket for Greta and she absolutely loves it!  It's so soft and warm and comfy.  Greta has spent many hours sound asleep on her blanket.  Not only is the blanket comfy but it's also personalized!  Lisa has a cool embroidery machine that makes all kinds of things.  Here's a close-up of the embroidering... 

 

So, that's a recap of the past 4 weeks.  Now for the present; since the title of this post is "Curveballs", I just have to mention baseball...woohoo, the Cardinals are in the playoffs.  They play the Phillies today at 4:07.  Strange time!  We'll be at the Fox Theater seeing Addams Family but I'll have my phone on and will be checking the score!

OK, since it seems like things have settled down a little now, I'll be back to regular blogging.  I'll be sure to post more details of our Hawaii trip.  Check back soon.

Stevie Nicks Texas Weekend

We spent a 4-day weekend in Texas, August 11 through 14.  I'll give you three guesses as to why and the first two don't count...hee hee hee.  Yes, Stevie Nicks was in Dallas and Houston.  Since she wasn't stopping in St. Louis on her current tour, we had to travel to see her.  It worked out great because we took a long weekend and were able to see her twice.  We went to Dallas and Houston back in June 2007 to see Stevie in concert and we actually stayed at the same hotels this time; The Adolphus in Dallas and Hotel Icon in Houston.  You can click here to see a recap of the 2007 trip. 

We arrived in Dallas on Thursday, August 11, just before 11:00 and we were checked in to our hotel and on our way to lunch by noon.  We ate at City Tavern, yummy appetizer platter and a few brews.  We then walked to Dealey Plaza to take a few pictures.  We didn't visit the Six Floor Museum  since we had visited there last time.  We then stopped by the Old Red Museum as well as a few shops.  We had reservations at 6:00pm at Blue Mesa Grill which is a Tex-Mex restaurant.  We decided to skip the appetizers since they had brought us a huge basket of chips and salsa.  Bill had the ribs and I had three taco; chicken, shredded pork and salmon.  Believe it or not, the shredded pork was my favorite closely followed by the chicken.  We drove back to our hotel and took a cab to the Belmont Hotel so that we could go to Bar Belmont because I had heard that they have a great view of downtown Dallas.  We probably should have just drove there instead of taking a cab because the cab driver didn't know where he was going even though the guy at our hotel gave him the address.  Ugh.  I had checked the map and knew it wasn't far so after riding around for about 10 minutes, Bill asked him if he knew where he was going.  He mumbled something about getting lost but he knew where he was.  The area we were driving through had a lot of boarded-up buildings and grafiti.  We finally got to the hotel and the cab ride was over $20 but he asked us for just $10, probably because he knew that we would have argued with him.  The return ride was only $9.  Anyway, the view was really cool.  It was a little hazy so the picture isn't perfect...

 
        

On Friday, we ate breakfast at the hotel and then walked to the Dallas Aquarium.  There were more "non-water" animals than I would have expected, like this one...

 
 
When we were walking to the aquarium, we saw West End Pub so we decided to eat lunch there.  After lunch, we did a little shopping and walking and then went back to the hotel before heading to dinner.  We decided to eat at BJ's Brewery in Arlington and then drove to Grand Prairie for the concert. 

The concert was at the Verizon Amphitheater which is an indoor venue.  Since it was pretty hot, I was glad to be in doors.  Here's a list of the songs she sang in Dallas... 

1. Stand Back
2. Secret Love
3. Dreams
4. Sorcerer
5. Moonlight
6. Gold Dust Woman
7. Soldiers Angel
8. Annabel Lee
9. For What It's Worth
10. Rhiannon
11. Landslide
12. Ghosts Are Gone
13. Leather and Lace
14. Edge of Seventeen
15. Love Is (Encore)

Stevie talked quite a bit between songs.  After she sang Sorcerer, she asked the people in the front rows to stop filming her because it was distracting.  They must have listened to her because I didn't see anyone filming her after this.   

