The Second Drive-In

It's pretty rare to find a drive-in restaurant (unless you're Guy Fieri, apparently) which is why it's crazy that Oshkosh has not one but two! Yesterday we went to Ardy & Ed's and today we went to Leon's. We preferred Ardy & Ed's for a couple of reasons, but drive-in #2 was also cool.

The first reason that I liked Ardy & Ed's more was that there was more stuff I could actually eat there. Leon's wasn't very veggie-friendly; they didn't have any real options for me, just a hot ham & cheese sandwich that I had to order sans ham. It turned out to be a slice of melted cheese on a hamburger bun. It only cost 84 cents so that was pretty cool, but not the most filling lunch. I got a frozen custard sundae -- the hot fudge brownie sundae -- to fill me up the rest of the way. I didn't get dessert at Ardy & Ed's so it's hard to compare them, but I did enjoy my sundae.

Another cool thing to happen this week is we ended up with DVDs from a previous residency. They're super professional looking. I don't have a DVD drive on my laptop, so I can't play it, but Jas and I watched parts of it on his computer and it looks awesome. The videographer included lots of special features and fun extras so I'm glad that if I was going to end up with a DVD of any of my residencies it's this one!

Oshkosh B'gosh

In this round of "Thomson Wrote a Blog Post About Something That Happened Yesterday", let me tell you about my Wednesday.

Jas and I did our regular Wednesday routine of breakfast, gym and The Flash before heading to the Oshkosh outlets. It's a giant outlet mall. Yay shopping! Jas needed some new sneakers and he was my ride, so I went along. I did get a bouncy ball at Old Navy (because it was 25 cents and a freaking bouncy ball) but the coolest part for me was taking a picture outside of the Oshkosh B'gosh store because who gets to say they saw Oshkosh B'gosh in Oshkosh?

After the outlets, I needed sustenance, so we drove to Ardy & Ed's Drive-In, which was another place the kids had told us about.

It was an honest to goodness drive-in restaurant! We didn't have to get out of the truck to get our food, which was great because it was raining and I don't like getting wet. I got the deluxe fish sandwich with fries AND a postcard. Ok, the postcard wasn't part of the meal, but they did have postcards there!

After that, we went to the EAA AirVenture Museum which is a museum for old and new airplanes. Jas did the flight simulator and flew us into a tree... And a building... And things he probably wasn't supposed to fly into. They did have a movie about a big flight convention thing where a whole ton of people flew 1940s airplanes from Hartford, WI (where we were two weeks ago) to Oshkosh, WI (where we are now). It obviously didn't take them two weeks to get here, but it was kind of cool. I got a postcard here as well.

After that we went to work, because, contrary to popular belief, doing strange stuff and eating good food actually isn't what we get paid to do (I sure wish it was though!).

I Licked the Bowl

Jas and I agree on a lot of things (it's what makes us such good partners) but the thing we probably agree upon the most is that eating is our number one reason for existing. Everything else in the universe is nice too but eating is definitely at the top of our to do list. We also agree that this job is perfect for people like us -- people who love food (and maybe theatre and kids sometimes) -- because we get to try so many different dining establishments!

Yesterday we discovered what I would say is a top 10 of the tour. Maybe a top 10 of life. We always ask the kids during auditions, where do we go to get sugar? Ok, that isn't actually what we say, we say something along the lines of "Jas and I aren't from around here, so we don't know what there is to do in the area BUT there is one thing we really love and that is ice cream, so when I say go and not before, we'd like you to talk to your neighbor -- that's the person sitting to your left or to your right, not your actual neighbor who lives next door to you but is sitting across the circle from you -- about where your favorite place to go get ice cream is and what we should get when we go there." There is always at least one kid in the group who doesn't like ice cream and suggests that we go somewhere else and this week, they suggested that we go to Tamara's Cake Guru, which we did yesterday.

Ok, they didn't just suggest that we go to Tamara's, they told us that this place has like 50+ flavors of jumbo filled cupcakes and that we needed to go there.

