H's Adventure Book

Marin Headlands

2010-08-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

Sausalito, CA
August 8, 2010

Mount Diablo

2010-08-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Clayton, CA
August 1, 2010

Sutro Baths

2010-08-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
July 25, 2010

John Muir National Historic Site

2010-08-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

Martinez, CA
July 31, 2010

Mount Diablo State Park - Rock City

2010-07-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Clayton, CA
July 24, 2010

Point Reyes National Seashore

2010-07-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

Point Reyes Station, CA
July 4, 2010

Briones Regional Park

2010-06-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Martinez/Lafayette, CA
June 5, 2010

Windansea Beach

2010-05-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

San Diego, CA

Point Loma

2010-05-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

San Diego, CA

Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve

2010-05-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

Oakland, CA
May 2, 2010

Calaveras Big Trees State Park

2010-05-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

A really weird and really tall tree.

trail

A gigantic pinecone that is not from a sequoia.

THIS little pinecone is a sequoia pinecone.

This was my favorite tree ever because it was a tree cave and you could live in it!

Inside the cave.

The tree cave was split in the middle.

This is through the other half, looking at the first half.

Tree cave #2

Arnold, CA
May 1, 2010

Black Diamond Mines Regional Park

2010-04-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

2010-04-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

Berkeley, CA
April 17, 2010

Elk Reserve at Tomales Point

2010-03-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

Point Reyes, CA

Point Lobos

2010-03-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Carmel, CA
March 14, 2010

Sunol Wilderness/Little Yosemite

2010-03-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

Sunol, CA
March 13, 2010

Black Diamond Mines Regional Park

2010-03-09T19:58:00.000-08:00

Antioch, CA
March 7, 2010

Joaquin Miller Park

2010-03-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

Oakland, CA
February 28, 2010

Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve

2010-02-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

Oakland, CA
February 20, 2010

Muir Woods

2010-02-18T17:45:00.000-08:00

banana slug

There was a redwood that fell over the stream and they built a bridge over the redwood.

Mill Valley, CA
February 13, 2010

Año Nuevo State Reserve - breeding season!

2010-02-09T13:34:00.001-08:00

Pescadero, CA
February 8, 2010

The Presidio/Golden Gate Bridge

2010-02-08T21:47:00.000-08:00

On the trail was this random abandoned house. There was a small welcome sign nailed to the front covered in graffiti that said "This area closed, for your safety". Nice try...

San Francisco, CA
February 7, 2010

Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve

2010-01-31T20:34:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of mating newts!

Their butts came out of the water for a split half second and I was able to get this weird shot:

Oakland, CA
January 31, 2010

San Francisco Botanical Gardens

2010-01-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

San Francisco, CA
January 16, 2010

Wildcat Peak

2009-11-24T20:18:00.000-08:00

Tilden Regional Park
Berkeley, CA

Point Lobos

2009-11-04T23:02:00.000-08:00

Carmel, CA
October 25, 2009

Monterey Bay Aquarium

2009-10-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Monterey, CA
October 25, 2009

Sutro Baths

2009-09-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
September 26, 2009

Pixar

2009-09-21T20:10:00.001-07:00

Emeryville, CA
September 18, 2009

Muir Woods

2009-09-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

Mill Valley, CA
September 7, 2009

Road Race at the Marina

2009-09-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
September 6, 2009

The Castro

2009-09-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

We ate at the Sausage Factory.

Bat took a picture of this place:

District law says that first-timers to the Castro must eat a penis cookie:

And perhaps the gayest thing of all:

And yes, we went, and yes, it was incredibly gay and the audience was hilarious...and so gay.

The Mary Poppins sing-a-long of course had a Mary Poppins costume contest before the movie, and of course the marriage suffragists won.

San Francisco, CA
September 5, 2009

Haight Street

2009-09-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
September 5, 2009

Sea Lions on Pier 39

2009-09-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
September 5, 2009

Old Faithful

2009-09-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

Calistoga, CA
September 4, 2009

Wine country

2009-09-10T21:49:00.001-07:00

Napa, CA
September 4, 2009

Año Nuevo State Reserve

2009-08-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Elephant seals:

This is the best part about the park: A little ways off the coast was an island with a house on it. The house was abandoned and taken over by sea lions. They were wicked far away, but hilarious. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of sea lions on this island and you could hear them from at least a mile away.

The house and some sea lions (they are specks, even with the telephoto lens):

More masses of sea lions (they are primarily that mess of brown specks at the bottom of the cliff in the center):

More sea lion specks (just to express how many there were):

Pescadero, CA
August 23, 2009

At the top of the Filbert Steps

2009-08-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
August 16, 2009

Parrots Vs. Hawk

2009-08-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
August 16, 2009

Redwood Regional Forest

2009-08-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Oakland, CA
August 1, 2009

Chinatown

2009-08-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
August 8, 2009

Bread

2009-08-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
July 18, 2009

Western Massachusetts

2009-07-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

My last days in Western Mass...

Easthampton

Easthampton

Easthampton has a mostly abandoned village known as Fomer. There is nothing there except for a couple of random modern yuppie houses (really weird) and a couple of random small farms. If you go down a REALLY long dirt road, in the dead center of nowhere is this really old graveyard. You can also find some foundations of stone houses here and there.

More of the sweet graveyard.

One thing I will not miss about the valley are all the fucking dirt roads...

Easthampton

Hadley

Amherst

Amherst

This is the alley I like. Amherst.

Amherst

Hadley. I drove by this scarecrow every day on my way to work. I love that scarecrow. The sun was going down when this shot was taken and it was too dark out to get a decent shot. I went back to retake it when it was sunny, and the scarecrow was missing. So the crappy shot will have to do.

Hadley

Hadley

Sunderland

Sunderland

Sunderland

Sunderland

Northampton

Northampton

Northampton

Northampton

Northampton

June, 2009

Duckies

2009-06-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

Amherst, MA
June, 2009

Hampton Beach (bonus)

2009-06-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hampton Beach, NH
July 26, 2008

More pictures of Shell Beach

2009-06-03T14:46:00.001-07:00

I've been going through pictures from our first California trip since I have a computer now that can do things and works. Here are a few more pictures from Shell Beach on the central coast that I've decided I like...

Pismo Beach, CA
November 1, 2008

Demarest Lloyd (again)

2009-06-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

Dartmouth, MA
May 31, 2009

Halibut Point State Park

2009-06-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

Rockport, MA
May 25, 2009

Baby birdies

2009-05-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Baby sparrows:

Baby blue jays, which were an utter pain to take pictures of since there were so many branches and pine needles in the way...so these shots are far from perfect, but I'm sharing them anyway:

Greenfield, MA
April 24, 2009

Bear's Den

2009-05-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

New Salem, MA
May 24, 2009

Central Park

2009-05-18T11:40:00.001-07:00

New York City
May 10, 2009

African Wild Dogs

2009-05-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

Bronx Zoo, New York City
May 9, 2009

Lemurs

2009-05-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

Bronx Zoo, New York City
May 9, 2009

Lion Cub

2009-05-13T15:53:00.001-07:00

Bronx Zoo, New York City
May 9, 2009

Lake Street

2009-05-03T16:13:00.001-07:00

Acushnet, MA
May 2, 2009

Fort Phoenix

2009-05-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Fairhaven, MA
May 2, 2009

Springtime

2009-04-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Amherst, MA
April 27, 2009

Point Reyes National Seashore

2009-04-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

It was the windiest day in the world INLAND, so I said to Dave, "Hey! How about we go to Point Reyes??" UGH Why does that man agree to everything I say?? It was so miserable! From these pictures, I can tell that the place is supposed to be very scenic. I didn't pay much attention to that while I was there. I barely paid attention to what I was taking pictures of. I just wanted to get back to the car and feel warm again, and not be pushed around by monstrous wind.

We saw a coyote on the way there!!! He was wicked far away. I can't believe Dave spotted him while driving.