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Houston on Saturday morning and checked in to our hotel around 2:30.  We decided to walk down to Minute Maid Park (aka the juice box) because I wanted to take a few pictures even though I hate the Astros...hee hee hee.  We then drove to The Woodlands to eat dinner at Jasper's.  Oh my goodness, was it ever good.  The blue cheese potato chips were super yummy and the warm baked potato salad was sooooo good.  Bill thought I was goofy but I had to take a picture... 

 

Bill had the ribs which he said were excellent and I had the crab cakes which were equally as good.  The concert was at The Woodland Pavillion which was just about 1/2 mile from the restaurant.  The set list for the show in Houston was the same except she did not sing Sorcerer.  She also didn't talk as much between songs, I think because she was having voice issues (according to her).  Her singing still was great though.

After breakfast at the hotel on Sunday, we drove back to Dallas, stopping at Buc-ee's on the way.  They have fabulous bathrooms...hee hee hee!  It was a great trip.   

Prescott, Arizona

This looks like such a pretty place...

 

Did you notice who the narrator is?  It is none other than Toni Tennille.  She and Daryl live in Prescott.  Phoenix is on our list of future vacation spots and Prescott is only about 100 miles away so maybe I can talk Bill into visiting Prescott.  I mean heck, they even have a microbrewery called Prescott Brewing Company so it would definitely be worth the trip.  :)  

 

Vegas 2010

Bill and I were in Vegas 10/12 through 10/15 and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.  How sad is that.  Anyway, here's the travelog:

Tuesday, October 12 - We arrived in Vegas at approximately 12:45pm and immediately went to our hotel (Mandalay Bay, of course), checked in and dropped off our luggage.  We then headed to The Pub at Monte Carlo for lunch.  It's tradition.  In fact, even when my bff Jenny and I went to Vegas in 2008, our first stop was The Pub.  Anyway, we started with the crab cakes and then we had the fig and prosciutto flatbread.  We had it for the first time when we were there last October and we loved it.  It was still good, although they went a little heavy on the fig jam this time.  I had a Tenaya Creek IPA (local brew) and a Pipeline Porter (Kona Brewing) which I have had in Hawaii and loved.  After lunch, we did a little shopping and gambling and then headed back to the hotel to change and then headed to Harrah's to buy tickets for the Improv show that night.  After buying the tickets, we then took the shuttle to the Rio hotel.  It's off the strip although still within site of the strip but we had never been there before.  We gambled a little and then had a pretzel and beer at McFadden's before taking the shuttle back to Harrah's.  Flip Schultz was the opener and he was ok.  Then there was some guy who has a local radio show and just happened to stop by to perform.  He was ok too.  Next was John DiResta and he was very funny.  The headliner was Dat Phan and he was hilarious.  After the show, we ate a late dinner at munchbar at Caesar's.  I had the mahi tacos and Bill had the sliders, both with a brew of course.  By the time we got back to the hotel, it was 11:45 (1:45 St. Louis time) and it was time to call it a day.

Wednesday, October 13 - We ate breakfast at House of Blues in our hotel.  This has also become a tradition over the last 3 years or so.  I love their breakfast burrito.  It goes great with a mimosa...hee hee hee.  We then headed to the pool and enjoyed about 4 hours lounging on the "beach", splashing in the waves, floating in the lazy river and soaking in the hot tub.  We had some chips, salsa and guacamole for lunch at the grilll next to the pool.  After the pool, we headed to The Pub for another brew and a little gambling.  We had dinner reservations at Red Square, one of our favorite restaurants.  We eat there every time we're in Vegas.  We always order the same thing...the roquefort filet with garlic mashed potatoes and red wine sauce.  Yummy.  Naturally we had to have a few Red Square martinis or, as my sister calls them, jet fuel martinis.  Such a wonderful end to a great day.

