Day Twenty-Three Tucson (AZ)

Another day, another brewpub. That's how it must seem to people. And if I had my druthers, that is probably how it would be - though maybe every other day or every third day would suffice. Unless I find the ultimate place. It could happen.

I think we are going to lose two hours on our trip today. At least one. Sigh. Well, easy come, easy go. I had a scare yesterday, which pushed me into blue territory - my GPS seemed not to be charging! What is up with this thing? I am hoping it was just the heat - I tried it briefly last night and it seemed to be functioning correctly (charging and all) but I was very tired and could have been hallucinating.

Where was I? Oh yes, Tucson, AZ. Land of the Saguaro - amongst other things. After I went to the effort of getting my coupon printed out for Staples, mom and I headed there to do some shopping. She mostly sat in an office chair (which was difficult to pry her out of) while I wandered around. We bought her three nice looking pens, a plastic folder for her postcards, and a flash drive. Amanda, the woman at the checkout, was remarkably peppy and friendly. (See, 'cause I remarked on it...) The world needs more Amandas like that! As we were checking out, she ran my total and realized I was going to not use up my whole coupon - so I impulse bought a sneaker key chain thing. She also sold me a bag that gave me 15% off my sale, more than enough to cover the cost of the bag itself. We ended up spending $.24 for a whole pile of loot! Yay!

We then headed off into the Sunset - well, North actually - so, not so sunset like. And it was only 11 in the morning. Nevermind. We drove to Sabino Canyon where we got to enter for free because of mom's pass. Yippee for mom's pass! Speaking of which, after I took it off of the dashboard, it was all melty and weird feeling. And now I don't know where it is. I hope we don't have an opportunity to use it again if I can't find it...Turns out that the tram through the canyon runs every hour during the "off" season - summer. And we had missed the 11 o'clock one. Oh well, gave us time to wander the visitor's center and to watch a movie about the flora and fauna in the canyon.

Tram time! I was surprised it wasn't electric. Anyway, David, just back from a month's vacation, did our tour. His spiel sounded a little rote, but still interesting and entertaining. Lots of great views, interesting little tidbits of information (lots of State This's and That's along the route). I am glad that we took the excursion. I took way too many pictures including one of a very funny sign. Well, funny to me at least.

After the tram, we did a little postcard shopping in the visitor's center - then headed back to the house. The plan was for us to eat lunch at a brewpub! I liked that plan. Andy was out and about and Ethel returned shortly after we did. There were two more brewpubs on my list - Ethel chose the one called Thunder Canyon, because it was located near where Andy needed to be and where a friend of theirs, Beth, lived. We got to the place first, because of Ethel's sharp eyes - and despite the GPS that sent us on a little bit of a wild goose chase. Weird. Andy appeared next. And Beth arrived in time for us to order lunch. I tried 14 beers (a few of them were guest taps). We ate a lot - mom and I had fish and chips that we shared. Fun time! (More about Thunder Canyon on my brewpub blog - eventually)

Ethel and Andy wanted us to see more of the beauty of the area. So we got in the van and drove to the Western side of the city and the parkland that is there. Some of it looked familiar from the trip I took ten years ago. Huge numbers of Saguaro marching around the countryside. It was a great drive!

Eventually we made it home again. Where everyone faded at different rates - well, except for Ethel who seemed to have caught her second wind...I actually tried to help her with her website, but I was too tired. I do hope to get something up for her in the near future - maybe when we are in Austin I will be able to get something done.

Oh, and the laundry was finally dry, so I "folded" it. More like put in in piles to pack this morning...

Today is going to be a long travel day. As is tomorrow. Joy. It will be hard leaving this bastion of relative luxury!

Where Amanda works and we bought lots for $.24

My legitimately gotten gains!

The tram in Sabino Canyon

I just loved that sign!

Aztec facemask-like rock outcropping

Andy, Ethel, Mom, Beth and Me

A view of the desert

June 29, Bonus Post

I know, a lot of you are missing my normal, introspective, thoughtful, perceptive, interesting posts and are tired of the travelogue. Fear not, I will eventually get back to examining the minutiae of my life. It's just that the past few weeks have been stuffed to the gunnels with busyness.

So, one of my goals today is to get my Staples Rewards coupon printed out - $18 - and go spend it. Sadly, I am not in dire need of anything, so I will have to spend it frivolously. Yay frivolity! If anyone has any suggestions on how to use my legitimately gotten gains, please let me know!

Ok, achieved. Phew, that really was pretty easy! Next goal, finish at least one brewpub post - that will have to wait until I figure out what the whole day will entail. Staying with other people, I have to adjust to their lives and schedules. Sometimes, they actually want to spend time with me and mom (or at least one of us). Meanwhile, I will puddle along.

I reached a milestone on my Life and Such Blog. Over 30,000 views! I don't know how many of those are bots - how many are me - how many are random people lost in the interwebs and confused about how they ended up on such a boring blog! But still, I am excited! I wonder how many people are viewing the blog through RSS feeds. And over 600 posts! Isn't that exciting? Maybe it is just me. Now, if everyone of those views had resulted in a sale of Bar Dreams or Diary of a Plate Addict...I am allowed to dream, aren't I? Hey, it is never too late to buy copies and make me a gazillionaire! One post I am going to write one day is the post - if I were financially really, really well off, what would I do.

My other blogs are puttering along. The brewpub blog is my first commercialized blog. I wonder if I will actually make any money from it. Time will tell, of course. The writing blog hasn't been touched in a while. I haven't been doing much writing except on here of course. And I haven't been working on Flippety at all. I have played it quite a bit, but that isn't the same as working on it...

Women. Let's talk about women. As you probably know, I am open to a relationship. Universe, are you listening? Of course the Universe is listening. And who knows, maybe one day it will happen. On the trip, I haven't been meeting a lot of viable women. They are not viable primarily because we obviously don't live anywhere near each other. And most of the women I have been meeting are way too young and inexperienced (no, I am not talking sexually or pharmaceutically - I am talking about life experience) to be of anything more than conversational appeal. Well, there was one woman who was interesting, but she lives in Wales and didn't evince the least little bit of interest in me. Oh well. Meanwhile, life goes on and the potential for a romantic relationship persists!

I had one more thing to write about and I can't think what it is just now. Something interesting and earth shattering no doubt...Nope, it just isn't coming.

Anyway, happy Bonus Post!

Day Twenty-Two - Tucson (AZ)

Turns out that I have been to Tucson before: back in the early 90's the WPBA (who I was dilgently following (along with my then girlfriend))(Oh, Women's Professional Billiards Association) had a tour stop in Tucson. We came and hung out for the whole tournament - four or five days I think. Went to the desert museum, rented a convertible, generally had a lovely time. Yay!

My friends/teachers have been coming here for decades and finally moved here last year. Turns out that Tucson is politically akin to Austin and Boston and other progressive cities. Yippee! The heat really is dry! I mean, if you stand around in your sopping wet bathing suit for about 5 minutes, all dry! Wow!

It was a pleasant day here - I did some laundry - finally - it has been a while, since, hmm, The Dalles, I guess, in Oregon. That already seems years in the past. Time is weird, especially so when I am traveling. Anyway, we also took a drive through the Saguaro National Park - my goodness gracious was that cool or what?! Saguaro come in so many shapes and sizes. All of the other succulents and vegetation were great too! Mom liked prickly pear plants better than Saguaro I think. After the drive, we went into the temporary visitor center shed where mom bought a whole bunch of postcards. But because they weren't in their normal space, they didn't have all of their normal stock, so we couldn't buy mom a Grand Canyon booklet (for which she is jonesing a little bit).

After the tour, we went to Nimbus Bistro for lunch. Mostly a brewpub, but not really, we had a great lunch, nice ambiance and decent beers. Yay! (More on Nimbus - eventually - on the brewpub blog - there are other pubs there already...)

Then it was nap time! Yay naps! I like naps.

Eventually, Andy I went to the pool. For those who don't know, I have some water issues. I really don't enjoy having my head underwater. And I do feel a bit constricted when swimming around. But it felt so nice to be in the pool that I think I stayed there for an hour or so. Prune city!

It took us a while to get our acts together to eat, but Andy and Ethel put on a terrific repast. One of the things that cause dinner to be later, was a phone call with a third teacher from my past - Harriette! It was awesome talking to her. Hopefully we will keep in sporadic touch.

All in all, a relaxing, restful, pleasant day here in Tucson. I like those, occasionally.

Laundry!

Ethel. mom and prickly pear cactus

Nimbus Bistro Entry Way

Yummy dinner chez Ethel and Andy

Day Twenty-One Flagstaff (AZ) to Tucson (AZ)

Those of you who have been following my blog for a long time, or have known me for a long time, are used to me venting a smidge here and there. Today is a vent day! Yay! Lucky you!! The normal travelogue/daily blog will continue momentarily.

Vent open - have I mentioned in the past 12 hours that I think money sucks?! Well, I do. Anyway, I went to pay my mortgage online (please don't get me started about the evils of mortgages). I logged onto the website and found that my mortgage had been transferred. Sigh. I had asked Cate (my housemate) to send me my mail, which she did - I had done a quick glance through to see if there was anything exciting. Nope, nothing. Same old crap I always got. I think. I thought. I don't know. I didn't really pay much attention to it. Snail Mail is not very exciting generally.

Well, apparently I missed something. Bank of America sold my loan - I think this is at least the third new organization I have had to deal with. Sigh. So I spent 45 minutes trying to make a mortgage payment, which I finally managed to do. Hurrah. If I were a bazillionaire (or if there were no money), I wouldn't have to worry about this crap. In the first case, someone else would take care of it and in the latter, well, I wouldn't have to worry about this crap...

Vent closed!

Ah, what a beautiful day black-jack day was! And we are into hyphenated numbers now! Eeek!

Oops, I am interupting myself again.  Hey, it's my prerogative. Change of plans. Fairly major change in fact. I think we are going to start truly heading towards Geneva after Austin. The trip to New Orleans would be awesome, but it would just add too many days to the adventure. We need to pick our mail up eventually and that eventual date is fast approaching (when I do the calculations I will know more). So, it looks like we will be heading towards TN much earlier than I had planned. Dollywood is still possible, though unlikelier than it was a day or two ago. And I don't know about stopping in Kentucky to visit my mom's student there at this point either. We might just need to get home and then go out on the road again in a couple of months. We shall see. Plans they are a changing...yay going with the flow. Ok, back to the regular narrative...

I decided that we would go through Sedona again on the way to Tucson. Can't get enough of the red rocks. Mom was confused and a little scared that I chose to take the twisty road again. But that wasn't the main point. The main point was to do the 179 Scenic Route and see those sights in the daylight. And it was well worth it. Wow. We also stopped and got some postcards. Mom does love her postcards. Though much of the next three hours the lament was heard "They were so inexpensive - I ought to have bought a lot more."  Phew, dodged a postcard bullet!

We headed on towards Phoenix and found a rest stop in which to eat our leftovers from the night before. It was a fortunate, though hot, stop. As we were resting there, Karl called. It is always easier if he calls when we are static as opposed to when we are in motion.

Gotta interrupt myself again - the tv is on because mom and Ethel are watching CNN about the health care decision from the Supreme Court. I can't hear myself think...

Ok, where was I...Right, resting at a stop in the middle of Arizona. I tried to give mom away, but the two young ladies I offered her to didn't bite. They did point out that their grandparents were in the 100s so mom wasn't officially old. They also suggested that mom ought to remember me trying to give her away at Christmas time! I agreed, she needs to buy me large presents to bribe me to not give her away.

The rest of the drive to Tucson was pretty uneventful. Yay! The GPS was guiding us towards Ethel and Andy's house when the phone rang followed by a text, so I pulled over to check them out. It was Ethel calling to say she was heading out to the grocery store and checking on our progress. I told her we were near their place, hold on a second, let me look at the number of the complex we are stopped in front of, oh, wait, we are at your house!

Ethel welcomed us warmly and it was awesome to see her! We spent the rest of the day chatting and eventually ate a yummy home cooked meal! For me it has been a long time since I had a home cooked meal - back when Mary Gerhart cooked for us on the first night of our trip! Andy was out working and didn't get back until latish. How great to see him! For those of you who don't know, Ethel and Andy were my school teachers back in 5th and 6th grade. Soon, we were all sleeping happily!

Red Rocks!

Leftover lunch in AZ

Andy and Ethel's in Tucson

Day Twenty - Grand Canyon and Sedona (AZ)

Every once in a while I come up with an epiphany. Sometimes I remember them, sometimes I don't. This one I remember. It seems to me that most of the memories that mom retains are fear or pain based. I find this scary and sad. Scary, because I am hoping that if I ever have Alzheimer's, that I will remember the happy memories. And sad, because I don't like that mom's emptying head is being populated mostly by negative memories. Which is, I guess, another reason for this trip. To try and stuff as many positive memories into her noggin as I can.

Yesterday was certainly a memorable day for stunning scenery! Goodness gracious, how lucky we are!! We drove from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon - not too far, in the scope of things. About an hour. Parking was abysmal, but we ended up in a handicapped spot, right in front (virtually) of the visitor's center. Have I mentioned lately, that mom's handicapped placard is one of the best things about traveling with her? We almost always find a parking spot! Yay!

Mom was feeling the altitude, so we didn't get far before I parked her on a bench and went in search of the Grand Canyon. For such a large geologic feature of the planet, it was elusive. Ok, no, it wasn't. I walked up and was awed immediately. In other circumstances, I would probably have spent 5 hours or more, wandering around - maybe even making a hike down and all that. But I was with my mom, so I went back and we watched the Grand Canyon movie. Then, I had a minor epiphany. There was a bike rental place, maybe they rented wheel chairs! A wheelchair wouldn't allow us to do the hike to the bottom, but at least I wouldn't be frustrated with many mom-mini-pauses on our way to look at the Grand Canyon. Yay!

Mom was suitably impressed. We spent a good long while moving along the Southern Rim seeing the fabulous vistas that the Grand Canyon presents. Words are inadequate.

Eventually, we headed back to the book shop, as postcards were needed. After stopping there, we headed to eat lunch. I picked a place I had seen on the way in to the park - Yippee-Ei-O! Steakhouse. I just liked the name. Weird place inside - very dark. But we had a good shared meal of beans and cheese dip (mom loved this for some reason) and a taco salad with chicken (I needed the chicken for my Daily Challenge). Too much food for driving, but luckily, it wasn't a long haul.

We drove back along the scenic route - which didn't actually end up being any longer than the superhighway route. And much more pleasant to drive. Yay! Somehow, despite all of that, we didn't have as much downtime at the motel as I had anticipated. Mom had napped a little in the car and promptly crashed on the bed. I had a little computer housekeeping to accomplish before I "meditated" for 15 minutes. Ok, it was mostly napping for me too.

Off to Sedona. The first time I heard about Sedona was when I was doing Match.com. For some reason, I kept getting hits from Sedona. I even corresponded with one woman who lived there - though she had been born and raised in the NorthEast. Actually, thinking back on it, her profile might have said she lived back East but she was relocating to Sedona. Or something like that. Anyway, I did some research (quelle suprise!) and found out two things - it was a lovely part of the country, and it was filled with lots of people who were spiritually oriented. Sounded like a great place to visit if not live! I have been in the vicinity a few times before this, but not made a concerted effort to visit. This time, I arranged the trip so that this was achieved! Hurrah for planning! And I am glad we did.

Red Rocks is the geologic feature that is so amazing in Sedona. In fact, I think we will drive through there again on our way to Tuscon. It oughtn't to add too much time to the trip and I think it will be worth it! Again, mom was excited, which really is what this trip is about. After our viewing, we headed to a brew pub for dinner.

Oak Creek Brewery must have moved at some point in the not too distant past - as my GPS led me to a Japanese Restaurant and not the brewery. I then put in an address I had for them and headed there. I thought we would never find it, but we did. It was a cool place, and if I had been by myself, I definitely would have stayed there. It was a cool, pub like location. Very laid back. Sadly, they didn't have much in the way of food. Mom would have eaten whatever I had given her, but I thought she might be better off eating a heartier meal. So we headed to their sister property, the Oak Creek Brewery and Grill.

The Oak Creek Brewery and Grill was in an upscale shopping plaza on the second floor. Much more touristy than the first place. But the beer was good and the food tasty. And the view was pretty amazing as well! Tye and Alika made the visit enjoyable! More on my brewpub blog (eventually).

We took the longer and less scenic (well, it was dark, so I can't say that for absolute truth) route back to the motel. I didn't want to face the twisty drive in the dark! It had been an stunning day, so we both basically went right to sleep!

Mom at the Grand Canyon

Food at Yippee-Ei-O!

Red Rocks in Sedona

Oak Creek Brewery and Grill

Day Nineteen - Las Vegas (NV) to Flagstaff (AZ)

Not a long drive. And a much, much, much more pleasant one now that the Hoover Dam bypass has been completed. And the road through the Arizona part has been made two lanes the whole way. Someday, hopefully, the Nevada side will be similarly fixed a bit. There is one place where there is a stop light and a hard right turn. Rarely has this been smooth sailing for me (or I doubt for anyone). Not a big deal, but not optimal either.

Karl called at one point and suggested we turn around (ha) and go back and visit the Hoover Dam. Admittedly, I did think about it. But I was so happy that I didn't have to do that drive (it is very windy and twisty and hilly) that I only thought about it briefly. Yes, this trip is about doing things that I haven't done (like spending time exploring the Hoover Dam) but not that.

I had planned a lunch stop and saw sign's for a tourist place called "Gus's Jerky." I almost zipped right past it! It was teeny and the sign wasn't even as large as the many billboards that I saw advertising the place. Inside, Angie politely offered everyone a taste of the jerky. It was good, but not worth the inflated prices. Goodness, everything was really expensive in there. My yardstick was a bag of pistachios - they were three times the price of pistachios at Walmart. I did end up buying two popsicles with "more fruit bits" in them. A lime one for mom and a strawberry one for me. If they had had a strawberry lime one, I would have gotten that one! They were pretty good and tided us over until we got to a real lunch place.

Seligman AZ is on Route 66. It is a teeny, drive through town. For such a small place, there are a lot of shops and things. Very touristy. We stopped at the Roadkill Cafe, where we learned the pronunciation of the city was Seligman (su-Lig-mun) or something like that. Mom and I shared an appetizer of clams and crab cakes that she saw on the menu. I didn't want to eat much, due to it making me potentially tired, so mom ate most of it. She liked the place more than I did, though I did like it. The menu was full of creative, roadkill related item names.

Next stop, Flagstaff. It was a really short driving day. Through the mountainous part of Arizona. Pretty! We parked in the parking lot of the Econolodge and I called to make a reservation. Yay! Nice room, softer pillows than at the Travellodge. Mom seems ok with this one. She still doesn't like non-traditional faucets...Oh well.

We rested for a couple of hours before heading out to dinner at the Flagstaff Brewing Company in downtown Flagstaff. There was no parking to be had close to the place. And the store front looked forbidding. Turns out the entrance was around the side. Most everyone was outside, so we sat ourselves inside. Our server, A, was really busy and was running all over but still managed to keep up with us. I had a taster (big surprise) and two other beers. The taster was decent, though mostly lighter beers. I followed that up with an Hopknot IPA and later a Maui Coconut Porter. For dinner mom and I shared a turkey sandwich and some onion rings. Yay! There will be more about this visit on my brewpub blog - eventually.

