Monday, May 04, 2009
Two Harbors
We got a late start to the day yesterday, leaving home around 11:30 or so, and got up to Duluth in time to enjoy a quick lunch at Angie's Cantina, then off to bask in a lovely, warm day out on the pier with throngs of seagulls who tail every boat in sight. I know many people think they're a nuisance, but I absolutely adore seagulls, so I was in bird heaven. They're so funny to watch, and there were so many it was like an orchestra of seagull cries. They've got such a funny little shape to them, their beaks, tiny round heads and birdy legs :) Although, I was glad none flocked at us for food like they were doing to other people who were giving out bread or pooped on us.
There was an enormous cargo ship coming through at the time, so we got to see the lift-bridge open up for it. All the crew was waving at everyone on the pier. We walked up to the lighthouse and took tons of photos of the gulls, each other and marveled at the grand scale of Lake Superior. It really is an impressive, gorgeous lake. Although I could have stood there for hours, the day was getting on and we headed off to book a room at the Northern Rail, which is a hotel made from converted rail cars! We're in the Lighthouse Porter Suite, which faces the woods and is quaint as all hell. It's what you'd expect for "Up North" decor, and the general manager of the place is as friendly as can be.
We settled into our room, took a nice snuggly nap, then off to explore Two Harbors. We had a lovely walk where we saw 5 deer grazing along the lake that didn't seem disturbed by people in the least. There was a little lighthouse way out in the lake that had a cool gangway that everyone was walking along and even some guys out fishing on it, so we watched the sun setting as we strolled along. It was quite chilly, and the fresh, damp was refreshing. We opted for a simple dinner of sandwiches, fruit and Chex Mix from a local grocery instead of a heavy dinner. We're pretty tired of eating out already, so this morning's simple continental breakfast of oatmeal, bagels and muffins was appreciated.
There is reportedly a friendly wolf that scouts the area, but we didn't see him last night. Poo! I was so hoping to see a wolf up close! However, there are three little deer that were hanging around last night, and then again this morning they were out grazing on the lawn. I got tons of photos that I'll post as soon as John uploads them. He is currently snoozing with his glasses on, and though I'm tempted to join him, I get cranky if I nap too long, so I think I'll just meditate or read my Julia Golding book.
Anyway, it was brilliant to have a night's sleep without a heavy kitty weighing down my chest all night, and we're having a peaceful vacay. We've only got one more day, so we plan on driving up to Grand Marais to see the waterfalls, also hitting Goosebury Falls, Iona's Pink Stone Beach, and another place that I can't recall how to spell. Ok, more later!
Love & hugs to all :)
R&J
PS: We plan on doing a podcast later tonight!! I know you're all waiting with bated breath for that, nyuk-nyuk ;)
There was an enormous cargo ship coming through at the time, so we got to see the lift-bridge open up for it. All the crew was waving at everyone on the pier. We walked up to the lighthouse and took tons of photos of the gulls, each other and marveled at the grand scale of Lake Superior. It really is an impressive, gorgeous lake. Although I could have stood there for hours, the day was getting on and we headed off to book a room at the Northern Rail, which is a hotel made from converted rail cars! We're in the Lighthouse Porter Suite, which faces the woods and is quaint as all hell. It's what you'd expect for "Up North" decor, and the general manager of the place is as friendly as can be.
We settled into our room, took a nice snuggly nap, then off to explore Two Harbors. We had a lovely walk where we saw 5 deer grazing along the lake that didn't seem disturbed by people in the least. There was a little lighthouse way out in the lake that had a cool gangway that everyone was walking along and even some guys out fishing on it, so we watched the sun setting as we strolled along. It was quite chilly, and the fresh, damp was refreshing. We opted for a simple dinner of sandwiches, fruit and Chex Mix from a local grocery instead of a heavy dinner. We're pretty tired of eating out already, so this morning's simple continental breakfast of oatmeal, bagels and muffins was appreciated.
There is reportedly a friendly wolf that scouts the area, but we didn't see him last night. Poo! I was so hoping to see a wolf up close! However, there are three little deer that were hanging around last night, and then again this morning they were out grazing on the lawn. I got tons of photos that I'll post as soon as John uploads them. He is currently snoozing with his glasses on, and though I'm tempted to join him, I get cranky if I nap too long, so I think I'll just meditate or read my Julia Golding book.
Anyway, it was brilliant to have a night's sleep without a heavy kitty weighing down my chest all night, and we're having a peaceful vacay. We've only got one more day, so we plan on driving up to Grand Marais to see the waterfalls, also hitting Goosebury Falls, Iona's Pink Stone Beach, and another place that I can't recall how to spell. Ok, more later!
