California Trip - Reflections # 3

THE UP SIDE
(Why It Was All Really Worth It)
by Bill Dargan

1. Spending quality time with family

2. Lots of jokes and laughter

3. Short walk to the bathroom on the train

4. Trains and one hotel had power-flushers

5. Ample room for bags and selves on train

6. Miranda read "Sorcerer's Son" to me and Tim

7. Revised our schedule and saved a lot of driving time

8. Got to see many sights from the train window; Tim liked the ocean

9. Batman's bag came in handy lots!

10. Talked to lots of nice strangers

11. Good time walking with Miranda

12. Got to know Ginger much better

13. Megan and Tim had bonding time at beach

14. We had "song time" on the way to L.A.

15. 2 "angels" helped us when we were in need

16. Tim got some career ideas (marine biologist, teacher)

17. Great "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories invented

18. Tim's malaprops were a hoot

19. Nice visit with the Yaqubs

20. Miranda got some personal time on the wharf

21. The dream bathroom at the hotel in Santa Maria - 4 rooms in one!

22. Idea for Italian herbs on veggies from Pantry

23. Tim helped me get to my emails

24. Wonderful time together at Morro Bay

25. Morro Bay hotel - backed right up to door to unload bags

26..Megan got a new Nativity at the San Miguel Mission

27. Tim and I talked about Catholicism in the Mission chapel

28. Great time with Mary & Patsy; reliving some old times

29. Meg and Hal got to meet Maleen and Tyler

30. All had fun eating and shopping in Solvang

31. Tim spent lots of time with the girls, especially Robyn

32. Tim went to the beach with the Caziers

33. Megan told Miranda the "Parent Trap" story

34. Megan had personal time at the Anaheim pool and spa

35. Vicki helped us all immensely; we got to know her better

36. Disneyland gave us CREDIT on our passes

37. June, Robyn and Ives were introduced to Disneyland; they most loved the SCARY rides

38. Tim and I did our Dumbo and Autopia traditions

39. Caziers met up with Brenna

40. Tim and Vicki did the Teacups

41. The girls and I loved Tink and other fairies at Pixie Hollow

42. Everyone loved the Ariel's Grotto Princesses experience for the girls

43. Blue Bayou - special time for us 4!

44. Tim got special treatment and instructions at the Magic Shop

45. I joined the Caziers for Star Tours (thanks to Maleen)

46. Mickey's Parade - Dargans and Caziers unite for spectacle!

47. Miranda and I did some daddy/daughter shopping time.

48. Coco's - some of the best family laughs (and best dessert of trip)!

49. We got EVERYTHING in a tiny cab back to Amtrak

50. Came to many important conclusions about future; trip helped me focus on what I need to be doing!

Megan's Comments:

While some of these are legitimate 'up side' things, a lot of it just reads like a recap of our trip. However, I won't complain because at least it is positive. I'm not sure that revising our trip to save driving time was really an 'up side', because it meant we missed out on seeing my brother and his family, as well as my Uncle Jim and Tim Cole. In retrospect I wish we had gone (although that probably would have been another major 'down side'!)

Now that it's all over, I wish we were back at the beginning again. I can hardly wait for a repeat trip in 2015 - with all 5 of Maleen's daughters!

Of course, they'll be a little older by then . . .

California Trip - Reflections # 2

THE DOWN SIDE
(Why I Never Want to Do This Again)
by Bill Dargan

1. Staying up too late (especially Tim)

2. Getting up too early (especially Tim after staying up too late)

3. Sleeping with Tim

4. Dirty floors (rugs)

5. Tim sleeping on dirty floors (when he got mad)

6. Tap water loaded with chlorine

7. Dirty bedspreads

8. Thermostats (air conditioners) that don't work

9. Boxes in hotels with little or no kleenex

10. Hangers your coat falls off

11. Tim using all the towels and washrags

12. Too many bags and suitcases to carry

13. Train water dispensers that trickle and are unsanitary

14. Toilets that flush slowly and plug up easily

15. FILTHY train bathrooms

16. Tim putting dirty socks and shoes where they don't belong

17. Tim being rude and surly and having meltdowns

18. Too many beggars

19. Too long lines for rides

20. Rude people

21. Attractions with decibel-damage loudness

22. Too large crowds

23. Unrealistically high prices (especially food)

24. 2nd floor hotel rooms (or rooms too far from the car)

