BREAKFAST: Menemen

We've been gone for awhile. We were on an extended trip through Central Europe where we started off in Berlin.  Our hotel for the week there was in what I'd guess you'd call the Turkish Quarter or Little Istanbul.

It was a lovey, lively neighborhood full of great friendly people and outstanding cuisine. While our home of L.A. is full of "Mediterranean" restaurants, the food there is nothing like it is here.

One dish that really caught our fancy was menemen, or Turkish scrambled eggs.  The flavor was just off the charts good and a very filling and satisfying meal.

Of course, when I got home I had to try it, and it came out as one of the best breakfasts I've ever made.

INGREDIENTS (for three servings)
7 eggs
1 or 2 medium to large, ripe tomatoes (if you really like tomatoes in your eggs, use 2. If not, use 1)
1 large pepper of your choice (many people use bell peppers, I like a little more flavor so I used a pasilla chile. Whatever floats your boat. For my New Mexico friends, this is just dying for a large Hatch chile)
1/2 medium white onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 - 4 inch long soujuk sausage (my addition of a typical Middle Eastern sausage, you can leave out if you want to have a very authentic version)
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste.

Dice the tomatoes, pepper, and onions. Cut up the sausage into small chunks.

In a 10 inch, shallow sauce pan, heat up the olive oil and butter.  Cook the pepper for 5 minutes. Add the onion and tomatoes and saute on medium heat for another 5 minutes.

Add the sausage and feta cheese and keep sauteing for another 3-4 minutes.

Add the eggs and stir for a minute. Rest for 10 seconds and stir again. Repeat this process until the eggs are thickened but just a bit underdone.

Serve and sprinkle with pepper flakes or salsa.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

CLASSIC TRIP - East Cost Odyssey - Columbia and Charelston, South Carolina 2001

Stay with me, the good stuff starts below after we leave Columbia...

It took us two days to drive down here from Pittsburgh. Of course, we took the scenic route down the Ohio River during a driving rain storm, narrowly avoiding an ominous funnel cloud in Virginia before spending the night in Hickory, North Carolina (I highly recommend the Comfort Suites there, by the way). It was a much more pleasant drive the second day into Columbia.

First of all, I don't recommend taking your South Carolina vacation at the end of August. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice because this whole trip was predicated by the need to be in Columbia for the last week in August because of a conference I had to attend. It is very hot and humid, oppressively so, at this time of the year.

That's not to say that Columbia is a bad place to visit. It's a pretty town, very southern, situated on the lovely banks of the Congaree River. In any other season, it's a great place to be.

Our lodging would be at the Whitney Hotel, about one mile northeast of downtown. I wish more hotels could be like this one. Our suite had two bedrooms and two bathrooms separated by a large living room. There was a balcony, a dining area, a full-sized kitchen (with full-sized stove and refrigerator), and my favorite feature, a separate laundry room with washer and dryer in our suite. Plus pool, cable TV (two!), A/C, phone, and dataport. Our price? $79 per night...including a full, hot breakfast.

Although accessible rooms are available, we stayed in a regular room with no ill effects other than the narrow bathroom door. If you have a wide chair, make sure to get an accessible room.

Now comes another bad point about Columbia, especially if you can't drive, or have access to, a car. Public transportation here is atrocious. For some reason, the buses are run by the local gas and electric utility. They obviously don't take their mandate very seriously. Buses are frequently broken down, have no markings on them (to let you know who they are or where they are going), and getting information about routes and schedules is just about impossible.

There are two accessible trolley routes that connect the downtown area with the two most popular hang-out areas (the Vista and Five Points). They provide decent service at a good price (25-50cents) but only run a couple of hours in the afternoon and then again during the evening.

We had a rental car. My wife would drop me off at my conference in the morning and then play tourist with Tim during the day.

We arrived on a Sunday. I checked into my conference and then we checked into the hotel. After a drive around town to show my wife where everything was, we had dinner and then settled down for the night.

Monday morning. The bad thing is now I'm back at work and have to wake up early. My wife and Tim drop me off and head to the Riverbanks Zoo. They tell me it was a very nice zoo with lots of neat animals and good accessibility. A lot of it is under construction due to an expansion there. I should be top-notch in a year or so.

I spent my lunch break taking in the McKissick Museum of Art at the University of South Carolina (home of the Gamecocks...boy, does that make for some interesting school clothes. Think about it.). It's an interesting and free museum, if a bit small, located on the historic Horshoe of USC. This is the original part of the campus that dates back hundreds of years.

That evening we had dinner at the New Orleans Riverfront Restaurant. The view was spectacular and the food wasn't so bad, but we've had better New Orleans style food back home.

Tuesday, the wife and kid puttered around town looking for things to do and shops to visit. We met at lunch. We visited the Columbia Museum of Art and had sandwiches across the street at Rising High Bakery.

The museum has a pretty extraordinary collection of art and furniture dating back to the 1400's. The galleries are arranged around time periods including a great collection of original Tiffany glass, original Remington sculptures, and paintings from Dutch masters to contemporary Americans. I only had an hour and a half here. I wished I had much more time.

