Benicia Public Pier and Beach, Benicia

5/7/13

WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE

It'll take just one walk through the streets of Benicia that lead to the waterfront before you fall in love with the quaintness of this little town. Small shops, friendly patrons and vendors, pleasant weather, and a waterfront with a great view.






Myself and three others spent Saturday afternoon walking through the streets and enjoying all the nicest surrounding us. At the end of First Street is water. When your toes are wet, you've gone too far.  There's actually a small beach area so we were able to access the water and I did get my feet wet! The water was nice (though a little muddy!) Even the beach was more muddy than sandy, but still really pretty!






I think another trip to this water will be coming this summer, and will involve fishing poles and some beer!!

Great Wall of Oakland

5/13/13

OAKLAND CAT INTERNET VIDEO FESTIVAL AT THE GREAT WALL

Hi fwwwiends! We attended a purrfectly fun event this Saturday at the Great Wall. As lovers of the furry felines, we happily put on our cat costumes and scurried down to Oakland to watch all our favorite Internet kitties. My all-time favorite Internet cat is Sparta Cat, but many were featured at this fundraiser for the East Bay SPCA.  Adoptions took place and a couple people brought their kitties along with them. I do have an enclosed cat stroller but thought our cats would prefer staying at home. Soothing cat massage instruction was offered. And all attendees were invited to strut for treats at the cat walk!! Face painting for $5 donations put whiskers on a lot of faces!Tickets for adults were $10 in advance or $15 at the door.

(=^..^=))/

The Great Wall of Oakland worked with the Walker Art Center to bring this Festival to Oakland, and the Mayor of Oakland even declared the day an official festival day for Oakland. There were a lot of people in attendance, though I'm not sure they hit the 5,000 mark they'd hoped for. The first 500 people received free bags of cat food, but I'm pretty sure that was just a way to encourage early arrival and they actually had  a lot more than 500 free bags. Ten lucky participants won touch-screen gloves as well when purchasing tickets through EventBrite. (We won a pair!)

The Great Wall made a wonderful backdrop for bands performing, aerial dancers, a juggling circus, and ultimately the cat videos. We didn't stay until dark so we only participated in the daytime cativities, and had a really great time doing so! The Great Wall hosts so many awesome aerial performances, this was the first time I'd seen the streets nearby closed off as well. Really fun! Can't wait for the next annual cat festival!

 

Carnival Cruise (Long Beach, CA to Ensenada, MX) 3 day

12/27/14

I've been on vacations around the world, but this was my 1st cruise. I wanted to do something local, w/ a destination that I'd be OK to only get to explore for a day. I've been to Ensenada before, so the 3-day trip on Carnival's Imagination was perfect for me.

If you've been on a cruise before, then this summarizes my holiday trip: staff was amazing, food was great, entertainment was outstanding, it was a great deal for a short trip with one destination.


If you haven't been on a cruise before, here's what you can expect on this ship:

My husband booked the trip "last minute" (about a month in advance). We had a choice between a 3 day trip (Ensenada) in December or 4 day trip (Catalina Island & Ensenada) in January for  just a little more$$.  The 3 day departed on Sat. evening (5 pm) and returned Tues. (9 am).  We checked in & received a card that you keep on you during the entire trip. They will swipe this card if you want to buy drinks, spa services, etc - the credit card you have on file is billed at the end, but you can check/pay your balance at any time prior to that at guest services.





We checked out our room (M12 - 5th Floor - Main Deck).  Marvin was the staff person in charge of cleaning our room 2x a day, folding our towels into animals & leaving chocolates on our pillows before bed. He greeted us by name as we walked up, and every time he saw us through the week, he made sure to say "Hi Amy! Hi Casey!" and ask us how we were doing. This was amazing!

Our bags were at our room before we were & an itinerary for the ship's daily activities was next to the room service card with 24 hour menu options & a breakfast card if we wanted breakfast delivered to bed. We went to the lobby bar and my husband purchased a soda card ($6/day for unlimited soda). I wanted the alcohol card, but it works out to $170 for the trip, and that's a per person charge - both people in a room have to purchase it. So that didn't work for us. We each brought a bottle of wine onboard anyhow, so I only ended up buying a couple of drinks each day.



We went shopping and I bought a gorgeous Citizen watch for my husband for Christmas. There aren't a lot of shopping options on the ship - only a couple small stores.  They also have a gym which I went to the first morning (Sun.). I had sprained my ankle on Friday before departure, so I wasn't able to run on the outdoor Olympic jogging track, but they have a nice padded track w/ ocean views.  We played mini golf & bean bags while on board but never found time for ping pong.  We would have like to go swimming but the small pool was freezing - this was the only kind of disappointing part of the trip, but my injured foot was afraid to swim anyhow. My husband went on each of the 2 waterslides. We never had a chance to get in the hot tubs because they were always swarming w/ children, but we stayed warm by basking in the sun on the lounge chairs around the different decks.

