18 April 2005

Does anyone know the importance of this date?  Quick!  Before reading further!

If you didn't guess my birthday, shame on you!  I've only been counting down the dates for the last month or so.  I turned 21 on this, my latest birthday.  And of course I didn't drink a drop of anything alcoholic.  Pregnant women can't do that, ya know.  Not that I think it was any major loss, since I'm not keen on the flavor of alcohol.

Clint suggested we do something unique for my birthday, which turned out to be visiting the local botanical garden.  Neither of us had ever been to one before, so it was a new experience.  And one we both enjoyed.  I'm not the outdoorsy type, but Clint is, so I think he may have even enjoyed it more than I.  Strange, that.

A botanical garden is apparently more than just a "garden."  This particular garden sits on 110 acres of land and boasts both man-made and natural gardens.  We didn't arrive until 4:00 p.m., and the . . . resort? . . . is only open until 5:00 p.m., so we had to take a truncated tour of the land rather than see everything all in one blow.  All in all, we covered a lot of area and saw most of everything, including a water garden that was crawling with ducks, geese, and water snakes.  One of the geese had a nest.  By about the second stop on the little pamphlet map, I was wishing we'd brought a camera to take photos of things.  We did decide that we would go back to finish walking all the trails and paths and explore the remaining gardens.  There were about seven or eight we hadn't seen yet.  And we're going to take pictures next time.

Later we hit up the mall because Clint was seriously craving the food from the Chinese place they have there, and we played in the arcade a bit.  Then it was off to Best Buy to pick up a movie.  There weren't any playing at the theater that either of us particularly wanted to see.  I chose Little Black Book, which is most definitely a chick flick.  And it was hilarious at that.  I like the end because the girl *doesn't* get the guy, but is still happy.  There's also a major, unexpected twist in the movie that totally caught me off-guard.

We thought we'd be tired by the end of the movie, since we were awakened early with several phone callers wishing me a happy birthday.  Luck was with us, though, and both of us were still pretty awake.

So we went to Outback for dinner.  I was extremely unimpressed.  I used to go to Outback quite a bit when I lived in SC, and I was always impressed with the food and service, and the price.  I've only been twice since I moved to AL.  I don't remember my first visit very well, but this second visit has spoiled Outback for all time.  First of all, the menu is about half the size it used to be.  Not only that, but Outback's specialty is supposed to be steak, right?  Outback Steakhouse?  Why did they only offer four kinds of steak?  My personal favorite, a New York Strip, only came in fourteen ounces and boasted a ludicrous price of nineteen dollars. ?!  I also remember being served the pumpernickle bread with every meal, but I had to ask for it, and the first loaf was stale.  Luckily, the second loaf was extremely fresh and reciprocally delicious.  My steak was overcooked.  As in, WAY overcooked.  I asked for medium-well, but got dry leather.  The outside had some burned places.  I'm not really a complainer, so I just asked for some A-1 and *didn't* ask for a box at the end of the meal.

When did Outback start having the same menu prices as Lonestar?  I remember Outback as casual dining.  Steak is expensive, but nineteen dollars a plate is ridiculous.  The service wasn't bad, but I've certainly had better.

Anyway, later we went car shopping (this was late at night when there are no sales people to bother you--much easier to do) at a few places, and found a few cars that look as though they'll make good family cars (haha, J., two of them were Pontiacs), if they ask for the right price.  And to end the night, we went to UAH and sat by the water.  There's a decent-sized pond there with lighted fountains surrounded by trees and some stone benches.  We camped on one of those for a while just to talk.  There were lots (and lots) of ducks moving around trying to ignore our presence, and I spotted a couple of snakes in the water.  There was also something resembling an alligator head floating on the water, but we couldn't really distinguish what it was.  We concurred that it couldn't be an alligator, though, because the head would have been too big, and we'd probably see a little of its back protruding as well (though not necessarily).  Either way, whatever it was, it wasn't moving, so it didn't bother us.

I liked it.  I've had more exciting birthdays, for sure, but it was a lot of fun in a quiet way.

-Ave