Sushi Quest

I love sushi.  I'd have to say it's my favorite food, and I would eat it every day if the fresh stuff wasn't so crazy expensive.  But when I am able (i.e. when my mom is paying) I try to find new, great sushi restaurants.  In Elmhurst, where I grew up, there's an excellent place called Sushi Nest.  They have fresh ingredients, to-die-for rolls (try the Red Dragon), and friendly staff, and the dim lighting and soft piano jazz playing in the background make it perfect for unwinding and digging into raw fish.  It's my go-to, but because I live in the city now I've started searching for sushi closer to home.

Kamehachi

1531 N Wells St.
Chicago, IL 60611

Kamehachi in Old Town is fantastic.  We had a wonderful waiter who helped us choose some rolls, and they were delicious.  To be honest I don't really remember what they were because what stuck with me was the rock shrimp tempura--soft juicy shrimp delicately fried and covered in a heavenly sweet and spicy sauce--and the hachi ceviche, which added cashew, plaintain chips, basil, and wasabi to the traditional whitefish. Yum.  Ambiance-wise it's a bit trendy and contemporary, which I do like, but it's not a very traditional sushi-restaurant atmosphere.  It's a big restaurant and lacks the cozy feel of other places I've been.  It's well suited to a younger crowd, for a night out with friends.

Tanoshii

5547 N Clark St.

Chicago, IL 60640

Tanoshii on Check, Please! 

Recently my mom paid me a somewhat spontaneous visit, so we went to try a new place, Tanoshii in Andersonville.  We had tried to go there the night we ended up at Kamehachi, but for some reason or another we didn't.  It was well worth the wait.  Tanoshii was on Check, Please!, the PBS show where regular people review Chicago-area restaurants, and I can't imagine that anyone had anything bad to say about this place.  Tanoshii means "happy/pleasurable/delightful" and it is aptly named.  It was probably the best sushi experience I've had.  

First, we accidentally arrived about 20 minutes before they opened at 4, but they sat us anyway and one of the chefs chatted with us.  We looked over the menu but were indecisive, and he suggested the Sushi Mike special: the chef (Sushi Mike wasn't in yet but our guy was extremely capable) would ask us what we liked and didn't like, and he would make up custom dishes suited to our tastes.  This is the best possible thing to propose because a) customized sushi!!! and b) no deciding between all the delicious menu items!  We told him we liked tuna, salmon, avocado, cucumber, and tempura.  My mom told him nothing spicy and no mayonnaise, which I generally agree with.  Though when he asked me "But you're good with anything, right?" I didn't think and nodded my head (I don't love spicy either).  But it worked out alright.

Our first course was tuna sashimi dressed in truffle honey, rosemary, and chives and lightly caramelized with a blow torch. Holy Bluefin, it was amazing!  I would have never put those flavors together but they worked together flawlessly.  The chef continued to feed us a steady stream of rolls: salmon and avocado with chili sauce, a crab/shrimp tempura roll topped with avocado, tuna with cucumber, and more decadence than I can describe.  "Do you want one more?" Absolutely.  Everything came with some sort of sauce that eliminated the need for soy sauce, all with unconventional flavors that I've never had with sushi.  Aside from the food, Tanoshii's service was amazing, from the friendly host who sat us before they opened to the expert sushi chef.  It was personal and everyone chatted with us and made us feel welcome.  Maybe it would have been different if we weren't the only customers there (only three other people had come by the time we left) but as it was, it was a great experience.  The bill was more than the typical sushi bill but for what we got, we agreed it was well worth it.  Oh, and if you're looking for drinks, it's BYOB.  We were so focused on the food we didn't even think about that and just stuck to water.  

I'm looking forward to revisiting Tanoshii.  I think next time I'll tell the chef that I like yellowfin and eel and see what he comes up with.

Floridadventures! Part 2: Fake Spain and the City of Mustaches

Here, finally, is part 2 of my Floridadventure of September.  I last left you with the end of our Disney Day, where Abby and I gallivanted through Disney World with Saskia, riding rides, not waiting in lines, and meeting Doug.  Now, for the reason I traveled to Florida in the first place...

DAY 3: Mumford Takeover and an Excess of Sand

Before we checked out, Abby and I took a walk around the whole Art of Animation resort taking pictures.  Each section was so well done, with little details that I kept noticing for the first time.  I was really impressed with the Cars section; though it’s not my favorite movie at all, it was so well done, down to the sidewalk painted as a road and the orange cone cabanas around the pool.

