49 3/4 Anniversary Trip: Day Two A Railroad Journey

 Day two dawned with sunshine instead of rain! I had found a very unique restaurant for breakfast and off we went. 

Mike's Place is so cool! Mike basically collects everything. It would be like me if I had a large property, and unlimited budget and lots of time to go to flea markets and country auctions. 

So happy it stopped raining. 

We had breakfast with Elvis! 

We could have ordered the Generic Ho Hum or Keep Mama Away From the Spuds or even the Belly Buster or the Mr Bilbo's Bogfest Benny, but we stuck to the All American Breakfast of Eggs, Hashbrowns, Kielbasa breakfast links and toast. We were having a late lunch and wanted a big breakfast. It was fabulous.

 

The husband wanted you to see how much butter is on the toast.
According to him, the correct amount of butter. 

We spent some time walking around the grounds.

It was 7:30 in the morning and there was a customer at the tiki bar. 

Anyway, totally cool, highly recommend. The food is even better than the ambiance.  Mike's Place, Kent, Ohio. 

You may remember that our train tickets were cancelled the day before we left and I had to quickly book new seats. 

I won't stay it was a busy day at the railroad, but this was our walk from the second overflow parking lot. The arrow is pointing to the depot. Luckily I made Mr Merry get us to the train station with plenty of time. 

We even had a little time to explore before boarding. 

Here comes our train!!

Plush upholstered seats! And no seatmates! 

We each took a window. We had a two and a half hour ride forward and back. Our car conductor pointed out all the interesting sites and told us how quiet our car was. I thought that was nice. The car was airconditioned, the seats were comfortable and the ride was interesting!  The train stopped at various stations where you could get off and on and even catch a later train back.  There was a dining car that I heard serves hot dogs. We skipped that. 

An eagle's nest with mom standing guard (taken through train window)

Lots of beautiful scenery. I thought I took a photo of the ski trail (open in the winter) but I can't find it.  

We left our vehicle in the free parking lot and walked into town for lunch.  We both ordered a patty melt (see the burger) and unfortunately rated them with a C+.  The fries were delicious. 

I would love to rotate this image but I am still learning my new laptop and haven't mastered this yet. 

My grandchildren took a ride on the same railroad a few days later and were able to meet Santa (it was Christmas in July), talked their parents into hot dogs and got free t-shirts. I guess we planned our trip too early, lol. 

We then returned to the hotel as it was getting humid and cloudy. We didn't feel like going out to eat so we watched House Hunters again and I had brought some cheese and crackers for dinner. 

49 3/4 Anniversary Trip: Night One Travel Time

This weather is our vacation theme. Every time we go on vacation, we find heavy rain - in New York, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana; we are the Rain Gods. When we left the house the sky was clear, very blue with a sprinkling of white cotton candy clouds. We only had to drive ninety minutes away. When the rain started it was blinding. 

Luckily I am not the one driving. We got to the hotel and pulled under the portico and checked in. Unfortunately once we were inside, the wind picked up, almost bending trees. I wish I had taken photos but instead we sat on a couch and watched rain blowing into the thankfully closed back of our vehicle. Finally it let up and we were able to move into our room. 

Not my first rodeo, I had packed umbrellas. We were able to make it back to the vehicle, drive to a restaurant and make it inside for a late supper.  

Here is the haircut when rained on. 

I guess I should mention that we decided during this trip that the theme evolved into eating. We mostly ate.

The first burger my husband ordered. He had a burger almost every meal, no matter where we went. There were other items on all the menus. He always orders the burger. 

This restaurant is famous for it's mushroom brie soup. There is a location of the same restaurant near a fashion museum at a nearby university. I used to take my older 4H girls there on field trip and in those days you could order the soup in bread bowls.  Not only was I wet, I was seated under the air conditioning vent. The soup was hot and delicious, served with pita bread. 

We then returned to the hotel and watched episodes of House Hunters since the tv did not have any of our usual channels. 

