February 27, 2007 by admin.

Portland will go down in tour history as the city we really didn’t see! Here’s the problem with Portland – it seems to rain all the time. No wonder it’s known as the City of Roses! Our long drive there was pretty dark and dreary, too. It was definitely scenic, though. We actually saw tumbleweeds at some point along the way, reminiscent of the Old West! A few even hit our car. Tumbleweeds had previously existed in my mind only in cowboy movies. When we got close to the city, we had a great view of the Willamette River. Upon arrival at our Portland hotel, the employees at the front desk couldn’t locate our reservation. The delay gave me a chance to look around the pretty lobby. Luckily, the missing reservation problem was remedied quickly, and we went up to our small, but nice room. There were no refrigerators, so we knew we’d be eating out all week. Our room had a view of the busy street below; even though it was late, it was easy to see that Portland’s an adorable city. Most people would probably not call a city “adorable” but that’s the word that popped into my head. It looked like an old-fashioned, classic city, similar to Philadelphia and Chicago – but on a much smaller scale. Unfortunately, we would not get to see much of the city because most of the week was cold and rainy. Luckily, there was a mall a couple of blocks away from our hotel; the food court there had sufficient choices. There was also a restaurant in our hotel lobby. Isabella and I tried it one night when Eddie and Anastasia were at the theatre. We didn’t go back. I kept swearing never to eat in another hotel restaurant, yet I found myself in one after another! On the bright side, there was a great lobby shop that had snacks, magazines, and even a new stuffed husky for Anastasia!

We tried to go to The Melting Pot for dinner one night, since it was close to the hotel and Anastasia asked if we could go. The restaurant was completely empty at around 4:00 PM, but the rude hostess told us they could not accept guests without reservations. I am not lying when I say that first, she was incredibly arrogant (as if we were dropping by unannounced at Le Bec Fin on a busy Saturday night), and that second, there was not one customer there. There were plenty of servers milling around, though. We left and went to Porto Terra, where we were seated right away despite a pretty good-sized late business lunch/happy hour crowd. The service and food there were decent. Anastasia still wanted to go The Melting Pot, but she would certainly not be going to the Portland location. It is a chain easily found elsewhere.

At some other point during the week (I tried to block it from my memory), we were forced to get sandwiches from Subway due to all-too-familiar time constraints. I’m sure Subway has been discussed previously in this blog, but I must reiterate that they have the worst sandwiches I ever tasted in my life. Eddie went to pick up the sandwiches; I made the mistake of ordering an Italian hoagie. Eddie should have known that the sandwich would be a disaster when the girl behind the counter asked him what that was. When he got back to the hotel, I opened my Italian hoagie and saw something horrifying. Spilling out from the wrinkled, chewy-looking roll were green peppers, pickles, cucumbers, and bologna! I don’t need to list the remaining ingredients because anyone who eats Italian hoagies knows that none of the above-mentioned items should be found in one! It went directly in the trash. I still have nightmares about it…

The Keller Auditorium was a nice theatre, but almost a mile from our hotel. In pleasant weather, the walk would be downright enjoyable. In the damp, chilly weather, we opted for taxis. Each performance in Portland was packed, and the people were very responsive. There was a huge crowd waiting after each performance, including a semi-stalker who had apparently “followed” the show before. When I heard about him, I was slightly concerned, but when I saw him (a much older, grandfather-type man), I was put at ease. Yes, I do realize that there are many older, grandfather-type, dangerous men, but he just didn’t seem to be one of them. After someone pointed him out to me, I purposely stood next to the man and listened to what he said to the members of the cast who spoke to him outside the stage door. He was extremely complimentary as far as all of their performances, and said nothing personal, threatening, worrisome, etc. I labeled him a true fanatic, and moved on. Plus, I knew that I’d be able to take him down, if necessary. HAHA! Anyway, it is scary to think that people are so obsessed with any particular musical that they actually follow it from city to city, but rock/pop concert “groupies” have been doing it for years. It doesn’t help (or hurt!) that “Annie” has two sure-fire ways to draw big crowds – kids and a dog (especially those kids and that dog)! Call me biased, but Anastasia was blessed (and a religious zealot, I am not) to wind up with this particular group in this particular show. “Annie” will be around forever, but the caliber of talent and chemistry in this company is truly once in a lifetime.

I do have to admit, Eddie took Anastasia to most of the performances that week while I stayed with Isabella. I don’t know who had the better end of the deal, though, because at least three times that week, I found myself tearing down the streets with Isabella in her stroller, trying to get back to the hotel in the pouring rain! Did I mention that I was trying to wheel the stroller and hold an umbrella over my head?

We celebrated Madi’s 12th birthday in Portland; after Friday’s performance, Madi came by to open her present, and then she, Anastasia, and Isabella watched Happy Feet in our room…a very cozy night!

In between shows on Saturday, we all went to dinner at Morton’s, right across from the theatre. It was, as most steakhouses are, extremely expensive. In my opinion, Ruth’s Chris is definitely the better of the two chains. Anyway, I have grown to dislike the in-between performance dinners. I could never really enjoy myself because I am always checking the time! Half the time, I have no idea where or what we ate!

There were two more performances on Sunday, and then the packing up began once again. The sadness I felt at the thought of leaving the West Coast (I was still pining for California) was quickly replaced with jubilation because next, we were going home!!!

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February 20, 2007 by admin.

As you know, I was actually not looking forward to leaving California. In fact, I was dreading it, even though I was admittedly excited about going to the Pacific Northwest. We did not have a direct flight to Spokane; our very short layover was in Salt Lake City, UT. Even from the airport, anyone could tell Salt Lake City is incredibly scenic. Of course, while I was thinking about how beautiful the view from the airport was, a madman was getting ready to open fire in Salt Lake City’s Trolley Square Mall! We were shocked to hear that news when we got to our hotel in Spokane. Anyway, our second flight was on a 50-seater, so that was exciting, to say the least. Can’t say I’m anxious to get on a small plane again anytime soon. Again, the rule is that if I could hit my head on the overhead compartment, the airplane is entirely too small. Most of us knew immediately that at least some of our luggage would be missing. Sure enough, when we got to Spokane, there was a line of people at baggage claim, all of whom were missing luggage. We were lucky to get most of ours. My suitcase was the missing one. Does that surprise you? I was prepared with my pajamas and toothbrush in a carry on. It’s pretty much given that when we take the company flight, we will have missing or damaged luggage.

We got to our hotel around dinner time – thankfully, this was a nice, regular hotel. We were at the point where we knew which television channels and brand of toiletries we would have based on the hotel chain. Doubletree? Good shampoo – Neutrogena…terrible television channels – no Disney, no Nickelodeon, not even good PBS reception. At least they have Family Channel for the girls. So we decided to throw our luggage in our room, and find something to eat. Fortunately, there are plenty of places to eat at night in downtown Spokane. After checking out how blissfully close the INB Performing Arts Center was to the hotel, we went to Chili’s, what I consider an average, adequate chain…nothing interesting to report. Our bill was correct, at least. Some of the girls watched a movie in Lori and Madison’s room when we got back that night, while I sat in our room having a meltdown over what seemed to be a computer virus that snaked through our virus software. I need to have Internet access – there’s nothing negotiable about it.

Tuesday was a Golden Day. We wanted to explore Spokane, specifically Riverfront Park, where there are all kinds of fun things to do. Luckily, we’d be out of the room long enough for me to stop obsessing over my computer troubles! The weather wasn’t too cold, especially considering many places on the East Coast were under blizzard warnings. We’ve been VERY lucky with weather throughout this tour. We walked (yes, walked – no vans here…YAY!!!) to the Ice Palace where I was forced to wear dreadful rental skates. Ok, so I’m a skate snob. I like wearing my own, but we had to leave them at home after NYC. We definitely don’t get to ice skate enough to justify lugging around four pairs of heavy skates! Anyway, all of the girls (and a few ice skating parents) had a ball. I met a really nice woman named Stacy; she was there with her husband and two sons. Her husband was preparing to leave for Iraq; that puts things in perspective. After skating, we went to dinner at The Olive Garden, another adequate chain, this one just slightly above average in my opinion. We met up with the rest of the girls at the mall after dinner to see Dreamgirls. I loved the movie overall. I thought Jennifer Hudson was tremendous; she will not simply be remembered for being on American Idol. However, I hated the ending – I like resolution. Anastasia loved the movie, too. Isabella danced in her seat through the first half, and slept on Eddie’s lap through the second half! Anastasia and Isabella hung out with Amanda for a little while when we got back to the hotel, and then we all slept for 12 hours!

Wednesday was a non-performance day!! Happy Valentine’s Day! The reason for the late-in-the-week opening of the show is that the trucks carrying the sets need the extra time to get to places that are far away and load in. We did absolutely nothing during the day because Anastasia had a little case of the sniffles, and another loose tooth with which she was obsessed. We went to dinner at Rock City Grill. I thought the food was good; Eddie thought it was a little over-priced. The service wasn’t great, though. After dinner, we walked around the mall for a little while, hoping a table would become available at Color-Me-Mine. At 8:00, Eddie got a call that there was a table for us. We all picked out our bowls/cups/jewelry boxes and started painting. Michael, one of the Color-Me-Mine employees, was very knowledgeable. I could barely touch my bowl, because before the pieces are fired, the texture of them makes my blood run cold! It reminded me of my Ceramics elective senior year in college! Nine o’clock came faster than we thought possible, and of course, we needed more time. I, personally, could have stayed there all night. So we packed up our things to (hopefully) finish the next day.

On Thursday, the weather was damp and chilly, and since Anastasia was fighting a cold, we just hung out at the hotel. We went to (a very late) lunch at Chili’s since it’s the closest restaurant to the hotel; I used to like Chili’s a lot more than I do now. We made sure Anastasia (and Isabella) took naps before the 5:30 call time. After some nose drops, and non-drowsy Robitussin, Anastasia got through a sold-out show without any sign of sniffles – colds are awful; I would’ve called out sick! At least one of us is sure to catch this cold in the next week or so. There’s no avoiding it when you’re sharing space the size of a deluxe prison cell!

