Saturday, August 02, 2008
Birds, and Seals and Boats, Oh MY!
Ok, so the little black blob at the end of the photo with the Queen Mary in the background and the herons flapping their wings, that's the seal. And of course the day we see a damn seal, a huge cute sand piper an osprey and boatloads of great blue herons is the day we have the shitty little camera. But, you get the idea.
Leaving Long Beach
Our last night in Long Beach was relaxing and romantic! John joined me in the pool around 4:00 after his conference was all done and he could fully embrace vacation mentality. I had been hanging down at the pool all afternoon, mostly in and out of the whirlpool and then into my shady spot to read. There were lots of nice folks down there, including a guy with his two kids that were having a good time paddling around, talking to each of the adults as they floated past. They were cute, very well behaved and entertaining! At one point they asked their dad, "How do you say 'No' in Russian again, Daddy?" and after he told them, they both floated around the pool both chanting quietly, "Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet", I thought it was just too cute!
We took off for a nice, long stroll along Shoreline Drive on the pier. There were TONS of different birds including those massive Seagulls, Great Blue Herons, Sand Pipers, and even an Osprey. But we were also excited to see a SEAL who jumped up onto a little landing area where a bunch of Great Blue Herons and gulls were hanging out!! He was small and slippery and very cute!! We also saw a lady feeding a feral cat colony, which I'd never seen before. I've always heard about these colonies but had never actually come across one before. I suppose down by the beach is a good life for a kitty with all the fish and scraps around. They were so cute, but we made sure not to approach any of them, lest they bite us and make us rabid or something. That would be kind of a vacation bummer.
We then went for dinner at a hipster restaurant called the Yard House that was overpriced, but very nummy. They have a buttload of beers on tap, so of course I decided to have a Mojito for 3 dollars more than John's beer, and I ordered the Chicken Rice Bowl (that I finished off this morning for breakfast) and John had a New Belgium Fat Tire beer which was really good, and he ordered the Sliders (mini hamburgers & fries, also his breakfast this morning). Since I rarely drink anymore, the Mojito went straight to my head and I acted goofy all the way home. We went by a number of street freakies, so I was glad to have a little liquid courage to make it to the hotel unscathed! I insisted on another dip down in the hot tub, so we stumbled down there for a spell in the hot, bubbly fun and took off just as a large family was coming down to do the same. I took my third shower of the day before realizing it was time to pass out for the night.
John just finished the laundry and we're watching Beakman's World. The aquarium doesn't open until 9, so we're just hanging out til then. We've got to check out by noon so we don't have too much time, but we'd like to at least take a quick tour of it!! Anyway, I'd better post a few photos and quit my blabbering ;)~
Love to all,
R&J
We took off for a nice, long stroll along Shoreline Drive on the pier. There were TONS of different birds including those massive Seagulls, Great Blue Herons, Sand Pipers, and even an Osprey. But we were also excited to see a SEAL who jumped up onto a little landing area where a bunch of Great Blue Herons and gulls were hanging out!! He was small and slippery and very cute!! We also saw a lady feeding a feral cat colony, which I'd never seen before. I've always heard about these colonies but had never actually come across one before. I suppose down by the beach is a good life for a kitty with all the fish and scraps around. They were so cute, but we made sure not to approach any of them, lest they bite us and make us rabid or something. That would be kind of a vacation bummer.
We then went for dinner at a hipster restaurant called the Yard House that was overpriced, but very nummy. They have a buttload of beers on tap, so of course I decided to have a Mojito for 3 dollars more than John's beer, and I ordered the Chicken Rice Bowl (that I finished off this morning for breakfast) and John had a New Belgium Fat Tire beer which was really good, and he ordered the Sliders (mini hamburgers & fries, also his breakfast this morning). Since I rarely drink anymore, the Mojito went straight to my head and I acted goofy all the way home. We went by a number of street freakies, so I was glad to have a little liquid courage to make it to the hotel unscathed! I insisted on another dip down in the hot tub, so we stumbled down there for a spell in the hot, bubbly fun and took off just as a large family was coming down to do the same. I took my third shower of the day before realizing it was time to pass out for the night.
John just finished the laundry and we're watching Beakman's World. The aquarium doesn't open until 9, so we're just hanging out til then. We've got to check out by noon so we don't have too much time, but we'd like to at least take a quick tour of it!! Anyway, I'd better post a few photos and quit my blabbering ;)~
Love to all,
R&J
Friday, August 01, 2008
Oval Pools & Palm Trees
Here's a couple of cool pix from our balcony at home that I stumbled across as I was adding the others. Pretty funky!I finally went down to the pool yesterday! It was awesome, although a bit cool. The weather has been so much more mild that I'd anticipated, so my teeth were chattering after only about 20 minutes of floating around the oval pool (I'll try to get a photo when I go down there today). They have a whirlpool which I sat in for about as long which rocked! There was a nice older gentleman down there who looked like he was quite experienced at enjoying his retirement who pointed out the towels and turned on the whirlpool for me. It was great just floating there with palm trees over my head and clear blue sky. I got a bit of a burn because I'd neglected to put on sunscreen (duh!) and the whirlpool is right in the sun. After that I just chilled out on the chairs in the shade with my book until I finally had to go up to our room to pee. I would've stayed down there much longer if not for my "walnut", John's nickname for my bladder. It's quite cool out today, again, so I might just head to the pool after lunch :) If my tummy behaves, that is. It has not been behaving today and I've spent the entire morning in the loo, doubled over in pain from my IBS problems. Balls to that!
In between my many trips to the loo during the night, I had strange dreams about John's mom, his dad and some strange, translucent white bugs with long legs and wings. I have bug dreams when something big has either happened, is about to happen, or I've been dealing with some major issue. But anyway, the bug dream, well, it bugs me. I just gotta shake it off. Ick. Since I didn't sleep very well I passed out again when John went off to his first meeting and didn't get up until he called me on his break. He's done at 3 today, so I'm hoping he'll be in the mood to swim!! I love the water ;)~
Jesus, man, there goes another ambulance. They seem to fly by in regularly scheduled intervals.
We found the Pacific! Ho!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
It's rumored that we're near the ocean, though you can't get to it from here!
That's true...you can smell it off in the distance, the Pacific awaits, crashing, retreating, shooshing and swaying in moon-time, but do you think I could go take a look-see? Not from anywhere round here!!! It's only two blocks away, and yet covered by private marinas and side to side apartment towers so huge it feels like we're being swallowed up by concrete and palm fronds. I went for a meander around the neighborhood yesterday after walking John back to the conference after his first break and was a little disappointed to not get any nearer the ocean that I am at the hotel.
John at least had a good day at the conference, though being gone til 7:00 PM on so little sleep was a bit much. I think they should keep those things within the 8 hour work day mark, but whatever. He said it was all pretty interesting, and we went to dinner in the hotel restaurant to gab about his day, then for a walk to, again, try to find this ocean but had to settle for a very large fountain where some of the biggest seagulls we've ever seen were having a bath. Not to alarm anyone, but Long Beach seems to be a bit of a 'hood, California style. Not anything horrible, but there's a pronounced police presence here, and lots of homeless people loitering about. So when we came upon a large gang of hoodlums on bikes that were lurking by the marina, we decided we were too tired to deal with any riff-raff and headed back to the hotel, around 8:30, where we both crashed almost immediately.
My day was rather boring, and after I was accosted on the street, in my original search for some waves, by some punk-ass with Bryl creamed, stringy hair and a "wifebeater" (a tank top for dudes who need to flaunt their machismo) whom I had been keeping an eye on and then suddenly he sidled up RIGHT NEXT TO ME, I got a little spooked and decided to hide in the hotel for the rest of the day. I wussed out on going to the pool feeling too vulnerable now to put on my revealing bathing suit, so I stayed in my jammies and watched 2 movies (The Big Lebowski and Lost In Translation), read my book, worked on a super-cool beading project, finally taking a shower around 5:30 PM. Oh, and the accessible shower completely blows. It flooded the entire bathroom floor, so I had to use up our towels mopping everything up, ringing out the towels, then doing it all again. I hung the towels out on our tiny little balcony, which is enough to stand out on but not to sit, and they're still not dry this morning. After all the ringing, my left hand is really sore and weak, so I've been pouting about that. That's my writing hand, and I can barely hold a pen in it now! Hrrrrumph. Our bathroom in Holly-weird better be better than this.
