Only time for a quick post so I thought I'd grab one of the pictures from my trip to California and drive through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Just in case I haven't mentioned it a time or two in the past, I just love the Sierras and am quite certain that I crossed them via wagon train in a previous life hence my affinity for the place! Well, either that or it's just so breathtakingly beautiful there that it's impossible not to love the place!
My friend Akelmalu from the blog Everything and Nothing (who writes a mean Flash Fiction Friday amongst other things!) recently tagged me for a meme wherein I need to tell you six unimportant things that make me happy. I've seen the meme going around other blogs and every time I've seen it I've thought to myself - isn't everything that makes you happy important in some way?
Alas though, who am I to overthink or argue with a meme? I'm just a mere meme minion and only a Duchess at that! I suppose if there were any changes or alterations that they would have to be brought before Mimi, the Queen of Memes for her to pass judgment and make a ruling on. This being such a simple meme, I won't bother the Queen with it as I'm sure she's busy painting her nails or ironing her pencil skirt or such so instead I shall just accept it as it is, try to think of six unimportant things that make me happy, and then commit a breach of meme manners by not tagging six other people!
Now for those six unimportant (and yet important to me!) things -
Clean sheets. Nothing beats the feeling of climbing into bed between clean sheets!
A cup of coffee after I manage to climb out from between those clean sheets and stumble my way to the kitchen.
Waking up without any back pain or other assorted aches and pains (unfortunately, this doesn't happen anywhere near as much as I'd like!
A good book.
The sun shining through the trees (which hasn't happened in way too long due to all of the rainy weather we've been having).
The smell of fresh cut grass.
Now as I said, I'm not tagging anyone but if you'd like to take it upon yourself to do this one - feel free! It's quick, it's easy, and I bet you can name a whole lot more than six "unimportant" things that make you happy without hardly trying!
I'm afraid the skies here in Norwich have been pretty bleh all week which has also made my mood pretty bleh, too. It seems like I've barely been able to get out of my own way most days!
Luckily we had some really nice days last week including one where the skies turned a beautiful shade of pink as the sun set. Naturally I was at work when that happened and didn't have my camera with me so I had to do the next best thing ... call Amanda and tell her to grab my camera and go out to get some sky shots for me!
Turns out the skies in the area of Norwich we live in were actually more orange than they were pink but that's okay as I think they still looked pretty cool once I had a chance to look at the shots Amanda took. This week's photo credit goes to her!
For more colorful sky shots, be sure to check out Tisha's blog!
Oh snap, son! While wondering when/if my 16-hour shift at work yesterday was ever gonna end and despairing that it actually would (some days that clock just doesn't seem to move at all!), I took a gander at the calendar and was rather shocked to see that today was going to be exactly one month since I took off for Vegas. A month! How on earth did that happen??
... and why had I still not gotten all the pictures I took edited?!? Perhaps the problem is because I have become an epic slacker ... or perhaps it's because I took way too many shots while I was out there and have been taking even more pictures since I got home! I'd prefer to think that it was the latter but I'm guessing it's really a combination of the two however, either way, I'm going to try to get the remainder of my Vegas pictures posted via slideshow so that I can then move to pictures from Santa Cruz and the Sierra Nevadas.
The nice thing about all this is that it gives me the chance to 'relive' my vacation and that's always a good thing, right? Right!
As for Las Vegas, the verdict is that I thought it was a'ight, dawg but I don't really think it's anyplace that I would be in a big hurry to go back to. Part of that is because I'm not a great visitor of casinos (were that the case, I live very close to the world's biggest and second biggest casinos in the world and could go anytime I wanted) but more than that is that whole "I don't like crowds" thing that I have going on.
Even though everyone says that Vegas is hurting right now due to the economic downswing, it seemed pretty darned crowded to me when we were walking elbow to elbow with way too many people on the Strip. I was sure I knew how a salmon must feel when fighting the waters to get upstream as people walking in each direction collided and attempted to get past each other seemingly in a hurry to get nowhere. Not my idea of a good time!
When I mentioned to Jen that I didn't really like Vegas she stated that I didn't like it anywhere but I corrected her and told her "no, I really like it in Lake Tahoe". She accepted that but seemed skeptical that there really was any place that made me happy. Maybe the NAED should hold a conference up at Tahoe sometime and I could show Jen just how happy I really can be! Perhaps I should write and suggest it!
At any rate, I've taken just a few of the 287 pictures I have of my time in Vegas and put them together in a small slideshow for your ewwing and aahing pleasure. You enjoy and I'll get back to editing some of those other pictures I have piled up in my Picasa folders so that hopefully it doesn't take me another whole month to get some of them posted!
I've been wondering about something lately that has me rather perplexed ... how can Dunkin' Donuts claim that America runs on Dunkin' when they don't even have stores in all of the states of America?
Is not North Dakota part of America? Is not Utah part of America? Is not Arkansas part of America? None of these states have a Dunkin' Donuts franchise and neither do a bunch of others. As a matter of fact, there is not a single one in all of California or Washington or Idaho or Montana or even Minnesota - all states that probably drink plenty of coffee but not any that they can get from the place that claims to have the coffee that America runs on.
How can this be truth in advertising? How you can a company lay claim to providing the coffee that America runs on when a good number of Americans have no way of obtaining it? Granted, there are more than 5,200 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants located in 36 states but unless my math is wrong, that leaves 14 states that cannot possibly run on Dunkin'!
Perhaps the ad execs are hoping that by proclaiming America runs on Dunkin' that eventually there will be Dunkin' Donuts franchises from sea to shining sea and that they will wipe out the competition from places like Starbucks, Steamin' Joes, Caribou Coffee, Tim Horton's, Coffee Time, Gloria Jean's, Krispy Kreme, Chock Full o' Nuts, and my personal favorite - Bad Ass Coffee - the coffee with an attitude!** Unfortunately we have none of those here in Connecticut but if we did you can damn well bet I'd be buying my morning cup of joe from those guys as I'm sure a cup of their coffee would definitely have you up and running rather than wondering if you'd ordered a decaf by mistake!
Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy an occasional coffee from D&D - especially a nice big iced coffee in the warmer months - but the number of them that have popped up around here lately is quite alarming. Here in Norwich we have at least six or seven Dunks (more if you want to count the ones located in WalMart and Stop & Shop) and not much of anything else in the area except for a lone Tim Horton's sandwiched in between two D&Ds on the west side of town or fast-food coffee in the form of McDonald's or Burger King (blech).
Frankly I don't think it's accurate to say that America runs on Dunkin' but I can sure say that Dunkin' is running everything else out of town - least ways here in Norwich!
It's just too bad Amanda can't get a job at any of them but I get the feeling they're probably not hiring zombies ... though Amanda tells me that zombies run on Dunkin' when they can't get any fresh blood! Kid kinda looks like she needs some coffee, doesn't she??
**This is in no way an advertisement for Bad Ass Coffee - I just think the name is cool and I'd definitely go there if we had one around so if people asked me what I was drinking I could say it was a Bad Ass cup of coffee! Yeah, yeah, I know, I can be so juvenile sometimes!
I guess I should thank Amanda for the inspiration for my question for this post as if it weren't for the conversation I was having with her on Monday, I never would have thought of using this particular question for a post. See? Teenagers can be useful for something!
