Day 7 of October

Take a deep breath.  There are only 5 or 6 days left of this holiday blog. (I know I'm thinking, thank goodness)

LA, Disneyland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, Madonna Vacation
(con't)
Day 8
Wednesday, September 26th
  We slept in a little bit longer today.  Could have been for a couple of reasons:  all the fresh air from the day before, or all the hill walking, or the car alarm that went off around two a.m. right below our window.  It woke me with a start, and my first thought was "is someone trying to break into our rental car?"  Once I came to my senses, I remembered that we didn't have a rental car, so I just laid back and waited, and waited for the alarm to stop.
    After breakfast, we made our way back down to the water front.  We decided to take an open top bus tour.  It was a 24 hour, hop on, hop off tour. 

We stayed on the bus for the entire 2 1/2 hour tour.  You just plugged in your ear phones and the tour was narrated.  It took us throught the financial district, Chinatown,

Little Italy, the Tenderloin district; we even seen a famous record store, or at least famous to Bill.  Its called Amoeba Music:  (Born in 1990 in Berkeley, California, Amoeba Music is inspired by many of the great independent record stores. We stock everything -- from the most popular artists to the most obscure in all genres -- including jazz, international folk and popular music, roots music, classical music, all kinds of rock and soul music, just to name a few of the most obvious categories.)

We also went across the Golden Gate Bridge and back again,

 We sat up on the open top of the bus for the entire time.  It was soo cold and windy as we approached the Golden Gate bridge.  We had planned to get off and walk across the bridge, but by now we were freezing and waiting for another bus didn't appeal to us. 

Our saying in Calgary is "if you don't like the weather, just wait a couple of minutes."  In San Francisco, the saying is "If you don't like the weather, just move a couple of blocks".   In addition to all the unique sites we seen off the bus, there were a couple of unique sites on the bus.

We departed the bus down by the pier and made our way to a hidden little Mexican restaurant and tequila bar called Las Marguerites. 

We had come across this place on a previous walk.  Talk about a large collection of tequila.  This place had over 250 different kinds of tequila.   Bill tried a new type of tequila and I went for my usual marguerita.  Oh yeah, the food was great too.

  Now it was time to take our full bellies back to our hotel.  Am I getting used to the hills or have we finally found a path that seems alot easier this evening. 

Day 6 of October

LA, Disneyland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, Madonna Vacation
con't
Day 7
Tuesday, September 25th

It was nice to be able to sleep in this morning.  No pressure to be somewhere at a certain time.  We tried booking a tour for Alcatraz, but this particular tourist attraction is quite popular and the next opening wasn't until the following Saturday.  One day too late for us.  Bill had dome some homework, and he had other sites for us to see.  Our first destination was Lombard Street.  It is famous for being the most winding and steep street in,  well somewhere.  It was crazy to see the tourists standing at the top of this road, and right in the middle of the crossing road to get a picture.  Yes, Bill was one of the crazy tourists.  People,,,, it is still a useable road and there were cars driving every which way.

We finally made it to the water front - Fishermans Wharf, and by then it was time for a late lunch.  We stopped for some of San Francisco's famous sour dough bread.  I'm not the expert on sour dough bread, as it is Bill's weakness, but even Bill agreed that Seattle was still the place where we had the best sour dough bread so far.

We walked around the docks, and we stumbled across a group of school kids, maybe grade five or six.  They seemed to be on a field trip and were going aboard a sailing ship for lessons.  We sat and watched them for about an hour and from the moment they put on their life jackets and yellow rain coats, I had found one youg guy who kept me entertained.  You know how there is always that one kid on a field trip, who is preoccupied, not listening, curious and always questioning why?  Well this young man was that kid.  It didn't take the crew long to figure that out.  By the time there were pulling away from the dock, the boy had one on one supervision.
  Other than walking up and down hills, the day was pretty quiet.  We stopped at a cheese market close to our hotel and picked up some food for supper.  We were still full from lunch, so it was a late dinner in the room. 

