The Arboretum houses several
garden types, including...
A Japanese garden.
I mean, come on.
Why else would I be here?
Are you not paying attention????
Huh? What'dja say?
I am interested in how
varied the different
Japanese gardens are.
There are similar elements
common among them,
but the presentation differs.
They are beautiful. I like the idea of seeing infinite variations on the theme.
I had been told that
Japanese tradition holds
that spirits can only travel
in straight lines, which is
why Japanese bridges
or pathways zig-zag.
Ok. If someone told me that, I'd buy it.
Apparently... this is not the case.
The reason the bridges
and pathways zig-zag...
is because it looks nice.
This is like the way we decorate our house. Someone asked what our style was and we said, "Stuff we like."
The sand (or gravel)
is raked to represent
ripples or waves.
The carefully placed
elements within the sand
or gravel are meant to
be seen as islands.
Interesting. Now that I did not know.
Bells are found in Budhist
temples throughout Japan.
They are used to call the monks
and to demarcate time.
Interestingly, they normaly
do not have clappers and are
instead meant to be rung
when struck from the outside.
The kids may or may not have enjoyed the big one we found at the Buddhist Temple in Hawaii we visited.
Originally, when I had planned
this road trip, it was from
Winnipeg to Milwaukee.
A round trip distance of 1,600 miles.
I have friends near Chicago,
and that would only add
another 100 miles, so...
Chicago got added on.
And then...
A nice young lady asked
if I would swing by
and pay her and her hubby
a visit.
Well, sure. I mean, how hard could that be?
And then she played dirty.
She told me that there
was a really good ice cream
shop there, too.
Well, now you have to go.
I went from 1,600 miles
to 1,700 miles....
to 3,400 miles.
I like ice cream.
Dude!
Does the ice cream cure cancer?
Annie (
@SoccerDogWithEars )
had suggested we meet at
Bad Daddy's Burger Bar.
With a name like that,
I wasn't going to say no!
With a name like that, I'd probably add the extra 1,700 miles too.
It turned out that they
were running behind
and would be about
twenty five minutes late.
I drove almost 2,000 miles
and was ten minutes early.
But... to be fair,
they did have to come from
across town.
So... pretty far.
While I waited,
I glanced over the menu.
Looks like my kinda place.
They sat down and
we just started yakking
like we'd all known each
other for years.
Yeah, I try not to yak in front of somebody unless I know them really well. It can be embarrassing.
That may have been
one of the best burgers
I've ever had.
Holy crap was it good.
High praise! Annie and Joe know their stuff, apparently.
As we chatted,
Annie and Joe intimated
that they wanted to take
me somewhere as a surprise.
I had a niggling suspicion
and asked if it might be
the local Harley store.
I hope I didn't disappoint
them too much when I
informed them that I'd
already been.
Of course you had.
Yes, I'm an awful person.
But then, you already knew this.
We drove for what seemed
like a fairly long time.
After about thirty minutes.
I decided that either
I was going to be beaten,
robbed and left for dead
in the wilds of North Carolina;
or there was something
truly magical at the end
of the road.
Last I checked, Disney World is not in North Carolina. Aren't you closer to where Deliverance took place?
Thankfully, it was the latter.
(Please keep your disappointment
that it wasn't the former to yourselves.)
I'm not THAT cruel. Sheesh.
I was warned about
(and slightly dared to try)
the "Cold Sweat" ice cream.
The ingredients therein include
tai chilies and habaneros
which, (as if that wasn't enough)
are marinated in "Mega Death" hot sauce.
And then, to cap it off,
the ice cream is seasoned with
ghost chili sauce.
You actually have to sign
a waiver before they'll
serve it to you.
We have one of those at an ice cream place around here, too. I don't know what would possess anyone to try it.
I demurred and chose
a much more pedestrian
double scoop of
Apple Pie and Peach Cobbler.
That sounds really good!
I must admit to wondering....
What would they do if you tasted
all 120+ flavours....
and then declared you were too full
for ice cream when they asked
you to finally order?
You get your photo on the wall!
Along with a sign that says, "Do Not Serve This Man."
I cannot confirm or deny
that I didn't shove
Annie's ice cream on her nose.
Double negative makes it confusing....
Normally, a DISmeet for me
lasts anywhere from 5 minutes
(just a quick hello/goodbye)
to an hour or so.
(If there's a meal involved.)
I wound up spending four
hours with these wonderful people.
Wow! This can only mean that Annie and Joe must be pretty awesome.
I glanced over at Betty
and saw that I had
about five more hours
of driving ahead of me.
Well, as long as it was a nice, easy stretch.
I settled in with the car
on cruise control.
Good idea! Then you can take a nap.
I quickly checked my rear-view mirror
and the shoulder to my left
to make sure I had some escape options.
The SUV in front of me suddenly swerved
wildly off onto the shoulder.
Never a good sign.
As I smashed into the crate
at seventy miles an hour,
the resulting explosion
turned my idyllic drive
into anything but.
Plastic shards flew everywhere.
Yikes! I'm glad it wasn't something more solid!
I have to admit that in the split
second before I struck, I had
thought that the crate was empty.
Now I was fairly certain.
(big sigh of relief)
Who knew that smashing
into a dog crate wouldn't
be the worst thing
that happened that evening?
This is not sounding pleasant.
Did you see it in this chapter?
Not sure why that place would want to advertise that fact.
Originally, my drive was going
to look something like this:
Seems reasonable.
But as plans changed
and others chimed in,
it morphed to something like this:
A decent chunk, but could be fun with interesting stops along the way.
There must be a lot of ice cream down that way.
But even that isn't a sure thing.
I might go through Delaware
(time permitting) instead.
Wait...what??? Why would you want to do that? Do I need to remind you of our state motto?
If you're interested in me popping by
and saying hello, let me know.
But... fair warning...
Do not be offended if you ask
and the answer is "No".
Some things I just can't do.
No worries. You were already on the receiving end of that when I couldn't make Winnipeg work. And I was really hoping you weren't offended at that point. You can't do everything.
If you can't fit it in, I'll completely understand. If you can, we'll try and take good care of you.
Bad Daddy's is amaaaaaaaaaazing. We love them. It's on my list of places to take
@Captain_Oblivious if he ever makes it to the area.
It looks like a place I would love! We were (somewhat) nearby last month coming back from Disney. We ended up stopping in Fayetteville for the night. Maybe I should have taken a detour!
)
And I have exactly four days before my fall semester starts
)? Yeah, I thought so
But I really am curious to know what the Exit Wound flavor is. 