The Rising High Bakery had great sandwiches with some pretty poor service at the counter. Hmmm.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia

Akhenaton06 under CC-BY-SA license 

After lunch, the wife and kid returned to the museum and I drudged on with the conference. That evening we had a wonderful steak dinner at the Longhorn Restaurant in the Vista area. This area is full of restaurants, clubs, and shops. It feels much more lively than the actual downtown area where we were earlier. After dinner, we took in some live jazz at a small festival around the corner. This was a nice evening.

Thursday, the wife and kid said they'd seen and done everything they could think of in Columbia and said take the car to the conference, we'll just chill at the hotel. That evening, we took in some minor league baseball as the Capitol City Bombers took on the Columbus Red Sticks.

There was hardly any fans in attendance, maybe 100 people tops. As you can see, I was able to commandeer some really cool seats. It was a blast, but a bit buggy after dark. (The team has since moved away...I wonder why - Ed)

Thursday, wife and kid are pretty bored now. They tried to take a long walk during the day, but the August heat in Columbia just saps your energy. The air conditioner at the hotel was better. I'm pretty bored by the conference.

We walk over to the Five Points area (kind of a grungier Vista) a few blocks south of the hotel for pizza.

Friday. It's finally over. The conference ends at 11:30. While Columbia is pretty, it's also pretty sparse on things for visitors to do. Three days here would be great, five is stretching it a bit. Well, now it's on to our ultimate, and much more exciting, destination...Charleston.

Ah, the conference is over. Time to rejoin my family on our vacation.

While I spent the last three hours counting the minutes until the last speaker shut up, my wife and Tim were packing the bags at Columbia's Whitney Hotel.

You know...why do they even bother to have a speaker for the last morning of a conference? People are just attached to the cell phones...trying to bump up a flight...looking for an excuse to duck out early...arranging a ride to the airport...all we hear of the person up from is "blah, blah, blah." Wouldn't it be better just to end it the day before...the last full day?

Oh well, it's finally 11:30 and I'm zooming back to the Whitney. The family is already in the lobby with the bags. We toss 'em into the car and off we go.

It's a ninety minute drive over to Charleston and I'm in a different world. Columbia's a fine city but it can be a bit staid, the public transit is terrible, and there's just not a whole lot to do over a full week. Charleston has a fine transit system, hundreds of top-notch historical sites, great restaurants and bars, and a joyful, fun atmosphere.

See our first trip to Charleston here.

Again, as in our last trip here, we stay at the Quality Suites. Unfortunately, the quality of the hotel had gone down markedly from our last trip. To see what I mean, you can check out this review that I wrote for Epinions - http://www.epinions.com/content_41189346948 .

This evening we have another great dinner at the Southend Brewery and Smokehouse.

Afterward, we walked over to the office of the Original Charleston Walks and saw what kind of tour was being offered tonight (last time we really enjoyed the Ghost Walk). This time, our journey into Charleston's rich tapestry of history would be focusing on the pirates who had lived, plundered, and died here.

A Former Pirate Brothel, Now the Oldest Building in Charelston

As with all their tours, this group meets at the beautiful gas-lit park next to its office. Our guide takes us out the back entrance of the park as we quickly get to the first stop, an art gallery that is the oldest building in Charleston (circa 1695-?) where pirates drank and caroused in the brothel.

Also along the tour is the building (now a private residence) where pirates where tried and sentenced, the spot on the battery where their tarred corpses were hung as a warning to others, and spots around town where Edward Teach (Bluebeard) showed up from time to time.
All the walking tours are wheelchair accessible and I highly recommend them for an intimate look into this fascinating city.

Last time we were here, we visited Fort Sumter in the bay, the recipient of the first shot fired in the Civil War. This time we visited the other end of the trajectory, Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island.

It's much quieter here and you can take in many of the batteries that comprised the shoreline providing shore-based defenses for over a hundred years. There are spots where a wheelchair could get to the upper level but the thick ramparts will block all but the very hardy from getting a view across to Fort Sumter. There is a very interesting template in the visitor's center showing just how cramped it was in the Confederate submarine Hunley. The submarine itself has been found and recovered since our last trip and now has its own museum.

Patio Dining at Slightly Up The Creek

Our last evening here and we have a superb dinner with shrimp-boat views straight out of Forrest Gump as we dined at Slightly Up The Creek, situated along the banks of Shem Creek in Mt. Pleasant. As these pictures show, we had one last sunset break on us for our odyssey.

Then is was over.  The next morning, after 17 days on the road...two countries, 8 states, and too many miles to count... we turned in our trusty rental car at the Charleston airport and flew home.

-Darryl
Copyright 2001 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - East Coast Odyssey - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

After Ohio's Amish country, we head east to the Keystone State, Pennsylvania. The next three night's worth of lodging will be at the Amerisuites Inn in Cranberry Township about 10 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh.

Driving in from West Virginia, it seems as though every freeway is under construction and our map from Yahoo! Maps is woefully inadequate. Luckily, our AAA map of Pennsylvania is more up to the task of navigating us over to Cranberry.

Cranberry Township seems like one of those suburbs that grew way too fast for the infrastructure to keep up. The main streets are clogged, strip malls abound, and construction is everywhere. A few barns dot the landscapes pointing out the doomed farms they reside in.

Unfortunately, our AAA Pennsylvania Tourguide is not up to par with the AAA map and we cannot find Amerisuites. I have to find a pay phone to call them. The woman answering the phone gives me cryptic directions to continue down the street I'm on and look for the Long John Silver's across from Eaton Park.

