The Price is Right

Spoiler Alert!!!
Let me start off by stating the obvious for those of you that know me: No, my name was not called to play a game or win prizes and money.


But I was in the audience with Gonzo's mom, Dolores, and sister Rena.

They visited us in February and Gonzo's mom wanted to go- honestly who wouldn't?  Well to be honest, leading up to it, I wasn't that interested in going.  It was more of a "I don't have a job and nothing better to do, why not?" kind of moment for me.
But I'm going to tell you why you should want to be on The Price is Right.

If you are in LA, it almost seems like a normal thing that people do.  If not attending an episode of The Price is Right, then it's attending one of the many other shows that shoots on a regular basis in town.  But The Price is Right was almost magical.  I'm so glad I went.  I'm so glad Gonzo's mom got the tickets and invited me to go. 

Yes, I'm sure you've all heard, or read about the cattle call lines that you have to wait in for hours on end, which yes, it's true.  But few people talk about the comradarie that takes place in line.  It's basically 3 1/2 hours of waiting in lines and you begin to pick out people you would like to see get their name called to run up and take a stab at the price of some random prize.

This guy was hilarious when it was interview time and even had a poem for Drew Carey.  I really hoped that he would be called, but he wasn't.  


I did not want my name to be called.  The entire time I was in line, I didn't want my name to be called.  It wasn't until we were in the studio that I then wanted my name to be called.

Here I am cheering in the hopes that maybe just maybe they'll see how eager I was, now that I was in the studio (behind the person with the blue sleeves).

And again, super excited that someone was getting their named called...still not mine. 

The studio is so bright!  If you've seen the show, you have some idea- but in person it's so much brighter.  The stage is much smaller than I thought it would be.  The crowd, much smaller than it looks on TV.  It's all much, much louder in person than on TV.  So loud in fact, you can't really hear the names being called, you have to rely on watching the cue card guy to hold up the card with the name that's being announced.  The cheering from the crowd is so loud that I missed the descriptions of several items that were on the episode so it was hard to know what we were cheering for.

Drew Carey is actually hilarious during commercial breaks.  It was like we were getting a free comedy show while we just happened to be audience members for a TV show.  It was fantastic! He interacts with the audience and genuinely seems like he wants to know everyone.  He's a class act, that Drew!
He actually suggested a restaurant that he frequents, to some people who were there from out of town and we ended up going afterwards and conversing with one of the waiters about Drew and how awesome he is.  He's actually really great at suggesting things to do around town for people who are new to the area, which was fantastic for us.

George Gray, the announcer also interacts with the audience and banters with Drew, both while filming the episode and during commercial breaks.  Just another added bonus.

The taping is so quick- basically done in an hour (just like the show) that you will be sad when it's time to leave.  But you will be excited for who ever won their showcase.

You might even attempt to congratulate their loved ones on the way out.

Side note about this particular episode: The two people in the showcase were named Amber and David.  Gonzo's real first name is David, so it was like some alternate version of ourselves were on the stage.  It was a good inside joke.  

David won his showcase on this Earth Day episode, but I was rooting for Amber.  Amber Stoner was her name and the jokes that were cut out of the broadcast were hilarious.  I was actually pretty disappointed in seeing the episode that aired as it wasn't nearly as comical as the taping had been (another good reason to go to a taping).  

The right Amber was selected for this show.  She was really enthusiastic and properly jumped on Drew Carey several times. 

 

I'm in this shot cheering like a crazy person for Amber Stoner when she guessed the right amount and got to go on stage.

Yes the whole process basically takes the entire day.  The likelihood that you will actually have your name called is slim.  Even if you win something the taxes are so ridiculous you will probably leave empty handed anyway, but to witness the whole thing is so much fun. 

I purchased a shirt while I was waiting in line, before the taping (the store is closed after the taping)- I've worn it several times since then, and each time, when in public, I have at least 2 people ask if I won anything.  That's the funny thing about this town.  They know that if you have a shirt, you must have gone to a taping, it's not just one of those random shirts you can buy at a Wal-Mart.  Now I can actually tell people that I did not win anything...what a relief!

