ABC's of Trip Planning (Oct 10-20), Vol. 2- Z is for: Zippidee Doo Dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chrystmasangel]

Finally caught back up, only took me all morning to do it.

I'm WAY too chicken to do a wedding, but would love to try my hand at Senior photos or baby shots at some point.

Wish you were closer, I would have you do my DD's Senior pictures next year! I think you would do wonderful wedding pics!

Puh-leeze. I glisten.

Twilight much?

I woke the girls up, and they gnashed their teeth and threatened to....

Turns out, it was the longest running dim sum cafe in Chinatown! No wonder!

SCORE!

I won't bore you with the names of the 10 dishes we ordered, mainly because I cannot remember any of them, except that they were all phenomenal

WE have a bad habit of planning our trips around food so when we do find little "holes in the walls" that are delightful we feel like we have accomplished something!

Why does every Chinese/Asian shop stink of incense?

I believe that certain "flavors" of incense are for luck in finances.

Your scenario patients are undead???


cooooool...

HAHA this was my thought as well!

http://www.draggingthegut.com/

Still don't understand why it's called dragging the gut. What am I missing?

Got it now. Looks like fun.

Explain it to me please? I understand it's a cruise in...and what a cruise in is.. but why dragging the gut? Where does that come from?

1) SMo
2) PP
3) Spl M
3) Jungle Cr.
4) HM
5)PoTC

I would move HM to 3 and then drop everything down one...HM makes more sense and does less back tracking after PP.

I LOVE, love, LOVE this one! I LOVE how it turned out Bokeh, and unintentionally too.

Veryyy nice shot.
And I wonder how many of your readers will know what Bokeh is.

*raises her hand* I do, I do! The fact that it was unintentional is amazing! Love this pic too!

Hoping to stay caught up now especially since I started a PTR of my own. The Methotrexate injections I am doing should start kicking in and working in a week or 2. I am at the 4 week mark of starting them.
Caught up on 2 TR's/PTR's now... time to see how many more I can get in today.

 

[pkondz]

Turning chilly and rainy here- I fear Fall is upon us. Time to get my own jacuzzi up and running!

Still nice here. Keeping fingers crossed.

Did you make all that from scratch?!?!?!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Now that coffee was sipped slowly and my taste buddies were happy, we all began the process of making Dutch Babies for breakfast. They were so fluffy and delicious, made moreso with the mountains of powdered sugar and fresh lemon off of Matt's tree, picked just minutes before. The bacon was thick, perfectly salty, and practically oinked in protest it was so fresh- the butcher store they go to is a couple minutes away.

You could have stopped right here, and had a perfect day! Now I'm hungry.

(I'm sorry, I can't decide which one I like better. And yes, there are subtle differences.)

I think I like the first one. Just because of that light pole in the second one.

I LOVE, love, LOVE this one! I LOVE how it turned out Bokeh, and unintentionally too.

Yes!! Gorgeous shot!

Following our quick lunch, we made our way to the Planetarium where we watched Soarin' Over California. They are grateful to Disney for giving them their hand-me-downs.

You almost had me going on this one!

No one goes to California without at least stopping by the beach.

My baby was burned by this very badly one time at a park by a moron who dumped their coals out. She thought it was sand and dug her hands in them to play.

At first I was like, what's the big deal? Then I read this and

I only took a couple of photos because- taking pictures of food. Who DOES that?!

Seriously?? Buncha weirdos.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Thank you!! And just to be clear: I am the one wearing the blue hat!

 

[mom3sonstt]

On our way out back to the car, we came across an outdoor Lindy Hop gathering which looked like FABULOUS fun! A few years ago we got involved in a dance group that does English Country dancing, and once in a while the leader will put on swing and some of us would Swing or Lindy. It would be great fun to learn to Swing a lot better than I do now. It also makes me want to go to a Dapper Dan's Day at DLR really, really badly.




Until next time,

Wad-dee!

My son has recently reconnected with an old friend when they discovered they were both living in the St. Louis area. She has gotten him involved with a local swing dance group. He also used to go to salsa dancing when he was in college. I find this so funny, as a little kid he was stiff as a board when he was trying to learn t-ball and golf!

 

[Steppesister]

My son has recently reconnected with an old friend when they discovered they were both living in the St. Louis area. She has gotten him involved with a local swing dance group. He also used to go to salsa dancing when he was in college. I find this so funny, as a little kid he was stiff as a board when he was trying to learn t-ball and golf!

Funny you should mention salsa!

