Back Home

Just got back a few hours ago from the trip. I picked up a bit of a cold, but otherwise it was pretty fun. Thursday we went through the Badlands, which was amazing. The only place I can think of that's like it here is Joshua Tree. Interesting places to walk, great rocks and DESOLATE landscape. Almost like being on the moon. OK, a really HOT moon. We did see plenty of buffalo and prairie dogs in the north part of the park.

Driving through the prairie on the way back, the wife and I kept thinking that when those recent immigrants bought this land then actually moved out west, the must have thought, "What in the fuck?!" in German, Czech, Swiss, Finnish, etc. So much of everything, except water. Screaming hot in the summer, freezing fucking cold in the winter. Sign me up!

We came back to our hotel through Custer State Park. I would highly recommend it. Saw as much wildlife there as in the Badlands, but much closer. Plus there's fishing, hiking, nice restaurants, etc. The only problem is that it's $15 to get in, even if you just want to eat. Plan on staying a while.

Friday was the big driving day. The big stop was Devil's Tower in Wyoming (the rock in Close Encounters). It was cloudy and cool, but a great thing to see and walk around. From there we drove to see our vacation friends south of Denver (same place where we saw the tornado last year). The HB stayed with their twin boys (13) while we grabbed dinner and closed a bar with some serious local flavor. It was great seeing them and we started talking about our next trip (maybe the Missouri baseball loop). I wish I were feeling better so I could have been more involved in the conversations.

We caught the plane home this morning, picked up the dog, etc. It's nice to be home. I'm looking forward to getting some serious sleep. But, not until I do laundry, go to the supermarket, etc.

Cruisin' Through SD

We had a fun day today. We started with a tour of Jewel Cave which is a little west of here. Not as spectacular as Carlsbad or Crystal, but still very cool. There's no dark like cave dark. Plus, they had one formation that looked like eggs and another that looked like bacon (which the HB loved). What's not to like?

The wife wanted to stop at the National Museum of Woodcarving. Do yourself a favor and skip this tourist trap.

We then drove through the Black Hills forest up to Deadwood. A pretty trippy place that, as you would imagine, plays up its past (gunslingers, gambling and whores) and current (GAMBLING!). Not so much on the HBO show. The drive was pretty and the tour was mildly amusing. And the wife won a few bucks pulling slots.

One thing I've noticed driving in these parts is that there aren't many 15-30 year olds who don't have visible tats and/or meth teeth. Lots of billboards about elder abuse, spousal abuse, drug abuse, etc. I'm beginning to feel safe in LA.

Out on the Open Road

So far, so good on the big trip. We left LA at about 7:30 this morning. Our flight to Denver was a bit early, not that it matters as it takes 45 fucking minutes to get out of that airport. We then blazed across the high plains. Serious, were were doing between 80 and 90 the whole way, so we got to Custer, SD in about 5 hours (including two stops).

Getting here early gave us a chance to enjoy the hotel pool (and free wifi) and make it to Mt. Rushmore. We had planned anyway to go at night to see them light up the memorial, so this gives us the chance to see Crazy Horse tomorrow night. The weather is perfect (warm, clear and dry) and we could see a million stars.

Only two problems: 1) The park ranger who led the evening program said that Lincoln became president during the Civil War. WTF? 2) There were lots of things that basically said serving in the military=patriotism. The even brought up a bunch of future Iraqi/Afghan targets up on stage. I wonder if they ever do that for people who encourage others to vote? I kinda doubt it.

Off to Jewel Cave tomorrow morning. Who knows after that?

It's Trip Time!

Tonight we pack up for a trip to the Black Hills/Badlands in South Dakota. We're going to fly to Denver and make the drive, while hopefully finding some interesting shit along the way. Hopefully, we'll be able to find some time to meet up with some of our friends in Denver, without a big tornado like the one we ran into last year.

I like alternating the city with national park trips. Even though we're going to spend a ton of time driving, seeing new and different things is always worth the adventure. My task tonight is to find some of those things along the way.

I'm looking forward to seeing the BIG STUFF, but also maybe hiking or fishing with the HB. And seeing a HUGE thunderstorm.

Last night the wife, of course, decided that she really wanted to stay an extra day as she finds it impossible not to change her mind. The airlines had a different idea, so we're sticking with the original plan. For now. Really.

