Category — Travel

It’s not Paris, France, but culture abounds.
We spend every July 4th holiday at Bear Lake. We love it. There’s water fun, biking, camping and of course, the most perfect small town parade you could ever want in Paris, Idaho.

There are all kinds of charming scenes like this next one, to snap pictures of. Farms, old buildings, and orange poppies everywhere.

We come early to have our traditional lunch at the Paris Cafe. (That sounds more romantic than it is.)

I always drag the family into the little antique store near the cafe. I love treasure hunting in antique stores, but my male-ridden family usually go unwillingly and ask every two seconds if “we’re done yet”.

The parade starts around 1pm, and it never disappoints.
Floats are usually modest affairs with handmade touches.
I love them.

First up we have the towns’ oldest citizen.

Some plastic barrels linked together, then dragged behind a truck. Oh, my kids would love to ride in that rig.

A truckload of beauticians advertising their business. Note the spelling on the handmade sign.

Dancing pioneers…

Horsedrawn carriages…

Remnants from the horses…

Cheerleaders dancing through the remnants…(the show must go on!)

This may be the saddest parade display I’ve ever seen. Poor little pony.

The only thing this town’s parade is missing are some contenders for the beauty pageant. This is just sub-par.

When I was a little girl, I remember going to Las Vegas with my family. We were probably just passing through on our way somewhere else, but that is the only part I remember about that trip. I was dazzled.
The lights! All the flashing lights! The way the street looked like midday even when it was dark outside. The people everywhere. The warmth. The lively atmosphere.
I said to my dad, “When I grow up, I’m going to live here.” I remember him telling me that I would change my mind, but I was positive then. I was going to live in Vegas.

Today as we were driving home from California, the boys and I were playing travel Bingo. It’s a fun little road trip edition of Bingo that I picked up just before we left. It has pictures of various things you’ll find on a road trip, with a few strange items as well. Like, one of them was a profile of a dude and beneath it said, ‘mullet’. So, we’re driving past car after car looking for dudes sporting mullets, when The Fish says, “Mom kinda has a mullet.”
Well that’s just lovely. Car trips are hard on anyone’s appearance. Cut me a break.

Anyway, one of the items we were looking for in our Bingo game was a billboard. As we approached Las Vegas, I was sure we would see tons of them. And, sure enough, billboards-a-plenty. But geez! As soon as I noticed the….ahem…..type of billboards that we were encountering, I was all, “Boys! The billboard square is a freebie. Everyone cease looking at these billboard immediately! KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BINGO CARDS BOYS!”
I’ve never seen so much scattered booty in a two-mile stretch of freeway in all my life. I don’t remember that part of Vegas from when I was a kid. Signs that were even making me blush. (me!) They said things like, “All Nude, All day!” or “Sin” spelled out with tangled female body parts.
Not to sound all old and stodgy, but, Vegas is just gross.

Today was supposed to be the nicest day of our trip weather-wise, so we decided to go to the beach.
The boys played in the sand and surf.

Beck decided it was cold as soon as he got out of the water.

We collected seashells…

We relaxed and took in the sounds and sights. It was nice to do something different than theme parks today. Mellow, calming and peaceful.
I loved watching the seagulls fly in the wind. They would just hover right above us not having to flap their wings at all. They just rode the strong winds coming off the ocean like a kite.
I sometimes have dreams that I’m flying. They’re my favorite.

As I was laying in the sun thinking, something funny that Kelly D. did while we were at California Adventure kept popping in my head and making me laugh out loud.
I wrote about how we broke the boys’ spirits with the aptly-named Tower of Terror. Shortly after that ride, while we were on the super-snoozer ferris wheel, we kept having to talk the boys out of their fears. They were worried that at any moment, the ferris wheel gondola was going to plunge downward into a free-fall and drown us in the water below.
We told them over and over again that the ride wasn’t going to get any faster or scarier than it already was. But, we just weren’t convincing them.
So, Kelly D. pulls Tate’s head to his chest and says, “Here, T, why don’t you suckle my nipple for a while to comfort yourself.”
Is that funny? Because I gotta say… I was cracking up.
Maybe you had to be there.

What did we do today? Well, let’s see…..
Oh, right!
We totally destroyed any parent/child trust that existed between us and our children.

When we went to DisneyWorld a couple of years ago, both Fish and T went on the Tower of Terror ride and while they were scared, they loved it. Fish even went for a second turn. So, today when we arrived at California Adventure, the Tower of Terror was the first order of business.
Lucky for us, Beck was tall enough too. Fun for the whole family! (or not)

Here we are just prior. Don’t we look happy?

No pics of the scene afterward. Fish and T were shaken but fine, Beck was another story. Tears? Check. Sobbing? Check. Loud complaints about how it just kept dropping down and up and then down again! ? Check.
All three of them were afraid to go on any other good rides after that. They wouldn’t believe us when we told them they weren’t scary.
Trust=gone.
So, we spent the day going on things like the merry-go-round…

Getting pictures taken…

and some ferris wheel that was so slow and un-thrilling, we joked that we could be doing something productive while we were on it. Like, our taxes, or making lunch. As it was, Kelly got in a few winks.

