Ike Sucks

Marie's family came for a quick visit at the beginning of March and we kind of did a repeat of our day with the Outlaws, because who wouldn't want a repeat of the perfect day?!

The vandalism of the petraglyphs (pictured above) is so disappointing. Dear Ike, I'm very disappointed in you and the others. Later the same month we had spring break, and Marie's family plus Cora and Andrew all came along. San Diego or bust! First up we went to the coast in La Jolla, and the Sea Lion Cove. In the first area we came to their were quite a few sea lions, up close and personal (but not too up and close - there were volunteers there making sure tourist didn't get too close).

But then we went a little further and there were hundreds of sea lions! It was quite the sight.

Yes, me and Marie are wearing matching outfits. We do that sometimes because it's funny. You're welcome. There were also a ton of birds, including Brown Pelicans and Brandt's Cormorant (who were nesting with their newly hatched chicks). FYI, I am no birder (even though I'm 50, and that seems like the prime age to get into birds), so I had to look up the names of those birds.

There was a spot called Sunny Jim's Sea Cave, which consists of a tunnel running from a shop to a sea cave, dug in 1902 and said to be used for bootlegging. They do tours there, but for how much we would have spent on our large group, it seemed really overpriced for what people said was a really short and anticlimactic tour. But we could see the cave from up top, and it was free.

We hung out for a bit a this large park, just relaxing and soaking in the sun (or shade). It was so peaceful, listening to the sound of the ocean.

I think we were at the park for a good 20 minutes before I realized that I didn't know where my bag was, with my wallet and the keys to the car. I went from perfect peace to pure panic. We all started running around, backtracking, looking for it everywhere. And then it was found, on the bench that I had left it on about 20-30 minutes earlier when me and Marie were taking pictures of our dang matching outfits, hahaha. I can NOT believe that nobody took it - there were so many people that walked by that bench! Whew! Peace and happiness restored. We then went to check into our Airbnb, and what a find! Man, we loved that place. They had a putting green, corn hole, a pool table, ping pong table, a fire pit, and a massage chair. Everyone wanted to use the massage chair, and it was super intense. We had so much fun staying there!

Later that night we went over to visit the Gaslamp Quarter, which is the historical district of San Diego. It was cool, but I think it would have been better if we had planned on having dinner there or something.

I'll post day two in a different post, so stay tuned

Hoovered

One Sunday we felt like going for a drive, so me, Joe, and Joseph drove out to the Hoover Damn. It's been years (decades?) since we went to the Hoover Dam. It was before the Hoover Bypass and big bridge were built. Back then traffic just drove right over the dam itself (which you can still do, and we did, but it's a dead end now, not through traffic). I don't remember it being very crowded, and the water level in the Colorado River was much higher then. Wow, I 'm totally like the old person saying, "Back in my day....". Fun. Visiting this time was very different. I was amazed at how many people were there. Apparently, over 7 million people visit the dam each year now. I mean, it is pretty impressive. Unfortunately the visitor's center is under construction right now, so it's not open. I love learning the history of these places, so we'll have to come back when it's open. But it was still really cool to walk around and over the dam.

The craziest thing is to see where the water level used to come to. So sad.

Joseph and I even hiked up and over the bridge to get a better view.

Amazing. I recall a lot of dam/damn jokes being made while we were there. It's low-hanging fruit. Fun little day trip.

This is Gross

Warning! Really gross pictures ahead. If you can't stomach it, go away. Joe was out in the garage with his friend Kevin, working on one of his Jeeps. He came in and calmly, but emphatically said, "Ruth, you need to take me to the ER right now." A very heavy gear had fallen on his pinky finger and smashed it. He had it all wrapped up, so I didn't see it until later on in the ER, but when I say smashed, I'm picturing a tomato. You know how a tomato kind of breaks open if it's smashed? Anyway, I kept thinking, how are they going to put this thing back together. But they did, and he didn't need surgery, and now that it's healed, it's like perfectly normal looking. The body is a crazy, beautiful thing.

The Outlaws

Cora and Andre came for a visit in February. On one of those days, Andrew's parents and his little sister also came to hang out with us, because they were in Vegas for a work conference. Joe calls Cora's in-laws our outlaws, because they're not OUR in-laws, but they're our something, right? We actually really love them. I think Cora is as lucky to have her in-laws as I am to have mine. Anyway, the first day, which was a school/work day, Cora and Andrew and his sister, plus me and Joseph did a little exploring on our own. We found a little, off the beaten path museum here in Vegas - the Hollywood Cars Museum and Liberace Garage. It's a bunch of famous cars (some are replicas, but some are the real thing), and also, randomly, some Liberace stuff because.....Vegas? It was weird and fun.

We also went and got pictures in front of the Welcome to Vegas sign, got some GOOD food (Sayulitas, I highly recommend it), and walked around Mandalay Bay and then The Orleans (Cora and Andrew always like to check out new hotels/casinos).

The next day was Saturday, we had initially planned on going Jeeping with the outlaws. But Joe's Jeeps weren't quite ready, so plan B was to go to the Valley of Fire. The weather was perfect! I picked out the most ridiculous trucker hat I could find. Alex did the whole hike in his bare feet. So much fun. Perfection, really.

The other fun thing we did with the outlaws was go to Fantasy Lab: Colors of Mexico. This is a FREE immersive experience that celebrates the rich and vibrant culture of Mexico. It is FANTASTIC! There is also a delicious restaurant with offerings from different regions in Mexico, and a small shop selling a selection of artisanal Mexican merchandise. I highly recommend it if you're in Vegas.

This is my favorite video of all time. After we had dinner we walked over to the Venetian to walk around for a bit. They still had a fun display up for Lunar New Year. It's the year of the snake, and that's Cora's year (although she's not even Slytherin, she's Hufflepuff), and it was almost her birthday.

Andrew and his mom got suckered into a presentation on these crazy massage chairs while the rest of us were going to the bathroom. Although really it felt like the rest of us got suckered, because they got a nice LONG massage, while the rest of us had to sit around and wait for them, hahaha. By the time we were done and we walked back to the mall where we had parked our cars, the mall was closed, and not all of the doors were open. We had to wander around for a bit trying to figure out how to get to our cars, and we were afraid we were going to get locked in. But we made it, and it was such a great weekend.