Recently in Vacation Category

Guess I should let you know we got back from Jerome okay.

We just missed a 5 hour delay on the freeway because of a big accident. So THAT was a good thing.

Jerome was great. We didn't see any ghosts but we did hear a moaning coming from the room next door. But it was of the earthly XXX rated nature. Oh Fun!

I should have asked if the hotel has any "dog ghosts". While we were on the sun porch, my one year old granddaughter would point to the other end of the enclosure and do her "sign" for dog. I told her there was no dog there, (at least I didn't see one) and she would point and do her doggy sign again(baby sign language) Then she would stare down there like she was watching some dog playing and laugh. I thought it was kind of strange at the time but didn't think to much about it. But she did it two more times during our stay and the rest of the group was there to witness it. Very spooky indeed!

Friday morning we are off to Jerome until Sunday.

This trip is my X-mas present from my youngest son and family. We are staying two nights at the Jerome Grand. It is an awesome place to stay and is said to be "haunted". We have never actually SEEN a ghost but we have all experienced some "strange" things when we have stayed there before.

Third floor balcony rooms are the best because the view is absolutely amazing of the Verde Valley. Temps should be in the low 70's with a low in the low 30's. Snuggling weather.

My youngest son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter are also going. We will take little K to see the animals at the Gold King Mine and for a walk around Jerome. I am hoping to take a side trip to Sedona to "rejuvinate my spirit". Okay, so I am probably just going to hang out among the pretty red rocks.

Until Sunday, hang in there!

Wait. We never made it to Amarillo. We ended up going as far as Vega, Texas. About 30 miles west of Amarillo. Just a little po dunk town with a Best Western.

We made it to the Midway point of Route 66 in Adrian, TX. So we accomplished our goal. Next year, we may fly to Chicago and do it the right way. East to West and go the whole way.

We are home now. We drove 11 hours and a little over 700 miles to get here.

It IS nice to be home with OUR bed, OUR animals and OUR desks.

We have made it to Santa Fe. Still have to check to see how much further we can go before we have to turn around and head home.

Check out the pictures at the Route 66 site.

We just spent the last 81/2 hours driving 198 miles. LOL Most of it was LA traffic along Route 66. That is basically Santa Monica Blvd. We are in Barstow, CA holed up in a Best Western.

Wasn't much of the good old "feel" of the Route 66. Surely didn't get a "KICK" out of THAT part of it. But there is always tomorrow.

Check out the pictures for today at Route 66.

We are exhausted and waiting for Chinese food to be delivered to our hotel room. The bastards are 15 mins late already. That was after an hour wait in the first place.

There are more pictures up on the Route 66 site so head on over and check them out.

Hey, head on over to my vacation page, we are traveling. Where you might ask? We are going to be doing Route 66 starting in California and heading East as far as we can go in our allotted time frame.

First stop - Disneyland/California Adventure. We are there now. Go have a look.

It is time for our annual "Fall" vacation.

We like road trips and with the gas prices up there in the $3 plus range, you would think that we would do something different. Right??!!!

Call us crazy, call us nuts but we are going to do as much of the "Mother Road: Route 66" as our time will allow. We'll be traveling down the road in a convertible, top down - wind blowing thru our hair. Cool tunes on the radio, (or iPod which ever is working at the time) with the best company there is - each other. We'll be "standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona - such a fine sight to see".

We'll travel from Phoenix, to the start of Route 66 in Santa Monica, CA and have ten days to head East and see how far we get. We plan on stopping alot along the way and getting our "kicks on Route 66"!

We will be heading out the first part of October, so maybe we will get the first signs of fall leaves. One can only hope.

Leaving 70 degree temperature to come back to 100 plus temperature SUCKS!

The mini-vacation was awesome! Light thunderstorms almost everyday - cool temps - naps each afternoon - the kids and granddaughter to play with... what more could one ask for.

I promised you some humminbird pictures. They didn't turn out quite as good as I had hoped they would but you can get the idea. There were at least 30 different ones flying around at any given time. Kaylin loved watching them. So did Beeker the cat.

By the way... Reality sucks too!

We got hummingbirds coming out our ears! There have got to be 30 hummingbirds flying around the yard and feeders here at the cabin. I have pictures but I didn't bring my USB cable to download the pictures off my camera. So you will just have to wait until Sunday or Monday to see them.

