West Coast Family Vacation

We've uploaded a photo album of our West Coast trip earlier this month--click on the link, and come see some of what we saw in nine days out west!  Then leave a comment!

Things I Learned On Our West Coast Vacation

It had been a l-o-n-g time since I'd been out west, and several of the places we visited on our family vacation this summer were brand new to me.  Here's some of the discoveries I made along the way.

• It really is possible for it to rain in Death Valley.  We were there in a light mist, maybe 80 degrees, in early August even.  Doubtless a far, far better way to explore it than if it were 40 degrees warmer.
• That's not white sand in the pictures of Death Valley…it's salt crystals, leaching out of the parched and broken soil.
• It had been far too long since last I'd played blackjack, but playing against a three-deck shoe probably didn't help either.
• Trona, CA, is one of the most depressing places any of us have ever been to.  Run-down, unkept, just screaming "don't live here!" to anyone passing through.
• Go to Disney's California Adventure first thing in the day.  Everyone else went to Disneyland/the Magic Kingdom side, so we were essentially walking right up to rides for the first hour or two, including the Tower of Terror.  California Screamin' is a very good coaster ride.  The wait for the Cars ride was too long, but the ride itself went a long way towards redeeming it.
• Some of the rides (Matterhorn) really show their age.  Sarah found herself preferring Kings Dominion over most of the classic Disneyland rides.
• I bow to LA traffic as truly the worst in the nation.  It never stops!  There's never a time when there's not some miles-long backup as part of our day.  Get off the roads, people, and get into your offices!
• The geographic diversity of California is really amazing.  Dusty, dry deserts and steep rocky canyons to the south, foggy San Francisco, simply stunning coastal drives near Mendocino, and hairpin turns through redwood forests in the northern extremes. 770 miles long, and it shows it!
• The legacy of student protest remains at Berkeley.  Administration buildings never have two door handles, either one or none, so students can't chain administrators in (or out). Not sure that factoid sat too well with David or Sarah during their tour.
• The folks at Alcatraz have done a marvelous job preserving The Rock and the audio tour was great at relating stories and events.  In all the time I've spent in SF, I'd never been out there before, and was blown away at being able to see it all.
• Getting over the mountains to the Pacific Coast Highway was an adventure, with more switchbacks than I had counted on.  And the thick, thick forests and the first of the redwoods made it a dark and sometimes intimidating drive.  But, oh, once the coast pops into view…I know I've found a landscape I can wake up to each morning in retirement.
• I bought the most expensive gallon of gas I've ever bought in Mendocino, CA, within sight of the gorgeous Mendocino Bay.  $6.26 for a gallon of regular!
• I truly cannot recall having been to Redwoods National Park before, so being able to see what Mary remembered as a teen was special.  Again, up through the mountains with the switchbacks, before coming to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and the mile-plus walk exploring those immense, ancient trees…stunning all in their own majesties.

Random Thoughts: Sitting at the Outer Banks

• Two full days into our visit and I still haven't reached the point of being content to just...sit.  I'm still bedeviled with a sense that I should be Doing Something.  Mind you, I'm not quite sure what  that is...  Last year I seemed to reach that sitting phase earlier in the trip.
• Mornings: awake after 9, coffee and Bloody Mary, watch the waves. Afternoons: beach, reading,  gin & tonic.  Evenings: dinner, wine, beach stroll, mojitos.  I could get used to this routine.
• This is so much nicer a beach home than last year's shack.  Hands down.  And Duck Donuts is a five minute walk from here.
• Some part of me really likes the idea of having a place on the beach like this; the larger part fears the mortgage payments on a $600K beachfront home.  And the idea of having to drive four-five hours (on a good day) to get here...that's evil too.
• Who took away my precious little babies and replaced them with this buff dude and two-piece-wearing girl?
• I told myself I was going to work on some of my creative writing and other projects this week, and that I would get up and take a run, perhaps with Sarah.  So far I haven't even been able to finish my first book yet, and as for getting up, it's been after 9am each morning, hungry, with no Sarah and no interest in a run.  Certainly not after the aforementioned Duck Donuts.
• If someplace like this could be our retirement home, Mary would be happy; I'd want to think about exploring some other places too, like Charleston.  And I always argue for Houston, within walking distance of Minute Maid, to no avail.

