Of Cruises, Trips, and Vexations
*exhausted sigh* Today was just so busy and filled with scream-worthy vexing moments. It just feels so good to sit here out on my front porch, enjoying the cool night air. Simple pleasures. Random musings about today:
• I'm working mostly from home this week so I can do things on my schedule. I had to run a bunch of errands today. One of the first stops was to AAA to visit my travel agent to finalize everything for my September cruise (sailing from Venice to Athens with port stops in Croatia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and other cities in Italy and Greece). My travel agent was on emergency medical leave and so I had to have another agent help me. I was so startled when she said, "So you're going to go to Monaco first and then..." O_O What?! As much as I would love to visit Monaco, my mind began reeling about someone making a mistake with the itinerary. It turned out that she meant the Hotel Monaco in Venice. We'll be spending two days in Venice before boarding the ship. Even though this trip was planned months ago with the entire itinerary in place, logic shut down and my mind went into stress mode for a few seconds after hearing "Monaco."
• I went to Sonic afterwards. Yay for cherry limeades and half priced Happy Hour drinks! :D
• My mom had to take a class today and my dad and I picked her up with the intention of going out to dinner afterwards. Dad was driving and the only available space in the lot was next to the bottlebrush trees. The car in the bay next to mine was a space hog and my dad had to park extremely close to the bottlebrush. I got out to move to the backseat and brushed against the trees. I didn't think too much about it, but I knew I had needle-like (but soft) blossoms and pollen all over me. What I didn't know is that apparently people use that tree as a trash receptacle.
When we got to the restaurant and my parents saw the back of my shirt, they thought that a bird had pooped on me. There were three huge white splotches on the middle area of my shirt. I can deal with bird poop (at least that will wash out when laundered), but those splotches turned out to be gum. Ewwwww! *screeches* Not only that, but there was a nasty sticky substance in my hair and tons of bottlebrush blossoms attached to it. Thankfully the car wasn't too affected (just a bunch of blossoms that were easily vacuumed up), but I don't know about the shirt. After dinner, I dropped off my parents and changed at their house before going home. My dad told me he'd try to remove the gum.
Last Weekend's Tahoe/Reno Road Trip
My family enjoyed this early Father's Day celebration trip even though the entire weekend was filled with snow and rain. We got home on Monday as planned, but it was a bit of a stressful drive. Because of the filthy weekend weather, there were snow advisories in the Sierras and all the electronic boards proclaimed that chains were required at Donner Pass on I-80. WTH? Okay, after that bizarre snowfall in May 2010 for the Mother's Day trip which took everybody by surprise, we travel with chains. But it's June and the weather is warm in spite of the rain/snow.
It turns out that chains weren't required because it wasn't snowing. The rain was absolutely horrible, but it's not as bas as snow. The fog was also terrible. I was just so annoyed with the people who couldn't be bothered to change the bulletin notices.
Trip Details
Friday
We had an early morning start and I did all the driving myself. It was mostly uneventful except for the horrible accident on I-80 East at Boomtown in Nevada. It involved a motorcyclist and two cars. I don't know exactly what happened, but they rerouted traffic and as we crawled along, we saw the paramedics working on one of the accident victims. It was a truly awful thing to see, and I just hope that person is okay.
We checked into our hotel and I went to purchase tickets for a cirque type show called Illuminaire which we would see on Sunday. I walked along the river and through the park afterwards. There were lots of people milling about, enjoying the bright and sunny weather. After a huge dinner, I caught up with my movie watching and Kindle reading. Very low-key and relaxing. Gambling is not really my thing and I don't particularly like it.
Saturday
We were suppose to drive to Tahoe to sail on the lake, but skies opened up and spewed torrential rain. It was disappointing to cancel that portion of the trip, but my dad definitely would not have enjoyed it. It was for him anyway, since we were celebrating Father's Day. We left the choice to him and he made the final decision not to go. We ended up going to the movie theater to see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and eating chocolate mudslide cakes with steaming mugs of hot chocolate piled high with whipped cream afterwards.