On Friday, we went to see Bugs: A Rainforest Adventure at IMAX in the park. We met up with Lori and Madison there. Unfortunately, we had the old schedule and missed the first half of it. Half was enough for me, though. I don’t much like seeing the food chain in action. One minute, I was pulling for a praying mantis NOT to have his head eaten by the female mantis, the next minute I was disgusted with the just-had-his-head-spared mantis for eating a butterfly! After the movie was over, I went on the fastest merry-go-round in the world. I don’t know if it’s actually true, but it sure felt like we could fly off at any second! That night, we discovered Luigi’s restaurant. http://www.luigis-spokane.com/ Actually, we knew about it because we had passed by a few times; we just never made our way inside until the end of the week. We like the food a lot. The people were pleasant. A man at the table next to us that night commented to us about the girls’ good behavior. It turned out that he, his wife, one of their daughters, and her friend were attending that night’s performance. We spent a good amount of time talking to them, as the tables are very close. Donna, his wife, actually invited us to dinner the next day! Had we not had two double performances in a row that weekend, we would have probably taken them up on that offer. We exchanged contact information, and they told us if we ever came back to Spokane to let them know. The next day, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a very nice email from them. I have to say that the people we met in Spokane (except for the drunk on the street who walked into Eddie) were exceedingly friendly.

The weekend passed in a blur, as most do, and before we knew what happened we found ourselves in Portland, Oregon!

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February 13, 2007 by admin.

I loved, loved, loved California. I want everyone to know that right away because it was a rough start! We arrived at L.A. Int’l on Monday, January 29th, after a great layoff week (Anastasia’s 7th birthday)! We picked up the rental van, and headed straight to the hotel, about 40 minutes away – an easy ride, especially when compared to our six-hour flight in the cramped coach section. When we got to the hotel, we noticed that it was an exterior access building. I wasn’t happy about that, since it was my understanding that we were not supposed to stay in those types of hotels. I wasn’t too surprised, though, because we had also encountered this in Sarasota, FL. The hotel lobby was miniscule, but pretty nice; the rooms were a different story. They were our smallest yet, so small that the bathroom had a pocket (sliding) door because there was no room for one that actually opened and closed! On the positive side, we did have refrigerators and microwaves, which brought tears to my eyes. After recovering from the fact that we would pretty much have room only to dive from the doorway to our beds for the next two weeks, I unpacked and hooked up my laptop. Upon logging on, as was probably the case with countless other Internet users that day, I saw the news headlines. My eyes were drawn immediately to the headline about Barbaro. He had been euthanized that Monday, and I was literally sick to my stomach. I won’t soon forget wishing that I was not seeing that horse’s name and the word “euthanized” on the screen in front of me. That put a damper on things, to say the least. I have always had zero tolerance for horse racing, and for all the greedy people who condone it. I was furious, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. What a tragedy.

We had not eaten dinner, so we went to the closest (read: only) restaurant nearby, a place called Spoons. It wasn’t the best food I ever had, but it was definitely edible. The place even grew on me after a little while! After we ate, we went back to the hotel. A few of the kids went in the hot tub for a few minutes, and then we went up to sleep.

The next morning, we met the CA Studio Teacher (Gerri) in the lobby. She was nice, very laid back. I already liked the fact that school ended at 3:00 PM instead of 4:00 PM due to stricter CA rules. Anastasia actually thought she might want to stay in the tour classroom in CA, but she couldn’t because they didn’t want kids floating in and out of school. Gerri told us that we could participate in the planned trips, and that was fine with us. It was just as well that we continued home-schooling (well, hotel-schooling). There was so much to see and do, we were happy to let Anastasia get her schoolwork out of the way in the morning (not as easy as it sounded!) and then go exploring!

We spent that afternoon at Newport Beach, clearly one of the most amazing places I will ever visit. The views were indescribable! In fact, I think people often use the word “breathtaking” without ever having had a place actually take their breath away like the view of Newport Beach from PCH did mine! I see why it’s one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Who wouldn’t want to wake up in a place like that every morning?? Within two minutes, Anastasia and Isabella had their sneakers and socks off, and their pants rolled up as high as possible. Then, while strolling along the perfect beach, Eddie found a starfish/sea star with a baby attached to it! The girls circled him trying to get a better view. I took a couple of pictures (in the Costa Mesa Album), and while they came pretty good, they can’t compare to actually seeing it in person. We spent as much time as we could just walking around, and then realized we had to eat lunch so that we’d get back in plenty of time for soundcheck. We (along with Lori and Madi) ate at a place called Rockin’ Baja. The food was really good, as was the raspberry margarita I had.

Moving right along to dinner, we all went to Rainforest Café at the South Coast Plaza, a mall where I knew I’d be spending a significant amount of time over the next two weeks. The waiter brought dessert for Anastasia for her birthday and we all sang to her, but she was much more interested in and excited about the new husky, Dancer, that he was holding behind his back. There was an amazing balloon artist there that night, too. She was able to make anything the girls asked her to make. If that was my job, I’d break so many that there would quickly be a shortage of balloons.

Opening night at the Segerstrom Concert Hall was great, as usual. People were arriving in limousines, and were completely decked out! The crowd was appreciative, and we were happy (to say the least) to be spending two weeks in California.

The next day, after Anastasia finished her work, we took the girls to the Santa Ana Zoo. It was nice, because there weren’t too many people at the zoo on a Wednesday afternoon. There was the usual assortment of animals, but what I remember most was that on some of the walkways and also hanging on display, there were adorable tiles that were painted by kids with pictures of different animals. Some that we saw had been painted as many as 20 years ago. They were just another reminder of the so-called “fire hazard” ceiling tiles in my former classroom. Luckily, I’ve heard from many of the kids who painted those tiles. They found out they were being taken down, and went to get them. Some people saw no “educational value” in the tiles. Those people should not be working in education. Again, I digress!

After that night’s performance, the kids were excited about the next day’s field trip. On Thursday morning, we went whale-watching off of Newport Landing. Nothing I write can really describe it. Look at the pictures, but they do no justice to the views of the Pacific Ocean, the hills, the scenery overall. I was in complete awe before I even saw any whales or dolphins, and there were plenty of those, too! After whale-watching, the kids had pizza. Then we all spent the rest of the day at the Fun Zone, which was basically an area that included an arcade, ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and bungee/trampoline “ride” that all the girls loved. All of the East Coasters might picture a mini-version of their favorite boardwalk. How they went back to the theatre and performed that night is a mystery to me because I was exhausted just watching them! Not only did they have another amazing show, but they also had enough energy left to go out for ice cream afterwards.

We found out mid-week that my Aunt Tessie (my dad’s sister) was in the hospital. That Friday, we found out that she was doing worse, and was not likely to recover. She passed away on Saturday, and I was faced with the reality that I’d not be able to attend the funeral of a very close family member. We were almost 3,000 miles from home, something that should factor heavily into the equation for anyone contemplating going on tour. Anastasia was very upset when she heard the news; she knew that Aunt Tessie was supposed to be part of the giant contingent of family members going to see her in Philadelphia in a few weeks.

The weekend was busy, and an uneventful dinner between performances at Rain Forest Café became a harrowing experience. They brought an incorrect bill to our table no less than five times. I’m not kidding when I say that we (Pat, Shannon, and I) were there after dinner for almost an hour just trying to straighten out the bill. A manager never appeared, even though one was requested (and almost hunted down) several times. Eddie actually had to leave us there and take several of the girls to the theatre so they’d make it for call time. Everyone was looking forward to an entire day off that Monday with no traveling. I was looking forward to getting away from the temptations of South Coast Plaza, where I had already spent entirely too much time during the first week of our stay!

On Sunday night, Amanda stayed over in our room. We were heading to Knott’s Berry Farm (one of my new favorite places) the next day. http://www.knotts.com The weather was beautiful, as it seems always to be in SoCal (barring any natural disasters, of course). The park was busy, but definitely not crowded. It is great to be able to go sightseeing during the week. While there, we ran into John Mark and Brenda, two of the amazing members of the Annie crew. Eddie was happy to have found someone to go on a few death-defying rides; check out the height of the loop on the coaster in the photo album! After going on a few rides, we arranged to meet up with John Mark and Brenda for dinner later that night. The favorite ride of the girls was definitely the log flume. They went on at least four times. Isabella was particularly fond of Camp Snoopy, an area of the park geared towards the pre-school set! My favorite place was the Ghost Town area, a replica of…well, a ghost town. I loved the Mercantile, and felt like I was on the set of the Brady Bunch when the family stopped in a “ghost town” on their way to the Grand Canyon. Come on, you know you remember that episode! It was a three-parter…two-parters were bad enough! Anyway, after a long day, we all went to dinner at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant. OH MY GOD – the fried chicken there was better than any I’m ever likely to taste again. It was the perfect combination of juicy and crispy. KFC it was not! We still talk about it…and miss it terribly. It’s easy to see why they’ve been in business since 1934! After we got back to the hotel, the girls went in the hot tub for about ten minutes, and then it was bedtime.

Our Golden Day ended much too soon; before we knew it, Tuesday was upon us. We decided to take a ride to the original “Surf City,” Huntington Beach, since we had not been there yet. It was actually overcast and windy that morning, but still pretty nice. We ate lunch at Ruby’s Diner which is literally in the ocean at the very end of Huntington Beach Pier. I was really too excited by the view to remember what any of us ate. I may have had fish tacos…our waitress was a recent transplant from Washington Township (Gloucester County), NJ, believe it or not. After we ate, the girls played on the beach for a little while. Huntington Beach’s nickname is certainly not a misnomer; there were tons of surfers in the ocean. Then we walked a couple of blocks into town where we found one of our favorite chains, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Of course, we went in and bought a few chocolate-covered marshmallows and strawberries. That was all we had time to do, because we had to leave extra time for Eddie to get lost on the way back to Costa Mesa! I was really hoping to get back to Huntington Beach on one of our last few days, but the rest of the week flew by in fast forward! It was business as usual, except that Aunt Pat came to visit on Wednesday and stayed for the rest of the week. The girls are always so excited by visitors, especially ones who spoil them like their aunts do!