Photo by Abby

The time had come to say farewell to Disney World.  There was a glorious weekend awaiting us in St. Augustine.  As we drove we sang along to Mumford & Sons, The Head & The Heart, The Decemberists, all the music we’d listened to our senior year of college.  It was like we’d never been apart, and we’d both missed this.  Before St. Augustine, we stopped at a beach that Abby had found online before our trip.  Washington Oaks State Gardens boasts formal gardens and lush walking paths, but much to the dismay of the employees at the ticket booth, we were really only interested in the beach with cool rock formations.  Abby and I frolicked in the waves and on the rocks, and sunned ourselves until the tide decided to change all of a sudden and the ocean tried to take our belongings.  It didn’t succeed but everything was wet and covered in whole-wheat-textured sand afterwards.

Even before we arrived in St. Augustine there was evidence of the Mumford takeover.  A half an hour before we even entered the city limits there was a sign on the highway directing festivalgoers to parking.  When we reached our Holiday Inn Express, we were greeted by employees of CID Entertainment, which we had booked our tickets and hotel through.  They handed us our Gentlemen of the Road wristbands, passports, posters, and t-shirts.  Before we could go downtown and get our Gentlemen of the Road (GOTR) on, showering was necessary.

When we stepped off the shuttle from our hotel to downtown, we were met with crowds of people and music and flags and mustaches everywhere.  We were starving (ok I was starving), and the first food place we saw was a tent selling barbeque.  We got a couple of pulled pork sandwiches and ate quite fast.  Though the gates to the festival were now open, the first band wouldn’t be on yet so we decided to walk around town.  There were mustaches EVERYWHERE.  Big ones, little ones, black ones, neon ones, on every shop window and sign.  Official GOTR flags with all sorts of designs and shapes and bright colors hung on every other building.  I was obsessed with the flags and repetitively voiced my desire to have them all.  Shops without official flags had put up Union Jacks or painted their windows with “Welcome Mumford & Sons” and banjos and mustaches.  Tedi’s Ice Cream had temporarily changed its name to “Ted’s” in honor of Mr. Dwane and businesses were offering deals to festivalgoers.  The whole town was just so into it and went absolutely all-out, which created an incredibly happy atmosphere.  There were musicians strumming guitars and playing harmonicas and singing on the sidewalks and in bars.  And best of all, most of these shops and cafes were on pedestrian-only streets, perfect for the influx of music lovers now wandering the nation's oldest city.

Aviles Street - Photo by Abby

Me, just resting on some history.  -Photo by Abby

St. Augustine is adorable on its own, actually.  As it is the oldest continuously-occupied city in the United States, founded by the Spanish, there are loads of historical, Spanish-y buildings now converted into shops and cafes and painfully adorable B&Bs.  There are streets named after Spanish cities and azulejos (Spanish tiles) naming homes and businesses and the occasional Spanish flag.  Every other shop is an art gallery and I didn't even count how many museums there were.  Keep in mind this is all within like a three-block radius.  One particularly notable shop was a popcorn store, featuring over 100 colorful flavors displayed in big clear plastic bins, with labels like "Birthday Cake" and "Spicy Taco."  When I tried the apple pie flavor and commented on the cinnamon flavor, the woman giving out samples practically flew to the back of the store exclaiming, "Oh, you HAVE to try the Halloween flavor!!!"

Rainbows of popcorn! -Photo by Abby

Can't imagine how quick these B&Bs got booked for the festival.

Mustaches and Mumford songs

We really enjoyed wandering St. George Street and the surrounding area, but it was time to enter the long-anticipated festival.  Passports in hand and wristbands on wrists, we passed through the tunnel of flags to St. Francis Field just as Willy Mason was starting his set.  We. Had. Arrived.

There were lines of people dotting the field, all queuing to get passport stamps.  There was some sort of drawing you could enter once you got all the stamps, but we kind of just collected them for ourselves.  There was a stamp for each band on the lineup, plus other fun themed stamps like mustaches, a man with a top hat, and a stamp to match the enormous arm raising a dumbbell planted on the field.  Abby attempted to get a tank top from the merch booth but gave up after waiting 20 minutes in the line.  Surely there had to be a better system.  I didn't mind the wait though; I sat on the ground to rest my already-tired feet and listen to Willy Mason open the festival.

My passport

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down were up next.  Abby and I had actually already seen them in 2011 opening for The Head & The Heart, and actually saw them again open for the same band at their Chicago show this past October.  Which would be awesome if we liked Thao.  Which, try as we might, we just do not.  She plagues us.  But the crowd seemed to enjoy it.  And Thao et al. actually are talented musicians... just not our cup of tea I guess.  But enough about Thao.  Abby left to try the merch line again, determined to acquire a tank top.  I stood around and unsuccessfully tried to make friends with the people around me (hello, I kind of sort of smiled at you, why haven't you struck up a stimulating conversation with me? okay maybe I didn't try that hard) and watched the sun set as The Walkmen came on.  They were completely fantastic and I really need to listen to them more.  Lots of energy on stage and everyone in the crowd seemed to love them.

