Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas!

I hope this greeting finds all of you very well!

2009 found us content. We traveled a bit more this year. We toured Berlin Germany for 13 days or so, spent a very hot October week in the Baja Peninsula near Cabo San Lucas and just got back from a 5 day trip to New York City in November.

Berlin was laid back. Rodger and Beth joined us for this trip. We saw everything we wanted to see, had no regrets. We enjoyed the cuisine and got toured around the city with relative ease. We enjoyed a variety of Museums, art and history. There was very little WWII sites still around, black and white photos were as close as we got.

We took a relaxing beach vacation in October. We found a very very inexpensive beach apartment in a small town on the Baja Peninsula. The weather was hot and humid. If it was hotter or more humid, I would have been an unhappy beach camper. Luke enjoyed the endless sun and he was rewarded with a very nice tan, that sadly has faded quite a bit. Luke also sampled the Mexican beer with vigor. We were lucky that we had a cooler to keep our drinks cold while we walked the 50 feet to the shore. We wouldn't have wanted to walk 50 feet back to the house to get another cool drink or anything.

We took a spur of the moment trip to New York City. I had a few days of vacation that made a long weekend. We decided to take that advantage to it's fullest. We went to sightsee, see a few shows on Broadway and sampled the NYC cuisine. We didn't hit any fancy restaurants. Luke is not so into fancy food now, he likes the plentiful local comfort foods. We ate at the famous Carnegie Deli (near Carnegie Hall) and Katz's Deli. Luke had some very large, meaty pastrami sandwiches. He even surprised the waitress with just how much he could put away. We didn't follow an itinerary this trip, just did what we wanted, when we wanted. We still started out early and stayed out late. It was a relief to be able to not have to worry about a language barrier.

We also had some good news on Sept 23 (Luke's Birthday)- that we are going to have an addition to our family......No, we are not going to get another dog! We are going to have a baby! Our prayers and your prayers made the difference. Thank you for those. The estimated due date is May 22, 2010. Luke and I are quite excited as you can imagine. Both Mother and baby are tolerating each other quite well for the time being. I am excited to be excused from snow-blowing this year. The dog and I will watch him work from the front window. We'll be cozy and warm with cocoa in my hands, while Luke huffs and puffs and hurls the snow. Poor Luke.

We had a very cozy Thanksgiving at the John Tveiten's in Caledonia. We did double duty for the holiday and had Christmas as well. The turkey dinner didn't do us in, it was the turkey dinner, the pie and all the Christmas cookies that went along with the spread. We had the holiday early because John will be deployed to Afghanistan. He leaves the first weekend in Dec. He anticipates that he will be away from home for at least a year. He could use your prayers and letters. He should have access to email. You can email me and I'll send you his address. lj_fenton@yahoo.com

Blessed Christmas Greetings to you this year!

Lisa and Luke Fenton

NYC Nov 22, Sunday

November 22, 2009 Sunday

This morning bright and early (8.30) we woke up. It is late considering what time I went to bed last night. I got about 12 hours of sleep. Is that crazy or what.

We got going for the day and headed to Central Park area and stopped for breakfast at another place on our list the Carnegie Deli. It was a quieter place than Katz or Ess-a Bagel. We were actually greeted about 15 feet in and were seated by a server at a tiny table for two that was elbow room away from another table for two. We walked past the long deli case with the men working and cutting meat behind it. We were handed these gigantic menus.

I was saddened at first because I didn't see the breakfast area even though I was sure I saw it on the on line menu. I ordered the pancakes with butter because that's how I like them. The 3 pancakes were normal pancake size for 8.99. Luke ordered the Tattlah. The waitress made a comment about oh, your going right for it or good for you or something like that. Then we were talking a bit and drinking our coffee and water. Luke says looking over my shoulder “if that is my order I am going to sh**”. He said it like he was totally serious. It was his order. When it came to the table I saw why he said it. The sandwich was GIGANTIC. It is a combo of regular three inches of sliced turkey, with coleslaw, a piece of bread swiss cheese and 3 more inches of corned beef topped by another piece of pumpernickel bread with a dish of Russian dressing for dipping. That was all Luke got- no sides or anything. The price was $22.95. I lie, he did get the variety pickle plate with the fresh cucumber like pickles and the weird vinegar pickles. No pickled tomato yet today. Luke dutifully went at the sandwiches. I shoved food on to a little plate so he could deconstruct one of the sandwich halves into edible portions. I finished my 3 pancakes and was satisfied. I wasn't hungry to begin with.

Part of the fun of the restaurant was to see what everybody else was getting. Our table mates got an order of corned beef hash. Guess what, it is not like the stuff we usually eat out of a can. It looked like corned beef off the roast, fried with a minuscule amount of potatoes on a HUGE dinner plate. I think the hash came just like that, like maybe only with some toast. It reminded me strongly of the chorizo breakfasts Luke made for us in Mexico. It was all red and greasy. The table mates didn't eat much of it. I'm glad I didn't order it either. I like my hash out of a can- the way it is supposed to be!

We also saw a few tables order some of the “fluffy” matzo ball soup. They ordered it with noodles. It looked delicious! I asked Rosie our Asian descent waitress if she could please get me a bowl. I told her I didn't need much, just give me the broken matzo ball at the bottom of the pan. She said, we only have one size. She brought me a bowl of golden chicken broth with a matzo ball the size of a softball in it and some skinny perfect noodles kind of placed on the side within the broth. Then she had a to go container with the other matzo ball in it and some broth in a tin cup to give you more broth with your matzo because the noodles displaced some of the broth space in the bowl. The matzo was soft and fluffy and was mealy while soft and a tad doughy.

I only put pepper on it and it was perfect.

Luke, meanwhile, finished ALL of his sandwich. He even got a compliment from Waitress Rosie. Wow, you finished it. Then she said “Hey Al, he ate the #13- all of it!” Al must have been the new guy because this one waitress yelled at Al, “Hey Al, My table's got no mustard on it!” (But it did- she just didn't see it.) So Luke finished his sandwich with vigor and then had some of my soup to help it stay down. ¾ of the way through his sandwich he said solemnly, “Only one more pound of meet to go.” We both laughed. I wasn't sure he'd make it. He looked like the guy on Man Vs Food when he tries to beat the restaurant's challenges- You eat all this and you get a t-shirt or your picture on the wall etc.

One other cool thing about this place was the pies in the display cooler. They were HUGE. The center of the pies was easily 6 inches. It was probably a 12 inch pie- but 6 inches tall in the middle? WOW. It reminded me of the nursery rhymes “12 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie” They were huge. I wanted a piece before I ate. After there was NO way. Luke and I dropped $48 there. Our cholesterol probably rose as we stepped through the door. Luke said, do you think I can burn the 2000 calories I just ate by walking around all day? We stopped to take a picture of the deli sign. I also took a picture of a T-shirt with a towering sandwich. It said above the sandwich “if you can eat it all then we screwed up”. I wanted to buy it for Luke. In fact I wanted to buy all kinds of Deli t-shirts for Luke. He didn't want any.

The weather was a bit cooler today. High 50-52 but sunny. Luke forgot his Jacket today. It said there was to be no wind- but that was a lie. Luke was chilly. I had my coat and mittens on intermittently

We walked toward central park and came upon Carnegie Hall hence the name of the deli we were just at. We also came upon a paper shop. They had $3-$15 sheets of wrapping paper. So needless to say it was pricey and nice place. I found a gift for Mom and Katie that I promised Luke I wouldn't tell. In fact, he found the item and called me over to see it. Usually he only does that for rabbit items, which is what I was hoping he found.