Not that I’m complaining or anything. We still had lots of fun. But, it took the whole day to earn back a bit of trust. Un-scary ride after un-scary ride, they started feeling more and more brave. We finally got them on some small roller coasters.

I even got The Fish to go on the big one. The California Screamer. (it goes upside down and everything!) He was very hesitant, but after a few minutes of begging and $15 of bribe money, I had myself a coaster partner.
It was F-U-N. And! The Fish thought so too.

Good day today. We took the boys to Hollywood. We walked the walk of fame, saw a bunch of stuff they recognized from tv, watched street performers and had pictures taken with random people wearing costumes and asking for money.

This was something I saw a lot of. It’s Kelly telling those crazy kids to quit running around like monkeys. He says, “Boys! Look into my eyes! If you don’t stop (insert bad behavior) then I’m going to (insert threat)”

After that, we drove to the Santa Monica Pier.

Beck wouldn’t believe we were in California till we showed him the ocean. And, WOW. He was stoked to see it.
As soon as we hit the sand, the boys took off running. they couldn’t wait to get their feet in the water.

The Fish spent most of the time trying to get close to seagulls.

The other two spent the entire time running away from the waves.

They didn’t seem to mind that it was windy and actually pretty cold.

They didn’t seem to mind when their pants got wet.

Beck didn’t even seem to mind when he fell face first into the water. Several times.

When it was time to leave, however, he did seem to mind walking back to the car in dripping wet clothes and sand in every crevice in his little body.

I am a brave person, but not brave enough to take all the boys to Disneyland by myself. So, while Kelly was shooting his wedding, we hung out at Downtown Disney…

Had lunch in the lovely weather,

and saw a movie, during which, I fell asleep and a nap was just what I needed.

The flight is the worst part of any traveling adventure, isn’t it?
Crowds, stinky people, rushing around, cramped airplane seats, people who suddenly stop walking right in front of you, lines in the women’s restroom.
You get it.
The following is not a huge deal or anything, but I couldn’t stop obsessing about the ear the guy sitting in front of me on the flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake.
He ate his peanuts ONE AT A TIME and while he chewed, his left ear moved seemingly independent from the rest of his head.
I had a book to read, but my eyes kept finding their way back to the ear. They played Twilight on the flight, and even Edward wasn’t enough to keep me from the ear.
So I shot some video. It gets really scary at the end. (don’t judge…it’s a long flight)

 

Today was a day at sea. We are on our way back to Florida and then flying home tomorrow. I’m anxious to get back to my boys and my dog and my life, but I’ve heard that it’s snowing and awful at home.
Not excited about that.
So today, I spent several hours lying in the sun, feeling the heat on my skin and the wind on my face.
I finished a book, took a nap, listened to my iPod, stared at the ocean and had a gazillion cherry cokes.

 
It was a great day.

The best part of this trip by far was swimming with the dolphins today.
We got to hold on to these water scooters that allowed us to actually swim next to the dolphins under water. We could hear the sounds they make under the water and literally swim side by side with them, close enough that they were bumping into our legs and arms.
Unbelievably awesome.

The next part of this experience was pretty amazing too. We held onto a foam board while a dolphin pushed us across the water with his nose against our feet. They swim so fast!


 

The last thing we did was touch them and stroke their backs and bellies…even give them a kiss!

While kissing a dolphin was very satisfying, I am actually itching to kiss my three little boys. I miss you guys!

Flying through the night is awful. I was so tired of having my neck tilted toward Kelly D. that I was seriously considering asking the woman on my other side if she wouldn’t mind cuddling with me. We had a layover in Atlanta for an hour which we spent on the floor sleeping in the airport.

 
We didn’t have to be on the cruise ship until four o’ clock so we split the day evenly between sleeping in the rental car and hanging out at the beach.
I only took pictures of the beach. You’ll have to use your imagination for the car bit.

 


 


 


 


 

Today was such a good day. We didn’t really have any plans until 6pm, so we wandered around the streets shopping, and taking pictures. We stopped and had a long lunch and it was just so nice not to have anywhere we had to be.
We have been using our 2-day tour bus tickets as a mode of transportation to go where the cable cars can’t take us. Each time we hop on that baby we get to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Let’s just say, that attraction has been well documented and that we have seen quite a lot of it. This last time, instead of taking pictures of the bridge, we took pictures of ourselves, and OH MY GOSH! Can I get a bigger mouth??? I have never realized before this trip just how huge my mouth is when I laugh! I don’t think I should be allowed out in public with that thing.