That's all I could get out of her after several tries, so I drive on to see what I can find. About three blocks later, I see a Long John Silver's across from an Eat 'n Park drive in diner (shouldn't that really have been named Park 'n Eat? Never mind...). I turn in the adjacent access road and there it is, the Amerisuites Inn.

I cannot rave enough about this hotel. A huge two room suite with a full kitchen and separate dining area. In room ironing board, full refrigerator (not an honor bar), and an on-site laundry room. In theory, the indoor pool sounds nice but is just too noisy to enjoy.

We are treated to a daily newspaper and a continental breakfast that includes pancakes and waffles.

We were very comfortable here. The rate was about $80 per night and we slept like babies, although the room did not have a roll-in shower.

The next day we take a drive around the area to see what's there. We arrive in the little town of Zelionople about 10 miles north of Cranberry. It's a cute little town with an incredible amount of traffic flowing through it. Imagine being on Main Street in Disneyland with the traffic of the 405 freeway flowing down the middle. It was incredibly noisy.

The Zelionople Diner provided us with lunch. What an unbelievable bargain this place was. It's a sit down place with friendly service. I had a meat loaf dinner with mashed potatoes and dinner rolls...$2.75. My wife had a tuna casserole dinner...$3.00. Tim had a hot dog...75 cents. Sodas were extra at 75 cents each with free refills. It was all delicious. Try to match that at any McDonalds.

After lunch, we return to the hotel for a nap...we have a big night ahead of us.

Next, we drive over to downtown Pittsburgh and park across the river adjacent to the baseball stadium. Tim is a transit buff and wants to try every mass transit system he comes across. Pittsburgh has a small trolley system. Downtown it's in a subway. All downtown stops are accessible and transit in the downtown area is free.

We ride around for awhile seeing the sights at the different stops. There's a massive stone jail connected via an enclosed stone bridge to an equally massive courthouse. There is a pretty fountain at Steel Plaza. There are some department stores to see.

In all, downtown Pittsburgh looks like an area that is slowly coming back to life after an extended nap. The city seems to be shaking off its rust belt doldrums. It is a pleasant place, but still has a ways to go. I look forward to seeing it again in the future.

We walk over to the baseball stadium, PNC Park, to see it there are any tickets left for tonight's game against the Houston Astros. The game is sold out except for standing room only tickets. Tim really wants to see the stadium to add to his quest to see them all. Already on this trip he has added three and this is the last city we'll be at with a major league field. We go ahead and get the tickets.

There are still over two hours till game time. It's back across the river (which is beautiful, by the way) to the Renaissance Hotel where we build up a tab in the Bridge bar.

When it's time for baseball, we head across the bright yellow Roberto Clemente bridge. It has now been closed to traffic and only pedestrians and sidewalk vendors inhabit its lanes. Directly on the other side is PNC Park.

In we go. Of course, we have nowhere to sit, so we take the pregame time to make a circle tour around the stadium. It's small, capacity 38,000, and every seat is good. The view from home plate takes our breath away. It's a perfectly framed view of downtown Pittsburgh with the Roberto Clemente bridge in the foreground looking like the Yellow Brick Road leading into Emerald City. I look at the picture included here and think that it's so pretty it looks fake. Nope, that's the real view, folks.

The View From Home Plate at PNC Park

Ushers tell us where the best places are to stand during the game. Other ushers tell us to watch for empty seats after the first inning because there will be season ticket holders who don't show up.

We decide to while away the rest of the pregame time in the Outback Steakhouse built into the stadium's left field side.

There are two rooms here at the Outback. One with a view of the field and one with a view of the city. You are not required to have a game ticket to enter either one (though you need one to exit out into the stadium). Since you can watch a free baseball game with your meal, guess which room was more crowded.

We just want to have a few drinks, so we choose the relative solitude of the city view room which does have closed-circuit TV's to keep tabs on the game action.

I have three beers (Iron City Ale and Yeungling's of course) and my wife has two glasses of wine. Tim has a Coke. The anthem has been sung and "Play ball" is commanded, it's time to head back out into the stadium. I'm dreading the bar tab but am very pleasantly surprised to see that it's only $18. For you baseball fans, you know that's a bargain. For the rest of you, that's what the three beers alone would cost in most stadiums.

Outside the exit of the Outback, I see a wheelchair accessible section near the third base side of the left field foul pole with three seats empty...one wheelchair spot in the middle of two seats. We go ahead and sit there, mindful we may have to move if the ticket holders show up.

After 4 innings, it's apparent that we will not have to move and enjoy the rest of the game. This is just a wonderful place to see a ball game. The food is wonderful with those grilled sausages, pirogies, and 15 inch kosher dogs. I now have a new favorite baseball stadium. Too bad the Pirates are not playing up to the same level.

Accessibility is also very good with wheelchair seating sprinkled liberally throughout. There is even a front row reserved for wheelchairs next to the Pirates dugout.

This is a brand new baseball-only stadium which replaces the old dual-purpose Three Rivers Stadium. The next day, the Steelers will take the wrappings off of their new stadium, Heinz Field, for an exhibition NFL game.

