Number 6's Blog

2 Months 2 Vacations: #2 San Antonio

April 28, 2011

Wow!! – 2 vacations in 2 months is a 1st for me! I could get used to this. Actually, the San Antonio vacation was really a long weekend – leave after work on Friday, Gwen fly home Monday night, and Marv drive home on Wednesday to babysit C2.

Mission San Jose - 1 of 5 Missions in San Antonio

We started out Friday after work by driving to Round Rock to spend the night free at the Springhill Suites courtesy of Gwen’s Marriot points. We ate at a local joint, the Blue Oak Grill which was a converted Applebees. It was kinda Cajun Food. I would eat there again, but I would not drive to Round Rock just to eat there.

We woke up Saturday morning and discovered a blue northerner had blown in with temperature hovering around 43% and the wind out of the North t 30mph. After breakfast (can’t remember what we are so it could not have been too good) we drove to Fredericksburg on the back roads, had lunch at The Brewery (German food but the beer is the highlight), and then spent some time window shopping. Fredericksburg is a great weekend visit:

It is a scenic drive to get there
It is not too expensive
It is a very relaxed atmosphere
It has lots of antic and knickknack shops
It has some good restaurants

After we were shopped out we drove to San Antonio, checked in at the Wyndham, and ate at La Fogota.

View from the Wyndham

The Wyndham is our timeshare. Most places we stay with Wyndham are real nice but they always want to give you a wlecome visit which turns our to be a sales pitch to buy more timeshare. At San Antonio they are real high pressure. I almost don’t want to go back because of them.

Sunday morning we ate a healthy breakfast in our room at the Wyndham. Then, we walked over to the Alamofor 175th anniversary ceremony of the fall of the Alamo (March 6). It seems a strange think to celebrate – defeat. However, for a real Texan a visit to the Alamo is a religious experience and on a major anniversary it is doubly so.

175th Anniversary Re-enactment

After the ceremony we ate lunch at Del Weiss Tip Top Diner. It is reported to be Tim Duncan’s favorite eating establishment which I do find hard to believe. It is a mid-50s diner in not too good a neighborhood, but the down home cooking is delicious. I think the only reason Gwen goes there is she knows I like the place.

After lunch we drove out to hike the Government Canyon trails for 2.5 hours ( I love to hike). After rushing back to the timeshare to clean up we had a great dinner at Pasenos at the Quarry and topped off the evening at the movies – The Adjustment Bureau. Pasenos was great.

Monday morning and we ate breakfast at Mi Tierra – okay but if I did not go back I would still live forever, Walked to Bank of America, got Gwen a new debit card, opened a savings account, and transferred a lot of our money into it. We had a scare this weekend with her old debit card and therefore cancelled it. We opened the savings account because if someone got access to our checking account right now there was a lot of money in it – not anymore.

For lunch we walked over to Schilo’s German Deli. I had reuben sandwich, cup of split pea soup, and a Spaten Optimator beer – delicious – would go back there in a New York Minute. It is downtown on Commerce right next to the Rio Casa restaurant which is a river walk staple.

After lunch we packed Gwen’s things and spent the afternoon at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens – very peaceful place. Put her on the airplane, put gas in the car, washed it, and then back at the hotel I ran through the King William district, tried to work on PHP, and had dinner – left over lamb shank and fruit.

I started out Tuesday by runing the new riverwalk an hour just past Pearl Brewery. Appears it may go or is planned to go to the Witte Museum. Spent the rest of Tuesday chilling out. I did venture out to take photos of the Missions. I got to all five this trip and some great picture of some weird hay bale and iron scuptures — whoop. Had dinner at Rosariosand back to the hotel to chill out.

Mission San Jose

Hay bale & Iron Sculpture

I got up birght and early Wednesday and drove home.

Best Restuarants: Pasenos at the Quarry. Schilo’s German Deli. Rosario’s

Best Event: Government Canyon.

