A Return to Home

Growing up, I couldn't think of a more lame place to live than Northeast Central Indiana. (I totally just made up that title, but I feel that it's accurately descriptive.) Looking back, I still don't think that there is a more lame place to grow up than NECIN. Granted, I had some cool parents that helped me make the best of that place by building a pond, and maintaining a private zoo. But still.... The place itself? Totally lame.

After moving to Central Indiana, a good 2.5 hours from NECIN, I have found that I have endless entertainment and dining possibilities at my fingertips. It is wonderful, and I love living here.

However, there is something missing here. Something that I love, something that I've missed everyday since I left NECIN... It's Pizza King. Any solid, former or current NECIN resident will tell you that Pizza King is far and away the best. pizza. ever. EVER!

So imagine my dismay when I moved to Central Indiana, and called my local Pizza King to order my regular favorite, "The Royal Feast", only to be met with the response, "uhhhh, what's that?"

What do you mean, "What's that?" It's the Royal Feast! Is this not Pizza King? I distinctly remember having to explain to the pizza guy what a Royal Feast was, only to be told by said pizza guy that "That's called a deluxe lady." Fine. Whatever. Give me the Deluxe.

The REAL Royal Feast!

Let me tell you, The Deluxe is NOT the same thing as the Royal Feast. It is a greasy, toppings too big, sad imitiation of the Royal Feast. This was a sad, sad day for the Gessners.

The other issue is that NECIN Pizza Kings have a King or a crown as their logo. Appropriate, wouldn't you say?

The Central Indiana Pizza Kings however have a train as their logo. Whhhaaattt? What the heck does a train have to do with a king? No wonder they don't know what a Royal Feast is.

As you can tell, this has been a major issue in our lives. REAL Pizza King has been sorely missed, and everytime we're in the NECIN area, we always make sure to partake of the REAL thing. None of this greasy, toppings-too-big, train logo, Deluxe business!

Okay, rant over. Now about our weekend. We decided that we would take a little road trip up to the NECIN area to enjoy some of the finer points. We went to the Chesterfield Pizza King and ate some of the best pizza known to man. The place is a total hole in the wall, but that pizza? Man! It's amazing!!

The boys sharing a tiny bench and being "manly" by sitting as far apart as possible

Sara schooling us in snood/ bobble balls (or something like that)

Theeeeennn- we went to Ivanhoes. Again, if you've never lived in NECIN, you probably have no idea what Ivanhoes is, but let me tell you, it's a little slice of heaven here on earth. It's an ice cream place featuring 100 shakes and 100 sundaes. I've only had a fraction of the delights on the menu, but I'd venture a guess that every last one is totally amazing.

Why yes, that is ice cream on his chin, forehead, and hands!

We each enjoyed an amazing sundae and had a great time goofing around together. We did however have an unfortunate experience with a surly balloon twister who seemed to feel that twisting balloons for Taylor U chicks was a great way to score a date. He totally passed over our table (the only table with children) multiple times to twist for the various tables of college students who were only mildy tolerating his presence. Owen finally went over and asked him if he would make him a balloon- and the guy spent about thirty seconds making him a weak sauce balloon dog- and begging for a tip, before returning to the table of college girls and whipping out his "portfolio" of elaborate balloon structures to allow them to choose from. I'm sure that he got some great tips from a group of college students sharing clown sundaes and ice water! ugghh. He was a total tool. Never have I wanted to smack a balloon twister like I wanted to smack this idiot. Actually, I don't really think that I've ever wanted to smack a balloon twister, so he totally wins.

We had the best evening with SarTodd and ate some of the best food around. It's one of those, "You don't know what you have 'til it's gone." Because when I lived in NECIN, I never thought about how much I'd miss PK and 'Hoes when I moved away. :)