Off to the movies. I have been wanting to see Brave since I saw the first preview. I mean, look at all that red hair! It was a great, fun movie. I think mom enjoyed it, though she was a smidge overwhelmed at times. The trailers don't really do the movie justice - basically just showing the introduction (which I actually prefer to the "tell the whole movie in the preview" previews). Definitely worth a trip to the movie theatre to see!

At the motel, I put the tv on for mom, intending to watch an episode or two of Stargate Atlantis on the computer. Mom likes me to watch what she is watching. Sigh. I did end up watching the entire Shipmates Forever movie - Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler in a rah-rah Navy movie.

Gus's Jerky

Me and mom at Roadkill Cafe

Our lovely Econolodge

Beer taps at Flagstaff Brewing Company

Yay Brave!

Day Eighteen - In and About Las Vegas

Note to self (and anyone reading this, of course): Las Vegas is not Mom's kind of town. Maybe if we had a wheel chair for her, it would have worked, but we didn't, so it wasn't. And I will be the first to admit that I let her push me right to the limit of my patience.

I had a great day planned. Get up and go a pharmacy to get mom some hydrogen peroxide for her tongue, then purchase tickets to "0," (after selling our kidneys and left arms), then a day exploring the strip, eventually see the show. Right. I should have known better. How long have I known my mom? (51 years) How long have I been living with her? (1 year, 2 months, 5 days (but who's counting)) How long have we been on this trip? (Forever...) Sigh.

We did indeed get up and out to our first stop - I decided to go to a Target (Target for the French speaking) for the pharmacy visit. Just in case mom or I thought of anything else we might need. Neither of us did. The pharmacist had never heard of Mary Gerhart's wonder poultice "Antiphlogistine." Has anyone heard of this stuff? Mary swears by it...Well, I will have to keep asking around...We bought some generic anti-bacterial stuff instead. Hope it helps mom's owies! And some h2o2.

It was lunch time. There were a couple of places in the same mall as Target, but I noticed that the food court there had Pizza Hut Pizza! I like the occasional personal pan pepperoni pizza. There were also little flatbread sandwiches which sounded not only edible but good: chicken, spinach and artichoke. So we decided to stay there and have our lunch. Yum!

Next stop, Bellagio. I have been to Las Vegas probably six times. Maybe more. Reno maybe four times. (Just saying...) Every time before this, I have mostly walked everywhere, with some public transportation thrown in. Which is one of the reasons I like Las Vegas. I get a lot of exercise walking everywhere - for hours! So I haven't done much driving there. It has always looked a little scary - since most of the drivers are either crazy taxi/limo drivers or people from out of town (like me) who really don't know where they are going or what they are doing. Eeek! But with my mom (walks three steps and says "How far do we have to go?!") driving was the only plan.

Yay GPS! It took me to the parking entrance for the Bellagio - which is a bit of a nightmare, but we survived it (twice). The walk from the parking garage to the ticket counter for "O" was torture for us both. Three steps "how much further?" Three steps "I can't make it!" Three steps "Just leave me here!" Three steps "I can't breathe." Three steps - well, you get the picture. I just don't think about how far a walk is when I am by myself. Truly, the walk from the garage to the ticket counter was probably 100 yards. And I didn't think it would ever end. But it did.

There were few people in line to buy tickets, so I held out hope that we would be able to spend an exorbitant amount of money. Turns out that after 14 years, they still sell out almost every show - Tuesday through Sunday, 2 shows a day for most of the year. Wow! The nice young woman from China who helped us, gave us a few dollars off each ticket because we couldn't sit together. That was sweet.

We spent a few minutes looking at a sculptor's exhibit of his Cirque inspired pieces. I might have even taken a picture of one. After that, I took mom to see the Chihuly glass ceiling in the lobby and then to the little nature conservatory there. We also got a little taste of the dancing fountains. After that, we were going to head to see some other things on the strip, but there was going to be too much walking for that to work out. I tried to get a wheel chair at the Bellagio, but they only had one's available for hotel guests.

So, plan "B" - try driving everywhere. Sadly, this didn't work out very well either. Still a lot of walking involved. Oh, I forgot to mention that we tried our hand at gambling! Mom won $.17 cents on one machine. I won $3.75 on another. And lost a dollar in a third. Not bad, all together, though. Coming out ahead is often a good thing...

We headed to Treasure Island where they have a show - but it turned out they only perform in the evenings. Sigh. Lots of walking for nothing. Poop! We took a little break at Gilley's which turned out to be a country bar. The bar stools were horse saddles. Glarp! I had a beer, (Shiner Bock) and mom had some soda water. I decided to try one more casino before giving up entirely (I don't really like giving up...). We headed to Circus Circus.

I like Circus. And I like Circus Circus. I thought I had been there more often than I have. It is the Reno one that I have been to at least three times. Oh well. Again, a long walk and mom was miserable. We finally made it to the midway and watched one circus act - a juggler! I want his light enhanced clubs! He was decent. I prefer duos or trios of jugglers. But it was still fun. And we got to sit! The walk back was endless seeming, but we eventually made it. Phew!

Next stop, rest at the motel. I was exhausted from trying not to be angry at my mom (I didn't succeed all that well, though). I tried to relax and chill out and plan the rest of the evening. We had gotten tickets to the late performance of "O" - starting at ten. So we had plenty of time for dinner. I didn't want to drag mom to another brewpub, so I searched google for restaurants off the strip. Lots came up, but the one I chose was called "Off the Strip."

It was way further off the strip than I thought! In a little mall in a subdivision about 10 miles from the strip in fact. Nice place and glad we went there. Our server, Megan, was on her second career, having given up performing and gone into food service. She was very sweet. Mom and I shared a dinner salad and a yummy entree of Scampi Stuffed Chicken over pasta in a nice sort of thai sauce. I think mom enjoyed it almost as much as I did. And to top it off, since it was our first visit, we got a free sliver of cheese cake! Next time, only the cheese cake! I also had a Blackout Stout from Indian Wells that was decent. I always am curious about beer that has very little information on its label...

We got back to the Bellagio and took the death march back to the theatre. Against the flow of traffic. We got there after the first show had let out, so a whole tide of people work walking out. We stopped a few times and eventually found seats not far from the entrance to the theatre. I was hoping the lines would thin enough that we could waltz in. But I got impatient, so we did have to "queue" for a while...and we walked right onto our level! No stairs, no elevator, escalator or anything! Phew! Well, a few stairs up to the seats, but mom managed those readily. I gave mom the better seat, of course - five yours up on the aisle. My seat was as far to house left as possible. Oh well. One day I will see the show from the center. Still, my seat was comfortable, lots of leg room and a nice Russian couple beside me as seat mates.

The show was amazing and exhausting - wonderful and quirky. I really do think it is the epitome of what the Cirque set out to do. Pure Circus, Cirque style. I love the live music, the awesome costumes, amazing acts, great characters. Just wonderful stuff! I look forward to a third viewing one day. From the center of the audience. And mom liked it too!

Long day, but we survived. Barely!

O

Mom posing in white!

The saddle seats at Gilleys.

Yum, cheesecake!

Day Seventeen - Sonoma (CA) to Las Vegas (NV)

Long driving day, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. There was one point in there when I thought my calf would burst into flame spontaneously, but luckily that didn't happen. I don't have a fire extinguisher in the car. Do you? And speaking of car - anyone have a good mechanic? I am hearing some weird sound when driving that I don't like. I am not a car-o-phile, so have no idea what it is or what it could be, so please don't ask. And I don't really know how to describe the sound. It just is freaking me out a little. Just thought I would share.

Google said that trip would take just about 10 hours. My GPS said 9:30. With stops, google was right. Without stops, my GPS was closer - I think it took me 9 hours of actual driving time. Yes, I did exceed the speed limit here and there - not by much, most of the time. Usually 5 miles above the posted speed limit. But at times, when I was doing that speed, and I was in the slow lane, being passed by an older person in a shopping cart, I did up my speed to go with the flow of traffic.

The route we took was zig-zag-a-licious. Oh, I finally realized what GPS stands for: God Per Sonified. Ok, not really, but mom thinks I worship the thing a little too much. Perhaps she is correct...Anyway, mom routinely says things like: I am amazed at how you seem to know where you are and how to drive around. I point out the GPS (an acronym that often escapes her - it is the EPS, PSG, GSP etc...). This time it sent us to Interstate 5 for a longish time. We stopped for gas and food for the first pit stop in Santa Nella, CA. Mom had Wendy's food - I had a bit of her burger and a few of her fries.

Back on the road, which was still in progress, we headed to our first turning. Some small road that took us due East. Then a small freeway (99 again, I think) that took us South. Then East again, through a mountain range, where we stopped at a town called Tehachapi (accent on the ha). Gas was expensive and the pee place was not the happiest I have seen. The people clerking the store were college kids who would have rather lived anywhere but there (one of them looked like Noelle from the Raleigh Saucer).

Back on the road, we eventually hit Interstate 15/40 - though 40 left us pretty quickly. I don't know that I have ever done this road before. It didn't look at all familiar. And the 15 miles up and 10 miles down (almost straight roads) didn't feel like something I had done. Oh well - we did finally make it to Las Vegas and the motel - a TravelLodge not that far from the strip. I didn't know that TravelLodge was part of the Wyndham family of hotels. I think I have a Wyndham card. But since I used priceline to reserve the space, I don't think I can also get points. I don't know. It doesn't hurt too much to ask...

The place is ok - though the pillows are bizarre - little teeny rock like things. Weird. Oh, and I swear there is a mat on the bed like kids who wet their beds use...

After getting the car unpacked, we headed out to dinner. It was time for us to get to a brewpub since the last few dinners mom and I have had together have been fishy (Thai food one night and sushi the other...). I did a search and came up with a few in the area. I chose Big Dog Casino and Cafe.

It was further than I thought it would be, in a part of town I had yet to visit. Let me state here, if I haven't stated it elsewhere, that I enjoy places like Las Vegas (not that there are many, but still...). I just like the amazing amounts of people watching that is (are?) available. And I do like going to see some of the shows. I don't really have the funds to gamble, but I do enjoy what little I can do. Basically I gamble $100 once and see what happens. But I do it in $0.25 increments so it takes a little while. 4 bangs (so to speak) for each buck. :) This is not a place that I would like to own a home (SF yes, NYC yes, Paris, yes etc.) when I am richer than Croesus, but I will probably visit here off and on until it is no longer enjoyable...

So, anyway, we made it to the place. The door was intimidating - looked like the door to a strip club or a private club in a bad part of town (which this didn't seem to be). But upon opening, it looked much like any other bar - except of course for the gambling machinery. And the smoke. I am just not used to smoke indoors anymore. Glarg.

Overall, I enjoyed the place. Decent beer, good food, nice server, Kristan, who didn't spend much time with us, but that was ok, we survived. More on this in my new blog - Brewpubs and Such. Yes, I decided to start a blog about brewpubs - and maybe eventually that will morph into a book. Or not.

Wendy's!

Nice

A windfall of Wind Turbines - mom was thrilled

Dog House

Day Sixteen - Separate Ways Day

Feeling a bit tired today. Gee, aren't you both excited that I share how I am feeling with you? I should really sleep for another hour or two, but I also want to get up and get out at a reasonable time for the drive to Las Vegas. Glarp. Where is my chauffeur? Hmm? Yet another reason to amble for president - lots of limo service! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy driving my own vehicle. To the grocery store. This driving across the country is for the birds! Oh, wait, birds can fly... then again, I bet that is more tiring than driving. Has anyone ever done the big glider flying thing? I would love to try that once. One day perhaps.

Look, lots of words I haven't really said anything! That's why I like my blog.

Yesterday, mom and I went our separate ways. Yay! What I would have really liked was a day just sitting in a lovely pub somewhere and all of my friends dropping in to say hello. I could have worked on Flippety, maybe read something, had some good beer. Flirted with servers. All that sort of thing. Instead, I decided to do a self imposed driving tour of the Bay Area. How freakin' relaxing was that? Not very. Fun, though, overall. And I did get to see five of my friends from the area.

Before I write about me, me, me, let me say a little about mom and mom's day. She got a relaxing pampered day. Our host took great care of her! They hung out, ate, watch videos, and generally had a pleasant time. Lucky them!

Meanwhile, I got up and drove out into a traffic jam! Yay! Auspicious start. Not. I didn't stay in it long. I tried the "detour" feature of my GPS. My old one had a cool "blocked" feature - the problem with that was it asked for how far away and how long the blockage was. Who knows that information? That's why it is good to have a handy co-pilot/navigator/private masseuse (ok that last isn't part of the general job description of the person sitting shotgun (though having a shot gun is pretty close to mandatory), I just think it would be nice - the first two parts are important, though)! They can take down the GPS and fiddle with it to get a good route - along with maps and atlases and things - while forward progress continues. This time I just pushed the button and hoped. I did, eventually, make it to my first appointment. Only 45 minutes late.

