Vacay - Day 3, August 25th, 2014

Waking up hungry and early seemed to be the rule here in California.  This time, however, we had a good plan set into place for breakfast.  On our way to Diana’s the day before, we passed a place called Norm’s that boasted steak and eggs for a really good deal.  We looked up the address in Costa Mesa and went there first thing.  While steak and eggs sounded good, we still had our usual; coffee, two eggs over easy, hashbrowns, bacon and whole wheat toast.  It was still all under $20 and much larger portions.   

After breakfast, we returned to the hotel to pack up, shower, and prepare for the next part of our vacation.  We were heading north to spend some time in the Los Angeles, Venice Beach and Hollywood area before arriving in Simi Valley where my boyfriend’s friend lived and where we will be staying the next couple of nights.  First on our list of things to do was visit the big donut. 

It was actually Randy’s Donuts’ big donut.  As we were still in the plane approaching LAX, my boyfriend – who had the window seat – noticed the giant donut as we flew over it.  We are both huge Marvel fans, so getting a selfie in front of the giant donut Tony Stark was sitting in during a scene in Iron Man 2 was on our list.  It was a lot of fun.  Too bad we were so full from Norm’s that we didn't same Randy’s Donuts.  It said on the side of the building that they were the best donuts in America.  Funny thing is, the scene from Iron Man indicated there was an area to dine inside, but it was actually just a walk up restaurant.  Might as well been a food truck.  In fact, there were a lot of walk-up food places and food trucks in L.A.  Probably because there was limitations on available parking. 

Next on the list was Venice Beach.  I was forewarned that there were a lot of characters there, and they were right.  As soon as we got a couple of shops in along the sidewalk, there was a medical marijuana “hospital”.  A man in bright green scrubs with pot leaves all over it was standing outside.  It advertised $40 for the evaluation (and later along the shops it would be $30).  We must have passed three or four of those. 

We stopped at a shop to get a shirt as a   It was a very hot day, despite being close to the ocean and feeling the breezes coming off the water.  We were both sunburned at the end of the day.  

I came across Zoltar. Any “Big” fans out there?  As I was having my photo taken in front of it, a couple stopped by to comment.  The man had large, almost crazed eyes, as he insisted he wasn't on drugs and Zoltar would talk to him as he walked by.  I smiled politely and nodded.  We tried taking the photo again and the woman with him – who had a particular style what pronounced her stomach butt – insisted I needed to smile several times.  I really wasn't keen on getting advice from a woman wearing a tube top and short shorts that were at least two sizes too small for her, hence the stomach butt crack that was showing.  Plumber’s crack in the front can be as nauseating as from the rear.  We eventually removed our shoes and socks and walked along the long expanse of sand toward the ocean to walk along the shoreline.  A few waves came up on us suddenly, soaking our shorts.  We went along for some time to a little finger of land jutting out and I found some shells that were interesting and kept them.

We also came across what at first appeared to be another shell, but I noticed it was a by-the-wind sailor.  It was a jellyfish I was reading about before I came on this journey.  Apparently, the little sea creatures were being washed up on the western shorelines due to a shift in the wind whereas normally they would float along driven by the wind and living a very long, prosperous life.  My boyfriend nearly stepped on it until I warned him it was a jellyfish.  He asked if it would sting and since I knew it fed just like any other jellyfish from the article, I insisted it would.  We went through the hot sand toward the skate park where we sat, cooled our feet and put our shoes and socks back on.

We sat in the shade of the park for a while to watch the skateboarders and people mingling about.  I noticed a peculiar thing – people wear the oddest things here.  There was a teenage girl wearing a long sleeve denim jacket with short shorts on, and flip-flops, but wearing one sock.  Then you would have several women wearing barely-there bikinis, followed by girls wearing bikini bottoms, but hoodies over the tops.  Men would be in short denim shorts with long, curly hair and no tops, but bronzed and squeezed enough that they looked like topless women from behind.  Then, there was Muscle Beach.  There were a range of men and boys from young to quite old; fat to trim to scrawny.  The sounds of weights being dropped and grunts almost beat out the din from the waves of people suddenly crowding the walkway.  I didn't recall it being that busy when we first arrived.  I was getting hungry and crabby about how people around here simply continued walking straight at you instead of moving aside.  It was pretty unnerving to not have anyone show you the courtesy of nodding and moving aside as you performed the same courtesy so you don’t run straight into each other.  I was getting pretty tired of dodging mindless, sightless drones. 
souvenir and again to get a cold drink for me.

Pinwheel sculpture in the open mall before the Farmer's Market

The Farmer’s Market was something that was supposedly a place to see and eat, so we put in the address to the GPS and were on our way.  We ended up parking about a block out of the way, went through another outdoor mall into the Farmer’s Market.  There were a lot of unique foods there, but we went with Chinese.  It was $21, but good sized portions.  We wandered around afterwards and found some delicious chocolate turtles to get and snacked on those as we finished wandering and headed back to the car.  It wasn't what we were expecting at all.  Overcrowded, open air Farmer’s Market with permanent stalls.  The most interesting thing I saw was the organic produce section – also where we got the chocolate truffles – that had so much more in variety than we see in Michigan.