Thursday, October 14 - We ate breakfast at the buffet at Bellagio.  We've never eaten there before and it was quite good.  There was a wide variety of food including Chinese stir fry (for breakfast?) but I stuck with the traditional eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruit and blueberry muffin along with orange juice and ice tea.  We then headed back to the hotel to get our online boarding passes for our flight home the next day.  The afternoon started with a stop at MGM Grand to see the lions.   I would love to pet these cuties.  I mean, they're just big kitties, right?  Look at the size of those paws.  The big kitty was laying on the plexiglass above us when I snapped this picture.  After viewing the kitties, we gambled a little and then headed to The Pub for a light lunch (crab cakes for me and calamari for Bill) and a few brews.  We then headed to CityCenter where we gambled and took in the sights.  Look at this big typewriter eraser.  I don't know why but it cracks me up.  The funny thing is, people under the age of 20 probably wouldn't even know what this is.  We decided on a spot for dinner and then headed back to the hotel to get ready.  Thank goodness for the tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay and also from Monte Carlo to Bellagio.  Without them, we probably would have walked 15 more miles than we did because we then headed back to CityCenter to eat at P.U.B. by Todd English.  He owns quite a few restaurants including Olives in the Bellagio where we ate last year.  We started with the welsh rarebit and then I had the swordfish enchiladas and Bill had fish & chips along with a pitcher of Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA.  By this time, we had had enough to eat and drink over the past 3 days so we made our way back to the hotel, gambling a little on the way. 

Friday, October 15 - We flew home to St. Louis, arriving at 4:45pm.  Las Vegas was fun, as always.  It was a great trip!

OK, I'm eating lunch with my bff Jenny today!  I can't wait.  Toodles.    

                  

Florida 2010

OK, last week, I mentioned our trip to Florida aka Crab Claws and Flip Flops...hee hee hee.  I finally downloaded our pictures and wrote our travelogue which you can read below.  Bill's Mom & Dad will celebrate their 50th anniversary in December so they wanted to have a family vacation with Bill, me, Bill's brother, sister-in-law and the kids.  Trying to schedule a vacation in December just wasn't going to work with school schedules and year-end work responsibilities so the trip was planned for July 24-31.  They rented a condo in Navarre Beach called Beach Colony Resort.  It was a 3 bedroom, 3 bath condo with a deck facing the Gulf.  Very nice.  I loved sitting on the deck each morning and evening.

If sand, surf, food and drink aren't your thing, you may want to skip this post.  Otherwise, sit back and enjoy a virtual trip to Florida... 

Saturday, July 24 - We flew to Nashville and had a 2 hour layover so we ate a bite of lunch and flew on to Panama City.  We rented a car and drove to the condo which was about an hour and 15 minutes away.  We arrived around 4:30 and everyone was there since they drove and had left the day before, arriving early Saturday afternoon.   This is a picture of our condo from the pier.  Ours was the third building from the left.  Anyway, Bill and I headed out to dinner at The Crab Trap in Fort Walton Beach where the crab claw obsession began.  We had the garlic crab claw appetizer and, oh my goodness, it was wonderful.  I am now looking for a restaurant in St. Louis that serves crab claws.  Anyway, Bill had the calamari and I had the crab cakes and we shared an order of hush puppies.  I don't remember ever eating hush puppies before and they were quite tasty.  After dinner, we checked out a few of the shops next to the restaurant and I bought a pair of Havaianas (so the Crab Claws and Flip Flop theme began the first night).  We then stopped by Navarre Liquors for a few local brews which we enjoyed while sitting on the deck.

Sunday, July 25 - We decided to go to Pensacola Beach to do some shopping.  We ate lunch at Crabs We Got 'Em which was one of the restaurants on my list.  We had the fried crab claws; day two in the Crab Claw obsession.  I had the crab mac and cheese which was sooooo good.  Bill had fish, shrimp and crab.  After lunch, we shopped a little more and then stopped by the North Drop Bar which was also on my list.  Very cool open air bar which is part of the Grand Marlin restaurant (more on that later).  We then stopped by Publix to pick up a Key Lime pie and cheesecake and then went back to the condo.  Bill's dad and brother bbq'd brats, chicken and ribs.  We then watched the Cardinal game which happened to be on ESPN that night.  The Cards beat the Cubs, 4 to 3.  Woohoo! 

