Girls Weekend!!!

So, when I first started this blog I made it a point to say I am a girl but a closeted gamer. Just because I play RPGs does not mean that I do not like to hang out with the girls, have a pedi- and mani- and shop. So here is a blog all about the wonderful weekend I had with 3 other amazing gamer ladies!

Louisville bound! Our trip started at 10:00am. Pomme arrived and then it was off to pick up Chiquita and then Berri. These are the names they picked while on our way back from our weekend. I myself am Shortcake. Once we are all in the car we discuss stops for lunch and breaks if they are needed. While on the road our conversations start with a little of getting to know you talk. Pomme and Berri have been introduced but have not spent a lot of time around each other. From there we talk about everything from how we come to meet our husbands and how we knew we had found our matches. Then the lunch topic rolled around, I told the ladies about a great sushi restaurant called Wasabi in Indianapolis. They all wanted to go. So that was out first stop. We had edamame for our starter and then we all choose our favorite roll to share. We had a great time talking about all the things we planned on doing while down in Louisville. Our lunch was fantastic! If you are ever in the Indianapolis area and you love sushi, then stop in and have a great bite to eat.

After leaving Wasabi we were back on the road and headed to Louisville. Traffic was not bad at all. We stopped again to get drinks, snacks and a potty break. I thought for sure that I would lose one or two of my passengers to a nap while driving, but all three stayed awake. Conversations took us to work and what we were doing and how things were going at said place of business. Being in the car with a teacher/librarian, a/r rep and a DBA plus and auditor made for some interesting conversations. As we make our way into Louisville 65 South becomes a parking lot. I think I am constantly apologizing at this point to the ladies in the car because it has taken us extra time to get to our hotel. The ladies do not seem to care, as they take in the view of downtown Louisville.

Finally, we arrive at the hotel, I park and go and check in. We find out that there is a bowling tournament in town and the hotel is booked with kids. I am thinking this is going to be a very long weekend. I can tell you I was very surprised by the fact that I could not tell that they even had kids at the hotel. We lug all of our stuff up to the room and choose beds. Pomme and I (Shortcake) shared a bed and so Berri and Chiquita shared a bed. By this time it’s getting close to dinner. We decide to go through a listing of the restaurants nearby. We mark off all the restaurants that we have back home, ridiculously priced restaurants, and ones that just do not sound very good. We decided to stay close to the hotel the first night and walked to a neighboring hotels restaurant called Blue Horse Cafe. The food and service were incredible! We started out with an amazing appetizer called Tomato Napoleon. Berri and Pomme had amaretto sours and Chiquita and I had water to drink. For dinner Pomme had a steak, Chiquita had a veggie burger and Berri and I both had a chicken sandwich. Berri had bacon and I did not. Dinner was great and sitting and talking to the ladies about how excited we were to be down in Louisville and what we wanted to do was great. We even got our waitress into the conversation as well as the manager. As it turns out the manager was a huge Star Wars fan so some of the girls had something to talk about. I have never seen Star Wars. We paid out bills and went to check out the gift shop.

After leaving we walked back to our hotel and decided to stay in for the night. I know what a bunch of old ladies, but we still had fun. We played Arkham Horror! Now this was not the first time that we have all played, but it was the first time I have played it with all women. So needless to say we beat the game. Come to find out we were not reading the directions the right way and when a gate opened we never placed the monster, oops. J  All players had female characters. My character just happened to be in the place that most of the gates or monsters would spawn and due to my weapon nothing could spawn or open if I was in that same space. I can tell you we had a ton of fun playing and we worked as a team to get it done. I hope to play this game again soon as it just keeps you wanting more. So after winning the game it was time for bed as we had a lot of ground to cover the next morning.

Saturday started off with a little exercise down at the fitness room in the hotel. Then we decided to try a place that was on Food Network for breakfast, Wild Eggs! If you live in Louisville and are reading this post, please go and have anything on the menu for me! The food, coffee and waitress were all fantastic! The wait was about 45 minutes to be seated, but it was worth it. All four of us got something different to eat, but we all shared. Pomme had lemon raspberry pancakes, Berri had French toast, Chiquita had strawberry pancakes and I had the veggie eggs benedict. We passed our plates family style around the table so we could try all the good food. Our waitress was great, we asked about places to go and she told us about a street called Bardstown Road. Great place to shop and eat.  So after having a wonderful breakfast and great coffee we were off on our first adventure in Louisville, Mega Cavern. The Mega Cavern was a great experience. We got to the cavern about 10:45 am, just in time for the 11:00 am tour. The tour was great, even when the tour guide had to eat a worm. After our tour it was time for more sightseeing.

Our sightseeing took us to an RPG store called Roll of the Dice. The store was pretty small and was limited in the RPG merchandise that it carried. It did have a nice selection of comic books and if you are a magic player, then this is the store for you. I have to admit that I was disappointed in the dice selection that they had. I guess I will be asking the husband to bring home some dice from his trip to Gen-Con this year for me. After leaving the store we walked to a used book store and of course books were purchased. I am reading one of them now and I will be writing a review on it when I am finished. From there we took a stroll in the rain to find a shop for Chiquita. The shop in was not at all what we were expecting. We ended up in a drug and sex paraphernalia shop. Some of the ladies in the party had never seen a glass dildo or butt plug and the look on their faces when they were told what those items were, was priceless. I laugh so hard just thinking about it.   After leaving the store, we went in search of lunch and landed at Tom + Chee. The gourmet tomato sandwiches and salads are amazing.  If you are ever in Louisville and on Bardstown Road stop in for lunch, I hope you will not be disappointed. After lunch we decided to head back to the hotel and rest for a while.

Back at the hotel we rested for a while watching “Say Yes to the Dress.” The subject of dinner came up and we decided that we should try another restaurant that was suggested to us by our waitress at Wild Eggs, called the Garage. So we left our hotel and headed to the Garage. When we arrived the line was so long and we could not find parking. This was our only disappointment of the weekend. When then decided to head to Mark’s Feed Store, a bbq joint. After a little bit of a detour we landed at our destination. We had a about a 15 minute wait and after being seated we ordered a couple of appetizers.  Corn bread and fried pickles landed on the table and we dug in. According to Chiquita the corn bread was the best thing she had eaten in a while. The fried pickles were a little thin. If the pickles would have been thicker they would have been a lot better. Pomme ordered the only authentic bbq at the table. She seemed pretty pleased with her choice, Chiquita had a baked yam and had no complaints and Berri and I had chicken strip basket. This was something I would not write home to my mom about. I know chicken strips are not too much to talk about at any restaurant, but I could not have the bbq because of allergies. A couple of the gals ordered dessert and they seemed pretty pleased with their choices. After dinner it was back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel it was time to relax and play The Great Dalmuti. This game is so much fun to play, especially while drinking. The object of the game is to be the first one to get rid of your cards. This person is known as the Great Dalmuti. The last person that gets rid of their cards is known as the Greater Peon. When playing, someone may throw four tens on the table, the next person to play must play four of a lower numerical value, this goes around until the last player is able to throw down four cards of the lowest suit. This person wins that pot to lead the next round by throwing down more cards out of their hand. This will continue until only one person is left with cards or card in their hand. The ladies and I had a lot of fun playing this game. This is a great game to play with four or more players. After drinking and playing cards our night was over with. The next morning we drove home. We had a great time on girls weekend. My only wish is that it could have lasted longer. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend going to Louisville, KY. Click on the link for more info. Hope you enjoyed this blog entry.