Having a low attention span— Grant and I have to constantly be stimulated with something new and exciting. New, Now, Next. That is the reason why we love to go to New York City. Even when we have nothing officially planned— we can somehow do a little bit of research and map out an entire trip—during the trip.
Don’t Ask Me For Directions in Chicago
This is how we choose our travel destinations. Grant randomly searches GoogleFlights and finds a spontaneous sale on a nonstop weekend flight to Chicago in November. He turns to Emily and me at dinner in Cafe Coyote (San Diego) and goes “want to go to Chicago? He waited a few seconds to make sure no one objected and the response was pretty quiet. Which was his queue to proceed with “I am going to book three flights.” Once again no major objections. And just like that…we are on an adventure to Chicago.
The Horrors of Our October 2021
This post is way past due, but I figured…why not! Life has been crazy and we had a very up and down October. But it is still worth memorializing what happened as there were some really fun moments that we will want to remember.
Celebrating Erica’s BIG 50 in Alaska
Alaska was originally owned by Russia in the late 1800s as a fur trading colony. When the fur-trading dried up, Russia was saddled with a liability rather than an asset. Looking to dispose of this territory, Russia reached out to the US a fledgling country to acquire the land. At the time, Canada was not its own country and the territory was owned by Great Britain. Russia and Great Britain were at odds with one and other and there was no chance they would allow their greatest rival to gain more land. After acquiring Alaska, it sat dormant for quite a while until finally in 1959 it became a state.
Continuing The Tradition With A Few New Faces in San Antonio
Like clockwork, every year we find ourselves in New Braunfels, Texas to go to our favorite waterpark – Schlitterbahn. This is not like a traditional waterpark as it is a mega-park where the whole experience is divided into 3 sections that you can only connect to by bus. There seemed to have been more water in this area than in all of California!
Return To Normal (Events With Friends) in San Diego
COVID is still here, and while it was looking like things were turning around the Delta Varient is causing a bit of an uproar. Most of our friends have been vaccinated and feel comfortable being in social gatherings. Events are beginning to transpire again including our annual tradition of Best of San Diego and Cinespia’s Slumber Party.
Incline Jail, Paintball Gun, and Getting Soaked Under a Waterfall at Niagara Falls
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? The answer in our case is Yes, Yes, Yes, and let's add a few more stops just to make sure we hit everything possible. This elongated weekend had us departing on Friday night to Pittsburgh and making our way up to Buffalo to depart back home. Our style of hitting the highlights of the city and moving quickly to another proved valuable in a trip that had us visit— Pittsburgh, PA, Sandusky, OH, Cleveland, OH, Niagara Falls, NY, Buffalo, NY, and somehow as I type this stuck in Chicago, IL with a layover that seems to never want to end.
Back to Basics in Vegas
Some people have been sheltering in place for a year and are just now coming out of hibernation. For us, it has only been a month, but like standard Grant and Luke shenanigans we definitely packed in quite a bit. At this time, we have decided to pause the adoption process and have been riding that emotional roller coaster. We are looking at different options to pursue, but giving ourselves a break for a bit to figure out what we want to do.
The Answer is Six— Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine
A delayed birthday trip to New England sounded like an amazing way to ring in the huge milestone of turning 34 years old. You only turn that random age once so why not do something equally as random like visit Boston during a pandemic. After a 5.5 hour direct flight from San Diego to Boston, we were there to embrace whatever we could.
With the World Closed the Republic of Florida Remains Open
The United States is closed, but Florida has decided to secede from that idea. Upon landing in Florida we were greeted with hundreds if not thousands of happy travelers ready to enjoy the Disney World or the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference with keynote speaker Donald Trump. However, we were not in town for either of those events, but rather our friend’s (Debbie and Andrew) wedding.
Gold Medal In Running Late to the Silver State
If there was a gold medal for running late and finding a way to still make that event on time— we would be awarded the gold medal. While this is incredibly stressful, it does make an ordinary trip a lot more interesting, but maybe not for the right reasons.
One Hour There and 7 Hours Back
What do you do when you are in a pandemic and have a three-day weekend? How about joining a family who is already on a road trip? Sounds reasonable.
Grant and I climbed on a flight Sunday morning for Phoenix where we met up with Erica and Ashley. They had rented an SUV and have been driving from San Diego to Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. With a car full of gear and a cat named Molly— they went cruising the highways in search of the notable and obscure sites.
One Day In Denver; In Search of Snow
With a light dusting of the white stuff falling on our faces last week in Dallas, Grant booked us a flight to Denver to get the heavier stuff. With Ripley’s health (dog) still a concern I didn’t want to be away to long. The 2-hour direct flight left San Diego at 6:15am and was set to return that same night at 11:30pm. The problem—after a tumultuous night of jockeying for position in bed with Ripley (he decided to play dirty and bark as well as kick me)...I didn’t want snow, I wanted sleep.