Anyhow, while eating lunch we somehow got to talking about how well people knew us and she said something about how some of my friends knew that Lincoln was my favorite President. I said that I guessed that was a good thing and at least I had a favorite President whereas I bet she didn't have one at all. Of course, she's only almost-17 so I suppose she hasn't had a chance to experience a lot of Presidents yet or really given it any thought; plus they don't teach history like they used to so I rather doubt she knows too much about any of them other than the more recent ones we've had in office. Perhaps someday she'll have a favorite President, too.
Which, of course, brings me to the question of this post ...
Who's your favorite President or, if you're not from the United States, leader of your country?
Obviously President Abraham Lincoln is my all-time favorite as there is much to admire about the man who did his best to keep our country united as one while also enduring the personal tragedies in his own life all while maintaining a sense of dignity and humor. Sadly, they don't make Presidents like Lincoln anymore or even some of my other minor favorites like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Reagan (yes, I said Reagan!).
So how about you? Who's your choice and - if you've got the time and inclination - why?
This past Friday I had occasion to be up in my hometown of Canterbury and after finding my mother not at home, I decided to stop by the cemetery where my father is buried and see how things looked for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.
Carey Cemetery, established in 1750, has been the "family cemetery" for as long as I can remember and was strategically located between my grandfather's house and my Aunt Eleanor's house. If one were to walk from one house to the other, you had to go right past Carey Cemetery wherein was buried my mother's mother who died the year I was born, my mother's oldest brother who came home with strep throat one day and was dead the next at age 9, as well as other relatives that I had never met.
In later years Carey also became the final resting place of my beloved grandfather, two more uncles who died way too young, and other relatives and family friends. In 2003, it also became the last stop for my father when he succumbed to the non-Hodgkins' lymphoma that he had contracted as a result of exposure to Agent Orange during his tour in Danang, Vietnam in 1967-1968. My Dad's grave is through those gates pictured above and nearby are the graves of five other veterans; it makes me think my Dad is in good company.
After spending some time at my Dad's grave, I decided to take a walk through the rest of the cemetery and check out the graves of the other veterans whose brand-new flags flapped in the breeze and marked the spots where their physical remains reposed. At Carey Cemetery there are veterans from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War as well as seven wars in between and as I stopped at each grave, I thanked each person for their service to our country and their role in keeping our country free.
As I walked amongst the gravestones, I noticed that the majority of the veterans are from the Civil War era which somehow seems appropriate being that Memorial Day originated from the observance of a national Decoration Day to honor those who had died in that war. The first official Decoration Day was held on May 30th, 1868 as proclaimed by General John Alexander Logan, National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army who had served in the American Civil War). If you're interested in reading more about how Memorial Day came about, I did a post last year that explains it in more detail.
It appears that the small town of Canterbury (with a population of approximately 1,700 in the 1860's) sent more than its fair share of men to fight in the War of Northern Aggression (as Miss Bee likes to call it). Even if you didn't know the number of men who died fighting to keep the Union as one - best estimates put the total deaths at 620,000 - you would know that it was a large amount just by the number of graves belonging to Civil War soldiers in Carey Cemetery.
Of the Civil War veterans, there are five graves of soldiers who died on September 17th, 1862 at the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Antietam was the first major battle to be fought on Northern soil and, with approximately 23,000 causalities, it was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. More Americans died on September 17th, 1862 than on any other day in our nation's military history; five of whom lie beneath the soil of Carey Cemetery.
Naturally I had my camera with me so I decided that as a tribute to the veterans whose graves I visited while walking through Carey Cemetery, I would take a picture of their grave markers and then put them all in a slideshow to honor their service to our country. It seemed like the least I could do for all that they had done for myself and all other Americans who enjoy the freedoms that we so often take for granted.
If you haven't done so yet, please remember to thank a veteran for his or her service to our country. Memorial Day is set aside to remember those veterans who died but wouldn't it be nice to acknowledge them while they're still alive and can hear your thanks? I'd like to think so!
Having three days off in a row can be a wonderful thing - especially when the sun is shining, the skies are a beautiful blue, and there are interesting things to take pictures of! This past Thursday was no exception as I bribed Amanda with ice cream out at Buttonwood Farm if she wanted to go for a ride with me to check out some old milk trucks that Renee, one of the ladies that I work with, had told me about awhile back.
The trucks are located behind the old Broad Brook Dairy which was located on Route 165 in Preston, Connecticut and run by the Niewiarowski family. Back in the day, there used to be many dairies in the area that not only delivered farm fresh milk right to your door in awesomely cool glass milk bottles but that also sold farm fresh ice cream. I have very fond memories of my grandfather taking us to Norm's Dairy Bar in Jewett City when I was a kid and getting the best vanilla ice cream cones ever and I also recall visiting the Broad Brook Dairy from time to time, too.
It seemed like just about every area had their own dairy store and I'm sure that many Preston residents happily remember when the Broad Brook Dairy was up and running for them to stop in at or when the dairy's trucks delivered fresh milk, cream, butter, and the like to their homes. There really was nothing quite like it and it's one of those by-gone things that I really miss. I was fortunate enough to live in an area of Canterbury that the Mountain Dairy out of Storrs still delivered to when the girls were little back in the early 90's and even though it might have cost a little extra to have milk delivered each week it was so good - and good for you - that it was more than worth it.
Unfortunately all that remains of the Broad Brook Dairy, whose name is still barely visible on the old neon sign above the door, is a building partially torn down and three rusted milk trucks sitting in the back lot - the trucks that Renee had told me about. Stepping over what later turned out to be a flattened "no trespassing" sign attached to the flattened fencing in front of the building (oops!), Amanda and I took a walk back towards the rusted remains of the trucks that were last registered in 1968 and had obviously seen better days!
If trucks could talk, I'm sure that these three would really have had some stories to tell. Stories of the families that they delivered to, stories of the drivers who sat behind their steering wheels, and stories of their travels up and down the back roads of Preston. Unfortunately, though, these trucks weren't talking as they just sat still in a silent testament to an age when life was simpler and things tasted a heck of a lot better.
As I took pictures of the dilapidated trucks and the crumbling building I mentioned to Amanda that I had lots of happy childhood memories of going to places like Broad Brook and getting some of the best ice cream ever but obviously those days were long gone by.
"So, how's it feel to be looking at your crumbling childhood?", the almost 17-year old who will never have those kind of memories asked me.
I am very happy to report that there have been blue skies to look at here in New England lately and you don't even have to wear a jacket to go out and gaze at them anymore either! I lucked out and had two gorgeous days on my last two days off so I took full advantage of them and went out with my camera both days. Now I just need more days off to sort the pictures out!
I've probably got more sky pictures now than there are Fridays in the year to post them but I suspect that's a good thing as I'll never have a good excuse not to participate in Tisha's meme! This week's photo was one that I took from the front porch of my house looking up through the branches of the tree in the side yard. I thought it came out kinda cool ...
Granted, you can only see a bit of sky through the green branches but the bits you can see are a beautiful blue! In my world blue plus green equals happy!
I'm still working on editing my Las Vegas pictures (never mind the ones from my time in California as well as the 250+ that I went out and took yesterday!) but I finally got a few done from our trip to the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino which boasts the tallest observation tower in the United States. At 1,149 feet it's definitely up there!
Our original plan had been to hit up the Stratosphere on Thursday but after watching the weather forecast on TV which called for high winds and possible rain on Thursday, I suggested to Jen that we head in that direction on Wednesday after conference sessions instead.
