Cyclone

It was apparent upon entering that this restaurant was short staffed. I’m okay with that, we were willing to be patient. The staff they DID have however were totally CLUELESS.

The host was a total space cadet and took our order and didn’t know what the heck they were doing. The “pepper steak” soup was really stuffed green pepper and wasn’t even very hot. I ordered an alcoholic ice cream drink, “Daisy’s Downfall”, which was the only highlight to the evening (especially when the bartender walked over and said he still had some of it in his blender and topped my drink off with a free refill).

They brought some bread out to us for our soup but it was a big loaf and wasn’t even cut. We had to rip it apart with our hands. They finally cleared that away and made room for our appetizer, tomato cheese bread. They didn’t bring us appetizer plates so we just had to eat over the paper on the table.

Adam ordered $19 lake perch and I ordered a $19 16oz NY strip steak. I made the mistake of ordering it medium well. They bring it out and they had freaking FILLETED my steak! They cut it in half and charred the hell out of the steak!! It wasn’t even cut in HALF—they had like a 1/2 inch on the bottom and a 1/4 inch on the top. It was horrible and it was DRY AS HELL. Adam’s plate of fries and lake perch was TINY and for $19 it was a total ripoff! I could get a plate of lake perch like that at a VFW or something for $7!

It was also weird because they brought out his tartar sauce and his ketchup in 2oz plastic cups. What we thought was a “nicer” restaurant was totally stupid. A girl who I guess was our waitress asked how things were. I told her my steak was DRY and she said “I’m sorry!!” That’s all she said. A few minutes later she offered to bring me som au jus. WTF? It was inedible. The service was so horrendous we just paid the bill and got the hell out of there.

We had initially wanted to go with a pizza and I kind of wish we had, only I doubt that would have been much better. A large deep dish was $28!!

AVOID! AVOID!

I went here on Sunday hoping to lay out on the beach and read. Instead we got there right when a huge storm was rolling in! It was a mass exodus from the beach, but we decided to go to the beach anyway. We settled onto the sand and got literally sandblasted by all of the wind. We watched some lightning on the water and left right when it started to rain. I love the dunes; hopefully I can go back during dry weather!

The first time I went to Marquette Park was when Adam and I were planning our wedding. I randomly found the aquatorium online and I said “I HAVE TO SEE IT!” We were planning a 1929 themed wedding so the aquatorium looked perfect. We got to Marquette Park and were blown away because we didn’t even know that Miller existed!!! Imagine having no idea and then seeing million dollar homes when you were just in the “slums”. We reserved the Marquette Park Pavilion for our reception, but things fell through and we ended up cancelling our wedding and reception and instead having it at our home. I wish I could have seen the Pavilion all decorated for my wedding. I’m sure it would have been amazing.

I’ve eaten here both times I was in San Diego and both times the food was delicious and well worth it. Try the spinach dip; amazing! http://www.henryspub.com/

This is worth visiting and not worth visiting all at once. If you want to kill a half hour, it’s okay. It’s only $4 (mostly just a little donation) and the mission is just okay. The favorite parts for me were the cemetery and the original laundry area from 1805.

I picked this activity for my husband and I because I thought he would like to tour an aircraft carrier. It was definitely neat to climb through an actual aircraft carrier, as opposed to just seeing pictures. My favorite part was the kitchen (my dad was a cook in the Navy, so I felt like maybe he worked in an environment like that). My least favorite part was losing my glasses on the flight deck. :( It set our vacation back by many hours, and since I only had prescription sunglasses, we had to leave the carrier before fully exploring it. We had seen most of it, though, and I would definitely suggest going.

Definitely a fun park. The only drawback for me was that my knee hurt and it made me want to walk around less. The way the animals are presented is great; the hot air balloon ride looked fun, but a husband scared of heights put that out of my head pretty quickly. The monorail was closed when we arrived, but luckily opened around noon. Don’t be fooled: they say that you get a good view from the left or right side of the train, but you get a much better view from the RIGHT SIDE!!! We waited in line over an hour to go, but it was worth it.

It’s not really fair to compare Hearst Castle to Biltmore, but I’m going to anyway. If you’ve ever been to Biltmore, don’t waste your time with Hearst Castle. They only do scheduled tours, and $20 only gets you a sampling of SOME rooms. You have to ride a bus the 5 miles up to the castle, and if you’re afraid of heights, don’t do it… it’s pretty harrowing for flat-landers (i.e. my husband). Our tour guide was pretty much an ass, and you can’t wander around where you want to, or go back to look at anything. People constantly ask stupid questions to delay the tour futher, and you have to keep on schedule to meet your bus to take you back down the mountain. If you want to see any more areas, you have to go back to the ticket counter, pay more money, and go BACK up the mountain. ANNOYING! Also, the National Geographic film was totally dumb. I wanted to see it before going, but had to see it after. It really would have made no difference in my experience; I can’t believe National Geographic produced it. Ugh.

Did I miss the real Old Town, or what? It seemed to just be a strip of restaurants and cheesy tourist traps filled to the brim with keychains and shot glasses. Was there more lurking around some unknown bend?? I thought it was a historical area!

43Things/Places is amazing. I posted a question about my trip to California and got a LOT of great ideas! I’m even more excited for this trip now. I need this vacation so badly!