Beach, Dick's and a Mustang!
16 July 2008
For some reason today I woke up very early, so since I was up, I grabbed my fishing gear and walked down to the beach. Maybe I would have better luck in the morning than I’ve had so far fishing in the evening. If nothing else, the sunrise would be nice. Well no fish were caught, not even a bite, but the sunrise was very pretty, so I took some pictures to share here on my blog.
A few hours later, I returned to the house and found most everyone else up having breakfast of some kind, and the kids watching cartoons on the big TV in the living room.
After a sunny day at the beach, we came back to the house to get cleaned up and ready for our dinner out at Dick’s. Some of the girls left the house early to do some shopping, so we were all to meet at Dick’s at 4:00 pm to beat the normal 6:00 pm crowd.
When we returned home, the sun was getting ready to set soon, so I decided to go to
the fishing pier and try my luck one last time. My step brother Dan decided to
tag along even though he is not a fisherman.
Later in the evening, my son Mike asked if the two of us could go to a place called RIDEMAKERZ, which he had seen an ad for in one of the magazines at the house. We checked out the location and how late they were open and off we went. Now, we were told, by people in the house whom I will not mention, to follow Hwy. 17 all the way to 
RIDEMAKERZ is a store where you build your own car…kind of like build-a-bear, if you’ve ever heard of that. It is located in a shopping area called Broadway at the Beach, and when we arrived, it was very busy. This place is huge, and I’ll write more about Broadway at the Beach later, because we do come back. We found an information station, got a map, and a discount coupon, and made our way to RIDEMAKERZ.
The first section you walk into is where you pick out the body style of the car or truck you want. Then you go to the sound area and pick out a sound chip which gives your vehicle a distinctive sound when activated. The next place you go is to the counter where you are asked if you want your vehicle to be “free wheel” or remote control. How cool is that! You can make it remote control too! After we decided on a “free wheel” version because of cost, we needed to go to the wheel and tire area and pick out what kind of wheels & tires we wanted on our car. There was another very nice girl at this station, also with the same accent, there to help us out.
Next was picking out some accessories. Mike found a motor he liked which sticks out through the hood of the car, along with some side pipe exhaust and some decals to dress it up a bit. The only thing left to do is put all this together, so off to the “garage” area of the store where you assemble your vehicle. There they have these little workbench stations with air tools just like in a repair shop! Again, there were some very helpful, attractive girls, all with the same kind of accent, there to help you assemble your vehicle. If I were only 20 years younger ;) Well, after a lot of smiling between me and the girls and some innocent flirting, we had our car finished. The next step was to register the car, which gives you a paper or “title” with all the specs of the vehicle, your name and a license plate number which you pick out.
If you want to see more about RIDEMAKERZ, check them out here. http://www.ridemakerz.com
We were seated as soon as we walked in, so no waiting! Next, one of the bus boys went behind every one and tied a plastic bib around their neck. If you took it off, he would return and put another one on you. It was best just to leave it on!
So our waitress comes to the table and asked if any of us has been here before. Then she takes the sets of silverware, which are rolled up in cloth napkins, and tosses them into the center of the table and says, “here’s your forks, knifes and spoons, pass them around!” and she walks away. She returns about a minute later with a handful of 18” x 18” pieces of paper and proceeds to walk around the table as she flips pieces of paper at us as if she was dealing cards…with no aiming ability. She says, “these are your place mats, paper towels, plates or what ever else you want to use them for, I don’t care!”
She then says to listen up because she is going to read the menu, which is on large chalkboards hanging on the walls, and she is only going to say it once, so we had better listen up! She then asked what we want to drink, and after getting everyone’s order, she leaves saying, “When I get back, you better know what you want to order!” When she returned with our drinks, she asked if it was going to be all on one check or if we were going to be a pain in her ass and have separate checks. Of course we said separate checks, it’s easier that way when there are 15 of us. She took our order, making funny comments along the way, and then we told her my step dad was still not here and she would have to get his order when he showed up. She just rolled her eyes and went to place our order.
A few minutes later, Wes arrived and our waitress promptly started giving him a hard time, saying, “Come on grandpa, what do you want to order? You’re holding up the whole process because you can’t keep track of time. I’m busy, let’s get a move on! Everyone is waiting on you now!” We were all laughing so hard! I don’t think he actually looked over the menu, I think he just picked the first thing he saw.
Before our food arrived, she brought a tray of little bowls of coleslaw. She stood at one end of the table and started placing them in front of who ever was sitting there and told them to pass them around to who ever wanted it. If you didn’t, you ended up with 15 bowls of coleslaw in front of you!
While we were still waiting for our food, she started making us all hats out of the same kind of paper she had tossed to us earlier. They all had funny saying on them about the person warring it. Mine said I cried during “Broke Back Mountain”
Our food arrived quickly considering how many of us there were and how many different items we all ordered, and it was all hot! I ordered a fried seafood platter which is served on a large plastic oval plate. It consisted of a large fillet of white fish, crab balls, shrimp, scallops and fries. Everything was cooked perfectly, not over fried, and not under fried, just right! The portions are also deceiving, because it looks like there is not much there, but every one was full, and I couldn’t finish my desert, which never happens! Most of the other food items we ordered were served to you in a stainless steal bucket. I also had a large glass of beer with a take home glass and Lena bought a very nice shirt (see picture). For desert, I had a very large piece of chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. The brownie came hot, and stayed hot almost to the end! Unfortunately, I was unable to finish it, there was just too much! At the end, she brought us our checks, which had gratuity already on it, but we added a little more because she was so much fun!
When we were getting ready to leave, the “band” was stetting up on stage. They have live music every night and you can get up there and sing along of you dare! This was a great place to eat and I can’t wait to go back!
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