It’s nice to visit new places but it’s also really nice to be home…


And good evening from Northside…



It’s nice to be home. ๐๐ก๐พโค๏ธ
It’s nice to visit new places but it’s also really nice to be home…


And good evening from Northside…



It’s nice to be home. ๐๐ก๐พโค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 30, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/30/home-sweet-home-3/
We’re back from our road trip to Duck, North Carolina in the Outer Banks. We were really happy that we had the chance to getaway for a few days. And we had a really wonderful time…








The house we stayed in was really nice, a little older but it had plenty of space and a terrific salt water pool. It was also in a great location just outside out of downtown Duck with just a short walk down Seahawk Drive West and then to the beach. We spent a lot of time at the beach and in the pool…

We got up to watch the sunrise on the beach one morning, and got coffees from three different coffee shops… Sweet T’s, Duck Cottage and Treehouse Coffee. We also got espresso milkshakes from Sunset Ice Cream. We had some really great meals at Rundown Cafe (Bloody Marys and coconut shrimps), Duck Duck Burgers (mmmm… burgers), Treehouse Coffee (chicken biscuit), Coastal Cravings (crab cakes, shrimps, clams and hush puppies) and Aqua (Mahi tacos and fish & chips with bang shrimps and the banana pudding cheesecake). So much good stuff. And we got to wander through some of the many souvenir shops.

This trip marked two years in a row for us at the Outer Banks. We really liked Duck. We liked it a lot more than when we were out in Nags Head last year. Duck was very walkable. It just seemed like there was more to do and everything was a lot closer.
We really hope to make a trip to the Outer Banks an every year event. It’s really wonderful out there. And we just really like it a lot. We’re already thinking about our next trip out to the Outer Banks. Did I mention we like it out there?
We drove out to Outer Banks through Ohio through West Virginia. It was really pretty driving through West Virginia but the Google Maps took us on these twisting, turning little two lane roads through the mountains that were pretty white knuckle at times. It turns out that we had the “avoid toll roads” option turned ON in Google Maps. And it took us on some of the most narrow winding roads through the mountains of West Virginia from Charleston to Lewisburg. We stopped in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday night. And we found a Krispy Kreme right by our hotel Sunday morning. And we coasted the rest of the way into Duck on Sunday afternoon.
After relaxing in Duck for the week, we dropped down the coast to Surf City on Top Sail Island. We had lunch at Surf Dog (I got my delicious Carolina BBQ) and had a beer at Salty Turtle Beer Co. before staying at North Top Sail Beach. We swam in their pool, watched Goonies in our room and drank a crowler from Salty Turtle.

We drove back home through North Carolina to avoid the treacherous West Virginia mountain roads but the roads on the way back got a little dicey too. Not nearly as bad a West Virginia but there was a 20 mile stretch that wasn’t a cake walk. But we also got to go through a tunnel. So, it all evens out. We eventually made it and we stopped in Knoxville and had pizza before heading home the next day.
We took a bunch of photos during our adventure. We didn’t do a lot with Instagram this trip. I think we’ve kind of lost interest in the ‘grams. I might go and #Latergram some photos. But our Flickr album from this trip has over 1000 photos. There were just a lot of great memories made on this trip.

It was a great trip. We had a wonderful time. But itโs really nice to be home.๐๐บ๏ธ๐๏ธโค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 30, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/30/and-were-back-4/



After walking the dogs, we hoped in the car to go get coffee. It was foggy over on this side town…

I accidentally ordered Genifer a hot coffee from Mad Llama…

Dang. Sorry about that, baby. When we got home, there were some really grey clouds over Northside…



Good afternoon from Northside…



This afternoon we went over to Taft’s Brewpourium for lunch…


Can you believe I forgot to take a photo of our pizza and wings? Crazy, right? We had another white pizza with prosciutto and tomatoes and Cherrywood BBQ wings. It was delicious as always!
Later, we played in the backyard for a bit…


Trips to Mad Llama Coffee and Taft’s Brewpourium make Sundays great.
๐๐๐๐โค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 16, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/16/sunday-coffee-pizza-party/
We just went over 50 WordPress followers for our blog…

