Mynee's Musings

A Day in Hermann

Since they were predicting wonderful weather for the weekend, we decided to drive to Hermann yesterday.  Hermann is in Gasconade County and t’s about 60 miles from our house.  We haven’t driven to Hermann in years so I was really glad that we went.  We talk about going almost every Spring and Fall and something always comes up.  Well, this year, everything worked out.  The weather was gorgeous the trees were beautiful…

Our first stop was Stone Hill winery.  We bought tickets for the wine tasting and were able to sample about 6 different wines and made notes as to which ones were were planning to purchase.  We then decided to eat lunch at Vintage Restaurant which is the German restaurant at Stone Hill.  Oh my goodness, did someone say spaetzle?  I don’t usually take pictures of our food (OK, sometimes I do...hee hee hee) but I just had to share this…

After lunch, we walked around downtown Hermann to check out all of the little shops before heading home.  Great weather, great wine, delicious food, cute shops, perfect day.   

Fleetwood Mac 2015

Fleetwood Mac was here in St. Louis last Friday and of course we attended the concert…hee hee hee.  Here is the set list

• The Chain
• You Make Lovin’ Fun
• Dreams
• Second Hand News
• Rhiannon
• Everywhere
• Don’t Blame Me
• Tusk
• Sister of the Moon
• Say You Love Me
• Big Love
• Landslide
• Never Going Back
• Over My Head
• Gypsy
• Little Lies
• Gold Dust Woman
• So Afriad
• Go Your Own Way

The encore was as follows:

• World Turning
• Don’t Stop
• Silver Springs

This time, they did not perform Seven Wonders or Songbird.  Songbird has never been one of my favorites so I ddin’t really miss it although I was surprised that they dropped it from the list since Mick at one point says something about the return of their songbird, referencing Christine.  I like Seven Wonders but I wasn’t really surprised that they dropped it.  It is a song from Tango in the Night and the only reason they performed it last fall was because Stevie sang it when she was on American Horror Story. 

Anyway, the concert was great but it wasn’t the only one we saw.  We drove to Kansas City on Saturday morning to see the concert on Saturday evening.  We left home around 7:30am or so and were in KC by 11:30am.  We went to 75^th Street Brewery for lunch.  Bill had a golden ale, I had a brown ale and then we each had a red ale.  What?  No IPA?  They were out of IPA.  Anyway, the brews were good.  For lunch, we had the brussel sprouts, crab cakes and blue cheese chips.  Yum! 

After lunch, we headed to the hotel, checked in and then went to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art.  We spent a few hours there and then went back to the hotel to get ready for an early dinner.  We were at Power & Light by about 5:00pm and the place was packed.  We had wanted to eat at Gordon Biersch but the wait was 90 minutes.  Yikes!  We finally decided on Tengo Sed Cantina where the wait was only about 30 minutes.  The food was ok but nothing special.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again. 

After dinner, we walked across the street to Sprint Center. The setlist was the same as last night and the concert was great, of course.  After the concert, we had a beer in the Power & Light district and then drove back to the hotel.

The next morning, we checked out and then went to Eggtc for breakfast.  It was super yummy!  I forgot to write down what we had though…hee hee hee.  After breakfast, we headed home and arrived around 1:00 or so.  Greta was happy to see us.  It was a quick trip but definitely worth it. 

Cleveland 2014

As I mentioned in my last post, we were on vacation a few weeks ago.  We spent 4 days in Cleveland, Ohio.  Cleveland, you ask?  Yes, Cleveland.  How this came about was I mentioned going to Cincinnati to see a Reds game.  I’ve never been to Ohio and I wanted to add it to my list.  Actually, I flew into Cincinnati once about 15 years ago but apparently Cincinnati is in Kentucky…hee hee hee.  Anway, we hate the Reds and Bill said, “I’d rather go to Cleveland and see an Indians game. Besides, we can also see the Rock &  Roll Hall of Fame.”  We started researching things to do as well as restaurants and microbreweries and decided to book a trip to Cleveland.  Here’s the play by play: 

Saturday, August 2 – We arrived in Cleveland at about 4:30 or so.  We picked up the rental car and headed to the hotel.  We got stuck in baseball traffic and construction so it took us a little longer than we thought it would.  We checked into the hotel, The Doubletree by Hilton Lakeside, and then headed to dinner.  We went to Market Garden Brewery which is right next to West Side Market (more on that later).  The weather was beautiful so we sat at one of their outside tables.  Across the street, we saw a major award in an office building window:

Frageelay!  Ha.  Anyway, we started with the chorizo and cheddar pierogies which were super tasty. I had the chorizo tacos which were delicious and Bill had the chicken tacos.  Each order was three tacos so I gave Bill one of mine and he gave me one of his. We both agreee that the chorizo was the best.  As for the beers, I had the Citramax, Boss and Cluster Fuggle and Bill had the Hop Drive, Viking Pale Ale and Pearl Street Wheat.  We were there for about 3 hours, just enjoying the nice weather.  We then headed back to the hotel knowing that we’d be visiting Market Garden at least one more time on the trip.    

Sunday, August 3 – We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Progressive Field.  We decided to walk rather than drive because we were only about 5 or 6 blocks away and we figured it would be easier to walk and probably quicker too.  We entered the stadium, walked around to check everything out and take pictures, bought Indians caps and then located our seats.  One of the ushers saw our Cardinal shirts (yes, we were wearing Cardinal shirts and Indians caps…hee hee hee) and asked if we were from St. Louis.  We told her that we were and then she said, “Oh, you have our Justin (Masterson).  Please take good card of him” and we smiled and told her we would.  We then went to check out the food and beer options.  We found one place that sold kettle chip nachos.  Normally I’m not a big fan of kettle chips because I think they’re too hard but these were fantastic.  We got the pulled pork and cheese chips and they were huge:

Needless to say, we split one order and we didn’t quite finish them.  We had great seats about 20 rows behind home plate on the end of the aisle.  When we bought the tickets, you could choose your seats. I  prefer sitting on the aisle because then I can get up and down as many times as I want and not disturb anyone…hee hee hee.   Here’s a picture of us:

So, the Indians were playing the Rangers and the Rangers jumped out to an early 3 to 0 lead.  The Indians were able to score 1 in the 2nd and then they tied it up in the 9^th with a 2-run homer.  Very exciting!  They won it in the 12^th with a walk-off homerun.  It was a great game!  Here’s a funny story; there were mascots from other teams visiting because it was the Indians mascot’s birthday.  His name is Slider.   Anyway, the Rangers mascot was there along with the mascot from the Padres, Cubs, Pirates and Reds.  In about the 7^th or 8^th inning, the mascots walked up the aisle right next to us.  Everyone was holding out their hands for a high five and I did the same.  When he got to us, the Rangers mascot stopped, looked at our shirts, shook his head “no” and mooned me!  I think it was all in good fun or at least I hope it was.  Ha! 

