#172 He is My Valentine

Weekend I’d Forget

Somewhere over the last two or three years, I decided I liked Valentine’s Day. For so long I had decided to down play it that I suppose in the end I forced myself to like it. The last time I had been out to eat on Valentine’s Day was back when Hubby and I were dating. We waited at least two hours for a table he had reserved weeks in advance.

No, wait. That sentence doesn't do that experience justice. We waited in the entryway of a little Italian restaurant in South Jersey crammed up against what felt like every other couple in South Jersey. The restaurant was open enough that we could see other couples sitting and enjoying their dinners, but the waiting area was close enough to the front door that we needed to keep our coats on or else endure cold winds every time the door was opened. We stood for so long that at some point, probably around the two hour mark; one of the employees came around and gave every woman waiting a tiny gold heart pendant wrapped in a velvet envelope as some sort of peace offering.    

After that experience, Hubby never wanted anything to do with restaurants on Valentine’s Day again. During the rest of our dating years, we would go out a few days before or after, noting that the day really held no significance. After we were married we began taking turns being responsible for dinner. One year, he ordered food, picked it up on his way home from work, and served it to me on china. Other years, we cooked for each other. You might recall last year, and the surprise trip I planned to Baltimore.

Hubby didn't fail to live up to last year’s standards. He planned an entire weekend in my favorite place: NYC. Though the temperature was somewhere in the not-at-all-human degrees, we still enjoyed ourselves in my favorite place on earth.

Originally, he wanted to get us a room at The Plaza. There is a tiny dork inside of me who desperately wants to one day stay there because of one of my favorite movies, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Don’t judge.

However, the prices were enough to make you scream, so he booked two nights at the hotel directly next to The Plaza: Park Lane Hotel. Same view of Central Park, same exact block, only it was a hunk of cash cheaper.  

We really let our inner foodies shine this weekend. For all the times we have been to NYC we have never had a NYC bagel or pizza.

Take a moment to recover from the shock. It’s overwhelming, I know.

So they were, obviously, two important stops for us to make.

Then, for the first time in over ten years, we went out to eat on Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure how Hubby researches or discovers such awesome restaurants, but our Valentine’s Day meal was out of this world. We had an eight-course dinner that at first made me afraid, then in the end made me want to experience it again and again.

It would only be right to discuss our foodie ventures over at The Orange Strainer. So that is where you will find them.

When we weren't eating, we were shopping. When we weren't shopping, we were rushing to catch the Subway before we started to frost over. Despite the bitter temperature, most of NYC was wide awake and hustling to and from as if it was any other weekend. It made me feel good that we weren't the only people daring enough to take on single digit temperatures with a negative Real Feel.

The food was certainly my favorite part of the weekend, but a close second was sleeping in, sharing champagne with my Hubby, and sitting back and enjoying our view.

I can’t wait to go back in the spring.

  

#128 He Likes Fish

As promised in my post about my trip to Baltimore I have prepared myself for a comparison of the National Aquarium in Baltimore and Camden's Adventure Aquarium.  Originally, I was going to make this a two-part post so that by the middle you weren't thinking, "Good Lord, this girl takes a lot of pictures".  More than likely, that would have been the thought regardless.  So here it is, the long awaited:

Baltimore vs Camden*

*Disclaimer: I receive no kickback for recommending one aquarium over the other and regardless of my final choice this is not to be a determining factor of my love or loyalty to my home state, New Jersey.

The National Aquarium
Baltimore, MD

Upon entering the National Aquarium, a massive Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit awaits.  The best part?  As you work your way up the five levels you maintain a view of the reef.  If only we realized that when we first walked in, we wouldn't have bothered to try and squeeze our way into the crowd to get a glimpse of the reef.

The reef contained dozens of different sea creatures from sharks and sting rays, to turtles and Dory fish*.

*Note: Dory fish is not their given name.  Hopefully you already knew that.

This was my favorite:

Like the Dory Fish, this guy is clearly misnamed.  He is a "Honeycomb Stingray" but obviously he should be named a "Leopard Stingray" for his spotted body.

There were artsy photo displays throughout the halls as we walked towards the different enclosures.

I learned after my most recent aquarium trip that I do not like bullfrogs.  They are disturbing.  However, I was okay with this little guy.  I think his turtle friend had something to do with it.