We kept finding these funny looking birds on the paths...No clue what they are:

Point Reyes Station, CA
April 14, 2009

Muir Woods

2009-04-24T10:17:00.001-07:00

Mill Valley, CA
April 12, 2009

Japanese Tea Garden/Golden Gate Park

2009-04-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, CA
April 13, 2009

Fisherman's Wharf

2009-04-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Fisherman's Wharf, despite being illegal to go to if you're a local, will always be my favorite place in San Francisco. Because of the piles and piles of sea lions.

Marcus apparently lives at a puppet shop at Fisherman's Wharf:

San Francisco, CA
April 8, 2009

Full House House

2009-04-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

There was no ipod hookup or even a CD player in the car, so we had to sing the theme song by ourselves.

San Francisco, CA
April 8, 2009

Golden Gate Bridge

2009-04-19T16:31:00.001-07:00

San Francisco, CA
April 9, 2009

The Castro

2009-04-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Castro was like Northampton on steroids. It actually made Northampton look conservative. The best part was they had a cookie shop!!! Oh my god, why the hell doesn't Noho have a cookie shop?! We went back the next evening because they were playing "Milk" at the Castro Theatre which is awesome. I snuck into the theatre with me some milk and cookies from the yummy cookie shop. They had a guy play the organ before the movie!! I have a feeling we will be frequenting that theatre. And the cookie shop.

San Francisco, CA
April 12, 2009

Cherry Blossom Festival

2009-04-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

The Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown:

We insisted on finding the weirdest food at the festival and devouring it. This is some hawaiian spam thing that Grimey insisted on eating:

I don't know what this was, but it was a pancake thing with a bean filling. It sounded absolutely disgusting, so I stood in this ultra long line to purchase some. They were so DELICIOUS. No wonder the line was so long.

San Francisco, CA
April 11, 2009

Alameda

2009-04-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Our future home.

Firstly, this extravagant toy was found at one of the shops:

A long walk on the beach...

(a view of San Francisco)

Alameda, CA
April 8-10, 2009

Demarest Lloyd State Park

2009-03-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Dartmouth, MA
March 28, 2009

White's Factory

2009-03-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

One of the first cotton factories in the US:

Acushnet, MA
March 8, 2009

Balboa Park and Windansea Beach

2009-02-27T12:14:00.001-08:00

Today was Balboa Park day, saved for Valentine's Day. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. It was packed! It probably didn't help that Valentine's Day was on a Saturday. There were seriously like a thousand weddings.

There was also some girl probably on a first date who still had the price tag on her shoes. I imagine she was planning on taking the shoes back to the store after she was done with her date.

It was actually a nice day and warm out, so Balboa Park consisted of almost entirely just walking around and talking.

Weird thing in Balboa Park.

We rented this thing!

Steam Powered Giraffe:

These people were fantastic. They were these zany robots from the world's fair who sang about the economy and covered Rick Astley. We were immediate fans.

Here is Grimey on that thing we rented:

Balboa Park shuts down at like, 5. We left and headed to Windansea Beach to watch the sunset.

Here is the cave I discovered. Grimey kicked me out of it though with claims of the tide coming in. Whatever!

...Stupid asshole...

Here is the sunset in the cave:

Our next mission was to find a ring guard because my ring was just a hair loose and I was afraid of losing it.

We looked for a crappy chain since they'd be the only place still open and found a Zale's. We called them to make sure they had ring guards and they claimed they did. So we went. It was located in the block of real city in San Diego in this retarded area that looked like it had been designed by Cheesecake Factory in a yuppie, pretentious outdoor mall. We get in there, and this fucking bitch who didn't speak the english so good takes us to the ring enhancements. She takes my ring and puts on this absolutely hideous $900 enhancement and then goes to get a ring sizer so she can sell us this ugly piece of shit that probably killed 30 miners and 10 species in the making! How is that a ring guard! And did she even so much as glance at me? My hair was a sty, I was wearing a big brown hoodie and jeans...do I look like I need a ring enhancer?!! I was so offended. A worker who did speak the english came to our rescue, informed us that they do not have ring guards and directed us to a jewelry store just down the stairs. We got the hell out of there ASAP and went downstairs, when a kind man who spoke english gave us a ring guard in about 60 seconds and didn't even charge us for it.

Then comes the difficult task of the night: Finding a place to eat in San Diego on Valentine's Day. The original plan was to go to The Field (that irish pub). First the tom-tom decided to take us back to the hotel instead of the Field. So we tried again and it tried to take us back to the mall. It took us to the correct place on the third try, except the Gaslamp District was such a fucking mess that we passed and headed to North Park to find that mexican vegetarian place with the plants again. The Tommy apparently doesn't like North Park very much because it seemed to do the same thing it did last time where it took us to this weird, sketchy area with homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks nowhere even near North Park. I had to pick a restaurant with the words "North Park" in it to assure we would be taken to the correct place--I think this was my solution the last time and I just forgot.

We found our mexican place and all was well. It took us like 3 hours to get to food, but at least food was found.

Here is a wall of Frida Kahlo at the restaurant, which I took for Rebecca:

And so ends the trip.

Mega 64 and Old Town

2009-02-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

Well this day was all kinds of special.

For the entire day, we filmed with Mega64 (www.mega64.com) for their final version 3 episode. What nice people. Grimey even got a short speaking role.

Dr. Poque and Perry Von Vicious:

I got my picture taken with Marcus!!!

Grimey and the whole Mega64 crew:

Filming was complete around 5, and afterwards we headed to Old Town. It was Friday the 13th and we had to find all the haunted places. I had a map I printed from some website that looked like it hadn’t been updated in 10 years.

The first stop was El Fandango: a haunted mexican restaurant.

Little did I know that about an hour or so after these shots were taken, this restaurant would become the most significant restaurant on the Planet Earth.

The Robinson Rose House, also reportedly haunted:

There were a couple of other haunted places in this section of Old Town, but they appeared to be missing. I suspect this is because they're haunted. So we went to our haunted restaurant for food.

I got the impression that the mexicans who ran the restaurant weren't aware that their restaurant was haunted.

Here is my yummy margarita made with real strawberries:

Where did the cheesecake go???

Must be a phantom.

Seriously, this place had the absolute BEST cheesecake. Whoever would've thought the mexicans could master so deliciously the New York cheesecake?

After Grimey got me all good and boozed up, he paid the check and we went outside and he said to me, "You know how nothing really crazy has happened this whole trip?" I didn't really know what he was getting at since it was impossible for us to drive 8 1/2 hours back to San Diego again. He asked if I wanted my Valentine's gift early and I agreed. Then he squeezed my hand so hard, if I hadn't known better I'd have thought he was giving birth. But I knew exactly what was about to happen. "Oh shit".

Then he got down on his knee and proposed. I agreed to his proposal. It was not a difficult decision to make.

The ring is a white gold ring with a small diamond. Grimey knew I wasn't a big fan of the mining industry nor a big fan of spending exorbitant amounts of money on something that can be dropped down a drain, so I'm proud to say the ring was passed down from his mother. I like things that have meaning.

Wedding will be on Halloween and will be unconventional and spooktacular. Don't worry--just because I'm getting married doesn't mean I'm not still H.

Most reactions I've gotten so far are somewhere along the lines of "holy shit" and that's to be expected. Two years ago, if a psychic told me I would be engaged in two years, I'd have demanded my money back. It is totally weird for H of all people to be engaged--there is no denying that. No one who's known me for years would ever expect something like this to happen. I had basically accepted that I would be single for life in the not too distant past, and I tried hard not to care. I went the first 23 years of my life single almost straight-through and never felt any particular interest in anyone. But then Grimey came along entirely unexpectedly and changed that. I hate to be completely corny, but whether they admit it or not, I know for certain that many of my single friends probably resent me for this. And I understand--it wasn't terribly long ago when I was in their position. To those who have the same hopeless thoughts I once had, to those who think they're weird and will therefore never find anyone they can be happy with: There is nothing wrong with you. Some people are just choosy and there's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone falls in love at the drop of a hat. When the right person comes along, you'll know and you'll find that happiness you only thought existed in fairytales, and that relationship will become that much more important and special. The ones who are choosy are the ones who know just what they want and the ones who have the potential to stay with the same person forever. The trick is finding them, but trust me: they will come. If things can flip around for me, they can flip around for anyone.

