Fentons

It is no secret:  I love the movie Up.  That doesn’t quite capture the enormity my feelings, but I cannot think of a better way to describe the emotional connection I have with the film.

The tagline is “Adventure is out there!”  And I'm not implying that I should get credit or anything, but I’ve been calling things, both big and small, “adventures” for years. Groceryshopping?  Adventure.  Moving to a city where we know absolutely no one?  Adventure.  Adopting five rescue dogs?  Adventure.

So I love the idea that adventure is out there.  Because long before the movie made it a great catch phrase, we were living the idea every day.

That said, there is another quote in the movie that I find more poignant, courtesy of Russell:

“And afterwards we’d go get ice cream at Fentons.

I always get chocolate and he gets butter brickle.

Then we sit on this one curb right outside

and I’ll count all the blue cars and he counts all the red ones.  And whoever gets the most wins.

 I like that curb.

It might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most.”

If anyone reading this thinks animated movies are unsophisticated or simple or just made for kids, clearly they could not be more wrong.  What an amazing statement about life!  The really big things are cloaked in the mundane minutiae of day-to-day events and happiness can be found in recognizing how important these each of these little moments is in the storyline of one's life. 

The movie’s adventure ends with Russell, Carl, and Dug sitting on the curb outside Fentons eating ice cream and counting blue and red cars.  You know, boring stuff.

Cue tears.  Cinematic perfection.

So, after landing at LAX yesterday, C and I drove five hours north and went to Fentons.

A lot of people might think it is crazy to drive that far for ice cream.

We don’t listen to those people, because to us, it wasn’t just ice cream.

It was another one of our adventures.

Black and Tan Sundae - almond and vanilla ice cream with caramel and hot fudge

Chip & Cookie Sundae - vanilla and chocolate ice cream, with a cookie, hot fudge, and chocolate chips

Dug - decked out in Fentons gear

A master at work

The kitchen area where the ice cream is made

We loved it so much, we went back the next day...

Chocolate peanut butter crunch ice cream with hot fudge

Peppermint ice cream with hot fudge

We agree...adventure is out there!!!  You just need to recognize it, because it might be disguised as boring stuff.

Happy Tails to you!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

As many of you know, we love to make travel to-do lists for ourselves and we have traveled extensively in our quest to check places off of said lists.

Our completed lists have included visiting all fifty states, staying at every Disney World and Disneyland resort hotel, seeing a game in all 30 NHL arenas, and seeing a game in all 30 MLB stadiums.

We finished the baseball stadiums list back in 2005, with a San Francisco Giants game being the 30th team.

Technically, though, it was our 31st stadium, because we saw a game in both the old and new stadiums in Milwaukee when we were living in Illinois.

There was no rhyme or reason to the fact that our 30th team was San Francisco, unlike when we visited all of the the hockey arenas and purposely saved Toronto (hosting Montreal, no less!) for our #30.  For those of you wondering, our beloved Maple Leafs won (apologies to my Canadiens-loving brother)!  We did the NHL arenas from 2008-2010, in only two-and-a-half seasons.  One thing is certain:  tickets to baseball games are much more affordable than tickets to hockey games!

It’s now 2013, and the baseball team closest to us is the Washington Nationals.  Notice I didn’t write "home team," because our home team is the Toronto Blue Jays.  Nonetheless, both the Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles are close enough that going to games is relatively easy.

So why is it that it took until August 14, 2013 for us to see a game in the new Nationals stadium that opened at the beginning of the 2008 baseball season?!?

Maybe it’s because we are devoted fans of the American League.  Maybe it’s because we love Camden Yards so much that we don’t want another stadium in the area competing for our affection.  Maybe we’ve just been really busy (see previous comment about 30 hockey areas in two-and-a-half seasons!).  All three are distinct possibilities.

Regardless, we finally made it to Nationals Park.  And it was fantastic.

