Post Vax Frugal Vacation

 1 step to a frugal vacation:

Step 1:  mooch off your richer sister.

(thanks!)

That's all the steps.

She's working from home and decided to do that from Santa Fe.   Rented a condo.  Offered me a free ticket and a couch and bingo-bango-bongo...free vacation.

Almost free. Pretty frugal.

An Aunt (Hi Chris) sponsored a dinner.  YUM.  We chose La Plazuela at La Fonda.  Super good and nicely spaced out.

Which reminds me:  I'm fully vaccined.  Thanks to the Tribe I work for who are super cool and generous.   Hence, traveled.  I know Fauci was saying it's not a license to travel, but it totes is.  Because I was going bonkers and offered a free vacation.  Some people....yes, you middle aged white conservative males!...were not masking on the airplanes, which were mostly packed.  At least I was vaccined.  Hope they didn't spread the 'rona to too  many people.  And, yes, I know the real word is "vaccinated" but I do not care.

ANYHOO, great vacation.  Ate most of the food in Santa Fe so don't bother going there now.

I loved that the museums that were open, mostly took timed appointments for entry.  It made for an old school, quiet, calm visit rather than the usual being run over by strollers full of toddlers piloted by privileged asshole parents who ram walls and damage art and talk loud.  ONE place, the Wheelwright, had people in there being loud IDIOTS, though there were limited timed entry tickets.  Oh well.

The farmers market and art market were done well especially when I went early to the farmers market.  People in Santa Fe are not, as a group, early risers.  The market doesn't start until 8am.  My day is half over by then.  By 10am it is getting crowded and the sellers are getting sick of people.  At 8, still not crowded and sellers still cheerful.

The art market folks...super appreciate them...are struggling with sales but hanging in there.  We bought a few significant pieces and I indulged in some amazing lotions/potions from Angela (Angelina?).  I shipped them to myself so can put the real contact when I get them.   She is amazing and gives great free, individually packed, samples.  I JUST ran out of her orange hand lotion before I went back down so now, have presents for 2 people and more lotion for me.

The farmers market...beware the eggs.  Some are 8$ a dozen, some are 3$ a dozen.  Tried both.  Get the 3$.  All are fine.  The 3$ had much less poo on them.  I'm not against poo, but the expensive ones took me forever to wash up.

We toured Tsankawi twice, Bandelier once, the Pecos and Rio Grande river areas with artists (Hi guys!) and it was lovely.  Saw relatives (also vaccined) and again, ate and ate and ate.  

Castro's is my  new favorite.  Best sopapillas on the planet.  Taosenos, at Taos, also amazing.  And then there is Santarepa...just eat there.  Eat whatever the owner says you should eat.  Tea House, fab.  Kakawa chocolate house, just eat there and drink the chocolate.  LOTS of non-dairy options! Woot woot!  Amazing.  Not fast, amazing.  Also, the little concession at Bandelier National Monument serves Kakawa hot chocolate so you can have some there too.  

At the farmers market we got goat meat and buffalo meat.  Both excellent.  Made some epically good meatloaf.

Pam (hi Pam!) was teaching me keto-ish stuff so I made a blueberry clafoutis (I know, not REALLY a clafoutis if it's not cherry but I was in France and they make non-cherry clafoutis too so shut up).  I substituted EVERY ingredient except the eggs and blueberries from a Jacques Pepin recipe and it was still delicious.   I will be eating that a lot.  

I'm not going keto, but am interested in getting away from so much carb-y, especially processed white carb-y, food.  

Maybe I will post pictures later but right now, I might need a nap.

Week 4 Wee Clothing Experiment

So here we are at week 4.  Still no comments on the fact that I'm wearing one of five fabulous sweaters to work every single day. 

In fairness to my inattentive coworkers...we've had holidays plus I took a vacation so they haven't seen much of me. 

I also noticed that since it's winter, I'm always wearing a coat when I'm headed into or out of the office.  No one actually SEES my sweaters unless I'm running upstairs to make copies or something.  So this could get to be trying.

Anyway, the assistant mail-lady commented yesterday but she's a knitter with a Dale of Norway fetish so she just commented on the sweater I was wearing.  Oh well.

Frugal Reset

With 2 moves in 2 months, a 2 week trip home, a trip to the coast, another vacation coming up next month (I have to cram travel into about 4 months of winter due to job duties in the field season), an out of town conference or two, and perhaps random laziness....my food costs shot up.

Too much eating out.  Too much road food.  Too much prepared food.

Another factor was canning season.  Once I got back into a place with a kitchen, the apartment I have for the winter, I wanted to get some things put up for winter.  I couldn't really do that in the camper with such limited space and stove smaller than the canner.  I didn't get outdoor accomations arranged.

So, food costs shot up.  It's easy to have that happen.  When traveling, entertaining, having visitors, etc and especially when working more than 3 blocks from home now that I commute, it seems easier to just buy something for lunch or hit up the local cafe for a sandwich.

But alas, those lunches, about 2 a week on average, were costing me 10$ a shot, double that if I was treating a friend.   That adds up compared to bringing lunch.

I have made SOME effort to have lunch ready at the office.  I found cheap soups at Grocery Outlet.  When I remember to eat them I'm spending $1.50 to $4.00 per lunch (because I don't JUST have soup...a piece of fruit or meat or bread or crackers to go with completes the meal). 

So, what would I save if I cut back on the store and restaurant lunches and made more of an effort to have my lunch pre-planned and brought it in?

Turns out there's an app for that.  Actually a calculator:

Lunch savings calculator

 Even with 0% return, if I ate 20 lunches from a brown bag (or you know, from groceries etc) for an average cost of $3.00 per lunch, vs eating out and buying grab-n-go stuff at the store for an average cost of $10.00, I would save $1680.00 per year!   OK, not quite that since I don't eat 30 lunches out per month right now.  Even if it's half that, $840.00 per year, that's pretty damn good.  $70.00 per month.  Probably double my utility bill. 

 Good to know too.  These sorts of reminders help me reset the frugality meter.  Daily small choices got me the money to buy that land for cash.  It's still easy to forget how much those small things add up.

 That said, today's lunch was left over baked salmon, elk jerky, and 1/3 of a box of soup.  The soup cost $1.99 for the quart box (organic carrot ginger soup made without dairy!).  So about $0.66 for that.  The left over salmon and elk jerky were from a community dinner last night so those were basically free.  I'm also having a cup of tea so whatever one tea bag (actually, I reuse them so a fraction of one tea bag) costs.   Let's call it $0.75 for lunch today.  And it was REALLY GOOD lunch.

