Travel Log

Dippin’ Dots

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Foodie, Travel Log /

We’re heading to Orlando for Free Play Florida and decided we might as well stay a bit longer and go to Disney World. Except that didn’t work out (don’t ask) and we suddenly found ourselves with Universal Studios season passes.

Since I’ve never been to Universal and TW hasn’t been in a zillion years, we started researching the rides, the shows, the merch, and of course… the food. Turns out, Universal is very different from WDW. Very, very different.

There are a lot fewer blogs dedicated to Universal Studios. There are a lot fewer videos. The quality of both is considerably lower than the blogs and videos about WDW. It’s been kind of confusing and a little frustrating.

Rather than be frustrated, I gave up on the search for blogs and videos and went to the pros — the Lines Chat for Universal Studios. That didn’t quite turn out as expected.

I asked the Liners, “What are your favorite snacks at Universal?” The answers were… not inspiring.
– Popcorn (not because it’s special or exceptional popcorn, either.)
– Ice cream in Diagon Alley (great – but no specific flavors or anything about it except that it’s good ice cream.)
– Potato Jackets (ok now we’re talking… this sees a lot more like something someone would recommend at Disney World.)
– Candy in Harry Potter World (umm, errr, ok. Sure. Fine.)
– Dippin’ Dots!!! (I believe there were a number of !!! added to that recommendation.)

And that was the list. That’s it. Those of you who have been to Disney World immediately understand my confusion, my frustration, and my feeling of dread.

This is not going to be ANYTHING like Disney World if all I’ve got to look forward to is Dippin’ Dots…

Except, I can’t actually remember the last (only?) time I’ve had Dippin’ Dots. Maybe they’re good. Better than I think they are?

We saw a Dippin’ Dots cooler in the little local pharmacy last week, I was tempted to buy some and find out. But no… I’m going to wait until I’m at Universal and I’m going to order those Dippin’ Dots and I’m going to come back and tell y’all what an amazing snack they are. And in December, I’m going to ONLY eat Dippin’ Dots and ignore all of the fancy snacks offered at Disney World. I’m sure of it. There’s a reason Dippin’ Dots are one of the BEST snacks in all of Universal Studios…

* Important: The Liners absolutely provided the information I was looking for (not just about snacks but about rides and shows, too.) If you’re going to Disney World, I highly recommend you subscribe to Touring Plans (it’s not that expensive) and download the Lines app. You might not need it for Universal, but for WDW – it’s a must.

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Moon Cleveland

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Family Funk, Kid Talk, Non-Fiction, Travel Log /

Here I am playing catch up with books — so out of order, let’s go with Moon Cleveland. RJ flipped through the book while she was home on mid-term break and picked out a bunch of places she thought she might like to check out while we were visiting for parents’ weekend.

I went through it after her and then planned our itinerary around her choices — and mine.

Saturday
– West Side Market was fantastic. Unplanned dash into Koffie Cafe — TW is still raving about her coffee.
– A visit to the A Christmas Story house/museum and that was awesome. Even if they over-booked their 12:15 tour and we had to wait in the cold for an extra half hour. Heh.
– Melt Bar and Grilled for lunch was a-freaking-mazing. Vegan chicken wings were excellent. All of our sandwiches were fabulous. I’m so glad I noticed they had vegan offerings because RJ was in heaven with her pierogie grilled cheese.
– Next, we headed to Cleveland Heights and wandered around the shops on Coventry Village. A used bookstore and Big Fun Toys were both big fun.
– We ran over to Eton something or other (a frou frou mall) for the Vegan Sweet Tooth and RJ was very pleased with her vegan baked good.
– A stop in Target for dorm supplies (and junk) rounded out a very full day.

Sunday
– The Root Cafe for breakfast — my huevos rancheros were good, RJ’s friend joined us and her egg & goat cheese sandwich looked excellent. RJ was very pleased with her vegan scramble.
– The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame visit was more fun than I expected. TW was the one who really wanted to go there but I definitely enjoyed it.
– The Free Stamp was on my list but A had to be back to Oberlin by 2 so we didn’t have time to walk over to see it. Luckily, we drove right past it on the way back so that was a lucky break!

All in all, a good trip. Oh, the Moon guide was fine. Not exceptional but it did the trick.

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Sleeping In Hotels

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Health and Wellness, Travel Log /

I’ve come to sort of hate sleeping in hotels. We always seem to sleep on the wrong sides of the bed (because TW wants the side with the bedside table and I don’t care about that, and the bedside table always seems to be on “my” side.

Sure enough, last night — TW was on my side but we continued to sleep in our normal positions, which means we ended up facing each other for most of the night. And TW coughed constantly in her sleep. Which means she was coughing in my face.

And then there’s the problem that the dogs are not with us. You’d think it would be MORE comfortable to have a larger bed with no dogs than a smaller bed with three dogs but no. Not comfortable.

I ended up putting a big pillow in between us which helped it feel like a dog was laying in between us (which is what normally happens) and also prevented TW from coughing on me. This worked ok except that TW decided that pillow was her pillow and kept trying to LAY on it and I kept having to push her back over.

Did I mention I’ve got the hot flash thing to deal with, too? So I need my damn personal space or I’ll die of heat stroke or something, lol.

We’ve got two darn beds, I think tonight we’ll switch to the other one. Maybe that will help. A little?

Tired. Very tired.

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More On Miami

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Travel Log /

I’ve decided it’s true, you really don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone.

Our trip to Miami is a good example.

We really enjoyed this trip. Pretty much enjoyed every damn thing about Miami.