On Wednesday morning, we drove back to Newport Beach, mostly because Eddie wanted to go to Seaside Donuts, the beachfront donut shop we saw the week before. We ate lunch again at Rockin’ Baja, and then we bought the best glazed donuts I ever tasted - and I’m generally not a big fan of donuts. We found out that Seaside Donuts is open 24 hours, and I could actually see Eddie wishing he owned the shop. We met an East Coast native there; he told us he had been going to that donut shop every morning for about 20 years. I felt instant jealousy. Unfortunately, we had very little time to spend there that day. Later, we all went to pick up Aunt Pat at the airport, and then we went to South Coast Plaza while Eddie was at the show with Anastasia. I need to stay out of malls, all of them. I really don’t know what my problem is. They should have censors right at the entrances, to prevent people like me from even entering the building, let alone shopping.

The next day, Thursday, we went on a field trip to the Tessman Planetarium on the campus of Santa Ana College. After that, we all went to lunch in Laguna Beach, where we sat on an outdoor deck overlooking the beach/ocean. It was surreal. I couldn’t believe that there were so many incredible places in one state. That day, many people were abuzz with the news that Anna Nicole Smith had died. Sadly, most seemed pretty unaffected by the news. After lunch, we went down to the beach where Isabella happily discovered a playground right in the sand by the ocean. Anastasia ran directly to the water, and proceeded to soak the jeans we asked her to keep dry. Oh well, some things have to be learned the hard way! After a quick stop in yet another Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for another night’s performance.

On Friday, we were lucky enough to spend the day at Disneyland!!! Lori and Madi spent a few hours with us, but had to leave so Madi could get some work done. We squeezed in as much as we possibly could. Anastasia and Isabella both loved the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the Haunted Mansion. They were happy to have their pictures taken with both Pooh and Tigger, too! We got back to the hotel in time for a quick nap for both girls before going to the theatre.

On Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at Wilma’s Patio on Balboa Island, which became my newest favorite place. I know, I have become very fickle. http://www.wilmaspatio.com The small island was packed, but we were lucky enough to find a metered spot. The food was great, and the strangers (and dogs) I decided to talk to were really nice. I, too, would be very nice if I could live on Balboa Island. A quick check on Realtor.com told me that I could not. The friendly woman in the t-shirt shop said to us “Oh no, I don’t live here; I live on the Peninsula.” The Peninsula…sounds rough! It goes without saying that I was disappointed we had to leave Balboa Island shortly after breakfast, but so it goes on two-performance days!

I was starting to get very depressed about the end of our stay in California. I knew it would remain at the top of my all-time favorite places list, no matter where else we went. The scenery is amazing, and there’s an endless list of things to do there. The people were friendly, the weather was phenomenal, and even the Santa Ana IHOP was better (both food and service) than any other IHOP we visited! All in all, California was well worth the trip!

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January 22, 2007 by admin.

Columbus, what can I say about Columbus? Well, it’s in Ohio…the state capital, in fact. That’s what worried me. If you read my Des Moines blog, you will find it eerily similar to what I’m about to tell you. There’s just not much there…sad, but true. Let me preface this by saying that yes, I know there is the reportedly amazing Columbus Zoo, and German Village, and Easton Town Center, etc. However, when it’s freezing and snowing, and one is extremely limited with free time, the immediate downtown needs to be jam-packed with activity. Instead, in downtown Columbus, there are mere remnants of what used to be. I will admit that our hotel was actually pretty decent, with sitting rooms and refrigerators (though the hallways did smell a little moldy)! If you have not been on tour (or in a similar situation), then you really can’t appreciate the importance of a refrigerator. Try to go one whole day or two without using your refrigerator and then report back to me. I dare you. Ok, so housekeeping was hit or miss, mostly miss! After a couple of days, we had to call the front desk to have them send someone up to empty our overflowing trash can. I’m sorry, but I can’t have trash in my hotel room. They must have decided one visit to our room for the week was plenty; we did not agree.

Eddie was still feeling the effects of his Waterbury food poisoning, so I took Anastasia to and from The Ohio the first couple of days so that he could lounge around. The food poisoning thing was getting old for me, and I wanted him to get over it already! He was really starting to look pathetic just sitting on the couch in a daze with his hair sticking up. We ordered room service the first night, because we really didn’t have another option. Eddie did not like it. That was a shock. It really wasn’t very appetizing; apparently we hadn’t yet learned our lesson about eating hotel food. The next afternoon, while Anastasia was doing schoolwork, I braved the cold to go out and get sandwiches at Potbelly Sandwich Works. I got the menu in the hotel lobby, and someone told me that they had “good” sandwiches there. When I finally found the little place, it was fairly crowded with people on their lunch breaks, and I took that as a positive sign. Yeah, well, we didn’t like the sandwiches – they were warm and soggy. The cookies were supposedly homemade, but they didn’t taste that way. Live and learn! I must keep in mind that adjectives like “good” are incredibly vague and subjective!

That night, because the hotel was only about two blocks from the theatre, I decided to go back to the room for a while after the Hard Knock Life scene. I assumed the area around the theatre would be pretty populated, but I was wrong. They had to be the two longest, most deserted blocks ever. I was completely freaked out – I am not exaggerating! There were only a few people out, and I did not like the looks of any of them. That was the last time I went anyplace by myself. It’s amazing to see how some supposedly “major” cities transform into ghost towns after 5:00 PM! I just don’t find it acceptable. More effort should be made by someone (Convention/Visitors’ Bureau, politicians, business owners – anyone!) to provide reasons to keep people in these downtown areas after work. That was really not a paid, political announcement, by the way!

My most vivid memory of Columbus (besides Eddie recovering from food poisoning) is the view of Victoria’s Secret that school students in the half empty City Center Mall get to see on a daily basis. Yes, there is a K-12 charter school in the mall, called Harte Crossroads. I was both intrigued and sickened at the thought of attending school in a mall. I don’t think the idea will catch on elsewhere. Had I been forced to attend school inside a shopping mall, I can assure you that I would have discovered the phenomenon of cutting classes at a very young age.

City Center opened only about twenty years ago, and used to be a very nice mall, judging by the outdated mall directory. Now, however, it seems that kids who need to ride escalators to get to their classrooms frequent the mall most, at least during the day. At night, there is definitely some gang-related activity going on in that mall. There is nothing secretive about it, either. On a couple occasions, we saw policemen chasing teenagers (who were clearly up to no good) out of the mall…not a good scene. This is all happening just steps from the State Capitol Building. I mean, come on!

EDIT: Harte Crossroads Charter School closed without warning at the end of the school day on 3/17/07.

The only places to eat in the immediate vicinity of The Ohio were the ubiquitous chains Subway and Max and Erma’s. You must know by now that I detest Subway. If any of you think they have great hoagies/subs/heroes – whatever you call them, then please email me and I will find a way to get a Philadelphia hoagie to you. I promise you will not eat at Subway again, at least not willingly. So, that left Max and Erma’s. We went there for dinner on Wednesday, and Eddie made the colossal mistake of ordering the Tortilla Soup because nothing else on the menu appealed to him (Remember, food poisoning). Well, I didn’t want to try to talk him out of it, but somehow I knew it would not be a good choice. It wasn’t. He barely touched it. I certainly would not order spicy cheese soup while recovering from food poisoning, that’s for sure. Anastasia and Isabella were fans of Max and Erma’s from the start because of the ice cream bar. Mind you, neither really likes ice cream all that much, but what kid can resist making a mess with all of the toppings at the ice cream bar? Let’s just say their creations were very colorful. On our second or tenth visit to Max and Erma’s, I asked our waiter what time the restaurant closed. He informed me that the restaurant would be open late that night. We were really excited because we’re usually hungry after the shows and wanted to know exactly how late the restaurant would be open. “Oh, at least until 6 or 7:00,” the waiter said with a straight face. Six or seven o’clock?? On what planet is that considered “late”? Oh well, I tried. Thank God for that refrigerator in our hotel room!

EDIT: Max and Erma’s, City Center, closed in February, along with ten – yes TEN other stores in City Center Mall! Also, the ORIGINAL Wendy’s, located in downtown Columbus, closed on 3/2/07. Hopefully, somebody steps in to save Columbus before the damage is irreversible.

On Thursday, Isabella came back from her Michigan visit!!!!! Anastasia was very happy to see her, and to see Aunt Gloria and Christina, who have seen the show more times than I can count. They spent two nights with us, but had to leave Saturday morning because Christina had a soccer game. The girls wanted them to stay longer, of course.

Over the weekend, we decided we wanted (desperately needed) to eat someplace other than Max and Erma’s, so Eddie asked the ushers in the theatre if there was anyplace close we could go. They laughed; I’m not kidding. Finally, one told Eddie to try The Claremont, about a mile away. Luckily, we had our car, because it was very cold and snowy. Tim and Amanda came with us, and though the restaurant was nothing special on the outside (very dated), the food was pretty tasty. After three or four days of Max and Erma’s, I felt I deserved lobster, which was the special. Isabella saw it and said “That looks gross; I want some!” She proceeded to eat most of my lobster!

Our last day in Columbus was actually exciting because we knew we had the next week off, and would be going home to Philadelphia. All of us were ready for a break, as it had been almost two months since the last one. Anastasia was ridiculously excited for her 7th birthday!! Goodbye, Columbus!

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January 15, 2007 by admin.

Again, we packed up the car and headed to our next city – Schenectady, NY. At some point during the ride, I realized I was clueless as to our whereabouts…I thought “Boy, you really know you’ve arrived when you have no idea where you are!” A short while later, we hit blinding lake-effect snow somewhere around Buffalo! The car was actually trying to get itself off the road at one point. I was envisioning us having to pull over and stay at the closest hotel/motel until the morning. Luckily, it didn’t come to that, and we made it through the squall.

