Back from Mexico and my house is safe!
I’ll expand more on the Mexico trip next entry… but on Tuesday I received word from the Passenger Services Desk that my neighborhood in LA was evacuated due to fires in the area. A message from my boss… It put a damper on the vacation a bit but we were still able to enjoy ourselves a bit. We were tuned into CNN in our room watching any footage possible to see if we could find anything about our house.
The fires were just across the wash from us about half a mile East. Josh’s parents were watching our house and dogs and were advised to evacuate and waited it out and then the evacuation was called off.
Here are some photos from our neighborhood area:
I’m partially happy I wasn’t home because I heard the sky was as dark as night at 2 in the afternoon and it was so smokey, you could barely breath and it burnt everyone’s throats. But I sort of wish I was there just in case to pack my bags and be ready!
now playing: “won ton tomatoooooo is stuck in my head!”
Mexico cruise!
It’s official Josh and I are cruising to Mexico on Saturday 
I hope it’s as fun as I’m anticipating. We both need to get away from work for a while. With all the freelance I’m doing and all the business stuff he’s doing at home, we’re always a bit stressed lately.
It looks like hot 95ish and guaranteed some scattered thunderstorms. I sort of miss the East coast thunderstorms we used to have, so I’m probably not as worried about it as I should be. West coast of Mexico is a hurricane area and it is hurricane season.
Most worried about the sea sickness! and getting bored on a cruise ship…
now playing: Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Dumont
We went to Dumont Dunes last weekend. As always there were hiccups
We left at 1pm and we didn’t get more than 1 mile from our house and the left side trailer tire popped! In all fairness we drove up a curb when pulling out so that’s probably what bubbled up the tire and caused it to pop. We drove up the road to an America’s Tire Co. and had to wait in line for a trailer tire. It was about an hour wait so we grabbed a snack and waited. After they replaced it, we were on our way again… for a little while anyway…
Hector, Travis, and Alex who were driving behind us, had the check engine light turn on and the truck temperature was really high. He pulled over for a while to get it to cool down. Then he drove up to the next exit where we were waiting and they started adding water, because his coolant was down. Turns out it was down almost a gallon and a half! And so we continue on.
About 40 miles outside of Dumont, where it’s just desert and tumbleweed and the occasional trailer or shack in the middle of the desert… POP! The right side trailer tire pops! What are the chances?!! So it’s about dusk at this time.. the sun is slowly setting and we’re in the middle of nowhere!! Josh removed the tire and rim and Hector disconnected his trailer from his truck and took his truck up to the next town 20 miles away - Baker.
In the meantime I called Mom to be my internet sleuth and start looking up numbers of tire places and towing places nearby to see where we could get a tire at 7:30 on a Friday. By about the 5th place we found a tire! Josh and Hector eventually got there and had to wait in line and finally got the tire (for $100 more than retail!) after about 45 minutes. While they were out there our friend Eddie who was meeting us at Dumont found us on the side of the freeway and pulled over. He totally nailed my thoughts - said it was like Hills Have Eyes.. we’re stranded in the dark in the middle of nowhere between hicksville and hicksville! I felt like I was in Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses. When they got back they hooked it up… it was only C rated so it wasn’t exactly rated to tow all the weight we had in the toy hauler. It was sort of bubbling out so we kept it at 55-60 with our hazards on.
We had an awesome time out there. The best thing was the weather, it was way nicer than Pismo weather. It was 84 in the day and 65 in the night.. Pismo was 64 and cloudy in the day and 48 in the night. It was sunny everyday too! I forgot how much fun Dumont was. The dunes are way higher and way more exciting too. I tried to ride Josh’s quad around camp and it’s just too much thinking right now for me to learn the clutch, shifting, brakes, etc.
I posted pics in the gallery on the right.
now playing: Lenlow - Bjorn Slippy
Philly trip!
Just got back from Philly yesterday. I was there for the weekend visiting Tracey. Had an awesome time. But on the day I left (Monday) I felt sick and I have some kind of cold/flu… my sore throat is by far the worst symptom (i wonder what swallowing fire feels like because i think i have an idea…). I’m really happy that I didn’t get sick until I had to leave though. Christine and I visited at the same time for the weekend and since Tracey and Jay have 2 roomates- Maggie and Adam it was pretty much a slumber party every night.
Saturday we had a delicious breakfast at Honey’s Sit ‘n Eat with Tracey, Jay, Christine and Adam. It was really good. I never had turkey bacon that tasted so good. The food is Southern/Jewish from what the reviews say.. but it seemed more like comfort food to me. Very yummy and fattening .. maybe that is Jewish?
We then went on a Watson’s scavenger hunt in the city. It was a 2 hour hunt. Our team was made up of me, Tracey, Jay and Christine. We got every questions answered and were only 2 minutes or so late getting back. So yea, we won! 2007 champs! I forget what our team was called.. Tracey thought of it… we got extra points for creativity for our team name and it took the whole hunt for us to decide on one. We want to do one in LA now and wear our returning champs shirts and have everyone fear us! mwahahaha.
