Xmas Trip Stuff

 Pictures from our Xmas trip to Virginia! We were down there for Thanksgiving relatively recently, but still, it's exciting to get a week off and visit the family and stuff.

While driving down to Virginia and back up to New Jersey the last few times, we spotted this new travel landmark. An internet search called this thing the Cateraptasaurus, and it's outside of Carter Cat in Delaware. This time we made a special note to stop and get a picture of it.

Here's a better view of the Cateraptasaurus. Which now is the new "coolest thing we see on the trip". Sorry Giant Chicken and Savage Taxidermy sign, you got bumped down.

Another funny landmark we pass is this place named after our favorite character from The Vampire Diaries series. Damon's: A Dining Event has been closed for many many years, how is it still here?! Every time we make the trip, we expect it to be gone, but nope. Still here.

It's a trend to have fast food meals endorsed by musicians. Why? I don't know, it just became a thing they keep doing. Who's going to top Mariah for Xmas? Um... nobody? Sometimes it's fun to watch McDonald's throw it's might around. Yeah, they can afford Mariah.

My friend with the home arcade almost got this from us for Xmas. But we know they don't have any more space in their house, so we wisely passed on it. Still fun to get a picture and ask them, where would you have put this thing?!

While watching a Disney+ Star Wars The Simpsons special, we paused this screen so that I could translate the text on the chalkboard, since we had previously practiced reading Aurebesh. Halfway through we realize... D'oh! The whole alphabet is right above the chalkboard. I'll save you the trouble; it says "good job, nerds, you figured it out."

Somebody in this neighborhood went through a lot of trouble to wrap up every branch of this tree with lights. I don't know who "invented" that technique, but it's awesome. I wonder if they will take this down or just leave the lights on it for next year.

This picture might not be too clear, but it looks like that poor monkey in the middle of this claw machine has been stepped on by a dirty shoe. Which just brings up all kinds of questions.

While driving around, we spot an Arby's with the old hat-style sign still up. I heard that's a rare thing these days, so I got a picture of it.

We did drive past the beach this time, but didn't stop to get a picture of the Neptune statue. Fun to see it painted on the wall of this local Hardee's though. That's how you can tell it's a "tourist town"; when they paint landmarks on the restaurant walls.

Behind Military Circle Mall, we saw a huge tent and a banner for Portugal Circus. No idea what that is, but sure, let's get a picture of it. We didn't go to the circus. That might have been fun though.

I can't remember when was the last time we had a stuffed-crust pizza. Now I remember, the stuffed crust part is amazing and the rest of the pizza... you wish was better pizza. Odd.

Got my friend a couple more JumpStart sets of Magic: The Gathering. The first set was the Lightning Pirates vs. Spellcasting Lands. How cool does "Lightning Pirates" sound? They won obviously.

The other match was Spooky Doctor vs Archaeology Under The Sea. Spooky Doctor almost steamrolled right out of the gate gaining tons of life at the start, but stalled out once the Archaeology deck found a flying creature. With no way to block or deal with it, it was a slow and painful death for the Doctor.

MOD Pizza. Yum. Do I need to say anything more? This is becoming a food highlight of our Virginia trips. That hot honey is da' bomb!

It's free to stop in and say high to the seals outside of the Virginia Aquarium! I think. When we were leaving, we saw pay parking meters. The type that prints out tickets. Maybe we should have paid? We were only there for a few minutes.

We didn't really stick around for too long, so we had to settle for lame pictures like this one. He's chewing on his foot. It was chilly outside, but I have no idea what the water must have been like. Maybe it was nice? For a seal?

Pretty sure that was Hector we got pictures of. Hope you have a Happy New Year, Hector!

How do we like our Earl Grey tea? Hot! When Captain Picard orders it like that, do you think the replicator is like "How else would I serve it? Nobody drinks Earl Grey tea cold!"

Another fast food place we don't have in New Jersey: Cook Out. Why did I not like the cheddar bites? My friend says they tasted "fishy" except they don't serve any kind of seafood here. Not at all. Very strange.

The shakes at Cook Out are awesome. But it's not really a shake, it's more like a cup full of ice cream. They give you a spoon and everything. Nothing like having a giant cup of ice cream with your lunch! What do you mean "tons of calories?" This is a vacation for us, so that's okay.

A fun story when we walked into pop culture store Yester Toys. They were playing the first episode of the new Book of Boba Fett series on the giant screen in the back. Which we had planned on watching later with my friend's brother. So there we were in the store trying our best to plug our ears and hum, to avoid spoilers, and they asked us if we were okay. They insisted they pause the episode for us, which was unnecessary but super cool of them to offer.

Home cooked pork chops! Yay family visits! Who needs to go out to restaurants when you can get home-cookin' like this?

Yeah, but the next night we went out to a restaurant. Red Robin had a new burger with some kind of Scorpion Pepper Sauce on it. There was actually a lot of tasty sounding burgers, but of course we had to go with the "hot" one.

I jumped over here to get a picture of this awesome pixel-art using carefully rotated Rubix Cubes. What a neat idea! Also glad I took the first opportunity to get this picture, because they sat some other people over here all night, and that would have been awkward to ask them to move for a silly picture.

The Scorpion Pepper Sauce was not hot in the slightest. I thought they might have given me a different burger, but I could clearly see the jalapenos. Eh, it was alright still. The real winner was the queso dip we added on for the fries. 

Did I have to get a picture of the Red Robin? Sure. I guess. Hi! I wonder if Red Robin hangs out with the Jollibee, Night at The Museum-style?

Hallmark sure can miniaturize something and make an ornament out of it. This Super Nintendo was perfectly detailed right down to the plugs in the back of it, and played a whole level of Super Mario World music and sound effects. And we had the music stuck in our heads for the rest of the week.

Having fun with a desktop magnifier we got my friend's Mom for Xmas. Is this picture as cool as we thought it might be?

Masks or no-masks? Sigh, can this be over already? We've been to Texas Roadhouse a lot so I didn't feel like I needed to take a bunch of pictures in there again.

I couldn't tell if this photo puppy balloon was really cute or really creepy. It's because it was flat, I think. That's what was creepy about it. Maybe you need to see it in-person to get that effect.

Almost didn't take any pictures on the trip home, when this boat passed by. The name on the back of it is "Never Enough", which is a funny name for a boat. Need a new friend? You said "never enough"... and I'd like a ride on the boat please!