However, before I discuss the game, I have to mention where we went for dinner because I cannot say enough good things about it:  Gordon Biersch.  There are two locations in DC, as well as many around the country.  It is a brewery and a restaurant, and they make the best thing I have ever eaten.  No joke. EVER.  It is called the Artisanal Grilled Cheese sandwich and it is Gruyere cheese and avocado mayo on sourdough bread.  (The menu description also includes bacon, but being a vegetarian, I obviously order it without the bacon.)  It comes with the restaurant's signature garlic fries, and I am telling you:  it is the best meal I have ever had.  It is the only thing I order whenever we go there - lunch, dinner, whenever!  I can't speak to anything else on the menu - although everyone I know who has eaten there has enjoyed their meal immensely - but if you are at all a fan of grilled cheese sandwiches, you must try this one.  You will not be disappointed!

That's enough about the food...now on to the game!

The stadium is just beautiful, and having visited all the MLB cities, that is saying something because we have certainly seen our share of updated and impressive structures, as well as old, run-down parks (although I won't mention any names).  The fans were also great - another area where I feel a small sense of expertise because between all of the baseball and hockey games across the country, we have dealt with a lot of fans - sometimes when we were cheering for the home team and sometimes when we were cheering for the visiting team - and believe me, we have our opinions about rude fan behavior in certain venues.

The fans at the Nationals game really were outstanding - very respectful during the national anthem, which should be expected, but is not the case at all sporting events.  Yelling and talking during the anthem are HUGE pet peeves of mine because of our backgrounds, with this amazing country welcoming us as its citizens; any type of disrespect during the anthem is absolutely inexcusable in my opinion.  The reverence paid by the fans in the stadium during the singing of the anthem was just wonderful.

As you can see from this photo, our seats were fabulous and the game itself was pretty exciting, with the Nationals beating the Giants 6-5.  The weather was also unbelievable:  sunny and 79 degrees with a slight breeze.  Heaven!  And so unusual for this area in mid-August!  I wish the entire summer had weather like this!

Perhaps the thing we were most looking forward to was the seventh inning stretch, because some of the stadiums around the league have awesome, unique traditions and we love being part of them - Toronto ("OK, Blue Jays"), Houston ("Deep in the Heart of Texas"), and St. Louis ("Meet Me in St. Louis") immediately come to mind.  After "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," the a-ha song "Take on Me" was played and everyone in the stadium sang along.  I am not sure if this was a one-time deal or if this is something they do at every home game, but it was really entertaining.

So even though it took us so long to get to our first game there, we will definitely be back to Nationals Park!  The stadium, the fans, and the team all made it an experience we won't soon forget.

Eight more new stadiums to go!

Happy Tails to you!

WDW Birthday Trip #2

Fast forward a few weeks and we were off to WDW once again!  Let me explain that we had originally planned to go from Saturday the 25^th through Wednesday the 29^th and stay at Port Orleans French Quarter.  However, a couple of weeks before our trip, Disney announced that the Magic Kingdom would be open for 24 hours on May 24^th, beginning at 6 am, and we quickly realized that we could not pass up such an opportunity.  We changed some things around, but when we called to adjust the hotel dates, they did not have any availability at Port Orleans French Quarter for the 23^rd or 24^th.  Luckily, we were able to book Pop Century for those two nights, and then we had three nights at Port Orleans French Quarter.

This time we drove, since we were going for more than three days.  As I have shared before, I love driving trips – C drives and I sleep, waking in a confused stupor only when he taps my arm because he needs something.  I am not the most coherent person when I am woken up unexpectedly, and driving trips are no exception.  I usually fumble around to get him water or soda, mumble something at him about our current location and how much time until we arrive (I am not unlike a child in this regard), and then fall right back asleep.  I am not sure anyone else would not only tolerate, but find humor in my lunacy.

We arrived at about 3:30 pm and checked into Pop Century.  There was no arm-twisting needed when the topic of birthday buttons arose…I had been waiting for one since WDW introduced the buttons years ago.  She even gave C an “I’m Celebrating” button on which she wrote “L’s birthday!”, but this was not something C wore over the course of the weekend, despite my strong encouragement that he do so.  I, on the other hand, went everywhere with my birthday button on display.

Our room was in the '50's section of the resort and it was perfect for us!

After settling into our room and getting a quick bite to eat at the food court, we headed to MK for the evening.  We did our favorite attractions (TTA, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Mickey’s Philharmagic, along with a few others), grabbed a LeFou’s Brew and a Nutella waffle, watched the fireworks, and finally headed back to our room.  We planned on sleeping in the next morning because we had been up since about 2 am and were exhausted from drive (and by “we,” I mean C, since I had gotten quite a bit of sleep in the car!).