We had a late dinner at the Hash House which was apparently featured on the Food Network on a show about man food. I had no idea what the concept of the restaurant was, but the menu looked good so we ate there. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and my eyes practically bulged out of my head when I saw it. The burger was ginormous and had a huge steak knife and long piece of fresh sage sticking out of the top. That sandwich could easily feed three people, and had I known about the portions, I would have split a dish with my mom. Good, tasty food though. :)
Sunday
After morning mass, we went shopping. I'm trying to scale back, but shopping is still something I love to do. After cleaning out my closet a few weeks ago, I am loving the extra room and I'm in no hurry to fill up the space. However, I had to get presents for three graduations and two weddings. After making my selections, I headed to See's to get my dad some of his favorite café latté lollipops. While I was there, I was excited to find a box of root beer lollipops, which is a new See's product. Yum! The root beer flavor is intense with creamy notes of flavor. So good! My favorite is their vanilla lollipops, but the root beer might surpass or tie that. I'll have to have some more to make up my mind. ;) I still have a few left.
We saw the 7pm Illuminaire show and it was so creative and spectacular. The costumes were a bit weird (it looked like the designers went crazy with latex and silly string), but it enhanced the mood and feel of the show. I loved the interesting way they played with the lighting effects; with a name like Illuminaire, you expect dramatic lights. Hoola-hoops and jump ropes were set on fire while the performers did amazing stunts with them. My favorite was the pair of aerialists and their ribbon rope. It was scary watching them, but their movements were athletic and beautiful. Although they weren't too high off from the stage, any little mistake could have sent either of them crashing down head first. I also loved the use of the black light which produced a hilariously entertaining dance number. Great show!
Monday
My mom had to work that evening, so we headed out after my parents ate breakfast. Once again I did all of the driving. Instead of making the usual stop for lunch, I decided to drive straight home because of the delays with the rain. We stopped to pick up dinner which we ate at my parents' home. I wondered why I was ravenous and then I realized that I had skipped breakfast and lunch. Driving was so intense in the Sierras and I was so completely focused that I blocked out hunger. I did have water and juice to drink though.
My dad enjoyed his celebratory trip and so did my mom and I. Fun!
• I'm working mostly from home this week so I can do things on my schedule. I had to run a bunch of errands today. One of the first stops was to AAA to visit my travel agent to finalize everything for my September cruise (sailing from Venice to Athens with port stops in Croatia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and other cities in Italy and Greece). My travel agent was on emergency medical leave and so I had to have another agent help me. I was so startled when she said, "So you're going to go to Monaco first and then..." O_O What?! As much as I would love to visit Monaco, my mind began reeling about someone making a mistake with the itinerary. It turned out that she meant the Hotel Monaco in Venice. We'll be spending two days in Venice before boarding the ship. Even though this trip was planned months ago with the entire itinerary in place, logic shut down and my mind went into stress mode for a few seconds after hearing "Monaco."
• I went to Sonic afterwards. Yay for cherry limeades and half priced Happy Hour drinks! :D
• My mom had to take a class today and my dad and I picked her up with the intention of going out to dinner afterwards. Dad was driving and the only available space in the lot was next to the bottlebrush trees. The car in the bay next to mine was a space hog and my dad had to park extremely close to the bottlebrush. I got out to move to the backseat and brushed against the trees. I didn't think too much about it, but I knew I had needle-like (but soft) blossoms and pollen all over me. What I didn't know is that apparently people use that tree as a trash receptacle.
When we got to the restaurant and my parents saw the back of my shirt, they thought that a bird had pooped on me. There were three huge white splotches on the middle area of my shirt. I can deal with bird poop (at least that will wash out when laundered), but those splotches turned out to be gum. Ewwwww! *screeches* Not only that, but there was a nasty sticky substance in my hair and tons of bottlebrush blossoms attached to it. Thankfully the car wasn't too affected (just a bunch of blossoms that were easily vacuumed up), but I don't know about the shirt. After dinner, I dropped off my parents and changed at their house before going home. My dad told me he'd try to remove the gum.