So, we did that and I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we got a lot more than we'd bargained for. First of all, they don't just have 50+ flavors, they have 500 rotating flavors! Not all are available at once, obviously, but the ones that were available yesterday were insane. I got two cupcakes because with that many choices, one wasn't enough. I settled on triple chocolate (because chocolate) and the lick the bowl cupcake, which is basically like a pint of Ben and Jerry's half baked ice cream except in cake form.

Let me break down the lick the bowl cupcake. It was a chocolate cupcake with a cookie dough filling, brownie batter frosting topped with a scoop of cookie dough and a mini-brownie. Holy crow. I don't know how I ate the whole thing in a single sitting but I did it! I took a before picture where it is pretty in all of it's confectionery glory and then I took an after picture where it looks like the victim of a particular gruesome snack time incident.

So, yeah, I "licked the bowl." And I probably would have licked the counter top and maybe the floor if there'd been any cupcake there as well.

I'm also proud to report that the triple chocolate cupcake was as good -- chocolate cupcake, chocolate frosting, chocolate filling and a chocolate coma for yours truly! Happy eating, everyone.

We Might Have a Slight Taco Problem (And Everything Else That Has Happened Since I Last Posted)

So, I've had all sorts of internet issues and haven't been able to post all of my photos or any of my thoughts for a while now! During my week in Hartford, I had internet but it was slow and I wasn't able to upload any photos, so here are photos of my yummy cupcakes in Milwaukee and second trip to BelAir Cantina.

Classy Girl Cupcakes

After Milwaukee, we headed to Western Springs, IL, where I had WiFi but no time. I don't know how I went a whole week without blogging, but more importantly, I don't know how any of you went a whole week without reading!!!

So, here is my week -- the Sparknotes version:

Sunday: We drove to Western Springs and then drove to O'Hare to pick up our friend, Taylor Ann. I then took Jas and Taylor Ann to Portillo's because I know my tour partner and I knew he would love everything about that place. He got cheese fries and I got a cake shake. Last time I went to Portillo's, I got a regular vanilla shake, but this time, I went for their special, which is a slice of chocolate cake blended up in a shake. It was insanity. I think the deliciousness alone took a year off my life (the unhealthy factor took off at least three). After that, we bummed around the city until dinner time where we went to Lou Malnati's for some Chicago deep dish and a reunion with my original tour partner extraordinaire, Mandy Belscamper!

Monday: Auditions and laundry day. Nothing incredible happened here except that we introduced Taylor Ann to jalapeno popper mac and cheese! So yes, I guess that technically, something beyond incredible actually happened.

Tuesday: After rehearsal, we went back into Chicago to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I kind of used this week as an excuse to relive some of the best parts of my visit to Chicago in February. I took Taylor Ann and Jas to get pizza at Pequod's and cupcakes at Sweet Mandy B's. They approved of both! I got two cupcakes at Sweet Mandy B's this time and while I was on the fence about them last time when I just got a chocolate cupcake, their snickerdoodle and red velvet cupcakes were both amazing.

Wednesday: We were lazy. Jas and I realized that we were both exhausted and needed some serious downtime so we all just watched TV.

Thursday: This was the day that Jas had been waiting for since before I knew him. Thursday was the day where Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice came out. Thursday was exciting for me for another reason! I went to the Seven Dwarfs Diner in Wheaton, IL! That doesn't sound like a big deal but it was because Wheaton is where my dad lived until he was eight and Seven Dwarfs is where my Uncle Rob had his first job! I got a grilled cheese sandwich and fries PLUS some very yummy chocolate ice cream. After dessert, it was time to go to the movie... actually, after dessert, we still had like three hours, so we went to Target and then we went to the movie. We went to a really nice movie theatre; Jas bought our tickets and went all out! Apparently he refused to let there be any confusion, so he got us reserved seats, but not only were they assigned, but they were huge, reclining leather seats. It was a very, very, very comfortable way to watch a movie.