Should I Continue to Denver Since I Want Snow?
Having traveled enough we have learned a few tricks to get steals on flights. Grant’s favorite trick is to use Skiplagged- an app that looks at layovers rather than final destinations to see if there may be a discounted rate. A trip from San Diego to Dallas direct was $200, however, a trip from San Diego to Dallas to Denver was only $100. We grabbed the cheaper one and we’re off to Dallas to celebrate Grant’s 35th birthday. This is not our usual birthday celebration for him, but since Vegas or Palm Springs is out— this works! Plus, I have been told that we are doing a mid-year birthday celebration to make up for missed time celebrating with friends. Everyone save the date in July!
First of all, Happy New Year. Second of all,...
To begin 2020, we were climbing the Great Wall of China. To begin 2021, we were throwing beads at people off a rooftop deck in New Orleans. Not quite the same, but this does exemplify the attitude Grant and I have shared throughout 2020– live life and have fun no matter what. With 2021 being rung in and the world still a mess— we couldn’t be more sure we made the right choice to continue living our best lives in 2020 and enjoy each day to the fullest.
Completing Christmas in Parts
Generally, this is the time of the year when we are blasting our photos of some foreign destination that we landed on when we spun a globe. With COVID-19, we have had to post-pone our normal trip for some domestic travel. So why not visit our domestic family? The first part of our Christmas vacation was our quick visit to Houston with my family. The second part of our Christmas vacation was in San Diego with our local family. The final leg of our Christmas was in San Antonio with Grant’s family.
With all that was happening in the world, it was nice to be able to focus on Christmas. My favorite part of Christmas is by far the presents, so I focused on that this year. Our Christmas tree and presents filled our entire dining room with presents for family and friends. It gave me something to do since there is not much going on right now in California being under “lock-down.”
Christmas Eve found us working. Grant was running around with a COVID outbreak at some of his properties, while I was calmly finishing up some grading for the end of the year. Finally, at 5:30 pm-- I left to go pick up Fogo De Chao for dinner. Note: Don’t buy here again. I arrived early and they were running late, but I was excited to have filet and chicken for dinner. Upon arriving home, Erica and Ashley were already there and helped us set up.
For some reason, the meat was fully cooked, but the sides were cold. So, we just started eating chunks of meat right out of the tin, while the sides were heating. As things were heating, we began part 1 of the present opening. The sides got pulled out a bit early, but warm enough to enjoy the meal. We paused the present opening to eat and then finished opening the rest of the presents. By the end of the evening the whole house was turn up, there was wrapping paper everywhere, and everyone was playing with their new toys.
Part 1 of cleaning commenced, but we didn’t make very much progress as we had to leave for the Del Mar Lights. This year the Del Mar Racetrack went all out and put on a larger-than-ever light show that you drove through. With this being the only event of its kind in San Diego—it took forever. But, to the objection of Erica and I, we listened to Grant and Ashley’s rap music to get in the mood. It was a blast looking at all of the lights and seeing everyone excited for the holidays.
After the lights, we came home, and we initiated part 2 of cleaning. As I am writing this and looking at the boxes of wrapping paper and plastic, we need to begin part 3, but we have 4 trash bins full so it will have to wait until trash comes tomorrow.
On Christmas day we got up slowly. We got up a bit too slow as we had to rush and finish packing, get the dogs set up, run last-minute errands, and not miss our flight. Last-minute I switched the bag that Grant was going to carry his family’s presents in for one that was bigger and fit things better. It of course broke going through security at the airport so we had to rush and figure out a Plan B. With most places closed, I was able to sweet-talk a nice bartender who gave me a trash bag. It ended up working out great because Grant looked like Santa Clause with his bag of presents.
After a quick layover in Phoenix, we made our way to San Antonio. Grant’s brother Jake was there ready to pick us up and we headed to the hotel on the Riverwalk. It was quite adorable as Grant’s mom and dad (Carol and Jack) had checked us in early and decorated the room with lights, pajamas, cookies, and presents. It was a nice warm welcome to start our visit. We exchanged presents and then went out to eat at the Republic of Texas.
Following dinner, we walked back to look at Carol and Jack’s room and then parted ways. Grant and I wanted to do the nighttime riverboat cruise, but we had just missed it. Instead, we walked around the river and even stopped at the Alamo for a quick photo. The night would not have been completed without some form of desert and even on Christmas—Grant was able to get his favorite Blue Bell Ice Cream and we turned in.