Not for us, though. We head south through the gorgeous countryside of southwestern Pennsylvania. Our destination today is Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's signature house design.

Along the way we see there is something called Fort Necessity National Monument. Not being one who can pass up a place like this, we stop in. I'm very glad we did.

Those of you who have read our trip reports here will know I'm a lover of history. Fort Necessity is a very historical place so I am in heaven here.

What is it? It's just a little meadow off the side of the road with a small circle of upright logs making up the fort. It just happens to be the spot where a young British colonel by the name of George Washington fought his first battle two and a half centuries ago in the French and Indian War.

Fort Necessity

It's one thing when you plan to go to a historical site such as Fort Sumter. It's a another thing completely when you stumble upon such a major historical spot completely unaware that it's there.

Docent Demonstrating a Musket at Fort Necessity

We listen as docents in period dress describe what the conditions were like and what lead up to that fateful encounter with the French troops that day long ago (Washington lost this battle in case you're keeping score). Another demonstrates the arms of the day including a musket firing. A native American docent gives the Indian view of the times in another tour. I am in complete awe.

We continue on to Fallingwater. This is a masterpiece of American architecture. I'm sure just about everybody has seen a picture of this house Wright designed for Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar Kaufman. It sits spectacularly over a waterfall.

Fallingwater

Unfortunately, Wright did not design it with wheelchairs in mind. Tim and I are limited to the living room, dining room and kitchen while my wife continues on the complete tour. I am a bit miffed that the foundation still charges the full $15 for the tour even when you cannot physically get past the first two rooms. They do offer to show you a video of the rest of the house, but it's just not the same.

Afterward, it's back to Pittsburgh where the three of us, hungry for dinner, stop off at the Ponderosa Steakhouse. I'll save you the details...the Ponderosa is the absolute worst restaurant we have ever had the misfortune to eat at. You know that episode on the Simpson's where the kids are stranded on the island and the girls says "I'm so hungry I could eat at Arby's"? Well, I'd have to be near death to ever set foot in a Ponderosa again.

Well, that's it for Pittsburgh. We had another wonderful night at Amerisuites, drove nine hours the next day to Hickory, North Carolina, stayed at the wonderful Comfort Suites there, ate at the Cracker Barrel (which is as good as the Ponderosa is bad), and continued on to our next stop...

-Darryl
Copyright 2001 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - East Coast Odyssey - Holmes County (Amish Country), Ohio

If you want to catch up on the tour, below are links to each stop:

Toronto
Niagara Falls
Cleveland
Cedar Point
Holmes County (Amish Country)

After the excitement of Cleveland and Cedar Point, it was time to head over to Pittsburgh. Along the way, we thought we'd venture through Amish Country in Holmes County would be an interesting day.

Once again, the rain started to fall, at times heavily. We set out southbound on Highway 250 out of Sandusky. About an hour later the first sign of the Amish was on the road...a yellow diamond-shaped road sign depicting an Amish buggy letting us know to be cautious of these slow-moving vehicles.

Not too long after that, we saw our first buggy, an open-top rig whose occupants were miserably holding an umbrella against the driving rain. We would sporadically see more Amish buggies both open and closed as we made our way across the state. Another hour and a half and we were on the final road to our destination...Sugarcreek, Ohio.

One more little roadblock before we hit the town - an Ohio state trooper stood in the middle of the small two-lane highway blocking traffic. Soon, a couple of buggies appeared and turned up the drive to the adjacent farm. Then a couple more. After that three or four more. The trickle soon turned to a steady flow as about thirty to forty buggies an several people on feet made their way on the highway and then up to the farm. Once the procession was safely passed, the trooper waved us on and asked us to please be careful because there might be more buggies ahead on the road.

Sugarcreek is a small town with a Swiss them aimed at tourists. I never really got the Swiss connection to the town although I really enjoyed the animated paintings above the shops. It reminded be just a little of Solvang - a Danish-style tourist town back home on the central coast of California.

The Locomotive Switch at Baltic

The Ohio Central Railroad makes several trips daily (it appears that the railroad has been bought out and is now strictly a freight operation, too bad - ed) to the nearby town of Baltic with the passenger coaches pulled by an old coal-fired steam locomotive. This is a very pleasant way of touring through the Amish country while getting a running commentary about this unique way of life. The train and the ticket office in the Depot are accessible while the adjacent gift shop and porta-potties are not. There are accessible public restrooms at both ends of the two block downtown area, just ask for directions.

Because of the buggy procession coming into town, we barely made it to the 12:30pm departure of the train (the next departure would be 2:00pm). My wife ran into the depot and purchased the tickets while one of the conductors and I helped Tim onto the wheelchair lift for the train.

The train left promptly after boarding and the rain had cleared up but it was still cloudy. We saw many Amish farms and learned that while the Amish might forgo modern conveniences such as electricity or autos, they employ friends and neighbors to shuttle them in vans or might drive a tractor at a neighbor's farm before returning home to plow their own field with a horse.

Amish Farms in Holmes County

We also learned that Amish children to not attend school after eighth grade with no apparent ill effects on their education...the state of Ohio tested many of the kids here as part of a study and found they scored higher than most kids. They also do not believe in insurance or contracts...a deal is consummated via a handshake.