Friday: SHOW DAY! We didn't do anything too crazy because we had a show to put on! Still lots of fun though! (We went to Giordano's for deep dish... that makes three deep dish pizzas in one week. No complaints here).

Saturday: SHOW DAY 2.0! This show was extra special because Mandy came! Yup, tour partner #1 saw me in a show with tour partner #3 in a theatre that was run by a former TAD while another TAD friend was standing in as our light board operator. It's a small world out here. I only got to see Mandy for like a minute but I'm so glad that she came and got to see me play my dream role of Sinbad the Sailor (small cast, long story). After the show, we packed up and headed to Jas's homestay where we cooked dinner, ate cake and watched Inside Out.

Sunday: AKA Today. We got up early, drove past O'Hare to pick up Taylor Ann, then drove Taylor Ann to O'Hare and then headed towards Oshkosh, Wisconsin (which is where I am now). Now, it isn't Easter Sunday without tacos, or at least that's what I'm telling myself because our drive to Oshkosh took us straight through Milwaukee which means that we needed to make our third pilgrimage to BelAir Cantina. We might have a slight taco problem... Although in terms of being addicted to things, taco addiction is highly treatable -- with more tacos. I don't think they understand just how much their tacos mean to us... I've already told Jas that if he ever goes back there without me, I will be deeply hurt and upset. I tried three new tacos today and of course I have photographic evidence. I got the black bean and corn taco, port-queso taco and the caulifornia taco (yes, caulifornia and not California because cauliflower). I think port-queso (mushrooms, queso fundido, black beans and radish chimichurri) took the crown today, except in reality, I'm the winner here because I got tacos. BelAir should probably be paying me instead of the other way around at this point... I then finished the drive to Oshkosh while Jas slept through all of the nasty, gray weather.

For those of you wondering, yes, Oshkosh B'gosh started in Oshkosh, WI or if you're Jas, Oshkosh B'gosh is actually a clothing company and I'm not just making fun of the name of our residency...

Frozen Custard is My New Religion

Today was show day, which meant that tonight was eat-whatever-I-want-for-dinner night. I had leftover mac and cheese pizza and some veggies that I'd made earlier in the week but I wanted something sweet, so I made Jas drive to Culver's because it was time to try some of their frozen custard!

I decided against a backwards dinner -- with dessert coming first, so that meant buying a pint and taking it with me. Culver's has a flavor of the day but when the day is done, they pack the rest of it up for sale, so I basically had 17 days worth of flavors to pick from -- that's a lot of flavors! Ok, I'm not actually sure I had all 17 options because some might have already sold out, but they take their custard seriously here. In fact, today's flavor was Cookie Dough Craving and the flavor I ended up getting was Crazy for Cookie Dough, and yes, there is a difference!

Jas got fried cheese curds and I don't think there have ever been two more dairy obsessed people than us right now. Getting frozen custard at Culver's might have been the best and worst decision of my life. Best because it was delicious and I'm a lucky girl, worst because I now know just how heavenly it is and am going to want to go all the time. And heavenly really is the word for it, which is why I'm creating a religion dedicated to frozen custard (just don't tell the people who are paying for my trip to Israel!).

Fish Taco Friday

Jas and I drove back to Milwaukee from some sweet tacos! Actually, maybe they were spicy? Meh, some were sweet and some were spicy and all of them were fish tacos, because, ladies and gentlemen, it's fish taco Friday!!

BelAir Cantina was so good, we just had to go back, plus they had all-you-can-eat fish tacos for $11 today. I actually opted out of the all-you-can-eat bargain because I knew I couldn't eat more than three tacos of any variety, so I paid a little extra and got three awesome tacos -- the baja tilapia taco, the mango tilapia taco and the lobster shrimp taco. Tacos are awesome. Jas and I are now talking about developing a gun that shoots tacos! Solve war and world hunger at the same time!

