I Love Coronado

Spending three days with my friend Margot reminded me how great it is to have old friends. No matter the distance or time spent apart, you can always pick up where you left off...
I just returned from a three-day trip to Coronado and I must say, I loved it there. It felt like I was in another state outside of California. I took the train (for the first time) and was so impressed by the whole experience. We stayed with Margot's family at the Hotel Del, which is AMAZING. You should go to Coronado just to venture through it. Its history dates back to 1887 and is one of the oldest and largest all-wooden buildings in California.

Between the train stations and the Hotel Del, I was in vintage-heaven. There are really neat 1920s wooden bench seats at Union Station that are just asking to be photographed!! Sounds crazy, but as I was walking up the train platform, I really got a feel of what it must have felt like to live in the 1920s-1930s. For a brief moment, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach that made me wonder if I ever hopped on a train to ride to a Victorian beach resort in a past life. I imagined the opening scenes from Anna Karenina (the movie -- not the book, hehe).

Coronado itself is delightful... it's like an upscale, small beach town. Orange Street is lined with little souvenir and surf shops and there is a plethora of Mexican and seafood restaurants. It's the perfect destination for people with children or a romantic getaway for adults. If you are hoping to spend most of your time at the beach while you are on vacation, forgetaboutit. We spent the least amount of time on the beach. In fact, the ocean seems like it's just scenery there. My biggest peeves were the Marine Layer (that clouds up the sky every day until noon or 1 PM) and sand fleas. Los Angeles county beaches are dirtier, but they do not have sand fleas.

West Coast beaches look pretty, but they leave a lot to be desired. I'm still an East Coast/Jersey Shore girl at heart.

This was rather interesting though... I was searching Google Maps at our hotel and came across this:

A closer look:
My first thought was Coronado knew Google Maps was coming to town, so they constructed this giant sand sculpture but after further Googling, I discovered that the GIANT letters are a permenant fixture. In fact, guys in bulldozers maintain the letters, which are about four feet high. Whoever started this even planted/rooted sea grasses on top of the letters to help preserve them and make them easier to read from the sky!! I just wish there was an observation deck somewhere to see all the letters and, more importantly, photograph them. ;)

I RECOMMEND:
For Breakfast: Beach-n-Diner, 1208 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA
For Dinner: Swaddee Thai Restaurant, 1001 C Ave, Coronado, CA
For Adults: Beach, boating/kayaking, a Romantic stay at the Hotel Del, shopping along Orange Street, Old Town, San Diego, and there are tons of activities in nearby San Diego.
For Kids: San Diego Zoo, Sea World or Legoland.

Link to the review I wrote about Swaddee.

View from the train heading back to L.A.

Week down the Jersey Shore

back from the beach!! i spent last week down the jersey shore with my mother, her boyriend, my boyfriend ricardo, my cousin vincent and my best friend andrea. lindsay stayed over for a night too. :) we had a lot of fun and i took a lot of great shots. everyone was getting testy about my compulsive photo taking but everyone always wants copies of alllll the shots i take... which is kind of uh, hypocritical. i took a lot of photos, but i wish i took even more. you can see some of the photos here.

here are some highlights of the trip: buying boogie boards and only using them once; lindsay and vincent doing sake shots; getting kicked off the beach at night; having an audience at the photo booth; some drunk lady asking "are you going to put these [photos] on youtube?!"; playing tennis for the first time in over a year; buying over $200 worth of groceries at the beginning of the week and then continually buying food every day after that; honey straws; getting kicked off the playground at night; suntan lotion back massages; seafood fest night; my italian cousin and his irish drinking songs; the ghetto shot glasses i made; vincent and rick quoting movies alllll week long; my mom's boyfriend thinking someone stole one of his flip flops; begrudgingly going jet skiing; embracing the octomat; heckling anyone who might be "doing a stinky poo-poo"; our new found love for the game of life board game; buying painted sea shells for 50 cents from the kids down the street; and the tan line the "hulk out" removable tattoo left on rick's arm.

i will be in new jersey for a month, visiting friends and family and taking lots of photos. :)

GRAND CANYON ROADTRIP

Oct. 1: packed up and drove 352 miles to Kingman, AZ. along the way, my mom and i fell in love with XM radio. we weren't aware of this, but our rental car was one of only four cars available with it. lucky us!! we found one alt. rock station named Lucy that we listened to the ENTIRE trip!! i think we only heard 4 or 5 songs ever repeated within the four days we listened.

once we arrived in Kingman, we attended the free beer/drinks/juice and popcorn event at our hotel. after browsing piles of brochures, we went out to eat Thai food (at the only thai restaurant within 32 miles). afterward, i bought a really kewl sterling silver ring at a gas station gift shop (around 9:30 pm). then i stood in the middle of the street to take photos of the Route 66 signs stenciled on the turning lanes. :) when we got back to our hotel, my mom and i watched the hills.