Love & hugs to all :)
R&J
PS: We plan on doing a podcast later tonight!! I know you're all waiting with bated breath for that, nyuk-nyuk ;)
Sunday, May 03, 2009
May 1&2
We're still hanging chill at home, so I thought I'd do a quick update of the past couple of days. We had a leisurely morning on Friday of simple breakkies, John went out for a run and then we took the car in for an oil change. After having a small lunch at Applebee's (using John's winning certificate courtesy of the Twins), we connected with our best pal Chris to go see Wolverine (not horrible, but not great, either) at the Rosedale cinema. Deciding it was best to not drive him home in rush hour traffic, we opted to hang at Leaning Tower of Pizza for some 'Za and sodas. Off to home where we were so pooped out and still stiff from the walk at the Arboretum, we crashed out watching the game on the couch and subsequently missed the public sky viewing at the astronomy lab that I'm sure was quite cool, the theme being "Galaxies & Dark Matter". We'll have to catch the next one.
May 2, our anniversary, started a little rocky for me. Vesta, our naughtly little monkey-cat, has this habit of walking on me all night long. So she's been really active the past 5 nights or so, and my crankiness at the lack of sleep just cannot be hidden at this point. So even though I meant to get up early and get a jump on the day (as I've been meaning to for the past 5 or so days) I was so freakin' tired I had to just sleep in. Although, I do remember Hubby coming in and singing the "Happy Anniversary" song to me that made my morning :)
When I finally did surface, Hubby was already planning another run (the man is a jogging machine lately! You go, my Love!) so I decided to do the Wii workout. John made us yummy smoothies and sammies, and we lazed around until 2 o'clock when we headed out to see our friend dance in the Festival of Nations! It was really cool, and I hadn't been to the FoN since my dad used to perform in it (many moons ago) and John had never been there. It's like the State Fair, but way better food and wares. We watched the Japanese, Egyptian, Hungarian, Scottish and Dutch dances at the main stage. Our friend danced in the Egyptian set and their troupe was excellent! She'd told us, "Sparkly ladies with canes!" and she was right; they were very sparkly! Of course, the Egyptians do it with such flash that it's hard to beat their routine :) Although, the Hungarian (and anything Balkan) routines have a special place in my heart since that was my dad's speciality.
I sampled Chicken Curry with Rice and Roti at the Pakistani booth while John went back to the Motherland (Norway) and sample the Viking in a Blanket (saugage in lefse). Later, we sampled the Samosa's from Somalia, very delectable! I love African spices, so earthy but not hot. We caught up with our sparkly cane lady in the food area and wandered around looking at the wares and wishing we all made more money with which to purchase cool stuff. We caught some musicians from India, Hungaria, Spain and Ireland who were all impressive. Then off to catch the Egyptians in their second (and different) dance set of the day. Again, awesome! After that the Chilean and Korean musicians played some incredible music that provoked almost every child seated to get up and start a furious little swirling dance reminiscent of a May Pole dance :) It was just cute.
Deciding that our anniversary celebration wasn't quite complete, we later went to The Loop for dinner to support our local neighborhood establishments. We enjoyed a very romantic dinner of walleye and chicken sammies (with, ahem, salad instead of fries) in a cushy booth, a cosmo martini & beer in hands, and marveled at our 11 years of marital bliss :) YAY!
Anyway, next post should be from Grand Marais! Whoo-hoo!
May 2, our anniversary, started a little rocky for me. Vesta, our naughtly little monkey-cat, has this habit of walking on me all night long. So she's been really active the past 5 nights or so, and my crankiness at the lack of sleep just cannot be hidden at this point. So even though I meant to get up early and get a jump on the day (as I've been meaning to for the past 5 or so days) I was so freakin' tired I had to just sleep in. Although, I do remember Hubby coming in and singing the "Happy Anniversary" song to me that made my morning :)
When I finally did surface, Hubby was already planning another run (the man is a jogging machine lately! You go, my Love!) so I decided to do the Wii workout. John made us yummy smoothies and sammies, and we lazed around until 2 o'clock when we headed out to see our friend dance in the Festival of Nations! It was really cool, and I hadn't been to the FoN since my dad used to perform in it (many moons ago) and John had never been there. It's like the State Fair, but way better food and wares. We watched the Japanese, Egyptian, Hungarian, Scottish and Dutch dances at the main stage. Our friend danced in the Egyptian set and their troupe was excellent! She'd told us, "Sparkly ladies with canes!" and she was right; they were very sparkly! Of course, the Egyptians do it with such flash that it's hard to beat their routine :) Although, the Hungarian (and anything Balkan) routines have a special place in my heart since that was my dad's speciality.