 

They Just Don't Get It.....Seriously

OK, so apparently people think I'm denying myself something, many things, possibly "important" things.   What the hell?     I'm one of the only people I know who has everything they want.   There are more things I wouldn't mind having (like if anyone has a spare Johnny Depp lying around going unused....that would be fine).

So, here's how this came up today:

I got a call from a colleague this morning asking if I was coming to a group work event. I said that I was stranded on the wrong side of the mountains by weather, 6 hours from home, so nope. She asked if that was a problem and I said, thinking she knew me well, that nope, I had a plenty of savings at this point in my life for these sorts of little "emergencies" so it was no hardship to find a budget hotel and spend a night in Portland Oregon (actually...it's really fun with the cheap efficient public transit and the Powell's bookstore and the amazing food).

She said something like, "but you deny yourself so much to get those savings"
.......I am still sort of stunned. I have everything I need! And most of what I want. In my mind I don't deny myself anything.   I wanted to say, "But I'm talking to you from a one bedroom apartment in Seattle (that I rent instead of a hotel room because it's cheap and private and I enjoy having a kitchen when I travel), and I'm on my way to Portland to wait out a storm while I find books on my list (resource material for things I WANT to do on MY land) and eat delicious food (just because I WANT to...).  I mean for cripes sake, I went to Paris for Christmas (thanks Unca Pat for the room!) because I wanted to.  Then I went to Amsterdam for New Years because what the hell, I was already in Paris.....oh the denial of not staying in Plummer...boohoo.

This woman has been connecting me with inexpensive resources and whatnot since I've bought land so I sort of thought we were on the same page, but I guess not.

Part of it is that long ago I started sorting my wants from my real "needs" and setting priorities for both. Once that was sorted, the rest started fall in place financially.   For example, I "need" somewhere to live. I want privacy so I have lived alone in low cost housing. Decor and fashion and large amounts of space are not things I want, so not having them isn't "denial" to me, it's cool. I didn't want or need debt the last several years so I paid it off. That's not denial...that's awesome for my financial goals. I want savings. I have some. I need clothes...don't car about fashion...so I get 2nd hand clothes. Back to the savings and debt pay off priorities with the left overs. I wanted to ask her if she understood that I wasn't denying myself anything that interests me.   I wonder if people who buy into the mainstream wants, or who maybe just don't get that we all want different stuff, will never get that for those of us who are outliers from the norm.  I have friends and relatives who have much more gracious and spacious homes.  My assumption was that that was what THEY want, not what EVERYONE wants.  Some people really enjoy fine art.  I think it's great.  What I choose to spend my money on and get the most enjoyment out of is art by someone I have a personal connection with.  Some day I'd like to own a Jim Denommie.   I already own a Carly Bordeaux,  a Gerald Nailor Jr (thanks Marcie!), an Erika Greenwell (hi Erika!).   Sometimes something grabs me like the handmade plate I saw in New Mexico...I do know the potter now so in that case the art came before the personal connection.  But you get the theme.  These aren't all high dollar items but I really like them.  I LOVE my original Bree (Hi Bree) and my Jon Hostager (Hi Jon!) and my Annnnnggggela (Hi Ange!) and my Laurie Koenigs (Hi Laurie!).   I have several Pamela's  (Hi Pam).   Where's the denial?

I wanted to go on a canal boat trip. So I did. I wanted to see ancient Roman and Druid ruins. Saw both on the way too and from the canal boat in Wales. Wanted to see Paris again. So I did. Wanted to spend the night in Portland rather than make a long and dangerous drive through ice and snow and freezing rain. So I did. Wanted to buy land for cash. So I did. I want to live in a home of my own design. So I'm working on a design. I want to learn to build things so I've taken classes and now that I bought land, I can start putting those things into practice. I want to know if I can build a home without debt. So I am giving it a shot. I want to live with a low impact on the environment, so I bought a composting toilet and started thinking about how to implement it's use.   I wanted to learn about gardening so I built a couple of raised beds.

Perhaps my loyal readers could clue me in on what I'm denying myself.  I can't think of a thing  (as I sit in my hotel, typing on my new computer, eating organic dark chocolate covered edamame beans from Trader Joe's and drinking delicious homemade chai from my purple stainless steel designer French press travel mug (hot water from my teal stainless steel Stanley thermos) wearing my organic cotton jammie pants and t-shirt (all of the things were bought at thrift) and wearing a lovely silver ring a friend just gave me after a giveaway/funeral on the reservation   For breakfast I've got an assortment of organic goodies to supplement the complimentary breakfast.

Seriously, where is the huge gap in my life I should feel bad about?  The part where I don't worry about whether I can pay my bills?   The part where I pay some giant corporations huge amounts of interest for credit?  The part where I stress about losing my job because of the crushing debt hanging over my head?  The part where I would lose my home and car if I lost my job? The part where I'm 1 paycheck from desperation? The part where if an opportunity comes up I can't afford to take advantage of it?  The part where I can't help people because I have no savings?  The part where ...I got nothing.

Thrifty Vacation Housing Options

Moving along on my list of topics I said I'd cover about vacationing....frugally and simply (or fairly frugally and fairly simply since the MOST frugal and simple would be to sit at home in the cold and dark).

So, I've tried hotel/motels...some are a fairly good deal.  Some are not.
I've tried vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owner), not bad.  Prices go as high or low as you want.
And the DC trip was through airbnb.com.  Again, price range is quite wide.

3 of us shared a 2 bedroom apartment in DC, with full kitchen, one full bath, and a washer dryer (nice ones, not those crap stacking ones with a top loading washer), breakfast foods included for about 35-40$/each per night.   That was really good.
Here's a link to the place if you're curious:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/339208?guests=2&s=19fa

The beds were great.  Pam (Hi Pam) got the couch so she'll have to give us a ruling on that.   It was very private and no steps other than the front porch.  It is in a working class neighborhood in DC.    The Metro stop is literally yards from the front door.  You can see the place when you get off the Metro.   4 stops to the Mall.   So, we didn't feel we spent too much time or money on transportation.

Having the washer/dryer meant we could pack with only a small carryon that fit under the seat in front of us.  The airlines sometimes require you to check the roller bags these days with the overloaded flights.  That doesn't cost you money, but it does cost you time waiting for the bag.  I personally don't want to pay to check a bag so the washer facilitates that savings.

By staying in a working class neighborhood rather than at trendier or more "nightlife" type area, we also got a less expensive place.

With airbnb.com much of your experience depends on your host so read the reviews and communicate with the host before committing.  The host, Wayne, was awesome!   Good directions and suggestions.   He encouraged us to take a bus to the national cathedral rather than the metro.  Even cheaper AND it's like getting a free tour of DC.   Some people might not care for the bus as the poor people take the bus along with everyone else, but we didn't mind at all. 