Oct. 2: woke up early, drove to the west rim to the Hualapai grand canyon skywalk. the drive there was actually a lot of fun... with a long segment of windy, bumpy "wash board" roads. there were also a lot of "cattle guards" sporatically dividing the streets. still amazes me that a thin grid prevents cattle from crossing their boundaries. and it was even more odd to see BULLS chilling on the side of the road without being fenced. and of course, i loved all the joshua trees. :)

the skywalk was pretty awesome - it's a glass horseshoe-shaped "bridge" suspended 40,000 feet above the grand canyon/colorado river. the first step was a little delicate but after we got over the fact that the floor is transparent, we were walking around like champs, even lying on our stomachs with our noses to the glass. each side of the skywalk is frosted [glass] so people who are afraid of heights don't actually crap their pants. it was hilarious to see people clinging to the railing and only walking on the frosted section. one Japanese man (there were hundreds there) inched past me and my mother during our photo opp and actually clung AROUND my mother who was leaning against the railing.

we spent all afternoon hiking around the west rim. on the way back there was a looong stretch of empty road surrounded by mountains, so my mom and i took A LOT of photos of us lying/jumping/standing/sitting in the middle of the road. (they came out awesome... you'll see them on flickr soon). there were houses nestled at the bottom on the mountain, in the middle of nowhere. no street lights. no trees. just desert. don't know if i'd ever want to live somewhere THAT secluded, but the view of the stars must be amazing. (and the lack of housing developments is majorly appealing). when we got back to town, we ate dinner at Dambar.

Oct. 3: my mom and explored what little there is to explore on "Beale Street" in Kingman. there was an abundance of antique and thrift stores, but a handful were closed. after seeing all there was to see, we drove 115 miles to Williams, AZ and stopped at a kewl general store/gift shop along the way on Route 66. only an hour and a half east, Williams was a lot greener and the weather was much cooler.

shortly after arriving in town, we drove 63 miles (1.5 hrs) to Grand Canyon National Park to explore the south rim. we spent a lot of time in the car, stopping at various view points, saw lots of wildlife, took lots of photos and caught a sunset... which was gorgeous. when we got back to Williams, we ate dinner at our hotel.

Oct. 4: woke up at the crack of dawn (4:30 am!!) to catch a sunrise over the grand canyon before heading back to california. little did i know my mother would have us hiking 4 miles around the rim trails. regardless of the sleep deprivation, we had a good time. on our way there, we saw three wild elk grazing alongside the road. we also returned a nice digital camera we found on a bench to the lost and found. had a huge LCD screen too. (such good Samaritans we are ;) hehe).

after our hike, we drove back to CA... only to get caught up in confusing car pool lanes that diverge onto other freeways and traffic. we had a lot to unload from the car which looked pretty lived in. after we were got settled in, we ate dinner at the apartment.

overall, a very FUN trip. :)

total miles traveled: 1,400
total number of postcards purchased: 10
total number of cameras i brought: 5
total number of photos taken: TBA (too many to count)

i'm sunburnt.

(and refusing to say "sunburned" because "sunburnt" sounds better).

yesterday my mother and i went to a used book store and got some new reading material for the beach. an interesting book surely beats the typical mindless magazine with articles you've already read a thousand different ways. so my mother got "i bury my heart at wounded knee," "in the spirit of crazy horse" and an anne sexton biography. i got "valley of the dolls" (i wanna read it before i see it because i heard the movie is awful), "this n' that" (bette davis's autobiography), "open city" (a collection of short stories and poems) and a book for andrea (i won't say what it is in case she reads this). my grand total: $12. i got a $1 discount because the sides of the pages of "valley of the dolls" appear to have reddish makeup splattered on them. (it's not blood, because blood dries brownish, the store owner informed me).


last night my mother and i were walking on the boardwalk and i heard my name. i turned around and it was robbie, a guy i went to middle school and high school with!! i see him all the time because he's a manager at a local food store (he's also a postman). and he's also gotten to know my grandmother since she goes grocery shopping on a daily basis, hehe. it's just funny to see someone you know when you are on vacation, but i should have figured i would see at least one person i know on the boardwalk.

today we stayed at the beach alllll day and went in the water for a long time. the waves were really rough and they seemed to be right after each other (and we were pretty far from the shore!!) at one point a wave crashed down on us and churned up so much sand that we got as sandy as we would have had we rolled in it. i fell asleep on my back with my knees bent for who knows how long so now i have sunburnt thighs, stomach, and chest. ye-ouch!! my cousin left behind some aloe vera gel, but i'm convinced that stuff contains some sort of pseudo-alcohol because it burnssss. tip: non-scented lotion works better. and if it's the coolness of the aloe you like, just put the lotion in the fridge.

tonight my mother and i ate at a little seafood restaurant then we went back to the boardwalk. my mother bought a pair of shorts and i went into a head shop to find some morrissey paraphernalia (patches, stickers and/or buttons) for missy, but no luck. :( they didn't have any good foo fighter stuff and they only had one 311 patch. the only blondie thing they had was a scratched up key chain that i scored for 50 cents. (the other key chains were $4 and this one was in the $1 basket because it had scratches on it). for 50 cents, i couldn't complain. this is the graphic on it.

