Legoland

Prior to going to LegoLand, I would have said this amusement park would not be my first choice or even maybe my 10th pick for a place to take the family. In fact, I think I might have decided on a miniature golf place instead. . I guess I didn’t get the concept. However, The Deanes had free tickets and three other tickets we could redeem for a dollar a piece. So we decided to turn our one day outing into two and see what Lego Land had to offer.

Honestly, I should have really enjoyed the place. It is definitely a place for younger children and since I have two of them it’s right up my alley. The rides we pretty interesting; such as: getting in a fire truck, operating a teeter totter thing to get the fire engine to move, and then getting out and pumping water through a fire hose to put out a burning building. You had to work as a team to finish the task. It was unique and really fun!  Plus all the miniature models of the different cities in the US were fascinating to view.

So with fun rides and interesting displays why did I not find myself enjoying the time? CROWDS! IT took 30-45 minutes to get on some of the silliest of rides. Plus it was hard to maneuver with our off-roading Jeep stroller. I couldn’t believe how many people were there, It made Knott’s feel like a ghost town. Sure, it was Christmas Break and everyone was on vacation, but really?! Everyone picked LegoLand as the place to spend their vacation?!

But, If I lived in San Diego and I knew that this was not a usual occurrence I would probably invest in season passes. The place had great potential but it was hard to see through with all the bodies herding through the place.

Mr. Einstein can I pick your brain for a minute?

Sweetness

Uh....Caught.

Now she's ready to drive my truck!

Up, Up, and Away

Seatbelts are for sissies

San Deigo Breweries

Beer Tasting @ Carl Strauss











I've been quite lazy in posting this year, but I'll try to get up-to-date in the next couple of weeks. This post should have been around the the beginning of January 09. It's simple...beer.

The main focus of our trip to San Diego was to hit up some of the local breweries and do a little beer tasting. Sadly, I found out while trying to plan, most Breweries are only open during the days I’m working, at least the ones that all the locals recommended. So we went to four places leaving out two top-rated establishments; Green Flash and Lost Abbey.

Karl Strauss- One might think with the company having several restaraunts in the area, having their beer featured at the San Diego Zoo and Disney’s California Adventure that this would be San Diego’s version of Coors! A nasty overrated beer that college kids buy in excess just to get drunk. But in my opinion you would be wrong. KS has a descent selection of tasty brews with a fine representation of Ales, IPA’s, and Lagers. They might not be the best beer in town but you could certainly do worse.


San Diego Brewing Co.- When I mentioned above that you certainly could do worse, I had this brewery in mind. Before we get to the beer, let me just say that the décor made me feel like I was walking into a sleazy 80’s bar…think Patrick Swayze in roadhouse before Pat got there and kicked butt. Oh this place needs a Swayze to come in and clean up! Beyond that, the beer just wasn’t very good. I’m certainly not a beer connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, so I can’t come out and pinpoint the overall problem with their beer, so I will simply say that most of my beers I left unfinished. This is especially true of the Blueberry Ale they served us, one word…Nasty!

Stones Brewing- On the topic of Decors, Stones got it right with the design of their brewery and restaurant. The have a top notch, modern restaurant with beautifully landscaped, half or full acre of land with a patio area. After looking online at the site and getting some thumbs up from friends we thought this would be a great place to eat dinner with our families, especially since they had a children’s menu! However, while the dinner might be reasonable…Hmmm, no it’s just a little overpriced the main problem for us was how crowded the place was on a Monday evening. The only way to order was either wait two hours to be seated or eat on the patio. The patio option was great for us since we had seven adults and six kids, the kids were  a little more free to be loud and run around.  The only difficulty was that you had to go inside to the bar and place your order.  There were no servers outside, and placing your order meant standing at the bar for fifteen minutes to be recognized. Thus, my family opted for some appetizers and beers (no, the beers were not for the kids). On further reflection even though they have a kids menu and plenty of room, don't be like me and  drag them along, don’t do it!  LEAVE THE KIDS AT HOME!  Think of this as more of a date night (That’s right it has all the qualities- brews for men and ambience for the ladies) for singles or couples.

If you don’t know Stones beers, you should get yourself acquainted. Their Arrogant Bastard Ale was one of the first beers I had that I thought, “Wow! I guess beer doesn’t have to taste like urine.” When I first started drinking beer in my adulthood this was the one that won me over, it was my beer of choice. I’ve moved on since then, but that doesn’t mean Stones isn’t making great beer, they definitely are still producing beer at a high quality level.