I sampled Chicken Curry with Rice and Roti at the Pakistani booth while John went back to the Motherland (Norway) and sample the Viking in a Blanket (saugage in lefse). Later, we sampled the Samosa's from Somalia, very delectable! I love African spices, so earthy but not hot. We caught up with our sparkly cane lady in the food area and wandered around looking at the wares and wishing we all made more money with which to purchase cool stuff. We caught some musicians from India, Hungaria, Spain and Ireland who were all impressive. Then off to catch the Egyptians in their second (and different) dance set of the day. Again, awesome! After that the Chilean and Korean musicians played some incredible music that provoked almost every child seated to get up and start a furious little swirling dance reminiscent of a May Pole dance :) It was just cute.
Deciding that our anniversary celebration wasn't quite complete, we later went to The Loop for dinner to support our local neighborhood establishments. We enjoyed a very romantic dinner of walleye and chicken sammies (with, ahem, salad instead of fries) in a cushy booth, a cosmo martini & beer in hands, and marveled at our 11 years of marital bliss :) YAY!
Anyway, next post should be from Grand Marais! Whoo-hoo!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Local Vacation
Wow, has it really been since August 2008 since we've gone anywhere?! Well, we're not going far this time, but it's a vacation, darn it, and I'm going to blog about it. We kicked things off with a Twins game last night and what a lucky night it turned out to be! First, I got 'recognized' at work and received a lovely $10 gift card from Target which put me in a very good mood. Then we got to the Twins game and it turns out our staff ID's got us discounted tickets (only $4 a piece!), once inside we got our dollar dogs and took our normal nosebleed seats with a bunch of frat-boy hosers since it was student night, and the game was going great. In the third inning, John actually won the Twingo (I was convinced no one ever wins, they just hype it and make you think they've got some great prize but really we're all just suckers), and while he was off to claim his $10 Applebee's gift certificate, a well-dressed gentleman came up and sat next to me. Of course, I was immediately suspicious when he asked if I was alone, but then noticed he was wearing a Twins ID badge, and after his elusive questioning, it turns out he gave us two owner's box seat tickets to sit in the SECOND ROW behind 3rd Base!! As much as I loathe to sit in such tight quarters with a bunch of germy, obnoxious strangers, there really is nothing like being right down there, and it was most awesome! I forgot all those around me and just enjoyed the game, seeing the players up close, and hearing the Ump's calls. And honestly? The people really weren't that bad down there. In fact, they were better down there than they were up in the cheap seats since we'd already witnessed one major fight and subsequent police escorted removal of a fan.
After the Twins kicked the Rays' butts, we strolled happily to fetch the car when lo and behold, we get flashed by some enthusiastic birthday girl in a limo! I couldn't help but yell out, "Put 'em on the glass!" and then she flashed her bosoms again. I got a way with the ladies, what can I say? Once home, we hung out on the balcony marveling at our unbelievable luck until we were too tired to stay up anymore :)
This morning, we headed off for the Arboretum and had the most perfect day. The weather was beautifully overcast, not too warm or cold, and the sky filled with the clouds I favor the most: blue-gray with streaky white, undulating oceanic-esque sky-fluff with breaks of warm sun every now and again. We packed a picnic so we could just wander the trails all day in romantic silence. The paths were so lovely, crispy with leaves, wet with mud, deer tracks (and droppings) all over the place, and hawks, crows and cranes populated overhead. We even saw a little fuzzy caterpillar that we moved out of the path lest a gaggle of field-tripping kids squash it. Other than their obnoxious behavior at the pond with a little family of geese with chicks, we were able to move along faster than their group and weren't bothered by the noise. I shot 115 photos during our walk, and plan on submitting some of them to the photo contest the Arboretum is having!! Yippee!
Our day trip was absolutely wonderful, and we came home for a snuggly nap with the kitties. John went off to tuba practice and I fooled around with my crafts watching Dead Like Me all night. Now he's home, and though we talked about going out for a drink, we decided to just hang out here on the balcony and enjoy our little place in the sky :)
After the Twins kicked the Rays' butts, we strolled happily to fetch the car when lo and behold, we get flashed by some enthusiastic birthday girl in a limo! I couldn't help but yell out, "Put 'em on the glass!" and then she flashed her bosoms again. I got a way with the ladies, what can I say? Once home, we hung out on the balcony marveling at our unbelievable luck until we were too tired to stay up anymore :)
This morning, we headed off for the Arboretum and had the most perfect day. The weather was beautifully overcast, not too warm or cold, and the sky filled with the clouds I favor the most: blue-gray with streaky white, undulating oceanic-esque sky-fluff with breaks of warm sun every now and again. We packed a picnic so we could just wander the trails all day in romantic silence. The paths were so lovely, crispy with leaves, wet with mud, deer tracks (and droppings) all over the place, and hawks, crows and cranes populated overhead. We even saw a little fuzzy caterpillar that we moved out of the path lest a gaggle of field-tripping kids squash it. Other than their obnoxious behavior at the pond with a little family of geese with chicks, we were able to move along faster than their group and weren't bothered by the noise. I shot 115 photos during our walk, and plan on submitting some of them to the photo contest the Arboretum is having!! Yippee!
