Perfect

Midday yesterday I tweeted that it was "Pretty much a perfect day so far."

Tracy and I took the day off work to hang out with the kiddo and my oldest son, Mikee, who's been visiting this week.

We went out for a late breakfast at First Watch, and while there Tracy and I ordered tickets to take my father-in-law to go see Tony Bennett this Fall.

Then it was off to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where we spent a few hours of the gorgeous day marveling at the Blue Heron rookery and hiking the Ledges, the Octagon, and Brandywine Falls. Refreshingly cool under the canopy of trees and among rock formations that were moved into place by glaciers hundreds of thousands of years ago, we couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Country Maid Ice Cream was all that we needed for lunch – kid’s-sized chocolate peanut butter scoop in a cake cone, thankyouverymuch!

We made a couple of stops on the way back to the house, and I snuck in a quick nap while everyone was getting cleaned up for dinner and the evening.

Then it was fabulous sushi at House of Hunan on the square in Medina that was accidentally but perfectly timed with getting to the theater in time for the 6:40 screening of Super 8.

After the movie, the boys discovered the Star Wars marathon on Spike, while Tracy wrapped some Father's Day gifts, and I began capturing my thoughts on seeing Next to Normal the night before and Super 8 that night.

Yesterday felt like a whole weekend in one day, but never rushed or over-planned. We rolled with each other and the weather and were rewarded with a perfect day. They can't all be, but yesterday was.

Vintage Central Florida, Part 7

The last photo I recently uncovered from the series is the Olde Dixie Fried Chicken restaurant sign. From what I can tell, the restaurant is still around. And from street level, it appears the sign has been fully restored.

5925 South Orlando Avenue, Orlando, Florida

Vintage Central Florida, Part 6

It’s easy to see from a quick Google Maps search that the building that once housed Arnold Paint & Wallpaper still exists, but the sign is gone, the façade’s been painted, and the space looks empty. That’s too bad.

538 North Bumby Avenue, Orlando, Florida

Vintage Central Florida, Part 5

In our basement cleaning, I uncovered more of the vintage Orlando sign pictures I snapped back in 1998. The ones I originally blogged about two years ago (found here, here, here, and here) were the ones I had framed and on display at various times in our homes over the years. These few that I recently found are the cast-offs that didn’t click for me, but I figured they deserve an audience here.

First up is the Mills & Nebraska Lumber sign. Originally located at the corner of (you guessed it) Mills Avenue and Nebraska Street, from what I can tell on Google Maps, it looks like the whole place has been razed, but here’s a picture of the sign from 13 years ago.

1602 North Mills Avenue, Orlando, Florida