I went to the State Fair last night and spent an hour learning the basic Salsa moves. Pretty sure I'll go back on a Thursday and learn a bit more. It was FUN!!! (And a great workout. My legs are flipping me off tonight.)

 

[Steppesister]

So you got some sleep that night?

It was the one and only night I took a "helper".

Good movie. Miss him.

Me too. So much.

Dun dun dun dunnnnn!!!!!!



You're welcome.

I know I can always count on you!

You're really trying to tick off Alison, aren't you?

Not totally. I did promise here that when I get down to Cali, that I'd trade her a drink for an oyster. She buys the drink, I eat the oyster. And we all take pix to prove it.

This one. Although I'd crop it just a tick to remove the green post on the right.

You know. That's funny, I had left it there, thinking it framed it a bit. Lemme go back and crop it out, and see...

I was going to make a comment like:
You can tell it's white by the colour of its skin.

But....
http://animals.mom.me/albino-animals-pink-eyes-5764.html

Ah, someone who does their research. I like it!

Veryyy nice shot.
And I wonder how many of your readers will know what Bokeh is.

We're up to 3. Possibly 4! That's pretty impressive, actually.

You had me going there for a sec.

Seems as though I fooled several of my Dear Readers.

I'll stay where I am, thanks.

But you shovel snow every day. All winter long. Quadruple no thank you.

I agree. I can't dance worth spit. But I love watching Swing.

Swing is a blast, but I'm awful at it. My oldest son and his wife/fiance (long story) are GREAT! I"m sure they'll have some at their wedding in a few weeks.

But not go in the water.
You guys have great whites.
no thanks.

Not here in the PNW. Too cold for those hideous beasts for the most part. I mean a few, but very few.

 

[Steppesister]

Congratulations to your husband!! GSUL sounds very impressive (could even be a Harry Potter character...).

Thanks, Magdalene! It is a GREAT promotion because it means an extra bump in his pension amount. By fighting fires at that level, he qualifies for police and fire pensions (sort of a reward for hazardous jobs) which will be nice in a few years.

I love your San Francisco experience. It seems like you did all the things that we did not do!! Besides the sea lions, where our opinions differ so much... But if you had met Cassandra, you might think differently about them. She was a real cutie!!

We had such a nice time! I knew it'd be some of the out of the ordinary since we had family that could show us around. I think I would think so. She's a bit smaller than the ones on the docks and quite a lot more "domesticated" looking than the VERY beat up ones we always see.

That is truly one of the most adorable pictures I've ever seen of you. So CUTE!!!!

But, you were wearing thong sandals? Please don't tell me you wear socks with them!

No, no!! I have been known to wear socks with Crocs, but that was because it was at Disney, and there was NO WAY Jose I was risking blisters there (even though I did end up with them afterall.) I will probably wear socks with my new Keens if I take them as well. It's just not worth it. Comfort over looks at Disney. Every single time.

 

[franandaj]

Not totally. I did promise here that when I get down to Cali, that I'd trade her a drink for an oyster. She buys the drink, I eat the oyster. And we all take pix to prove it.

I'll believe you, don't remember this, but I'm game! I want an oyster too, we'll order half a dozen and I get all the ones you won eat. We just can't get them at a Disney restaurant. Maybe Brennan's or even better King's Fish House.

 

[Steppesister]

Sort of. Got down to (or was supposed to.... I didn't notice.) 46 the other night. But days are still around 75. I'm not ready for Fall... because that means winter... and cold... and shovelling.

That's about what it's been here too. And the rain has returned somewhat. Which is refreshing. We are SO dry; I'm losing some of my plants because with work and all, I'm too tired to irrigate. I'm hoping by next spring, I'll have saved enough for an automatic irrigation system to be installed. But that's after my granite countertop, new fridge, the Gaum, and a Mission's trip to Honduras with our surgical company.

Yes, I"m sure you'll enjoy laughing our brains out at me. Again.

I'm actually stressing over this! Shoes! The shoes have to be just right! I feel like freaking Cinderella.

Me too. I"ve got 5 short weeks to figure this crap out, and things aren't falling into place. Gah!!!

Go to France and ask.

Hmmm.... I hope Italy has them too. I'd rather go there.

My thought process...
"Yes! That'd be fun! But... oh.... anyone else with us: "Can we go? Can't you stop taking pictures for one minute!?!?""

I wonder how much my family gets annoyed at me for this. I am very guilty of the pokey tourista style.

Remembered that, did you?

I remember many things. Just not a lot of what matters.

Poor Michaela. How were her feet?

She didn't complain...? I didn't ask. (She might have demanded her shoes back if I brought any attention to them.)

