September 7, 2002 - Salisbury, Maryland
The Quest For Twin Tattoos

Introduction
What you are about to see may shock you... it may amuse you... it may even cause you to soil yourself... The following is a photo-journal of our trip to Maryland so that my twin cousins Rob and Sam could get inked. The Plan: Transport two minors across state lines for the immoral purpose of getting matching tattoos, with parental consent of course... Let's watch...

This road trip is plentiful with photos and they may take a while to load... but they're fun, so you should wait!


Phase One - The Search For The Cat In The Hat
Our trip had to begin with a search for a drawing of the tattoo objects in question...

10:36 am - The typical start to one of our family road trips... a random surprise shot of the passengers in the rear of the vehicle. Since I snagged the shotgun seat, I had a great photo-taking advantage all day. The duo pictured here will be the two stars of this story, my cousins Sam and Rob. In the far back, you may catch a glimpse of our cousin Jordan's ear and the side of his head.
The idea is for twin brothers to get matching twin tattoos, and what could be more appropriate than those unforgettable literary twins, Thing One and Thing Two from The Cat In The Hat? Our first obstacle being that neither family owned a copy of said book, our first stop is our local friendly county library.
Would you believe... no Cat In The Hat? It's sad, but sadly true. We located The Cat In The Hat Comes Back, and The Cat In The Hat Flap Book, but no original story. If only they had picked a Wocket, a Lorax, or perhaps even Horton the bird-brained elephant to be branded on their skin for eternity, but alas... the search continues...
11:33 am - All that searching made us quite hungry, so we ended up at one of our favorite eateries in all of Chesapeake, VA... Oh yes, the International House of Pancakes! For us, IHOP has meant many late-night hours of fun (see also the Pimp Hat IHOP road trip).
Up to one of his usual tricks, Rob finally wins the "who can stack the creamers the highest" game, much to the amusement of the entire table. He stacked all nine creamers, but the waitress wasn't quite as amused once we asked her to bring us some more. Thus, the game was ended.
You know, IHOP really has some great souvenirs... now, if only they'd let you take them home. We were particularly fond of the poofy IHOP chef hat a while back, and they'd never let us buy one. Today we found the new model of the IHOP tea carafe, complete with logos on both sides! We asked the waitress if we could have one, and she basically gave us permission to kife one when she wasn't looking. We settled for this wonderful picture instead. Left to right, we are: Jade (our server), myself, Jordan (holding the carafe), Rob and Sam.
12:46 pm - Now re-energized by pancakes and french toast (not green eggs and ham), the quest for The Cat In The Hat came to a successful close in the children's section of the Chesapeake Barnes & Noble. Rob and Jordan pose by the holy book rack, relishing the sweet taste of victory!
Ah, there they are... Thing One and Thing Two! Mission completed.


[ continue to phase two of the trip ]