Catching up

I've been slow in keeping this up.  We went to San Diego for the football games against New Mexico (blowout loss) on Oct 22, homecoming against TCU (close loss) on Oct 29, and Wyoming (come from behind victory for SDSU) on November 19.

Our only "trip" was to Las Vegas on November 5-7.  One of my friends hosts an annual extravaganza at the Main Street Station in downtown Las Vegas, near Fremont Street Experience.  I lost both my college football parlays, my only pro football parlay, and some money playing blackjack, slots, and craps.  Rasila, in the mean time didn't do well at blackjack, but won $35 in two sittings at the poker machines.  Hmmmm, maybe playing all those games at our friends house helped!

Wyoming's Homecoming

This past weekend, we went to the University of Wyoming's Homecoming weekend.

We flew to Denver, where a friend of mine who is dating Rasila's sister, picked us up.  We packed up his motorhome and when Rasila's sister got home, we drove up to Laramie, WY while my buddy and Rasila's sister rode a motorcycle up that Jeff was selling to another UW alumnus.  We arrived about 6:30 PM, met up with my brother and his girlfriend and all went to dinner at Sweet Melissa's.  They were re-enacting an 1860's revolt of the townspeople against the mayor, the sheriff, and a judge where they shot them all and hung theeir dead bodies from the front of the building.  It added some "spark" to the meal, which was outstanding, by the way.  We spent some time at the Buckhorn and Cowboy, where they were preparing for a live band out on the street for Saturday night.

Saturday morning, Rasila and I got up and went the the espresso shop next door to the Travelodge that we were staying at and then waited for others to awaken to walk the 2 blocks to watch the Homecoming parade.  The parade was amusing as always; I wish I'd take pictures of the dog in a grass skirt and the shark pulled behind a float on a little red wagon, but I didn't.  It turns out my uncle was driving the Governor in the parade, but I didn't notice (Mom told me later).

After the parade, Rasila and I volunteered to go to the Student Union to buy game tickets while all were arising.  When we got back, we gathered everyone and headed to the game via The Library.  The day was beautiful and the game was a good game, but we came out on the losing side, 27-24.

We went to a BBQ at one of my buddy's friend's house after the game.  It was good food and good fun and we then walked back to the hotel to "drop off some stuff."  I made the mistake of tuning in the Angels-White Sox game and seeing the Sox go from up 6-2 to up 8-2.  We then tuned into football highlights and all fell asleep.  Didn't make it out at all.

Trip back was only eventful in that we went from spectacular weather in the rockies to rain in the SoCal.  At least we dont't have to worry about watering the garden!

A wedding and the "Just Us" Tournament

On the weekend of the 8th and 9th, we went to a wedding of one of Rasila's Boston College friends, who also happened to move to LA after graduation.  It was held in Pasadena, CA on the Cal Tech campus at The Athenauem.  It was a great location and a lot of fun.  Only 4 or 5 of Rasila's friends in LA were common friends, but we enjoyed seeing them and did a lot of dancing!

On Sunday, we got up and drove down to Mission Beach in San Diego for the semi-annual "Just Us" tournament that a friend of mine organizes.  It is generally the group of people I used to play with every Sunday when we were all younger and childless.  The format always changes and this time we were separated into 3 groups: The Women, The Hammers, and The Hackers.  I guess I did too well last fall and they put me in The Hammers.  I have not played since then, and even though I have lost 15 pounds or so in the last 6 months, playing 5 games of 2 on 2, sideout scoring beach volleyball was not easy.  I was the common loser in all games, causing the other 3 Hammers to all be 2-1 and I was 0-3.  I played another game co-ed and salvaged a victory, but lost a last game I played.  I was sore until Tuesday :-D

Catching up

I've added some pictures that Roger sent me from the trip to Whitney and Mammoth.

We spent the middle weekend of this month driving to Laguna Beach (only 10 miles) to attend "Bad Dates" at the Laguna Playhouse on Friday.  On Saturday, we drove up to Los Angeles to visit some of Rasila's friends and go out to dinner at 26 Beach in Venice and then hit a dive blues bar for some live music.  Sunday was our last Broadway show at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, "Little Women."

On the weekend of the 24th, we went to San Diego again to see San Diego State play San Jose State in a football game that was followed by the KGB Sky Show XXX.  SDSU won 52-10, which was better than expected, but only making the Aztecs 1-3 with losses to Ohio State and Air Force Academy in the 2 previous weeks.