Our day trip was absolutely wonderful, and we came home for a snuggly nap with the kitties. John went off to tuba practice and I fooled around with my crafts watching Dead Like Me all night. Now he's home, and though we talked about going out for a drink, we decided to just hang out here on the balcony and enjoy our little place in the sky :)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Another Journey's Ended
Writing from the comforts of home, with a purring Vesta kitty on my lap, Boo happily chirping her weird-kitty welcome mews to us at random intervals as she wanders the house; it feels good to settle in. The last couple of days have been a whirlwind, and with little internet access, I just decided to wait til we were back to record the rest.
We spent the last bit of our time in the Prius, a damn fine companion in bumper to bumper city traffic on a workday in Los Angeles! We drove out for a little sun-fun at an elusive public beach (seems most beach-side land has been ensnared into private ownership) in Malibu, though neglecting to bring actual beach wear (d'oh!), we were a bit too overdressed for the occasion, so after a brief picnic we continued driving along the coastal highway for some relaxed mansion viewing. I'd become sick with a fever that morning along with my sinus pressure/headaches, coughing and had felt like shit with little sleep for the past couple of days, so the drive time was a welcome relief for me being all achey. That evening (Monday), we walked around the Hollywood strip to do some people watching, which ended abruptly when a mentally unstable homeless man, who we'd seen up and down the street collecting cans and talking wildly to himself-generally scaring all who came near, went totally apeshit on some random dude on the street, screaming and lunging at him with fists pelting the poor guy in the face without warning or provocation. It was a smelly, violent, whirling dervish, his cans forgotten for the moment, the entire block seemed to clear like a beach where someone has just spotted JAWS, we decided to follow suit and get the fuck out of there pronto to find somewhere mellow to eat and be thankful for our sanity. Yikes. The cool Thai place, the Pink Pepper, was very yummy, and other than a small drama including me and their plugged toilet, a relaxing time was had before retiring for the evening.
The next day was more time in the Prius with our first stop of the morning was the Hollywood Bowl where we enjoyed watching the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra during their free rehearsal! It was a grand sound, the mountains all around with birds seeming to flit and fly about in tune. Very much our style in this casual setting, the musicians wearing their casual clothes and the conductor stopping them occasionally to dance around, barking instructions for more emphasis here or there.
Then off to the Hollywood sign, which we drove up to, but then learning there's a two mile hike AFTER parking in the lot and me still feeling crappy, we took a picture of the winding road and said, 'Good 'nuff' and left off to find the La Brea Tar Pits. A couple hours in traffic finally brought us there where the stink of the pit was pretty profound in the afternoon heat, but very cool to see what all the fuss is about. Another wonder of the world that is most intriguing. We decided to skip a trip to the City of Industry and just head off to Anaheim to make sure we made it to the game on time. Angels Stadium was really cool, we got free sun hats at the gate (unfortunately, too late for me to utilize it on our sunny trip since I'd forgotten to pack mine) and I finally got to see the REAL Rally Monkey in action!! Well, on the screen anyway. I thought they'd actually bring him out onto the field for some serious rallying, but no, they just show a video of the monkey dressed in a tiny Angels jersey jumping up and down. Monkey!
And let me just go on record as saying that LAX sucks donkey balls. They had toilet problems there, too, and it stunk the whole place up since the whole airport seems to only be a tiny circle with a 12 foot radius. It's freakin' TINY! I guess I'd had always imagined an airport as famed as LAX to be of epic proportions. This is not the case. So we sat around the stinky, crowded filth of the airport until our flight time of 1:20 AM (so that's 3:20 AM central time) finally, FINALLY came and boarded. We were pleased to see that Minneapolis' own Fancy Ray was a few seats ahead of us. Complete with curlers in his hair and a kimono that he had dangling wide open showing off his bare chest, such chutzpah, I love it! I was tempted to get an autograph, but my utter lack of desire for such things took over and I passed out before we were even in the air. We both napped on and off throughout the flight, and every time I'd wake up, the view outside seemed to be completely different and amazing; winding city streets aglow in an organized labrynth, utter blackness, and misty clouds lit only by the red lights of the wings. At one point there was a lightning show off in the distant clouds that I wish I would've had the energy to snap a photo of, and the sunrise over Minnesota this morning was quite lovely to watch from that altitude.
