I know, I just got back from vacation in Hawaii. But I took a couple more days off work for a weekend trip to Laughlin.
I did everything I could to give all my money to the casino, but they just wouldn't take it. After losing most of the money I brought on Friday and Saturday morning, I hit a few big hands on Saturday night on one of those funky multiplier poker machines, and got it all back plus a couple hundred. Sunday morning, when I was planning on just playing for a few minutes and heading home, I hit a few more big hands, and made a bunch more. Apparently the Tropicana wasn't content with just giving me free food and a free room - they just had to give me a bunch of money too.
Saturday evening was the reason I scheduled the trip - I had a front-row seat at the LeAnn Rimes concert at the Edgewater casino. Great show, lots of fun - mostly her newest songs from her current cover album, but she did some of her older stuff as well.
Good trip - I think I need to win the lottery so I can take a vacation every week.
I just got home from my Hawaiian vacation. I traveled up to Oahu for a week, staying on Waikiki Beach, and getting a little mix of touristy stuff and good old relaxation.
Here are the highlights of the trip:
Food
Of course food was going to be an important part of the trip. I love a good meal, and the diet was officially on hold for the trip. I'll just have to take some time to burn off the extra pounds I regained on the trip.
Lots of good food this week, including:
Excellent prime rib buffet at Kuhio Beach Grill.
Delicious buffet during Friday's tour, with teriyaki chicken, ribs, corn, taro bread, and fruit, with pineapple bars and upside-down cake for dessert.
Very tasty pineapple ice cream at the Dole plantation.
Classic bacon, eggs, and potatoes for breakfast at the Wolfgang Puck Express. I'm not 100% sure that Wolfgang actually did the cooking, but it was still pretty darn good.
The luau on Saturday night was very good - slow-cooked pork, salad, taro rolls, sweet potatoes, pineapple, and a few other side dishes, including poi (which doesn't really taste like anything, so I don't see what the fuss is about).
A very good shredded pork burrito with a Hawaiian twist at Maui Tacos.
Spam and Portuguese sausage at McDonalds - it was just the novelty factor to have weird stuff at Mickey D's, but unfortunately it still tasted like McDonalds.
Activities
Pearl Harbor/U.S.S. Arizona: Friday morning was spent at Pearl Harbor. After some time in the visitor center, we took a boat over to the U.S.S. Arizona memorial, a simple structure above the Arizona, which is still in the water, and still leaking out a small amount of oil every day. Inside is a wall listing out the crew killed in the attack, as well as survivors who have since died, and chosen to have their remains placed inside the ship with their crewmates.
Dole Pineapple Fields: We stopped on Friday at the Dole pineapple fields, only for a half hour, not enough time to do any kind of tour or activities. I had time to grab a pineapple ice cream and take a quick look around the gift shop and some of the trees, and we were off.
North Shore: Friday's tour also took us through various scenic locations along the North Shore. There were a few beaches we briefly stopped at, and a couple of really nice lookout points, where we got some nice views of the island and the ocean.
Buddhist Temple: We stopped at a Buddhist temple, which was converted into a tourist attraction, while still acting as a live temple.
Polynesian Cultural Center: Saturday was an all-day tour at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The place reminds me of the Renaissance Festival, except not as funny, and they pretend to be more authentic. There were sections of the park set up as Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, and a few other cultures in the region. Each region had a couple of shows and activities - like the Renaissance Festival, the performers generally mixed a little bit of current American humor with their shows, and a few of them were kind of funny.
The main show after dinner was a presentation including all of the Polynesian cultures in one large story. It was mostly a bunch of drum beating, dancing, yelling, beating drums, shouting, drumming, screaming, fighting, hitting drums, pounding drums, and I think there were some drums as well. At the end, there was some awesome fire dancing for probably 10-15 minutes. Nothing groundbreaking, but just lots of cool spinning and throwing firesticks.
