Saturday, April 02, 2011
About a month ago, Chilly and Michael came to visit me and we went to a few ghost towns that are near where I live. Because I am lazy/busy with other things, I am only now getting around to blogging about it.
Labels: Chilly, Friends
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
So I was going through pictures (again) and came to the sudden realization: Holy Snot! I never blogged about San Fransisco! To rectify the situation, I now blog. About San Fransisco.
Once upon a time it was June and my soul was owned by Disney. The Scheduling Gods smiled down upon me, though, and allowed me to purchase a plane ticket to San Fransisco, where I would be meeting Chillylint at the airport (it took a while; we were lost from each other and I started to have panic that I'd never find her). Somehow it had fallen upon my shoulders to reserve a hotel room, so I did, but I think Chilly learned her lesson and, on our third honeymoon (because this was the second, the last one being in October last year when we went to Disneyland together- Oh, the irony), I think I will not be booking the room. Our hotel was very far from BART and all other modes of public transportation, and it wasn't even in the city. It was in a totally different city. However, the hotel staff were very nice and, dood, at least it was inexpensive and basically Brand New, so everything was in working condition and I think the beds were decent. Despite the fact that I developed a nasty rash that weekend that lasted for nearly 2 months. Awesome.
Anyway.
Many details are a little fuzzy to me now that it has been so long, but as luck would have it, Chilly was totes on top of things and blogged about our little adventure basically right after it happened. See
[here].
I do, however, have a few more pictures and details to add, assuming I can find where I put the pictures, which we hope I can because I've been organizing them and they weren't in my To Organize Folder. I'm guessing this means I already put them where they belong.
Ahkay. Here we go.
So, Friday, the day we flew in, was spent wandering the streets of DownTown while we waited for bismark, our escort/taxi to arrive. He was awesome enough to drive up from Sacramento (I think?) and cater to our every need the whole weekend. What did he get out of it? Well, not much, I'm sure, other than the fact that he got to have two of the most amazing females on this enter PLANET for company. Chilly got my camera all of Friday (she forgot hers. How? I still don't understand that one), so I have no pictures of China Town, which is where our end-goal was and where we eventually ended up.
Saturday, Chilly and I went to Alcatraz! I love that place So. Much. and thought it was worth every penny spent on getting over there. The picture above is us at the sign. Obviously. Sad hearts, though, the white balance was off on my camera the ENTIRE WEEKEND, and somehow I didn't notice/think about it/realize this was the problem, so most of my shots are way blown out. Sad. Especially considering the fact that we got a picture with a really, REALLY sparkly man in Ghirardelli Square for 2 dolla later in the day (btw, if you ever are in San Fransisco and see Sparkly Man, it's totally worth the dollar tip to get your picture taken with him. He's hilarious).
We got this kind of behind-the-scenes tour of the island, as Chilly noted on her blog, by a guy who grew up there. His dad was a foreman/engineer/something like that, not a prisoner. Good to know our tour wasn't being given by a Dangerous Criminal, right?
Inside the doorway, you can just make out the bathtub where the Bird Man of Alcatraz would shave his ENTIRE BODY (he was one creepy guy). This, to me, is disgusting and reason enough to Avoid the Tub, but Chilly, being braver than I, got her picture in it. As well as several other people who were in the tour with us. I was good with a distance-shot, personally. I mean, hello? Germs? Yeah, gross.
After the tour, we wandered around the island and ruins for a bit before taking the ferry back to the mainland where we met up with bismark again at Fisherman's Warf. This is, of course, after Chillylint spent mega bucks on jewelry that she didn't need (but it was beautiful and I totally supported her in this investment) and a Glinda Nutcracker (from Wizard of Oz!), which I'm pretty sure I was the one who told her she HAD TO BUY THIS!
I wanted to see Japan Town, too, (big surprise there), so we walked up 50 million hills and down a hundred thousand stairs on Lumbard Street to get to bismark's car (San Fransisco is not a parking/driving friendly city, we learned). Once we reached Japan Town, we took a little breather and just sat for a while. I guess. I don't actually remember why it was we sat down, but we did.