I'd love to include some pictures from yesterday's and today's adventures but for whatever reason, my homestay's internet doesn't want to load Gmail -- every other website is fine -- but that is where all of my pictures go and that makes it very hard to upload said pictures. Perhaps there will have to be a post with all of my backlogged photos in a few days when we head to our next residency... Oh well, happy Friday, everyone.

Classy Girl

Today, Jas and I braved the 50 minute drive to Milwaukee in the name of full bellies. I promised Jas a trip to Ian's Pizza and I delivered (they also deliver if you live in the Milwaukee area). What we didn't realize was that Ian's Pizza appeared to be in the Irish Pub district of Milwaukee and today is Saint Patrick's Day. Let's just say that we saw a lot of incoherent people wearing green at 11am.

We got some mac and cheese pizza! It would have been better if we hadn't been surrounded by loud frat guys while we were eating but ya win some and ya lose some. We also came up with the brilliant idea of getting a pizza to go because... we really don't have to justify that decision with a reason at all, the reason is pizza and pizza is always a good reason.

We walked from Ian's Pizza to a cupcake place I'd read about online. The List I've compiled has a lot of cupcake places on it but none for Milwaukee and what I really wanted were cupcakes, so I went on Google and found Classy Girl Cupcakes. Classy Girl Cupcakes is perfect for me because I'm a classy girl -- also any place that sells cupcakes is my type of place... I got two cupcakes: red velvet and raspberry truffle. I didn't get any of their jumbo filled cupcakes because I couldn't justify spending $5 on one cupcake when I could get two equally delicious looking cupcakes for the same price. They also sold little cheesecakes but I went with the traditional cake because cake... They were awesome; red velvet was the better of the two and I'm starting to believe that red velvet cupcakes are seriously the way to go!

We drove home with our delicious pizza, although not all of the pizza made it back to Hartford with us (...Jas...). We then did rehearsal things and work stuff because we have, ya know, jobs! Tomorrow we'll be back in Milwaukee again because we need to revisit the BelAir Cantina for some more tacos.

P.S. I have pictures from Classy Girl but the internet is slow and I am tired so you'll have to wait, rabid readers.

Yesterday, we visited the Wisconsin Automotive Museum, which happens to be attached to the building we're working it. It was pretty nifty and we got some ideas for what MCT's next tour vehicle should be (just kidding because the next vehicle shouldn't be a truck, it should be a teleportation device).

It was actually pretty cool because the Kissel Motor Car Company, which custom built cars from 1906-1931 (#DepressionProblems) was in Hartford and we got to see some of their old cars so that was a nifty piece of history. It was also cool because they had a train.

Also, I'm not hunting for guides to traveling Central America (and will be accepting donations) but some of them have the funniest titles like Don't Go There. It's Not Safe. You'll Die. And other more rational advice for overlanding Mexico and Central America, and surprisingly, those types of things make me feel a lot better about traveling there.

Jassy J is #Cursed

And just like that, I’m back in Wisconsin. I was going to put an exclamation point there but I’m not sure the cold weather merits my excitement.

Super cute.

My dad drove me to the airport on Sunday (Whitney stayed in bed) and I said goodbye to him and the warm weather. I checked my bag and the lady at the desk complimented my passport case, which is, admittedly super adorable, so that was a nice way to start the day. I’m currently 0/3 in using my TSA Pre-Check since I got approved because there wasn’t an aisle for it where I went through security. Once through security – which even without Pre-Check only took a few minutes – I treated myself to my airplane staple, a copy of Entertainment Weekly. This week’s issue is a special preview for Batman vs. Superman which comes out in a week and a half and is basically going to be a mini-holiday for Team Thomajason (pronounced: Thaw-ma-jazz-um – a child told us that that was our team name a few weeks ago and I’m running with it). I’m Superman and Jas is Batman! I also texted Jas (at like 5am where he is… oops) a picture of the magazine to let him know that his benevolent god of a tour partner (me!) would let him have it when we were reunited.