The weather is awesome. We have had thundershowers both afternoons since we got here. This afternoon, it was close. I mean REAL close. We were watching lightening strike out in the back. No damage that we can see though.

The guys will be up tomorrow morning so us girls are going to be drinking coffee with Bailey's tonight. Off to make coffee. :)

I have about 4 hours of "real" work (the one I get paid for) and about 10 hours of "get ready to go" work to do before we leave town tomorrow.

We are headed to the cool pines.

Daughter-in-law called a couple weeks ago and said she had 5 days off the first part of August and would we like to head over to San Diego. Since it is prime time of year and late planning, we decided that the cabin might be a better choice this time.

So D-I-L, Kaylin (granddaughter) and I are heading up to the cabin on Weds morning and the "Guys" are going to join us on Friday.

The temperature has been upper 70's and low 50's. WOO HOO! I get to bundle up again.

Wow! What a trip!

Costa Rica is beautiful. I was really impressed how helpful and friendly the people were. With my "broken" espa�ol and alittle sign language I was able to communicate. Of course, having my brother with us helped a whole lot. He has managed to remember the Spanish that he learned in school.

The roads are quite a trip. They are like the back roads up into the mountains. Some are paved, most are not. The road to the house was a twisty curvy dirt road that would start running with water when it rained. One side was mountain, the other side was cliff. Quite exciting.

The beaches were beautiful and the water was quite warm. Quite a change from the beaches in San Diego where we normally go.

The food was unbelievable. We had camarones (shrimp), langosta (lobster), pollo (chicken) and of course, margaritas. The price was right! I think the most expensive lobster was 9500 colones which is about $20. That was for more food than we could eat. It was Hubby's paradise.

The best part of the trip was the Congo Canopy Tour.

We are home from Costa Rica!

What fun!

Very tired!

Luggage made it everywhere but home. Lost it on the last leg.

Costa Rica was awesome.

Details tomorrow with picture.

M U S T G O T O B E D N OW!

Hasta luego. Manana!

Our passports came today.

WE ARE GOING TO COSTA RICA! You know, that little country between Nicaragua and Panama in Central America. You know the one.

WooHoo!

The end of May we will be hanging out at this "poquito casa" for almost a week. (click one of the pictures for a pop-up of all the pictures) Check out that view!

So, now I have to brush up on my espanol. And thanks to Trinity over at Three Things, I can now do not only the tilde but also accents over the letters. woo hoo!) I ordered some cd's, "Learn Spanish in your Car". They are actually pretty good instruction, but I guess I am going to have to spend ALOT of time in my car, because there are 9 cd's. I am hoping to at least be able to understand people when they talk about me, as I walk by. LOL

I am soo jazzed.

For three days there was no charge on my MasterCard for the AWFUL hotel room we had to deal with over the weekend.

But it didn't last. A charge for the room showed up, but along with that there was a credit of the same amount. So they DIDN'T charge us for the room.

BUT....

There was ANOTHER charge of $20.97 from Best Western, that I have no idea what it is for. I turned in a dispute, at Mastercard, for the new $20.97 charge and will call Mastercard AND Best Western Corp. office tomorrow.

What do you suppose the NEW charge is for? Any guesses?

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:
Best Western called back and they are crediting BOTH charges. They didn't tell me what the $20.96 was for, so it is still a mystery.

I also got an apology letter from The Prescottonian. Rather a generic form letter that ended with,

"We look forward to serving your future hotel needs in Prescott."

Yeah! Like THAT is ever going to happen.

Could somebody please look!

Do I have F*CK ME written on my forehead anywhere?

No, no, look closer, it HAS to be there.

Because everywhere we went on Saturday, proves it.

Please continue reading. It is VERY LONG!

For the next three and a half days, Hubby and I are on "vacation". Although, we are not GOING anywhere, we don't have to work and are going to try to take advantage of it. No housework, no yardwork, just playing, sleeping and probably eating. Like we are out of town but the hotel room is our own home.

This afternoon we went out to Vee Quiva Casino. To try our luck with the "one armed bandits" and blackjack. Well, the slot machines kicked our asses, and the Black Jack tables were $10 minimum bet per hand. The one $5 minimum bet was way full. What's Up With That? We were at a frickin indian casino miles from nowhere with thoset kinds of minimum bets!

