Barbados

What the hell am I doing in Barbados?  It's a pretty good question.

After my mom passed, I didn't really take time to grieve.  It was all work, and teaching, and work, and going to Arizona to see Dad, and work, and going to Connecticut to see Joyce, and work, and dealing with the hip labral tear I'd been ignoring for the better part of a year, and work....  I'd joked that I was fine and just "postponing the grieving process to a more convenient time."  But grief don't play that way, and things were getting ahead of me.  I noticed I was getting unreasonably angry or unreasonably sad in a manner that was totally disproportionate to the provocation.  And the itty bitty voice of sanity (which I've trusted ever since it talked me down from a near-panic attack ages ago) said:  you need to take a break, and go someplace AWAY, and sit on a beach with a drink with a little umbrella in it, and get your damn head on straight.

I decided Itty Bitty Voice of Sanity was speaking truth (even though I don't even like drinks with little umbrellas), and told my boss I wanted to take off two weeks in March.  When he questioned the necessity of this at this time, I burst into tears in his office, which served to illustrate the problem and also get me my days off.

It was only after this moment that I realized I was looking at the weeks of Spring Break, and - unless I wanted to go to Mexico (which, in the past, has come with its own gastro-intestinal issues), most places with the drinks with the little umbrellas would be invaded by college students reenacting "Girls Gone Wild" videos, leaving me only with options expensive enough to be outside the traditional spring break budget (and possibly my own).  I was really about to throw in the towel on this plan when a Caribbean cruise on my favorite line (Windstar) popped up on the Reduced Single Supplement list.  (All hail the Reduced Single Supplement list.)  Throwing all of my frequent flier miles at the problem and picking up a cheap pre-cruise hotel on Hotwire, and next thing you know, I'm on a plane to Barbados.

And now, the travelogue.

Flight got in around 11 p.m.  I got through Immigration right quick (do the stupid thing online in advance and outrun everyone else on your plane who is stopped at the computer terminals) and then made a beeline for the restroom.  Not just for the usual reason.  I had also packed a hip support in my carryon, to be used for hauling my luggage off the carousel.  (Plan ahead, I did.)  What I hadn't counted on was jamming myself into a little stall with no purse hook, trying to balance my purse and my skirt, while wrapping the damn brace around me without the FUCKING VELCRO STICKING TO ITSELF or the purse sliding off my arm and me having to start again.  Much cursing.  Visions of Barbadian Security watching videos thinking, "she's been in there an awful long time; is she smuggling drugs?"  Finally got the damn thing on and out to baggage claim.  Then, I couldn't find my bag.  All the bags had come off the plane and mine was not among them.  (Now I REALLY thought security had questioned my bathroom stay and had pulled my bag.)  But the Luggage Guy was pretty laid back about it, and Laid Back is catching, and eventually my bag showed up on the carousel, as though it had been circling for an hour.  (The lock was missing, but whatevs.)

Got some local currency at the airport ATM.  The Barbadian dollar is linked to the US dollar, at a rate of 50 cents.  (Which makes it pretty easy to do the conversions in your head.)  Local currency is subtly encouraged.  The taxi to my hotel was a flat rate of 69 Barbadian dollars or $35 US.  (I see what you did there.)

I usually don't name hotels but let's hear it for the Radisson Aquatica which, upon marking my reservation for late arrival, realized there would be no food options at midnight, so left a little snack in room.  (A good one!  A small sandwich, an apple, and a slice of cake.  Actually, two of everything, as they didn't realize it was just me.)  Complimentary and everything.  Didn't quite realize how hungry I was until I inhaled two apples and a couple sammies.

I had a full day in Barbados today - cruise leaves tomorrow - and, like, zero plans for it.  Last night (while devouring the sammies), I was googling shit like, "what to do in one day in Barbados."  Most recommendations involved the white sand beaches, which didn't feel right.  (I mean, I'm gonna be doing a lot of relaxing on the cruise.  And also, here's me in a whole new country and I figure I could be a little respectful and check out something particularly LOCAL rather than just a beach.)

