After church today we decided to head to the beloved Circus Drive-In which just opened up for the season. It had been awhile since we had all been there and it was pretty nice out so we took the drive down. First we hit the Target in Ocean to make some returns and then we headed down and seated ourselves.

Because it was still cool and overcast the windows and door were up and the restaurant was half full. We grabbed Lillian a high-chair and we were handed a couple of menus and some placemats. A bit later we ordered. We got Lillian the kids meal which included a hot dog, drink, fries and a cup of soft serve. Lillian just drank water so I took her drink. I got what the Circus Drive-In is known for - soft-shell crab sandwiches and onion rings. Everything was excellent.

Lillian’s ice-cream came with sprinkles and a red lollipop to boot.

I’d been trying for a couple years to hit what was described as “The oddest eatery in New jersey” that just so happened to feature some awesome hot dogs. Today was finally the day to do it.

I had first read about this place a few years ago in Weird NJ I think and then I read this review by the Hot Dog Godfather John Fox on EGullet:

Yesterday I went to Charlies Pool Room in Alpha, N.J. It has a reputation for good hot dogs and was reviewed by the Star Ledger’s Munchmobile last year. When judging hot dogs, I focus on the dog itself, not the atmosphere, service, location, or any other factor. But I would suggest going to Charlies at least once just for the experience. Simply because this place is so unique. In a rarity for me, I will be returning with friends/family more for the experience than the hot dogs.

As for the dog, it is a Kunzler brand beef/pork dog. Keep in mind that this place is in West Jersey near the Pa. border. They prefer their dogs a little blander than what we would like here in the North Jersey/ N.Y. area. Kunzler is made in Lancaster County Pa. and is the dog of choice for many hot dog stands in the area including Sammy’s, Charlies, Jimmie’s, and Doc’s Dog House. These places use a roller grill, or steam their dogs. Charlies cooks them in a frying pan with some oil in it. Cooked well done until the skin is slightly crisp, these dogs taste better than those at the other places using this same brand. And if you like condiments, they have a Hungarian sauce that they are famous for. Made by the same recipe that the owner’s grandmother developed in 1925. It contains onions, ring peppers, hot peppers, celery, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, and a secret ingredient that the owners (brothers Joe and John Fencz) will not give away. I will not eat it because of the onions. But I brought some home and Mrs. Hot Dog Guy loved it.
They get customers that come from all over the state to eat their hot dogs. Being a small place with only the 2 guys, they don’t sell a lot of dogs. Maybe 400 a week. When they are mentioned in the paper, they sometimes get an extra 50 customers.
Their father passed away last year at 92. Up until then he cut hair at a barber chair right behind the counter. This place has to be seen to be believed. A white shingled old house that used to be the local jail, it has a 1928 wooden cash register, one small table to eat at, and one pool table. They only sell hot dogs, Twizzlers, and Blow Pops. In the back behind the pool table is a narrow little hallway with a stove where they do the cooking. This leads into the small kitchen. There is only one pan to cook the dogs in, so you will probably have to wait.
Younger brother John is the cook, while older brother Joe mans the register. I strongly suggest that you take a ride to Alpha to see this place for yourself. Good, unique dogs with a special sauce, served in a one of a kind place by some of the friendliest people you will meet. It’s like a trip back in time. If you go, mention E-Gullet. And let us know what you think.

A couple years after that initial review, Holly Moore visited and had this to say:

Only two things have changed at Charlie’s Pool Room since Joe and John Fencz’s grandmother decided that the men playing pool needed something to eat and started serving hot dogs. First the Fencz’s switched from a kerosene to a gas stove. Then, in the 70’s, they upgraded from a 8″ diameter skillet to a 12″ skillet. Other than that it is the same hot dog Grandmother Fencz served in 1925.

The dogs are slow cooked to order in oil over a low heat until hot all the way through. The buns are steamed to order on a stove top steamer. Then each dog goes on a steamed bun. On top, Mrs. Fencz’s special, sweet sour Hungarian onion sauce. The recipe is secret, but Joe is convinced that no one could make it even if they knew all the ingredients. The onions have to be cooked just right. Each ingredient has to be added at the ideal moment.

The basic hot dog has just the sauce. Most order it with fresh chopped onions. Those in the know order Mealies. The Mealie is topped with sauce, chopped onions and precisely cut and placed strips of hot peppers. The blue plate special is an order of five hot dogs or Mealies. It is served on a blue plate.

But enough about the dogs. That is only half the story. The second half is Charlie’s Pool Room, the last of Alpha’s two pool rooms and the longest running business in Alpha. You enter into an old time candy store. Penny candy now goes for two cents and the sales are rung up on a 1920 NCR register that the Joe and John’s grandparents bought second hand and paid off at $10 a month over a couple of years. Off the candy store is what used to be their father’s barber shop. He lost an arm in the second world war and taught himself to cut hair with his one functional arm.