Next thing I know, weird things are happening.
Somehow we decided I needed a picture, too, but it just resulted in a fit of giggles and, well, you can see how much less-awesome it is when I try to be like Chilly.
And so we see that no one can be as cool as Chillylint no matter how they try.
Shortly thereafter (in fact, I think it was like immediately after this picture was taken), bismark got fed-up with our sillyness or something, and decided it was time to stop taking pictures, so we went inside the shopping center where I wanted basically EVERYTHING but only spent $15. Go me!
So, the end. That was this year's San Fransisco trip. Hopefully someday I can go again and get a better picture with Sparkly Man and have more money/time for things like Japan Town and other such awesomeness.
Labels: Chilly, Friends, travel
Monday, June 08, 2009
Day 3 in Utah:
We decided to switch things up a bit and took a plane to Salt Lake (instead of driving all the way there). We had to get up bright and early (sort of) to get to the airport. Here you can see Kyle and Felix enjoying their first class seats! Oh, if only we all could have been so lucky. Our flight landed around 9 am in Salt Lake, and my Chillylint was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and then let us borrow her car.
We spent some time up on Temple Square after dropping Chilly back off at work. Somehow I finagled the rest of the Trifecta into seeing
Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with me at the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
We got there way early, though (Mormon Standard time? Fail.) and decided to kill time by taking pictures in the lobby.
After the show, or possibly before (details are a little vague to me), we explored the out of doors.
Walking into the Tabernacle
Felix doing a leprechaun kick
Once we were done at Temple Square, we headed down to Provo for lunch with the Sister and my Nicole. Brick Oven, as always, was delicious. Also crowded, which I didn't expect, so we didn't have time after lunch to walk around campus. Hopefully there will be a next time, because I didn't get to stop at the Bindery, either, and I miss that place!
Then we headed back to Salt Lake to pick up Chilly! Here you can see that my driving scares people. But we didn't die, and that is all that matters!
Kyle made a sign that said "Show us your Uvula!" Only he spelled "uvula" wrong. We got a lot of confused looks! At one point, Felix had to roll down his window and yell to a lady on the street that her Uvula was in her mouth. Close call! As we were headed to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, though, we got some great responses. One was a car load of drivers ed kids. The instructor corrected our spelling. After the new and improved sign, and as we were waiting to turn left towards the temple, the lady in the car next to us complied! We were so happy that we gave her a round of applause, unrolled our windows, and had a nice little chat with her. She asked us to show her our philtrums. We were, at first, unsure what this meant, but quickly became educated on the subject. Hooray for new friends!
The Oquirrh Mountain Temple is gorgeous, and the open house was well worth the trip to Salt Lake. Not to mention seeing my Chillylint (she would have been worth it, even without the rocking tour of the temple). Next time, though, I think there may need to be two days dedicated to Northern Utah!
Labels: Chilly, Friends, travel, Trifecta
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Frisco
A typical mining town at the foot of the San Fransisco mountain was fed by the fabulously rich Horn Silver Mine. By 1885 over 160,000,000 in zinc, copper, silver, lead, and gold were hauled away by mule train and the Utah Central Railroad. Water was shipped in as well as all supplies. Then the mine caved and people moved away, leaving only a few families of the 4,000 population to maintain their homes, stores, school, and church. By the 1920's only memories and the shifting sands were left.
And here is Chilly reading the sign.
The first building we investigated
Chilly crouching down and posing for me.
Chilly showing us all how small tall she is.
I think this was a barn because up in the rafters there were two GINORMOUS Katria sized nests. That is how big they were! Below is a picture of one of the nests.
A... thing. I don't know what. I think it fell over, though. Just a guess.
Tetanus!!!!!
The Sister peeking through this... thing. I don't know what it was.
KILNS!!!!!!! This is the inside of one of them.
And here is Chilly taking pictures of inside the kiln.