And that was the first night for these wild and crazy second honeymooners. 

49 3/4 Anniversary Trip: Day One, Birthdays

The first day of our anniversary trip started with a tea party with a friend, not the husband. My friend Marilyn was turning 70 and I had asked her what her plans were. She did not have plans to celebrate. My new favorite tearoom just happened to schedule a tea on the very date of her birthday so I made reservations! 

When we arrived we each picked a tea to be brewed in our pots. We chose Apricot Amaretto (decaf) and Cherry Marzipan, which was a green tea. Both were delicious. We later added a pot to share: White Ginger Pear. 

As our tea brewed, our individual tiered trays were delivered to the table.  On the bottom tier we each enjoyed pumpkin bread, two egg salad tea sandwiches on white bread, two cucumber and herb spread tea sandwiches on wheat bread, two turkey, apple and brie tea sandwiches on wheat bread, and a chicken salad croissant.  So delicious but the turkey sandwich was our favorite. 

Our second tier featured a strawberry scone, strawberry dipped cookie, a lemon berry parfait, a strawberry cupcake with a candy pretzel, and a candied pecan brownie bite. 

The top tier featured a mini apple pie (it wasn't mini!), an cherry almond crisp bar and a strawberry cheesecake.  Everything was so delicious! 

She has had a rough year with a bad fall early in the year which resulted in a broken humerus (upper arm). They were unable to do surgery. She lives alone in senior housing and was sent to a nursing home to heal enough to come home to her apartment. This is the bone I broke (I did have surgery) and you are really never 100% after this bone breaks.  

Marilyn and I have been friends since 1974 when we both got jobs in a little factory down the street from where I live now. They hired a group of 18 year olds who had just graduated from high school. She had gotten married right after graduation and we all took turns having bridal showers on our lunch hours that year. 

She was very happy with the tote bag of fun gifts including a bottle of wine in a bag that said "Goes well with turning 70". I also include a special wine glass, a candle, a little makeup bag, a TIARA and a sash in case the birthday girl really wants attention.  This is the fourth friend I have taken to lunch to celebrate and I have one more special birthday luncheon in October. I hope it falls on a tea party date!

After the tea party and all that sugar, I went home to pick up Mr Merry so we could have more sugar! 

I'm not sure where my son and his wife found the banner but I think it was supposed to say Happy Birthday. 

Our fourth grandchild and third grandson turned 14 and invited us to help eat his delicious ice cream cake!  We measured him for his birthday and he is 5'11" and going into the eighth grade. 

After eating more sugar and watching him open gifts, we returned home, put the suitcases in the car and left right away to try to avoid the rain. 

And More Pickles

 

The vacation recap starts next, but you all guessed correctly, pickles came first.  I have been experimenting with different recipes and I have found our favorite.  I am printing it and taping it to the inside of my cupboard door so I don't lose it. And I am sharing it here for you.

It is a very easy recipe to do what I call "pickle math". I slice my cucumbers (however many Farmer Merry brings in) and put them in 4 cup measuring cups to see how much we need to multiply ingredients to make pickles. 

https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/side/other-side-dish/bread-butter-fridge-pickles-small-batch.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawTTM-tleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFOTEhLd1ltbjR1TlNlcDFlc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHk7anrGleAlisZFcPAjCG4uk9YDz7eGUhrr9oFe9tKIdn-QaWGSBXJ_LQtRJ_aem_sbYqh9R_zIOaC_STaZPNTw

This time I multiplied by four and got 13 pints. It is a recipe with some downtime.  I did let my slices chill overnight instead of an hour and a half. And they were in the large bowl and a smaller one before rinsing and draining.  I swear I am only doing one more batch because I need to make room in the freezer for a quarter beef in early October. 

Our tomatoes did not do well this year and we are eating them as they ripen. Sadly don't need room for freezing my whole tomatoes this year. I am squeezing in as much yellow squash as we get. I like to dice it and fry it like hashbrown potatoes as a side dish.