Day 5 of October

Day 6
Monday, September 24th

  Can you say air conditioning?  Yes our hotel room came with it, but before we went to bed, Bill turned it off.  I'm not sure what time I woke up drenched in sweat, but I blindly went looking for the on switch to the air conditioning.  Ashley thanked me profusely in the morning for saving us all from suffocating in the heat.  We talked Bill into going for a work out in the morning, so we could get ready at a leisurely pace, and have the continental breakfast.  When Bill returned, we packed up our stuff, loaded the car, and headed to Venice Beach.  An hour later, our friend, GPS had gotten us to our destination without any detours.  We drove staight to the beach and the closest parking lot. 

Unlike the last time we visited Venice Beach; it was about 8 years ago and we spent 30 minutes or longer looking for a "cheap" parking spot.  This time, both  Ashley and I were ready to pull out some American cash, just so we could park close, or at least fast.  The characters at Venice beach were much more entertaining than the characters at Disneyland.  My friend De would be so proud of me.  Two different musicians on the street tried to sell me their CD's and I resisted.  One guy's name was Du Wan.  I kept saying "you the one, Du Wan!"  I don't think he thought it was funny.  The funniest site on the boardwalk was all the walk in clinics for medicinal marihuana.  The "doctors" or advertisers where dressed in green doctor scrubs with a big marihuana plant on the front of their shirt.  They just kept repeating that it was now legal.

We left the beach with plenty of time to catch our flights.  With my organizational skills put the test, I had made sure that Bill and my flight to San Francisco left around the same time as Ashley and Ethan's flight to Calgary.    We returned our car to the rental company and caught the shuttle to our two different terminals.  We were doing the rest of our trip solo. 
  It was a short flight to San Francisco, and an even shorter BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) ride to downtown San Francisco.  Calgary really needs to get this type of transportation set up to our airport.  The most confusing part of this trek was getting a cab from downtown San Francisco to our hotel which we figured was about 12 blocks away.  We finally flagged down a cab and thankfully we didn't let this first impression influence our thoughts about citizens of San Francisco.  He wasn't very friendly; he had never heard of our hotel; he got lost getting there and Bill had to give him instructions; and it turns out he conveniently forgot to turn on the taxi meter.  When we arrived at our hotel, he realized his "honest" mistake and somehow figured out it was probably a 10.00 ride.  Then, he didn't even get out of his car to help with the luggage in the trunk.  I think he might have actually had a second thought afterwards about maybe overcharging, because he followed us into the hotel and asked the clerk for change for a ten.  She didn't have any, so he just left.  Lesson learned, by us.  We had an easy check in, so we headed up to our room, threw the suitcases on the bed and headed out to a nearby pub for a bite to eat.  The hotel had recommended which area we venture into this time of night.   
  It was an early night for these two tired tourists, but I did go to bed with one nagging thought in my mind.  Before we left Los Angeles, I had seen on the news that there had been an earthquake up north, off the coast of Alaska.  The news broadcasters were discussing how an earth quake far away can have the affect of causing earthquakes anywhere.  Where were we again, Oh Yeah San Francisco - can you say 1906!!!!!!!  Then as I am adding this blog, I google earthquakes in San Francisco.  Who knew there had been 84 of them since the end of September, 2012.  Don't believe me, check out the website below.  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/FaultMaps/San_Francisco_eqs.html
Thank goodness I wasn't smart enough to do this while we were actually staying in San Francisco.  There is also another website that shows what would happen if the 1906 earthquake happened in 2012.  One thing I did learn on a tour we were at, and I don't know if it was fact for sure, but in 1906, after the Earthquake and the big fire that followed, the city usually referred to the disaster as the fire of 1906.  Why, because the "insurance company" Lloyds of London, did not have coverage for Earthquakes, only fire, and the city needed financial help in rebuilidng.  I thought that was an interesting (truly political) way to get the money.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2196268/What-1906-San-Francisco-earthquake-happened-today-Photo-trickery-shows-hit-city.html

