Archive through July 30, 2003
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TV ClubHouse: archive: 2003 June - July: Road Trips (ARCHIVE): Archive through July 30, 2003

Moondance

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 05:36 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yeah!!! Thanks MusicMan! If you need any help, let me know:)

Pamy

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 05:41 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Cool!! I am in!!! Hopefully Seamonkey can come too!!!

Egbok

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 05:46 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Okay Weinermr thanks for doing this! Let's start with the dates. Spy will be in Long Beach Oct. 15-19th. Can I suggest the TVCH So Cal gathering for Saturday, Oct. 18th?

Halfunit

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 05:55 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
<Halfunit checks Travelocity...roundtrip from CLE to LAX...arrive in LA midnight Friday night...depart LA 7 in the morning Sunday...only $308...find 6 people to donate $50 each...>


Ah... Unit is having surgery on his foot on September 23rd, so this is just a pipe dream... but it makes me happy to hear of another large gathering. Since my grandparents lived out their golden years in Leisure World, I shall be with you in spirit!

Egbok

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 05:55 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Juju, thanks for the update on Tess. I thought she would be in Winnemucca by now, where it's probably even hotter than Elko.

Tell us about Whistler!

It's hot down my way too. Last night we had lightning and thunder and some rain...it was wonderful yet strange to see, hear, and smell the rain. I can't remember the last time it rained this way.

Spygirl

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:05 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Juju, I have decided on a hotel, but it isn't for sure yet. I have to book through my employer. It is in Long Beach, however.

Saturday works for me. I'm not presenting at this conference this year, so I can skip whatever workshops are late Saturday. Are we thinking of a restaurant meeting or a park? Will it be evening?

Edited to say: Oh! I see something about the Queen Mary... What is that?

Halfunit

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:12 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
For Spy - it's the big one, lol....

1

Spygirl

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:15 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wow - what the heck do they have on that thing?

Zachsmom

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
My grandfather was a cook on that ship during the war!

Zachsmom

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Half-I'll donate $50

Pamy

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
OOOOHHH and in Oct. they make the Queen Mary a haunted ghost ship!!! It is great!!

Egbok

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:35 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Spy, I'm a dork at links but go to www.queenmary.com and you'll see they have a hotel and other fun stuff there.

Egbok

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:37 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
http://www.queenmary.com/

Schoolmarm

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:39 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Well, Half, let's just have a Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame get together! That way we wouldn't have to travel so far.

Tomorrow night I'm having Buffalo Wings with Twinkie in Buffalo at the original restaurant. WHOO HOO!

To bad I have to wait another year to go to Long Beach!

Halfunit

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 06:49 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Z'mom - to you! I wish, but DH is off of his feet for 6 weeks starting 9/23, so I will be roleplaying the sensual nurse..... yeah, right! I will have to help him though, so I won't be able to make it.

Marm - anytime! I went during the innaugural week and wasn't impressed, but it was so new and I don't think anyone knew what they were doing. Gosh.. I'd have to look at my t-shirt just to see what year that was. I have since heard it has come a long way, and it's never crowded . I'm sure Monkhead and a couple of others would meet up with us too.

I have seen the Queen Mary, but never been on her. An ex-bf has family in Chatsworth, and they rented a yacht for their 25th wedding anniversary. We happened to be out there that weekend and we got to go for a cruise of Long Beach. Very nice area!!

Buttercup

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 07:27 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
WOOHOO! Bragging Alert!

I for one don't have to wait until october--instead I am meeting Eggie, Weiner, Tess and War next Thursday!

I've been trying to work out my schedule for the longest time, and finally today I got it confirmed that next Thursday is MINE MINE MINE!!!

I am besides myself with excitement as I have never met Eggie and Weiner before! As some of you know I met Tess and War right after I started this road trip thread a little over a year and a half ago--can't wait to see them and their respective families again!!! WAHOO!

<Buttercup does a tripple backflip...leaps onto table and into chandelier...gets a good swing...lands in suitcase and starts packing>

Buttercup

Tess

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 08:36 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Buttercup, now can you just swing by and pick up War and the kids. They are without a ride as of late last night. ack! Either that or you'll have to follow us to meet them in Barstow ( or somewhere freakin hot) for late lunch on Friday as we go onto our next destination.

Egbok

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 09:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Buttercup!...I'm speechless! You can't wipe the big smile off my face right now!! It will be an honor to get to finally meet you!

Wargod

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 10:01 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Sorry Buttersis.