So we ate. Best thing we did. They have a "Jackpot Burger" with EVERYTHING on it. Half pound of beef with three cheeses, bacon, grilled onions, green chilis, lettuce, tomato, mushrooms served with french fries and onion rings. All for $6. Best deal in the house. I took half home in a doggy bag that my doggy will never see.

So we figured it out. Our $12 meal cost us about $92.

I hate this part of the trip. Packing and saying goodbye to the ocean, beach and the cool temperatures.

It is always nice to be away but nice to get home too.

Here's hoping that Beeker the cat miraculously turns up before we get home. He has now been gone 48 hours and no sign of him. That does not sound good. I have made a lost report at the local "Pet Lost and Found" but no hits yet.

Where oh where can my big fat cat have gone?

This will be the last entry from beautiful San Diego.

Adieu!

Hubby and I were sitting at dinner at Tony Romas (yes we are still on vacation) when my cell phone rang.

Me: "Hello?"

Bro-in-law: "It's me."

Me: "Hey, whats up?" Being a little concerned, since we were just with them yesterday at breakfast. We knew that they had arrived home safe and sound. Was something wrong with the kids, his wife, MIL?

Bro-in-law: " I am jonesing for the beach. Just called to see what you are doing right now!"

Me: laughing "Right now we are sitting eating ribs at Tony Romas about 100 feet from the beach. After we finish here we are going back to the room to sit on the balcony and watch the sunset while we listen to the waves roll in."

Bro-in-law: sighing, "Okay, I feel better. Have fun."

Me: " We will, thanks!"

Bro-in-law: "Bye!"

Me: "Bye bye"

Glad I could be of help.

We are heading to the Wild Animal Park today. Just waiting for the other half of the party to call. They will be taking MIL to them so they can head over to Legoland while we go to the Park.

I have alot of pictures from the beach to upload but just haven't had the time. Go figure...I am on vacation. Plus this laptop is a dog. :) Slow as pond water.

Okay we are off. More later.

Had a few minutes this morning to add some pictures to the San Diego 2004 Trip photoblog.

We had an awesome time at Sea World, yesterday.

I want to thank those of you who took the time to wish me Happy Birthday. It is always nice to know that people care and it makes a person feel loved to be remembered. Thanks again.

We are here. Here being San Diego. We have already eatten at our favorite place, The Green Flash. We are now back in the room and about to take a nap. We have been standing in lines all day and that can be quite exhausting.

The sun is going down and the breeze is ruffling the curtains off the balcony. We can hear the ocean waves breaking on the shore right outside our room.

I have a photoblog set up for those of you who want to watch the vacation unfold. I hope to get a few shots of the sunset in a few mins. Have a look over at San Diego 2004

I also added a link on the side bar just above the "Guestmap" button.

Off to take some sunset pictures. Adios for now.

p.s. for the full beach effect . . . you might want to reset the skin to default if you are not already on the beach skin. :)

in the World, where would you go?

The coumpany that Hubby works for give him 5 weeks vacation after 5 years. So that means starting Jan 2005, we have 5 weeks to blow. FIVE WEEKS! Damn that is alot of vacation. Especially when most of our vacations last a long weekend. Trips to the cabin. Short jaunts to places close by. The furthest and longest vacation we have taken was our honeymoon to Hawaii and that was 10 days.

So much time and SOOOO many places to choose from.

So here is my question to you.

What is it like where you are? Should I come to your town or country? We are open to all kinds of adventures and would like to have some ideas. What is there to do in your neck of the woods?

My Hubby thinks I am crazy but my being crazy just saved us $100 on the car rental for our vacation to San Diego.

All I can say is, even if you have a reservation for a rental car, keep checking back every few days. The prices change more often then you change your underwear. I went from $320 to $220. I don't think I can do much better than that but you can guarantee that I will be checking again.

Call me crazy! But that is $100 I can spend on "stuff" while we are gone.

:)

You got to love those short day trips. They make you feel so refreshed and ready for a nap.

We took off early this morning, heading for what I thought would be a nice breakfast up in Prescott. Prescott is a really nice little town about an hour north of Phoenix. The temperatures are a bit cooler than town so we thought we would take a drive and get out of the heat. Our destination was Bucky's Casino. They have to have food there, right!