Since it was almost 2pm, we still had a great deal of time to spare before we wanted to head up to Simi Valley.  His friend didn't get home until after 6:15 and we didn't want to just walk in after a long day of work.  So, we went with another of my friend, Diana’s, suggestions – Santa Monica Pier. 

Stairs at the end of the pier

We parked right on the pier itself.  There was an amusement park next to the parking area – and quite frankly, I was amazed there were spots to park in.  There were a lot of people on the pier.  As soon as we got out of the parking area into the main thoroughfare, there was a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant – first one I ever saw up close.  I drove past a few, but never stood in front of one.  There was also a kiosk indicating this was the end of Route 66.  My boyfriend’s dad drove Route 66 on his motorcycle so he got a photo of that and sent it to his dad's Facebook.  Along the thoroughfare there were pier performers.  One guy was calling people in to make a semicircle around him.  We joined in.  I feared this would be one of those deals where he would bring in people from the audience to be part of his act.  After watching him break dance for a while, that was exactly what happened.  As we were leaving – I certainly didn't want to become part of the show – my boyfriend was grabbed by the performer from behind.  Don’t worry, he escaped – but barely.  At the end of the pier was a restaurant. 

View at the end of the pier

People were fishing at the end of the pier.  There was several tiers of stairs to walk up and down from the top half of the restaurant to below deck.  We could see the barnacles encrusted along the pylons beneath the pier.  There was also a section telling the entire history of the pier.  I was amazed to discover I was walking on history – 105 years old!

After an hour we were ready to see something else, so Rodeo Drive was next.  There was metered parking at a park – with real grass - uphill from the main section of Rodeo Drive.  We were stuck behind a woman in a Lamborghini, showing it off for all the men on the sidewalk.  The muscle car had a throaty purr that was near deafening.  The walk down was interesting.  After taking a selfie by the sign, I noticed the shops would have people standing in the doorways, but as we got closer, those people disappeared.  It was as though they judged us as unworthy of being greeted nor even seeing them as we walked by. 

We found a side street that took us into a quiet area with a pyramid like glass roof of a little atrium of some sort on a lower level.  There were shops in there too and a lot of women covered up from head to toe like a Bedouin going into those shops.  One was a beauty salon.  The went around that corridor, walked down a bit further and crossed the street to head up another side street with cobbled stones. 

Sitting area of atrium

A lot of people were in the beginning of this street taking photos of themselves with the street going up in the background.  I haven’t the foggiest if this was significant, but apparently a lot of other people did.  I’m not as Rodeo Drive savvy as they were.  It was a nice little place.  Tiffany’s was up there; complete with an outdoor café setup around it with a small wrought iron fence.  Next to Tiffany’s there was an art gallery.  We went inside and were treated to seeing the work of Salvador Dali, complete with early sketches.  There was even original bronze statues by Dali on display.  My boyfriend, the art major, was excited with the find.  While we were in there, a man greeted us and explained the exhibits and generously to let us know of other art exhibits in the area to look into.  One of them was the Getty Center.  When we had seen all the displays – and maybe some that wasn't part of the exhibit on accident – we left and continued on our way.  The road curved around and descended into steps with a fountain at the bottom.  Again, people were taking photos of themselves by the fountain.  Must have been a famous one I wasn't knowledgeable about.  As we continued on, we passed a salon where they were giving out samples of a product line called Adore.  One of the ladies asked if I wanted to come in for a free sample for the eyes.  I suspected it was a pitch – I was right – but getting Rodeo Drive treatment wasn't to be passed up.  Apparently, there is a deal once a year where they pull people in from the street and let them try out their eye treatments that they give to the stars during the Emmy’s.  The deal is that the products that normally sell for $600 are going for $199.  While I loved the instant results - and that she evened up my eyes so I didn't look like a stroke patient - there was no way I was going to spend $200 there.  I said no a couple of times before I was allowed to leave and we returned to the car.

By that time it was a good idea to start toward Simi Valley.  It was already rush hour which adds on time to an hour long drive.  We figured we could get something to eat when we got to Simi Valley and his friend would give us a nice place to go.  We got in as she was having her dinner.  We dragged our things to the room she provided us.  The bathroom was shown to us and she gave us an idea of her schedule for the next couple of days then told us Don Cuco’s would be a good place to have a nice dinner.  We dressed up a bit for this occasion.  The restaurant was dimly lit with loud Hispanic music.  A lot of families were there including one table with at least two newborns with them.  We both got dishes that comprised of three different meats and a variety of veggies, rice, and refried beans.  We were stuffed before we got halfway through our plates.  Probably didn't help we ate quite a few freshly made chips with salsa while we waited.  I also had a couple glasses of wine and he had several beers.  We still had a bottle of wine waiting for us when we got back.  We opened that and shared it with his friend when we returned.  She was watching the Emmy’s and we chatted while we all finished off that bottle of wine. 