Speaking of turtles, I know I mentioned it in my Baltimore post, but I have to again:

The National Aquarium has to earn some props for adopting 'Calypso', a green sea turtle who had one of his flippers amputated, to their staff.  You can read about Calypso's story here.  

The sea creatures at the National Aquarium were lively...

(Ummm....helloooo Mr. Stingray!  We are watching you!)

and also lazily secretive...

Do you see them?  Because it took Hubby pointing at the glass a half dozen times before I realized this wasn't an empty tank.

Both aquariums had frog exhibits.  However, the below picture has no glass separating me from this little guy.

No bigger than the top joint of my thumb, these little froggies were everywhere in an open air rain forest exhibit.

These, however, were in glass enclosures:

Is it weird that I'm a little jealous of this frog's blue skin?  I mean, seriously, how cool would it be to be the color of this frog?

I suppose it would be a lot like living in the movie "Avatar".

The Dolphin Discovery Amphitheater is amazing.  Visitors can come and go as they please.  There is more than enough seating to sneak in unnoticed during a dolphin show or to come in to sit and watch the dolphins swim and play together.  Staff is standing by to answer any questions guests might have about the dolphins.

Such as this, why oh why does a dolphin find the need to flop out of the water and onto the landing?

Is he trying to escape?

Nope, he's simply grabbing another toy to play with and then going back into the water.*

*You can't see it, but he tossed a ball that had been sitting out of the water back into the water, I swear.

Adventure Aquarium

Camden, NJ

In name alone, Adventure Aquarium already sounds kid friendly.  However, it doesn't end there.  From the layout to the entire zone dedicated to children, the Adventure Aquarium clearly had children in mind when they renovated the museum.

These frogs, painted by local schools, decorate the area visitors are met with upon stepping off the escalators.

I love projects like this because they show just how different and unique each person (or classroom) is.  

Adventure Aquarium has several please touch areas.  The first we encountered was the 'Touch-a-Shark' tank.  I said, "No, thank you," to the experience, but certainly could understand the thrill each student experienced as they waited with their hands over top of the water, ready to reach in and touch an actual live shark as it swam by.

This one in particular disturbed me.  He seemed to be more of a snake of the sea than a shark.  I wanted nothing to do with him or his friends.

On our way towards the 'Kid Zone' (had we grabbed a map and realized that's where we were headed we would have turned our heels and ran away screaming) we found these little guys:

There were actually fish in this tank too, but I was more in awe of these snails no larger than my pinkie nail.

I love snails.  I love snails, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I could watch them slide around all day.

There was a unique piece of coral, at least I'm assuming it falls under coral, there was no sign for it:

It felt like it was something that belonged in a science fiction world.  

The next please touch was 'Creature Feature' where the students could touch a starfish.  Thanks to Spongebob Squarepants, this area was even more crowded than the shark tank. 

The 'Ocean Realm Dive Theater' was amazing because of the glory that is technology.  Today, unlike when I was a child, the scuba divers can talk to the crowd while an employee is giving a discussion on the ocean realm.  Amazing.

Like snails, I have a weird love for turtles.  They are so sad looking, yet, adorable at the same time.

Sharks.  Any aquarium would be majorly lacking without them, so Adventure Aquarium makes sure you don't miss them by including a shark tunnel for visitors to walk through.  It's incredible, and sadly, I have no picture of it.

I do, however, have a picture of this:

This shark is not bothered by this cleaner fish who stayed hooked to his back the entire time we watched him.

While the jelly fish were breathtakingly beautiful, there were only three different tanks of jellyfish.

The biggest let down was that the 'Hippo Haven' was closed.  However, the outdoor exhibit of 'Penguin Island' was open.  One of my students and his father even saw a penguin lay an egg.

After visiting the National Aquarium, I was almost certain I was going to favor the Adventure Aquarium.  The last time I had been to the Adventure Aquarium was our first anniversary, six years ago.  I remember loving it, but perhaps it was because I was so clouded by romance.  Shame on me.  After comparing the two my vote goes to the National Aquarium with the mention that Adventure Aquarium is still an impressive facility with many features that the National Aquarium surprisingly does not have.