He did call me over to him again and I came quickly to see what he found. It was some rabbit items for a certain unborn child that we know. It cost much more than what we should have paid, but Lukie threw caution to the wind. We got the 2 items. I told him I'd wrap them up really nice and have them be a gift to baby from Daddy. I could open it up at a baby shower. My Luke.

Then we went to Central Park. I put my scarf around Luke to keep him warmer despite his short sleeved t shirt and no coat. He looked funny because he was Luke wearing a scarf. But if he was a New Yorker- I probably wouldn't have given him a second look.

So we walked around the winding trails in central park. Passed some carriage riders, an ice rink filled with families, a Central Park gift shop, and the outdoor permanent chess boards. We paused for a picture with the backdrop of the Central Park Apartments. Luke first with and without the scarf, then me. I had my second interaction with poop this trip. I stepped in relatively fresh dog doo doo. At least it didn't get on the hem of my jeans. Arrrgh.

We did enjoy seeing all the doggies out for their Sunday walks. There were a few Jack Russells around. This one cute one was on a pooping parade. He'd poop in the leaves and walk a bit and poop some more. Then he drug his butt in the leaves, then he had leaves stuck to his butt so he did it again and rolled around in the leaves. Then he pranced along on his merry way with his master. Silly dog.

Then we went back to the hotel. Luke needed to get his coat and we probably needed to go to the bathroom. Oh, there is also a Hells Kitchen Flea Market just down the street from our hotel, literally just down the street- as in I can see it.

So we went to that. It was lots of vintage clothing and LOTS of fur. Fur coats, hats, collars. Every stand had like at least 5 fur coats. One lady had 3 racks of fur coats. Most of them made in NYC. Interesting. I asked the price on one of the hats a dark black one- it was (of course) mink, and also (of course) too small for my head. Otherwise I may have bought it. There were also some cuffs that I could just sew on to my coat and maybe find a collar to match. Neat huh? The vintage had was $35. I bet I could have talked her down. There were all kinds of vintage ladies clothes, purses, shoes, jewelry and of course junk. I was happy once Luke let me wander a little bit. I would have bought a purse if he wasn't around and if I had the cash in my pocket. Fortunately I didn't have any money. There was a cute long wool jacket w/ a fur collar that I may have tried on. The sleeves looked way too short. Maybe that was the style or maybe it was made for a short lady. You see, none of these had sizes in the jackets. They must have been tailored for the woman.

We went on a little walk down the block in Hells Kitchen. This was a very nice change from the Commercialism from Times Square. The sidewalks were navigable and people local and friendly. We walked several blocks over- kind of looking for grocery shops to window shop and maybe a hidden gem of a restaurant. Luke thought maybe pizza again. I would like a sit down restaurant tonight.

I did think that a bagel snack would be tasty this afternoon, so we stopped at a deli and had a whole wheat bagel w/ plain cream cheese. We bought only that- we were thankful that the guy took visa. Luke got the card out to pay and he says- oh, you don't have cash? Duh, no we don't have cash. He didn't want to use the machine on such a low $ purchase. So Luke got a chocolate milk. Then he OK'd the Visa – whatev. So we sat down to eat. There was jelly on the table from breakfast- so we had jelly and cream cheese toasted bagel. It was very good.

We walked more and more and then we saw a dunkin doughnuts- did we just eat yes. Were we craving sweets this afternoon- yes. We had a doughnut. They were very well priced. No wonder we saw just as many people with dunkin doughnut coffee cups as starbucks.

We did find this place called “5 Napkin Burgers” I read about this in my book. We looked at the menu and said “YES” It looked kind of swanky and trendy. We asked how busy they'd be at 8 and she made us a reservation.

Then we are back at the hotel to relax a little bit and wait until our reservations. I don't know if we'll go out to times square or not, but maybe this time to blog effectively will not be wasted.

New York, Nov 21 Saturday

November 21, 2009 Saturday

I convinced Luke to let me blog a bit this morning because I am so far behind. Thankfully he did. We will go to Ess-a Bagel YUMMY!!!! I can't wait for that. Then we'll go back to Lower east side (in neighborhood where Katz's was) for Luke to get a special hot dog and a special falafel place. Should be another good day. Weather looks clear. Luke says it's cooler today cause there is no sun. I'll probably bring my jacket, Luke can carry it in his backpack.

We'll try to eat some vegetables today. This would not exclude potatoes.

Well, no such luck with the vegetables. We haven't even seen much fruit or veg in the stores. We've concluded that NYCers don't cook. They can't cook, their apartments must be so tiny that they must eat on the street.

Today we hustled to Ess-a Bagels Luke was destined to have a bagel w/ cream cheese and Lox. We took the subway at least two connections to get to the bagel place in Turtle Bay (near the breezy subway grate where Marilyn Monroe once stood). As it is Saturday, the Subways are more full and the trains don't come so often. We waited several minutes for trains that were really full.

Essa Bagels was full of people. Like a lot of the delis we have been to you have a big line and you come to the first guy that can help you. Uncle Bill helped us. Remember how you have to shout at the men behind the counter, this was no exception- except you really had to yell because Uncle Bill was hard of hearing. Yes, Uncle Bill is what his name tag read. Luke ordered first- he got a Lox and Cream cheese on plain bagel. What we didn't realize is that there are 12 different kinds of lox you can choose from. AHHH. Luke took the approach to this guy by answering yes to just about every question he was asked. Do you want tomato? Yes, Capers? Onions? Cucumbers? Yes, yes and yes. I can't believe it. Pickles? Yes. Luke's cream cheese and lox bagel became a Subway Sandwich. Then I ordered a liverwurst and swiss bagel on garlic bagel And for good measure, we got another one so we wouldn't be disappointed I got garden veg cream cheese on an Everything bagel

Instead of sitting down where we'd have to pay more, we ate outside. Of course there were no benches or anything at all to sit on. So, we stood next to a planter and set our food, napkins and water bottle from my bag down there. We stood to eat breakfast. Luke unraveled his nicely packed bagel It was LARGE and falling out the sides. He took a big bite and a few more. Probably devoured half the bagel before he started picking it apart and separating the halves. I think he got a look at the slinky pink cool fish meat and decided it wasn't appetizing. He discarded all the extras that were added on, had another bite of just Nova Scotia salmon and fatty cream cheese and decided he was DONE. Now, you realize that this fish is just a little bit different from eating sushi. The salmon is not smoked but just cured in vodka, salt and black peppercorns and lemon juice. So it is still pink and slimy and raw lookin. Sheesh, it gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

So, I ate my Liverwurst sandwich. My garlic bagel was VERY garlicky. The top was coated in minced garlic like a doughnut is coated in peanuts. Just COVERED. I picked off most of the garlic and ate the bread. I actually gave the bread to the birds. They found it quickly. The liverwurst was quite mild and tasty w/ my swiss cheese.

I was WAY, WAY too full to eat or even sample my other bagel Luke was not keen on it either. So, I put it in my purse. I was thankful that it was cool our and I wouldn't have to worry about a weeping bagel.

We stopped at this gourmet food place across the street from Ess-a Bagel It was just opening it's doors. It had a wonderful variety of buffet food. You paid by the pound. Mac and cheese, steamed Chinese dumpling, cous cous and macadamia nut, pasta salad, seafood salad, lots of chicken dishes. It doesn't sound very good, but believe me it looked fantastic. If we hadn't eaten, we may have gotten some sample sizes and tried a few things.

