COMPLETE - "I DON'T LIKE MY FAMILY!!" — A May WDW Solo Mini-Trip Report + A Summer of Art

[Terra Nova guy]

I'm here too...and will try to do better keeping up with it!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Wow! N's art is phenomenal!

N is a wonderful artist, love his unique spray paint art.

Following and drooling over the artwork!

Nate is so talented!

Thanks so much, friends! I'll pass on the kind words to him!

Gorgeous photo!

Thank you! It was taken when we were in Ottawa a few weeks ago.

So excited As I leave for my solo weekend tomorrow night. Woohoo! It’s a super short trip but hopefully packed with lots of magic can’t wait to see your version!

I hope you have an awesome solo trip! Sometimes it's nice to get some alone time at Disney to refresh yourself and do whatever you please! Crossing my fingers for lots of magical moments for you.

Obviously I like this one the best.

Obviously. He should have painted you both into that one, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. I'm sure Ruby would love something like that to hang up in your home.

if N is looking for a craft show in September, our town hosts one of the top 10 handmade craft shies in the USA!

the website is

hillsboroartsandcraftsfair.org

I KNOW there is no art like his! I help with rhe applications

Wow, that looks like an awesome show! Unfortunately, Kansas is a really long drive for us for a one-day event. Nate's been through once, but it was on a trip where he'd had a few different things booked nearby over a couple of weeks, and this September we've already got some local things booked on either side of that weekend. But if we ever find ourselves planning to be in the area that time of year, we'll have to look into it—it would be the perfect kind of environment for him!

I'm hitchiking on my hubby's convention and spending some solo time in Disney next month!

That's the way to do it I hope you have a blast!

WIll check out N's artwork, and let me know if you folks ever travel thru Nashville!

Will do! Probably not this summer, but not outside the realm of possibility for down the road!

 

[DLo]

Hopping over from your other TR. love your new hair color !

 

[Raeven]

Following along!

 

[DLHNYC]

Following! Am enjoying following your other TR, and looking forward to following your summer adventures. Curious to hear how you liked doing Disney on your own. N's artwork is great, he's so talented!

 

[kastoney]

Kastoney reporting for duty!!!! Loving Nathan's artwork. Can't wait to hear about your adventures

 

[pkondz]

He should have painted you both into that one, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes.

But of course. This is only to be expected.

I'm sure Ruby would love something like that to hang up in your home.

I have an open wall where I can put it too! It's right above the bed. Pretty sure she wouldn't mind.

 

[MeghanEmily]

love your new hair color !

Thank you!!

Curious to hear how you liked doing Disney on your own.

Spoiler alert: I had mixed feelings, but it was mostly a whole lot of fun!

N's artwork is great, he's so talented!

Thanks! I'll pass this along to him!

Loving Nathan's artwork. Can't wait to hear about your adventures

Thanks—I'll pass that along to him!

 

[pepperandchips]

Checking in to say hi and that I love the silvery purple!!! Can't wait to hear all the details of your trip!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Checking in to say hi and that I love the silvery purple!!! Can't wait to hear all the details of your trip!

Hi! And thank you!

 

[FrozenOne16]

Following along!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Yay! Excited you're doing this in addition to my enjoyment of following Haynnk's adventures on IG

PS Nathan is so incredibly talented! I love seeing the art you posted above and also follow his page to see more.

What a fabulously fun way to spend the summer!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm here but will need to go back to get caught up.

 

[MeghanEmily]

PS Nathan is so incredibly talented! I love seeing the art you posted above and also follow his page to see more.

Thanks so much, I'll pass that along to him! Some of his paintings are really beautiful.

What a fabulously fun way to spend the summer!

It's been a lot of fun so far! I've been home the last week or so while he's been away, and it feels funny! I'm itching to get back out there next week!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Thanks so much to everyone who's already signed on to follow along and who's said "Hello!" I'm so glad you're all already here! I'll cut the ho-hummin' and get right into the good stuff, beginning with our recent Orlando trip at the end of May. Here is...

PART 1: "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow You Drive!"