The next morning, Grant missed the memo that Christmas was yesterday because as soon as I woke up, he was bouncing on the bed ready to get the day started. We quickly got ready, packed, and were out the door wandering around downtown San Diego. We ended up wandering around a bit and went to El Mercado. A Mexican market downtown that has shops, restaurants, lots of souvenirs, and birds. To my absolute amusement, as we were walking around a bird pooped on Grant. Lucky him!
A quick clean up commenced and we hopped on some scooters to get to the allusive Riverboat cruise. The tour guide was a hoot, and we got some great photos of the area. Grant was very proud of himself as he knew most of the facts that the guide was sharing including the bridge that Selena was proposed to on and where Sandra Bullock stood for Miss. Congeniality. The tour wrapped up and we met up with Grant’s family for lunch.
We had a nice meal at La Fonda and then drove up to Austin to meet Grant’s niece Vivienne. There was quite a bit of traffic, but we made it. Clint and Jillian have been very disciplined with COVID and being able to see was a real treat. Parenting seems to come naturally for these two and I am glad to see that they are doing so well. They also gave us a handmade version of RuPaul’s Guess Who to play, which Grant was excited about. “…Yeah…Thanks…” said Luke who will have to play this with Grant.
Before I departed, we stopped for some chocolate at Central Market and some BBQ from Rudy’s. The South Terminal in Austin was a challenge to get to as it was so far away from the main airport. Eventually, we made it and I began part 1 of my return flight to Denver. The flight attendant was super nice and gave me an upgrade to Frontier’s version of first class for free. Once in Denver, I talked to the attendant who gave me a free upgrade to the exit row for part 2, Denver to San Diego.
Each part of our Christmas this year was special and collectively made a wonderful holiday. We had a great time seeing and spending time with everyone, and look forward to seeing what future Christmas’ will look like.
Fat Man's Paradise
The saying everything is bigger in Texas is absolutely true when it comes to the food portions. Every meal that you get is 2x the size you would normally get in California. Nothing wrong with that, but as someone who has lost weight recently and is trying to keep it off — Texas poses a new unique challenge that I never previously cared about. Even the radio in Houston seemed to understand my concern —“if your pants don’t fit; just don’t wear them anymore.” Grant and I officially deemed Houston as a fat man’s paradise.
We flew United and besides the annoyance of having to prove we were flying with a backpack, it was a swell flight. Upon landing, we were starving and I was all sorts of turned around. Eventually, Grant found the car rental shuttle, but we took the long way for sure. He will vehemently disagree with me on that claim. Haha. The car rental had a long line, but they were super nice and even upgraded our cheap intermediate car to a mustang so that was a nice surprise.
Our first stop was to find food. It couldn’t be just any food but rather needed to be Tex-Mex. A combination of Mexican food meets unhealthy American food add cheese. One of my favorite things to eat is chips, salsa, and queso. Watch out because if you are not careful it will be gone before you even reach for your first chip. Grant has cookies; I have chips and salsa. With a Tex-Mex restaurant on every corner, the first one that came up on my search was Ninfas.
I hadn’t been in forever, but remember it being great. Of course, we had to verify that memory as being true and ordered queso, some weird baked chorizo queso, fajitas, enchiladas...we ordered so much that at the end I looked over and saw that Grant had rice and beans that were not even touched. We feel that we over ate, but the waiter thought we were lightweights and should order dessert. That’s technically a lie. It wasn’t the waiter, but rather me who wanted desert, but Grant talked me down from the sugar high.
Afterward, it was time to go see some Christmas lights. Grant had mapped out a few places to go so we hopped in the car and drove to them. We wanted to walk off what we ate but didn’t have a chance as nothing was that close. Houston is not very pedestrian-friendly because it is extremely spread out, which is great if you do not like to walk. We ended up heading to George R. Brown Convention Center where they had a lighted display of Christmas lights. They even had a tree decorated with cement ornaments. We could barely keep our tree upright this year with plastic ornaments (only fell once) so kiddos to those guys for figuring it out with cement.
Right next to the convention center was the Marriott Marquis. Grant had been talking about wanting to stay at this hotel for a while because they had a lazy river in the shape of Texas on their rooftop. With COVID being so prevalent, security isn’t as focused on strays entering their hotel, going up to the fifth floor, opening the exit door, and checking out the lazy river. The rooftop is grande size, but we could see the shape of Texas all around us. After dipping a toe in the “heated” pool and realizing it was December and not heated enough we left to check into our hotel.
Before we made it we made two last-minute detours. The first was Fiesta near Willowbrook to get some Blue Bell ice cream. The second was to wander around Prestonwood Forest. I grew up going to this neighborhood to see all the lights, but it’s beginning to fade a bit with age. After driving around and see the lights we turned on “drag mode” in the car and revved our engine to the hotel for the night.
