Room Service, Bug Goo and a Double Duece!!

After having an elegant Room Service breakfast we left the outstanding Capital Hotel in Little Rock, and said good bye to Billy Glasscock, more about that later. Off we went on 40 West heading for Oklahoma City. We were 3 for 3 on debacles so we wondered what was in store for us today. Only a five hour jaunt which we could do on our heads at this point. The rolling hills of West Arkansas were very beautiful, we both wished it was the fall so the trees would appear a colorful quilt, but very nice anyway. Eastern Oklahoma while pleasant, didn't have much but black moo cows, which were OK, but whatever. We did notice that Oklahoma had very much more suicidal, kamikaze insects slamming into our windshield. Long trails of goo that took a lot of elbow grease to get off at the rest stops. We arrived in Oklahoma City about 45 min late and check into the Springhill Suites. The second Springhill on our trip had it over the first one only because the free breakfast was tastier.

That evening we decided that since we were in Oklahoma we should eat what they eat. STEAK!!!! We knew through Tripadvisor that the Cattleman's Cafe was a late fifties venue, which sure looked fifties. Diner like! But the steaks were great. Also, on the menu was a locally brewed Regional Ale. The Mayor has taken up testing regional ale on this trip. It was called The Double Deuce and was served in a 22oz bottle. Ha!!!!  But it was as good as the steak. When we got back to the hotel we realized that we had a perfect day with no mishaps. Yeah Baby!!!! Oh Yeah, Catch the Cowboy in the Picture

Blow out on Highway 40!!

Leaving the Great Nashville behind we headed towards our next overnight in Little Rock. Since the total drive time was just over 5 hours and a short day, we made the plan to stop in Memphis for lunch. There was a fly in the ointment.  About 40 miles out of Nashville we heard the sonic boom of our left rear tire blowing out. Great!!
An attempt to change the tire ourselves failed when our wrench broke. Enter Triple A Terrence, not only did he change the tire but he defeated the hub lock on our spare which needed a key that of course we didn't have.
The whole mess took an hour. Kudos Terrence. We limped into Memphis in search of a new spare, suffice to say Izzy, got a full new set of tires. The tire place was in the lets say the wrong part of Memphis so we skipped lunch and motored out of there at warp speed. Izzy performed brilliantly in her new shoes, and we were of to Little Rock. The third day of our trip was also the third time we had to overcome a hardship on the road and also the third time we did just that. We treated ourselves to a nights stay at the Capital Hotel in Little Rock Wow what a place!! Among the top 25 Hotels in the country this place was incredible. The pub, CBG, was awesome, and we toasted Terrence and Izzy Isuzu for getting us through the day, the rooms were super fancy, and the Hotel provided not just a robe but slippers too.

Off  to Oklahoma City tomorrow, here's hoping it's an uneventful leg.

Buckets of rain, BB King and oh yeah, the meteor!

Leaving Durham with one tag along for the ride, we took to Interstate 40. This road will take us all the way to Arizona leaving us in Flagstaff, a mere 3 to 3.5 hours down to Phoenix. 40 took us through the Black Mountains of North Carolina, The Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.The best scenery of the trip so far and puts I 85 to shame. About 20  min. west of Knoxville the sky emptied out and it rained buckets for about 20 min, we were worried that a tornado would come and take us away, or grapefruit sized hail would wreck Izzy Isuzu, but we pressed on.   Today our destination was Nashville Tennessee and arrived by 3:30 PM thanks to a one hour time difference we picked up just west of Knoxville.  We checked into the Drury Hotel near the Airport. The Drury offers a free happy hour, drinks and food ----yep!! Also includes a hot free American breakfast. We did pay $50.00 more then last night but still a great deal.
 "The Meteor"!!!
Yesterday with our license plate debacle, we made mention of hoping to get thru our next leg without getting hit by a meteor. Well about 10 minutes outside Nashville a dump truck spit up a stone and that little meteor bastard hit us right in the windshield. Nice BB hole.( Sucks) We're hoping to finish the trip without a spider web growing to force immediate repair. Anyway for the second night in a row we were forced to put despair aside and make the best of it. Boy did we ever, Nashville is awesome, dozens of open air places playing live music, horse drawn carriages,and restaurants. We went to BB Kings and enjoyed the blues guitar or Stacy Brochette. Truly a great show. Get this, we caught the 7:00Pm show. It was Stacy's second show of the day