Darrens not getting enough time off work, and has been working too much to drive eight hours in one day. We put the decision off as long as we could, but finally had to make it. Luckily, we will get to meet Tess and family before they leave California, and there's the So Cal trip planned in the fall, so it's ok. Can you make it to Long Beach in October?

Tess

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 10:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Well, BB is not airing here in lovely Winnemucca, Nevada. Go figure! Thank goodness for AI Juniors. Miss Sarah and Charlie are in the pool and I am trying desperately to cool off.

But, let me back up to last night when Miss Sarah nearly drowned me in yesterday's hotel pool. We'd spent a long (boring) day driving across Wyoming at 90 mph. Got semi-lost in some little town in Wyoming while looking for food and again while looking for our hotel in Salt Lake City but we were in our room by early evening. Oh! and we pulled off the highway at some town called Echo in Utah. I think we tripled the town population just by showing up. There is literally only 1 house in Echo and when you stop for gas, you have to go over the to cafe and get Joe who is about 70 years old. Joe then leaves the cafe since there are no customers anyway, and rides his bike next door to turn on the pump. Gas costs an arm and a leg in Echo but Joe takes cash so we were in business!

As soon as we were settled in our hotel, we 3 hit the pool. We were having so much fun playing "Keep Away" with our inflatable SpongeBob until Miss Sarah kicked me (accidentally) right in the throat. I immediately went under water and swallowed half the pool at the very least. Charlie rescued me from the bottom of the pool and then the asthma kicked into high gear. Things went downhill for awhile but I pulled myself together. We are on vacation after all.

Today we got another late start. (I'm beginning to see a pattern here.) The first thing we did was pull off the interstate to see the Great Salt Lake. There was really nothing "great" about the part we saw especially if you consider that there was no water anywhere near the shore. I mean ANYWHERE near. Oh well. We also ended up stopping at the Bonneville Salt Flats purely by accident. It was 101 degrees there and I needed a break. Turns out it was much more of a break to be in the car. But Spongie and Juju got their picture taken with Miss Sarah and we were on our way again.

Finally, we were out of Utah and into Nevada. Nevada looks remarkably like the part of Utah we had just left.....only hotter. My car doesn't like hot. I don't like hot. Racing 85 mph through Nevada works well until the "Check Engine" light goes on in the car and won't go out even though absolutely nothing whatsoever appears to be wrong. We were on I-80 nowhere near another living creature at the time. That actually describes most of Nevada....no living creatures. We limped into Winnemucca about our usual time and once again Charlie and Miss Sarah (and Spongebob) hit the pool right away.

My Canadian grandfather lived here in Winnemucca until his death 40 years ago. He moved here sometime during the Depression years---1931 I think. It is a strange feeling being back here after 40 years. We used to go hunting for arrow heads and play in the sand dunes. But that was a lifetime ago.

Tomorrow we push onto California. I'm hoping to make a quick detour to see Lake Tahoe. It's been 30 years since I've visited there. Judging by our track record, I'm willing to bet we won't leave early enough in the morning to make any side trips. My sister will be waiting for us in Alameda, CA where I hear it is nice and cool! We'll be there for 5 days before getting on the road again. No text messaging for awhile til we get closer to civilization but we'll check in when we can.

Back to your regularly scheduled planning.

Egbok

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 11:09 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
A Sorta Summary of Eggie & DH's Vacation Road Trip:

We left early morning on July 4th from the L.A. area and eventually got onto Hwy 395, heading for Reno, NV. The 395 route was very scenic once we hit the Bishop/Mono Lake area. We stopped and visited the Monument to Honor Manzanar....history hit me in the face at full force. I was touched by the ghosts of the past.

We arrived in Carson City, NV just in time to pull over and watch some fireworks from a nearby venue. We pulled out the beach chairs and sat by our truck and said the traditional "Oooohhsss and Aaaawwwwsss". We continued on to Reno and by the time we checked into our motel room, we were too tired to feed the slots.

The next days drive had us heading to Boise, ID where we met up with our dd (who is traveling in the mid-west this summer). We arrived in Boise and it was wonderful hugging my dd once again.

July 6th: we got up and started our long drive toward Glacier, Montana. We really thought we'd get there by the end of a long driving day but we only made it to Missoula, MT because we stopped at every historic sign along the way and read about Lewis and Clark's Corp of Discovery.

July 7th: Since we were about 3 hours from West Glacier, we took our time and stopped to visit all kinds of sites - the Elk Foundation Wildlife Center, an old Catholic Church with frescos on the ceiling in St. Ignatius, and lots of shops along the way to spend the money I saved from the slots in Reno.