Another day came to an end with us falling asleep, exhausted from our fun-filled, long days.  Visit here next week for Day 4 and….

Happy Reading!

I dedicate this post to Walter Burl Owsiany, Jr. who rode the great and scenic Route 66 and was present in his younger son's thoughts when we visited Santa Monica Pier - the final stop of Route 66.  Walt was a storyteller all his own and he made an impression on me in the brief time I had known him that encourages me to keep living life and telling my story.  Walt passed away on 09-07-14.  His memorial will be on 09-14-14 from 1-4 EST.  I invite my readers to spend this time honoring him.  If you have a motorcycle, go out and rev its motor at 2:30pm EST for a "rumble salute".  Or fondly recall those you know who love the open road in a moment of silence. 
Walt, you will be missed.

Peritus sed numquam obliteratus

Vacay - Day 2, August 24th, 2014

Day 2 started earlier than anticipated and cloudy.  Since we didn’t get to sleep until almost 11pm Pacific Standard time, you would think we would wake up around 8-9am.  Nope, 7am.  And, we were starving.  So we got around and did a search of breakfast places.  IHOP was well-known to us, so we opted to go that route.  It was way more expensive with smaller portions than we anticipated.  IHOP soon hit our “Do not try again” list - at least in California.  We actually liked IHOP where we live - it was one of the places we went on our first date.

Afterwards, we had some time to waste while we waited for the time to meet up with my friend, Diana Murdock.  We were planning on meeting her and going out for lunch around 1pm.  There was a strip mall called Irvine Spectrum nearby, so we decided to walk around there.  Most of the shops were pretty cookie cutter – Nordstrums, Hot Topic, etc. – but there were some unique places we haven’t been to before, like Dave & Busters.  Oh, we have one around us –not very close, though - so neither one of us had ever been to one.  It didn’t open until 11am, so we had to waste time before we could waste time there.  We walked around and became quite thirsty.  It was a dry heat around 88 degrees Fahrenheit; the sun was bright and baking us from overhead in the open pathways of the mall.  We looked in at a few places and discovered none of them had air conditioning – what an odd thing to discover in the valley desert of California.  We finally decided to stop at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf place to get a caramel ice blended drink and frozen tea with fruit.  It helped me cool off, at least.  As we were enjoying our drinks, the place started to get crowded.  It was after eleven at this time, so we hunted down Dave & Buster’s again.

It was open and already filling with kids.  We purchased a card and put on some tokens and played a few games.  There was a neat flight simulator game we both enjoyed, but the tokens ran out, the kids crowded in and we took our leave.  It was past to noon at that point and we decided to put in her address into the GPS to get going. 

Driving along Huntington Beach, looking toward the Pier with Ruby's

We caught her off guard by arriving sooner than she anticipated, but the gate was open and there she stood in all her pastel pink glory, waving her arms and having the biggest grin on her face as she directed us in and closed the gate behind us.  We had a brief tour of the house after she finished with her bean sprouts.  I had thought her brother was there, but later discovered there was a strangely placed mirror that showed me a funny angle of my boyfriend so it looked like he was in the other room instead of behind me.  Having never met her brother before, I had no idea what he would look like.  I only could tell it appeared there was someone else in the house with us that disappeared on me after we passed the mirror.  I was thinking I had a ghostly encounter until we returned and discovered the mirror placement and my misinterpretation.

We loaded into the red Jeep she was borrowing from her brother after releasing it from its tarp and getting all its quirky mechanics figured out.  It was a great ride with the wind in your hair, chatting away serenely with a woman I never met in life before, but had felt a very strong bond with from the start.  She drove us to Huntington Beach, describing along the way routes her son would take on his bike and his first impressions of the city life after have lived in rural Idaho.  Parking became a slight disadvantage when we arrived – it was lunch time and the beach, which didn’t make for a good combination when you were interested in eating lunch on the beach.  We had a little bit of a hike, but nothing major.  Then there was a wait at Ruby’s.  The time flew by as Diana and I chatted on and on.  We had a ton to catch up on.  My boyfriend enjoyed the view of the water at the end of the pier while we waited for our table to be called and managed to see a pair of dolphins in the water.  Diana and I were so immersed in our conversation he had no chance to interrupt and let us know what we were missing.  At this point in the conversation we were discussing our writing.  I’m working on a short story for a mermaid anthology that she introduced me to, she recently finished writing a fairy tale for another anthology and I told her what I was hoping to do with this blog.