As you can tell from the pictures, Wednesday was absolutely beautiful and there was hardly even a breeze to speak of so it seemed like the perfect time to take a ride up the elevator and check out Vegas from a slightly higher than bird's eye view! Originally we had thought about having dinner in the restaurant at the top of the tower but then decided that the prices were definitely in the stratosphere, too, so we decided to skip the experience. Nothing for nothing but $12 for a baked potato is a little out of my price range!
Jen had it in her head that she was going to ride on the Big Shot which shoots riders an additional 160 feet up into the air via a burst of compressed air and I had it in my head that I was going to NOT do that. In addition to that whole fear of heights thing I have, I also had a great fear of messing up my back so even if I'd had a brief burst of insanity and thought I wanted to go on the ride, too, common sense prevailed from the lumbar region of my spine!
After paying $13.95 to go up the tower (Jen's ticket cost $19.95 which included one ride on the Big Shot; compared to the $14 she paid for just the rollercoaster at New York New York it seemed to be quite the deal) we took the elevator to the 107th floor and parted company.
While Jen made her way to a second elevator to take her up to the ride, I made my way up some stairs to the 109th floor observation deck to try to get some pictures. The picture on the left is the actual ride that Jen was on but she was on the other side from where I was standing and I don't think you can even see her legs as they are obstructed by the tower. She said the ride scared the beejeebers out of her but she was glad that she had been brave enough to go on it. The teenager in me who still hasn't quite gone into hiding briefly wished I had been able to go, too, but the old lady with the bad back knew better and swallowed the minor disappointment and went back to taking pictures!
The views really were spectacular from the top of the tower and I wasn't as nervous as I thought I might have been but that's probably because I was too in awe of some of the crazy people who were walking around on top of that tower. You see, even though Jen was sort of crazy for going on the Big Shot, there were people that were going on rides that made the Big Shot look downright lame and tame. You see that octopus looking thing hanging over the right side of the tower? That's called Insanity, The Ride and it extends 64 feet over the edge of the tower and spins riders at a force of 3 Gs. They called it Insanity for a very good reason!
Insanity actually looked like it might be fun but on the other side of the tower is another ride that had my palms sweating just looking at it! The X-Scream is a giant green teeter-totter that propels riders 27 feet over the edge of the Tower and hangs them there at 866 feet above the ground. Yep, 866 feet above ground and the thing looks like it's just going to keep right on a'going over the edge and plummet its riders straight to the Las Vegas Strip way, way, way down below! Even that small bit of teenager in me who missed being able to go on the Big Shot was scared of that one; I'm not sure if love or money would have gotten me on the thing! I took enough pictures to put together a slideshow for you so that you can get a bit of an idea what I'm talking about with both rides ...
Craziness, eh? Ah well, people looked like they were having a good time and after all, what's more fun than going on something that looks like it's going to splat you all over the sidewalk?!? Woohoo! How about you? Would you have the guts to go on any of these rides??
I have kleptomania, But when it gets bad, I take something for it.
FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS! Except that one where you're naked in church.
Sometimes too much to drink isn't enough.
Kinky is using a feather.. Perverted is using the whole chicken.
Heaven is Where: The Police are British, The Chefs are Italian, The Mechanics are German, The Lovers are French And It's all organized by the Swiss.
Hell is Where: The Police are German, The Chefs are British, The Mechanics are French, The Lovers are Swiss And It's all organized by the Italians.
Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!
My short-term memory is not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my short-term memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Welcome to Utah Set your watch back 20 years.
In just two days from now, Tomorrow will be yesterday.
A bartender is just a pharmacist With a limited inventory
The statement below is true. The statement above is false.
I may be schizophrenic, But at least I have each other.
I am a Nobody. Nobody is Perfect. Therefore I am Perfect.
KENTUCKY: Five million people, Fifteen last names.
I'm not your type. I'm not inflatable.
Dyslexics Have More Nuf.
In Memoriam With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week. Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey", died peacefully at age 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started.
I LOVE COOKING WITH WINE Sometimes I even put it in the food.
When you work here, You can name your own salary. I named mine, "Fred".
Money isn't everything, But it sure keeps the kids in touch.
Reality is only an illusion That occurs due to a lack of alcohol.
I am having an out-of-money experience.
As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on 280 Interstate. Please be careful!"
"It's not just one car," said Herman. "It's hundreds of them!"
Don't sweat the petty things. Don't pet the sweaty things.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines!
I want to die while asleep like my grandfather, Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car.
I FOUND JESUS! He was in my trunk when I got back from Tijuana!
A tip of the hat to my supervisor, Matt, for the email!
This isn't one of my best shots from out in Las Vegas but out of the 261 pictures that I took, I thought it was actually pretty funny ...
The sign is referring to the rollercoaster that sits atop the New York New York casino that I guess is supposed to look like a Manhattan taxi cab or something. I didn't go on it as I had read that it was a pretty rough ride and, as much as I love rollercoasters, I didn't want to take a chance on screwing up my back while over 2,000 miles away from home.
Jen did fork over $14 to ride the thing and I believe what she found scariest about the whole experience was the price! She told me that it was the worst rollercoaster ride she had ever been on and she felt somewhat "beat up" afterward. As a matter of fact, the next day she had very sore spots on her shoulders where the restraint bar came down. I'm quite glad I missed that one, thank you very much!
Anyhow, I thought maybe some of the Red Sox fans that read my blog might get a kick out of it - or if there are any Yankee fans out there I'm sure they'd appreciate it, too! For those unfamiliar with the New York Yankee - Boston Red Sox rivalry all I can say is - where have you been hiding??
More Vegas pictures as soon as I get some of the other 260 edited ... this is just taking a lot longer than I thought it would!
On this day after Armed Forces Day here in the United States, please take some time to think about what both of these two people have said and don't forget to thank a veteran or active duty member of the military for the freedoms that you enjoy.
As a kid I really wasn't all that much of a TV watcher preferring instead to hang out in my room and read or write in my journal - go figure! However, there are some shows from my youth that I still remember watching and enjoying. One of those was Emergency! - Jack Webb's television drama based on the adventures of two paramedics of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, John Gage and Roy Desoto.
Emergency! first aired in 1972 when I was a mere 13 years old and to this day I can still remember some of the episodes even when I can't remember what I had for breakfast! The great thing about Emergency! was it was a show that you could watch with your parents and not feel like crawling under the couch due to one embarrassing scene after another. It was TV at its finest and it didn't hurt that one of the main characters - Johnny Gage - was damned cute to boot!
Randy Mantooth, the actor who played that damned cute paramedic, was the Keynote Speaker at the Opening Session of the Navigator Conference that I attended in Las Vegas recently and I've got to say, he delivered one heck of a talk that had us laughing as well as nodding our heads in agreement.
For those of you wondering why an actor would be the Keynote Speaker at a conference for dispatchers let me just say that there was a very good reason for him to be there. In 1972, when Emergency! first aired, the paramedic program as we know it in the United States did not exist. If someone called for an ambulance, you got one but all you got along with it was a ride to the hospital. There were no life-saving techniques and no pre-hospital care at that time and chances were good if you were having a heart attack or major case of difficulty breathing, you weren't going to survive the trip to the hospital.
