Welcome to Utica, NY

Well, I'm back from my weekend excursion to the mighty Utica, NY. The trip was absolutely fantastic. First of all, it was only God that we even got there safely since we drop 5 and a half hours on a COMPLETELY bald tire in the snow across RI, MA and NY. We took care of that bald tire though while in NY. Anywho...

My wife Nichole and I hung out with my guy Mike and his wife Melissa Servello and their two beautiful daughters Guilia and Daniella.

Friday night we went to this restaurant called Rodizio. Here's how it works. They put rocks -yes actual rocks - on your table with a green stamp on one side and red stamp on the other side. Red means stop, green means go. But stop and go for what you might ask? If you have the green side showing, it means - KEEP BRINGING THE MEAT! And did they bring the MEAT. There was beef cooked in wine and ginger, beef slow cooked, steak tips, scallops and bacon, turkey cooked in banana leaves, chicken wrapped in bacon, ribs and salmon. They put it on a skewer and they just keep on bringing it! They had some sides that were good - but the meat was GREAT! I'm a carnivore.

The night was going smooth, then Mike turned a weird shade of green and stopped eating. It wasn't the food. It was (what I think was) the flu! So we took a tour of the BEAUTIFUL casino and hotel Turning Stone and Mike got us a tour of the rooms and spa. WOW! They were BOSS! Big Fella style stuff in the rooms. And given the luxury in the room, and given the fact I see prices through a Newport eye, the prices were PRETTY reasonable.

The next day Mike feeling worse AND having to speak at 3 weekend services in 2 days STILL muscled it out and took me to the Baseball Hall of Fame. WOW! I don't know if I was more impressed with Mike's willingness to press through his sickness and drive an hour to Cooperstown or with the HOF itself. It was great though.

(this is getting long so I'm going to abbreviate)


Since Mike was sick, we hung out with Mark Schilling (no relation to Curt) on Saturday night. One of the most intense people I've met in a long time. And coming from ME, that's saying something.

We ate some REALLY good food and Mike and Melissa were some of the most giving and gracious hosts we've ever had. They were more concerned about US having a good time than they were about Mike feeling better. Talk about putting others first!

I'll talk more about my trip later to prevent this from becoming a novel. I'll talk about what I learned, who I met and how I almost ruined my friendship with Mike (he REALLY hates the Red Sox :0) )