The Last Trip: An (Eastern) Fantasy Food Adventure-Bonus Feature, Pam & Her Mom Pt 2 Sept 17 the end



Here is a view of the room we were in….

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That is not at all what I expected, but I really like it.

Fran and I ordered the lobster corn dogs, and were disappointed. At Fulton's they were tempura battered, now they had a very corn mealy kind of batter. They were not nearly as good.

What a shame that they did not live up to your expectation.

Well folks, I just thought I would pop in here to say that I probably won't be around for about a week or so. We're at the airport now heading off on a long weekend in Denver with @jedijill. I left my computer at home, just brought the tablet and the phone. I have the resources to do an update to the other TR if I want to (Fran has her computer, and I uploaded the resized photos), but I'll probably just relax and kick back.

Have a wonderful time.

Corinna
 
Well folks, I just thought I would pop in here to say that I probably won't be around for about a week or so. We're at the airport now heading off on a long weekend in Denver with @jedijill. I left my computer at home, just brought the tablet and the phone. I have the resources to do an update to the other TR if I want to (Fran has her computer, and I uploaded the resized photos), but I'll probably just relax and kick back.

See ya in a few!
Have a fun time!
 


So for those of you hold outs still using Photobucket, I’m sure by now you have heard the news about them trying to grab us by the wallet.
Crap... I'm not even going to go back to my old TR's to try to fix them. I'll need to figure something out for the future. Kind of ticks me off because I actually had a paid subscription with them for one of their smaller (much less than $400/year!) plans just because I needed more space. I think I had about 20 out of 30 GB used up there. I know for sure they won't be getting what little I was spending on their services!

Then we split the Macaroni au Gratin. This is so rich and full of Bechamel sauce. I tried really hard to finish it, but there was no chance.
Looks fantastic for something that is just fancy mac & cheese! :rotfl:

These people really annoyed me. I wanted a picture without anyone in it, but they refused to leave. I spent the entire time while Fran bought pins waiting. Finally I just took the picture figuring that I would photoshop them out, but on another day I got one.
Must have been quite the captivating topiary.

The Festival center wasn’t that exciting, mostly a store, we left after making a couple purchases.
That's Disney... Everything is a store.

We used to live in a desert where you could say when it got hot, “but it's a dry heat.” That is no longer the case, climate change is obviously real. For whatever reason we are being hit with monsoonal moisture and our humidity has been over 80-90% for the past couple weeks.
But at least you can take a bath now, right?

We are also looking to purchase the Express Bus pass which takes you from inside one park to inside another park, thus bypassing security and other pesky entrance issues. It's $29pp for the entire week, and with the fact that we want to try and see as much of AK as we can, but also visit the kiosks, that service could come in very handy as we have at least two days where I want to go back and forth from AK to Epcot or vice versa.
I think that would be totally worthwhile. If you think you'll be hopping directly from one park to another a couple of times, I wouldn't hesitate to spend that much.

It was fairly packed, so I mostly took shots up high so that I wasn’t stalking random people in my photos.
When you talk about taking shots up high in a bar, I don't think most people think it means what you intend it to mean. At least I don't. :rotfl: :drinking1

I got a Reggie’s Revenge.

She got a Cool Headed Monkey
Love both of those!

Your dinner at Paddlefish looks nice. I'm glad they seated you quickly despite warning you that you'd have to wait!
 
Interesting...

You know... I started thinking.
For me, I like the "big" ones because others can relate.
"Oh! You went to Chicago." Instead of "where's nowheresville?"
But!
I do like nowheresville if they have a cool name.
So I won't buy "Bob's HD" but I will buy "Blacksheep HD".

I've also kind of given up on the specialized ones. They don't have a lot of women's tank tops for people (ahem) in my size. Either that or they only get a few and they sell out really quickly. In Colorado Springs I picked up a shirt that doesn't have a name on it, but I just liked the fabric and the cut of the shirt.

I have to like the shirt too. Something interesting on the front or rear graphic.
Otherwise it's a no-go.

Fran is like that. Also no women on the shirt and there were a couple of other criteria for her. It took a while for her to find them. Then the girl showed her the clearance rack and I think she came home with three. (I still have to unpack)

So... are you officially a crazy cat lady, then?