However, it was actually a preview as we went to San Diego this last Saturday and watch SDSU beat BYU 31-10.

Mammoth Lakes, CA last weekend

Rasila and I drove to Mammoth Lakes, CA.  My brother and his girlfriend were climbing Mt. Whitney on Friday, so we decided we could spend time with them.

We left about 3:00 PM from Irvine, and encountered the usual slowing on CA-91, but otherwise had a pretty easy trip.  We arrived in Lone Pine about 7:15, after stopping at Starbucks in Fontana and the rest stop at Coso Junction.  They had ordered Pizza already, so when we arrived at the Pizza Factory, they were just starting.  We made Mammoth by 9:30, stopped by Mammoth Reservations, and went to our condo at Mammoth  Green.  Normally this would be more money than I'd like to spend, but since school has started and skiing is not started, this is the off-off season, and it was very reasonable.

It was windy and chilly the next day, so we drove to the 3 lodges, Eagle Base, Canyon Lodge, and the Main Lodge, and described the ski mountain.  We didn't take the gondola to the top as the temp was 33F/0.5C at the top with winds of > 30 mph/26knots.  We then drove back down to the Mammoth Scenic Loop, but stopped at the Earthquake Fault for a look.  We then drove to the Mono Craters for a short hike.  A forest service geologist named Bobby was there and recognized us, courtesy my dog, and invited us to join his guided hike.  This was a big plus as he told us how to identify the 4 types of conifers (Jeffrey Pine, Lodgepole Pine, White Fir and Red Fir), some basic lightning safety and wildlife safety as well as the geology of the craters themselves.

That night we had an early birthday dinner at Whiskey Creek, since Cervino's is closed until later this fall.  We watched "Spaceballs", which Rasila had bought for my brother for our birthday, and went to sleep.

The next day we went to Blondie's Kitchen for breakfast, then my brother and his girlfriend left to drive back to Salt Lake City, and we started home.  We stopped at Manzanar and then drove up to Whitney Portal Picnic Area for lunch.  From there, we pretty much just drove home, so we could pick and water the vegetable garden before dark.

San Diego this weekend

Rasila made it back safe last Sunday.

This week, we're off to San Diego to see the SDSU Aztecs play UCLA Bruins.  SDSU is 0-19-1 (the tie being in 1924) against UCLA, so needless to say it would be a big victory.  Nonetheless, I have hopes, since my Alma Mater, the Wyoming Cowboys, beat UCLA in the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl.

Rasila's off to Seattle

Rasila headed off today to visit her parents in the greater Seattle area.  She will be back Sunday.  In the meantime, it's just me and the dogs (I'm dog sitting a neighbor's dog).

Spring Mountains, August 19, 2005

On Friday, we got up and drove to the Spring Mountains, only 30 miles northwest of Las Vegas.  We drove up NV 156 from US 95 to the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.

We then drove back to NV 158 and drove over the summit with the desert overlook to NV 157.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center to get some trail maps and then headed out for a hike.  Unfortunately, the Mary Jane Falls road was closed, so we ended up at the Cathdral Rock trail.  The free lot was full, so we paid to park and eat at the picnic area.

The hike takes you up an avalanche chute, which had seen record snow this past winter.  It took out an extra wide swath that must have been a real chore to clear the trail.  It also goes by Mazie Falls, up to 3 waterfalls just off the trail before climbing up the back of the rock for a great view (see pictures).

We stopped at the Mount Charleston Hotel for a drink before driving back down for our only night of gambling (we ended up $17.25).

Las Vegas Vacation, Aug 17-18

Rasila was sick these 2 days.  Rodney used the gym, took some of the pictures seen in the first vacation entry, and read.  We had some of our homemade tomato sauce on pasta for dinner Wednesday, then went to see Jubilee at Bally's.  It was like Lawrence Welk, with topless women!  The sets were incredible, with a sinking Titanic and a Sampson and Delilah set, among others.  There were also some great jugglers and 2 acrobats that entertained between major set changes.

Thursday, we used some free buffett tickets for the Flamingo, then went to see Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo.  He is a great magician, making a car appear, levitate, and disappear!  He has a great juggler, who was very funny as well.