I will say, the local beer selection at Progressive Field is impressive (hint, hint to powers that be at Busch Stadium).  We each had a Hop Bomber IPA by Riverton Brewing in Cincinnati and then Bill had a Brew Kettle 4C pale ale from Brew Kettle Brewery in Strongsville and I had a Pierside IPA although I can't remember which brewery it was from other than it was local or at least somewhere in Ohio.           

After the game, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  We had reservations at Momocho’s at 7:00pm.  We arrived about 10 minutes early and it was packed.  I’m sure glad we had reservations because people who didn’t have reservations had over an hour wait.  We had seen this restaurant featured on a episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and it looked really good so we gave it a try.  Their specialty is taquitos, not the fried crunchy things you think of but rather small tacos.  We started with the queso fundito which was really good.  Bill ordered the beef machaca and I ordered the chicken tinga.  The chicken was good but after tasting Bill’s entrée, I kind of wish I had ordered the beef.  It was really good.  Afterward, we went to BierMarkt which is right across the street from Market Garden Brewery.  I had a Fat Head Trailhead IPA and Bill had a Wright Pilsner and then headed back to the hotel.

Monday, August 4 – We grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbucks in our hotel and then headed to The Christmas Story House.  This is one of my all-time favorite movies and I was so excited to see the house in person. 

The guy who bought the house has restored it, both inside and out.   He bought it for $150,000 and it was only worth $20,000 at the time because it was in terrible condition.  The mailbox in the front and the shed in the back are both still original.

Here's the back door Ralphie uses when he goes to the back yard to shoot his gun for the first time...


It was cool to stand in Ralphie’s room and look out the window, just as he did on Christmas morning.  It wasn’t snowing when we were there though, thank goodness. 

The museum and gift shops are across the street and we visited both. The museum had some actual items from the movie and the gift shop had some cool trinkets and memorabilia

For lunch, we decided to go to Sokolowskis.  I had seen it featured on an episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate.  Michael Symon who is the chef/owner of Lola in Cleveland talked about the pierogies at Sokolowskis.  It’s a family owned restaurant that has been open for 91 years!   These pierogies are swimming in onion and butter and they are sooooooo good:

Sorry for the poor lighting.  I took this picture with my phone and I didn’t want to turn on the flash and look like a goof…hee hee hee.  We ordered a dozen and split the order and I was stuffed by the time we were finished.  We then drove back to the hotel and then walked to The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to burn off some of the pierogie calories.

There is so much memorabilia and we spent about 3 ½ hours there.  Bill had to get a picture of the dress that Stevie Nicks wore on the Rumours album...

Here are some of the other items on display:

Beach Boys..

Beatles...

Michael Jackson...

Janis Joplin's car...

We watched part of the movie showing the inductees for each year.  Of course, we had to see 1997, the year Fleetwood Mac was inducted.  We bought some cool souveniers and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We had reservations at 7:00pm for dinner at Johnny’s Bar, one of the oldest restaurants in Cleveland.  Their dress code is business casual and Bill forgot to pack khakis so I called the restaurant around noon and told them the situation and said that if they needed to cancel our reservation, I completely understood.  The lady insisted that nice shorts would be fine and it turns out, she was right.  The restaurant is very small and there is a bar in the front and the dining area right next to it.  People at the bar were wearing jeans and shorts so we didn’t feel out of place at all.  Mondays are historically slow days for restaurants and since only one other table was occupied (probably 10 or 12 tables total), I’m sure they took that into consideration when insisting that we not cancel. We started with the veal stuffed peppercini’s which were spicy but not too hot.  I like hot food but Bill doesn’t and he said they were perfect.  I had the roasted red pepper pasta with shrimp only they were out of that particular pasta (homemade) so they gave me other choices and I chose the linguine.  The sauce was excellent and the shrimp was perfectly cooked.  Bill had the salmon special and it was probably the least fishy salmon I’ve ever tasted.  Bill really enjoyed it.  Johnny’s is not inexpensive but it was well worth the price.  After dinner, we drove back to West 25^th where Market Garden Brewery is located.  We were going to stop in for a brew but there was a camera crew inside and they didn’t appear to be open.  We then walked down to Nano Brew about ½ block away.  It turns out, Nano Brew is part of Market Garden and they brew one-off’s (brewed once with no plan to ever brew again) and test brews.  They were out of two of the beers that we wanted to try so I then chose a Nano particle accelerator double rye IPA and Bill had a Fatheads Headhunter IPA.  Our dessert beer was a Boulder Beer Shake Chocolate Porter.   They were great choices.  We overheard the bartender talking about Brew Dogs, a show on Esquire that we watch and then he started talking about the camera crew that was at Market Garden.  He said they were filiming a Lifetime Movie about Deion Sanders.  I’ll definitely have to watch it so I can say, “I was there”…hee hee hee. 

Tuesday, August 5 – We grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbucks in our hotel and then headed to Kelleys Island which is about 75 miles or so from Cleveland.  We rode the ferry across to the island.  The island is ot very large, only 4.409 square miles.  Our first stop was for lunch and, guess what!  The island has a microbrewery!  It’s called Kelleys Island Brewery of course!   We started with the sauerkraut balls.  Yes, sauerkraut balls.  They’re balls of sauerkraut and are breaded and fried.  They’re actually very good.  Bill had the perch sandwhich and I had the cheeseburger and both were tasty.  We each had a brown and an IPA. 

We left the brewery and drove to the north side of the island where there are glacial grooves.  These are grooves in the rocks created by the glaciers and this is reported to be the best example in the world… 

We continued the drive around the island and ending back “downtown” by the brewery.  We checked out a few of the shops and even bought some Kelleys Island apparel (sweatshirt and a teeshirt)

We then headed back to the ferry.  After leaving the island, we drove to Marblehead Lighthouse which is only about ¼ mile from were we caught the ferry.  Unfortunately, the lighthouse closes at 4:00 and we arrived at 4:10.  Oh well, we hadn’t really planned on going up in the lighthouse so that was ok.  We snapped some pictures:

We then drove back to Cleveland to get ready for dinner.  We decided to eat at Great Lakes Brewing which is only ½ block from Market Garden Brewery.  The weather was still beautiful so we ate outside.  We had the artichoke dip which was very tasty.  I had the walleye special and Bill had the chicken sandwich.   For brews, Bill had the Burning River and I had the Buzzcut Brown and Commodore IPA.  For dessert we had the Edmond Fitzgerald Porter.  We bought a few souveniers at the brewery (glass, magnet, coasters) and then headed back to the hotel.