A nice trip, but even nicer to get home to our wonderous Sleep Number bed after being up for a full 24 hours. The kitties were happy as clams to see us, and we even had a little baby bird fledgling come visit our balcony for several hours this afternoon, taking a rest as her mom would come now and again to try to get her off and flying, which she finally did! How sweet!
Anyway, glad to be back home safe and sound! Love to you all!
Thanks for reading ;)~
R&J
We spent the last bit of our time in the Prius, a damn fine companion in bumper to bumper city traffic on a workday in Los Angeles! We drove out for a little sun-fun at an elusive public beach (seems most beach-side land has been ensnared into private ownership) in Malibu, though neglecting to bring actual beach wear (d'oh!), we were a bit too overdressed for the occasion, so after a brief picnic we continued driving along the coastal highway for some relaxed mansion viewing. I'd become sick with a fever that morning along with my sinus pressure/headaches, coughing and had felt like shit with little sleep for the past couple of days, so the drive time was a welcome relief for me being all achey. That evening (Monday), we walked around the Hollywood strip to do some people watching, which ended abruptly when a mentally unstable homeless man, who we'd seen up and down the street collecting cans and talking wildly to himself-generally scaring all who came near, went totally apeshit on some random dude on the street, screaming and lunging at him with fists pelting the poor guy in the face without warning or provocation. It was a smelly, violent, whirling dervish, his cans forgotten for the moment, the entire block seemed to clear like a beach where someone has just spotted JAWS, we decided to follow suit and get the fuck out of there pronto to find somewhere mellow to eat and be thankful for our sanity. Yikes. The cool Thai place, the Pink Pepper, was very yummy, and other than a small drama including me and their plugged toilet, a relaxing time was had before retiring for the evening.
The next day was more time in the Prius with our first stop of the morning was the Hollywood Bowl where we enjoyed watching the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra during their free rehearsal! It was a grand sound, the mountains all around with birds seeming to flit and fly about in tune. Very much our style in this casual setting, the musicians wearing their casual clothes and the conductor stopping them occasionally to dance around, barking instructions for more emphasis here or there.
Then off to the Hollywood sign, which we drove up to, but then learning there's a two mile hike AFTER parking in the lot and me still feeling crappy, we took a picture of the winding road and said, 'Good 'nuff' and left off to find the La Brea Tar Pits. A couple hours in traffic finally brought us there where the stink of the pit was pretty profound in the afternoon heat, but very cool to see what all the fuss is about. Another wonder of the world that is most intriguing. We decided to skip a trip to the City of Industry and just head off to Anaheim to make sure we made it to the game on time. Angels Stadium was really cool, we got free sun hats at the gate (unfortunately, too late for me to utilize it on our sunny trip since I'd forgotten to pack mine) and I finally got to see the REAL Rally Monkey in action!! Well, on the screen anyway. I thought they'd actually bring him out onto the field for some serious rallying, but no, they just show a video of the monkey dressed in a tiny Angels jersey jumping up and down. Monkey!
And let me just go on record as saying that LAX sucks donkey balls. They had toilet problems there, too, and it stunk the whole place up since the whole airport seems to only be a tiny circle with a 12 foot radius. It's freakin' TINY! I guess I'd had always imagined an airport as famed as LAX to be of epic proportions. This is not the case. So we sat around the stinky, crowded filth of the airport until our flight time of 1:20 AM (so that's 3:20 AM central time) finally, FINALLY came and boarded. We were pleased to see that Minneapolis' own Fancy Ray was a few seats ahead of us. Complete with curlers in his hair and a kimono that he had dangling wide open showing off his bare chest, such chutzpah, I love it! I was tempted to get an autograph, but my utter lack of desire for such things took over and I passed out before we were even in the air. We both napped on and off throughout the flight, and every time I'd wake up, the view outside seemed to be completely different and amazing; winding city streets aglow in an organized labrynth, utter blackness, and misty clouds lit only by the red lights of the wings. At one point there was a lightning show off in the distant clouds that I wish I would've had the energy to snap a photo of, and the sunrise over Minnesota this morning was quite lovely to watch from that altitude.