THE NATHAN DAYS

TUESDAY:

After driving 2.5 days down from a show in New Brunswick, Canada, we arrived in sunny Florida on Tuesday. We had made good time, had stayed one night in New Jersey, one night in South Carolina, and then arrived a day ahead of schedule. I didn't take many photos from the days when I was with Nathan in Orlando because I considered those more "work days" than "play days," but I did take a few. We stopped at the Florida welcome center, and Haynnk saw his first palm trees.

Backing up a bit, we had also made a few fun pit stops along the way, one of which was obviously South of the Border.

New to us this year, however, was a stop on our way through Georgia. I wanted to make sure to do some stereotypical touristy things, and so it was important to me to get something made from peaches while within the borders of Georgia. And where better to find peach-things than Peach World!? Nathan and I had never stopped there before, but there were lots of billboards leading up to it, so we figured it would be worth the time. We pulled off the highway, looked down, and Nathan said, "....is THAT Peach World?"

...Okay. So it was a little smaller than we were expecting. More like Peachland. Or really...more like Peach Stand. But it was charming, and they had free samples of everything they sell. I got some jam that is absolutely out of this world. If we drove down again, I'd make this a regular stop on the itinerary! (If you ever stop, or if you buy their product online, make sure to get the no-sugar-added jam, rather than the regular sugar-filled one. Trust me. AMAZING.)

Anyway, when we stopped at the welcome center in Florida we got some free OJ, picked up our first-ever Sunpass from the little vending machine—so helpful with how much we've been driving down there these days!—and then we went back to the truck to make the trek to Orlando. ...but when we got back to the truck, N noticed something. There was a fairly deep gash in one of his front tires!

It hadn't gone all the way through, and the tire pressure was holding okay, so we decided to look up where there would be a Ford location off the highway and try to make it there. There was a center that took walk-ins (drive-ins?) for tires that was about an hour away. We decided to risk it. It was a tense drive from the FL border to St. Augustine, not helped by the fact that we kept driving in and out of violent downpours every few minutes, but we made it. They checked the tire and found that it was too deep to patch, and they said it was lucky that we'd caught it when we did and that it didn't blow. We had it replaced, and we walked over to one of the outlet malls to browse while the truck was serviced, which took about an hour. I found a cute little giraffe-print dress for my niece at Old Navy. Then we got back to Ford, left a little poorer but much safer, and were on the road again.

A few hours later, we arrived at our destination for the next few days: Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort, or as we typically call it, "Orange Lake," or simply "The Timeshare." My grandmother owns a timeshare there and is always inviting us to stay. When we told her that we'd be down there over Memorial Day weekend for a show in Orlando, MegaCon, she called them up and had a room booked on her points for us...which she refused to let me pay for. Since she was so generous, I told her that she was more than welcome to come along and stay with us if she'd like to. Initially, she said no. But after giving it some thought for a couple of weeks, she decided "Why not!?" and made plans to spend some time down there. She was already there when we arrived. We got our things settled in, and I did some laundry from the days we'd been on the road. Normally I take lots of resort pictures, but I didn't manage to get many this time. I do, however, have a photo of a friend I made! He liked to hang out on our lawn, and he got a little too close to comfort when we first arrived. (i.e. He scarily chased me across the grass.) I think maybe people feed them at the resort, so it makes them prone to approaching people?

We decided to go out for dinner that evening since we'd made such good time, so we went to Animal Kingdom. Having our annual passes, we never felt like it was a waste to just pop over to a park for a meal, or to spend an hour or two. We documented our visit with a photopass picture:

...and then we made our way over to Yak and Yeti. I hadn't been able to get a last-minute reservation, but I have a Landry's card, so I hoped it wouldn't be long to be seated. They were telling others it would be over a 30 minute wait, but we were seated in less than five. I love that card. N finally tried the Ahi Tuna Nachos I'd been hearing so much about. Once he figured out how to eat them, he thought they were delicious, and he would order them again.

He also ordered the cream cheese fried wontons with vanilla sauce for dessert. This is one of his favourite desserts at Disney, and it didn't disappoint.