Wednesday, August 6 –  We grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbucks in our hotel and then headed to West Side Market.  It’s been in existance for 102 years.  If we lived in Cleveland, I would definitely shop there! 

Fresh meat, seafood, bakery products, fruits and vegetables, etc.  Yum!  Some of the spaces have been occupied by the same family for 100 years!  We bought some baklava and dried fruit and then headed to the Botanical Garden. 

I took a lot of pictures but here are just a few...

It was perfect weather for spending time outside.  We spent a few hours at the Botanical Garden and then headed to the Art Museum which is huge!  Unfortunately, there were only a few paintings by Monet (Bills favorite) but we saw one of his paintings that we’ve never seen before:

 

Quite different than his water lilly paintings.  I really like it. 

For our last dinner in Cleveland, we decided to go back to Market Garden Brewery.  We had considered driving out to Cleveland Heights to eat at a restaurant there but since we were unfamiliar with the area and traffic, we weren’t sure that we’d have enough time to get there, eat and then get to the airport.  Besides, we really enjoyed Market Garden the first night so we didn’t mind going back.  We had the pierogies again and I also had the chorizo tacos again because they are sooooo good.  Bill doesn't remember what he had and I neglected to write it down since my travel notebook was already packed. Hee hee.  Anyway, he enjoyed whatever it was.  We then drove to the airport to head home.  Our flight was at 9:30pm and I think we were the last flight out of Cleveland that night.  We stopped in Chicago (no plane change) and arrived in St. Louis around 11:30pm or so which is later than we usually arrive home from vacation but it worked out well because we basically had the entire day on Wednesday to play before heading to the airport.

We had a great time and certainly packed a lot of activities into four days.  Cleveland Rocks!  I can now officially add Ohio to my list of states that I've visited.  :)

American Idol Tour 2014

I really enjoyed the 2014 season of American Idol.  The judges really seemed to like each other and they were hilarious together.  The top 12 finalists were fantastic.  My favorites were Caleb, Jena, Malaya, Jessica.  I actually liked them all.  Unfortunately,the tour wasn't making a stop in St Louis so we thought about going to Kansas City.  Well, the concert was the day before we were planning to leave on vacation so KC was out.  The other logical choice was Springfield Illinois on August 8.  That was the perfect choice for several reasons; it was a Friday but there was no Muny performance that day, we were still on vacation but would be back in St. Louis, Springfield is only 2 hours away and oh, there is a microbrewery in Springfield that was calling our name...hee hee hee.

We left home around 1:30pm and arrived at Engrained Brewing at around 3:30pm.  The food was good although I ordered a pepperoni and green OLIVE pizza and they put green PEPPERS on it instead.  Normally, I would have said something but the pizza took about 20 minutes to arrive the first time and  I didn't want to wait for a new one so I ate it and it was good.  The beer was good too.  I had the red ale and an IPA and Bill had an IPA and an oatmeal stout.  We will definitely be paying another visit maybe in the spring when we can also go to the Lincoln Library.

So, the concert was at the Illinois State Fair.  The last time I was at a state fair was back in 1984 and that was the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia.  Bill and I went to hear President Reagan speak but I digress.  OK, so we found the fairgrounds easily (gotta love gps).  We parked and made sure to note exactly where our car was and then walked around the fairgrounds.   I had to have a funnel cake.  I mean seriously, you can't go to a state fair and not have a funnel cake...hee hee hee.

No, I did not eat the entire thing.  Bill and I split it.  It was soooo tasty!  We then continued walking around the fairgrounds.  Oh my goodness, how cute are these babies...

 

One of the building next to the grandstand has spaces where vendors sell various items and throught the building there are displays of memorabilia from past fairs.  I smiled when I saw this...

Um, they incorrectly spelled Tennille.  Maybe I should let them know.  Ha.  I would have thought that someone would have noticed the error since I also saw this...

They spelled it correctly here!  Yeah, I'm definitely going to let them know.  Anyway, we then headed to the Grandstand where the concert was to be held.  The weather had been overcast most of the afternoon and by now, it was actually getting chilly and it was drizzling.  Our seats weren't covered so we moved back to seats that were.  One of the ladies I work with is an Idol fan and so is her son.  They were at the concert and the ended up moving also and sat in the row right in front of us.   

The concert started at 8:00pm.  Here's the setlist (copied from Wikipedia): 

• "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic - Group
• "F*ing' Perfect" by Pink – MK Nobilette with Malaya Watson and Jessica Meuse as backup
• "Tightrope" by Janelle Monáe – Majesty Rose with Jena Irene, Waston and Meuse as backup
• "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line – C.J. Harris and Dexter Roberts
• "When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars – Watson
• "Wake Me Up" by Avicii – Nobilette, Rose and Watson
• "Let Her Go" by Passenger – Alex Preston and Sam Woolf
• "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" by The Georgia Satellites – Roberts
• "Muckalee Creek Water" by Luke Bryan – Roberts
• "Pompeii" by Bastille – Preston with Harris and Woolf as backup
• "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones – Irene and Caleb Johnson
• "Gravity" by John Mayer – Harris with Preston as backup
• "American Woman" by The Guess Who – Harris with Irena, Meuse and Preston on backup
• "Happy" by Pharrell Williams - Group

Intermission

• "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors and "Story of My Life" by One Direction - Group
• "We Are One" – Irene with Rose and Meuse
• "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley – Irene
• "My Body" by Young the Giant – Irene
• "Lego House" by Ed Sheeran – Woolf
• "Sail Away" by David Gray – Woolf
• "You and I" by Lady Gaga – Meuse with Irene, Rose and Watson on backup
• "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People – Meuse with Rose and Woolf on backup
• "Fairytale" (Alex Preston) – Preston
• "Too Close" by Alex Clare – Preston
• "Family Tree" by Kings of Leon – Johnson
• "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney – Johnson with Rose, Watson and Woolf on backup
• "As Long As You Love Me" – Johnson with the girls on backup
• "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin – Johnson
• "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons – Finale

I was sooooo glad that Jena sang Can't Help Falling in Love as she had on the show.  What a great performance!  I'm also glad that Alex sang his song "Fairytale" because even though he wasn't one of my favorites, I love the song.  As for Caleb Johnson, wow!  I love rock and he's definitely a rocker.  His CD will be available on Tuesday and I will definitely add it to my collection.