Did you ever have any doubt?

That's the plan, ma'am. :)

Good for you!

Interesting. I guess I'm more of a "natural" nature lover. To me, the topiaries are too obviously man made.

In nature, I appreciate natural beauty, but since nothing at Disney is natural I admire the skill of the people who created the topiaries.

And yet.... I love Japanese gardens... they are obviously created... but they are meant to look natural.
Does that make sense?

I can see that. Did you know that Cal State Long Beach has a Japanese Garden? :rolleyes1

Don't think I'm familiar with that one. Is it new?

It used to be Fulton's Crab House. I liked that better.

This place is on my to-do list.
Thanks for all the photos!

You're welcome! :teeth:

Oh, no. Shoot the people. Then if you notice anyone scowling at you, tell them you're only posting the photos on a public forum.


They really like that.

:rolleyes1

Oh yeah. I'm sure that they do!

Yum! That sounds good!
I put it on my list. :)

I liked it!

hmmm... "on the deck".
Does that mean they pour it out on the table?
Or is this place too hoity toity for that?
If the former, I think I need to go there.
If the latter... I still might.

You know, I'm not sure. I didn't see anyone get stuff poured on their table. You know we still should hit the Crab Pot in Long Beach.

Oh! That's not at all what I expected.
So.... more hoity toity.

Sort of. If you saw Magdalene's comment below, she thought it was bland.

:( Poop. I was all :hyper: when you mentioned lobster corn dogs and saw the photo.

Disappointing.

Yeah, the previous incarnation was better.

This place has just gone up in my to do list.
Love a good clam chowder!

It was definitely good.

A little too Cajun, huh?

She said below that it burned her tongue.

No!
Nonononononononononono!!!!!!!!!

I knew you wouldn't like that, but Pam loves them.

My comment would've been a bit more..... vigorous.

I wouldn't have made you try them.

The latter is Kay's fave.

It was mine too when I was in Italy.

Awwwwww.... poor Alison.

:hug:

It was a long day!

I've got to spend more time at Disney Springs! The new restaurants and bars are all so cool. You dinner looked delicious! And the gelato looked amazing!

Jill in CO

I'm glad we're staying at SSR this next trip. I plan to try out a few of the new QS places.

That bar looks amazing! And the drinks were served in such cute containers.

It was rather creative. I had fun!

I think that I would have loved the chowder and brussel sprouts, although that was a really large portion of sprouts for one person!

I couldn't believe how big the order of brussel sprouts was. I think I ate one.

I had coconut gelato every time when I was in Barcelona and Rome!

You and Pam can have all the coconut gelato!

That was such a fun night!!! :)

The Hanger Bar looks too cool, I must go in there at some point. I like the mug!

It was great fun! Less than a month now until we visit again!

Dinner was soooo delicious! And so lovely to spend time with you and Fran as always :)

And to spend time with you as well!

Yes, the Cajun was too Cajun, whew! it burned my tongue! I should have gotten the lemon butter one, but the fish was cooked very well. The brussel sprouts were so yummy, but a huge portion. I took the rest home and ate them the next day. They were even yummier popcorn:: cooked perfectly and all that yummy cheese! and that gelato, I need to get back there too popcorn::

Sorry your tongue got burnt, the lemon butter one was delicious. I think I may need to revisit the gelato shop on our next visit!

Love the update!

Great that a bus took you to DS quickly. Love the idea of having a drink - yours looks yummy, and I am sure Tom would enjoy Fran's ....... and I guess we would take the souvenir cup home too. :rotfl2:

We shall have to go there next year! Only 370 days now! :rotfl2:

Food looks great!! We have not been to Paddlefish and won't be going this summer, but your photos really make me regret not making an ADR. Lovely seeing Pam again in your pics - can't wait to see her in 16 days!! And then we can all count down to our 2018 trip. party:

Have fun with Pam! I get her in about 25 days.

Sounds like a lovely evening at Disney Springs! I walked through Paddlefish in December and thought it looked very bland. Stylish, but bland. And considering that I am not the biggest sea food eater in the world, I know I will most likely never end up there. Especially with all the other far more interesting (to me) restaurants in Disney Springs. So, it was really nice to sea it via your trip report!