The next morning, I was greeted by a wide-awake Grant who was ready to roll out. Usually being the early riser it was a change of pace I was not thrilled with. He convinced me to get up and go to HEB Central Market to try their orange juice. It was okay, but I want to try it during the summer to compare it to Whole Food’s OJ. The grocery store was mapped out like IKEA with “shortcuts” being provided to find the exit. The smell of bread instantly triggered a craving for kolaches and so we left the grocery store in search of the delicious pastry. Every intersection in Houston has a dry cleaner, nail shop, and donut shop so it did not take us long to find what we needed.
While running around and eating kolaches, we were making arrangements to meet up with my parents to eat lunch. They ended up choosing Frio Grill in Cypress and eating outside. It wasn’t long before my dad started grilling us about getting them a grandkid and I forgot to prep Grant so he spilled the beans.
“Oh yes...we are on our fourth in-person and we have done this and that...” Grant of course glanced over and thought the look of horror I was giving him was an indication what he was saying needed further clarity. So he continued and clarified. I had intentionally not told my parents as I wanted to surprise them when we actually had a kid...and he knew this...but completely forgot. Not a huge deal. They know. And if your reading this and didn’t know yourself— surprise. Blame Grant on ruining that one. Haha. We ate and hung out for a bit before the “frio” started getting to me and we said our goodbyes. Reminder: I need to mail out their Christmas packages when I get back to SD.
Grant had never been to Galveston before always opting for Port Aransas and wanted to check it out. Along the way, we kept seeing signs for Space Center Houston so we veered off and made our way over. Note to anyone going: they don’t allow selfie sticks and it’s $30 for each adult. Unless your Grant and I who decided I don’t want to spend that...instead took turns asking to go to the bathroom, which is oddly at the back of the museum, and got to take a quick tour for free. The people collecting tickets did not care at all and even commented “they don’t pay me enough to care.” Pro-tip: try the bathroom excuse to potentially get free admission.
Space isn’t really our thing so just seeing a spaceship was all we needed. The next stop was Moody Gardens. Most of it was closed as they were gearing up for their Christmas light walk, but we were able to walk around and check out the grounds and see most of the lights. After snapping a few photos of the aquarium and rainforest housed in pyramids - we departed for Pleasure Pier. Having done no prior research on this trip this by far was the biggest letdown. The pier itself seemed nice and had standard amusement park rides, but the problem was that to even step onto the pier you had to pay an admission fee. Riding a single ride that probably lasted no more than 2 minutes for two people was approximately $32. Hard pass from us. In California, we have Belmont Park and the Santa Monica Pier all of which are free to enter with each attraction costing a fee.
To make up for the dud that was the pier we signed up for a ghost tour in Galveston’s Historic Strand area. Our tour guide was a bit “unique,” but I guess you kind of have to be to give these types of tours. He was highly animated as he was describing the 20 bedroom boarding house that is considered Galveston’s Vortex to Hell. This stop is allegedly frequented by many satanic cult members, multiple animal sacrifices have taken place, and has a sorted history of missing children. I am not saying he was...but if you had to imagine a guy who would do something like that and then looked at our tour guide...you probably get a match. The whole walking tour was 4 blocks and somehow filled an hour.
All that walking got our stomachs activated again and so we went to Grant’s favorite— Carrabba's. It was yummy. On the way back Grant had a great idea to try and get a picture of the skyline. I did some quick research and found that Buffalo Bayou Park had a spot where this could happen. The problem was that the police had blocked off the main entrance as it was so late.
So instead of calling it quits we decided to try and get photos in the middle of the street when we saw a turnout. Not a smart idea, but I am writing this so no harm befell us. We kept moving closer and closer to downtown and the pictures kept getting worse and worse. Eventually, we decided to call it. On our way out— one of the streets we needed to take was closed. This got us all turned around and eventually had us backtracking to where we started. By sheer happenstance, we stumbled on a road that ran parallel to the park that had a perfect shot of the skyline. So we found a spot, took out our selfie stick, and got the photo we had risked our lives for.
The next morning I got up and again Grant was wide awake. He had mapped the entire day out. First, was finding a candy for his co-worker and us eating more kolaches. Followed by eating at Salt Grass and then sweating everything out at a Korean spa.
Salt Grass was good. I remember loving their ranch dressing and even once eating it like a soup. Who am I kidding... I eat ranch like a soup all the time, but this was my first memory of eating ranch in this fashion. I didn’t eat it like soup this time, but that was probably because I had already eaten so many kolaches beforehand and was full before I even sat down.