I had spoken to the chef for my allergies and wasn't totally sure what I'd want to eat, but I was leaning toward something simple like grilled shrimp. I'd been travelling for three days and didn't want to try anything too adventurous and freak my body out too much. The chef asked if I liked seafood and recommended the Malaysian Seafood Curry. I wasn't too sure because my tummy doesn't handle curry very well, but he assured me that it wasn't spicy and that the coconut milk and rice tempered the curry. I decided to give it a try, and I'm so glad I did! I thought it was delicious! He was right that it wasn't spicy at all. It might even be a little too tame or "bland" for some people's tasts. But I thought that there were some really nice flavours from the curry, tomatoes, seafood, and coconut, and even more so after squeezing the limes over it. I'd definitely order this again.

WEDNESDAY:

I was up fairly early this morning because I still hadn't fully adjusted to the hour I'd gained with the time change. I decided to go out for a jog before it got too hot. Well...it definitely got hot. By the time I got back 30-40 minutes later, I was melting and not feeling so great. But I recovered quickly with some water and a shower. It was an absolutely perfect morning in sunny Central Florida, and the grounds were lovely so it made for a nice run.

Once N had gone for his run, too, and I'd touched up the fading blue dye in my hair, and we'd gotten some breakfast, we headed out to the convention center to get set up for the weekend. It was wonderful to be able to get things loaded in early, because when we went back the following day for the first day of the show, there were still people scrambling to get a spot at the loading bays and to get their booths set up. After a couple of hours, we had everything in place and were feeling good.

We decided to go grab some lunch at Disney Springs, and I chose one of my favourite haunts: Cookes of Dublin. I love that they can do any of their battered stuff gluten free. I got fish and chips, and I think N wanted to try something new on the menu, and so he got the battered burger and chips. While N was waiting for our food to come out, I popped over to Erin McKenna's NYC Bakery next door and bought an embarrassing number of donuts, cupcakes, and cookies. It was then that the woman on the cash informed me that they have a punch card they can give you for every time you buy a donut or cupcake! How was this a thing that nobody had ever mentioned to me before!?? Between this visit, and one more before I left, I've already made quite a dent in mine.

We headed back to the timeshare to freshen up and to put the remains of the Erin McKenna's goodies in the fridge. Then we left again shortly after because I wanted to check out the merchandise for the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, and I was worried that if I waited for my "solo Disney time" to go, that some things might be sold out. I didn't end up doing any crazy shopping. I liked one of the t-shirts, but not enough to pay something ridiculous like $37 for it. I did, however get the passholder F&G pin. I think N and I may have tried one of the food booths, but I have no photographic evidence of that. Maybe we split the scallops at the Canada booth since they're gluten free? We did, however, wander the world showcase for a bit and take in some of the topiaries.

Then we were off again, because we had our "special" dinner reservation of the trip that night. It was at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge! I'd made the reservation as an excuse to visit one of my favourite resorts again, and because I'd heard the restaurant was a bit of a hidden gem. We absolutely loved it! There was a bit of a problem with our entrees where they accidentally served N the same allergy-friendly version of the entree that I got, when he'd really wanted the original, but they handled it with fantastic customer service, sent him out a new side dish, and had a manager check in to make sure we were satisfied, etc. Overall it was a wonderful experience! The atmosphere of the restaurant was lovely, the food was excellent, and our server was on his game. Other than witnessing the stuffy folks at the table next to us taking themselves far too seriously and giving both the server and the manager a hard time for how inappropriately paired the side dish offerings were for the entrees—*long sigh*—we had no negative experiences to speak of. (Though I may have caught them giving me serious side-eye glances later when I left with a to-go box. Uggh.)

Appetizers: N's dreamy mushroom soup, and my mussels, modified for allergies with a garlic/lemon broth.

Honestly, I don't even really like mussels, but these were super delicious.

Entrees: we both ordered the filet. Cooked to perfection. #DisneyNom We also both ordered the brussels sprouts. They modified mine for allergies, so they were basically just lemony sprouts, but I like sprouts, so that was fine with me. They ended up bringing more that were cooked normally for N once the whole allergy issue thing was resolved. Turns out, he didn't even like them, so he had two orders of sprouts and didn't really care to eat any of them at all. But at least I got to take the gluten free ones home as leftovers, so no harm there.

For dessert, I actually had an option on the menu! They have a berry cobbler served with sorbet which is gluten and dairy free. It was light and sweet and delicious, and we split it. I want it again right now. Real dessert, rather than just fruit or plain sorbet in a bowl, is such a novelty for me these days.