Death Valley National Park, August 16, 2005

On Tuesday, we got up and drove to Death Valley National Park.  We decided to drive to the north, then back down through the valley, so we drove up US 95 150 miles to NV 267, north of Beatty, NV.

This route takes you down a canyon to Scotty's Castle.  We stopped and had lunch on some nice picnic tables in a park there.  We decide to not take the tour.  We would have liked to take the underground mysteries tour, but you need to arrange that in advance.

After lunch, we drove to the Ubehehe Crater, an old volcanic crater.  The road to the Racetrack was along the way, but it was 25 miles on a 4wd road and I was at about 1/2 tank, so I didn't want to have to make a trip back to Beatty or Furnace Creek for gas, so we didn't go.  20/20 hindsight, I wish I had filled in Beatty and made this trip.

We then drove down to Stovepipe Wells, where there are some Sand Dunes and the Devil's Cornfield.  From there, you head down (literally) to Furnace Creek, elevation -190 ft.  The road goes below -200 feet at the Salt Flats, but I neglected to get a picture of the -200 feet sign, expecting to get one at Badwater.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center at Furnace Creek and then had some ice cream at the Furnace Creek Golf Course.  The road to Badwater was closed due to flooding from the rains earlier in the week, so we didn't get to visit the lowest point in the US.  We drove out past the Furnace Creek Inn, to Death Valley Junction, where the Amargosa Opera House stands.  We then took State Line Road to the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Reserve in Nevada to see the Devil's Hole.  The world's entire population of a certain species of pupfish live in the water in the cavern.

We then drove back to Las Vegas via Pahrump (about 60 miles).  That night we had dinner at Benihana's in the Las Vegas Hilton (travel to and from courtesy the Monorail, see previous posting).

Las Vegas Vacation, Aug 13-15

We just got back from Las Vegas, where we stayed in our timeshare condo at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at the Flamingo.

It is about a 4 hour drive without traffic, but we hit some unexpected traffic at the last mountain pass before the Nevada state line. It lasted until we got past Primm, NV.  We arrived about 6:00 PM, and just went out to eat at an italian restaurant in the Flamingo, then went to sleep.

Sunday, we got up and went to a grocery store to get food for the week.  We ate all breakfasts and lunches from this, and only ate 3 meals out, since we were planning on spending money on shows.  We used the conceirge to get tickets to the Zumanity show at the New York New York.  We had to get the tickets before the show, so we went there via the Las Vegas Monorail, which conveniently had a stop right outside our condo, to the MGM.  We came back and I barbecued Filet Mignon on the BBQ's that were available.  The show was incredible.  We had good seats (there probably weren't any bad ones).

Monday, we spent some time in a presentation in order to get discount show tickets.  We spent the afternoon getting the tickets and taking pictures.  That night we had baked salmon with garlic and basil at the condo before going to the We Will Rock You show at the Paris.  It was a blast and fun to sing along!

Sunday Drive to Julian CA

We took a Sunday drive to Julian, CA this past weekend.  Rasila had never been there, so it seemed like a good trip.  I used to live in San Diego and have made many trips, but recently my neighbors had visited and we decided to join them there for lunch.

I wanted to drive some streches of highway I had not before.  One was CA-74 from San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore.  So we drove I-405 south to I-5 south to the CA-74 exit in San Juan Capistrano.  From there going east, it is only a few miles before you are in open country.  This is about 30 miles from our house.  The drive is popular with sports cars and motorcycles.  We saw only 2 pass us, but many more coming the other direction.  There are 2 places they like to stop:  Hell's Kitchen, at the top of the mountain and The Lookout, overlooking Lake Elsinore.

From Lake Elsinore, we drove I-15 south to CA-79 south in Temecula.  CA-79 goes all the way to Julian, but there is a stretch from CA-371 to San Diego County 22 that I had never driven.  It takes you by Warner Springs glider airport, which looks like fun.

In Julian, we ate at the Julian Grill, where the special was the Chicken Pot Pie, which was great!  We were early, so we hit the used bookstore next door and picked up some books to read while we waited for our friends.

We took CA-78 to I-5 north home.  We did stop by Dudley's Bakery and get some apple nut bread for breakfasts.  CA-78 is tough to follow through Escodido as it requires many turns to stay on it.  It does go right by the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which Rasila has never visited either, so we'll have to go there sometime.

I forgot to mention that we, of course, had a piece of Boysenberry-Apple pie at the Julian Pie Company.