Yesterday when we went through times square we asked a scalper how much a Billy Elliot ticket would cost. $100. Luke asked about the Sunday show. He gave us a card and told us he'd call at 1pm (the show started at 2). Any way, we figured we'd better get closer to times square to meet this guy where ever he wanted and assumed it would be there. So, we trained back to the Square. We saw a guy and found some tickets for matinée for reasonable prices. We eventually got 2 $90 tickets. They were towards the back and the side, but I don't need to see the facial expressions in a dance musical. So we walked to the theatre with plenty of time to spare. We hit a bathroom in a hotel.

We had been stealing free bathrooms all over. Our favorite place to go is in Starbucks. There is such a high foot traffic rate that no one would notice if we weren't customers. One thing I wish I would have brought was the chlorox wipes. I have a travel pack and can't believe I forgot them. You know the toilets are just gross enough for you to wonder. I have certainly used more disgusting toilets, but would have felt better if I had the wipes.

We waited a bit for Billy Elliot. We saw people that ordered a glass of wine while they waited in line- they paid $12 a glass. Bottled water was $4. Can you believe it? People bought it too. Sheesh.

We walked up 3 sets of stairs to get to our seats. There were no elevators. We were on an aisle. They keep the theatres so cool, I had my jacket over us the whole time.

The play was excellent. I was smiling the whole time. I loved the little girl dancers. They were really good and must be quick learners to get on the show. One thing I thought was interesting was that there was an insert in our playbill stating who the actor would be today. At first I thought we got the understudy- but then I realized that there had to be 3 Billys. 3 Billys to rotate to accommodate the child labor laws. Our Billy was a very accomplished dancer, singer and actor. The stage had a center piece shaped as a cylinder that would raise to be billy's room in a loft and a kitchen below. Very neat. It would lower down below the stage and quietly and quickly fill in the hole in the stage. Really neat. I suppose that these productions can afford it.

The play lasted from 2pm until like 5.30. It was dark outside when we left. The first act was much better than the second- as usual.

We decided to skip the bathroom at the theatre and decided that we still had stuff to do before we went home for the evening. I ate may leftover bagel while we discussed where we'd go and what we'd do.

Luke took us on a magical subway ride here and there and then to the street hither and yon to reach the East Village and find a cool hot dog place and Mamoun's Falafel. We walked and were traveling in the wrong direction and then we had to go to the bathroom and the line in Starbucks was long etc. We were starting to get testy with each other.

We came upon Mamouns first. The shop was a half level below street level. You went down 4 stairs to get into the shop. The shop had 4 booths for patrons to eat at, and a counter to order at. There was a small menu above the counter. Luke ordered the Shawafel plate, it was a pie plate of onions, lettuce, cucumbers,tomatoes, roast lamb and tahini ranch sauce. It was served with some pitas. I ordered a side of falafel (3 balls). That was only like 1.50 or something. We also got 2 bottled waters. For $12-$13. You know it just burns me to buy water. I can't drink much pop because if it doesn't have caffeine, then it isn't diet. So I am just burned. It has to be really bad for me to drink a non diet drink.

We then walked a bit further a left and then a right and then like 4 more blocks to reach Crif Dogs. Crif dogs was also a half level below ground. You walk down 4 steps into this little hole in the wall that has more seating than Mamouns. It has graffiti on the walls and there are some alternative looking people seating in there. Not so alternative that I was scared but maybe alternative enough to look like they belonged in MSP rather than Rochester.

Luke ordered 2 cans of Pabst and 2 Tsunami; bacon wrapped hot dog with teriayki sauce with pineapple and green onions. I ordered some fries. I had to go to the bathroom and this place didn't have one, I looked around- it wasn't that big of a place. Luke asked the guy where a nearby bathroom would be- he said, “Actually behind that paneling there with the 2 stickers on it is a bathroom, you slide the paneling over. I go to the paneling. I slide the door open and see that it is COVERED in graffiti. It is the area tucked behind the stairs above. There is even graffiti on the bottom of the raised toilet seat. I just about had a cow and turned around to refuse it. I looked a bit closer and it was pretty clean. Cleaner than the starbucks bathroom the other day. I think it was graffitied to give it character and be cool. People put their stickers and names and stuff. The graffiti under the toilet seat said something like put the lid down when you are done or something like that in that crazy graffiti script.

I think they did a lot of stuff to be cool there. For instance, the tip jar said, “Don't forget the tip you stingy bastard”. There also were tons of people entering the Crif Dogs place and going into the phone booth. You went into the booth to get into the bar or restaurant next door. You went into the booth, pushed a secret button or opened the door with the hidden button and then entered. The caliber of people that entered that place far exceeded the folks that ate within the Crif Dog place. I think they did serve hotdogs to the bar. Luke saw a pass through or a dumb waiter to the next door and we saw them shove food through there.

At the end of dinner Luke made a snappy comment to me and we ended up leaving the restaurant and the East Village with our saying many words between us. The streets were crowded with people and families, the alternative shops were all open and selling tribal stuff, crafts, scarves and I can't remember what else. We finally hit the Subway, started talking to each other again and then walked underground to the Port Authority bus station and then the 3 blocks to our hotel. Luke said his mouth was hurting (he burned it bad and it wasn't feeling any better) and was going to walk to the next block and get a blizzard at the McDonalds. I said fine and I'd meet him at the hotel. I was one block away (mother) so it wasn't far to walk unattended.

Luke came back and dinked around on the computer, I fell asleep early on the bed watching a movie before I could make any attempt to blog the day's events.

Friday November 20 (pt. 2 of journal entry)

(This section should be read after reading the first Friday Nov 20 entry)

Then we decided to take the subway to the twin tower site. I was surprised at how big the footprint was. There wasn't much information about the site other than the planned look of the memorial on the fences surrounding the site. We looked for an observation point, but were unsuccessful. We walked around a bit and then off to our next site.

Luke needed to get some lunch so we went to one of his Must Eats place on the list Katz's Deli. It is located on Houston (pronounced how-stun) in the lower east side. We got there about 1 pm. It was still PACKED. The setup was overwhelming, we didn't know how to order or did we seat ourselved and be served or what- who took the money etc.

We were greeted by a bouncer who handed us each a ticket. He told us that we needed to present a ticket to get out the door, Keep your ticket. I asked him after taking a quick glance around- how do we do this? He said go find what you want and then cut in line. I thought cut in line thats not fair. But here is how it goes. The food counter is 100-150 feet long. There were small 8x11 signs far up above the counter that had useless bits of advertising, some willy nilly information about prices etc. The first section we came to was stuffed with lots of waiting customers. We figured out that that's where the hot dogs and soup and cold sandwiches. Like hard and soft salami, liverwurst, knoblewurst, knockwurst etc. The center section was less busy because I think the people in the first section didn't know where to go.

The center section was hot sandwiches where we got ours. Luke got a fat pastrami on rye with mustard. I got a rueben on rye with not enough cheese, too much sauerkraut and too much corned beef. We waited in a bulk line by the center section, then as a person in front went to an individual man at the counter then ordered, handed the ticket to the man who put a total price on the ticket. Then the nex person in line went to the next open man. There were like 4 dudes making sandwiches in that section. They cut the whole pastrami/ corned beef roast or meat chunk off individually for each sandwich. Luke said they were really quick. I noticed that all my slices were absolutely uniform. I thought a machine cut the slices.