We arrived at the hotel pretty late (nothing new there) and were immediately unimpressed with downtown Schenectady. There was no one around – anyplace! I was anxious to leave before we even checked into the hotel! I was very happy that we would only be there for a few days.

Our hotel was a basic chain, nothing fancy. We found out right away that the hotel restaurant was not open for lunch. That would be a problem. Anastasia would be completing her last two days of school in the tour “classroom” and I knew getting her lunch in the short amount of time given would be challenging. There was a little convenience store next to the hotel, but nothing there could really be considered food. There was also a Friendly’s a couple of blocks away from the hotel. On Tuesday, we raced there at about 12:40 (thank God we had our car), Eddie dropped me and Isabella off so that I could order, and then he went back to the hotel, picked up Anastasia, and came back to Friendly’s. yes, it was rushed but at least she had food in front of her when she got there. We tried to time it so that her food was not sitting out for any length of time.

That night, we got to the theatre at call time – Proctor’s – and it was already packed…standing-room-only packed. It wasn’t one of those packed, silent/reserved crowds, either. At this point, all the crowds from the different cities are forever meshed in my head, so I can’t say this with 100% certainty, but the Schenectady audiences were definitely in the top three of the tour (so far). They responded to everything, and were on their feet immediately when the performance ended. What a rush that is for the actors on stage! Even the theatre lobby was alive, with volunteers scooping special “Annie Ice Cream” samples before the show – Eddie had about 10 of the little cones. There was also a local radio station there, complete with bee mascot!

We discovered Chez Daisie in downtown Schenectady, right across from Proctor’s. They had such amazing crepes, I wish we had discovered it earlier in the day. I’d put a web site link, but I don’t think there is one! It’s a tiny café-type place, but worth the trip. Unfortunately, I don’t think there are enough people in downtown Schenectady to appreciate the crepes!! After the show, some of us went back to Friendly’s for dessert, and when we left, it was snowing - to the girls’ (Anastasia, Amanda, and Gabi) delight!

On Wednesday, we had to check out because we were leaving for Connecticut right after the show that night. I had a little meltdown in Friendly’s at lunchtime. Our Tuesday lunch strategy did not work that day as Friendly’s was crowded and there was only one waitress!! Luckily, she was nice enough to bring out a bowl of chicken noodle soup for Anastasia, who had about three minutes to eat. Eddie does not like to be late, so he was literally standing at the door of Friendly’s at 1:25. I was also standing, but at the booth, insisting Anastasia was going to stay and finish her soup. And she did. Anastasia eating lunch took precedence over her getting back to school at exactly 1:30. I was SOOO happy that we would be homeschooling her from that day on…

After we got Anastasia back to “school,” we realized that in all the chaos, we did not eat. We found a place called Pinhead Susan’s. It’s a restaurant/bar on Broadway in Schenectady. They had amazing sweet potato fries. I’m glad we found it. It’s a shame the city seems so deserted, because there are a few decent places to go if anyone is willing to venture out a little bit!

That night after the show, we left for Mike’s house in CT. We were staying with Gabi’s family for the Waterbury weekend. It was nice to actually be in a house for a few days instead of in a hotel. The girls had a day off on Thursday, and they spent most of it just being kids. They stayed outside for hours, even though it was close to freezing. The highlight for Anastasia, besides jumping on the trampoline for what seemed like hours with Gabi, Marissa, and Olivia (Gabi’s little sis), was that the neighbors have two huskies. Anyone who knows Anastasia knows she has a husky obsession. She was so happy to finally meet them! They were ridiculously cute and playful.

On Thursday night, we went out for pizza at Modern Apizza in New Haven (home of Yale and a higher crime rate than anyone would think). The pizza was really good, close to what we’re used to having in Philadelphia.

On Friday, we headed to Waterbury for the first of five performances at The Palace. It is another beautiful theatre in another blighted downtown. Waterbury’s downtown - at least in the vicinity of the theatre - was downright scary, especially when walking out of The Palace and heading left! It is one of those downtowns where Dunkin’ Donuts closes at 6:00 PM and probably doesn’t bother opening at all on the weekends. It’s really perplexing, because it is very easy to see what the cities used to be…when compared to what they’ve been allowed to become, it’s just disgraceful. There is a nice mall/shopping center – Brass Mill - on the fringe of downtown, with great stores like Barnes and Noble, but that doesn’t make up for the condition of the immediate downtown area.

Anyway, what we will always remember about Waterbury is the Palace Supper Club, where Eddie got food poisoning so bad on Sunday night that he spent almost 24 hours alternating between one of the bedrooms and bathrooms at Mike’s house. I was panicking because we had to be in Columbus, OH by Tuesday, and I almost had to leave him there in CT while I drove Anastasia to Columbus. The wind up was that we drove halfway to Columbus Monday night and stayed at his parents’ house in the Poconos, and then drove the other half on Tuesday morning. I fed him one cracker about every five minutes during the ride, and allowed him no other food. Eddie just can not handle these split weeks. Refer to the Sarasota/Clearwater entry to refresh your memory!!

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January 8, 2007 by admin.

We drove to Indianapolis on New Year’s Day. We got a late start for obvious reasons – does anyone go to sleep before midnight on New Year’s Eve?? In our case, it was more like 3:00 AM! By the time we were actually on our way, it was about 1:00 PM. It was a dreary, rainy day, and that made the ten-hour (or so) drive seem much longer. At this point, I should make you aware that Isabella decided she wanted to stay with Aunt Gloria, Uncle Dave, and Christina in Michigan for a couple of days!! We followed them until we had to separate somewhere around the Ohio Turnpike; the girls were riding with them, so Anastasia had to leave them to ride with us, and Isabella stayed in their truck. It was VERY strange riding without her! We finally got to our hotel around midnight. The lobby was nice, and there was a parking garage. So far, so good! We had never had our car before on tour, so this would be a new experience. It was well worth the $12/day it cost! I wish we had our car in every city. The only problem with the hotel was that the hallways smelled like mold. Luckily, our room was clean and seemingly mold-free. My favorite thing about the hotel, besides the great view from our window of the Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Monument (decorated for Christmas to look like a giant Christmas tree), was the towel shelf/rack in the bathroom. Yes, the little things make me happy. This feature should be installed in every bathroom. The shelf was IN the shower on the opposite side of the faucets. Instead of leaning OUT of the shower to get a towel, or better yet, forgetting to put a towel within reach and having to drip your way to get one while freezing, the towels were right there….amazing. What I remember the most was thinking “Wow, it’s good to get back to normal!” After subletting in NYC for a month, hotel life seemed normal to me. This is surely a sign of my increasing lunacy. Soon, I’ll be writing from the nearest psychiatric facility.

After a mediocre lunch at the hotel, we discovered the mall. I love malls, pretty much any mall. Circle Centre Mall was a good one. I couldn’t seem to stay out of it. I kept trying to talk Eddie into an Indianapolis Colts t-shirt. He kept telling me he’d get one “later.” He never got one, and it bugged me. I don’t know why. He had no trouble buying an Iowa Hawkeyes hat in Des Moines! Anyway, luckily the mall was near the hotel, and not the theatre – (Clowes Hall on the campus of Butler University, home to the currently 18th ranked Men’s College Basketball Team…ok, so I have a thing for college basketball). Since we tend to spend more time at the theatre than the hotel, the mall’s temptations would not be a huge problem, or so I thought. There were a couple of times during the week that I heard the following announcement. “Good evening shoppers…the time is now_____…our store will close in 15 minutes…” Lucky they have those little announcements! Anyway, I wound up in Nordstrom’s right away. On Nordstrom’s floors, there were little ceramic floor tiles that had been hand-painted by kids with different pictures. The woman (she’s worked there for a long time) told me of many people who come back to “visit” the tiles. It reminded me of the awesome ceiling tiles in my classroom painted at the end of every school year by my 8th graders. Oh no, I feel a mini, tangential rant coming! I have learned from various sources that the tiles, five years’ worth, are being (or have already been) removed. To backtrack, I ask my 8th graders to first draw, then paint something that represents them at that time in their lives. The tiles are amazing, especially considering most of the kids are not artists. To make what could be a VERY long story short, the powers-that-be decided for some reason that will never be good enough for me, to take the tiles down. Apparently, they had no educational value; anyway, the kids were told they were a “fire hazard.” Sure they were! Before I even started the project, I contacted both the manager at a local Sherwin Williams, and a parent of one of my students at the time who was a career painter. Suffice it to say that the tiles are 100% flame retardant, and the paint is water-based. The only positive part of the story is many of the kids went to pick up their tiles when they found out what was happening. What a waste…enough said. Back to the tour!

Luckily, the nice lady at Nordstrom’s took my mind off of the tiles by telling us that there was a supposedly great pizza place in a very cute section of Indianapolis called Broad Ripple. The pizza place was called Bazbeaux’s, and on Tuesday night, we headed there with Tim (Amanda’s dad) and his trusty GPS. The GPS almost led us into a small creek, but it was worth it because the pizza was better than any I tasted the entire month of December in NYC!!! I have to mention that even though the restaurant was only 15 minutes from closing at the time we arrived, not only did we have great pizza, but we had great service (our waiter’s name was Corey). Also, I tasted some of Eddie’s beer. That may not be worth mentioning for most people, but I do not like beer. However, this beer tasted slightly like raspberry. I love raspberries, which is why I tried it in the first place. It was a local beer called RazzWheat. I want more.