Monday, July 26 - We drove to Panama City Beach to visit the Panama City Beach Winery.  It's not your usual wine; these are citrus, berry and fruit wines.  We arrived (after calling for directions since our GPS doesn't seem to recognize the state of Florida) and then two other couples arrived about 2 minutes later.  We had a great tasting of 17 different wines and decided to purchase a case to have shipped back home.  We then went to Schooners for lunch were we had the fried crab claw appetizer (day 3 in the crab claw obsession).  I had the grouper Reuben and Bill had the fish tacos.  This is a picture of the view from our table.  After lunch, we walked on the beach and then headed back to Navarre, stopping at Silver Sands Outlet Mall in Destin, the largest designer outlet mall in the country.  There was a Coach store and I was just going to "look" but once inside, I found three handbags that I loved.  I only bought one though...hee hee hee.  It's sooooo cute and it was only about 1/3 of the regular price.  I definitely couldn't pass it up (wink).  I also bought a few more pairs of flip flops at the Gap store.  Now do you see why I have nicknamed the trip Crab Claws and Flip Flops?  After we finished shopping, we spent some time relaxing at the condo and enjoying the breeze on the deck.  Tropical storm Bonnie had moved through a few days earlier and it was still pretty breezy.  We went to McGuire's Irish Pub in Destin for dinner.  Their burgers are huge and I could only eat half of mine.  Their brews were very good.  We each had the Irish Pale Ale and then Bill had the stout and I had the porter.

Tuesday, July 27 - We decided to have a "beach day" so we spent most of the day at the beach and pool.  There were three guys with boots, gloves and rakes, walking the beach.  They were oil clean-up guys.  We did see a few tar balls on the beach but nothing of any real significance.  One of the clean-up guys said that this particular stretch of beach was very clean and they had only found a few tar balls.  I found one and set it on a broken sand dollar that I had also found.  You can see how clean the beach was in this picture.  For dinner, we drove to the Grand Marlin in Pensacola Beach.  This was on my list of "must visit" restaurants.  We started with the garlic crab claws (day 3 in the crab claw obsession).  I had the horseradish encrusted grouper and Bill had the shrimp and grits.  After dinner, we stopped by their bar, the North Drop Bar, for a North Drop Ale (me) and a Manmosa (Bill).

Wednesday, July 28- I have always wanted to see an antebellum mansion.  I had researched a few on-line before going to Florida and had found one that was south of Mobile.  It was going to be quite a drive though so we started looking for other homes to visit.  Bill's mom found one in Mobile called the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion which was in downtown Mobile.  It's about 90 minutes from Navarre but it was definitely worth the drive.  The home was built in 1855 and is 13,000 square feet.  You can actually walk through all of the rooms in the house unlike some tours where you can only look into the rooms.  One of the trees behind the house is older than the home itself which is just amazing to me.  Ruth, the lady who conducted the tour, was just as sweet as she could be.  I felt like we knew her by the time we left and she even gave Bill's mom and me a hug.  For dinner, Bill and I went to The Fish House in Pensacola.  We actually had planned on eating there on Tuesday but I thought it was in Pensacola Beach, not Pensacola (who knew they were two different cities?) so we changed plans since we were already driving around Pensacola Beach.  Anyway, we had the fried crab claws (day 4 in the crab claw obsession).  I had the grouper and Bill had the shrimp.  When we got back to the condo, we sat on the deck and enjoyed the evening breeze.

