There were a couple of McLaren’s
in the lobby and a Lambo out front.
My 2 middle boys (Dave and Scotty) would be going nuts!
So.... which one do you pick?
I have no idea. I think my boys would go with the McLaren, though.
I scooted down and gave her
a big hug.
She hit me with her purse.
Note to self. Handshakes are okay.
I'm sure you deserved it.
Next thing I knew, Alison had stepped
out of her clothes and dove in the water!
I must admit, I know Californians can be
a bit more demonstrative and liberal
than what I'm used to,
but skinny dipping took me by surprise.
Jenny looked at Mike, they both shrugged
and quickly stripped and dove in too!
Liesa and Karilynn weren't far behind,
clothes flying everywhere.
When in California...
All right...
I'm kidding.
The above did not happen.
I made it up, just for some fun.
The truth is...
I only put one
celery stick in each glass.
Well, good. I was about to complain about all of the vegetables.
Okay! Okay!
There was no skinny dipping either.
Sheesh. Taking all the fun out
of my complete lies.
Boo. Was there at least an exploding helicopter?
And for those of you who don't know
what a Caesar (or Bloody Caesar) is:
It's a variation of the Bloody Mary using
clamato juice instead of tomato.
If you've never had clamato,
you might be inclined to think that it
tastes.... fishy.
It doesn't.
Well, that's a relief. But what if you don't like tomato juice?
For me? I will always chose a Caesar
over a Bloody Mary.
There's just no comparison.
I think I'll stick with a coke.
I shamelessly stole this photo
from Liesa's TR.
Is nothing sacred anymore??
And if you haven't been reading hers,
why haven't you? She's a much better
writer than I am!
Darn right!
I mean, uh, about the part that everyone should be reading her TR.
Pretty sure that Alison had posted
about this place a couple years ago.
And I knew I had to go.
It's called the Crap Pot.
One little letter can really change the meaning of a sentence. But seriously, sounds appetizing.
We all stared at the food piled
in the middle of the table.
Who was going to get the choice tidbits?
Kari reached for a crab leg...
Oh, no! That was mine!
I grabbed a mallet and
smartly wrapped her knuckles.
She yelped, picked up her mallet
and swung wildly at my head.
I ducked and she squarely connected
with Alison's nose.
Alison in turn grabbed her mallet
and thwocked Kari on the cheek.
Liesa could see what was developing
so she snagged her mallet and quickly
smacked me on the knee.
I reflexively kicked and connected
with Alison's shin.
She bopped me on the head.
Guess she didn't like my attitude.
Suddenly a Looney Tunes episode broke out. Seems appropriate.
Don't we all look deceptively
calm and peaceful?
I'm quite convinced that if you
put two warring leaders together
and asked them to pose for a photo,
wars could be prevented... or stopped.
I thought about posting a recent photo of 2 world leaders here, but...nah.
I may or may not have eaten at some
of those spots over the course of
the three days I was there.
Mmmm...BBQ...
Tonight we were heading to
Liesa's requested restaurant,
the Melting Pot;
specializing in fondue.
Been there! We actually have one in Delaware.
We do fondue at home occasionally,
but always meats in a broth.
I've also done chocolate a couple times,
but never had cheese.
The cheese is the best part! Followed by the chocolate. Boiled meat is a distant third.
The cheese courses came with
breads and vegetables.
The latter took me by surprise.
I hadn't considered anything but
breads for a cheese fondue.
Me neither. So I brush the veggies aside and ask for more bread.
And.... oh, man.
I really had to be careful here.
It was sooooo good!
I knew that I easily could've
filled up on this all by itself.
We've done just cheese and chocolate before.
Maybe we shouldn't eat all
at the same table.
It's just... dangerous.
And painful.
This does seem to be a trend.
The broth course came with
more veggies and a selection
of five differently spiced meats.
How come they have a head chef if I have to cook my own meat?
Oh, no! Fire!!!
Luckily, I figured this might
be a possibility at a fondue
restaurant and had already
scoped out the locations of
the fire extinguishers.
I grabbed the nearest one,
pulled the pin, and doused the flames.
Meringue! Good call!
It was right around then that I was
informed that a S'mores fondue
was supposed to evoke a campfire
motif and there was supposed
to be a fire.
Pyrotechnics do make everything better.
By the time dinner was done,
we all may have felt
slightly (and when I say slightly,
I mean extremely) full.
I know that feeling.
Qualifying isn't racing,
but it's still fun to watch.
Well.... for me.
I'm sure for you, it's the
equivalent of watching
paint drying.
No, single cars driving in a loop sounds very stimulating.
The look of awe on his face
was priceless.
After a bit, the crewman
took the wheel back and went
to replace it.
I asked him how much it was worth.
I thought I remembered that it was
$10,000.
Crazy right? Can you imagine paying
$10,000 for a steering wheel????
Anyways. I was wrong.
It's $25,000.
What was cool was the crewman
then went and explained what
every single button and knob
did on the wheel.
I'll admit....
it was really cool!
Highlight for me.
I can see where that would appeal to a racing fan, for sure!
I wandered over to the
inspection site.
There they ensure all the cars
meet stringent height, weight,
angle and other criteria.
It was really quite fascinating
to watch.
(Yeah, yeah... paint drying. I know.)
Measurements and clipboards! Riveting!
It was fascinating for me.
What's your winter hobby? Observing people filling out tax returns?
All I know is that a great weight
(Maybe a couple hundred pounds?)
suddenly crashed down on top of me,
bending me double and forcing my neck
to bend my head into my chest.
I might have blacked out for a second.
I certainly saw stars, was very dizzy
and felt like I was going to vomit
for a while.
Yikes. That's way too much effort for a t-shirt. Hope you were ok.
Okay!
I will now provide you with a lap by lap
(85 laps in all!)
and a turn by turn (11 turns!)
rundown of the entire race!
Ready?
Hang on, I need to get something out of my car.
(drives off)
Just out of curiosity?
How many of you just
actually shuddered?
To the left is what appears
to be a roller coaster.
And that's what I thought it was.
Only later, did I find out
it's a bridge, designed to look like
the roller coaster that once
stood there.
Now that's a neat idea for a bridge. I like the idea of honoring what came before.
The race was a blast to watch.
The seat I'd picked was great.
I got to see some good racing
with at least one crash
right in front of me
and one of the most spectacular
passes I've ever seen.
All in all, a pretty good day.
I'm glad you had a great time!
David just went to the Formula one race in Montreal last weekend with his grandparents. He was over the moon.
Couldn't get tickets?
We were in the second to top row of turn 4 and it took forever for all the folks in front of us to flee, but I'd do it all over again if I could.