Just before the next act, Big Mike (of Apache Relay), the festival's MC, came on stage.  "I don't usually have to do this, but I have to make an official announcement.  We're going to be having a little less fun tomorrow..."  Fun. had been scheduled to perform in the slot before Mumford & Sons the next day, but they had to cancel for health reasons.  "But we're going to get you someone really good, we promise."  A murmer of disappointment rippled through the crowd.  I was only slightly disappointed I wouldn't see them; they were the band I thought didn't quite fit with the festival and to be perfectly honest I had been looking forward to them the least of all the bands in the lineup.  But who would fill the popular band's spot?  It was a mystery.

Any negative feeling in the crowd was soon eradicated by the magically good vibes of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.  Before the band came on, lead singer Alex Ebert came on stage to introduce the premiere of their latest beautiful music video for "Life Is Hard", which they had just finished earlier that day.  Once the show started, the music and performance had the audience hanging on every note as if they were at an Evangelist revival.  Ebert took the microphone to the crowd, handing it to a few as he asked them to tell a story or to sing the chorus of the song.  At one point someone thew a koala backpack onstage and Jade looked through it a bit.  Everything was very colorful and happy and everyone at the festival seemed bound together by joy.

As we were exiting the park we stopped at the Hyppo Popsicle stand.  We'd been admiring their flavor list earlier.  I bought a Sangria Plum popsicle and Abby chose Champagne Mango.  Both were delicious and we ultimately ended up trading.  We were dead tired but were determined to stay out like the cool kids, so we wandered the streets, which were full of people and music and activities, all bars and restaurants open late.  Abby and I settled on an uncrowded bar and ordered $3 glasses of sangria, which we sipped as we discussed who might fill in for Fun. Yum yum yum.  When in pseudo-Spain!

Day 4

At some point Abby echoed my thoughts (which had been happening a LOT during the trip) that maybe Disney World and then a 2-day festival was a bit of a marathon and, in retrospect, not the best idea.  We were exhausted.  But it was the last day of the festival, and the best day.  We stocked up on water so we wouldn't die in the blazing heat (BLAZING), and once downtown we made our way to Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest fort in the United States.  We could have chosen to appreciate the rich history inside the fort, to marvel at its construction and the way the conquistadors lived in America's oldest city, but we were too cheap to pay the $7 and instead walked around the fort and found refuge in the shade of the palm trees surrounding the fort.  Because, as I mentioned, it was an absolute OVEN outside.

We walked around St. Augustine’s shops a bit more, doing some hard-core passport stamp collecting from the local shops.  The shop with the rainbow mustache stamp won for originality.  Just before re-entering the festival grounds, we made a quick stop at the Deering Banjo tent.

I think it suits me.

We made sure to get into the festival on time because Bear’s Den was up first and I was really excited to see them.  They only have a couple of EPs out so far, but since my Mumford-loving friend Hannah introduced me to their music, I’ve fallen in love with the bearded band.  I was half-disappointed to see a sizeable crowd already at the stage, because it meant we wouldn’t get very close, but I was also glad to see so many people turn out for them.  They were fantastic live and fit lots of energy into their melancholy folky songs.  Here’s a good one:

Bear's Den invited Big Mike on stage, presumably because of his sick beard.

As I might have mentioned earlier, it was as hot as A THOUSAND BLAZING SUNS so we exited the crowd after Bear’s Den’s set.  We sought out the strawberry lemonade we'd seen people carrying around and found it next to a kiosk selling hot dogs topped with pulled pork.  GENIUS.  So we sat in the grass in the shade eating this magical pulled pork hot dog (ugh so good) and sipping the lemonade until only the ice was left--and then eating the ice--as we listened to Those Darlins.  They sounded good to me but the shade was still more appealing.  We finally ventured into the sun when Half Moon Run began.  Having never heard their music before, we decided we really really liked them and joined the crowd.  They had a really great energy and a harmonious, vibrant sound.  Here's a sample:

After their set it was time for the shade again.  Even as a Lollapalooza veteran, I had to duck out of the body heat and UV rays of the crowd.  Call me a wimp, whatever, I managed to stay alive.  We listened to Justin Townes Earle, who I thought was pretty good, kind of an old-school bluesy singer/songwriter from Nashville.  We ventured back into the crowd for The Vaccines.