John and I had the breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant around 7:30 this morning, then he left for another day of library fun. He's so cute talking about the library stuff :)~ Oh, and we realized that the stairway right near our room leads directly to the pool, so I'm excited that I don't have to traipse around the corridors and elevators in my swimming gear, especially since there's a whole basketball team staying here and the guys are constantly running around the hallways! I think I'll head down for some pool time around 11:00! Wheeeeee! Now all I need is a fruity drink with an umbrella in it!
Anyway, we read that there was a big thunderstorm in Minneapolis with tornado warnings, so I'm a little worried about the babies, but I'm sure they'll just tuck in under the bed like usual. Maybe I'll call and leave them a message on the answering machine, the poor little loves!! We hope all is well at home, and I'll write again tomorrow! Maybe I'll have something fun to report ;)~
Love to all,
R&J
John at least had a good day at the conference, though being gone til 7:00 PM on so little sleep was a bit much. I think they should keep those things within the 8 hour work day mark, but whatever. He said it was all pretty interesting, and we went to dinner in the hotel restaurant to gab about his day, then for a walk to, again, try to find this ocean but had to settle for a very large fountain where some of the biggest seagulls we've ever seen were having a bath. Not to alarm anyone, but Long Beach seems to be a bit of a 'hood, California style. Not anything horrible, but there's a pronounced police presence here, and lots of homeless people loitering about. So when we came upon a large gang of hoodlums on bikes that were lurking by the marina, we decided we were too tired to deal with any riff-raff and headed back to the hotel, around 8:30, where we both crashed almost immediately.
My day was rather boring, and after I was accosted on the street, in my original search for some waves, by some punk-ass with Bryl creamed, stringy hair and a "wifebeater" (a tank top for dudes who need to flaunt their machismo) whom I had been keeping an eye on and then suddenly he sidled up RIGHT NEXT TO ME, I got a little spooked and decided to hide in the hotel for the rest of the day. I wussed out on going to the pool feeling too vulnerable now to put on my revealing bathing suit, so I stayed in my jammies and watched 2 movies (The Big Lebowski and Lost In Translation), read my book, worked on a super-cool beading project, finally taking a shower around 5:30 PM. Oh, and the accessible shower completely blows. It flooded the entire bathroom floor, so I had to use up our towels mopping everything up, ringing out the towels, then doing it all again. I hung the towels out on our tiny little balcony, which is enough to stand out on but not to sit, and they're still not dry this morning. After all the ringing, my left hand is really sore and weak, so I've been pouting about that. That's my writing hand, and I can barely hold a pen in it now! Hrrrrumph. Our bathroom in Holly-weird better be better than this.
John and I had the breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant around 7:30 this morning, then he left for another day of library fun. He's so cute talking about the library stuff :)~ Oh, and we realized that the stairway right near our room leads directly to the pool, so I'm excited that I don't have to traipse around the corridors and elevators in my swimming gear, especially since there's a whole basketball team staying here and the guys are constantly running around the hallways! I think I'll head down for some pool time around 11:00! Wheeeeee! Now all I need is a fruity drink with an umbrella in it!
Anyway, we read that there was a big thunderstorm in Minneapolis with tornado warnings, so I'm a little worried about the babies, but I'm sure they'll just tuck in under the bed like usual. Maybe I'll call and leave them a message on the answering machine, the poor little loves!! We hope all is well at home, and I'll write again tomorrow! Maybe I'll have something fun to report ;)~
Love to all,
R&J
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
We've Arrived in Long Beach!
After a very, very, very long day and night, we dragged ourselves into our fluffy Marriott bed last night at 2:30 AM Pacific time (which is 4:30 to y'all at home, and to our tired bodies which had been up almost 24 hours!). John just left a few minutes ago to register at his ELUNA conference, and I'm still blinking like a mole at the morning light with my coffee and Cheez-It's. This hotel doesn't have a continental breakfast, so I'll have to wander downstairs to the overpriced restaurant, or test my navigating abilities (which are inadequate at best) to find something cheap to eat and hopefully a convenience store where I can get a few non-perishables. Sigh. Already I'm feeling the agoraphobic hermit taking over me.
So, we left the condo in the responsible hands of John's brother, Dave, said goodbye to the little stink-bombs, and took the bus and LRT to the Humphrey terminal. Our flight departed early, and despite the "jimmy-legs" really bothering me, I did get a few winks, although not more than a few minutes at a time, therefore I refuse to consider it official "sleep". John said he got a little sleep and that he kept waking himself up with his own snoring. I'm not sure if that was truly the case since I didn't hear him, but I also wear earplugs and am used to his sleeping noises, so maybe I just tuned it out. We ran into a co-worker of John's and her beau, also headed to the conference and to the same hotel, and they offered to drive us to the hotel in their rental car, so that was very nice! Unfortunately, the National Rental guy was really slow. I mean, REALLY slow. Dude didn't get us out of there until after 1:45 AM, and then as we got to the gate to check out, the Check Engine Oil light came on, so we had to go back to fetch a new car, which took until after 2:00, then we still needed to drive all the way to Long Beach. Thankfully, at that hour, there was very little traffic and we made here where the staff were super-friendly and got us into our rooms in less than 5 minutes, where we promptly passed out.
I'm at a little bit of a loss without my John, I must confess. He's the planner, I just sort of tag along behind, taking note of where the food and bathrooms are at any given stop on the itinerary. It's one of those Yin-Yang features that has helped our relationship, even though you might expect the opposite. And I do have a bit of a fear of going out alone, so I've got to be a little Braveheart today. I can't just sit in here and eat Cheez-It's all day. Well, not that I couldn't do it, I am most certainly capable, just that at some point, ya know...I'm going to run out of Cheez-It's. And me without food is a dangerous thing!!
We ended up with a handicap accessible room which is impressive from an accessibility standpoint, and makes me beam with delight for those with disabilities. For us, however, it's kind of a pain in the ass. The shower floor is absolutely flat, of course, and there's a sprayer instead of a regular shower head. John warned me that the water would run all over the rest of the floor, so I'll have to keep that in mind when I finally decide to bathe. The toilet is great for me with my short legs, and the T.P. is so near the floor you almost have to get off the camode to reach it. Again, not too big a deal for me, but for my 6' hubby, a bit of a stretch.
Christ, it's only 9:29! What am I going to do with myself all day? He's gone til 7pm!!!! Oh, and I'm very quickly losing any nerve I had to actually squeeze into my two-piece to hang by the pool. That might have to be a Hollywood Hills Hotel thang, at least then John will be with me to suffer the humilation of "shark-bait" whiteness in the land of the tan. Plus, it looks like it's an outdoor pool here, and amazingly, it's cooler here than in Minneapolis. Last night it was 65 degrees!!!
Well, I should put on my brave face and go for a walk. I'll post again soon!
Love to all ;)~
R&J
PS: We have not felt any earthquake activity, thankfully! They said there were a bunch of aftershocks yesterday, but we missed all of that. I went to sleep wondering what earthquake protocol is...hmmm, the earth opens up beneath you, debris is falling from every which way, where the fuck you gonna go??
So, we left the condo in the responsible hands of John's brother, Dave, said goodbye to the little stink-bombs, and took the bus and LRT to the Humphrey terminal. Our flight departed early, and despite the "jimmy-legs" really bothering me, I did get a few winks, although not more than a few minutes at a time, therefore I refuse to consider it official "sleep". John said he got a little sleep and that he kept waking himself up with his own snoring. I'm not sure if that was truly the case since I didn't hear him, but I also wear earplugs and am used to his sleeping noises, so maybe I just tuned it out. We ran into a co-worker of John's and her beau, also headed to the conference and to the same hotel, and they offered to drive us to the hotel in their rental car, so that was very nice! Unfortunately, the National Rental guy was really slow. I mean, REALLY slow. Dude didn't get us out of there until after 1:45 AM, and then as we got to the gate to check out, the Check Engine Oil light came on, so we had to go back to fetch a new car, which took until after 2:00, then we still needed to drive all the way to Long Beach. Thankfully, at that hour, there was very little traffic and we made here where the staff were super-friendly and got us into our rooms in less than 5 minutes, where we promptly passed out.