Leave a Comment » | texas, Vacation | Permalink
Posted by molson46

2 Months, 2 Vacations: #1 Las Vegas

March 31, 2011

In February we spent typical long weekend in Las Vegas. Even if you don’t gamble this is a great destination for a long weekend. In our case we arrived on Friday and flew home on Tuesday. We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Desert (a timeshare we have a stake in, but that is a story for another time and another day).

We arrived Friday afternoon and immediately drove over to Trader Joes to buy groceries. Next we checked into the Wyndham and went for a walk along the strip. Las Vegas is worth a try just to take in the architecture.

Las Vegas Strip

We dined Friday night at the Haufbra House which is not too far off the strip and for Las Vegas is a bargain. As an extra attraction the night we were there the teams from the U. S. Collegiate Rugby Playoffs were there. Those boys know how to party!

The Fremont Experience on Saturday Night

We did not get our fill of casinos on Friday so after relaxing in the morning we took another walking tour of the casinos. Las Vegas is also a great place to exercise. Saturday we dined at the Triple George’s Grill just off the Fremont Experience downtown. It is a steak and seafood place with a really, really cool hardwood bar. We highly recommend it. And it is quiet unlike a lot of the joints on the Strip. After our meal we walked (again) the Fremont Experience. If you have not been there in a few years it has completely changed. In the old days (2000) every hour you would pop out of the casinos for a light show. Now the main attraction is the bands (3 along the strip – they are good and they are free), the lights which are on, an the eclectic crowds. You will not find a more diverse crowd anywhere.

On Sunday morning we left town for a field trip to Valley of Fire State Park. The drive out is pleasant. It takes about an hour on the freeway North of town. As a sidelight North Las Vegas is not the best of places to live. At least from the freeway it seems to leave a lot to be desired. But I digress. The park is famous, at least in Nevada, for the limestone formations carved out by the endless winds in that part of the World.

We drove home past Lake Mead which is at it’s lowest level in 50 years. I would skip this drive and go home the short route. Seeing the Lake that low is kind of scary. I imagine it is even scarier if you live in that area.

Later on that evening we walked (again) the Mandalay Bay Casino. We ate dinner at Lupo’s, an Italian restaurant: another great place to eat by the way. Then we took in The Lion King. We bought discount tickets several weeks before we left Dallas for $80. The seats were great – in the 1st section. The show was el stupendo! I don’t really like musicals but I definitely enjoyed the Lion King and would watch it again in a New York Minute.

Come Monday morning we exercised and then took another waking tour of casinos. Our third walking tour and we have hardly seen a fraction of them. We stopped for Happy Hour a a Mexican restaurant at Venetian. Chips and salsa was great and Negra Modelo was great. Monday was Valentine’s day so for dinner I had made reservations at the Voodoo Lounge at the Rio. The Rio is just west of the strip and the Voodoo Lounge is on the top floor (51st I think) so you have a spectacular view of the Strip at night. The food was scrumptious also. Great place to eat but not cheap.

On Tuesday we checked out of Wyndham and took another walking tour of the casinos. We ate lunch at Mesa Grill At Ceasars Palace. It has the 2nd best Chili Releno I ever had. Then we flew home and were in our own bed at midnight

Thinking back my favorite was the Valley of Fire State Park closely followed by Sunday night at the Mandalay Bay, ate at a good resturant (Lupos), and great entertainment – Lion King – for me it went really fast – most musicals drag for me.

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by molson46

That was the week that was – 2011.02.27

February 28, 2011

Exciting and long week this week. Sunday night and winding down and getting re-charged for next week.

We are installing at 2 of our 3 operational locations this week and preparing to install at the 3rd. We are also waiting on the Customer to turn us one to do some more development. The combination makes work pretty high stress right now. Installations are at best uneventful and at worst fail and they send you home packing. They are not sending us home but the installations have been a real roller coaster ride. One day everything is sunshine and blue skies. The next day is gravel. We had a lot of gravel days this week. If I was younger I would be pretty bummed out but in 35+ years I have seen much worse and of course much better. You have stay on the bright side of life in my business or you don’t last long

Wednesday night we had tickets to the Mavs/Jazz game. Deron Williams was traded Wednesday morning and we figured the Jazz would be out of sync for the game. We were right. The Mavs won by 20 in a rare not close game.