We had found a Groupon for the Gangnam Spa and Grant was all excited about trying Houston’s version of a Korean spa. This one was a bit different than the ones we had been to previously, but it was very relaxing. My favorite was the furnace that cooked me at 150 degrees. I could smell the ranch and kolaches pouring out of me with each bead of sweat that fell. Fortunately, I got out before I overcooked. Grant said his favorite things were the belly jiggler (a vibrating machine that jiggles your belly fat), the footbath that looked like a coy pond, and the oxygen room that looked like we had been transported to a scene from Alice and Wonderland.
My phone was buzzing that our flight was soon so we left and headed to the airport. Of course, we made a pit stop at Great American Cookie before we headed to the airport to leave. I am realizing as I write this and have so much to say about food that I should not be generalizing Houston as a fat man’s paradise, but rather Houston is my internal fat man’s paradise. Anything I can think of food-wise I can find there...maybe next time I’ll pace myself instead of trying to eat it all in one weekend. Nah...bring me some more queso, please!
JJ in Charlotte to JJs in Tennessee the JJ’s Know Best
As we deplaned from our American flight to Charlotte, our very unpleasant seatmate at the window called his mother (or only someone that could love him) to dive into a deep tantrum about how little the seats were on this flight. I snickered to myself thinking— this crybaby is complaining about the space in this seat... I could only imagine what he would be like on a Spirit flight. It did serve as a sharp reminder that each person has their perspective and people will view each situation differently.
With this in mind— Grant and I thought Charlotte was a bit vanilla. We had heard amazing things about North Carolina and had big expectations, but this particular part of the state just didn’t match up. We checked into our hotel courtesy again of Roger Sissom our sponsor/benefactor. This time we were able to get a suite so we were living the high life.
Upon checking-in to our hotel, we met JJ. A spunky desk agent who had an opinion about everything. He told us where we needed to go, what we should eat, and if prompted would have told us how to walk. We asked for restaurant recommendations, which was our downfall. He gave us a crazy piece of paper with red dots all over it ranking restaurants and we went to his favorite— Mert’s Heart and Soul. Afterward, we were told to check in with him again to give us a review. Followed by in the morning when we get up to speak with him to get direction for his other favorite. Grant said it was like he was an RA at a dorm.
Following dinner, we wandered around Charlotte’s downtown. I am not sure if something was happening in the city, but we were greeted with security guards and fluorescent lights everywhere. It was the best lit city we had ever been to. I don’t think the city thought about photos when making this decision as none of them came out well because of this excess lighting. We checked back in with JJ on our return and called it a night.
The next morning we got up and grabbed breakfast based on JJ’s suggestions. The city is clean and beautiful, but missing that wow factor. There seems to have been some fun water activities to do so we may have to return when it’s a bit warmer. Tennessee was calling so we jumped in the car and floored it out of town.
The real surprise on this trip was Gatlinburg. Thankfully Rachel and Emily Newman reminded us about this city as it did make the trip. Our original plan was to head straight to Pigeon Forge where we had tickets to Dollywood, but this small tourist trap is a must-do. Want to go to Ripley’s Believe It or Not— cool there are 8 different ones here. Want to go up high to look at the surrounding view— take your choice with a ski lift, aerial tram, space needle, helicopter, etc. Tip for this area: park and walk. Get your steps in. But be sure to park on the outskirts of town or else you are going to be stuck in traffic coming in and going out. The locals in traffic are extremely friendly in these parts and talk to pedestrians and they move by.
One of the most do things in this area was to stop at Ole Smokey Moonshine Distillery. They have a few spots throughout the area and of course, I convinced Grant to try a few sips. We were greeted by our bartender who also happened to be named JJ who poured Grant 7 different sips of booze. I think his favorite was the salted caramel whiskey and the mango habanero whiskey. They didn’t have a sample size so we couldn’t bring any back.
Time got away from us due to the unexpected traffic so we only got to walk half of it. We hopped back in the car and drove the rest of the way to Pigeon Forge. On the way from Charlotte, Grant and I wrestled with the idea of going to a show and due to limited capacity and availability, we settled on Pirates Voyage (think MidEvil Times with pirates). The show was Arggh-ful, but I think that’s kind of the point. It was fun watching the acrobatics and divers, but the story got lost midway through. Our “scarlet side” did prevail so we do have some bragging rights.
We bolted a smidge before the show officially ended because we still had the main attraction to go to— Dollywood. With traditional theme parks and haunted houses closed we decided to try and go somewhere that was a) open, and 2) had some sort of Halloween theme. Dollywood was celebrating the Great Pumpkin LumiNights so the park was decked out with some spectacular pumpkin displays. There were a lot of people in the park, but that was expected since it was Halloween. They allowed people to wear costumes so that was fun seeing those that participated wander around. We stayed and rode rides up until the close and then called it a night.