Helicopter Tour: This was a beautiful view of the island - we flew around quite a bit of Oahu, looking over beaches, fields, mountains, and Pearl Harbor. This was an awesome experience.
Misc.
The humidity was ridiculous. I was sweating like a pig the whole week. I'm sure you really didn't want to know that.
I didn't meet anyone special this week, but I did get lei'd at the Luau.
This weekend I took a trip up to Las Vegas for a couple days. Here's how it went, in excruciating detail, more than you could ever possibly want to know.
Day 1: Friday I left my house around 9:00, and stopped at Alexi's Family Restaurant for breakfast. I wasn't terribly impressed with the food there.
So I'm off - I took the Carefree Highway over to US-60, skipping most of the city traffic. I heard that there was significant construction still on the path through HooverDam, so I took the alternate route through Bullhead City and Laughlin.
I was still more than an hour out, and getting hungry, so I decided to stop for lunch at the Iron Rail Cafe at Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino. They advertised a $7.99 prime rib or ribeye special, so I figured I'd check it out. The meal was awful. The meat was totally flavorless, the potato had no taste, and the vegetables, which were large and crispy in the picture, looked and tasted like frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, lima beans, green beans) that were microwaved at some point in the last few weeks. So 0 for 2 in the food department.
After fighting construction and traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard, and cursing at my GPS for sending me to the wrong location, I finally arrived at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino. I got settled in, and headed down to the casino.
I dropped $100 in various slot machines, then $20 in a couple video poker machines. There was a TexasHold'em tournament starting, so I joined. The tournament started with 20 players, and I was in good shape most of the tournament. It got down to just me and one other player, and I finally was taken out, finishing in second place, for a $140 prize.
Next up: dinner. I went to the buffet in Excalibur, determined to eat well more than $20 worth of food. My first trip was to the Mexican and Chinese section, where I filled my plate with ground beef, fajita chicken, Spanish rice, fried rice, pork nuggets, orange chicken, then some prime rib and stuffing. My second plate was piled high with penne with meat sauce, manicotti, mashed potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese, a meatball, porkloin with demi glaze, and brisket. For dessert, I went with a small chocolate truffle cake. My drink was a Mrs. Arnold Palmer (iced tea and pink lemonade). Just about everything was very good.
After dinner, I broke even playing a little video blackjack, and then back to slots. I found one of those funky ones that has a bunch of bonus stuff that I didn't understand. I hit the bonus, and got a $500 winner, so I called it a night.
Day 1 gaming results: $359 ahead.
Day 2: Saturday
I started my day off giving $80 of my money back to the casino through slot machines. I then made my way over to the video poker machines, where I found the 100-hand games. These are pretty awesome - it's a different strategy to win 100 hands than it is to win 1 hand. It's also a big point-maker for the casino club points. Down to my last hand, I was dealt 4 cards toward a natural royal flush, so I got a few real royal flushes and a few wild royal flushes out of the 100 hands - the next hand I was dealt 4 queens, so I ended up with $250 more than I put in, and enough points to get a free lunch at the buffet.
For lunch, other than the drink, I went with all different items than last night's dinner: plate 1 consisted of pot roast, a pork chop with hunter sauce, banana nut bread, fried shrimp, sausage and peppers, and cheese soup. Plate 2 was taquitos, Asian pork, Mongolian beef, lo mein noodles, and roasted pork. For dessert, I went with Oreo cheesecake. Everything except the taquitos was good.
After lunch I didn't have the same good luck on the gambling front. $300 in draw poker and $200 in roulette just seemed to disappear. I continued my long-term strategy in roulette of playing 22 (my high school baseball number) every spin, in addition to other random places around the board, and after about 50 spins, 22 still never once hit, bringing my streak to about 200 consecutive non-22 hits (odds of a number not hitting 200 consecutive times is about 1 in 200).
