my weekend date with my wife to easton

This past weekend Jenny and I got to go on an "extended date." We left the kids with some friends and headed to Easton for two whole days to ourselves. That was huge for us as a couple. Our complete focus for the two days was each other.

Here's a quick rundown of the weekend:

Left around 11 a.m. on Friday. Deliberately went through Millersburg so we could stop at Norman's for some creamsticks. Holy cow. We planned on eating well on this getaway and that's exactly what we did. I wish Norman's was closer, but at the same time I'm glad it's not (know what I mean?).

Arrived at Easton Town Centre around 1:30. Did you know that Easton is now America's largest shopping complex? Amazing. Our first stop: a store called "The Container Store." Guess what they sell? Yup...nothing but...containers. Apparently I thought I was funner than they did when I walked in and asked, "Do y'all have any containers here?" I crack myself up...Jenny just rolls her eyes.

I got a couple cool things for my office there. Jenny was looking for something very specific for the kids' bathroom...and she found it. But I think we spent waaaay too much time in a store that sells nothing but...containers.

From there we just kinda drifted through Easton, popping into various shops and boutiques. The one I landed in the longest amount of time for was The Discovery Channel Store. Very fun. I like books, toys, and science...and this store had lots of all three. While I was in there, Jenny ventured over to The Children's Place. I'm probably giving way too many details here (yawn)...so I'll get to the good stuff...

Before long our thoughts turned to where are we going to eat? We decided that because there are so many good places to eat at Easton, why limit ourselves to just one? So...we decided to restaurant hop--you know eat an appetizer at one place, soup at another, and so on.

We began our quest at The Cheesecake Factory. We ordered an appetizer called "Buffalo Blasts." Amazing. And filling. We were stuffed...certainly in no condition to head directly to the next restaurant, so we decided to see a movie.

The AMC theater there has 30 screens. It's huge. So many choices. And we had no clue about what to see. A dude with a spiked mohawk overheard us talking about Ghost Rider (you know the one with Nicholas Cage's head on fire), and he advised us not to see it. I think he repeated the phrase "It sucks" at least a dozen times. Good enough for me. We still couldn't decide. So Jenny began asking other couples who where buying tickets at automated kiosks what they were going to see. "Reno 911" was one reply. "Pan's Labyrinth" was another. Someone actually recommended Ghost Rider...confused now, but had already ruled it out. Another person advised us not to see The Pursuit of Happyness...but if you read my blog, you know I've already seen that one...

We settled, after much debate, on Amazing Grace. It was opening night. Hadn't heard much about it but the story intrigued us. Bought the tickets. Bought popcorn. Entered the theather. It was almost full. We found two pretty good seats...and as it turned out, the show was sold out, as was the other theater that was also showing Amazing Grace.

There's something about a full theater that makes the movie more enjoyable, in my opinion. There's more energy, more emotion, more laughter, etc. I'm going to write a separate blog about the movie because I thought it was great. I loved it. The folks in our theater actually broke out in applause at the end. Very unusual for a movie. More on that on another day.

After the flick we made our way to The Ocean Club. The Ocean Club is a Cameron Mitchell joint. If you're from Columbus, like we are, then you know all about Cameron Mitchell restaurants. They're all phenomenal. I actually met Cameron once, when I was working for the Columbus Dispatch. Back to the restaurant...It was Friday night...and it was packed...of course. I asked the host if we could just sit at the bar and order calamari (The Ocean Club's is the best). And that's what we did. And it was incredible. While enjoying our calamari at the bar, someone near us had baked Alaska delivered to their table. It got our attention. So we went for it. Neither one of us had ever had baked Alaska...whew! Too good! We'll be doing that again. We had planned, sorta, to head back to the Cheesecake Factory for, well...cheesecake afer the calamari...but the baked Alaska was callin' our names. Great experience. Great restaurant.

Afterwards we spent some more time shopping, Eddie Bauer, the Buckeye Corner, etc. and then headed for the hotel.

And that was our Friday. I'll give you Saturday's events tomorrow. Sleep well...and dream of baked Alaska.