3000 Miles to Phoenix or My what fell off my who?

We started our major driving adventure to Phoenix. Starting on the oft traveled and familiar  I 95. This trip was amazing no construction in Delaware, no traffic in DC and a perfect day to travel. Our destination was Durham NC so about a half hour South of Richmond we shifted to I 85, starting off nice with a black pine lined 2 lane interstate winding through picturesque South Western Virginia and North Eastern North Carolina. Er for awhile, this two lane backwoods nightmare lasted 2 full hours, I never want to see a pine tree again. All in all  we were very happy with our progress on the day. Didn't stop but for the call of nature or coffee.Approaching Durham, an Indian gentleman driving a white van sped up along side, getting our attention he was trying to tell us something,  "Your incense well off" , Huh!!What?  He pointed to the back of our truck, 'Your wellness rate is won" Maybe we better open the window (Duh!) This poor guy stuck with it, God bless him. Once the window was down he tried it one more time. "You're license plate fell off !!! What ?? We pulled over and sure enough our rear plate had taken a powder. We called the local PD to see if they could help us out, to their credit, they gave it an effort and were very cooperative. The PD said  that we should rotate the front plate to the back of our vehicle, and to contact our local DMV about the lost plate. I hate I 85. Our night did end on a major upbeat, putting the license plate behind us we checked into Spring Hill Suites in Durham a really nice Hotel with an in ground pool, free parking and a full American breakfast all for $83.00.

We had dinner at Maggiano's, an outstanding upscale chain that sports the best chopped salad ever.The Rigatoni D was also serious good eating. Anyway tomorrow we head to Nashville lets hope we don't get hit by a meteor.

St.Paddy's Day March

Once again, the annual St.Paddy's Day pub crawl through Red Bank was a major good time. The likes of Ray McCardle, Timmy Murphy, Johnny "HUD" and Deb Hudzinski, Grew kids, Milnes Kids, Bartlett Kids, and many other Irish revelers made it a celebration that won't be soon forgotten.
Starting off at the Globe in Red Bank the crew loaded up on Pub Grub, including Chicken Parm Panini's, Ruebens, and veggie lovers Panini. A debate was started by our youngest, Kit Kat as to why her 19 year old self shouldn't be allowed to partake in the crawl. As you can see below she was intense about it and really wanted to tag along. LOL. Bye Kitty see you when we get home.After dispatching Kathryn we ambled over to Brannigans. A smallish venue just North of Front street. There we met HUD and the Kids. Well, these kids were unreal, the first thing they ordered was a round of Irish Car Bombs. Half, a shot of Jameson, half of Baileys all dropped into a pint of Guinness and chugged. Oh Boy!! We decided to give them some space, lots of space, and drifted over to the Dublin House. There we met up with the always entertaining McCardle and Murphy. We lucked out with a corner of the bar in a very crowded pub. A good hour passed and here came the junior varsity rabble from Brannigans. Allison Bartlett had taken to photographing people that were a little tipsy (pics below). Soon after we again retreated from the Irish Car Bombers and headed for The Walt Street Pub.Walt Street's distinction is New York Style straight bar.Don't see many straight bars in NJ. Mostly ovals. Anyway we topped the crawl off at Tommy's coal fired Pizza, had some roasted chicken wings and watched NCAA basketball.
Chicken Parm Panini AAA
Rueben Sandwich AA1/2
Veggie Panini AAA
Roasted Chicken Wings AAA

St. Paddy's Day Pub Crawl

This year marked the annual St.Paddy's Day Pub Crawl. This year the special guests included the likes of Johnny (Hud) Hudzinski, the always entertaining Ray McCardle and Timmy Murphy, and a bunch of Shrewsbury kids that sure reminded us olsters of our youth.  The Bartlett's started off with lunch at the Globe Bar and Grill. Located on Front Street this old time Red Bank Bar has surrendered to a mostly young college crowd, but we were there early enough to avoid those Irish Hooligans.
The Chicken Parm Panini while an odd choice on St.Pat's was top notch, as was the Reuben sandwiches and the ice cold beer. Our youngest Kitty was having a grand time with a silly straw while enjoying her club soda. Later she was intense in trying to make the case that her 19 year old butt should accompany the rest of us on the Crawl. LOL Kitty see you when we get home.
After dropping Kathryn home we returned to Brannigans Bar. Just South of Front St in Red Bank Brannigans is a smallish pub that enjoys a loyal and much older clientele the does the Globe. There we met Hud and encounted a variety of Shrewsbury 20 somethings. After happy greeting these kids ordered a round of Irish Car Bombs. Ah oh, Good Morning!! After a while we eased our way out of Brannigans and tried to put a little ground between us and these terrorist. We crawled to The Dublin House and met Timmy and Ray in the very crowded and lively pub. We settled in with a lucky score of a whole corner of the bar.    