The Vaccines are old friends of Mumford & Sons, though Justin Young has since moved from his softer folky tendencies to loud, energetic indie rock-punk-pop (I really am terrible at ascribing genres to bands).  Absolutely dance-inducing music, and I was jumping around as I sang along to “Wetsuit” and “Bad Mood,” just to name a couple songs.  I’d seen them last February at the intimate Lincoln Hall, which was a great show, soured only by the fact that Justin lost his voice near the end of the show and they didn’t come back for the encore.  So this huge festival crowd was definitely a departure from that last show; the people around me weren’t dancing as much but the crowd nearer the stage was giving the band proper love.  And for the first time I got to hear them play "Norgaard"!

As soon as The Vaccines left the stage, some drums started up on the right side of the field.  We had seen signs earlier about a “Powder Paint Fight” commencing after The Vaccines’ set so we retreated through the crowd.  In a square of grass marked off by yellow caution tape were five drummers dressed all in white, each wearing a bowler hat of either red, yellow, blue, or green.  When the drumroll ended, all the people inside the square (also dressed all in white) reached solo cups into bags full of colored powder and began the onslaught.  Everyone in the vicinity was quickly engulfed in a thick cloud of blue and red and green and yellow.  The white-clothed people were now covered in a rainbow of color, and they turned the powder on the observers.  Pretty soon Abby and I were inside the square, powder being flung at us from every direction.  Abby took a big shot of green to the face and my back was hit hard by a shower of red.  By the time we exited the cloud, hardly an inch of us had escaped un-dyed.

We still didn’t know who would be filling Fun.’s slot after The Vaccines.  I hadn’t even heard any rumors.  Everyone in the crowd was all ears when Big Mike took to the stage.  “We promised we’d give you someone great.  And we’ve got him!  We got you a legend!  He’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!  Ladies and gentlemen, supported by the Gentlemen of the Road house band, JOHN FOGERTY.”

Whoa. John Fogerty.

The crowd was going crazy and hardly had time to process this information when Mr. Fogerty entered the stage and he and The Vaccines launched into “Susie Q.”  He sounded great, like he hadn’t aged a year since the 70s.  The Vaccines (Winston from Mumford & Sons was up there too, on the maracas) looked beside themselves; Pete and Arni had huge smiles on their faces, while Justin looked intensely focused, as if he were concentrating harder on playing the guitar than he ever had before.

They couldn’t have found a more fitting artist for the weekend, for that place and atmosphere.  To be part of that huge crowd singing along to undeniable classics like “Fortunate Son” and “Down on the Corner”, I’ve never felt so connected with music past and present, and just really goddamn American.  I never expected to hear and see those songs live, and certainly not that weekend.  He even played us a couple new songs, which I’m sure his backing band had to learn quite quickly before the show.

Somehow during the course of the set The Vaccines switched with Mumford & Sons, who were just so excited to be up there with their hero.  They even wore matching plaid shirts for the occasion.  And by matching, I mean Ted and John Fogerty were wearing nearly identical shirts, and Marcus and Ben wore the exact same.  Winston, aspiring mountain man that he is, probably already had one. 

I later learned that John Fogerty had previously expressed interest in working with Mumford & Sons, and upon receiving the call flew overnight from L.A.  He arrived in St. Augustine ready to work, and he and the bands rehearsed for four hours before the show.  My guess is that The Vaccines rehearsed until their own set, and then Mumford took over – hence the mid-set switch-out.

To sum up, seeing John Fogerty at Gentlemen of the Road with Abby while we were covered in brightly-colored powder is definitely going down in my book of Best Life Moments.

SO MATCHY

The 50-minute set came to an end, though it seemed everyone felt it had just begun.  The crowd seemed sad that great moment was over, but the feeling didn’t last long because it meant the Band of the Weekend was up next!  Mumford and Sons were the reason for the whole festival, after all.  As we stood there, filled with anticipation, I began to see flashes of lighting illuminate the clouds.  They were far off, but I was still nervous.  If the storm got to close I’m sure they’d have to cancel the show; it was a crowd of 25,000 people facing an enormous metal stage.  Of course, I thought, it would storm right as the moment we’d all been waiting for was about to happen.

But, right on schedule, the lights dimmed, and Big Mike entered the stage.  He gave a speech about how this was the best weekend of his life. “I’m ready for what you’re ready for,” he said.  He ripped off the shirt he was wearing, and with that, marched offstage.  No introduction needed.

It started quietly. “Love was kind… for a time. Now it just aches and it makes me blind,” Marcus Mumford lamented as he picked his guitar.  By the time he was declaring “I’ll walk slow” the crowd's silent, rapt attention had transformed into a chorus, the audience and band united into one entity of euphoria.  The feeling lasted the entire show.  They wasted no time with “Little Lion Man,” whipping it out second.  It got everyone jumping and dancing and segued perfectly into one of mine and Abby’s favorites, “Whispers in the Dark.”  The crowd was too packed to do the hoedown dance that that song demands, but we made do.