After finishing our delectable pizza, we went back to pick up Anastasia, who was very tired after the show. She pretty much made it through all of December without being exhausted, despite the grueling schedule. The minute she went back to the tour classroom for five hours a day, she had a rough time. The problem is that in a typical first grade classroom (actually, in any grade), the kids do not sit for hours just doing work. There are the “specials” classes - gym, music, computers, art, etc., not to mention recess. At the end of our week in Indianapolis, we made the decision to homeschool her for the rest of the tour, so that she could sleep later in the morning, get her work done, and have more free time. Also, we found her to be ahead in all of her school subjects/books, and did not find it necessary for her to finish first grade in record time! As it was, at some point on tour, she began reading well above level.

On Thursday, Isabella came back with Aunt Gloria and Christina (who live four hours from Indianapolis). Needless to say, Anastasia was happy to see everybody. She was not liking the fact that Isabella had so much time alone with Christina! Also, she admitted to missing her sister at bedtime! They met us at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, where we went for a field trip. It’s a great museum, the largest children’s museum in the country! Don’t eat in the food court, though – it’s gross. Both Eddie and Gloria were sickened by something just remotely resembling pizza. I figured dinner at PF Chang’s would remedy that. The food was really good; the service was not so good. We all went to Thursday night’s show, which was great, as usual. On Friday afternoon, we went to the mall, shocking – I know. It’s actually a good thing the mall was there, because most downtown restaurants are at the mall, or immediately surrounding it. We did discover an all-night IHOP, and an all-night Steak n Shake. However, for those without a car, those two restaurants are too far of a walk from either Clowes Hall or the hotel. We ate at the food court before Friday’s show; it was quite uneventful.

Weekends are always busy, as you know if you’ve been keeping up! Four shows in two days means no time for anything else but eating and sleeping (not that those are bad things, of course)! On Saturday, Isabella decided she wanted to go back to Aunt Gloria’s house – again…for almost TWO WEEKS this time. I had never been away from her for longer than three days. I packed her little suitcase, and off she went. Anastasia had to be bribed with presents. She did not want her to go!

Anastasia decided she wanted steak for dinner that night, and not just any steak – filet mignon…and really – it was the least we could do…so in between shows, we took her to Ruth’s Chris. We ate with Phyllis and NicKayla. If you like steak, and haven’t been to Ruth’s Chris, you really need to try it. But prepare ahead of time for the a-la-carte-pricing! That was only our second time on tour at Ruth’s Chris. It took us four months to recover financially from our Chicago visit there! And so ended our week in Indianapolis…split week coming up!

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January 4, 2007 by admin.

Start spreading the news…

Wow! Almost a month in New York, and enough stories to write a book. Lucky for you, this post won’t be the length of a book…well, maybe a short one. The company hotel was located in Newark, NJ. We were not staying there. No explanation needed, except that with the hectic schedule in store for everybody in New York, it was not practical (or acceptable) to be taking the NJ Path line back and forth at all hours of the day and night. Hardly anyone stayed at the company hotel; many stayed in their own New York-area apartments or found sublets. That’s what we did. Our sublet was in East Village, a great location right across from a playground and a subway stop. The only problem was that we could not “move in” until December 8th. We needed to be in New York on December 4th. Mike (Gabi’s father) generously agreed to let us stay with them; they rented a two-bedroom Execu-stay type apartment in Midtown. They wanted a second bedroom so the rest of their family could visit throughout the month. It worked out perfectly for us because they did not have family coming until the 8th. We arrived on Sunday night, the 3rd, exhausted after driving from Michigan (where we spent layoff week). After unloading the rental van, I got the girls ready for bed while Eddie and Mike went to return the rental. That’s when the fun began. Eddie called to tell me the taxi back to the hotel would cost $55.00!! It was a flat rate, having nothing to do with sitting in traffic with the meter running. I know prices in New York are unusually high; however, robbery was illegal last time I checked. When they got back, Eddie realized he couldn’t find his wallet or his planner. After uselessly searching in places where his wallet would never be, like in the girls’ suitcase, he realized he must have left it in the taxi. That was a pleasant way to start the week! I let him have a mini-meltdown, and then suggested calling the rental car company because they had called the taxi and would probably know which company/driver it was. As luck would have it, they located both his wallet and planner, and mailed it back to us. Shocking, I know. It helped that Eddie had no cash in his wallet, so the taxi driver probably felt bad for him!

On both Monday and Tuesday, the girls had rehearsal - which was thankfully located only a block or two from Mike’s apartment. Kathie Lee Gifford was playing Miss Hannigan for the New York run, and had only rehearsed with the rest of the cast a few times until that point, so rehearsals were unavoidable. The girls were scheduled to perform “Hard-Knock Life” on Good Morning America (GMA) on Wednesday, December 6th. They were being picked up at 5:45 AM because they had to be at ABC Studios by 6:00 AM. Needless to say, we were concerned because rehearsal was not scheduled to end Tuesday night until 11:00 PM! They didn’t get back to the apartment until around 11:30, and therefore, were not asleep until sometime around midnight. Anastasia is not a morning person, and I was doubtful that she would actually be awake, coherent, and out the door on time after rehearsing and getting only five hours’ sleep!!! Not only did she wake up on time (after only having to be hung upside down by Eddie one time :-), but she ate breakfast, got to the studio, and rehearsed with the rest of the orphans for about an hour on the substantially smaller GMA stage before performing effortlessly on national television! I, on the other hand, thought I was dying! After dropping the girls off (we weren’t allowed into the studio yet) I stumbled into the nearest Starbucks and ordered coffee even though I rarely drink it. Of course, I wound up throwing away most of it. Anastasia is definitely not the only night owl in the family. When our alarm went off at 4:30 AM that morning, I had that sick, freezing-cold feeling and could not believe I actually had to get in the shower in the middle of the night. I don’t think I spoke in a complete sentence until at least 10:00 AM. Gotta love New York, though; people were actually up and about in the Times Square area before 6:00 AM. Do they do that every morning?? Anyway, when we were finally allowed in the studio, we were crammed into a tiny space and I kept getting hit in the head with people’s signs that said things like “Happy Birthday to Jeb from Huntsville, Alabama!” Everybody at GMA was really nice, though, particulary Diane Sawyer, and the camera guy whose name I do not know!

Immediately after GMA, Anastasia and Gabi went back to the apartment and slept for about two hours, necessary since the opening matinee was at 2:00 PM that afternoon!!! I knew that if we could make it through the first week, the rest of the month would be a breeze! Aunt Pat and Poppy came up to NYC to see the opening matinee, and everything went pretty smoothly, except for an impromptu crawl under the subway turnstile by Poppy (”Why should I pay again when the ticket didn’t work?”)…HAHA! Though the visual in my mind is vivid and hilarious enough, I wish I had been there to see it! We ate at the Stage Door Deli after the show, and then we sent them on their way back to Philadelphia.

Though we were all tired, everybody was excited for the “official” opening night on Friday, December 8th. That morning, we borrowed Phyllis’ car to transport all of our stuff to our (very small) sublet. Then we all had to get ready in record time. It was probably the coldest day on tour so far, and the last day (I swore) that I’d be dressing in any kind of skirt and/or heels. It seemed like the wind chill was 20 below zero! That meant dressing Anastasia in regular clothes to go to Madison Square Garden (MSG), and carrying her dress, shoes, etc. around all night to dress her for the cast party after the show. The parents were given two free tickets to the show, which was nice considering we were not being provided with chaperone tickets all month. I went with Isabella for the first half of the show while Eddie sat in the Border’s next door (where we’d spend countless hours in December) with all of our stuff! By intermission, I was ready to leave. MSG’s theater was definitely my least favorite of the tour! First of all, it was way too big – granted, it was sold out pretty much all month. Second of all, they sold popcorn and cotton candy INSIDE the theater – I felt like I was at some raucous sporting event. That led to a less-than-peaceful environment as kids were yelling for popcorn and cotton candy, which subsequently wound up all over the floor of the theater. Also, the orchestra was not in a pit, so I could not help watch them (and don’t get me wrong – they’re good) instead of what was happening on stage. The cast party was fun; everybody looked great, the hor d’oeuvres were yummy, and there was definitely not enough time to talk to all the people there! Anastasia was especially excited to see Tina from NETworks, and equally excited about the new husky (stuffed animal) she got at the party – this one from Antoinette, the dance captain/swing. She named him Snowball, and quickly assigned him a place in her husky family. When we finally left, it was after midnight, and there were four shows scheduled over the next two days. Anastasia was able to sleep late the next morning, so it worked out fine.

It was a busy weekend, with Anastasia’s grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins (Daddy’s side) coming on Saturday. We were able to have dinner with everybody in between shows at Biricchino’s, only a few blocks from MSG. The food is really good; you can check out their menu at www.biricchino.com. I am not a big fan of sausage, but theirs is homemade, and it is SOO tasty. It was also during this weekend that both Anastasia and Isabella became extremely attached to the “little animals” (rats, to the rest of us) in the subway. They’d get upset if a day went by with no sightings.

We were extremely happy to have two days off on the 11th and 12th. Down time was hard to come by during the first week in NYC! We headed down to Philadelphia because Anastasia had an ADR session in Center City for a student film she did at Temple University over the summer. She was excited to be in a sound studio, and we were impressed with the quality of the film. We can’t wait to see the finished copy! We stayed in Philly overnight, after a late-night snack at Melrose, and then headed back to New York. We got back in time to grab our ice skates and head to Rockefeller Center to skate with Pat and Marissa. Let me tell you something about skating at Rockefeller Center…don’t do it. There are other rinks in the city where there is no need to wait in line, and people won’t be packed like sardines on the ice. It was fun to do once, but I probably won’t skate there again…at least not in December. In fact, I will try – in the future - not to be anywhere near NYC in December. Wednesday was a two-performance day. My friend Lauren came to the matinee, and the girls were happy to see her. We ate at Tick-Tock Diner in between shows, and then I have no idea what I did during the second show –probably hung out in Borders! Anyway, on Thursday, we went to dinner at what would be my favorite restaurant of the month – Lucien, a French Bistro in East Village. The person whose apartment we were subletting recommended it, and I only wished we had time to go back several more times that month.