Good News Week – We have been trying to sell our Camper since last August and have not received a bite. We sold it this week to a young couple with children that wanted to move up to a bigger unit!!!! Good things do happen.

We had the grandkids overnight Friday (C2). I picked them up from school at 5PM. We ate at Carrabas – their favorite restaurant. Campbell and Gwen made a German Chocolate cake for Sara’s birthday while Cale and I watched TV and vegged out. They were up bright and early Saturday morning at 7AM so I crawled out of bed to make sure they did not get into too much trouble. We had breakfast at the Club – another one of their favorites, ran some errands, and took them home.

Saturday night – Sara birthday dinner at Kenny’s Woodfire Grill with Sara and Mike. Had drinks at Hoolihan’s before dinner and then off to Kenny’s. This was our 1st itme their and we would definitely go back. Gwen’s pork chop must have come off some monstrous breed of pig I do not know of. It was the biggest pork chop I have ever seen. Gwen says it was to die for. I had a New York Strip which was also delectible. Tip – don’t get a baked potato. They taseted like they had been cooked in a microwave. Everything else was top shelf! And spending time with our youngest- Sara – and her husband – Mike – was very enjoyable.

Sunday was a re-charge day. We slept in – 8AM. Had breakfast at Spoon’s in McKinney. Gwen had the oatmeal and I had the yogurt, granola, and fruit. Great place. Then I worked in the garage, took Abby for a walk, and had lunch. After lunch was the highlight of my day – 1st bike ride of the season. I rode for 2 hours. The ride was unusal to say the least because the wind was howling out of the South 30-35 mph. When I was riding South going up the hills was easier than coming down because the hill blocked some of the wind.

Plan on spending the rest of the evening reading a good book or SyFy article.

Leave a Comment » | Family, Food | Permalink
Posted by molson46

Super Winter Storm 2011

February 5, 2011

The headline this week was supposed to be the Super Bowl however the weather trumped the Super Bowl hands down. The week started out great. We went to the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo on Sunday. The weather was great for a January day in Texas – 65% and partly cloudy. We toured the livestock pens, watched the animal handlers grooming their animals, toured the exhibits.

Preparing for the Show

Typically every rodeo show is sold out but fortunately we purchased our tickets several months ago and had really good seats. The rodeo was lots of fun as usual. I will never understand why is fun about getting the crap shook out of you by a bull?

The Grand Parade - prelude to the real action

Monday was warm, windy, and humid. A kind of gloom hung over all of us that day because we all heard the forecast for the rest of the week – ice and coldest weather in 20 years – and not recovering to normal until Friday.

Monday night we kept C2 because their parents were in Houston Monday and Tuesday on Business. We had tickets to the Maverick game and the weather was not a problem so we took the kids to the game. When we left the Maverick game last night at 10PM the temperature was 59%.

Tuesday morning when we woke up at 5:30AM the temperature was 28% and the rain was coming down. An hour later the temperature had dropped to 21% and sleet was in its full furry. Plano ISD cancelled classes with just about every other school and business in town. So we played with C2for a good part of the morning. Finally, took them over to their neighbor who has kids their age and went to work.

Roads were covered in ice but no one was out so we had no problems. Meanwhile the temperature dropped all day. Down to 10% Tuesday night

Wednesday morning. Day 2 of bitter cold here with ice still on all the roads. Getting to work was no problem because everything but Raytheon and BCBS is still closed. A major power generating station in Texas shut down with problems so there are rolling brownouts across the state. Bob reports he has had 3 brownouts at his house this morning. Raytheon is shutting down all non-essential equipment on orders fro Garland Power and Light. Another 2 hour commute to get home – this is one of the worst part of the week – 2 hours to work and 2 hours home and all of it tense because the few people out driving are no better at driving on ice than I am.

