Kittehs!

The house now has many more Small Purring Objects, three new kittens-yeah!

Mr. R Darcy is the larger 6 month old.  He loooooves his mouse toy and will carry his mouse/string/paper ball with him to a mysterious hide out.  He doesn't always love to cuddle, but when he does he likes full body petting will snuggle into your hand.

Younger siblings Spock (on the right) and The Great and Powerful Trixie (on the left) are about 3  months.  Trixie is the explorer and is happy to be off by herself more than the boys.  Very bright golden eyes and loves to play chase with R Darcy (you can read that as 'R' or 'Our' or 'Arrrr').  Spock prefers to be near the humans and is the most snuggly.  But he is paying close attention and is most interested in what is beyond the doors that the humans disappear through.

They have do spend time as a whole group.  They like to travel about the house together and they try to nap.  Spock (in the middle) just wanted a nap, but Trixie and R Darcy could not settle and spent 10 minutes going around and around Spock.  R Darcy finally went to the other couch :)

Also, the pickled peppers were such a hit we made another batch.  One of just sweet onions and the non-habanero peppers, one of just pearl onions and habaneros, and one like last time, less hot.

And now we plant the winter garden; kale, lettuce, onions, cauliflower and snapdragons and poppies for color.  Soon I will plant the fava beans.  Thanks to Larry for getting me started by planting the kale!

Cruise, Encenada Mexico

Cruise to Catalina Island and Encenada, Mexico July 2013

Encenada, Mexico

There were a bunch of different tours you can take in Encenada, but I have never been horse back riding and the reviews for Rancho Los Banditos said this was good for beginners.  Totally recommended! If you already ride you may be bored?  But as a total newbie this was perfect.  The horses were well behaved, there were plenty of cowboys with us who were always attentive.  I felt very safe.  And the ride is perfect-after an hour, you are sore, but for only a short time.

They were very nice looking horses and the owner took care to match up folks with the appropriate sized horse.

You can use the step stool to get up on your horse. You are going to look doofy, just go with it!

My horse, Tito "A legend in his own mind" was a great guy.  He liked conversation and would grunt back to me.


The land is pretty sparse, which affords a nice view when traveling through, and what does grow is amazing.

Back at the ranch the mosaic work is lovely.  The whole place was very well kept.  After the ride be sure to buy some tacos and margaritas, they are fresh and delicious.

Off to one side is the ocean

And to the other is the ranch

Day at Sea
Even though you can make it back up to Long Beach in a few hours, the ship spends a day at sea.  That way you know you have been on a cruise.  Every day they have a list of like 40 things that you could be doing; a walking group, bridge, trivia game, art auction, comedy shows, dancing shows.  Not to mention all the stuff that is available practically 24-7; pool, mini-golf, ping-pong, crossword and jigsaw puzzles in the library, the casino and the shopping.

Every day you get a newsletter with the list of stuff going on.  We managed to fit in a couples massage, time in the adults-only hot tub (super good idea), a photo shoot on formal night, some of the evening shows and a bit of the 'scavenger hunt'.  

On top of all this on the day at sea you can take the Behind the Scene tour.  Totally glad we did this!  We got to meet the head chef, Jorge, who is really a master at logistics.  They feed the ~2500 guests and the ~1000 crew.  We saw where the crew eat, the laundry facilities, the back stage, and met the engineers and the captain.  Space is limited so we signed up soon after getting on the boat-definitely a must-do.

For some reason it is a thing on cruises to turn the towels into sculpture.  You can buy books, every cruise line sells their own, kind of weird, right?  Would you do this at home?

If you sign up for a cruise, you will want to think about how you are going to handle the never ending food and drink options.  If you are saving money, you will not be drinking much alcohol.  We went ahead and got drinks-though if you go to the bar and order something standard you will get a better deal than the fancy drink of the day, though we got one a day to give it a try.  And if you love the wacky souvenir cup they are clearly the way to go.  We did get the endless soda option and the refillable container.  You get a sticker attached to your card and any bar will give you soda.  A bargain if soda is your drink of choice.

At the beginning of the cruise we imagined that we would find the gym-ha!  not until the very last day and then only because it was near the spa.  We did however make a deal, never use the elevator.  This was perfect.  We got in little bits of cardio throughout the day and had buns of steel by the end.

And remember that there is too much food!  For dinner, we often got 2 appetizers, an entre, and a dessert to split between the two of us, just so we didn't feel completely full 24 hours a day.  And at the buffet, only get one because you can always go back for another.

Back in the nineties, I read A Supposedly Fun Thing I Will Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace and was easily convinced that standard cruising was not for me (I must highly recommend Infinite Jest, I loved the excessive footnotes and just general weirdness.  But you can read his essays instead for a good intro).  That is still pretty true, it feels like Vegas on a boat-gross excess of food and drink and gambling.  And we dump our waste at sea?  Wow, we are a contemptible species.  But we already knew that and so if you can accept that for a few days you are good to go.  