The place was really loud. The guys behind the counter were yelling and talking fast, Luke said he could hardly understand them. Many times he just nodded. I managed to find a vacant table where I could watch Luke order. I was too chicken to even stand with him up there. We got a huge plate of variety pickles. One was a really green pickle that tasted fresh like a cucumber and just mildly mildly pickled. That was my favorite. The other pickle looked normal but was made with a different kind of vinegar or something- maybe it was missing some spice that helps detract from the vinegar flavor. It wasn't particularly dilly. I don't know. Luke bargained with the sandwich maker for a green pickled tomato. He ate it, he said it was firm. I didn't try it.

I got some courage and got us some pop and a dish of potato salad. It was a salad with big thin slices of potato with only a white dressing. No onions, no mustard, no celery. Just a creamy dressing. I thought it looked the most unique of the salads. It was tasty. Different from anything I've ever tasted. Simple. It must have been “dressing” and mayo maybe- a touch of vinegar- I don't know.

The prices were expensive. Our sandwiches cost like 12-15$ each. The salad plate of potato salad was 3.50. The pop was probably the same. Our total bill was 38$. We see that tax is 8.99%. After we went to the bathroom and filled our water bottle (we knew we'd be thirsty w/ all that salty food) Luke went to pay at the booth on your way out the door. Apparently- they don't take visa. We BARELY had enough money. Luke had 2 dollars and change left. It is just like a restaurant in Paris we only had like 25 euro cents to spare. I would have had to do dishes. We got a picture outside the deli. We walked around the neighborhood a bit, went into a little grocery store, looking for Mac n Cheese or Ramen. Still too overpriced.

When we walked out we passed a Russ and Daughter's delicattessen place. I read about it in one of my books. It was mainly smoked salmon and bagles and fish and pate and stuff like that. Whole smoked fish, etc. We looked but didn't buy. I was this close to getting a bagel- even though I was mostly stuffed from my Rueben. Luke couldn't even look at food. Poor guy.

We paused for reflection on what we should do next. We decided FAO Schwartz. We took a metro trip to 5^th Ave and walked along it for quite a ways. We walked along the shopping mecca by accident. We got to see Cartiers and Tiffanys and all these fancy stores. Some I'd never heard of. We went in to tiffanys, but I think the fancy stuff at Tiffanys is up the stairs. The diamonds sure were SPARKLEY. More sparkle that Ive seen before. I was surprised.

We walked, saw bell ringers, people asking for money for the homeless, lots of shoppers with abercrombie bags and juicy coture bags etc. We walked by this store I can't remember if it was Hollister or American eagle or what but they had these two guys standing outside the door wearing the shops clothing standing there as MODELS. They weren't particularly cute or hot but they had their hair all done spikey and had sunglasses on – it looked like a young Tom Cruise in that movie where he slides across the floor in his underwear playing air guitar. Luke just laughed. How embarrasing.

We got to FAO and the first thing we saw were TONS of different neat stuffed animals. I was surprised that the prices were reasonable! There were lots of bunnys and foxes and doggies, but none really were the right size and shape for my special bunny requirements. One came close but he wasn't made to be cuddled- he was hard and kind of stiff. We did see a huge display of Folkmans hand puppets. Luke got me a few bunny hand puppets that were that brand when he was in Boston for Celestica. We weren't that lucky this time. Oh well. We went downstairs to the baby area. Found a section of “Bunnies by the Bay” I have seen this brand before- I don't know where though. They had LOTS of pricey bunny clothes, a fur bunny jacket with a little carrot in the pocket. The caveat was, they were either boy or girl. There was no gender neutral. It was sad. Not even the bunny slippers were fit for either sex. I did find some very very cute bunny books that I bought.

We looked around some more, didn't find anything else I couldn't live without. Saw a Lego batman and Chewbacca, saw the floor piano that you play with your feet that Tom Hanks plays in BIG. Saw the barbie section- which had a very limited selection- I was thinking wall to wall Barbie variety. Saw a 25 foot hallway that was lined with girls dress up dresses. I took a picture of that. Also, I liked a jack in the box of the bunny from “Guess How Much I love you” book. I think the books are great, but not the plush bunnies so much.

Luke was tricked to letting us get some candy from the bulk candy aisle. The price was $3.25 per ¼ pound of candy. Ouch. It wasn't anything fancy. What I wanted was the sour patch things. They were delicious. I ate the sour candies and Luke got the regular Blue and Red gummies. What a rip off- like 8.00 sheesh. I guess that part of the store was called FAO Schweetz. He he.

After that we decided that it was stil like only 4pm and we had lots more daylight to kill so we went to Rockafeller Center. Looked at the giant Christmas tree which was surrounded by scaffolding. They were trimming the tree. We saw the brush pile. The tree smelled good, I'll tell you that. Lotta sap, Lotta sap. The plaza was filled with people that were people watching. There were people ice skating and doing spins and fun stuff. I didn't look at the prices but I'm sure it was expensive. It was a nice downtown area.

The main reason we came to this area is that I wanted to tour the NBC studios. We made our way to the NBC store (which took us asking 2 people within the Rock center- mall thing) to find where the tour started. Our tickets were only $15 each. They were discounted because we only got to see one studio. Thankfully it was the SNL studio. I was so thrilled.

We got this funny little video about the history of NBC studios and blah blah blah. I'm not sure if I learned anything from this... Then we went through security, yes security. And were warned that if we took any pictures, our camera would be confiscated due to extensive copywright laws. We took the elevator to 8! We were escorted to the SNL studio! We stood at a big picture window and looked out at the CAST. They were practicing a skit. Joseph Gordon Levitt was the host and Dave Matthew's Band is the musical guest.

We got to walk down the hallway with alll the pictures on the wall. The place where they did laser cats. Luke LOVES the laser cats. They didn't have a big enough laser cats t shirt to fit my Lukie- so we had to skip that.

We got to see a video on the make-up process for SNL. Then we got to get a demonstration of a teleprompter and green screen. We got our picture taken behind a news desk- the photo was for purchase for $25 for a 5x7. DUR!!!! Of course we didn't get that. Just like we didn't buy anything at the NBC store. We are misers!

Then we were going to either walk home or walk just as far to get to our subway line and then walk a good ways to the hotel. So we said, screw it and we decided to walk all the way home. We went a block in the wrong direction at first, so we turned around. Luke said, instead of turning around and seeing what we have already seen, lets go a block over and then walk the drection we need to go. I couldn't argue with that. So we did. And you will never guess what we came upon.

You have heard of by chance or luck or serendipity. Well, we HAD THAT. We accidentally walked upon a bakery called Magnolia. Just earlier that day when we were deciding what to do, I said I wanted to go to that famous bakery that has pretty cupcakes. I couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me. We were going to call Tina to look it up for us. I remembered later. It was called Magnolia. Well we found this one location by ACCIDENT. In all the streets in New York, we happened accidentally to find this place. I got a glimpse of the sign on the store front, I said “Luke do you know what this is?” I was SO so so so very happy. What a gift. We went in, got 6 cupcakes at $3.00 each. A Hummingbird with cream cheese frosting, pecans and I think a spice cake bottom, a red velvet cake with the real cooked frosting- except it was really fluffy. And then the rest were a variation of chocolate and yellow cake with buttercream and chocolate frosting. YUMMY!!! I was SO happy.

Then we walked our 15 blocks to times square. Luke put his foot down for a REAL New York pizza. Not a slice. So we found a Ray's Pizza- even though it probably wasn't the real “Rays”. We ordered a pizza and shoppped around until it was ready. It cost $20. We went to a liquor store because Luke wanted some BEER with his pizza. The liquor store only had that, liquor. No beer of any kind. So we went to a Duane Reade store (that had milk today) and luke got 3 Coors light tall boys. I got 2 half gallons of milk and a box of mac and cheese- generic. It was much better priced. We didn't account the distance we had to walk home with our heavy purchases and a pizza. I swore my fingers would be blistered from carrying the bag. I finally told luke about my heavy load and he kind of chastised me for not talking to him sooner- he took the bag. I carried the pizza.

We walked and walked and walked. The hard part was walking through all the people on the streets. We got to the hotel, tired, and mostly THIRSTY. We had our pizza- I had to warm mine up a little. Luke drank his 2 beers (a little too fast). We each ate a cupcake. They were delicious. They were actually cakey and crumbley. They tasted homemade. The frosting was especially good too.

I went to blog and Luke was going to read his book. Well, that lasted like 10 minutes. I see him twitching out of the corner of my eye and his eyes are closed. It is only 8.15. Poor Lukie.

I blog for not much longer- actually forced myself to stay up until 8.45 and then succumed to the call of our comfy bed. We slept until 8 am.

November 20, 2009

This morning we decided to sleep in. That we did (kind of). I woke up at 0730 after a WONDERFUL sleep. It was like heaven. Luke was getting up to go bike a bit in the exercise area. HE did that, I got up, showered and attempted to blog a bit. I was realtively un successful.

We got ready to go for the day, we decided we'd stop at this fancy European bread and pastry shop that we passed on our way from the show last night. We stopped and had a cream cheese danish that was coated in honey and almonds, it was tasty and STICKY. Luke got a cinnamon bun with honey and raisins and also a big pretty croissant. Oh, and we shared a fresh squeezed OJ. The total was 12.95. OUCH. We sat and ate at the tiny tables and plotted our day.

Then we went to the Metro near by. I realize that I don't have my 7 day subway card. It is in my jacket. I didn't wear my jacket as it is high 50s and sunny today. SO, we had to go back and get it. Lukie was kind of irritated with me. I had the room key but not the subway card. Oh well.

We went back and Luke looked up a few things on the computer while he was here and got some stuff straight. We walked back the way we came to the subway. The first stairs we took down and went through the gate was the wrong ones, so we exited, went back up the stairs across the street to take the line going in the opposite direction. The ticket machine wouldn't let us through- it said “just used” or something like that. So we were either forced to wait like 10 minutes or something or just go walk to the next station etc. We chose to walk.

That had been the story for most of the day. We had to think and pay close attention to the direction of the line. The setup is a little different that our european metro experience. The direction is not the name of the end of the line stop as it is in Europe- it is Uptown and Bronx or Downtown and Staten Island etc. When we don't know where these places are in relation to where we are going its confusing. Hopefully we'll get better.

We went to Staten Island Ferry area. There was a lot of construction around there and we followed the cement barriers and the plywood to the water, saw the Statue from a LONG distance away. Then, we decided to go catch the Staten Island Ferry to get a closer view at the Statue of Liberty. The bad part was that the entrance was just outside the subway exit where we were. I look at my watch and it is 5 minutes before the hour. One would guess that the ferry would leave every 30 minutes. We were right. We saw some people running to the terminal. So we jogged with them. Thank goodness we did. We were the last people they let on. The ferry began moving almost as soon as we got on board. The ferry ride is free. Would you believe that?

We found a spot on a shady deck. We decided to go over to the sunny side with the view of the Statue. It was WINDY. WINDY, even though we were in the sun, it was much colder on this side. I put my hat on. We even had some people take our picture. It took about 20 minutes to get to staten Island, we got off the ferry, walked into the holding area for the return ferry and walked right back on the ferry we were forced to exit from. Oh well, it keeps order for them I guess. Keeps bums from sleeping on there.

We rode back and got some pictures of the skylines, checked our guidebooks to discuss and plan the rest of the day. It was only about 10.00 by this time.

I'll add more to this entry tomorrow, we had a BUSY day. Lots to write about. We are going to bed now. Goodnight!!!

New York Day 1 Diary

Nov 19, 2009

As usual this has not been proofed for errors. Sorry, please disregard them. ljf

Good day. Today we got up really early- at 0400 to get ready to leave the house by 0500. We even had time to go get a doughnut. We hustled to MSP airport and made it in 60 minutes. We were terribly early for our flight. I will admit it was my insistence to be early for the plane because you never know how much time security will take. We had to have our bags scanned and we passed without any beeps.

The plane was small. 2 seats on one side and one on the other side of the aisle. They did serve “snacks” that we assumed weren't free. So we skipped them- only to realize that they were. Darn it. My tailbone was so uncomfortable in those seats. It was like my tailbone was flexible and made of cartilage it hurt so bad.

We arrived in Newark Liberty Airport with our luggage that had to be stored underneath eventually because the plane and overhead compartments were so small. We bought a NJ transit ticket for 15$ each that took us from the airport tram to the NJ transit train to NYC Penn station. We walked not too far to our hotel. Luke says it's like 5-6 NYC blocks.

The sidewalks were CRAZY full of pedestrians. I think they were the most crowded streets we've ever been on. Then add rolling luggage. Luke took a route to the Hotel that passed a famous hotdog shop. It is called Gray's Papaya. We had a 2 hotdog meal with a drink for 4.00 each. It was a normal enough hotdog with a sweet onion sauce on it (maybe that was the paypaya part). They were OK. I sacrificed half of one of my hotdogs for the love of my life. The hot dog lover, Lucas Fenton. He appreciated the gesture.

We walked the few more blocks- slowly weaving through the traffic. Got to our hotel. The hotel is 30 floors tall with only 6 rooms on each floor. CRAZY. Our room is small, but not too small.

Luke let me take a nap while we got organized and freshened up. I was worried about the late broadway show we had to go to. I usually am in bed by 9 and last night I was up til 1030 and up at 0400 with only a 15 minute nap on the plane to counter act that. So I think I got a half hour nap- which re energized me just right. We went out and decided to go to Macy's Times Square and around there.

Macy's was first. We went to each floor on the escalator. There were several floors of women's clothes. We glanced at the kids floors. But we really spent the most time on the top floor at the Christmas displays were. I am sure there are more Christmas stuff to come, but this was pretty cool. They just had the trees dripping with themed ornaments. I got a picture next to the Dear Santa mailbox. You know like “Virginia there is a Santa Claus”. I didn't actually write a letter to Santa. Macy's itself was gigantic. I thought it was interesting that there were only a few of the 7 floors with bathrooms.

The only thing I really wanted to buy would be bunny stuff I couldn't live without or some Macy's reusable bags. The bags they had were not the ones I was interested in. They were more permanent with fat padded handles or a zipper.

When we finally finsished with Macy's and buying nothing, we exited one of the many exits. Luke stopped for some Coffee at Starbucks. He got a carmel brulee coffee latte. He said it wasn't that great. What we thought was hilarious was that the ladies that were making the coffee were REALLY slow. They were all talking and chatting- the line was just growing and growing. Anyway what we thought was the best wast that when she was shaking the spices on the top she shook the shaker so slowly and lazily like the shaker weighed 20 pounds. She hardly shook it hard enough for the sprinkles to be forced out the holes. We both saw it and just about laughed out LOUD. Then she announced the drink really softly and put it on the pick up counter. Whatever.

We went through to times square to look around the area and people watch. I ended up getting pooped on by a pigeon. I was just distressed. We didn't have any napkins. Luke picked most of it out of my hair and then we just let it dry. In fact later at home, I could hardly see the spot where it was. So I just brushed it out and that was all.

A family from the south asked if we take their pic. I said yes and asked them to return the favor. They were happy to. The screens were really bright, there were lots of people around. By this time it wasn't really raining or spitting any and the night was quite nice.

