But Wait - There're More US Adventures!

Hi!

Well. First off, am sorry for checking in late, again. This time it was maybe 10% my fault 90% this BlogSpot's fault. I'd updated the editing function for this little thing and next thing I know the photos won't go where I want them or even move anywhere. So after 5 hours of research and troubleshooting and I still couldn't fix it, I thought that was enough time devoted to it. So have gone back to the old settings and we'll see how we go. Bloody modern technology. Bah!

So yes, Sunday evening. Same birds twittering in the same trees, to the same setting sun...... Ahhhhhh only this evening there's a lovely cool breeze with a hint of rain up in those clouds, thankfully summer hasn't set it's fangs in just yet. Enjoy it while I can!

So work. Yeah, not much happening on that front, in the traditional sense of the term that is. Tho I will say, the bank is telling me I should probably call a couple employment agencies and see if they can't scramble up a half-decent part-time gig, thus leaving the other part-time available for me to work on my brand new teeny little business - Walkabout Business Solutions! I officially registered my little business doing "virtual office support and desktop publishing". And it takes a fair bit of time setting up a little business - so much to research and write! But it is very exciting and motivating. Once I have more concrete stuff to promote (like business cards and a website), will post it! But for now, if anyone has any general documents, presentations, reports, etc that need help with formatting, layout, editing, prettifying - pass 'em on!!!

And then the weekend. Went out Friday evening in honor of one of the Gals' 21st birthday (gasp!) at a groovy little lounge bar in the 'hood of West End called the Lychee Lounge. It was really pretty cool. And was good to see everyone and catch up (and get out of the house!). A good time was had by all I do believe!

And then Saturday. Was nice and very relaxing. I took the day off from business planning and researching, in fact didn't turn the computer on at all, and just sat and read Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath", never read it, never had to read it in school, I got the British writers. It's goooooooood. I've also been reading, and reallyreally liking, his travelogue "Travels with Charley" (his dog) of when they went on a road trip across the US from Maine to California. It's fantastic - highly recommend it. He's one of my new top 5 favorite writers. "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday" were always my top fave books, but now wait there's more! But in amongst the books there was time for Kim to stop by and say hello as she was in town to do a bit of overtime at work. Very nice to have her drop in! And then after she headed home it was time for a nap, of course. What a little old lady I am.

And then today. Quietly productive. Cleaned my little desk right down to the wood (is that its original color!?). Gets to a point I can't think with all this clutter. And at work, when I had an At Work, I was sometimes accused of never doing any real work because my desk was always so clean. Yeah, it's called organization - filing and working on one thing at a time! Too much crap and I can't see to think. So, in preparation for my new role as Director of Walkabout Business Solutions, I thought I'd get my 'new' desk ready! Kinda dorky, yes, but I'll tell you what, it's working! And that took most of the day actually. Found an oldish brand new cell phone my phone company had bribed me with to get me to stay with them when they pissed me off for the 2nd time (the first time they did and they sent me a cordless phone, which am still using! Suckas.). So I hauled that out and charged it up, eh, for a new company phone, it'll do, just gotta get a phone number for it now! Coooool . Cleaning is fun!

Which leads me nicely over to the 3rd installment of The Big Trip!

Week #3 - Sept. 14th - 20th

14th - Today we were up bright and early to pick up our rental car and continue on our Big Trip with Road Trip #3 bound for the Grand Canyon! I know we'd just driven from San Francisco to San Diego along Highway 5, and we'd just driven from San Diego to Tucson along Highway 8 (both horribly boring runs), but this was gonna be good because Arizona, south to north, is such a diverse state. You can go from bone dry desert in the south to, well, the Grand Canyon in the north - surrounded by beautiful mountains (with top class ski resorts) and pines and green and deer! It's a lovely, fairly quick drive considering. We arrived there around noon and wandered and looked and oooohed and aahhhhhhed to our hearts and cameras content. Unless you've been there, photos, no matter how fabulous this modern technology thinks it is, still doesn't compare, you just have to be there to take it all in, and even then you kinda can't cos it's so damn, well, Grand. Happily photographed, we continued on to Williams and our hotel for the evening.