In back the lone pool table, a new-fangled arcade game and a big round community table for hot dog eating.

The third half of the story are Joe and John Fencz, themselves. John cooks the dogs. Joe makes the sauce and hosts. Pretty good host too. I walked through the door for the first time. Joe greeted me with a smile, a handshake and a “You’re Holly Moore.” That has never happened before. But back in 2002 a customer had sent me an email about Charlie’s Pool Room. I wrote telling the customer that I’d get there sooner or later. He showed my email to Joe. Then Joe saw me on TV a couple of years ago. He’s been watching the door ever since.

One table? Hot dogs cooked by a guy on a skillet? Old place that’s been around forever? Secret Hungarian sauce? This was totally my kind of place. Let’s go.

I left the house around 1:30pm or so and drove up the parkway to 287, then 78 to 22 into Alpha. The entire drive took about an hour and a half and I was very near by PA border. When I got into Alpha the Nav started telling me that some of the roads might be unverified. Even so I was able to find it and pulled it next to the white house housing Charlie’s Pool Room.

From the outside I wasn’t sure the place was even open, so I walked up to the door and turned the knob and it opened. I walked in and took in the room. Creaky old hardwood floors, dark wood paneling. Inside at the only table sat two kids waiting for dogs and a gentleman was seated on the left watching the NFL Draft on a 17″ TV. I sat down at a free seat. The man asked if he could help me. I told him that I wanted 3 with everything. Before he went off to get them he asked where I’d heard about Charlie’s from. I told him Hollyeats and Roadfood and he smiled. He introduced himself as Joe Fencz and immediately I felt at home.

Joe and I talked for a bit as my hot dogs were being made by his brother John made my dogs in the back. We chatted about Hot Dogs, the 5 grease stain rating at Hollyeats, Rutt’s Hut, relish from a hot dog joint in Maine and Hot Dog Johnny’s. Before my hot dogs came out I got some change to get a cherry Pepsi from the soda machine. Soon my 3 “mealies” were out and they were awesome. The Hungarian sauce was made from tomatoes and onions and was slightly sweet. They complimented the hot dogs perfectly along with the raw onions and hot peppers. While I was eating a couple of guys came in to play Golden Tee Gold and to order up 5 hot dogs. That was called a blue plate special.

After I was done I talked to Joe and John a bit more, snapped a few photos and then I left. Before I left I signed their guest book and promised to be back for the blue plate. Outside we talked a bit more and then I hopped into the car and left.

Being a guy who enjoys reveling in excess I decided to head across the PA border into Easton to get some hot dogs at Jimmy’s. Jimmy’s featured a “West Jersey” style dog which is served with mustard, onions and a pickle spear. The other noteworthy thing about Jimmy’s is that the hot dogs only cost $.85 cents. I found it easily (passing the other “West Jersey” dog spot Toby’s Cup) and got two hot dogs. Jimmy’s is a carryout place only so I ate the hot dogs in the car - smelling it way up in the process.

Temperatures this week were hitting the mid 70’s without a cloud in the sky so I decided to hit some day baseball in Baltimore. I left the house shortly before 8:30am, filled up the car and took off down the Parkway and Turnpike. Sadly Kristin was in Whittier today so no lunch with her. I arrived in Baltimore right around 11:30am and parked in the B/C lot for $10.

I hung out a bit with the autograph hounds and then grabbed my ticket. I headed across the street to grab some carry-in sodas and decided to get a hot dog as well. I then headed back across the street and sat down in front of Gate H. I was third in line.

The gates opened at 1:05pm sharp. I got my ticket scanned and ran in. The question of the day was whether or not there would be BP. Usually at a day game after a night game the teams skip BP. As I entered the Eutaw Street reserve seats I noticed that the screens were up. BP for Oakland was on - all I had to do was wait about a half an hour. I hung out in the bleachers sitting in the Eddie Murray orange seat and then at 1:30pm I was let into the main seating bowl.

I hung out at the visitor’s dugout for a bit BP started and then I jogged to Left and waited. There wasn’t a ton hit into the stands but a second later a ball rolled to the wall and I glove tricked it. I hung out in left for a bit more and then I noticed a ball fall into the gap in Right Center so I ran over to that section and peered into the gap. No ball. Hmmm? Maybe I had imagined it or maybe a groudskeeper grabbed it. As I kept scanning I overheard an usher telling a guy that he had to check something into fan assistance. I later learned that the guy had brought in a full on fishing net to snag that ball. As I reflected on this, another home run ball was hit into the gap. Everyone looked around for the fishing net guy. I squeezed into the front row and lowered my glove. This one was a bit tough because it was wedged right against a water pipe. I managed to knock it out a bit and then got it with the glove. An usher came over and nicely suggested that I not do that again because I could lose my glove. I think he had to say something to me because he just said something to fishnet guy.