Up next was the main event - Shakira in concert at the Mandalay Bay hotel event center. There was no opening act, just recorded music for over an hour after the ticket start time - not sure what was going on there. Once Shakira took the stage, the show was pretty good - a few newer songs like Loca and Waka Waka, some old ones like Ciega Sordomuda and Si Te Vas, and of course hits Whenever, Wherever and Ojos Asi. The instruments tended to drown out her voice during a few of the louder songs, but other than that, things were all good. Lots of music and dance styles, and plenty of hip shaking. During her first encore, some nutcase jumped up on stage and headed her way, and was grabbed by security just in time and dragged backstage, where I'm guessing he learned to regret his decision.
After the show, I decided that it was unacceptable for me to actually leave on the plus side at the casino, so I donated another $100 in a 50-play video poker machine, and $20 in a slot, and played just enough to get another free buffet for tomorrow morning. No dinner on Saturday - the lunch buffet was plenty for one day.
Day 2 gaming results: $450 down (-$91 overall)
Day 3: Sunday
Before checking out, I hit the buffet one more time for breakfast. Just one plate - I was about to hit the road, so I didn't want to overeat. I had hash browns, scrambled eggs with ham, onions, and peppers, a Denver omelette, sausage link, sausage patty, turkey sausage patty, bacon, a croissant, grits, biscuit with country gravy, white rice, half a peach, and half a pear, with a cranberry juice/apple juice mix to drink. I broke even playing video poker, and headed out.
I passed through Laughlin again on the way home, and this time decided to stop at the Tropicana Express, where I stay whenever I'm in Laughlin. I figured this would be a good opportunity to win back some of my money - of course it didn't work out that way. I managed to dispense of $100 in a little over an hour playing video poker. By then, it was lunch time, and I had enough comps for a free buffet - you know how much I love free food, so I stopped in. It was brunch-time, so the menu consisted of breakfast and lunch foods. I started with roast beef, a dinner roll, a cheese omelette, scalloped potatoes, apple pancakes, waffle with strawberry, a biscuit, chipped beef, and orange chicken, with an Arnold Palmer to drink. Next plate consisted of stuffed shells, french toast, potatoes with peppers and onions, and more scalloped potatoes and orange chicken. Nice healthy lunch - the meat was surprisingly tough, but other than that, things were pretty good. I made $20 on the slots, and gave it back playing roulette (just focusing on Black-22 and losing each time), before heading home.
Day 3 gaming results: $100 down (-$191 overall)
On the way home, I was in no hurry, so I tried a route I'd never done before. I went through Bullhead City, down through Fort Mohave, Needles, then the 62 and the 72 to the 60. This route was about as interesting as the rest (not at all) - I passed through a few tiny towns like Bouse and other places I wouldn't want to slow down in. If I had planned my route in advance, I probably would have gone through Lake Havasu City, but I was just playing it by ear. Maybe next time.
Whenever I take a driving trip, I always rip some audio from TV shows or movies that I know pretty well, and put them on my iPod. This time, I picked a totally random disc of The Big Bang Theory, and a random disc from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. By some bizarre coincidence, both discs contained Las Vegas-themed episodes. In The Big Bang Theory, the guys head out to Vegas to get Howard out of his break-up funk, and in DS9, Vic's lounge is taken over by gangsters and the crew must rob the casino to save it. Good Vegas episodes. This kind of thing happens to me way too often.
Anyway, I arrived home, and my cats didn't seem to notice that I was gone.
Date: 2010-10-18 10:12:16
Name:
Ryan M (via Facebook)
Joe, did you have a notepad with you when you were eating?
Date: 2010-10-18 19:12:31
Name:
Joe Enos
I wrote it all down (well, digitally wrote it down in my phone) after I finished each meal. This kind of thing is important.