It wasn't bad, but we're not rushing to get back there. I definitely preferred Fulton's over the current incarnation.

The gelato looks delicious - Michael has been telling me about this place and how good it is.

Now this place I would be more than happy to return to!

The pictures are still really large! They display in a decent size, but that is only due to the DISboards software that automatically adjusts the display size. If you click on one of the images, it will expand to the full size and that is massive.

Check out the recent update that I did on the other TR. Or just hang around here until I post the next update and you all can tell me if they are smaller.

I also looked at the file size of one of the pictures and it comes out to 500KB.

Well to tell you the truth before I made them smaller they were between 5-6MB! :eek:

So, one post with 33 pictures as above comes out to 16MB just in picture data. That is a lot of data!! And it must take you a lot of time to upload those pictures, too, I would guess.

The next pictures are between 192KB and 680KB. I think I may have to make them even smaller. But no, it doesn't take hardly any time to upload. I can only do 10 at a time and we have superfast fibre optic internet. Plus the provider is a professional level service for real businesses, not just hacks like our website! :laughing:

I wish I could help you better with how to shrink the pictures. But I am on a Mac and just use the photo programm that comes with it. There I have the option to export pictures in different sizes. I am sure your program has a similar function, I just have no idea what it is called and how to use it.

My old old old Windows PC had a function to change the size in one of the stock programs, or maybe it was Microsoft photos. Now I just use photoshop.

Ok, I went and had a look at the online handbook for photoshop (since that is what you seem to use) and I think this page here explains it:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/export-artboards-layers.html It appears that in the "Export As" menu you can choose the canvas size as @pkondz mentioned. According to the screen shot it would be on the right hand side, kind of in the middle. Maybe this helps a little!

Actually on my program the menu command is "Save for Web". There were two places to size it and I only noticed the top one which was resolution. When @pkondz mentioned saving them in 5x7 size, I checked the window again and there was a place to resize in pixels. However below it there was another box for percentage. For the next update (and the one I just posted on the other TR). I saved them at 65%. I have a feeling that I may need to save them at 50% or even smaller. Please keep giving me feedback! It's very helpful! :thumpsbup2
 
Can't wait to see you guys!!!!

Jill in CO

We had so much fun!!!!!!!

Enjoy your time off with jedijill and Fran. Safe travels!

Thanks! We did!

Have fun in Colorado!

Thank you! We sure did!

Safe travels and enjoy every minute!! Tell Jill hi!!

Huge hugs to you all!

Well except for the altitude sickness....I enjoyed every minute. But that will be for a later report!

That is not at all what I expected, but I really like it.

I had no idea what to expect. It was a little like Steamboat Willie....all the Black and White and gray tones. And so sparse as well.

What a shame that they did not live up to your expectation.

Yeah, the ones at Fulton's were so good, these just paled in comparison.

Have a wonderful time.

We did!

Have a fun time!

Thanks! We did!

Have a great time in Colorado!!

We sure did!

Have a fab visit!

Thanks! It was a blast!

Have fun!!! Can't wait to hear all about it :)

Eventually you may, I wrote up notes about it and took lots of pictures!

Crap... I'm not even going to go back to my old TR's to try to fix them. I'll need to figure something out for the future. Kind of ticks me off because I actually had a paid subscription with them for one of their smaller (much less than $400/year!) plans just because I needed more space. I think I had about 20 out of 30 GB used up there. I know for sure they won't be getting what little I was spending on their services!

yeah, I don't think I can fix any of my old TRs either. I haven't been back to PB since they made the announcement. I wonder if they have noticed a decrease in traffic since then.

Looks fantastic for something that is just fancy mac & cheese! :rotfl:

It sure is, one of my favorite meals on property!

Must have been quite the captivating topiary.

And it really wasn't. I don't know what their problem was!

That's Disney... Everything is a store.

Pretty much.

But at least you can take a bath now, right?

True they officially called off the drought somewhere around April or May.

I think that would be totally worthwhile. If you think you'll be hopping directly from one park to another a couple of times, I wouldn't hesitate to spend that much.