15th - Today we were again up early to beat the 2 bus loads of German tourists to the check-out counter so we could continue our road trip along Route 66. We picked it up in Seligman and aimed the car for Las Vegas, Nevada! Man, it's a shame that Route 66 isn't used anymore. I understand why and the need for superhighways and all that, but nothing beats the scenic route and teeny little weird towns. So lunchtime saw us in Vegas! Holy cow has it changed since I was there yeeeeeeeeeears ago. It's very big and crowded and tall and crowded. Neeeeeato. So we dropped the car off, checked into our hotel - Paris (oooohlala!) - and began the sightseeing! And, really, how could you not, sights to be seen everywhere! But you also forget that The Strip is long, really long, and crowded, and just because you made it to one end of it, well, you gotta walk back, because it's a huge waste of money takin g a cab or a bus because the streets are so congested that it really is quicker to walk, heat and sore feet and all. So I'd shake it up by walking through one casino to the next, because most of them are connected anyways. What a surreal world the whole casino thing is. Sad. And for all our guff of "no smoking indoors", bless 'em, you can still smoke anywhere inside the hotels and casinos. Gag.

16th - Today saw more sightseeing and lots more walking. I have to say, after exploring our end of The Strip and all those h otels and casinos, my favorite had to be the Bellagio, so classy and slick, complete with the water fountains and the little show they put on - fantastic. Paris hotel tho, tres chic, tres interessante! So elaborate these themed places that you can wander around in it all day and still not see everything. It reminded me of Disneyland with it's false fronts and sets and costumed staff. And my 3rd favorite had to be Caesar's Palace with it's history, Greek god statues, and new, multi-million dollar face-lift, plus it's cavernous malls and shops and restaurants inside, really all pretty cool.

17th - Guess what we did? Why yes! More sightseeing! More shopping! More walking! Only today I really shook things up by needing to go to a real bank with real counters with real pens on chains and real people, something which, unsurprisingly, you can't find on The Strip, you have to go out into the 'burbs. So I hailed a cab and headed for the nearest real live bank. Once I told the driver where I was headed, he kinda sighed and shook his head (in sympathy) and asked

good-humoredly if I was needing more gambling money. I laughed and said no, as a matter of fact am off to make a deposit! He kinda looked at me in his mirror for a second then sighed and shook his head and just said "Oh wow. Congratulations." Then I kinda had a brief moment of panic that he might drive me into the desert and take my purse with all its "winnings" and leave me. Poor guy. All I needed to do was to transfer money from my Australian bank account to my US one, and the easiest, cheapest way to do it is to take a handful out of the atm and walk inside and make a deposit. Hee hee.

18th - Today we were up and out bright and early headed to the airport for our flight to a last-minute addition to our Tour - Washington DC! Forgetting also, because it's been years since I've done it, how long the flight really is. Man it's a big country. In fact, our flight was delayed for ages because "....the number one engine is giving false readings to the flight deck." Well fellas, if that's the case, take all the time you need. Never mind our tight connecting flight in Baltimore..... I'd rather the number one engine stay number one. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Which, really, was fine. Then we were off! I think we were delayed by at least an hour, however long it was the pilot made up for it. Holy cow we even made our connecting flight with just enough time to catch our breath from the run from one terminal to the next. I wonder if they have speed limits... are there Air Speed Cops? Hmmm. So we made it to DC safe and sound, all engines intact!

19th - Today was sightseeing! We got ourselves tickets on a really pretty handy hop-on hop-off tour bus which we rode around for half the day getting our bearings and taking notes of where we all wanted to go and then off we went! I was really disappointed that you can't just rock up to wait in line and tour the White House, like I did yeeeeears ago. Nowadays you have to write to your local congressman at least 6 months in advance asking for permission and listing the who what where of who wants the tickets. Gotta keep the Feds in gainful employment by doing all those unnecessary background checks I suppose. Shame. I really wanted to check it out. For as many days we were there, it was amazing how I just ran out of time in every day to see everything I wanted to. Such a big place! So much walking! So much to be seen! But I did manage to see the new Native American Museum and the National Archives where the Magna Carta, Constitution, Bill of Rights, just basically anything that helped to form our country in writing why it's all there. So coooool.

