Last time I mentioned the trip to Florida and how I felt like I was getting back to my old self. This time I will talk about some of the things we did that made me feel that way.
After dropping off the two stowaway basenjis, we arrived in Bradenton with our two basenjis. After the last trip's debacle and associated Toyota repairs, I was determined to spend more time this trip out from underneath a car. I decided for lunch I was in the mood for Five Guys, which is odd because I hate Five Guys, I mean I hate more than five guys, but I am specifically talking about Five Guys Burgers. So, in honor of that rare moment we decided to stop at Five Guys and grab some burgers for lunch, only to find that Five Guys had a power failure and said that according to health department regulations, they could only sell soft drinks (to be fair, I think only One Guy had a power failure and the other Four Guys had to go along with it). I had been jonesing for a good Vienna Beef hot dog, and not being able to find one, we saw a guy grilling all sorts of tube steaks at a nearby gas station. We grabbed hot dogs and sausages for my wife and I and the owner also gave us a big sausage for the basenjis, something we were weary of feeding to the pork-urping-prone older basenji. We drove to a nearby beach and all four of us ate our lunch, and I am happy to report that no pork was urped up. I had been in town less than an hour and already made it to the beach. This trip was already going a lot better than the last one!
We drove to our friend's house and let ourselves in. Tired and dirty from driving all night, we both immediately collapsed then washed up before our friends came home. Once our friends arrived we immediately played the Where-We-Gonna-Eat-Game. Michael, whom I will talk about because I am sure he will never find enough time to actually read this, has a little bit of an attention problem. The odd part is, he seems to be excellent at his profession, which requires a lot of attention. I think he uses up his attention quota during the day and cannot focus on anything once he gets home. Anyway, discussions on where to eat with Michael usually involve him naming fifteen different restaurants that all sound very good, then you hop in the car and go to a entirely different place he didn't even mention. However, I am not complaining, because his choices are usually very good! We arrived at the Cortez Kitchen to find it completely packed, the first time we have ever seen that. Apparently some TV show had done a story on many of our favorite hidden haunts and now everyone is flocking there. So, we hopped back in the car and headed to a great barbecue place, named Leroy Selmon's or something like that. It's named after some sports guy who played football...or squash...or something, I don't know I don't keep up with sports. Anyway the food was very good, all except the stuff that was so hot it took me five minutes to catch my breath again. But most people aren't as wimpy with spicy food as I am. I was thankful that our friend's house had three bathrooms, because if that stuff was as spicy coming out as it was going in, there was a good chance I would be destroying at least two of them. Luckily for my friend's landlord and my buttockal region, it wasn't.
The next day we decided to take the basenjis for a walk at our favorite beach-side park, then head to the Starfish, a very dog friendly dockside restaurant. Apparently the same TV show that talked about Cortez Kitchen, also talked about the Starfish, because it was packed. Luckily, we got there late and there was a storm rolling in, so it cleared out right as we got there. The basenjis got plenty of attention and we both said "they are an African, barkless, hound..." far more times than we would like to count. Again, we made it back to the house before our friends got off work and played the Where-We-Gonna-Eat-Game again. Once again, Michael got us drooling for all sorts of different foods and restaurants, and once again we wound up at a restaurant that he didn't even mention. However, the reason he picked this restaurant was they had VIENNA BEEF HOT DOGS! The place was called Joey D's and was some great food. While reading the menu, there is a touching story about Joey D and how he wasn't expected to live past thirteen, but lived much longer than that, started this restaurant. What a nice story to read on the back of the menu. Oh, but then he died and his brothers run the place. Well, they could have laid that story out a little better on the back of the menu, but still was an inspirational story for someone trying to sweep all the cancer cobwebs out of his head. There was one small problem there...a computer. I bet you are asking yourself, "What does a computer have to do with food?", and we asked that same question! The waitress told us she would have to wait to put in our appetizers because the computer was froze up. Our thoughts were, unless the cook is a robot, can't you just walk back there and TALK to the cook? Write a note? Put the cheesesticks in the fryer yourself? Show us where you keep them and we will throw them in! Anyway, the computer finally did work...briefly, and we were able to enjoy lots of great food. Then sit there a while. And a little bit more. Tired of sitting. Oh, the computer broke again, and they didn't know how to do the check. They wouldn't be able to split the check either, because that would be stressing her waitress brain too far. Apparently she is an excellent server but terrible at math. Luckily at the last minute, the computer worked and we were able to pay and go back home.