Anyway. After that whole ordeal, we got back in the car and called some family. We were supposed to go find the haunted graveyard, but we had trouble finding it and then it started raining again. So we just went back to the hotel--probably for the best when my mind was racing and I imagine Grimey was in a similar state.

San Diego, CA
February 13, 2009

Scripps Whale Watch and La Jolla

2009-02-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

Today all of my dreams of living at sea came to an end.

We went on a whale watch first thing in the morning. I’ve been on boats a bunch of times and never had problems with seasickness. Not this time! The waves were monstruous and extremely rough. You know those rocking boat rides they have at carnivals? Imagine being on one of those, and then imagine it also rocking from side to side just as intensely. Now imagine what it’s like to be on one of those for three hours straight and you have our whale watch. It was absolutely terrifying--it looked like the boat was going to flip. And I got so, so sick. I thought it would never end. I can't think of a time when I had yearned more to be elsewhere. By the end of the trip, the exterior of the boat was painted in my vomit along with many other passengers' vomit. I was also absolutely freezing the whole time. It was partially because we were at sea, but mostly because I was really sick…We saw dolphins, sea lions, and grey whales. As exciting as that sounds, I really couldn’t have cared less at the time. That was the most miserable experience and it's going to be a long time before I dare to go on a boat in the ocean again.

This was the only picture I took, at the very beginning of the trip of sea lions:

Grimey, the vice president of my photo-blog, took these with my camera:

Adorable dolphins

Grey whale

We reached land around 1:00 and I don’t know if there’s a time when I’ve ever felt more relieved. We rushed back to the hotel so I could wash up. I had never felt more disgusting…I took a good hour or so. Then we jumped in the hot tub for a few minutes. Whoo!

We went to the nearest Wal-Mart so I could get some water and eat nothing but goldfish crackers for lunch.

It was nearly low tide, so we went to La Jolla to check out the tidepools. We must've come at the wrong time though because there really wasn't much to be seen, so we didn't hang around the tidepools for terribly wrong.

Grimey at Bird Rock:

Pelicans on the coast:

Cute sealie hanging out in a tidepool:

More cute sealies:

La Jolla being pretty:

This is the rookery with all the funny seals (the Children's Pool). Those black dots (that you can barely see) on the beach are the seals:

Afterwards, we went to Cheesecake Factory because I needed cheesecake (take-out). I was disgusted by all the people DRESSED-UP to go to Cheesecake Factory. Are they joking?? That’s the most retarded thing ever. Why would you dress up to go to a faux-upscale restaurant with a thousand-hour wait, mediocre and overpriced food, and average cheesecake? Do people also dress up to go to Olive Garden around here? That is just fucking weird. I’m really upset over this. I hope this is just an isolated incident. I don’t know how I feel about moving to a place full of freaks.

San Diego, CA
February 12, 2009

Wild Animal Park

2009-02-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Went to the Wild Animal Park. Made lots of friends:

lion

lionesses

southern white rhinos

This is a northern white rhino, one of only eight left in the world:

Giraffes (they control the mirrors)

pelican

black-crowned night heron

This was my favorite animal in the whole park. This crazy, lunatic, senile pelican who kept making all kinds of noise and kept trying to eat this other pelican. The other pelican didn't seem to mind or even notice. He just stood there and acted like this was all totally normal:

Meerkats:

Here is a lizard I found by the bathroom:

Cheetahs:

yellow-billed stork:

Egyptian vulture

Great egret

Snowy egret

Elephant

Grimey went to check out a wrestling school in San Diego that evening and I stayed at the hotel and watched Blue Planet.

Escondido, CA
February 11, 2009

Disneyland

2009-02-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

Disneyland. Met Mickey Mouse:

Met Goofy:

Wore a sweet hat:

Made Grimey look pretty:

Everyone was all bundled up for sunny weather in the 50’s all day. Winter coats, scarves, mittens, snow hats, snow boots…the whole deal. Hilarious!

On the way out we saw the most stereotypical furry in the whole wide world. He was all alone because his entire social life was tucked away in his laptop case. He was all decked out in a long black trenchcoat and chains from Hot Topic. He had one of those stuffed animal wolf backpacks. And a wolf tail peeking out from under the coat! ADORABLE.

Anaheim, CA
February 10, 2009

Torrey Pines State Reserve

2009-02-22T12:07:00.000-08:00

It kept raining…

There was a brief hour or so when it stopped raining, so I insisted we go to Torrey Pines State Reserve before it started up again. The torrey pine is the most endangered pine tree in America, and the second most endangered in the world. We picked a short, easy hike along the cliffs. A few of the trails were actually closed because they were flooded.

Me and a torrey pine cone:

The pine cones are huge and as hard as a rock.

As soon as we finished the trail, it started completely downpouring. The Torrey Pines brochure I picked up claimed that the park gets only 10 inches of rain a year. I think the year’s worth of rain was dumped on us while we were there.

We headed to Balboa Park to go to the museums, being that there is absolutely nothing else to do in San Diego when it rains. Unfortunately, we found out the hard way that the majority of museums in Balboa Park, and San Diego for that matter, are for some dumb reason closed on Mondays. The Natural History Museum was among the select few that were open, so we went there even though we went the last time we were in San Diego. They didn’t have any exhibits that we didn’t see the last time and their temporary exhibit area was closed because they were setting up for Body Worlds which is starting up in a couple of weeks. So most of the time we spent browsing the books in the suvineour shops and watching the documentaries on the IMAX. We had a Macy’s half-off coupon thing, so it was only $8 for the both of us. Not much to lose, and what else were we supposed to do? Even San Diegans don’t know what there is to do when it rains.

The museum closed at 5 and I was still dying of hypothermia from being poured on in Torrey Pines, so we went back to the hotel and warmed up in the hot tub. Then we went out to dinner at the Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop. The mexican owner guy made fun of Grimey for wearing shorts and making it obvious that he’s a tourist. However, Perry Von Vicious (and Jonny Idol) made the Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop WALL OF FAME:

Got yummy cheesecake to make me feel better about the shit weather. It’s seriously the same temperature in New England, only it’s not raining. At least there is cheesecake.

The weatherman warned everyone to wear their scarves today, in this 50 degree weather. That is fantastic. I am part-lizard and only feel warm when it’s 98.6 degrees outside, so when we move, I’m going to be psyched to get away with being a great big pussy.

San Diego, CA
February 9, 2009

Cabrillo National Monument

2009-02-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

The first half of the day was wasted waiting/hoping for the rental car place to call us back--it was Sunday and they weren't supposed to be open, so we were naturally a bit concerned. But they called around 10 and came back around noon with a different, equally beat-up 9-year-old Pontiac with 120,000 miles on it. I didn't know Pontiacs were even capable of making it that long. The mechanic told us American model cars tend to have gas gauges that read incorrectly, so when it reads a quarter of a tank, it actually means it's empty. I know American cars are worthless pieces of shit, but I think he's making up excuses. No one should be renting out cars that are in worse shape than Rabbi Smurf and that's what this place is doing. It doesn't take a mechanic to figure out the car died because it belongs in a junk yard.

When we finally got the car, we headed to Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma:

My interest was not so much history or scenic views, but the tidepools. We were on a search for octopi, starfish, and sea hares…we didn’t see any, but we did see a bunch of giant keyhole limpets which were new to me. The tide was at it's lowest peak of the month and much fun stuff was to be found:

snowy egret

Giant keyhole limpets, and they were in fact massive. Put your two hands together and that's about how big they were, and they stuck to the bottom of rocks. They also moved when you poked them. They were so fucking cool. That thing in the middle that looks kind of like an eye is their shell.