We did lots of shopping on Saturday (well just me, Tracey and Christine) and then stopped by an art show. Then we celebrated Christine’s 14th birthday Lots of guitar hero and karaoke revolution followed. It was good times. I was nice to see Adam. I haven’t seen him in like 3 years which is hard to believe! Time flies. Never hung out with Maggie before and it was lots of fun. Good times were had.
Sunday we shopped more at King of Prussia mall and then went to dinner at Jones with Tracey, Christine, and Maggie. Yums. Stayed up late chatting with Adam. I miss those people. Need more of them around here. It’s so easy to be around them and so easy to have fun.
Mexican Riviera here we come… in 3 mos
Josh and my standby cruise to the Mexican Riviera was confirmed! w00t! We’re going in mid October for a week on the Golden Princess. Stops in Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and Mazatlan. I couldn’t travel there cheaper any other way, I’m positive. Such a deal.
So happy to finally travel somewhere with Josh! I’m flying his parents into town to watch our dogs for the week.
now playing: Ohgr - Cracker
Sequoia National Forest
Josh and I went on a road trip to Sequoia National Forest this past weekend. We had so much fun. We walked the ‘Trail of 100 Giants’ and saw some of (if not THE) biggest Sequoias. They were 500-1500 years old and got up to 20 feet in diameter and who knows how many stories high. It was very surreal and I felt like Alice in Wonderland.
I’ve always wanted to see the Sequoias ever since my Grandma went to Yellowstone Park when I was young and came back with photos.
I took my own photos- posted in the gallery.
now playing: Beirut - Postcards from Italy
Pismo!
Went to Pismo this weekend with Josh and Yader and Eddie and friends. I took a few pics, posted them in the Photo Gallery.
Josh’s new sand rail is amazing. It rides like it’s on air.. SUPER smooth compared to his last rail, even over the whoop-de-dos. It’s super fast too, that is until the turbo busted! The only part on it that was from the old rail 
Once that’s replaced it should be all good to go on another trip. It was chilly the first night like 46 at night and it was super windy.. couldn’t even sit outside.
But Saturday night was much nicer. We sat around the campfire and the camps on each side of us had fireworks - big ones so that was entertaining to watch. Of course s’mores with cadbury chocolate and 91 octane marshmallows were delicious too!
Stone Mountain - Atlanta
Went to Stone Mountain with Dale yesterday. It’s a 1.3 mile hike uphill. I’m proud of myself. I made it with only one puff of the inhaler and back down with only a toe cramp. Took a bunch of pics- they’re in photo gallery.. Still adding to the Atlanta photo gallery day by day.
I miss hiking. Need to do that more often. It’s been a looong time.
now playing: Handsome Furs - What We Had
Atlanta
Made it in to Atlanta last night and what a bumpy flight it was. The dramamine kept my motion sickness at bay. The flight was half empty, I didn’t have anyone next to me and switched to a window seat. We got in pretty late (in the day - on schedule). By the time my coworker collected his baggage (2 big suitcases for 4 days!) it was about 10:30 at night. We took a cab to the hotel and I couldn’t sleep. Ordered room service for a late night dinner and then went to bed.
Of course I forgot stuff- always do. But Lori Beth was kind enough to pick it up for me and drop it off for me this (Sunday) morning. They don’t sell contact solution smaller than 4oz and you can’t bring liquids more than 3oz on the plane. That was one dilemma- Lori Beth picked that up for me. And she brought me some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, YUM!
Class starts is from 10:45-4:45 today with some kind of “meeting” at 5 until 7pm. I may skip that depending on what it is and how interesting it is. Going to have dinner and relax with LB tonight
Here’s a view out my hotel window:
now playing: Against Me! - White People for Peace
A taste of Southern culture?
Miss the warm (but don’t miss the muggy) nights on the East coast. Sat with LoriBeth by her pool after the expo today until dinner time and then we went to the Flying Biscuit.
It’s in a really cool part of town. Very artsy. I had “herb crusted chicken” it was delicious. The salad before was especially delicious- lots of leafy greens and a really good dressing, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Salad came with a big biscuit (which looks like one, but tastes like 3- sooo filling) and some cranberry apple butter (kinda spicy but delish).
Then the meal came - I forgot what it came with and couldn’t figure it out. There was a cube of about rice-crispie-treat-size in orangish color, my chicken and what looked like wilted romaine lettuce cut up? Then I remember it came with “grilled” mac&cheese. It tasted ok, but sat like a brick in me.. so I moved back to the chicken and salad. The wilted lettuce thing- that was “collard greens”, a Southern thing. It didn’t look remotely appetizing but I had to try it.. I paid for it after all. I tasted it with water ready… and it tasted about as appetizing as it looked. Tasted like canned (yea that gross preservative taste) green beans (I hate green beans) but of course texture of wilted lettuce. Yuck. I don’t recommend it unless any of my description sounded good. Rest of the food was pretty good though, very filling.
I wish I had photos of the food, because I know at least Amritz would appreciate it.