DC Trip Wrap Up

First, the excursion this week was a trip, not a vacation. What's the diff? If you're bringing your kids or visiting family, it's a trip. Otherwise, it's a vacation.

I would give the whole thing about a B-. On the plus side:

• I can highly recommend the Embassy Suites at Chevy Chase Pavilion. It's right on top of a Metro Station (Friendship Heights), only 30 minutes by car from Dulles and there are many palatable (but not gourmet) eating options within walking distance. The rooms were big for an ES and the included hot breakfast and happy hour are a hit in my house.

• The International Spy Museum was cool. All of us liked it and was worth the money. Since my dad worked on super-secret stuff, I like these kinds of things.

• We went to Kennedy Center and saw Sheer Madness. The wife and I were rolling out eyes quite a bit, but the boys loved it.
  
  
• Dave & Buster's. Always a hit and a short Metro ride away.
  
  
• It was the first time I'd seen the National WWII Memorial and it's very interesting.
  
  
• Seeing the other monuments (Washington, Lincoln and Viet Nam) was a good way to talk to the boys about the different wars and the people who fought them.

On the eh/negative side:

• The White House tour kinda sucked. It's not as much of a tour as a chance to walk through some rooms. No docent, no park service person to provide any context or tidbits.
  
  
• The Capitol building tour was cool, but too short and the docent wasn't exactly full of knowledge about the artwork or the sculptures. It definitely paled in comparison to the tour of the houses of Parliament we took in London.
  
  
• Our guide in the National Archives couldn't have made that tour more boring.
  
  
• The National Museum of American History was closed for renovations.

Overall, I'd say that last year's trip to NYC was the better one. But, when I go back to DC in the fall for a conference I'm probably going to stay an extra day to see some of the stuff I like but I knew we wouldn't get to (National Galley, Phillips Collection and National Museum of American History).

Damn Nature

So, on Sunday we did head to Santa Barbara. The destination was the botanical gardens and its hiking trails. It was cool that day. Low 70s according to the car thermometer and we had an easy drive up the coast. We finally get to the gardens (after some directionally challenged navigation by my wife) and the parking lot was eerily empty. I walk up to the gate and hear a distant voice say, "We're closed." The woman with the voice appeared and kindly told us that because of the fires over the ridge the gardens were closed in case they had to evacuate (it's a small and windy road up there). Fuck.

So, we drove down to the main drag (State Street) for some lunch and poked into a couple of shops (definitely an advantage of having a son rather than a daughter). Downtown SB is ok, but a bit touristy and commercial for my tastes. At least a few of the places had music coming out of them. The drive home sucked as there must have been some wrecks on the freeway earlier in the day that were still messing up traffic. But, we got to listen to the Angels beat the A's, so all was not lost.

Let's Go Surfing Now

My apologies for times between postings. My main travels are now done. This weekend I took the HB and my nephew to surf camp with Indian Guides. It's located south of San Diego (yes, there is some of CA south of San Diego that is not Mexico.

I hadn't camped on the beach before and it was pretty cool. If nothing else, the waves drowned out any snoring from neighboring campers. We drove down Friday afternoon, which in one way sucked because of the traffic, but was OK because I got to listen to the Angels win a wild game against Baltimore. My goal was to get the tent pitched before dark, which we did, though given the full moon it wouldn't have been a problem had we gotten there after the sun went down. We played in the water a bit an then grabbed some dinner at fried fish place at the end of the Imperial Beach pier.

Saturday we boogie boarded, played some beach football, etc. The boys also got in some tent Pokemon time. I could have used some of that as it would have cut down on my sunburn a bit. That night we started a big fire, had 'smores and the adults threw back a few beers (including some of my homebrewed stout). Today we packed up after breakfast (the food was awful, but there was a lot of it) and made it back north. Both me and the HB were beat and we got in some good naps after we unloaded the car and tried to get as much of the sand as possible out of our shit.

This is going to be a funky week at work. I got a bunch to do, but a lot of folks are going to be on vacation. That will allow me to get some office work (invoicing!) and other research done, especially on a new project (more about that in a later post). And, as of midnight tonite I became president of my Rotary club and tomorrow's our first official board meeting. I'm working with a great bunch of people, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Going Home

One good thing about the KC airport...it has free WiFi. However, it's kinda funky in that there is a small security checkpoint every 5 gates or so, which is probably good. However, this means that there are limited food options once you get into the gate area. My gate had a Wolfgang Puck. Hey Wolfie, thanks for the delish $12 sandwich, chips and coke.