Empty clam shell.

Mussells.

I found a dead lobster:

You can't tell from these pictures, but a rain cloud kept following us and it was drizzling a little. It's not the best idea to climb over tidepool rocks in the rain, so we slowly made our way out.

We drove to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset.

It wasn't long before the rain cloud discovered us, and it was also freezing out, so we didn't stay long.

Rain cloud blocking the sunset:

Got dinner at La Scala and went back to the hotel and went in the hot tub. The hot tub did something that made me so drowsy that I passed out as soon as we got inside, at like 8:00. And didn’t wake up until 8:30 the next morning.

Abandoned Dinosaurs!

2009-02-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

We got up around 9. It was still raining. The first day was turned into road trip day because Grimey wanted to go to some silly wrestling show in LA.

Our first mission was this ass-nowhere town in the middle of the desert known as Apple Valley. It was three hours away. For some reason, every time I go to a desert, it rains:

And then, ABANDONED DINOSAURS WERE SPOTTED!!!!

After the dinos, we drove to a wrestling store about an hour and a half from the dinos. Yeah, I know. Boring.

It rained some more, still in the desert:

After the wrestling store, Grimey dragged me to a lucha show near LA. Yeah, I know. Boring. But I’m dragging him to see cute animals, so it’s only fair.

Then around 11:45 at night when we were just 8 miles from our hotel, the car decided to die on us. I had to pee like an absolute bitch. Oh my god. I now know what the dead Wii person must’ve felt like right before she died. It was pure torture.

I had to use my one free AAA tow a year to tow the car back to our hotel. I was so pissed. Next time we'll be 25 and won't have to deal with this stupid crap.

Apple Valley, CA
February 7, 2009

Arrival and Balboa Park at Night

2009-02-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

Got up before the crack of dawn to catch out plane. I was so worried I wouldn’t get enough sleep that I ended up not sleeping for even a minute.

Plane was caught. No problems.

Here is Grimey with the Blues Brothers at the Chicago Airport.

Got to San Diego. It was about 65 and partly cloudy. Awesome.

Got the rental car. They gave us this 8-year-old Chevy with 106,000 miles on it. It was definitely affordable and they were the only goddamn place that didn’t have fucking under 25 fees, but I wondered if the car would last us the whole trip.

Checked into the hotel. For $300 a week, we got a nice clean, well-kept and spacious room with a mini-kitchen, walk-in closet, decent free breakfast, moderately attractive grounds, a heated pool and hot tub, and in a safe and central location. Not shabby for $43 a night! If you go to San Diego, the California Suites Hotel is the place!

Then we ate at a delicious Mediterranean restaurant across the street. They named all their pizzas after Aladdin characters.

Shortly after, Dave got a call from Rocco from Mega64. About a week beforehand, Dave was listening to the Mega64 podcast and Rocco had mentioned that they need extras on Friday the 13th and to email him if interested. Dave emailed him, but Rocco had also warned in the podcast that they couldn’t take everyone, so we didn’t get our hopes up. But Rocco called to invite us to be in the audience for their final season 3 episode, which will be a musical.

Then we just wandered around Balboa Park for a couple of hours:

I hopped into bed around 7:30 and was completely out by 8.

And it POURED all night. I couldn’t believe it! I didn't know San Diego could do that!

San Diego, CA
February 6, 2009

Obama's Inauguration 2009

2009-01-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

On a complete whim, we decided we had to go to the Inauguration. The end of Bush's reign and the first black president is such a special event that it was highly important we attend. I don't regret going even a little bit, but there is no way in hell I'm doing that again!

The drive down to our motel in Maryland was completely miserable. Maryland's only supposed to be a six hour drive from here, but it took us 10 hours because from Connecticut all the way until we got to Delaware there was bumper-to-bumper traffic. We crossed the bridge and got into Delaware and finally the traffic ended, but it probably started again shortly after since an SUV just over the bridge decided to blow up.

The tolls were highway robbery. We seriously could've bought a roundtrip plane ticket to DC for the amount we paid.

Did you know Chevy Chase has his own bank?

We couldn't find Chevy Chase himself, but this is what I imagine it would look like if we did:

We got to the motel. I slept for like an hour tops and then these crazy people going to inauguration woke me up at 3 am. These people are seriously out of their minds. We were probably one of the last ones to check out of our motel, at 6 am.

We had to take a metro since all of the trains had been sold out for god knows how long. A bunch of the parking lots were already full and the metro stations were already starting to close, but we found one that was still open and had parking without too much of a problem.

We got to DC and the streets were already completely littered with trash. We were walking on newspaper. This was not because Obama's supporters are pigs, but because for some goddamn reason DC doesn't believe in trash cans. I think our count by the end of the day was 3 trash cans, one of them in a highway tunnel of all places. (edit: the reason there were no trash cans was apparently to prevent people from planting bombs. That makes sense.)

There were so many people. This is what the earth is going to look like if the Duggar's family keeps having children. Every black person in America had to have been there (note: this is not to imply that the Duggar's are black). I mean, I certainly don't blame them. I am just as shocked and pleased about it as they are. I remember years ago I was watching Deep Impact and the president was black, and I said, "That is so unrealistic. America would never vote for a black person". And it's fantastic to be wrong. The monstrosity of the crowd was insane, but I knew exactly what I was getting into, so it didn't really phase me.

Taking pictures at the inauguration was a lot easier said than done and I've come home with very few. I was being crushed most of the day, so digging out my camera was a challenge. Within the first hour, even though I had nice warm gloves and even though I had just endured a week of below 0 temperatures, the feeling in my hands still disappeared and I'm not terribly enthusiastic about taking pictures when I can't feel my fingers. I'm also short, so even if I did dig out my camera, I would just come back with pictures of people's heads, backs and asses. It seemed like a waste of time.

The crowd was great. I've never been to a political event where people weren't pissed off. Everyone was so happy to be there. They all started singing "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" every time Bush made an appearance. Also lots of booing. I'd say it was a little tasteless, but this is Bush we're talking about. The taunts were from the votes he never counted and the voices he didn't care to hear. Good riddance. For the first time in my life, I'm not completely humiliated to be an American.

Here is Obama making his speech. We were seriously like a mile away from him, so it's a TV screen that I could only see if Grimey lifted me.

Oh my god, did you hear him acknowledge atheists?! It was so beautiful, I was so happy. We have a president who is educated and not only believes in normal things like evolution and global warming, but includes atheists as people!!! This man is like springtime, with Bush being winter! So refreshing! Such a relieving and much-needed change!

Here is a picture of a crocus, for visual learners:

After Obama was done with his speech, everyone in the crowd started going in different directions. It was like a traffic jam, only 1000 times more complicated and with people instead of cars. After an hour or so of this, we somehow made it out of the crowd and onto the street. But nobody, and I mean NOBODY knew where the fuck they were going. Two million pedestrians, ourselves included wandering around aimlessly trying to find a train station. The "just follow everyone else" rule did not apply. My dad claims there were 40,000 cops at the inauguration. Seriously, where the hell were they all? There were people smoking pot near the White House, the news is trying to tell me there were cops there?!

I had been to DC at least 5 times previously, and had never seen the Capitol. I had even been at the National Mall a couple of times and still had never seen the Capitol. During our aimless wanderings trying to find a godforsaken metro station, we stumbled on it by accident:

It was next to impossible to find anyone with any authority anywhere to direct anyone. There couldn't have been more than one cop per square mile. Any time we came across one, there was always a massive hoard of people surrounding him to ask for directions. We stopped and asked for directions to each cop we found and they always told us something different. We walked for miles and miles, jumped over 10 feet walls and barriers, and by the time we ever found a metro station, we'd get there too late and they'd close it. It was some serious bullshit.

The last metro station we tempted to find was Union Station. I was seriously starting to wonder if we'd ever get out of DC.