Date: 2010-10-18 19:12:50
Name:
Joe Enos
By the way, I didn't really mention that I did enjoy my trip - I didn't win any money, which is always the goal, but I did have a good time anyway. And if you want to see the Shakira stage rushing thing, check out the first 20 seconds here - somebody got it on video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfVcq0saWxw
This year's vacation led me to San Diego, CA, for Comic-Con International 2010, the biggest geek-fest in the universe. After watching the highlights last year, it looked like it would be pretty fun, so I decided to give it a try. I bought the tickets and booked the tickets back in October, and even that was late enough that I missed out on Wednesday "preview night".
Here's a breakdown of the weekend - way more information than you care about or ever wanted to know...
Day 0: Wednesday
I took the day off of work on Wednesday to prepare. My plan was to go to sleep early on Tuesday night, wake up early, sleep 5 or 6 hours on Wednesday afternoon, then leave the house around 11pm to get to San Diego with plenty of time to spare on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, my stupid brain doesn't let me sleep on my schedule, so I ended up sleeping only about 2 hours on Wednesday evening.
Day 1: Thursday
I made the drive on schedule, and got to San Diego around 7am, after a couple of quick stops on the way (IHOP for a 3am breakfast, and a casino to stretch my legs and throw away 25 bucks). Knowing that parking at the convention center is not a good idea, I parked at the trolley station and took the train downtown. Unfortunately, an employee at the station misinformed me about the special "red-line" schedule, so I ended up waiting about 30 minutes longer than I needed before finding out that the red-line didn't come this early, so I'd have to take two trains. Of course, the wait at the next station was another 20 minutes or so, so I ended up getting to the convention center a little before 8.
Once there, I saw the line to get in - pretty long, but bearable. It wrapped around the back of the building, so I followed it back there. From there, it ducked around a corner, no big deal. But then it kept going and going and going - this had to be the longest line I've ever seen. The longest Disneyland lines were nothing compared to this line. But after about a half mile of walking just to get to the back, and another half mile to get back, I was finally in. Pre-registration/badge pickup moved surprisingly well considering the number of people there.
First stop, another line. The three USA shows (Burn Notice, White Collar, and Psych) were scheduled back-to-back-to-back in Ballroom 20, starting at 1pm. At 8:30, I saw the line was already growing, so I got in place. Three and a half hours in line in the hallway, alternating between standing and sitting in an uncomfortable position on the floor, while I was sleep-deprived, kind of sucked. For about an hour, there was a fairly steady stream of costumed attendees walking by, which was fun to watch. As big a TV nerd as I consider myself, I really had nothing in common with the people around me, so I didn't have much conversation, just a book to read (Dave Barry's History of the Millenium).
After another hour of waiting inside the auditorium, the panels began. I was in about the 8th row, so decent seats in a room of more than 4,000. The Burn Notice panel came first, and was pretty entertaining. Bruce Campbell was very funny, and the rest of the panel provided some fun and interesting answers to the prepared and audience questions. There was even an announcement of an upcoming Burn Notice prequel movie centering on Campbell's character. There was also a video describing how to do spy stuff to pitch your ideas to a Comic-Con executive, done in the style of the show. White Collar was next, a fun show starting its second season. The main cast was all there, including my favorite actress, Tiffani Thiessen, who of course looked great. The panel started with a funny video showing the planning of a caper to steal the new Tron footage, and moved on to some fun Q&A. Psych, probably the funniest show on TV right now, also had a very entertaining panel, including some singing and dancing.
The panels were fun, but honestly there wasn't much there that I would have gotten from watching the clips that will inevitably be on YouTube shortly if they're not already there. With such a large audience, there wasn't much of a chance to interact with the panelists. Also, both of the cameras I brought weren't able to take decent pictures of the panel - all of them had a horrible glare that made it impossible to see anything.