I was beyond pleased when they played “Lover of the Light.”  It’s been one of my favorites since I saw them for the first time in 2009 before I’d even heard their full album, before I knew that it wasn’t even properly recorded yet.  This song was full of excitement and happiness and, most importantly, DRUMS.  For some reason they cut down this best part on the Babel recording, but live "Lover of the Light" still shines.

Meanwhile, the lightning was getting closer.  I was nervous but the band showed no sign of stopping, even after Winston, their loveable scruffy banjo player, noticed a flash. “Did you see that lightning? F**k!”  But the storm provided an incredibly fitting backdrop for the dark and stormy “Thistle and Weeds,” with actual thunderclaps accompanying cymbal crashes.  “The sky above us shoots to kill.”  Indeed.

By the time the band were standing around one mic for a very quiet, beautiful rendition of Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” the storm apparently decided that it couldn’t possibly interrupt the bliss in St. Francis Field, and just… went away.  A Mumford miracle, if you will. 

I was sure the encore would be great, and I was correct.  After they’d serenaded the crowd with the acoustic “I’m On Fire” and the a cappella (!) “Sister,” Marcus traded in his mandolin for an electric guitar and they turned it up to eleven by bringing out their longtime friends The Vaccines and Bear’s Den.  “These two bands… have inspired us for longer probably than even Fogerty has,” Marcus Mumford told us.  “We love them to f***in’ bits.”  He then informed us that they were all ‘[freaking dingbats]’ (actual language changed because this is a family-ish blog), but in a loving way, of course.  And with some very familiar chords, the three bands launched into “Come Together.”

Mumford & Sons a capella, or, How to Get 40,000 People to Shut Up

They couldn’t have chosen a more fitting song.  One of my favorite things about Mumford & Sons shows is the feeling of togetherness and celebration they create.  Nearly every time I’ve seen them they’ve brought other bands on stage for an encore jam session, and you can tell that they are having just the best time up on stage, playing music with their friends.  The incredibly good vibes spill over into the crowd and everyone is caught up in the same moment, reveling in music and the joy of being alive.  Everyone had come together, so to speak, to sing along with their favorite band to one of the most iconic songs ever written; whether you were Winston Marshall or Justin Young sharing a mic on stage or a festivalgoer in the audience, you had a huge smile on your face.

Of course they could have ended with that, but why only do a three-song encore when you could fit in five?  They followed with Babel’s title track, and then closed out the show with the ever-rousing “The Cave.”  After the final note was played, the band took a bow and waved goodbye to the adoring crowd.  I, and everyone I’m sure, was sad to see them go, after we had waited so many months for this day. 

Masses of people were leaving the field, but the festival wasn’t quite over.  Yacht Club DJs were on hand to close out the festival with a huge dance party.  Abby and I joined the remaining partiers for a bit of dancing under the iconic string lights, but couldn’t remain long as we had been on our feet for about three days straight.  It was such a great festival that we didn’t really want to leave, but… bed.  After taking a few obligatory pictures of the glowing Strongman, we left to scrub off the multicolor dust and dirt but not the freaking fantastic memories.  God it was good.

Day 5

Abby and I spent the last day re-living the past four days in photos and Instagram videos, driving around Gainesville (home town of Tom Petty!), and swimming in Abby's aunt's pool.  I was due to fly out of Orlando that evening... which of course meant we had one more stop to make before the weekend was over...

Friends, Disney, Doug, music, Mumford, and montaditos.  I can't think of a better way to fill five days.

Floridadventures! Part 1: Magic and Montaditos

­It was a busy summer for me, travel-wise.  I visited California for the first time last June and spent Labor Day weekend by the lake in Michigan.  I supposed I could include Lollapalooza in here, though I just had to take the bus downtown for it (it’s really another world inside those gates).  I’ve only managed to take a couple days off of work this summer, packing everything I could into short trips.  I hesitate to call them “vacations” because to me, a vacation is lazing by the pool and not doing anything, which these trips definitely were not.  This September I did my last big trip for the foreseeable future, this time to Florida.  I’ve been to the Sunshine State loads of times, especially as a kid, but I had never quite attacked the state the way I did this time.

My friend/frequent roommate Abby moved to Florida after graduation to work at UF, and I miss her terribly.  She’d been back up in Chicago once since graduation, for New Years, and I wanted to visit her because it’s just weird not having her around all th­e time.  We share a great love for Mumford & Sons, so when they announced a St. Augustine date as part of their Gentlemen of the Road stopover tour, I suggested that maybe we should attend.  Tickets weren’t terribly cheap so we sat on the idea for a while… that is, until the band’s performance on the Grammys ultimately convinced us that we absolutely had to go.  At that point, tickets for the festival were sold out but travel packages were still available.  $400 each for tickets, hotel, transportation, a shirt and poster?  Yep. 