I'm at a little bit of a loss without my John, I must confess. He's the planner, I just sort of tag along behind, taking note of where the food and bathrooms are at any given stop on the itinerary. It's one of those Yin-Yang features that has helped our relationship, even though you might expect the opposite. And I do have a bit of a fear of going out alone, so I've got to be a little Braveheart today. I can't just sit in here and eat Cheez-It's all day. Well, not that I couldn't do it, I am most certainly capable, just that at some point, ya know...I'm going to run out of Cheez-It's. And me without food is a dangerous thing!!
We ended up with a handicap accessible room which is impressive from an accessibility standpoint, and makes me beam with delight for those with disabilities. For us, however, it's kind of a pain in the ass. The shower floor is absolutely flat, of course, and there's a sprayer instead of a regular shower head. John warned me that the water would run all over the rest of the floor, so I'll have to keep that in mind when I finally decide to bathe. The toilet is great for me with my short legs, and the T.P. is so near the floor you almost have to get off the camode to reach it. Again, not too big a deal for me, but for my 6' hubby, a bit of a stretch.
Christ, it's only 9:29! What am I going to do with myself all day? He's gone til 7pm!!!! Oh, and I'm very quickly losing any nerve I had to actually squeeze into my two-piece to hang by the pool. That might have to be a Hollywood Hills Hotel thang, at least then John will be with me to suffer the humilation of "shark-bait" whiteness in the land of the tan. Plus, it looks like it's an outdoor pool here, and amazingly, it's cooler here than in Minneapolis. Last night it was 65 degrees!!!
Well, I should put on my brave face and go for a walk. I'll post again soon!
Love to all ;)~
R&J
PS: We have not felt any earthquake activity, thankfully! They said there were a bunch of aftershocks yesterday, but we missed all of that. I went to sleep wondering what earthquake protocol is...hmmm, the earth opens up beneath you, debris is falling from every which way, where the fuck you gonna go??
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Buggin'
OK, I don't know about any other Macintosh users out there reading this, but we've been having trouble viewing our blog from our Macs. I think it's some goofy thing with our service, but who the hell knows. Anyway, we'll be checking into that, so hopefully this doesn't affect my mum's computer since I know she likes to read this and uses a sweet Mac. We're getting syked about the trip, and as I write this I shudder thinking about all the cleaning that needs to be done before we head out. Yikes...we need to have more parties at our place because that's the only time I get the place clean. Well, except when John & I are having a spat, then we do what I call "avoidance cleaning". Mum always teases me when I complain about having to do chores, "You two need to argue about something, hee hee!" I'd rather have a messy place and be Schmoopie ;)~
Well, we've got our pool gear! The swim suit I was going to get looked really dumb in person and had those awful "floating orb" boob things that I can't stand, so I decided on this bottom and a top similar in style to this but the colors match the little skirty thing (or one can only hope...I'm not known for my fashion sense) and John tried on his trunks and they still fit. He hates the trunks, but they're functional, so ya know, whatever. I think they're kinda funky; they're plain grey while dry, but when you get them wet a bunch of black Chinese dragons appear in the fabric. But then again, I have a disturbed taste for some of the cheesiest shit known to man (I once bought a shirt in Tijuana that said, "I got drunk in Tijuana!"...need I say more?) so I decided to stay out of the issue. If he has a beef with his trunks, he can take it up with them. I also found myself a nice thin robe with a hood that will help me *try* to keep my paleness to a nice shade of Minnesota eggshell. I hate tans nor do I do it well. I go from translucent white to peeling lobster in 30 minutes flat. I probably won't sit in the sun too much, but I do plan on doing my laps early, before there's too much pee in the pool, and then maybe reading my books a bit before the sun gets too hot. I'm a little afraid of doing laps in that suit...which is another reason to hit it before anyone else is there. Maybe I'll just float gracefully ;)~~
I'm a little nervous about our flight/hotel/rental car coordination. We're getting into LAX at one in the morning or some ridiculous time, so we'll need to hail a cab or shuttle to the Long Beach hotel. Then leaving Long Beach, we'll have to shuttle back to LAX, pick up our rental car, head for the Hollywood Hills. For our departure on Tuesday, we'll have to check out of the hotel at 11 AM, screw around for about 6 hours until the Dodgers game, watch most of the game (while also lugging our most valuables with us-gods forbid to leave it in a rented Prius for someone to make off with), then probably have to cut out of the game to head back to LAX, return the car, then wait for our 11:00 PM flight home. Oy vey. "Cheap" flights are getting shittier and shittier. Pretty soon we'll be just taking a fucking Greyhound everywhere. Bullocks to that!!
Regardless of the strange connection worries, we're getting excited! I can't wait to be blogging some actual travel news!!!!!!!!!!!
Soon, very soon!
Love, R&J
Well, we've got our pool gear! The swim suit I was going to get looked really dumb in person and had those awful "floating orb" boob things that I can't stand, so I decided on this bottom and a top similar in style to this but the colors match the little skirty thing (or one can only hope...I'm not known for my fashion sense) and John tried on his trunks and they still fit. He hates the trunks, but they're functional, so ya know, whatever. I think they're kinda funky; they're plain grey while dry, but when you get them wet a bunch of black Chinese dragons appear in the fabric. But then again, I have a disturbed taste for some of the cheesiest shit known to man (I once bought a shirt in Tijuana that said, "I got drunk in Tijuana!"...need I say more?) so I decided to stay out of the issue. If he has a beef with his trunks, he can take it up with them. I also found myself a nice thin robe with a hood that will help me *try* to keep my paleness to a nice shade of Minnesota eggshell. I hate tans nor do I do it well. I go from translucent white to peeling lobster in 30 minutes flat. I probably won't sit in the sun too much, but I do plan on doing my laps early, before there's too much pee in the pool, and then maybe reading my books a bit before the sun gets too hot. I'm a little afraid of doing laps in that suit...which is another reason to hit it before anyone else is there. Maybe I'll just float gracefully ;)~~
I'm a little nervous about our flight/hotel/rental car coordination. We're getting into LAX at one in the morning or some ridiculous time, so we'll need to hail a cab or shuttle to the Long Beach hotel. Then leaving Long Beach, we'll have to shuttle back to LAX, pick up our rental car, head for the Hollywood Hills. For our departure on Tuesday, we'll have to check out of the hotel at 11 AM, screw around for about 6 hours until the Dodgers game, watch most of the game (while also lugging our most valuables with us-gods forbid to leave it in a rented Prius for someone to make off with), then probably have to cut out of the game to head back to LAX, return the car, then wait for our 11:00 PM flight home. Oy vey. "Cheap" flights are getting shittier and shittier. Pretty soon we'll be just taking a fucking Greyhound everywhere. Bullocks to that!!
Regardless of the strange connection worries, we're getting excited! I can't wait to be blogging some actual travel news!!!!!!!!!!!
Soon, very soon!
Love, R&J
Friday, July 04, 2008
Hollywood Hills
We booked our hotel in Hollywood today! It's called the Hollywood Hills Hotel. Check it out and see for yourself how funky and weird this place looks. There's some posh place called the Magic Castle that we can go to as guests...it's like one of the highest rated hotels anywhere but it's exclusively for magicians or some weird ass thing, but I love it! It sounds absolutely droll, and you all should know my love of all things droll ;)~~ This is where they hold the Houdini Seances!!!!! I'm usually not one for exclusivity and hold places that have dress codes in fairly low regard, but....for some reason this seems more like a place where people just want to feel fancy rather than be all richy rich snobbery blobs.