Thursday morning. Woke up this morning to 9% weather. We have not been above freezing since 3 AM Tuesday morning. Day 3 of super cold and ice in North Texas. I am really getting tired of this and everyone seems somewhat depressed. At least it cannot get any worse – at least that is what I thought.

Friday morning. Woke up this morning to 6″ of snow. We were supposed to get a “dusting”. I am glad we did not get any serious snowfall. Day 4 of Winter hell in Texas. Driving to work today was so much fun with 6″ of new snow on top of ice I can’t begin to describe it. On days like this I wish I was retired. We have two installation in progress – One in Denver and the other in England and I have to be at work to support them. Let’s rename this week to Snowmageddon – but that leaves out the ice and the cold! Temperature is still below freezing all day. I am worried that when we do thaw out the the pool pump and pipes will have damage and who knows about the outside faucets? They are inset into the house but we do not have freezing temperatures that last this long.

Snow, sleet, and Ice - looking out our backyard

Saturday morning. The Sun is shining today. Oh happy day! Temperature is 12% this morning which is warmer than some days this week. We got above freezing and Noon and everything is melting. I feel a lot better but the jury is still out on the pool pump and the faucets.

Leave a Comment » | texas | Tagged: Fort Worth, Rodeo | Permalink
Posted by molson46

Florence Duomo

January 29, 2011

Florence Duomo

Writing this on a perfect Saturday afternoon with the temperature in the 70s in January. Heaven won’t last long – A blue Northern is coming Tuesday and the temperatures are supposed to drop into the teens! Today got me thinking about taking a trip and remembering our best vacation. In 2002 we visited Florence, Salzburg, and Munich. This is the Florence Domo. If I lived in the Middle Ages in Italy I would have been in awe of places like this. They are huge and beautiful. I am ready to go back. Next time I will publish a photo of the interior of another Domo which is just as breathtaking.

Took this with a Pentax MX camera using Kodachrome. Long live Kodachrome! Scanned it into the computer with an Epson scanner. Not half shabby.

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by molson46

Snowing in Dallas (er Fairview)

January 9, 2011

Snow on Heritage Ranch 16th

Snowing today in Fairview! We don’t see snow often here but when it does everything stops. Good day to watch football playoff games.

We are experiencing typical Texas Winter weather this weekend. Friday was near 70% without a cloud in the sky – a perfect January day in Texas. On Saturday we only reached into the mid 50%s but still not a cloud in the sky. We awoke this morning to drizzle and 35% temperature. By Noon heavy snow was falling. The snow has stopped now and the skies are clearing again.

The old line about Texas weather – “If you don’t like the weather just wait a minute” – is really true.

Leave a Comment » | Family | Permalink
Posted by molson46

Just another pretty flower

January 6, 2011

Golden Gate Park Greenhouse

Photo of flower at the Golden Gate Park Greenhouse in San Francisco, September 2004. Recorded on a technology called film.

Leave a Comment » | Vacation | Tagged: Flower | Permalink
Posted by molson46

New Year’s Eve 2010 at Our House

January 1, 2011

Abby & Lola watching Dr. Who

Last night was a typical NYE at our house. We ate a good meal at a restaurant early in the evening. This year we had Greek food at a great restaurant – Zikki’s. After that we retired to the friendly confines of our house to watch Dick Clark’s show and the ball come down at Time’s Square. Local TV broadcast a local celebration this year so no ball coming down. So, we watched a Dr. Who episode we had just recorded with our new DVR on the HD TV we bought ourselves for Christmas. Wow, our TV watching progressed about 10 years closer to the present technology this year!

As usual we did not make it to Midnight. We retired sometime after 11PM. Better luck next year making it to the witching hour.

2011 here we come! My 3 goals: