Mandalay Bay!! Las Vegas, NV May 25-27, 2009

Yeah, I've been to Las Vegas a few times - I have family there - but this time was different.   I got to stay at the Mandalay Bay hotel!     It was pretty cool because it's a GORGEOUS hotel and I got a really good rate for 2 nights plus tickets to the Lion King Show.

My room at the Mandalay Bay was great.   I had a great view of the Las Vegas Strip.

The view was even better at night!

I spent a couple of hours out at the "Lazy River" in a raft, just floating around.   It was a blast, but you've got to watch out for those waterfalls!

I went out for dinner before the Lion King show to Mix, a bar/restaurant at the top of the hotel.   The restaurant is really cool - all white, with just red water glasses on the table.   And there's a curtain of glass bubbles that goes around the center of the room.

Naturally, I had to have my picture taken by the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign - it's a lot easier to get there now - they've built a parking lot right in front of it - so you don't have to run across 4 lanes of traffic anymore!

I headed over to the Bellagio to see the Conservatory, which is always gorgeous

And I had to check out the water show out front:

The water show was set to the song "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood in honor of Memorial Day weekend.   Very cool.    And I want to take this moment to say Thank You to all our troops who have stood up and defended our freedom.    You guys are awesome.    And your families too - who go through a lot of tough times while you are away.

Thank you for all you do.

Later that evening, I headed over to Firefly, a Tapas restaurant on Paradise for some of the best Tapas I've ever had.    I ordered a pitcher of white wine sangria (YUM!) which they make in the restaurant.   And of course, had to have the gazpacho, which is the best I've had anywhere.

I finished off the meal with the Chorizo Clams - wow!  I wouldn't have thought those 2 things would go so well together, but yum yum yum!
After dinner, I headed over to the Foundation Room - you know, the exclusive Members Only club at the Mandalay Bay.   Yeah, I have contacts......   (Thanks Danny!)

Important note:   On Tuesday nights, they close around 11 PM.     I only barely just made it up for one drink.  Who knew Vegas closes early these days??    Maybe it's turning middle-aged.....

Oh, and check out who I ran into at the Venetian!

100 Miles of Nowhere - Part 1 - May 16, 2009

I went and did a crazy thing - I signed up for "100 Miles of Nowhere" which is basically an unofficial unorganized ride to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  It was thought up by one of my favorite bloggers, FatCyclist.   The whole idea is to ride for 100 miles on your trainer (stationary bike) or in the smallest possible area you can - so that you can have a GPS track that looks like this:   (note the scale):

Now, I will freely admit....    I want to help raise money for cancer, and I like the idea of doing it in such a completely silly way....   and part of me just really wants the t-shirt:

But seriously, I'm also doing it for the challenge.   I've only been riding bikes with Mel for about a year, and I've never gone more than 40 miles in a ride (and that was an organized ride with rest stops every 15 miles).    I know I couldn't ride 100 miles in a day, so I set myself up with a goal to do it in 2 weekends.  And I really don't think I could do it on a trainer or by riding loops around my neighborhood without going seriously nutty...   So I nixed those requirements and just decided to go as far as I can in the straightest possible line, and then turn around and come back.

Mel and I headed out yesterday morning from her friend Nica's house.    Nica lives really close to the beach, so it worked out great as a safe place to park the car, and a way to add a few miles to the ride.   We headed out towards Channel Islands Harbor and then Ventura Harbor.

Look - Boats!

It was a pretty gray day - but it was great for riding.   I got going pretty fast and wasn't baking in the sun - Gnomads sunburn so easily, you know.    I rode from Oxnard, through Channel Islands, past Ventura Harbor until I got to the start of the Omer Rains trail.    This is a wonderful 8-mile long trail that runs along the coast in Ventura.   