We took the highway to the station this time.

It was supposed to be open, but by the time we got there, some asshole had gotten hit by a train and they closed the station. They got hit because they were busy TEXTING. Who texts on train tracks?!! I was so pissed. We had walked FOREVER to get to this station and I was about ready to die of cold and starvation.

We waited in the hoard of people outside who were waiting for them to open the station again. After about 45 minutes, a cop who was actually there advised everyone to walk four blocks behind him to the next station. I was about ready to kill someone if we got there and they told us the station was closed. We pretty much ran to the station to get there before everyone else so we could get there before they closed it.

And sure enough, it was open! I couldn't believe it!

I found a map on the ground towards the end of our walking tour of DC and discovered we had walked approximately 20 miles trying to find a goddamn metro station.

I thought the traffic going back would be a nightmare, but there really wasn't much of it. You could tell which cars were from Massachusetts without looking at their plate because the cars were always completely filthy and covered in sand. Dave's car still won the award for most filthy, however.

For some weird reason they decided to close the Jersey Turnpike. Why?

We got home at like 1 or 2 in the morning. I felt like death, but it was worth it. This is an experience I will never forget. I didn't see a damn thing, but I can watch what I missed on youtube whenever I want. I was there. I heard the crowd cheering and singing for an event that will make history books. I saw how happy and excited everyone was to be rid of Bush and have someone who might be a saint to replace him. It was worth going to for the memories.

January 20, 2009

More New England birds

2008-12-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

I caught the woodpecker!

He was on the wrong side of the feeder...I'll get a nicer picture one day...maybe.

Mr. Cardinal:

We now have multiple juncos that come to the feeder:

Titmouse:

The sparrows are getting fat:

Blue jay:

Nuthatch:

Easthampton, MA
December 20-21, 2008

Songbirds of New England

2008-12-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

We have this really cool red-bellied woodpecker that keeps coming to Odinn's birdfeeder. I waited and waited for him to come so I could take his picture. That rat bastard never showed.

I'm not into the whole freezing my ass off in the middle of a blizzard thing, so these are all taken behind a sliding glass door (hence the lack of clarity and detail).

This titmouse is a frequent diner:

We have about a million sparrows that come in flocks to the feeder each day:

Here is a nuthatch:

A black-eyed junco, a newcomer to the feeder:

Easthampton, MA
December 19, 2008

My two idiots

2008-12-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

Easthampton, MA
November 27, 2008

The End

2008-12-07T08:42:00.001-08:00

Day 14

Our flight back had a layover in Vegas, which apparently is America's most retarded airport. Every flight to and from Vegas was experiencing serious delays because the Vegas airport was doing construction and could only allow a certain number of planes to land at a time. It was so stupid. Why the hell did they schedule flights like normal when they knew they were going to be doing construction?!! The airport was so packed with people from all the delays that we couldn't even find wall space to sit against while we waited. We didn't get home until 3 in the morning because the Vegas airport is run by selfish pigs.

The end!

November 7, 2008
Las Vegas, NV

Windansea Beach

2008-12-05T10:09:00.002-08:00

Day 13, continued

The time came to decide how we should close our trip. Where do we go to see the sunset for the last time? Do we go to Sunset Cliffs again, or do we try someplace new and hope it doesn't disappoint?

We ended up at Windansea Beach, and on the way there we hit what must've been the WORST SAN DIEGO TRAFFIC EVER. It lasted about 5 minutes. Windansea Beach was absolutely no disappointment. It was the most gorgeous place. There was so much color reflecting in the ocean. The sand was so white and smooth, it reflected colors of green, turquoise and pink from the sky. I'd never seen anything like it. It was completely photogenic and the absolute perfect place to watch the sunset, and to bring closure to the best adventure of my life.

I nearly cried when we left. I didn't want to go home! It's cold and grey there and the food isn't as good and everyone's a dick!

This is when the pizza in the back seat started to smell weird. We decided we needed to go back to La Scala again and get dessert. To our dismay, we didn't get the funny waiter again. Then we went back to the crackhead motel and packed.

La Jolla, San Diego
November 6, 2008

Mission Beach and La Jolla

2008-12-04T17:17:00.000-08:00

Day 13

I was pretty bummed that it was our last day in California. I absolutely did not want to go back home. It was warm and sunny out all day. It made me sad to know that with the way western mass rolls, this was the last time I would see the sun and feel warm until May.

First we discovered why the crackhead motel smells like cigarettes everywhere you go. It's because the maid smokes in the rooms she's cleaning. No joke. Sure enough our room smelled like cigarettes when we got back.

We went to Mission Beach, which was overpriced and touristy, but kind of cool in its own way. There was no one there since it was on a weekday off-season. We rode the wooden roller coaster and got the whole train to ourselves. Spectacular!

Afterwards we went to La Jolla again. The seals were awesome again. I had the display screen on the camera as bright as it would go to make it easier to see in such bright sunlight. I think this was a mistake because most of my La Jolla pictures and everything after came out wicked dark when they looked perfect on the display screen. Oh well...learn from mistakes...I guess there will be plenty of opportunities to retake them when we move there.

This seal caught a fish!:

The seal that was hanging out at the cove this time:

Sea lions:

The first time we were in La Jolla, we had missed going into a sea cave because we got there too late. The entrance to the sea cave is located in this cave shop that sells souvenirs and rents out kayaks, scuba gear, and snorkeling gear. It's run by a funny old man from Michigan. He said, "I don't know what is going on in Massachusetts, but it seems everyone from out there is moving here!" And I told him the truth, "It's because it won't stop raining!!"

Tunnel to sea cave:

Spiderwebs in sea cave:

I wonder if the old man realizes that if he advertises that the opening of the sea cave looks like the head of an elf with a goatee, that the cave would become an instant goldmine:

After the sea cave, we ate at the Girard Gourmet, which is a cafe in La Jolla that has real and delicious food and they make all kinds of decorative cookies and cakes. Obama went there while he was campaigning and they made him and his sister a cake!

Obama cookie:

I wanted a tourist cookie because they just looked so damn pretty and colorful:

La Jolla, San Diego
November 6, 2008

Disneyland for free

2008-12-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Day 12

Dave is completely obsessed, so we went to Disneyland again. Our SoCal friend Alie hooked us up with free tickets into both Disneyland and Disneyland's California Adventure. Super SWEET. The lines stayed short all day. The rides didn't break down. It was absolutely fantastic. Just so you have an idea of how short the lines were, the longest line for Space Mountain all day was 5 MINUTES. That is unheard of!!! I lost count of how many times we went on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion.

The highlight of the day though had to have been Stitch. Regrettably, we didn't have a camera since Dave's camera was out of pictures and I'm not carrying around my camera in a theme park, especially one with Splash Mountain. Stitch was brought out by his handler and he immediately ran in the other direction and started wreaking havoc. He kept eating the lamp post and batting at things and playing with his reflection in the windows. He was the coolest!!!

Anaheim, CA
November 5, 2008

Back to Balboa Park

2008-12-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Day 11
We had no plans today and we didn't get to bed until 1:30 am, so we slept in. Except one of the crackheads woke me up at 7 am. He kept banging on our door and wouldn't go away for like 10 minutes.

We got up at like, 10 or 11. I insisted we find a place that has internet because I needed peace of mind that I could get my pictures back. We ended up at a library on the San Diego University campus. The Canon website had the answer, but they worded it in a way that it wasn't clear what they meant, so I posted to a photographers community online and just asked. Within 5 minutes, my gmail was flooded with replies stating it happens to everyone and yes, you can recover the files as long as you initially formatted the memory card before you started using it and as long as you don't continue using the memory card after you fuck it up. Thankfully I am bright enough to have fulfilled both requirements. You can either buy software or have it done professionally.

As you can see, I was able to recover ALL of my files with some software that Canon customer service recommended. If any of you do anything stupid to your memory card in the future, PhotoRescue is the way to fix it. It even recovered files I had purposely deleted and pictures that were at least 6 months old.