And they killed the service a couple days ago. :sad2:

When you talk about taking shots up high in a bar, I don't think most people think it means what you intend it to mean. At least I don't. :rotfl: :drinking1

:rotfl2: :lmao: :rotfl:

Love both of those!

Your dinner at Paddlefish looks nice. I'm glad they seated you quickly despite warning you that you'd have to wait!

We were pretty hungry by that point so it was nice to be seated and get fed!
 
Day 10


I woke up around 5AM this morning, and started the laundry I had sorted the evening before. When I changed the loads, I took a bath and then went back to sleep for an hour or so. The day before, I had asked Fran what she wanted to do in the morning today. She didn't really give me a lot to work with. Plus she had been up in the middle of the night listing stuff on eBay and didn't come back to bed until about 7AM.

I made some coffee with the crappy packets they have in the room. I now remember why I don't normally do that. I got my computer out and copied over my pictures from media cards. I did a few other things related to this TR, made a word doc out of my Google doc, looked for some pictures for the introduction part of the TR, and started trying to catch up on everyone else's TRs.

I ate my cereal and gave Fran her yogurt and she started to come to consciousness.

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By the time she was dressed and ready to go, we didn't have time to do anything else besides go to Disney Springs. She wanted to shop at World of Disney and we walked all around, but the only thing we found was a tank top like a series of them I had purchased at Disneyland last summer, but in a color that I didn't get. The funny thing is that for the last five months I’ve wondered what happened to that shirt. Last weekend while in Denver I found it in my carry on. That worked out well because I didn’t pack enough warm weather clothes. I was able to wear it on the trip!

We had a while until our lunch reservation (45 minutes) so we stopped at Starbucks for an iced coffee for me, remember the nasty hotel room coffee? And then we walked around checking out the new QS places. Poutine looked good, as long as you stuck with the traditional version, we both agreed the Latin and Italian versions sounded gross. The French may be OK, but a little odd. We also checked out the Sausage Company and were not impressed. Pretty soon we reached our destination, Art Smith’s Homecoming.

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We were early but they took our name and said we'd get a text when the table was ready. Soon we were seated right near the kitchen so I could watch all the food coming out.

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The Menu

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I'd heard the portions were huge so we decided to split an entree. We got a side of cucumber salad.

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We also got the signature Fried chicken. We weren't very impressed. The batter was good, but the chicken was mostly white meat and it was pretty dry. I still like Prime Time better. At the time of writing this we still owed Mrs. Knott’s chicken restaurant a visit. Which we did that back in May, and it was good! But only last week I had the Plaza Inn Chicken dinner and that still takes the cake!

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The biscuits were pretty good though!

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We saw a few desserts go by our table and decided we should give the menu a look-see. What I'd seen was the Hummingbird cake, but upon reading the menu, something else caught my eye.

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The Shine Cake! A butter cake soaked in Moonshine, an adults only dessert. This was so so good. The buttery cake was rich and the glaze was sweet and the moonshine had just enough of a molasses flavor that the cake was perfectly balanced. Fran stopped eating it about three quarters of the way through and let me finish.

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When we left the room in the morning we had a tentative plan to go to Hollywood Studios after lunch. I'd found a FP+ for RnRC at 3:50PM the day before, but as we finished our lunch our eyelids were so heavy that we knew we needed a nap. So back to the bus stop we went. We stopped to look at these turtles in the water.

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It was just after 3PM when we got back to the resort. I had a date in the Belle Vue lounge at 5PM, so I laid down for a power nap and set the timer on my phone for an hour.

When I woke up Fran was sound asleep. I got dressed and she asked to abstain from the festivities. I saw this coming and let her sleep. I met up with Scott and Vinny for a while. Scott isn’t on the DIS anymore, but he’s still happy to meet folks at the parks now that they are locals. It was fun catching up, but soon I had to go wake Fran up to get dressed for dinner.

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I wasn't sure she was going to even want to go, but she decided to tough it out. It was the time for our reservation before we even left the room. Once we got through the entrance at the International Gateway, I sent her along to Via Napoli to let them know we were still coming. There was no need to do this as they just told her to come back when the whole party was present. Once I arrived it didn't take long to get seated.

