How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

[goalerjones]

Driving this summer despite the fuel costs for vacation...left So Cal/San Diego at midnight thursday the 3rd. Got to the Grand Canyon around 11am the following day (great location was given to us by a local where there were almost no other visitors). Left there and spent the night at a hotel in Grants NM. We got to Chicago yesterday (Jul 6th) around 6pm.

We will stay here for 4 days, then go to see frinds and relatives in Wisconsin for 2 days, then on to Minesota for my wife's relatives for an additional 4 days, then home via S.D. the black hills and Mt Rushmore, and maybe see Hoover Dam again, post-bypass construction. Planning to be back home July 20th.

I'll post more pics as I get them...

[hammbone]

You could always go downtown...to look for a job.

Then hang out in front of the drug store.

http://www.e-stoned.com/rec/28-Sister-Mary-Elephant/

[icehockeyaf96]

Nice photos!

[goalerjones]

Originally Posted by hammbone

You could always go downtown...to look for a job.

Then hang out in front of the drug store.

Sister Mary Elephant / Cheech and Chong / Pot culture - stoner movies, songs and other funny **** - Movies and Songs - Your online buzz starts here with lots of information & Coffee shops

and then get a job keeping people from hanging out in front of the drug store...

hammy, that was random...funny, but random...

here's some more pics: dad's house, crystal lake (dad's neighborhood), dad's neighbors

[goalerjones]

Today we spent the day downtown Chicago and did a tour of the Art Institute along with Lake Shore Drive...

I was disappointed with the CAI since they've been doing a massive remodel and expansion. I was there 2 years ago and they had a limited access to many of my favorite exhibits like the armor display and the architecture exhibits including the mock-ups and drawings that were done for the Chicago Tribune Building contest.

Anyway, this time there was almost no armor and all of the architecture was off-limits but my wife and daughter liked what they got to see, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be for them...

We finished off the night eating at Gino's East Pizzaria right next to Northwestern Memorial Hospital off of Superior St. To top it off the guitarist and saxophone player from the George Michael tour were also there in line in front of us. When I got back from doing the valet parking I found out that they had been hitting on my daughter and wife! (It was a huge ego boost for my daughter though)

Pix: Lions in front of Art Institute, Helmet Display, Buckingham Fountain, my wife and daughter @ Gino's East...

[puctrgt]

Looks like you're having a great trip so far, Goaler. I know pics of the canyon don't do it ANY justice, (Stayed a Phantom Ranch years back ) and I've made that trip to Chicago a few times. (MMM, Gino's!)

Too bad about the construction at CAI. Keep posting pics!

[goalerjones]

Originally Posted by puctrgt

Looks like you're having a great trip so far, Goaler. I know pics of the canyon don't do it ANY justice, (Stayed a Phantom Ranch years back ) and I've made that trip to Chicago a few times. (MMM, Gino's!)

Too bad about the construction at CAI. Keep posting pics!

yeah, construction is supposed to last until May of 09...they were also rushing out all the tourists tonight so they could have some dinner hosted by Jesse Jackson (apologize...apologize)...probably to open their newest exhibit which is an African Kings display which was , of course, closed to all but the press corps today

[goalerjones]

today was spent at Arlington Park racetrack...I started out by winning the 1st and 3rd races by betting the favorites, but overall I barely came out ahead, yet I got to spend the whole day with my dad doing something he loves, and getting him out of gardening for my mom...

[goalies-r-us]

Originally Posted by goalerjones

today was spent at Arlington Park racetrack...I started out by winning the 1st and 3rd races by betting the favorites, but overall I barely came out ahead, yet I got to spend the whole day with my dad doing something he loves, and getting him out of gardening for my mom...

This brought to mind a "viewpoint" (letter to the editor type thing) that was published in our local paper a while back. Your parents might get a chuckle out of this:

Wife gone mad -- a treatise in how not to garden, even if you mean well
Friday, June 27, 2008
BY JERRY HOWELL

I just don't get it. Gardening, that is. Gardeners till the soil and lovingly tend their plants and flowers. Words like "organic" and "holistic" drip from their lips like honey. "Look at me!" they say, "I can pronounce chrysanthemum and spell rhododendron!"