On the way back to the hotel at around 6:00, I realized the only thing I'd eaten since about 3am was a couple Oatmeal Creme Pies that I packed, so I decided to stop for dinner. I took the advice of a co-worker and stopped at Phil's BBQ, which also had great reviews on Yelp. The place has a line that wraps around the building, but since I was just going to eat at the bar, I could skip the 30 minute line and walk right in. The dinner menu is pretty much just beef ribs, pork ribs, and chicken - kind of limited for a BBQ place, but I tried the beef ribs and chicken combination, with fries. The dish came out, with tons of food. There were three giant beef ribs with lots of meat, and probably at least a half pound of chicken, along with a ton of fries. The sauce was excellent, thick and just a little spicy. Both the beef and chicken were great, and the fries were pretty good as well. Definitely the kind of place I'd frequent if I lived nearby.
Day 2: Friday
After 36 straight hours with only about 2 hours of sleep, my brain needed to be recharged. I decided to sleep in and skip day 2, which included Stargate: Universe, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, and The Joss Whedon Experience. I heard the Big Bang Theory panel was great, but somehow I doubt it was worth another day of 6 hours standing in line. So I played hooky instead.
With all day to kill, my first stop was lunch. I was in the mood for Philly cheesesteaks, so after a quick Yelp search, I ended up at Gaglione Brothers Famous Steaks & Subs for a Cheez Whiz steak sandwich with onions, with garlic fries. The sandwich was pretty good, but not as good as Corleone's back home. The garlic fries were a little weird, not something I'd have again.
I spent most of the day just kind of checking out the city. I checked out a few beaches and played some pool, and then it was time for dinner. I felt like Italian, and found one that looked kind of appealing, Paesano. I had the minestrone soup followed by baked lasagne and garlic bread. I really wasn't impressed.
Day 3: Saturday
Today was the Chuck panel, my favorite show on TV right now, and really the whole reason for attending the convention. The panel started late, and being scheduled for only 45 minutes, it ran pretty short. However, we did get a video and performance from Jeffster, and some insight into next season. Linda Hamilton will be making some appearances as Chuck's mother, and there will be several other guest stars as always, like the Old Spice guy. Unfortunately, with the time constraints, there was no time for audience Q&A, leaving the crowd a little disappointed.
I wanted to see one more panel later in the afternoon, so I stuck around and toughed out the next several panels. Family Guy was first - I'm not a fan of the show, but Seth MacFarlane is a funny guy, so the panel was bearable. The Cleveland Show was next, and that was horrible. Don't know how this show is on the air. Somehow Futurama is back on, and that panel was next - this show gave it a good effort when it started, but never really was funny, but it has a new home on Comedy Central, so Groening and crew were out there talking about it. The Simpsons was next, wrapping up the block of panels I didn't want to watch. Every time I watch the show anymore, I'm lucky to find one funny thing in the whole episode. It's another one of those shows that was great for awhile, but should have been ended about 5 or 6 years ago. But there was one funny moment in the panel; while answering a silly question about a Simpsons spinoff, someone brought up the fact that Seth MacFarlane has three shows, to which producer Matt Selman responded "Seth MacFarlane has one show three times", getting mixed reactions from the crowd.
The other panel I wanted to see was V, the remake of the old sci-fi miniseries, which will be entering its second season soon. The show is good, but the panel really didn't accomplish anything. The moron who was moderating it kept asking the actors questions about how the show is unfolding, and pretty much every answer was "Umm...well...I hope that...". The types of questions he was asking should have been directed at the show's creators and writers, and the actors should have been asked questions that they could actually answer.
After the panels, I was thinking about food, and I can't come all the way to Southern California without stopping at Shakey's. They currently have a special for a $9.99 large with BBQ sauce, bacon, ham, pineapples, and jalapeno sausage. It wasn't bad, but next time I'll stick with normal pepperoni pizza.