This was in February.  The festival would take place in September.  The gap seemed like an eternity.  It did leave us time for planning though, so we figured we might as well pay a visit to Disney World.  Because of reasons.  Plus, my Aussie friend Saskia, who I had met online through The Killers’ fan club back in 2008 (no, it’s not sketchy, I promise), had been working at Disney World since January.  We could finally meet each other in person, and as an added bonus she would get Abby and me into the parks for free.  And, most importantly, 100 Montaditos, the wonderful Spanish chain restaurant which Abby and I ate at nearly every Wednesday when we studied in Madrid, had opened a location in Orlando.  Seriously, you can’t understand how excited we were about this unless you’ve eaten at Cien, as we call it, or “One Hundred Montaditos” as it’s apparently called in America.

At Cien in Madrid... the good old days.

Skip ahead to September 11, 2013.  The day had finally come!  I had an unproductive morning at work before I skipped out early for the airport.  After an uneventful plane ride—aside from discovering the effects of changing air pressure on a closed Camelback water bottle—I landed in Orlando.  Abby and I reunited and made haste to Cien. 

The most excited I have ever been in a strip mall.

Waves of nostalgia and excitement washed over me as I laid eyes on that beautiful logo.  Inside, even the tables looked the same, and the signs and the menus, except that everything was in English.  It was Wednesday, which meant all montaditos (little sandwiches) were $1.  The options were overwhelming and all equally enticing.  We settled on a few montaditos each, as well as glasses of “tinto de verano,” which is red wine mixed with lemon soda, the quintessential Cien beverage.  The jamón was wonderfully salty, the tortilla authentic, the bread fluffy perfection.  The bacon/chicken/guava was excellent and I even got the “Madrid,” which was calamari and ali oli on chapata.  And the DESSERT montaditos! Warm chocolate bread with a cookies and cream bar inside? Heaven.  We would have tried all one hundred were it not for the money and the human limits of food intake.  Besides, we had to check into our resort.

¡Montaditos sabrosos!

Dessert montaditos. AW YISS.

Completely appropriate reaction to Cien in America

Art of Animation is Disney’s newest resort, and oh my, is it adorable and well-done.  It’s not fancy, as it’s on the budget end and geared towards families with little kids, but there are details at every turn and I kept noticing new ones during our entire stay.  There are preliminary sketches from The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, and Cars everywhere, blown up on the sides of buildings and the walls of the lobby.  There are bright colors everywhere you look and murals of the movies’ landscapes covering the guest buildings.  We stayed in the Little Mermaid section, the path to which passed by a huge dinglehopper and pipe and treasure chest and enormous statues of King Triton and Ursula.  The plants used in the landscaping looked uncannily like seaweed.  The lights above our beds looked like pearls in shells and our shower tiles were painted to look like Ariel’s grotto.

Look at this stuff! Isn't it neat?

Abby and I changed to our swimsuits for a swim in the resort’s main Finding Nemo pool, which is decorated with giant jellyfish, the P. Sherman mask, and a huge Crush the Sea Turtle.  We figured there would be towels by the pool (after all, they had towel return boxes) so we didn’t bring any, but there were none.  We decided we didn’t care and jumped in anyway, and just drip-dried all the way back to the room, where Abby gave me fabulous triangle mosaic nails.

DAY 2: Walt Disney World, Saskia, and Doug

After a hearty breakfast of Disney waffles, strawberries, sausage, and naan breakfast sandwich (not "non-breakfast sandwich" as I first thought Abby said) we took the hotel's shuttle to the Magic Kingdom to meet Saskia.  I was excited to finally meet her in person.  As we walked toward the park I recognized her immediately, though her back was turned.  We hugged and I did quick introductions and we headed into the park, scanning our fancy Cast Member Guest cards and our fingertips (I guess this is a thing now. A little creepy, Disney).  Main Street USA was just as I remembered it, though perhaps more adorable given the little details I noticed this time around as well as their Halloween decor (yes, already).  We headed straight to Tomorrowland, letting Saskia take the lead.  We were dismayed to find Space Mountain closed for maintenance, but bravely carried on to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.  Abby and I shared a car, and she beat me by about 20,000 points.  Behind us, Saskia moaned that she did terribly, with a score that was more than mine and Abby's combined.  Such a pro Space Ranger.  We also rode the Astro Orbiter, which, despite what they might tell you, does not fit two grown people to a car.