Lunch was sorted, though.  There was a really high rated food stall (Cuzz's Fish Stand) conveniently located, like, right off the hotel's property.  The internet says you should have a Cuzz's Fish Cutter and the Internet Does Not Lie.  It's a piece of (very) fresh grilled Marlin with a slice of cheddar on a soft nummy bun.  (And it's, like, $13.  BARBADIAN.)  Tasty and a deal.

After a day in transit, I really felt like taking a walk and taking in some of sights, if there was anything nearby to see.  Turns out (about 5th on the list of Shit To Do in Barbados) was a historical walking tour which involved two sights pretty freakin' near me.  (And, I mean, if I consider it walking distance, it's walking distance.)  

I started in the Barbados Museum and Historical Society which is a pretty small museum built in an old British Garrison.  Two facts about the museum:  (1) most of it lacks air conditioning; and (2) I was the only person in it.  This was a good thing.  I'm still masking indoors, but the humidity was making my mask damp (I doubted its efficacy at this point) and since I was the only one in the place, I just took it off, which seriously aided breathability.  As for the museum itself, I was kind of most stricken by, well, how small it was.  I mean, I'm in the whole "history of Barbadian people" section, and it basically starts with, "we don't know what became of the original AmerIndian [the museum's word of choice] population" and moves on to "after that, it was all folks who were in indentured servitude and others who were enslaved."  It's important to document this history, but it isn't like there are a whole lot of Barbadian historical heroes to celebrate.  I'm starting to understand why they have a statue to Rhianna here.  She's that big a deal.  Look, this was in the museum.

The next place to visit was the George Washington House.  Did you know Barbados was the only foreign country George Washington ever visited?  It wasn't a state visit or anything; he came when he was younger, to accompany his older brother who was trying to recover from tuberculosis.  Did not go will.  Brother eventually died of it and George picked up smallpox when he was here.  (On the plus side, the experience would eventually prompt George to innoculate the Continental Army against smallpox -- against the dictates of Congress.  That's right, y'all, we might not have won independence had George Washington not been willing to go against the government and innoculate the troops.  Fun fact.)  ANYWAY, the bottom level of the house is a renovation of how it looked when the Washingtons were there, and the upstairs is another museum - including more slavery exhibits and a discussion of George's own moral ambiguity on this; he wanted to stop selling human beings, but couldn't quite manage to free the human beings he personally owned.  (Lafayette apparently kept trying to get him to do so.  Go Lafayette.)  I was alone in this museum, too.  I can really get into all these private museum visits.  (I guess everyone else was at the white sand beaches.)

When they were renovating the George Washington house, archeologists found a series of tunnels under the house and, really, the entirety of the garrison.  Like, nine of them, one as long as a kilometer.  They were apparently designed to enable quick evacuation if the garrison were overrun, but never used.  They let you walk down one (from the cafe to the car park) for about 200m.  They've added lighting, which is nice, because the whole thing is, well, not for claustrophobics.  Single-file only is what I'm saying.

Got back to my hotel around 3:30 and with the extra time to kill, figured that NOW I should drop by the ol' white sand beach and at least dip my feet in the Caribbean.  The water was a bit... intense.  You know how sometimes when you walk on the beach, the little waves come in and deposit sand and if you're not paying attention, you end up buried up to your ankles?  This was the reverse.  The little waves came in and started eating away at the sand around your feet and the next thing you know, the sand disappears out from under you and you're standing on an unstable little sand platform.  This didn't seem fun, so I sat on a lounge chair to dry off.  There's music in the background and wave noises in front of me and there's a very good chance I dozed off because there's a half hour or so I cannot account for.

Had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was right above the beach.  The sunset wasn't much to look at, but my phone found some really pretty blues in there and this is one time the picture improved on the reality (with no filters)!

And that's all I got.  It's off to the cruise terminal tomorrow.  Maybe I'll be able to journal the trip; maybe not.  (Ship's wifi is pricey.  I'll likely have phone when we're close to the islands, and can maybe do a little tethering, but we'll see how it goes.)  ANYWAY, journalling isn't the first priority.  First priority is finding a tasty one of them drinks with an umbrella in it.