What you don't get with airbnb: a round the clock concierge, linen service, a cookie-cutter-predictable-chain-hotel experience, reward points, etc.

When I've managed to get excellent prices on hotels/motels, it's largely been in "mom-n-pop" type places.   They don't have advertising and often don't have websites so there is some risk.  But isn't life full of risk?
One of my favorite cheapy hotel/motel experiences was at Paul's Motor Inn in Victoria BC
www.paulsmotorinn.com/
This was several years ago and I cannot vouch for their current conditions.   The room was clean and quiet (due to the cinder block walls...those don't transmit much sound).  The onsite restaurant hadn't been redecorated, or restaffed, since the 1970s.  If you like vintage you'd love it.  If you like modern and exotic then probably not for you.   The place came with parking.  Since I drove there and it costs to park in the city, free parking is important savings for me at a motel/hotel. 

In Seattle I generally stay at the Travelodge University.  It's not the cheapest, but the location is good, the price is very good for the location, free parking, and there are some 1 and 2 bedroom apartments with full kitchens.  These cost a bit more than the regular rooms but I'm usually able to recoup much of the difference by having 1 or 2 meals a day in the hotel.

I no longer go so far as to sleep in the car to save money.  I have a job and find that sleeping inside with a toilet and shower available is way better and worth the money these days.

CHEAP working vacation

I'm writing to this in Denver CO. I'm here for a conference which will increase my skillz at work. Nice. The registration fee is 0$, so that is pretty thrifty. Flying to Denver from Spokane is pretty cheap as well. And, I can stay with Jonny (Hi Jonny) for free...also pretty thrifty. I thought I would be taking the bus to the conference (which starts tomorrow), but as luck would have it, Jonny's new job is in the same area as the conference so I just ride along and get dropped off in the neighborhood. Such a deal.

To make the most of the trip, I arrived a couple of days early. Jonny had called and asked if I wanted to see a theater production, a "play" I believe they are called. Sure. Then he says to me he says, "Grapes of Wrath or Night of the Iguana?" How could I choose??? The Grapes of Wrath is playing at a local community playhouse that is tragically underfunded. Night of the Iguana is playing at a better funded playhouse in Golden, Colorado. I've been to both theaters before and loved both productions for very different reasons. So, we went to both. The Grapes of Wrath needed to be better funded...and better staged, cast, scripted, scored, and etc. It was a valiant attempt and several of the actors were very good in most of the parts they played (all but the 2 or 3 leads played multiple characters which got pretty confusing given the fairly subtle costume changes available to them). I must say, these were the best fed Okies I've ever seen. Of course, casting this must have been a real challenge since it required not only folks willing to work for free, they also needed to be able to sing, act, do make-up, costuming, set design and construction, and hopefully play an instrument! I was actually impressed with how well it came off, especially that it had been scored by a local bluegrass group who appeared in costume on and near the stage to provide the music. The music was very good. Still, it was too much for the resources the theater had at its disposal, as evidenced by the silent auction going on in the lobby...Star Wars memorabilia anyone? ANYONE?

Then there was the LENGTH of the play. Over THREE HOURS! Our butts were barking by the end of it. There was a "talk back" scheduled after the performance where the audience could talk with the director and actors...but we bolted. As did much of the audience. We had come for some entertainment, not an overnight stay. We got there at 7ish and left at 10:30. Wow.

Last night was "Night of the Iguana" which I HONESTLY believed would be a cheesy horror show done on stage. I didn't know that it was Tenessee Williams. OOPS. Jonny let me know before I got there that it was an real play by a real and respected playwrite. I was a bit scared that it wouldn't be crappy. I do love crappy community theater. It wasn't crappy. But it was SO GOOD that I was not at all disappointed. Unfortunately, we showed up 15 minutes late. Just scheduling problems with trying to do too much on vacation. We thought maybe we'd have to wait for intermission or at least a scene change to be seated and were OK with that. The manager, however, is a pretty intense guy and rather than offering options or sending us away in shame, he chose to focus a great deal of anger and some prize winning stink-eye looks on us. We wandered up to the boarded "box office" in the lovely theater facility above some store fronts in Golden. Then meandered into the lobby/beverage-service area. In there we were "greeted" by a tall, bald, finickily bearded man with actual FLAMES shooting out of his eyes "WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" Jonny cringed and stammered and I just stared, enjoying the show. The flame-eyed man continued to berate Jonny while a meek woman behind him said "Hostager?" (Jonny's last name) and handed ME (the one out of the direct line of fire) 2 tickets and a receipt. The anger-management-manager said that we would be seated off to the side (he had frog marched us out on to the landing to give us more daggery-glares). Fine. He ran to the first side door and opened it, then said, "NOT HERE" and frog marched us all the way through the lobby again to the other side door and stomped in and pointed us toward the ENTIRELY VACANT (other than one old woman) side section. There were a total of 40 audience members so being crappy to 2 of them, 5%, was perhaps not his best plan. We sat down and enjoyed the show. The old lady asked if we wanted to move past her but I said we'd settle in during intermission.

At intermission I tried to go for a pee, dodging the glares of the manager, but there was a massive line at the ladies room so I went back in and chose better seats. The old lady returned from what was apparently a vigorous smoke break, her breath was pretty intense. She was very nice and said that if you come late you can sit anywhere on the side section that you like, then talked about other plays she'd been to. In my head, I'm naming her "Maude" and taking notes for a character in my next film (see below). She had glittery costume jewelry, shiny but dignified polyester shirt and sensible old-lady pants. She was at least in her 70s and reminded me of my Gramma and GreatGramma on my mom's side. Tiny body, big personality. Jonny came back in and sat in front of her. I asked if his big head was in her way and she said, "No, because I'll just move over here" and changed her seat.

The play was wonderful, moreso in contrast to the struggling production of the night before. One actor has TV as well as stage experience. All the actors did excellent jobs and of course Tennessee did a better job with dialogue than the local folks could manage with the Grapes of Wrath. The first play was awesome in its craptacularity. The second was just really good theater.

At the end of Night of the Iguana, the cast bowed to the 37 audience members seated in front of the stage, then the whole cast came to our side and bowed to the three of us. Perhaps they thought we were some sort of rag-tag family troupe with Gramma treated the grandkids to a night out.