Cruise, Catalina Island

Cruise to Catalina Island and Encenada, Mexico July 2013

Getting onto the boat

Our cruise started in Long Beach and though the boat leaves at 5pm, you can get on much earlier and start the good times early.  Which we did-the buffet is open and waiters will happily sell you drinks so of course we started off by sitting on the deck with fancy drinks and snacks.  

But we also needed to explore the boat and the process of leaving port is interesting.

Watching the long shoremen, it seemed like they were training a new guy.  

Splash!

Free from land-we're off! 

The best view is from the side deck

Bye bye Long Beach 

Hello cruise ship! 

Complete with dudes playing beer pong-heh!

Catalina Island

Our first stop is Catalina Island.  We take about 12 hours to make the ~1hr trip.  But we really need all that time to eat dinner, sleep it off, then eat giant breakfast buffet.

Hello Catalina!  

In Italian, a casino is for movies or theater, or even dancing.  The Catalina Casino has been around for decades and has gorgeous tile work.

Intricate murals 

beautiful details 

funky floor tile 

amazing marble

And out back you can walk into the ocean to start scuba diving

We walked around town, which doesn't take very long, and thought about the folks who live here full time.  There are very few cars, golf carts are more the norm.  Most homes are rentals, the main street got very crowded as the 2,000 folks from the ship got off.  There were plenty of folks lugging suitcases over to the ferry.  But of course it is gorgeous and you don't have to go very far to get away from the crowd, walking 10 minutes gets you to the edge of town.

One of the houses is an old boat that they got ashore.

And it just happens to be across the street from our relatives - neato!  Great Uncle Al was an early diver and spent his life doing underwater welding and other dangerous stuff.  

In the afternoon we went snorkeling at Lover's Cove.  This is the cold cold Pacific Ocean, so I was glad I had joined a tour where they gave us wetsuits and nice masks.  It can get crowded because the glass bottom boats also tour the cove.  But it was super easy to just go out a bit and float back in with the waves.  No effort, great views of the fish.

Bye Catalina!

Long Beach CA

Long Beach, CA July 2013

We spent one night at the Varden Hotel-cute boutique hotel with a Euro feel.  We missed the free happy hour because the downtown was cuter than expected!  There are a ton of places to eat and shop-we ended up in the used bookstore and bought as much as we could carry.  We also walked out to the piers.  There is a free shuttle, but it is really not very far, plus you get to see interesting stuff along the way.

The Queen Mary, more on her below.

I love busy ports.  I heard that George Lucas modeled the AT-AT walkers on container cranes like these from the Oakland Port, but apparently that is a myth (Boo!)

You can rent paddle boats.

We ended up getting dinner at Georges Greek Cafe.  George personally greets as many people as possible-and it doesn't matter if he has never met you-you get a hearty handshake or a warm hug.  The food was delightful and the people watching was spectacular.  The internet is full of good reviews for this place-agreed!  We had the best people watching: woman with rainbow hair-five different colors, all nicely layered.  Young hipsters.  Old hipsters.  Cute couple, with Mario backpack.  Families with toddlers.  Old surfer dude with classic blond surfer hair.  Lots of folks on bikes, all of them beach cruisers or hipster fixies.  This is one of the most vibrant downtowns I've seen and who knew?

Gorgeous sunsets and skylines.

The next night we stayed on the Queen Mary.  We were last here about 20 years ago and at the time you could basically only take a self guided tour.  It was neat, but not something to go back to and not quite as cool at the Intrepid.   They have done a great job making this into a real attraction.  The decor is stylish, the restaurants better than I expected and you can take a paid tour or just wander on your own, reading the informational signs.

I love their logo-great design.

Historical advertisements

I wonder if they got a custom carpet?  It gives the right feel of old time nautical for sure.

We were in Long Beach because this is the port where the Carnival cruise ship Inspiration docks.  We had never been on a standard cruise and I was able to find a good deal at VacationsToGo  (Thanks Peyton for the great service!).

We watched them load on new supplies from the Queen Mary deck.

Then we watched the people leave.

Pro tip-many folks spend the night before the cruise on the Queen Mary like we did.  There is even an early check in desk that is open for an hour or two in the morning.  It is like printing your boarding passes at home instead of waiting in the line at the airport.  Of course if you want the Queen Mary more to yourself, check out the cruise schedule and book opposite.  

The big dome where the boarding process starts used to be home to the Spruce Goose.  Of course inside it is huge and mostly empty space.

Shout out to the So Cal part of the fun bunch for putting us up, feeding us delightful dinners and letting us come to ballet practice :)