With daylight savings time and falling back an hour, we got to sleep in an extra hour, but not lose out on adventure time. Our first stop in the morning was the Old Mill Restaurant. Prepare for a long wait, but the food is well worth it. I would recommend getting there at 10:15 am and put your name down for lunch and get brought in at 11:00 am. Thankfully we made nice with the hostess Jan Jones (JJ x3) and she switched us from breakfast to lunch. Both Grant and I devoured the pot roast and chicken fried steak. Don’t expect substitutions at this place as they are by the menu, but that’s a good thing.
Since we didn’t finish Gatlinburg we wanted to make sure we got back over there first thing before our flight out of Knoxville. As you travel south between the cities you are going through the Great Smoky Mountains and its national park. The setting was amazing as the leaves had started to turn and so we stopped for a bit to breathe in the mountains and have leaves fall on our heads.
Once in Gatlinburg again, Grant was like a kid in a tacky candy store and wanted to do several of the silly touristy things there. The ski lift to the longest suspension bridge in North America was the first one we agreed up and so we boarded the lift and walked across the bridge. If your scared of heights this might be a bit of a challenge, but for those that can stomach it is rewarded with aerial views of the city and mountains. The next stop was an earthquake simulator. Why an ape was in a subway I will never know. Then finally we stopped at Ripley’s Haunted Adventure. Lots of the walkthrough was completely in the dark and would have made it terrifying for a kid to do. Thankfully we only act like kids and made it out unscathed.
The final leg of our trip was Knoxville so we mustered what leg strength we had and crawled to the car. It was not long until we were there and had no idea what to do. The research on this trip was a bit spotty, but our go-to is always to just hop on a scooter and just go wherever the scooter takes us. Grant loved that the main street in the city was Gay Street and kept snapping photos of any sign that mentioned it. After scooting for a while we ventured to the University of Tennessee Knoxville area before timing out and leaving for the airport.
Each person is entitled to their perspective. Some people will find Charlotte to be an exciting place; some people will find Gatlinburg excessive and trashy, but there is no denying that we are going home to the best city of them all—San Diego. Now where to find a JJ in this city?
The Food Was Great, but The Scares Were Not...
Halloween is a big deal for Grant and me. We travel from coast to coast going to haunted houses to find that next big scare. This year we did not need to leave our home to be scared with all that is going on in the world, but being the thrill-seekers we decided to go out anyway. With Las Vegas “unofficially open” we rolled the dice and took a chance for a fun time.
Our Saturday morning flight out was normal. Grabbed our rental car and headed to our hotel. Grant procured a reservation for $18 a night at Stratosphere because our Halloween events were on that side of the strip. We won’t talk about how much the resort fee was... That’s where they get you.
The first stop was Mon Ami Gabi; the French bistro at the Paris Hotel. Grant loves the caesar salad at this place and constantly rants and raves. We had a very nice meal and then headed out to the Hoover Dam.
Having been to Las Vegas a million times and seen the signs for Hoover Dam tours everywhere it’s strange, but I have never been. Grant went as a child so he was excited to see it as an adult. The tours were closed, but we got to see the bridge and stand on the dam. Travel Tip: don’t park on the Nevada side. Keep going across the dam and into Arizona to save yourself the $10 parking fee Nevada tries to charge people.
We drove back to the hotel and got freshened up for our evening Haunted House. Our first stop was the Haunted Ride. This was an offshoot of the now de-funked Fright Doom at Circus Circus’s Adventure Dome and the Saw Escape Room. The premise behind this was that you would enter a haunted medical facility with doctors carrying cattle prods and usher you to a golf cart. You would then be personally chauffeured by this doctor through a maze of zombies, demons, clowns, that would chase you in the golf cart. Considering the limitations and social distancing guidelines— they did a stellar job hiding behind the fog, strobe lights and being able to sneak up on you.
Haunted houses rarely get my heart going, but it gets my stomach. Grant scored major major brownie points for getting a reservation at a restaurant that has long eluded me— Lotus of Siam. This unassuming Thai restaurant in a strip center off of the Vegas strip is anything but average. This restaurant has been featured in multiple television shows and has even been visited by the Queen of England. Grant is not a huge Thai fan so he had no idea what or how much I was ordering. I somehow managed to slip 2 appetizers, 1 soup, and 3 entrees for the two of us by him without objection. We also somehow found a way to eat all of that food. Highly recommend the Nam Kao Tod (crispy rice with sausage appetizer) and the Chef Special Crispy Duck Panang. Everything we ordered was $15 or less beside the duck, which was $30 (but the duck is usually expensive).
After licking multiple plates clean enough that they didn’t need to go through the dishwasher— Grant wheeled me out to our next haunted house. This was a new haunted house called Asylum and Hotel Fear that was found at the Meadows Mall.
