Category Archives: travel

This Just Might Take All the Tea in China

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The thing about leaving town for a bit and having very limited internet time (or in my case, horrible connectivity) is that you come home feeling so behind.  My Google Reader has 145 posts for me to read!  That’s one HUNDRED and forty-five!!  And it was only for a few days.

Something tells me I might need more than just one cup of  tea to catch up..and that’s not counting my own updating that needs to get done.  Plus tonight we have the Feist show and then first thing Tuesday, it looks like we’ll be driving to Tuscon (with the pupster) to shoot Herbie’s show.  Again Since we didn’t get to shoot his Santa Barbara show last night.

But let me just say, no matter how comfy those Heavenly Beds are over at the Westin (and woowee are they comfy!) nothing beats coming home to sleep in your own bed.   Too bad the kitcat decided that we needed to get up around 7:30 to feed him and go get the pupster.  Needless to say, I told him to hush and just kept sleeping – well, as well as I could with his damn meowing for three hours *sigh*  But really, it’s good to be home.

Crappy Connectivity & Then Some…

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Well, I have had such crappy connectivity while we’re out that I just had to finally let it go.  Seriously, I’ve been trying to connect now (Sun 1:42 AM) for the past hour and a half.  Instead, I’m closing the (seeming lack of) internet down and rambling here in TextEdit.  I’ll cut and paste it when (if) I finally get a signal.

So far this trip, while our rooms have been lovely, Sheraton has still managed to screw us.  Neither hotel has been able to upgrade us and we have the points – we’re not even in the “preferred guest” floor. And don’t get me started on the whole internet thing…you’d think when you pay $10 a day for internet that they can at least make sure it works well!

But on to bigger and happier things.  Wine tasting yesterday was great.  I was surprised to see the leaves on the vine change for the fall as well as the leaves on the trees.  And of course, the wine tasting was lovely.  We also had some great food (one of my favorite things about this region is just how good the food can be).

Today though we’d planned to do a winery cave tour in Kenwood/Sonoma (at Kunde), but we woke up to rain.  We figured that it would be cold (and it was), it would be wet (and it was) and we wouldn’t get any decent photos, so instead we just headed out to San Fran for the Herbie show.

The show itself was awesome!  One of my favorite things about seeing live music is watching the band interaction.  I love nothing more than seeing that a band is having fun and playing with each other (unlike the Police this last tour).  Herbie’s band was having a ball playing off of each other. Even the sound check was good.  And everyone kicked ass on When Love Comes to Town – it wasn’t U2 and it wasn’t Joss and Johnny (from Herbie’s last album, Possibilities), but it was still AWESOME.  Sonia has a great voice – nice and raspy.

That said, I was stuck in that damn auditorium from around 3:00 until 11:00!  And let me just tell you, that’s just too fucking long to be in one place.  Probably the one part of our “vacation” that I’m not enjoying – and get the privilege of doing again tomorrow (well, I guess tonight since it’s already Sunday).  At least tomorrow/today, since we’re in Santa Barbara, I can take the car out myself during sound check and whatnot (without incurring a $30+ parking fee – crazy San Francisco parking!!)  In fact, I volunteered to pick up a birthday cake for Herbie’s daughter just so I had an excuse to leave soundcheck – I’m a smart cookie, you see.

And speaking of being Sunday, it’s nearly 2:00AM and woooweee, I’m tired.  The hubby is still working on downloading the photos, so he’ll probably be up for the next hour or two.  It’s times like this and his crazy late nights that I’m thrilled he’s “on vacation” and can sleep in as late as he wants once we get back home on Monday.

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I’m thankful that my husband feels comfortable driving in San Francisco – those hills scare the hell outta me!  I’m also thankful for our yummy, Heavenly Bed that we’ll be sleeping in tonight.  And I’m thankful for good friends that willingly agree to visit the kitkat to make sure that he has enough food and love while we’re away (okay, she might have bitched a bit and does it out of obligation because we stock her fridge the day she comes home from their international tours, but still – she does love our little boys, honest).

Gratitude Wine Country Style…

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I’m thankful for my hubby (how cute is he?)
My Photographer Hubby

I’m thankful that I got to see grapes (even if they were shriveling up into raisins)
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I’m thankful for the beautiful colors (so purty!)
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I’m very, very thankful that I was about to sit in the hotel lobby, in front of a toasty fire and get some brief internet service that allowed me to upload a handful of photos.