After BP ended I went over by the bullpens and said hello to bullpen catcher Sammy Snider. I watched starter Jeremy Guthrie warm up for a bit and then I hung out in the seats near the bullpen for the first inning. The view was pretty great from there although I couldn’t see the scoreboard or the Jumbotron. At the start of the 2nd inning i decided that some Boogs was in order so I got a sliced pork platter. On my way back I decided to just hang out at the good seats on the first base side. Wonderful view.

The game itself was fairly unspectacular featuring some sloppy play and an Orioles loss. After the game I tried to head over to the home plate entrance to grab a ball from the Home Plate Ump with no luck. I then headed over to the Orioles dugout, also with no luck. As I started to head out I heard a mother mention to an usher that all her kid wanted today was a ball. I unzipped my bag and handed one to him. I think he enjoyed it.

On the way home I decided to stop over at Cal’s Aberdeen stadium to see if anything was going on there. I was hoping maybe there was a game or something but the Aberdeen season didn’t start until June. Behind the stadium however was a huge little league complex. I headed over and checked out the 3 little league games that were going on. What was remarkable was that the larger little league complex was a smaller version of Camden Yards, complete with the same fonts and colors on the signs and a mini warehouse. Pretty cool.

I left after that and arrived home at 9:30pm.

Debbie had bought me the Opening Day 4-pack for Christmas meaning I had 3 tickets to use in April and May. Today was free knit cap night so I decided to head out and use a ticket for this game.

I left at 9:00am and gave Kristin a call while I on the Parkway. She must have been in the lab or something because she didn’t answer so I left her a message saying that I had an extra magnetic schedule to give to her. Kristin has magnetic schedules dating back to like 1997 or something on her firdge and I didn’t want her to miss a year. Soonafter she called back and we made plans to have lunch as well.

I arrived in Canton just before noon and met Kristin in front of the Austin Grill, which is where we had lunch. We both ordered the steak and cheese quesadillas (not really on the menu) and then lamented the fact that we ordered too much when we each only ate half.

After lunch I headed to one of my favorite places in Baltimore, Lexington Market (Since 1782!). This afternoon it was as vibrant as ever with a live band near the entrance and the stalls doing brisk business during the lunchour. I wasn’t really hungry hanving just had a full lunch, but I took a look around anyway and my appetite returned (big surprise.)

While I was walking a woman looked over at me and said, “Smile! Is it that bad?” I looked over at her and told her that I was actually having a great day and any sour look I might have had was misinterpreted. She then asked me if I was a student and then asked how long I’d been in Baltimore. I think she was expecting me to answer her in years instead of hours. She them told me that it was good to be positive and that she had been having a rough time lately because she had cancer. I told her that I’d pray for her and we parted ways.

After that conversation I decided to get a Konstants hot dog with everything. Then I bought a small sack of Utz chips for Debbie and Lillian and 2 Berger’s Cookies. I alos grabbed a half-pint of mixed fresh fruit for later.

I arrived at the ballpark at around 3:30pm and hung around the players lot for a bit - a bit late to see any players enter save for Daniel Cabrera. I went to the ticket office to cash in my ticket (section 67, row A, seat 3) and then I went and waited in line. I ended up being second in line behind an elderly gentleman who I waited behind before opening day.

At 5:05pm the gates opened and I was in to try my luck at snagging balls. I didn’t have much luck at the beginning. There was one guy having a ton of luck in the flag court however with the Orioles lefty batters. He must have gotten 4 or 5.

At 5:30pm the main seating bowl was opened to the public and I went over to Left Field. sadly the anemic Royals offense didn’t hit much into the seats, nor did they get much to the walls. I was starting to get a bit antsy. Then I saw a ball skip into the gap by the bleachers so I took off over there and discovered there were two. I grabbed them with the glove trick and then another ball went in when a group of guys bobbled a ball and it fell in.

This ball looked to be a bit tricky because it was under a water pipe, but I was convinced that I could swing out the glove and grab it. Just as I was about to however a girl hopped down into the gap, ran over, grabbed the ball and then climbed back up. I couldn’t believe it. Not only that but she didn’t even get caught by an usher. I waited to see if she would get tossed but no luck.

There were a couple balls over by the batters eye so I waited above them. Right before the National Anthem Sammy Snider came over and tossed one to me. God bless Sammy Snider. I ended up giving it to a kid.

Before the game started I headed over to a stand behind home plate featuring a new item for 2007 - Attman’s Deli Sandwiches. They actually had an ordering system set up where you could use a touch screen to place an order - similar to getting a sub at a Quick Check or Sheetz. Since there was no line I just ordered up a Corned Beef Sandwich at the counter. With my sandwich I also got a small cup of cole slaw. Brown mustard was available so I put a bunch on my sandwich.

