What I Buy Wednesday

When we got home from our trip, the bulbs that Stephanie and I ordered from the Kukenhoff Garden in Amsterdam had been delivered.

Well, there is one problem. I have the paperwork, so I know who gets what of the nearly 500 bulbs. But, now we don't remember the colors and types of the bulbs. I tried looking them up and found a few. I guess it's just going to be a surprise when they bloom. 

Here are a few reminders of how gorgeous that place was.

Below are some of the bulbs we ordered.

 I guess it doesn't really matter, they will be pretty however they come up.

From this trip, we only bought a couple things.

I got my Starbucks mug for Ohio. It's a new series now and this is my first one. I'm happy that they have kept the same size and shape. 

Butch got this:

This pin is for his backpack. He gets one from every place he travels to.

Then, there's this:

I'm always taking a chance when I send Butch to the grocery store. He came home with these ginormous lemons. You can tell how large they are next to the regular-sized limes. I asked him why he bought so many. He said that was what I put on the list. I said I didn't put 4, so he pulled out the list:

I get that the "g" in grape extended into the number for the lemon. But if you look closely, you can tell it's "1"! Plus, the "lemon" should have been a dead give-away. If I wanted 4, I would have written "lemonS!" Case closed!

Now what to do with 3 extra lemons? I decided to make lemon bars for my scrapbook retreat at Kentucky Lake--which is where I'm headed as you are reading this. 

Anyway, I made the bars, but the lemon was so big, I got 1/2 cup of juice from just one lemon! The recipe called for 3 to make that much fresh lemon juice. Now, what to do with 2 more lemons? Maybe I'll have fresh lemonade next week. 

Oh well.

Travel Tuesday

Last week, we had a great time in Ohio and Michigan. I'm including just a few highlight pictures of the week--trying to keep it short and sweet!

This was our second time in Ohio for sightseeing. The first time was years ago when we went to the Wright-Patton Air museum and went to a football game at Ohio State. This time, we went in a different direction.

We flew into Cleveland and visited the "Christmas Story" house. We had an interesting guided tour--well except for the obnoxious kid who was touching and climbing on everything. I don't understand young parents now-a-days. Many do not seem to have a handle on their kids.

We couldn't get a very good picture of the leg lamp due to the glare. It was a cute town with a museum and, of course, The Bumpus House--which is just a rental.

We had a fabulous--fancy dinner here--tablecloths and all! I love a tablecloth. And, I loved my lobster pasta dish--chock full of lobster! 

The next day, we had 10 a.m. reservations for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

I was a little disappointed because my organized, logical mind did not feel like it was laid out well. Luckily, the Bon Jovi exhibit on the top floor made up for it! Plus, we just about had the place to ourselves. I just love Bon Jovi!

Afterwards, we stopped at the "world's largest rubber stamp."

We had lunch at a local brewery--we shared a cheeseburger and fries. I thought it was really good--Butch thought it was average.

After lunch we went to the Lakeview Cemetery. There were so many important people buried there: Chester Garfield, Elliot Ness, and John D. Rockefeller. But this is the one we mainly went for: 

Alan Freed is the guy who coined the term "rock and roll."

His gravestone is a jukebox! So cool.

The next day, we had tickets for the Cuyahoga Railroad through the national park.

All the cars are 80+ years old and have been refurbished.

It was a drizzly day, so riding the train sounded like a good idea. The first half of the trip was pretty interesting. But the return was the exactly the same. Butch and I have been disappointed by too many train rides, so we've decided that this is our last. 

After the ride, we headed to Detroit--or more specifically, Ann Arbor. Butch quickly dressed for his meeting and dinner with The Walker Company. I was left to my own devices and had a nice dinner and evening to myself. 

The next day while Butch was at more meetings, I did my own thing. After he got back, we ended up going in to the city of Ann Arbor. He surprised me with one of the cutest geo-caches I've ever seen.

Fairy Houses! There are 7 of them left. We found 4 of them that were within walking distance. They are so darn cute! People leave coins or anything shiny for the fairies.

Afterwards, we went to dinner at a really good German restaurant.

We shared a schnitzel, spaetzle, red cabbage and German potato salad. It was so much that even sharing, we couldn't eat it all! The owner stopped by to talk to us. She said that the 5th generation was ready to start working in the restaurant--her teen grandson. 

The next day, we started with 10 a.m. reservations at Motown.

This was my favorite tour. The young man--who was probably born in the '90's was quite the character with a really good singing voice. The tour was well-organized and took us through the history--chronologically! Music to my organized mind!

Michael Jackson's iconic hat and glove.

From there, we went to the Henry Ford Museum. I think this might have been the largest museum I've ever been in.

There was a row of presidential limousines. This is the one that Kennedy was riding in on 11/22/63. 

They also has life size marquis of iconic fast food.

I don't even know if A&W is still around. I used to love their hot tamales with chili! And White Castle--we don't have any left in Nashville.

The we went inside the famous bus where Rosa Parkes was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to move to the back of the bus.

I'm sitting in the exact seat she refused to move from.

We had lunch at the museum and then went out to the Greenfield Village. We looked at all of the special and authentic buildings--like Henry Ford's childhood home and The Wright Brothers Bike Shop. We strolled through and then called it a day. After a brief rest at the hotel, we had a nice dinner at the Mexican restaurant where I took myself the first night. They had the best homemade sangria. 

We had an early and uneventful flight home--for a change! It was a fun week and we crammed a lot in--as usual. 

Our next trip is to Richmond, Virginia at the end of the month. I don't think I've ever been there before. You can bet there will be some Civil War sights on the itinerary!