Disneyland -- Before All Hell Breaks Loose

Well, we cut that one close.
OK, so Laura joined me on this adventure, and she doesn't have Magic Mornings, so we just figured on hitting the parking garage at 7:00 and being inside the park by 8:00.
And we hit it pretty exactly. She picked me up at 7:00 and it took something like 8 whole minutes to get to the parking garage. Got parked, got through security, got on the tram -- all with reasonable speed.
And then we saw the lines outside the park. They seemed pretty freakin' long, but two things made this not as bad as it seemed. First, half the lines were taken up by Magic Mornings, so there were really only half the lines open for regular admission. And, second, the lines weren't open yet at all. So this was more of a logjam than a moving line. Once they opened up (ballpark 7:30) the lines moved quickly and we got in. Had about 20 minutes to link up our tickets (on both our apps) and find a nice corner with a good signal.
We'd done our research and read everything about how to best get a boarding group and fast, and although we got a little nervous counting down the seconds to rope drop, it was actually pretty straightfoward and the cheerful "Group 37" showed up on my screen. We cheered. We high-fived, but switched to a fist bump (because Corona). People next to us got 40-something, they were excited, too. We heard the people cheer down Main Street as everyone got the good news.

Three comments here: (1) Yes, we cheered a bit faster than everyone else. I'd like to say we're just that good, but we got lucky. (2) I'm pretty sure EVERYONE who was trying for a boarding group got one. At least, everyone who was trying then. It was probably a good half hour (or so) when Laura checked the app again and backup boarding groups were still available. (3) Not everyone was trying. This puzzled me, as I could not believe anyone in their right mind would get up that early to be in Disneyland at opening without having this as, y'know, a REASON, but whatever, less competition. (Still, despite all the publicity around this, there are still people who don't know you need to do this to get a boarding group.)
Here's what we did not know: They don't start boarding. We keep checking the app and the app keeps saying "Now Boarding" but listing no groups. We take a breath and ride Big Thunder -- we know it's going to rain soon so figure we'll get in an outdoor ride while we can. We go back to Galaxy's Edge and learn that NOT opening Rise on time is more common than opening on time. The helpful cast member to whom we spoke said they'd actually only managed to open with the park twice, so they usually aim for the first hour ... and if that doesn't work, the second.

We realized that, despite our relatively low boarding group, this could take some time. We didn't manage a cantina reservation, but thought we'd ask the nice cast member at the queue. She let us in, no problem. We got seated at a table. And had food! (They don't have a lot of breakfast options -- two, actually -- but the oaty yogurt thing was affirmatively tasty.) It had commenced raining right as we got to Oga's -- despite the weather app saying it wouldn't rain until 1:00, it had started sprinkling around 9:00 and never really let up.

By 9:45, Rise was still not open. (That might be a lie. We later learned it had opened briefly for a few boarding groups, but then went down again.)

The app tells us the wait at Astro Blasters is 20 minutes, so we start to walk over to it. By the time we get there, the wait is 40 minutes, and Rise is back up, calling boarding groups 11-21.

40 minutes? The hell. We figure we'll just kill time and avoid the rain in that Star Wars Thing That's Where America Sings Used To Be. We walk over. It doesn't open until 11:00.

Well shit, now what? Rise is adding Boarding Groups every few minutes and they're safely in the 20s. Maybe we get a FastPass for something and ride it after Rise? We go over to those Tomorrowland FP machines (which are totally new to me) and we're about to get Space Mountain passes (for a return time after 1:00) when I notice the Astro Blasters FPs have a return time at 10:10.

It's 10:00 now. It's a 40 minute wait in the stand by line, but 10 minutes on Fast Pass.

I am puzzled by this. Either everyone in that line already has a FP for something else or ... they don't know how FPs work. (Must be the same people who were in there at park opening but not trying for a Rise boarding group. Oooookay.) We get the FPs and ride Astro Blasters; we get out in perfect time to walk back to Galaxy's Edge at hit Rise just as they're adding 37 to the board.

N.B. Walking back to Rise was the first and only time we saw anyone wearing a surgical mask in the park.