I had the change to drive around a bit when it wasn't either dark or raining. KC lives up to its name as the city of fountains. They are everywhere. And, given how much it rained the last three days, they are going dry any time soon. Oh, another observation: folks here aren't as into the dental work thing as in LA. Very British of them, I suppose.

So, my meetings went fine and the client was great about setting everything up. She's a late 20's, one kid, marathon/tri-athlete over achieving type. She's a totally can-do person, which makes my job a lot easier.

Fortunately, the worst of the thunderstorms have left the area. My flight (coming in from Tampa) is on time and it looks like we'll have clear sailing....or at least we'll leave on time, which is what counts. I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing the HB and sleeping in my own bed with my wife. Since we've been on a week drought I'm hoping that she's in the mood since I'll be gone beach camping in San Diego this weekend with the HB and my nephew.

More KC

Things are going well with my client here, which is nice. If things go well on this project I'm sure that there will be some follow-up work. Everyone's been midwest friendly, etc.

There are some things I have noticed in my short time here. Certain areas of KC are gentrifying, which is probably good as it enabled me to find a good new restaurant. Second, and there's just not a nice way to put it, but there are a lot of seriously fat people in this town. Don't get me wrong. Me and the wife are pretty averaged sized (I'm 5' 10 and btw 160-170 and she's 5'4 and in the one 135ish neighborhood), so I'm not comparing the locals to Nicole Richie. But gheeze, I must of had at least one 3oolber in all of my meetings the last two days. They're nice people and all, but I'm used to being around healthier people in LA and other places I go. Made me skip the brisket and go for chicken for dinner tonight.

The KC Royals beat the LA Angeles AGAIN today (3 in a row), so one one guy here has been giving me some good natured ribbing. I'm looking foward to heading home tomorrow and sleeping in my own bed for a night. Then it's off to beach camp on Friday and Saturday nights with the HB and my nephew.

Speaking of the nephew, my uncle REALLY wants to go back to Yosemite in the fall for some hiking and I was going to invite the nephew to come along. No, I doubt the HB would join us since he's just not into hiking and I don't want him making all of us miserable. But, the nephew's a bit hesitant about going without the HB. A nice sentiment on his part. I'll chat with him about it this weekend. Of course, I just found out this morning that I need to be in Chicago the Sunday of the weekend we were planning on, so back to the drawing board for that plan. Sigh....I'll make it work.

Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Am

Greetings from Kansas City. It's my first time here. I always like to go someplace new and, as a jazz fan, I'm glad that I'm here. Unfortch, not much jazz is happening on a Tuesday night. But, I did find some cool places to hang her in the Westport section of town.

Getting here kind of sucked. My flight landed at about midnight and I had to wait about 45 fucking minutes for the shuttle to where all of the rental cars are. So, it was about 2am before my head hit he pillow. Good thing that my first meeting wasn't until 10:30am.

After the morning meetings, my clients took me to a local place for bbq. Now, I'm not a huge red meat eater, but this place was amazing. I had a sausage and brisket sandwich. Shit, I'm drooling again just thinking about it. One of my clients isn't much of a meat eater either, so I don't know if I'll get a second batch for lunch tomorrow. But, there's always dinner.

We've got typical Midwest summer weather--hot, humid and thunderstorms. About as unlike LA as one can get.

Back tomorrow and hopefully after hearing some music.

Greetings from SLC

So, I'm in the 2002 Olympic City for the Rotary International Convention. I haven't been here in a few years and I must say things are better. First, there are some micro-breweries in downtown and the beer is pretty good. Second, it's a bit more of, well, a city. Monday night I found a blues club. Now, I'm not gonna say that anyone playing in the jam session was gonna make you forget about Buddy Guy or Eric Clapton. But, there were a fair number of decent musicians, including an Asian-American who sang some pretty good Elmore James. What struck me was the number of inter-racial couples and women with tattoos. As for the former, there just aren't that many African-Americans in town, so it shouldn't be too surprising. As for the latter, Utah has always attracted its fair share of bikers, and with the great snowboarding and mountain biking it's not really a shocker that the city is attracting more 'outsiders'. But, it makes for a good vibe.