Day 4 of October

Day 5

Sunday, September 23rd

 Ashley's alarm went off at 6:00 am.  How come I was the only one that heard it?  I didn't think I would be able to get up early after last night. But surprisingly I was the first one ready. We were all awake and ready to go by 7:00 am. We said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and set the GPS for our hotel by Disneyland.  I really wanted to nap, but felt I should help keep bill motivated and awake.  Our hotel was within walking distance of Disneyland, and although we arrived way earlier than our three o'clock check in time, the Trave lLodge allowed us to park in their lot.  They also had a continental breakfast, so of course Bill grabbed his breakfast on the go.  With cameras, sun glasses and enthusiasm in tact, we headed to the happiest place on earth.  I suggested to Ashley that she show good faith to her Dad by offering to pay for her and Ethan's park fee.  (Knowing that Bill would not accept the offer, but appreciate it)  To both Ashley's surprise and mine, Bill said sure.  Ooops,   I reminded Ashley that it would pay off in the end. The park was decorated already with a Halloween theme.  Check out the pumpkin Mickey;

The only characters that were around when we first arrived were Donald and Goofy.  You know which one we went for - the one with the shortest line up.

We did most of the attractions.  My favorite was splash mountain.  We had decided at the beginning of the day to only do the Disney side and not California Adventure because we probably would run out of time anyways.  There were a couple of rides that Ashley and I sent Ethan and Bill on all by themselves.  We figured we had enough throw up rides from the night before.  By the time we left the park it was time for dinner, so we strolled along Disney street and ended up at a restaraunt called Jazz Kitchen.  The food was very good and the margaritas even better.

We finished up our meal and headed back to our hotel.  I for one, was ready for bed, as were my tired feet.  Tomorrow would be a sleep in morning. (for those of us who didn't get up to run)  

Day 3 of October

LA, Disneyland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, Madonna Vacation!

(cont)

Day 4

Saturday, September 22nd

This is the wedding party

These are the huge lobster tails Lora made for my birthday dinner.  I loved how she made them look like boats.  That's on my list of things to try next.

This is when Patrick skyped my on my birthday and I got him to look up like the Brady Bunch show.  Thanks Mike, the father of the bride, and Grandma, the cat lover!