A previous boss of mine once remarked about drinking AB that it was “Like drinking tire tread.” I know that might not be an endorsement of AB, but you should realize that he was quite use to drinking Corona or Bud light, so this was entirely a new experience. Stones beers are thick, full bodied, and you can definitely taste the hops. If you’re not really a beer drinker or only toss back a lager here and there then prepare yourself for a completely different type of taste.

Anyhow, while we were there I had Double Ale, which was delicious. My wife enjoyed the Imperial Russian Stout.  We still remember after almost a year, so you know it was good.  Don't miss their amazing AB battered onion rings.  They were amazing.  Stones Brewery also hosts some amazing special events.  I almost don't want to share this with you, it's that special.  Check out their events calender, this weekend is what sounds like a super awesome evening of Beer and Chocolate pairings, if you read this in time you should go and enjoy it for me.  What a coincidence, next week is officially Beer Week in San Diego!  November 6-15, 2009!

Pizza Port- This was our last stop of the day. We had planned to go and get a couple of tasters and maybe a beer float, but since we opted not to eat at Stones we decided to get a couple of pizzas. Rest assured this place is a pizza joint through and through. They even had bench seating. There was nothing modern, romantic, or relaxing about the port. Not that it’s bad, it’s just a Pizzeria. A good one at that, the place was jammed packed at 10:00 pm on a Monday night.

The pizza was fresh and delightful. Mine was anyways; Kellee as usual went for some weird concoction that she thought had a white sauce only to be disappointed. The beer I’m told was terrific. I had their brown Ale, but after sipping all throughout the day I felt bloated and my taste buds were starting to meld everything together. Jonathan went back a week later or so and has since declared his undying love for the establishment, so I suppose I’ll have to give it another try next time I’m down South. There are other locations of Pizza Ports, one other of which we have since enjoyed, but there will be more on that later.

The Leaning Tower of Texas

The leaning Tower of Texas, or The Britten Water Tower is in every Route 66 book, and roadside attractions, book out there. It is another staple of Texas ingenuity of roadside advertising.

When we passed by, I really wanted to stop the car, get out and take some pictures. I thought it would have been awesome to make it look like I was pushing the tower over or stepping on it…something like that. But, we were already behind schedule and had already agreed to stop at the Largest Cross in the western Hemisphere. While, I think it was a good choice, I’m still kicking myself for not going with my gut on this one. So for the time, I’m stuck with just a quick snap-shot of the leaning towers just to prove I was there.


For those of you interested…Yes, the tower was built that way on purpose. Ralph Britten the owner of the tower intentionally cut one leg shorter than the rest to give it that nice lean look. It was a marketing ploy to get people to pull off the side of the road and stop at the Britten truck stop, garage, and restaurant.

The Cross of Groom

In Groom Texas we found the Second largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere. The spot is a couple miles down the road from The Big Texan and a nice place to stop to let out the flood of sweat tea. Actually, this was another location I had found prior to our trip that I thought would make for a cool photo op. From what I had seen on the Internet, it simply looked like a huge cross in the middle of a field. I was under the impression that you just pulled off the side of the road and took a picture. However, I was delightfully wrong about my assumption as there was much more to the place than just a giant cross. The Cross was placed Cross Ministries ( A Catholic Organization).



I suspect Jonathan enjoyed the place more knowing that the Cross was placed by Catholics. As I recall he wasn’t too excited about doing another stop in Texas, and wanted to get to the hotel as soon as possible. Plus stopping to see what those crazy Dallas Seminary Fundamentalist had erected was not his idea of a good time. But I was driving, so for the moment the trip was in my control. However, I think I actually saw his face light up when he found realized that it had a Catholic origin and began to enjoy the site.

This American Holy site was well thought out and planned. Around the Towering Corrugated metal cross were statues of the 12 Stations of the Cross. Also, there was the scene of Jesus sharing his last Passover with his disciples, then steps leading to the three crosses on Golgotha’s Hill. Near the first part of the 12 Stations, their was a statue of Jesus kneeling, praying ,and in tears, while holding a fetus in his hand. The statue of Jesus and the fetus was placed by The knights of Columbus. This was a moving statue, but lost some of its reverence when Jim took photos of his Lego Man next to the Fetus.They also had a nice, but expensive gift shop and book store. The restrooms were the nicest I went into on the whole trip, but we were out of California so there was still no seat covers. Who knows maybe they think it’s a form of Birth Control (That’s a joke folks)!