Thursday, July 29 - We drove to Pensacola to visit the National Aviation Museum, home of the Blue Angels.  Unfortunately, the Blue Angels weren't there but it was still worth the visit.  There were many planes and military items on display including models of Air Craft Carriers.  My favorite, of course, was the USS Ronald Reagan.  We ate lunch at the museum restaurant called the Cubi Bar Cafe.  After the museum, we went to the Pensacola Lighthouse.  Now I knew that we'd have to walk up steps to get to the top but I figured that they would be stone steps.  Um, no.  They were grated steps and you could see through them to the bottom.  Yikes.  I just held onto the rail and kept walking without looking straight down.  We climbed the 177 steps in about 5 minutes and, once we were at the top, the view was great.  We could see Fort Pickens and all the way to Pensacola Beach which, remember, is a completely different city than Pensacola...hee hee hee.  The lighthouse is supposedly haunted but we didn't see any ghosts.  I don't believe in that sort of thing anyway.  After the lighthouse, we drove to Pensacola Beach to Crabs We Got 'Em because we wanted to get some crab claws.  Well, guess what?  They were out of crab claws!  Seriously, the name of the restaurant is Crabs We GOT 'Em but they didn't have them...hee hee hee.  We had the crab spinach dip which was good but I really wanted crab claws.  We then drove back to the condo and relaxed a while.  We then all went to dinner at Lucky Snapper in Destin where I ordered crab claws.  Guess what?  They too were out.  Oh my dang, day 5 in the crab claw obsession was not to be.  I had the crab cakes which were good so at least I did have crab that day.

Friday, July 30- We originally considered having another "beach day" on Friday but it was super hot and we were still slightly sunburned so we decided to go back to the outlet mall to visit some of the stores that we hadn't seen on Monday.  We went back to the condo for lunch and also to get our boarding passes for the trip home.  We packed most of our things since we were leaving early the next morning.  In the late afternoon, we drove to Pensacola Beach to do a little more site-seeing and then eat dinner at the Grand Marlin again.  We don't usually eat at the same restaurant twice but it was so good.  We had the crab claws again (day 6 in the crab claw obsession was a success) and then I had the same thing I had on Tuesday and Bill had a ceasar salad and lobster bisque.  We then had a last drink (or two) at the North Drop.  Bill loved the Manmosas which is Blue Moon, vodka and orange juice.  I prefer the North Drop Ale.  We enjoyed the breeze and the view and then headed back to the condo.

Saturday, July 31- Bill's mom and dad left around 7:00am and we left around 7:45am to head back to the airport.  We stopped at Panera Bread for breakfast (tastes just like St. Louis Bread Company...hee hee hee).  We found the airport without any problem even though it's brand new, in the middle of nowhere and not on the GPS.  Our flight was at 1:30 to Orlando and then at 4:45 from Orlando to St. Louis.  We landed at about 6:15 and were home at around 7:00.  We had a great time and definitely want to visit the Florida panhandle again!

Crab Claws & Flip Flops

Hee hee hee...I think this would be a great name for a blog.  It's the theme for my Florida vacation.  Actually, it should probably be "Crab Claws, Flip Flops and Handbags"...stay tuned.

Las Vegas 2009

As I mentioned in my last post, we went to Vegas for a few days.  Sorry for the delay but finally, here's the play by play:

Sunday - We arrived in Vegas at around 9:30am and checked into our hotel, Mandalay Bay.  We headed to Monte Carlo to check out the new restaurant, The Pub, fka Monte Carlo Brewpub.  They used to brew their own beer but stopped shortly after MGM bought them late in 2006.  We had the Rustico flatbread which had fennel, leeks, fig jam and prosciutto.  Super yummy.  We enjoyed a few brews too;  I had Stone IPA and Stone Arrogant Bastard and Bill had the Alaskan Amber and the Big Butte Porter.  We then walked around and gambled a little and stopped by Sin City Brewing at Planet Hollywood before heading to The Palazzofor a few appetizers at Lagasse's Stadium.  We had the Arancini and the BBQ shrimp and then headed to Ceasar's Palace to see Cher.  Her show was terrific.  It's hard to believe that she's 63.  There were clips of the Sonny & Cher show on the video screen and it reminded me of when I was a kid.  I always watched the Sonny & Chery show and one time I was at my grandparent's house and we were watching it and my grandma said, "Oh, she needs to put some clothes on."  My grandpa and I laughed at that.  Anyway, after the show, we ate a late dinner at Olives in the Bellagio.  We started with the crispy fried eggplant parmesan ravioli and I had the butternut squash tortelli and Bill had the petite shrimp tagliarini.  It was pretty late by then and we were tired, considering we'd been awake for about 20 hours at that point, so we took a cab back to our hotel.

