Day 3 & 4 August 16th & 17th

When I got up on the 16^th I decided to see if there was any place nearby that would take my Marriot points. Over the last few years whenever I could I would try to stay at a Marriot for conventions. Mainly because they always seemed the official hotel of most of the conventions I did but also because I was part of the Marriot rewards point program. I punch it in and find I have enough points for a 2-day stay a hotel on the beach and it will only cost $12.50. So I quickly booked a room before my luck changed and told Wilson the good news.

Wilson: Are you sure it will only cost $12.50.

Eric: Yeah thanks to the reward points.

Wilson: Well since you got us the deal I’ll pay the $12.50

Eric: (Just staring)

Wilson: Fine if you want to pay the 12.50 I won’t stand in your way. I was just trying to contribute.

Eric: (Still staring)

Wilson: Remember you invited me.

Eric: I’m trying to remember why.

So to kill some time we decided to hit the movies and kill 2 hours. We saw the movie “District 9” very enjoyable and very surprising. Several times in the movie I expected it to go left and it went right. For all the sci fi fans out there I would highly recommend it. I do have one complaint I felt that there was too much camera movement and scene cuts. It just constantly felt like he jumped from angle to angle of each scene. I know it’s supposed to create the feeling of a fast pace but to me it actually took a little away from the film.

After the movie we went to a Barnes & Noble because we love free Wi Fi. While at B&N Wilson got an email from one of his clients who needed some work done. Wilson gave him the whole spiel about being on vacation but said he would get it to him soon because freelancers can never turn down work. So while we spent most of the days checking out the boardwalk and eating Wilson spent his nights working to get the project done. Which worked out because I was getting a head cold and at night I was dying. Yeah that’s right I go on vacation and I get a head cold. So the first night that we are on the beach we turn on the TV while Wilson is working the first thing we hear is ”Hurricane’s are expected to hit land sometimes in the next day. “

Wilson: Is that for here?

Eric: No, Florida.

Wilson: Do we have to worry?

Eric: No but if you hear any loud noises and I drop to the ground and yell “get down!” You do it.

Wilson: Fair enough I mean I really Doubt

BOOM!

Eric: Are you serious?

For a hot second I thought it was thunder, but it was too rapid.

We pull back the shades and see they are just randomly setting of Fireworks in front of us. We sit and watch for 10 minutes me taking pictures from inside the room while Wilson sits on the balcony. (I’m afraid of heights.) It was actually pretty cool.

The next day we walk the boardwalk and enjoy some of the sights (the statues, the shore, and the girls in tight bikinis… Don’t judge me, I’m still a guy.) and we have some grub I notice something Virginia beach seems more geared to families, not a bad thing just an observation, and the really cool stuff is not actually on the boardwalk but actually 1 block over. I go to Atlantic City all the time and that is geared towards keeping you on the boardwalk. You go one block over and you are reminded hey I’m in Jersey. In Virginia Beach there are more little shops 1 block over.

The other weird thing is that Virginia doesn’t have an actual Boardwalk, a boardwalk is a walkway made up of wooden boards. This was concrete just bouncing the sun back up at you. I drank a lot of water walking just half the boardwalk that might also be because I am out of shape but I like to blame the sun.

Below is a list of places we went to:

Oasis Bar and Grill: a little hole in the wall but the food was awfully good for under 20 bucks for 2 people.

Laverne’s/Chix Café: one side of the place is restaurant; the other side is a bar. It was a nice ocean side restaurant where they played live music. While the music was good it was not really my style of music. The food was good and the service and ambience made the place very enjoyable. I would definitely recommend this place to visitors.

Captain George’s seafood buffet, this place is great. I recommend everyone go there, the place has so much good seafood; I didn’t try anything and not like it. Besides it being a good restaurant the place is gorgeous. It has 2 huge stained glass domes that are just amazing.

If you would like to see some pics go here.

Day 2 Saturday August 15, 2009

We had stopped for the night at a Motel 6 in Delaware. It was a small 2 bedroom place but it served our purposes, and after staying at the Pickwick* few places scare me. I will admit I was a little disturbed by the bed being right under the window. I kept expecting an axe murderer to just crash through or maybe Mercedes would come looking for her/my car.