My hotel is quite fashionable with vertically stripped wall paper and leopard patterned bathrobes. It even has a FREE happy hour. Oh, did I mention it is a very gay friendly hotel? No matter. The service is great and it has an awesome gym and restaurant. I'd totally stay here again.

The convention is OK. I like meeting Rotarians from New Zealand because they are so much fun and I know a lot of people there from my club's work with New Zealand high school students. But, I've met Rotarians from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australia since I've been here. It's very cool.

NYC Pics

As predicted, I'm still not feeling well (and, now, neither is my wife), so there's not much to blog about. But, as promised, here are some NYC pics:

The HB with the French Taunters at Spamalot.



They key thing in this picture is to look at the face on the horses armor just above the tail.



Someone's a star on Broadway.


Yum...pasta pizza!


This weekend we're supposed to do the family rounds and I need to get with the jacuzzi guys as I don't think I'm getting the chemicals just right in the tub. I'm going to need a day off by Monday!

Back at Home

The weather man was right and the last day in NYC was cold and rainy, so we hung out, packed, grabbed lunch then cabbed to the airport.

We got back last night (and Continental was quite jiffy with the bags). Unfortunately, my cold is worse (ugh) so I crashed after my meeting today. Fortunately I have a clean slate tomorrow so I can rest up.

Overall the trip was a success. I spoke with my s-i-l and she said that our nephew just couldn't stop talking about what a great time he had in NYC. It was truly our pleasure to take him (as it has been for other trips when he's joined up) and won't hesitate to so again. I just wish that his summer vacation scheduled coincided better with the HB's so we could take him to Yosemite this June. I'll put up some pics in the next post.

Speaking of the HB, he was psyched when we went to pick up Nugget today. They were both very happy to see each other. He also got a (belated) birthday card from Lynn. I spoke to her for a few minutes today. As usual, her life lurches from one disaster to another. She said she had sent me the invoice for the web work, which I haven't received (I don't think she has my e-mail right in her address book), but said nothing of me taking away the work. Given her situation, I'm thinking that she was just as glad to get it off of her mind.

Off to make some dinner (unless my wife calls saying she's bringing something home).

On the Road to Wellville

First, because I know that you are all wondering, the HB pooped.

Both boys were feeling much better than last night, so after some sleeping in we hit the town. Since it was a sunny day we scratched the Natural History museum and headed to mid-town. My wife wanted to go up the Empire State Building. Unfortunately, the wait was more than 2.5 hours (and, yes, people were doing it), so we decided to pass. At the end of the line before the elevators, most people looked as if they were in a refugee camp rather than site seeing. Oh, and while we were figuring all of that out, Lynn called. Turns out that when she fell in Nashville she also cracked her kneecap (which went undiagnosed). She says she'll call on Thursday, so I should get the full scoop then.

So, from there we walked up 5th Avenue, stopping at the NY Public Library, Rockefeller Center, St. Peter's, FAO Schwartz, Central Park, etc before getting back. The boys are chillin' now and we don't have any plans for tonite. I'm thinking some deli sandwiches and a movie in the room should do it, but we'll see. We have a 4:45pm flight tomorrow. I'm hoping that the weather is good enough for us to at least bum around in Central Park before we head to the airport, but it's supposed to rain, so we'll see.

Fucking Bugs

So, after we got here, my nephew was showing a rash--nothing too serious, but a little bothersome. Well, by last night it was REALLY bothersome and the HB was starting to show it too. I'm thinking either they are allergic to the towels/sheets here or the chemical levels were off in the hob tub (we took a dunk at home the night before we left). Either way, my wife asks me what we should do. I suggest just getting some more anti-itch or anti-fungal cream and some antihistamines. It's not like a doc can do anything about a rash. She INSISTS that we take them to urgent care. So, after seeing Blue Man Group (which was very cool) we head to a hospital. There were 5 families in front of us. I don't think ANYONE was called in two hours. Turns out that there was 1 doctor on duty and they got "busy". How shocking in Manhattan that kids might need to use the emergency room. So, after about 2 1/2 hours we bolt (hm...wonder how much we'll be charged for NOT seeing a doctor), get some cream and get the boys to bed.