The National Aquarium has a fantastic layout.  Whether it actually is or isn't it larger than Adventure Aquarium, it still has a much larger feel without any confusion.  The areas of the museum are leveled rather than spread out so it makes accessing everything easier.  What really wins me over to the National Aquarium is that I felt they had more different and unusual animals to offer than Adventure Aquarium.  Although the dolphins are a major perk, they aren't the only one.  The National Aquarium had puffins, an incredible Animal Planet Australia exhibit, and I didn't even show pictures of the beautiful jelly fish or sharks.

As said, Adventure Aquarium still isn't the loser here.  Adventure Aquarium was much more kid-friendly than the National Aquarium.  Being that I do not have children, that could be the reason for my sway in vote.  However, I could certainly understand how the mothers would vote Adventure Aquarium over the National Aquarium.  The opportunity for your child to be able to pet a shark, stingray, or starfish is irreplaceable.  I know this by the look of disappointment one of my students gave me after he told me he didn't get to pet the shark as compared to the look of delight that my assistant teacher's daughter and classmate had as they awaited the shark to swim by so they could reach out and touch danger by the fin.  Speaking of sharks, the shark tunnel that Adventure Aquarium put in during their most recent renovation is incredible.  It is also packed on a field trip day, hence why I do not have it pictured here.

A major negative, however, is the layout of the museum.  There seemed to be so much space, yet it was easy to miss part of an exhibit simply because of the way the area was arranged.  Rather than levels, most of the Adventure Aquarium is on one level.*

*Note: If you don't have children, stay completely away from Level 2, also known as, Zone C.

Adventure Aquarium offers outdoor exhibits of penguins and, in the summer, butterfly gardens.  This is one area I think that The National Aquarium is lacking, however, the National Aquarium is surrounded by other attractions of the inner harbor such as restored ships that visitors can purchase passes to board.

Either visit, you can't go wrong.  You'll see beautiful and interesting sea creatures.  Considering that they are both so close to each other, my final recommendation would be that if you have children, go to Adventure Aquarium, if you don't, visit the National Aquarium.

#125 He Hates Surprises

When Hubby was away in LA, I decided I was fed up with him getting to stay in hotels and me being stuck with the normalcy of our home.*

*Note: I do realize the nonsense of that statement.  I'm sure Hubby would have preferred the normalcy of our home to working a 90 hour work week in LA.

I decided it was time for a mini vacation.  It didn't have to be anywhere too fancy or spectacular, just somewhere for us to get away to for a few days.  When I started to plan and saw that Valentine's Day was on a Friday, I knew that was when we needed to go away.

Then I realized that just about every other couple in the world was wanting to get away that weekend as was reflected in the limited vacancies and roof raised prices.

Fortunately, I stumbled upon a somewhat decent priced Groupon for the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court in Baltimore.  However, to get the harbor view it would have been double the price.  I decided we could manage with a view of the courtyard. 

Of course, I forgot this when we entered our room and instantly walked over to the window.  The view of the valet was a rather depressing one.  Finding out that my Groupon covered parking costs, however, cheered me up.

I quickly got over my view issues when I saw this in our room:

This may or may not have actually been the highlight of my trip.  What a relief it was to find a Keurig and k-cups rather than the travel baggies of coffee filters and prepackaged grinds.  I was just a tad ecstatic about this.

And this...

I don't know how I've managed to return to my ordinary bathroom.  Bathrooms with TVs are where it's at.  I'm sure I have major issues that haven't been diagnosed yet, but between the Keurig and this, I was giddy with excitement and we had only been in our room 1.27843 minutes.

That night, I opened a cabinet door which I assumed was hiding the refrigerator.  Not only did I find the fridge, but, beside it was a spread of candy and goodies similar to the ones Kevin McCallister finds in Home Alone 2 upon entering his hotel suite.  I shrieked, then stared at the bounty of goodness, mesmerized by its beauty.  Then I decided it must be one of those eat-it-and-you-pay-for-it deals.

Hubby later found out that it was complimentary.  There may have been a chorus of 'Hallelujah' sung out at that very moment.   

I don't know what it is about hotels, but I love them.  I love scoping out the different layouts, the horribly patterned carpet, the lack of clutter everywhere, the ice buckets, the tiny bars of soap, the room service.  A few years ago, Hubby and I ordered room service for our first time.  I felt like royalty, and was absolutely hooked.

It was only reasonable that we order room service as our Valentine's Day meal.  We got in around 9:00 pm, and knowing ahead of time that this might be our arrival time, I could only imagine that any decent restaurant in the area was going to be packed.  