One (Renovation) Step At A Time

Progress on the home renovations onion has been slow, but it has been made.  Consider that so far this year, we have:

• Renovated the laundry room,
• Negotiated the financing to tackle redoing the master bath and the kitchen, and
• Arranged for new closet systems to be installed

To that list we can now add, re-carpeted the entire upstairs: last week we completed that effort with the installation of new carpet throughout the upper floor, and even in the study--the only carpets not done were the entire basement level, which can certainly wait another decade as far as I'm concerned.  

But now that the carpets are done upstairs, we can proceed with the installation of the new closet system, which will be done on August 15.  That will mean some more demo and repainting work beforehand, but things that I should certainly be able to knock out beforehand.

We are, after all, making progress on our plans for the year.  And I am also proud of the fact that (as best we can tell) Fergie has not yet "christened" the new carpets, although she certainly does enjoy snuffling in them for all the wonderful new smells.  And it is a wonderful change to have springy carpeting underfoot, as opposed to what we had had for at least the last nine years (and who knows how long before that).

Over our Vermont week I hope we can come to consensus on the contractor for the master bath, which we've agreed will be the first project.  Then perhaps we can begin setting that up, and make that happen within this year.

Disney Cruise 2013!

On Friday evening, March 22, we boarded a flight for Orlando and a seven-night Disney cruise to the Eastern Caribbean aboard the newest ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, the Disney Fantasy.

We had a w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l time!

Our ship left Port Canaveral Saturday afternoon, and the Disney magic was in full force throughout.  Some highlights:

• We enjoyed Concierge-level accommodations on the 11th deck, which made so many aspects of an already great trip just seamless.  They were able to make last-minute changes to some of our shipboard plans and to accommodate just about everything we asked for. 
• The itinerary was just about perfect: the first two days were days At Sea.  There was no reason at all for us to have to be up by any particular time, so we could just deflate, relax, and absolutely enjoy ourselves.  I cannot tell you the last time I slept in until 11am!
• The kids vanished almost immediately on boarding, to join up with their respective pre-teen and teen clubs.  We saw them for the first half-hour of dinner most nights; they inhaled food and then begged to be allowed to return to their friends.  So essentially, we had a couples cruise to ourselves for most of the week.
• I really enjoyed the Satellite Falls adults-only "pool" and sun deck on 13.  Shielded from the wind by plexiglas, I read hundreds of pages from my books as the ship steamed eastward, and just...aaahhh...
• In fact, with the exception of the rotational dining, the movie theatre, and one or two other things, we scarcely left the adults-only zones on decks 11-13.  And no one cared!
• I brought three massive books on board with me.  I finished them all.  Heaven.
• Next time on Fantasy or the sister ship, Dream, especially if we're blessed with cruising with friends again, I am definitely getting Suite 11004 again.  Due to the way the ship curves at that point, the verandah we had, looking out over the port side of the ship, was perhaps half the size of our stateroom itself.  Par-tay!

Along the way, we spent a day in St Thomas, USVI, and then another day in San Juan, PR, before stopping at Disney's island, Castaway Cay, which we explored more than we did 18 months ago.  Be sure to check out our photo album for some highlights.

David had himself a little shipboard romance again; this time, Ally from Winnipeg and he really hit it off.  I'm not supposed to say that he got his first kiss, probably.  They've Facetimed regularly since then, and he's stayed in touch with several of the other kids from the Vibe teen zone.  The teens of the Fantasy cruise from that week even have their own Facebook page, although I'm not allowed to see much of it.

Before the trip, Sarah was all worried that she wouldn't meet anyone, that she wouldn't make any friends.  The last night aboard ship, leaving Castaway Cay for Florida, she was in t-e-a-r-s at the thought of never seeing Nicole or Katie or Emma ever again.

Would we do it again?  In a heartbeat.  David is angling for the next one to be a Mediterranean cruise, and you know, there's one leaving next summer from Barcelona, seven nights, stops in France and Italy and he could get to see Vesuvius...