Big Texan- Everythings Bigger

Everything??!!

When planning our trip we had discussed a number of different routes to go, but eventually landed on taking the 40 most of the way; it just seemed faster. During our discussions I told Jonathan if we did take the 40, we must stop at The Big Texan for a bite to eat. Jonathan had eaten their on a prior cross country journey with his family and wholeheartedly agreed that this was a must!



The Big Texan is home to the free 72oz streak! That is it’s free if you can eat it and all the sides in an hour. For those baseball fans and Christian readers I have on my blog, you might be interested to know who holds the record for eating this meal the quickest…Frank Pastore. Yep, one time Red’s Pitcher and now current Christian Radio Talk Show host finished the meal in 9 ½ minutes! That’s impressive.




I tried to eat as little as possible before stopping at The Big Texan. Before our trip, I had eaten a small McDonald's biscuit breakfast in New Mexico. I wanted to savor every succulent taste of my steak. No, I didn’t try and go for the gold and eat the 72 oz. I saw a sample of it on the platter and I admit I was too intimidated. Plus it’s an $80 gamble if you don’t eat the whole thing. Maybe, when I have my kids with me to cheer me on, I’ll give it a try! I stayed with in range of what I though I could manage- I had the 24oz Rib eye topped with onions and mushrooms. It was tender and juicy, I was not disappointed.

Yummy. Yummy. there's a party in my Tummy.

The sides weren't that great and probably not worth mentioning; in fact I don’t really remember what I had.

Sadly, after I chomped down my savory steak, I was picking away at some french fries on my plate (that was one of the sides) when one of them got stuck in the back of my throat. I was choking, but it was irritating. So, I got up to use the restroom and cough the potato out, but by the time I made it to the restroom the irritating cough had become a gag. I ended up throwing up 24 oz of steak in the men's urinal. Surprisingly, it tasted just as good coming back up! It was like paying two for the price of one!

So scrumptious, I think I'll throw it up just to taste it again!

They also served Rattle snake, but were not offering it the day we stopped. Apparently there was a mix up in there order from their supplier; they were shipped buckets of rattlesnakes that had been properly cleaned. they were just snakes in a bucket. They also sever mountain oysters, but I just couldn't bring myself to try the things! Sorry, I'm no Andrew Zimmerman.

It should be noted that the Big Texan is a kitchy stand that once use to stand along Route 66. But when the 40 came along the owner made the best move and moved his Steak House to keep up with the changing tide. Put simply the place has been around awhile and is a road stop Icon. Everyone traveling through Texas should stop there at least once. Be forewarned though, while it might have been a prime location in it's heyday, it appeared that the Big Texan is now sitting on the seedy side on town. But if you're looking for a place to stay on your way, they do have a hotel on site! It looked like a pretty fun and entertaining atmosphere.

Wow that's a big boot to fill!

What can I say, my camera was not the best for taking pics inside.

Cadillac Ranch

One of our first main stops along the our trip was in Texas. When we left my house in Fontana late Saturday, I pretty much crashed out until we arrived in New Mexico for a quick bite to eat at McD's. From Alburqurque until Amarillo I was behind the wheel so not many pictures up until here.

This is one site that is in every travelling guide on Texas, Route 66, or eccentric things to see in the United States. So knowing that we were going to be so close, I told Jonathan that this was a must see on the trip and it didn't dissapoint. I was really suprised at how many people were out there checking out these cars and spray painting their names all over. There were probably thirty other people coming or going while we were there. I suppose in Texas this is tantamount to some kind of Cool California place to hang out.

A millionaire by the name of Stanley Marsh III built this tribute to the road. Cadillac ranch has become a mecca for travelers of the Mother Road (though it wasn't commissioned to be built until 1974 and is closer to I-40). There are 10 Cadillacs ranging from 1949-1964, that are placed with their ends up out in the middle of a field.

The Getty Villa

We headed out to Malibu to broaden our horizons while taking in the wonderful sights of the Getty Villa. The Museum is designed after historic Roman architecture and is dedicated to the study of historic arts and cultures of Rome, Greece, and Etruria.


Overall, it was a beautifully designed museum, along with plenty of artifacts to take in. There were a couple of rooms that had crafts for kids so that they could interact and be part of the whole experience.

Faith's silhouette as a little warrior




Kellee Posing Pregnant

Faith kickin' it with her buddy.