The rest of our second week in New York was happily uneventful. It actually seemed like an easy week after the first one! That weekend, there were visits by several Annie alums –the Whylands, the Brights, the Portmans, and the Moros. Anastasia was excited to see everybody; we were glad to finally meet and spend some time with fellow Philly girl, Taylor! Isabella was particularly happy to see Erin W.!

We went down to Philadelphia again on the 18th because I had to get a copy of my marriage certificate at City Hall, so that I could renew my passport. We didn’t stay overnight, though, and took the bus back to New York that night. At this point, we had tried both the “Chinese bus” and Greyhound, and the best I could say is that they get the job done, but are definitely “no-frills” modes of transportation…

On Tuesday, I took Isabella over to Good Morning America’s studios. When we were there with the girls the week before, they had asked for any younger siblings to come back to be part of the taping of their Christmas show. We thought it would be cute. What a mistake that was. Little did we know that first, it would be grossly overbooked – there were about 100 too many kids there. Second, most of the psychotic parents there were coaching their kids to make sure they were directly in front of the cameras – to the point that their kids were getting in the way of the crew. I honestly don’t know where they found those people. How despicable…Isabella was better-behaved than kids three times her age. Two mothers actually started arguing over which of their kids pushed the other trying to get closer to Santa! Oh, they offered breakfast, too, but it was way too crowded in the three-feet wide hallway where they made us stand, and people were grabbing food like they had never eaten. By the time we made it into the shoebox-sized room where the food used to be, it was gone. At least we got a bottle of water! I couldn’t wait to get out of there!

Eddie and Anastasia met up with us after that fiasco, and we went to eat at Mars 2112. Please don’t go there. It goes way downhill after the simulated space ride that gets customers to their tables. Luckily, our waiter decided to drop a whole tray of soda on the table – and on Eddie, and the manager kindly took $40.00 off of our bill. He rationalized that that amount should cover the dry-cleaning of Isabella’s dress – the dress I purposely took off of her when we got there so it would NOT get dirty. At that point, I was just happy we didn’t have to pay full-price for what must be the worst food in Manhattan!

My birthday fell on a two-performance day – Wednesday, 12/20, and I don’t think I even left the apartment. Eddie stayed with Anastasia at MSG, and I stayed with Isabella. Happy birthday to me! It was a late night for Anastasia, because they had a little cast party after the 2nd performance to exchange Secret Santa presents. She was again able to sleep late on Thursday, and then we ate at The Olive Garden in Times Square and had much better luck with our food. I hung around that area to shop while Eddie took Anastasia and Isabella to the theater. I thought it would be a fabulous idea to shop at the Times Square Toys R Us the week before Christmas. Before I knew what was happening, I was lugging three GIANT, unwieldy bags on the subway. Luckily, I only hit a couple of people in the face with my wrapping paper rolls along the way. One thing I have to say about New Yorkers is that they are extremely helpful – anytime I was on the subway with Isabella and the stroller, or with bags, someone offered to help - every time, without fail. I took notice of which people were offering, and it was all of them – men, women, white, Indian, black, with accents and without. Now, that doesn’t make up for the other people who like to leave their trash all over the city, but it still counts! I feel much safer in a city like New York than a city like…for example, Des Moines.

We were lucky enough to be close to home all of December; getting to Philadelphia for Christmas was no problem. Though, it was slightly shocking to see how many people were taking Greyhound buses from New York at 10:30 PM on a Wednesday night! We left right after the show that night, and got home around 12:30 AM. We had two great days off, the 24th and 25th, before driving (yay, no bus!) back to New York on the 26th for a whirlwind eight shows in four days!! When we got back to the city, we were running very late due to the backup at the tunnel. No matter how many times we drive to New York, Eddie goes the wrong way once out of the tunnel. This time was no exception. I yelled at him to pull over a couple of blocks out of the tunnel, as it was rush hour, and dangerously close to call time. I threw the door open in a maniacal fashion and begged the first businessman I saw to please tell us where the nearest uptown subway was. He said (in a cute, unidentifiable Middle Eastern-type accent) that it was about a block and a half away. He told us he was going that way, so I invited myself. (By this time, I felt like I was in the middle of a Seinfeld episode). I grabbed Anastasia and her bag and headed to the subway with the nice stranger. I would’ve NEVER found that entrance had he not been with us. He even suggested alternate trains to take if the one we were waiting for didn’t come fast enough. Upon stepping off of the train at 34th St., I immediately realized that I had no idea where I was because we don’t usually take that particular train. We were on the opposite side from where I was used to exiting, and I felt a panic attack coming. Again, wasting no time, I found a nice lady who quickly pointed us in the right direction. We made it to MSG with one minute to spare. I couldn’t breathe for at least 30 minutes!

Thursday, the 27th was a more relaxed day. Anastasia was very excited to see her friend Jenna, who was coming to the show. We wound up going to Tick Tock (yet again) in between shows with Jenna, her mom — my friend Bernadette — and Jenna’s babysitter, Carly. Anastasia wanted Jenna to sleep over!

On the 29th, at the end of the busy month, we had more family members come to New York for the show (Poppy, Aunt Pat, Aunt Gloria, Uncle Dave, Aunt Cynthia, Uncle David, Jill and Caryn), and some of Aunt Gloria’s friends, and we went to dinner at Biricchino’s again in between shows. Aunt Gloria, Uncle Dave, and Christina stayed over at our sublet, and after a long day on the 30th (the highlight being the Charmin bathrooms) we all drove home to Philadelphia for New Year’s Eve/Day immediately after the last show at MSG. Anastasia was sad to say goodbye to Kathie Lee, but also excited that she would see Alene the following week! I never thought I would say it, but I was ready to leave New York. Give me New York in Springtime!

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November 27, 2006 by admin.

I’m not feeling too many advanced vocab. words in this post. Nothing too exciting happened in Grand Rapids, but I’ll try my best!

Our flight from Memphis to Grand Rapids had a short layover in Detroit. Layovers are never fun, no matter how I try to rationalize them! The flights were pretty uneventful, though, except that one of the two planes was so small, I kept banging my head on the overhead compartments! I expected Grand Rapids to be unbearably cold, but it wasn’t too bad. I learned that Grand Rapids is the second largest city in Michigan, which was surprising to me for no good reason. Our hotel (not the Amway Grand, of course) was adjacent to the Grand River, so we had to walk over the bridge to get to DeVos Hall, and pretty much everywhere else. It was actually a very nice walk during the day, but a little scary at night. Our hotel was just average; nothing new there. The main problem was that the lobby/elevators constantly smelled like smoke. It was unbearable. Our first night there, we met Mike and Gabi at Friday’s; the food was passable, but since we were starving, we didn’t care how it tasted anyway. I have to admit I was getting tired of Friday’s, though, since it was the restaurant attached to our Memphis hotel! I wasn’t expecting much in the way of restaurants in Grand Rapids, and I was both right and wrong. In the beginning of the week, we couldn’t seem to find anything we liked, but things picked up by Thursday! Actually, my favorite place in town became apparent almost immediately, and it wasn’t a restaurant! It was River Bank Books. www.riverbankbooksgr.com It’s a lot smaller than the average Barnes & Noble or Borders, but has a great selection of books/magazines, comfy chairs, and a decent café. I probably spent about ten hours in there over the course of the week! I can never say “no” when either of the girls asks for a book, and some force possessed me also to buy Isabella the Clifford backpack she said she needed. I couldn’t help it; it looked so cute on her back. In the meantime, Eddie and Mike discovered the Dog Pit (on the same block as the bookstore), and thought it was great. I thought the hot dogs were just ok, but they did have grape soda, which I love. That fact gives the place a few extra points! We wound up going back to Friday’s with Phyllis and NicKayla for dinner one night, and my food was so horrid, I had no choice but to send it back. I rarely send back food. I think I’ll avoid Friday’s for a while! I like to find good, non-chain restaurants in all the cities anyway!

In some ways, I felt like I was in Des Moines again – great crowds for every show, nice people, but not much to do in town. Overall, though, Grand Rapids wins. Here’s why. First of all, the bookstore was pivotal, in my opinion. It’s not often there is a great place to go during the show. (Sure, there’s always a bar somewhere, but since I barely drink, and when I do, it’s definitely not beer, I don’t smoke, and I am not a professional sports fan, I see no reason to frequent such establishments). Second of all, we – the entire cast and crew - were invited to an amazing Thanksgiving dinner at Café Solace. The food was incredible. Go there. Here’s a link: www.Cafesolace.com. There was actually a show on Thanksgiving night; I thought it would be empty. I was wrong; it was packed.

The other great Grand Rapids restaurant we found was called XO Asian Cuisine. Our waiter, Eddy, catered to the girls’ every whim, including extra umbrellas for their Shirley Temples! Eddie had a Mango Chicken entrée, which he loved, and the Sesame Chicken would’ve been among the best I ever tasted, except for the red pepper flakes that made my nose run and my eyes water! Eddie loved the red pepper flakes, and wound up finishing my food, too. Anyway, we were sorry we did not discover that restaurant until the weekend; we would’ve definitely gone back.

I went souvenir shopping in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. The lobby there has a few great stores, including a gift shop where I spent at least an hour and a half with Isabella (while Anastasia was doing a show). Speaking of shows, the girls seemed more rested during our Grand Rapids week, but Anastasia was fighting off a cold. They only had two days of school because of the holiday, which was fortunate since I did not want Anastasia to develop a full-blown cold, especially with a much-needed break coming the following week! Of course (you know me by now), I thought at least one of those two school days should have been spent at the public museum that was literally right across the street from our hotel! They had a “Pets in America” exhibit that I’m sure Anastasia would’ve loved. Again, like in Memphis, I was not willing to wake her up any earlier than she had to wake up in the morning, to go on our own.