The famous Nutella waffle

LeFou's Brew

We typically sleep in until about noon and roll into the parks around 2 pm.  I don’t advise this strategy for anyone who doesn't visit frequently, because you really want to get the most bang for your buck with your park tickets.  However, we have never been, nor will we ever be, morning people – at WDW or otherwise – so this is what we do, and we stay super late, often being among the last few people to trickle out of the parks.  Our annual passes have allowed us to visit frequently, so we don’t ever feel like we are wasting money or valuable park time by sleeping in.  But as I said, this is likely not the best approach for most people.  The only downside to what we do is that it is almost always guaranteed we will miss breakfast hours everywhere!  We usually only get to eat breakfast if we make a dining reservation that forces us to get up.  And we don’t do that very often because again, we are not morning people.

Friday arrived, and despite the excitement of MK being open for 24 hours, we had no intention of arriving before 6 pm.  We figured we would spend the whole night in the park until 6 am Saturday morning.  So Friday was great, because we were able to enjoy a relaxing lunch, visit a few of our favorite resorts, and take a swim before heading over to MK to arrive at 6 pm.

my Magic Kingdom shoes

Well…although we anticipated a large crowd, given the 24-hour opening and the fact that it was Friday of Memorial Day weekend, we were truly not prepared for just how insane it was.  Wall-to-wall people.  And we have been there during busy holiday times before – on Valentine’s  Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Christmas, and New Year’s...we even got married at WDW on New Year’s Eve!  And we cannot recall a time when MK was so crowded.

Despite the crowds, we decided to stick with our plan.  We had some dinner, and planned out the evening, but were pretty discouraged when we consulted the wait times (for example, Splash Mountain had a wait time of 120 minutes!). We decided to do what we could, enjoy the atmosphere, and hope that the crowd would thin out.  This involved a lot of snacking and we tried some things that were new to us (we are very much creatures of habit); our favorites were a Sulley caramel apple and a Mike cake pop, which we ate while people watching from Main Street train station.  People watching is a seriously underrated activity and provided us with a good deal of entertainment.

Sulley and Mike

I am not ashamed to say that we only lasted until 1:30 am.  The crowds were just too much for us and we decided to admit defeat.  We still had a great time, but wasn’t as special as the times when we have had entire attractions all to ourselves.  So we’re glad we experienced it, but would not go again if they have a 24-hour event.  On Saturday morning, we had to check out of Pop Century and check in to Port Orleans French Quarter.  You know what that means…another birthday button!  Yay!

We spent the afternoon shopping at Downtown Disney and then had a nap because we knew we had another late night ahead of us.  We headed over to Boardwalk, grabbed a slice of pizza and two awesome cupcakes for dinner, and made our way to Jellyrolls.  This is easily one of our very favorite things about WDW, and given its size and all it has to offer, that is really saying something.  Those of you who know us well may recall that we met in music class and were in the band together in high school (C – saxophone, L – French horn), so it should come as no surprise that we love music.  ALL kinds.  So spending an evening enjoying amazing dueling pianists is just about our idea of a perfect night.

As usual, it was fabulous.  The music, the atmosphere, the pianists…but perhaps the best part of this particular evening was the other guests.  There was an older couple who I noticed right away because they seemed a little out of place.  I watched as he pulled out her chair for her, made sure she was comfortable, went up to the bar, and returned with two drinks.  It was very sweet to watch how attentive he was and how much they clearly loved one another.  I was not the only one to take note of this; one of the pianists noticed their anniversary button and asked them how many years they had been married.  The gentleman told him they were celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary.  Of course the entire bar erupted in applause for them and they seemed overwhelmed by all the fuss.  The pianists called them up on stage and they laughed and danced together and kissed in front of the rowdy crowd.  It really was one of the sweetest things I have ever witnessed and I was so moved by their example that I asked our waitress if they had a tab that we could take care of for them, but she informed us that they had not opened a tab because they were only drinking Coke.  Could I love this couple any more?!?  I asked the waitress to please put the couple’s next round on our tab, which she did about 30 minutes later.  When she told them the bill was taken care of, they asked her who had covered it and she directed them to our table.  They came over to our table to thank us and chatted with us for a little while, doling out sound marital advice: never take anything for granted, remember that every day you have together is a gift, and that the husband should always give credit to his wife for all of the good things in their life.  Given their success, clearly this man knows what he is talking about!   He also talked about the importance of having goals and working to realize them, and told us that their goal was to make it to their 70^th anniversary!  They asked how long we’ve been married, and although it pales in comparison to their number, they were so gracious and congratulatory when I told them that it would be 19 years in December.  They were such a fantastic couple.