For the first few innings I sat at my ticketed seat as the Orioles took a 4-1 lead. Later I moved over to the Left Field seats and took in the view from there. Since it was student night there were a few drunkards out, including kids who moved in groups to try and get a seat upgrade (some of them were booted out.) There was also an obnoxious Yankee fans trying to gloat and not making much sense.

Near the 8th I moved over to the first base side of home plate and took in the action there. Great time to move too as Markakis fouled off like 11 pitches and the hit one out for a grand slam. I didn’t exactly see where the ball landed but it looked like it may have fell into the gap in the bleachers so I rushed over to have a look. No ball sadly and later upon reply I saw that it did fall in the first row of the crowd.

5 batters before Markakis hit the grand slam

The game ended 8-1 O’s and I left soonafter, exiting my Lee Street parking spot, stopping once to go to the bathroom and grab a 20oz Diet Coke.

I’ll sound like a broken record here, but the day I’d been waiting for for months was here. Gate H opened at 12:05pm so I wanted to be there super early. I decided the best and easiest way to do this would be to catch a ride with Kristin to work and then just walk over to Camden Yards. I was up at 6:30am sharp and after showering I was ready. Kristin had me in Canton around 8am and I started the long walk to the Inner Harbor. I hung a left at the Oceanaire restaurant and then down Aliceanna street to Fells Point. I went down Broadway and found my breakfast destination, Jimmy’s.

Jimmy’s is consistently ranked as the best place for breakfast in Baltimore and it’s known as a place full of real Baltimore attitude. I went in and took a seat at the booth where there was a leftover paper. The waitress did in fact call me ‘hon and poured me a cup of coffee. I decided on the corned beef hash special with eggs over easy and dry wheat toast. The corned beef was slightly sweet but good and I ate slowly while ready the sports section.

Halfway through breakfast a gentleman came in and seemed to be getting some decent attention from the waitresses. I thought he was just another regular until I looked to him sitting to me right and realized that it was Orioles legend Rick Dempsey. I said a good morning to him and then finished my breakfast and paid. The morning was getting off to a cool start.

I looked around briefly for a water taxi but I think it was too early for one so I took off on foot. I walked back down Aliceanna and then cut through by the Aquarium and through the Inner Harbor. By 10am or so I was over at Camden Yards.

I decided to head over near the player’s lot to check out the autograph hounds which were in full force already. I watched a couple of the players drive in with their cool cars. A few of them signed by the parking lot fence and Aubrey Huff even came over and signed. At around 11am I headed over to Gate H, picked a spot on the ground and waited out the hour before the gates opened. Inside I saw them piling up the Orioles magnetic schedule. To my rear the construction guys working on the new hotel on Pratt Street spray painted a big orange ‘O’

At 12:00pm noon the gates opened and I ran into the bleachers for a bit before heading to the seating bowl. I watched the pitchers warm up for a bit and then I ran over to Left Field. I didn’t get my first ball opportunity until the Tigers started up BP. One ball rolled to the wall and I set up and tried the glove trick. I had the rubber band a tad too loose and just as I was about to grab the captured ball it fell out and bounced on the warning track. I didn’t realize that Tiger’s closer Todd Jones had been watching me and came over and asked for my glove. I handed it over to him and he decided to try a glove trick himself. Failing on his first attempt he admitted that it was harder then it looked. He succeeded on his second try and then handed it all over to me. The people watching clapped. Too funny.

Minutes later while I was talking to Amy and Jeremy a BP home run ball headed over our way. I looked up at the last minute and caught it.

After BP ended I watched the groundcrew roll out the traditional home opener orange carpet. I then headed over to the bleachers and watched as the players ran out as they were announced. Because my vantage point was to the rear I missed Millar’s Ray Lewis impression.

Debbie and Lillian arrived soonafter and we walked over to fan assistance. Lillian was napping already so I waited with them near the elevators at the front entrance. Debbie told me to go and find our seats so I walked over and up to Section 354 and watched a few innings. Debbie came up later with Lillian. I went over to see if could grab Lillian some popcorn but the lines were enormous so I gave up. A few innings later Lillian wanted to head out to we did.

Our initial plan was to go to Maryland for Easter on the Saturday before. We were going to go to Kristin’s church for Easter Mass (and hear her sing) and then head to Calvert County to celebrate at the Mihalcik’s. Sadly that plan gor scratched when Lillian got sick. She made a pretty great recovery however and we decided to just head up for the Mihalcik part on Sunday.

Lillian received her Easter basket that Debbie had put together and we let her bring it on the trip. I don’t believe she let go of the thing for the whole trip.