My nose is Clean , How bout yours

Leaving the Cowboys of OK City behind, we started our long trek to Albuquerque NM. There was a threat of bad weather forecast and we were somewhat uneasy driving through Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. A long stretch of highway through no mans land. We came to the conclusion that America has loads of room to grow. Mile after mile of nothing but random black cows. No people, no towns, no nothing. We came upon a field of windmills and past out with excitement. Leaving Oklahoma and North West Texas with picked clean noses we entered New Mexico. The Enchantment State gave us hope but ended looking just like more Texas. It was two hours in before the scenery started looking great, but heavy dark clouds were looming ahead. Entering Albuquerque, we drove out of our way to the wrong Residence Inn. A quick recheck of our GPS put us right.Another 15 minutes went by and we pulled into a very nice Residence Inn at the foot of a mountain. Guess What! Wasn't our hotel, we were right the first time. Marthemayor put the schmooze into overdrive. Charming the Residence Inn management with her ballsy Staten Eyeland, she entertained this people so effectively that they changed our reservation

to their hotel and upgraded us to a two bedroom suite. Huh!! The weather had worsened and upset our plans to take a tram to a restaurant 10,000 ft up the mountain. The day ended with dinner at Landry's a Seafood chain associated with Chart House. As members of The Chart House we received an unexpected $25.00 discount. We just hope our waiter made it. He was wheezing through the specials and apologized because he had just had surgery. The high altitude was making it hard for him to breath. The mayor hoped he didn't drop before he served us our dinner. Oops!! Here comes that Staten Eyeland again.

Hanging at Houlihans

Caught Happy Hour at Houlihans in Eatontown NJ. Houlihans is a great example of how chain type restaruants have improved over the years. Chains used to be bad food, noisy and expensive drinks.
Now, lots of chains have happy hours, good food and drink specials. Houlihans is an example, a clean neat well run chain that while still hitting hard in the wallet for mixed drinks and wine, has beer specials and a happy hour menu, many flats screens and the popular Buzztime trivia game.
Pork Slider AAA
Parmesean French Fries AAA
BBQ Chicken Flat Bread AAA
Egg Rolls AAA
Buffalo Bleu Salad AAA1/2
Service AAA  Overall AAA

Hitting it at Hillstone

A business trip into NYC  took us to 53rd St & 3rd Ave. We took the Sea Streak from Atlantic Highlands. At $43.00 round trip per person Sea Streak is pricey, but no better way to get to NY. The only other way into NY that isn't a major aggravation is to drive to Staten Island, take the ferry and the subways. Takes much longer than Sea Streak, but the only set back is the freaking $12.00 toll at the Outerbridge. Criminal!!!  Anyway, we hoofed it 20 blocks from 33rd St. Settled our business and looked around for a place for lunch. Right on 53rd & 3rd is The Atrium, an impressive indoor mall that includes the awesome Hillstone. Surpised to find out that Hillstone is a chain formally called Houston's Steakhouse. Naturally, it was insanely expensive but on this afternoon was worth it.
Seared Tuna Roll $19.00 very generous portion and fabulous.    AAAA
Hillstone Club Salad  $16.00  extremely fab salad presented perfectly. AAAA
Bloody Mary's AAA   Service AAA     Overall AAA1/2     Higly Recommend

On the Death March back to the Sea Streak we had a pit stop at Benjamin at 33rd & 2nd Ave.
A typical East Side Irish joint with a brogue for a bartender who poured a perfect Guiness
that included an imprinted shamrock. How do they do that?     AAA

Exile at Main Street

Hit the Main Street Bar and Grill for a quick lunch the other day. Located just North of the Asbury Park Circle in Ocean Township NJ.  Main Street is the kind of place where the bartender cooks your food right in front of you on a grill behind the bar. Most concerning to us was the one corner of the bar that was dedicated to everything Red Sox. Oh boy, food better be good!! Although somewhat pricey for this type of venue the food was very good.
Spicy Shrimp Quesadilla  $12.99.  Very tasty and real spicy. AAA 
Grilled Chicken Wrap served with FF and cole slaw. $11.99 AAA
Service AA1/2
Overall AA1/2
We'll forgive the Red Sox, but just a bit expensive!!