We join the queue. There's a family behind us, little blond-headed kid. In the line, you go through caves. There's a little niche at about floor level; animal noises are coming out of it. The kid, excited, thinks there's bats in there. (There are no bats in there.) The parents tell him there are no bats in there. Laura bends down to look in the niche; there's definitely animal sounds (intentionally provided by Disney) coming out of it. She asks the kid what he thinks could be making the noises. Kid is happy (and returns to the "bats" theory). PLAY WITH YOUR KIDS, PEOPLE; you're in fucking Disneyland!

We ride the ride. No blow-by-blow here (largely because it's available from other sources; also because I wanted to be completely unspoiled on it, so, yeah). Impressions: I understand why it takes so long to reset it when it goes down. Holy kittens, there are a lot of moving parts in that thing! As a physical ride, it's probably a 5 out of 10; as a piece of integrated storytelling, it's off the freakin' chart. It's impressive in scale; most of the cast members with which we interacted were super into their parts (one wasn't -- send a note to Quality Control); and ... OK, let me put it like this: I was never ACTUALLY in the story to the extent of believing I was a genuine member of the Resistance on this particular mission; but they did such a phenomenal job of creating the mood, I DID FEEL like it would be super duper wrong to take out my phone and start snapping selfies there. (And No Sense Of Humor dude would probably cut me down where I stood.) And the attention to detail was so rich, I can totally see riding it again just for all the stuff I missed.

We get out and it's still raining. A lot. The wait time for Smugglers Run is something like 40 minutes which does not feel acceptable, so we Single Rider that thing and end up together anyway.

Question: So, the last time I went, they were still handing out the color-cards with your crew and your position. This time, they just said, "You're the Purple Crew" and orally assigned parts. Dude said, "It's something new we're trying." My question: Is this "something new we're trying" or is this "given Coronavirus concerns, we're not going to hand you a card someone else breathed all over"?

We get out around noon and consider options. It is now raining to the point that our "water resistant" jackets are demonstrating that "water resistant" is not "waterproof."

We consider hopping over to California Adventure and riding Guardians (we both LOVE that one), but the wait time is 75 minutes and quite a bit of that is uncovered.

Having accomplished our mission to ride Rise, and feeling quite soggy, we decide discretion is the better part of valor and maybe it's time to get the hell out. We make a quick shopping stop at Emporium on the way out and THERE look at our phones and learn that the Governor is strongly suggesting Californians cancel all gatherings of over 250 people, which will likely result in the park closing. We knew we were cutting things close, but had no idea it was THAT close. By the time I got home, Disney had announced the park was closing Saturday.

We had decided to go knowing very well that this might be not only our last chance to hit the parks for a while, but our last Outing Of Normalcy before life moved to quasi-quarantine. In between that decision and now: hockey game I had tickets for Saturday - not happening; friend's birthday party Saturday night - not happening; Dodger opening day I had tickets for - not happening; Vegas trip in April - not happening. If this WAS my last outing of normalcy for the foreseeable future, I'm glad to have spent it fighting with the Resistance.

50 for 50: 50 - I'm calling it. DLP with Lecie.

I've had a bit of trouble with the actual 50th thing.

Although the whole project was initially set up as "in lieu of a party," I ended up having a bit of party, which was initially billed as the 50th thing -- and did, in fact, include some folks I'd wanted to do a "50 for 50" with (Hi Cousins Shawn and Dash!); but I've been hesitant to actually write it up and call that one the 50th thing, because they were a bit particular with numbers of people, and I wasn't able to invite everyone I'd done a (local) 50 for 50 with, and it didn't seem right at all to put a cap on the project with a party to which I hadn't been able to invite everyone I wanted to invite (apologies).

So, I've spent at least 6 months staring at the few items remaining on the list and puzzling over how the HELL I've had this project open for a coupla years and still haven't managed to find a friend to go to Disneyland with me (well, a friend who didn't already do a 50 for 50) and then fate intervened and, fuck it: Lecie, you did my last 50 for 50 even though you didn't know it.  And we certainly didn't plan it.

I 'splain.