Day 4: Sunday:
There was nothing of interest in the Comic-Con schedule, so I took another day to relax. I figured I'd take this opportunity to find a day spa to get a fancy massage (and I mean a real massage, not a "massage"). I found one that looked promising, but never was able to contact them. The next place I found with good reviews was Suki Day Spa. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the location - it was downtown, just a couple blocks from the convention center, which meant parking was impossible. I ended up parking about a mile away in some hotel garage's "guest only" parking, and luckily the car was there when I got back. I went with the 4-handed massage, something I've never tried before. Totally worth it - a little expensive, but having two parts worked on at the same time is a different experience, very relaxing.
Dinner was at Hunter Steakhouse. I started with a caesar salad and a chunk of a pretty good oat bread and sweet butter. The main course was a filet mignon served medium rare, small but very flavorful and perfectly cooked. Sides were excellent au gratin potatoes and ordinary onion rings. For dessert, a good sized turtle cheesecake. Overall, an excellent meal.
General Notes:
This was the first time I've done serious driving in San Diego, and it's as bad or worse than Los Angeles. There are lanes merging with no notice, through lanes turning into turn lanes forcing you to change lanes to go straight, ambiguous stop signs, interstate freeways dropping to one lane (not construction, just the way it's built), freeway entrances inside neighborhoods, random onramp locations, endless business districts, unmarked freeway exits, unmarked intersections, 45-degree drops, and the same old California drivers.
My cats were happy to see me when I got home - they've been extra friendly since I've been home. I've never left them alone for more than about 2 days before, so I was worried that they'd be mad at me, or that they would have torn up the house while I was gone. But aside from a few things knocked over, the house was fine, nothing broken or damaged.
Comic-Con really isn't for me. Sitting on the floor or standing for 5 or 6 hours at a time just to be in the same room as my favorite TV actors isn't worth it to me. I'm not interested in the other pieces: comics, video games, or buying crap, and I really don't get a thrill from seeing a big movie star from across the room. It was fun seeing a bunch of people in costume, and the panels were generally entertaining, but not enough to get me back next year.
Also, I didn't get any good pictures, but the ones I have are here: http://jturl.us/comicconpix - just some costume pictures. I didn't get any clear pictures of any panels or celebs.
I just got back from a week's vacation in southern California, my first real vacation in a long time. Since I'm pretty much a loner, I went alone - this has really has never worked in the past, but this time I had everything planned out, so I was hopeful.
I can sum up my vacation as follows: pretty much sucked, but had a few good meals. If you want more details, continue reading (this is a long post, so if you don't want a bunch of boring details, you can stop here).
Day 1 (Tuesday):
This is the 4th time I've made the drive from Phoenix to L.A., and it seems to be getting easier each time. The 6 hours on the road really was no big deal. I recorded some movies and TV onto my iPod a couple weeks ago, to prepare for the trip - maybe that helped a little. I listened to a few episodes of Wings, and Back to the Future Part III on the trip - a great way to kill a couple of hours without getting bored.
First stop: Shakey's Pizza. I got into town around 1pm, so I was just in time for the lunch buffet. Excellent pizza and great Mojo potatoes - this is worth the drive by itself.
After checking into the hotel, unpacking, and kicking back to rest for awhile, it was time to head for Dodger Stadium to watch the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. The Dodgers won 3-1 - nothing really exciting on either side - the D-Backs just couldn't get anything big started on offense.