But then just ask them. Ask them why they toil in the sun, breaking their backs.

"Because it's so therapeutic!" they gush.

Right. The reason they need therapy is because deep down, gardeners are violent people.

Take my wife.

Not long ago, Liz went out of town to a wedding in California. This afforded me the opportunity to drink beer, watch sports on TV and miss the hamper with my underwear. Not this time. Instead, I decided to prove myself the caring, sensitive husband my wife longed for. I would surprise her. Surprises are important in a marriage. So says Dr. Phil.

"You're so predictable," my wife has complained.

No one wants to be called boring, so my surprise had to be grandiose. I would replant her garden! I worked my butt off. I yanked out vines, pulled weeds and stuck in a couple hundred bedding plants. For 10 hours I sweated. As the sun sank, I admired my handiwork. "Boy, she won't believe this!" I thought.

Indeed, she would not.

When she returned, I ushered her into the back yard. "What do you think of your surprise?" I asked proudly.

I could sense something was amiss. Her jaw dropped. Her nostrils flared. Her eyes flashed. Her teeth clinched. Her knuckles whitened. Her butt cheeks tightened.

"What have you done with my perennials?"

This was not going to go well.

"You destroyed years of my hard work!" Steam was now escaping from her ears and I could hear a whistling noise, like a boiling tea kettle.

"Uh, I thought they were weeds. They looked like weeds..." my voice trailed off.

To say I was ripped a new one would be an understatement. I would have been better off caught in the embrace of my best friend's wife, my wife's best friend, or maybe both at the same time.

But like all storms, even Hurricane Katrina, this, too, passed. I threw myself on the sword and went perennial plant shopping with my wife. And yes, a couple days later I even managed to get lovey-dovey with her. Nevertheless, I knew she would reference my gardening debacle for a long time to come.

Me (gasping on death bed): "It was sure... nice of the grandkids... to send... those flowers..."

Liz: "Speaking of flowers, do you remember when you pulled out all my perennials back in aught-eight? I came back from the wedding and you had destroyed my garden. Do you remember that, Jerry? You didn't even know the difference between weeds and a mature perennial garden that I slaved at for years. You know I loved to garden because it was good therapy and... say, Jerry... you seem to have stopped breathing. Anyway, my garden was my pride and joy and....."

Memories last forever with women. They file past transgressions in their brains according to the Dewey decimal system, and are capable of retrieving them at any time. These memories are permanently fused into their brains with emotion. Emotion, you see, is critical to the formation of memories. Men, on the other hand, forget everything. This is because they just don't care.

What's the lesson here? For the love of God, stay away from your wife's garden. Instead, play some golf. Drink some beer. Or maybe run to Detroit and take in a ballgame. As your wife slaves away, remember, there is no need to be wracked by guilt. Instead, think of all that therapy she's getting. When you get home, just be sure to compliment her on her garden, especially the chrysanthemums.

Those are perennials, right?

Jerry Howell is a resident of Portage.

[MetropolisPt31]

Man, that looks like an awesome time. Sure beats my vacation spent doing...


...damn, I've never taken a vacation!

[goalerjones]

Originally Posted by MetropolisPt31

Man, that looks like an awesome time. Sure beats my vacation spent doing...


...damn, I've never taken a vacation!

this is the 2nd trip my wife and I have taken over the last 3 years...and this is the 8th time I've driven cross-country (3 times were done alone). I actually made one of those trips while listening almost exclusively to Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever cassette (one of the premier driving tapes)...

there's just something I like about driving long-distances.