We spotted a Falafel stand. Luke got a falafel as it was dinner time by now. He got the spicy sauce put on it. I asked luke if he could see the handwashing facilities in the cart. Luke said he'd know in a few hours if he'd acquired food poisoning. He did not.

We headded home to get ready and get our shit together befofe the play. I tried to primp a little bit. But I can only dress up a pair of tennis shoes so much. Oh well.

At about 6.30 we left the hotel to walk the 8 blocks or so to our theatre. The theatre was kind of near Times Square. I decided I wanted to get a slice of pizza as I was getting hungry and hadn't eaten since the hotdog at noon. We ate at Villa I think it was called. It was a glorified sbarros.

We went to the show, waited in line a bit. Went in went to the bathroom and were seated. Our spot was on the extreme R side of the stage in the 4^th row. We had a nice view of the stage.

The show “A steady rain” consisted of basically NO set. Just 2 chairs and some occasional screens in the background that exemplified the story they were telling. The story was about 2 cop friends, one who kind of breaks the rules occasionally and through the events of one night his son goes to the ICU, he cheats on his wife, his wife cheats with his partner and the next few days the story slides downhill and he gets suspended and eventually kills himself- all basically for his family. The partner moves in and takes the place of the father. The partner now realizes that there is nothing he wouldn't do to protect his family- just like his partner did.

The best part of the play was the little fundraising schpiel they did at the end for broadway helps fight against AIDS. They auctioned off their wife beaters that they wore during the performance- for get this $6,000 and $7,000 each. The ladies got to go backstage and talk with them too. WOW. Thats some good money. It was fun to watch Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman interact with each other and joke around a bit. Daniel Craig was FIT. FIT. NO gut on him what so ever. His dress shirt was tailored tight at his waist. We left the show, the streets were busy, there were cops around to handle crowds and safety if needed. There were many people still out and about.

We went home and saw a Duane Reade store (which is like a Walgreens). They had some groceries and drug store type stuff and souvineers etc. We got some milk. The only milk they had was VitD milk and this one quart of skim milk that was “extra creamy.” I would have liked a half gallon or something, but this worked. We also bought some chocolate chip cookies. I wanted some ramen or Mac and cheese but it was just to expensive- like 1.90 for Kraft brand. I don't think so, or a dollar for ramen. No, sorry.

We went home, had our treat and went to bed.

First day, txt to follow later...

Cabo- Oct 9, 10

October 9, 2009

Today, we did more of the same. Sun, swim, tried to clean out the fridge, read. Had eggs and toast for breakfast, I skipped lunch, luke ate a leftover hamburger, dinner we had pork chops, cooked carrots, wild rice pilaf. We watched a little of the Twins and Yankees and went to bed.

It was windy today and the waves were really big. It was cool enough in the house to not need all the fans on. We contemplated having the windows open at night and not the a.c.

Our landlords offered to take us out to lunch for tacos tomorrow. Then we depart the next day.

October 10, 2009

This morning we woke, had cereal again for breakfast. We cleaned up a little bit. I read my book in the shade and then took a shower. I had to look nice for our lunch out.

Rod and Barb took us out to Pices restaurant. The exact same place we went a few days ago. Oh well. It was a nice time. We had lots to talk about. Luke had sopas with chicken and beef, lettuce and guacomole, cheese, onions and sour cream. I had the parmasean chicken. A chicken breast was perfectly crusted in parm, served with french fries, a little green side salad. Oh and of course it was served with soup. It was a different soup today. It was a broth based bean soup. It was tasty.

Rod and Barb gave us a road tour of the town. It was very informative. We got to ask a few of the questions we had burning in our heads.

We got back to the house and got to see the parakeet that they are trying to catch. There is a bright blue house pet parakeet that must have gotten loose from someone's house. They have a cage outside and put food and water in it. They are trying to catch the bird in the cage. They havent' been successful, but the bird hangs around and eats and drinks. They will catch him eventually.

Barb showed us the house next door that they are also managing. It will sleep like 12 all in separate bedrooms. It was a whole house that was for rent. I was impressed. The rental fee is only 125$/night. It was a very nice kitchen and living area as well as outdoor area. Looked like a nice place. I'd recommend it.

I was getting hot, Luke and I made our way out of the conversation and suited up and got in the water. I had to get reading. I needed to finish (and I did) my book that I borrowed from the book shelf in the apt.

We took a few posed timer pictures on the beach, also took some of the beach side of the house. We'll get a shot or 2 of the bedroom and bathroom later when we pack up.

Then Luke was getting antsy and “sick of drinking beer” so we packed our bags and the vanilla etc. Sadly we are bringing home a good amount of the food we brought w/ us. We didn't eat 2 boxes of flavored rice or spaghetti noodles. We are bringing home some of the boullion cubes we brought too.

Luke is makig us a meal of hotdogs, corn and ramen. The fridge is empty now except for an onion and some yucky cheese. Luke is working on the cheese in a quesadilla. I will choose not to have one of those.

We'll leave tomorrow morning at 6.30. Our suitcases are packed- we only need to pack the toiletries. I am glad to be going home. 7 days is just enough. We will be glad to make it home and pick up Kaiser.

Cabo trip

October 8, 2009

Good morning. Today I slept in a little past 745 or so. I woke to find Luke out of bed and collecting the trash for pick up. He then informed me that he was going to tuck back in some loose wiring under the rental car before we left for the morning.

We had an easy breakfast of cocoa puffed rice. The rice was so puffed that it turned into much almost instantly. Luke and I had been joking all week that they were chipoltle puffs and not cocoa puffs. Luke swore this morning that they were coffee flavored until he actually tried some. I did agree- it did smell like coffee. So we had a bowl of cocoa rice, toast and juice.

We went into town at about 10 or so. We drove around the 2 or 3 main roads. The town of Los Barielles employs LOTS of speed bumps to keep people in line. I must say it works. We got the feel of the small town by car and then found a safe place to park and traveled on foot. The safe part isn't to protect the car, safe refers to safety from being towed.

We walked past 2 tourist shops and resisted the temptation to go into them. It wasn't too hard. We walked on the sidewalk down 20 de Noviembre Calle until we past all interesting things. We found an outlet to the beach and walked there. The beach was wide and quite empty of people. There were just many boats anchored out a distance. We saw many beach homes boarded up as the owners must have been at their primary homes. We walked on the beach to the next outlet to the road.

We saw a few lime trees and a peach tree or nectarine or orange tree and a fig type tree. We also saw some fenced in dogs. What was funny was that one dog was eating a thigh of some raw poultry. He like swallowed the thigh in a few bites. We couldn't get the camera out quick enough.

We walked past a few rinky dink resorts, a few condo developments. The condos were not close to being built. It was just a gaited huge lot with signs that said 2 and 3 bedrooms starting at 250,000. We saw a real estate sign that had a comfortable beach home furnished for 60,000. We walked past a school, all the kids wore uniforms and knee socks.

Eventually we made it back to the car and headded to the grocery store. We purchased a bunch of white and dark mexican vanilla, milk, ice cream and more beer. We got Modelo light and Pacifico Clara.

We went to eat at a recommended place called Pices. It was an open air restaurant. It looked like you were under a straw hut- but you were really under a roof ( I think). Luke had a taco platter. Fish, shrimp, chicken and beef taco. We got a broth soup with vegetables as an appetizer. I had a beef tostata. It came with 3 tostadas with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and thin sour cream drizzled over top. The meal was served with avacado and salsa. Luke had a pacifico beer. The meal cost 175 pesos or about 10-12 $.

