Tag Archives: Vacation

What I’ve Been Up To and What I’ve Been Reading

Palm Desert Sunny
Palm Desert when it's sunny!

Out by me, the kids have what is called “fall break” but this year, The Boy’s break was only two days long so we headed to Palm Desert for a weekend getaway. We also went to celebrate The Girl’s 7th birthday which is later this week. Usually this is the perfect time of year to visit. The temps are usually cooler but the skies are still blue and the sunsets are brilliant.

Well…not this time. It started with a flash flood on the way there (no pics of it) and then there was a lot of lightning which made swimming difficult even though it was a warm 95 degrees. We spent a lot of time shopping and eating, which may sound wonderful but it wasn’t the plan. Even with the rain I didn’t really get to spend much time reading. My tote bag was full of books as was my Kindle, but there were only two books that I read from and that was only once the kids crashed. I didn’t make much progress in either one of them.

Oh, and did I mention that there was no Wi-Fi? To be honest, it was nice to take a break from all of the devices that keep me connected during a normal week but I missed you all. I worried about your out-of-state moves, your four-legged friends, your kids, their kids, your health issues, etc. I’m glad to be back so I can re-connect with all of you.

On a reading note, here is what I must read within the next few weeks, and if I left one or two out it’s not surprising as I am going from memory (which is not always good).

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver ( loving it)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (so, so hard to get through)

Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch (loved his first book, Finn so I am looking forward to this one)

Everything is Going to Be Great by Rachel Shukert (a memoir of Shukert’s grand tour of Europe)

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell (Zombies!! Lots of zombies!)

Sunset Park by Paul Auster (loved Invisible, this one comes out 11/9/10)

The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy (a delicious collection of short stories)

Black Hills by Dan Simmons (love Simmons but having a hard time getting into this one)

In addition to all of this reading, I have to write a paper on the poems from lit class. Yep, the lit class that I missed this week because of my weekend getaway. Don’t you worry. I’ll get it all done. I always do.

Hope your week is going well so far.

Let the Vacation from the Vacation Begin

Yosemite 2010

We just got back from vacation. We were supposed to spend a week in Yosemite, but we ran into a few problems:

Our first night there, we had to change rooms at midnight because the entire building was taken up by this one family and they were out and about and partying in the meadow, beating conga drums, kids running all over hell…I was not happy! This is Yosemite people!! Peace and quiet is what it’s all about…not your freakin’ conga playing. We called the front office and there was one other room available about two buildings over, so we packed up everything and changed rooms.

It was unusually warm and our room had no AC. None of the rooms in Yosemite have AC. The National Park does not allow it. This meant that our room was 94 degrees, as measured by the thermostat. NOT comfortable. We’ve been to Yosemite in the summer before and never had a problem with the heat. We couldn’t open the windows because they didn’t have screens and the bugs were HUGE. I don’t think I could have been more depressed after that first night there.

We used DEET-free bug spray and were we all eaten alive by the mosquitoes on our first day there. Then, because I have so many allergy issues anyway, I had an allergic reaction to the bites so I was swollen all over. From there on out, we used the fully-leaded DEET-filled spray but the damage was done.

E & E Yosemite Falls

We stayed for three days but I was so swollen and hot, that I just couldn’t take it anymore. I fired-up the laptop, found me a hotspot and booked us a room in San Francisco!

Pier 39 San Francisco

San Francisco was gorgeous!! It was about 70 degrees and our cheapie Comfort Inn room was actually quite nice and in a perfect location. We hit all the sights and had a blast!! We dined on chowda, seafood and I even got my Vietnamese noodle fix. We had a great time. As you know from my 100 things post, I am a huge planner so making these last minute plans is so not me, but I am so glad I did. I would have been miserable if we had stayed in Yosemite.

Book Passage

I managed find a bookstore too. This is Book Passage, located at the end of the Ferry building. I knew of the store from Facebook, so it was neat to visit it in person.

E at Book Passage

I didn’t buy anything though since I had just loaded up my Kindle. The Girl was working me for a puppet though. A puppet!! She’s surrounded by those luscious books and a puppet is what catches her eye. I said, “No,” in case you’re interested.

Book Passage - The Bestseller's Table

Because of all the chaos at the beginning of the vacation, I didn’t get to read more than a few chapters. Once in Frisco, I didn’t get to read at all because we were zipping all over town and never had any down time.

After many vacations I’ve learned that a few days after a vacation, can really make a difference so I asked for some additional days off.  Sort of a “vacation from the vacation.” This way, I can put things back in order, upload the pics, do a little reading and ease back into my week. There’s nothing worse than having to go back to work right after a vacation. I shudder at the thought of it.

So…I haven’t been around too much but hopefully I’ll make-up for that over the next couple of days. Hope you all had a good week and thank you for all the comments to my 100 things post. I tried to respond to as many of them as I could (from my phone), but I wasn’t always successful.

It feels good to be home! I will post the rest of the photos on Facebook for those that are interested.