And it goes without any need for explanation…I’m most certainly thankful for WINE!!

Tonight We Fly Out a Weekend of Wine & Jazz

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First stop, two days in Healdsburg drinking yummy wine and eating awesome food. Hopefully we’ll pop on in to Sonoma since there are a couple of vineyards there that we really like (Kunde, Valley of the Moon, etc).

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We’ll be staying in Petaluma (just a short drive away) on the marina. The rooms are gorgeous and comfortable and there’s a marsh right near by with walking trails. Last time it was crazy windy, so this time I’ll be sure to bring warmer clothes – and a hat.

Herbie & Friends Backstage

From there we head back into San Francisco for Herbie’s show at the Masonic. The hubby will be shooting the show and we’ll have plenty of backstage access so this time I hope to get some great shots myself. The photo above was taken backstage after the Sonoma Jazz Festival but I wasn’t using my flash since it would have messed up the hubby’s pro shots. Sonia Kitchell will be performing with the band and I’m pretty excited abut that (she’s the blond above).

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Then we drive down to Santa Barbara for the last night of Herbie’s mini-tour.  Again, the hubby will be shooting the show so I should again be able to get some fun shots.  We won’t be staying in Santa Barbara this time around though, we’ll be staying in Ventura instead – gotta save some money considering what we’ll probably be spending in wine – so who knows how much sightseeing we might get to do.

I’ll be back on Monday (and hope to post a photo or two while I’m gone).

Back to the Land of Enchantment

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Last night I went looking through all my digital photos looking for something that represented Albuquerque to me. I remember all those years of taking photos in Old Town and during Balloon Fiesta. Well, turns out all I have digitally are my going away party pictures, my moving truck pictures and a batch from the last roadtrip that my roomie and I took before I left. Notice a theme here?

This photo above is what’s left of the army post at Fort Union on the Santa Fe Trail. We headed out there because I’ve always wanted to see wheel ruts from the Calistoga wagons. So we drove the couple of hours to get there and started taking pictures of what we thought were the wheel ruts. Turns out they were wheel ruts alrighty…from a pickup truck (see below). Yeah, disappointing.

Ruts from a Pickup

On our way back to the freeway, we stopped at the museum and asked them where the damn ruts were. Turns out, they’re right along side of both the road and the freeway. Um…but they look just like every other natural arroyo (as evidenced below). Which of course makes me wonder if it’s arroyo or ruts over on the Turquoise Trail into Madrid.

Santa Fe Trail Wheel Ruts

So while I may not have many digital photos of New Mexico in my arsenal, I do hope to get a couple good shots will visiting this weekend. That is if I can find the time between the margaritas, the green chile and the sopapillas!! Yum!  New Mexico, here I come!

About this NaBloPoMo Thing…

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First and foremost, I’m really looking forward to it.  I’ve loved checking out new bloggers and making some new blogger buddies.  There’s some good stuff out there.  I’ll post my list of blogs that I’m following if you post your list.

I have to wonder though, with this whole once a day thing (at least twice for me since I’m also doing 30 Days of Gratitude posts) how bad would it be to either pre-publish or go and back-date stuff.  Typically, when I go on vacation, I like to pre-pub stuff.  But if I can’t, or I can’t get to the computer (I hate bringing two laptops with us, so we share) that leaves me with the option of back-dating stuff.

I guess if I didn’t say anything, no one would probably notice, but I’m just curious if anyone else will be doing any behind the scenes stuff to get it all out there on a daily basis.   Anyone?

Tramps Like Us (and other random thoughts)

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I have so much to say, but no real desire to sit down and say it.  So instead, I’ll torment you with a slew of random thoughts…

* Having to go to a laundromat is bad enough (stupid rentals in SoCal with no laundry facilities!).  But to have the damn machines rip you off is just wrong!  So very wrong.  It cost me $8 to do two (super) loads of laundry that normally only cost $4.  And of course, the owner wasn’t around *grr*

* I put the Halloween shirt on the pupster today, you know, to get him in the spirit and all that jazz…but he’s just not happy about it.  Instead, he keeps rubbing up against things to try to remove it.

