Botanic Gardens, BBQ, Bread, and Bologna (BBB&B)

 Memphis, TN

We visited the Memphis Botanic Gardens and this was in the Japanese Gardens.

Last Day of February

We spent the last day of February renewing Donna's Passport and picking up bread at a local bakery.  Renewing a passport sounds trivial but when you realize you need a printer and a stapler reality sinks in.  We also needed to decide how we would get the passport mailed to us.  The process takes 7 to 11 weeks and we don't know where we will be when it arrives. We could use our Washington Address but then the passport would have to be mailed twice and that adds risk.  We decided to tap into our friends Kevin and Victoria in the Chicago area.  We will have it mailed to them and then pick it up during our Chicago stay.  

We started the day gathering what we thought we were going to need and mapping out the stops.  First stop was Walgreens to get a passport photo.  That was a bust because after waiting at the photo counter for what seemed like 10 minutes we were told the passport photo station was down.  We did use this stop to get a padded envelope so we could mail the application once we made it through all of the steps.  We decided to go to CVS next and that all worked out for us.  With passport photos in hand we went to the library to use their printing services.  We had to get a guest pass because we aren't members and they were very helpful walking us through the process.  The print out went way more smoothly than it could have.  At this point we were ready to start filling out paperwork but we forgot the checkbook (for those that don't know what this is, it is kind of like Venmo but made of paper instead of an app).  We decided to head back to the house and regroup.  Donna used the quiet atmosphere to fill out the application without any mistakes and I found the checkbook. 

At this point we had all of the elements but we had to combine them to make an application.  The passport photo needed to be stapled to the application.  Who has a stapler?  Not us.  We went to the FedEx shipping center hoping they would allow us to staple and ship.  When we got there they said they couldn't mail to a P.O. Box but they did let us use the stapler.  After stapling we combined it all and went to the post office.  Our application is now in the mail and hopefully we will have it back in time for our stay in Winnipeg Canada!  We are going international!

The Staple Lobby still has a stranglehold on the passport renewal process.

We decided to buy bread to celebrate.

It is yummy!

Starting off March at the Botanic Garden

On March 1st we went to the Nashville Botanic Garden.  We used our RAP pass to get in.  It's a great garden with really fun areas to explore.  We really liked the Japanese Gardens and the My Big Backyard area which had cool gardens and places for kids to play.

One of the My Big Backyard gardens

Donna in the Chrysalis Swing 

You know, for kids!

After our Gardens visit we went shopping for some groceries.  We wanted to get some fixings to go with our bread so we got Mortadella (we love it) but it was so expensive.  I got the idea to do a taste test with Mortadella and Bologna (the cheap American version).  

Mortadella is better for sure but to for 10x the cost of Bologna.  

Our fancy taste test

BBQ and Taxes

March 2nd proved to be a windy rainy day so we stayed in and did our taxes.  They went pretty smoothly.  Turns out you don't get any returns if you don't pay anything.  Once taxes were done we celebrated by going to Bain BBQ which is a short walk from the house.  We were the only ones there because it was 3:45 on a Thursday.  The person behind the counter asked if we had been there and we said no so she handed us some brisket to try.  It was delicious!  She also handed us some rib meat to try.  It too was delicious!  Donna got the brisket sandwich (she was going to get the pulled pork sandwich but the brisket sample changed her mind) and I got the rib plate.  It was really good.  We ended up buying a jar of sauce on the way out.

We picked up a Mustard Sauce

Donna's sandwich was great

My ribs were great but I had leftovers

After dropping our leftovers off at the house we went back to Cooper House Project brewing to continue our "taxes done" celebration

That's it for today.  If you missed the previous post you can find it here.  We went on a Whiskey Distillery Tour and got fried chicken downtown.

Newspaper = Adventure and Bread

 Denver, CO

Donna!  Take a photo of me for the blog!

Bread Run Inspired by the Denver Post

We have been getting digital subscriptions to local newspapers on our trip.  We are happy to support journalism and you also find out about a lot of cool local things when you read a local paper like, The Five Points Jazz Festival, A new Tiki Bar in Longmont, why we have so many moths in our apartment, and Rebel Bread!  In the morning Donna reads the paper while I blog and we both drink coffee.  When I am done with my blog I usually start looking at things to do for the day or future days.  Today we were doing what we always do and suddenly Donna looks up and says something like, "we need bread".  She showed me the article about Rebel Bread and we went out and picked up 3 loaves.  It turns out people line up for this bread at The Farmers Market but if you just go to their local retail outlet you can walk in and buy some with no line so that is what we did.

The Bread Shop

Bake against the machine!

She is actually inventing sliced bread at this very moment!

The bread is so good!

H Mart

After finishing our coffee and having bread 3 or 4 different ways we decided we should do a bit of grocery shopping.  It's always good to have meals on hand.  We wanted to go to H Mart, which is a great Asian Grocery Store in Colorado and elsewhere.  We would shop at H Mart when we lived in the Seattle Area.  We shopped at HK Market and Ranch Market when we lived in SoCal.  We love International Grocery Stores.  

We did the drive into Aurora CO (in Arapahoe County) and did our shopping in a crowded H Mart.  When we go back we will pick a weekday instead of a Sunday.

It's way better on the inside

We think the veg selection was even better than in Seattle.

Please pay before eating

Miles of Banchan!  

Do you need $75 bags of mushrooms (we were in the bulk section)

Natto (fermented soybeans)!  For your health (or on a dare to win a bet).  We actually like Natto

The Rock selling energy drinks

It was a chill day.  After groceries we took a walk and then finished watching Severance on Apple+. 

Some truth being dropped by Ricken.

We had a big day yesterday.  Check it out here.