This post is already starting to get long, but the next days when we were at the show were pretty short/boring, so I think I'll keep plowing through for now...

THURSDAY:

We got up, packed some lunches to take to the show, and hit the road. We arrived at MegaCon, had a slow start, but noticed it picking up during the day. N painted a few for folks on this day who would end up coming back again and again during the weekend to have more done or to bring their friends. We really came to appreciate these families, and to get to know them over the course of the weekend!

After the show that night, we were both exhausted and hungry. It ended fairly late, and we decided to go back over to Disney Springs for more Cookes of Dublin.

When we got back to Orange Lake that night, we noticed we had a visitor on our doorstep. I took a picture of him with my room key for scale. @xlsm, I think the giant Poly/Disney snails are branching out to other resorts!

FRIDAY:

Another day, another dollar...another MegaCon.

The way N's business works is that he gets a request from a patron, then he paints it there in front of them in approximately three minutes, they get to watch, and then they pay for it. Others walking by stop to watch it being done, are intrigued, and decide they want in on the action next. Basically, the more he paints, the more he paints. (What I mean is that if he's not in the act of painting for someone, others might just walk right by without stopping. But if he's painting, they get hooked and decide to stay and watch. They're welcome to watch as long as they want to. Then sometimes watching turns into buying, or sometimes it doesn't.) The paintings are beautiful, but to get the full effect you really need to see it done live. Things picked up more quickly this day, and I was pleased by afternoon to have to start making a queue for a short while to ensure everyone who wanted paintings got them done in a timely fashion.

I also remember snapping this picture from that morning...someone had spilled something, so one of the guys working at the show was standing over the spill until a crew could come to clean it up...but it just looked like he'd had an accident...

After the show, we decided to head over to All Star Movies (ASMo), where I'd be staying in a few days for my solo days, to buy some Disney gift cards and then pay off my reservation with them. We get the best value for our money that way, rather than depositing American money into our Canadian bank accounts, having the bank take a conversion fee, they paying off the reservation with our credit cards, and paying off the credit card with our newly-converted Canadian money, where the bank has taken a conversion fee YET AGAIN to turn the USD purchase on the card into CAD, etc. We make sure whenever we're working in the US to buy a few Disney gift cards with our cash if we know we'll have vacation balances we need to pay. I got my resort balance squared away, and then ordered some allergy-friendly chicken fingers and fries from the food court. N and his dad like to fish, so they've tried a lot of different fish in their time, but N noticed that there was a battered fish on the menu that he'd never tried before, so he ordered that. I can't remember what it was, but I believe it was something we don't have in our waters up north. (If he sees this and reminds me what it was, I'll add it to a future post!)

Before leaving to head back to the timeshare, we snapped a couple of pictures with the props and backdrops in the lobby:

SATURDAY:

All I have in my notes for this day is "show." We went to the show. We worked at the show. We left the show. We came back to the timeshare, and we ate leftovers and went to bed. Busy day. If it's a good show, Saturdays usually are. That's the dream when you survive on commissions, so while it was a tiring day, neither of us were complaining.

SUNDAY:

This was our last day at MegaCon. It ended fairly early in the evening—I want to say 5/6pm?—so we got packed up as quickly as we could and headed out. We decided that, since N was leaving the next morning, it would be best to get another Erin McKenna's run in for me while I still have a vehicle, before I had to submit myself to the mercy of the Disney bus gods. We grabbed burgers at D-Luxe for a late supper, then popped over to Erin McKenna's for dessert, and so I could stock up for the next few days on my own. Our burgers, as always, were delicious. We were sitting there, pigging out, enjoying the beefy goodness, and I joked to N that he'd better enjoy it while we could because he was about to hit the road the next day, where he'd be back to peanut butter sandwiches and long days with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company. He got a sombre look on his face, and said: "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow You Drive!" That sentiment would lead into our next morning, when we would continue to make the most of our eating and drinking...

The next day would begin my solo Disney vacation! N and I had a few plans left for the morning, and then after that I would be on my own... ​

 

[KaSe]

His art is so cool! You've kept me entertained on your previous reports, so I'm checking in for this one, too.