Before I left Charlotte, I took a snap with the Charlotte airport geotag because my dad says that even though I love geotags, I never look happy in my photos, so here I am, smiling. (For the record, half the time I’m taking my geotag photos in stealth as I’m walking places just to capture them. I don’t have time to look happy because I’m simply trying not to trip over my own feet).

My first flight was to Minneapolis because we must go west to go east (although I did the same thing a week ago when I was going to Charlotte) and we made amazing time; we got in like 30 minutes early! But that left me with a lot of time to kill there, so I walked the airport end to end in search of something to eat. It’s a very large airport. End to end was a lot of walking and I ended up getting ocean meat from Arby’s for lunch.

I got a text from Jas before I left for Milwaukee that his flight had been delayed by an hour so he would now be getting in two hours behind me instead of the original single hour. That was fine by me, I could find stuff to do for an hour! The flight to Milwaukee was short but bumpy because surprise! We were flying into some nasty weather. My phone says that it was “light rain” but I say that’s bullsh*t. Ok, maybe the rain wasn’t the worst but visibility was awful. Anyways, I get my luggage, get the truck and decide to kill some time by driving to Target. Cool beans. I go to Target but I don’t buy anything and by that time, I need to be heading back in the direction of the airport. I get gas for the truck and am thinking that I am the greatest tour partner ever. And then I’m sitting in the cell phone lot. And I’m sitting in the cell phone lot. And I’m sitting in the cell phone lot. And there is no sign of Jas as time ticks on. And now it’s been nearly another hour since when his new arrival time and I get a call. His flight has landed, but not in Milwaukee.

The weather was so bad that they couldn’t land in Milwaukee and they had to go to Madison instead. Let’s all say it together, Jas is definitely cursed. He must have ticked off one of the Wright brothers in a previous life and they have cursed him with terrible airplane karma. Jassy J (as I call him sometimes) is #cursed.

So I’m thinking now, do I drive to Madison? What do I do? Well, he doesn’t know what’s happening so I decide to go get dinner. I drove to Ian’s Pizza which is on The List and is known for their mac and cheese pizza. Yup, their specialty is putting boiled cheesy noodles on top of circular, saucy cheese bread. These are my type of people. I texted Jas to tell him that we would be going back before the week was over. Jas texted me back to let me know that he was walking a half mile in the rain from the airport to the terminal because they couldn’t find a gate.

After that I went looking for a grocery store because I still didn’t know what to do while Jas didn’t know what was going on and I drove to Pick ‘N Save. Around that time was when Jas discovered that they would be busing to Milwaukee BUT he didn’t know when the bus would arrive (#cursed). I spent an hour wandering around the supermarket killing time and he finally got on the bus. His estimated arrival time was going to be 9pm – seven hours later than he’d planned. I drove back to the airport and sat in the cellphone lot until he returned. I wasn’t totally alone, however, because I called Mr. Ryan Lind, best friend extraordinaire, who was staying at my mom’s for the night after a mass audition in Massachusetts (an audition where he got a call back for MCT, just saying). Finally, Jas was there (but like a weirdo, he chose not to text me and scare the crap out of me when he just unlocked the truck and started putting his things in the back) and we could drive the hour to get to Hartford, WI, which is our home for the week. Our home without WiFi… I had to write this whole thing out without any idea of when I could post it. The drama!

Also for those of you keeping tabs on Whitney's athletic escapades, she was just named Pfeiffer's Athlete of the Week!!!

I just booked a plane ticket to Belize. Whitney and I are really going to Central America this summer!

Woah.

Pfeiffer History

Yesterday was a historic day for Pfeiffer University. It was the day that Whitney Rose Biddle Jaffe set the new record for most assists in a single game! Whitney got 10 assists in the game against Erskine AND she scored a goal, which means she had 11 total points which also puts her on the leader board for most points in a game. We also discovered that she is now top in the conference (or league or whatever sporty thing it is) for assists. Basically, she's a champ. Pfeiffer tweeted about it AND made it the title of their game write up which is officially a hyperlink to your left for those of you who are interested in some more outside reading.