Rosanne was kind and patient and waited. And it was great to see her! I am not sure when the last time was, but the years melted away. Yay! I had a little taster of four beers - Veronica brought them over and wasn't quick enough to dodge a picture! My favorite of the four, though all of them were decent, was the Peach flavored beer. Yum! Rosanne had an appointment that she had to attend, so our visit was very short. She left, I settled my teeny bill, and headed to appointment two - 50 miles and a world away.

I have only been to San Jose once or twice before. It has always seemed like a nice enough city. This time, I had a GPS and it took me straight to the home of my friend Jules. Who I had never met. We are Daily Challenge friends. And she is the first (hopefully not the last) DC friend that I have seen face to face! Yay! We sat and chatted for a bit. She needed to get to sleep so she could work her night shift. I had to get back on the road for my next visitation.

Up to San Francisco. Let me say, that traffic all day wasn't that bad. Well, except for one part, but I will get there in a bit. I headed for Hayes Valley, which I had never really considered a neighborhood before. Of course it probably always was, but I hadn't spent much time there. Certainly a place to hang out, if I ever am back in the Bay Area again. Which I hope to be, but one never knows, does one? I was only about 10 minutes late to this get together. Phew! Murrey had staked out a table and had gotten a free pretzel 'cause she knew the owners! I snarfed the whole thing since I had yet to eat that day. She and I went to Andover together, many years and yesterday ago. It was a pleasure to have the chance to see her. Hurrah!

She needed to go to her dinner appointment, I needed to go to my dinner appointment. I drove further into the city to pick up Patti, a friend from Ithaca College. We headed to North Beach, on a Friday night. North Beach in non-peak times is a bear of a place to find street parking. Friday night is just ludicrous. But eventually, parking angels sang hallelujah and turned up a space. Yay! We had dinner at an Italian Cafe (go figure, in North Beach...) that was yummy. And listened to music from an old looking jukebox. Again, great to catch up.

After dropping Patti near her home, I headed to my last get together of the day, in my old stomping grounds, Oakland. And to one of my favorite places, Barclay's. Luckily, Susan and her husband frequent the place and were comfortable hanging whether I was there or not. They saw me coming and were surprised when I disappeared. I had gone to get my card - 1555 - upon which one marks the beers one tastes. Yay! I had a Breckles Brown (I think that was what it was called). They had a dearth of dark beers - it being summer and all. I probably ought to have gone for an IPA, but I didn't. I hadn't met Kyle before - great guy! - and mostly sat and chatted with Susan! She seemed to be happy and healthy - who can ask for anything more. Barclay's hadn't changed since I was last there - ten years ago? Except that the service staff has gotten more attractive...

I had given myself a curfew, so headed back to Sonoma around 10. Yay! I was in bed by 11:30 and asleep by midnight. A long, long day. Rewarding, and long.

I don't think mom missed me for a second. :)

Me and Rosanne!

Chez Jules

The beer Garden with Murrey

Patti enjoying our time together!

Kyle, Susan and me

Day Fifteen - Sonoma (CA) and environs

I woke up grumpy for some reason today. And that makes me grumpier. Grrr. I do hope to get over it soon.

Yesterday was the first day of our second week on the road, and so far, it seems like mom is bearing up, if not thriving. Except for biting her tongue halfway through, I don't think that physically the trip is being bad for her. On the contrary, I think that she is getting a lot more exercise than she does when we are at her house in Geneva. And she isn't complaining about her her stomach being upset. I think part of that is that I am not giving her coffee unless I give her food at the same time. And I am just giving her less coffee in general...

Yesterday was a visiting day. We only had two assignations. The first was in Oakland for lunch. When I was a lad, I married a young woman from China. Her parents lived in Shanghai. My mom taught in Shanghai for a few years. And they looked after mom a lot! Later, they moved to the US, at first living with mom and then moving to NYC and then to CA where they still live. Mom and Jean got especially close. So, while we were out here, I thought it would be great to see them. I haven't seen them in about 10 years I think. The families are still in touch even though Emma and I have been divorced for 21 years.

The drive down had potential for being terrible. We had to drive through one of the worst designed pieces of roadway in the entire country - a true can of worms. Luckily we only had to slow down to a crawl and not stop and inch along. Yay! They still live in the same building they have lived in for a long time. Sadly, their puppies have passed (they had two Pomeranians). After catching up, we headed to lunch at a Restaurant in Emmeryville that is right on the water - I think even on a little jutting point or peninsula - it felt like we were almost surrounded by water! Great view! It did, though, make it clear, that the ferry was off the table - the water was way too choppy for it to be a fun and comfortable way to get across the bay. But I pre-write.

Lunch was a feast! Kinda makes sense since we haven't seen each other in a long while. Dim Sum style, lots of little dishes were ordered. Spanish People think they are on to something new and hot with Tapas - ha! The Chinese have been doing that for thousands and thousands of years. I don't know what all we ate, but we ate a lot of it! I didn't really speak to the servers as we were too busy eating and chatting amongst ourselves.

I was surprised to learn that Emma and her family moved to the West Coast. And even more surprised when she called during lunch.  We had a little chat and she told me that I had ignored her friend invite on Facebook. Oops! I must have done that by mistake. I hope she friends me again!

After lunch, we took Jean and Dick back to their apartment and then headed off to San Francisco. We sailed into town, found parking at the Sutter Stockton Garage (the most economical garage in that part of town) and found the restaurant we were to dine in later that evening. Unfortunately, because of not taking the ferry, we were about two hours early for our next assignation. Fortunately, I stopped and asked a man wearing a beer related t-shirt about beer places nearby. He pointed out the Oz Lounge right across the street as having a decent selection.

Mom and I headed there and sat down. A young woman from Ireland, Aofe, (pronounced Effie) greeted us and gave us libations! Beer for me - a Scotch Ale from Belmont, CA - soda water for mom. Then we settled in to wait. Jeff was on his way and would join us about an hour before dinner. Which is exactly what happened. He was great with mom! And it was great to see him as always.

We wended our way the half a block to Sam's Grill for dinner. Apparently it is an SF tradition, having been around for a looooong time. We had an interesting waiter who was from France, having come to the US in 1960 (still had a bit of his accent - it took me a while to place - not a garrulous individual that I noticed in our brief encounter). Mom and Jeff worked out their meals, and I took our waiter's recommendation of the seafood sauté. It was all shellfish - scallops, shrimp and crab. Yum! Mom was aghast that I ordered seafood (not remembering that I enjoy shellfish, just not fishy fish fish). She had a great looking piece of salmon, and Jeff had "melt in the mouth" tuna! All in all, a great meal! In fact as I type this, I am still full!

After dinner, I gave mom two options - anything more than that overwhelms her - and even the two sometimes causes gridlock and teeny panic: wait outside the restaurant with Jeff while I went and got the car, or climb the two blocks of hill to get back to where we parked. Surprisingly, she opted for the climb! Who is this woman? She barely (relatively) complained on the whole upward struggle. Yay her!

Zip, zoom, back to our host's abode for nappy time! Yay! Full day - both stomach wise and activity wise!

Jean, Dick, me, Mom

Mom in 7th heaven!

me, Jeff and Mom at Sam's Grill in SF

Day Fourteen Sonoma (CA)

Kicking back and not driving a bazillion miles rocks! It is another type of heaven. Yay heaven!

We are in beautiful, sunny Sonoma CA. For those of you who don't know where that is, it is the county next to Napa (you know, "Wine County") in CA. It has its own loveliness that some people don't appreciate. They see the seared hills and think it is all dead and dying. But it really is a pretty thriving ecosystem. And no, I don't really miss it, but I do appreciate it.

Mom and I did little to start the day. Puttered around a bit. One of the frustrating things for her seems to be that she can't keep track of our itinerary in her head. Which is understandable, as I am often tweaking it out from under her. Not purposefully, but sometimes life changes and so plans change. I am doing my best at keeping her in the loop. I just don't know what is likely to stay in her brain and what leaks out as soon as I say it. Oh well, live and learn (and forget and learn again). :)

Karl, my older brother, called and we had a little chat. He does a great job of keeping in contact with mom, calling most days and sending her notes and stuff. We actually talked a bit about an impending visit he is planning, and a little about mom and such. Hard for me to wrap my mind around future events when we have so far yet to travel on this trip. But I try.

Next, off to lunch. Although we had left overs, I wanted to get out of the house for lunch. Our host suggested a brewpub (why do people keep suggesting brewpubs to me - how do they know that I like them? Weird...) in downtown. Run by the people who do Gordon Biersch, there are two Hopmonk locations up here. I must admit that I haven't been thrilled by the Gordon Biersch Beer that I have tasted in the past, but I am open to retrying things occasionally.

Nice place, nice server - her name was Emma, but she wasn't my ex-wife. Weird. :) Anyway, I surprised mom by ordering mussels with fries for our lunch. I asked about tasters and was not terribly surprised myself to find that they were outlandishly prices: three 4 oz. tasters for 8 dollars. Really? 12 ozs of beer (if the glasses are filled right to the rim) for $8? Eeeek! No matter the beer, three tasters ought to be at most $4 and that is still pretty expensive. Whatever. I just opted to have a beer - Lagunitas Sumpin' Sumpin'. I didn't even go for one of the three beers that they brewed in house. Jeesh. The food was also very good. Emma brought us some lemon aoli that was great with the fries! Yum!

On the way to the restaurant, mom had noticed a place that offered train rides. She said she wanted to go and immediately retracted the statement. But I thought it sounded fun. So, on the way back to the house, we stopped at Train Town.

Choo choo! The first thing I thought of when I saw train town was my brother. He was, for a long time, quite an avid HO train person. I think he still would be if he hadn't made other choices. Anyway, the place was a teeny weeny amusement park. The focus of which was, obviously, trains. And the focus of the focus was the miniature train that offered rides! The ride itself was very pleasant, winding through their property - lots of little carved animals peeking out from alongside the tracks. Various bridges and tunnels to traverse. And a stop in a miniature town where one could feed some animals. Goats for the most part. And I was put in jail. Briefly. All in all (another of my favorite phrases) I really enjoyed the stop! And I think mom did too!

Back at the house, more rest and relaxation was the order of the afternoon. Our host eventually returned from her day and we decided that instead of cooking, we ought to go out again! Yay eating out! We chose Japanese for the evening.

Eating at a Japanese restaurant can be intimidating for those who are new to it. Luckily we weren't! Well, mom thought she was - but I know she has been to Japanese restaurants before - and we had a lovely three week trip in Japan years back - 1991 I believe. We had a great meal! Rolls and sushi and tempura! I also had a lovely porter from Japan. Our server, Corie, was kind enough to share her story with us and her five year plan! And she took our picture! Yippee!

Back at the ranch, we continued to party like rock stars. We smashed our amps and set our guitars on fire and...oh, wait, that was another time. Last night we watch the latest version of Soldier, Sailor, Tinker, Spy and had yummy popcorn! Sadly, mom couldn't keep track of the story (which wasn't surprising, it was very confusing) but we got through it. I thought Gary Oldman did great. And the rest of the cast was good too!

Yet another great day. When will this carousel ride end? Too soon and not soon enough, I am sure. :)

Pretty good!

On the train to nowhere!

Spider roll!

Day Thirteen - Klamath Falls (OR) to Sonoma (CA)

Bye bye, Klamath Falls. We won't miss you terribly. Mom couldn't get her mind around how to pronounce your name anyway!

The GPS continued to take us down through OR on the less traveled roads. Yay! But it didn't last long. Suddenly we were in California. Now, I must admit that I do not always listen to my intuition. But today, I actually did. We pulled into a town where the road was under construction. I saw a long line of trucks waiting for some reason, looked at my GPS and saw that the town's streets were laid out in a grid, so I took a right and a little later took a left - and ended up at a sign saying "wait for pilot car." Grrr. I could see the end of the construction. Less than a block away. Frustrating! Frustrated! Until the woman holding the sign waved me forward! Yay! Smooth sailing after that! Oh, and another kismetical occurrence - we caught up to the previous line of traffic just as a passing lane occurred! How cool is that?!

Anyway, the drive was pretty easy and eventually led us to Route 5. And a pretty drive it was - even then. We got to experience Mt. Shasta from afar, near, and at least two sides, maybe three! And the part of Route 5 that we hit was the really twisty part through the mountain passes. Yay! Lots of curves that flashed signs saying "60 MPH Curves" and "50 MPH Curves!" Weee! It was a little like a roller coaster! Gosh, I haven't ridden one of those in a couple of years. Maybe I will carve out time to go to an amusement park this summer. Anyone interested in going with me? Hmm?

