A Friday Night In Dayton

Remember the 30 Day Challenge, and how I seemingly forgot the 30th day?  Well, really I didn't.  There are a bunch of people I miss, but one of them is my friend Melanie, who until this weekend, I hadn't seen since March of 2010.  We've been back and forth for months trying to plan a visit, and I decided to just make it happen and make the drive to Ohio for her baby shower this weekend.

Friday, by about 9:30am, I was headed out of Charlotte on my way to Dayton for the weekend.  The drive is pretty scenic, going through mountains and farmland. 

The weather was kind of nutty and I went through pockets of down pour as well as sunshine.

The eight hours went by pretty quick though and soon enough, I saw the city of Dayton on the horizon.

Melanie and I got to our hotel within about 10 minutes of each other (she drove from Indianapolis), so the timing was pretty much perfect. 

After regrouping for a few minutes, we headed out to an area of Dayton called The Green to find some dinner.

After scoping out all our options, we chose Choe's, an Asian place.

Melanie and "the bump" were craving sushi.

Melanie insisted I get a drink, since she couldn't.  I got a Red Panda, which was cherry vodka, PAMA, cranberry, and something else that I can't remember...

TASTY!

We started with some Edamame.

Then ordered three sushi rolls to split, all with cooked fish: smoked salmon, crab, and shrimp.

The one in the back right corner was actually a coconut shrimp roll, which was my favorite.  It had flash fried coconut bits on top, and the shrimp tempura was also coconutty.  Great combo!

After dinner we walked around The Green and stumbled upon a fro-yo place.  Melanie said this is not a big thing yet in the mid-west, and I told her that in Charlotte, it's HUGE.

I showed her the wall of self serve flavors and the bar of toppings, and we each got a cup.

After our big dinner we headed back to the hotel and watched a classic flick, She's Having a Baby, which I had brought on Netflix especially for the occasion.

Definitely a cheesy 80's movie, but we enjoyed watching it.  Alec Baldwin is so young and almost unrecognizeable in it!  Funny!

We passed out by eleven to get our beauty sleep for the baby shower.