printersdevil78

Thanks, Larry! It's a happy accident that the Cyclones are out of town during our visit, but I'll take it. The museum and sideshow are both on my list, as are Luna, Deno's and Nathan's. Thanks for the heads up on the coupons, as well; I'll check the site. The only place around here that sold Nathan's hot dogs (a TCBY near my work) took them off the menu in January, so I'm looking forward to getting my fix!

Hoping I can get some advice from our resident New Yorkers or those who have visited Coney Island recently. Kelly is planning a birthday trip for me there next month, and we're trying to figure out how easy it will be for us to find parking. It looks like there are a few garages in the area, but it's hard to tell whether these are hourly, residential, etc., and how quickly they may get filled up on a Saturday. I've seen a few websites that state all-day parking is available at MCU park for $20 when the Cyclones are away (which they will be the weekend we're planning on being there), but many of those listings seem to be out of date. Is this still a viable option, and if so, would it be better than the garages? Also, I know Coney has cleaned up its act as of late. While most of the stuff we're looking at doing is within a one-block radius of Luna Park, I'd like to have lunch or dinner at Totonno's, which is about half a mile from the park, according to Google Maps. Some of the restaurant review sites I've been on have described the neighborhood as looking a little "rough." Will it be safe for us to walk that half-mile during the day, or should we consider another means of transportation for that short side trip? As always, thank you for any help.

I know just the person who could turn this park around: www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62618

That was incredible! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Both of these TRs are full of win!

Wow, this all looks amazing! Thanks for sharing it with us. I booked tickets last week for a Disneyland visit in November, and this is making me want it to hurry up and get here! I thought the inaugural version of DCA was OK, but what they've done just blows the original park out of the water! I told Kelly it will be like visiting a brand new Disney park for me. The picture of the monorail crossing the bridge just confirms that more--if you had shown me that photo and I didn't know it was California Adventure, I never would have guessed that was the former Golden Gate Bridge area. And Cars Land just looks insane! I'm starting to worry now that the three days I booked won't be enough for us to fully cover both parks (Kelly and Lauryn have never been to Disneyland, so we'll need to place a large focus there, as well).

Wow, I spend all weekend slinging chicken for charity (huge fundraiser at the Delmarva Chicken Festival), and now I come back to Ducky Madness! For my draft pick, I'll take Duke for the NCAA championship. By the way... nicely played, Mr. Bebe. I do admire your style!

Sea Dragon at Jungle Jack's Landing.

It's a pizza peel (which I thought was spelled "piel" until I Googled it just now)! Man, I wish I was over there right now. This is the trip I was planning to go on this year until circumstances happened. Glad everyone's having fun. Thanks for posting!

Just ordered my tickets! Check will be in the mail this week.

Will Drew Carey be hiding any duckies for us to find while we watch?

Very jealous of your meals from Sarge's and Shake Shack! They're both on my "want to do" list for NYC. Glad you got to go to John's; we tried their Times Square-area restaurant (in an old church; look for photos soon in the Roadfood thread), across the street from Shake Shack, and their sausage and garlic pie was probably the best pizza I've ever tasted! As always, thanks for sharing!

I'm heading to Knoebel's on Monday, then next Sunday I'll be at Camden Park on the second day of a nine-day "3 R's" tour: roller coasters, roadside attractions and roadfood! Also on that itenerary (weather permitting): Beech Bend, Michigan's Adventure, Jungle Jack's Landing and Adventure Park USA.

I haven't really played the ducky game before, but since I'm already a part of one Big Mike contest... lock me in for 6 duckies.

Here's my entry! It's not as pretty as Arosania's, either in content or in style, but it's the best of the 25 or so one-handed photos I managed. This is really a task for two! Originally the sign was a full 8.5" X 11" sheet of paper, but I couldn't fit the sign, the horse and my big head in the shot at that size. Just as an aside, I made it on the Las Vegas stage version of "The Price Is Right" about a decade ago. I got to play the Showcase Showdown, but I overbid and "won" only a T-shirt. But I got to meet "Blind Date" host Roger Lodge, who also hosted that version of the game show, so that was cool. "Foal of It" loves Big Mike!