It was interesting to see the juxtapositions with modern life. Local supermarkets have a rail where buggies can be tied up while shopping. Horses wear ruts down the middle of a lane while in other places auto tires tend to wear grooves on either side. Of course, we already learned that autos better be aware and share the road with the slow-moving buggies.

I asked the conductor about the buggy procession we had seen on the way into town. It was a funeral. I guess funerals, weddings, and other social occasions are reserved for Thursdays (which this day was ) while Sundays are for church. The rest of the week is work.

On Board the Ohio Central Rail Road

After the train ride, we had lunch at the Swiss Hat nearby and had some wonderful comfort food from their buffet. My wife bought a handmade quilt that upon closer inspection later was revealed to be made in China. Oh well...it's still a nice quilt.

Now it's time to head on to the next leg of the trip, Pittsburgh.

-Darryl
Copyright 2001 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - East Coast Odyssey - Cedar Point, Ohio

After a cozy night and a day of touring in Cleveland, we moved on 50 miles west to Sandusky.


My son and I are roller coaster nuts and are always looking for ways to prove ourselves. Here on the shore of Lake Erie magically rising skyward from the tip of a peninsula is the holy grail of coasterdom, Cedar Point, with more roller coasters in one spot than any other park on earth.

The Point is also home to the tallest coaster in North America (second tallest in the world), Millennium Force (this has since been eclipsed by several coasters - Ed). As Tim Allen might say, this bad boy features a super-quick elevator style lift hill, a 300 foot near vertical first drop, 92 mph top speed, stadium style seating, 120° overbanked turns (that invert you slightly), and two tunnels.

I had made my hotel reservations via Cedar Point's website for the Breaker's Express hotel, which is the Point's budget lodging. There us also the upscale Hotel Breakers, Sandcastle Suites, and Lighthouse Point Cabins and Campground which are at the park. Breakers Express is about a mile away. The other three properties mentioned were either not available or very expensive (Sandcastle Suites at over $200 per night).

I opted for e-mail notification when making the reservations and two weeks before leaving got a message advertising $49 season passes that were available at certain Cleveland area Tops markets. Since we were going for two days and the usual price was $39 per day, this was welcome news. So the last thing we did in Cleveland was to stop at a Tops market and pick up three passes.

After a lovely drive through the Ohio countryside, we arrived at the Breakers Express. It's pretty large and basic...about Motel 6 quality except the beds are bigger. There's a large pool area and a hot tub outside with minimal landscaping. The boxy look of the building and the large security fence behind the pool area depressed my wife who thought it looked like a prison exercise yard.

We reserved a barrier-free room and were place at the very end of the first floor. Unfortunately, this was the absolute worst place in the hotel as the door from the parking lot could be heard slamming all night long. On top of that, the ice machine was just outside so we were treated to a symphony of ice buckets being filled. After the park closed at 10, many shouts from park goers could be heard echoing through the halls. It was truly a miserable night (yes we did complain and security came to quiet the more noisy guests in our wing but could not move us or do anything about the door).

The next morning, we demanded a move. A lovely woman at the front desk actually went up to the third floor to personally find the quietest room she could and moved us there. It wasn't barrier-free but we had no more problems with noise.

After settling that, we headed over to the park. Handicapped parking is right next to the front gate. We processed our season passes with two wonderful ladies who snapped our pictures and printed them on the cards that would serve as our passes. Noticing we were from Southern California, they informed us that are passes are also good at Knott's Berry Farm until next May. Great! We saved money and got passes to our local park as part of the bargain.

Entering the park, we asked about a Special Assistance Pass (SAP) for my son and were directed to Park Operations. There, we got the pass and learned about Cedar Point's unique handicapped ride system.

Maybe a little history is called for here. For many years, parks routinely let disabled guests enter through the exits of rides. Many less scrupulous able-bodied park goers caught on and started renting wheelchairs to avoid the lines. Others started to resent disabled riders who got on immediately while they waited for hours.
Disney started building all their rides to have accessible queues but many disabled persons still can't manage to stand in line that long without problems (and Disney's idea of accessible is somewhat lacking). They also started really cracking down on what constitutes disability...I will never forget the humiliation of having to prove my son was disabled at City Hall there when it is very obvious with his leg braces and limited movement - not to mention the expensive power chair he sits in. Six Flags said, screw it, wait in line till you can't go farther and then try to find someone to help you.

I sympathize with some of it. Disabled guests should not skip the wait time but on the other hand, should not be made to needlessly suffer.

Back to Cedar Point Park Operations. In my opinion, I think Cedar Point has come upon a very neat solution. You are given a passport-like book with all the rides likely to have long lines listed in it. This is your SAP.

You then take this to the ride you want to go on and present it to the worker at the end of the line. The worker checks to see what the normal wait is and stamps your book like a visa with the time you should return (now plus the wait time). If it's 12:00 and the wait time is half an hour, your book is marked with 12:30. You can only make one reservation at a time. It's similar to FastPass at Disneyland.

When your time is up, you return and board the ride. For the inconvenience of having to wait, you are allowed to ride twice. While you wait, you can go on any ride not listed and get immediate boarding or do anything else you want but you don't have to wait at the queue.

I asked several able-bodied guests what they thought of this and all seemed to think it was a fair and compassionate solution...as did I. The ladies in the Park Operations office told us that many disabled park goers didn't like it. I don't see the problem, but maybe some of us have gotten too used to not waiting in line. The ADA says everybody's equal now, so we have to live with the same guidelines.