Friday, I got up early and made my way to the flea market. I needed a case for a pair of my sunglasses, now that I have to carry them with me constantly because of my eyeball eye ball. While there I picked up a set of Mexican Train dominoes. I had never heard of this game until my seventy-nine year old friend introduced me to it, all I know is I seem to see it everywhere now, but my wife and I seem to be the only non-AARP members playing it. On the way back to the house I decided to stop at the pawn shop I have had luck at before and the owner recognized me. He's a nice guy, but with each subsequent conversation, I hear more and more stories about our "evil government". In part his manifesto this time, he mentioned that he voted for Obama, which I found odd for someone that not only doesn't want a bigger government, but wants no government at all. I guess, you can be OK with no government at all when your store primarily consists of guns and gold (neither of which I was interested in, by the way). Later for lunch, my wife and I decided to sneak out sans dogs, and eat at a beach restaurant. After driving by a few more places that were apparently also on TV, we finally found one of our hidden restaurants that was still hidden. The food was decent, and it allowed us to take a quick walk on the beach afterwards, as well as let me leave my sister the traditional voice mail of waves crashing on the beach for five minutes and nothing else. We stopped by the Chop Shop, an old fashioned butcher, and grabbed an assortment of steaks for the night. Micheal couldn't change his mind that night since we already had the food bought.
Saturday we dubbed as a "Dog Day Afternoon" and started out in the morning with the four humanoids and the Curly Tailed Mafia (two basenjis and a shiba inu) heading to get gigantic Amish donuts at the Farmer's Market, the only problem is the Amish didn't show. I guess they couldn't get their Mustang started. Maybe it was a Bronco. Whatever the reason, we loaded everyone back up and headed to Bradenton Potato Raised Donuts. Just Michael and I went in and had to perform the marital test Just-Pick-Something-Out-For-Me. This is a very stressful game, especially when you have been married ten years and have never paid any attention to what kind of donuts your wife likes, or what her eye color is, or what her middle name is, or birthday, or any of that other trivial crap. With the total being less that ten dollars, I thought it was silly to split the bill, and I paid for Michael and my order, something I would feel guilty about later on. By the way, I did guess correctly on the donuts.
We then went to the dog beach, where I tested my new metal detector and found a whole twenty six cents! Since my sister gave it to me as a present that was twenty six cents of pure profit! Minus the three dollars for batteries. We finished off the day by stopping at Sarasota's dog friendly Old Salty Dog, where my wife and I played the odd game of thinking we knew someone that might be working there and arguing over whether the people working there were ugly enough to be said person. As we walked into the restaurant, Benny the Basenji was tired of being cooperative, so in an effort to get to our table quicker, I picked up Ben upside down as he did his Spider Pig impression, a position he actually loves being in and will just relax with all four feet stuck straight in the air, looking around perfectly content until you put him down. Apparently, relaxed, upside down Spider Basenjis are not a common sight at the Old Salty Dog (at least not the Sarasota location), because some giggles were heard as I walked between the tables. Being very hungry, and our first time there, my wife and I ordered a LOT of food. This is another thing I would regret. It was good and we didn't get sick, what I regret, is that this was a meal Michael decided to pick up the tab on. To the tune of $93 for the four humans and three dogs (who only had complimentary water and dog biscuits). We certainly wouldn't have ordered that much had we known he was paying for everything. I hope it wasn't a reaction to me picking up the tab on the donuts, because I did that for the exact OPPOSITE reason, because the bill was so small, I didn't think it made sense to split it. At any rate, we are very thankful for Michael's gift, it really wasn't necessary, especially since we had a free room for almost a week.
Overall it was a great trip, and aside from a couple hiccups hauling the two rescue basenjis, I don't think I would have changed any of it. We enjoyed spending time with our friends, Michael and the other one who's name I won't mention in case she doesn't want to be associated with Michael's eccentricities. And like I mentioned last time, I felt like I am finally getting back to my precancer days. And if you are ever in any of the restaurants I mentioned, tell them I sent you. Tell them I am the guy with one testicle. They will have no idea who I am, and they won't give you a discount or anything, but at least they will look at you funny and wonder how you know specifics about my nether region.
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