We headded home and hit the sunscreen and the beach. The waves were kind of active again. We laid out and read books again.

We read and read and moved in and out of the sun. Soon it was cooling off as the sun was going lower into sky. Luke was talking about making pork chops and cooked carrots. I just couldn't fathom eating that. I suggested pizza- expecting it to be shot down. We quick drove into town and stopped at this pre- recommended wood fire pizza place. It was quite good. We ate outside and there was mosquitos around that bit Luke. I didn't get bitten once. We ate quickly, drank our soda and beers and paid. The pizza cost 325 pesos or $28.

Here we are back at home, finishing off the blog for the evening, tending to our sunburned skin. More in the morning. Good night.

Day 3 Cabo Trip

October 7, 2009

This entry will be a short one. We woke up and found a puddle of water coming out of our refridgerator. The back panel inside the refridgerator had defrosted, somehow. Either it had been from the door being cracked open or it just spontaenously defrosted it self. I made double sure I closed the door snuglybefore I went to bed last night. Oh well.

Luke made pancakes this morning. It has been so long since I have had pancakes. They were perfect too. Fluffy and not dry, sweet, the best he's made in a while. I had a few scrambled eggs too but I was just getting too full. I gave luke ½ my serving of eggs. Something I have NEVER done before. I covet my scrambled eggs and my buttered pancakes. We had milk out of a box and orange juice too.

We warmed up some coffee and sat on the patio after breakfast to cool off a bit and get a feel for the day. Then we decided to get some house work done before it got too hot. We did dishes and Luke swept the floor for sand. It wasn't too bad.

Then we went back to bed to read a little bit more to savor the residual coolness of the airconditioned bedroom. Then went to the lounge chairs to talk and read. After a while there we migrated our stuff to the beach a bit and soaked in the water for maybe 30 min or so. I stay I the water until I start to get a little motion sick. I was floating with the two noodles that they have here. I decided I could use one more noodle to go under my knees when the other two are under my arms.

We layed and sat and read on the beach until about 1200 or so. Then came back to the shade and contemplated lunch. The late lunch ended up to be Mac and Cheese, tuna salad sandwich, fruit and yogurt. We were STUFFED.

Then we had to move the beach chairs to follow the shade. I hopped in for another quick dip to cool off. Then read and finished my second book. Still more reading, watching the beach birds glide over the water and not even a wave, wing or claw touches the water. No hermit crabs found by Luke today. He went hunting for them today. He likes to see them timidly come out of their shell when they think danger has passed, just to see Luke staring at them intently.

So here we are still outside, though it has clouded over almost completely and it is cool- for the first time it is cool outside. As cool as it can be and still be 80 degrees I am sure. I even put on a cover up. Maybe we'll get lucky and it will rain or storm tonight.

Luke got sunburned. I convinced him to put on 15 on his nose ears and shoulders. He got burned every where I didn't put it. He is happy with it thought. I got a little “color” I call it. I won't admit to being burned yet.

The neighborhood dog Ruby- who can be annoying, went on vacation to the USA today with her family. She came by this morning and said goodbye to us. She smelled the breakfast, came to the screendoor and sat in front of it. Then she found a good place in the sand and comfortably layed down in it. We were lucky not to have her jump on our boards or climb onto our shoulders in the water today. She was a pretty good puppy, though annoying at times. She did lay w/ me in the lawn chair for a bit. I had to flip her on her back and rub her belly to keep her from wanting to play and bite my hands. Silly dog.

Tonight we'll have hamburgers. I am pretty stuffed still, I hope we won't eat much more than that. Tomorrow we have decided to go into town. We are just not sure how. We'll either drive our rental car or rent an ATV from our apt owners. If we take the ATV we can just follow the beach into town. If we take the car it is a longer round about way to get there. We'll see. We already paid for the car- may as well use it, right.

End of Day 2

The wind came up, thankfully, and we went in to swim and suntan further on the beach. We packed a cooler and towel and books and beach chairs. I halfway did the boogie board and it was pretty fun. The waves are still mild, but bigger than we've seen them. The wind is a blessing, otherwise it is quite unbearable indoors and out for that matter. I didn't get sunburned, I am unsure if Luke did yet.

Luke is making Mexican Raman with leftover skirt steak that is being braised to tenderize it. We'll eat the Jello I made earlier and maybe that will be it.

We are watching the Twins game now. We NEVER watch baseball. It is pretty interesting, if they win- they will go to play the division. Luke has had quite a few beers this afternoon. Maybe he'll run out of beer.

That is all I know. Will write more tomorrow- however I think it will be more of the same. It will be reading, walking, tanning, swimming and napping all mixed up and many occuring more than twice. Excellent, just what we wanted. ljf

Day 1 and part of Day 2- Arival in Mexico

October 5, 2009
Today we are in the process of flying to our Los Barielles Vacation. We are flying MSP to PHX and PHX to SJD (San Jose del Cabo).

We spent the night in the cities last night at a Microtel. We didn't have to get up so darn early for our 0750 flight. We woke after a poor sleep and had a nice quiet breakfast of bagel, cereal, juice, muffin. We were on the road right away and off to the Park and Fly.
Our flight was about 3 hours 18 minutes. I was only prepared for a 2.5 hour flight. It was a little longer that I was expecting. I didn't like it.
We made it to PHX and had a pizza en route. Had a 2 hour time change. Now we are en route to SJD. This flight is only 2 hours long. I can handle this one.
We can't wait to get groceries and see the tropic of cancer on our way. We'll just have to get through all the loud Mexicans trying to taxi us or get us to buy time shares.
The flight finished well. As we deplaned the 90 degree weather hit us like a ton of bricks. Our luggage came out pretty quick and we stopped at the car rental desk- then sent us out (past the loud salespeople at the door) and we found the rental place. It kind of took a long time to get the paperwork of the darn car rental squared away. Luke warned me that we were getting a cheap car. He didn't even know if it had 4 doors or 2. It had 4, and it was sufficient for our needs. It is a beige Chevy manual transmission generic car. No electric anything.

We get a “map” of the area. It isn't really more than a brochure. Not good. We turn on the tom tom GPS to find that we are not even on a “road” even though we are on a toll road hwy1. (hwy 1 is the only hwy on the BAJA peninsula) If it's the only road on the strip- we can only be going one of two ways- the right way or the wrong one. We were planning on going to the toll road to get to this Mega store. It is basically a walmart. We had to use the toll road to get there. The toll cost 28 pesos or like $1.20. This is the first toll road that we've been to where there was no wait line.

We navigated to the Mega and parked- put our valuables in the trunk. We were kind of culture shocked a bit- but we followed some Americans in the store so we could emulate their behavior if needed. The store has lots of brands and is bright and shiny and sells home goods and groceries. We were in heaven and on a time clock.

Luke found some HOT off the skillet home made fresh tortillas. They were wrapped in paper and he put them in my hand and said look at these they are still hot! I took them right out of their hands.” I didn't know what he was talking about- I assumed it was cheese. Sadly – in my opinion, it was corn tortillas. I like flour tortillas better. We bought several varieties of cheese, got some milk in a box, rice, chipoltle in a can, canned veg, a pepper, some onion and blood oranges. We bought hamburger patties, some pork chops, a skirt steak, hot dogs, chorizo and lunch meat. It was interesting to see many of the US brands Hellmans, a generic canned vegetable, oscar meyer etc. That made me feel more comfortable buying them. We got mayo, butter, mustard, bread, some buns from the bakery, some canned beans, tortilla chips, salsa, beer, orange juice and pop. Luke selected a pre mixed can of tequila and the pop squirt. He loved it! I found some Mexican ramen and got the picante flavor for lukie! We found the prices not a heck of a deal but not high certainly. Luke just quoted me that the 24 approx fresh made tortillas were only $.50. WOW.