Sunday brought more relaxing, swimming, wandering, and cupcake eating before we went to MK.  We were celebrating my birthday dinner that evening, a few hours before my actual birthday because we couldn't get a reservation on the 27^th, which did not surprise us because it was Memorial Day.  So we went to Tony’s Town Square Restaurant (yes, we also had C’s birthday dinner here earlier in the month – we love this restaurant!).  The food was as wonderful as always, and I was surprised when a birthday cake, complete with candles upon which to make a wish, was delivered to the table (I told you C was a planner!).  It was a chocolate cake covered in Mickey confetti, and not only was it adorable to look at, but the cake itself was phenomenal.

The park was much less crowded than it had been on Friday, so we were able to ride a ton of things.  I was thrilled to be at MK when it officially turned to my birthday, and it was the night for Extra Magic Hours, so non-resort guests cleared out and the park was even less crowded for our last few hours!  We stayed for the Kiss Goodnight on the castle before heading back to our room.

My birthday itself was awesome.  Craig got up before me and decorated the room with shiny streamers and banners, so when I woke up, I was completely taken by surprise.  Well, I think it was C.  Could have just been Disney Magic at work.  So sweet!

We slept in and relaxed during the day, and then, you guessed it, went to MK.  Treats of the day included beignets and a handmade ice cream sandwich, along with cupcakes, a Nutella waffle, a Dole Whip, and “our” chairs provided a perfect spot to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade.  

The Celebrate the Magic show is incredible.  That's all I can say about it.  Below are two of the scenes from two of my very favorite movies - Up and Tangled.  So beautiful.

I felt so fortunate to spend the end of my birthday at MK as well as its beginning – like bookends on a perfect day.  Most people left at park closing, although a small number stayed for the Kiss Goodnight (I was so excited to be able to say I saw it twice on my birthday!!!) before exiting the park.  This night, we were truly the last people anywhere except for a few who were taking photos on Main Street.  We stood at the castle together for what seemed like both an eternity and also not nearly long enough and soaked in as much of the magic as we could.  The five security guards near us did not once rush us or admonish us for not leaving; they let as have as much time as we wanted.  Amazing.

 Unfortunately, we had to leave for home in the morning.  Bittersweet is the only fitting adjective…we were anxious to get home to see the girls, but not at all happy about having to leave WDW.  We also realized this was the first trip we have taken where MK was the only park we went to!  Despite knowing that we will be back again soon, we were still sad to leave.  The real world is much less fun!

Happy Tails to you!

WDW Birthday Trip #1

Both C and I have May birthdays, and while we have been there twice before to celebrate his birthday, I have never been there to celebrate mine (although I did spend my 25^th birthday in Disneyland, which was awesome!).  Since mine is always around Memorial Day, I have never been able to take time off before or after the holiday weekend.  We decided to take advantage of the fact that I am not teaching this year, and planned a trip for the end of May.

What C did not know was that I was secretly planning a trip for his birthday, which is at the beginning of May.  I was forced to reveal that surprise a few days early because of a scare with Gunni (this is chronicled in another post), but it was nonetheless a surprise.  I was so pleased with myself because those of you who know us understand that C is the trip planner and I just tag along for the adventure.  So the responsibility of planning a trip that he knew nothing about was daunting.  Hotel, car rental, dining reservations…I was worried he would see an email, get an alert on his phone, or find something in the mail if he got to it before I did (which was the case at least three days a week because of my class schedule).  I couldn’t believe I actually pulled it off!  As is customary, my fabulous mom took on the role of fairy dogmother and happily tended to our herd while we were away.