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They brought us some bread and olive oil. I asked if they had any balsamic vinegar and it is served on request only. They think it might be too harsh for some people. Our bus boy was from Modena so he was happy to oblige.

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I had a glass of White Wine while we pondered the menu.

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Again we were trying not to eat too much so we split an entree and an appetizer. The Pasta e Fajoli was a perfect soup for us, creamy and mild.

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I also ordered the Lasagne Verde. Noodles layered with Bechamel, spinach and ricotta. This really hit the spot. We'd eaten a lot of filling and heavy meals over the week and this actually seemed light and refreshing.

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We were both too full for dessert, and I had another destination in mind. But first I stopped to take a picture of this topiary just in case we didn’t make it to Italy the next day.

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Our destination was Jellyrolls. The last time we were there could easily have been 10 years ago. As we were walking out of the park, illuminations was just beginning. We made it out before they actually dimmed the lights so that was a plus. We walked along the Boardwalk towards our destination.

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We were almost all the way to Jellyrolls when all of a sudden, whoop! And boom. Next thing I know I'm down on the floor. But at least I saved the camera, lens and filter. About 10 people came running to my aid, and when I stood up, I noticed my left hand was bleeding in two places. One of the folks who came running was a CM and I assured them all that I was OK, and was more concerned about the camera than my own safety.

There was a stupid board that was sticking up about half an inch and I tripped over it. I really need to be careful where I walk because that is happening to me more and more often. Luckily I haven't fallen, but just barely! I'm getting old enough that soon it could be serious!

Fran asked if I still wanted to go to the bar, and at this point I was like, “He11 yeah! I need a drink more than ever now!” The CM had got me a paper towel and I was feeling particularly needy and asked if he could get me one with water on it. And he did! He also got me a couple of band aids.

The place was already packed and we had a bit of a quandary finding seats, but we got two on the far side of the room, near the bar and the restrooms. In fact I think we sat in this area last time we were here.

I went into the restroom to rinse my hands off and see them in the light. I could clearly see a tiny splinter in one of the cuts. I took a wad of paper towels and got them wet and then got a bunch of dry towels and just held the wet ball of towels most of the night hoping to moisten the skin and get the splinter to come out easily.

I wanted a REAL drink now and not just a glass of wine. I asked Fran to get me my Gibson and when she finally came back it seemed the bartender misheard her and gave me a Gimlet instead. Blech! But I didn't want to wait forever again so I drank it anyways. It was pretty strong and at that point that was what counted.

While she was at the bar, the pianists were playing Sweet Caroline. The crowd was singing along, and as typical of live performances, performers would stop playing occasionally and let audience take it. On the chorus, where the lyrics begin “Sweet Caroline…” the audience sang the “oh, oh, oh” while pianos cut out. I thought to myself, I haven't drank enough yet to get in on this party.

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The first time Fran and I came here was nearly 20 years ago. It was a great blast from my past, they sang tons of songs from the 60s and 70s and I'm pretty sure I knew them all. The last time we came there were some songs that I didn't know and I realized that being an “all request” kind of place that as the audience gets younger, the songs would be less and less known to me. I wasn't sure what to expect on this night.

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While there were a few songs I didn't know, they played a wide range of tunes. Another one I recognized was the Guns and Roses ballad November Rain, although I had to go to lyrics.com to find out the name since I'd only heard it on the radio.

They did some songs from Jersey Boys, and while they were switching performers, they said that the requests were all over the map. The new guys read their “top 3” strange requests and the crowd applauded for each one.

Defying Gravity won.

Copacabana made the list when someone requested a Barry Manilow tune. There were others but either I didn't know them or just forgot. I had a glass of wine, I think just one, but maybe a second. By the time they played Bohemian Rhapsody, the audience sang the whole song (sometimes with sometimes without our performers), and I was right along with them, belting out the lyrics.

After that I was good and could go home on that note, but Fran had to close out our tab, while they played another song I didn't know. They finished up with Come Sail Away, and I was definitely good to go. I'd had my fill of Jr. High/HS era nostalgia.