Here's Dolores (dead center with the pink shirt and Navy blue sweater) waving slowly so the camera would get a shot of her when one of the contestants was called. 

Here's Rena, showing the appropriate amount of enthusiasm when nothing exciting was actually happening.  (Her dark hair blends into the guy's shirt behind her)

So, moral of this post- if you're in LA and you have a least a day to do nothing, go online to get tickets to The Price is Right and wait in some lines- meet some fun people you might not normally associate with, and enjoy the taping.  You won't be sorry!              

Angeles National Forest

A few weeks back Gonzo and I had managed to leave our noisy apartment for the solitude of nature. 
And by nature, I really mean "driving thru nature".  Quite frankly that's because of my crazy fear of wildlife in this state.  Mountain Lions and Bears, oh my!

Anyway, that's a totally unrelated topic.  I just wanted to share some of the gorgeous pictures that Gonzo took while we were driving thru the Angeles National Forest.

Can you believe this view is only a few short miles away from LA?  Ok, well this particular view is quite a few miles into the Angeles National Forest...but even as you are driving into the Forest itself there are some pretty spectacular views:

It truly feels as if you are no where close to any sort of city life.  The traffic is minimal, unless it's a Sunday morning and you are driving toward Newcomb's Ranch.  Then it might be a little congested with motorcycles or sports cars doing meet ups, but for the most part you'll probably only see a handful of vehicles.

Make sure you take a jacket as the further up the elevation you go the colder it gets.  I believe on this particular day I was in a skirt and t-shirt...and flip flops (I honestly didn't know where we were going and it was 80 something in LA).  We went all the way up to 7200 feet I believe, and I was pretty chilly as night started to fall.

The views are amazing and there's plenty of turn-outs so you can stop and take photos (but limited cell phone service, so make sure you check your vehicle to make sure it can survive the trip and not leave you stranded).

(no that's not a spaceship, just lens flares)

There's, I believe, 80 or so miles of road to drive down.  There's several ski slopes along the way that you can stop at if they are open.  I think we only went roughly 50 miles in, as we got a late start and the sun was setting before we even made it back to civilization.

But as you head out, particularly at dusk or dark, you can see the sprawling city of LA on your way out and breathe one last sigh of relief at the lack of people surrounding you, before you get back in your car and get caught up in the craziness of it all. 

If you are ever in the LA area and need a break from the traffic, or the people, journey to the Angeles National Forest for a bit, and forget about your worries...unless of course you encounter a mountain lion or a bear...then you should worry. 

What's going on?

Aside from showing new friends around the LA area over the weekend, and hitting up Unwind in Burbank twice this weekend there hasn't been a whole heck of a lot going on in my neck of the woods.

I have to ship out the Baby Kai drawing I posted last week.  I'm still knitting the sweater for my niece, which will hopefully have a large majority of progress on it this week.  The yarn I purchased at Unwind this weekend will go toward making a sweater for myself from the free knitting pattern I received during the Yarn Crawl...so there's that.  I have a drawing of my niece to do for my mom that will hopefully be done either later this week or next.

I'm also working on a secret project.

It honestly probably shouldn't be secret, but I'm super self conscious about it, so it will remain under wraps for a bit longer.  Hopefully I'll be able to spill some of the beans by next month.  We shall see.

So what's going on in your neck of the woods?  Did you all have a great weekend? 

Baby Kai

I have some friends that have an adorable baby that has posing down!

Normally I don't post progress shots of my drawings, for various self conscious reasons.  But I have always enjoyed the look of partially completed drawings- as if faces or hands are floating in white space- or that they are only connected by a random line that would normally be a shirt or hat. I actually prefer less detail of the random line than what I have here...but whatever.