Last Weekend's Tahoe/Reno Road Trip
My family enjoyed this early Father's Day celebration trip even though the entire weekend was filled with snow and rain. We got home on Monday as planned, but it was a bit of a stressful drive. Because of the filthy weekend weather, there were snow advisories in the Sierras and all the electronic boards proclaimed that chains were required at Donner Pass on I-80. WTH? Okay, after that bizarre snowfall in May 2010 for the Mother's Day trip which took everybody by surprise, we travel with chains. But it's June and the weather is warm in spite of the rain/snow.
It turns out that chains weren't required because it wasn't snowing. The rain was absolutely horrible, but it's not as bas as snow. The fog was also terrible. I was just so annoyed with the people who couldn't be bothered to change the bulletin notices.
Trip Details
Friday
We had an early morning start and I did all the driving myself. It was mostly uneventful except for the horrible accident on I-80 East at Boomtown in Nevada. It involved a motorcyclist and two cars. I don't know exactly what happened, but they rerouted traffic and as we crawled along, we saw the paramedics working on one of the accident victims. It was a truly awful thing to see, and I just hope that person is okay.
We checked into our hotel and I went to purchase tickets for a cirque type show called Illuminaire which we would see on Sunday. I walked along the river and through the park afterwards. There were lots of people milling about, enjoying the bright and sunny weather. After a huge dinner, I caught up with my movie watching and Kindle reading. Very low-key and relaxing. Gambling is not really my thing and I don't particularly like it.
Saturday
We were suppose to drive to Tahoe to sail on the lake, but skies opened up and spewed torrential rain. It was disappointing to cancel that portion of the trip, but my dad definitely would not have enjoyed it. It was for him anyway, since we were celebrating Father's Day. We left the choice to him and he made the final decision not to go. We ended up going to the movie theater to see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and eating chocolate mudslide cakes with steaming mugs of hot chocolate piled high with whipped cream afterwards.
We had a late dinner at the Hash House which was apparently featured on the Food Network on a show about man food. I had no idea what the concept of the restaurant was, but the menu looked good so we ate there. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and my eyes practically bulged out of my head when I saw it. The burger was ginormous and had a huge steak knife and long piece of fresh sage sticking out of the top. That sandwich could easily feed three people, and had I known about the portions, I would have split a dish with my mom. Good, tasty food though. :)
Sunday
After morning mass, we went shopping. I'm trying to scale back, but shopping is still something I love to do. After cleaning out my closet a few weeks ago, I am loving the extra room and I'm in no hurry to fill up the space. However, I had to get presents for three graduations and two weddings. After making my selections, I headed to See's to get my dad some of his favorite café latté lollipops. While I was there, I was excited to find a box of root beer lollipops, which is a new See's product. Yum! The root beer flavor is intense with creamy notes of flavor. So good! My favorite is their vanilla lollipops, but the root beer might surpass or tie that. I'll have to have some more to make up my mind. ;) I still have a few left.
We saw the 7pm Illuminaire show and it was so creative and spectacular. The costumes were a bit weird (it looked like the designers went crazy with latex and silly string), but it enhanced the mood and feel of the show. I loved the interesting way they played with the lighting effects; with a name like Illuminaire, you expect dramatic lights. Hoola-hoops and jump ropes were set on fire while the performers did amazing stunts with them. My favorite was the pair of aerialists and their ribbon rope. It was scary watching them, but their movements were athletic and beautiful. Although they weren't too high off from the stage, any little mistake could have sent either of them crashing down head first. I also loved the use of the black light which produced a hilariously entertaining dance number. Great show!
Monday
My mom had to work that evening, so we headed out after my parents ate breakfast. Once again I did all of the driving. Instead of making the usual stop for lunch, I decided to drive straight home because of the delays with the rain. We stopped to pick up dinner which we ate at my parents' home. I wondered why I was ravenous and then I realized that I had skipped breakfast and lunch. Driving was so intense in the Sierras and I was so completely focused that I blocked out hunger. I did have water and juice to drink though.
My dad enjoyed his celebratory trip and so did my mom and I. Fun!