We arrived in the evening to meet up with our group in West Glacier, MT. The majority of the group were in RV's and then there were a few of us with tents. Ahhh, but my tent had a queen sized air mattress in it! We also had full use of my sis-in-law's RV, so I was totally okay sleeping in our tent.

The main part of our vacation was for river rafting on different rivers in Montana and Idaho over a 10 day period. Our group averaged about 75 people, with some coming and going all the time, so the group grew or thinned out at various times. I guess I should tell you that we knew the majority of these people as they are alumni/friends/families from a college we are acquainted with. Most of them were teachers, with an aircraft controller, airliner pilot, diesel mechanic, and a firefighter thrown in to add spice to the group!

We floated daily but there were some days that I stayed at camp and did my own thing...like snoozing and reading...you know, vacation stuff! My absolute favorite river to float was on the Flathead, up near Glacier National Park...lots of whitewater, and the water was so crystal clear that I could see the rocks at the bottom of the river from 12-14' deep. Along with the water being so clear and blue, it was also very, very cold...like ice water.

On the Salmon River in Idaho, the water was warmer and it looked like your average river water. On this float, it was so dang hot that I asked if I could jump into the river during the slow part of the river...our raft leader said yes, so I did...well, I didn't jump into the river...it was more like roll off the side of the raft and flop into the river. It was sorta cold and scary! and I loved it!! As I'm hooking my river booties/feet under the raft rope and laying back and floating, everyone starts yelling..."a bear cub, a bear cub!"...I quickly pulled myself in an upright position and peeked toward the shore and there it was...a little black bear cub...I've never seen one in the wild and it was a scene I'll never forget. Soon after that event, I could hear the sound of upcoming rushing water and I was immediately pulled up into the raft like a beached whale...I can't begin to tell you how refreshing my dip was! Poor guys who had to pull me in though - LOL! We got through the next set of rapids with me in the raft a-okay!

My dh got to do some floats in a "rubber ducky", individual inflatible kayak with a double bladed paddle...he loved the experience. I wasn't that adventurous, so I stayed in the safety of the "E Ticket" ride in the raft.

My dh and I did a sidetrip and went into Glacier National Park for the day. We did two hikes that day for a total of 8 miles and boy! did I sleep good that night! One hike was The Walk of the Cedars to Avalanche Lake. Along the hike I saw river gorges that were awesome...the water being so powerful and forceful that the huge boulders were craved in an inward curve...nature at it's best IMHO. The other hike we did was to Hidden Lake where we started from the Visitor Center walking on cedar walkways, which turned into dirt trails then turned into walking through snow! The snow wasn't too deep where the trail was, but it was slippery in walking shoes! I liked walking through the snow though because with the hot day, it felt like walking through air conditioning! As we neared Hidden Lake, we literally ran into some mountain goats and saw a Ram/Big Horned Sheep sitting in a snowfield off in the distance. The goats were obviously used to people because they roamed around like we weren't there. We eventually got to see Hidden Lake and it was a sight...the alpine mountains with glaciers in the background were so pretty...again, nature at it's best.

Another side trip we did took us away from our group overnight. We drove to Great Falls, MT to visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center since this is the Centennial of the Corps of Discovery (1804-2004). Montana and Idaho are doing lots of special events to honor this mark. I loved learning all the facts about L & C and all the people involved with the Corps of Discovery...like Sacagawea, York and Colter.

We saw lots of wildlife on this trip and you've got to understand how thrilling that is for people like us who live in the L.A. area. We saw bald eagles, deer, buffalo, grouse, heron, river otters, osprey, and don't forget the bear cub!

We eventually had to come home and as we headed home, we decided we had an extra day to spend in Las Vegas. So we did!

Thanks for letting me share some of the highlights of our vacation road trip!
Eggie

Buttercup

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 03:48 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wow! Sounds like a great trip, Eggie. I am so looking forward to finally meet you too :)

Warsis, I am so sorry you can't make it <pout...pout...pout> As of right now I can't meet up with you like Tess, though my schedule have been known to change

Long Beach in October sounds like fun, but I am not sure if it will work with my schedule yet. Though, some day I'm sure that I'll see you again. If not you, then prolly Kota on BB in a few years

Buttercup

Wargod

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 03:52 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
LOL, I'm so hoping October fits into my schedule. My sister had to go and get pregnant and theres some debate as to whether she's due mid October or mid November, LOL

If Kota joins up, it'll be under Tomato_Thrower.

Juju2bigdog

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 06:38 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Egbok, your trip sounds wonderful. I have been to that area once, and there is not a more beautiful place.

Resortgirl

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 07:01 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hrumph! You've never been HERE juju!!! LOL!!!