so don't ask if you don't want to know
Posts tagged vacation
I meant to write!
Aug 26th
Other than the breathing thing, I’m having a great vacation.
The trip up was just constant. I’d planned on taking my time and exploring a bit, seeing roadside attractions and what-fer. But realistically, I drive like a maniac. I’d pull over long enough to slap together a sandwich or take a nap and then continue on as fast as I could get away with. Completely missed most of Colorado (which I REALLY wanted to see) because it was dark.
Imanidiot.
Actually, with no A/C it was just too hot most of the time. Too hot to stop and wander around, too hot to sleep in the car, too hot. Plus you get to smell more of America than you really want to. I counted 7 skunks in Arizona and New Mexico. Kansas and Nebraska – of which I took mostly back roads – smells like cows shit and corn. Except Omaha smells like chocolate chip cookies… and then dog food.
The stretch between Omaha and Des Moines is some of the most beautiful country I’ve seen. Once I got past the rain, it’s all hills and green and beautiful old but nicely kept farms.
I got here Friday afternoon after spending the night in a room north of Des Moines. I needed a decent night’s sleep and a shower by then. Cara just kept smiling at me. It’s amazing how we only see each other about once a year but it’s just like we’re neighbors. Thank you Internet for such a great friend.
Until she tried to kill me.
Kidding. She’d bought one of those full-sized blowup beds and thought she’d aired it out enough, but not for sensitive old me. I didn’t notice the fumes until I was in it and too tired to venture far. So by morning I was guppying for air and by nightfall I was in the local VA emergency room. Much better now with my own (different brand – no fumes) blowup mattress in my own cat-free room.
Sunday was spent at the Ren Fest. Hot, humid, fun. Hung with Wickedgroovy Heather too. Pictures up on Flickr.
Pretty much vegging this week while she’s at work. It’s nice to just sit, even WITH all the drama going on at home. I can’t do much so they’re all handling their issues on their own. But that’s for another post.
Tonight is my tweetup. I’ll see old friends and spend time getting to know a couple more IRL strangers/virtual friends.
Tomorrow we’ll plan out the weekend which will include tubing, and may include State Fair? Horseback Riding? Camping? Movies? Dunno.
I should probably leave Monday morning. And my hoped-for second half of a vacation… the SEXcation doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. He’s not in Cincinnati anymore and I really don’t want to venture further East. That just make the drive back that much further too. Dammit.
Vacation: Nawlins and Finally Florida
Dec 14th
So Friday morning we decided that as a treat for getting out of Texas we’d stop in New Orleans for lunch. Again with a couple of taps on my new phone we were directed right to where we wanted to go. Someone had suggested a nice restaurant around the corner from Bourbon Street, but we opted for the much cheaper pizza place next door.
Casey managed to find a drink and Ginnie and I enjoyed some of the old architecture before Kira got bored and started getting into trouble. Time to go.
- Stopping in Pensacola for the night. Can’t stands me car no more.
- Spent the night in Pensacola. Now if I can get these lazy slugs moving. I’m thinking about a more scenic route today.
- Kira practicing her evil laugh in Destin FL.
She’d been so good the whole time in the car. On the radio which was actually turned down pretty low because we were talking, someone did a muahahaha. Then Kira entertained herself for a good half hour muahahahaing to herself til she got it just right. We couldn’t stop laughing.
- There should be a law that it can’t be freezing cold at the Beach.
- For some odd reason this package of unscented baby wipes smells like old dead Budweiser.
- SmallChild has decided the lyrics should be “We will we will rock n pooh rock n pooh!”
So I’d been stupid. Really stupid. We discussed taking the scenic route down the Gulf side instead of staying on the Interstate. There are some beautiful little towns on that route around Panama City and Destin. It took us WAY longer than I had anticipated and then once we gave up it took even longer to find our way back to the highway. And the weather was horrible – pouring rain and fog. We got into Bradenton around midnight and Brittany begged us to let Ginnie stay with her so we had to find her place, drop Ginnie off and got to Dad’s quite late for him.
Got up and met Dad’s girlfriend Bonnie. I really like her. Then we all went to Sunday breakfast at Dad’s Eagles Club and then on to my sister’s to see the reason for the trip in the first place, Damien Gabriel.
Vacation: Texas Sucks
Dec 13th
This is gonna run long. I didn’t have internet for more than a few minutes the entire trip and there’s only so much I could do on my DROID.
- Aaaand we’re off! 8:58 AM Dec 2nd
- GirlChild driving now. 300 miles to El Paso.
- Stopping for dinner in Van Horn TX.
Lousy place, Papa’s Pantry. We walked in and though the place was fairly full, nobody on staff even came over towards the door. Do you seat yourself or wait there like idiots? Finally we were waved into a dark corner where the overhead lights didn’t work. Yeah, yeah we should have left, but it’s fucking west Texas and stops are few and far between. Slow unfriendly service, lousy food, unclean bathroom.
- Texas sucks part 3: GirlChild gets us pulled over for speeding. Cop searches all of us and unpacks the car.
This was ridiculous. It was like he was bored or something. There was hardly anyone on the road and he came zipping up behind her when she was passing a truck so she changed lanes without signaling just to get out of his way. So he popped her for that, for going 79 in a 65 and because I didn’t have a light on my license plate – I totally didn’t realize that one. He put Ginnie in his car, Casey off between the cars and had me in front of mine while poor Kira is shrieking in the car in confusion. We were all polite (my kids were raised watching Cops) and he still searched the car and then started pulling everything out of the trunk. And it was frikking COLD out there, snow on the ground and dark as hell. Asshole.
- #texassucks pt 4: After successfully dodging a dozen deer Son runs over some pteradactyl’s dinner.
Too funny, I was dozing and could hear Ginnie and Casey mentioning deer every few minutes when Casey suddenly swerved and hollered “What the FUCK was that?” and Ginnie was howling. He thinks it was a giant owl and I (who didn’t see a thing) expect it was more likely a vulture but either way it was trying to drag something huge across the road and Casey hit whatever the roadkill was. We laughed for hours over that one.
- #texassucks Unfortunate HOV turn dumped us into downtown Houston. Light rail stations look similar to ours.
We couldn’t figure out the HOV thing at all. There needs to be a Just Passing Through lane on interstates. Their HOV on the I-10 had three different acronyms with various tolls and we couldn’t decide if it was OK to use then figured what the heck why not, except at some point it emptied into downtown Houston street level. Thanks to my handy dandy DROID we turned the GPS/Google Navigator and got right back out again.
Hey big city sign people, make sure outsiders can figure out what your signs mean. Here in Phoenix that whole I-10 / I-17 / 51 / airport thing is completely confusing and I LIVE HERE. Especially since you can’t rely on direction as the left of the V actually goes north before it goes west while the right of the V goes west before it takes you north and crosses over the road you should have taken to continue west way back there! Anyway…
- Fuck Texas! We’re outta here!
Here’s where we started Day two.