Our table was called and we ordered.  I got the shrimp tacos, she the veggie tacos, and my boyfriend got the breaded shrimp and fries.  I think I drank three glasses of water.  You work up a thirst with all that talking. 

Afterwards, we went across the street where there were street sales going on at the shops.  I found a couple of necklaces for my girls ($6.99/each) and a couple of sunglasses (2 for $16). I had lost my white pair in the Kalamazoo River while kayaking with my boyfriend, so I was pleased to find another pair I liked.  There will be some photos in the next post with me wearing them.  Diana found a backpack for her son.  Only my boyfriend didn’t find what he was looking for in sunglasses.  Most of those kiosk style vendors had all the same variety of sunglasses we had already seen at Irvine Spectrum.  There may have been a few pairs that were different, but they just weren’t what he was looking.  (Since we got home, his favorite pair broke.  Wish we had put extra effort into finding what he liked.)

We returned to Diana’s place and talked about metaphysical things.  Strange happenings, the mirror phenomena, experiences with spiritual people in the area, our path and if we’re still working on our spiritual paths.  She lives in a busy place and keeps busy, and I have been busy with new things in my life; therefore, neither of us were happy with our current state of progress.  It’s a push, sometimes, to focus on oneself.  To be immersed, even for 17 seconds, in one thought can seem to be the most impossible thing in a world that expects you to be able to do at least five different things at once in that time frame.  I think getting back into writing will give me more focus in that area.  Just what I am doing now helps me to slow down and take a look at myself and my life.  Getting my thoughts together and stringing them into coherent sentences to write this blog post has given me more focus.  Then the added focus for the writing and reading assignments for my class at Western Michigan University has pushed me further along my course.  I don’t know how you can’t find a bit of cathartic release in writing down mundane thoughts and finding golden nuggets of self-discovery within them.  But, I’ll save that for another blog post.

Diana’s son needed to be picked up, so we called it and packed ourselves back into the car to head back toward our hotel room.  I’m sad to say, we forgot to get a photo of each other together.  It wasn’t that we were pressed for time or over-involved with anything in particular, but we were using the time to acquaint ourselves again with each other and filling in each other on the details of our life that we completely spaced the common practice.

Back at the hotel, we went for a refreshing swim in the pool to cool off again and decide on our next adventure for the remainder of the day.  We decided seeing a sunset on the beach would be the best thing to wrap up this day and my boyfriend did some research online to discover some places around Laguna Beach that were highly recommended.  We put in an art museum address into the GPS in order to find the beach setting that was getting such great reviews and headed out. 

 We arrived with an hour to spare before the big event, so we took the time to walk along the pathways provided, skirting other tourists, enjoying the landscaping and artistic flares everywhere.  Laguna Beach, like most of that part of California, was full of art museums, enclaves, exhibits and learning opportunities.  The winding cement path took us down toward the beach where you can see how the water cut into the rocks lining the beach.  I hunted around for “treasures” – starfish and sea anemones or urchins that would wash into the tide pools – but didn't find any.  The likelihood of finding them in an evening tide would be rare and a far greater treasure, but it would be more likely to find as the morning tide went out and left these sea creatures behind.  Several photo shoots were occurring around us.  A bride and groom and their bridal party were getting themselves shot with the crashing waves coming up behind them.  A pregnant woman and her husband were getting their photos done not far from the bridal party.  Several amateur photo shoots were happening between daughters and mothers, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, etc.  I wasn't to be without my photos and caught a few with my boyfriend as well.

The beach was shrinking away to a small strip of wet sand, so we returned up the winding and steep pathway to follow it along the cliffs of Laguna Beach where we found a nice overhang with a bench provided.  Only a cement balustrade and iron railing kept you safe from the long fall below.  The bench was hard stone, large enough to fit many people wishing to enjoy the view and curved to mimic the curvature of the overhang.  There were many people crowding the area as we all watched the sun begin its descent into the flowing waters of the Pacific.  Palm trees provided a silhouette against the sky along the shoreline in the distance and clouds continually kept us alert to whether we will see the final plunge or not.  Cooling breezes came off the ocean along with briny scents and the melodic sounds of the waters below; moving with synchronicity with the moon’s pull. 

 People were getting photo opportunities with the descending sun behind them.  Several people were walking their dogs along the path.  Some stopped to greet a couple with their lazy dog rolling around on the walkway.  It was great fun to watch a poodle try to engage the lazy pooch in some play.  It managed to get to its feet and watch the poodle carry on with some bemused chuffs and rumbles.

 Then the sun descended and all the people started speaking in hushed tones and the focus became more on the event than anything else around them.  Only the children seemed to not notice the grandness of the sun slipping into the cooling waters of the Pacific Ocean in a brilliant display of gold.  The rippling water reflected the gold, and the rocks glowed as if they were made of the precious metal, too.  Twilight descended upon us and the remnants of the sunset still glowed in the clouds as we worked our way out of the crowd, back toward the car.  It was time to find dinner.