Oh, and I don't think the HB's pooped since we got here.

Of course, due to all of this I missed the Ohio St-Florida NCAA championship game (I picked Florida). The OSU fans must be PISSED about losing to UF again in a championship game. It's going to be a rough winter for the Columbus snow-birds next year.

Tennessee's women's team plays Rutgers tonite for the championship. I think the Lady Vols will win, but it's going to be ugly game.

The HB just popped up a few minutes ago (I'm glad he got some serious sleep) and the nephew is still crashed. The HB said he was feeling fine. I'm hoping the nephew is as well. My wife was talking about trying to head home today if the boys weren't feeling better. I'm not sure that would even be possible. I think the boys will shake themselves and we'll make it to the Natural History museum, but we'll see.

While everyone was crashed, I had breakfast with a sales rep of a company whose product I support. It's always nice to put a face with a voice. While we were eating it reminded me of another woman who used to work for me who commutes into NYC now from the Allentown, PA area. She invited my family to her wedding a couple of years back and the HB and I met up with her and her family last year when we were in Philly. I'll have to give her a shout later today.

Sight-Seeing Central

Today we did the full-on tourista thing in that we went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The park service sells these special tickets for walking around inside (but not to the top of) the Statue of Liberty that you need to get in advance. We did so, but they were sold out on the NYC side, so we needed to get them from the New Jersey side at Liberty Park. This meant that we not only got to enjoy the NYC train system, but also the PATH trains and the NJ light rail. It all worked out fine and we didn't have to wait for any train for too long.

It was the second time my wife and I had been to Ellis Island. Since all of the HB's grandparents and several of our nephew's relatives (he has a great aunt who's in her 90s and can't tell you what she had for breakfast but can tell you EVERYTHING about her trip across the Atlantic and through Ellis Island) went through there we thought it would be a cool place to go. We were able to talk to the boys about how today's attitudes towards immigrants aren't really that different than there were 90 years ago and how the exploitation of immigrant labor then led to unionization of factories and sweatshops and how that relates to janitors organizing unions today (at least in LA).

The Statue of Liberty kind of speaks for itself. It was cool for the boys to learn how it was built and renovated and they had some life-size portions of it on the tour.

Tonite we have tickets for The Blue Man Group. My wife and I saw it at least 10 years ago in Boston before it became such a big deal. I'm sure that they boys will dig it as much as we did the first time that we saw it.

Right now we're thinking Natural History Museum and Hayden Planetarium tomorrow. The weather's supposed to suck on Wednesday (the day we leave, but not until 5:30pm) so we'll have to see what we can squeeze in.

Waking Up in the City That Never Sleeps

The HB's birthday went great. He had a very whiny friend over for lunch and then some glow-in-the-dark mini-golf. His aunt then took him on a $50 shopping spree at Target. My parents and my wife's family came over for dinner and the HB was showered with all kinds of presents. He had a very good day.

The flight here to NY was typical for this type of year: Crowded and a little bumpy. The boys did great. I thought their eyeballs were going to fall out of their heads from all of the Gameboy they played. Since we flew Continental (the only airline that has gone bankrupt and actually came out of the mess as a better carrier) we got a meal (yum...cheeseburgers) and it was all good. After an e-ticket cab ride (you have to be of a certain age to get that) we got to our hotel, The Affinia Gardens. This place is the shit. We chose it because of the location in a relatively quiet neighborhood. We got a suite and it must be at least 800 sq ft! The wife and I have our own room with a door (almost, her emphasis, enough privacy to have sex) and the boys have plenty of room to spread out. It has a full kitchen, so we won't have to go out for every meal, especially breakfast. That'll save us a bunch. And, as you can tell, there high speed access (I even found someone's free unsecured network).

Today we're off to the Met so the boys can check out the mummies and armor. We'll then meet up with my aunt and uncle from Philly for dinner before we see Spamalot. My nephew's getting into Monty Python (same age I was) as is the HB. My wife and I saw the show with the original cast (I'm sorry, but I can't see Tim Curry sing without imagining him in a corset, fishnets and red fuck-me pumps--again, a joke for those of us of a certain age) and it was great.

More tomorrow after we hit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.