 

[juuuliebeth]

Following along. I'm going on a solo trip in August and am super excited for it. So I especially love reading about solo adventures.

 

[pkondz]

After driving 2.5 days down from a show in New Brunswick

I wish I lived as lived as close as you guys. I'd be down there all the time!

Haynnk saw his first palm trees.

What did he think?

I wanted to make sure to do some stereotypical touristy things, and so it was important to me to get something made from peaches while within the borders of Georgia.

I like doing things like that some times too.

...Okay. So it was a little smaller than we were expecting. More like Peachland. Or really...more like Peach Stand.

(If you ever stop, or if you buy their product online, make sure to get the no-sugar-added jam, rather than the regular sugar-filled one. Trust me. AMAZING.)

Really! Huh!

There was a fairly deep gash in one of his front tires!

Uh, oh. That really doesn't look too good.

There was a center that took walk-ins (drive-ins?)

Roll ins?

They checked the tire and found that it was too deep to patch,

Not surprised. Not sure how you could patch that.
Not an expert, though.

I found a cute little giraffe-print dress for my niece at Old Navy.

I didn't know you had a niece at Old Navy.

she called them up and had a room booked on her points for us...which she refused to let me pay for.

Very nice of her.

(i.e. He scarily chased me across the grass.)

I would pay money to see this video!

but I have a Landry's card

What is that?

He also ordered the cream cheese fried wontons with vanilla sauce for dessert. This is one of his favourite desserts at Disney, and it didn't disappoint.

No offense, but that just doesn't appeal. Not a cream cheese fan unless it's in a cheese cake. I'll try it, but I probably wouldn't order it?

The chef asked if I liked seafood and recommended the Malaysian Seafood Curry. I wasn't too sure because my tummy doesn't handle curry very well, but he assured me that it wasn't spicy and that the coconut milk and rice tempered the curry. I decided to give it a try, and I'm so glad I did! I thought it was delicious!

Great! Happy you got something a little adventurous that you liked.

By the time I got back 30-40 minutes later, I was melting and not feeling so great.

Oh, dear. But glad you bounced back.

sideways duck face!

Holy crap! Had no idea he used that much paint!
I'll take that as a sign that he's selling well.

N wanted to try something new on the menu, and so he got the battered burger and chips.

Go to a fish and chips place and order a burger. Sure!

It was then that the woman on the cash informed me that they have a punch card they can give you for every time you buy a donut or cupcake! How was this a thing that nobody had ever mentioned to me before!??

Hello!
Although I doubt I'd be able to make any use of it.
I'd buy less than one treat a year.

I liked one of the t-shirts, but not enough to pay something ridiculous like $37 for it.

Really! Most people can't resist a 75% off deal.

t was at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge!

Nice. Never been, but heard it's nice.

There was a bit of a problem with our entrees where they accidentally served N the same allergy-friendly version of the entree that I got, when he'd really wanted to original, but they handled it with fantastic customer service, sent him out a new side dish, and had a manager check in to make sure we were satisfied, etc.

I am never going to fault a restaurant for making a mistake. It's how they deal with the mistake that I will judge them on.

Other than witnessing the stuffy folks at the table next to us taking themselves far too seriously and giving both the server and the manager a hard time for how inappropriately paired the side dish offerings were for the entrees—*long sigh*

Oh brother.

(Though I may have caught them giving me serious side-eye glances later when I left with a to-go box. Uggh.)

Some people really need to get a life.

Appetizers: N's dreamy mushroom soup, and my muscles, modified for allergies with a garlic/lemon broth.

Those are your muscles? You have hairy arms, Meghan.

Honestly, I don't even really like muscles, but these were super delicious.

Okay, I know it's a typo and being an East coast girl, you know how to spell mussels, but this really made me laugh. You don't like muscles? Poor N! But his are delicious? Hey! Family board here!

We also both ordered the brussels sprouts.

Nope!

Turns out, he didn't even like them, so he had two orders of sprouts and didn't really care to eat any of them at all.

He has excellent taste.

N painted a few for folks on this day who would end up coming back again and again during the weekend to have more done or to bring their friends.

Nice!