Most of my clients are looking for a completed drawing and that's what I provide- but occasionally I like to take photos of partially completed drawings to have something to look back on and wish that I hadn't completed.

That's not true.  I do like completing the drawings.  I like drawing the shading on clothing and finding shadows that maybe weren't clear in the photos I'm drawing from.  But there's something about the partially completed drawings that I really enjoy.  Maybe I'll do family portraits for myself- of people in my family... the drawings will be partially completed and then I can hang them in my office or living room for conversation pieces.  Time will tell.

Here is the finished product.

It's on 8 1/2" x 11" 20lb. printer paper.  I used HB, B, 2B and 4B graphite pencils.  Planning took several days to get all the kinks worked out on the perspective- but actually drawing the details and shading took roughly 5 hours.

Cute baby!  I have another baby drawing that I'll be working on in a the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Some Knits and some Comedy

Aside from some laziness on my part, I really have no other reason for not posting sooner, so I won't bore you with the details.

This post is going to be a mess of randomness, so be patient.

I've already begun using the yarn that was purchased and won at the L.A. Yarn Crawl.  Gonzo had asked for a hat out of the blue Rowan yarn- and since hats tend to be quick knits for me, I just dove right in.

There's a bit of a point at the top that I will probably go back and alter at some point, but Gonzo didn't seem to mind it, so it might stay.

I'm in the process of knitting a sweater for my niece.  This image is from the book "Baby Basics to knit for new moms" (no I'm not a new mom, but they have some cute items for babies, so I got it...I will also make note that there are mistakes in the pattern, so I'm taking my time on it to make sure I straighten it all out)

Using the splatter Hello Kitty yarn with stripes of the Irene colorway yarn from the basket I won.  As soon as I'm done, I'll post some pictures.

With that out of the way, I can tell you about my Monday night.  Gonzo managed to get us passes to the free Beta Test at Meltdown Comics/The Nerdist.  We got there kind of early, so we wandered Sunset Blvd.

Got some words of wisdom from some graffiti art; ate some Chipotle; walked some more; then stood in line for a good long while.  We made some line friends, one of whom gave me a Nerdist temporary tattoo for holding their spot in line.  The other entertained us with banter between her and the store employees.  While there is a good chunk of LA that is unfriendly, I've encountered a slew of very friendly people who aren't trying to recruit me for a cult. 

Anyway, a Beta Test at The Nerdist is where Chris Hardwick and special guests test out new standup material to find out if it's good enough to use. 

Apologies for the blurred picture, but I won't apologize for the fact that I am essentially making eye contact with Mr. Chris Hardwick here.  If you don't know who he is, there is a search engine called Google that you might want to type his name into to find answers.  I have no other photos from the set because a few moments after I snapped this picture Chris encouraged us to just be in the moment and put our cell phones down.  He didn't say we couldn't take pictures, but he was right...we've lost touch with just enjoying the moment.
The other surprise guests were Ron Funches, who I've seen on TV, but is also in the movie "Get Hard" with Will Farrell and Kevin Hart.  Doug Benson who was on a movie called "Super High Me".  Yes the theater smelled like pot (if you know or have seen either of the above mentioned then you know they get high...a lot).  Both were funny.  Chris Hardwick was, perhaps, more funny.  That's probably my opinion only- as I could relate more with his material than the other two.  But they were all entertaining and hilarious and definitely made my day. 

Not really anything else going on at the moment.  I've got some drawings I need to work on and will post those later.  Hope everyone had a great Easter!

2015 LA Yarn Crawl

Sometimes there are weekends where there are no plans and something exciting happens.  On Saturday I was fully prepared to blog today, about our drive thru the Angeles National Forest...that still had snow in some areas where as the rest of LA was baking.  But then something truly amazing happened on Sunday.

Let me start off by saying that Gonzo is truly the best guy a girl like me could ask for.  Sunday morning started off with me in a grumpy mood due to some unforeseen apartment problems.  Gonzo, being the guy that he is, wanted to put a smile on my face and do something that I wanted to do, even though it was a rare weekend off from work for him and he probably just wanted to sleep late and veg out in front of the TV.