Speaking of waking up, at the end of the week in Grand Rapids, I finally agreed to let Anastasia go to a sleepover. She (and Isabella, of course) slept in Phyllis’s and NicKayla’s room down the hall. About 3:00 AM, we heard fighting and couldn’t determine whether it was coming from next door, upstairs, etc., so naturally I was panicking even though the girls were safely asleep only a few doors away!

On Sunday, there was only one show – a matinee. We had family there (Aunt Gloria, Uncle Dave, Christina, Aunt Pat, etc.) so Anastasia and Isabella were excited. After the show, we ate at Charley’s Crab, one of the only restaurants open on Sunday night in Grand Rapids! I made reservations the night before, because we had 16 people. We were lucky to find anyplace at all that could accommodate us after the show. The food was pretty good (even though service was REALLY slow), but the view was even better; it was right on the river. Some adult cast members got there as we were leaving, one of whom was Alene Robertson (Miss Hannigan). Anastasia was happy to see her because after that night, we wouldn’t see her again until after the Madison Square Garden run. She decided (as we were walking out the door) to run through the restaurant back to Alene’s table to say goodbye one more time….very cute. After dinner, we drove two hours to the eastern side of the state, to stay at Aunt Gloria’s and Uncle Dave’s house for our layoff week. An entire week off, yay!!!!!!!!!!

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November 20, 2006 by admin.

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
W.C. Handy - won’t you look down over me
Yeah I got a first class ticket
But I’m as blue as a boy can be

They’ve got catfish on the table
They’ve got gospel in the air
And Reverend Green, be glad to see youWhen you haven’t got a prayer
But boy you’ve got a prayer in Memphis

Now Muriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see her
And they asked me if I would;
Do a little number
And I sang with all my might
And she said;
“Tell me are you a Christian child?”
And I said “Ma’am I am tonight”

Walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel? (X2)

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
Touched down in the land of the Delta blues
In the middle of the pouring rain

Memphis, TN…Memphis was one of the cities on this tour about which I was most excited. Thankfully, there was no layover, and our flight (on an extremely small airplane I’d like to block from memory) arrived in Memphis in the early afternoon (Central Standard Time). Again, we were missing luggage; same things this time - one big suitcase and our jog stroller. Actually, thinking back to Des Moines, we were missing THREE things - a small bag, too…but I digress…anyway, this time, we were told a similar story about how some passengers’ items “did not make” the flight and would be delivered to the hotel…funny how the luggage does not “make” the flight…personification at its finest…the suitcase arrived late that night, damaged, but the jog stroller was missing completely. After Eddie tried unsuccessfully for 24 hours to contact a human at Northwest Air, he resorted to email. (They finally found and delivered the stroller a couple of days later). I’m feeling an extremely long entry here…

Upon arrival at our hotel, I noticed something I had not seen in the past two cities…activity!! We were right downtown, and this time, downtown was the way it should be in a major city – populated, alive. For once, I was excited to get out and explore. I was also excited that Anastasia would be able to have some fun in the city before our usual routine started on Tuesday. Usually, we’re too tired and/or it’s too late to do anything but travel on “travel day” – we got lucky this time. After a quick stop in our room, the four of us headed down to Friday’s, our hotel’s restaurant, with Pat and Marissa, and Tim and Amanda. We were all starving. I was happy that there was a fairly consistent chain restaurant attached to the hotel. It would make lunch for the girls easier than usual. After an uneventful dinner, we all went out…just wandering, with no plan. That’s the way I like it. We headed for Beale Street, passing the famous Peabody Hotel (where we were NOT staying) along the way. Anastasia and Isabella immediately wanted to go into The Lucky Duck (if you know anything about The Peabody, you can figure out what they sell there), but fearing I’d not be able to get them back outside, I told them we’d go back during the week. There was no end to the shops, restaurants, bars, and even a movie theater – all open and waiting for us! We walked down Beale Street to check out – what else – possible restaurants for the week. We stopped at Ben & Jerry’s, where everybody got ice cream. It was good; I’m generally not an ice cream person, which I realize is sacrilegious to some! Eddie is, in fact, an ice cream person, so it balances out…after Ben & Jerry’s, we went to the Rock and Soul Museum. We decided to watch the movie and go on the tour, which was very cool, as was the gift shop in the museum. We bought our first Memphis souvenirs there. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the museum, so I did. We found our way to People’s Billiards on Beale Street. It was all but empty, so we asked if the girls could play pool. Anastasia had never played before, and wanted to learn. That was Eddie’s job, though he wound up playing against Pat. Anastasia played with Marissa and Amanda, and Tim watched the action unfold. What was I doing?

Well, after I took a few pictures, I noticed the digital jukebox. Imagine my delight when I found New Edition songs available to download! I spent the next hour singing and dancing with Isabella to “Candy Girl” and “Cool It Now.” I want a jukebox, a big one.

After our pool hall adventure, we decided it was time for Bella to go to sleep. We walked back to the hotel, and I got her (and myself!) ready for bed. Meanwhile, Eddie and Anastasia clandestinely headed out again, met up with Mike and Gabi, and went to Peabody Place, which is the mall. Anastasia had a water massage there at H2Oasis!

The next day, it was business as usual, with the girls going to school at 11:00. Lunch was a breeze, though, because we went to Friday’s at around 12:40, ordered lunch for Anastasia, and then Eddie picked her up from the classroom, and brought her down to the restaurant where her food was waiting…this worked perfectly for the next few days.

The Orpheum is a beautiful, old, supposedly haunted (by a little girl named Mary, among others) theatre. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I LOVE old theatres the best. The crowds were great, well except for the one on “Pajama Night.” The kids all looked adorable in their pajamas, but some of them just should not have been at the theatre that night, and their parents knew it. However, I have to say that we met some very nice people at the stage door after just about every show.

On our Memphis “city sheet,” I quickly noticed a restaurant called South Philly. After confirming that the owners were actually from Philadelphia (they are), I headed there with Isabella on Tuesday afternoon. Many, MANY places in the country try to duplicate the Philly Cheesesteak. I haven’t found one that compares yet. I figured this place had to be decent since there were actual ties to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the rolls were squishy on the outside instead of crispy, the steak was chopped so much, it crumbled, and had some strange peppery taste, there were no cherry peppers or even ketchup bottles there. I had to ask for ketchup and was given two teensy packs that didn’t even make it across half of the sandwich. To add insult to injury, it was not Heinz Ketchup. I was very disappointed. I guess the cheesesteak would have been ok had I not eaten real ones for years. They claimed to use Amoroso’s rolls, which is fine, except that I don’t consider Amoroso’s even in the top five Philadelphia rolls. I’m sorry, but a roll’s integrity is compromised as soon as it is placed in a plastic bag and sold at the supermarket! There is a positive, though. South Philly sells TastyKakes!! We love TastyKakes. I bought five or six different kinds to take to our hotel room for snacks. I figured they’d last a few days, at least. I think they were gone by the next morning! Eddie loves Chocolate Juniors, the girls love the little chocolate donuts (is that what they’re called?) and Butterscotch Krimpets, and I love, among other things, Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes.

Our dinner adventures began in Peabody Place before Tuesday’s show; Eddie and Anastasia met up with me and Isabella at Tower Records, which is closing! That’s very bad news, but the good news was that everything was 40-60% off! Many cast members were in the store that afternoon! Back to dinner – we didn’t have much time between school and sound check, so we figured we’d eat someplace in the mall. We went to Isaac Hayes and asked if they could seat and serve us fast. They did, and the food was very good, according to Eddie and the girls. I didn’t order anything because I had eaten the mediocre cheesesteak not too long before. Anyway, they all especially liked the macaroni and cheese that came as a side.

The following night, we tried Rendezvous. We had dinner that night with Shannon and Brandy. Rendezvous specializes in dry-rub ribs, which were tasty, though expensive considering they really don’t come with anything but a small cup of coleslaw (the kids did not like it; it was an orange-y color and spicy) and a small cup of baked beans, which were watery. Everything is served on paper plates, too. I decided I prefer wet ribs; so did Eddie. He didn’t think they were hot enough (temperature-wise) when they came out, either. Rendezvous is a very well-known place, though – and most people seem to love it. I didn’t love it. Thursday night we went to Blues City Café on Beale St. The ribs seemed to go over better with Anastasia (she loves ribs) and Isabella AND Amanda this time, too (she was trying ribs for the first time). Both she and Anastasia were very proud to have cleaned the bones, literally! There’s a picture. Also, the beef stew there was really good; Eddie liked the gumbo, but not the tamales. I don’t know why he ordered them anyway!

During the school day on Friday, the girls went on a field trip to the National Civil Rights Museum. Eddie went with Anastasia, while I watched Isabella. We walked around, shopped, and ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I can’t remember the name of it, but I didn’t really like the food anyway! The girls seemed to like the museum, though I think (for the most part) that the adults got more out of that trip than the kids did. Eddie said it was very sad. I’m glad I skipped it! Many of the adult cast members went to Graceland on Friday. I would’ve preferred that trip, but we did not have time for it. The rest of the orphans and parents went to Graceland on Saturday morning because there was no other time to go, but I knew it was not wise to wake up Anastasia so early on a two-show day. Maybe next time!

On Friday night, we finally made it to Big Foot Lodge. Isabella had pointed out the giant foot on the wall outside several times during the week. It wound up being one of my top two favorite restaurants in Memphis. We planned to go at 5:00 so Anastasia would have plenty of time to eat and relax before call time. Eddie and Anastasia went ahead to get a table while I got Isabella ready; it was only about two blocks from the hotel. He called about five minutes later to tell me there was a 30-40 minute wait. I told him to stay anyway, and that maybe it wouldn’t be that long. By the time I got there a few minutes later with Isabella, he was seated at a booth. I was confused at first, but Eddie told me that the manager (Dustin, I think) had seen his and Anastasia’s “Annie” badges, had the foresight to realize they did not have a huge amount of time, and gave them the next available table. Now, THAT is customer service. Eddie mentioned nothing about the show, yet the manager was considerate enough to seat us almost immediately in a crowded restaurant. That is why we went back two more times after that, when it wasn’t so crowded! More on Big Foot in a little while! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Anastasia lost another tooth that night at Big Foot; I was relieved that the tooth came out BEFORE the show this time!