25. Problems getting on hotel internet

26. Noisy people in adjacent hotel rooms who party all night

27. Not enough room in taxis for your bags

28. Rental cars that no one explains and don't have owners manuals

29. No parking places available

30. Heavy traffic with crazy drivers at all hours of day and night

31. Not having a coat when you need it

32. Bad jerky motions on train

33. No room for souvenirs in bags

34. Not being able to hear your cell phone in your pocket

35. Tough walk to nether parts of train

36. Kids playing too many video games

37. Too much driving

38. Too packed itinerary; no time to just relax and veg

39. Tiny parking stalls

40. Bad areas of town; fear muggers

41. Inadequate sink space

42. Maps that don't have enough info

43. Tim fiddling with EVERYTHING!

44. Home towns changing for the worse

45. California heat

46. Trying to do laundry on the road

47. (I'm omitting this one because it is too ludicrous)

48. Feeling sore and exhausted constantly

49. Shuttle buses that didn't keep to their schedule

Megan's comments:

Actually, I found myself laughing a lot as I typed up this list. I mean, Bill obviously had to really stretch to come up with so many 'down sides', and many of them don't really have anything to do with taking a vacation - they're just part of normal, every day life.

If you didn't know Bill as well as I do, after reading this list you would think that the vacation was a total disaster. ANY vacation would be equally hard on a person who doesn't like driving, crowds, dirt, or being out of their normal routine. However, stay tuned - tomorrow I'll write down his list of the "Up Side" of our vacation.

P.S. He is telling everybody that this was the BEST vacation we have ever had. Go figure!

California Trip - Reflections # 1

Bill's Highlights of our California Trip

Day 1 (6/20) - nothing

Day 2 (6/21) - nothing

Day 3 (6/22)
Walk with Miranda in San Diego
Dinner and beach by night with Ginger

Day 4 (6/23)
Circus of the Sea (Cirque du Mer) at Sea World
Sea Lion Show at Sea World
Trainers playing with Orcas at Sea World
Angel #1 helped us when we were lost in L.A.
Scary hotel in Chinatown

Day 5 (6/24)
Universal Studios tram ride - King Kong 3D
Tim walked up 3 of 4 levels of stairs
Tim freaked out at the House of Horrors
Animal Actors show - could have touched the falcon!
Tim now taller than me

Day 6 (6/25)
Tim's stories filled with malaprops ("mortified")
Visit with Yaqubs in Santa Barbara
Shopping at Produce Company in Santa Barbara
Shopping at Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara
Best tasting veggies on trip at Pantry Restaurant

Day 7 (6/26)
Tim fed seagulls at Morro Rock (poopy bird got Megan)
Mission San Miguel
Mary & Patsy have us straddle Pacific and American Plates on the San Andreas Fault
Dinner at Parkfield (population 18)

Day 8 (6/27)
Shopping & pastries in Solvang (Meg along)
Bought the fairy/angel mirror in Solvang
Dinner with Meg and Hal at the Elks Club

Day 9 (6/28)
Caziers meet Meg & Hal at Golf Course breakfast

Day 10 (6/29)
Tradition: Dumbo ride with Tim
Tradition: Back car on Casey Jr. Circus Train
All the USUAL FUN STUFF!
New: World of Color - not that great

Day 11 (6/30)
Had picture taken with Tink
Aladdin Show (Genie stole it!)
New: Ariel's Undersea Adventure
Ariel's Grotto - Girls got pictures taken with 5 princesses
Bought a Tink doll

Day 12 (7/1)
Tim buys cool tricks at Magic Shop
New: Star Tours Redone - EXCELLENT!
Blue Bayou Monte Cristo Lunch
Mickey' Sound-tacular parade
Golden Horseshoe Hillbilly Band
Tradition: Autopia with Tim
Bought the Glerp
4th of July fireworks Show: America the Beautiful
Megan bought multi-colored rose

Day 13 (7/2)
Brief visit to Tara in Manhatten Beach - Ultimate Claustrophobia!
Lunch at Coco's - best dessert of the trip! (Harvest Strawberry Pie)

Day 14 (7/3)
Angel # 2 - helps us get a cab to Amtrak

Day 15 (7/4) - nothing

Megan's comments: Although I don't have a list of Highlights day by day, I would have to say that what I really enjoyed about this trip was three little girls having the time of their life - right along with their mother, father and other grandmother. Their joi de vivre was infectious, and no matter how tired or hot we were, just looking at them made the whole trip worth while.