We missed Balboa Park, so we went back. We wandered around for a little while and ended up at the Natural History Museum. It took us like 4 hours to get through and we rushed through a bunch of it. It was 5 stories tall. We had to leave before we were done with it because they were closing. The museums at Balboa Park you always expect to be tiny because they're all so cheap, but then they end up being huge. This was the most expensive museum we went to and it cost us $8. In Boston, it would cost at least twice that. The main exhibit also changes I think twice a year, so it's constantly a new museum. This season's exhibit was on water. The last season was on sea scrolls, which I really would've loved to see. The next season is on Darwin. This museum is the shit.

From the museum:

More Balboa Park pictures:

Dave at the Botanical Gardens:

After the museum, it was like 5 and getting dark out and everything in the park was closing. We took another shot at finding North Park, and the TomTom took us to the correct place this time. There were about a million thrift stores and an awesome record store. We ate at an amazing Mexican/vegetarian restaurant that is set up to look like a Mexican village or...something...I have no idea...there were hanging plants and weird things... The food was delicious and super cheap and the workers were all zany. This made us very happy. We missed San Diego!!!

We went back to the crackhead motel and shortly after, history was made. For the first time in twelve years, America elected a president. California also finally admitted to the world that they're actually a moderate state at best, and voted to ban same-sex marriage. At the same time, Massachusetts voted to decriminalize marijuana.

San Diego, CA
November 4, 2008

Point Lobos State Reserve

2008-12-01T11:08:00.000-08:00

Day 10

This was a day of disaster.

First we removed my pants from the freezer and gently turned them inside out. There was no sign of the scorpion. I don't know where the hell he ended up, but one day Vicki's going to find a dead guest in her guest house. And he was only an adolescent! That thing's going to get bigger and scarier and more deadly! Rest in peace, Vicki's guests...

We left around 8:30 am. There was no food to be found anywhere. We subsisted off of a box of Captain Crunch that we had with us from the very beginning.

We tried to go to McWay Falls at the Julia Pfeiffer State Park, but there was no park to be found.

We made it to Point Lobos in Carmel and hiked the sea lion trail. Our mission was not sea lions, but sea otters. It was beautiful and had just about everything--harbor seals, sea lions, whales, pelicans, and SEA OTTERS...Sometimes all in the same field of vision. The water was shades of green and blue. It was really spectacular. It was also cold and windy.

The sea otters were all over the place, but they were all so far away that my telephoto lens became more often used as binoculars than for its intended purpose.

Disaster struck when I was trying to find the color settings on my camera. I was frustrated that all of my pictures kept coming out all dark and grey-looking no matter how I set it. The brilliant colors of the rocks and water just weren't showing up. I just couldn't remember how to get to the color option on the menu (I learned later on that the camera needs to be set on full-manual for the option to show up). While I was busy figuring this out, I accidentally hit the wrong button and formatted the memory card. In an instant, all of my pictures disappeared. 875 of them. I fell into complete hysterics. But after maybe half an hour of watching the waves hit the same rock, I came to my senses and the logical part of me decided that there is no way a camera has the power to completely erase that many pictures that quickly. I also knew my camera is idiot-friendly. However, the anxiety and uncertainty was still there and would stay with me until I had a definite answer. In the meantime, I switched my memory card to my old card and used that for the remainder of the trip.

Point Lobos:

This is the closest we got to a sea otter. He was obviously still very far away, but at least you can sort of tell he's an otter. Next time I visit the central coast, I am bringing binoculars:

Rock covered in sea lions:

Harbor seal:

I think the combination of the camera fuck-up experience and that it kept raining on and off caused me to lose motivation. I was ready to go home. The central coast was beautiful, but ever since we got there, the days just became a bit draining and slow. And we were freezing and starving...And we still had 3 days left. I lost my enthusiasm for the trip and Dave seemed to have lost his as well.

We left Point Lobos and continued north up to Santa Cruz. We had planned to check out the Boardwalk and the Natural Bridges State Park. We had also counted on there being FOOD.

We got there and the town was DEAD. "Dead" is the very last thing I ever imagined Santa Cruz being. The Boardwalk was closed. The shops and restaurants were closed. There were no people anywhere. It was cold out and raining. It felt like a ghost town.

We found one "nothing special" Mexican cafe that was open. So we ate there.

Dave said to me, "You know what was nice?"
I responded, "San Diego?"
"Yeah...We should go back to San Diego."

While this was not a terribly serious conversation, the idea of going back to San Diego excited me to no end. I didn't say a word to Dave while we were eating and just kind of stared at the rain outside, in my own world. I fell deep into thought about how feasible it would be to actually drive all the way back to San Diego. Our final destination was San Francisco and it was only an hour away. It was supposed to stay cold and rainy for the remainder of our time in California. We have PLENTY of rain and cold in Massachusetts and I was fed up. San Diego was beautiful, warm, and relaxing. I wanted to go back so bad.

I checked our hotel's confirmation that I printed from my email before we left. The cancellation policy was a full refund if canceled at least 24 hours before our reservation. Otherwise, the fee is the cost of the first night, but the rest is refunded. If you cancel after you check-in, there is no refund at all. It was either now or never.

I said to Dave, "We need to find the Internet".
Dave said, "Why?"
"So we can find out how realistic it is to go back to San Diego."

We found a library with the TomTom, but the line to use the computers was ridiculously long. We asked one of the librarians if there was an Internet cafe anywhere. He directed us to a coffeehouse called "Bad Ass Coffee" about a mile away.

We found the coffeehouse and they did indeed have an ample supply of Macs. It also had the BEST and cheapest kona coffee. First we brought up our Southwest flight itinerary. Dave called Southwest to see how much it would cost to switch our flight to San Diego. It ended up costing us NOTHING since our flight was being paid for by my brother's Southwest points. We canceled our hotel reservation and made new reservations at a motel in San Diego, which actually ended up costing a little less even with the San Francisco hotel's cancellation fee. We called the rental car place and switched our car to an in-city rental, which saved us nearly $200. Then we hopped in the car and drove 8 1/2 hours straight back to San Diego.

After a drive that took forever, we stepped out of the car and relished in the warm air of San Diego. It was clear where we belonged--This felt like home.

The motel was enormously sketchy. If you take my advice and go to San Diego, do NOT under any circumstances stay at the Good Nite Inn at Sea World. The whole place wreaked of cigarettes even though all of the rooms were non-smoking. There was a strip club next door, so naturally the motel attracted sleazy men. A bunch of them were drinking from a bottle of whisky outside just a couple of doors down from the front desk. The motel doesn't give you "do not disturb" signs for the door which they need so you can encourage the crackheads to piss off. They give you one tiny bar of soap for a four-person room. You can either keep it in the shower or on the sink. It was the most retarded place I've ever stayed. My favorite part was that they give you like 10 channels for the TV, but one of them is Comedy Central. I liked it.

Carmel, CA
November 3, 2008

Esalen

2008-11-30T10:15:00.000-08:00

Day 9, continued

After the seals, we drove to Big Sur which is where the scary began. Sheer cliffs dropping into the ocean on one side, and sheer cliffs on the other side with giant rocks that were ready to fall and smash into the car. It was also EXTREMELY foggy out since we had apparently just missed the rain. We couldn't see more than about 10 feet in front of us. However, the road was at least open! They had to close the road the night before because the rain caused rock slides (big surprise there) and we were concerned that it would still be closed and we'd have to rework our plans. The Big Sur area is so far into the middle of nowhere, that there is no alternate route to get there.

Our mission was Esalen, which is an institution that has alternative education workshops. The people I work for often teach there, and Vicki Topp, a practitioner at Esalen, is affiliated with my school. We were therefore able to get in via guest passes. It was very pretty and it is the only place with food ANYWHERE for hours, so we got to eat for the first time since we left San Luis. It would also be our last meal for a day.