Here's me in London.  I've booked a weekend in Disneyland Paris.  It's the night before I take the Eurostar over and I take a peek at Facebook.  Lecie has posted one of those "I'm at the airport with my mom" status thingies, and it says she's going to Paris.

Relevant Things I know About Lecie:  She's fun.  She likes Disneyland.

I drop her a message:  Hey, you're not going to Disneyland Paris, are you?

She IS.  The exact same days I am.

We plan (in a broad, general sense) to meet up.

Honestly, I don't know exactly how much time we're going to spend together.  I'm totally horning in on her Vacation With Mom at this point, but figure we should at least say "hi" and see what's up.

We're arriving at Disneyland Paris at more or less the same time, although I beat her on account of train lag being a lot less intense than jet lag.  I send her a text and ask if she wants me to make a dinner reservation.  (Implicit:  Hey, are we gonna get dinner together?)  We are.  We are so gonna get dinner together.

We are actually going to spend most of the weekend together -- although we're at different hotels, so we breakfast on our own.  And there's that large chunk of Saturday when we split up so I can try to ride everything on the Ultimate FastPass (spoiler: I can't) and she and her mom can meet Maleficent (sorry, "Malefique") and ride Small World (I'm a hard pass on Small World).  But, mostly, we hang in Disneyland Paris together, and have pretty much the same goals.

We LOVE the statues they've got set up all over Adventureland for Coco/Day of the Dead.

We also love the dragon under the castle, the view of the Disneyland entrance at night, and the Alice in Wonderland Maze.

At one point, I'm trying to find the FastPass Entrance to Phantom Manor (spoiler:  There isn't one; don't let the fact that the Ultimate FastPass actually includes Phantom Manor throw you off)... ANYWAY, I'm on my own and wandering the path by the side of Phantom Manor (because I will gnaw off my own foot before I ask a French person for directions) and I discover the "cemetery" just goes ON, and ends up in "Boot Hill" which is the intersection of the Frontierland concept with the Phantom Manor concept, and there's actually a little raised area with "tombs" you can walk among.  The sound effects are creepy as hell, especially when "Big Thunder Mountain" isn't running (which it wasn't) so there aren't any screams of joy in the background, just the whooshing of air through what sounds like an abandoned space.  And I think, "I've gotta bring Lecie and her mom back here."  So after we meet up for dinner on Saturday night (an adventure best left un-recounted), we took in the Eerie, and Lecie took lots of pictures of it (but she's a photographer and I forgot to).

And one thing the three of us really wanted to do was have a nice lunch at Bistrot Chez Remy.  Our first day there, Lecie braved the phone call with the Disney Restaurant Reservation People (FFS, put this on the app), who lived up to every negative stereotype of French people dealing with Americans -- the lady told her they were fully booked all weekend and hung up on her.  When I was FastPassing it up the next day, I rode the Ratatouille ride (which is largely interesting for how the trackless vehicles move more than any actual fun factor), which let out right next to the Bistrot, so thought I'd pop in and inquire.  Do you happen to have any reservations available for lunch tomorrow?  Mais oui.

So, before we had to leave for our respective trains, we got to tuck into some really tasty food cooked by an imaginary rat.  To say this was the best food I'd ever eaten in an amusement park is faint praise (although true).  It may well have been the best food I've ever eaten in France -- that probably says more about where I've eaten in France than Remy's cooking.  The dish of the day was a lamb shank, which was just super flavorful and fall-off-the-bone tender and did I mention super flavorful?  I kind of inhaled it.

Lecie's mom and I bonded over the inability to get a decent cup of tea pretty much anywhere in Disneyland Paris.  (Well, the French seem attached to a green tea with mint, which isn't bad, but isn't great if you're looking for something in a get-you-going strongly caffeinated beverage.)  I assume the inability to find a decent cup of English Breakfast Tea on this side of the Channel is the French still being miffed about the 100 Years War.  But, seriously, with all the English tea suppliers just a hop, skip and a boat away, Disneyland Paris gave their exclusive tea contract to LIPTON.  And then half the restaurants don't even have standard Lipton Black Tea, just herbal stuff.  It's a travesty.  (Particularly given that the target audience of Disneyland Paris is Brits on holiday.)  What are we supposed to drink with our chocolate mousse?!  (And don't get us started on the green creme brulee at the Steakhouse.)