There were people everywhere, but we had reservations so we were confident that we would not have to wait too long. However, as we parked and started walking to the event a gunman in a hoodie pulled out a handgun and began shooting. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. We had a perfect view of the guy shooting five shots away from us and others. We were close enough to see the red and orange glow of the barrel of the gun. Screams ran out and people began dispersing in every direction. We turned around, ducked our heads, and ran for the car. Grant got us out of there as quickly as he could. As we got on the highway and looked back police lights were already flashing. A bit shocked by what just happened —we returned to our hotel and called it an early night. We turned on the local news thinking that there would be some mention of the event, but there was nothing. The top story was far more sadistic and as the movie Nightcrawler put it best “if it bleeds, it leads.” So we took the non-mention as a positive that no one was hurt.
The next morning I scoured the news to see if there was any mention of our eventful evening and it didn’t even register as newsworthy in print. If Las Vegas wasn’t going to make a big deal about it neither were we. So we lounged around our room for a bit and then got up to try a restaurant Grant wanted to eat at called Firefly Tapas Kitchen and Bar. The food was spot on and continued our trend of having excellent food. Give me a bacon-wrapped date and you won’t see it for very long.
As we finished lunch, we realized we had nothing else planned. Our flight wasn’t until 7 pm so we needed something. Having looked up some side trips we kept seeing Red Rock Canyon come up over and over again. We had been to Red Rock Casino before with the Newmans, but never to the conservation area. So we jumped in our Kia Soul and set off for our next adventure highly unprepared. As we pulled off for the entrance for the scenic route there was a line of cars trying to get in. We also saw a $15 price tag and started having doubts. I was all set to turn around and leave when we saw a one-way sign that gave notice that exiting would pierce the tires. We didn’t need a clearer sign that we were going in.
Not realizing what we were in store for we were pleasantly surprised that it was a hike/climb on boulders and dunes. The one downfall of not knowing what we were doing was that both Grant and I were climbing with leather sandals, not tennis shoes. We somehow made it up pretty high with limited traction issues, snapped a few photos, and only had one little mishap where Grant slipped while leaping from boulder to boulder. The poor nearby hikers heard lots of expletives as Grant peeled himself up off the giant rock and limped the rest of the way. There were other places to stop and get out of the car for more climbing but for some reason, Grant wanted to keep driving.
As we were leaving the reserve we received notification that our flight was delayed by over two hours. This was disappointing as we were already ready to go. We went back to the hotel room and took a nap. We woke up hungry after our big day of exploring and ended up going to Las Vegas’s Town Square. I am not sure how long this has been opened, but it’s a high-end shopping and restaurant area right by the airport, which is a perfect place to waste time. We ate at Brio Italian and split some dishes. The only thing that Grant refused to eat was the beef carpaccio, which came out on a plate wider than a foot-long sub from Subway. I gobbled up everything on the plate including the last caper that fell on the table. Yummy.
We returned the rental car and then waited at the airport. The winds were extremely bad which explained why our flight was delayed. Take off was a bit rocky but the landing at home was smooth. Now to go to the scariest house of all— our own where our dogs have been left with minimal supervision for the last 48 hours. Yikes!
Are We in Kansas or Misery?
After being rescheduled not once, not twice, but three times — we finally were able to use our Delta credit for Kansas City. I am sitting here on the plane writing this and I still don’t know which state I am currently in— Kansas or Missouri. The running joke of this trip was what state am I in? Grant thought it hilarious to call it Kansas or Misery, but there was nothing miserable about this trip.
Since Grant is still “newish” at his job (less than one year) he didn’t want to take time off for a quick trip since we do have more travel so the trip we ended up getting was a quick late-Friday to late-Sunday trip. With the time change of adding two hours we barely made it in on Friday, but we made it just under the wire with 30 minutes to spare. Finding decent food is always difficult late at night, but especially during COVID.
We did luck out and find a little bar/restaurant called Caddy Shack that offered fried food and pizza. We ordered a few things and got some drinks. The bill came and it was a nice round number of $30. Grant and I thought it strange since we calculated that we got over $30 worth of stuff, but we paid it. Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue would have been seething if he saw this, but we were super appreciative. Again— not sure what state to thank for the hospitality?
Our next stop was our hotel, which was the Holiday Inn courtesy of Roger Sissom. We were pretty stoked about this as Roger hooked us up with this hotel room for free. The hotel had just been completely redone and had extremely comfortable beds. Grant began to lay down and I quickly laid down the hammer that we didn’t have time for sleep. He got up and we walked down to the Power and Light District that was just down the block.
