Chapter 4: Bratwurst in a bag, midget wresters and Joker's Tea

The Summit Road Show makes a stop in Solon, OH for another intense week of work and play. The Team is still going strong despite watching baseball in sub-zero temperatures and eating non-stop for 3 days. Recognition goes out to the Solon folks for an excellent week of activities. All that was missing was the official tour of Jessica's place, which apparently was reserved for only the privileged few ;)

Day 1 started off the festivities with a trip to Progressive Field, home of the Indians, where the team enjoyed America's favorite past time with cold beers, hot dog and $1.50 bratwurst in a ketchup pack... I think Sabine was a little bit offended by the concept, because she looked like she was about ready to throw down on the nice concessions lady, who surprisingly didn't go crazy after we kept asking her to add 1 more hot dog or 1 more cheese fries to Kevin's order.






































Did I mention that it was cold that night? A nippy 40 degrees, which for the So Cal folks might as well have been sub-zero temperatures. But but that didn't dampen any spirits especially when we had Fish Candy and Hot Cocoa... You know what they say, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger... "

Everybody picked a buddy to cozy up to... Hey Greg, those aren't pillows!




















It was still a beautiful night for a walk through downtown Cleveland. We just had to watch out for the crazy birds.

Day 2 started bright and early, and everyone was rearing to go with our 3 fearless leaders taking charge. Notice how they somehow naturally always end up sitting next to each other...



Of course some folks were more engaged than others...



I think we might have to institute some type of rule that Kevin and Greg can't sit together for an extended amount of time. Then before we knew it, it was time for lunch in the Culinary Center, where we got a chance to see the how culinary magic happens each and every day.



My favorites were the soba on ice and the buffalo sliders... I could have eaten 10 of those things, and I think Greg actually did.



Then it was back to work prepping for the Solon Marketing Team presentation.



Kevin, Jessica and Victori did such an excellent job that photos couldn't do them justice. Another round of approvals done! Time to celebrate with the restaurant tour and more good eat'n!

First stop, Farenheit!



Congratulations to Vanessa, who is starting to learn how to not blink for the photos.



I'm not sure what Kevin and Sarah were talking about, but I thought I heard Sarah saying, "Well Kevin, what if things don't work out between the two of you... " Either that, or they were trash talking on who's going to win the next round of poker.



Serious conversations aside... it was onto the Flying Fig... where more good food and good liquor were had by all.



And it was now Sabine's turn to blink for the camera...



Well, what's a restaurant tour without tasting 20 kinds of guacamole and 10 kinds of margueritas... ? Onto Momocho!

Gotta love the decor... I think I'm getting some good inspiration for the Summit...

You'd think visiting 3 great restaurants would be the epic highlight of the night. Oh no... not when we can see Daniela strut her stuff on the dance floor. Again, photos cannot capture the full awe-inspiring essence of the experience... so I'm just going to leave you with a picture of the ladies instead. And in case anyone is wondering, the reason why you don't see any of the guys in this picture is because they, me included, were in a booth watching the Piston's game.

And was that the final highlight of the evening? Oh no... while we didn't get dropped off in front of a police station like last year's Summit Team, I doubt any of them got pimped out at a bar on the dance floor... (for more details, please ask Victoria).

Day 3 was a blur with all that happened with the night before, so instead of recaping the work that we did (which was basically decide that we should work with IDEO), I'm just going to jump to the fun stuff...

Hanging out unwinding...

(Note the house special... Joker's Tea. I, along with Deetricia, will attest that it is indeed... very special.)

... and Bowling... Congrats to Kevin who was top dog and the big cash winner of the Summit Bowling Invitational

... and to Sarah... so close but yet so far, I'll let you beat me next time ;) No hard feelings ok.

And we couldn't end the summit meeting week without playing some poker... this time with Nichole and Candice playing, the number of poker players in our group is growing!

My last image for everyone is of O'Hare airport... a reminder of how much American Airlines blows as I attempted to fly home early, but instead ended up paying $150 to basically get home later than my original flight.