We're getting really excited, and even more now that I know there are pools at both hotels so I can keep up with my workouts that I've taken to calling my "spa days"; makes it a bit easier to stick to it ;) Much as I shudder at the thought of the sanitary conditions of hotel pools, I'm going to suck it up for this trip. How can you go to California and NOT spend every day near the pool eating bon-bons?! I've just been window shopping online at Kohl's and I think I found the suit I want . Hopefully it will hide my undesirable bits (i.e. my belly & booty) cuz I'm sure the place will be filled with a bunch of hard bodied babes that will make me miss my forever-gone gymnasts body. Sigh.
Ah, but speaking of all things gluttonous, I've been getting the California lowdown on restaurants from one of my online buddies who is from Studio City, lives in Nashville, and is a punk rock lovin' sous chef!! So I've gotten some cool hints for some eateries we've gotta hit while we're there. I wish she still lived there to show us around. Though I'm not thrilled about flying again, I am excited about hitting the CA. I do love it there, as shopper-scary driver-wildfire-heaven such as it is, it's got palm trees lining the sidewalks, and the Pacific is perfect natural beauty in a big earthy bowl, a sight and sound comparable to none. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!!!
California, here we come!
We're getting really excited, and even more now that I know there are pools at both hotels so I can keep up with my workouts that I've taken to calling my "spa days"; makes it a bit easier to stick to it ;) Much as I shudder at the thought of the sanitary conditions of hotel pools, I'm going to suck it up for this trip. How can you go to California and NOT spend every day near the pool eating bon-bons?! I've just been window shopping online at Kohl's and I think I found the suit I want . Hopefully it will hide my undesirable bits (i.e. my belly & booty) cuz I'm sure the place will be filled with a bunch of hard bodied babes that will make me miss my forever-gone gymnasts body. Sigh.
Ah, but speaking of all things gluttonous, I've been getting the California lowdown on restaurants from one of my online buddies who is from Studio City, lives in Nashville, and is a punk rock lovin' sous chef!! So I've gotten some cool hints for some eateries we've gotta hit while we're there. I wish she still lived there to show us around. Though I'm not thrilled about flying again, I am excited about hitting the CA. I do love it there, as shopper-scary driver-wildfire-heaven such as it is, it's got palm trees lining the sidewalks, and the Pacific is perfect natural beauty in a big earthy bowl, a sight and sound comparable to none. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!!!
California, here we come!
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Next Stop: California!
This love train will be rolling on into Long Beach, California on July 30! John's got a conference to attend, and since he's not been to Southern CA we decided we may as well make a little vacay out of it. So we'll be checking out Los Angeles, San Diego and the surrounding areas from July 30-August 6 and I'll be writing you every detail right here! We're going to spring for a Prius which will probably save us money in the long run what with gas prices and all. Oooh, maybe I can show John the skanky motel where Katie butchered my knee in Santa Monica! Ahhh, good times, good times.
I'll have to investigate some funky restaurants to check out. Of course we've gotta have an In and Out Burger, and we may be able to catch some Big Lebowski specific stuff (I'll have to watch the movie and see if I can find the name of the bowling alley they're always at or something) and some of my online buddies reside there, so maybe their bands will be playing, or we can catch some no-name act at the legendary Whisky A-Go-Go. I've only been through San Diego briefly; I'd always planned on moving there for college, so it will be fun to see more of it. We thought about stopping down in Tijuana, but I'd rather not relive my experience there, and we just heard some nasty news about the situation down there so that's likely not going to happen. One of my fave bloggers lives in San D so I might have to stalk some of the martini joints she's always raving about.
So check back in July, and I promise, we'll be hooked in ;)~
I'll have to investigate some funky restaurants to check out. Of course we've gotta have an In and Out Burger, and we may be able to catch some Big Lebowski specific stuff (I'll have to watch the movie and see if I can find the name of the bowling alley they're always at or something) and some of my online buddies reside there, so maybe their bands will be playing, or we can catch some no-name act at the legendary Whisky A-Go-Go. I've only been through San Diego briefly; I'd always planned on moving there for college, so it will be fun to see more of it. We thought about stopping down in Tijuana, but I'd rather not relive my experience there, and we just heard some nasty news about the situation down there so that's likely not going to happen. One of my fave bloggers lives in San D so I might have to stalk some of the martini joints she's always raving about.
So check back in July, and I promise, we'll be hooked in ;)~
Friday, May 23, 2008
HIt Counter
Aw man, I just added a new hit counter and thought it'd be cute to start it at number 69 (it's funny to me, anyway) and it's already at 70 cuz I viewed it. I should've selected "unique visitors", not "all hits". Oh well, start reading our site, give us hits!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Don't Forget The Podcast!
Don't forget to listen to our geeky podcast, just click the first link under "links" to subscribe! And forgive my nasally, squeaky voice, man, I hate my voice, egads! We got back to work today which made us kind of happy to get back to routine, but also kind of sad because, well, it's work :( Next trip will be to San Diego, CA (on the tail end of John's conference for work in Long Beach) in late July/early August. See you then!
Love to all ;)~
R&J
Love to all ;)~
R&J
Saturday, May 10, 2008
"Til These Badlands Start Treating Us Good"
Here's the final stop on the journey: the Badlands. I love how the sky and soft clouds look against the dusty, rocky hills. Sorry about the crap in the one picture, our lenses are seriously dirty.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Deadwood, Ded Good
Another day in Deadwood has been as leisurely as a vacation day away in the drizzling rain could be. We both slept very well, and got our continental breakfast early which was a refreshing change from our fatty bacon and eggs breakfasts the past few days. We had toast, juice, coffee and bananas. We went out on a walking tour of the town, then climbed a zillion steps and up steep sloping hills to visit the Mount Moriah Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny and Seth Bullock (among many others, obviously) are buried. Holy shit, my legs have not been that active in far too long! The cemetery was muddy due to all the rain, and it's all on an amazingly steep hillside which makes me cringe for the grave diggers, yikes. There are several mass graves of the poor peasants of the time, labeled as Potter's Fields, in various areas of the cemetery which was a little disconcerting. There was an area that was for the Chinese immigrants whose bodies were eventually moved back to China; all but two people whose graves looked rather eerie on either side of the sign explaining the site. I was also interested to learn that there was a prominent Jewish population that made history in Deadwood, so I took a photo of the sign that showed where the Jewish folks were laid to rest, each marked with the Star of David. We never made it to Seth Bullock's grave which we later looked up to find that it was buried WAAAAAAY up further on the hill, so we would have never made it that far anyway! There is some rather interesting facts about this cemetery at (http://deadwood.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={FDD11CF4-F861-473A-BF57-29C897B35DF0})
if you're interested in reading about it.
After our long trek to and from Mount Moriah, we decided a large dinner was in order. We chose to dine at The Gem Steakhouse where John had a steak dinner, and I chose quesadillas which were good but I felt kind of weird getting those in a steakhouse. I was afraid I'd never be able to finish a steak and potato type dinner, but it turned out I couldn't finish the quesadillas, either. A fifty foot walk back to the Celebrity for some lounging in style to watch the game and rest up for the long drive home. We meant to use the whirlpool bath once more, but I crashed watching the game and was out like a light until morning. Reluctantly, we checked out early after another light breakfast and leisurely showers in the gorgeous shower with the elephant shower head.
On our journey home, we took a three hour detour through the Badlands. Even though it was bitterly cold, windy and rainy, it was a beautifully rugged place and we again found ourselves marveling at how the Lakota people survived in these lands. We never did see anything other than prairie dogs and a lone antelope wandering the prairie, but there are black-footed ferrets, bison, coyotes, bighorn sheep and even rattlesnakes (and everywhere birds and hawks of all sorts!) that live in the Badlands. You can literally see and feel that you're driving through the winding hills of an ancient, dried up ocean that is impossibly huge. I can see why those that live here love it, but I can also see what a hard life it would be. We enjoyed a meal at the Cedar Pass Lodge; John had the Indian Frybread Taco (which was fantastic!), I had the Albacore Tuna on marble rye, which was unique because it had grilled red onion and didn't use any mayo-it was delicious. We then set off on the long, long drive home that landed us in our condo around 11:15 pm last night (Thursday). The babies were happy and squeaky to see us :) It feels good to have a few days to acclimate to regular life again, do laundry, catch up on our internet sites and sleep in! YAY! I'll post some final photos to enjoy :)~
if you're interested in reading about it.