I also videotaped her reaction of us telling her because we knew it would be awesome and it was. I've basically been watching it on repeat; she's a cutie.

After the game, we took a nice pic with the MVP and then went to the tailgate, which may or may not have been in the pitch black and where I may or may not have eaten three giant cookies.

This morning, we got up and went to Waffle House, which is a staple of any visit to the south. I've never actually gotten a waffle there but their hashbrowns are the bomb. Now we're hanging out in Whitney's dorm but we're going to make another pilgrimage to Cookout this evening along with a trip to the movies!

Unfortunately, it's my last day here though; I've already checked into my flight for tomorrow and I have to say goodbye to tank tops and the sun and hello to Wisconsin, where I'll have nine more weeks of tour in the chilly northern portion of the country, but it has been a wonderful week and I'm excited for my last night here.

Guy Fieri Approves These Tacos

As I said yesterday, Whitney and I were going to Charlotte for tacos after her lacrosse practice! I'd read about a taco place online and when I suggested we go there, she said "Is it Cabo Fish Taco?". Well, no, it wasn't Cabo Fish Taco, but Whitney told me that she had gone to Cabo Fish Taco a few years ago after looking up places that had been featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives in Charlotte and I said, well then, if you liked it, we should go back!

When I was looking at the map, I realized that Cabo Fish Taco is in Charlotte's hipster neighborhood called NoDa which also happens to be the home of a bakery that I visited in the summer called Amelie's. I've been encouraging Whitney to check out Amelie's since I went there and since we were going to be down the street from it, we decided that after lunch we would go there to.

Getting to Charlotte from Pfeiffer took longer than it should have. There are a lot of stoplights in between here and there. Ok, from what I can tell, it actually took the normal amount of time but I was hungry so it felt like it took longer!

We started with queso at Cabo Fish Taco and it was the bomb, except we totally didn't need it because we got a lot of food. You could mix and match tacos so I got the lemon grilled shrimp taco and one of their daily specials the crispy trout taco (with jalapeno cilantro aioli). I texted a picture of my meal to Jas to let him know that Guy Fieri approved of my meal because Jas is also a big fan of Triple D and also because we just had really good tacos in Milwaukee.

After tacos, we were stuffed so we walked around NoDa for a few minutes before heading to Amelie's. We got our pastries to go because we were so full. When I went in the summer, the place was jam-packed so I ordered a muffin because it was the first thing that I saw (and because muffins are delicious). Before I went back, I did a little research about what I needed to get and it became clear that the two biggest sellers were the salted caramel brownie and the Napoleon so Whitney and I decided that we should get those; Whitney also picked up a macaroon because she'd never had one. They had a sign in the store that said they'd sold over a million salted caramel brownies and I could see why! The brownie did not make it back to Pfeiffer. I ate it in the car. Whitney wasn't the biggest fan of the macaroon and we saved the Napoleon until after dinner where we discovered that it was different than what we'd expected but I liked it. I'm not sure Whitney liked Amelie's but at least now I'll stop bothering her to check it out.

It took us significantly less time to get back from Charlotte -- or at least it felt that way -- and when we got back, we went outside to play volleyball with some of Whitney's teammates. And by play volleyball, I mean that I found a sunny spot of the court to stand and tried not to get hit. After that, Whitney and I watched The Carrie Diaries and relaxed all night. Today our dad is flying in so I'll get to see him too and then Whitney has a lacrosse game, but the most exciting thing about today is that Whit and I are planning a trip to fast food heaven, Cookout, for lunch. I shall try to write later, but I might be in a serious milkshake food coma.

Spring Break cont.

It only took me until today to be somewhere on the Pfeiffer campus where their geotag showed up on my phone. Go figure...

This morning I went with Whitney over to the lacrosse field because I was going to sit outside while she practiced but it was cloudy so I changed my mind and came back to her dorm where I could blog and be warm!

