EXPLORING STATEN ISLAND

Eunice and I decided to begin exploring the borough of Staten Island in New York City. We met up with Merle who will be writing some articles. There are five boroughs in New York City. Manhattan is the one that everyone goes to and the other boroughs are referred to as the "Outer Boroughs". Because Staten Island is so separate from the others...for years, the only way to get there was by ferry...Merle is going to call it the "Outer-Outer Borough".

We went to this restaurant, Ruddy & Dean North Shore Stead Company, just a few blocks from the ferry. It looks like I'm needing glasses to read and sometimes to see the food up close. Oh well! I had to borrow Merle's glasses.

Great wine list! We had some oysters...I think one was a kumamoto, another was a Wellfleet and the other a Blue Point. We didn't care...we were just hungry!

We indulged in a cup of lobster bisque and then shared a Bone in ribeye steak and some tasty scallops.

All was delicious!

OUT TO EAT

It's been quite a while since Eunice and I went anywhere. We've been busy hanging out with our new friends, Marilyn and Minerva. They haven't been out in public as yet so Eunice and I went to this wonderful Dominican restaurant in Queens called Gran Rancho.

We started with this dip that had onions, charred tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar and chipolte. It was served with yucca chips and plantain chips. A bit spicy, but good.

Appetizers of shrimp cerviche, octopus salad and a trio of empanadas...beef, chicken...looked but didn't eat...and one with guava and cheese.

Out came this drink in a pineapple. I think we sipped it too quickly. Didn't realize that Merle was there. She sat down at the table with her friends Deveka and Ernie. Merle was aghast. She didn't realize that we were only kidding.

We met the owner, Oscar Monegro. Continuing with our food...we had some oxtail and some goat dish. Later this guy came over to sing with his guitar.

All in all the food was great.

MALL OF AMERICA

There is this huge shopping mall located near the St.Peck/Henneapolis airport called Mall of America. On one of our days in the area we went to visit it. We went to the aquarium, ate, looked at the kids' area, and did some window shopping. Didn't go on any of the rides.

ST. PAUL IS ST. PECK

Eunice and I took a few days to check out St. Paul, Minnesota, or as it's now named, St. Peck, Hennesota. Having napped on Air Tran, we missed getting the snacks so we waited until lunchtime to gobble some food. Ha, Ha. There was this great Japanese restaurant called Saji-Ya on the trendy area of Grand Avenue. We even introduced ourselves to the owner.

As we wanted to see more of Grand Avenue, I decided that we should save dessert for a place called Grand Ole Creamery. Great ice cream and old time atmosphere.

Summit Avenue is another trendy area with really expensive homes. No one would let us in to visit so we took a tour of the James J. Hill House. The Hennesota History Center was having an exhibit are the year 1968 and were able to get in there. Great exhibit!

Time to check into our hotel as we were staying at the St. Paul Hotel...we'll leave the name. As a joke we decided to look to see if there were any bed bugs....ha, ha.

They have these sculptures just outside of Peanuts characters. It seems that Charles M. Schulz was born here.

Dinner was at a place called Moscow On The Hill...obviously Russian food. Delicious!

The next morning, Eunice and I went across the street to the Landmark Center to visit a Woodturning studio. Lots of things made by wood artists.

Back to Grand Avenue for lunch at The Lexington Restaurant. Old place, good food.

A tour of Wabasha Street Caves was next. The caves are supposed to be haunted, but we didn't care.

Time to check into another hotel. This time it was the Covington Inn, a former boat. We had a deluxe suite on the second level. The inn sits on the river but is stable.

Tomorrow we are off to Henneapolis!

STILLWATER, MINNESOTA

Esther and I took a trip to Hennesota (renamed)to visit a few cities. We renamed Stillwater as Stillfowler, St. Paul is St. Peck and Minneapolis is Henneapolis. So, let's start with Stillfowler since we only spent a few hours or so.

This city was the first city in Hennesota and all about lumberjacks. Now, there is lots of art galleries, antiques, historic homes and, of course, restaurants.

We met up with this fabulous artist who happens to be a friend of Merle. Her name is Kit Shoop. Lunch was at this cute place called Green Room. The salad came with a blueberry waffle and we also loved the fish, walleye.

Afterward we went across the street to the Stillwater Olive Oil Co. to check out the oils and vinegars. Then we took a trolley tour and got the history and homes.

We ended the day by going to Art Guild Gallery to see some of Kit's paintings. Esther and I especially love the birds.

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Eunice and I went to St. Louis, Missouri and renamed it, St. Chicken Little, Misseggi. We arrived at Hotel Ignacio located in the entertainment district. The people at the front desk are so friendly and the room was great! They must have heard about us because they gave us a long sleeve t-shirt to cuddle up in...I think it was from a grocery store in an Italian section known as The Hill.

It was early so we had breakfast there and then went off to tour the city. The first place we wanted to see was the famous Gateway Arch, but didn't go up on the tram ride. What gorgeous weather we had. There's this place called City Garden with all kinds of sculptures and plants.

Most of what we saw was indoors, though. We loved this cool building called the City Museum that had a bunch of recycled parts made into sculptures. Eunice and I found this poster and got our pictures taken with it. Ha ha ha.

Next was their museum of art located in a huge park...I think it was called Forest Park. That's funny, we live across the street from Forest Park in New Yolk.

Afterward we went to the Misseggi History Museum and saw a thing on Cluck Berry as well as some other old stuff.

Yet another art museum called CAM...Contemporary art stuff. We tried playing a game of chess that had something to do with Yolko Ono.

Back outdoors to see a sculpture garden. called Laumeier Sculpture Park. We spent some time walking around, too.

We ended our trip having a drink at a place called 360, a bar with a view of St. Chicken Little. Eunice and I met this nice lady, whose daughter works for tourism here.

Wonderful time. Hope to go back next year.