Me and Saskia on the teacups

We moved on to New Fantasyland, recently expanded to include areas for Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Tangled.  Saskia currently works in the Little Mermaid area, and she got us right in to meet Ariel!  Ariel asked us if we had found any treasures yet, and when we did, to bring them to Scuttle.  Little did we know that our treasure was yet to come.  We then went on the Little Mermaid ride, which is home to a host of dancing and singing sea creatures and a mean octopus lady.

We stopped to ride the carousel in the new Fantasyland with Cinderella's step-family.  We watched Drizella befriend a little girl and I told the stepmother about a nightmare I had a few weeks ago in which she was trying to kill me.  She was flattered.  Next was Enchanted Tales with Belle, an interactive show, in which I was selected to play the role of Philippe, the horse. Neeeeiiiighhh.  In Fantasyland we also got our first look at where we'd be dining that night: Be Our Guest restaurant, for which Abby made reservations for us six months in advance.  We wanted to add Saskia to our reservation but weren't sure if we could, so we stopped at the information booth outside and they assured us that we could do it if we came a few minutes early.

Drizella made a new friend.

Neeeeiiiiigh

Of course we went into the Haunted Mansion next, where there was no line.  It should be noted that at this point we hadn't waited in any lines, and barely did so the rest of the day--this was not due to our cast member friend but to the general absence of crowds in the park.  Pro tip: Fall really is the best time to go to Disney.  Also, it was a Thursday, when everyone is in school or at work.  The lack of lines really contributed to our magical experience and allowed us to do a lot that day.  So after Haunted Mansion, we walked onto Splash Mountain, a ride on which no trip to Disney World is complete without.  It’s old and has animatronic swamp animals singing Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah and another unintelligible song and is inspired by a now-banned, super-racist film, but it’s a classic ride and there’s a fun drop and you get wet.  Saskia mentioned that Disney is planning to redesign the ride to fit with The Princess and the Frog, after all these years.  I’m not sure how I feel about this; on the one hand, it’s one of the last un-updated rides and is a legend.  On the other hand, The Princess and the Frog doesn’t have an area at Disney yet and the ride could use some updating, as evidenced by the frequent stops we experienced on our ride.

After Splash Mountain we were about ready to move onto Animal Kingdom.

Abby and I had originally planned to only visit Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, so I was really excited that we could fit in Animal Kingdom too.  I LOVE Animal Kingdom.  The animals, the incredibly detailed geographical regions, the lush vegetation… it’s just fantastic.  PLUS, I hadn’t been on Expedition Everest, which opened since the last time I was there.  It has been hailed as “The best ride ever!” by critics (aka Abby and others) so I was excited.  Saskia went to talk to some friends and Abby and I headed into Nepal.  There was a small line but it felt like nothing because there was so much to look at on the way.  While you wait you pass through a small museum that features historical “evidence” to prepare you for your Yeti-seeking expedition.  The ride itself was excellent.  It’s a rollercoaster that takes you up and through the mountain, complete with ripped up tracks thanks to the pesky Yeti.  But we survived the expedition! Phew!

Practicing my Ansel Adams skills

Expedition Everest's line.  Disney does detail right.

We lunched at the Yak and Yeti restaurant.  This is where we discovered our aforementioned treasure.  As we sat eating, Saskia was looking past my shoulder and said “Do you think his real name is Doug?”  I followed her gaze to the beverage window behind our table, inside of which stood a young Hispanic-looking man with fantastic hair and long eyelashes.  We all agreed that he was beautiful.  Before we left the restaurant I went up to the window to ask for a cup of ice water.  He obliged with a smile.  “Thanks, Doug,” I said.  We walked away giggling, off to ride Expedition Everest again.  Ariel was right; we did find a treasure.

Doug water.  More delicious and thirst-quenching than the leading water.

Of course, we couldn’t miss the crown jewel of Animal Kingdom, Kilamanjaro Safari.  The most impressive part of Animal Kingdom is the vast savannah somehow hidden in the middle of the park, which is home to free-ranging lions, zebras, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, and a myriad of other African animals.  Our bus stopped to let a giraffe cross the path in front of us, and I watched it walk through the grass as if I were watching a nature documentary.  The safari is a must for anyone who goes to Animal Kingdom.

As we passed the Yak and Yeti again after the safari, it was decided we needed to pay another visit to Doug for some water.  He graciously obliged, as he always does.  He asked me if I wanted another cup of water (he remembered me from before!) but I declined, as my water bottle was still full.  Such a gem, that Doug.