At 6pm tonight, we went on a “Tastes of San Francisco” food tour. This was my favorite thing we did on this trip. This guy was our tour guide…

A self-proclaimed beatnik, he was kind of odd, but he knew lots of interesting things about the city’s history and he took us on a walking food tour that lasted about 2 1/2 hours. SO fun.
We started in China Town, where we had dim sum at the city’s oldest chinese bakery.

I never would have otherwise gone into this place, but the food was really good, and it felt like an adventure to me. (yeah, I know, I should get out more.)

After that, he took us down a back alley to a little place where they produce fortune cookies. We got to go inside and see how they’re made.

I hope you appreciate this photo because I had to give that lady 50 cents to take her picture. Seriously.
We also got to write our own fortunes and she placed them inside our own cookies. I did one for Kelly D. (don’t tell him, it’s a surprise)
Next stop on our tour was to a place in China Town where we had a tea tasting. We sat in tiny chairs and sampled a bunch of different herbal teas while the shop keeper explained about how to serve them as well as the flavors and health benefits of each.

Then we headed over to North Beach which is the Italian part of town. He showed us famous coffee houses and the place where The Godfather was written. He took us behind the scenes of a famous comedy club called the Purple Onion and pointed out lots of interesting landmarks.
Finally, we ended up at a wonderful Italian restaurant where we had some awesome pizza for dinner.
Interesting, fun, and different.

Today:


 

Cable car ride to Lombard street. Tried to take a picture, but couldn’t get a good angle. We walked down it, and then back up. (pant, pant, huff, gasp)
Had a cupcake at Kara’s. (thanks to Kimba for the suggestion)
Went on one of those open-topped bus tours. It’s windy up there…


 

Went to Alamo Square and saw the famous Victorian row houses.


 

Went to the Embarcadero and did a little shopping and had dinner.
I bought the coolest bracelet from a guy selling jewelry made from sea glass. It’s a treasure.
We also saw this guy (read his sign) …

He deserves at least a dime for his honesty, right?
Then back to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow.

We flew in early this morning. When we arrived at the airport, we scored ourselves a limo ride because the scheduled person didn’t show up. Nice.
We checked into our hotel, and then took a cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf where we ate lunch and rented some bikes to ride over the Golden Gate Bridge, and down into Sausalito.


 

The bike rental guy told us that it was a really easy ride. “Mostly flat and downhill”, he said.
That guy is a liar. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have rented the bike, but I probably would have brought water.
It was really fun riding around the city, using nothing but our own legs to power us wherever we wanted to go.
Smelling the grass in the parks, and the ocean air. Did I mention how perfect the weather was? Almost 70 degrees… couldn’t have been better.
We stopped for pictures along the way…


 


 

We rode our bikes right across the bridge. I was mostly concentrating on not crashing into other cyclists, but I noticed a girl standing on the bridge, palms together, fingers pointed heavenward, eyes closed, face tilted to the sun. She was praying aloud. I couldn’t hear what she said, but I wondered what prompted her to get off her bike and offer up a prayer.
I looked over at the view and saw this…

Maybe it was the vastness of the ocean, or the beauty of the day, or the warmth of the sun on her skin. I don’t know, but seeing her, made me pay more attention to my surroundings.
I stopped to take some pictures with my new Lensbaby. I’m still getting the hang of it, but it’s fun to play with. It comes with plastic optics that create an effect similar to that of a Holga. Happy accidents and impressionistic images…

Erin took this shot of me while I was on the beach taking some pictures. The tide came in and soaked my shoes, but that is no excuse for the size of that smile. I noticed in several pictures today that my smile is just out of control. Nothing is THAT funny.

We were on our bikes for 7 hours today, and I’m afraid I might feel it tomorrow. But it was totally fun.
At the end of the day, we caught the cable car back to our hotel. I think the best way to ride it is standing up, hanging onto those poles on the sides of the car. I tried to get a picture of us moving through the city while riding it tonight on the way back to the hotel…


 
Tired now. Going to bed. Not getting up till my body says so.

 
Hi to my boys! (that includes you, KD.) I love you guys!

Yesterday we went to a parade. I love the Paris, Idaho small town parade. It’s just the sweetest thing. No marching band this year, though. That was kind of a let down. But Smokey The Bear was chucking frisbees, so that made up for it a little.
All the boys really care about is collecting massive amounts of salt water taffy. Mission accomplished. It took a few minutes before The Little Guy grasped what the heck was going on, but once he did, he was totally on board.


We went for a bike ride today, which was fun. It’s nice to have T on his own bike instead of on the back of mine. He was so cute though, because his wheels are so small on that bike of his, he has to peddle a hundred miles an hour just to keep up.

Even though this next picture looks like The Little Guy is giving me the stink eye, he REALLY loves to go for a bike ride.

This morning I went out alone to shoot some pictures for fun. This area is really so beautiful and quaint.


This one made me laugh while I was shooting it because that sheep didn’t break eye contact until I drove away in my truck. Not even a blink. It was rather intimidating.

Lastly, a shot of my soft-spot. Just because he’s so cute to me.