Fitness center

At night we enjoyed music at the piano bar with great singing and fun! Comedians Russ Nagel & Will Marfori kept us laughing during the family shows and especially at the late-night adult-only shows. We sat through a little karaoke and even danced along to the amateur singing (but did not sing ourselves). At night we hit up the dance club and I hobbled about on my sprained foot as best as I could to a packed dance floor with great songs. I won a prize on the game Hasboro game show!

Pianist

Tea time on Monday was awesome! It took place in the piano bar & we were served hot tea, cakes, cookies, and cucumber sandwiches. The Taste Bar opened up small plate samples at night time. Neither of these were anywhere near as amazing as the dining hall options. We choose open dining rather than an assigned dining time. Food was incredible w/ an extensive menu & service was better than you'll find anywhere else. We made friends with the tables around us & said hi to our dining partners all weekend long. The food doesn't stop there. A wonderful buffet with terrific fresh salad ingredients, grilled fish, beet salad, cauliflower and blue cheese, or hot dogs, grilled burgers, etc was available at night. Pizza with a thin crust and tons of topping options was available 24 hours a day, as was the soft serve ice cream (& room service). Everything was delicious. Iced tea & hot tea were free in the buffet hall.


Staff all over the boat had smiles on their faces and were extremely accommodating through the whole trip. 16 hour work days, for 7 months on/2 months off - can you imagine how hard that would be?! And to keep a smile on your face every day while youre away from home.I have so much respect for their team, who made my trip extra special. These employees come from all over the world and they really made us feel like VIP.

Booked thru Last Minute Cruises - $299 each, plus $36/day tips, $17/day parking in Long Beach - next time (later this year!!) I'm inviting all my friends to come w/ us! Can't wait to return!

The Pole, Long Beach

12/23/14

My sweet husband knows how much I love quick little obscure spots, like this one. We had a few hours to spend in Long Beach and nothing planned, so we stopped here after finding the LB Ferris Wheel closed.  A pole by itself is not quite as exciting as a big spinning wheel attached to a pole; but it would have to do.






















I have to say it was really disappointing to learn that the flag no longer flies. We missed this attraction by a couple of years and wondered where the world's largest flag flies now?

Thomas "Ski" Demski owned this superflag and it flew in front of his home. Neighbors in the 1980s sued to have the flag removed due to the amount of noise it created when it blew in the wind. And I imagine it would have been a long of noise, given it's size. It weighed in at 3,000 pounds with each star 17 feet high. The 132 foot flag pole remains in Long Beach, sitting flagless. And this superflag is no longer the world's largest. But it was still pretty neat to visit the tall structure and the statue of Demski

below it.

Lawrence & Martha Joseph Residence & Apartments, Los Angeles

12/23/14

"Are we allowed to be here?" My husband asked me, after we parked in a lot next door and walked up the short driveway to these unreal little homes. I couldn't answer him because I didn't honestly know. All I knew was that "here" was someone's beautiful residence and we were on their property cooing at their pond turtles and checking out their "hobbit houses".





The homes were designed by Disney Studios artist Lawrence Joseph in 1970. Mr. Joseph passed away in the early 90s but the Los Angeles Conservancy protects his landscape with an easement.

Behind the turtle ponds at the front are a couple of separate private, round,  European cottage-style apartments with storybook architecture. The trees encircling their stairs and roofs make you forget where you are. Shade, a waterfall, soft windy air breezing by. It's a beautiful piece of Los Angeles! Glad we took a second before leaving to bask in the rays of sunshine near our shelled friends.

Walnut Creek International 1/2 Marathon (and 5K)

12/14/14

I'm really glad that the event organizers emailed us shortly after the race to explain what happened yesterday. I arrived about 10 minutes early for yesterday's 7:30 a.m. 5K start time. I was a couple blocks from Civic Park as I heard the race countdown. I ran the rest of the way to find nobody at the start - the time was already 2:04. They started early?!

The beginning part of the course was really muddy so you had to go walking-speed slow, but I made up some of this time later, especially with all the wonderful encouragement I received along the track from College Park HS students.  The kids volunteered to stand around the course with signs and words of encouragement, and even their school mascot at Walden Park! A giant purple falcon will make you RUN!

I ran through the school yard, on the trails, up and down the Robert Schroeder Bridge, and finally, back to Civic Park. My ending time was 35:50. Minus the 2:04....33:46 - my fastest run in a long time! So, what happened? Some a$$hole drunk driver crashed earlier that morning in Concord (actually at the intersection where I live - which is notorious for fatalities and terrible accidents). The streets were closed and the 1/2 marathon was shortened by 3 miles, so they changed our start time to prevent the majority of both race's runners all ending at the same time.

Volunteers passing out water & snacks

It was great to hear my name announced as I crossed the finish line and received my awesome medal. That's fun! And there was a photographer at the finish (as well as many others along the course.) Lots of awesome snacks and beverages were gifted to us, and McKinnon massage school students were there giving free (amazing) massages.  I found a friend who flew into town just for the 1/2 marathon, gave her a hug, and went home to crawl back into bed.

Wonderful, well-organized race - especially since they had to deal with rain-soaked fields and one stupid, selfish, drunk driver.