The best part though were the outdoor hot tubs placed on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean (but not so close to the edge that it was scary). After dinner everyone was at a meeting, so we got full run of the hot tubs. It was completely pitch dark, no lights at all, and all of the stars were out. The crescent moon shown brightly over the ocean. The view was unforgettable. The drawback was that because the place was run by hippies, the hot tubs were filled with mineral salt water, so it smelled kind of like the sardines in Sesame Street's scratch n' sniff book. Apparently this is supposed to be relaxing. For lunatics. That didn't stop us from going in though.

Pictures I took of Esalen:

We followed Vicki to her house to stay at her guest house. The way up was the most terrifying experience I've ever had in a car. Vicki is completely nuts!!! She lives on top of either a cliff or a mountain--I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be. But you have to go up this extremely narrow, steep, partially-paved windy road on the edge of a cliff for like half an hour before you get to her house. I think I nearly vomited by the end. To make her more insane, she lives in a house entirely made of wood heated by a fireplace in the epitome of middle-of-nowhere in an area that smells like a campfire everywhere you go for MILES. Vicki has some serious balls.

The guest house was a really nice loft with huge windows with a view of Vicki's cliff overlooking the ocean. However, the guest house had an unwelcome inhabitant. I took a shower and as I was drying off I saw this giant yellow scorpion crawl inside the leg of my pants that were on the floor about 5 inches away from me. I swore. A LOT. I was pissed I didn't get a picture. But here is a video of Scorpion Vs. Spider to make up for it:

Also, from what I understood, if a scorpion stung you in Big Sur, you could assume you would die before anyone got you to a hospital.

Despite my protesting, Dave swatted at my pants with a shoe hoping to either kill the beast or at least scare it out of my pants. There were no signs of the scorpion dead or alive. Not really knowing what you're supposed to do in this situation, Dave carefully and slowly picked up the pants with some other articles of clothing and stuffed them in the freezer. We left them there over night, figuring if the scorpion wasn't dead, he would be by morning.

Big Sur, CA
November 2, 2008

Piedras Blancas Rookery

2008-11-29T14:09:00.001-08:00

Day 9 continued

After the castle, we went to the Piedras Blancas rookery, which is one of two elephant seal breeding grounds on the west coast. The TomTom took us to the information office, which was closed (as was everything anywhere) and apparently was not where the actual reserve was. I took a picture anyway:

We looked at a really vague map that was posted on the window of the information office and figured out that the reserve was about a mile down the road. We found it. This place of course rocked. Elephant seals were EVERYWHERE and apparently they make fantastic subjects to photograph. These were my favorite type of seal that we saw. They were noisy, they fought with each other, they were massive, and they looked like hideous monsters. But what beautiful and amazing animals.

Squirrel hanging out with the seals:

Bird hanging out with the seals:

Just a picture:

Elephant seals!!

San Simeon, CA
November 2, 2008

Hearst Castle

2008-11-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

Day 9

This was the scariest day ever. At least it didn't rain. It looked like it wanted to rain at some parts--but it did not rain.

We drove to Hearst Castle, which wasn't too scary. It is castle founded by William Randolph Hearst (the newspaper guy) in the early-mid 1900's. He was an extremely wealthy man who had traveled all over Europe during his childhood and was inspired by the architecture. He decided to build a castle based off of the architecture on a hilltop in the middle-of-nowhere central coast town of San Simeon, where he had grown up.

The Neptune Pool:

The Theatre:

The Roman Pool:

Views from the hill:

On the property there used to be the world's largest private zoo. Most of the zoo animals are gone now, but there still are a few animals roaming around free on the property: deer from India, zebras, and some other things, but I forget what. We saw the deer from India:

The zebras are often seen grazing out by Highway 1. We did not see them, but I do wonder what tourists think when they're driving down the coast, not knowing anything about the castle, and they see free-range zebra hanging out on the side of the road.

San Simeon, CA
November 2, 2008

Shell Beach

2008-11-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

Day 8

We drove a lot and eventually made it to Shell Beach which is located in a town on the central coast called Pismo Beach.

Shell Beach was a surprise to both of us. Dave did hardly any of the planning, so the whole trip was a surprise to him. But I had completely forgotten what Shell Beach was and couldn't remember what had drawn me to it enough to stick it on the itinerary. It wasn't in the guidebook I had used for all of the scenic places we went. I was clueless. But I was not disappointed when we got there.

It was an absolutely beautiful beach and is probably prettier when there are no stupid rain clouds. There were cliffs and rocks and pockets of beach with this weird copper-colored sand. Hermit crabs were absolutely everywhere, as were pelicans and other water birds and sea slugs. There was also an otter, but he was WAY off in the distance. Dave saw what may have been a dolphin when we were driving by.

Sea anemones in one of the tide pools:

Afterwards we headed to nearby Cave Landing, and after driving up this scary trecherous road to the parking lot, we ended up not even going. The sun was setting, we didn't know where we were supposed to go, and the promised rain had finally kicked in.

We went to San Luis Obispo to our motel and wandered around the downtown area. San Luis Obispo is the home of California Polytech. Big college town. It ended up being a really upscale and expensive version of Amherst. We ate pizza for dinner because it was the only thing there we could afford. Seriously, what kind of crappy college town is this place when everything's too expensive for the college kids who run the town?!

The motel was kind of cute. Small, but homely. Except this creepy man knocked on the door "looking for a pen" and kept glancing around the room probably looking for things to steal. We had everything packed still though, so I guess he didn't spot anything of interest because he didn't come back after that. The front desk was still open, so I completely doubt he was genuinely looking for a pen. Fortunately our rental car was a decade-old boat, so it was still there in the morning.

Pismo Beach, CA
November 1, 2008

Halloween in Disneyland

2008-11-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

Day 7

Today was Disneyland. It fortunately did not rain. The weather was perfect for Disney, actually--maybe about 75. Costumes weren't allowed in the park, which was interesting because a bunch of people were wearing costumes and they let kids go trick-or-treating there. I was Juno and Dave was a luchadore (for the first few hours anyway...we both gave up on costumes when it got too hot out).

It wasn't crowded at all in the morning--it was terrific. It started to get completely packed around 3. Wait times for the lines quickly went from an average of 15 minutes, to an average of an hour.

The Haunted Mansion was completely decked out for Halloween/Christmas and was transformed into a Nightmare Before Christmas ride. I loved it SO SO much.

I didn't bring my camera to Disneyland, so all of these pictures are from Dave's camera:

The rides kept breaking down either as soon as we got in line or when it was almost our turn to go on. The best ride breakage though was when we were on Pirates of the Caribbean and the ride died about a third of the way through. All of the robots suddenly froze and the lights went on. The boats continued to move through the ride and the gunshots continued to explode in the water.

Dave trying to pull out the sword in the stone (and FAILING, that loser):

Me and my pal, Mr. Toad:

We met Buzz Lightyear:

We decided to trick Dave's mom into believing we changed our plans, went to Vegas and got married:

Anaheim, CA
October 31, 2008

Venice Beach

2008-11-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

Day 6, continued

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at Venice Beach. Venice Beach is a bit like Hampton Beach, only with AMAZING food, crazy people, and bartering.

Fountain at the restaurant we ate at (it also contained koi):

Bird that hung out with us on the beach:

Boardwalk:

I wanted to buy Wall-E, but he cost a couple hundred dollars, so I decided a picture would do:

From the pier:

Venice, CA
October 30, 2008

Sacred Heart Hospital

2008-11-24T10:47:00.000-08:00

Day 6

This was our "relaxation" day. We knew we'd be getting back late from the wrestling show, so we slept in and took it easy.

The first stop was Sacred Heart Hospital, or the "Scrubs" hospital. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to go out by the front. The security guard said had we come a month earlier, we could've gone to the front and actually seen the set. But their last day of filming was last month and another TV studio bought the hospital.