I like white chocolate, I don't like dark chocolate, but you know I love you, right?

I"m starting to wonder.

They just left your stuff?????

Honestly, I have no idea. It is sliiiiiiiiighty possible they are up in one of our attics, salvaged after one of our, or their, many moves. They were in charge of our stuff, and it's much more likely it all got tossed at some point.

Standing by. I bought a SD case the other day.
Today I'm buying a Sekonic light meter.

I need 5 of those. As for light meters: I wouldn't have the foggiest clue what it's for or how to use it. Just not there yet. Someday that photog class will become a reality.

Oh, that's goo....... "fluff"?

"FLUFF"?????????

Well, if there wasn't fluff before, there sure as HECK is now.

Don't know if you recall, but on my solo trip I had a FP for it at about 10 minutes after park opening. I sauntered along as the crowd blasted by me and.... rode Pooh first. Then I wandered across the way and rode while hundreds of pairs of eyes glared in jealousy. It was awesome.

Yes, I do remember that. I gloated in proxy right along with you. It was awesome!

 

[Steppesister]

I'll believe you, don't remember this, but I'm game! I want an oyster too, we'll order half a dozen and I get all the ones you won eat. We just can't get them at a Disney restaurant. Maybe Brennan's or even better King's Fish House.

Good heavens! I"m so laughing at myself right now! I saw this reply and thought, "OH CRAP!" Did I quote this and then put it on the wrong thread?" I'm bouncing back and forth tonight between yours and pkondz's as I try to get replies done here. OY! Almost time for bed.

 

[Steppesister]

Okay, I'm sitting here eating half a Subway sandwich and some Cheetos. It's taking me a while to type this <pause> because I have to keep stopping <pause> to wipe the cheese powder off of my fingers. They're too good to stop eating while I write this comment!!

OH, Glenn, you crack me up! But you disappoint me too... you wiped the cheese powder off?! There is only ONE way to "take care of" excess cheese powder off one's fingers...

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I loved the snake picture. I also liked the butterfly one where one is in flight. Looked like a fun day, even if the weather wasn't the best.

Thanks and yes, that butterfly in flight one, took me quite a while to finally get. I put the camera in sports mode and that worked. I kept having to tinker with the lighting mode too because the flourescent lights kept making all my stuff too orange.

I am mortally wounded. As you both know I have zero sense of humor and not a drop of sarcasm in my being.

We've already addressed this, but as you're still with us posting humorous comments, I"m pretty sure you DO have a sarcastic bone in there somewhere.

Got behind! Trying to get caught up on my reading, but keep falling asleep. Have been having pretty rough RA flares the past 2 months. Got sick and then all * broke lose! I did scroll through your pics which are amazing as usual. You experience the most diverse wonderful things!

Oh no! Just not any fun! I know that the stress of getting sick can trigger those flareups and it can really be a major issue. Thank you for the complements. I love travel and trying new things!

Disney is right around the corner. I twill be here before you know it and then you can start helping me plan mine! lol Gotta learn what a relaxing vacation is all about somehow!

I would love to help you plan your trip! Just let me know what I can do to help you; that's great fun for me! My secret to go all out from RD to about 11:00, then just SLOW DOWN. Find the off-the-beaten-path stuff to do, sit on benches, play the games, watch the Flag Retreat Ceremony. Go to the Poly early and watch the Fire Dance, take a tour.....

Hope to be caught up soon! Hope the job is going well and still keeping Zach in my thoughts. If you have updated on him, I haven't gotten that far yet, I am like 10 pages behind all the sudden I think and that is just your report!

Zach has had his last f/u appt with his neurologist and is just on "wait and watch" status. We are all hoping it was nothing more than a one time episode and has not been put on any meds or restrictions. PTL!!!

 

[Steppesister]

And just to be clear: I am the one wearing the blue hat!

Finally caught back up, only took me all morning to do it.

You are certainly tenacious!

Wish you were closer, I would have you do my DD's Senior pictures next year! I think you would do wonderful wedding pics!

I would like to try Senior photos sometime, but I am very reluctant to do Wedding ones. If I screw up, there is NO going back. I'd die if I messed up someone's event by not capturing it as they'd have liked their photog to have done. At least not until I am a 2nd shooter for someone for a while and have taken a class or two.

Twilight much?

I have never seen one single episode. They must have stolen it from me! LOL!

WE have a bad habit of planning our trips around food so when we do find little "holes in the walls" that are delightful we feel like we have accomplished something!

My parents find them all the time. I should ask their secret.

I believe that certain "flavors" of incense are for luck in finances.