We left Route five for another foray into un-superhighway territory. Our goal, Chico, CA. My brother and his family lived there for oodles of years. And in all my visits, I only went to the Sierra Nevada Brewery once - on a Christmas Visit - and it was so crowded, I walked in and walked out again almost immediately. Not to be deterred, I decided that was where would stop and lunch on the trip.

I had sort of forgotten how huge the place was! We got in and got seated pretty quickly, despite the huge number of cars in the parking lot. Maybe a lot of people were taking a tour or something. We had a great server named Ellen who not only serves, but also plays in a band with her sisters - The Rail Flowers. I'd go listen to them! Food was good - mom and I shared a turkey sandwich with potato salad. I am not amused when a place charges to split an item. How petty. Whatever. Greed is such a great thing...I also had two sets of tasters - because they were teeny - less than 2 ozs of each beer. Enough for a taste. Though personally I prefer 4 ounces as that gives one two tastes, rather than just one.

Another reason for stopping in Chico was the opportunity to meet one of my electronic friends (people I only know through the internet). Sadly, we were unable to make it work this time.

We hit the road and I was surprised that we didn't zip right back to the freeway. In fact it took at least an hour to get back to Route 5 - and that was still too soon. I had forgotten how horrible traffic was in this part of CA. And it wasn't as bad as it could be, luckily. Ick. I hate traffic. We did, finally, get off Route 5 again and onto Route 12 which is undergoing much and long needed widening. Which made for some slow going. But again, not too terrible.

The GPS took us straight to our host's house! Yay! We kicked back and relaxed until she arrived back from her day. Lots of chatting ensued until we headed out to dinner. Where more chatting, interspersed with eating, followed. She took us to a Thai restaurant in downtown Sonoma where we feasted! Yay feasting!

The lovely EconoLodge in Klamath Falls - parked right in front of the room

Mount Shasta!

Where we lunched

Yay for Thai Iced Tea!!

Day Twelve - The Dalles (OR) to Klamath Falls (OR)

Oregon is a big state. Well, most of the ones out West are fairly sizable. Mom and I spent most of the day yesterday driving in the state. All the driving we did was in OR, just the whole day wasn't spent driving...

Mom was so excited to be leaving the lovely Oregon Motor Motel that she was packed about two hours before we needed to hit the road! She really didn't like the place. I admit, it was not the best of the places we have stayed. I liked it because my bed was sort of around the corner from mom's. Other than that, I was with her. Just not a great place to stay. When we left for the wedding on Day 11, I put out the "Maid Service Please" door hanger thingie. When we got back, nothing had been done to the room. I saw one of the Motel Staff and asked them what was up. Apparently (one of my favorite words, if you hadn't noticed) the thingie had fallen off the door and they didn't know whether "Do Not Disturb" or "Maid Service Please" was what had been requested. Really? I mean, err on the side of doing something as opposed to doing nothing. You can always apologize and say - hey, sorry we made your beds, emptied your trash and vacuumed your floor. Mea Culpa! Glarg. They did zip in and do some stuff, but really...

We did eventually get out on the road. My GPS sent us down an inner route (197 to 97) rather than sending us to Route 5. Yay! This road was way more interesting. Very corkscrew-like in a couple of places, which is fine by me. I much prefer a road with some character and chance of death over the mind numbing boredom of a super highway. We drove through a couple of teeny OR cities and eventually made our way to Bend. My friend Shauna and her family live there - having moved from Redmond a while back. But sadly, she is traveling so we didn't get to meet up. Mom and I did go to the Deschutes Brewery Pub though. It had changed (expanded a lot) since I was last there a couple of years back. We had a nice server named Dylan (for those of you keeping track, I think this was our first male server on the trip). And Ariel was nice and told me about some beers that had been switched out from the printed list. I ordered a pizza for mom and me to eat - pear and gorgonzola flat bread actually. It was delicious! And I had a beer taster of 6 of the nine beers that Deschutes had available. Yay!

The GPS said we had a little over two hours to go to get to Klamath Falls. In the back of my head, I knew that there was an attraction near our route. Crater Lake! That's the one. I have heard about it for years and there is always a sign for it on Route 5 - but I am usually doing, er, the speed limit exactly while on Route 5 and in the "must get to destination" mode, so I haven't stopped. This time, we were toodling along Route 97 and the sign appeared! What the heck, my mind and mouth said, so we turned right.

I really ought to have taken a picture of that road. I swear it was 14 miles of dead straightness. Maybe more, but it climbed at the end, so it was hard to tell but goodness that was amazing! After all of the twisting we had done, to then have 14 miles, at least, of dead straight, razor, laser-like road was cool! Crater Lake is another national park - score another free entry thanks to mom being an octagon, um, octogenarian. At least she isn't square...moving on - the roads in and out of the park were not so straight, as we had to climb several thousand feet in a small distance. There was a lot of snow up there! And it was really windy at some of the vista points. Sadly, the day was mostly overcast on the mountain, but still, what an amazing sight! Very glad we made the side trip - and it didn't really feel like it added any time to the total.

Next stop, beautiful (erp) Klamath Falls. Ok, not so beautiful. And there are no falls. Oh well. We got here, and got a room at the Econo Lodge. Mom is happier here than at "the other place." Weird, though. They only provide coffee upon request. We eventually found PBS and the News Hour for mom - she is going through minor BBC news withdrawal. I puttered on my 'puter.

Dinner became a no-brainer (which is especially good for people whose brains have been eaten by zombies) when I discovered there was a brewpub in town. Klamath Basin Brewery at the Cremery was less than a mile from the hotel, but took us a longish while to drive to - weird up and down one way streets and such. We did eventually make it. I ordered a sampler - 9 varieties - but unfortunately they were out of Buttcrack Brown! Quelle Horror! I managed anyway. We had a server who was transplanted from Maine. I think she was the second Mainiac we have met recently. One of them told us that it had been a toss up for Portland OR to be named Portland or Boston after the Eastern cities. Interesting...Sue, our current server, told us about her life and family and spurred me to start a political post about the military. Maybe one day that will see the light of day. I ordered striped Bass for mom - which she enjoyed. And "The Logger" for myself, which was good but not great. I still have half of it in the fridge. We shall see if it makes it into the car for the trip South.

Mom, our pizza, and me

Crater Lake!

Lovely bedspreads at the Klamath Falls Econo-lodge

Mom's delicious dinner!

Some of you may have noticed that I am not putting a lot of pictures up here on the blog. I am still intending to create an album or two on FB at some point that will contain most of the pictures I have taken on the trip. Yippee?