After our long trek to and from Mount Moriah, we decided a large dinner was in order. We chose to dine at The Gem Steakhouse where John had a steak dinner, and I chose quesadillas which were good but I felt kind of weird getting those in a steakhouse. I was afraid I'd never be able to finish a steak and potato type dinner, but it turned out I couldn't finish the quesadillas, either. A fifty foot walk back to the Celebrity for some lounging in style to watch the game and rest up for the long drive home. We meant to use the whirlpool bath once more, but I crashed watching the game and was out like a light until morning. Reluctantly, we checked out early after another light breakfast and leisurely showers in the gorgeous shower with the elephant shower head.
On our journey home, we took a three hour detour through the Badlands. Even though it was bitterly cold, windy and rainy, it was a beautifully rugged place and we again found ourselves marveling at how the Lakota people survived in these lands. We never did see anything other than prairie dogs and a lone antelope wandering the prairie, but there are black-footed ferrets, bison, coyotes, bighorn sheep and even rattlesnakes (and everywhere birds and hawks of all sorts!) that live in the Badlands. You can literally see and feel that you're driving through the winding hills of an ancient, dried up ocean that is impossibly huge. I can see why those that live here love it, but I can also see what a hard life it would be. We enjoyed a meal at the Cedar Pass Lodge; John had the Indian Frybread Taco (which was fantastic!), I had the Albacore Tuna on marble rye, which was unique because it had grilled red onion and didn't use any mayo-it was delicious. We then set off on the long, long drive home that landed us in our condo around 11:15 pm last night (Thursday). The babies were happy and squeaky to see us :) It feels good to have a few days to acclimate to regular life again, do laundry, catch up on our internet sites and sleep in! YAY! I'll post some final photos to enjoy :)~
Thursday, May 08, 2008
The Celebrity Hotel
Here's our very swanky hotel in Deadwood! The view of the mannequins in the window across the street is creepily charming, and as you can see, the room totally rocks! You would never know the rooms would be this nice inside by looking at the plain, flat exterior.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Hi Deer!
These deer visited us both mornings at Legion Lake and could be seen throughout the day nibbling on the grasses, how sweet!!
Devil's Tower and Deadwood
Today began with a lovely, early morning hike around Legion Lake to say goodbye to our lovely cabin in the woods. The resident Osprey was making is morning circles searching for some breakfast, the mallards were quacking away and there was a noisy woodpecker that was a fantastic escape artist avoiding my cameras capture of him. Oh well, he was cool looking with a huge plume on his head, and we awoke to him pecking away at our cabin's walls.
Our next stop was Devil's Tower, which is actually in Wyoming. I drove today and it was a pleasant, and remarkably fast, drive into Wyoming via the scenic route rather than the interstate. Wyoming seemed even more cowboy country-ish than the Black Hills, and there's red clay ridges cutting into the grassy countryside everywhere that is rustic and pretty. We pulled up to the massive tower awestruck by this thing which is incorrectly attributed to the Devil. If there were a devil, it most certainly couldn't be responsible for this wonder smack dab in the middle of an environment that seems to be mismatched; they believe it was once a volcano, or the inside remnants of a volcano, or just a bubble of magma that popped up. Whatever it is, it seems as if it should be sitting in Hawaii and not in Wyoming! On the long, slow ascent up to the visitors center where you start the walking path around it, there's a village of prairie dogs that skitter and chirp and do cute little doggie dances with each other that are worth a stop of the car to snap photos. They seem to communicate to each other the ever-present danger of golden eagles circling overhead, they are fast and have many underground tunnels to take refuge in. The walk around Devil's Tower is not too long, a mile and a quarter I believe, a bit of a challenge but there are many places to rest, and there is a unique sound that surrounds the tower: the wind. I've never heard wind like this, it's almost like invisible water falls crashing down around you, but yet it's still. It's both sunny and shady, hot and cold along the trail of trees and massive rock. The forest surrounding the tower is a silent beauty, it smells of pine strongly but not overpowering. The rock that has fallen from the tower are huge columnar formations that have broken away and look as if they could kill an entire village in one swoop. After our walk, we shared a little picnic and took a load off, then headed onto Deadwood, SD.
Deadwood, if you've not heard of it, was a gold rush town that has an interesting history. John got into a tv series called "Deadwood" that's based on the whole story, but it was too realistically gory for me to watch so I don't know much about it, other than what he's told me. Most people seem to have an ideal about these cowboys as silent, stoic and honorable men like in old John Wayne movies. They were anything but. It was a grizzly time, so it's definitely an interesting history, but again, it's a pretty disturbing, lawlessness which I find difficult to comprehend. The town today looks a lot like the old west, one story towns from the movies, so much so it almost looks like a movie set. It's filled with casinos, there are slot machines in every window, there are even fake prostitutes in the second story window of the building across from our hotel window, how quaint! But....a little creepy.
Our hotel is the highlight so far, though. We were planning on spending only one night here, so we booked Room 218 of the Celebrity Hotel along Main Street, and upon seeing this grand suite, we promptly went back downstairs to secure it for a second night. It is the largest, most tasteful and extravagant hotel room either of us have seen, and for the low low price of $99 per night, (that's right, $99) we decided to extend our trip another day to enjoy this great escape. I can't even describe it, so we will let the pictures do all the talking.
Our next stop was Devil's Tower, which is actually in Wyoming. I drove today and it was a pleasant, and remarkably fast, drive into Wyoming via the scenic route rather than the interstate. Wyoming seemed even more cowboy country-ish than the Black Hills, and there's red clay ridges cutting into the grassy countryside everywhere that is rustic and pretty. We pulled up to the massive tower awestruck by this thing which is incorrectly attributed to the Devil. If there were a devil, it most certainly couldn't be responsible for this wonder smack dab in the middle of an environment that seems to be mismatched; they believe it was once a volcano, or the inside remnants of a volcano, or just a bubble of magma that popped up. Whatever it is, it seems as if it should be sitting in Hawaii and not in Wyoming! On the long, slow ascent up to the visitors center where you start the walking path around it, there's a village of prairie dogs that skitter and chirp and do cute little doggie dances with each other that are worth a stop of the car to snap photos. They seem to communicate to each other the ever-present danger of golden eagles circling overhead, they are fast and have many underground tunnels to take refuge in. The walk around Devil's Tower is not too long, a mile and a quarter I believe, a bit of a challenge but there are many places to rest, and there is a unique sound that surrounds the tower: the wind. I've never heard wind like this, it's almost like invisible water falls crashing down around you, but yet it's still. It's both sunny and shady, hot and cold along the trail of trees and massive rock. The forest surrounding the tower is a silent beauty, it smells of pine strongly but not overpowering. The rock that has fallen from the tower are huge columnar formations that have broken away and look as if they could kill an entire village in one swoop. After our walk, we shared a little picnic and took a load off, then headed onto Deadwood, SD.
Deadwood, if you've not heard of it, was a gold rush town that has an interesting history. John got into a tv series called "Deadwood" that's based on the whole story, but it was too realistically gory for me to watch so I don't know much about it, other than what he's told me. Most people seem to have an ideal about these cowboys as silent, stoic and honorable men like in old John Wayne movies. They were anything but. It was a grizzly time, so it's definitely an interesting history, but again, it's a pretty disturbing, lawlessness which I find difficult to comprehend. The town today looks a lot like the old west, one story towns from the movies, so much so it almost looks like a movie set. It's filled with casinos, there are slot machines in every window, there are even fake prostitutes in the second story window of the building across from our hotel window, how quaint! But....a little creepy.
Our hotel is the highlight so far, though. We were planning on spending only one night here, so we booked Room 218 of the Celebrity Hotel along Main Street, and upon seeing this grand suite, we promptly went back downstairs to secure it for a second night. It is the largest, most tasteful and extravagant hotel room either of us have seen, and for the low low price of $99 per night, (that's right, $99) we decided to extend our trip another day to enjoy this great escape. I can't even describe it, so we will let the pictures do all the talking.