But, mostly, I just got to know Lecie a bit better as we laughed and smiled and tried to stay dry in the Happiest Place in France.  She's definitely one of those people who is good to travel with -- easily changes plans on the fly, enjoys the adventure, and approaches new experiences with a sense of wonder and joy.  I'm glad I got to experience Disneyland Paris with her.

And it's also fitting to close out the 50 for 50 with Lecie -- she's a new friend, someone I'm not sure I'd even met when I started this project.  Especially with missing 49 with Meg, wrapping this up by cementing a new friendship is SATISFYING.  Overall, I've had more fun than I could've possibly imagined when I started the project, and I've been reluctant to actually end it.  This (unexpectedly) ended it on the right note -- with all the childish wonder of a Disney park, the grown-up ability to dump a lot of money on a really nice meal, and the serendipitous nature of us randomly being at the same place at the same time, 5600 miles away. 

I'm ready to sweep up and call it a day.

50 for 50: 49 - The Placeholder Remains

I've had to make a few changes to the 50 for 50.  Sometimes, someone wasn't available; sometimes, work intervened; sometimes, we just couldn't make schedules mesh.  I subtly (and sometimes, not so subtly) dropped stuff from the list, added more stuff, or rearranged.  (Hell, I'm ALWAYS happy to do this stuff with friends and family; it doesn't HAVE to be a 50 for 50 to have an excuse to do it.) 

I was at the point where I had two things left, 49 and 50 (obviously).  I even did the 50th thing -- a fit-a-bunch-of-people-in-a-single-event type of thing to just put a cap on this project, but that would have to number 50, and I hadn't quite done 49 yet.

I was holding 49 for Meg.

We were supposed to go to a TV taping.  At first, her back went out, and she didn't think she could sit for the few hours involved in a taping.  When her back got better, it was summer, and we didn't want to see anything that was taping.  I mean, yeah, sure, we could see "Fuller House," but the college admissions scandal just broke, and we didn't really want to be seen doing anything that might be interpreted as supportive of Lori Loughlin.  (It's one thing to do the crime, but girlfriend signing autographs outside court is just something I cannot get behind.)  We figured we'd postpone until autumn, and catch "Will & Grace."

"Will & Grace" is filming again.

Meg passed away today.

Stupid fucking aggressive cancer.  The timeline from diagnosis to hopeful treatment to stopping treatment to succumbing was remarkably quick.  I don't quite think I'd processed that her doctors stopped chemo and put her on palliative care when I got word that it was over.  I mean, sure, I knew, but I didn't KNOW.

Meg knew, I think.  It was just about a month ago when she told me I might need to give the TV Taping to someone else.  I told her that I'm holding it for her, and I'm keeping my word.  49 stays empty.  It's Meg's.

She was generous.  She loved theatre.  Back when I was reviewing, I offered myself up at our annual auction for the Food Bank -- I'd take the winner as my guest to an opening night at the Ahmanson or Pantages.  Meg bid on me every year.  (Once there was a bidding war; I'm told it nearly ended in fisticuffs.)  I was glad she did; she was a great "plus one" for an opening night invite, and I tried to take her whenever I could, auction or not.  She was a genuine theatre geek, and I loved having her.

We were not super close; I'm sure there are dozens of people who can eulogize her better than I can.  We were just "work friends," although with theatre benefits.  We laughed.  We shared hundreds of lunches with the First Cup Friday crew.  She had just retired and didn't get nearly enough time to enjoy it.  I'll miss her.  I already do.

When it seemed like this might be the end for Meg, I actually thought that maybe I'd leave this one empty as a memento mori -- that somehow it made this list more complete if I left one open for someone who passed on.  I mean, hell, isn't the whole point (well, one of the points) of my 50 for 50 to spend time with people I love today because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow?

And now that she's gone, that's not why I'm leaving it empty.  It has nothing to do with me.  Years from now, I'm sure, I'll go back over these posts, and let them trigger memories, and I'll think about how much fun it was to do this project, and how very much I enjoyed the company of each and every person I did one of these with.  And I'm keeping this for Meg because I want to keep remembering her.  We might have missed out on a "Will & Grace" taping together, but I'm not going to take away her spot on my list.