The concert ended at about 10:20 and we were in the car and on the road by 10:45pm.  We pulled into the driveway at 12:45am which was earlier than I had anticipated.  I figured that we wouldn't get home until 2:00am or so but there wasn't any concert traffic leaving the fair.  I think they all stuck around to eat more funnel cakes...hee hee hee.  

Until next time...

Sainte Genevieve

On Saturday, we drove to Ste. Genevieve which is about 75 miles south of us.  They have several breweries and wineries as well as cute little shops.  The weather was nice when we left but started to cloud up right before we arrived and it sprinkled a little, although not enough to cause any problems.  We stopped at Crown Valley brewing for beer tasting and lunch…

They have old beer cans and bottles on display. Bill immediately noticed the Kroger beer can…

Ste. Genevieve has a lot of farms and rolling hills.  Here is the view from the patio at the brewery…

After lunch, we drove to Ste. Genevieve winery and bought a few bottles of wine and then visited some of the shops.  We headed home about 3:00 or so an were home by 4:30.  It was a fun day and we will definitely have to drive there again soon. 

Chicago 2013

I’m such a bad blogger lately.  I’ve been neglecting my blog and I really don’t have a good reason other than during the summer, I’m busy watering plants or watching baseball…hee hee hee.  Also, I share bits and pieces of daily life on Facebook so by time I get around to blogging, it’s old news, well, to me at least.  We went to Chicago almost 2 months ago and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it.  OK, so here’s our travelog:

Saturday, August 17 – We flew to Chicago, hopped on the El and headed to the hotel.  We stayed at the Acme Hotel on Ohio Street.  It was the perfect location, close to Michigan Avenue, the El and Rockbottom Brewery…hee hee hee.  We headed to the brewery for an appetizer (crab artichoke dip) and a beer (IPA) and then we walked to Michigan Avenue and shopped for while.  We then caught the El to Piece.  We had eaten there 6 years ago and we loved it so we knew that we had to go back.  We had arrived fairly early, about 5:15, and there was already a wait.  We got a table about 30 minutes later and ordered a large pepperoni, onion and banana pepper pizza.

Yum!  We had a Beer in Progress (that was actually the name) and a Stout.  We headed back to the hotel and stopped at Rockbottom to enjoy one beer on their rooftop patio bar and then back to the hotel. 

Sunday, August 18 – We got up, put on our Cardinal shirts and headed to Ann Sather for breakfast.  We had seen it on Rachel Ray’s Tasty Travels and had eaten there in 2006 and loved it.  I had the pancakes with the lingonberries and Bill had the eggs, fruit and hashbrowns.  The tables are somewhat close together and the guy next to us starting talking to us about baseball.  He wasn’t originally from Chicaco so he wasn’t a Cubs fan, thanks goodness.  After breakfast, we headed to Wrigley Field.  There was a guy collecting money for some charity and we gave him a few dollars and he took our picture. 

The stadium wasn’t open yet so we checked out the shops right outside Wrigley because I needed a Cubs cap.  I have a Cubs cap that I bought years ago like back in 1980 or so but I didn’t actually buy it at Wrigley.  I believe I bought it through the mail.   I now buy a cap at every stadium I visit so I bought a new Cubs hat.  It only stayed on my head for 2 seconds, long enough to snap this picture.

It gave me a headache…hee hee hee.  Here are some pregame pictures I took…

Daniel Descalso and Matt Carpenter (aka my backup man and my backup backup man)

Kolten Wong, my Hawaiian man...

Currently the best manager in baseball, Mike Matheny...

Here's a picture I took during the game.  It my man, Yadier Molina

The Cards won 6 to 1.  Woohoo.  There were almost as many Cards fans in the stands as Cubs fans.  The Cubs fans were pretty decent for the most part.  There was only one rude guy as we were leaving but he wasn’t saying anything to anyone in particular, just making rude comments about the Cardinals.  We ignored him and chalked it up to too much alcohol.  After the game, we ate at Deuce’s which is just about a block from Wrigley. 

Notice the wading pool.  There are two of them.  Well, one guy thought it would bee cool to do a belly flop, twice, into the one in the picture above.  He was then asked to leave.  Ha.  Again, it was probably too much alcohol.  We started with the fried pickles and then Bill had the turkey burger and I had the rodeo burger (bbq sauce, cheddar, bacon and each had a burger and XXX. We then went back to Rockbottom and sat on their rooftop bar to enjoy a few brews and the view.  We had great seats along the outside of the patio.  The weather was perfect especially considering that it was mid August and could have been a lot hotter and more humid.   After the brews, it was just a short walk back to the hotel.

Monday, August 19 – We ate breakfast at Yolk which was just a few blocks from our hotel. since the weather was so nice, we at outside on their covered patio.  I had the breakfast wrap and Bill had the waffles and eggs.  We then went on a 90 minute lake/river tour.  We had taken the architectural river tour with the same company, Windella, back in 2006 and we loved it so this time, we opted for the river and lake tour.  It was really cool.  Here are some pictures:

PICTURE

PICTURE

PICTURE

After the tour, we headed to Fish Bar.  It was featured on an episode of Sandwich King on Food Network so we wanted to check it out.  We had the crab cake sandwhich and Daisy Cutter and XXX.  Since the weather was still perfect, we ate outside.  We then headed back to Michgan Avenue for a little more shopping before dinner at Revolution Brewing.  I first became acquainted with them several years ago through a brewing page on Facebook.  We had the bacon fat popcorn (oh my goodness) for an appetizer and then Bill had the fish and chips with a Cat Herder ale while I had the beer cheese soup and caesar salad with the Anti-Hero IPA.  We then each had a Eugene Porter for dessert.  Since Revolution Brewing is one stop past Piece on the blue line, we decided to stop back at Piece for a stout.  It was crowded but there was a little area that they use for larger groups (like 15 or 20) and we sat there an enjoyed a brew.  We then headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Tuesday, August 20 – We ate breakfast outside at Yolk again and then headed to Millenium Park to take a picture of the Bean…hee hee hee.  I already have pictures of it but you can’t go to Chicago and not take a picture.  It’s actually called Cloud Gate but I've never heard anyone call it that.  We then spent a few hours at the Art Institue of Chicago.  Bill specifically wanted to see the Monet paintings.  We went through the “modern art” exhibit and I just don’t get it.  To me, it’s not art but hey, to each their own.  We ate lunch at the restaurant at the Art Institute.  Since the weather was still so nice, we decided to eat outside.