I took a picture of him with my room key for scale.

I am soooo tempted... but I'm at work, so I can't. I have this urge to photoshop you holding that room key... except it's bigger than you are...

Basically, the more he paints, the more he paints.

I get it!

But if he's painting, they get hooked and decide to stay and watch.

Happened to me in Vegas. I stopped... watched... and bought one.

I also remember snapping this picture from that morning...someone had spilled something, so one of the guys working at the show was standing over the spill until a crew could come to clean it up...but it just looked like he'd had an accident...

rather than depositing American money into our Canadian bank accounts, having the bank take a conversion fee, they paying off the reservation with our credit cards, and paying off the credit card with our newly-converted Canadian money, where the bank has taken a conversion fee YET AGAIN to turn the USD purchase on the card into CAD, etc.

Yeah.... that's why I got rid of my USD account. No fun being charged to convert money to put into it, then being charged to withdraw it. Nope.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Great start! Love the hair and also love where it is now!!
Wow that is a big gash in the tire. Good thing Nathan saw it and it got fixed quickly! I would have no clue as I don't regularly visually check my tires.
Love how you are able to pop into AK just for dinner, I love having the AP!
Your meals looked delicious, especially Artist Point. I have heard a lot about the soup, so I'm gonna have to try it one day, as well as those Tuna Nachos at Yak and Yeti.

Great that you guys were busy all weekend, that is always a good sign and totally well deserved for his amazing art!

Looking forward to your solo time!

 

[MeghanEmily]

His art is so cool! You've kept me entertained on your previous reports, so I'm checking in for this one, too.

Thanks so much, I'll pass on the kind words! Good to see you here for another report.

Following along. I'm going on a solo trip in August and am super excited for it. So I especially love reading about solo adventures.

I hope you have a wonderful time! Maybe we'll cross paths at some point. Nathan and I are there in August for our anniversary trip. Probably the last one before we start going on a more reasonable number of trips...but then again, I've told myself that before, so it's hard to say.

I wish I lived as lived as close as you guys. I'd be down there all the time!

Hard to tell whether you're being sarcastic or not, since I wrote that it took us 2.5 days to drive...but seeing as you're on the west coast, and we can fly down in less than four hours, and you do a fair bit of road tripping, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that that's sincere? But in all seriousness, being on the east coast and such a reasonably short flight away...we've been SPOILED. 100%. People think we're absolutely insane for going as much as we have...but when you can...why not!? I keep telling myself, "Okay, after this next trip, we need to rein it in! One trip per year, max!" And then we schedule another one, and I'm like "...oops?"

What did he think?

Surprisingly, Haynnk is a septopus of few words. I know, you're shocked. But his eyes always say it all, even when he falls silent. I was surprised to see him so unimpressed. I guess when you've travelled as much as he has (by ocean, of course,) you don't get phased easily.

Really! Huh!

Yeah! The regular jam with the cane sugar was good, but incredibly sweet. Almost sickly sweet in comparison. But there's a natural sweetness in the one I bought due to the peaches, as well as the white grape juice they add. It tastes like spreading a peach onto whatever you put it on. A seriously special find! I'm actually frustratingly craving it in this moment. And it's frustrating because when I flew home last week, I left Nathan in Ontario for another two shows, and I only took a carry-on...so I had to leave my jam with him!! I won't get it until next week when he drives home!

Not surprised. Not sure how you could patch that.
Not an expert, though.

Yeah, we really figured there was no hope for it. It's a shame, because it was only about 3 months old, but the way that Nathan runs the roads with that truck, I'm not surprised something like that happened. I'm just glad he noticed it when he did, rather than having it blow out on a busy highway somewhere and potentially causing an accident.

I didn't know you had a niece at Old Navy.

I see what you did there. Clever, sir.

I would pay money to see this video!

The video exists, but it will never make it to the internet if I have any say in the matter!

What is that?