  The big day started out relaxing for me, but Bill and the kids went shopping.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that they remembered we needed to be ready to go by 1:15.  They were back in plenty of time, but Lora still had to call up to us a couple of times to get some of us moving. Ashley, Ethan and Bill rode with Alan in his car and I hopped into a car with Alice, Steven and Mike's mom (Or who we called grandma all weekend. ) Both the  wedding and reception were being held at a rustic resort called San Moritz.  It was about 90 minutes from Victorville and 75 of those minutes were spent on winding, hair pin turns. We had been pre warned about the trek up the mountain and I thought I was being proactive by taking my gravol.  Let's just say that the gravol only helped by allowing me to make it to the resort, find the bathroom before anyone else, before I upchucked.  Embarrassed, nope, not me. In fact Bill mentioned that I could have been a little more subtle.  I told him he married the wrong person if he was looking for subtle.  The best part about throwing up is how well you feel afterwards. Except for being a little tired from the affects of the gravol, I was feeling great. The decor of the wedding was rustic and beautiful. Linda and her bridal party did a great job. The ceremony was held outside.  As we were waiting for the bride to walk down the petal aisle, the m.c. made  an announcement. " we are looking for the father of the bride to walk the bride down the isle!" Seems Mike had forgotten his part and he was sitting in the front row waiting for the ceremony to begin.  The ceremony was beautiful and went off without a hitch. Lots of family pictures taken afterwards and then the bar was open. Ahhhhh.  There was a special bartender concoction called "love potion #9-22". (Hence the day of the wedding). I decided after the third one, I really didn't like it that much.  Dinner was filling, but as is always the case at table number meals, we were one of the last tables to go up.  The DJ was also the MC and he kept the evening running very smooth; from the few speeches to the first dance to the cutting of the cake.  One of the most beautiful moments was when Linda and her dad did the father, daughter dance.  Mike is a seasoned dancer and  he and Linda had practised a couple of times.  They had chosen the song "Moon River" by Andy Williams as their song.  Fast forward a day or two, and Mr. Andy Williams passed away.  This would be one of those do-do-do-do moments for me.  Then while Linda was changing into her Chinese dress, Lora and Mike gave us a demonstration of their cha-cha moves.  Amazing.   It was also around this time, when Uncle Wayne got up and gave his speech.  I must admit, I thought there would be a lot of humour in it, but he was actually very sentinmental and expressed his love for Ryan and Linda.  Later on during the dance, he did get up and play his harmonica to a couple of songs.  A talented guy!  There weren't a lot of kids at this wedding, but there was this one little girl who was really getting into the music and dancing up a storm. Both Nick and Linda Pohorelic (another cousin from Calgary ) commented how the little girl reminded them of Ashley when she was that age, and dancing at their wedding.  Before long, the evening was over, and if we weren't sure, the DJ played "Hit the Road Jack" just to remind us.  With my new gravol already taken, and a couple of Ativan thrown in for good measure, I was ready for the long, winding trek home. (Or so I thought) the only good thing about the ride home, was that Alan drove crazy fast.  Ashley said the gravol didn't help her, but I know it helped me, because again I was able to hold off re-sampling my supper until we returned back to Hotel Kwan.  Thank you Bill for the ginger ale when I emerged out of the bathroom.  Best to get a good night sleep - early morning tomorrow.

 

Day 2 of October

LA, Disneyland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, Madonna Vacation!

(Cont)

Day 3, 

Friday September 21st 

It's one day before the big day.  Bill went for his usual morning run, and I stayed in bed for my usual longer relaxing. Spent most of the morning visiting and looking at old pictures.  Except for a small quip in the daily plans (which have since been rectified, and I'm not supposed to talk about), the day was pretty uneventful. Mike's sister, husband and two kids popped over for lunch. 

After lunch, Bill and I headed back to LAX to pick up Ashley and Ethan.  Their flight was on time, and Bill dropped me at the arrivals while he drove around until we were ready.  Mike had warned us that the traffic back to Victorville would be really bad. Not only was it rush hour, but it was a Friday and the freeway would be full of people heading to Vegas for the weekend.  His suggestion was to stop off and eat some where until the traffic thinned out a bit.  So that was our idea.  There was one small problem, where to eat. We had decided on Mexican food, and we decided we didn't want fast food.  That's where the GPS once again became our guide.  The first two restaurants didn't appeal to us for different reasons.  Finally I found a restaurant. It met our criteria: it wasn't fast food, the area seemed safe, and there were cars in the parking lot.    After we left the restaurant, we proceeded on our way back to Mike and Lora's.  Our intention was to find the freeway, but the GPS had other plans for us.  We took the scenic route, and it wasn't until we hit Ontario, California, that we had anything exciting happen. We passed a couple of hand made signs written in Spanish that basically translated to "detained".  Turns out there was a check stop.  I can't believe I had to come all the way to California to go through a check stop. The stopped us and asked to see Bill's driver's license. Then the officer asked Bill where he was living this EXACT moment.  Without missing a beat, Bill said "Canada". That seemed to be the correct answer and we were sent on our way.  I guess it wasn't a check stop for illegal substances, but more a check stop for illegal aliens.   We finally stumbled upon the freeway and headed back to Victorville.  