Monday - We ate breakfast at House of Blues.  I love their breakfast burrito.  It's huge and very tasty.  We headed down the strip stopping in a few casinos to gamle and then made our way to Ellis Island Brewery.  Chris Cognac, aka The Hungry Detective, had featured it on his very first episode and I wanted to try one of their brews.  It's a few blocks off the strip and it was a longer walk than we had thought, mainly due to construction behind the Paris hotel but it was worth it.  I had the amber ale and Bill had the stout.  They were both very good.  I played video poker and won $1.  Woohoo, big gambler.  The casino is a little "scary" meaning that it's kind of like the downtown casinos in Vegas; not dangerous or anything like that, just a different type of clientel.  Anyway, we then walked through Planet Hollywood casino and headed back down the strip, stopping at The Pub again.  This time I tried a Dilirium Tremens which was good, although a little sweet.  We then stopped by New York, New York and gambled for a little while before enjoying a brew at Pour 24.  We headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Red Square.  We eat there every time we're in Vegas.  I love their gorgonzola encrusted filet.  In fact, this is the only place I ever order a filet.  I'm not much of a steak eater but their filets are amazing.  We had one of their Red Square martinis and strawberries romanov for dessert.  After dinner, we stopped by House of Blues to listen to music and have one last brew and yes, we were still able to walk back to our room...hee hee hee.   

Tuesday - We ate breakfast at House of Blues again and then sat on the "beach" at Mandalay Baywhile enjoying a "fluffy" drink (aka a strawbery colada and a strawberry daquiri) before heading down the strip to Ceasars to visit the Forum Shoppes.  We ate lunch at Treviwhich is located in Ceasars next to the "fountain of the gods."  We had two appetizers, the polenta fries and the eggplant parmesan.  We made our way back down the strip, stopping to gamble along the way, before making a final visit to The Pub.  This time, I had another Arrogant Bastard which Bill says I like ordering just so I can say, "Arrogant Bastard"...hee hee hee.  We then headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.  We headed to the lobby and guess who we saw?  Kenny G!  We walked by him and then turned to each other and both said, "Hey, that looks like Kenny G."  We were able to confirm that it was indeed him.  He is shorter than I thought he'd be and he looks younger in person.  Anyway, we then took a cab to Fireflywhich is a tapas restaurant on Paradise Road.  We ate outside on the covered patio and since it was a little cooler than usual, the heaters were on so the temperature was perfect.  We shared the stuffed peppers, baked tetilla, albondigas, camarones a la diabla and then I had the tortilla a la espanola and Bill had the calamari.  After dinner, we stopped by Red Square for one last Red Square martini at their bar.   

Wednesday - We ate breakfast at the Mandalay Bay buffet before heading to the airport.  It was extremely windy as it usually is in Vegas and the flight was very bumpy which always makes me nervous.  I keep thinking that there is no way an object as heavy as a plane should be able to fly so when it starts bouncing around, I'm convinced that it's going to fall out of the sky.  The flight attendants were instructed to remain seated for longer than usual which always freaks me out.  They also had to take their seats again about half way through the flight due to terbulance.  Anyway, we did land safely, obviously, and arrived in St. Louis around 4:40pm.  As usual, we had a great time in Vegas and are already looking forward to our next visit.

 

A Trip and A Fall

We took a trip to Vegas and just got back last night.  I'll have details for you shortly.  As for the fall, well, the Cards fell to the Dodgers in three straight games.  I'm shocked.  I really thought the Cardinals would beat the Dodgers.  Oh well, now I'm rooting for the Dodgers to beat the Phillies.

Check back soon for Vegas deets...

Denver Travelog

Sorry for the delay.  I meant to post this much earlier but it took me longer than expected to write this post and choose the pictures.  Anyway, we had a great time in Denver.  Believe it or not, neither one of us had ever been to Denver or even Colorado for that matter.  Here's a recap of our trip...