Back in the room was another story. We tried to get the darned splinter out I'd my hand.

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I screamed when Fran rubbed the alcohol swab over the cut, which I'm sure the rooms near us appreciated at 10:30PM. At least she could have warned me! After a bit of digging with a needle and me gulping down the wine I had bought the night before, I gave up on the splinter. We stuck a band-aid on it and I went to bed.
 
That looks like a MONSTROUS splinter! :scared: Glad people raced to your aid!

Jelly Rolls sounds like a lot of fun. I had no idea how busy it was.

Too bad the fried chicken wasn't the best, but my oh my does that cake sound magnificent popcorn::

Via Napoli is always a winner popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::




It was great fun! Less than a month now until we visit again!


Have fun with Pam! I get her in about 25 days.


Have I said how excited I am :hyper: party: party: party: party: party: party:
 
Ouch ouch ouch! Talk about ending the trip with a bang! :sad2: I'm glad it wasn't worse but still.....flippin' splinter!:sad1:

Jellyrolls sounds like a lot of fun at least :flower1: Even with the wrong cocktail ;-)
 
I've also kind of given up on the specialized ones. They don't have a lot of women's tank tops for people (ahem) in my size.

They don't carry "beautiful" size?

How very odd.

Either that or they only get a few and they sell out really quickly. In Colorado Springs I picked up a shirt that doesn't have a name on it, but I just liked the fabric and the cut of the shirt.

Sure! Why not?!?! :)

Fran is like that. Also no women on the shirt

I'm the same.
No women on the shirt. (No. Seriously.)
If there's a unique looney toons one, then I'm happy... but only have... 2 of those? (You've... heck everyone has seen one of them.)

and there were a couple of other criteria for her.

hmmm.... Not sure if I'd call mine "criteria". I just have to like it. A lot.
I guess if I don't have an instant gut feeling of "That's cool!!"... then I pass.

It took a while for her to find them. Then the girl showed her the clearance rack and I think she came home with three. (I still have to unpack)

:laughing:

Did you ever have any doubt?

:rolleyes1

In nature, I appreciate natural beauty, but since nothing at Disney is natural I admire the skill of the people who created the topiaries.

Huh... That makes total sense. Really.

I can see that. Did you know that Cal State Long Beach has a Japanese Garden? :rolleyes1

No!! May have to increase length of stay.... may have to get off my duff and book some trips!

It used to be Fulton's Crab House. I liked that better.

I found that out, later. But thanks!

Oh yeah. I'm sure that they do!

:laughing:

You know, I'm not sure. I didn't see anyone get stuff poured on their table. You know we still should hit the Crab Pot in Long Beach.

YES!!!!!!!

Did you know I was all excited about it... and showed Kay, thinking she'd get excited too. Instead I got a "meh".

Soooo disappointed.


She said below that it burned her tongue.

Yikes!

I knew you wouldn't like that, but Pam loves them.

She can have all mine!

I wouldn't have made you try them.

Phew!
 
I woke up around 5AM this morning

Of course you did.

took a bath and then went back to sleep for an hour or so.

You've done that a time or too as well... I actually kind of envy you. Once I'm up.... I'm just... up.

Plus she had been up in the middle of the night listing stuff on eBay and didn't come back to bed until about 7AM.

Ouch. No wonder she was tired later!

I made some coffee with the crappy packets they have in the room. I now remember why I don't normally do that.

Not being a coffee drinker... why don't you bring your own? Or is it more trouble than it's worth?

she started to come to consciousness.

:laughing: I like that. Better than "she woke up"

By the time she was dressed and ready to go, we didn't have time to do anything else besides go to Disney Springs.

That's not so bad!

The funny thing is that for the last five months I’ve wondered what happened to that shirt. Last weekend while in Denver I found it in my carry on.

:laughing: It was in there the whole time?

we stopped at Starbucks for an iced coffee for me, remember the nasty hotel room coffee?

::yes::

Poutine looked good, as long as you stuck with the traditional version

::yes:: Correct.

The French may be OK, but a little odd

No! That is not poutine! You can dress it up, but... Oh... here:
http://smokespoutinerie.com/menu/

Pretty soon we reached our destination, Art Smith’s Homecoming.