Big Mike, you never cease to amaze me... in a good way!

^I really like scrapple, but it's an acquired taste, and it's much better if you don't know what's in it. If you do want to know what's in it... think of a pig. OK, now remove the parts that make up the ham, bacon, pork chops, ribs and sausage. Now take away anything that is used to make pressed lunch meat (bologna, souse loaf, etc.) or glue. Now grind up everything that's left, add a healthy dose of cornmeal, boil it in water and let it "gel" for a couple days. Then slice it and fry it, and you've got scrapple. It's not easy to find outside the Mid-Atlantic, so good luck!

^Definitely check it out. Its at the corner of Richardson Avenue (AKA Maryland Avenue, AKA Crisfield Highway, AKA the dual highway) and Potomac Street, across from Shore Stop and behind PNC Bank. It's really easy to miss unless you're looking for it. While waiting for the boat to Tangier, I assume you've already checked out Gordon's Confectionery near Ninth and Main? If not, add that to your list, as well. Fried hot dogs, scrapple sandwiches and hand-mixed Cherry Cokes over crushed ice. Hands down the best soft drink I've ever had, and I've been drinking them since I was a kid. The coffee usually gets high marks, as well, though I'm not a coffee drinker, so I wouldn't know. Supposedly they made it with rainwater for 50+ years until the health department put a stop to it.