Afterwards, we had to walk out through the whole lobby. In hindsight, we should have crossed in front of the stage inside the theater and gone out the far door, dodging the manager's domain, the lobby. But, we didn't. He was stationed at that end of the lobby shaking hands with everyone who went by. The woman infront of me got a full body hug and a thank you. While he was doing that, he was GLARING at me. I waited a moment to see if he'd release his captive and shake my hand, allowing me a moment to apologize for my tardiness and compliment him on the production...but he continued to hug and glare for an inordinate amount of time. So I said "Thanks" with probably quite a dose of sarcasm in my voice, and headed through the lobby and out onto the landing. Jonny waited a bit longer to shake the guy's hand so I check the restroom line again. It was long so I gave up. When I turned around Jonny had joined me, looking stunned. The guy had never released the captive hug-ee and Jonny had had to just continue on. I looked over Jonny's shoulder into the lobby and there was the manager STILL glaring at us! He had crossed the entire lobby, passing people with the manners to show up on time and who were chatting happily about the production, just to GLARE at us with his arms folded. This made me laugh so I headed down the stairs and outside. I didn't bother to look up at the windows but assumed he was shooting eye daggers out the window at us. Jesus. I'm pretty sure he spent more energy hating us for being late than he spent enjoying his successful production! Crazy. I had been thinking of getting Jonny a membership to that theater for christmas because it comes with 2 free tickets and some recognition as a patron of the arts...but now I'm afraid Jonny will be on the black list and get refused or glared at. By the time we hit the street I was laughing so hard I had to stop for a minute and get ahold of myself. Really. All that energy spent being angry and hateful to 2 people who were 15 minutes late for a community theater production? Really? Jonny took it more personally than I did. I figure we can put this guy in the next movie as well (see below).

Our other thrifty (ish) fun has been making our first, well second, film. The true first film was lost to history. Maybe when we're famous it will resurface. Personally, this is my third film since I did make the epic "Killer Beagle" in high school. That has also been lost to history.

Jonny, Gino and I shot a very very short film (it's currently in post production) called "Late September Supper" inspired in part by "Mid August Lunch." It has more in common with the first play described above than the second. Our costumes were what I brought plus Jonny's supply of wigs and glasses and crocs, as well as a few items found at thrift stores on the way to Jonny's house from the airport. I'm afraid that there will be more "outtakes" than actual content. Oh well. We had fun and WE think it is HILARIOUS. It's one major flaw, well, the majorist of all the flaws, is that Angela was not available to join us. As a result, the character she would have played is referred to but never apears on screen. Maybe someday we could have someone shoot her infront of a blue screen and we can cut her in that way.

Other major flaws:

-We had no camera person...no cinematographer if you will.... so each of us filled in. Also, I got the camera Monday and we shot the film Saturday. I had not practiced at all really and didn't know that each time the camera went to sleep between takes/scenes, it moved to a neutral level of zoom. This meant that I am only partly in the frame sometimes. Oh well. Not missing much there!

-Jonny and Gino had not read the script I sent them. None of us was particularly interested in sticking to the script...but still, it's polite to read the script.

-and much much more.

I'll post the flick if it ever makes it out of post.

New Year's Resolutions...and Early Failure

OK, not failure but not exactly success either.
At the end you get a quick summary of our special day at the Bowling Alley last night that was fricking awesome.

Resolutions:
1) Outside a minimum of 20minutes (in one lump) per day until the Spring Equinox (at which time the time will be maintained or increased). This sounds lame since my job sounds, and sometimes is, outdoorsy. Of late and especially in the dark of winter I find that I walk to work, walk to the post office and walk home. That is my outdoor time and it is not enough. My eyes are turning white. Even the pupils. On Sundays when there is no radio show I've been known to not put on pants much less leave the trailer. Being outside an hour a day (we'll work up to that) no matter the weather is known to decrease respiratory infections, increase health, and blah blah blah. That will also be 20 minutes when I'm away from the delicious loaf of sourdough bread that is always on my counter since I started making my own sourdough again and gained noticeable weight.

2) Yoga everyday, even 1 move. I've gotten out of the yoga habit and do it just now-n-then. The goal here is to get back in the routine and usually once I start, I'll keep going for more than 1 move. Requiring just 1 move keeps it very doable and makes one resolution a super easy success.

3) 8oz of water with every meal. I drink buckets of tea and some coffee, the occasional bottle of kombucha (look it up), and so on. Time to quit being dependent on the flavored waters and get back to water water. Nothing "wrong" with tea but I think having the habit of water with meals helps me drink through out the day rather than 8 cups of tea when I'm chilled and then up all night peeing. That much water with meals may also take up valuable sourdough bread space and hopefully get my thighs back down where they fit in the remaining non-spandex jeans in my wardrobe.

4) Plan a visit with Angela (Hi Angela!). I'm still visiting friends in Denver and Angela unfortunately had to leave a day earlier than me. We hadn't gotten together in 5 years! That's awful. One of Angela's wishes is to travel more and I love to plan travel so here we are. I figured that "travel with Angela" would obligate Angela to meet MY resolution and that's neither fair nor under my control, but I can plan. WARNING TO BREE AND Y-N-FRANK: your part of the country is our first target so we can try to see folks we haven't seen in more than 5 years. WARNING TO Mike-n-Todd: if this goes well, you could be next. There are many unknowns like available time, scheduling issues, finances, and what if we're incompatible travelers...so the goal is the plan.

I managed the yoga yesterday. Sure, it was mountain pose which is basically standing for a few seconds with good posture, but that meets the goal. Being outside...not so much. The water...well, today is another day (DOH! Forgot water with breakfast! Had coffee and juice. Damn and blast. Here's hoping for lunch.)
The visit planning doesn't have to be everyday, but on the way to the airport to drop Ange this morning, we did talk about locations and how I need specific information about her ideal accommodations to start planning. I'm a high maintenance travel agent.

Hope one and all have had as good a start on 2011 as I have.


Now for the update on Denver-Fun-'10-'11.
Yesterday there was a great deal of napping going on. We had breakfast and then several people not named "Jill" read and took naps. Someone kept Jonny out until the wee hours on new years eve so he was exhausted and groggy. Much better after having his 5 hour lie-down. I blogged and read and relaxed around Jonny's 1950s enclave.