In the middle and late 1970s, Los Angeles County was one of the first communities - along with Seattle, Miami, and Pittsburgh - to start a paramedic program in connection with their local fire departments. When television producer Robert Cinader heard about this trial paramedic program that Los Angeles County was undertaking with funding by the California State Legislature he became so enthralled with the idea that he persuaded Jack Webb and Universal Studios to make an entire show about the phenomenon.
As was the case with his other TV shows, Dragnet and Adam-12, Executive Producer Jack Webb wanted his show to be as accurate as possible and that included making his characters as real as possible. Johnny Gage was based on the real firefighter turned paramedic Jim Page, who helped create the firefighter/paramedic program for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Jack Webb wanted to name the character after Page but he declined that particular honor and John Gage was born!
In addition to one of the lead characters being based on a real firefighter there were other aspects to the show that were based on reality - the role of the dispatcher was "played" by real-life LACoFD dispatcher Sam Lanier who had over 18 years' service to the department; Fire Station 51 is in real life Los Angeles County Fire Station 127 located in Carson, California; the second Engine 51 used in the show is now in service at Yosemite National Park in California; and the radio call sign KMG365, which is said whenever Station 51 is responding to a call, is still a valid FCC call sign licensed to the LACoFD.
Emergency! was so realistic that it has actually been credited with saving lives in that there were quite a few news reports over the years of children and adults saving people using techniques which were demonstrated in the series. In later years the show posted a disclaimer that the medical techniques should only be performed by trained professionals but it also inspired medical communities all over the country to start offering CPR and First Aid classes so that people could be trained properly.
Along with all that there was one more very important aspect to the show in that it saved lives by inspiring hundreds of men and women to become firefighters and paramedics themselves. A lot of boys wanted to be Johnny Gage when they grew up and that's exactly what they did - they became paramedics and they went on to save lives themselves - something that may have never happened had they not sat down in front of their TV sets on Saturday nights and watched Gage and Desoto in action. As a matter of fact, I work with a couple of those guys and some of them had the pleasure of hearing Randy Mantooth speak at last year's EMS dinner sponsored by Backus Hospital.
Thirty years after the series ended in 1979, Randy Mantooth has devoted a lot of his time to advocating for firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, and other emergency medical providers. He speaks at countless EMS Conferences and Conventions and he really makes us all feel good about our jobs and our role in saving lives. He may have been just an actor with no knowledge of EMS when he started Emergency! but he now has a unique perspective and insight into the start-up and history of pre-hospital treatment in the field and uses that insight and perspective to inspire future generations to become firefighters and paramedics.
I think it's great when an actor can use a character to inspire people like Randy Mantooth has. He's very personable, extremely articulate, has a great sense of humor, and - on top of all that - is still damned good looking, too! What more could you ask for in a speaker at a conference?!?
Following his presentation, Mr. Mantooth (who is half Seminole Indian by the way) went back to the Exhibitors Hall and happily signed autographs for as long as it took for everyone who wanted an autograph to get one. He'll sign anything that anyone wants but if you wanted to help support the Los Angeles County Fire Museum there were pictures and other things that you could buy for him to sign with 50% of the sale going towards the museum. My friend Andrew, who was inspired to become the great paramedic he is, by Johnny Gage had a birthday coming up so I bought a Hot Wheels version of Squad 51 and asked Mr. Mantooth to sign it for him, which he happily did.
He also took a moment for a picture with me -
Randy Mantooth's Keynote Address was definitely one of the highlights of the conference and I'm glad I had a chance to be there to hear it as it helped me to remember that even though my job can sometimes be frustrating and stressful, there are days when I actually do play some small part in saving someone's life - and that makes it all worthwhile.
Time once again for my friend Tisha's Looking at the Sky on Friday meme and even though she's a major fan of Kris Allen going into the finals of American Idol next week, I can certainly forgive her that and participate in her meme in spite of the fact that I am a major fan of Adam Lambert and am hoping he takes the title. However, even if he doesn't, I'm sure he's got himself a career all ready to go and if by some chance Kris does manage to win I won't begrudge him the title as I think he's darned good, too. Matter of fact, it's been a tough season as there were so many good contestants this year it was hard not to root for more than one of them! Well, with the exception of Megan Joy that is - her I didn't like at all!
Anyhow, Idol chatter aside (yes, pun intended!), for this week's meme I chose one of the shots that I took from the window of my Southwest Airlines flight out to Las Vegas on April the 28th so I guess you could say that I was looking down at the skies rather than up at them as we were cruising at about 36,000 feet!
The big black area to the left of the picture is actually one of the planes engines as we were sitting just ahead of the wing on the left hand side of the plane as you're flying west. The only complaint I have with Southwest is that they need to keep their windows a little cleaner so that folks like myself who insist on taking pictures can get clearer ones!
Speaking of folks taking pictures, don't forget to click on over to CrAzY Working Mom and see what skies other people have posted. Have a great Friday while you're at it!
It's hard to believe that it's been over two weeks already since Jen, my usual dispatch partner at work, and myself flew out to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the annual Navigator Conference for dispatchers who are certified through the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch however that's exactly what's it been. Wow - where does the time go?
At any rate, naturally I took a lot of pictures from one of the very first places we went to while in the Las Vegas area - the Hoover Dam - and I figure it's about high-time I post some of them. As there are so many, I put a lot of them in the You Tube video a little further down in this post but I'll sprinkle a few more throughout. For example, this one up there to the right isn't the best picture ever due to that hovering green blob in front of the palm tree but I kind of liked it anyway! There's just something about palm trees in the desert that still amazes me though I really don't know why!
Okay then ... on with the post!
We arrived in Las Vegas around 10:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and procured a rental car right at the airport to make the drive out to Hoover Dam. It's really not all that far from Vegas and we figured that by driving out ourselves, we could pretty much do things at our own pace. I must say, though, that Vegas traffic is not the most fun to drive in and I thought Jen was going to have a panic attack or something on the slightly twisty-turny road that gets one to the dam. Still, we made it in one piece and after parking in the dam garage, we made our way over to the dam visitor center.
Unfortunately, there were no dam tours the day we were there so we were limited to the Visitor's Center and walking around outside of the dam. Regardless, it was pretty damn impressive and while I was watching the movie they show about how and why the dam was built, I marveled not just on the fact that men built such a magnificent structure but that other men had thought of and designed it to begin with. For all that it was a tremendous feat to build such a thing, it never could have happened had someone not thought of how to do it first.
Speaking of building things, one of the very first things you see as you come around the corner approaching the dam from the Nevada side is the arch bridge that is being built over Black Canyon and the Colorado River located way, way, way down below.
Located approximately 1600 feet down river from the Hoover Dam, the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is going to be the new Route 93 and will eliminate the traffic that currently drives across the top of the dam. When finished in September of 2010, the bridge will be 840 feet above the canyon and provide pedestrian walkways so that people can stroll across the bridge (gulp!) to take pictures of the dam. I can only imagine that it will be one heck of an impressive view but not one that I will ever take in myself!
As for the Hoover Dam itself, it is an engineering marvel of the highest magnitude. When completed, it was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure though now it is currently the world's 35th-largest hydroelectric generating station and the Grand Toulee Dam is bigger. Trust me, that is hard to imagine!
Construction began on the project that would tame the Colorado River and provide much-needed water to the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming in 1931 and was completed two years ahead of schedule in 1936. Over the course of the construction, over 21,000 workers were hired to complete the project which provided much-needed jobs to workers hit by the Great Depression that gripped the United States.