PICTURE

I had the eggplant sandwich and Bill had the XXX.  We then walked to the trolly to Navy Pier.  It was a little warm and humid and pretty crowded.  We browsed through some of the shops and then took the bus back to our hotel.  We decided to walk around Michigan Avenue one last time and bought some Ghiardelli chocolate and Garret’s popcorn.  People rave about the popcorn and it is good but I’m not sure what the excitement is about.  If you order it online, it’s like $80XXX for a gallon.  We got the “Chicago Mix” which is carmel and cheddar popcorn mixed together.  I know it sounds strange but it was good.  It’s that sweet and salty thing, you know.  After shopping, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  We had reservations at Petterino’s and I’m sure glad we did because it was packed.  It’s in the theater district and apparently quite a few people eat here before the shows.  Anyway, we started with the arancini and Bill had the braised shortribs and I had the gnocchi.  I ate every single bite!  It was that good.  Bill enjoyed his dinner too.  Since the restaurant was within a block of the blue line, we decided to go to Piece for one last stout for dessert before heading back to the hotel

Wednesday, August 21 – Since we had plenty of time before our filght, we headed to Ann Sather again for breakfast.  We walked around a little and then headed back to the hotel.  We walked around window shopping a little more and then headed to the airport.  We had a great time and are hoping to go back to Chicago next summer for a long weekend.

Vegas 2013

We spent 3 days in Vegas a few weeks ago.  We hadn't been to Vegas since October 2010 so we were passed due for a visit.  Here's the funny thing, we were on the flight with my brother-in-law, Randy, and it wasn't planned.  The Sunday before we left, we were at their house for Josh's graduation celebration.  As we were getting ready to leave, we were talking about vacation and Randy asked where we were going.  We told him, "Vegas" and he said, "I'm flying to Vegas Tuesday."  We said, "Southwest?" and he said, "Yes, non-stop, I arrive at 1:30."  Oh my gosh, we all realized that we were on the same flight!  What are the odds?  He had only booked the flight the week before.     

Tuesday, June 4 - Arrived in Vegas at 1:30 and arrived at our hotel by 2:00.  As is our custom, we headed to the Pub at Monte Carlo for lunch.  Although they stopped brewing their own beer 5 or 6 years ago when MGM acquired them, they do have an impressive selection of beer on tap; over 80 different beers!  We each had 2 along with spinach artichoke dip, crab cakes (me), sliders (Bill).  We headed down the strip, stopping to gamble and window shop along the way.  Here are a few pictures of the flowers in the Bellagio... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And those are just a few of the flowers.  Oh and wait, I did a little more than window shop.  I bought a new charm and two spacers for my Pandora bracelet.  We ate a late (9:00pm) dinner at Citizens Kitchen & Bar which is in Mandalay Bay.  Bill had the turkey club and I had the fish tacos which were really good.  There were three of them and I could only eat two.  After dinner, we called it a night.

Wednesday, June 5 - We ate breakfast at House of Blues in Mandalay Bay.  It's my favorite breakfast place.  I love the breakfast burrito.  They changed it a little and it's even better.  Instead of chunks of potatoes, it is made with shredded hash browns.  Yum.  Aaron Sanchez is now the executive chef.  He's one of my favorite judges on Chopped.  Oh, and I love his Cacique Queso Fresco commercial...hee hee hee.  After breakfast, we headed to the pool and spent 4 hours just relaxing.  It really didn't seem too hot, even in the sun.  Since we last stayed at Mandalay, they removed some of the palm trees and added more chairs.  I'm not sure I agree with that decision but they didn't ask me, ha!  Aroud 2:00pm, we headed back to the room to clean up and then stopped at Pour 24 for a brew and then shopped and gambled a little before dinner.  This is a picture of Bill trying on a pair of Coke glasses at the Coca Cola store...hee hee hee.  After shopping and gambling, we headed to dinner.  We ate at Fiamma in MGM.  Bill had the pork shank and I had the pasta trio which was potato gnocchi (Maine Lobster, Cremini Mushroom
Black Truffle Crema), agnolotti (Beef, Veal, and Pork Ravioli
Wild Mushroom, Veal Demi) and orecchiette (Spiced Sausage, Broccoli Rabe, Hot Pepper Flakes, Sun Dried Tomatoes).  I really enjoyed all three but I think my favorite was the agnolotti.  After dinner, we saw a show at Brad Garrett's comedy club.  The comedians were  Drew Thomas, Quinn Dahle, Shayma Tash and it was hosted by Geechy Guy.  Drew and Quinn were the funniest of the four.  We stopped by The Pub at Monte Carlo after the show which then meant the tram had stopped running for the night when we were finished.  We completely forgot about that so, it was a long walk back but we survived.

Thursday, July 6 - We ate breakfast at Mandalay Bay buffet.  The only buffet I will do is breakfast.  Afterwards, we headed to the pool again.  It seemed quite a bit hotter so we only stayed 3 hours instead of 4...hee hee hee.  We ate a small bite at The Pub and then headed down towards Crystals, stopping along the way to gamble of course.  We had dinner at Todd English's Pub which is in Crystals.  We ate there last time we were in Vegas and we enjoyed it.  This time, we started with the fried pickles.  The order was huge, seriously enough for 6 people.  I had the Ahi burger (which I had to send back because it was practically raw, not medium rare like the server indicated it would be) and Bill had the fish and chips.  Even though I had to send my tuna back for more time on the grill, we enjoyed the meal and would go back again.  We stopped at The Pub for one last brew since the tram stops practically at the pub's door, ha!   I really should have made a note of the beers we had.  I now have a cool beer app on my phone so that will come in handy in the future.

Friday, June 7 - We had an early flight home (6:30am) but it was non-stop which is cool and we landed in St. Louis around noon and were home by 1:00pm.  As usual, Greta was happy to see us.  We had a great time but it's always good to be back home.

Fleetwood Mac 2013

Fleetwood Mac was in Kansas City about a month ago.  We decided to go see them a) because we've been talking about going back to KC for 4 years and b) Fleetwood Mac wasn't going to play in St. Louis.  I've been working on this post for a while and was having problems inserting pictures into this post but it's finally been resolved so, are you ready for a novel?  Here's a recap of our trip...