20th - Today was our last day in DC so we had to make the most of so many monuments and museums in so little time. I started off at the International Spy Museum. How cooooool was this place?! And comprehensive! I don't know what I expected, but whatever I did it was only a teeny percentage of what the place actually comprises. I was in there for like 4 hours and didn't realize the time until I got hungry. Man. It was really interesting and highly informative, if you're interested in international espionage and all that. So so interesting. I just loved it. Afterward I continued on to visit the hauntingly beautiful Korean War Memorial (my absolute favorite of all the memorials), then to the new WWII Memorial (so amazing, even at night - my Grandad, who's honored there, would quite like it I think) and finally as the sun was setting, to the Lincoln Memorial (always humbling). Now dark, tired and starving, I walked allllll the way back toward the hotel, stopping first in a lovely, very busy buzzy Spanish restaurant for dinner, then back to the hotel for our last evening before catching a shuttle bus to New York City! Whew!!!!!

So there you have it! Whew! Stayed tuned for next week's installment: Week #4, where The Big Trip sees us wandering around New York City! Hooray! Hope you're all well up there and are enjoying my brief accounts of The Trip thus far! Drop a line!

BYE!
J!

US Adventures Had with No Work to be Done!

Hi!

Well. First off, I have to apologize for checking in late – this was totally not my fault – turns out Optus, who I have my supposed high-tech fancy-pants wireless Internet with, they have been having MAJOR network problems over the last few days, to the point where I spent about 2+ hours last night trying to connect but every time it did it instantly disconnected. So hopefully it’ll work today now that it’s had a rest…. Modern technology. Harumph.

So anyways, back to my Sunday evening. A more relaxed weekend hasn’t been had in, well, months. Lovely. Enjoying the last days of spring before the muggy furnace of summer fires up. It even attempted to rain, something that hasn’t happened here in a few months. Cool, quiet, relaxing, and magically no naps were had – perfect!

So work, or the lack of (for better or worse)……. Interesting spot to be in for two reasons – 1) A couple of times I nearly lost track of the days and 2) No need to wake up early for work tomorrow, or ever (tho I still do out of sheer habit – curses)! I try to see the positives in a Sunday evening with no work to go to tomorrow – Don’t have to put on work clothes, commute by crowded public transport, eat lunch in a terrible cafeteria as punishment for neglecting to make my lunch, endure moronic conversations, commute home on crowded public transport, in painfully slow rush hour, in work clothes – huzzah for unemployment! But yes, there is an unpleasant flipside which the bank and anyone tied to it (including me) doesn’t abide. Am working on the work thing and these things take time it’s seems. I live in hope – so much so that I have two complete outfits ready to go at a moment’s notice if someone demands I come in for an interview!

So, in light of bank account lock-down, I’m left with not much to report on really….. Tho surprisingly, I did leave the house Friday evening for pizza and a very interesting board game with a couple of folks I used to work with (one who is also now in my unemployment boat – welcome sailor!). Was a fantastic evening – his homemade pizza is the best! Note to self when become gainfully employed: must buy pizza oven/maker.

And Saturday. Met Kim to go out to lunch in Roma Street Parklands (very lovely park, right in town) and to thank her for watching my little apartment while I was away. And then we went on a biiiiig walk around town, just to exercise and get some air. Was excellent. We agreed that the more we do these walks we’ll A) get fitter and B) explore more bits of town neither of us has discovered yet! It’s amazing the miles we can cover and the time w

e can pass just by walking and solving the problems of the world – excellent!

And Sunday. An extremely quiet yet very productive day (when the Internet worked). In amongst researching what other computer programs I need to learn in order to have more Mad Skillz, I managed to apply for 4 jobs – fingers crossed, and fingers crossed that the number of jobs that are worthy of applying for keep popping up, and any other fingers not crossed cross them that I get one of these jobs! The way I see it is, you throw enough cooked pasta at the wall, eventually one strand has to stick! Or so goes my theory………

Which brings me to my next installment

of The Big Trip…...!