THEN: at 6:15 we headed out into the cold and gloom to meet Jonny's boyfriend Gino (Hi Gino and Jonny) at a bowling alley reviewed on the interwebs as "like stepping back to the 1970s". We all love the kitch. Gino was the one who kept Jonny out until the wee hours but was rested and cheery when he got there at about 7pm. I believe the high score for our 2 games of bowling was 102. I set a new personal best with a score in the high double digits. I'm hoping to break 100 some day. The bowling alley was awesome. The website is most excellent

http://paramountbowl.biz/
Surf on over to their "bar and grill" and read the menu. CLEARLY it is a bad cut and paste job from another web site with the names of things served at the bowling alley typed in but the descriptions not corrected from the previous website (which we haven't found yet).
Here are the breakfast options:

Toast & Jelly $.95
wedge of iceberg lettuce with scallions & blue cheese dressing

Muff Yum$3.99
flash fried & served with a tomato vinaigrette

Breakfast Burrito$4.75
made fresh daily

Bacon or Sausage & Eggs$4.25
cocnut crusted with carribean flavors makes this dish an automatic classic

Eggs & Toast$3.25
chili & cumin seasoned chicken with muenster cheese, rolled in a corn tortilla

There is a startling similarity in preparation styles between the Breakfast and Burger options:

Hamburger$3.50
wedge of iceberg lettuce with scallions & blue cheese dressing

Double Hamburger$4.25
flash fried & served with a tomato vinaigrette

Cheeseburger$4.00
made fresh daily

Double Cheeseburger$4.99
cocnut crusted with carribean flavors makes this dish an automatic classic

Patty Melt$4.90
chili & cumin seasoned chicken with muenster cheese, rolled in a corn tortilla

Does this mean that only the Cheeseburger is made fresh daily? And why are both the Double Cheeseburger and the Bacon, Sausage, and Egg featuring "cocnut" crusting with "carribean flavors" while the Toast and Jam as well as the Hamburger come with a wedge of iceberg lettuce? I know it's just a lack of cut-n-paste skill, but the result is quite evocative reading. There is quite a bit more on offer.

We had sodas and some of the best fries I've ever had. The grease in that vat is lard and it is HOT. The fries were about 1/2inch thick and were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. That only happens with super hot grease.

The decor at the Paramount Bowl has not been updated since construction so it's quite nice. Hopefully Jonny will send photos for me to post. We were heavily photographed by him during the session. We were in lane 12, the last lane against the wall with the airbrushed logo on the cinder blocks. The ball return is straight from 1972 or so. And the whole lot is underneath a grocery store. It was not crowded, only 3 or 4 lanes in use while we were there. None of this "cosmic bowling" BS where they use flashy lights and strobes and LOUD MUSIC to enhance/ruin the bowling experience. It's just bowling and chatting and snacking. Since we all sucked approximately equally it was fun. We are all lame so three of us were using the lightest ball we could find...a 12 pounder. I could have gone to the desk and asked for a kiddie-ball but that seemed beneath even my skills. Jonny showed off with a 16 pound ball (heh heh). He won. The rest of us competed for "not last" or "not as bad as I've done in the past."

Then it was back to Jonny's '50s Dream House for flaming desserts. Everyone but me had cheese cake. I got toast and jam. The "flaming" part for all of us was a sugar cube soaked in orange extract and lit on fire. It does make an impressive dessert even out of toast and jam (the bread was artisan and the jam very good...I'm not sure any number of flaming sugar cubes could enhance wonder bread and cheap jam but it's worth a shot).

OK, we're having home-made dim sum tonight and I'm supposed to be surfing the web for dip recipes so must sign off now.

Lovely Times In Denver

Angela flew in from Chicago (she was supposed to fly in from Dubuque but mechanical problems meant she was BUSSED to Shy-town...yikes. So glad she made it. I jetted south from Spokane. We both joined our friend Jonny in Denver.
He's got a lovely 1950s home that has not suffered the ravages of a sad 1980s make over and thusly has retained all the charm of a lovely 1950s home. I think Mrs. Cunningham does our laundry while we sleep.

Anywhoo. We're just here for a nice little new years vacation. So far it's been amazing.
We started at CASA BONITA!!!

As featured in South Park:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/154195/more-sopapillas-please

(it won't embed...just follow the link).

I got here a bit before Angela so Jonny and I went and got groceries. Then back to the airport to get Angela and STRAIGHT to the Casa Bonita where we sat in the BACK ROOM! and saw the worst magician EVER which was awesome in its own way. Not the mainstage cliff diver area. We had our borderline inedible meal (as it should be). Just a hint: do NOT get the Shirley Temple. It is sweetened maraschino cherry juice with bubbles, I think they rendered high-fructose corn syrup down to its sicky sweet essence. It added a heady after-shock to the barely edible taco salad I had. The sopapillas with honey were lovely. Next we headed out to the main "restaurant" area Then through Bart's Cave, saw mariachi playing, saw a cliff diver who first juggled flaming something or others, and browsed the gift shop. We all put 50cents and a penny into the souvenir penny-smasher machine and got the cliff diver smashed into the pennies.

After that it was home to the 1950s with Jonny. His house is lovely! It's one of those that is somehow bigger on the inside.

Our next big outing was the Denver Zoo. We were hoping for locales further afield but the weather and time conspired against us. The zoo was DESERTED! There were maybe a dozen cars in the parking lot when we got there and we saw about 20 people the whole time we were there! It was my best day at the zoo ever. No screaming kids. No one jamming into my ankles with strollers, no would-be-gangsta teens, no seniors creeping along in jammed aisles. Just us and a VERY few others. Perhaps the blizzard raging outside had something to do with it. Not all animals were available. The giraffes were not having it. I thought we would miss the water buffalo but Angela called out "you-whoo, Nature!" and they turned around to face us.

Here are a few highlight photos:


First, a lovely starfish! We spent maybe a half an hour just checking out the fish in the sealife area.


















The elephants weren't too excited about being indoors and frankly this one looked pretty ancient. Still, we were in their building alone with them, a snoozing rhinoceros and a swimming hippopotamus for ages without interruption and with peace and quiet. It was lovely.


















Check out the monkeys! I think they are howler monkeys. We were in a building with mostly lizards and things, but these were there as well. Angela settled herself on the floor to rest her aching feet and these monkeys came up to the screen type fence on the front of their enclosure and checked her out. She called Jonny and I over and the monkeys stuck around! I stayed about 20minutes before the monkeys moved away. They looked at us, at the aquariums (aquaria?) across the way and seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet as much as we did. They literally just hung around about 3 feet from us for that long. No, I did not try to touch the monkey.

I wish I had photographed each meal! Jonny is the best chef I know. We've had sizzling korean rice dishes in stone bowls, homemade and artisan breads. french toast that was beyond belief (mine is always heavy soggy crap), and much much more. I think the worst meal has been my potato soup. I love it a home but it was a bit "off" here and I just can't compete with things like the sun-dried tomato, artichoke, pepper, and chicken white pizza on HOMEMADE dough crusts made on a pizza stone. It was divine. Below is a photo of Jonny's Flaming Ice CCream. Just the sugar cube was actually on fire but still. I did not indulge in this dairy-licious treat but it was tempting.




















Other events: We saw 6 new one act plays by colorado playwrights and with local actors at a small theater. Each had its ups and downs but we've been quoting lines from either the plays or the interesting young gentleman seated 2 seats down from me who was enthusiastically enjoying each joke, poignant moment, plot twist and good line. Unfortunately, he was enjoying them about 10 seconds after everyone else in the audience "got it." It was like he was on a delay.

Ange must leave us tomorrow and I go the next day.

DAMN IT! and Possibly a New Project

So, tried to go camping this weekend.

I had made it to Missoula on wintery but not bad roads. I turned the phone on to check messages after fueling up and Jeanne called. She'd been in the ditch! Crap. And was headed home. Fortunately she and Sadie (the dog) were fine and claim to continue to be fine. But I don't blame her.
On my way out of Plummer 2 different people warned me a of a 'big storm' headed this way...8-11 inches of snow...yada yada...by Sunday. I figured I'd be headed home MONDAY so a storm that is over SUNDAY is just about right and also the weather stations I checked all said regular winter stuff, 1-2 inches of snow and warmer temps.

But, when it came to deciding whether to winter camp alone (albeit in a cabin with a stove) I figure IF the storm did materialize, I'd be 4000 feet higher up and alone within 1 mile of where they stop keeping a road open and what if I fell on the way to the crapper and broke an ankle. I'd end up in some crap movie of the week. The kind I hate. You know. Where someone takes a stupid risk and ends up getting hurt and other people, tax payers generally, have to spend a bunch of money helping the idiot out (e.g. the family who drove on back roads in the winter because the interstate and main highways were CLOSED and ended up lost and stuck. So they LEFT THEIR VEHICLE (apparently having never read or heard anything about winter safety). The woman and a nursing baby get stuffing in a snow cave by the husband as he walks around like a moron looking for help. They hadn't packed food, blankets etc. STILL he was heralded as a hero after they were rescued at great effort and expense and much emotional trauma to themselves and their families. What I thought was, "what an asshole" and that the wife was as stupid as him for agreeing to go. I just hoped stupid skipped a generation and the kid turned out alright. Same with the guy in the movie now. He goes hiking alone in back country and tells no one where he's going. Again. Has he not read or heard ANYTHING about safety? Days later he ends up cutting his arm of with a pen knife and he's heralded as a hero. No. Stupid. Possibly with a high pain threshold but it was that or die of thirst while contemplating his own stupidity. Why would I go see a movie. I did NOT want to be in a movie like that. If I ever head out to do something terminally stupid yet manage to survive, the polite thing to do is to not mention it.

So, I turned around and headed home. I thought of getting a hotel for a night but if that supposed storm was happening, I'd be stranded at a hotel, with the hamster (no hamster sitters available) waiting out a storm and watching a very expensive organic chicken thaw and go bad (I would rather watch it rot than try to cook it in the microwave and then throw it out...though possibly I could have made a passable soup in the coffeemaker...2 cups at a time).

I spent about 9 hours on the road to get to my own trailer. On the upside, if I fall down here on the way to the crapper and break and ankle, the cats will tear through the floor and eat me before I have to face the shame of a movie of the week.

The good news was I decided to pretend I was camping for at least 24 hours. I unplugged the phone, turned off the cell, left the computer and TV off and just relaxed and read books. I spoke to no one for a full 24 hours. It was lovely. I made the meal I had planned for the cabin which, while delicious, is not as fun to cook on a regular stove as the woodstove and since I doesn't take as much effort, I didn't appreciate it as much. Still, roast organic chicken with herbs de provence and giant cloves of garlic roasted in my dutch oven, wild rice, cherry pie from the last of the home canned cherries (Sally: hope the trees are back in service soon! I'm also on the final jar of cherry jam from 2007), sourdough rolls, and I started pumpkin soup but honestly I was too full to eat it so it's waiting in the fridge and may get moved to the freezer. The only disappointment was making broth out of the chicken carcass (after stripping it of all recognizable meat for soup or something). I put it back in the dutch oven since that is where the delicious spices, roasted garlics, and pan crusties were. I simmered it for a bit and checked it. It smells amazing, but the dutch oven turned it black. I've made broth in iron pans before and it's been dark, but this looks like gun metal. Smells great, probably high in iron, but ugly. It's in the fridge in a container while I try to think of something that won't be made inedible by the color. Maybe something with black beans as the main ingredient since that will be black anyway. I was going to put some in the pumpkin soup and save the rest for chicken noodle soup. But black chicken noodle soup and god knows what color pumpkin soup...ick. Any suggestions?
Anyway, some animal will enjoy the skin and bones that are going out in the trash. I'd like to compost them but I know something would just dig them out of there too.

SO: I had all that lovely quiet time and I read a book. "Julie and Julia", like the movie. It's better than the movie! Most books are. This is more a memoir of one year, the one when the author turns 30, when she needs a new creative outlet. I think lots of people do this sort of thing, and now many put it on the web (e.g. No Impact Man, New Dress A Day, etc). Then I wondered what makes a few of these blogs take off and most just sit in the abyss. For Ms. Julie Powell (author of Julie and Julia) is that she's a funny writer and seems to be pretty honest, admitting the not so flattering bits (like meltdowns over failed eggs). No Impact Man was also pretty honest, or at least appeared so, but less funny. Both of these also talk quite a bit about how the projects they've chosen change their relationships with others and the rest of their lives. For New Dress A Day, she's gotten some fame, but hasn't talked much in the blog about specific folks. She is however a very amusing chatty-style writer.

My blog will never take off since it is an open ended project, I'm not documenting in the detail, and it is funny only intermittently. Oh well. Better keep the day job.

SO: I wanted a new project. But not for a year. I like projects and the book reminded me of that. I'm going to see how long I can go without getting groceries. The pantry list keeps reminding me of how much food I have in this house. To get ready for the thanksgiving cabin trip that never was, I needed to buy a small bag of noodles for the soup (which now won't happen), a few potatoes and an onion. I have lots of dry onion but I wanted to make potato soup (which I did Thursday night when I got home). It's easy and pretty much cooks itself so seemed a good thing to have the first night at the cabin. It was also good when I got home after the 9 hour drive to know where. It made me realize again that I have a TON of food in this house.
There are still 4 squash and now a box of quince (like an apple) in the root-cellar/front-bedroom along with some garlic. There were 5 squash but one went off and had to go in the compost. I think it froze.
ANYWAY: Given the nice variety of food and spices and oils and fats and whatnot, I'm going to see how long I can easily go without grocery shopping. I often do that at the beginning of winter and thought of it with the pantry inventory so now is the time. If people show up with elk jerky or invite me to lunch, obviously I'll accept. I'm not trying to set up some strange nazi rules that will limit my already limited social life. Just see how long that amount of food lasts in my regular life and see what I run out of first.

It was funny that as I left for the cabin, I thought of throwing in a bag of beans, bunch of rice, and some spices so that if we got stuck we'd be fine for a week. We'd stink ourselves out of the cabin, but we'd be fine. Oh well. Next time.