Now that's a theory that actually makes sense.

Still don't understand why it's called dragging the gut. What am I missing?

I wish I knew. Truly. I have researched a bit, but petered out when work started last week. I did some googling and looked on Wiki, but nothing really explained it well as far as etymology.

Explain it to me please? I understand it's a cruise in...and what a cruise in is.. but why dragging the gut? Where does that come from?

I wonder if someone from the specific one here by me in McMinnville, which is actually a bit famous for it, can explain it. I'll poke around a bit more.

Found this:

http://www.draggingthegut.com/#!ralph-wortman/c251g

Best I can tell, "The Gut" refers to a town's Main Street?

I would move HM to 3 and then drop everything down one...HM makes more sense and does less back tracking after PP.

That might work, but I worry a bit about JC's stall out. That line starts to back up super quickly because it's such a slow loader, and I'm afraid if we hold off too long getting there, we'll have to wait 30 minutes or more to get on it. But you're right, if we're trying to eliminate backtracking, your order is definitely better.

Hoping to stay caught up now especially since I started a PTR of my own. The Methotrexate injections I am doing should start kicking in and working in a week or 2. I am at the 4 week mark of starting them.

Caught up on 2 TR's/PTR's now... time to see how many more I can get in today.

I will be over soon! I didn't know you had, so will follow your siggie link.

So glad the Methotraxate is going in! It works so well for so many. My friend was taking the gold salts, but since they aren't on the market anymore, she's really had a lot more flareups.

 

[Steppesister]

You could have stopped right here, and had a perfect day! Now I'm hungry.

You are so right! LOL! I'd have been happy playing board games and just taking neighborhood walks.

I think I like the first one. Just because of that light pole in the second one.

YOu are the 2nd person to say that. I will crop off the edge then.

You almost had me going on this one!

You were not the only gullible one. Teehee....

At first I was like, what's the big deal? Then I read this and

It was not a fun trip to the Urgent Care that day. She was with silvadene ointment and bandaging for quite a while.

Seriously?? Buncha weirdos.

Yeah, kinda. All in the name of research though!

 

[Steppesister]

Day 4 of our BAY AREA VISIT:​

... began as usual. The quietness of an empty house and the 'tude of a feline. My coffee began to do its magic and before we knew it, at precisely 10:00, we pulled out the driveway with a packed picnic lunch in backpacks and no idea what we were in for that day (cue the dramatic music once more)

The weather was absolutely California perfect- 72, sunny with a whisper of a breeze. guilty: I miss my Motherland.) We drove around the opposite way of the previous day, and along the way, from the car, saw the infamous San Quentin prison, the Potrero Hills refinery tanks, the East and West Brother Islands, one of which has a pretty nifty looking B&B on it, and other local sights. Before we knew it we were in Tiburon, which I later found out means 'shark' in Spanish, a ritzy little enclave with moorage for the rich and probably not very famous. It also happens to be home to the launch dock for ferries to Angel Island- our destination for a day of hiking and picnicking. I will spare you from a play by play commentary on the hike. Because there isn't one. We hiked. For 3 hours. An hour and a half up to the top; an hour and a half down. Sandwiched in between was a gorgeous picnic with a 360 degree view unparalleled anywhere on earth. At least that I have seen. I'll will now let the photos take over the storytelling- they do a much better job:

Leaving the dock at Tiburon:



Looking over towards the Bridge:





Starting our way up and looking over the Bay:



One of the Mule Deer on the island; we were lucky enough to see one. Sorry for the crappy photo(s). The lighting really stunk and I don't have my polarizing filter yet.



Up higher: (My best shot of the day)



The Immigration Compound: I will let you all read, if you care to, about the over 1 million Asian immigrants that were processed here.



Back towards Alcatraz from our picnic table:



And back towards the bridge from the summit:



On our way back down a freighter was coming into the Bay- it was HUUUUUUUUUUGE!:



One of the original water storage tanks made from cedar planks and cable:

Speaking of cable. Look up Roebling Cable. The Roebling who invented this, and first used it, I believe on the Brooklyn Bridge is a distant relative of Mike's. Yep, we have a famous and somewhat useful relative. Or is that somewhat famous and useful?



Always true to my flora photography:



And those ^^ get the prize for most hilarious name. Bonus, non-contest points to whoever knows the name.

Boards are about to go dark, so I'll proof this tomorrow...

 

[pkondz]

I know I can always count on you!

Always.

Not totally. I did promise here that when I get down to Cali, that I'd trade her a drink for an oyster. She buys the drink, I eat the oyster. And we all take pix to prove it.