I was a little disappointed with the stadium in general. There was really nothing of any interest anywhere - nothing but the same concession stands and mini-stores along the entire stretch of the walkway, and two mediocre team shops and bars at either side. No historical monuments, entertainment exhibitions or exhibits. I had a Dodger Dog and garlic fries, two of the most popular food items, and both were just so-so. There was nothing special about the hot dog; the fries were different from what I've ever had, but the garlic seemed to be a little over-the-top. It was good, but a little garlic goes a long way, and these were just flooded. And to top the night off, getting out of the parking lot can only be described as 'Every man for himself'. It was ridiculous - no sense of any organization whatsoever - occasionally, lanes would appear, but as soon as one person got tired of waiting, they'd form new lanes in various other directions, which killed the first lane, and it went right back to anarchy. You really had to fight your way through a dozen or so times, or else you'll be sitting there all night. No support whatsoever by the employees, and no physical structure that would allow an orderly exit. Overall, I'd have to say this stadium is nowhere near the quality of either Chase Field in Phoenix or Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
Day 2 (Wednesday):
This was the whole point of the trip: Six Flags Magic Mountain. My plan was to hit all of the roller coasters a couple times over the course of two days. I've never done any real coasters other than the one at California Adventure (Disneyland), but I remember really enjoying that one. I started my day by going on two rides (Viper and Superman The Escape), and was kind of having a good time, but for some reason I was a lot more nervous than in the past - my heart just wouldn't stop pounding, and my legs were a little wobbly. I got in line for my third ride (Tatsu), only about a 10 minute wait, when I felt a little dehydrated - so I jumped out of line to get some water. I came back about 10 minutes later, and the ride was stopped due to some technical difficulties - they said it may be awhile before maintenance came out, so they recommended just coming back later. So I leave, and walk directly under a couple cars full of people hanging upside down, stranded while waiting for maintenance. I don't know how long they were there, and I don't know if I would have been on that particular run of the ride, but I think that stuck a bug in my brain.
I thought nothing of the problem, even laughed it off a little, and headed toward another ride - The Riddler's Revenge. There was really no line, just a couple of people in front of me, so I'd be off and flying within a matter of minutes. But something about the looks of the ride got to me - it was a stand-up ride, which for some reason freaked me out a little. Right about then, I started thinking about the technical problem from the other ride, and for some reason started thinking about the roller coaster scene from Final Destination 3 (note: don't watch that clip if you ever want to ride a roller coaster again). So I turned around and left. Luckily, the place was so empty no one really noticed, other than the handful of people still in line. I considered checking out a few other rides, but each one that I considered brought the same anxiety, and even panic, something I'm really not used to feeling. I know that there's almost no chance of anything going wrong on one of these rides - they run hundreds of times every day with no incident - but for some reason my brain kept telling me that 'no chance' is much better than 'almost no chance' of something going wrong. Combine this with the fact that the park isn't layed out very well, and the fact that I'm a little out of shape and not used to walking this much, including up steep hills, in the direct sun, and I just decided that it was time to leave.
I know I'm getting into incredibly personal and embarassing stuff here - I feel comfortable telling this to you because I don't keep any secrets from you - I wouldn't tell this to just anyone...
Back to the hotel, and I decide to check out the hotel pool. I haven't swamswum? been swimming for at least 15 years, and I really didn't know if I still knew how (I don't). The pool only has a 5 foot deep end, so I was able to keep my feet on the floor whenever I failed at actually swimming. Luckily, I was by myself, so no one was around to see me make a fool of myself.
Then the highlight of my day: dinner. The hotel clerk recommended a place called Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill, which was right up the street. I head out, and have a great dinner of Tri Tip beef, smashed sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, and apple cobbler. Excellent stuff, highly recommended if you're ever in the southern California area.
Day 3 (Thursday):
I spent the day at the beach, with the goal being to sit around all day relaxing. It was about a 45 minute drive to Malibu Beach, which wasn't too bad. I discovered a few things. First of all, sand is not the easiest thing in the world to walk through. Second, my body is apparently immune to sunscreen. Third, sitting in a beach chair for hours on end is not all that comfortable. I did get some reading in - two recent Dave Barry books: Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far) and Dave Barry's Money Secrets (Like Why is there a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar?). Both pretty good books - if you're not familiar with Dave Barry's work, I'd suggest checking it out - I've read about 10 of his books, and they're all pretty funny.
At around 4pm, I decided it was time to head out. Of course, it was L.A. rush hour, which meant the 40 mile drive was now about an hour and 45 minutes.