Running Amuck with KathyMetz!!!

Had a grand time with old friends on Friday night at the home of John & Kathy Cordes. Kathy Metz outdid herself with a top notch homemade buffet. John was a gracious host and a great bartender to the likes of : Debby  (Dolan) & Tony Fortuna, Jodi (Pulice) & Greg Smith, Elaine (Coakley) & John Smyth, Barbara (Nilsen) & Mark Hanley,   Patty (Arnone) and Butch Esposito and of course the always wacky McGee. All were belting out ancient oldies such as Benny and the Jets, Scarlet Ribbons and many others.The highlight was a surprise call to Pam Cuthbert in Arizona who got to hear old friends say hello for the first time in ages.This was one of those parties that started at 7:30 PM and broke up about 1:30 AM.. Seemed like 5 min had gone by.
Buffet  AAAA  Entertainment AAAA

Company AAAA

Jose Tejas ---- Woodbridge NJ

Lucked out with a table for 5 at Jose Tejas to celebrate Mal- Pal 25th birthday. Jose Tejas is an extremely popular Mexican themed place in Woodbridge. The kind of place where people wait outside in hopes for a table. We were truly lucky to get a table in 15 min.
A round of Frozen Margarita started us off along with twin baskets of warm chips and salsa.
The crew demolished Shrimp and Crawfish Quesadilla, a not so good soggy mess, that we had to use a knife and fork to eat. On the up side the were a variety of Enchilada's, of chicken, cheese and fish. All very good, and served with rice and beans. The supper upside was it was the first the five of us had been to dinner in a long time.

Happy B'day Mal-Pal!!!!    Enjoy your new flat screen.

Shrimp and Crawfish Quesadilla  --    A
Chicken Enchilada -------------------    AAA
Cheese Enchilada --------------------     AAA
Seafood Enchilada -------------------   AAA

Service Very attentive --------------- AAA

Parnells Irish Pub - NYC

We recently visited Parnells Irish Pub in NYC. Parnells is located at 51st & 1st Ave. A not so typical East Side Irish Pub due to it's regulars. A self described reincarnation of the Algonquian Round Table.
They must be pretty bright because on this day they were debating Henry VIII and his war on the catholic church, all with Irish accents and with half or a complete load on. Very amusing group of Irish curmudgeons who perfectly complimented the authentic Irish atmosphere.
Pulled Pork on Texas Toast- Very nice presentation of a very good sandwich.   AA1/2
Penne Irish Pasta - Hits the mark with very fresh ingredients AAA
Service - Bartender paid a little to much attention to the Irish Floor Show. AA
Overall -  AA1/2

Brothers - Red Bank NJ

The family oriented Brothers Restaurant in Red Bank was just right for a good, quick, inexpensive dinner. We arrived just before the dinner rush, and lucky we did. This place went from empty to packed in about 15 minutes, mostly with young families. Specializing in pizza, Brothers also has a large menu, and a surprisingly impressive wine list.
Eggplant Lasagna- A large portion of meatless lasagna that was excellent. AAA1/2                    Zuppa Di Pesce - Chock full of calamari, mussels, clams and shrimp in a tasty marinara sauce. AAA1/2
Service AAA1/2
Try to do that early bird thing and catch Brothers about 4 or 5 in the afternoon. On our visit the many youngsters were perfectly behaved, but it is a wild card.
Highly recommended.

Charley's Ocean Grill Long Branch NJ

After searching long and hard for a sports venue to watch the NFC championship game between the NY Giants and the SF 49's we took the advice of my youngest brat Kitty Kat and b-lined to Charley's Ocean Grill in Long Branch. Like most other spots that night the bar area was packed. However Charley's has an upstairs that they use for parties, and on this night they opened it for the game.  $2.00 Coors Light Drafts, and a 8 item under $10.00 football bar menu were the highlights.
Roasted Chicken Wings AAA Very large tasty, and tender.
Large Pretzel AAA Huge and perfect for the occasion.
Nachos AAA
Service AAA
Overall AAA A great combo of bar fare, service and atmosphere, and oh yeah Giants Win!!!!