Landry's card = excellent idea if you know you have interest in eating at a Landry's restaurant in the near future, but not a good idea if you don't. It's a membership card for their restaurants, so that would include places like Rainforest Cafe, Yak and Yeti, T-Rex, and Bubba Gump's over at Universal (or elsewhere), or any of their other restaurant chains. It costs $25 to join, but you automatically get a $25 welcome reward to apply to a meal, so if you're planning to eat there anyway and spend $25, then you come out even. They also give you a birthday reward every year in your birthday month. You can, however, claim that your birthday is in whatever month you're most likely to travel often, as long as that doesn't go against your morals. Then you get an extra $25 to spend. And yes, the welcome and birthday rewards can be combined. They send you discounts or contests once in a while for being a member. But they also give you priority seating over any other walk-ups with a card, which is how we managed to be sat in under 5 minutes, while others were having to wait more than 30 minutes.

No offense, but that just doesn't appeal. Not a cream cheese fan unless it's in a cheese cake. I'll try it, but I probably wouldn't order it?

Nathan can take or leave cream cheese, and even only mildly enjoys cheesecake, so I was surprised that he liked these. I've never tried them for obvious reasons. I think it's kind of like a cheesecake-y filling inside the wontons? And the vanilla sauce seems to be pretty addictive. I have no idea whether they're actually as good as people say they are though.

Holy crap! Had no idea he used that much paint!
I'll take that as a sign that he's selling well.

Yeah, it's pretty shocking how much he goes through in terms of supplies! If I remember correctly, he didn't go through all of that in one show, but a good portion of it. And we set out a little more on the table than we anticipate he'll need, just in case, so we're not in a pinch in the moment. And yes, for the most part things have been pretty good so far this summer, *knock on wood*! Some shows are better than others, and some end up being duds, but we're staying pretty close to our target to keep the bills paid and have a little extra money for fun things.

I am never going to fault a restaurant for making a mistake. It's how they deal with the mistake that I will judge them on.

Agreed!

Also, if they were going to make a mistake, we'd much rather they be too cautious about allergies than not cautious enough.

Those are your muscles? You have hairy arms, Meghan.

Whoops!

Okay, I know it's a typo and being an East coast girl, you know how to spell mussels, but this really made me laugh. You don't like muscles? Poor N! But his are delicious? Hey! Family board here!

But is it really a typo, though, when you type it that way twice in a row!?

I've gone back to fix the mistake, but I got a good chuckle out of it! This is my punishment for not giving myself enough time to properly proofread late last night. One of the frustrating but funny little quirks about my post-surgical brain—though there's no medical explanation for this since my cortex, (i.e. the "thinky bits") weren't affected—is that I sometimes have trouble recalling words, or I misspeak/mistype one similar word for another. E.g. writing "two" instead of "too," even though I'm typically meticulous about homophones, or saying "walk" instead of "drive," or "sick" instead of "sink," etc. It happens too infrequently to be a real issue, but just frequently enough to make me occasionally sound silly.

I am soooo tempted... but I'm at work, so I can't. I have this urge to photoshop you holding that room key... except it's bigger than you are...

Yeah.... that's why I got rid of my USD account. No fun being charged to convert money to put into it, then being charged to withdraw it. Nope.

The. Worst. I had a USD account for when we occasionally had USD to deposit, but it was a frustrating account with a lot of weird policies and fees, so I shut it down.

Great start! Love the hair and also love where it is now!!
Wow that is a big gash in the tire. Good thing Nathan saw it and it got fixed quickly! I would have no clue as I don't regularly visually check my tires.
Love how you are able to pop into AK just for dinner, I love having the AP!
Your meals looked delicious, especially Artist Point. I have heard a lot about the soup, so I'm gonna have to try it one day, as well as those Tuna Nachos at Yak and Yeti.

Great that you guys were busy all weekend, that is always a good sign and totally well deserved for his amazing art!

Looking forward to your solo time!

Thanks so much!!

I don't typically look too closely at my tires either unless I notice something seems wrong. I was so surprised that he noticed it, but he has a good eye for little things like that, which I was grateful for! He's also excellent at spotting wildlife on the road.

I'll miss our APs very much if we decide not to renew them. I just love the flexibility. And also, of course, that we seem to take more trips when we have them!

We ate well, that's for sure! Artist Point was really nice. I'd love to go back sometime soon, though I'm not sure when we'll fit it in. The steaks were very good, but they were the least interesting part of our meals, so I'm thinking maybe we could even just go for apps and dessert sometime.