Again, the highlight of my day was dinner: another recommended restaurant from the hotel clerk - Spumoni Italian Cafe. I had the Lasagne Napoletana and a vanilla cannoli with chocolate syrup and chocolate chips for dessert (no, I'm not back on chocolate, but on vacation, all bets are off). Excellent dinner again.
Day 4 (Friday):
My original plan was to spend the first half of the day back at Six Flags, then head over to Hollywood to catch the new Star Trek movie at the Mann Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood. The first part obviously didn't happen - I didn't really feel like going back to Six Flags. And it turns out some knothead decided to play Wolverine for another week at Grauman's. So instead, I went to the giant screen at Regal's Edwards Valencia 12 in Santa Clarita, for a 1pm showing of the movie (full review found here including spoilers).
But first was lunch at Cousins Burgers, aka greaseville. It wasn't terrible, but I was expecting more like Fuddrucker's or Islands, and instead got an incredibly greasy burger and fries that really weren't worth the price.
After the movie was dinner: Outback Steakhouse (I know I can get this back home, but I really felt like a steak, and it was right next door to the hotel). I had the 9 oz. Victoria's Filet with a bleu cheese crust, which is the most expensive steak on the menu (by weight) - I was actually pretty disappointed. It really wasn't any better than the regular sirloin or strip steaks, maybe even less flavorful than those two. Sides were a sweet potato which was decent, and the garlic mashed potatoes, followed by the Chocolate Chocolate Tower (I figured that I already had half a million calories on this trip, what's another thousand...). Not up to par with the last two nights, but still a pretty good meal.
Day 5 (Saturday): I had a hot air balloon ride scheduled for 6am in Temecula, which is about 130 miles from Santa Clarita, mostly freeway, but a significant of main roads as well. This means I set my alarm for 2:30, never a pleasant experience. I'm on the road by 3, and arrive at the South Coast Winery in Temecula at around 5:45. Setup took a long time, but we were finally up in the air at about 7:15. With my newly confirmed fear of heights, I was a little nervous about the whole ordeal. The basket was only about waist high, which is a bit unnerving. But I did manage to get over this and get on the balloon.
There were 11 people on the balloon, including the driver, so it was pretty cramped. It was an interesting experience, but I really didn't find it amazing or spectacular in any way, the way I've seen it described. The burners were obviously hot, which made the cabin reasonably uncomfortable. The burners were also pretty loud, and were firing more than half the time; even when they were off, there was still the hiss of the gas line. So the ride really wasn't silent the way I've heard it described either. The views were pretty nice, but not really any different from what you'd get on any scenic lookout point on the road, and since we were shoulder-to-shoulder, it was difficult to get a good look, or to get decent pictures. The pictures that I did manage to get can be found at:
After the ride, we all shared a bottle of champagne from the vineyard, before sitting down to breakfast. This was actually the first time I've had champagne, and don't really see what the fuss is all about - it tasted like sparkling cider with a strong after-taste. For breakfast, I had some fine food from the winery restaurant - scrambled eggs with chorizo, Portuguese sausage and fried rice with bits of breakfast meats. A fine gastronomical ending to my vacation.
Overall, I'd say that the balloon ride wasn't anything special, but the company that provided it, Magical Adventures, did an exceptional job. If you are interested in riding a hot air balloon, I'd suggest checking them out.
For the trip home, I tuned into A Few Good Men, Lethal Weapon 3, and Dude, Where's My Car on the iPod. After a grueling week, I was definitely ready to get home. Stop #1: Babbo's Italian Eatery for dinner, back to my normal routine.
Summary: I think this week confirmed that taking vacations alone is really no fun, even with a plan. I still have one more week of vacation to use this year, so I don't know what I'll do. It was nice to get a week off of work, and I actually have confidence that they can survive a week without me now. But I really didn't get the relaxation I was hoping for, so I'd consider this vacation an expensive failure.
Date: 2011-10-17 20:41:09
Name: Flo M (via Facebook)
I agree with you on the lottery!!