Actually, our current tally is 55 followers. Thanks for stopping by and seeing what we’ve been up to lately. We really appreciate it! Especially during this pandemic when it feels like all I’ve been posting has been pretty much the same photo of the sky from the same vantage point. Every. Single. Day.
On a somewhat related note, I was forced into using the new WordPress block editor. It’s annoying when websites or apps redesign their sites or interfaces, especially when everything worked just fine. the classic editor was so easy and I was really used to working with it. I got really frustrated with it. But now after working with it for a few days, I’m really starting to get used to it, and it doesn’t bother me any more. ๐๐ปโโญ๏ธโค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 15, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/15/50-follows/

We always let the dogs out in the backyard before we take them on a walk…


Good morning from Northside…


Our flowers in our front yard are looking really pretty…


I’ve been pulling weeds everyday. Hopefully someday our little front yard will be weed-free and the clover will just take over. Speaking of flowers, how pretty is this one that we saw on our dog walk this evening?

And good evening from Northside…


After work was done and after we walked the dogs tonight, we walked down to Tickle Pickle to get burgers and shakes for dinner….



Tickle Pickle makes vegan shake that Genifer just loves. I’ve been in love with their regular strawberry milkshakes…

Genifer ordered the Eagles chicken sammich…

And I ordered my Buns ‘n Roses burger with extra cheese…


Tickle Pickle is delicious. And it was a great way to start the weekend. ๐๐๐ป๐โค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 14, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/14/burgers-to-start-the-weekend/

Good morning from Northside…


I don’t remember what we had for dinner. But we finished the cupcakes…

It’s always a little sad when you eat your last cupcake.
Good evening from Northside…




And we played ball in the backyard…



We watched the Grizzlies beat the Bucks by 13 to officially clinched a spot in the Western Conference play-in game against the Portland Trailblazers. It was probably the Grizzlies best win of the bubble. I like the Grizzlies. I think they have the best logo in the NBA. But then again, I just really like bears. So I might be biased. And we watched the Phoenix Suns finish a perfect 8-0 in the NBA bubble as they defeated our Mavericks, 128-102. I’ve been really getting into the NBA bubble games. The officiating has been horrible as ever. But it’s been fun to watch the basketball. ๐๐๐พ๐โค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 13, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/13/the-last-of-the-cupcakes/
There was another really pretty sunrise this morning…




Good morning from Northside…





For dinner tonight, Genfier made baked sausages and sweet potatoes…

It’s one of my favorite dinners. Then we took the dogs around the block…

And good evening from Northside…


We’ve been watching the old Showtime series, Dexter on Netflix. It’s been pretty good so far. ๐๐๐บโค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 12, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/12/another-pretty-morning/
We were trying to find the Reds game on TV tonight. But on Fox Sports Ohio was game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Columbus Blue Jackets. And the Reds were coming on as soon as the hockey game was finished. The problem was the hockey game became an epic five overtime thriller,..


I’m not a huge NHL hockey fan. But it was crazy that every time we tried to turn on the Reds game tonight, this hockey game was still going. We came back from walking the dogs, still going. We played ball and went upstairs, still going. And finally, Tampa Bay scored to take game one from Columbus in what turned out to be the fourth longest hockey game in the NHL history despite the Jackets goalie’s NHL record 85 saves…


And then it was time for the finals of the MLS is Back Tournament…

And thankfully, Portland Timbers defeated Orlando City to lift the trophy…


I don’t mind the Portland Timbers. They’re probably my third favorite MLS team. But I do not care for Orlando City and I especially don’t care for Orlando City’s “star” player, Nani. I didn’t like him when he played in England for Manchester United, and I certainly don’t like now. Not at all. Not one bit. He’s just an entirely unlikable player. I’m really happy he didn’t win.
But other than Nani, the MLS is Back Tournament was so much fun. I watched every single match. And it was really terrific to have three soccer matches to watch each day for a couple of weeks during the group play. It was a great tournament. And I already miss it. I feel like I’m going through MLS is Back soccer tournament withdrawl right now. I hope they do some version of a tournament like this every season.
It was a really great sports night… for a Tuesday. ๐๐โฝ๏ธ๐โค๏ธ
Posted by Thadd F. on August 11, 2020
https://tplusg.com/2020/08/11/great-sports-for-a-tuesday/