Sunday, April 28 - We left the house around 7:00, stopped by St. Louis Bread Co (aka Panera to the rest of the country) for breakfast and headed out.  We drove my car which meant we couldn't take much luggage since my trunk is tiny.  It worked out fine though as we didn't have much luggage since we were only going to be gone 3 nights.  After making a few stops for gas, soda, etc, we arrived in KC at around 11:15am.  We went directly to Kaufmann Stadium to see the Royals play the Indians.  When we pulled into our parking spot and turned off the car, the car alarm sounded and then finally turned off.  It happened again and we couldn't get it to turn off.  It finally turned off when we opened the trunk (still not sure why it happened) and a few people who were tailgating in the parking lot clapped and laughed, good naturedly of course.  Then one lady said, "Oh, I thought I was going to have to hate you.  I thought you were wearing an Indians shirt but you're cool."  I was wearing a Cardinal shirt...hee hee hee.  Anyway, the stadium wasn't open yet but the team store was so we went in and I bought a Royals cap.  I hate the Royals but I always buy a cap when I visit a new stadium.  Notice the pained expression on my face?  When the stadium opened, we went inside, walked around the entire stadium and took pictures, and then ate lunch; BBQ of course, as well as a few Boulevard brews.  Our seats were great, the weather was perfect and the Royals won 9 to 0.  The guy directly behind Bill caught a foul ball.  If Bill or I had stood up when it was coming at us, we could have caught it!  Anyway, it was the guys birthday so that was kind of cool.  After the game, we checked into our hotel, The Ambassador, and changed for dinner.  We then walked to Power & Light to relax and have a beer and then walked back to our hotel to get our car.  We had 7:00pm reservations at Lidias for dinner and it was less than a mile away which was convenient.  The dinner was great!  I loved the inside of the restaurant.  It reminded me of a renovated barn in Italy, not that I've ever been to Italy but it just had that feel.  We started with the arancini, which we love, and a glass of the house wine.  For the entree, we both ordered the pasta trio which is 3 different pastas that change daily and they are served tableside, as much as you want.  This day it was spinach and chicken ravioi, fettucini with duck ragout and bow tie pasta with asparagus.  Bill had seconds on the fettucini and I considered it but I knew I'd regret it as I was already stuffed.  Anyway, it was very good and I would definitely visit Lidias again.  After dinner, we headed back to hotel and called it a night.

Monday, April 29 - We ate breakfast at the hotel and then decided to visit the Federal Reserve Bank.  Needless to say, security to get in is just like going through the airport.  Once inside, we walked around, took pictures, and read interesting facts about money, banks, etc.  Because I'm a child, I had to play with the "money" machine and make money with my picture on it...hee hee hee.  You could choose the background, colors and all of the icons you wanted.  Bill isn't a child so he didn't play...pfttt.  Anyway, the only place where we could not take pictures inside the building was by the vault.  It was fascinating watching the workers loading money into this machine which authenticates the bills and pulls out bills that can no longer be used.  Those bills are shredded and bagged for you to take home as a sourvenier.  I'm sure that there is some sort of accountability process in between the time they shred them and bag them though.  Anyway, after looking at the map and realizing that Missouri is the only state with two Federal Reserve Banks, it dawned on me that I had visited the one in St. Louis back in 1989 or 1990 when I was working at Community Federal.  After we left the bank, we headed to Crown Center and shopped for a while before heading back to the hotel.  We ate lunch at McFadden's in Power & Light and then headed to Lawrence, KS.  I really had to think long and hard before agreeing to go to Kansas.  Bill and I have a competition going regarding who has been to the most states and he was leading me by one.  Since I had been to Kansas before and he hadn't, now he's leading me by two.  Anyway, it is about a 45 minute drive to Lawrence from Kansas City.  We didn't realize that our GPS was set to avoid toll roads so instead of taking highway 70 all the way, it routed us to another highway and took us through some farmland and such but it was a pretty day and a pretty drive so that was fine.  We visited the little shops all along downtown Lawrence.  We bought a few things and then headed to Free State Brewing.  We've had a few of their beers before because they are available at a few of the stores locally.  We had the onion rings for an appetizer.  It was a 1/2 order and was huge!  Six giant onion rings with grainy mustard dipping sauce.  Yum.  For dinner, I had the thai noodles and Bill had the fish & chips.  Both were very good.  We had the Hoptic Nerve IPA and the Rye PA.  When we finished, we drove back to KC, this time via highway 70.  We got back to the hotel and walked to Power & Light to enjoy the nice weather.  Since it was a Monday and there was no concert at Sprint Center, there weren't many people there which was fine with me.  It was nice to just sit outside and not have a crowd of people around us. 

Tuesday, April 30 - We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Independence to tour Truman's home.  When we were in KC four years ago, we visited the Library which was really cool, even though he was a democrat...hee hee hee.  Anyway, we arrived a little before 10:00 and the next available tour time was 11:00 so we bought our tickets and then walked around downtown Independence.  I took a picture of the outside of the house right before the tour started.  The guide then told the group that we could take pictures outside but no pictures were allowed inside.  I would have love to have taken pictures inside too.  It was really cool.  Everything was left exactly the way it was back in 1982 when Mrs. Truman died.  Their daughter, Margaret, set the dining room table but other than that, nothing changed.  Even the calendar on the wall was October 1982.  The thing that gave me chills was President Truman's hat hanging by the door leading to the porch.  We could only tour the first floor of the house because they were afraid that allowing so many people upstairs each day may cause damage.  Even just touring the first floor was interesting and well worth the time.  After the tour, we drove back to KC to eat lunch at Jack's Stack in Country Club Plaza.  Bill had the ribs and I had the burnt ends (pork and beef).  We both had the cheesy corn and I also had baked beans while Bill had slaw.  Bill enjoyed the ribs and while the burnt ends were good, I probably should have gone with the pulled pork sandwich.  I was being adventurous though...hee hee hee.  I'm not much of a meat eater.  I much prefer fish or chicken.  After lunch, we walked around Country Club Plaza for a bit and then headed to the World War I Musueum.  I must admit that I remember much more about World War II than I do about World War I so it was nice to brush up on history.  This picture was taken outside the museum looking toward downtown KC.  The building in the front is Union Station.  We spent a few hours at the museum and then headed back to the hotel.  We decided to eat dinner at Gordon Biersch in Power & Light since it was right across the street from Sprint Center.  We've eaten at Gordon Biersch before, once in New Orleans and once in KC as well as had a few beers in their Denver restaurant and the San Diego airport.  Their beers are OK, not bad but certainly not on my list of favorites.  I do, however, love their cajun chicken pasta.  Yum.  Bill had a caesar salad with chicken.  He was still pretty full from lunch.  I can never pass up pasta though...hee hee hee.  After dinner, we spent some time enjoying the nice weather sitting with a lot of other people in Power & Light waiting for the Sprint Center to open.  Once inside, we headed to our seats which were on the floor, just about the same place they were when we saw Stevie them there in 2009.  Here's the setlist:

•  
  1. Second Hand News 
  2. The Chain 
  3. Dreams 
  4. Sad Angel 
  5. Rhiannon 
  6. Not That Funny 
  7. Tusk 
  8. Sisters of the Moon 
  9. Sara 
  10. Big Love 
  11. Landslide 
  12. Never Going Back Again 
  13. Without You 
  14. Gypsy 
  15. Eyes of the World 
  16. Gold Dust Woman 
  17. I'm So Afraid 
  18. Stand Back 
  19. Go Your Own Way 

•  

• Encore

  1. World Turning 
  2. Don't Stop 

  Encore II

  1.  Silver Springs 
  2. Say Goodbye 

 The show was great!  It's hard to believe that they've been together for almost 40 years!  As for the songs, I was so glad that they sang "Sisters of the Moon" since we had only heard it live once before and that was back in 1982 during The Mirage tour!  They performed two new songs, "Sad Angel" and "Without You", both of which I really like.  We'd never heard these songs before so It was cool hearing them for the first time in concert.  After the concert, we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside at Power & Light, along with hundreds of other concert goers.  Hee!

Wednesday, May 1 - After breakfast at the hotel, we headed home and arrived by about 1:30pm.  Greta was happy to see us.  Oh, and two days later, they got an inch of snow in Kansas City.  Ha, we timed that perfectly.  Anyway, we had a great time and we definitely want to visit KC again soon.

 

Hawaii 2011 - Part 2

Finally! The Hawaii post that I've been promising for forever...hee hee hee.  I finally had all of the photos printed about 2 weeks ago. I send them to Walgreens for processing for two reasons; one is that they are really close to my house so it's convenient and two, they usually have some sort of special deal. This time it was buy 25 prints and get 25 free so I ordered them in groups of 50.  I have sent them all at one time before and I never get them back in order so I have to end up sorting through 300 photos. Not fun!  Anyway, the pictures turned out great and I'll be sharing a few of them here in this post.

Since we left for Hawaii a year ago today for Part 1 of our trip, I thought this would be a perfect time to get my butt in gear and finish this post.  You may remember that our Hawaii trip was cut short last year because Greta was in the kitty hospital. You can read all about it by clicking here. We usually visit Hawaii every 5 years but since we flew home before we visited Maui, we decided to go back this year.  Here's a recap::

Wednesday, May 23 - We left on May 23 and flew to Dallas. From Dallas, it's still an 8 hour flight, ugh! I took my Kindle with me and I also took the new Stampin' Up catalog so I was able to pass the time. The movie was good too; it was Joyful Noise with Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah.   We landed at about 2:30pm Hawaii time and arrived at the Moana Surfrider at around 3:30pm.   We checked in and headed to the banyan tree bar for our traditional first mai tai. Come to think of it, this was the only mai tai of the trip. The rest of the time, we enjoyed local brews. After our drink, we headed to the International Market Place and also the Sanuk store so I could buy another pair of yoga mat sandals...so comfy! We had dinner at Duke's which is also tradition. Crab and macadamia nut wontons, macadamia encrusted mahi mahi (me) and chicken and ribs (Bill). We turned in early and I was asleep by 9:00!  We had a great view from our room.  This photo was taken from our balcony.  

Thursday, May 24 - Due to the time change, we're always up really early the first morning. Bill was up by 5:00 or so and I was up by 5:45. He got a coffee at Honolulu Coffee Company and headed down to the beach to enjoy the sunrise. I did the same when I got up. Funny thing is, there were two gentlemen sitting at a table enjoying their coffee and Bill recognized them from September. Anyway, we ate breakfast at Duke's and then headed to the beach by 8:30. We had planned on renting one of the beach umbrellas and two chairs on Friday but I talked Bill into renting them on Thursday too. It was sooooo worth the price. We ordered lunch and ate under our umbrella on the beach. We stayed on the beach until about 2:30 and then cleaned up and went shopping. I bought a Pandora bracelet. I had planned to buy one when we were in Hawaii last year but didn't get around to it. I bought the bracelet, two charms (a turtle and a blue flower bead) and two heart spacers. Very cute. We ate dinner at Tiki's Bar & Grill and were not too impressed. We had eaten there back in 2006 and I enjoyed it although it wasn't Bill's favorite. We decided to try it again. Well, I ordered the Mahi and they served Ahi. I ate about half of it and then realized it wasn't Mahi. When I mentioned it to the waiter, he said that he was sure that it was Mahi and that he'd talk to the chef. Well, he never mentioned it again. I think it was probably the waiters mistake because I honestly don't think a chef would mistake Ahi for Mahi since they look totally different. Bill ordered the butterfish and said that it was good. Oh well, the food was good but I don't think we'll be visiting again. After dinner, we sat in the banyan tree courtyard and enjoyed Hawaiian music and a Hawaiian brew.

Friday, May 25 - We got up early and got our coffees from Honolulu Coffee Company and then reserved our umbrella and chairs again. We then headed to Mac 24/7 for breakfast. We had seen this restaurant featured on Man vs Food on Food Network. They have huge and I mean huge pancakes. We ordered the banana, walnut and chocolate chunk pancakes and shared them and still only ate about 1/4 of the amount on the plate. The waitress asked if we wanted to take the rest with us or we could let them keep it and they give the leftover food to the pig farm. We chose that option and I'm sure the piggies thoroughly enjoyed it...hee hee hee. We sat on the beach from about 9:30 to 3:30 and then did a little more shopping. We ate dinner at Azure which is in the Royal Hawaiian. I ordered the Mahi and Bill ordered the Opakapaka, both prepared "island style." The food was excellent! The only negative was that we didn't get an outside table because there was a large group that reserved the entire outside seating area. We returned to the banyan tree courtyard for our last brew in Honolulu.

Saturday, May 26 - We ate breakfast at Duke's and then took a few pictures.  That's me on our balcony.   We then did a little window shopping before catching our shuttle to the airport. Our flight was at 12:45 or so and it's a very short flight, not even 30 minutes. I was glad because it was extremely windy so it was a very bumpy flight but we landed safely. We picked up our rental car and headed to the Westin Maui. This is the third time we've stayed there and it feels like home when we check in. We walked around the grounds and then headed to Maui Brewing for an early dinner. We first visited Maui Brewing back in 2006 shortly after they opened. Wow, have they grown! So many more brews! As for dinner, Bill had the buffalo chicken sandwich and I had the adult mac & cheese, hold the mushrooms. Super yummy.