We were in kind of a hurry and could not dally – like we wanted to. We had to drive an hour to get to our place. We drove – down hwy 1 the other direction toward La Paz. We drove on the curvy and hilly 2 way road. We saw lots of 10 ft tall or so bushy brush trees. Saw some weird cactus, also saw lots of COWS. Yes COWS. They had wild cows grazing willy nilly. Some had bells on them, they would be grazing or walking in groups along the road. We only saw one dead giant bull on the side of the road. He was just absolutely HUGE. We think hitting a moose or a deer is bad- it probably toasted the car it hit. The bull looked intact unless the affected side is what he was laying on. Who knows.

We stopped at the actual point- the tropic of cancer. This meant a lot to me when I read it in the guidebook cause my sign is Cancer. So, we saw a sign for it, the monument for it was an ugly ball of concrete, no sign that says what it is or a text of information or anything to tell us of it's significance. So, we took a let down picture since we were stopped and then back tracked to the road sign and took a picture there. The road wasn't busy at all – that was nice. Luke also got his picture taken in front of a derelict Tecate' beer sign. We got back in the car and kept on going.
We saw lots of derelict housing on our way, some cookie cutter small apartments/ condos all in a row. They had gravel roads and I think they all had air conditioners. We saw lots of shacks. Literally shacks- mish mashed tin roofs the walls were made out of scraps, no doors, no running water. Basically just a shelter. We also saw lots of road side food stands. “WELCOME” they'd say or “tacos”. They looked like shacks too. We kept on driving, but made jokes about them when ever we saw one. “Can we please stop?” - that kind of thing.

We got to the turn off to the apt- it was gravel. Using gravel to term this road is too nice. We'll just call it desert floor. It had lots of ruts in it, Luke says it's from the shocks of cars that make the ruts. We had to drive pretty slow through winding brush surrounded road. We saw a chipmunk with a nut in his mouth, saw lots of garbage, a cow peeing (we took a picture). We kept on going and saw a sign with our name on it and an arrow. How nice. We kept further and saw another. I was pleased. That was nice. We came upon the first houses we'd seen on the 3 mile “lane” they were our apt and our neighbors. They are loosely fenced w/ barb wire and no trespassing signs. We saw the first penned cows- they must be owned by the Americians in the community.

We met our apartment owners and they are very kind normal 50+year olds. Their property is very very nice. All paved nicely and everything matches etc. They showed us around the apt. We have direct TV, a pretty well put together kitchen- it is only missing a decent can opener. There is a juicer, two blenders, an electric espresso maker, toaster, toaster oven and crock pot even. There is a wicker couch and love seat in the great room, seating for 4 at the bar and 3 at the table. Then in the next room are 2 queen sz beds, a walk in closet w/ tons of extra blankets and pillows as well as misc. beach items. The bathroom is nicely put together with a little sample basket with all kinds of products in tiny sizes just in case you need it. There even is a tiny bottle of nail polish remover. Very nice. We were instructed to place toilet paper in the trash can as they have a sensitive septic. That is a hard practice for me to get used to. I guess habit is habit.

After we were left on our own, we put the groceries away and then stripped to our swimsuits and went for a quick swim. We were surprised how warm the water was. The air temp was still around 90 degrees at 5.30 pm. The sand is clean- there aren't any shells or any rocks or yuck. Luke says he's seen some small fish out deeper, but I haven't seen a one. The waves were big enough to be fun- not scary or annoying. Our water shoes worked pretty well for us.

When we were done swimming we set about getting dinner ready. Luke drank some of the complimentary beers in the fridge. They were Pacifico Light and Modelo light. He liked the modelo light the best. Luke grilled the skirt steak that tastes like pork. We had spanish rice that took a strangely large amount of time and water to cook. We also had a fruit cup and some white Mexican cheese.

It was just past sunset and Luke was putting the cover back on the grill, when he heard this soft donging sound. We looked and it was 4-5 cows walking on the beach in front of our place. I tried to get a picture, but I wasn't close enough for flash and it was too dark to take w/ out. So maybe we can doctor that one later.

It was Monday night football and a big game- so we had to watch the Packers and Vikings. The Vikings won! I hit the sack before the game was over. I was falling asleep.
The beds are PERFECT. There is a memory foam mattress and I just LOVE it. We turned on the AC in our bedroom. I am glad we did. I slept just right. Just a sheet.

October 6, 2007

Slept well this night. I haven't really been able to sleep that well this last few weeks- so this was a nice change. We decided to keep the bedroom closed up with the fans on, shades closed and AC off to see how well we can keep the room “cool” . When we stepped into the living room- the heat and humidity hit us like a wall. YUCK.

The sun wasn't up yet, so we went out to watch it rise and ended up going for a beach walk. We saw lots of critter prints. One looked like a tiny tire tread. All regular and tiny. It had to be some thing with lots and lots of tiny legs. We didn't run into it in person however. We saw lots of boats getting going for their fishing day trips. We didn't walk that far- but maybe it took us 20 minutes. We were hot. We stayed outside to cool off a bit on the lawn chairs and I went back inside.

We pretty much went right back into the bedroom to read our books for an hour or so before breakfast.

Luke cooked us scrambled eggs, chorizo (Mexican sausage)- it was not too spicy, toast for me and tortilla for Luke. Luke made little mustard, egg, chorizo and spanish rice burritos. He is so clever.

We did the dishes from last night and cleaned up the kitchen. I decided to make some Jello- nothing tastes better when it is so hot.

We sat in the shade of the overhang from the patio and talked a bit. Then we got dressed for the day and took a swim. The neighbor dog, which we were warned about, LOVES water. LOVES it! Ruby, that's her name, Ruby followed us into the ocean and swam with us. She tried climbing on my boogie board. I couldn't believe it. I helped her on as it was a novelty. She is kind of a big puppy and it sinks when she's on it. So you have to hold it up and balance her. Then she'd fall off and swim around us, she would try to climb on your back so you could pull her around. I didn't go for that, she scratched my arms already- I was not going to have her scratch my legs and back. So we had to get stern w/ her and send her away. She was kind of getting annoying. Luke snorkeled a bit and looked for fish. I let the waves rock me until I got slightly motion sick. Then back to the shaded lawn chair.

I think it's funny, that whenever Luke gets up from his lawn chair- Ruby the dog takes his spot. She is always close by and just hijacks the spot. She gets sand and water all over it. I would be mad if I was Luke, he seems to be taking it well. Luke was getting antsy at about 1200. He decided he was going to go for a run. I was worried about heat exhaustion and him getting lost. The desert roads were real confusing with little off shoots all the time that probably lead nowhere. I made him promise to be gone only 30 minutes. He complied and looked pretty good when he came back. I would have looked red cheeked and pale. I wouldn't have made it.

Luke fixed us a ham sandwich, strawberry yogurt, chips, salsa, and a mini cheese plate for lunch. 2 of the 4 cheeses were not appealing to me at that moment. Yuck. One tasted like a Brie (you know kind of moldy tasting) and the other was just weird. One looked and tasted like string cheese and the other a greasy swiss type cheese. We made some lemonade and the Jello is not set yet. Luke is tired so he went out to try to take a nap in our shade.

I smartly put on sunscreen today- even though I haven't purposefully gone out in the sun to tan. Luke did not. It is too hot to be burned so early in the trip. More later.

Thanks for reading!