In between shows on Saturday, we went on a ghost tour at The Orpheum. Barbara Jackson, one of the ushers, told all of us the story of the aforementioned resident ghost, Mary, a little girl who was supposedly hit by a trolley. Apparently, Mary loves and frequents the theatre often, and has been seen by many people. It was very cool! Of course, I saw nothing even though I looked for her all week. After our ghost tour, many of us went to The Majestic Grille on Main St. I loved my food (so did Isabella)…Eddie and Anastasia shared, too! They have a great pre-theatre menu that includes the perfect-sized dessert (in my opinion, of course). I had key lime pie, and it was perfect. I was sorry we didn’t eat there more than once. The only drawback to the restaurant is that the smoke from the bar area inevitably permeates the restaurant.

Our second trip to Big Foot Lodge was on Sunday afternoon. The inside of the restaurant is designed like a log cabin, with a giant fireplace in the back. The only things I didn’t like were the wall mountings – you could figure out what was hanging. I’m not a hunting fan. Eddie had a fatty prime rib sandwich – prime rib is known to be fatty, but I guess he thought it would be trimmed since it was in a sandwich. When he told the waitress he didn’t like it (I liked my club sandwich and yummy sweet potato fries, by the way), the owner (Shawn, I believe) came out himself to tell Eddie to let the waitress know next time that he would like the fat trimmed. We asked about the restaurant’s hours, because we saw that the menu said “kitchen open late.” We were excited when they told us that they’re open until midnight or later, because we had promised Anastasia we’d go back for dessert – they have S’mores – that you make yourself!! Since the show on Sunday night was early (6:30!), everyone could be at the restaurant by 9:30 roasting marshmallows to make S’mores! So after the last Memphis show, everyone headed to Big Foot to have dessert…that’s when we found out they were OUT OF CHOCOLATE! Sensing disappointment, the owner actually left the restaurant and went to buy chocolate – at 9:30 on a Sunday night! Who does that?? If for no other reason than that, you should definitely go to Big Foot if ever in Memphis. The S’mores were a hit, and everybody was happy! It was a perfect ending to an amazing week in Memphis.

No, I’m not finished. In between Sunday’s shows, the staff at the theatre had a giant buffet dinner for us with a ton of food. Everything was SOOO good. We’ve learned to never turn down home-cooked food! Chris, one of the employees, made this great chicken casserole. She told me the recipe, and of course, I failed to write it down.

We spent a good amount of time throughout the week at Peabody Place, mostly hanging out in the little (indoor) courtyard area by Starbucks. Isabella was a big fan of the peppermint hot chocolate, and also of the cool gumball machine on the upper level. If you want some amazing chocolate-covered strawberries, marshmallows, pretzels, etc., you really must visit Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on the lower level! I think we were there three times. I also tried, but failed, to stay away from The Gap. It’s really not my fault it was right there.

All in all, Memphis was clearly one of the best cities we visited. Except for some pretty aggressive panhandlers, everyone we met was exceptionally nice. I wish I could’ve squeezed in more sightseeing, but I’ve learned that it will always be impossible to see everything!

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November 13, 2006 by admin.

Ok, I have to say right off that I can’t promise a very long entry for Des Moines. At this point, I don’t feel like I have much to impart, but you never know! The flight to Des Moines from Greenville was quite irritating since there was a layover. Of course, one of our big suitcases and our jog stroller were missing when we got to the airport in Des Moines. Apparently, they were still in Greenville. The baggage claim person was very nice about providing this information, and assured us that the luggage would arrive on a later flight and that it would be delivered to us at the hotel later that night. It was. I love happy endings.

The hotel was one of the best ones yet. I’d rank it “best” but the lack of a refrigerator or microwave dropped its placement on my list. The rooms were big, with sitting areas and two full bathrooms (which was perfect since Eddie decided to relapse). I was forced to assign Eddie his own bathroom so that the rest of us could avoid his two week old germs! The only problems with the bathrooms were 1) there was no counter space so everything kept falling on the floor, and 2) the mirrors were so high on the wall that only those standing over 6’5” could see their entire faces in the mirror. The MAJOR plus about the hotel was that it was about one block from the Civic Center. It was possible to go to the show, watch a few scenes, and go back to the hotel to relax for an hour before returning for Act II! Most (if not all of us) took full advantage of that all week. It also allowed the girls more free time before and in between shows because travel time was nonexistent. It should be that way in every city. Alas, it is not! The hotel staff members were so nice. Everyone, from the front desk employees to the hairdresser (yes, there was a hair salon in the hotel), was friendly and professional. The housekeeper even made a toothbrush holder for us out of a washcloth!

On Tuesday morning, we went through the usual rigamarole of figuring out where to get the girls breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Unfortunately, most hotels stop serving breakfast at 10:00 AM, which is the earliest Anastasia EVER wakes up in the morning. Luckily, Eddie is usually awake, dressed, and coherent enough to go downstairs to get food for her, at least. The rest of us do not have to be at school by 11:00 AM so we can find food elsewhere. We quickly discovered that the hotel was connected to the skywalk system in downtown Des Moines. The skywalk can be quite deserted, and thus, a little scary, even in the middle of a weekday. I immediately decided I prefer walking outside, even in the rain. I couldn’t figure out why it seemed so desolate, until we got to the food court in the Kaleidoscope at the Hub at around 3:30 that afternoon. The “Kaleidoscope” is like a mini-mall – there aren’t many stores in which to shop, but there’s an ok food court on the 3rd floor. We entered the mall area through the skywalk which put us on the 2nd floor; upon looking up towards the food court, we saw darkness. I assumed a power outage, maybe. The pretzel man told us that the food court closes at 2:00 PM. 2:00 PM?? Some people don’t even take their lunch breaks until well after that! I couldn’t believe it. Des Moines is the capital city, for goodness sake! We were forced to find food elsewhere, and it only got worse. Many places in Des Moines are closed by 3:00 or 4:00 PM. I have no idea what the reasoning is behind that, but so be it.

Luckily, there was a cast party after the show that night, because that is how we discovered the Court Avenue Restaurant and Brewery Co. It’s a pretty good restaurant, and has normal hours. We wound up going there a few times during the week. The many Civic Center employees at the cast party that night were extremely friendly and welcoming. Also, there were incredible crowds at the Civic Center for every single performance from opening to closing. I was stunned when I saw the theatre filled to capacity on opening night! I walked in with Mike (Gabi’s dad) and Shannon (Brandy’s mom), and we were lucky to get seats WAAAY in the back. We wound up sitting in the very last row, in folding chairs, where the ushers usually sit! The crowds in Des Moines were probably the best we encountered since Chicago. I also couldn’t believe the number of people who waited at the stage door – in near freezing cold - for the girls to come out after the shows. I do wonder where all those people live, because it certainly can’t be in downtown Des Moines!

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We wanted to mail a package of accumulated “stuff” home on Saturday, but Kinko’s was…closed. So was Burger King - all weekend. Go figure! Anyway, the most exciting thing, besides the Civic Center audiences, of course, was the fact that we saw the first snow in Des Moines! It wasn’t much, but it was sooo pretty to watch! I love snow; I realize many people don’t, but it makes me giddy.

On Saturday morning, a few people went on a tour of the capitol building. Saturday is always a two-show day, and we made the decision that Anastasia would sleep instead of touring the capitol building. While I’m sure the capitol building is very nice, I’m also sure that Anastasia needs to sleep in whenever possible. In my opinion, trips like that should be scheduled during the school day, so that the parents do not feel they have to take them on Saturday morning, one of two mornings the girls are able to sleep a little longer. That opinion is not based on the fact that I am the parent of a first-grader. That is my opinion as a middle school teacher, who believes that this is the opportunity of a lifetime for these girls not only to do what they love, but also to travel around the country and see places they might not have otherwise seen. Therefore, they should actually have the opportunity to SEE what every city offers. It should be mandatory. Somewhere, in some logical mind, that should supersede how many “hours” of school they have, since field trips should be an integral part of every kid’s education. As an aside, because of the hourly school requirements, Anastasia is pretty much finished first grade. There are only seven girls, so she is basically getting one-on-one attention for four and a half hours a day, and is flying through all of her books. I know that many people don’t realize exactly what the weekly schedule is for the girls, so here it is…Monday is usually a travel day. They are in school from Tuesday through Friday, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM (unless there are rehearsals, etc.) with a half hour break; then they have shows every night. About three times a week, they even have school at the theatre when they are not on stage performing. There are always two shows on Saturday and Sunday, unless there is a Wednesday matinee. In that case, there is only one show on Sunday. Believe it or not, when there are two shows on Wednesday, the girls go to school from 11:00 to 12:00, and have to be at the theatre by 1:15. So there you have it…

I feel much better after that mini-rant about school! Ok, so in between shows on Saturday, we could not find food. Besides the approximately 3,000 people going to see Annie, there was also a Toby Keith concert in town. The other reason we could not find food was because there were about four restaurants open in town (not including Domino’s). There are two miniscule Italian restaurants. There is Court Avenue Restaurant and Brewing Co., and there is Spaghetti Works (yuck). All had one to one and a half hour waits. That was about the total time we had available. We could not find a place that would accommodate us, and it was imperative that Anastasia sit down, have dinner, and relax. Once again (see Greenville’s blog), a coffee shop came to the rescue. This time it was Java Joe’s. Not only did Java Joe’s have good coffee/tea, etc., but it had really good soup and sandwiches, too – without the wait. It was one of the only establishments in Des Moines that was open when we needed it to be – morning, noon, and night. We went back twice on Sunday, both because we liked it there, and we wanted to give them our business.

So that was our week in Des Moines. After the Sunday night show in Des Moines, all of the girls had a pizza/pool party at the hotel! They needed it!! This turned out to be a fairly long entry after all!!

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