Sunday, August 23- We arrived at approximately 2:00pm, grabbed our luggage, got our rental car and headed to our hotel.  We stayed at Hotel Monacowhich is a Kimpton Hotel.  We've stayed at Kimpton Hotels in San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and San Diego and have enjoyed each one and the one in Denver was no exception.  This hotel is on Champa Street between 17th and 18th so it is conveniently located.  We were able to walk everywhere and the 16th street shuttle made it especially easy.  After checking in, we decided to walk around.  We headed to the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall to check out the shops and restaurants.  We then ate a late dinner at Wynkoop Brewing which is pronounced with a long "i" instead of Winkoop as we had been pronouncing it.  We started with the queso dip and then Bill had the stout braised pot roast and I had the chicken enchilada.  The food was great and so was the beer.  I had the Railyard Ale and Bill had the Light Rail Ale.  We each then had a B3K Scwarzbier.  We then called it a night and walked back to our hotel. 

Monday, August 24 - We ate breakfast at Snooze, a cute little retro-styled diner.  I had the breakfast burrito with chorizo which was huge and absolutely fabulous and Bill had the blueberry and sunflower seed wheat pancakes.  We then headed back to the Pedestrian Mall to walk around and shop.  We found a cute little shop in Larimer Square called Equipement de Vin.  They sell things related to wine; glasses, decorations, wine racks, etc.  There was a cute dog named Fiona there.  I believe she was the owner's pet.  She was such a sweetie and layed right in the middle of the floor so that you couldn't help but pet her.  I didn't think to take a picture of her.  Anyway, when we were checking out, the lady who was working there asked where we were from and then proceeded to give us ideas on various places to visit.  She mentioned a cute little winery of which we made a note to visit on Thursday.  Since we had a large breakfast and knew that we'd be eating fairly early at the ballpark, we decided to skip lunch and have a few local brews at Apaloosa Grill.  We sat outside on their street-side patio.  We then walked down to the pedestrian bridge before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the Rockies game.  We got the the stadium and ate at Sandlot which is a restaurant located in the ballpark.  They serve microbrews from Coors.  Bill and I each had a sandwich (I had chicken and Bill had the prime rib) and we tried a few of their brews; nut brown and stout.  Yum.  We each bought a Rockies cap and then headed to our seats.  Even though the Rockies were playing the Giants, there were people at the park wearing Cardinal shirts, including Bill and me.  I waved to a fellow Cardinal fan and he gave me the thumbs up.  Anyway, the game was great but after over 4 hours, it will still tied 1-1 after 13.  We decided to leave and head to Wynkoop for a brew.  When we got to there, the Giants had scored 1 and then proceeded to score 2 more times making the score 4 to 1.  We figured that we made a good choice to leave.  Well, guess what.  The Rockies scored a run and then got a grand slam to win the game 6 to 4.  The whole bar cheered.  Even though we weren't at the ballpark when the Rockies won, it was still a great time.    

Tuesday, August 25- We ate breakfast at Panzano's which was located in our hotel.  We each had an egg white omelet with basil and parmesan.  Super yummy.  We then drove to Pike's Peak for our scheduled tour at 1:00pm.  When we arrived, it was raining and we still had about 90 minutes before our train left so we browsedin the little shop and bought a few souvenirs and then ate a sandwich at the Cog Railway market.  I was very nervous about the possibility of experiencing altitude sickness; headache, nausea, light headedness, etc.  The lady in the shop told us to be sure to take water with us and sip it often so I did.  I drank a whole liter in the course of 3 hours and guess what?  No altitude sickness.  I think the dramamine and ibuprofen that I had taken before I left the hotel helped too.  Anyway, the train ride takes a little under 90 minutes and the scenery is gorgeous.  Some of the inclines were 25 degrees so it was very steep.  When we got to the top, it had stopped raining and the sun was out.  Much to my surprise, there was about an inch of snow on the ground and snow flurries were flying around!  Needless to say, it was cold (about 33 degrees) but it was beautiful.  After returning to the hotel, we headed to Vesta Dipping Grill for dinner.  Oh my goodness, it was wonderful.  We had the salsa sampler for the appetizer and then Bill had the beef tenderloin and I had the salmon.  There are three sauces that come with each and you can either choose the recommended sauces or pick your own.  Bill chose the ones that they recommended and I changed one of mine from the salsa verde to the yuzu soy.  Super yummy.  We then headed to Rock Bottom for a few brews.  The weather was great and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the sites.          

