Thursday, March 18, 2010

By the Time I Get to Arizona…


If it's March, it must be time for the one event I look forward to all…uh, first quarter of the year. My birthday! Wrestlemania! Spring Training!

Once again, The Cam Fam is heading very slightly east to Phoenix, Arizona for a weekend of baseball games that don't count. Kudos, of course, to Mrs. Bootleg who is always a good sport. It could be reasonably argued that my son Jalen and I get slightly more out of exhibition baseball than the wife.

But, that's not to say the weekend's going to be all about baseball. In fact, here are the top five FAMILY activities that I'm most excited about during our stay in the desert:

5.) Thursday – Oakland A's vs. Arizona Diamondbacks: OK, Thursday is going to be all about baseball. Our flight arrives in Phoenix just after 11:00 AM, which gives us precious little time to grab our bags, secure the rental car or strap on Jalen's seat belt. The game starts at 1:00 PM and will be held at the A's depressing concrete edifice. The one in Phoenix, not Oakland. Roasted corn on the cob for me, chocolate ice cream and the 2010 team media guide for Jalen and we're good.

4.) Saturday – Oakland A's vs. Cleveland Indians: Sorry, Mrs. Bootleg – I already bought tickets. This'll be at the Indians' new facility in the city of Goodyear. We caught a game out there last year and it's a phenomenal little ballpark. I can't say I'm looking forward to the 45-minute drive, but Jalen will get to play on the "kids' diamond" again and I'm already planning a TBG post in which I'll compare Goodyear's "Cleveland Dog" (bacon, chipotle BBQ sauce) to their "Cincinnati Dog" (chili, cheese, onions).

3.) Friday (?) – An evening with friends: Ummm…for the record, I didn't necessarily say this list was in any particular order. We're still working out the details on this one, but the tentative plan is to get together with our families for dinner. And, then, later in the evening…the patriarchs will abandon their families (AFTER the kids have gone to bed!) in search of adult beverages and/or debauchery. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Bootleg will sign off on this.

2.) Thursday – Lolo's Chicken & Waffles: M'man JP – the neglectful father mentioned immediately above – sent me
this link when he heard I was coming back out to his adopted home state. Since then, I've made weekly visits to their menu in an attempt to mentally pre-order my meal. I still don't know what I'm going to get. I'm running out of time!

1.) Dunkin' Donuts Waffle Breakfast Sandwich: During an all-day training session at work on Wednesday, I jotted down five thoughts for this post. At the time, Dunkin' Donuts didn't make the list. By the time I sat down to pound this out, I'd received an email from m'girl Elena. She referred to
this sandwich as "the post opportunity of a lifetime" and I cannot disagree. As most of you know, we don't have Dunkin' Donuts in California. (Seriously, I would trade ALL of our In-n-Out franchises for just one Dunkin' Donuts.) So, there's no way I'm passing up this "limited time only" window of awesome.


Y'all know the drill: Follow along with my weekend adventures on
my Twitter feed, find me on Facebook or just pop on back to this lightly-read blog over the next few days.

6 comments:

Joe said...

I can second the waffle breakfast sandwich Cam. I just had one yesterday and it was delicious. It was actually less filling than the bagel sandwich, which is a good thing because the sausage, egg, and cheese bagel leaves you feeling too full at times.

Enjoy the trip.

Tom said...

I never got in to waffle sandwich at DnD because I thought it tasted too much like what it was -- a knockoff McGriddle. McGriddles are the pinnacle of breakfast deliciousness... don't try to cheapen it.

However, the new biscuits at DnD, and the accompanying sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich, are amazing and have the added bonus of being available all day. Take that, 10:30 breakfast cutoff.

Mike P. said...

Came to second the waffle sandwich, now thirding it. It just showed up here in MA and while I'm not trying to take anything away from Papa Ronald, I think it beats the McGriddle.

In fact, I may go get one now...

Michiewah said...

Have fun, Cam Fam! ;D

Joe Reid said...

Dunkin's waffle sandwich is maybe in my Top 3 of most disappointing foodstuffs experiences of all time. We're talking Arch Deluxe levels of deflated spirits.

Tom's right -- it's a knockoff McGriddle, and a shoddy one at that.

new england nicka said...

Spoiler alert; The sandwich sucks.

everyone else seems to have nailed it (mcgriddle knockoff) - The only thing I can add is I'm not sure its really a waffle - it looks like one but has the texture of wet bread...which is really gross.