 As richly as we have been eating lately, we wanted a light dinner and opted on Olive Garden for some salad and breadsticks.  The drive progressed into darkness rapidly and we found ourselves driving through several art openings and passing art centers as we climbed into the nearby mountains.  We were descending from the mountains again as we arrived to our destination.  It was crowded in the vestibule, but the bar was open and we decided to eat there.  We had a couple of cocktails and some wine and appetizers before the salad came.  Breaded mozzarella, fried zucchini, and calamari were a rich beginning to our dinner of flavorful salad.

 Afterwards we returned to the hotel room and fell asleep almost instantly.

 Happy reading!

Vacay - Day 1, August 23rd, 2014

Hurray for the Vacay!

So, Day 1 was mostly uneventful.  We got up around 4:30 am EST, showered and finished packing and hit the road.  We had a 2.5 hour drive - including bathroom stops - to Chicago to get to the airport for our flight.  We stopped at Speedway and picked up a couple of breakfast sandwiches and a couple of caffeinated drinks for the beginning of our trip.  The drive was foggy, but humid.  The dew point was at 75 degrees with 100% humidity.  The fog seemed to burn off after awhile, but returned the closer we got to Chicago.  In fact, as we got into Chicago, the Sears Tower looked like it was floating inside a cloud -  the fog was that thick.  The funny part was getting a text message from my friend, Diana Murdock, at 6 AM (that's 3 AM her time) asking if we arrived yet.  LOL!   

Getting tickets and passing through security went more quickly than getting a shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal.  Seriously, they went by us as we got out of the car and started unloading it, but since we weren't ready, they didn't stop.  We walked to the nearest shuttle stop, but none of the shuttles were driving by it.  So we hiked it over toward the train that was shut down due to construction and finally had a shuttle stop for us.  

We went inside terminal 3 and handed over our driver's licenses and checked one bag, which went through its own security check before we did.  We had one carry on and my purse to take on the flight.  Then it was time for our security check.  We were smart and had flip-flops on to make it easier to get off for this part of our journey.  It was my first time going through the new full-body scanners.  I haven't been on a flight since 2003, so a lot had changed for me.  

Everything went smoothly and we were on the terminal.  There were no seats available at our terminal, but we were early enough to check out a shop down from the terminal and get second breakfast at the McDonald's across from our terminal.  By the time we got back and our food was ready, they were boarding the flight and we had a couple of seats available for us to sit down and could enjoy our breakfast sandwiches and drinks before our section was called.  Unfortunately, they received word that there was construction at LAX that is delaying our flight for another hour, so they unboarded the plane.  

We people-watched during that time.  There were a number of interesting characters available to watch and laugh about at O'Hare Airport.  Funky hairstyles and clothing choices was my favorite part, but we also had a number of sailors - both men and woman - walking up and down the terminal hall.  I didn't take any photos because I really wanted to have my phone for photos later in my vacation.  

They started calling sections again and we decided to take turns going to the bathroom to keep our seats.  While I was waiting for my turn, they called the first class section.  I decided to take a chance and look over to see who that might be.  There were a lot of uninteresting people in line, but third back was a tall blonde woman dressed all in black with a small backpack on.  She looked so familiar as she waited for the three people ahead of her in line.  She turned slightly and I could barely make out her profile, but the sense of familiarity increased.  When my boyfriend came back from the bathroom, I asked him to look over the woman carefully and tell me if she doesn't look like Jane Lynch.  He said she had a strong resemblance and we should take a closer look as we get on the plane.  We IMDB'ed her to get a fresh idea of what Jane Lynch looked like as we waited to be called up.  I was hopeful.  This trip was about visiting a place where I could see celebrities first hand and this may be my first of many encounters.

Finally, our section was called and we were in line to board.  Slowly we inched onto the plane as people held us up by putting their carry-on's in the overheads and moved around the seating arrangements - getting in and out as people arrived for their inside seats and such.  The plane wasn't nearly as full as one would expect.  There were several empty seats, in fact.

And First Class finally was in sight.  As we inched through, I looked through the seats that were already occupied with individuals wrapped in red blankets with ear buds in and sleeping or on the verge of falling asleep.  It made me wonder if these people were allowed to stay on board to be so far gone already. All the seats in First Class were taken - upon first sight.  The last row of seats on the left were occupied by a couple of technicians that were in the process of fixing the seats, especially the one by the window.  Jane was in the first row of coach on the right and avoiding eye contact.  Her arms were crossed - her face looked cross too.  I don't blame her for being upset having to wait even more for her comfy seat.  First we waited because of an unexpected delay, and now her seat was broken.  As much as I wanted to tell her I love her game show, she obviously wasn't wanting any attention, so I opted out of delivering her words of praise.  If I were in her position, I wouldn't want to hear anything from a fan, either.  It was definitely Jane Lynch, though.  There was no doubt about it.  My boyfriend agreed, it was definitely her and we gave her the peace we would have liked if in her situation.  Jane, if you ever come across this blog, please know, we had nothing but compassion for your situation and we love the Hollywood Game Show.   Keep bringing on those celebrities to get drunk and make them do goofy things - it's crazy hilarious!