A nice trip, but even nicer to get home to our wonderous Sleep Number bed after being up for a full 24 hours. The kitties were happy as clams to see us, and we even had a little baby bird fledgling come visit our balcony for several hours this afternoon, taking a rest as her mom would come now and again to try to get her off and flying, which she finally did! How sweet!
Anyway, glad to be back home safe and sound! Love to you all!
Thanks for reading ;)~
R&J
Monday, August 04, 2008
Our Day at Griffith Obsevatory (and other Hollywood sights!)
Another lovely day here in Los Angeles! We’re sitting out on our balcony enjoying a bright sunrise with a chorus of birds yipping their morning routine. There’s been the cutest little hummingbird that flits around the balcony who’s been evading our camera the second we bring it out to try to get a shot of him. It’s so small when it’s flying around it almost looks like a bug of some sort. Cuteness! Other than the constant flutter of helicopters giving tourist rides, it’s quiet and pleasant to chill out with the sun cracking through the hazy horizon.
Yesterday was busy and very hot! We had brekkies down in the lobby, posted our last blog entry, then headed off for the Griffith Observatory. I was utterly unaware that Hollywood has a subway system, though it’s very limited, even less than our LRT it seemed. So we took that to connect with the most adorable little trolley that took us up the steep climb to the observatory. We got there just as the show was about to begin, which was fortunate because the place turned quickly into a tourist nightmare of epic proportions. (Though we would soon discover, not nearly so scary as Hollywood Boulevard in the afternoon!) The show was amazing! I thought it would be certain that I would fall asleep because I haven’t been sleeping well at all due to sinus stuff and a sore throat, but the minute the show began, I was jolted awake with interest. It was very enchanting, even if the narrating was a little over-the-top. We then had lunch at the Wolfgang Puck café where John had some kind of fancy sandwich and pasta salad and I had the Butternut Squash soup, both were Wolfie-delicious!! The view from up there can’t be beat, so we spent a good two hours alternating taking photos outside, and seeing the other exhibits inside. I starting disintegrating rapidly with aches and the lack of sleep, and it soon became almost un-navigatable (is that a word?) with hoards of people, so we took the route back to the hotel where we rested before our next thing.
Hey, the little hummingbird just hovered right by me in the tree, but of course when I got the camera he sped off! Sometimes beauty is for us to witness, not to capture, I guess.
Anyway, we decided to head to the El Capitan Theatre to see WALL-E. It turns out that the $16 ticket that originally made us choke was not only for the movie, but also for an organist while you wait, and then a big theatrical show with a bunch of Disney characters, starting with Jiminey Cricket and ending with Mickey Mouse and a bunch of star-shaped confetti dumped on our heads. We were more confused than anything, I guess we hadn’t read the marquee, but it was funny and the kids in the audience thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie was great, I know there’s been controversy about it, but we enjoyed it quite a bit. If you can get over yourself enough to enjoy it, it’s great animation and a story that seems to be a frequent theme of my dreams for the future of this planet. The theatre was very cool, and after the show we wandered around to look at all the photos of premiere’s they’ve hosted, as it turns out, they show exclusively Disney movies. It reminded me of the Heights back home.
Our walk home along Hollywood Boulevard was entertained with people watching. You’d never know it was a Sunday night jammed with people at 11:00 PM, a lot like New York, except much dirtier. The sidewalks are disgracefully filthy here, I mean, beyond disgusting. You really have to watch where your feet are landing because there is literally dogshit EVERYWHERE. The grubby roads led us back home to our lovely Magic Hotel where we had a couple of burritos that we’d picked up at a funky little grocery on the way, then off to bed!
Dang, my posts seem to be getting longer and longer!
Love to all ;)~
R&J
Yesterday was busy and very hot! We had brekkies down in the lobby, posted our last blog entry, then headed off for the Griffith Observatory. I was utterly unaware that Hollywood has a subway system, though it’s very limited, even less than our LRT it seemed. So we took that to connect with the most adorable little trolley that took us up the steep climb to the observatory. We got there just as the show was about to begin, which was fortunate because the place turned quickly into a tourist nightmare of epic proportions. (Though we would soon discover, not nearly so scary as Hollywood Boulevard in the afternoon!) The show was amazing! I thought it would be certain that I would fall asleep because I haven’t been sleeping well at all due to sinus stuff and a sore throat, but the minute the show began, I was jolted awake with interest. It was very enchanting, even if the narrating was a little over-the-top. We then had lunch at the Wolfgang Puck café where John had some kind of fancy sandwich and pasta salad and I had the Butternut Squash soup, both were Wolfie-delicious!! The view from up there can’t be beat, so we spent a good two hours alternating taking photos outside, and seeing the other exhibits inside. I starting disintegrating rapidly with aches and the lack of sleep, and it soon became almost un-navigatable (is that a word?) with hoards of people, so we took the route back to the hotel where we rested before our next thing.