The next morning we were off to Geppi’s Pop Culture museum www.geppismuseum.com. Now I was not sure what to expect, a lot of the museums I have been to that focus on comics have just been fancy comic shops but this was actually quite impressive. Each room seemed to be filled with more and more memorabilia. I mean it was insane. One of the coolest things was that the comic room had a display where you could read a digital copy of a couple of comics. It was a nice blend of history and technology. And since you can’t interact with the books directly this was a great substitute.

The museum is located above the Legends of Sports Museum and is next to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and because it was a game day admission was $1.00. I was so impressed by the museum that I didn’t argue too much when Wilson walked through the comic book room 3 times. I did eventually have leave a trail of Swedish fish out so he would leave the museum.

Now the great thing about going without a plan is you don’t have to be anywhere. You go when and where you want. The bad thing is you sometimes can’t get into some of the really popular sites. I wasn’t able to get into the Baltimore Aguarium so I am going to have to come back some day. Unfortunately while it was a beautiful day it was hot as hell so we went to a Panera to upload my first blog www.panerabread.com. Never been to a Panera restaurant before it’s another chain like Atlanta bread company but the food was pretty cool and the free wifi was great. Afterwards we walked around Baltimore. It is amazing seeing some of the old architecture being reused for corporate greed. The United Railways Electric Company is now being used as an ESPN Zone, a Barnes & Nobles and a couple of other places. I normally can’t deal with companies taking over historic sites like stadiums and having them renamed after banks but in this case I think it was a great idea. I haven’t had a chance to look it up yet but I would guess if these companies did not step in than the building would have been torn down and that would have been a shame.

After a while we decide to get some food and I have been seaching the Diner Drive in and Dives web site so I can find some good cheap places to eat and I found this place called Chaps Restaurant www.chapspitbeef.com. And this is the conversation that happened on the way.

Wilson: So what are we doing after we eat?

Eric: Well it’s still early we could head straight to Virginia or we could go to a bar or a club.

Wilson: You want to go to another strip club?

Eric: No I meant a dance club. Not that I’m opposed to a strip club but I know that if we hit another strip club we’ll have to go back home. Besides I already gave Mercedes the registration to my car she may have people on the look out for me.

As we are driving towards Chaps We see a huge sign for another Gold’s strip Club.

Eric: How many Gold’s clubs are there?

Wilson: Are you sure you don’t want to go a strip club.

Eric: I swear it’s the GPS.

Wilson: Yeah, right.

GPS: Arriving at Destination.

Wilson: We are not eating at a Strip club Buffet.

Eric: No, look the Restaurant is in a corner of the strip clubs Parking lot.

And the place was a dive but it was so good. I had this huge burger with BBQ sauce and Wilson had a rib sandwich. We both had cheese fries. Now the food is all cooked over charcoal and it tastes really good. I would highly recommend this place the only thing is you should know that it is on a porn section of the highway. From Chaps I could see 2 Porn Shops and a strip club… I was so happy. However we decided that we would just drive straight to Virginia. Near DC we realized another flaw with Chaps they don’t have a bathroom. Wilson had to piss like a racehorse but I also needed gas so I didn’t make him piss out the car window… Again.

We than headed to Virginia Beach which was about a 3 hour drive. And got there around midnight lucky me it looks like a biker convention in the area and all the cheaper hotels were booked but after several phone calls and begging we finally found a cheap room. So after driving and being tense and needing time to unwind I finally got to sleep at 3 in the morning, but I was in Virginia Beach. VACTIONS ROCK!!!

If you want to see my trip picks click here.

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* The Pickwick hotel was a hotel in San Diego I used a couple of times when I would visit San Diego. This place was a dive, as you walked by rooms you could swear you smell the scent of dead hooker permeating the air. I was often embarrased or proud to tell people I was staying there. It all depended on whom I was talking to. On the one hand staying at the Pickwick is not for the faint at heart and I slept with my knife in my hand. On the other if I found a female who was of low enough caliber to sleep with me freely I could not take her back to my room. Hell I would rather they thought I slept at the convention center than be at the Pickwick