This area was right next to the T-Mobile Arena and home to Kansas City Live where there was lively selection of bars, restaurant and live music. There was a dance club with laser light going, but I couldn’t swing Grant to going. So we wandered around a bit more and we ended up finding an Insomnia Cookies. It’s a cookie store that is open extremely late— like 3 or 4 am for a late night sugar fix. I turned Grant onto this place when we went to Atlanta and he was thrilled to see it. He was even more overjoyed when it turned out they serve Blue Bell Ice Cream. This may sound like nothing special to some, but for those of us in California that cannot get this brand it was a real treat. We wandered around a bit more before turning in for the night.
The next morning, we got up and started checking off things that I wanted to see starting with the City Market. I was quite impressed with the size of this market compared to most states. Having more stalls open than most cities and the added benefit of permanent vendors made this one a very memorable market. However, you don’t go to Kansas City for their fruits and vegetables, but rather their meat.
When you looked up Kansas City and BBQ the restaurant that came up the most was Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que. A line out the door is always a good sign that the food is going to be good, but I am sad to report—dud. If this is your one chance to get quality Kansas City BBQ I would recommend looking elsewhere. Being originally for Texas, I have eaten some brisket and was extremely excited to try Kansas City’s burnt ends. The bark of the brisket that is often tough doused in sauce sounded amazing. Unfortunately, they just were just soggy ends of fat with only a minor char. Now the good news is that we did have the opportunity to make it up and we definitely have different referrals that are way better including Slaps and Jack Stack.
We made a few more stops including Country Club Plaza and then began our long descent down to Branson. It’s a bit of a drive so it was perfect that we had a virtual baby shower to attend. Grant’s brother and sister-in-law were having a shower to celebrate the birth of their first child. Shh...I can’t say what the gender is, but if your curious ask Grant as he nearly blabbed it to everyone - sorta. After I told him what he had done - something about mentioning a dress in the nursery - he laughed and said he was sure there was a family bet going as to how long he could keep it a secret. Even though he argues “technically” he didn’t reveal the gender. Regardless the shower went off without a hitch and it was fun seeing family that we haven’t talked with in a while. It also entertained us for an hour of the commute; a welcome distraction considering there is absolutely nothing between the two cities.
The commute was long, but it was well worth it to see all that Branson had. The main reason we went was because they had live shows. The problem though was those live shows were either country music themed or religious, or both. I asked Grant— what do you want to see? He looked at me stressed and said “Jesus” as if something was wrong. I asked again and he said more angrily, “Jesus! I already told you!” I said what’s wrong? He said — “nothing that’s the name of the play. He loves dad humor. Corny, yet aptly described the options. So we decided to find entertainment with some of the smaller attractions. We started with going to downtown Branson Landing, did the Branson Roller Coaster and then went strolling down their Main Street. Branson Landing was Grant’s favorite because it had, you guessed it, Blue Bell.
The stroll made us hungry so we had to of course go to the World’s Largest CiCis housed of course in Branson. Ok maybe that was a me requirement... We ate, ate some more, and then eventually ate so much that I began to feel sick. Let’s just say Branson quickly began to be one of the smelliest places we have ever been to. Needing an escape from the skunk that had infested our car we tried to figure out what to do. We ended up settling on going to Silver Dollar City, an amusement park area just north of the main area of Branson.
This park was spectacular. Probably the cleanest and best decorated/themed park I have ever been to. The fall decorations were up and the whole park was decorated in hundreds of jack-o-lanterns and larger than life pumpkin statues. The park usually has a flood of tourists, but with COVID the park was relatively empty. It was interesting that before each attraction the ride attendant would spray hand sanitizer onto our hands. Masks were required, but the six feet rule was out the door as people smushed together. After riding almost all their rides— we drove back to our hotel.
The next morning the warm sunny weather had turned cloudy and wet so we got up early to venture to caverns to escape the rain. The highway is littered with advertisements for caves and I finally caved—pun intended—and we went. It was nice, but having been to other places it really not the most memorable of caves. Grant said it best, “when you’ve gone spelunking through an underground river driving through one in a jeep is just okay.”
We hit the road again and made our way to Slaps BBQ in Kansas City, Kansas. Now this BBQ was good. Solid burnt ends, warm potato casserole, and cheese curds— we got a better taste in our mouths as to why Kansas City BBQ has a reputation of being one of the best. The good food all seemed to be on the Kansas side of KC even though the good ice cream was in Misery.
The last stop of the Kansas City trip found us meeting up with one of Grants relatives in Overland Park. I am not sure what the connection is but it’s likely a cousin sister’s son married twice removed type of situation, but family. We had a lovely conversation about life, family, and travel. Due to time constraints we didn’t have that much time, but Don did surprise us with Jack Stack BBQ. The brisket was quite delicious and definitely something we would be back for.
A quick layover in Salt Lake and then back to California. Being in a state with loosened restrictions has been great! With all the restrictions still in place back home I think Grant may have gotten his geography confused as to where misery really is; between Arizona and the Pacific Ocean.