I asked to go to 2 yarn stores.  I knew about the 2015 LA Yarn Crawl that was happening, but I hadn't pre-ordered a Yarn Crawl Tote Bag, or really read the rules.  I just wanted to visit a new store and go to the one I was already acquainted with (the yarn crawl is an event that 29 yarn stores in LA County were participating in, where you could get free patterns, enter in raffles, get free buttons from each store, and shop at a discount on certain items- all in 4 days). 

We drove all the way to Wildfiber Studio in Santa Monica.  Gonzo is a good sport in yarn stores, he always manages to find at least one skein of something and insists I make him something.  He found the last ball of Rowan Pure Wool Worsted in a beautiful blue color, which he has requested a hat from (I will have to come back here to purchase the Rowan yarn I need to make a sweater for my dad):

I was persuaded at the register to obtain a passport before I left the store so I could decide if I wanted to visit any other stores or just turn the passport in at Wildfiber Studio to be entered to win a gigantic basket full of yarn, books, knitting notions and all sort of goodies.  I opted to hold onto the passport for a bit.

Gonzo, again, being the guy he is, figured that since we were in the area that we were in, we should hit up some other stores instead of rushing off to Unwind.  So we made our way to Compatto Yarn Salon.  I looked around, received my Yarn Crawl Stamp on what I was now referring to as my bingo card; obtained the now coveted button (that should go on the Tote bag that I was so irresponsible to not pre-order).  I didn't see anything that I absolutely couldn't live without at that exact moment, so we got back in the car and headed to The Knitting Tree L.A. I may have gotten a little carried away at this store. 

Three skeins of Madelinetosh Hand Dyed Yarns that I am absolutely in love with.  The colors from left to right are: Citrus; Ophelia; Chicory.  I plan on making at least one pair of socks from this group using one of the colors (I can't say which because they will be a present for someone that I haven't already made socks for), the other two may be knitted into shawls for presents. 

At this point in the day I assumed that Gonzo was done with all of the Crawling that we had done and was willing to either stop at the final location of Unwind or get some food.  He had a different idea, since we were in the area he wanted to see what other yarn stores might be close so we headed to Needlepoints West. These women were so welcoming!  Extremely helpful!  Once in this store I was so very thankful that Gonzo had said we should go here, as this was one of the stores that had a yarn colorway that I had been absolutely in love with since I saw it online.

Delicious Yarns made this awesome colorway specifically for Needlepoints West.  It's called Two Sweets- Sport Weight Color: Yarn Crawl 2015.  It's a beautiful self striping yarn that is brown heavy with splashes of pink and purple.  It's absolutely gorgeous!  I also obtained the free Cowl pattern that came with the purchase of this yarn and was told to call them for "tech support" if I ran into any problems when knitting it.  I'm still not sure I want to make a cowl with this yarn, but I might!  I want to point out that had I just been driving by Needlepoints West, I probably wouldn't have stopped.  I thought this was a needlepoint only store- I didn't realize they had such an amazing selection of yarns.  So very glad we stopped here!

Since we moved to CA, I have been meaning to stop by the Yarn Over Truck.  It's a truck that has yarn and knitting notions and drives all over the place stopping at various locations to sell their wares.  I'm happy to report that we drove all the way to The Purl Side in Glendora to locate (and get 2 shops taken care of in one stop) the Yarn Over Truck.

I feel like I unbuckled my seat belt and jumped out of the car to run to this truck before Gonzo stopped the car.  I received my stamp and several buttons while on the truck and a couple of free patterns.  I knew I wanted to buy yarn, but the truck was getting crowded, so I headed into The Purl Side to check out what they had. I saw several things here that I might want to go back and take a second look at, but didn't purchase anything.  I received my stamp and button and a free knit pattern and headed back to the truck.  There was yarn I needed to purchase to go with the free pattern I picked up when I had boarded the truck a few minutes earlier.

I picked up a skein of Anzula Luxury Fibers Hand Dyed Yarn Cricket in Navy and Minty.  These will definitely be making two presents for people. 

After fighting thru some bad traffic to head to Burbank to get to Unwind we finally made it.  I'm on their mailing list and was well aware of their Hello Kitty yarn colorways that would be in the store during the Yarn Crawl...I just prayed I wasn't too late to get a skein.  One of the particular yarns was gone...which is what happens when you wait until the last day and nearly the last hour of the event to shop...

But I did purchase the above colorway.  This is by Ancient Arts Yarns called Unwind Hello 1 Speckled.  I have a very special niece who will be getting a sweater out of this.  Originally I had intended on dropping off my passport at Unwind to be entered to win the giant basket full of goodies, but the kind women at Needlepoints West had told me there was another yarn store not too far from Unwind that I might want to checkout.  So we opted to head to The Altered Stitch to see what they had and figured that if I didn't like their basket, we could just go back to Unwind so I could drop the passport off.

Well things changed once we arrived at The Altered Stitch.  I was in love with this store from the minute I walked in the door.  The staff was very friendly (truly all of the yarn stores we visited had friendly staff, don't get me wrong- there's just some places that you instantly click with people, this was one of those for me).  They showed me all of their Crawl yarn specials; stamped my passport; gave me the button; gave me a class schedule; didn't hassle me when I couldn't make up my mind and wandered the store so many times I looked like I was casing the place.  I had promised Gonzo that Unwind was the last store I was going to buy yarn in...but there was a skein I saw and fell in love with.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.

Republic of Wool Hand Dyed Yarn for The People in the color Wild At Heart.  Again, I have no idea what I'm going to make with it, but I'll be happy to stare at it on a shelf until I figure it out.

Good news was right around the corner at the checkout...I qualified to have 2 raffle tickets put in the bucket for the 5pm drawing for a basket of yarn goodies (not the large basket that the passport would enter me in for, but a smaller just as awesome basket).  I almost said no.  We had been out since 11am and it was nearly 5, surely Gonzo would want to eat some food (since we hadn't stopped at all), or go home and rest.  But they said "there's only 6 other tickets in the drawing"...so I said "yeah, do it!  Put me in!".  I hung out for the next 20 minutes or so, while Gonzo went across the street in search of food.  I could tell there were regulars in the store, and I made some small talk with a few of the people both employees and yarn crawlers and touched nearly every skein in the place.  Gonzo made it back in time for the drawing and lets just say, I'm sure there are some Altered Stitch store regulars who have now painted a target on my back.

Because I won it!!!! 
This post is already becoming a little long, so I'll just list out what was in it instead of posting individual pictures:
- 1 "Comforts of Home: Simple Knitted Accents" book
- 1 bottle of Eucalan wool wash (laundry soap)
- 1 bar of luffa soap (smells delicious)
- 1 bottle of hand lotion
- 1 bottle of bath salts
- 1 bottle of bubble bath
- 1 wicker bee purse
- 1 pair of US 10 sized ChiaoGoo knitting needles
- 4 skeins of an unidentified self striping pink/purple/yellow/red yarn
- 3 skeins of an unidentified self striping blue/green yarn
- 2 shawl pins (could be stitch holders)
- 1 set of red gem stitch markers (5 total)
- 1 set of green gem stitch markers (5 total)
- 1 Black Tie Affair yarn in Costume (pinkish)
- 1 Black Tie Affair yarn in Aria (blueish)
- 1 Art Yarns Regal Silk in color 502 (stripping yarn in blue, yellow, green, pink)
- 1 Anzula Luxury Fiber Vera in Irene (light purple)
- 1 Stitch Cafe skein in color 5011 (light salmon...so soft!!!)
- 1 Stitch Cafe skein in Coral
- 1 set of Double Pointed Needles in a fabric drawstring bag.  Size US 3

Oh and I dropped off my passport at The Altered Stitch, so fingers crossed!  Maybe I'll win the grand prize basket?