* I’m one of those wives…you know, the ones that shop for their husbands.  Well, my hubby is famous for deciding that he doesn’t like something long after the return period.   I do my best to hang onto the receipts, but this doesn’t always work.  In fact, I got blackballed from Mervyn’s my first year living with him because I returned too many (of his) things without receipts.  And now, I can’t seem to find the receipt for the damn backpack he made me buy for him.  I’ll just have to keep looking, but at least it was on clearance for only $12.

* I was really, really hoping for a new camera before my trip to Albuquerque this weekend.  My little Canon Powershot A520 has been quite good to me, but lately, the lens cap thingie doesn’t always want to open.  So I mentioned it to the hubby, and I kinda had the okay to get a new one.  But then, well, the lens cap thingie started working just fine.  So I’ve decided to give up my dream of a new camera.  Maybe he’ll get me one for Christmas (though if he had his way, I’d just use his original Nikon D70 – but it’s not small enough to fit in my purse and sometimes, that’s what matters!)

* I still can’t get over how weird Sting looked at Herbie’s tribute.  I mean really, who in the world wears brown casual shoes with a black jacket and pants (no, not a suit)?  And why in the world is Chris Botti’s jacket so damn shiny???  Herbie looks good, no?

* And speaking of Sting and Chris Botti…rumor has it there might be a three way going on with wife Trudie.  Strange youtube video as support of said rumor. 

* And on the topic of the Herbie/Monk thing…I just don’t get Joni Mitchell.  Am I missing something?  Or am I just too young?  She tells these stories through songs, but really, they’re not like songs at all.  When I hear her name, all I can think of is the Emma Thompson character in Love Actually.

* And speaking of Love Actually, I still have no idea where that damn movie disappeared to.  I’ve torn the house apart and it’s just not here.  I guess I’ll need to trade in some CDs so I can get a new copy.  Let’s face it, it’s a good movie.

* My medication is kicking in and I feel a thousand times better.  Believe it or not, I can actually drive over the hill and not get totally clogged up.

In closing…the Bruce show was a little disappointing.  Keep in mind, I’m not a big fan, so the older, more obscure stuff was lost on me.   It looked like the fans really loved the show – lots of singing, lots of dancing and lots of fist pumping (my shoulder still hurts from Bad Lands) – and things sounded great.  It’s just hard to get so pumped for a show where out of 2.5 hours of music, I only knew like 6 songs!  Kind of sad.  I loved the Rising tour (saw him twice) and I really enjoyed his folksy stuff from last summer, but this show just didn’t do it for me.  So much so that both M & I decided that neither of us wanted to go again tonight (we thought we’d have to fight it out between the two of us to see who got to go tonight).  The hubby was able to get rid of the ticket though, so no worries.

Flickr Rocks (and other random thoughts)

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A while back, one of my Sonoma photos was chosen for use in the Schmap guide.  Today I got an email that yet another one of my photos was up for consideration for the San Diego guide.  It was one of my Hotel del interior photos.  Pretty cool if I do say so myself considering I don’t edit my photos and they’re taken with my little ‘ol Canon (which I do hope will be upgraded this Christmas or for our upcoming trips since the lens cover doesn’t open more than half the time).

And speaking of Flickr, does anyone know how to remove “friends”?  I tend to keep nearly all of my photos public, but I’ve accidently added some “new contacts” as “friends” from time to time.  And well, I’m not sure how comfortable I am knowing that personal photos and updates are sent out to “friends” on a weekly notice.ve.

On a  non-Flickr related note, the new KT Tunstall is quite good.  The hubby has had it for quite some time now, but he finally released it from his clutches and added it to the insane, ever growing pile of CDs.  Seriously, I have no idea what to do with those stacks since they just keep growing and growing.  It’s not like we can trade them in.  Though I could probably trade in a few to update my DVD library some.  Oh well, I must work on that some more and come up with something.  I’m open to suggestions though.

It’s official, both our Albuquerque and our San Fran/Healdsburg trips are completely booked. I think I’m more excited to go back to Albuquerque than wine country (maybe because our wine stash is also a bit out of control).  Fall in NM is an amazing time, especially if it’s chili roasting time.  Sadly, it won’t be roasting time, but you better believe that I’ll be filling up on more than my share of green chili!!