Posts tagged ‘vacation’

September 2nd, 2008

Emo-ly Dickenson

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The fun thing about this is it can EITHER be read to the tune of Gilligan’s Island OR as my new alter-ego Emo-ly Dickenson. Since the real Ms. D never titled her work, neither will I. Cuz it doesn’t DESERVE a title. ;-P

So my airline flight got all jacked up
no, not into the air
the computers in Chicago blitzed
and my plane was just not there.

Her plane was just not there.

So my moms comes back to get my arse
from the airport late at night
and "yer father will take you at 6AM
cuz that’s inconvenient." Right.

And tomorrow will be so much fun
I will hardly feel the pain
when my connection is missed once again
and I wish I’d taken the train.

Wish I’d taken the TRAIN,,,,

p.s. I’m flying UNITED AIRLINES in case anyone wanted to know.

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August 27th, 2008

Who needs Xanax when you have M&Ms?

Flying home to Upstate NY tonight to be in my BFF’s wedding. Writing this blog from Denver International Airport (props for free Wifi), so excuse any rushing/typos on my part. I plan on freaking out when they start to board in a little bit…

S is actually worse about this than me. He cannot fly without heavy doses of Xanax, advil, his ipod turned way up, and noise-cancelling headphones (I actually just wrote “ear-cancelling” wow). I tried some of his Xanax once…it was not a pleasant experience. I felt all groggy and heavy, and not in control of my limbs. I freaked out WORSE because I thought I wouldn’t be able to react if something happened…like, I could *totally* stop the plane from crashing if I wasn’t on drugs. Fo sho. 

So since that went so badly, I have resorted to good old chocolate-induced dopamine and lots of denial. I pull the window shade down, and pretend I’m NOT thousands of feet in the sky. I read trash-mags, which I’m usually never interested in. (Did you HEAR about poor Jamie-Lynn’s betrayal??) But after a while, you get airplane-mouth. So you have to balance your chocolate with something fruity. This trip I opted for a combination of M&Ms and Skittles. Handy & discreet. Not many pesky wrappers, and small enough to suck on without chewing. But I did bring the ear-cancellers. 

Now to obsess over the fact that I *must* have left something crucial at home. Besides my husband (sniff). It’s weird flying thru Washington when all of Washington is in Denver…heh. And there is a college girl sitting next to me who knows EVERYTHING!!! The world is SAVED. Well, they’ve started to board…time to break out the M&Ms…see ya’ll in the Eastern time zone!

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June 1st, 2008

The Stanley

How cool is this??

 
The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, CO

My parents are in town visiting and driving me crazy (like all good parents do) so yesterday we took a little day trip up to Estes Park. We went hiking (to tiny Gem Lake) and it was absolutely gorgeous. Saw a huge herd of elk, some deer right on the trail, and lots of not very wild little ground squirrels. 

After we climbed back down the mountain, we popped over to The Stanley Hotel for some light refreshments. Squeee! I just finished listening to the superb audio version of Stephen King’s The Shining and so it was extra uber-special to visit the hotel that inspired the story. It was definitely creepy and cool, and I could totally see everything King was thinking. This is a heavy place – you can feel it in the air. The elevator was exactly as he described and gave me the chills. The gift shop had an entire section dedicated the the book and movies, and apparently the hotel runs the two movies 24/7 on one channel. I didn’t even know there was a miniseries movie made in addition to Kubrick’s phenomenal film – and it was filmed at The Stanley. Cool!

Non-guests are not allowed out of the public parts of the hotel (aside from the lobby areas/grounds, there’s a fancy restaurant, but also a nice little cafe in the basement). So I’m working on getting Husband to take me there for some anniversary or something sometime. Just before we left I peeked into the big dining room, billiard, and music rooms. When I approached the music room, I heard a piano playing, which made my hair stand up for a second because I read that people sometimes hear music playing when no one is in there…but then I recognized the tune as “Mad World” by Tears for Fears and saw someone very human playing for a group. LOL.

Anyway, it’s sooo cool when you can visit a real location from one of your favorite books and I highly recommend a visit to Estes Park to anyone visiting Colorado. It’s a very reasonable drive from Denver, there’s tons to do, and everything is so beautiful. 

REDRUM!

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May 25th, 2008

Bandelier National Monument

 We’re Back! Left town early and came back same to avoid everyone else…mostly. I always forget what a HUGE weekend this is for Motorcycles. I don’t mind them…except when they makeme go deaf in one ear passing me in the street, and when huge groups take up the entire highway and won’t let you pass… But here is a pic of my favorite part of our trip – I’m calling it The Magnificent Tree:

       
This Juniper is ancient, but you can see it’s still alive (the green patch growing out of the center). Trees like this seem magical to me. They’ve been around for so long, even way out in the wilderness like this one. You have to wonder what they’ve seen. Even though most of it is skeletal, this tree continues to provide for the forest. Its gnarled trunk and branches is home to countless creatures. I <3 this tree.

We camped in Bandelier National Monument right next to Los Alamos, New Mexico. :-D Husband and I got married in Bandelier in 2000. We almost couldn’t have the ceremony there because the whole park was on fire at the time:

Trees from the 2000 Dome Fire – Eight Years Later (land recovering)

Super Poodle did great on his great big hike! Eight miles, and he was dragging US! I think he may be the only poodle in history to hike Saint Peter’s Dome Trail. He happily leapt over 35+ trees that had fallen over the path (we counted as we clambered to follow). Husband took a pic of us by the Magnificent Tree. I really didn’t plan the four shades of blue ensemble. I was cold. ;-) The second pic includes the tree and the volcanic Hoodoo rock formations.

       

This is the Fire Lookout tower at the top of the burned Dome (where our hike started). I don’t know if it survived the fire or was rebuilt since then. The forest service road up the mountain was IFFY even with a 4×4, and didn’t even come close to where this was taken. I guess people volunteer to live up there, only coming down periodically for groceries. I was thinking it would be a great job for a novelist. Oh, and this was an irresistible barrel cactus…
      

Finally, this is the view of St. Peter’s Dome and Boundary Peak (farthest/highest on the horizon) taken back across the canyon close to camp. Please excuse my maw, it seems to be in the way of all the interesting photos. And lastly, Super Poodle feeling super zonked at day’s end. He’s happy to be back on his couch at home and not crammed between our sleeping bags tonight!

  

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May 22nd, 2008

VACATION!

 Going camping starting tomorrow!!

It’s only a quick two-night trip to New Mexico with Husband and Super Poodle, but it is not work, which is fab-o. :-) And I got a new clippy reading light for after the sun goes down and Husband and Super Poodle are snoring…I’ll never shake the late-night writing schedule, even though I’m forcing myself to leave the laptop home. I have wonderful things to read instead. 

And this is good because it’s quality alone time together before my parents come into town on Thursday. I absolutely adore my Mom and Dad, but they are staying in our 2bd/1bath house with us for eight days. Did I mention there is one bathroom…? And they’ll be here for my birthday. And our wedding anniversary. I love my parents. I do. :D

Have a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend Everybody!

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May 14th, 2008

Me = Not a National Security Threat

Apparently I am sooooo not a concern for the US government. I applied for my passport exactly EIGHT days ago, and when I came home today, it was waiting for me. ??? What happened to months of delays and paying premiums for expedited service? Did someone at the USPS go on break, and their pet monkey processed my application while they were away? I even wondered briefly if it was even legit, but my picture is so horrendously bad that it must be real. 

Funny thing is, husband and mother-in-law applied three weeks ago and I was worried about being behind – but they haven’t received anything yet. LOL. Good thing we planned ahead for this October trip…

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