Thanks to a sick day today, during which I spent 11 hours knocked out on Nyquil, I have time to post the remainder of the 2011 season finale. Enjoy! The day before our wedding in June, we were searching for a place to take Kelly’s maid of honor and her daughter for dinner and came across some reduced-price printable gift certificates on Restaurant.com for the Blue Water Grill, right down the street from our apartment. It’s a bit upscale for our budget, but the gift certificate made it affordable. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the pictures from that visit... which actually wasn’t that unfortunate after all because it gave us an excuse to buy another reduced-price gift certificate and go back a couple months later! The restaurant is housed in an old dime store, and the pressed tin ceilings and partially exposed brick give it a lot of charm. The seating area isn’t huge, so reservations are suggested, especially on the weekend. I’m not usually a big fan of restaurant fish, but the gorgonzola-smothered fried grouper here is simply delicious! I paired mine with garlic mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, also both good. Kelly got chicken in an Alfredo cream sauce—also really good—with macaroni and mashed sweet potatoes. I have no idea what Lauryn got for dinner… but she followed it up with ice cream, and as far as she’s concerned, that’s the part that counts! It is with bittersweet memories that I post these photos from Mi Pueblito Grill, back in Crisfield. This is one of the four best Mexican restaurants I’ve ever patronized (the others being La Placita and Cactus Café, already reviewed in this thread, and Mi Tierra in San Antonio, which is reviewed in my TR from that trip in 2009). Before I moved in with my now-wife, my parents and I ate here every Christmas Eve, and I made a point of visiting the restaurant at least once or twice more each year when I was in town. Sadly, it closed shortly before the end of 2011, not because business was bad, but because the owner moved, supposedly to Africa. A couple years ago, the restaurant moved from an abandoned drug store on Main Street to an abandoned video store on Main Street. The old drug store had more character, but I guess the rent was cheaper at the old video store. The interior certainly was nicer and more modern. My absolute favorite thing here was the queso fundito. It’s basically just a giant bowl of melted cheese! Jeanette, whom you may remember from the Ristorante Antipasti review earlier in this thread, demonstrates the elasticity of the cheese. She and I visited in early September during a guided historical tour I led of the area. I always used to delight in Mi Pueblito’s Cancun shrimp—bacon-wrapped shrimp covered in raspberry-jalapeno sauce and served over rice. Then a couple years ago, my dentist recommended the skirt steak, seen here with a pair of… burritos? Chimichangas? Soft tacos? One of those Mexican food things that have 27 different names, even though they’re all essentially the same. I’ve never gotten another main course there since… and *sniff* I never will again. Between October and November, I spent most of my free weekends working on my latest book, due out this June. But I did take one Saturday off to go to the Philly Non-Sports Card Show in Allentown, PA. While there, I took some advice from a website dedicated to retro restaurants and attractions and paid a visit to Zandy’s. The sign over the entrance pretty much says it all. It’s like Barbie opened a cheese steak joint! I’ve got a friend in Zandy’s! The restaurant’s claim to fame is its cheese steak with tomato sauce—and it’s fantastic! Note the pierogi on the side for that authentic Pennsylvania touch. Afterward, I visited Wert’s Café, also in Allentown, at the recommendation of another website. Kelly, Lauryn and I had tried to visit a couple years earlier and learned that, unfortunately, it’s closed on Sundays. This time, not only was the restaurant open, but there was a brief wait for a table. The go-to dish here is their burgers, which are stuffed with a center of mushrooms and cheese and then grilled. Just about everyone had one, and they smelled heavenly! But there was no way I could have finished one after my big Zandy’s steak. Instead, I was here for one of Wert’s famous desserts—namely, the coconut cream pie. And, as expected, it was amazing! Down the street... God still loves me! Our last roadfood adventure of the year came during our annual Thanksgiving vacation. As I mentioned in my 2011 holiday adventures thread, we unexpected spent most of the vacation in the hospital with Kelly’s grandmother during what turned out to be her final days. I thought a visit to the Pennsylvania Dutch Market near the hospital would help take her mind off things, and so did she… until we got there and she recognized the restaurant/store as one her grandmother used to take her to when she was a kid. Oops. We got there in plenty of time for breakfast. Lauryn’s chocolate chip pancakes were bigger than her head… and most of her upper torso! Kelly gave her ham and cheese omelet, apple toast and home fries two thumbs up! Not pictured are the fresh strawberry preserves that made the toast even better! We bought some to bring back to my parents, but didn’t realize they need to be refrigerated, and… bad things happened before we had a chance to hand them off. Of course, the last roadfood thread shot of 2011 has to include scrapple! Kelly and I shared the perfectly-fried rectangle at the top of this image. The French toast was pretty good (I had hoped to make it peach, but they were out of peach bread that day), but the cheesy home fries were the star of this show! I’m fairly certain the topping was Cheez Whiz… and that’s just fine by me! That's all for 2011. Stay tuned for 2012!

^Is that... sarcasm I sense? From Dave?

That was really cool. Add me to the list of thank yous for posting!

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Big Mike, I'd like to start keeping track of your tractor credits. For the record, can you tell us what number that was?

Well, I don't know.... First, I'm going to have to see if there will be ERT, then on what rides and when, and what kind of backstage tours will be offered, and whether the hot dogs on the lunch buffet had better be Kosher and pre-skinned, and... Just kidding; of course I'm in! Both days. Solo this year.

^^The only reason I even included "possibly" is that I suspect that since this is a record, the Mega Millions agency may place a stipulation that in order to claim the money, the ticket holder has to claim it in person. It's been done in the past for legal reasons very occasionally (and in those cases, it may have been the state lottery commissions, not Mega Millions itself, making the stipulation), but in this instance, it's a PR dream come true. ^Everyone always says they can make more by investing, and if I won a paltry $12 million, I might do that. But the way I see it, $640 million in the hand is worth $1 billion in the bush. And as Forrest Gump's mama said, "There's only so much fortune a man really needs. The rest is just for showing off." When push comes to shove, the smart thing to do would probably be to just take the lump sum and live off the interest. But the only people who ever accused me of being smart were dumber than I am.