You go right under the Ventura pier and along the boardwalk by the beach.     There are lots of people walking their dogs, roller blading, getting ready to surf, and just generally taking in the sun (which we didn't have much of today).    I can handle most of those people, but then there are these:

There are a bunch of places where these can be rented at any beach, but I have never ever seen people actually in control of one of these things!    Usually it's full of people, half hanging out, screaming and careening all over the road/trail and anything in front or behind is in danger....   I've actually seen kids fall out of them, seen people jump out while it's still going...   They're a menace!   (I keep trying to tell myself, "At least they're peddling," but it doesn't work....)

In spite of the cool, gray day, there were lots of surfers out....

You can't actually see them in this picture, but they're there behind me.....

One of my favorite spots on this trail is the estuary.   The trail turns right to follow the river for a little way, but I like to stop right there where the river meets the ocean and watch the birds and people playing in the water.

Keep riding and the trail takes you through Emma Woods State Beach and then ends up at Old Rincon Highway - there's a scary place where you have to cross the highway and hope no one is coming around the corner (Whew!  Made it!) and then you go over this hill to a spectacular view of the coast:

Ok, the view's a little better just a few yards farther down, but I was in the way and didn't want to endanger any other bikers.....

I kept riding until I ran out of trail....   Right at 22.5 miles.   I had some choices - turn around and make my ride 5 miles shorter than I planned, or ride a few laps around the harbor until I added up those 5 more miles (see the beginning of this post to see my feelings about riding short laps), OR, I could actually keep going, which meant riding on the 101 freeway until I hit 25 miles, finding the closest off-ramp to that, and turning around.

And that's what I did....

Have no doubt - I do not like riding on the freeway!   I've done it before, always with someone riding with me, and I hated it then.   I've never done it by myself!   But doggone if I was going to turn around 2.5 miles from my goal!

So here I am at Rincon State Park - 25.52 miles.

From there, I turned around and headed back - another 3 miles on the freeway - and no, I still don't like riding on the freeway!

I am fascinated though, by this island - there's a long bridge leading out to it, and it looks really pretty with palm trees and everything, but the public isn't allowed to go out there.   What is it?  Does anyone know?

I stopped on the way back to take in some Sports Beans (those are nutrition, right?) and thought I'd show that the view on the other side of the highway is pretty too - although foggy today.   I got to thinking about how lucky I am to live where I do - I have all this prettiness (even on a gray foggy day) within minutes of my home.

And here are some wildflowers I saw.....

And then I stopped snapping pictures because I was getting tired and very focused on not quitting before I hit my 50 mile mark....   And I made it!    Woo Hoo!!

And I've got to send out a big Thank You to FatCyclist for giving me a challenge I didn't think I could do - and a darn good reason to try it.

If you're looking for a good cause, head over to FatCyclist.com and look for links to the Livestrong Ride and Team Fatty.

Postscript.....

I am currently at mile 95, and planning to finish the last 5 miles tomorrow morning!   Woo Hoo!   I didn't really think I'd get all 100 miles done in 2 weeks, and right now I'm actually on target to get them done in 1 week!   I'm very excited about this.    No more pictures, unless I take some tomorrow morning, as the last 50 miles have pretty much been around home, most of them on what I call the "Tour de Cul de Sac", which means I'm riding in and out of all the cul de sacs that surround my neighborhood.    And Yes, after about the 5th loop, the guy washing his car does start to look at you funny......

P.P.S......

I finished those last 5 miles this morning - it was a sprint to the finish, but I won my division!   Woo Hoo!!!!     (Never mind that it's the Newbury Park Cul-de-Sac Division for Women ages 40-45.   And I was the only one in it - I won!!!!)

Perfect Day along the California Coast - 3/12/09

Mel and I decided to play hooky from work last Thursday, and we talked our friends Louise & Gnugent into going on a bike ride with us up the California coast from Ventura to Carpenteria.

It was an ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR day.   We could not have picked a better day to play hooky from work!    The sun was out, the sky was blue.   On the way up the coast, we even saw a pod of dolphins frolicking in the waves!!   