Originally called the Boulder Dam project, the dam was officially named Hoover Dam in a Congressional Act of February 14th, 1931 that kept up the tradition of important dams being named in honor of whoever was the President in office at the time of construction. On May 8th, 1933, however, the new Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, who had been appointed by the new President (Franklin D. Roosevelt), removed Hoover's name from the dam and directed that it be called Boulder Dam instead. Ickes retired in 1946 following FDR's death in 1945 and on March 4th, 1947 California Republican Congressman Jack Anderson submitted a resolution to restore the name of the dam. On April 30th, 1947, President Harry Truman signed Public Law 43 which renamed the dam in honor of President Herbert Hoover who had played an instrumental role in its construction, first as the Secretary of Commerce and then later as the President.
In addition to the dam itself, one of the things I liked most was the monument by Oskar J.W. Hansen, a sculptor who moved to the United States from Norway. His monument consists of two 32-foot-tall winged figures, made of bronze, and is called "Winged Figures of the Republic." It sits on the Nevada side of the dam.
The winged figures contain more than 4 tons of statuary bronze and are done in an art deco style. They sit on a base of black diorite, an igneous rock, and in order to place the blocks without marring their highly polished finish, the figures were centered on blocks of ice and guided precisely into place as the ice melted. According to Hansen, the winged figures represent "the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment."
Surrounding the base is a terrazzo floor, inlaid with a star chart, or celestial map, which pinpoints the precise astronomical time - September 30, 1935, 8:56 p.m. - when President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the dam. The floor also pays homage to the Native American heritage of the land which surrounds the dam. All in all, it's pretty cool!
Anyhow, I think I've bored you with enough history for one post so please enjoy the rest of the pictures below which don't do justice to the magnificence which is Hoover Dam. The only way to truly appreciate it is to visit it yourself and I'm sure you'll be as dam amazed and impressed as I was!
Growing up I was never a soda-drinker and that has pretty much followed me into my adult years. I have a soda every great once in awhile but for the most part don’t drink or buy it – much to Amanda’s dismay I’m sure. One of the constant laments in our household is “there’s nothing to drink!” to which I generally reply “there’s plenty of water!” but that doesn’t seem to be the answer she wants to hear as she’s just not real enamored of the taste of plain old water. So, what does the mom of a teenager do when you want to get your kid to drink more water but she wants something with some flavor? One gets flavored water, that’s what!
Recently, I found a great way to give Amanda the flavored water she wants and even sneak in some antioxidants at the same time while managing not to break the bank with the ridiculous cost of bottled water. Pure Inventions, the creation of two lifelong friends who also happen to be nutritionists, touts themselves as A Renovation in Hydration and after trying a couple of their products, I’ve got to agree.
Pure Inventions offers a line of antioxidant rich products that contain no calories, no caffeine, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no preservatives, no alcohol, no carbohydrates, and no gluten. What they do have is a great taste and a little boost all while giving you much needed hydration. Their products include Green Tea Extracts, Fruit Extracts, a Tranquility blend with chamomile, Pure Cocoa, and even a Fit & Slender blend that is designed to help with weight management.
I tried both the Fit & Slender blend that contains six ingredients which have been chosen to “ensure maximum effect when combined with healthy eating and exercise” and the Green Tea – Pineapple Coconut Extract. Both were absolutely delicious and really helped me to get more water into my daily diet as, to be perfectly honest, I am quite horrible about making sure I drink enough throughout the day. When it tastes this good, though, it makes it a lot easier!
All I have to do with a Pure Inventions extract is put a dropper full into 8-ounces of water, shake it up a bit, and I’ve got a delicious and nutritious drink. If I want to jazz things up a bit, I can use sparkling water, add lots of ice, and squeeze in some citrus for a little added flavor or for those times I’m feeling cold – which are quite often being that I am anemic on top of everything else – I can add a dropper full to 8 ounces of hot water and get a great-tasting drink that warms me up from the inside out.
What better way to get Amanda to drink something good for her then to offer her a tasty glass of Pomegranate with Acai Berry or even a Mint Cocoa blend? I’m also thinking a nice glass of the Tranquility blend (which includes chamomile and passionflower as well as magnesium to aid in muscle relaxation) might be just the thing to have after one of my long 16-hour dispatch shifts.
If you’re interested in taking a look at their full product line, click on over to http://www.pureinventions.com and take a look at what they’ve got to offer. If you decide to try Pure Inventions, you can get free shipping until May 31st, 2009 just by entering the code P22FREESHIP at checkout. Also, something to keep in mind when looking at their prices, a bottle of Pure Inventions green tea extract will give you 60 servings – that equals out to only 55 cents for a tasty 8-ounce glass of water that delivers a crisp, clean, and delicious 100 mg of green tea without the caffeine but loaded with antioxidants that your body needs to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
See that guy over there on the left? The one who is so tired that he has no trouble sleeping in a rather uncomfortable position at the airport? Yeah ... him! He was so out of it, he never even knew I took his picture!
However, that's about how I felt last night which is why this isn't the post that I was going to originally do today. That post is just going to have to wait another day or two until I can get myself readjusted to being back at work and all that goes along with it.
I'm going to try real hard not to assume this particular position in my dispatch chair over the course of the next 16 hours but I get the feeling it's going to be one very long and very tiring day, especially considering that I was so busy on my day off on Tuesday getting my eyes dilated and then trying to drive over to meet Rhonda for lunch and afterward taking Amanda in to the oral surgeon to make arrangements for a couple of her wisdom teeth to come out. Plus there was laundry and a few other things in between and then catching up on everyone else's blogs. I tell ya, a girl can only do so much in one day!
Ah well, enough whining ... those who can - go take a nap and those who can't - welcome to my world!
Today, like yesterday, has a lot of running around for various and assorted errands scheduled so I'm afraid I'm not going to have a lot of time for blogging until perhaps later this evening when I settle down in front of the TV and watch "American Idol". Being the professional multi-tasker that I am, I can watch Adam perform and blog at the same time!
In the meantime, though, I thought I'd use one of my pictures that I took out in California last week and see if you maybe ya'll could come up with a caption or two for it. I took this picture at the Seacliff Beach Pier in Aptos where the Palto Alto is located and felt that it looked like these two birds were talking to each other. That, in turn, led me to think that perhaps some of you comedians out there might have some fun with it
I'll be back later to see what you came up with but for now I've got an appointment with the eye doctor, lunch with an old friend, and a consult with Amanda's oral surgeon lined up. Hope you all have a great Tuesday no matter what you're doing!
I'm not sure if Lee is still doing his Sunday Scenery meme or not over at Tarheel Ramblings but I thought it might be kind of fun to post a picture of what the scenery looked like in Stockton, California last Sunday ...
No, that isn't my camera crying - though it well good have been considering the situation! - that is rain; lots and lots of rain that was coming down on the windshield and on my head when I ran into grab a coffee at one of the local Starbucks (don't try to find a Dunkin Donuts in California - they do not exist much to my chagrin!).
A little over 100 miles and several hours later, my Sunday Scenery changed to something more like this ...
... Surfer Boyz enjoying the waves in Santa Cruz in spite of the chill, the fog, and the very unCalifornia-like conditions! Or maybe it just seemed unCalifornia-like to me as it certainly wasn't bothering these guys any nor did it really bother me all that much as Katherine and I toured her lovely town.
Speaking of lovely here's another great bit of scenery from Santa Cruz ...