Week #2 Sept7th – 13^th

7^th – So there we were in San Diego, a little ahead of schedule with a rental car at our disposal. Did a bit of random sightseeing (memory lane kinda stuff) when Katie invited us over to her house for a big family Labor Day BBQ – excellent! I haven’t caught up with her whole family since, I don’t know when, probably when we were in High School. So it was fantastic to catch up and hear her Mom’s tales of her numerous traveling adventures. G

ossip happily

caught up on, we headed back to Dad’s for more BBQ fun!

8^th – Today we conquered the San Diego Zoo! Every time I go there, which is every few years, they’ve changed it, added stuff, made stuff smaller (to fit more stuff in) and more modern, and it’s just cool and massive. I know there were things I didn’t even walk near because the place is so big. Though I was really very

happy to see that the Reptile House is exactly the same as it’s always been, my favorite. I somehow managed to get lost in their “Lost Forest” for a good 45 minutes or so; I kept walking past the same damn monkeys, much to their amusement, trying to find my way back to Katie and The Girls. By the time I escape

d, The Girls had gone sightseeing and poor Katie was sitting on a bench with an empty slushy cup waiting patiently for me to return. I hated that “Lost Forest”. After the Zoo Adventure, we headed back to Dad’s for dinner and a really bitchin’ evening trip to the beach for a bonfire and s’mores! I haven’t don

e that since I was a kid. A good time was had I must say!

9^th – Today we headed out bright and early for Road Trip #2 – bound for Tucson! Much like Highway 5, it’s brown, flat and really really boring, and just a pain in the butt to drive, so much so that I got a little excited with the gas pedal and netted myself a speeding ticket! GASP! Only the 2nd time I've been caught, haven’t done that in yeeeears! Against my smarter side, I decided to argue with the cop as to how fas

t I thought I was going – apparently he clocked me at 86 and I laughed and said I don’t think so, more like 75…. Long story short, I got the ticket but it was only for 75 (in a 70 zone), still tho, that’s $200 some bucks I won’t see again…………. Stupid empty desert with hidden cops! But happily the rest of the trip was ticket-free and we arrived safe, happy and dusty!

10^th – Today we took in the sights around Tucson. Starting off with a tour of my old theatre and a quick catch-up with some of my old work folks. I love that theatre, Centennial Hall. Then we continued

on to 4^th Avenue for a stroll around the shops (always quirky) and some lunch at Bison Witches – my favorite sandwich shop.

Then we continued the tour to Downtown, that was quick, and had a last stop into Hotel Congress for iced coffee and cheesecake. Sigh, I love how some things just don’t change and Hotel Congress is one place that will always be cool and hip and groovy.

11^th – Today’s adventure was the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum! We managed to time it just right and got to join a little guided tour, which was quite good considering

the number of times I’ve been to the Desert Museum and never did a

tour – fantastic because you actually learn stuff! Cool. But it actually wasn’t so cool and 97% of the animals were buried under shade where the sun or we couldn’t see them. Either way, is always a lovely day spent in such a beautiful area of desert.

12^th – Today we had big plans to tour Tombstone and perhaps take in a bit of target practice at the local gun range (for the tourists to experience, you see), but alas, plans were put on hold while one of The Girls had to go visit a doctor for not feeling too well. So whi

le waiting, we caught up on laundry, emails, packing and rest. Finally, suitably diagnosed, we headed off with my friend David to go tour the San Xavier Mission, the “White Dove of the Desert”. Lovely. I was sorry to see the quirky little cafeteria had closed (where to buy Authentic Indian Fry Bread now??) but thankfully the locals set up little tables in the shade just near the Mission parking lot, where you can not only buy Fry Bread in numerous flavours (plain, butter, honey, powdered sugar, etc) but you can also get some pretty good Mexican/Indian food and the money goes right to the person who cooked it for you. Mmmmm. I can’t go there withou

t getting Fry Bread tho. Mmmmmmm honey! Then we headed over to my

Uncle’s house for a real Chinese dinner – his wife and her daughter cooked up a massive spread, well over 6 different dishes, so much food it didn’t even all fit on the table! Ahhhhh but man it goooooood!