We left the house at about 8:30am, stopping for gas an a good ol’ fashioned McDonald’s breakfast before we were off on the Parkway. We headed for Kristin’s first and hung out there before she returned from church. We all piled into Debbie’s car and then went to Calvert County, stopping at McDonalds yet again for lunch for Lillian. We arrived at the house sometime around 1:30pm.

Mr and Mrs Mihalcik greeted us and thenw e went right into the Easter Egg hunt. Mr Mihalcik had this awesome egg map with a color chart on it done in marker and contruction paper. The legend red as so:

Red K - Kristin
Purple D - David
Blue M - Me
Pink D - Debbie
Orange C - Carrie
Green L - Lauren
Green R - Robert
Yellow L with a circle - Lillian

Each of us were searching for 3 things: a colored egg, a basket and a present. Our search radius was the dining room, the living room and the room by the kitchen. With such a small space and so many people searching for so many items, I really thought this was going to be a cinch. How wrong I was.

Never underestimate and easter egg hunt that been done in a location for many, many years.

It was razy how well hidden some of these presents were. I found Debbie and I’s joint basket first. It was balanced on a middle brace under the dining room table and held in place with a bungee cord. The next presents I needed hints on. My egg was buried in a large houseplant that I looked in at first but completely missed until Mr Mihalcik told me I was warm. My next present was under something and I was instructed not to open it yet. I was among the last to search for my last present and I needed hot or cold again. I found it hidden in an upper part behind the curtain. Crazy.

I ended getting:

$20 bill and new $1 coin in my egg
Bunch of candy in our basket
wiffle ball set
3 extra wiffle balls

After the hunt I watched as David and Lauren decorated Easter cookies. The cookie cutters that Mr Mihalcik had ressembled herons, eggs, butterflies and he even had a big crab one.

Robert had brought the Wii and after a bit of resistance Kristin hopped on and created a Wii profile for herself so she could run around Robert’s Wii world. She got fairly close except that the Wii didn’t really have a short curly hair option.

At around 4pm Uncle Paul and Aunt Dorothy arrived with an array of cheeses, crackers, books for Ron and Uncle Paul gave us a copy of a guide to an exhibition he had back in 2004. While the ham cooked we drank sangria and ate cheese and crackers. My favorite was the Hunbolt Fog from Arcata California.

Dinner was soon ready and we sat down to eat.

After dinner Carrie arrived and she set off to find her Easter loot. Like me, she was kind of nonchalant about it at first but she eventually found her stuff.

We left Calvert County around 7pm with yet another stop at McDonalds. We were in bed after 10am in preparation for the big day ahead.

Wednesday - our last day in California. We had a long day ahead of us so I wanted to be up early and leave early. I was up at around 6:30am and got to say goodbye and thank Tony on his way out to work. Haven got up early and also said goodbye as we headed out. At this point I wished that I had budgeted an extra day for us but that was something to remember for next time.

The plan was to hit Janice’s at around 8:00am and then drive to Hollywood to meet Lynch for breakfast at Hugo’s by 9:00am. We hit Janice’s at slightly after 8:00am, dropped off the Pack and Play, talked for a bit and then hit the road. We went down the 10 and up the 101. Traffic was stop and go but not too terrible. At around 8:50am I had Debbie send a text to Brian telling him to meet us at 9:30am instead. No problem. A slightly long trip down Santa Monica and we were at Hugo’s. We parked across the street at the garage and got an outdoor table. Sadly the heat retaining plastic walls and heat lamps were on so it didn’t feel all that great. Brian arrived about 3 minutes later and we sat down and gossiped.

I ordered a tofu scramble which was really fantastic. We gissiped about the usual and talked about marriage and weddings. We hung out and ate until about 10:30am and then we parted ways.

We made one last attempt to grab Lillian a portable DVD player. This time it was really much needed because we needed it for the trip home. We made it over to the Best Buy on Santa Monica and La Brea. Debbie and Lillian went to the Traget to grab some stuff for the trip and I went to the Best Buy and found a nice portable player immediately. I decided to pay the extra for the 2-year extended plan (knowing now how fragile these things are) and then met Debbie at Target.

Before we left we hit Jamba Juice again. Peach Perfections in 2 cups and a Pink Starburst were ordered.

We were on our way at about 11:15am and we were met by traffic pretty much all the way down. Very frustrating. We stopped for gas in Anaheim right near the Disneyland entrance and as I was filling up a girl aproached me and said something really, really fast. It turns out she was somehow stranded in Anaheim and needed enough gas to get 900 miles back to Texas. I gave her a buck. I didn’t know if she was using the cash for gas or not. She did have sort of a crazed look in her eyes but otherwise she looked sane. And I never really heard of junkies begging for cash from people getting gas. So who knows.