Now having praised Cedar Point's policy, I do take exception that several rides have stairs to negotiate even for disabled guests. The older rides like Corkscrew, Disaster Transport, Gemini, and Iron Dragon were this way. I know it would not take much to ramp up some of these rides.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Coasterman1234 under CC-BY-SA license

Our first ride was on Corkscrew where the line worker stamped our book for immediate boarding. I carried Tim up the stairs. It was fun but bumpy. Too bumpy for my wife who refused to go on another coaster after that.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Chris Hagerman under CC-BY-SA license

Next was the Mine Train coaster where we again had a short fifteen minute wait (we rode the Antique Car ride and had a beer in the meantime). It was extremely smooth and gentle.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Nick Nolte under CC-BY-SA license

Mean Streak is the towering wooden coaster at the very end of the park. It's more popular so we would have 30 minutes to kill. This we did by going on their river cruise ride which is very similar to Disney's Jungle Cruise ride. Mean Streak was OK but is no match for Ghostrider at Knott's Berry Farm...still the best woody in the world for my money. Mean Streak just had too many dead spots in between the exciting ones.

Now it was on to the big, bad boy himself, Millennium Force. It's very popular translating to an hour and twenty minute wait. We used this time to have some elephant ears (fried dough) and more beer. Yummy!
We also went on the Calypso, a kinda combination Twister and Himalaya. The operator made sure that the car my son was riding in was at the bottom of the slope for easy unloading when the ride was over. How thoughtful! I remember the pain of a severely wrenched back from getting my son out of the Himalaya at Magic Mountain when that ride's operator did exactly the opposite.

Time to face our demons and report to the Millennium Force queue for our appointment with destiny.
Tim was very nervous. I reassured him although I was fighting off my own severe case of butterflies as we waited to load. As we waited I noticed something else about this park...the ride operators are very proud of the beasts that they operate.

Every coaster we rode, the operators would consistently brag over the speakers to the guests the eye-popping statistics of their rides like proud parents of little leaguers.

The Mean Streak operator would pipe up "You are about to be dropped 165 feet down at 60 miles an hour on what was the largest roller coaster of it's time. G-forces exceeding 4 will pull at your body. A combined 6 seconds of weightlessness awaits you. Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to experience Mean Streak....please keep your hands and feet inside at all times."

While waiting at Millennium force the speakers would blare "Ladies and gentlemen, please board Millennium Force and prepare to hurtle 300 feet down at 92 miles per hour into some seriously overbanked turns that will invert and disorient you. You will travel through two tunnels and over 6,595 feet of twisting steel track. This is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the country and second tallest in the world. Ladies and gentlemen...this..is...Millennium force."

Millennium Force Looms Over Lake Erie

Upon their return, the operators would get back on the speakers and ask how they like their ride whereupon the riders would break into enthusiastic applause. I like it when it's obvious the employees like their jobs and are as enthusiastic as you are.

We board the train in the second row of the first car and strap in tightly. The elevated second row allows us to see over the heads of those in the first row giving us an equally tantalizing view.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Coasterman1234 under CC-BY-SA license

We leave the station at a quicker-than-normal speed and those butterflies are killing me as I look straight up to, I don't know, forever I guess...the lift hill is a stomach churning 310 feet tall. About two thirds of the way up, the lift suddenly gains speed. NO!!! I'm not ready yet!

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Coasterman1234 under CC-BY-SA license

Arcing over the top, I look with dread 300 feet...straight..down. In a flash we're zooming through the bottom. Another second and we've cleared those massive overbanked turns and head through the tunnel. Around a bend, into a second tunnel where our photo is snapped for posterity. A wicked camel hump, another overbanked turn and we're back where we started. Wow...that was some seriously demented fun.

Lunch is next at the Silver Dollar, one of the park's sit down restaurants. The service is good, the food terrible. Cedar Fair also owns Knott's Berry Farm...I would suggest that they import Mrs. Knott's chicken dinners here ASAP!

We take a nap break at the hotel and return to find the park closes at 8:00 today. We thought it would be 10:00. Not much time left. We make an appointment for Raptor right at closing time. Meanwhile we take in some great views of Lake Erie and the park from their giant Ferris wheel.

Agh! I'm out of film! I would have loved to have posted those pictures here (thank God Wikimedia has come into existence since this trip was taken - Ed).

It's 8:05, just after dusk...Tim and I board Raptor in the front row. Those of you familiar with Magic Mountain will recognize this as a clone of Batman with an extra inversion. Those of you who are not, this is a suspended, looping coaster where your legs dangle in midair the entire ride.

I like this ride, a lot, just like I like Batman. It's smooth, fast, and the inversions are awesome. One major problem on riding it at the particular time we did.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Coasterman1234 under CC-BY-SA license

The first drop and I'm screaming like a maniac and three gnats lodge themselves in the back of my throat.
After the first loop, another finds my eye. I shut my eyes and mouth and feel many more stingingly bounce off my face for the rest of the ride. This is one I don't need to ride twice right now.

That's the end of the first day. That night we sleep the sleep of the dead in our new, much improved room. The next morning, we head back to the Point.