We got to Bucky's and headed for the restaurant. They were having a brunch buffet. Sounded good. Something made me ask what the cost was. $20.95! and that was for only one of us ... WHAT! I only budgeted $30 for breakfast and I'll be damned if I was gonna dip into my gambling money to feed our faces. So the "guy" (can't spell matre de, told you) told us there was a coffee shop upstairs above the casino. So off we went to eat breakfast burritos and coffee. (total bill including tip was $21) Chaa Ching! more gambling money.

After breakfast it was time to hit the casino. I headed to a quarter slot and Hubby was off wandering someplace spending his money. I didn't do too bad. I hit a couple $30 pots and was able to play with their money most of the time. I was pretty excited cause I had a small bucket of quarters that I was clinging to all proud and shit.

Then Hubby comes over and asks me if I could hold this for him. THIS was a rack of silver dollars! A hundred bucks worth! So much for my bucket of quarters. He headed for the cashier.

I lost my quarters and I headed over to the $1 machine and that is where my luck ran out. It didn't take to long and I was out of money. Hubby was ready to leave.

We get into the truck and he hands me the $100 bill that he cashed in and said, "Here you can have this!" I am thinking, "what a nice guy". Then he says, "I'll keep these" and he shows me TWO more crisp $100 bills. The bastard had won $300 and didn't even let me enjoy the moment in the casino. I could have done the *happy dance* but he wanted to surprise me. But I wanted to do the *happy dance* inside. *pout* I made him feel all bad and shit. But I still got to keep the $100.

We were driving out of Prescott and decided to take a trip to Jerome. Jerome is a cool mining town (now considered a ghost town) on the side of Mingus Mountain about another hour north of Prescott. We wandered the town for about an hour (it was hot) and decided to call it a day.

I did get a couple of really cool shots of the pretty clouds

and the view from Jerome looking over Verde Valley.

I just spent the day making arrangements for our trip in September to San Diego.

I love San Diego!

First made arrangements for the Animals. Sending them over to E's (youngest son)

Then made hotel reservations right along the beach at Pacific Beach.

Set up the rental car. Convertible for sure.

Things are all set.

But the problem happened when I went to make the airline reservations. I usually do it online with Southwest. Got it all set up with the days and times, put in my card info and click "Make Reservations". Clicked the printer friendly version and printed them out. After it was printed I went to highlight flight times and the reservation said:

San Diego to Phoenix instead of Phoenix to San Diego

PANIC!

What the FUCK did I do? Hubby thought I had just cut off my hand cause I let out a scream.

I immediately called Southwest directly and they took care of my blonde moment.

Thank you Southwest.

We have been home from the mountains for what 7 hours. . .

I have found that something has bit the shit out of my HEAD. You heard me right. MY HEAD is full of bug bites. I don't think they are mosquito bites, because I usually get all welty with a mosquito bite.

These bites are raised like a whitehead type pimpley things that itch like crazy. The right back side has about 5 bites and that whole back side of my head is really tender to the touch and the muscle that runs down the back of my neck is tender too.

I told Hubby to nudge me once in while tonight when we go to bed just to make sure I am breathing.

But the strange part is that I don't have but one other bite anywhere else on my body.

NO IT ISN"T LICE! I already had Hubby check.

Excuse me I have to go soak my head in Calamine lotion.

Normally we don't go away on holiday weekends. For several reasons.

The traffic sucks.
All the amatuer drunks are out on the roads, at the lakes and up in the mountains.
And everything is SOOO crowded.

But we are making an exception this weekend.

SUCKS!

Having 7 days off, where you don't have to think of anything but what's to eat, where do you want to hike to and when is nap time, is awesome.

But coming back to reality . . . alarm clocks, appointments, new swing shift schedule, dirty laundry is depressing. There has to be a better way to come back from vacation.

We got home from a great trip about noon today. We got the cruise mobile unpacked and cleaned and returned by 2.

Since then I have gone thru about 300 emails to delete the more than 75% spam and read the ones that were of any importance.

Now I am going to jump in the shower and wash one of the hairy children. I think I will take "Little Old Black Dog" and leave "Big Head Dog" for Hubby, to clean. The boys had a great time too and are very muddy to prove it.

More on the vacation after I settle in to a routine.

Good to be home.

We are out of here. Alll packed up and ready to go. See you in a few days.
Everyone stay safe and healthy. I love you all.