While our flight started at 10:30 instead of 9:25 and we were expected to arrive in LAX at 12:30 pm instead of 11:25 am, we still had many hours of flight ahead of us.  Fortunately, the flight experience was wonderful.  Virgin America had little screens on the back of every chair, plenty of room for my boyfriend's long legs, the ability to make orders on the same screen as you watch free satellite TV or play free video games.  I fell asleep watching a YouTube of the King of Random.  It was pretty cool with a lot of random facts.  We had white wine with cheese, crackers, and fruit as a snack on the plane, plus some on-the-house drinks.  We did have to get up and use the facilities and stretch our legs during the flight, but with so many open seats, it was easy to do that as well.

Then, we arrived.  And it was time to use the restroom again.  Unfortunately, there was a ginormous line in the ladies, and not a one of them a celebrity to gawk at.  Oh well, do your business and get out.  Then, we went to get luggage.  Ours was the fourth one on the carousel, so that was pretty sweet.  Then we had to wait for a shuttle to take us to the Alamo rental place.  A little more time than we would have liked being as hungry as we were, but it was pretty quick to go on the kiosk, fill in all the needed stuff and pick out our car.  We went with a bluish silvery Hyundai Sonata.  It was big compared to my boyfriend's Toyota Scion.  We loaded up, got our GPS hooked up - bringing that was smart as it would have cost us $5/day to use Alamo's GPS - and found the nearest Subway for lunch.  Wow, was that more than I bargained for.  For the same thing back home, it cost under $10, but in L.A. it was almost $16.

So here is the kicker, my boyfriend was telling me he found a site where it tells you how much a $100 is really worth per state.  For instance, in Michigan, $100 is more like $105.  In California, $100 is more like $88.  Ouch, my wallet is hurting just talking about it.  I probably should have done more research on that before going.  But, I was there, will have to be more savvy in my search for places to eat.  A little 16 ounce bottle of water was going for $3 in Cali where I was used to buying a liter of water for $1. Needless to say, I was pretty thirsty most of the time.

So, we have lunch and a car, and we put in the address for our hotel in Irvine.  Boyfriend was so great at finding bargains online.  At Hotels.com, this place was going for $96 a night and was close to Costa Mesa.  It boasted the "I" experience on the website and it was probably the most comfortable and quiet room I ever stayed in.

We arrived about 45 minutes after we left Subway.  Traffic wasn't as bad as it could have been and what we ended up experiencing later, but it was way more congested than we were used to.  I think traveling south was what made the traffic lighter.  In fact, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach traffic was way better than Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills traffic.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in, discovered the additional cost of $18 a day for parking and took photos from our window.  All the photos on this post is from our hotel room the first day.  We were on the seventh floor and had a fantastic view of the mountains.  After unpacking, we headed for a dip in the hot tub and pool.  We had the place to ourselves after another couple left. shortly after our arrival.

Then we were famished.  We went back to the hotel room, rinsed off, changed and researched places to eat.  I was in the mood for fresh caught fish.  The first place we found was called the California Fish Grill and ended up being a chain restaurant.  It was California's version of Panera Bread, but with fish.  So our next place was in Newport Beach.  It was called Blue Water Grill.  There was at least a fifteen minute wait and we got a nice table out on the deck right on the pier.  It was beautiful to be surrounded by the boats and water as the sun set.  I tried oysters on the half shell for the first time.  It was not terrible, but not my favorite either.  Now I can say I've had them.  I ordered the Jumbo Shrimp Linguine and my boyfriend ordered the tilapia.  The jumbo shrimp was large, perfectly cooked, and seasoned deliciously.  The tilapia was buttery, well-seasoned and melted in your mouth like mashed potatoes.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  We had some cocktails and wine with the meal.  I had my first Mai Tai - it was so yummy, but definitely put me over the pleasant buzz the wine and first cocktail had me at.  I don't remember the name of the first cocktail, but it was more sweet than alcoholic tasting with a light tartness.  It was tasty, but reminded me of Koolaid.

We went for a walk after dinner.  It was dark and cool and there was a Bachelorette Party going on at the restaurant at an adjacent pier.  Then we had a fifteen minute drive back to the hotel and we crashed the blissful crash of the exhausted traveler.  First day is done.  Join me next week for Day Two.

Happy Reading!  

Vacay!

Hurray for the Vacay!

 

I know you probably can't understand the excitement I am feeling right now.  But, imagine you haven't gone on a true vacation for the last sixteen years and the other times you've "been somewhere" it was coupled with a major move or more involved with children than yourself.  I adore my kids - don't get me wrong - but often those trips are close to home and more work than play - as many of you parents are perfectly aware of.