We have a decent, sit-down breakfast at the Boathouse located at Cedar Point's marina before heading in.

We head over to Blue Streak, a much smaller and older wooden coaster than Mean Streak. It looks like a pleasant little coaster that should give us just a little thrill to start the day.

Photo couresy of Wikimedia

Nick Nolte under CC-BY-SA license

After spending much of the ride suspended weightlessly in thin air, I realize that looks are deceiving. This is another completely gut-busting thrill ride putting the much bigger Mean Streak to shame. I am just astounded that this tiny wooden coaster sitting quietly out of the way delivers such a major league coaster punch.

Tim wants to do Raptor again. After waiting an hour for our appointed time (we wiled it away going on a few spinner rides), we ride it twice. It’s much nicer without the night time bugs flogging your face.

Tim and I have one more major coaster to do to complete our list...Magnum XL-200. In its day, like many of the Point’s coasters, it was the tallest and fastest in the world. Although many modern coasters have passed it by, it still packs quite a punch.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia

Nick Nolte under CC-BY-SA license

We only have a five minute wait and the rain is just starting. We are alone in the front car...no one else is there until the third car. It’s scary riding up that huge 200 foot lift hill by yourself. It’s quite fast with some extreme air time including quite a bit in its two terrifying tunnels. The rain combined with the high speed put a bit of a damper on because it stings your face pretty bad.

Millennium Force had been planned for an encore but by this time it had started to rain pretty hard and most rides were closed. We called it a day at that point.

Although we had wanted to repeat many more rides, we are satisfied that we accomplished what we set out to do.

It’s still early, around noon, and we don’t want to spend the day in our hotel. A drive in the country sounds good. We head west towards Toledo and cut up to Michigan where we have lunch at the Buffalo Grill in Erie.

My wife and I split a delicious rib eye steak sandwich while Tim had a burger and fries for a total of less than $12. We notice that we still have some time and Detroit is only 34 miles away. We can pop up there and take a quick tour of Comerica Park (the Tigers stadium) and Tim can add that to the list of ballparks he’s visited.

Comerica Park, Home of the Tigers (notice the tigers on top of the scoreboard)

Though we were only there a couple of hours, Detroit itself was quite a depressing place...like an American Beirut. The stadium is very nice, though. Eating at the in-stadium McDonald’s (the Tigers were on the road playing our Angels) afforded us the opportunity to go inside the park and take some pictures.

We noticed the old Tiger Stadium was still standing when we came into town and tried to drive over to see it, but the streets were very confusing and a Detroit cop just about T-Boned us because he was going about 70 miles an hour and not looking where he was going (no lights or siren, I think he was just in a hurry). At that point, it was decided that was enough of the Motor City and we hightailed it back to Ohio.

Another good night’s sleep and it was off to the next part of our trip, Amish country.

-Darryl
Copyright 2001 - Darryl Musick

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: Physical Therapy Tuneup-Going To The Gym

For anyone who has a disability like me, physical fitness is another important factor in leading the healthiest lifestyle possible for those who are physically challenged or can't walk.

My weekly workout routine consists of going to Movement Unlimited Fitness Center in Monrovia twice a week.  It's good that they are a gym that specializes in providing physical fitness services to those who are disabled.  They also offer the same services to people who are not disabled.

Some of the exercises I do at Movement Unlimited are the stationary bike for my arms and legs on Mondays for about 20 minutes or so and ten laps in a walker in the aerobics room on Fridays.

Ten laps is the goal each week that I shoot for. even though I don't always reach that goal during my walking routine.  For the weekly walking exercise, I use a specially designed walker called a Rifton Gait Trainer that is equipped with two ankle straps to keep my feet in place as well as another strap that goes around my waist to help me stand in a more upright posture position.

The laps in the aerobics room are probably the most physically demanding exercise I do on a weekly basis.  By the end of the ten laps, I usually have to take a few minutes to rest and catch my breath. I also keep track of how fast I complete the ten laps from time to time, but my Dad and I have a rule that if I stop at any point during the walk to take a rest, then we don't keep track of the time it takes to finish the laps.  On that note for those inquiring minds, my fastest time of doing tens laps in the aerobics room is around seven minutes and ten seconds.

When it comes to using the stationary bike, I recently started a new workout regimen where for about a month or so, I will spend the entire workout time on the bike in an effort to shed even more pounds off my body weight.  Up to this point, I've been keeping my body weight at a consistent 163 pounds.  So far, I've spent two complete workouts on the bike up to this point and I have to say that at the end of the first one, I could definitely feel a difference in that I felt like I was using up more energy than I would have if I was on there for the regular allotted time of 20 minutes.  The toughest part of staying on the bike so far for almost an hour is maintaining the mental focus required for such an exercise, but if it's going to help me lose a little more weight then I'm all for it.

Some other arm exercises I do are the Lat Pull to strengthen my lat muscles.  I also use the Bench Press to exercise my shoulders, but instead of laying on the bench, I put my chair in a forward-facing position to use the machine.  I also do ab crunch exercises, which are probably the second toughest exercise I do after the ten laps in the walker.  On each of these arm exercises, I do about three sets consisting of anywhere between 30-50 repetitions in those sets.  If I'm lucky enough to feel extra bursts of energy, I sometimes do one set of 100 repetitions on some of the arm exercises.