These pictures aren't great - you can barely see fins popping out of the water.   It's because I didn't bring a camera with me, just my cell phone.   But we pulled over to the side of the road and just stood there watching them for awhile.   As many times as I've ridden up this coast, I've never once seen anything but surfers.   So this was exciting.     A couple other cyclists pulled over with us and said that sometimes you can see whales too.   So I'll definitely have to plan some rides when the whales are moving north!

We texted my brother Georgie, who lives in snowy NY,  a picture of the coastline asking if he didn't wish he was playing hooky to go on a bike ride....

He responded:  "I hate you".       I sent him a note back that it's always nice to feel the brotherly love....   I'm sure it's not fun being taunted by your little sister while you're at work and she's engaging in your favorite past time.....   ha ha....    That's what little sisters are for, right?

Louise, Mel, Gnugent, and I headed all the way up to Carpenteria.   That's the farthest I've ever ridden up the coast - about 16 miles from where we started.    You couldn't ask for a lovelier ride, except the part where we have to merge onto the freeway for a few miles.   That part is SCARY!    And we rode past La Conchita - the community that had the tragic landslide a couple of years ago that buried houses and killed a family.    It's spooky.   People still live there, so it looks like part ghost-town and part kitschy beach community.    I had no idea when that happened how close it was to where I live.

Once in Carpenteria, we stopped at Tony's - a little hole-in-the-wall Italian place that Louise knew about.    We split a salad and ravioli.    I have to say, that might be the best meat sauce I've had since the last time I went to Vince's in Ontario!  (Vince's is famous - if you're out in the Inland Empire, you must try one of their locations!   But now I say, if you're in Carpenteria, you must try Tony's!)

Anyway, the salad was nothing special, but meat ravioli with their meat sauce - as Rachel Ray would say.... YUM-O!      We practically licked our plates.   Good thing they gave us garlic bread (which was also yummy - very thin crisp slices) to sop it up with.

Pleasantly satisfied, we headed back out on our bikes to find  a Salt Marsh that Louise had read about.  Conveniently, she had a map loaded on to her cell phone, and we realized that from Tony's, it wasn't far away.    So we headed down the street, turned the corner, and there we were!    The Carpenteria Salt Marsh Reserve turned out to be a lovely spot.   Bikes aren't allowed out onto the reserve, so we hope we weren't breaking too many rules by walking (not riding) our bikes in (there was nowhere close by to lock up).    There are some informational signs and a nice area to just sit and take in the scenery, which looked like this:

It doesn't look like much in a cell phone picture, but there was a stream running through - at the time we were there, the tide must have been coming in because the water was running away from the ocean and toward the mountains.    We saw 2 egrets, a heron, and several hawks fly and land in the area, and just sat and listened to the sound of waves, birds calling, wind, and just quiet.  It was such a lovely spot!    We thought it would be a great place to bring a picnic lunch to.   There were also signs that told about the geology of the area, wildlife, etc.   So it would be an educational outing for kids too.    It's not a huge area, at least, not what we saw, but soooo worth the trip.

We reluctantly turned around and headed back south down the street we came up.   The street dead-ended at a campground, and we thought it might be nice to ride through there as it was right on the coast.   There were some lovely views from the campground also:

This first picture was taken when riding over a bridge from one side of the campground to the other.   Such a wonderful view of a river emptying out into the Pacific Ocean.

The campground dead-ended and we had to hoist our bikes over some railroad tracks to get back to the road out of town, but it was another side trip that was definitely worth it!

Reluctantly, we headed back out of town - a few miles on the freeway then back to the relative calm of Pacific Coast Highway (which is also not that calm - but much better than the freeway).   It was mid-afternoon, the sun was still out, the sky was still blue.    A perfect day to revel in God's creation.   As Louise put it - it was like a whole vacation in one day.

"The heavens declare the glory of God..."  (Ps 19:1)     That day, the oceans and the sand dunes did too.

Thanksgiving in Mariposa, CA - November 2008

It's pretty much tradition to go up to visit Aunt Lena & Uncle Ole in Oakhurst, CA every year for Thanksgiving.    Oakhurst is right outside Yosemite National Park, so as you can imagine, it's beautiful there!