 

So, here I am, on the precipice of this vacation that was nearly twenty years in coming.  The idea occurred to me that I have been in so many of the states, but haven't been to this one and I know a couple of wonderfully talented authors who live there - one of which I will be meeting for the first time!!

 

So, I plan to take notes of every day I'm there and will post a blog each week afterwards to describe the day.  Did that make sense?  Each week, I'll describe one day of my vacation.  I'll get into details of where we went, who we saw, what we saw, and how much we paid.  Why not.  Usually when you go on vacation, it's the great money-spender of the year aside from Christmas, but I'm determined to have fun without digging too deeply into my pockets.  I've been putting the research in, so soon it will be time to see if it "pays off." 

 

Keeping my phone on and out for photos that I will post within the blog posts and ready to have a memorable time!  Warning:  Phone does not take the best of photos, so here's hoping they will be totally worthless.

 

Happy Reading!

May the Fourth

Today is May the Fourth!  May the Fourth be with you.

I don't know how many out there have ever seen one of the Star Wars movies, but I've seen them enough to know practically every line.  I've played drinking games to the original trilogy, played the card games, roleplayed in chat rooms, and had the Star Wars themed Trivial Pursuit game.  I can't imagine life without a Star Wars.  I quote from the movies constantly.  I love the scene where Leia confesses she loves Han as he is being put into carbonite.  When someone is laughing at my expense, "Laugh it up, fuzzball" is a great line.  I even speak into my hands in a Vader voice: "Luke, I am your father" for my kids.  They love it.  It's so cute when they say, "No you're not, you're my mother!"  And I say, "And you're not Luke!"

It's an American Icon of pop culture.  It's relate-able to our human experience - fighting for the rights of all sentient-kind.  We can root for the underdog, whiny kid from a backwater planet (that ironically has very little water), and see the Big Bads take a fall due to the fuzzy, little Ewoks.

How much as Star Wars effected your life?  Are you traditional, original trilogy followers, or follow all the movies?  Have you read any of the books related to Star Wars?  How do you feel about Disney purchasing the franchise and changing Star Wars Lore?

Oh, yes.  The books we read in the late 1990's no longer will have a hold on the lore of the next set of movies according to an article I had forwarded to me that you can view here.  While the author appears to be well versed in Star Wars Lore, he doesn't seem to have a lot of good to say about it.

Happy Reading!

Silence: Golden or Broken?

Ever hear of the phrase, "Silence is Golden"?  Yeah, I have too.  There is so much meaning in silence.  I often quote a line from Bambi when my children go flying off at the mouth on what they observe.  "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."  They are so familiar with the saying, they often say it with me.  In this case, if you don't have anything positive to say about a person - whether it’s true or not - it's best to just be pleasant by not saying anything.  Is this the golden silence?

According to The Phrase Finder, this is what is meant.  In fact, they go into the history of that saying that can be dated back to Ancient Egypt.  Even that civilization knew to keep some things to themselves to keep the peace.  Once a word is spoken, it can't be taken back.  Even the Apostle Paul berated the women for gossiping and indicated it best they remain silent in the church; he knew what stirring the pot with gossip could do to undermine the workings of the church, even in its infancy.

I often default (well, let’s not say default, how about frequently) to silence in order to collect my thoughts, judge my emotional response to something, judge my responses as appropriate for the time and people hearing them, or simply to just collect the general ambiance of a place and the people in it to mull over later.  Our experience in this life is abundant with scenes that affect us.  Do we ever stop to contemplate what in our environment is driving us?  Maybe some quiet reflection is all that is necessary to help us to develop our own thoughts and responses outside of what we believe is “norm”.  We are so driven by society’s norm, that maybe just a little cerebral workout is necessary to change the “norm”.

But, society often dictates for us what is normal.  Silence can be construed as rude, or hiding something.  It can be considered a manipulative tactic.  And it can push labels off on individuals: snob, dumb, weak.  And those labels are stuck on there with this amazing adhesive called “words”.  Someone said it, someone heard it; therefore it must then be true.  Once a word is spoken, it can’t be taken back.

There are so many forms of silence.  There is the silence of nature.  Ever just sit back and listen to the silence of a sunset?  It’s wonderful beyond words. 

I love the silence that ensues after my children have gone to sleep and all the electronics are off in the house.

I enjoy the silence of prayer and meditation; it seems like I can hear my own thoughts more clearly in those times, but I also feel like I can hear the universe in those moments.  When the two don’t match, time to shut down the mind and slip into the universal quiet to reconnect. 

There is also the unfortunate silence of death.  We will miss those who have slipped into this silence.  But their laughter and voices live on in our memories.  In silence, we can hear them more clearly.