Detail of previous picture:

The security guard let us steal this sign. It is now hanging in our living room:

North Hollywood, CA
October 30, 2008

Knott's Berry Farm and LA

2008-11-23T14:35:00.001-08:00

Day 5

This was a day of failure.

It began with Knott's Berry Farm, which is the epitome of ball suckage. The end of October on a Wednesday is apparently not the time to go to Knott's Berry Farm. On the upside, the park was practically a ghost town. There were no crowds, no lines, and you could go on the rides as many times as you wanted. On the downside, everything was closed!!! Hardly any of the shops and food places were open, and seriously about half of the rides were closed for the Haunted Halloween they have at night, including the roller coaster they're always advertising, the Xcelerator. Why the hell are they still charging full admission price when they're going to close half the damn park? We went on about 4 different rides and were done with the park in about 2 hours.

Dave took these:

The place where Steve Martin got his start:

Me:

The Ghostbusters car:

Me making friends with a rooster:

I had counted on the park taking the majority of the day, so we had quite a bit of time to kill. We decided to go to the Chinese Theatre. Dave had never been there and the last time I was there, Johnny Depp hadn't earned his hand print yet. We 411'd the address and they gave us some place that was at least a mile away from the Chinese Theatre.

The first thing I said when we entered LA was, "Where are all the celebrities??" Apparently, they all actually live in San Diego...We saw Laverne and Rey Mysterio in San Diego, and everyone knows Shamu lives in San Diego. But there was no one famous in LA. We hated LA. There was traffic everywhere no matter where you went, no matter what the time of day. There was no place to park. The cops were assholes. Everyone was a cartwheeling faggot. It was dirty and full of homeless people. The pollution is so bad, the sky is yellow. It's the New York City of the west coast. They also don't believe in recycling, which is shameful in a city that pretends to be so liberal. Dave described it as, "It's like Boston, only without any schools." We quickly became San Diego-sick, which is similar to being homesick only worse. All of the meters were $2/hour, which is horseshit. We found ONE available meter near where the TomTom brought us and it ate my money after 44 minutes. We walked down Hollywood Blvd, expecting it to be just down the street. We asked a guy in a tourist shop where the hell the theatre was and he said it was only a couple of blocks away. We had walked for half an hour when I looked at my clock and discovered we had 15 minutes left to get back to our car half an hour away, so we went back.

We drove to Molly Malone's, which is where Flogging Molly earned there fame. The plan was to eat there, but we found out they now only serve food on weekends.

We ate at some random hole-in-the-wall restaurant instead. The food was surprisingly good.

We went to the Lucha VaVoom show, which was mediocre. The audience was white, pretentious, snobby and annoying. Some bitch sold me Baja California starbursts in the bathroom and I felt like I was going to puke during the whole show because I had to eat them all.

I checked the forecast at Dave's uncle's house and discovered it was supposed to be cold and rainy the rest of the time we were in California. I have never been more pissed about rain. It's not supposed to rain on coastal California!! Most of the things we had planned to do required being outside, because those are the things we like. I was not pleased. I checked the weather in Easthampton, expecting it to be worse so I'd feel better. Nope! Beautiful, sunny and in the 60's the whole time. Of course! The one time of year it rains in California and we're there. The one time of the year it's nice out in Easthampton, and we're in rainy California!

Buena Park, CA and the scariest place on earth.
October 29, 2008

Sunset Cliffs

2008-11-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

Day 4 continued

We tried Ocean Beach again and went to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset. Fortunately there was no smog this time. It was pretty. Apparently lots of people died on these cliffs. No shocker there.

We ate at a fabulous family-owned Italian restaurant called La Scala that featured good food, a batshit insane waiter, and fascinating people to eavesdrop on. We got half of our pizza boxed, stuck it in the back seat and we were off. We loved San Diego and were reluctant to leave, but we drove up to Hickville, CA/San Bernardino to stay with Dave's uncle for the next few nights.

Ocean Beach, San Diego
October 28, 2008

Rey Mysterio and La Jolla

2008-11-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

Day 4

We went back to the taco shop the next morning to meet Rey Mysterio. Some spanish radio station was there. We were the only ones who spoke english. It was great.

Dave with Rey Mysterio:

Then we went off to La Jolla. La Jolla is the greatest place on earth. No wonder you have to be filthy rich to live there. The skies were clear and blue--no smog. There were cliffs with small pockets of beaches. There were sea caves. The ocean water was crystal clear and shades of bright blue and turquoise. We walked along the coast on top of the cliffs and everywhere you went there were pelicans and seals. I absolutely loved this place--every bit of it. It was my favorite part of the whole trip.

Pelicans:

Sea lions:

Harbor seals:

More pelicans:

We hung out at La Jolla Cove for a few hours, which is a small pocket of beach in between the cliffs. The water felt like Massachusetts water--cold. There was a rocky area by the cliffs that had a sea cave and about a million tide pools with thousands of crabs and hermit crabs and some brightly colored fish. The best of all though was the octopus. I unfortunately did not catch a picture, but holy crap. I never thought I would see a real live octopus in the wild!!! Amazing.

Cove:

I'm at La Jolla Cove:

There was also a sea lion hanging out on the rocks near the beach that kept barking at the seagulls. He defined "awesome".

Some bratty kid decided to climb the rocks where the sea lion was and pet him. This of course freaked him out and he moved into the ocean. We got to watch him play in the water which was way too cute. Then he somehow made it up to a neighboring cliff with another sea lion.

After the sea lion experience I said to Dave, "We need to leave this place before I get too excited". And I think if we had stayed for another five minutes, he would've had to drag me out of La Jolla and it would have caused a scene.

La Jolla, San Diego
October 28, 2008

Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop

2008-11-20T18:55:00.001-08:00

Day 3, continued

We ate at Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop which is a gloriously tacky Mexican taco shop dedicated to luchadores.

The guy who owns the place told us to come back the next morning to meet Rey Mysterio.

We went to Ocean Beach to watch the sunset, but as soon as we hit the neighborhood, it suddenly looked like it was about to pour. But it was ALL smog. GROSS.

San Diego, CA
October 27, 2008

San Diego Zoo

2008-11-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

Day 3

We went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a good time and there were lots of animals that I had never seen before, but I actually like the Bronx Zoo better. I was a little disappointed that San Diego still had pretty small enclosures for their animals and a lot of them were still in cages. Being an internationally famous zoo, they are due for some modernizing.

My favorite was the baby koala. He was the second cutest thing to ever walk the face of the earth (Hedgie still remains the cutest).

Here is another koala:

Meerkats:

The first panda bear I ever saw:

Monkey:

Opaki:

Have a look at this little beauty! He's a champion!

Croc foot:

Parrot:

Orangutans...they're going to be extinct soon:

Male and female:

Flamingos:

San Diego sure doesn't look like a desert...

Some form of antelope:

Polar bear:

We went back to the pandas to see if they were awake yet:

Closeup of adorable panda foot:

He's awake!:

Grizzly bear:

This wolf was a friend of the sea lions in the sea lion show:

Balboa Park, San Diego
October 27, 2008

The Field

2008-11-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

Day 2 continued

Our next mission was...food. We went to the Gaslamp District, which is the home of a truly authentic Irish pub called The Field. The Field was literally moved brick by brick straight from Ireland and rebuilt in San Diego, and it indeed felt very Irishy. They had amazing food and the best Irish coffee and live Irish entertainment. Irish step dancers who danced to Halloween music, including Michael Jackson's "Thriller", and to give the step dancers a rest they had a funny Irish man who sang Irish folk songs. It was a very sexy place.

The Field:

The Gaslamp District was full of zombies. We also saw a woman who looked like Laverne from Scrubs.

After food, we tried to go to North Park, but the TomTom took us to what must have been the sketchiest part of San Diego, complete with hobos sleeping on the sidewalk. It said we reached our destination when we arrived at an unlit dead-end road closed off by a gate.

Gaslamp District, San Diego
October 26, 2008