... a lovely Bird of Paradise flower for all of you ladies out there who are celebrating this day dedicated to all of us who claim the title of Mother in this life. A very Happy Mother's Day to all of you and may it be all that you wish/hope for it to be. If by some chance you aren't a Mom, you definitely have one even if she's no longer residing on this earthly plane so don't forget to wish her a happy day and thank her for all she did/is doing for you!
And finally ... one more scene for my friend and dispatch partner Kevin who is celebrating a birthday today - something I know that will make him happy ...
... Happy Birthday, Kevin, and may this year be right on track for you (corny, I know, but that's what birthday sentiments are supposed to be!).
Now all you folks get out there and enjoy your Sunday, I'll be at 9-1-1 if you need me!
Yep, sad to say that when vacation is over - vacation is over. It was back to work for me yesterday afternoon and after being gone for almost two weeks, I sort of felt like a stranger in a strange land for the first ten minutes or so. Of course it all came back to me after just a short period of time but that first 911 call was a bit awkward at first! Not to sound like a heartless dispatcher but I gotta tell you, it's real easy not to miss other people's emergencies.
As for my trip home Thursday via Sacramento back to Vegas and then to Providence - even though both flights were packed and on the last leg I was crammed into a middle seat between two people who obviously knew each other but didn't mind having a stranger sitting smack in the middle of their conversation - it wasn't too bad because a scheduled 5-hour flight ended up being just a shade under 4-1/2 hours due to a good tail wind. I am still very impressed by Southwest's on-time, or better yet early, record!
In an effort to make the second flight go by a little quicker I decided to spring for a glass of Chardonnay in the hopes that perhaps it would put me to sleep for a little while. I figured it would be worth the five bucks to get a little shut-eye but I've got to say, that was probably the worst plastic cup of Chardonnay I have ever had in my life. Come to think of it, it may have been the only plastic cup of Chardonnay I've ever had in my life! I did nod off for about an hour so I guess it was worth choking it down but next time I think I'll order some cranberry juice and vodka as that's what the guy next to me had and he seemed to sleep almost the entire trip once he finished his drink and his conversation with his friend to my right. Of course, he had two drinks to my one so maybe that's part of the secret!
Upon arriving home I wasn't too dismayed by the state of the house as Amanda had done a reasonable job of keeping it about as clean as she usually does (not exactly to my standards but not too bad). I did, however, find a nice moldy batch of what used to be corn muffins sitting in a covered bowl on the counter. Apparently Amanda had completely forgotten that there were corn muffins in the bowl and never once opened it the entire time I was gone. When I opened the lid, this is what I saw ...
As you can see, they turned a lovely shade of blue & green and grew some nice fur, too. I bet they could have garnered some kid an A+ in a science project or provided penicillin for a third world country! For a kid who likes zombies and other monsters, Amanda got kind of squeamish when I had her look in the bowl and there was no way she was going to take them out to the trash so I ended up having to do it myself but I guess if that was the worst of it, I'm okay with that.
On a completely unrelated note, today is my oldest's birthday as he turns 28 years old. 28?!? Is that right?!? Oh snap, son, I really am old, aren't I?!? Happy Birthday, Michael, hope it's a good one for you with a great year to follow! And speaking of birthdays, it's my curly-headed grandson's fourth birthday next month. Where does the time go??
Oh well, speaking of time, it's back to work for another 8 hours - like I said, when vacation ends, it really ends! Hope everyone has a great Saturday!
I'm afraid I've missed a couple of Tisha's Looking at the Sky on Friday memes lately but have more than enough pictures to make up for it and post in the weeks to come thanks to my recent trip West. As a matter of fact, while driving around in the Sierra Nevadas this past Wednesday, just about every photo I took was one that I thought would be perfect for this meme!
For this week, I thought I would use one of the pictures of one of my very favorite places in the United States -
This is the view from the top of Highway 50 in California as you come around the bend and catch a glimpse of beautiful Lake Tahoe. This view never fails to take my breath away and even though there were plenty of clouds around, I still thought it was one of the most gorgeous places ever. That might be pretty easy to see why!
For more beautiful sky pictures be sure to swing by Tisha's blog and may everyone have a great Friday no matter where you may be!
I bet you all are expecting another post from California, aren't you? Surprise! Not today!
It is my pleasure to announce that, after my suggesting it to her a time or two, Amanda finally broke down and decided to start her own blog or - as she put it in her first post -
"Now, why would I even want to make my own blog?! I am NOT a writer, not by a long shot. I did not inherit that particular talent from my mom. She seems to think that if I made my own blog, I could post my artwork over here instead of bugging her every so often to do a post on her own blog (Even though it IS supposed to be about both of us. Heh.)"
She's got three posts up so far and I'm going to have to disagree with her in that I think she is, in fact, a bit of a writer. Granted, she's not as long-winded as I am but she writes a pretty good post!
Amanda's blog is titled Artcetera "The Delirious Ramblings of an Artistically Inclined Mind" and it will hopefully serve as a forum for her to get some feedback on her artwork that she plans on primarily using the blog for. Contrary to what she might think, I do like to post her artwork on my blog but I thought it might be nice for her to be able to post it more frequently and get some input directly. Her goal in life is to be a comic book illustrator/artist and I think that having a blog and posting some of her work there can only help her in attaining that goal. After all, it's my goal in life that she become a very successful comic book illustrator/artist so that she can then support me and I can stop working like a fiend and slaving over 9-1-1 calls!
I would consider it a personal favor to me if you'd consider adding her blog to your Readers and maybe stop by every so often and offer up a comment or two - be it good or bad. As good as I think her artwork is I'm obviously a bit prejudiced so it would be nice to hear from another viewer or two - plus maybe you folks can convince her that she is a pretty decent writer no matter what she may think!
Thank you much and I'll get back to my West Coast posts once I get back to the East Coast (I'm flying home today) and can get back into a semi-normal routine - whatever and whenever that may be!
I couldn't help myself and the drive to the foothills with Cyndi turned into a drive over Ebbetts Pass to Lake Tahoe. I am so glad we did - I love this place! So many great memories and it's absolutely gorgeous! Heading back over Carson Pass shortly, will definitely stop to take more pictures along the way.
The sun finally decided to shine here in California on Tuesday and with Cyndi still under the weather with her very own case of the flu, I was more or less left to my own devices. Experience has taught me that when left to my own devices, I generally tend to go out and spend some time with my Nikon and yesterday was no exception to that.
After getting together for lunch with my old roommate Scott who is an award-winning (I just love being able to say that about him!) sports reporter for The Stockton Record, which is the local newspaper, and having a wonderful time catching up on new things and laughing over old ones I drove over to the Stockton Rural Cemetery to do something I do every time I'm here - visit the grave of Sgt. Timothy White.
Timmy was one of the police officers I used to work with at the Stockton Police Department who was tragically killed in the line of duty in January of 1990. I wasn't living in Stockton when Timmy died but his memory has stayed with me all of these years and a trip to Stockton would not be complete without a stop by his grave. He wasn't just a great cop, he was a friend to me during a time when I really needed one and I will never forget him.
Some of you are probably aware of the fact that I enjoy taking pictures in cemeteries around Connecticut and Stockton is apparently no exception as I was compelled to head back to the car and pull my camera out yesterday after trying to find a small stone to place on top of Timmy's grave. The leaving of a stone is an act of remembrance to show that the person whose grave it is has not been forgotten but unfortunately, there were no small stones to be found anywhere around so I hope Timmy doesn't mind I left a rather large rock on his grave! Hopefully it's the thought that counts!