I try to write in silence, but I find that I just can’t.  Music inspires my rhythm and generates sparks of electrical current from brain cell to brain cell until they all connect and I’m into the flow of writing practically nonstop.  One-way flight to 1,000 words, please, and thank you.  And I have to admit, sometimes I can’t get to sleep in silence.  I have the TV on with the timer set so it won’t go all night, or I have my guided meditation CD in my computer going as I listen to Esther Hicks soft, melodious voice as she delivers Abraham’s message of the Laws of Attraction.  That’s a positive-thought process of creating your own destiny.  It has nothing to do with come-hither looks to brawny men.

What do you do in silence?

Happy Reading!

The Evil Social Media

The Evil Social Media

I never was one to watch any reality TV.  In fact, the only thing close to reality TV I watch is Ghosthunters on SyFy because I love watching the science evolve in that area of research and the personal experiences of strange phenomena the crew have during the show.  But that is not the evil this particular blog is all about.

This is about social media.  I get we are in the electronic age and this is now the current trend on how to communicate with our peers, family, friends, co-workers, even acquaintances.  But, I wonder how real it is.
  Do you feel your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Google Plus profiles are true representations of your personality?  What can you gain from them you can’t from other sites?  Do you get news feeds there any different?  How about sporting events? Weather?  Is it the games that are the enticement?  How about all the ads?

Now let’s ask the grittier questions.  What do you know about the personal lives of your “friends” on those social media accounts?  Is it positively uplifting? Is someone divorcing?  Someone having a hard day? What did they have to eat?  Where have they been?  Is there too much a person can know about another’s life without it being intrusive?

I’ll say.

I think Twitter is fairly safe.  On the profile page, you can have a short description – within the same range of characters as a regular post (140 characters).  And “characters” means spaces too.  Which means the amount of detail about yourself is limited.  You can put in your marital status and number of kids If you like, but what does that really tell about you?  Hopefully not too much.  I only have about half as many followers as I am following and keeping up with 774 followings isn’t a piece of cake.  I miss a bunch.  I do, however, enjoy Pinterest shares on Twitter feeds and occasionally sharing a recipe I’m trying.  I stay away from photo postings of personal stuff, but I do put my blog posts there.  Being an aspiring writer, I follow others in the same boat as myself as well as the accomplished writers and publishing companies.  I try to stay abreast of new developments in that area and to give my fellow writers support.  Overall, I rate it as a benign place to “socialize”.  Or maybe it’s my use of it that makes it so.

MySpace I have issues with figuring out how to setup my page and what to follow.  It’s changed so much since I first heard about it.  Even the original code I had in there for my page setup is all messed up.  Is it just me, or has it turned into a place for just music?  As a matter of fact, it’s been so long I’ve been on it, I don’t remember how to sign into it anymore.  So, moving on.

Google Plus….  Does anyone use it other than being forced to by Google on their androids?  I put people in my circles, but I don’t ever see anything from them.  I notice my phone has a tendency to back up my photos into it – which I appreciate, really I do.  If I decide to post them, I can; otherwise they remain hidden from everyone in my circle – which is like two.  Those poor two souls never get to see anything of my photos.  Oh well, such is life. 

Facebook, however, seems to be the place where you can go and completely intrude on another person’s life just by being a silent observer.  You can get a person’s email, phone number, marital status, number of kids, photos of their kids, photos of them (the bathroom selfies, OMG!), where they have been, where they are, what they have been eating (I’m staying clear of your house if you are having tacos again), as well as a regular accounting of their general well-being.  And, quite frankly, I was tired of the constant posts about Paul Walker, gun laws, the constant reminder that its flipping snowing like the devil outside (I can see that out my window, thank you), and Obamacare.  I will miss Candy Crush Saga the most, I think.  So long, Level 215.  It was nice seeing you, but since I deleted my Facebook account, my phone thinks it should steal the few lives I get every hour by randomly crashing because it can’t find the FB account any longer.    That’s just another level of stress I don’t need.  I also removed the stress of thinking someone can find photos of my children and use them for advertising or stalking my kids at school.  I realize now that Facebook had sucked me down a deep, dark hole of constantly needing others approval.  Now I don’t think about what other people are thinking about my profile and what I post.  The notifications have ended and so has that false sense of belonging whenever someone liked something I liked or posted.  That doesn’t define me.  I do.  Without that particular social site, I might even have energy and time to blog, write, read, and seek out only the important things on the Internet that truly inspire.  I can research new things to post blogs about.  I’ve already begun the process of planning it in my head.  And I’ll have the time and resources to do it without the mental distraction of who did what today on Facebook.  Facebook, you rank in the stank.

 I realize Twitter never pulled me into its web as Facebook did.  MySpace and Google Plus were bland and had a confusing structure, so they didn't take much time from my life.  And now I've removed Facebook from my life, it will move on (my life that is; although I can see Facebook will survive my absence, so will I survive its absence).  I can see myself becoming more productive in all things relative to my life already. 

Happy Reading!