I've heard a couple of reviews on this place now.

Soon we were seated right near the kitchen so I could watch all the food coming out.

You know, it used to be said that being seated by the kitchen was the worst seat in the house. But I love being able to watch what's going on in there!

We got a side of cucumber salad.

How was that?

We also got the signature Fried chicken. We weren't very impressed. The batter was good, but the chicken was mostly white meat and it was pretty dry. I still like Prime Time better.

You are the second person in the last few days who's said the exact same thing.

But only last week I had the Plaza Inn Chicken dinner and that still takes the cake!

So is the Plaza better than Prime Time? I remember it as being really good... but don't remember which one was better.

What I'd seen was the Hummingbird cake, but upon reading the menu, something else caught my eye.

I'm positive I know...

The Shine Cake!

Yep!

We stopped to look at these turtles in the water.

Aw.. I love turtles. I used to catch them when I was skipping out of going to church. :rolleyes:

I met up with Scott and Vinny for a while

Don't know them, but meeting up with people is always nice. :)

Once we got through the entrance at the International Gateway, I sent her along to Via Napoli to let them know we were still coming. There was no need to do this as they just told her to come back when the whole party was present. Once I arrived it didn't take long to get seated.

Lucky! It doesn't look like it's overly full.

They brought us some bread and olive oil. I asked if they had any balsamic vinegar and it is served on request only.

Must try to remember that. I'd prefer balsamic as well. Then again, I wasn't impressed with the place so it's not likely that I'll return.

I had a glass of White Wine while we pondered the menu.

Yum.

But you know me.

I also ordered the Lasagne Verde. Noodles layered with Bechamel, spinach and ricotta.

Nope. Where's the meat???

And spinach and I don't get along.

We'd eaten a lot of filling and heavy meals over the week and this actually seemed light and refreshing.

Really! It doesn't look light at all.

Our destination was Jellyrolls.

:) Always wanted to go there.

We were almost all the way to Jellyrolls when all of a sudden, whoop! And boom. Next thing I know I'm down on the floor.

Oh, no!

when I stood up, I noticed my left hand was bleeding in two places.

Poor Alison! :hug: :(

There was a stupid board that was sticking up about half an inch and I tripped over it. I really need to be careful where I walk because that is happening to me more and more often. Luckily I haven't fallen, but just barely! I'm getting old enough that soon it could be serious!

No. That's not on you. A board sticking up 1/2" is dangerous.

Fran asked if I still wanted to go to the bar, and at this point I was like, “He11 yeah! I need a drink more than ever now!”

You go, girl!

The CM had got me a paper towel and I was feeling particularly needy and asked if he could get me one with water on it. And he did! He also got me a couple of band aids.

Nice of him.

I took a wad of paper towels and got them wet and then got a bunch of dry towels and just held the wet ball of towels most of the night hoping to moisten the skin and get the splinter to come out easily.

Interesting. Hadn't heard that technique....

No... wait.... I have! "Soak in a hot tub"... I'm sure I've heard that.... somewhere.

While she was at the bar, the pianists were playing Sweet Caroline.

Great Neil Diamond tune.

On the chorus, where the lyrics begin “Sweet Caroline…” the audience sang the “oh, oh, oh” while pianos cut out. I thought to myself, I haven't drank enough yet to get in on this party.

:laughing: Well get on that!

The last time we came there were some songs that I didn't know and I realized that being an “all request” kind of place that as the audience gets younger, the songs would be less and less known to me. I wasn't sure what to expect on this night.

Huh. Good point.

Copacabana made the list when someone requested a Barry Manilow tune.

Of course. Figures.

By the time they played Bohemian Rhapsody, the audience sang the whole song (sometimes with sometimes without our performers), and I was right along with them, belting out the lyrics.

::yes::

I screamed when Fran rubbed the alcohol swab over the cut

:eek:

After a bit of digging with a needle and me gulping down the wine I had bought the night before, I gave up on the splinter. We stuck a band-aid on it and I went to bed.

My Dad's been in construction all his life. He swears that wood splinters work their way out on their own over time. He may be right. He's only had.... a zillion of them.
 