I had to weigh out our options.  Let's see, making a reservation to a restaurant that we will more than likely still have to wait at least 30 minutes for, then dining elbow to elbow with strangers to a menu that has been doubled in priced and chosen to the stereotypical desires of Valentine's Day diners or a meal delivered to my room where I can eat on a cozy chair, with no other people around, in the comfort of my thermostat controlled room?* 

*Hubby kept it at a whopping 74 degrees during the day and 68 at night.  If you know my home, that there is the definition of luxury.

I'm sure you can guess what we planned to do for dinner...but this picture says it all:

I was in heaven.  I'm not going to get into the meal here, I'll save that for The Orange Strainer.

The 'where' of the trip was a complete surprise to Hubby.  He only knew that we were going away.  It wasn't until we got in the car to drive that he wanted to guess.  I was going to make him hold out until we got closer, but I'm not that mean.  

Because of the whole surprise factor, I didn't plan out anything for us to do.  I merely searched a few things in the area and gave him my findings.  I also hummed the first three words of the opening song from the show Hairspray several times: 'Good Morning Baltimorrrrrre'...I'm pretty sure it's impossible to visit this city without singing this at some point.  At least, it was for Hubby and me.

I'm going to attempt to leave all our delicious food excursions our of this post in hopes of saving them for my other blog.  It is going to be difficult though because that is, of course, how we began our first morning.*

*I'll give you a hint, we went to a bakery and had pastries, but mine wasn't exactly one you'd normally eat for breakfast.  Think Italian.

To my surprise, or possibly not because I probably have been told this at some time during our marriage, Hubby is a bit of an underwater geek.  When I mentioned the National Aquarium as one of my "Things to Do" choices, he picked it before I could finish my sentence.  We had a few hours to kill before it opened, so we drove around and right into (literally) Fort McHenry.

Although I'm sure when there isn't snow on the ground it is more accessible, I thought the snow added a nice touch.

We went into the museum to discover that it was free to the public for the day and that a tour group was there.  We were able to catch the tail end of their talk.  I learned just how massive the particular flag was that Francis Scott Key was referring to when he wrote "The Star Spangled Banner".  There was a replica of a piece of it in one corner of the museum, and the information explained that the whole flag would have covered one quarter of a basketball court.  The Americans wanted the British to have no difficulty recognizing who they were approaching for their fight.

How very American of them.

As we drove a little more we saw this in the distance...

I knew right away that I liked Baltimore.  How can you not like a place that has a Domino Sugars factory?  

There was also a McCormick's seasonings superstore around the corner from the aquarium that must have had every single seasoning ever created.  I kind of regretted not buying one of everything in the store just so I could have every seasoning I would ever need on hand for the random recipes I tend to make.

I'm going to the Camden Aquarium on a field trip with my class in March.  I'll save most of my aquarium pictures for a post comparing the two aquariums.  Most people in New Jersey swear that our aquarium is better, and based on the last time I was there, I think I agree.  

This was the point in our morning where I realized that my boots were soaking through to my socks, due to the lack of shoveling on the sidewalks down the way from our hotel. 

Keep in mind it was bitter cold out.  

On our way to the aquarium we had to stop in an H&M to get me dry socks because I was already considering my toes a goner.  Don't worry, they're fine now.

At the museum, right away I was mesmerized by the "Dory" fish* which were in the first humongous reef that visitors pass upon entry.

*Note: That is totally not their fishy name, but I'm too creative to call fish by their scientific names.

This turtle who was missing a flipper tugged at my heartstrings.  I wanted to take him home.

That night we went to Hampden which is a neighborhood in Baltimore with a street of cute shops.  We enjoyed ourselves and the different shops, however, the wet and cold of the day did keep us from taking in everything this little town had to offer.

On this trip, we ate more seafood than I think I have ever eaten in my entire life.  Our hotel room had a copy of Baltimore magazine which had an excellent spread on local places to get donuts, candies, cakes, etc.  

Is it bad that when I visit different cities I care more about the food and shopping they have to offer than anything else?  That is basically what our remaining 24 hours in Baltimore involved.  We searched out bakeries and dining locations while incorporating stops at different shopping areas.  Is it bad that while we were at one meal I was already scouring the internet and planning for where our next meal would be?

I hope not.  Because I loved every minute of it.