The trees in the Stockton Rural Cemetery always captivate me and yesterday was certainly no exception - especially with the beautiful blue skies above - so after leaving Timmy's grave, I took some pictures that would probably be perfect for Tisha'sLooking at the Sky on Friday meme! Not to worry, I have plenty more in store for that not just from here but from my time in Santa Cruz with Katherine. As a matter of fact, I've got about 450 pictures from my time spent down there and as soon as I get them sorted out, you can expect an epic Santa Cruz post! Just as a tease, here's a picture for ya that I'm sure Sandee will like!
Following my time at the cemetery I went by and spent the rest of the afternoon and some of the evening visiting Grandma Edith, my former grandmother-in-law from my first marriage who still tells everyone that I'm her granddaughter. She turned 86 in March and even though she's doing okay, I definitely worry about her living alone as she is starting to get very, very forgetful. She asked me the same questions probably about six times over while I was there and each time it was like the answer was brand new to her. She's a true sweetheart and has always made me feel like one of her own rather than the woman who used to be married to her grandson. Considering my own grandparents are long gone, she's the only one I've got left now and she's very dear to my heart.
From Grandma Edith's, I decided to take a drive around Stockton to revisit some old haunts and see if I still knew where things are. The city has grown by leaps and bounds since I left in 1987 and I've only gotten back here a handful of times since then but I'm rather proud of the fact that I still remember where most things are. Must be from my former dispatching days when I knew just about every single street and neighborhood in Stockton.
I pulled over at one point to take some pictures of some beautiful roses that caught my eye; their color was just gorgeous and even though these pictures don't really do them justice I figured I would share them anyway! Just across the street from where I was taking the pictures of the roses, I saw this scene that I rather liked ...
Yet behind me, this is what the sky looked like ...
Even though the moon looks like it was extremely far away in that picture, it really wasn't and because of that I was finally able to capture a shot of the moon that I really like -
Woohoo! I almost did a happy dance I was so pleased with that picture!
All in all, in spite of that fact that I haven't been able to spend any time with Cyndi, it's been a nice trip though I am really hoping we can do something together today. If not, it seems to me she's going to have to come to the East Coast to make it up to me! Sounds fair, right??
As most of you who read my blog on a regular basis know, I used to live in California quite a few years ago and I still have former in-laws that I keep in touch with as well as friends from that period of time in my life. They serve as a very good incentive to occasionally (very occasionally) make the rather long trip back out this way.
Another incentive is the Mexican food. I know I sound like a broken record but honest-to-God folks, you just cannot get good Mexican food in Connecticut - at least in my own humble opinion! For that reason, whenever I am out this way I have to make at least one - if not several - trips to my very favorite Mexican place - Cancun in downtown Stockton. It may not be the best in town by some people's standards but it was a favorite when I worked at the police department and it continues to be a favorite to this day. What can I say? I am a creature of habit!
After spending the day traipsing around Santa Cruz with Katherine and having a fabulous time (a post will follow on that as soon as I have more time), she and I came back over to Stockton and met up with Sandee and her husband Zane at my favorite Mexican restaurant and had a fantastic time. As a matter of fact, we ended up closing the place down as the time just flew by!
In addition to consuming that absolutely fantastic strawberry margarita that you see pictured above, I also broke from tradition and rather than ordering my usual #13, I opted for the Combinación del número seises and it was, of course, ¡Muy bueno! Honestly, if I could pack one of the cooks at Cancun into my suitcase and take him/her home with me, I would! Of course, then I'd be able to have Mexican food all the time and would have one less reason to come visit California ... hmm ...
Actually, I have come to the conclusion that I have many more reasons to come visit California again as Katherine has promised me a plane ride up the coast, dinner at Shadowbrook (a very cool restaurant in Santa Cruz that you have to take a gondola down the hill to get to), and other assorted attractions plus it would give me the opportunity to see Sandee and Zane again who are just absolutely fantastic people (even though Zane is kind of like Teller in the Penn & Teller magician act as he doesn't speak much - if at all!).
Now I know you're probably wondering why there aren't any pictures of all of us at dinner last night and the reason is that Zane was the official photographer and you'll just have to wait until I get copies from Sandee. I was too busy sucking down that drink and diving into my food to even worry about anything but an obligatory quick picture before I ate it all!
Speaking of food, I need to get my shoes on and get out of here so that I can meet another old friend for lunch this afternoon. Scott is a sports writer for the local paper, the Stockton Record, and we want to get together before he has to head into work this afternoon.
Katherine - again - thank you for a wonderful time in Santa Cruz, I enjoyed every minute of it and am so glad the weather decided to be nice! Sandee and Zane - thank you again for dinner and for making the trip over to Stockton to see me, it was great to see the both of you again! I guess I'll have to start thinking about that "next time" now!
... sometimes get rained on or changed at the last moment. So far, my trip to California seems to have been one changed plan after another that gets rained on but that doesn't mean it's been bad - just not what I thought.
I don't know how many times I heard on the news this morning that normally California only gets three total rainy days for the entire month but so far, it has rained every single day of May and apparently there is more in store for the next couple of days. Oh yay, oh yay - do I have good timing or what??
In addition to the rain which has kind of messed things up, Cyndi and I had to change plans for our trip to Santa Cruz when her husband came down with a nasty case of the flu (his doctor doesn't think it's swine flu or the H1N1 virus but it's the flu nonetheless) and Cyndi needed to stay home to take care of him. It's kind of hard to do anything for yourself when your bones feel like melted jello so I fully understood why she needed to bail out on me. Still, it was a disappointment for her to miss out on the trip but the hotel room had been booked and paid for, Katherine was waiting, and I've driven to New York City by myself so Santa Cruz had to be a piece of cake in spite of the crappy weather and traffic, right? Hence I made the trip across the Santa Cruz mountains on my own and checked into the Inn at Pasatiempo which is a charming little place nestled at the bottom of the mountains.
I'm no expert when it comes to flowers - that would have been Cyndi's department - but there are quite a few fragrant blossoms outside of my door that are lovely to look at and really add to the beauty of this place. I'm sorry Cyndi had to miss it - she would have really liked it.
After dropping my bags in my room, I climbed back into the car and made my way down to Santa Cruz proper to meet up with Katherine, authoress of Wading Through My Stream of Consciousness. I originally met Katherine during last year's visit when we got together for dinner at Cancun in Stockton along with Sandee and Zane and Katherine's guy, The Teamster and she is a great person who takes great pictures and lives in a great town.
Thankfully it had stopped raining and even though it was still overcast as well as foggy and misty, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour that Katherine gave me of what is apparently Surf Central here in the United States! Honestly, I'm not sure I've ever seen so many surfers in one place just out bobbing around in the ocean waiting for a wave to come along that they can catch a ride on. I never knew surfers' had to be so patient but apparently they are and they also have their own rules of etiquette and proper surfer behavior. From what Katherine was telling me, it's probably not a good idea to tick a surfer off when it comes to taking your turn out of order with a wave, the consequences could be more than you bargained for!