When we got on the bus to go to EPCOT, it had begun to rain.  Which was actually really nice as it had been terribly hot that morning.  For some reason, I didn’t pack an umbrella, despite having been compulsively checking the weather every day the week preceding the trip and saw that there would be multiple instances of rain.  Whatever.  I bummed shelter off of Saskia and Abby, or just got wet.  Whatever.  In the presence of the giant golf-ball that is EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth, I didn’t really care.  I insisted that we ride it.  It’s another pretty classic and outdated ride which takes you through the history of communication and human invention.  It glosses pretty obviously over eras and geographical areas, and basically shows only white men until you get to the 1970s, where it kills two birds with one stone with a black lady scientist.  Pretty much the highlight of the ride is when it takes your picture near the beginning and then shows you and your car-mate’s face in various locations: Under the sea, the future, etc.  Pretty great.  After Spaceship Earth we hit up Club Cool, only the coolest club to ever exist.  Mostly because the focus of Club Cool is free soda fountains offering free samples of pop from around the world.  Yum.

 In keeping with this international theme, we entered World Showcase, the main focus of our EPCOT experience.  It’s situated around EPCOT’s lake and allows you to travel the world in less than a day! Amazing!  We saw real French people in France, a sign advertising a Martin Short show in Canada, smelled garlic everywhere in Italy, rode the traditional, thrilling, completely updated and non-stereotypical Maelstrom ride in Norway.  The most impressive pavilion was Morocco, which I like to think of as the Southern Spain pavilion (I like to pretend I'm in Spain whenever possible, as you may have surmised).  It’s extensive due to the Moroccan government’s generous monetary contribution, and is actually quite authentic, down to the slightly distressed yet gorgeous tile work and courtyard fountain.  It made me nostalgic for the Alcázar in Sevilla.  We spent a good deal of time inside the Mitsukoshi store in the Japan pavilion, where it was easy to forget you were in Disney World and not an Anime theme park.  Pokemon, Miyazaki, and pocky abounded.  I’d definitely recommend a visit here when in EPCOT.

In the Morocco pavilion

Japan

While sipping margaritas in Mexico—it’s so strange drinking alcohol at Disney—we planned our next move.  We had thought about going to Hollywood Studios, rounding out all four parks in the day.  But our dinner reservation was for 8:15 at the Magic Kingdom, and it was already past six.  We opted to spend more time in EPCOT instead of rush around the other park.  Plus, we were tired and honestly really only would have cared about Tower of Terror.  So we strolled back to the futuristic part of EPCOT and embarked on our mission to space.  Mission Space, actually, the ride.  There are two lines for this ride, one ride more intense than the other.  Saskia said the intense line terrified her, that it felt like she was actually shooting into space, and I don’t think Abby and I were in the mood for extreme G-forces either.  So we stood in line in front of a 5-year-old girl and her mother.

After we successfully completed our simulated mission, it was time for our much-anticipated dinner reservation.  When we got to Magic Kingdom, the sun was setting and Main Street was all lit up, its streets lined with families waiting for the parade.  But we continued on to Beast’s Castle, checked in for our reservation, explaining that we were adding one person.  The cast members at the kiosk told us that was fine, that we’d just have to wait about 15 more minutes.  It wasn’t quite 8 yet, and a mere five minutes later our table was ready.  We were ushered in by an amiable cast member to our table in the Ballroom.  Everything was in cream and gold, the ceiling painted in clouds and cherubim, and outside the windows on the end of the room it was made to look like it was snowing.  Say what you like about Disney, but they have atmosphere down to a science.  Even the napkins at our table were folded into roses.  Our waiter was Carlos, and we decided that he was definitely the most Doug-quality waiter in the restaurant, so it was kismet that he was ours.

Oh, we're invited to the Beast's castle for dinner tonight. No big deal.

 Abby and I both ordered the salmon, and Saskia ordered the lamb.  The salmon was incredibly delicious and tender, and served atop leeks and mashed potatoes.  UNF so good.  Between that and the fluffy rolls, we were stuffed… though of course not too full for dessert.  I tried the gray stuff—it’s delicious! Don’t believe me? Ask the dishes!  I’m not totally sure what it was but it was creamy and fluffy and served upon a chocolate tart.  It was a very classy dinner, though we weren’t out of place in our sweating-in-Disney-World-all-day state.  And, because we dined there, we got to meet The Beast!

We ended the day watching fireworks at Cinderella’s Castle.  Tinkerbell flew through the sky and set it off, the projections on the castle changing vibrant colors as fireworks exploded in time with music.

Saskia had parted with us before the fireworks, so Abby and I shuttled it back to our hotel, where we conducted an epic search for car keys that were found to be in the room the whole time. PHEW.  With the keys found, we could finally relax and rest up for the long day ahead.

Coming soon: Part 2: Fake Spain and the City of Mustaches