This I need to see.

You know. That's funny, I had left it there, thinking it framed it a bit. Lemme go back and crop it out, and see...

And?

We're up to 3. Possibly 4! That's pretty impressive, actually.

Not bad. And... surprising.

But you shovel snow every day. All winter long. Quadruple no thank you.

But it stays put.

Not here in the PNW. Too cold for those hideous beasts for the most part. I mean a few, but very few.

very few is wayyyyy too many, thanks.

I'm hoping by next spring, I'll have saved enough for an automatic irrigation system to be installed. But that's after my granite countertop, new fridge, the Gaum, and a Mission's trip to Honduras with our surgical company.

Me too. I"ve got 5 short weeks to figure this crap out, and things aren't falling into place. Gah!!!

Got 'em! Returned the Nikes, got Asics.... returned those too and got New Balance. These seem to be doing the trick.

I wonder how much my family gets annoyed at me for this. I am very guilty of the pokey tourista style.

My very first trip.
I think I was... 7?
My Dad's sister, husband and two kids came from Germany. Uncle didn't speak a lick of English. Except...
"Stopping! Stopping! Stopping!" every few minutes so he could take a picture. It was more amusing than funny. At least to me. I can't speak for my Dad.

She didn't complain...? I didn't ask. (She might have demanded her shoes back if I brought any attention to them.)

Good move.

I need 5 of those. As for light meters: I wouldn't have the foggiest clue what it's for or how to use it. Just not there yet. Someday that photog class will become a reality.

5 cases? How many SD cards are you bringing?!?!?
Need the meter for my studio strobes. Beats click, darn, click, darn, click, darn, click, almost, click, getting close, click, there we go.

 

[pkondz]

cue the dramatic music once more

dun dun dunnnnnn!!!!


deja vu.

The weather was absolutely California perfect- 72, sunny with a whisper of a breeze.

Nice.

San Quentin prison

Cool!

Potrero Hills refinery tanks

Never heard of 'em.

the East and West Brother Islands

ditto

Before we knew it we were in Tiburon, which I later found out means 'shark' in Spanish

I didn't need to know that.
Just one more reason to stay out of the water.

Sandwiched in between was a gorgeous picnic with a 360 degree view unparalleled anywhere on earth.

Nice!!

Up higher: (My best shot of the day)

Gorgeous shot.

three beautiful ladies with beautiful smiles.

One of the original water storage tanks made from cedar planks and cable:

Cool. Really.

The Roebling who invented this, and first used it, I believe on the Brooklyn Bridge is a distant relative of Mike's.

Huh!

Always true to my flora photography:

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Or shoot. Whichever.

And those ^^ get the prize for most hilarious name. Bonus, non-contest points to whoever knows the name.

No clue. lady slippers? pkondz doesn't do flowers.

 

[franandaj]

Oooh! Oooh! I got it! 5 naked ladies!

AKA Pink Amaryllis

 

[GoofyFan1515]

All caught up! Love the San Fran updates............brings back some wonderful memories!

Neat ones like this:



I have no idea if they are original or historical in any way, but they were pretty cool nonetheless.

Leaning Clock of Frisco???

 

[Chrystmasangel]

I would love to help you plan your trip!

you might regret that. LOL

Zach has had his last f/u appt with his neurologist and is just on "wait and watch" status

No meds is always good news!

So glad the Methotraxate is going in! It works so well for so many. My friend was taking the gold salts, but since they aren't on the market anymore, she's really had a lot more flareups

The methotrexate was actually part of my Chemo regimen way back when. Funny how things come full circle. I am actually tolerating it pretty well. Only issue I have had is that my thigh that I inject it into retaliates a bit for a few day's after. It gets "cramps" (for lack of a better word) in it. But not really cramps...they don't come and go. It is a constant dull ache that gets a bit stronger at times especially at night if I am laying on the side that I did the injection on. It has not been enough to cause me to want to stop it, but it is a bit bothersome. I am really hoping that I do see the good results that they are telling me a lot of people get. I am really tired of high doses of prednisone. Between the weight gain and the hot/cold flashes from them, I am beyond ready to be done with them. From my understanding, when the Methotrexate works, it works well, but if it doesn't work, then it is not at all. There is no in between with it.

Up higher: (My best shot of the day)

So pretty!

I never realized how much you guys look alike.

And those ^^ get the prize for most hilarious name. Bonus, non-contest points to whoever knows the name.

5 naked ladies!

AKA Pink Amaryllis

Going to school for Horticulture might have done me some good after all!