We flew down to Florida on C’s birthday, which happened to be a Friday.  We had to get up extremely early because our flight was out of BWI at 6 am.  The excitement and anticipation of the trip did not make it too difficult to rise at such a crazy hour – even for me, and those of you who know me understand that every morning I resemble a hibernating bear emerging from its den in the spring.  The flight was quick, we rented our car and drove over to WDW, and were all checked in by 11 am.  Much to his dismay, I forced C to get a birthday button and made him wear it for the rest of the day, resulting in countless happy birthday wishes from strangers!  We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn, and had a wonderful weekend.  The fun was punctuated by spurts of homework, but rest assured that we had an amazing time.

These are just some of the beautiful rugs throughout the resort.

Friday’s birthday lunch was at Beaches and Cream, over at the Beach Club Resort, and just a short walk from our hotel room.  Lunch was so delicious, and this is where you can find the best milkshakes anywhere in WDW, in our opinion.  Since we had been up for so long, we decided to take a short nap in the afternoon.  While C was sleeping, I slipped away to the Boardwalk Bakery to get cupcakes.  These are not your everyday cupcakes.  Neither of us really even care for cupcakes that much.  But these cupcakes?  Indescribably good.

Oreo and Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes...yum.

We headed over to the Magic Kingdom around 5 pm.  We had C’s birthday dinner at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, which is one of our very favorite places to eat.  We love the atmosphere, the location, the food…you get the idea.  Although Craig tried to hide his birthday button, the waiter took note of it and brought Craig a delicious sundae with a candle on it – what an unexpected and delightful surprise!  We spent the remainder of the evening in MK and even though it rained for about 45 minutes, we were extremely happy because the weather drove most people out of the park, leaving us to enjoy the attractions without much company.  We spotted a rainbow over Space Mountain as we were riding TTA, and then could appreciate its grandeur over the TTA track after we disembarked.

We noticed after the fact that it was actually a double rainbow over Space Mountain!

We watched the “Celebrate the Magic” castle show and the “Wishes” fireworks from Main Street, and the Main Street Electrical Parade from “our” two rocking chairs (see my post from March about our Spring Break trip).  We finished off the night with a Nutella waffle and the Kiss Goodnight light show on the castle.  I think it is safe to say that C had a great birthday.

We really do feel like these seats belong to us!

The next morning we had a late breakfast at the Kona Café at the Polynesian Resort, and as always, the Tonga Toast was superb.  I tried to choose some of C’s favorite places when I was making dining reservations for his birthday weekend, and this is probably our favorite breakfast food in WDW.  After returning to the Boardwalk Inn, we walked over to Epcot for the afternoon before having dinner at Via Napoli in the Italy pavilion.  Sorry to sound like a broken record, but again, this is one of our favorites.

The beautiful Spaceship Earth

Later in the evening, we wandered back to our hotel to enjoy the Boardwalk and so we could spend some time on the homework we had both been neglecting up to that point.  Given that we each had finals on the horizon, we decided to enjoy our beautiful hotel room, watch hockey on TV, and do homework.  That might not sound like a fun evening to some people, but remember, folks – we were in WDW!  We could have done absolutely nothing and we would have loved every minute of it.  Also, we are nerds.  J

Sunday morning, we packed and checked out of our hotel, and headed over to Wilderness Lodge for a late breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café.  This is where you can get the banana bread french toast I raved about back in March, and it was as tasty as I remembered it!  After breakfast, we went to Downtown Disney for some shopping and then went to DHS for a few hours – although our main purpose was to buy some carrot cake cookies to take home with us!

Our final stop before heading to the airport has become somewhat of a tradition for us, and that is to go to Port Orleans French Quarter for beignets.  A few years ago, we went to WDW once a month for an entire year (some of you are very familiar with our infamous, overly-ambitious travel checklists), and it was during these monthly trips that the last-stop-for-beignets tradition was established.  We are usually a little melancholy at this point because the trip is coming to an end, but we knew we would be back in less than three weeks!  We flew back to BWI on a very late flight and arrived home around 1:30 am.  Despite the exhaustion, I declared the trip a smashing success and a fitting way to celebrate C’s birthday!

Beignets...so delicious!

Happy Tails to you!