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play
Again, I must reiterate: wow. It’s hardly to be believed that this place is part of the same, flat, farming state that borders our own, the landscape here reminds me of Pennsylvania. The weather has been absolutely perfect. We keep remarking that we picked the perfect time to come (rock on for May 2 weddings!) because there are hardly any people on the roads. There are tourists, but not too many, so it’s quiet but not completely isolated. Very romantic.
Today we were up and at ‘em around 5:30 (Mountain time) and got on the road by 6:45 to our first stop, the Crazy Horse monument which supposedly opened at 7, but that was a lie, so we took some pictures from afar and left for Mount Rushmore. We were wholly impressed with Mount Rushmore, say what you will about the controversy surrounding its making. There’s a nifty little trail and audio tour that you can take to see some very cool views over the Black Hills. There are more chipmunks than you could ever possibly imagine, and there are also mountain goats! I was hell bent on seeing a mountain goat before we left, and as you’ll see from the pictures, right before we left two of them appeared out of nowhere right in front of the visitors center!! Amazing! It topped off a bit of an unpleasant patch in our trail journey where I got really sick, so I was happy to have it end on a high note ☺
Onto Rapid City for a bite to eat at the Firehouse Brewery where we shared a delish meal, followed by a walk where John almost bought a tuba from an eager salesman (haha!), then to enjoy some iced drinks at Dunn Bros and login to the internet to post yesterday’s entry. We giggled and acted like a teenage couple hovering over our iMac with our icees, it was quite fun, and helped me recover a bit from whatever the hell it was that struck me at Rushmore. We were then going to go to the Wind Caves, but the long drive and the hour and a half journey they promise (all underground with over 300 steps to walk) didn’t sound like it would be best for me today, so we ended up going back to Custer State Park to drive the Wildlife Loop Road. That turned out to be the highlight of the day as you will see in our photos that follow!! We saw wild turkeys, two kinds of deer, antelope, burros, prairie dogs (we think) and of course, BISON! We actually saw wild bison! We even got out of the car and stood to take pictures of a whole herd of bison with their little young ’uns, it was absolutely incredible! A lot of the animals we saw were very close to the car so we got good photos, but the burros, oh my gawd the burros were the cutest things! They literally walk right up to the cars! John was out taking some photos and there was this adorable dark brown burro that started making a bee-line for him, so we made for the car where he kept right on following us. While I love animals, and these did appear friendly, they are wild so we kept the windows up even though it broke our hearts to drive away from those sweet faces, it’s probably for the best. We’ve got pictures of other folks who stopped to pet the burros and who blocked their cars to try to beg food from the passersby ☺ What silly loves!
Monday's Mileage: 156.8
Roadkill Report: Zero!! Double happiness!
(This post is from Monday, last post was from Sunday but we didn't have internet access so they are both a day late.)
Today we were up and at ‘em around 5:30 (Mountain time) and got on the road by 6:45 to our first stop, the Crazy Horse monument which supposedly opened at 7, but that was a lie, so we took some pictures from afar and left for Mount Rushmore. We were wholly impressed with Mount Rushmore, say what you will about the controversy surrounding its making. There’s a nifty little trail and audio tour that you can take to see some very cool views over the Black Hills. There are more chipmunks than you could ever possibly imagine, and there are also mountain goats! I was hell bent on seeing a mountain goat before we left, and as you’ll see from the pictures, right before we left two of them appeared out of nowhere right in front of the visitors center!! Amazing! It topped off a bit of an unpleasant patch in our trail journey where I got really sick, so I was happy to have it end on a high note ☺
Onto Rapid City for a bite to eat at the Firehouse Brewery where we shared a delish meal, followed by a walk where John almost bought a tuba from an eager salesman (haha!), then to enjoy some iced drinks at Dunn Bros and login to the internet to post yesterday’s entry. We giggled and acted like a teenage couple hovering over our iMac with our icees, it was quite fun, and helped me recover a bit from whatever the hell it was that struck me at Rushmore. We were then going to go to the Wind Caves, but the long drive and the hour and a half journey they promise (all underground with over 300 steps to walk) didn’t sound like it would be best for me today, so we ended up going back to Custer State Park to drive the Wildlife Loop Road. That turned out to be the highlight of the day as you will see in our photos that follow!! We saw wild turkeys, two kinds of deer, antelope, burros, prairie dogs (we think) and of course, BISON! We actually saw wild bison! We even got out of the car and stood to take pictures of a whole herd of bison with their little young ’uns, it was absolutely incredible! A lot of the animals we saw were very close to the car so we got good photos, but the burros, oh my gawd the burros were the cutest things! They literally walk right up to the cars! John was out taking some photos and there was this adorable dark brown burro that started making a bee-line for him, so we made for the car where he kept right on following us. While I love animals, and these did appear friendly, they are wild so we kept the windows up even though it broke our hearts to drive away from those sweet faces, it’s probably for the best. We’ve got pictures of other folks who stopped to pet the burros and who blocked their cars to try to beg food from the passersby ☺ What silly loves!
Monday's Mileage: 156.8
Roadkill Report: Zero!! Double happiness!
(This post is from Monday, last post was from Sunday but we didn't have internet access so they are both a day late.)
Monday, May 05, 2008
Black Hills
Wow, well, we made it to Black Hills! It is more beautiful than I could have imagined. Even the developed areas are wild and free by city slicker standards. This would be a cool place to run a restaurant or bed & breakfast, or just own a little cabin to spend the summers. Wow, that’s the only thing I can say to describe it here. Wow.
We started the day with a peanut butter sandwich and were on the road by 8:30 am to get a jump on the long day ahead of us. We stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, which was a disappointment: I was thinking a literal palace made entirely of corn, but it’s actually a community center with large art made of corn above some seats on a basketball court. Not great. Something to do with fire regulations, I think. BAH! We did happen across Lake Mitchell, though, and found an impressive flock of pelicans and got some awesome pictures of them!
My sweet love did ALL the driving today, except for a small stretch of highway between the Wall Drug (which is a big tourist attraction, though I’d never heard of it before this, and much better than the Corn Palace of Shame) to the next rest stop after I started having a panic attack about how winding the roads were going to get. I’m glad we switched seats, because that panic was nothing compared to the mortal fear I experienced later as we drove up the side of a mountain to get to the Sylvan Lake Lodge, egads. At one point, there’s a tunnel that is big enough for only ONE car, though it’s a two-way road. The Sylvan had some funny situation going on, so the manager called the Legion Lake Resort to hold us a cabin. It is the cutest cabin, perfect for a little romantic stay in the woods ☺ We’re ill equipped for a cabin stay, but they’ve got a little grocery store and restaurant at the bottom of hill, nice and convenient, and my idea of “roughing it”.
We were amazed at how many deer we saw on the way up the mountain, and they were right outside the car just looking up at you like, “Hey, how’s it going? Got any food?” We haven’t seen any wild bison yet, but they are here in this very park, Custer State, and there are warnings everywhere about how dangerous they are. I’d love to see some and take pictures from afar, WAY afar! That’s the beauty of having a zoom lens. After we settled into our cabin, we took off on a walk, and right outside the cabin looking straight at us were three very friendly deer!! They stayed there and looked at us with interest while we shot a buttload of pics, I couldn’t believe it! I suppose to people out here the deer are as common as squirrels, but to us, it’s so incredible to get that close to them! They nibbled on the grass demurely as we admired them and they never did get spooked, not once, even with all the clicking of our digital cameras.
We explored the large, mountainy ridges that surround this tiny serene lake, and then settled down near the waters edge to admire the mallards coupling, the birds twittering, the fish jumping, and a very large Osprey trying to get dinner for himself. We’ve got photos of it all, never fear! The fluffy sprawl of clouds over the lake had me mesmerized until the chill in the air finally sent us to the cabin to snuggle in for the night. So now we’re here relaxing in silence, no tv, no water park or kids running down hallways, no freeways, no cars, no sounds (except the chorus of our bellies that are strangely in unison, I hope my IBS isn’t contagious), no internet access…just us in this grand place that I imagine is quite similar to what it was when the world was new to human life.