California Trip - Day 15

July 4 - Monday "Final Stretch - Last Gasp"

After the terrible night, I ate dinner leftovers (slowly so as to avoid hernia problems), took my last set of pills (miscalculated by one day), and took 20 minutes filling up water bottles (water just dribbled out of dispenser).

I wrote "The Down Side" and Megan had a bad reaction to it. I wrote "The Up Side" and she said I was redeemed. Megan said she was feeling vulnerable and worried a bit about other women. I assured her I only had other eyes for:

Tink,

Emma Frost,

Power Girl &

She-Hulk
(not Miss Piggy anymore).

We wondered why Tim has adopted a 'racist' attitude in who he would date (no Blacks, Hispanics or Asians); otherwise he is not actually discriminatory; has has Black, Hispanic and Asian friends (Niles, Gil, & the Carpenters). Megan and I only became a little prejudiced when we got to college - the way we were treated by Blacks. We evaluate all people by how they act towards us, not skin color.

I finalized my journal contents and added maps, receipts, lists, et. al. Called Brett & Alyssa to make sure they hadn't forgotten to pick us up. Megan read me "Clever Alice". Tim got upset and started crying when he messed with Miranda's Pokemon game and she didn't want to play anymore.

I gave "Wolfie" (Greg) our card. Megan finally told him about Miranda's relationship to Tim. He was astounded. The floor in front of Tim's seat looked like a pivot point for a halftrack (like his room or computer area at home). It took him a long time to clean it up.

We had one hard thump that felt like we were going off the track; something hit the bottom of the train. Things got green again in Oregon. There was some really cool little town just north of Kelso, but we didn't see a name. Beautiful rustic homes. Very brief, saw no people.

I started writing up a new schedule with goals & projects.

My comments:

Yes, I did get upset when Bill read me his list of "The Down Side". Here we had just had a wonderful vacation with our family, and he was listing all the things he didn't like about it - and he had 49 things listed! He said that he had already written the "Highlights" of the trip, so they were balanced, but I didn't think so. So he cudgeled his brain and came up with 50 things on "The Up Side".

"Clever Alice" was a little story that was written by the same author as "The Little Lame Prince".


I love "The Little Lame Prince", but "Clever Alice" was one of the stupidest stories I've ever read, and I wanted to see if Bill felt the same way. He did.

I was on the wrong side of the train to spot the Master's house, but I did see the path that winds down to the train track. It flashed by so fast that I almost missed it, so I can see why we didn't see the Master's house on the trip down. As we passed through the North End we could see all the people gathered to watch the fireworks later on (it WAS the 4th of July). Huge crowds, and lots of little booths selling all kinds of food. However, we all agreed that the fireworks at Disneyland beat anything we could see.


Brett met us at the station and we managed to stuff everything (including ourselves) into his car. I have to admit that it was nice to get home and collapse. At least I collapsed. Bill did his usual frantic unpacking-everything-and-putting-it-away but Tim's suitcase sat in the hallway for a couple of days before he finally took care of it.

California Trip - Day 14

July 3 - Sunday "Memories are Made of This"

Got up at 6 am, out of the hotel by 7. We filled up the rental car with gas and took it to the Thrifty depot. Amazingly, we were able to carry all the 4 bags and 9 carry-ons by ourselves to the rental check-out. They told us they had no access to taxis and to go to the airport.

We didn't want to go that route, but got on the LAX shuttle. That's when we met our 2nd angel: a pilot on the shuttle who scolded the driver for not dropping us off a block up at a hotel where there were plenty of taxis. (He said, "C'mon, they're OLD!") The pilot even got off and helped us take our stuff over there.