50 for 50: 48 - Old Timey Photo with my Parents

From the Department of Things That Should Have Been Easy...

I thought Old Timey Photos were still available at every damned amusement park.  Not so.  (Dollywood?  Yes.  Knott's Berry Farm?  Probably.)  But most parks have traded in the Old Timey Photos for Green Screen photos.  (And I went to Dollywood with Steve, who'd already done a 50 for 50 by then, and didn't want to do an Old Timey Photo anyway.)

A few months back, I was in Arizona with my folks, sister, and aunt, and we had some time to kill, so I was looking for an Old Timey Photo place, thinking I could maybe sneak that one in.  There was one just a few miles away....

It had burned down.

Honest to God, there was a fire there a couple years back, and they chose not to rebuild -- or, at least, not to rebuild the business.  The nearest Old Timey Photo place was something like 50 miles away.  Certainly nothing we could slip in before dinner.  Old Timey Photo was turning out to be a challenge.

Fast forward to me being in Arizona for my father's birthday weekend.  For his birthday, yesterday, we drove out to the Dolly Steamboat -- a paddle boat that tours around a lake up in the mountains.  (We saw big horn sheep!  And some woman wearing a tube-top bikini jump about 60 feet into the water.  (We saw her head resurface.  We're not so sure the tube top survived the impact.))  It was a nice little (air-conditioned) paddle boat tour and we enjoyed it.

It had been an hour and a half drive away.  Up the (scenic) Apache Trail.  The cell phone service is spotty up here.  You even pass an old ghost town on the way -- a gold mining town which had gone all touristy.  We'd been there years ago, and taken the mine tour, and walked past the little shops.  We were reminiscing about it on the steamboat, and my mother mentioned that we'd walked past the House of Questionable (if not actually Ill) Repute, and I thought, "Y'know, that's the sort of place that would have an Old Timey Photo establishment."

I waited until I got enough of a signal to pull the ghost town up on my cell phone, and, sure enough, of the ten whole shops at the Goldfield Ghost Town, one is an old timey photo joint. 

Now, technically (and, y'know, ACTUALLY) this was my Dad's birthday, so I half wheedled/half negotiated a stop at the ghost town on the way back the mountain.  (Said my father, with a sigh of resignation, "Can we get ice cream?"  I replied, "As a matter of fact, one of the other shops is an ice cream parlour."  A deal was made.)

For those wondering about the 50 for 50 rules at this moment, 50 for 50 things are One Per Person, and, at this point, I'd only done one with my parents, so I had a spare available.  I am therefore proud to present:  Old Timey Photo With My Folks!

That's the one I took home; my parents acquired an alternative pose:

And that's how my Dad's birthday turned out to be my 48th 50 for 50.

50 for 50: 47 - Drink hot cocoa (not by a fire) with Caroline

As we get near the end of my 50 for 50 list, we're getting to the ones that have been ... logistically challenging.

And it's been some of the ones which I'd thought would be easy.

Case in point:  Drink hot cocoa by a fire.

I'd initially thought this one was open to all sorts of interpretation when I'd put it on the list.  Maybe a "ski trip" (in quotes because me skiing is a questionable at best), or some sort of campfire evening type of thing.

This did not occur.

My friend Caroline signed up for it.  She thought we'd find a nice cafe with hot chocolate and a fireplace.

This did not occur either.  Mostly because we live in Los Angeles.  And while there are some hot chocolate establishments (some of which are seasonal and we'd blown the season), none of them are near fire.

OK, ditch the flame.  Let's just find someplace with good sippin' chocolate.

There is such a place.  Amara Cafe, in Pasadena.

They serve dinner and stuff.  And what is actually on their menu as "drinking chocolate."  (As opposed to ... wearing chocolate?)  They do a Venezuelan sippin' chocolate (and have an impressive-looking dessert menu in which churros feature heavily).  Caroline and I plan to go there for dinner.