On Tuesday, I got to go to the Pfeiffer Women's Lacrosse team bonding activity. I've bonded with them now. It was a hike in Hanging Rock State Park. It was an eight mile hike. I kept up pretty well, actually, because I am a champion of the outdoors! And even though we got lost, I wasn't the one leading the hike so it wasn't my fault. I was actually the first person to realized that we were lost, so ha! We ate Subway at the top, which is where Whitney and I took this spiffy picture (and no, there wasn't an actual Subway on the top of the mountain, we got our sandwiches before we left Misenheimer and carried them all the way with us).

Apart from hiking, I have been loving Butters or Catpig as I call him. He's a cutie. When I met him in the summer, he fit in the palm of my hand but now he's a big, fat fluff monster. As you can see from the picture, the feelings are mutual.

When Whitney is finished with practice we're going to drive down to Charlotte to visit a taco restaurant and a bakery and do fun stuff and before anyone can say anything about my vegetarianism, the restaurant is called Cabo Fish Taco. I'll be fine.

Oh, also, I forgot to mention that I'm officially going on a Birthright trip to Israel this summer! According to Whitney, the hike will be good practice for what I'll have to do on the trip in June. So yup, that's a thing! Guess I'll have to keep blogging for a little longer. Peace and love for now, blog-readers. Catch you on the flip flop.

Off to NC

Hello from North Carolina, which is already far warmer than Wisconsin and it isn't even 9am yet! We got to do some exploring in Milwaukee before we took off yesterday and that was a lot of fun. Actually, it was kind of lazy when we started off because we just lay around our hotel room until it was time to check out.

Then we drove to Bel Air Cantina, which I wanted to go to partly because there is a Fresh Prince of Bel Air joke in Aladdin and partly because Thrillist listed it as one of the top 21 taco places in America. These were some really good tacos. Like really, really good tacos. Like Jas and I are planning on going back after spring break even though our residency is like an hour away. They had a "buy three tacos get rice and beans for free" deal so Jas and I decided to buy two tacos each and split the rice and beans. I got "El Uec" which I couldn't pronounce but it had grilled cactus, spiced queso fresco, black bean spread and roasted salsa plus the broccoli and artichoke taco which had grilled bell peppers, broccoli, artichoke, topped with pepitas and arbol sun-dried tomato sauce. I know that those are sort of a strange combination of tacos but they were awesome. Also fyi, vegetarian tacos exist! Because everyone has asked me what I was doing at a taco place when I don't eat meat. They also have fish tacos, that I'll have to try when we go back!

After that, we drove to Kopp's, which a homestay told us that we had to visit if we were in the Milwaukee area because apparently it's like Culver's to the extreme. For those of you who don't know, Culver's is kind of a mid-western staple. They have your classic fast food stuff but their big draw is frozen custard. Jas and I have yet to get frozen custard there (although we have stopped there a few times) but I know we will soon because Kopp's was fantastic. Of course, custard has more fat than regular ice cream so I think it's obvious why we love it.

After that, we went to the airport, even though we had several hours to kill there. We hung out there until it was time to get on the plane and then we got on the plane. After our flight, Jas had roughly one minute to make his connecting flight, so he shouted "see you in a week" and got in his cardio for the day. I had like three minutes but am also not cursed by the TSA, which I think Jas might not be after the drama he had on New Year's Day getting to Missoula. During my three minutes, I was able to catch the Minneapolis Airport's geotag because priorities.

And now, I'm in North Carolina with Whitney! For a whole week. Yay!!!

SPRING BREAK BEGINS

Technically, my spring break starts tomorrow, but we had a Friday show and decided that we'd head out a day early in favor of being close to the airport that we'll be flying out of tomorrow.

