Since David is giving me grief over not updating my blog since August – and he has a valid point – here’s a recap of what has happened since then.
Steve and I went to Maine for some vacation and to visit his family. I hadn’t met any of his family until this trip. We had a good time basically just hanging out there. We did go see some of the sights in Portland (lighthouses and such) but mostly we hung around the house and were entertained by his five-year-old nephew. Before we got to Maine, we were in Connecticut. We’ve decided that people in Connecticut don’t like visitors. We tried visiting some beaches there and almost all of them are privately owned by a club, and the beaches that are public have no public parking anywhere near them. We did luck out and find a wildlife area that was completely free. We had a nice walk there and spent lots of time on the shelly beach. Beaches in the east are completely different than SoCal beaches. The Atlantic beaches are coarser, have more whole shells, and are smaller. We also spent one night in Boston to go to a Red Sox game. Our seats turned out to be fantastic and the Sox won in extra innings against the Blue Jays. We had a great time at Fenway eating hot dogs, drinking beer, cheering and jeering with the rest of the crowd. We got to Boston later than we wanted to (thanks to a side trip in Rhode Island), so we didn’t get to Fenway as early as we planned. Instead of doing pictures before the game, we did them after. It seems the grounds crew lets people hang out for about 15 minutes after the game to take picture but then they start shooing everyone out. We were able to walk all the way down to the field (not on the field) right behind home plate. A grumpy staffer started telling us to leave, but then he offered to take our picture. Not satisfied with the first one he took, he insisted he take another. Go figure. We did eat lobstah whilst in Maine and it was good.
After getting back from Maine, it was all work, work, work. Nothing interesting.
In October, we visited Crystal Cove State Beach just north of Laguna and south of Newport Beach on the Pacific. My mom has been obsessed about getting a reservation at one of the historic restored beach cottages at this state beach. She succeeded in doing so back in April, and the dates she got were in October. Yes, these book six moths out via an online only reservations system. They are extremely popular and have only been open since 2006. Steve and I drove up and stayed on night with them (mom & dad were there for two nights). It’s really a great place to go for a little weekend get away. The entire place feels like it’s back in the 50’s. The cottages are all different and have different amenities and prices. We were in a “dorm” style cottage which means two parties stay there. Each has their own sleeping area (some with private baths), and they share living area, porch, and kitchen. Other cottages are completely private but cost about three times as much. All of the cottages are right on the beach and it’s a gorgeous one. We could walk for miles on the beach. At low tide there are tide pools, but we weren’t really there at a good time for low, low tides. There’s not much to do but enjoy the beach. And there are no tvs.
The weekend after relaxing at Crystal Cove, Steve and I headed north to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. This was the same week as the fires that whipped through San Diego County. We were luckily not affected by the fires, nor was anyone we know. Our office was closed for a day and a half. When we got back from the parks, everything was running pretty much back to normal for most people.
We really enjoyed the parks. We stayed in a bath cabin at Grant Grove inside Kings Canyon park. The cabins are old (circa 1910s I think?), but well heated and functionally furnished. The cabins do have mice and we heard scurrying, but since we protected our food, no mice nibbles on anything. We only had two days to visit, so we did the highlights: Grant Grove, General Sherman Tree, part of the Congress trail that features the stands called The House and The Senate, and Giant Forest. We also visited a cave in Kings Canyon and had a very nice walk/hike through forest along the river. We stopped during that walk to have a snack right by the water and Steve declared it was the best apple he ever had. The surrounding were gorgeous. Fall had reached the higher elevations there and all the maple and oak trees were yellow. I love the big trees of Sequoia. They are indescribable because my mind can’t really comprehend how big and old they are. You just have to see them.
I’ve had other travels since August, too. I went to Arizona to have a Greene reunion of sorts due to my Grandmother’s 90th birthday. For work, I’ve been to Arizona and NY to attend conferences. I’ve hardly had a weekend at home for two months.
Next on the agenda is a trip to Texas next week. I’ll be going to San Antonio first to visit my aunt, celebrate her birthday, and go to a Spurs-Mavericks game. Love going to those b-ball games! The trip will end in Dallas at the wedding of one of my college friends, Terry. Should be fun to see her since I haven’t seen her since Summer’s wedding back in 2001 perhaps? Can’t remember what year, but needless to say, it’s been a while.
Steve and I did have a weekend at home for Thanksgiving. With Mom & Dad out on the cruise, we did T-day with our friends Roseleigh & Matt. We brought the stuffing, crans, desserts, and dip. They did the rest. It was really nice and we had just the right amount of leftovers. We went to Ikea to buy some shelving for Steve, got my car washed, and other chores. We did go to the beach to enjoy the extreme low tide created by the full moon. The water was so far out we could walk around the end of a rock jetty. It was great. We also went to the zoo. Our first visit since August. We found a keeper working in the enclosure right next to Spanky (the Alaskan Brown Bear who was having health issues), and she said he died. He was old. Poor guy. There was sign in his old exhibit saying a pair of grizzly bear brothers will be arriving soon. We’ll miss Spanky.
And finally, yesterday we found out that the sale of our company (Harcourt) to Houghton-Riverdeep has been approved by the FTC and DOJ. I still don’t know what this means for us yet, but at least we know that changes will be happening soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Steve took pictures during all our trips and visits. He just hasn’t uploaded them to his flickr account yet. I’ll add another entry when they are there and you can take a peek at some of the highlights.