So there you have it.  An quick inside look at a workout routine from someone who is physically challenged to show you that even though someone like myself, lives life with a disability everyday, that doesn't stop me from doing my part to stay as physically fit as possible.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved.     

CLASSIC TRIP - East Coast Odyssey - Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland was sort of an accident really. We had planned to stop at Erie, PA or Ashtabula, OH for the night on our way to our next stop but were making such good time we pressed on to Cleveland.

Our first Cleveland moment was seeing the new Brown's stadium with its message board flashing "CLEVELAND ROCKS" at us in larger than life letters. It was a fitting welcome because the city truly does rock.

Priority number one, however, was finding a place to lay our head this evening. We had no reservations for this night having left it open for wherever we might land. Mostly, it was planned strictly as an overnighter on the way.

Consulting the AAA Tour Book, we first made our way to the Cross Country Inn on the west side of town. They had a handicapped room available with two dinky full size beds for $59 a night. Thinking we might do better, we came upon a Radisson hotel nearby. They offered a very large, semi-accessible (no roll-in shower) room with a king size bed and a full size sofabed with a full breakfast for $79. I willingly paid the extra $20 for a more comfortable room and food.

I did not regret my decision. The Radisson was an excellent hotel with a very comfortable and quiet room.

We awoke to a fresh day with very little driving to do so we decided to spend it seeing what this city has to offer before moving on.

My son and I would have loved to see the Indians play at Jacobs Progressive Field but they were out of town this week. We settled on taking a tour of the stadium.

Inside the Press box at Jacobs Progressive Field

It was a wonderful tour. Starting out in the press box, we got to sit in the reporter's seats and do some pretend play-by-play. Onward, we were allowed to spend a few minutes in a luxury suite before seeing the club-level private restaurant. Next, it's down to field level where we went inside the batting cages under the stands and roamed the network of tunnels below street level. The tour finished off on the field and into the Indians dugout where we could sit on the players bench and take photos. We had a great time here.

The Indians' New Bench Warmers

Afterward, it's just a short hop on an accessible trolley over to the East Flats area where numerous restaurants offer great food and drink along with riverfront views of freighters coming in from Lake Erie. We had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack which had good food and slow service.

The Warsaw Tavern Really Exists!! (Except it's Really Called the Memphis Lounge)

Those summer rain storms came in again so we left the rockin' Cleveland. On the way out, we saw the tavern whose exteriors were used as shots of the Warsaw on the Drew Carey Show. Now it's on to Part Four...Cedar Point.

-Darryl
Copyright 2001 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - East Coast Odyssey - Niagara Falls, Canada/NY

 I was really prepared to hate this place. I'd heard about its Vegas like character (there is even a casino on the Canadian side), its endless tourist traps, and tacky gift shops. The "what a shame they had to ruin a natural spectacle" whispers and the endless development.

Yes, this is all there in abundance, but you know what? It doesn't diminish from the falls one bit.

I'd seen the thousand-plus foot plunge of Yosemite falls up close and wondered why a puny drop of less than two hundred feet hogged all the press. I know now...it's not the drop, it's the power and the sheer mass of water plunging over the precipice that is so astounding.

I've read many articles, visited many web sites, and seen hundreds of advertisements for the falls over the years and responded with a ho-hum. Nothing you see in print or any other media does this place any justice.

It's something you have to see right in front of you with your own eyes.

We left the ho-hum city of Toronto in the morning on our way to Ohio. Our plan was to stop for a few hours at the falls (my wife really wanted to see them, as you can probably tell I thought it would be a waste) and continue driving on towards Cleveland before overnighting somewhere.

It's a little over an hour from Toronto to the Canadian side of the falls. First tip: see it from the Canadian side. The falls face Canada - not New York. You'll get a much better view here.

Just across from the American Falls is the park police station for the Canadian side. There are about a dozen free handicapped parking spots here. Use them if you're eligible, they are the only parking you will find withing easy walking distance.

It was sprinkling on and off that day. Our quest was the dock next to the Rainbow Bridge where the small Maid of the Mist boats set sail for the falls.

We worked our way in where we were guided to an elevator that would take us to the dock level. Thin blue rain panchos were issued to us. We put them on and boarded the boat.

As luck would have it, our boat was only about a third full. Every other boat we saw was packed to the rafters, but we had plenty of room and got a spot right at the front of the boat.

The Maid of the Mist Edges up to the Falls

It's a short but amazing trip. The boat puts you right at the foot of the Horseshoe falls. Mist my eye! We were drenched. It's like standing in a driving, hard rain. Many people on board thought it was rain but, no, that's all from the falls.

On Board the Maid of the Mist

After lingering in the spray for about 10 minutes, we turned around and headed back. The views of the falls from the boat were astounding. The true force of millions of gallons of water thundering over the falls each second is a sight to see.

Afterward, we walked up to the Horseshoe falls taking pictures. It really is a breathtaking sight and I was not so jaded anymore. We loaded up on some tacky souvenirs and went to a local Harvey's for lunch.

The Crew in Front of Horshoe Falls

Let me just say that Harvey's serves some of the worst burgers I can remember along with some of the best fries. I was glad that this was the only knock I could give to this incredible visit.

-Darryl

Copyright 2001 - Darryl  Musick