13^th – Today was a very relaxed day. Ran some errands and even stopped by the local fire station (Northwest Fire District) to say hi on behalf of the QFRS and to trade t-shirts and patches (something fire people do the world over). We intended to st

op by, shake hands, swap and leave them to it – oh no, we were there over an hour while the guys talked to us about everything, including the new truck, which they just had to fire up (no pun intended) and get out of the garage so The Girls could sit and

have photos in. Ahhhh the guys were pretty nice and easy-going, I think they quite liked the break in the monotony. Was nice to stop in and say hi and to learn how fire departments work in other cities. Once home tho it was straight to work to get the house and food ready for a big BBQ! Ahhhhh so many people to catch up with, so little time. The evening was so good and went by so fast I never even had a chance to get my camera out. Was such a good night. Was a fantastic way to end ou

r visit in Tucson as the next day we were to head out bright and early to conquer the Grand Canyon! Watch this space for next week’s installment of The Big Trip – Week #3!!!!

So there you have it. Adventures were had, sights

were seen, much good food eaten, families and friends caught up with, just an excellent trip so far!

Hope you’re all well up there. I think I’ve fixed the ‘comments’ section to where you can post comments easily and not have to sign up and commit to anyth

ing, so if anyone is keen to try, let me know if it works or not, and if it does, feel free to drop a line!!!!!!

BYE!

J!

Adventures in the USA - Week #1!

Hi!

Well. Long time no gossip! Just got back on Wednesday from my month-long US tour! WHEW! It’s not the jet lag that’s kicking mah butt, it’s the whole big trip. We went to so many different places in such a seemingly short amount of time, I now have an idea of how bands must feel when they tour, and they have to entertain! Man. Course, they get paid millions for it and have staff to do everything from schlepping luggage to checking them in and paying for the hotels. Now that’s the way to go – just show up and have fun! All in all I think the trip was a success. I had a good time and I’m pretty sure the girls did too. Good to be back in mah own bed and get clothes out of a dresser and closet instead of a suitcase! Weeeee!

So work. Yep. Well, that finally, officially, finished on the Friday before we left to no fanfare, which was good. I vaguely remember being busy all day and even think I stayed late. But. There it was. Over and done with. Sigh. I put a lot of work into that gig. Maybe next time it’ll pay off. So the hunt begins anew! Sigh.

So The Trip! Was good. Not sure how to sum it up, perhaps will try week by week….. Ha! The trick is gonna be to remember everything!!! Cos it was four weeks and like 2 new cities a week with much fun had along the way…….! So will start with:

Week #1 Aug30th – Sept6th

30^th – We landed in LA where we picked up our rental car (Mazda 6, eh, it was ok, pretty speedy I must admit) and had a good drive alllllll over town, even got up to the Hollywood hills to have a good view of the Hollywood sign. I got to have my first Mexican take out meal in years of 3 rolled tacos with hot sauce, guacamole and a quesadilla with hot sauce and guacamole on the side – heaven. Makes my mouth water just thinking back and writing about it. Mmmmm. Then we aimed for Anaheim to find a hotel near Disneyland, which we ended up in a Holiday Inn like around the corner from The Happiest Place on Earth. Cooool. I have to say, we stayed mainly in Holiday Inns and they’ve really improved over the years, pretty nice for the cheap money. Points to Holiday Inn!

31^st – Was Disneyland where it was like 110 degrees. Bloody hot, but no crowds! We were there for the opening bell and by noon we’d hit every major ride. I think the longest we had to wait was for Space Mountain and that was like 20 minutes. Man I was impressed. I can’t remember a time when we’d had that much luck with crowds and rides and it wasn’t raining or 11.30 at night. We were hot and dead tired but very happy. We ducked off to the hotel for a few then made it back just in time for the fireworks, which are always the best on the planet. I love Disneyland.

1^st – Was touristy sightseeing – Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, etc. Yeah. Every time I “sight-see” in LA, am always so incredibly happy I don’t live there. It’s neat to scope out now and then but even neater to leave it!

2^nd – We flew off to San Francisco! I reallyreally dig San Francisco. Could spend ages there. We got into town and checked into our next Holiday Inn – they had the most amazing view, we magically got upgraded to a higher floor with views across the city. It was excellent. So we dumped our stuff and headed out exploring. Walked and walked and walked, which is pretty much what you do there.