Sunday, May 27 - We ate breakfast at Maui Fish & Pasta and no, we didn't eat either one for breakfast. It used to be called somethng else but I can't remember the name but we ate breakfast there in 2006 and 2001. We spent the day at the beach/pool and were lucky enough to get two chairs with an umbrella every day we were at the pool. We spent a few hours at the pool and had lunch at Hula Grill next door.  We then checked out the craft tents on the beach before driving to Wailea to do some shopping. We ate dinner at Nick's Fish Market. We started with the kaluha pig pot stickers and then I had the Opah and Bill had the Ahi. The food was great and the view was beautiful but the waiters were a little confusing. We were greeted by one waiter who said he would be our waiter but then we never saw him again until he brought the check. We had 3 or 4 other waiters during the course of the meal...hee hee hee. After dinner, we went to Maui Brewing for an evening brew.

Monday, May 28 - We spent the day at the pool/beach and ate lunch at Hula Grill (oh how I love the crab and macadamia nut wont tons). Later in the afternoon, we drove to Lahaina and browsed through the shops and then ate dinner at Pacific'o. We had a table outside and the sunset view was beautiful.  We had the prawn won tons and I had the Mahi and Bill had the Manchong. They also brought us dessert since when I made the reservations I told them that it was our anniversary trip (which it was) and that is when I requested an outdoor table.  After dinner, we shopped a little more and I bought a palm tree charm for my Pandora bracelet.  We then stopped by Maui Brewing for dessert...hee hee hee.

Tuesday, May 29 - We slept in and had a light breakfast and then drove to Lahaina and shopped at the Cannery Mall for a bit before heading to Aloha Mixed Plate for lunch. Bill had been wanting to try a mixed plate and we had read the reviews for this particular restaurant so we tried it. He had the mixed plate which was fish, beef and chicken with rice and macaroni salad and I had the coconut shrimp with rice and macaroni salad. Apparently the rice and macaroni salad is part of what makes it a mixed plate...hee hee hee. We then drove Upcountry and shopped in Makawao. We bought a print at and art gallery owned by an artist named Robena. I would post a picture of it but I'm sure it's copyrighted so I'll just describe it. It's a print of a painting she did of glass bottles enscribed "Maui Bottle Works" and there are beautiful shades of blues and greens. We then drove to the Kula Botanical Gardens. There were hundreds of flowers and plants and I took a lot of pictures, of course. There was even a kitty who made an appearance and then decided to take a nap in the sun. We then drove to Paia on the North Shore where we had dinner reservations at Mama's Fish House. Oh my goodness, I will say that this is one of my all-time favorite restaurants. It was soooooo good. We started with the tomato salad (Bill) and the crispy mahi roll (me). Yummo! We then both had their specialty, the crab and lobster Mahi Mahi. I'm not a big fan of lobster but this was delicious. It was a baby lobster tail on top of crab stuffed Mahi. In fact, when it first arrived, I gave Bill my lobster tail but he talked me into at least taking a bite and as soon as I did, I took the lobster tale back...hee hee hee. For dessert, we ordered the black pearl. It was so pretty that I just had to take a picture.  I really should have taken a picture of the main course too but I didn't think of it until I had already started eating.  Anyway, we will definitely visit Mama's again on the next trip!

Wednesday, May 30 - We got up early and headed to the Marina to board the boat to Molokini. The first time I ever snorkled was last September in Kauai and I enjoyed it. This time, the boat ride was about an hour out to Molokini. It was so cool seeing it up close and seeing all the fish was cool too. Some people chose to Snuba which is like snorkeling and scuba combined. That looked a little too complicated to me so we just stuck to the snorkeling.  The boat stayed anchored for about 45 minutes and I snorkled for about 20 while Bill stayed in the ocean the entire time. After about 20 minutes, I start getting claustrophobic which is really kind of funny since the ocean is definitely not an enclosed space. Anyway, I enjoy sitting on the boat looking out at the ocean, taking pictures of Bill while he snorkles. We then headed back to Maui to a place that the captain called "Turtle Cove" because he said that we wouldn't remember the Hawaiian name (which he gave) and would end up calling it Turtle Cove anyway, which we did...hee hee hee. I actually saw a Honu or sea turtle which was really cool.  I love honu and if I were to get a tatoo, it would be a honu.  On the ride back to the marina, they served lunch but I only ate a few bites.  I had taken dramamine and was actually fine but there were two women and one younger guy who weren't feeling too well and that was making me a little nervous.  Anyway, I was fine and when we got back to the hotel, I ate some crab and macadamia nut wontons and Hula Grill and then we went to the pool and beach for a while.  That evening, we drove in to Lahaina and ate at Captain Jack's Island Grill.  By this point in the vacation, we usually start slowing down when it comes to eating...hee hee hee.  Bill had the calamari and a salad and I had the Ono fish tacos.  Both were very good.  We had a dessert brew at Maui Brewing and then called it a day.

Thursday, May 31 - The day started with breakfast at Maui Fish and Pasta and then we spent the day at the pool and beach.  It is so relaxing to sit and read and listen to the waves.  We drove in to Lahaina again and ate at Kimo's which I believe is related to Duke's and Hula Grill.  We had eaten there back in 2001 and the waitress had told us then that there are people that ask if "those islands are always there" referring to Lanai' and Molokai.  Bwahaha...no, they just bring them in for the tourists.  Anyway, Bill had the chicken and ribs and I had the orange Mahi.  Yum.  Yes, we had dessert...at Maui Brewing!  :)

Friday, June 1 - Checkout time is normally noon but they were able to let us stay until 2:00 so after breakfast, we headed to the pool and beach for our last few hours under the Maui sun.   When wechecked out, we put all of our luggage in the car and then took some last pictures and sat at one of the tables by the waterfall.  We love this hotel but since we've stayed here three times now, Bill has talked me in to staying at another hotel next time so it was kind of bittersweet.  I always cry when we leave Hawaii anyway so that's nothing new...hee hee hee.  We went to Maui Brewing for our last dinner and then headed to the airport, stopping at the same lookout point at which we always stop to take some last pictures.  Our flight left at 9:50 for Los Angeles and we were back in St. Louis a little after noon.  It was a great trip and I can't wait until 2016 when we will return to Hawaii for our 30th anniversary.  Hmmm, maybe I can talk Bill into going back sooner.  

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.