Iowa Highlight Part 2

A few more photos from the MaidRite.
You can see Sher's technique of leaving the sandwich wrapped for tidiness. And Pam's balls-out-all-unwrapped-ultramessy method.

















They had the chocolate pie, which is not visible in this photo. I was just shooting the classic pie display cabinet.















And below are a couple of photos of the decor and clientele.































And now for the rest of the show:
The pixie cut gal came up to us and asked if we'd tried their homemade ketchup. We said "no." She pulls a ketchup squeezy thing (see above photo) out from other the counter, whacks it down hard and a stream of ketchup shoots out at Pam! But it was really red yard stuffed in the bottle. Pam nearly jumped out of her skin.

One Iowa Highlight

I'm just back from Iowa. Called in "sick" to work today. More tired than sick and having caffeine withdrawal headache thanks Sher and her coffee guzzling friends (e.g. Diane Finley).

ANYWAY. I thought I'd report on one small highlight of the Iowa Trip. The sidetrip to Galena was great and all, as was going to Clayton with Gram. But we're starting with the simple joys: a good sandwich.

Mom, Pam and I went to MaidRite. I don't remember ever going before but Sher had.
It's a chain serving loose meat sandwiches with a side of entertainment.














There's a lovely view of the place...in the rain.
















And this is the classic prep table. Formerly, the meat was cooking in one side while served out of the other. There is a metal divider in the middle. BUT the bastard health and safety people said "oooo can't have uncooked meat touching cooked meat because someone with a weak system might get the poops."
So now,















the meat is cooked in different location (it might just be at the other end of the long counter but we don't know) then brought out in a metal tub (much like you would find silverware in after washing it but that's probably a coincidence) and dumped in the MaidRite steam table bin. The ingredients appear to be hamburger and chopped onion.















It is scooped onto the buns on, options include tomato, lettuce, onion. Ketchup and mustard provided. the white space in the bottom of the photo is the counter you sit at. No fancy booths or tables here. All counter seating at this location. AND there were 5 people working behind the counter. Two women of a certain age, shown above, a young guy who took our order, a young woman who probably doesn't work there anymore, and one old woman who had aquanet-helmet-hair. Everyone but the young guy had a butt two axe handles wide so the prep space was a bit crowded at hip-high.















Here's the older woman snacking on a raw sweet potato fry. Pam got those. They were DELICIOUS. Pam's were cooked of course. It was pretty clear that they were home sliced and frozen in a ziplock. I got the regular fries and having made the odd batch of fries during the 3 years (or was it eternity?) that I worked at McDonald's, can attest that to get fries from actual potatoes (not the mush formed into sticks that most fast food joints use) you have to have the oil/lard about 2 degrees below the temperature at which it bursts into flame.

As you can see, most of the cooking equipment appears to be original to the building. I like that. Very frugal. The three of us had 3 sandwiches, 2 versions of fries, a brownie and a piece of pie. The total was under 20$...and it came with a SHOW! The chick with the pixie cut threw our sandwiches to each of us from the prep table. The sandwiches come wrapped in paper which you sent on the counter. You also get a spoon as the loose meat tends to fall out. Sher used her paper as a sandwich diaper and managed to eat very tidily. Pam and I struggled and ended up eating most of the sandwich meat with the spoon.

I'll have to continue this in another entry as I'm on dial up and it's too hard to add more photos to this entry.

Santa Fe and stuff

We had a very groovy time in Santa Fe! The house (which is for sale...) was a hoot. Not the decor I would pick, but lovely all the same. I especially liked the tiny kiva style fireplace in the kitchen. It was high enough that the kitchen table could be pushed up in front of it. It was also small enough that the fire burned out quickly. A fire over breakfast is now a priority for the house I'll build someday.

Three bedrooms and two bathrooms worked out pretty well. Pam and I did not have an outside window which was sort of odd. The porch the window used to open onto had been enclosed so our window opened onto that room rather than actual out of doors.

The Iowa troop had plane issues on the way and ended up arriving late. Pam apparently fell directly into bed (we shared a room). In the morning I was already up and about before she came back to life. She apparently thought that there were TWO windows onto the sunroom so when I came through the one that is really a door she said "what the hell!" thinking I'd walked through a wall. That was funny.

We did several days in Santa Fe. A day at Marcie's in Cochiti Lake (Jerry regaled us with the funniest story anyone had heard in recent years) where we enjoyed a salad so good we had it 2 more times before we left.

A day in Taos was lovely with excellent food and shoppery. We also spotted the "Wagner Casita"! A holiday rental home. I checked it out on line and it is really 3 little houses in a compound. All are too small and too expensive for us. Oh well. It would have been amusing. Perhaps we'll see the "Brown House" or the "Sperry Arms" or, best of all "The Baskerville Inn" for the next reunion. Hilch thinks we should do it again in 2 years.


And, and update: I decided to take a week off from technology for "Earth Day" (it was the 40th anniversay of Earth Day). It was odd. I did well for 3 days and obviously couldn't avoid technology at work. It was nice to come home and not just turn on some distraction so I hope to keep taking a day off here and there on some regular basis. On Friday I added 20square feet to my garden for a total raised bed of 36 square feet (4X9). I used scrap wood that was lying around the yard and had roughly the right dimensions. I only had to cut one board. It doesn't look too bad considering it's free. I've got 2 pots and 2 buckets of potatoes going on the shabbier end to cover things up (though camouflaging a tatty garden edge with mismatched pots and 5gallon buckets is probably not the direction that most people would go). I did spend about 50$ for good organic container mix soil to fill the new part of the garden. If I want to get a whole parking space sized garden going this year I don't have nearly enough dirt. I'll need more for the containers too.

My attempt at sprouting and starting my own plants when no where since I forgot about the sprouts and they molded in their plastic bags. Oh well. I bought a parsley plant and 4 sweet pea plants today (yes...I know peas don't transplant well) which were on sale (yes, probably because they are crap) just to get something green going in the garden. I can't wait for tomatoes to be available. I'll probably get some radishes and greens and beets going this week. I think carrots can go in too.

The bad news...I can't find my garden notebook where I had a plan drawn. Oh well. I'll make one online or start a new notebook. Once it's too late to bother I'm sure I'll find the one I lost.

That is all.

Ever more pictures

Here are the cooks in the basement of the Hermitage. You can barely see it, but the bald one has GIANT stretchers in his earlobes. He thought the picture taking was funny.















Typical canal scene. Tons of bikes. Tons of boats. Note the snow. It snowed while we were there and was very pretty.
















Here is the rijstafel after we annihilated it.



















This sign is at the photography museum as you come in from the garden building with the documentary. I liked it.
