After dinner at Katherine's favorite Mexican place (as delicious as any Mexican food I remember!), we drove around some more and Katherine showed me a rather unusual site -
This is the Palo Alto, a World War I supply ship that was made from cement and rebar when steel was in short supply. Formerly docked at the Seacliff Beach Pier as a casino and dance hall until its owners went bust during the Great Depression., it's currently home to an awful lot of birds! Katherine also tells me that it's like a manmade tidal pool in that there are all sorts of marine life living below it's submerged decks.
Following our short walk on the short pier, we drove back towards Santa Cruz itself to another popular surfing locale, Steamer Lane, which was really covered in mist and fog but where many more surfers were out waiting to catch the next curl. Also located here is the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum which is housed in the Mark Abbot Memorial Lighthouse.
Being the curious sort, I did a little bit of research and found out the following about this little lighthouse -
On February 28, 1965, Mark Abbott, age 18, drowned while bodysurfing in the waters near Pleasure Point, three miles east of Point Santa Cruz. Mark’s parents, Chuck and Esther Abbott, had purchased a life insurance policy for their son’s 18th birthday, and shortly after the accident they received a $20,000 payment. Remembering that Mark had enjoyed the lighthouses seen during their family vacation along the Oregon coast, the Abbotts decided to use the insurance money to donate a lighthouse to the city in honor of their son. Five years earlier, the city had purchased all of the lighthouse property except for the area immediately around the still active wooden Coast Guard tower. In 1967, the brick Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse was built adjacent to the wooden tower that it would replace. The lantern room from the decommissioned Oakland Harbor Lighthouse was used atop the new lighthouse, and Mark’s ashes were buried at the base of the tower. (Badly corroded, the lantern room was replaced in 1996.)
Katherine tells me the surfing museum is suffering from the same financial difficulties that is affecting so many other places in this country and is currently closed pending the ability of the Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation Society to keep it open. In the meantime, though, it still looks pretty cool in the mist and fog!
With any luck, that mist and fog won't make a reappearance today and I'll be able to actually see the ocean when Katherine and I continue our tour of the area. I believe that the Santa Cruz mission and another lighthouse are on the agenda along with the boardwalk and maybe even a train trestle before we make our way back towards Stockton and dinner with Sandee and Zane at my very favorite Mexican restaurant. Let's see how these plans go, shall we?!?
It's still kind of hard to believe that just about one year to the date that I was last in California, I am back here again. I honestly figured I wouldn't see the place again for years - if ever - but I was quite obviously wrong.
The flight from Las Vegas was quite nice as there were only about 35 of us on the plane so I not only had my own row but all of the rows around me were empty, too. Compared to the packed-to-the-gills flight that Jen and I had from Providence to Vegas, the flight to Sacramento was fantastic! Plus it was a lot shorter, too!
I really can't complain about Southwest Airlines at all - in spite of the packed plane on Tuesday. So far, all of their flights have been right on time or early and the crews have been wonderful. Sadly, flying isn't what it used to be (I actually have fond memories of some of my first flights when they actually gave you real silverware and an honest-to-goodness meal) but I don't mind it every once in awhile. Besides, you can't get cool pictures of the clouds and wings of airplanes if you're on the ground all the time!
Anyhow ... we landed in Sacramento about ten minutes early and I stepped out of the airport into rain. Yep, it is raining here in sunny California and may not actually clear up until the day I leave. Bummer. Oh well, they need the rain out here so I guess I can't begrude them the moisture - though it could have waited till after I left!
First stop after getting my fancy-dancy brand-new hybrid Toyota Camry rental car with all the bells and whistles for a dirt cheap price (gots to love Price-Line!), I made my way down to an iHop not too far from the airport to meet up with Carol of A Letter to Me ... Carol's blog was introduced to me by Jamie of Duward Discussion and she is a truly delightful lady who originally hails from Massachusetts but has called Sacramento home for quite some time now. After a big hug in the parking lot we sat down to a lovely late breakfast and chat and I've got to say that Carol is just as lovely in person as she is on her blog. Before I knew it 2-1/2 hours had flown by and yes, idiot that I am, I left my camera in the car and neglected to get a picture. After another big hug, I continued my journey south to Stockton and pulled up outside Cyndi's house right around 3:00.
Left to my own devices while Cyndi and her husband left for their Saturday night visit to see her youngest son in his group home, I finally was able to get on-line and clean out my email folders as well as download some pictures which I am still in the process of sorting out.
When hunger finally kicked in again I decided to hold off on any sort of Mexican food until Cyndi could join me and opted to finally check out the fast-food joint that people have been telling me I need to go to now for years - In-N-Out Burger. The last time I was here in Stockton I was going to give them a try but the line at the drive-thru was wrapped around the building and I went to Jack in the Box instead. This time I bypassed the long drive-thru line, parked the car, and went inside to order.
Having never been to an In-N-Out, I had no idea what to expect. The menu is pretty basic - a hamburger, a cheeseburger, or a double-double burger; fries; shakes; and sodas. I believe that about sums the whole thing up! I was pretty hungry so opted for a double-double (no onions, please), an order of fries, and a beverage. As I waited for my order to be ready, I wondered whether it was going to be as good as all the hype I'd heard.
First off, let me just say that the fries were phenomenal! They're made from potatoes fresh-cut right there on the premises (you can see them slicing them as you wait for your food to be served) and are probably the lightest fries I've ever tasted! As for the burger - it was definitely just as good as everyone kept telling me and reminded me of the hamburgers that we used to get when I was younger and burgers tasted like real burgers and not some prefabricated mystery meat smothered in secret sauce. Of course, now I get to go back to Connecticut and wish we had not only Jack in the Box restaurants but In-N-Outs, too!
Now that I've got a full stomach, it's time to call it a night as 5:00 a.m. was a long, long time ago and I need to be up at a reasonable hour to get ready to head to the coast - rain or no rain! I'm hoping it's a Central Valley thing and the sun might actually shine in Santa Cruz but even if it doesn't, I'm looking forward to seeing the ocean and Katherine both. Let the real part of the vacation begin!
It's way too early for a Saturday in Sin City but it's time to leave Vegas behind and start on the second half of my trip. I am hoping the flight to Sacramento is fairly empty so we aren't doing the flying sardine can imitation that the flight out here was! Besides, who goes to Sacramento anyway? Vegas was a'ight but I wouldn't go out of my way to come here again. Other than the conference itself, Hoover Dam was the best part of the trip - the rest of it is too much glitz but not much glamour. At least in my own humble opinion! Now onward to California and all the Mexican food I can eat!
It's the last day of my dispatch conference and tomorrow I will be heading to Stockton for the non-working part of my trip west. Vegas has been fun but tiring so I will be glad to get to boring Stockton to get some rest! Finishing up later today with the middle of the Strip including the fountains at the Bellagio and maybe a gondola ride. See you tomorrow, Carol!
When I graduated from Windham High School in 1976 and went straight to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in
Texas it never in a million years would have occurred to me that I would eventually be living in Norwich, the Rose of New England. Funny how life likes to throw curve-balls at you! For years I made my living telling police officers where
to go but for the past 6+ years I've been dispatching ambulances instead.
Now ... let's see how well I juggle a stress-filled job with a 17-year old attending her senior
year of high school. I think a definite sense of humor will be required!
Goals for the year - find a new place to live, lose some of this extra weight I've been carrying around, hopefully get my finances straightened out, take a much-needed vacation (I hear the hotels
in Madrid are really quite nice!), sell one of my photographs, and maybe end this six-year drought of no kisses!
Beautiful, yes?
at
5/31/2009
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