We also got the signature Fried chicken. We weren't very impressed. The batter was good, but the chicken was mostly white meat and it was pretty dry.

What a shame that this was not a success.

At the time of writing this we still owed Mrs. Knott’s chicken restaurant a visit. Which we did that back in May, and it was good! But only last week I had the Plaza Inn Chicken dinner and that still takes the cake!

I have been to Mrs. Knott’s chicken restaurant and loved the chicken there. I only ever had breakfast at the Plaza Inn. Maybe I need to try lunch or dinner the next time I come to California.


That looks amazing.

I asked if they had any balsamic vinegar and it is served on request only. They think it might be too harsh for some people.

That really surprises me. I have very little tolerance to vinegar, but I love balsamic vinegar and always have a bottle of this at home.

We were almost all the way to Jellyrolls when all of a sudden, whoop! And boom. Next thing I know I'm down on the floor. But at least I saved the camera, lens and filter.

Oh dear. I am glad that you did not break any of your camera equipment and that you got off relatively lightly.

I went into the restroom to rinse my hands off and see them in the light. I could clearly see a tiny splinter in one of the cuts. I took a wad of paper towels and got them wet and then got a bunch of dry towels and just held the wet ball of towels most of the night hoping to moisten the skin and get the splinter to come out easily.

That is not good about the splinter.

I asked Fran to get me my Gibson and when she finally came back it seemed the bartender misheard her and gave me a Gimlet instead. Blech!

It really was not your evening that day.

After a bit of digging with a needle and me gulping down the wine I had bought the night before, I gave up on the splinter. We stuck a band-aid on it and I went to bed.

I hope it came out eventually without causing an infection.

Corinna
 
The funny thing is that for the last five months I’ve wondered what happened to that shirt. Last weekend while in Denver I found it in my carry on. That worked out well because I didn’t pack enough warm weather clothes. I was able to wear it on the trip!
Well, that was a lucky break! I'm glad you didn't completely lose it.

We also got the signature Fried chicken. We weren't very impressed. The batter was good, but the chicken was mostly white meat and it was pretty dry.
That's disappointing. I've heard great things about this place, but really, there are a lot of good places to go to find great fried chicken and everybody has their own preferences. For me though, I always prefer juicy and dark meat, so I'd probably totally agree with you on this one!

The Shine Cake! A butter cake soaked in Moonshine, an adults only dessert. This was so so good. The buttery cake was rich and the glaze was sweet and the moonshine had just enough of a molasses flavor that the cake was perfectly balanced. Fran stopped eating it about three quarters of the way through and let me finish.
Sounds interesting!

I also ordered the Lasagne Verde. Noodles layered with Bechamel, spinach and ricotta. This really hit the spot. We'd eaten a lot of filling and heavy meals over the week and this actually seemed light and refreshing.
I'm glad you had a nice dinner at Via Napoli. I just can't go there an not get the pizza though.

There was a stupid board that was sticking up about half an inch and I tripped over it.
Oh no! I'm surprised they let it get to that point. They're usually so good about keeping things safe.

Fran asked if I still wanted to go to the bar, and at this point I was like, “He11 yeah! I need a drink more than ever now!”
That's the attitude!

I asked Fran to get me my Gibson and when she finally came back it seemed the bartender misheard her and gave me a Gimlet instead. Blech! But I didn't want to wait forever again so I drank it anyways. It was pretty strong and at that point that was what counted.
It has alcohol... just hold your nose and swallow.

By the time they played Bohemian Rhapsody, the audience sang the whole song (sometimes with sometimes without our performers), and I was right along with them, belting out the lyrics.
You have to sing along with this one. And do the Wayne's World headbang. Which I always regret.
 
We were almost all the way to Jellyrolls when all of a sudden, whoop! And boom. Next thing I know I'm down on the floor. But at least I saved the camera, lens and filter. About 10 people came running to my aid, and when I stood up, I noticed my left hand was bleeding in two places. One of the folks who came running was a CM and I assured them all that I was OK, and was more concerned about the camera than my own safety.
Ugh. I'm glad you were still able to go out and have a good time. I love your glass is half full attitude that you always seem to have.
 

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