3^rd – Was Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf, the seals that live there and Alcatraz (always pretty cool and creepy)! Pier 39 has improved a lot from, well, the pier that it just was; my god it’s a whole shopping mall now! With seals! After scoping out Alcatraz we headed back into town to the Boudin’s factory for lunch. I can’t highly recommend the place enough. Best sourdough bread on the planet and a really neat museum, and view of the bakers at work too. On our way back to the hotel from there we stopped in at the Buena Vista bar – where the Irish Coffee was invented. Gooooood. So good I had 2! After that we thought it would be a fantastic idea if we walked up what felt like the steepest hill in town (Hyde Street) to have a view down Lombard Street (the really cool and twisty street). So we got up there, took photos of the sun setting and the moon rising and decided we’d walk down it. Then walk back up it. Excellent workout. Then, satisfied we’d crammed in a year’s worth of hill walking in an hour, we headed back to the hotel where we died.

4^th – We headed over to see the ‘7 Sisters’ – the neat little row of restored Victorian houses near the pretty little park where they filmed a fair few things, easiest one to remember is that TV show “Full House”. Very pretty even if it was cloudy and a little rainy. Next we were off to the Golden Gate Bridge! That’s really pretty cool. When we arrived it was cloaked in fog but as the day moved along so did the fog and by the end of our visit the sun was shining bright blue. It was lovely. Such a cool bridge, if that can be said about a bridge. I mean, I’m still partial to the Brooklyn Bridge, but this one can be the way cool one on the West Coast! Then we headed back into town for a ride on a cable car. Coooool. We rode that around for a while until we came to the Cable Car Museum, which is really interesting and informative and where allllllll the cables live that control allllllll the Cable Cars! Neat! Then it was back into the center of town for a brief spot of shopping then finally back to the hotel. Whew.

5^th – Found us heading out bright and early on our little road trip to Monterey and Cannery Row! Once in Monterey we headed right for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of the coolest, most comprehensive aquariums I’ve ever been to – and I thought the Scripps Aquarium in La Jolla was cool! So we spent the best part of the day in there learning about jellyfish and seahorses and everything else that spends it’s time in the sea around Northern California! Then we got some lunch (non-seafood thankyouverymuch) and had a look around Cannery Row. Hmmmmm. I wonder what Steinbeck and his marine biologist buddy Ed Ricketts would think of the place now. It’s basically a big strip mall. Hmmm. Neat to see at least once I suppose! Then we packed up and headed south along the 17-Mile Drive which takes you along Pebble Beach and the most fancy pants houses on the most beautiful stretch of coast you’ve ever seen. Wow. You could just smell the money. Then we aimed for cool little Carmel, but because it was Saturday of Labor day weekend the traffic turned everything into one slowly shifting parking lot. So we had a drive down to the sea (or as near as we could get to it) then headed back out of town away from the traffic and money to continue along Highway 1 towards Big Sur (got there just in time for sunset – it was stunning, wish I had photos, no time to stop……) and finally coming rest in San Simeon and the last hotel in town with an overpriced room as everything in that part of the world was fully booked due to the holiday weekend. Eh, it did the trick and breakfast was included!

6^th – We turned the road trip inland to Highway 5 where we made a beeline for San Diego. What can I say about the drive along 5? It sucks. Very brown, very flat and veryvery boring, but speedy. So that evening found us lounging with margaritas with family! Ahhhhhhhhhh! It was fantastic.

So there you have it – Week #1! Told you it was action packed. It’s neat to think back on all we did because now being back here it seems like forever ago, but describing it all day by day makes it seem like it was just last week we were there (well, we kinda were!)! Ahhhhhh, was great. Tune in next week for Week #2! Hope you’re all well up there. Am sorry we blew through town so quickly, so much to do! And am sorry for not checking in from the road, it was difficult with no computer, or at best overpriced internet cafes. Thankfully my memory has improved over the last few months (hooray for the Nintendo DS ‘More Brain Training’ game!) and am able to go over the trip with details! Hooray for adventure!!!!!!

BYE!

J!