Traffic continued down the I-5 and we finally reached San Diego at around 2:30pm. We returned the car and then hopped the shuttle to the airport. Check-in was very smooth with the airline employee being very helpful and security was nice and laid back. We got Lillian some food and then we waited. There were storms in the East and we were informed that our flight would be delayed a bit

We hung tight for about 30 min later than our scheduled departure and boarded the plane. We had a slight delay on trhe tarmac but then took off smoothly.

The flight also went fairly smoothly. The only problem with flying BACK from California is that it seems to take forever. We were hoping that Lillian would nap for a bit but she didn’t. We set up her DVD player for her and she watched that for awhile. At one point a steward told us that FAA regulations forbid the use of DVD players without headphones. Luckily I had some packed with my ipod so we used those.

Dinner featured some kind of fried chicken patty sandwich which was actually decent. Lillian got the kids meal which consisted of some really awful chicken nuggets (yeah I had some). The two movies were ‘In Pursuit of Happyness’ and some crappy Bernie Mac/Lucy Liu flick that I did indeed sit through.

We landed a bit after 1am and Debbie and Lillian went to get the car out of Economy Parking while I got all out luggage. Outside in the arrivals area I waited for them. It was cold and late and to top that off some homeless guy was “helping” people out with their bags to try and get some cash. I swore that if he touched my stuff I was going to kick his ass. Luckily he stayed away for the most part. Debbie and Lillian arrived after about 20 minutes and we were off. One stop to get some burgers and a few miles later and were were finally home.

Janice and Debbie had made plans for us to all hang out at 10:00am and either go to Kidspace or the Huntington Library. We all awoke at 8:00am, started breakfast, said goodbye to Haven, Ana and Dylan and headed out to Alhambra at 9:390am. Debbie had entertained thought about stopping at Jamba Juice (I think I got them hooked) but not only did we not have time, but I thought it would be kind of rude to show up with it in front of everyone. After a few twists and turns we were on North Olive a bit before 10am. Janice and Megan and Abigail greeted us at the door and we finalized our plans to go to the Huntington Library and hang out with her and Mrs. Dominguez for the day. First we all needed some food. Janice suggested a nearby family favorite called Twohey’s. She piled the two kids into the minivan and we all drove about 3 blocks over.

The first thing I noticed about twohey’s is that they featured a bunch of cool bottled soda’s. Cheerwine, Moxie and a bunch of others. We were seated quickly with Lillian and Megan with side by side booster seats.

I just ordered a soup - but what a soup it was - a curry clam chowder. Debbie got pancakes and Janice got a BLT. I also grabbed a Moxie Soda.

At the very end of Breakfast/Lunch Mrs. Dominguez came by and greeted us. We all piled into our 3 cars and then headed over to Kayla May’s kindergarten to pick her up.

The kindergarten was located at a church and we arrived about 15 minutes before the noon dismissal time. Lillian and Megan and Abigail wandered around the empty classroom (the kids were out doing something) and when they came back in it was storytime. I grabbed Lillian and started to head out, not wanted to be a distraction, but the teacher invited us to listen in. The story today was ‘Twas the night before Easter’ and I think Lillian enjoyed it.

After we picked up Kayla we headed to the Huntington Library. Mrs. Dominguez had a season pass and set about getting us all in and arranged wheelchairs for Mrs. Dominguez’s mother and her friend Luisa. After entering Janice went to make reservations at the Rose Garden Tea Room and the rest of us went over to the children’s garden.

The children’s garden consisted of a bunch of different areas, one of which featured a bunch of kid-sized fountains. Some had leaping water, others with cascades. After about two minutes all the kids were soaked. No big deal - it was a nice hot day.

Next we headed over to the big space with an timed fog machine. We tried to take a group photo but it started up and my first photo didn’t work out so well.

Next we headed over to an area featuring a long covered kid-sized tunnel that Lillian loved. It was tough to drag her away.

And we ended at the rain forest part of the botanical gardens.

After that we were nearing our reserved time for the Huntington Tea Room so we headed over there. We were a bit early so we all hung out under this gigantic magnolia tree out front. Janice had to go and get Jillian from school so we watched the other kids for her. Soon we were seated in the back corner in a large round table.

Tea service was quick and courteous and awesome. We ordered two bots of orange pekoe, 2 pots of china keemun tea and a pot of decaf. After being seated we all then hit the tea time buffet. It was fantastic. Egg and watercress sandwiches. Lemon bars, cookies, fresh fruit and cream, tarts, caviar, carrot and ginger sandwiches, cold salads and more. We were also served warm fresh baked scones. It was really great.

After eating Debbie and the girls headed out back to the magnolia tree and I hung out with the Doninguez’s. Outside the girls tried to teach Lillian how to play tag and Ring Around the Rosie.

After tea we checked out the Japanese Tea Garden very briefly and then we all headed out as the gardens and library closed at 5pm.