     The rehearsal dinner party was still going on over at Linda and Ryan's so we made a pit stop over there.  There were still a few stragglers left including Uncle Wayne.  In the words of uncle Wayne, every family has one of those Uncles and uncle Wayne is the Clover's.    He is a gold smith, and told me he could make me a key pendant to fit in my ring with the key hole.  If I provide the gold it will only cost me the shipping. Another  long distance venture.  More  about uncle Wayne at the wedding.  We spent about an hour at the party, and listened to some of the bridal party do karaoke.  Usually I would have been first in line, but the heat and stress of the day had me jealously just sitting back and watching.   Shortly after the singing started, we then headed back to hotel Kwan for some much needed sleep.

Day 1 of October

LA, Disneyland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, Madonna Vacation!

Continued

Day 2

Thursday September 20th

  Happy birthday to me.  51... I say it, I read it, I hear it, but I can't believe it. Which just goes to prove, our mind is stronger than all our other senses.   It was a very relaxing day. Bill went for his daily jog. Thankfully no snake encounters. After breakfast Bill and I drove (somewhere) to check out Trader Joes.  It has some of the neatest products, and the prices, I found were compatible and some times cheaper.  It was about a 20 to 30 minute drive, and the thermostat in the car read 101 degrees F.  Not a good day to be buying anything covered in chocolate.  Despite the long drive (that was all freeway driving), we really didn't go to any other stores.  Once we got back to Victorville, Bill did want to stop into the Barnes and Noble store to check out some music.  We parked the car, and as we were crossing the parking lot,  a lady pulled up in a car that was advertising quilting.  I told Bill to go on and I would catch up.  This poor lady didn't know what hit her. As she was opening her door, I quickly asked her if the car she was driving was hers. (like she was going to tell me if she stole it).  When she confirmed that it was, I asked another obvious question, "Do you quilt?" She replied yes and said she could teach me.  After it was determined that I didn't want to learn, I wanted to hire someone to make a quilt, the do-do-do-do moments started to happen.  I explained I wanted to make a quilt for my daughter.(she has a daughter too). I went on to say I wanted the quilt made out if  ribbons. (she had seen those quilts before.) The ribbons, I went on, we're from when my daughter used to ride equestrian. (her daughter, who is now thirty, also used to ride horses, and has many ribbons as well. )She asked if she could brag a little about her daughter.  It seems her daughter is  in some record book, for being the first African American to win this certain level of jumping). She went on to say how proud she was of her daughter Ashley!   You can imagine my expression when I found out our daughters also shared the same name. By now we had walked from the parking lot to the middle of Barnes and Noble.  The funniest part of the conversation was when Debora asked me where I was from,and when I told her, she thought I was joking. Her next statement made sense "don't you have people in Canada that can quilt?" To be honest I have looked around a little bit, but the few people and places I have inquired at we're not very helpful, or enthusiastic.  I realize this  could be an expensive project with Debora, but somehow everything just seems right. I have her business card, so I will see where this journey takes me. Remember, everything happens for a reason.

   So that was the extent to our shopping excursion. We returned to Mike and Lora's for a quiet and relaxing afternoon.

    Dinner time was all about me and my birthday.  Lora made a delicious meal which included some large lobster tails and a tiramisu cake.  Lora even wrote happy birthday in Chinese on the cake and sang to me in Chinese. It was a small gathering of eight that included Bill and myself, Lora and Mike, the bride and groom to be, Linda and Ryan, and their beautiful dog Georgia, Mike's sister and Mike's mom.  Alan, Lora and Mike's youngest son joined us afterwards.  There were a few of highlights of the evening. The first was when Patrick facetimed me, to wish me a happy birthday.  I passed him around and he got to see everyone. Then Ashley and Ethan called to wish me a happy birthday. But the funniest 30 minutes was when I brought out my iPad and introduced Tom the talking cat to Mike's mom.  She sat and talked and giggled at this animated cat for at least thirty minutes. I only wish I had understood what she was saying.  And she didn't just say one word here and there,she was having lengthy conversations.  My heart was smiling just as much as this 87 year young grandma.  Again, it was an early evening and I crawled into bed by 10:30.