So Sunday, for me, was AMAZING!  8 of the 29 stores visited in 6 hours, too much yarn purchased and a basket full of stuff I don't know what to do with (at the moment).  I feel like it was Christmas.  I kept doing a happy dance in the car on the way home while singing "I won the basket! I won the basket!"  and I only sang that to myself because I haven't won anything in so long it feels like a different lifetime ago.  

Next year I'll be better prepared.  Maybe more organized, like a certain woman Unwind video'd showing her tabbed binder with maps and what free pattern was going to be at what stores.  Truly a work of art in itself.  I just wasn't prepared for the amazingness of The LA Yarn Crawl.  Hope you all had fantastic weekends too!

Goodies for my first Niece

The package arrived for my sweet little niece who has finally made her grand entrance.  I've been told a photo shoot is taking place involving some of the goodies I sent.  Can't wait to see how they turnout.

My brother and his wife are fairly big Harley Davidson fans, and several months ago my sister-in-law requested a helmet, diaper cover and boots in black with HD patches...how could I pass up the opportunity to knit that?

Using this pattern I managed to fashion the adorable little helmet, complete with Harley orange flower to distinguish that she's a girl.

Sewing the patch on was a bit of a challenge, but it didn't turn out too bad, if I do say so myself.
The diaper cover was an entirely different beast.  Several years ago I picked up this ebook from knitpicks.com, promising myself that the minute one of my family members had a kid I would make the pig diaper cover and bonnet...that didn't exactly happen- The diaper cover pattern came in handy for making the Harley pants.

Again, the patch was a bit of a pain to sew, but it made it on the back side.  I made it a little large, since I knew my brother might have to put it on his new daughter and I didn't want him to feel like he was going to break her or anything.  So it's a tad on the large size for her...give her a few more months to enjoy it.
The booties were my favorite part of the whole outfit.

There's a bunch of crochet patterns out there, but I was determined to knit them.  So using the same knitpicks.com ebook as the diaper cover (diaper soaker is what the pattern calls it) I managed to knit some cute little black boots for her.
You can read about the blanket I made for her here.
I managed to knit a larger version of the helmet as well, so if they want, once she grows out of the smaller version, they can remove the patch and attach it to the larger helmet.  Hopefully it'll be a bit before she grows out of the small one though.

She already has my heart and I haven't even met her yet.  Soon though. 

San Diego- Oh What a Time! Part 2! (also known as the BEST DAY EVER!)

To see part one, please look here.

San Diego is a magical place.  It really is.  The weather seems to be perfect.  All the time.  The people are friendly.  Walking is easy to do to get places.  It's just an all around great place.

I've mentioned it before about our amazing times in San Diego.  I feel like I'm becoming a spokesperson for their city.  But seriously, if the opportunity presents itself for you to go, please don't pass it up.

On our most recent trip to San Diego, while we did visit the Maritime Museum in the bay, that wasn't enough.  It was Gray Whale migration season and the previous time we were in town Gonzo and I had both said we wanted to go on a Whale watching tour.

So we did.

The Hornblower Whale and Dolphin Watching Adventure was just what we did.

Keep in mind, if your tour does not see a Whale during the outing they will offer you a "Whale Check" for you to come back at another time to try to go out and see one.

I highly encourage you to do this as opposed to going to Sea World.  #1, the Whale watching is cheaper.  #2, you actually get to see them in their natural habitat- which I think is a much happier way to go about seeing wild animals.  No, your kids probably won't be as impressed because they aren't trained to jump out of the water to put on a show, but it's a better alternative to witness a creature in it's natural habitat than crammed in a tank and forced to perform (In my opinion). 