Back at the entrace we said our goodbyes, thanked Janice and Mrs. Dominguez and headed out. My plan was to try and find a replacement DVD player for Lillian. We found a Circuit City in Glendale but the service was horrible so I left. I tried to find a Best Buy or something with no luck so we just headed back to Haven’s. Not before hitting a McDonalds for Lillian.

Haven suggested Zankou Chicken for dinner and I thought it was just perfect. I had read glowing reviews about Zankou and it was on a previous list of mine (since there is a location on Sunset.) Haven and I headed off in the Hybrid Escape. When we got there she pointed out a place called the Baklava Factory and said we would hit it after we got our chicken. Inside Zankou we waited in line and placed our order for 2 whole chickens. In the blink of an eye they were done and out and we headed over for some sweet, sweet baklava.

I’ve never had baklava since they always decide to load it with walnuts, but the Baklava Factory had a bunch of varieties including those without nuts and those with pistachio. Awesome. I ordered up both varieties for myself. Haven bought some sweets and chocolate eggs and we headed out.

Dinner was fantiastic and everything I had read about Zankou’s magical garlic sauce was right on the money. Lillian got a motorcycle inside her chocolate egg as a prize and I stuffed myself with Zankou. Excellent last night meal. I neded the night watching TV and eating almond jelly.

Debbie, Lillian and I woke up around 8am and Haven and Dylan were up soonafter and got breakfast in full force. Coffee, scones, bacon. Lillian wanted sausage so I volunteered to walk over to the Ralph’s 2 blocks down. This was the Ralph’s that Haven previously told me that they never really walked even though it was two blocks away. I walked down the steep, steep Glen Arbor Ave hill and got to Ralph’s soonafter. I picked up sausages, some turkey meat, cheese sticks and something else I can’t remember right now. On my way out I encountered an older Asian guy who asked if he could borrow .55 cents. He was holding an envelope so I thought maybe he needed postage or something. All I had was 2 quarters so I gave them to him and told him all he needed was a nickle. Good deed for the day done.

After breakfast we all piled into two cars and headed to Garfield Park. Haven brought along the bubble pig they had bought for Lillian, a ride on car and a couple of balls. The park was packed this morning with kids and their parents out enjoying the great Pasadena weather.

We played around on the clinb on equipment for awhile, then Lillian was on the swings for a long long time. After all that swinging it was about time for lunch so we packed up and headed off. Not before going on the treasure hunt to see where all of our brought toys had been “loaned” off to.

We followed Haven into Chinatown and found parking quickly. We then headed to Empress Palace and had some awesome Dim Sum.

Ana had chicken feet (I grabbed one too), Lillian ate duck and I had to run after the dessert cart to get some strawberry tarts. It was an awesome lunch.

After lunch we headed back to the house so Lillian could get in a nap. As she napped we all whipped out our laptops and started surfing. I sat on the big wooden chair outside with the laptop and a glass of horchata. It was nice and peaceful.

After Lillian woke up an hour later we all packed again and headed to Travel Town. We walked over the small footbridge from the parking lot and were immediately thrust into view of a bunch of huge trains. Our first order of business was to hop onto the mini-train. Haven bought a bunch of $2 tickets and we waited as the previous train’s passengers were done. After they offloaded we headed up to the front car and boarded. Haven and Dylan took the first seats, Lillian and I took the next seat and Debbie and Ana sat behind us. The train pulled away from the station and we were off. The route was a large mile or so loop around Travel Town and gave us a great look at all the train cars. Our ticket got us two loops around and I think Lillian really dug it, the Thomas fan that she is.

After the train ride we walked around and checked out the trains. What surprised me was that you were allowed to climb up into most of the trains and start pulling levers and pushing buttons (and I did.) It was pretty cool.

After Travel Town we headed back home and I noticed it was about 5pm. The Orioles game was just about started and luckily it was on ESPN 2 so I went upstairs and flipped it on and got to watch a few innings while eating some awesome shrimp that Haven had marinated the night before and cooked up for us now. Sadly the Orioles lost, but I didn’t have to see it because when Tony got back we all piled into two cars and went to The Hat.

I had wanted to go to The Hat ever since I read a review about it on Citysearch or something. It was brought up when someone started an argument about the best pastrami sandwich in LA. Then 2 weeks ago I saw a photo on Biggestmenu.com of something The Hat served up called Pastrami Chili Cheese Fries. It looked absolutely heavenly.

There was actually a closer Hat in Pasadena but I asked to go to the older one in Alhambra. After a few twists and turns and 30 minutes we were there and it was beautiful.

Haven placed the Lin-Kirk order and then I went next. Pastrami sandwich, hot dog for Lillian, drink and an order of Pastrami Chili Cheese Fries. A few minutes later it was being assembled and brought out to me.