[goalerjones]

spent the day with my mom and dad, and joy of joys, since my mom is a dental hygienist we all got our teeth cleaned today...so in light of dental photos of plaque build-up and gingivitis I thought I'd post some pics from my own camera that we got back from Costco today. My wife has a newer Canon digital and I have the older analog Minolta X-700 film camera. The developing costs were between $2.50 and $3.70 per roll for the prints with a cd for each roll @ $1.44 each, so I'm not sure how long it will take to make the digital more cost-effective...anyway, enjoy the pics, we set off for Wisconsin tomorrow.

Pics: Grand canyon x 2, Arlington Park Racetrack

[goalerjones]

Okay, been too busy to post, thought I'd catch you up...

Travelled to Wisconsin for this leg of our trip, 1st to Milwaukee to see good friends, then to Sauk City (near to Madison) to see relatives. We had a BBQ the 1st night at my cousins house where I subsequently stayed up until the sun came up this morning, ate a couple of porterhouses, smoked more cigars and drank a lot of Captian Morgan's and cokes, then went out today on their boat to Lake Wisconsin for some tubing. Forgot how much fun lake boating can be, it's been at least 15 years since my last time out. It was also nice to have my daughter get to drive the boat since we almost all took turns.

Off to Minnesota in the morning to see my wife's side of the family.

Pics: Milwaukee skyline, lakefront home in Milwaukee, cousin grilling steaks, kids bouncing on tube, wife driving boat...

[goalerjones]

Okay, the trip is now over, I've actually gotten 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in my own bed, and I've had some time to look back on the summer trip. Bottom line-we had fun.

The return trip from Minnesota to Cali consisted of the following.

In Minnesota: Had lot's of fun downtown-St Pauls Cathedral took pics and goofed around, State Capitol-had lots of fun, got onto the actual Senate floor since they left a door unlocked-oops, after being told we could go anywhere we wanted since it was a public building-we bothered lots of Senators (those who were actually there anyway since the session runs Jan-May) and their staffers-best quote between the Education secretary and my 16 year-old nephew Him to her-"Do you like education?" Her reply-"Yes of course, what about you?" Him-"No way, I hate school!", Being denied access to the Governor and Atty General (they were in a meeting) Then in an attempt to find the security department (so we could ask them to let us onto the Supreme Court floor) we discovered the tunnel system which links all the state buildings together. The security guard to us-"How'd you get down here?" Left Minn. to come home around 2am last Friday.

In South Dakota: Stopping by Wall Drug, Mt Rushmore daytime and the nighttime lighting ceremony, and the Crazy Horse Memorial*.

*the crazy horse memorial has been under construction for 60 years now and is still largely unfinished (apparantly they refuse federal funding and want to keep it private). If the gate-keeper hadn't of noticed the DoD sticker on my wife's windshield we would have had to pay $27 to get in for the carload. Then we had to pay another $4 each to take a schoolbus ride up to the construction site. By contrast the Mt Rushmore site cost $10, and everything there is finished. When you see the pics I post below you'll understand my frustration.

In Wyoming: stopped in a hotel for the night in Segar, then went to Lou Taubert's Range Outfitters where my wife finally got the nice pair of cowboy boots she'd been wanting.

In Utah: Nothing but gas-stops since it was night.

In Nevada: Stopped for a 2nd hotel (@ the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite) stay early sunday am (since I can't sleep in the car I was getting pretty loopy), massive state police presence (but no tickets for me), accident stopped traffic leaving Vegas, another accident stopped traffic leaving Vegas.

In Cali: Traffic going no faster than 20mph due to flash-flooding and mudslides in Barstow (found some backroads to help out, but still slow-going), took backroads through Barstow (got a first-hand look at how bad the flooding and musdslides were-they were pretty bad), back on the road and home by 10pm Sunday night.

Pics: Minneapolis skyline, 60 years of work on Crazy Horse, My Rushmore, Dick Cheney Federal Building in Wy.

[goalerjones]

well, I'm on vacation again, but this time it's a working one for me. I am in Michigan, Bloomfield Hills, with the family I work for doing home health...this time though, we flew. I will be taking more pics and posting them soon...