Just keep in mind this tour does go out into open Pacific Ocean waters.  Which I was scared of.  Prior to being out there.  Now I can't wait to go back.  Gonzo has always wanted to go on a cruise- now I can't wait to join him!

Some things to remember.  Bring a jacket.  The Pacific Ocean is a lot more chilly than you think.  Bring Sunscreen.  I forgot.  My face is now paying for it.  Take your motion sickness meds if you need to- the boat will be-a-rockin' at times.  

I want to first start off by saying that I would have been perfectly fine if all we had seen were the sea lions in the bay and the dolphins in the ocean.

That is not all we saw.

I do apologize for the lack of photos I took.  Keep in mind, some of the whales are fast.  Running from the Starboard side to the Port side and back just for photos didn't always work out.  In fact I didn't even get photos of the first two whales that seemed to be playing with the boat within the first 40 minutes of the tour.

2 Minke whales, which according to the captain were rare sightings in the area, kept popping up for us to see, but they were quick!  I have no photos of them.

The second rare treat that even the Captain was amazed with, was the Humpback Whale that put on a fantastic show for us.  We figured out it's pattern of up for a few seconds to breathe; up for a second time to breathe; and then up for a third time to breath and do a tail flip before going back down for 5 minutes.

Let me enhance that for you (we never got close to the Humpback whale for various reasons.  In fact the other ships that were close didn't get as close as this.  We all kept our distance)

Sorry this one doesn't want to be blown up without getting pixelated.  So I've drawn a circle around the tail here:

I know we followed this Humpback for a while, until it started to head for the warmer Mexican waters (which we could not drift into for various legal reasons).

I lost all track of direction while in the Ocean so I have no idea if we were heading west or south or north, but after our meeting with the Humpback we started making our way in some direction and came upon a school of dolphins.  The dolphins were referred to as common dolphins by the Captain of the ship and some had been with us since we had transitioned from the bay into the open waters.  We could see them in the distance from the bow of the boat and I didn't think much of it

...until we got closer and the Captain said it was the largest school he had seen this year.  There was at least 500-1,000 dolphins. (in the second video- all of those black spots that keep popping up are dolphins- I promise)

  Apologies if the video's aren't working, I'm attempting to get that fixed. Also apologies for the shaky camera...wind was blowing; boat was rocking.  I also want to apologize for the fact that I video'd my finger in that first one...I didn't want to drop my camera and held on wrong.

At one point there was even a sea lion who kept poking his head out of the water as if to either say "don't forget about me!" or "Is there a dolphin show happening?"

On our way back to the bay the Captain was notified of the Gray Whales that were migrating in the area...you know, the ones we originally took the tour to see.  We did not get close enough for any good pictures or video, but there were two adults and a baby gray whale migrating north.  We tried to follow them for a bit, but they can hold their breath for so long our tour was running out of time (but believe me, the Captain followed them for quite a while before finally deciding to bring us back).  

But that's not all!

As we were reentering the bay we found out we had an Atlantic bottle nosed dolphin playing with the front of the boat.
Why an Atlantic Bottled Nosed Dolphin when we were in the Pacific?  Those are the dolphins that the Navy trains in San Diego.  I couldn't help but think that these dolphins must think they are on some sort of awesome vacation every day that they get to hang out in the Pacific ocean. 

It was really one of the most spectacular days I have ever had.  Gonzo and I both got to take "Seeing a whale in real life" off our bucket lists, and I got to take "getting over fear of open ocean water" off mine as well.

After all the excitement it was time to leave.  Leaving San Diego, for us, has become what leaving Austin was like when we lived in Dallas.  We don't want to leave, and we can't wait to come back.

But our brief stop in Temecula, CA made leaving San Diego completely worth it.  They have a Rosa's Cafe and Tortilla Factory.  For those that may not be aware, this place has Tex-Mex food.  Something we haven't had since leaving Texas.  They have liquid gold- otherwise known as queso.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, just freaking order it and try it- you won't be sorry- unless you are lactose intolerant. I've missed it so much we brought two large orders of queso back with us.