Tomorrow’s agenda: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, find an internet café (preferably a Caribou coffee, I’m dying for a chai latte!) so we can post this and our photos, then off to tour the Wind Caves, which are reportedly some of the largest caves in the world! YAY! Now I’m off to take a look at the beautiful gemstones I found for a STEAL at the Wall Drug. In case you’re wondering, I picked up 2 rose quartz, an amethyst, moss agate, blue lace, clear quartz, blood stone, fancy jasper, obsidian, malachite and adventurine, all for only $3.07!!!!!! I’m very tempted to stop back there to pick up more because they were so cheap, hopefully time allows. I would still like to stop off at a couple of the trading post places around Rapid City to look for totem animal carvings, cuz I’m into freaky stuff like that. Whee!
Our live animal report for the road is good: we saw LOADS of pheasants, ducks, cows, horses, regal white cranes and deer roaming around alive and well!! It is, however, a sad day for lots of others ☹
Roadkill Report: 3 bunnies, 9 pheasants, a raccoon, a muskrat (perhaps), 2 “chunkies”, and 2 “tiny somethings”. Lots of semi tires also lots their lives today; tons of rubber bits on the road.
Today's Mileage: 366.7
Restaurant Report: Today we only ate out once at a shitty little place called the Cactus Grill near the Wall Drug. It was food, that’s about all I can say for it. I kept telling myself that we were eating better than they did in the old west, and at least I’m not turning tricks for my meals like the ladies of those days had to. Ick.
We started the day with a peanut butter sandwich and were on the road by 8:30 am to get a jump on the long day ahead of us. We stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, which was a disappointment: I was thinking a literal palace made entirely of corn, but it’s actually a community center with large art made of corn above some seats on a basketball court. Not great. Something to do with fire regulations, I think. BAH! We did happen across Lake Mitchell, though, and found an impressive flock of pelicans and got some awesome pictures of them!
My sweet love did ALL the driving today, except for a small stretch of highway between the Wall Drug (which is a big tourist attraction, though I’d never heard of it before this, and much better than the Corn Palace of Shame) to the next rest stop after I started having a panic attack about how winding the roads were going to get. I’m glad we switched seats, because that panic was nothing compared to the mortal fear I experienced later as we drove up the side of a mountain to get to the Sylvan Lake Lodge, egads. At one point, there’s a tunnel that is big enough for only ONE car, though it’s a two-way road. The Sylvan had some funny situation going on, so the manager called the Legion Lake Resort to hold us a cabin. It is the cutest cabin, perfect for a little romantic stay in the woods ☺ We’re ill equipped for a cabin stay, but they’ve got a little grocery store and restaurant at the bottom of hill, nice and convenient, and my idea of “roughing it”.
We were amazed at how many deer we saw on the way up the mountain, and they were right outside the car just looking up at you like, “Hey, how’s it going? Got any food?” We haven’t seen any wild bison yet, but they are here in this very park, Custer State, and there are warnings everywhere about how dangerous they are. I’d love to see some and take pictures from afar, WAY afar! That’s the beauty of having a zoom lens. After we settled into our cabin, we took off on a walk, and right outside the cabin looking straight at us were three very friendly deer!! They stayed there and looked at us with interest while we shot a buttload of pics, I couldn’t believe it! I suppose to people out here the deer are as common as squirrels, but to us, it’s so incredible to get that close to them! They nibbled on the grass demurely as we admired them and they never did get spooked, not once, even with all the clicking of our digital cameras.
We explored the large, mountainy ridges that surround this tiny serene lake, and then settled down near the waters edge to admire the mallards coupling, the birds twittering, the fish jumping, and a very large Osprey trying to get dinner for himself. We’ve got photos of it all, never fear! The fluffy sprawl of clouds over the lake had me mesmerized until the chill in the air finally sent us to the cabin to snuggle in for the night. So now we’re here relaxing in silence, no tv, no water park or kids running down hallways, no freeways, no cars, no sounds (except the chorus of our bellies that are strangely in unison, I hope my IBS isn’t contagious), no internet access…just us in this grand place that I imagine is quite similar to what it was when the world was new to human life.
Tomorrow’s agenda: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, find an internet café (preferably a Caribou coffee, I’m dying for a chai latte!) so we can post this and our photos, then off to tour the Wind Caves, which are reportedly some of the largest caves in the world! YAY! Now I’m off to take a look at the beautiful gemstones I found for a STEAL at the Wall Drug. In case you’re wondering, I picked up 2 rose quartz, an amethyst, moss agate, blue lace, clear quartz, blood stone, fancy jasper, obsidian, malachite and adventurine, all for only $3.07!!!!!! I’m very tempted to stop back there to pick up more because they were so cheap, hopefully time allows. I would still like to stop off at a couple of the trading post places around Rapid City to look for totem animal carvings, cuz I’m into freaky stuff like that. Whee!
Our live animal report for the road is good: we saw LOADS of pheasants, ducks, cows, horses, regal white cranes and deer roaming around alive and well!! It is, however, a sad day for lots of others ☹
Roadkill Report: 3 bunnies, 9 pheasants, a raccoon, a muskrat (perhaps), 2 “chunkies”, and 2 “tiny somethings”. Lots of semi tires also lots their lives today; tons of rubber bits on the road.
Today's Mileage: 366.7
Restaurant Report: Today we only ate out once at a shitty little place called the Cactus Grill near the Wall Drug. It was food, that’s about all I can say for it. I kept telling myself that we were eating better than they did in the old west, and at least I’m not turning tricks for my meals like the ladies of those days had to. Ick.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Sioux Falls
Chillen' here in Sioux Falls, SD, which to me seems a lot like Edina, or maybe Red Wing. It's like a big suburb. What strikes me is that the streets seem very empty, though there are lots of people about, and what strikes John is the large amount of smokers here. It's kind of curious to see so many smokers, I guess we've gotten used to the non-smoking luxury of Minneapolis. We're currently in our Best Western Ramkota Hotel room at the end of a long hallway of families with kids who are here solely to utilize the water park and I just have to thank the gods we didn't book a pool side room. The room is quite nice, very "chain hotel-esque" which is okay because we know what we're getting: a decent bed, a coffee maker and a safe place to kick our feet up. At least I don't feel the need to worry that there's a dead hooker under the bed.
I drove most of the way here until I got my mid-day sleepies and we switched spots at the saddest little rest stop you ever did see. The drive was an absolute luxury with virtually zero traffic the entire way. We had our upbeat tunes cranked most of the way to get us pumped for driving and we had fun singing and goofing together. There were countless hawks and eagles on the way, and we saw a massive eagles nest before we even got out of Minneapolis, so that was cool. It was beautifully sunny, but so windy it was hard to maneuver our little boxy Toodlebug! Of course, our Toodlebug was the coolest car on the road, contrary to what all these red, sporty cars would have you believe.
Once here in Sioux Falls, we lounged a bit before heading out to scope out a couple of bead stores. The first was a cute little shop that had a free class going on, they had some of the most unique jewelry I've seen in a long time, and they were selling the most beautiful cabochons I've ever seen!! They had a cute sign that said, "Shoplifting is bad karma". I'll try to find their website to post with our other links. The second store was a complete ripoff; they were selling mini-strands of gemstone chips for twice the price of what a normal strand should cost, all their beads were in champagne glasses that cluttered the entire store which made it hard to find anything, and they didn't have anything I wanted there anyway, so we split. We ended up eating at a funky diner that seemed to be a local hot spot, and the food was good. John had a corned beef and swiss sandwich with coleslaw, and I went the full fried/fatty selection with a fish sandwich and fries, which I'm now paying for in a big way :( We did have a very pleasant walk near The Falls that we'll post pix of in a minute. Sadly, they're right near a sheep slaughter house which I tried to ignore as we drove past on the way in and out of the parking lot. It seemed like most of Sioux Falls residents were at The Falls, and they're celebrating Cinco de Mayo today (for some reason) so there was live music and kids all crawling everywhere out on the rocks having fun. We took photos of some geese and their little goslings!!!!!! The mama in one of the photos is just giving me the evil eye even though I was far away shooting with the zoom lens. Cute motherly protector of those little yellow fuzz balls!