This, also, failed to occur.  On multiple occasions.  She got sick.  I got sick.  Her kid got sick.  They're closed on Mondays.  I'm out of town.  They close at 7:30.  Her other kid got sick.  FFS, give me some sippin' chocolate with Caroline!

To be completely honest about it, we almost had more fun NOT doing the 50 for 50 than we had doing it.  We met for a non-hot-chocolate dinner (in lieu of Amara) a bunch of times.  (Juicy pork dumplings FTW!)  Every time, we chatted, got caught up on each other's lives, and just took some time out of our (apparently) super busy lawyer lives to breathe.

We FINALLY made this happen on Tuesday.  I was so busy this week (dinner with a visiting out-of-town friend on Wednesday; Avengers: Endgame on Thursday; plane to Arizona on Friday), I almost cancelled (again), but everyone seemed healthy, nobody was in the ER, Amara was actually open, and when the hell were the stars going to align like this again?!

We went.  I had some sort of cornmeal pizza thing (not its real name -- cachapas, I think) with chicken and black beans which was actually pretty good, and A CUP OF VENEZUELAN DRINKING CHOCOLATE which was, y'know, better.

And the restaurant was more of a cafe, and the seating was not exactly luxurious, and it was after 7:30 so they were trying to shuffle us out.  But we were sitting there, being hugged from the inside by chocolatey goodness, and being warmed from the outside by friendship, and it was a moment that couldn't be rushed.

And did I get a picture?  This failed to occur.  ;)   We'll just have to manage to do it again.

LMNL at OneDome

I have a work thing in San Francisco, so I came up a few days early to spend the weekend with Cousin Roni.  And we had salads and went retro clothes shopping (and I got a sweater with little kitty faces on it) and I met her bunny and we walked around and I saw views and it was fun!

And today, I wanted to do something vaguely indoorsy, and Groupon hooked us up with LMNL at OneDome.  LMNL is billed as an interactive exhibit made up of 14 rooms designed by 14 different artists that you get to play in.

I had hoped for something kinda like Meow Wolf. 

Not so much.  It was more like Instagram Heaven.

First, we started with "Health Shots."  Served in skull shot glasses, for some damn reason.  No, wait, I know the reason.  Because this looks cool.

We were actually pretty lucky, in that we got there when there was no line, and most of the rooms were empty, or had only one group in them (and we could just wait our turn and get the room to ourselves).  But the people who were in there fell into several categories:

- Families with kids who were running and jumping and playing and having the bestest time!
- Artist-types who were feeling the vibe and sketching what they saw.
- Duos made up of one person who was clearly the Instragram model and the other who was her photographer.

Me and Roni were just there to, y'know, have fun.

I really like the room with strings of lights in it.  This was one place where the reflection in my glasses added to the effect.  Dude, we are in the Matrix.

You can't quite tell (because selfie) but we were SURROUNDED by the strings of lights; we're standing in a small space in the middle, but it's lights everywhere.

The wall in this one was surprisingly fun to play with.

Not sure why I was going for the "Chased by something" look here, but the wall totally adds to the panic.

There was one very small room (you could barely fit both of us in there) which was mirrored on all surfaces and the mirrors had flashy lights in them which responded to motion.  We stood outside the room for a bit, watching the Instagram Couple take all the photos they wanted -- she kept posing, telling him the pose she was taking, and directing him which shots to take.  It kind of cracked us up.  I told Roni that when we got in there, I was going to sit in the corner and completely ignore the camera, and then turn and stare blankly at it, like I so totally don't care about anything.

Roni says I nailed it.  I'm thinking of maybe starting an Instagram of "50-Year-Old Does 15-Year-Old Angst" poses, but, like, I just totally can't be bothered right now.

And then we stood up in the tiny room, and figured that if it's REALLY activated by motion, we should give it some damn motion.  So we did a little tango in there, and were rewarded with tons of bright rainbow lights, and we laughed and fell toward the doorway.  When Roni opened the door, we saw the Instagram Couple out there, and I wondered if they'd noticed us totally goofing in the room, but they were glued to their phones, reviewing their pix, and waiting for their turn to go back in and redo some shots.