Wednesday, August 26- I refer to this as "Beer Day".  You may know that Denver claims to be the beer capital of the US although I beg to differ...I think it's actually St. Louis...hee hee hee.  Anyway, there are quite a few microbreweries in and around Denver.  One of our favorites, New Belgium, is in Ft. Collins so we had scheduled a tour for 2:00pm.  After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Ft. Collins.  We walked around downtown Ft. Collins to check out the shops.  We then headed to CB Potts (Big Horn Brewing) for lunch.  We had the pub chips with blue cheese and a chicken quesadilla.  I had an IPA and Bill had a porter.  We then headed to New Belgium for the tour.  It was sooooo much fun.  It was great to see where some of our favorite brews are made.  We sampled Sunshine Wheat, Skinny Dip and Bier de Mars and Fat Tire (all of which we had before) along with La Folie (sour brown ale), Hoptober (their newest fall seasonal) and the Dandelion ale.  We purchase a few souvenirs and then headed 30 miles north to Wyoming, just because.  We stopped to take a picture to prove we were there and then headed back to Denver for dinner at Breckenridge Brewery.  Bill had the St. Louis ribs and I had the ale battered shrimp.  Bill had one of their ales (although he doesn't remember which one) I tried the 471 IPA and the 471 Mighty Brown, both of which are "small batch" brews.  We each had an Oatmeal Stout for dessert.  See why I call it "Beer Day"...hee hee hee.  We were able to walk back to the hotel though!     

Thursday, August 27- We ate breakfast at Snooze again since we enjoyed it so much the first morning.  This time I had the blueberry sunflower seed wheat pancakes and Bill had the pancake flight; 1 each of the peach, chocolate chip and Reese's cup pancakes.  We then walked around on 16th Street and visited a few more shops.  We bought a few goodies at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  I love dark chocolate so I had to try their dark chocolate almond bark...very yummy.  After shopping for a while, we drove to Evergreen, CO which is about 30 miles southwest of Denver.  There are a lot of cute little shops and restaurants.  We drove there specifically to visit Creekside Cellar, which is the winery that the lady at the wine shop had told us about on Monday.  We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table on the deck but it was definitely worth it.  The deck overlooked a little creek and there were three ducks swimming around the entire time we were there.  We had the antipasto platter which was amazing.  There were various meats, cheeses, olives and vegetables along with foccacia and olive oil.  We bought 6 bottles of wine which we had shipped back home.  On the way back to Denver, we stopped at Buffalo Bill's grave site, not so much to see the grave site but rather to check out the view.  We could see the Coors brewery in Golden as well as downtown Colorado.  The view of the Rockies was gorgeous.  We then stopped at Red Rocks Canyon before heading back to the hotel.  For dinner, we decided to eat at one last brewery; Denver Chop House & Brewery.  I had the crab cakes and Bill had the ribeye.  We tried their Brewer's Marker which was a red pale ale.  I then had their IPA and we split a Wild Turkey Barrel Conditioned Stout.               

Friday, August 28 - We ate breakfast at Panzano's in our hotel.  I decided to get the grapefruit again which I had had on Wednesday.  Look how pretty it is.  It's grapefruit, dried blueberries and almonds with just a little honey drizzled over the top.  I'm sure if anyone saw me taking a picture of the grapefruit, they probably thought I was goofy...hee hee hee.  After breakfast, we walked around 16th street one last time and then headed to the airport.  We definitely enjoyed our time in Denver and I would love to visit again someday.