Anyway, I meant to make this a quick post because we haven't done too much yet, but here I've blogged most every detail! Geez, a blabbermouth even in writing ;)~ Anyway, tomorrow's post will be from Sylvan Lake, which reports are saying got 24 inches of snow the other day. Hmmm, flash floods...let's hope not!
Roadkill Report:
Three raccoons, a very decomposed deer (half of it, anyway), something that looked like a dog, and something that looked like nothing we could figure out...like a raccoon/fox. A silent lament for all the roadkill, please.
Mileage: 258.2
I drove most of the way here until I got my mid-day sleepies and we switched spots at the saddest little rest stop you ever did see. The drive was an absolute luxury with virtually zero traffic the entire way. We had our upbeat tunes cranked most of the way to get us pumped for driving and we had fun singing and goofing together. There were countless hawks and eagles on the way, and we saw a massive eagles nest before we even got out of Minneapolis, so that was cool. It was beautifully sunny, but so windy it was hard to maneuver our little boxy Toodlebug! Of course, our Toodlebug was the coolest car on the road, contrary to what all these red, sporty cars would have you believe.
Once here in Sioux Falls, we lounged a bit before heading out to scope out a couple of bead stores. The first was a cute little shop that had a free class going on, they had some of the most unique jewelry I've seen in a long time, and they were selling the most beautiful cabochons I've ever seen!! They had a cute sign that said, "Shoplifting is bad karma". I'll try to find their website to post with our other links. The second store was a complete ripoff; they were selling mini-strands of gemstone chips for twice the price of what a normal strand should cost, all their beads were in champagne glasses that cluttered the entire store which made it hard to find anything, and they didn't have anything I wanted there anyway, so we split. We ended up eating at a funky diner that seemed to be a local hot spot, and the food was good. John had a corned beef and swiss sandwich with coleslaw, and I went the full fried/fatty selection with a fish sandwich and fries, which I'm now paying for in a big way :( We did have a very pleasant walk near The Falls that we'll post pix of in a minute. Sadly, they're right near a sheep slaughter house which I tried to ignore as we drove past on the way in and out of the parking lot. It seemed like most of Sioux Falls residents were at The Falls, and they're celebrating Cinco de Mayo today (for some reason) so there was live music and kids all crawling everywhere out on the rocks having fun. We took photos of some geese and their little goslings!!!!!! The mama in one of the photos is just giving me the evil eye even though I was far away shooting with the zoom lens. Cute motherly protector of those little yellow fuzz balls!
Anyway, I meant to make this a quick post because we haven't done too much yet, but here I've blogged most every detail! Geez, a blabbermouth even in writing ;)~ Anyway, tomorrow's post will be from Sylvan Lake, which reports are saying got 24 inches of snow the other day. Hmmm, flash floods...let's hope not!
Roadkill Report:
Three raccoons, a very decomposed deer (half of it, anyway), something that looked like a dog, and something that looked like nothing we could figure out...like a raccoon/fox. A silent lament for all the roadkill, please.
Mileage: 258.2
Friday, May 02, 2008
Delayed
We're delaying our departure by one day due to winter storms/tornado warnings in South Dakota, which sound like they will be dissipating tonight into just rain tomorrow. This is a bit of a relief since we weren't quite ready to go anyway.
We slept in a bit this morning, then headed out to Hell's Kitchen for breakfast which was EXCELLENT. Man, that place is the shizz! The bison sausage is handmade on the premises (I believe) and it is better than any sausage I think I've ever had, and trust me, I'm a sausage freak!! I had the Lemon Ricotta Hotcakes, which come with fresh berries on the top and are so good and moist that you don't even need syrup. John had the Bison Benedict with bison steak which he felt was not as good as the bison sausage, but still yummy. We both had coffee because they serve the really good stuff, and our meal was a bit on the expensive side, but hell, it IS our 10th anniversary, after all. No better excuse to blow our money :)
We wandered down to the library because we still had an hour on the meter, and I got wrapped up looking at my new favorite blog (http://oggi-icandothat.blogspot.com/), I was trying to find a cookbook author she blogged about who had Japanese bread recipes, but couldn't find it. We made it back to the car with 3 minutes to spare, then came home to start packing and finish cleaning. Soon, we'll be heading out to catch a matinee of Iron Man (!!) and grub some buttery popcorn. Hopefully we'll come back home for some Schmoopiness, then to bed early so we can head out early, early, early tomorrow!!
YAY! Soon, we will be on the road! Next post will most likely come to you via Sioux Falls!
Love to all ;)~
R&J
We slept in a bit this morning, then headed out to Hell's Kitchen for breakfast which was EXCELLENT. Man, that place is the shizz! The bison sausage is handmade on the premises (I believe) and it is better than any sausage I think I've ever had, and trust me, I'm a sausage freak!! I had the Lemon Ricotta Hotcakes, which come with fresh berries on the top and are so good and moist that you don't even need syrup. John had the Bison Benedict with bison steak which he felt was not as good as the bison sausage, but still yummy. We both had coffee because they serve the really good stuff, and our meal was a bit on the expensive side, but hell, it IS our 10th anniversary, after all. No better excuse to blow our money :)
We wandered down to the library because we still had an hour on the meter, and I got wrapped up looking at my new favorite blog (http://oggi-icandothat.blogspot.com/), I was trying to find a cookbook author she blogged about who had Japanese bread recipes, but couldn't find it. We made it back to the car with 3 minutes to spare, then came home to start packing and finish cleaning. Soon, we'll be heading out to catch a matinee of Iron Man (!!) and grub some buttery popcorn. Hopefully we'll come back home for some Schmoopiness, then to bed early so we can head out early, early, early tomorrow!!
YAY! Soon, we will be on the road! Next post will most likely come to you via Sioux Falls!
Love to all ;)~
R&J
Saturday, April 26, 2008
South Dakota
That's right! The Schmoopies are off again on another journey, this time to South Dakota! I know, you're probably thinking, "Gee, is that really a travel destination hot spot?" But it really is! There is actually a lot to see there, at least according to all the travel brochures and those South Dakota commercials with the catchy jingle. We'll be seeing Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse memorial, the Badlands, Devil's Tower, the Corn Palace and miles and miles of clear, open roads, or one would hope anyway.
We'll be leaving on Friday 5/2, the 10th anniversary of the day we made our Schmoopie-ness legal and have been in wedded bliss ever since, starting the special day off with a breakfast at Hell's Kitchen downtown. (If you haven't been to this fine establishment, you'd best get on it, it's ded good. If you go for Sunday brunch, don't be shocked that the wait staff serve you in their jammies.) Then we plan on heading straight to Rapid City to hole up in this little romantic hidey-hole, assuming there's a vacancy: http://www.powderhouselodge.com/index.htm. The rest is all up in the air at this point, we'll just see where the days take us.
A little unnerving is the fact that it is currently snowing outside, and the forecast for the week is looking quite shitty, but let's try to think positive and hope there is no inclement weather for us during our trip. I turn into a crazed freak woman when driving in crappy weather, so yeah, keep your fingers crossed for us.
This brings me to another horrifying thought: I've got to actually get this condo CLEAN before we leave. Yikes, time to get on that! We'll be blogging and podcasting when we can!!!!
Love to all,
R&J
We'll be leaving on Friday 5/2, the 10th anniversary of the day we made our Schmoopie-ness legal and have been in wedded bliss ever since, starting the special day off with a breakfast at Hell's Kitchen downtown. (If you haven't been to this fine establishment, you'd best get on it, it's ded good. If you go for Sunday brunch, don't be shocked that the wait staff serve you in their jammies.) Then we plan on heading straight to Rapid City to hole up in this little romantic hidey-hole, assuming there's a vacancy: http://www.powderhouselodge.com/index.htm. The rest is all up in the air at this point, we'll just see where the days take us.
A little unnerving is the fact that it is currently snowing outside, and the forecast for the week is looking quite shitty, but let's try to think positive and hope there is no inclement weather for us during our trip. I turn into a crazed freak woman when driving in crappy weather, so yeah, keep your fingers crossed for us.
This brings me to another horrifying thought: I've got to actually get this condo CLEAN before we leave. Yikes, time to get on that! We'll be blogging and podcasting when we can!!!!
Love to all,
R&J
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