There was actually a fence surrounding them, but we climbed over it. Don't worry, though. As much a miracle as it may seem (considering all the rusted metal in the area), I didn't get tetanus. The fence was actually bent down in this one area and "climbing" over it consisted of stepping over it.
Archaeologist Chilly in the midst of her documenting.
And then deciding to stop in front of my shot. She's so cute, though, how could I resist taking her picture?
The inside wall of one of the kilns. I may actually have this picture upside down... I'm not sure. Hard to remember.
The roof of one of the kilns, beginning to deteriorate.
This is an unstable building.
And then this nasty looking bug landed on the outside of the car. It was eating a deer fly, so Dad got out to take a picture of it. Sick.
An abandoned mine shaft. We didn't go in it because there were possibly poisonous gasses and Dad didn't want us to die.
Labels: Chilly, history, Photography, travel
We decided to switch things up a bit and took a plane to Salt Lake (instead of driving all the way there). We had to get up bright and early (sort of) to get to the airport. Here you can see Kyle and Felix enjoying their first class seats! Oh, if only we all could have been so lucky. Our flight landed around 9 am in Salt Lake, and my Chillylint was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and then let us borrow her car.
We spent some time up on Temple Square after dropping Chilly back off at work. Somehow I finagled the rest of the Trifecta into seeing Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with me at the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
We got there way early, though (Mormon Standard time? Fail.) and decided to kill time by taking pictures in the lobby.
After the show, or possibly before (details are a little vague to me), we explored the out of doors.
Walking into the Tabernacle
Felix doing a leprechaun kick
Once we were done at Temple Square, we headed down to Provo for lunch with the Sister and my Nicole. Brick Oven, as always, was delicious. Also crowded, which I didn't expect, so we didn't have time after lunch to walk around campus. Hopefully there will be a next time, because I didn't get to stop at the Bindery, either, and I miss that place!
Then we headed back to Salt Lake to pick up Chilly! Here you can see that my driving scares people. But we didn't die, and that is all that matters!
Kyle made a sign that said "Show us your Uvula!" Only he spelled "uvula" wrong. We got a lot of confused looks! At one point, Felix had to roll down his window and yell to a lady on the street that her Uvula was in her mouth. Close call! As we were headed to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, though, we got some great responses. One was a car load of drivers ed kids. The instructor corrected our spelling. After the new and improved sign, and as we were waiting to turn left towards the temple, the lady in the car next to us complied! We were so happy that we gave her a round of applause, unrolled our windows, and had a nice little chat with her. She asked us to show her our philtrums. We were, at first, unsure what this meant, but quickly became educated on the subject. Hooray for new friends!
The Oquirrh Mountain Temple is gorgeous, and the open house was well worth the trip to Salt Lake. Not to mention seeing my Chillylint (she would have been worth it, even without the rocking tour of the temple). Next time, though, I think there may need to be two days dedicated to Northern Utah!
And here is Chilly reading the sign.
Chilly crouching down and posing for me.
Chilly showing us all how small tall she is.
I think this was a barn because up in the rafters there were two GINORMOUS Katria sized nests. That is how big they were! Below is a picture of one of the nests.
A... thing. I don't know what. I think it fell over, though. Just a guess.
Tetanus!!!!!
The Sister peeking through this... thing. I don't know what it was.
KILNS!!!!!!! This is the inside of one of them.
And here is Chilly taking pictures of inside the kiln.
There was actually a fence surrounding them, but we climbed over it. Don't worry, though. As much a miracle as it may seem (considering all the rusted metal in the area), I didn't get tetanus. The fence was actually bent down in this one area and "climbing" over it consisted of stepping over it.
Archaeologist Chilly in the midst of her documenting.
And then deciding to stop in front of my shot. She's so cute, though, how could I resist taking her picture?
The inside wall of one of the kilns. I may actually have this picture upside down... I'm not sure. Hard to remember.
The roof of one of the kilns, beginning to deteriorate.
This is an unstable building.
And then this nasty looking bug landed on the outside of the car. It was eating a deer fly, so Dad got out to take a picture of it. Sick.
