You Know... When

* You know a family Wii tournament has gone on too long when you have to pass around the Ben-Gay.

* You know it's been too long since you cleaned out your fridge when it seems more like cleaning up after science class experiments gone wrong.

* You know it's truly a girl movie when there's a joke about laughing so hard it makes you pee.

Virginia City, Baby!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I'm a dork. I love Bonanza... yes, the corny western that ran a bazillion years ago and is today remembered mostly by dudes old enough to be my grandfather. This weird obsession started several years ago, and I've come to terms with it.

This is the Bonanza title screen... thanks, wiki!


SO... last weekend when we were in the Reno area for a friend's wedding, we took advantage of the opportunity to go visit Viriginia City... the town nearest the fictional Ponderosa Ranch, home of the fictional Cartwrights in Bonanza. Okay, well, to be truthful, I took advantage of the opportunity and my highly-entertained hubby humored me.

All of this to say, here are pictures of our visit to Virginia City!

I didn't know this...

It was super-cold for this little Californian (it was in the upper 40s)...

but I was in Virginia City!!!

Kitschy, but I appreciate the sentiment. :)

Eating a carmel apple at Red's - this was highly recommended by my friend the bride, and rightly so.

The Ponderosa Saloon - more homage to Bonanza.

This was the old schoolhouse - has been updated and now serves as a museum. Obviously, this was through the car windows.

St. Paul's (Episcopal, I think)

The Chapin House has an interesting history... built in 1862, was untouched by the big-gigocious 1875 fire, thus allowing it to be used for triage for victims of said fire. It went on to serve as a boarding house... and now it can be yours! (BTW, the cars in the pic are *shockingly* not part of the real estate offer :) ...they're parked on the street right in front of the house.)

I'm not sure which building this was, but I was struck by the juxtaposition of the new bottles in the street-level (top) window and the old bottles in the bottom window...

And so concludes this edition of my travel updates. :)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Would someone please tell me:

1. WHERE ALL THIS GRAY HAIR IS COMING FROM?!?!?!?!?!?
*sigh*

2. Whether I'm the only one who thinks the current Quizno's commercials (with the talking oven) are just wrong? Torpedo sandwiches... now, I'm no advertising genius, but I'm pretty sure that what they're getting at .... um, is NOT torpedoes.
Puh-lease.

3. Why people in Ventura have so much trouble reading speed-limit signs? (I promise you, it really is okay if you go 55 when that's the posted limit!!!)

4. For that matter, why do people in Ventura have so much trouble driving in parking lots? I'm pretty sure the standard driving rules still apply. Well, except for the Poinsettia Plaza parking lot - I am firmly convinced that whoever designed that was an evil genius.

DC wrap-up

I know this is late in coming... but coming home from DC, life was off and running again.

First of all, two more restaurants to add to my DC culinary reviews: Harry's Pub (which was actually in our hotel), where they make a fabulous black-and-tan, and Cafe Paradiso, where they make the best Italian food in the whole world. Ever. Seriously.

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Cherry Blossoms! (We missed most of them, but these few hung around for us.)

The Smithsonian Castle

The garden behind the Castle (I know it has an official name, but I've lost it).

Tulips - this particular group is between the Smithsonian Castle and the Arts & Industries Building (the A & I is the building in the background).

This portrait of Stephen Colbert is in the Museum of American History

... displayed on the wall directly across from the bathrooms!

Monuments & Memorials

Today was quite enjoyable! We met up with Mike (a friend of mine from APU) for lunch. After lunch, Mike helped us navigate the Metro, and then took us on a tour of the monuments and memorials. Mike's tour included some little-known facts about DC monuments, including but not limited to, the monument to Ike Lincoln (Abe's lesser-known brother who was a hairdresser), and Fred The Ghost, who can be found regularly at the Jefferson Memorial. :)


Here are just a few pix from the day:

The White House

The Washington Monument, seen from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Reflecting Pool, looking toward the Lincoln Memorial.

(This was one of my favorite pictures from today.)

This quote, part of the FDR Memorial, struck me as exceptionally profound.

In case it's hard to read in the picture, here it is:

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Last night's dinner ... Palm Restaurant, a rather well-known DC landmark.

Dinner was hosted by a Group that specializes in buying and selling hospice organizations... at least, that's how they market themselves. If I had to guess based on my own observations last night, I would say that this particular Group specializes in old guys hitting on young women.

Scratch that. This particular Group specializes in CREEPY OLD GUYS WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER hitting on young women. *Shudder*

I was one of the targets... until the tall, busty, Texas girls got there. With my eyes at eye level, I was apparently no competition. Fine with me... I do enjoy my personal space, and NONE of the creepy old dudes were respectful of anyone's personal space.

Once dinner started, things did get better. We were at a table with a woman who runs a hospice in Tennessee, as well as her husband and granddaughter. The granddaughter appeared to be just a few years younger than me, but I didn't get the chance to talk to her much as we were seated directly across from each other. Even so, we had a pleasant dinner and everything was going smoothly until one of the creepy old guys came over to talk to the grandfather, as though they were old friends. I thought, "okay, so maybe not ALL of them are creepy..." but just then, I looked up and realized that the old dude was now leaning with his arm on the back of the granddaughter's chair... and she was leaning so far over to get away from him that I was afraid she was going to fall out of her chair!

I caught her eye, and realized that she was as annoyed with this invasion of personal space as I'd been earlier... unfortunately, I couldn't do anything but give her a look of sympathy. Finally, the old dude stood up and started to move on, and she straightened up in her chair, grateful to have her personal space back. Just then, he came back (I don't know if someone said something to him that caught his attention, or if he just thought of a reason to come back), placed his hand on the back of her chair, and LEANED IN AGAIN!!! I choked. Seriously. Just the look of utter exasperation on this girl's face made me laugh, which is not a good idea when you've just taken a drink of coffee (which I had). The good news is that the choking (to be fair, it was very minor, really more of a coughing fit) served to distract everyone and by the time I was breathing normally, the creepy old guy was gone.

Oh, it seems I've just been "summoned" to lunch... I'll write more later.

Happy Friday!