Hey, the little hummingbird just hovered right by me in the tree, but of course when I got the camera he sped off! Sometimes beauty is for us to witness, not to capture, I guess.
Anyway, we decided to head to the El Capitan Theatre to see WALL-E. It turns out that the $16 ticket that originally made us choke was not only for the movie, but also for an organist while you wait, and then a big theatrical show with a bunch of Disney characters, starting with Jiminey Cricket and ending with Mickey Mouse and a bunch of star-shaped confetti dumped on our heads. We were more confused than anything, I guess we hadn’t read the marquee, but it was funny and the kids in the audience thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie was great, I know there’s been controversy about it, but we enjoyed it quite a bit. If you can get over yourself enough to enjoy it, it’s great animation and a story that seems to be a frequent theme of my dreams for the future of this planet. The theatre was very cool, and after the show we wandered around to look at all the photos of premiere’s they’ve hosted, as it turns out, they show exclusively Disney movies. It reminded me of the Heights back home.
Our walk home along Hollywood Boulevard was entertained with people watching. You’d never know it was a Sunday night jammed with people at 11:00 PM, a lot like New York, except much dirtier. The sidewalks are disgracefully filthy here, I mean, beyond disgusting. You really have to watch where your feet are landing because there is literally dogshit EVERYWHERE. The grubby roads led us back home to our lovely Magic Hotel where we had a couple of burritos that we’d picked up at a funky little grocery on the way, then off to bed!
Dang, my posts seem to be getting longer and longer!
Love to all ;)~
R&J
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Hollyweird
Greetings from the Hollywood Hills Hotel! This hotel is the BOMB! It’s super-unique and rather posh inside despite the rugged looking exterior. These are converted apartments, so they’ve got a full kitchen, huge balcony with the giant bed looking right out into the trees, beautiful furniture and a kick-ass bathroom with some sweet citrusy smelling toiletries. It was quite the interesting drive up here, and you who’ve been reading for any length on this blog know my loathing for driving/riding up steep hills. This one wasn’t actually too bad, but since we rented a Prius, it just feels weird because when you idle the engine, the Prius actually shuts off which is a bit of an adjustment. It’s also part of this whole elite crowd with the adjacent Magic Castle Club, and the folks that still own some of these apartments don’t like the idea of hotel guests. Either way, it freakin’ rocks and we’re glad we booked this instead of a Comfort Inn. Just a little more memorable ;) YAY!
Well, we decided against the Aquarium of the Pacific. Sounds crazy, I know, but man, it’s like $21 per person, there were throngs of people, mostly kids, already lined up waiting to get in, and we just didn’t feel like 2 hours was enough to do the tour justice and also not really a good value for $42. We opted, instead, for a leisurely walk around the pier and lighthouse to take some close-up photos of all the birds and flowers. It was quiet at that hour, and we got TONS of photos, as you will see. I took loads of pics of that cat colony, sweet babies; there were lovely flowers everywhere that we don’t see growing in Minneapolis; birds galore and even that seal was perched up taking a rest, so I went a little apeshit with the digital!
The walk was more our bag, and totally relaxed us for our long journey back to LAX to fetch our Prius. The Super Shuttle was awesome, and there were some folks from the conference that John attended that were heading home, including one guy that had some cool tips for us about San Diego, if we decide to head down for a daytrip to the zoo. The Prius is so AWESOME!!! It’s weird, though, and you’d think being an electric car they would perhaps include the manual in the glovebox in case you run into problems or questions, but no, there’s only your guess and that’s not much of a comfort. We then made our way along Sunset Boulevard, which is a lot like Lake Street, to our current locale where I took a nap and John went out to explore this odd property before we packed up and left for the game.
$2 per ticket, $15 for parking, and $30 for food. That just aint right. But, Dodgers Stadium is pretty cool. It reminded me of a mix between Jacob’s Field and Royals Stadium, but with mountains and palms as your only view, stretching out as far as the smog will let you see. We photographed an amazing sunset from way up in the tippy-top seats, and the stadium photographer even took a photo of us that can be found on the web, apparently. It was cool to see Manny Ramirez play, he was just traded to the Dodgers, and what an amazing welcome for him! People go CRAZY when he comes up. We also saw Kenny Laundreaux and Fernando Valenzuela as part of some ceremony they were having! Laundreaux was a Twin for a long time and as John says, “We traded him to the Dodgers so they could go win the World Series”, and Fernando is the guy that Susan Sarandon says, “breathes through his eyelids” in Bull Durham. Just a little useless trivia for ya.