We got a much smaller taxi than the one we got at the train station before. It was a "keystone cops", 20 gorillas in the car, Mr. Toad's wild ride experience. We had Tim, Miranda and me in the back seat with 7 bags. I had Batman, med chest and the food bag (about 55 pounds) all on my lap and hanging on for dear life as the window was wide open. I was a bit nauseated and kept my nose to the food bag with eyes shut.

At Union Station/Amtrak we checked our luggage at Ticketing and sat down for a long wait (better early than late). A man with a big pack struck up a conversation and asked me for $. I gave him a dollar. There was a moment of panic at Ticketing when I couldn't find my driver's license (I finally found it - had consolidated it with a few other cards for Dizzy; it was a terrible feeling).

A long line at the boarding pass place formed suddenly, and Megan had to wait awhile, when we expected to be right at the front. Beggars kept approaching us and it got annoying; the cab driver had warned us about it.

Megan rented a $4 cart and we walked to track 10. We got train "14", car number "14" (Phantom shuttle x 2 - a bad sign?). We took four seats at the back - everything was good: leg room, bag room, finally a bathroom break (before the restrooms got too dirty). Our seats #6 & 7 weren't together, but we sat together, hoping they wouldn't evict us. (They didn't)

Noisy Japanese shared the car with us. Everyone wanted ginger, it was so shaky. The conductor (a little like Patrick Warburton) said Miranda looked like trouble (jokingly). I wrote up the highlights of everything that happened on this vacation.

We saw the front of the train as we went around a curve.

In San Luis Obispo. Megan and I got out to stretch our legs in the heat. The 30+ people in the Japanese group got off; I bowed to one of the elders; he smiled, bowed back, and thanked me.

I napped for quite a while comfortably enough. At 7 pm, we went to the dining car for dinner. Megan had a horrible lap-band episode, and we all had to exit post-haste. It was cold in our little room. Miranda read to us until we reach San Jose and new people (Samoans) filled our car.

It was another nightmare night - kept getting waked up by people moving around, the sliding door, neck and back pains (could only sleep in the "bus position" {head hanging forward} and it got painful after a while). Also had "hot feet" and "restless leg" tickles. Hard to get water from the cooler, etc.

Megan, Miranda and Tim were up and down to the lounge car all night playing cards and games. My tooth started hurting pretty much in the "bus position" - I think the nerve is dying. at about 6 am Tim came in, opened my curtain to let light in and started talking. After that I couldn't go back to sleep. It took a long time but I got my water bottle filled.

My comments:

We ended up leaving the hotel much earlier than we needed to because Miranda was paranoid that we might miss the train. I have to admit that I was really disappointed with the Thrifty car rental people. They could have phoned for a taxi for us, but they insisted we had to take the Thrifty shuttle to the airport to get a taxi there OR we could walk the block down to a hotel that had taxis. However, physically we weren't up to lugging our stuff that far.

Then we got into an argument with the stubborn shuttle driver. He wanted to know which airline we were flying on, and didn't seem to understand that we weren't planning on flying. There were a few pilots for Alaska airlines on the shuttle, and one of them suggested that the shuttle guy drop us off at the hotel - which the shuttle guy flat out refused to do. The pilot got quite heated in his argument with them (that's where the "Come on - they're old" comment was made). Finally he just said he'd help us, and he DID - carried a lot of the luggage over to the hotel. Such a nice guy.

I enjoyed the taxi ride, but I was sitting up front next to the driver. He was Middle Eastern and we had a nice conversation about all kinds of things. Much to my surprise, he was NOT pro-Obama. Cost another $60 though. I think I'll have to plan things out differently next time.

While waiting for the train, I made a couple of trips to the little convenience store. I needed to buy feminine supplies for Miranda, and I picked up a couple of snacks as well. Renting the little cart to pile all our luggage on was a stroke of genius. We were all so tired by then.

The first day of the train trip went pretty much as Bill described it. When we got out at San Luis Obispo I spoke briefly with a scar-faced lady with a dog. She warned me away from the dog, as apparently he is a 'guard dog'. She was polite enough, but obviously didn't really want to talk to anybody. I think she got off in Oakland.

Other than that, it was a typical boring, not-very-comfortable ride, although I did enjoy looking at the scenery. Didn't get much sleep (as usual), and could hardly wait to get home!