Now we are back in our obnoxiously loud apartment, just awaiting the next adventure we can have.  

San Diego- oh what a time! Part 1

As I said before, in this post- we had to go back to San Diego.

So we did.

And it was EPIC!

Let me first start off by saying that this place is addicting.  There's so much to do.  So much to see.  To be outside in this town is magnificent!  I love San Diego!

Ok, with that out of the way...Gonzo and I went back to San Diego this past weekend.  There was no plan in place.  We have a bit of a noise problem in our current living situation, so we just knew that we wanted to be out of the apartment and hopefully have some piece and quiet for a few days.

I won't bore you with the tedious details of where we ate (at least not in part 1), I will share with you a little gem that is just hanging out in the bay of San Diego, though.

It's the Maritime Museum.  You can look up a complete list of details here, but I'm just going to share with you our little adventure.

(Let me warn you that some of these photos are courtesy of Gonzo and some are courtesy of me...the more artsy- professional looking ones belong to Gonzo)

For the low low price of $16 per person you get to take a self guided tour of 6 ships (2 of them are submarines).  Honestly $16/person is a steal for this place. I think we were there for over 3 hours taking it all in.
Oh, as a word of warning- if you get sea sickness, or motion sickness...you may want to avoid this place or pop some motion sickness meds before coming here...they are boats...in the water.  They do sway with the waves.

We wandered the first ship, The Star of India for a good while.

I didn't really know anything about this ship going in, but by the end of the entire ship tour I learned more than I probably needed to know as a land lubber.  Worth noting: Gonzo learned that this ship is haunted by a man.  A stow away actually.
While he attempted to tell me of this ghost, he told me the man had died of scallywags.  I asked if he meant scurvy.  Pick your poison but I have now decided that a death by scallywags is a much more hilarious way to go.  

 

  

The second ship we went aboard was the San Salvador.  Gorgeous pirate looking ship.  I believe this was the ship that we could see sailing in the bay on Sunday.  This ship has cannons on board (pics below).  

I have lots of pictures, so I'm not going to bore you to tears with them, you just have to go to see for yourself.

After that ship we climbed into the first of 2 submarines.  The B-39 Submarine is an old Soviet Era Diesel Electric sub.  I will warn you...this is tight.  If your claustrophobic avoid it.  If you can't squeeze yourself thru the demonstration hole prior to climbing aboard then you will find yourself stuck once inside.  My back decided to play games with me going thru the second one...I believe there were 2 or 3 more I had to climb thru- I thought I was going to die.  Everything is in Russian inside- except for the museum explanations.    

While it was pretty neat, I have a bit of claustrophobia and my back felt like it was breaking, so I was very thankful to be out of it. 

There are some other boats that you can climb on and, like I said, another sub to go into (the USS Dolphin is much more spacious and there are no holes to squeeze thru).  Gonzo managed to get an amazing shot of the sunset thru the para-scope of the USS Dolphin (above). 
Meanwhile I'm over taking shots of the compass on the Star of India to get the reflection of the San Salvador...

Once you've seen all 6 ships, in order to exit the museum you have to go thru what looks like a building but is actually a boat.  There is an art exhibit currently that has some of Ansel Adam's photographs, so that was an added bonus. 

We stayed at the awesome Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina again.  Walking distance it's a little over a mile to the Maritime Museum.  By the time we finished at the museum it was dark so we made our way back, enjoying the night sky and the sounds of the bay.

The USS Midway was lit as usual.  We'll have to come back to do that tour.  And one of these times, I'm going to get my picture taken with the Tom Cruise Top Gun impersonation guy who hangs out on the sidewalk.  He looks and sounds just like the real guy (only taller).  

And that's the view from our hotel room.  It was a great day in San Diego.  I couldn't imagine that it would get any better.  But then again, I had never been whale watching before Sunday either.  But that will have to wait for another post.  Stay tuned to Part 2!