Which is a little odd since on previous trips we weren’t all that thrilled. Not that we hated any of those trips (let’s not think about the synchronized swimming parts of some of those trips), it was just different.

I think we had to leave Florida to appreciate Miami properly.

The weather. The people. The graffiti. The coffee. The beach.

We visited the Bayside Marketplace.

We rode the Metromover many times.

We wandered through Lummus Park and the SoBe beaches. We ate at The News Cafe.

We went to the Perez Art Museum (and discovered an Artomat in the wild!)

It was all so much better because we’ve been gone so damn long. For a few moments, I even thought maybe we could move to Miami and then my sanity kicked in. Nah, we won’t move there but I would like to visit again.

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BlogHer Food: Day 2

4 Comments / Daily Dose, Foodie, Travel Log /

Another great day at BlogHer Food.

The morning keynote was excellent. I’m a huge fan of I am Baker, ya know.

We rode the excursion bus to Brickell Village but walked a few blocks to a terrific latin cafe, Tinta y Cafe. We had just gotten our food when Stacy, Julie, Jenny and Jenijen showed up so our lunch hour extended to a two+ hour lunch. That was a lot of unexpected fun.

The after party, hosted by Elise, Jaden and Ree, was terrific (as usual.) The flamenco dancers were great, the venue was gorgeous, the people were fabulous. (Even Melisa, Diane and Liz. lol)

Another great event and I’m so glad I was able to attend #BlogHerFood (even though I’m not a food blogger.)

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Miami!

Daily Dose, Travel Log /

I’m loving the Downtown Hilton, (except omg the rooms are freezing when you’re cold & wet from the darn rain.) And the Publix across the street. Also the cute little Metromover train (we rode a train on JMP’s birthday!) Had a ton of fun at Bayside Marketplace. Browsing shops, eating Cuban food, listening to the band, drinking Cuban coffee.

Awesome day.

(I still miss my dogs, though.)

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Moon Spotlight Savannah & the Georgia Coast

2013, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Travel Log /

When I started thinking about where we might move next, and started thinking maybe it would not be Gainesville, I realized I didn’t really know all that much about the coast of Georgia. I like the idea of the Georgia coast but that’s only from looking at some houses that are for sale and the prices of those houses.

I figured a guide book might be a good place to start to learn more about Savannah, Darien, Brunswick, St Mary and all points in between.

And it was. I really enjoyed the Moon Spotlight: Savannah & the Georgia Coast. I kind of want my next vacation to be a week traveling up and down the coast of Georgia.

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Dog Travelers

3 Comments / Animal Issues, Daily Dose, Travel Log /

When we took Skeeter with us to Philadelphia and roamed around the Sheraton with her, we didn’t see a lot of people with dogs in the hotel. We heard one dog, a few doors down for us, but I don’t think we ever saw it.

People generally looked surprised to see her in the elevator or wandering around the halls. They would often comment about how unusual that was. One person wanted to pet her because she really missed her own dog while she was traveling for business. Another man had recently lost his dog and really enjoyed getting to pet her for a bit.

It was an interesting thing, to take her along to a pretty nice hotel in a big city. It felt crazy weird and we felt super crazy for doing it.

Flash forward nine months and we’re on our second trip without her and dang, we miss her. Worse yet, this hotel is full of dogs. I’m not kidding you. There must be a dozen different dogs checked in here, and those are just the ones we have seen.

We’re also right across the street from a little park (and O’Henry’s home, but that’s another post entirely) and it seems like everyone in Austin has at least one dog. Totally different from Philly where we rarely saw people walking their dogs.

We’ve had a lot of fun here but we’re ready to go home because WE MISS OUR DOG.

We are officially THOSE weird dog people. Gah.

Do you think I can bring her to BlogHer ’13 in Chicago????

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Deja Vu

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Travel Log /

We’ve been staying in the Austin Hilton for BlogHer Food and it’s kind of freaky.

The decor is very, very similar to the decor of the NYC Hilton where we’ve stayed twice for the main BlogHer conference.

We’re on the right side of the hallway, walking away from the elevators. Our room is just about the same place as the room we stayed in last time in NYC.

And… Sassymonkey isn’t here. That’s weird enough — Sassymonkey is ALWAYS here when we’re at BlogHer Food. Always. And she should be in that room, closer to the elevator.

When I carried my coffee back to my room this morning, it seemed super odd not to be bringing her (and the fake husband) a cup.

So weird.

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Ooops. I Did It Again

Daily Dose, Travel Log /

I forgot to blog yesterday.

Sigh.

So dumb.

I almost blogged in the morning, before we went to the airport — just in case. But I didn’t. I figured I’d have plenty of time and plenty of things to say.

Then, last night, shortly before I shut down for the night, I was heading here to write something and then… I got distracted and didn’t do it.

So here I am, six days into June and I have already missed two days — after blogging every day for more than seven months.

Poop.

~~

Austin is nice. I like it here. It’s hot. And oddly enough, the sun doesn’t come up at 4am like it does in not sunny Chicagoland. Why is that? So I slept (badly) til 5:30. An improvement but not an improvement. Which makes no sense to anyone except TW probably. Sorry about that. You’d have to be here.

Seeing Michelle is nice. Meeting her boyfriend is nice.

It’s all nice. Except apple maps which sent us on a wild walk to a bakery that was actually a mile in the opposite direction. But hey, it was fun wandering around a little bit of the Ladybird Park Trail and the lobby of the Four Seasons.

Later today… hmm… I”m not sure what’s in store but I’m pretty sure it will be nice. And, hot. I like it hot.

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