What’s Dator?  Well, it’s like "Nator day" crossed with "date day": Dator!  Karen took me on a day-long surprise date on Saturday to thank me for taking care of her while she convalesced – no thanks needed, but hey, I’ll take it!

As the itinerary says, I got to sleep a bit while she made some delicious raspberry and white chocolate giant muffins.  Extra exciting because she got to use her new muffin tray!  Some coffee and Bailey’s later and I was off for broomball practice while she ran some errands.

After practice it was time for beer and pretzels at home while we got ready to start the "steppin’ out" portion of the Dator, starting with a matinee of Avenue Q!  We tried to take a picture without a flash but it’s pretty blurry.  That’s me giving the preshow music a thumbs-up.  It was pretty cool how quickly our brains accept the puppets as characters – after the first 5 minutes you really stop noticing their handlers and just focus on the puppets.  It was a really fun show!

We had a bit of time to kill before the next section, so we popped into a little Scottish bar I’d always wanted to try and had a beer.  Then off to the Ice Chamber!  I had never heard of this place, and it doesn’t seem to be on their website, so I’m not sure what strings Karen pulled to find it, but it was awesome!  There’s a frozen bar serving martinis, and just outside is a big "table" full of crushed black glass.  There’s either propane or natural gas being pumped through a grid under the glass, and the effect is really cool – or, really warm!  It was like sipping martinis around a campfire on a cold night, but with none of the smoke and campfire smell.  Sweet!

(Odd side note – I ran into the new director of the Walker on our way out!  She’d just started earlier that week and we’d met twice before, but I suspect I’m not really on the short list of people she needs to remember…  :)

We were in need of sustenance, but lo and behold the Dator schedule had anticipated this.  Off to the Mission American Kitchen for food – we toyed with getting entrees but ended up splitting several of their mouth-watering appetizers.  Delicious!

But it wasn’t over!  Back home, Karen took me upstairs where she’d put up our little Christmas tree and decorated!  Between tonsils and everything, we’d never had a family Christmas.  You can see how excited I am about my presents.  Surprise!!

Whew.  An amazing and super fun Dator!  Thanks, Karen!

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