The first track meet of the season was held at Upper Arlington High School just a few miles west of the OSU Campus. The meet consisted of Upper Arlington and Hilliard Darby, both division I schools. Jonny ran in the 300 Meter hurdles and the 4×400 relay. It was a lot colder expected with the temps 10 degrees lower than forcasted. The actual temp was 39 with the wind chill bringing it down to 33 degrees.
The first event for him was the 300 hurdles. According to the coach they get very little practice running hurdles. According to the coach Jonny only ran the first part of the 300 meter hurdles once over 3 hurdles in all the practices, since they asked him to try hurdles just before the first meet. There were two heats and it was apparent that Jonny should have been put in the faster heat. Even though he lost his balance after on hurdle and stumbled and had to stutter step just before another hurdle due to a cell phone in his lane that distracted him, he still had a very respectable time of 47 seconds. With competition he would have been faster.
The second event was the 4×400 relay. Jonny ran the 4th and final leg of the relay. Jonny got the baton in 3rd place and about 20 meters behind the first place competitor. He was slowing catching up until about 250 meters left in the race. Jonny started his sprint to the finish about that point and really started to catch the other two. He passed both other racers with just over 100 meters left in the race and won the race by 10 meters while finishing his leg in 53.3 seconds. The team finished the mile long run in 3:43.5.
Ohio State University is on spring break this week. I picked up Apollo and Mozzie Wednesday after work and brought them home for Nikki and I to look after while Ashley and Shane headed to Kalahari in Sandusky. They left Thursday morning and had a good time at the indoor water park. According to Ashley, Friday there was a convention at Kalahari with a bunch of youngsters dressed in full make-up like the television show toddlers and tiaras for a cheer leading convention. They spent two nights there and were going to spend most of the day Saturday, but they said it was very crowded and decided to head home in the early afternoon. We kept the pets another night before bringing them back to their apartment.
Stephanie and Marcus headed south Saturday morning after Nikki and I dropped off some dresses Stephanie packed, but left in her bedroom. The first day they made it down to Birmingham, Alabama. Stephanie really liked the area and thought all the houses looked like brick mansions.
Garden District
Sunday they made it into New Orleans late afternoon and checked into the Wyndham Avenue Plaza Resort, located in the Garden District in New Orleans.
The beads were all over every tree and fence.
They unpacked and then walked to Magazine Street, but most of the places were closed because it was Sunday.
Monday they walked back to Magazine Street and checked out the shops. Stephanie really liked the boutiques, but was unable to find anything in her size.
Ice cream and macaroons
For lunch they stopped and had pizza and then went to a French Pastry shop and had macaroons and ice cream for dessert. Stephanie and Marcus both were getting sun burnt and at that point Marcus decided to buy a hat for himself. That evening they decided to go back to St. Charles Street, which was near their resort, and ate a place called Zea. Stephanie had BBQ chicken and ribs and Marcus ordered the shrimp pasta.
Small Voodoo Museum in the French Quarter
Tuesday they took the Street Car to the French Quarter District.
#NOLA
Once there, they visited the little voodoo museum and then did some more window shopping where Stephanie found a fedora to help protect her from the sun.
Shrimp Sandwich, Gumbo and fried alligator
They stopped for lunch and shared a fried alligator appetizer, Marcus had Gumbo and Stephanie had a fried shrimp sandwich.
Live music was coming out of almost every door. They did more window shopping and had a cold drink at Starbucks before taking the Street Car back to the Garden District and went back to the hotel. They decided to try Mr. John’s Steakhouse located in the same building as the hotel. They should have known it was going to be expensive when there were no prices on the menu. They both said it was the best meal of their lives and it should have been for $160 for two before tip.
Mr. John’s Steakhouse, cost a lot more than expected. Worth it.
They felt a little out of their element as Stephanie needed to send pictures to Nikki to determine what to do with some of the things they were bringing to the table, such as a little yellow cloth tied with a green ribbon. Inside was a lemon that was to be used to wash the smell of the seafood off her hands. Stephanie took her dinner to go, for fear that she was going to embarrass herself at the dinner table in the restaurant.
Heading down to Camelias.
Wednesday they took the Street Car to Camelia’s, which is a breakfast joint in the Garden District. It was crowded, but the experience was well worth the wait. From there they walked to a city park with a pond and jogging/bike path where they tried to play some hacky sack. Since it was really hot that day they decided to go back to the hotel and took a swim at the pool. They walked to the cafe and Marcus had a coffee before they went to back to hotel again and changed for dinner. They took a half hour walk from the hotel to a place called Superior Seafood. They had Crab Cakes as an appetizer, Stephanie had Shrimp and Crawfish pasta and Marcus had Catfish. After dinner they took the Street Car back to the Avenue Plaza Resort.
Thursday morning they checked out of the resort and took a Street Car back to the French Quarter.
Beautiful flowers
They were going to have breakfast at Cafe De Monde, but the line was out the door and down the street.
Hardy breakfast before the trip to FL.
So instead they picked a cafe next door and had beignets for breakfast and a frozen coffee. They walked to the cemetery, but were told they could not enter without paying $50 per person to have a tour guide take them around.
They took the Street Car back to the hotel to get the car and headed east to Pensacola, Florida and after checking in to a hotel, they found a pizza place that had the biggest slices of New York Style Pie that was very good.
Pensacola Beach, FL
After lunch they went to the beach and they had the pleasure of watching some dolphins porpoising near the shore. They then spent some time shopping at the tourist beach shops and Stephanie talked Marcus into stopping at a pet store and had fun talking with a Macaw. They had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse before calling it a night.
Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Rescue, feeding the birds
Friday morning they went to Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park Rescue. A non-profit organization that takes in all kinds of birds. The admission gets you a bucket of peanuts to feed the different birds.
Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Rescue, feeding the birds
They spent about 2 hours there and really enjoyed a Cockatoo that was there. They had trouble finding a hotel and had to drive farther than they anticipated. They drove all the way to Clarksville, Tennessee and didn’t make it to the hotel until 1:00 am.
Saturday they stopped around Louisville at an outlet mall to stretch and do a little shopping to break up the 6 drive to Columbus.