Our journey back from the game was quite the adventure. We got totally lost leaving the stadium since they were shuffling all the traffic out to the freeway, but we didn’t want the freeway so we were on the wrong side of everything. We saw a seriously nasty car crash, too, so that was icky. Once we finally got to where we needed to be, we set out looking for the In N’ Out Burger we’d seen on the way to the game so we could grab some burgers. Saturday night on Sunset is quite the experience, and it took us forever to get to Sunset & La Brea where there was a mob of people you’d never believe…that’s right, waiting for fast food. The drive-thru line was so long they had a lady out there taking people’s orders, and inside was like feeding time at a zoo for humans. A Saturday night, people all dressed in spike heels and LOW cut shirts, to get some In N’ Out…burgers, that is. It’s a popular place, and ded good, though I’m not sure it’s worth all that hassle.
We’ve no internet access up here, so we’ll be posting this when we head down to main lobby for breakfast. We also plan on doing a podcast later tonight, if you’re so inclined to listen to more blathering. Ok, our peeps, hope you’re having a good weekend in the Minne, and we’ll report more later ;)~~
Love and hugs to all!
R&J
PS: I miss our babies. Meow Meow.
Well, we decided against the Aquarium of the Pacific. Sounds crazy, I know, but man, it’s like $21 per person, there were throngs of people, mostly kids, already lined up waiting to get in, and we just didn’t feel like 2 hours was enough to do the tour justice and also not really a good value for $42. We opted, instead, for a leisurely walk around the pier and lighthouse to take some close-up photos of all the birds and flowers. It was quiet at that hour, and we got TONS of photos, as you will see. I took loads of pics of that cat colony, sweet babies; there were lovely flowers everywhere that we don’t see growing in Minneapolis; birds galore and even that seal was perched up taking a rest, so I went a little apeshit with the digital!
The walk was more our bag, and totally relaxed us for our long journey back to LAX to fetch our Prius. The Super Shuttle was awesome, and there were some folks from the conference that John attended that were heading home, including one guy that had some cool tips for us about San Diego, if we decide to head down for a daytrip to the zoo. The Prius is so AWESOME!!! It’s weird, though, and you’d think being an electric car they would perhaps include the manual in the glovebox in case you run into problems or questions, but no, there’s only your guess and that’s not much of a comfort. We then made our way along Sunset Boulevard, which is a lot like Lake Street, to our current locale where I took a nap and John went out to explore this odd property before we packed up and left for the game.
$2 per ticket, $15 for parking, and $30 for food. That just aint right. But, Dodgers Stadium is pretty cool. It reminded me of a mix between Jacob’s Field and Royals Stadium, but with mountains and palms as your only view, stretching out as far as the smog will let you see. We photographed an amazing sunset from way up in the tippy-top seats, and the stadium photographer even took a photo of us that can be found on the web, apparently. It was cool to see Manny Ramirez play, he was just traded to the Dodgers, and what an amazing welcome for him! People go CRAZY when he comes up. We also saw Kenny Laundreaux and Fernando Valenzuela as part of some ceremony they were having! Laundreaux was a Twin for a long time and as John says, “We traded him to the Dodgers so they could go win the World Series”, and Fernando is the guy that Susan Sarandon says, “breathes through his eyelids” in Bull Durham. Just a little useless trivia for ya.
Our journey back from the game was quite the adventure. We got totally lost leaving the stadium since they were shuffling all the traffic out to the freeway, but we didn’t want the freeway so we were on the wrong side of everything. We saw a seriously nasty car crash, too, so that was icky. Once we finally got to where we needed to be, we set out looking for the In N’ Out Burger we’d seen on the way to the game so we could grab some burgers. Saturday night on Sunset is quite the experience, and it took us forever to get to Sunset & La Brea where there was a mob of people you’d never believe…that’s right, waiting for fast food. The drive-thru line was so long they had a lady out there taking people’s orders, and inside was like feeding time at a zoo for humans. A Saturday night, people all dressed in spike heels and LOW cut shirts, to get some In N’ Out…burgers, that is. It’s a popular place, and ded good, though I’m not sure it’s worth all that hassle.
We’ve no internet access up here, so we’ll be posting this when we head down to main lobby for breakfast. We also plan on doing a podcast later tonight, if you’re so inclined to listen to more blathering. Ok, our peeps, hope you’re having a good weekend in the Minne, and we’ll report more later ;)~~
Love and hugs to all!
R&J
PS: I miss our babies. Meow Meow.
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 ;)~
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