About 15 1/2 years ago, I believe we were on the Mariner of the Seas. The Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta 7-day tour of the Mexican west coast.
This was the grand staircase onboard. Very grand. Very staircase-y. Just ever so slightly tilted and off-center. Much like me.
I’m whiny and pissed off tonight, stewing about many frustrating things. A couple of deadlines met, a couple of goals reached, all good – offset by several things that make me wish I had a punching bag to work out on.
I have a gym membership.
They’re open 24/7.
I wonder if they have a punching bag.
I wonder if it would actually help, or just leave me with two broken hands.
We’re home. Four and a half days was wonderful, but not nearly long enough. The problem with staying away any longer is how hard it is to come back. Somewhere out there is a breaking point (or a healing point) where you don’t. And I probably have to.
Eight hours across the Mojave again, rest stops in reverse order, 105° and worse. Hissy was a champion!
Do you have any idea how long the lines are to get breakfast anywhere in Phoenix on a Sunday morning after church has let out? 45 minutes to an hour or more at one restaurant after another…
Go see it. Soon. Often. Repeatedly. On the biggest screen you can. It’s outstanding.
I’ve been waiting to see it since I first started hearing that it was in the works, but I knew it was opening while we would be in Arizona for my birthday vacation trip. But something in my online activity to get hotels and baseball tickets got some algorithm triggered about AZ, and I saw a post of some sort somewhere about a Phoenix theater that had a full-sized IMAX screen and was showing it.
That’s a BIG freakin’ screen!
If you’ve read “Project Hail Mary” and loved it, you’ll adore the movie. If you’ve read it and didn’t like it, why are you reading my site?! If you’ve read haven’t read it, I envy that you get to read it for the first time, you’re going to love it and love the movie.
No spoilers, but all of the things I heard folks worrying about before the film came out, particularly regarding potential changes in the plot, are not legitimate concerns. It’s wonderful.
Oh, and we went to our third Spring Training game earlier today, the Padres against the Brewers at the Brewers’ facility. It was 105° AGAIN, we had great seats in the sixth row and in the sun, so we bailed and moved back about twenty rows to some empty seats in the shade.
Now to try to get some sleep so that I’m not falling asleep tomorrow when driving back home. This might not be THE noisiest hotel I’ve ever stayed in, but it’s on the short list!
And winning! Well, the Angels got a nice win, turned 70. It was a group effort. We all had to do our part.
The dangerous, extreme heat across the Southwest messed a bit with our plans – we originally were going to have the baseball game in Surprise at 1:00, then go down to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa afterward. But all MLB games got moved to 6:00 to avoid killing anyone (fans or players or coaches or umpires) in 108°F (44.2°C) conditions.
So dinner was a baseball hot dog, soda, and ice cream. The fundamentals!
Surprise Stadium, spring training home of both the Texas Rangers and KC Royals was lovely. No lines for food or drink all might, except for the ice cream, which had a line over 20 minutes long.9
8° still at 19:45. One ice cream stand. You do the math. But really good ice cream!
It was nice to see the Angels come back late and win, a couple of kids with no names on their uniforms came through to tie it in the 8th and then go ahead in the 9th. ⚾️ They probably still won’t make the big club next week, but they might end up in Salt lake City instead of Rancho Cucamonga, and come September, who knows??
70 isn’t so bad so far!
As for the ‘do, I got a “cool hair!” from a pre-tween who was immediately shooshed by his mother. At one of the AZ rest stops yesterday I got a double take from a macho, stud muffin, manly man truck driver on the way back to his parked rig, followed by a stare, sideye, and what I assumed was an overtly homophobic sneer and snarl. (I waved 👋🏽 HI!! 💋) MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Outside of the San Gabriel Valley but before Palm Springs on Interstate 10, I found that the winter rains have been a source of massive greenery on the hills.
Out in the Mojave Desert, the mountains are sharp, barren, and raw. You might as well be on Mars! Except, of course, for the air and tumbleweeds and 100°+ temperatures…
Once we got into Arizona there was a huge change. California’s rest stops suck. Old, beat up, filthy, or simply closed. Arizona’s are much better, both in design and in maintenance standards.
Sunset finally caught us about 90 minutes out of Phoenix.
You hit a certain age and you need to automatically add 30% to the Google Maps travel time since if you’re smart you’ll NEVER pass a rest stop. I’m there!
It was 42 years ago last night that the Northridge earthquake woke us up in the middle of the night. We were only about five miles from the epicenter, but we escaped with minimal damage (two of the cinder block walls separating our back yard from the neighbors’ back yards went down and had to be demolished and replaced) and a lot of books and dishes and games and clothes to pick up and put back on shelves.
I thought that I might find some pictures from then, but I didn’t have a digital camera then and I’ve only digitized a small handful of my film archives. One of those projects for “someday,” i.e., when I retire and have the time, i.e., six months after I’m dead.
So from 32 years ago, not 42, here are a couple of Vermont summer pictures. I’ve got lots of them in that class, with high school reunions every five years and family who lived there for decades.
The Connecticut River valley from a rest stop near the top of Mount Ascutney, New Hampshire on the other side, stretching off to the east.
An extremely bright roadside flower (coen flower, maybe?) from the rest stop.
My brain was empty, awaiting imprinting or guidance. I ran across a social media thread full of stained glass…
I had stumbled into the National Basilica in Brussels by accident.
Since our hotel was near the city center, my strategy was to get on the subway and go out a dozen stops or so and then make my way back, stopping to see churches, parks, sculpture gardens, architecturally interesting buildings, etm.
This was near the station where I got off the subway and came up, and it was open. At least, no one yelled at me for wandering around like The Ugly American and taking pictures. (I was actually very polite and well behaved.)
The stained glass offerings were pretty straightforward, nothing too abstract or spectacular. But all very bright and lovely.
I found the sunbeams coming in through the dome windows, piercing down into the darkness below.
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 