And this is just for Pam. Yes, a restaurant called "Nooch"

More Amsterdam pictures

This shot shows both a cool bike with a seat in the front for kids. You can get 2 medium size kids or a buttload of groceries and stuff in there. There is a little bench for the kids. Not all are this nicely painted.
















This is how you move stuff in and out of the canal houses. They all have an arm, or beam, coming out over the center. This has a hook. Put a pulley on the hook, a rope through the pulley and you're set:



Here a guy is getting something going out an upper window

















And here it is on the way down:



















This is the side of one of the old canal houses. It has trusses to keep the walls from bowing out. This building had the most that I'd seen. You can also see doors that open right onto a canal rather than on the street. Presumably there are also streetward doors to the homes.















This is just a nice central area in the old town.

December 30 in Amsterdam

First, I forgot to mention the Anne Frank Museum we did on the 29th. Obviously an excellent, if depressing, visit.


On the 30th, we started with breakfast. I had Pannenkoeken. Note the awesome eyebags. I could pack those for the weekend.















Then we went to the Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam Branch. Very very cool. All about Russian history, obviously. We split up so we could go at our own paces. I took a break in a little cafe by the children's giftshop and had a coffee and a ham sandwich. THEN I saw the pie. Oh well. While looking out the window on to the canal and trying to console myself about not having eaten the pie, I totally saw a dog take a wizz. That was funny.

Here's my delicious lunch. The bread in Amsterdam was incredible. Also good in France, but more variety in Amsterdam.















We were walking around later and went into a photography museum that is in an old canal house (like what I was staying in the attic of). It was amazing as they were showing Edward Burtynsky. There was even a little room in the basement where you could get a coffee out of a machine and have a cookie with it while reading photography mags. So I did. It was excellent coffee.

Then I went out the back door, through the garden and into a tiny garden room thingy where a documentary "Manufactured Landscapes" about Mr. Burtynsky was showing. I watched a bit. Then back in to locate Chris and Pat.

I've since gotten the documentary and watched it and it is awesome.


This is the little garden thingy with the documentary in it. I took it from the 2nd floor of the canalhouse/photography museum.















After that, we stopped at C&P's room then off to dinner at Sampurna. WOW! We had rijstafel. That's "rice table" and is a buttload of little dishes of indonesian foods and a big pot of rice. It was most excellent.

Here is the Rijstafel BEFORE we sowed down.

December 28 and 29

We're skimming over the 28th because there aren't many photos.
That is the day we all traveled to Amsterdam. We ended up on different trains (though I would have been in crap class and Chris and Pat in first class even if we were on the same train so it didn't matter too much)

I was going earlier and headed to the station in a taxi because I don't like to get lost. We left from the Gare du Nord (North Station) on one of those high speed trains. I was in a set of facing seats at the end. The 2 across from me were a mother and daughter and beside me (I had the window) was a girl who was part of a family of five who had the set of seats across the aisle. Everyone was very pleasant and the woman across the way even let me text from her mobile when it turned out that the virgin mobile phone I'd gotten was shite as they say in Scotland. It did not work once we left France. Nice. I won't be going with virgin again.
Anyway, I needed to contact the owner of the apartment since it seemed that once we got to Belgium the high speed direct train turned into the slow speed milk run. Something about there being new tracks and their train not able to run on them. You know, they probably knew that when we all paid for our tickets but nothing could be done about it anyway.

The scenery along the way was lovely!














I get to amsterdam 2 hours LATE and didn't know if anyone was still waiting to let me into the apartment. It took me about another half hour to get a call through as the phones didn't take coins...the pay phones. Only special proprietary cards. I finally found one that would take a credit card for international calls and ended up having to call the US and bounce off an exchange there and back to Amsterdam to a place about 15 blocks from where I was standing. It was expensive but I learned an important lesson...don't get a virgin mobile phone. I got there and Jan, a friend of the owner, Hans was waiting for me (oh, and my taxi driver spoke about 8 languages! cool). Jan was very nice. Approximately 7 feet tall and blond and middle aged. I was pretty wiped out and just checked in and learned the ropes (how to work the key and what not...more complicated than you'd think as there wer 3 locked doors between me and the outside world).

The apartment was EXCELLENT.

Given that I was so late and I knew that Chris and Pat couldn't call me, what with the shite phone, I walked over to their lovely hotel and had the desk call. No answer. I walked around a bit and tried again. THEN they say "Oh, they haven't checked in yet"...well, that would explain why they didn't answer the room phone. So, I left a note that I was there and they could try me or we'd meet in the morning in their lobby at 9am.

I asked where I could get food. No real answer from the receptionist. It had been too long since I ate and I was grubby. I figured C & P's train must have also turned into the milk run and I figured by the time they got in, we'd all be shot. At least I would. So I walked around and headed back to my apartment. Turns out there was a little organic grocery store across the canal from me so I grabbed some foodage and went up to my apartment.

I made some potato soup (from potatoes and an onion) and enjoyed some lovely fresh bread and salad and tea and chocolate and washed my hair.

Never did see C&P but possibly was washing mjy hair when they came by.

SO on the 29th, we hooked up at their place. A very nice hotel. Hotel Pulitzer.

We got together, had some breakfast and headed out to see the sites.
Pat gave me the stroopwafels that were in his room...very nice. They are two thin waffles (very thin) stuck together with sugar syrup. Very sweet. I brought some home for gifts too. All mooched from Chris and Pat's hotel room


We did the houseboat museum, some shopping, some touring around and of course some eating. The food in Amsterdam is as amazing as the scenery.

The 27th...Our Last Full Day In Paris

First, I made quick run back to the cemetery to visit an anthropologist.


Then we all had breakfast (ever more coffee, bread, butter, jam and a croissant) and then split up.

Pat headed to Pere La Chaise cemetery in search of Jim Morrison's grave. Chris and I headed to a garage sale which was awesome! It was all stuff from the 1950s and there were several venders in an empty "club" or crap dance hall.
I tried on the coolest glasses ever but then forgot to go back and buy them.

















That's right...the left eye is completely covered with sequins. AND it's solid black plastic behind there. Essentially an eyepatch.

















Chris and I next headed over to the Louvre which was PACKED (as it always is). We avoided the Mona Lisa and other "highlights" as we've (at least "I've") seen them before and there are many other wonderful things in that giant building. I did like the medieval Louvre which is in the basement of the newer Louvre (it HAS a basement...unlike the Alamo).

(go to the 2:20 mark to get the good stuff)





















The basement:
















We stopped at a restaurant Chris and I had tried for lunch the day before so Pat could try the cassoulet. Then, stopped in Notre Dame for a couple of minutes just to have a look see. The evening service was going on (projected on a screen...interesting).

And to the hotel not late so we could all make our trains the next day.