Yesterday in Rock Rapids, we visited a little cabin in the park. We'd been told to check it out but not by anyone in Rock Rapids. We were actually told about it by our contact in Oskaloosa, IA because it was built by his family! It was pretty neat so I took a few pictures; Jas is featured in the bottom one looking for the contact's cell phone number so we could text him a picture. After that, we visited an old Rock Island depot station in town and reenacted the opening scene of Music Man. Ok, we didn't actually act it out, but we talked about acting it out. After all that, we did a little thing called a show. No biggie. Only my 40th residency ever is now over.

This morning, we set off for Milwaukee (also known to me as MilKwaukee because I can't spell or Mil-sqwaukee because I'm weird) which is where we're both flying out of tomorrow since it is only 30 minutes from our next residency. Apart from being seven hours, the drive was pretty uneventful except that Jas was once again asleep when we drove over the border from Minnesota to Wisconsin. He's three for three on that (he has witnessed driving in the opposite direction for the record).  Now we're chilling at the Econolodge by the airport. We ordered from Marco's World Famous Pizza for dinner, although I'm beginning to suspect that it might not actually be world famous and their pizza cutting abilities were definitely questionable.

And now for your fun fact of the day: Even though we are headed to opposite ends of the country tomorrow, Jas and I are on the same flight to Minneapolis and have seats next to each other! The first part of that was an accident but the second part we planned when we checked in tonight. Our flight doesn't leave until the afternoon so we're going to have some fun in the morning before we literally take off.

How Many People Can Say That They've Visited BOTH Dakotas to go to Walmart?

I can! Last year, I drove to Williston, ND to get a few essentials from Walmart and today, I drove to Sioux Falls, SD for another trip to the Mart of Walls. The fact that I've made two trips into Dakota territory for Walmart is saying a lot about the areas I've been in because there isn't a lot to do in either of those states... To clarify, that means there has been even less in the parts of the world I've been in...

A lot of the appeal of driving to Sioux Falls (instead of driving the same distance to the other closest Walmart in Sioux Center, IA) was to say that we'd done it! The Walmart in Sioux Falls was pretty standard, although Sioux Falls had something that both Williston and Sioux Center didn't and that is Target -- aka Heaven on Earth. We obviously made a pit stop there as well.

After we finished up our business, we did treat ourselves to a little excursion in Sioux Falls. Regular blog readers know that my quest for geotags is never done and downtown Sioux Falls didn't disappoint with a total of four! Yeah, I know! Four geotags in South Dakota! Insanity. (Although it does make sense considering that Sioux Falls is the largest city in the state and the 42nd fastest growing city in the country -- thanks Google).

Apart from the adrenaline rush of getting to brag about our trip to another state, we were looking for a sugar rush in South Dakota. There are only four things on The List in South Dakota and two of them are in Sioux Falls (four geotags AND four entries on The List?! Way to go SD for annihilating everyone's expectations). Sioux Falls is the home of CH Patisserie. CH stands for Chris Hamner who won both Top Chef and the World Pastry Championship and decided that instead of being a small fish in a big pond, he was going to be a large fish in a small pond and open a bakery in South Dakota. Yup, nestled is downtown Sioux Falls, SD is a top-notch bakery that I am proud to say we have now sampled.

I got the Chocolate Dream (because chocolate) and it was a tiny, shiny orb. I could actually see my reflection in it. Jas got the carrot cake, which was also a shiny orb! They also had like a bajillion flavors of macaroons but neither Jas nor I are macaroon people so we saved our money and skipped those. It definitely wasn't what Jas or I expected (because who expects their cake to be dome shaped) but it was awesome!

After that, Jas stopped at Culver's (because following up baked goods with a famous-midwestern butterburger on your 30 minute drive is the way to go) and we returned to Iowa! And that is the story of how I've visited both North and South Dakota to go to Walmart!

Fun fact: Rock Rapids, IA is the only city/town in all of America named Rock Rapids.

Oh, the things you learn.

25 miles south of Rock Rapids is Sioux Center, IA... Another 25 miles south of Sioux Center is Sioux City, IA... And 25 miles to the north is Sioux Falls, SD. I wish I was joking because it's so confusing!