We finished up dinner at around 7 and after an aborted attempt to get some Chinese frozen dessert I looked at my watch and decided that we should try and say goodbye (again) to Jay and Alex seeing as how they were only 10 minutes away. I got directions on how to get back to Glen Arbor from Tony and we headed off to Olive Street.

Jay and Alex were still about 10 minutes off when we arrived so we headed into the house. Janice, Chris and the girls were slightly surprised to see us. Debbie and I talked to Janice while Lillian ran off to play with the girls. At one point I went to check up on them and found all the girls reading a larger version of Lillian’s favorite book to her. I had to snap this:

Soon Jay and Alex arrived and we hung out and talked until about 8:15pm or so and we let the newlyweds get their things together for their 6 week honeymoon. I managed to find myself back to Haven’s and we were in bed soonafter.

Sunday morning Debbie, Lillian and I got up fairly early for the big cleanup. We were checking out today and we had left a pretty large mess. Little by little everything was clearned up or thrown out and I carted it piece by piece into the gold G6. Before we left we got Lillian some breakfast and then we called Mr and Mrs Mihalcik to see if they needed help with the brunch at the beach. They decided to stop by so we could follow them over to the naval base on Coronado and find Breakers Beach ok.

On the way over we noticed that Mr Mihalcik had a slight flaw in his directions that he had copied for everyone. Instead of taking I-8 West towards the ocean, it said to take I-8 East. We figured everyone would notice once they saw they were going away from water.

Down I-8 West we went, down I-5 south and onto 75 and across to Coronado. Soon we were at the naval base gate where Mr Mihalcik gave a salute to the guard and got us in.

Mr Mihalcik made copies of the list for the guard and told us to head to the beach. We made it over and waited for everyone else to arrive. Kristin and the gang were over soonafter and we stood around for a bit. Lillian spotted the playground nearby and Debbie took her over. I got a call 2 minutes later from Debbie telling me that they had a rope climb - like in gym class - so I rushed over and climbed up:

After a bit of swinging and some underdoggy Mr Mihalcik came back with a ton of food and we headed over to the cabanas he had rented. We were put to work laying out the food trays and making makeshift coolers out of boxes, duct tape and newspaper and getting the drinks nice and cool. More people began to arrive and then then burgers and dogs were put on a grill. It was officially a party.

We filled Lillian up with Doritos and I think I started out with a burger - deliciously and perfectly cooked by Mr. Mihalcik. The burgers were preformed and a brand called ‘Bubba Burgers’ yet they had a distinct Mr. Mihalcik awesomness. Debbie asked me how Mr. Mihalcik made them so good from branded burgers. I told her that the meat was just a canvas and the rest was his art.

After eating we hit the sun and walked over to the water. Shockingly, for such a warm day the water was freezing. Ice cold. We all dipped out feet into it and then retreated and hung out close to the surf. A couple of minutes later we looked over and noticed that Carrie and Robert were also near the water and Carrie appeared to be in some kind of distress. It turns out her and Robert were racing on the beach and Carrie took a spill and banged up her knee pretty bad. Soonafter a lifeguard truck came over and carted her and Robert away for an ice pack and a wrap.

The newlyweds arrived soonafter from their overnight stay at the US Grant Hotel and we greeted and talked to them.

Later on Megan and Kayla May were getting buried in the sand. Lillian saw this and wanted to get buried too so we put her in halfway.

I could have stayed at the beach all day, but around 4:15pm I was reminded that I was supposed to return the tuxes. I found out that the place closed at 5pm. There was no way I was going to make it. What to do… I was then told that Sunday didn’t really count as a return day and it was actually a grace day. Ok no problem - but who would return all the tuxes? Enter Mr. Mihalcik we wouldn’t be leaving until tomorrow. He drove by on his way out and I piled them into his car. Problem solved.

We said our goodbyes and hit the road for LA a little before 5pm. It was fairly smooth up the I-5 out of San Diego and then the traffic began. We were moving but very very slowly. I hoped it would clear up after La Jolla or something but it didn’t and it looked like we were stuck in the Sunday evening traffic. I called Haven and told her that we most likley wouldn’t be there at 7pm like I anticipated. We stopped into a McDonalds in San Juan Capistrano for Lillian’s dinner and we stopped into a cool mall and Target in Irvine to look for a portable DVD player (Lillian’s LCD screen was busted) but came out empty handed.

There was really no respite with the traffic and after 3 1/2 hours we hit Haven’s.

Haven and Dylan were at the top of their stairs to greet us and Dylan gave a very warm greeting to Lillian. Inside we were greeting with carnitas and shrimp tacos from Senor Fish and all was well after a long drive.

Haven and Tony readied the fold out bed for us, Lillian had a bath in the claw foot tub and we hit bed around 11pm.