On the day after Thanksgiving, we went up to Yosemite to the Wawona school house.  It's a little one-room schoolhouse that still operates in the park.   On the Friday after Thanksgiving every year, they have an Arts & Crafts fair fundraiser to help raise money for the school.

Look who we ran in to!

She looks like she doesn't quite know what to think of us, doesn't she???

"Mrs. Claus" is really Anita, a friend of Ole & Lena's.    She makes and sells the most amazing Elderberry Jam and Tamales.  Yum Yum Yum!!!

After checking out the fair, we headed over to Mariposa, CA.   That's a pretty little mountain community with lots of nice shops and restaurants.   We walked around the main drag for awhile, checked out some favorite shops  ("Chocolate Soup" is the best!) and just enjoyed the atmosphere.

Behind the shops, there is a nice walking path that goes along a creek  (I'm sure the creek has a name, but I can't remember it - so if you know, post a comment and tell me!).    It was such a lovely day - cold but pretty out.    Being a city girl, I enjoy walking through the leaves and experiencing (a little) nature....

Isn't it pretty?

Christmas at Disneyland - November 22, 2008

One of the best times of year to go to Disneyland is between November & January.   They deck the whole park out with Christmas decorations and it's just magical!  Gnugent and I headed down to the park in late November to check it out.

Right as you get to Main Street, you'll see the GINORMOUS Christmas tree with bigger than life decorations.

Then as you look down Main Street, you see the garlands going all down the street:  

And the buildings on Main Street are all decked out too!

Over in the Big Thunder Ranch area (between Frontierland and Fantasyland), they have a cute little Santa's Village set up.   The decorations there are just lovely - there are lots of great picture spots!

Then, after dark, you absolutely MUST go over to It's A Small World.   Wait until the clock chimes.   They have a wonderful light show that I didn't know existed.     Here is some video of it (taken a couple of years ago - the first time I saw it).

Definitely take the time to ride on the "Storybook Land Canal Boats".   It's the cutest thing ever.   There are miniatures of houses from all sorts of Disney stories - and before the holidays, the fairies come out and decorate!   Almost all those little houses have adorable miniature Christmas decorations.   Sooooo fun!    Aladdin's house was the only one that wasn't decorated.   We figured they must be celebrating Ramadan.....

There is also a Holiday tour.   One of Disneyland's knowledgeable tour guides takes you all over the park, pointing out special touches in the decorations that you may not have noticed (like that there's a Menorah in one of the windows on Main Street).   

One of my favorite areas is New Orleans Square.   The decorations are, of course, over-the-top, but beautiful.   And while we were there, we saw the most amazing sunset:

They take you on the 2 rides that have special "holiday editions" - The Haunted Mansion, which is all made over with a Nightmare before Christmas theme (personally, I much prefer the normal version of Haunted Mansion) and It's a Small World where they show how Christmas is celebrated all over the world.   

Then you get special seating for the Holiday parade, where they also give you a yummy gingerbread cookie and a toasty cup of hot chocolate!  :-)    

(By the way, if you are an annual passholder, or have an Auto Club membership, you can get a discount on the tour.  We thought it was well worth doing).

And of course, after the parade, make sure to get yourself a good seat for the holiday fireworks spectacular  (although I have to admit - fireworks choreographed to "Silent Night" is just odd...)

Oh!   And how can I forget about the Castle!!!!   It's my favorite part, naturally!!!    During the day, the castle is covered in snow and icicles. 

 But at night.... WOW!!!    The lights come on and the magic happens.   It's BEAUTIFUL!

Disneyland's holiday decorations are definitely a festive way to start off the Christmas season!   Early in November and early January (before Thanksgiving and after Christmas, but before they take the decorations down) are the best, least crowded times to go.   They do have special Thanksgiving Day and Christmas day meal opportunities if you plan to be there during the actual holidays.   I've never done that, but I'm guessing they'd do a great job.