i *heart* east coast summers.

for those of you who don't already know, i'm back in my home state enjoying time with family and friends. my mother rented a little bungalow and we are at the beach until saturday!! we really lucked out considering we never saw the house before we rented it. the house is small and dated, but it's nice!! my cousin and his fiancee stayed here a few days, their friends stopped by and spent the night on sunday and my friend lindsay visited for the day. we took some AWESOME polaroids and the photo you see above.

few moments of my trip so far:
visiting my grandmother; shopping for angels without faces; my cousin's 3-year-old daughter jumping off the diving board like a pro; my mom's bonko; winning the booby prize (thanks to andrea); poison ivy on my arms, shin, ankle and stomach (it's alright because i sorta like poison ivy); andrea singing to avril lavigne's "girlfriend" hahaha; roxie the vegetarian dog; my mom and i saying "we should get tattoos!!" at the exact same time; being on "vacation time," which means eating dinner at 10 pm; not being in a phone mood (sorry rick!!); the beach; polaroids with best friends; old ladies staring at me and lindsay while we were taking advantage of the self-timer; photo booth refunds; playing scrabble with my mother; swimming; crackhead whore heads; quoting "fear and loathing in las vegas"; being the only sober person able to make a beer run and driving stick without stalling; not showering; probably being the only 22-year-old on the swingset at 8 pm on a tuesday night, hahaha. more to come!!

i love east coast summers!! i've really missed the warm summer nights, the lightning bugs the beaches and the utz pretzels!! california may have a lot of nice-looking beaches, but they're pretty dirty and the water is cold and i always feel like the sand is dirty. :( so i am swimming in the atlantic every chance i get!! i love the ocean. the only thing cali beaches have going for them are the sunsets. next summer, my mother and i want to rent a bigger, four-bedroom house with rick, my cousin and his fiancee, lindsay and her man, and my mom's beau. renting a beach house with a bunch of friends is something i've wanted to do since i was in high school so hopefully this plan will materialize!!

pssst... did you notice the link to andrea singing to avril lavigne?!! hahaha. if not, here it is:

my mother's spoiled dog.

my mother just sent me this photo on my cell phone, thought i'd share:

the caption read: "me, spoiled?" hahahaha.

another one:

hehehe. ;)

the rest of my trip: a photoblog.

here's a recap of my trip back home :)

sunday, may 13th: mother's day. ate thai food with my mom and grandmother. played scrabble. found some hilarious notes from high school that i will post on my flickr.

my mom opening her gifts:


monday, may 14th: drove with my grandmother to her sister's house to pick up some polaroid cameras she saved to give to me :) we ate lunch there too. on our way home i stopped many times to take some polaroids. at one point, i even asked a man if i could enter his yard to get a good shot of his tire swing, haha. i also taught my grandmother how to use her digital camera and how to email photos!! after dinner with my mother, we took roxie to the park and walked 2.5 miles.

tuesday, may 15th: went over my mom's cousin's house for lunch (i'm specifying this so it's less confusing for you ;) haha). then went to kohl's so my mother could exchange the bath mats i got her for mother's day (i bought her new bath mats because my cat destroyed her old bath mats. he's an inside/outside cat and for some reason whenever he accidentally gets left in the house, he goes to the bathroom in our bathroom... on the bath mats. this time he even tried covering up his crap by digging up the bath mats. how's that for too much info).

then we stopped at my aunt's house. she got a new bengal kitten!! this time a white one, named lenox. he has the most beautiful blue eyes... and they're going to stay blue when he gets older.

my aunt has two more bengals on the way. she's planning on breeding them. they go for $300-$1000.

that night, lindsay stopped by and stayed til 1 am. she showed me her photos from mexico and i bombarded her with all of my cali photos and then we took some more photos!!

they are HILARIOUS check em out.

wednesday, may 16th: my mom did a lot of yard work and i weeded. got so covered in dirt that when i blew my nose, dirt came out. Mmm!! i can't remember what i did that night. probably played scrabble with my mom :) while i was visiting, she got me hooked on "dancing with the stars." thank goodness rick and i don't have cable.

thursday, may 17th: my grandmother called an old man (who was driving poorly) a "scrotum face." AND i got $100 for eating a tuna sandwich. i will leave you wondering why...

friday, may 18th: went to a fancy bar with justin and lindsay.



lindsay bought me a mojito :) she also got hit on by every guy in the bar. on our way back to justin's, luckily still close to the bar, lindsay realized that she forgot to get her credit card back from the bartender so we had to go back. justin and i had bets on how many guys would hit on her in the amount of time it took her to get the card. it was somewhere around 7 or 8. ;)

i wasn't sure if andrea was even coming up, but she arrived at my house at 2 am, around 10 minutes before we got home. it was rare to have my two best friends in one place (andrea lives in upstate NY) so naturally i had to photograph the event. they came out really cute...


saturday, may 19th: my grandma kitty (biological father's side) and her lifemate tina took andrea and i out to brunch. we inteneded to get together with our friend zac, but it got to be too late and we exhausted. :( the weather was too crappy to take the photos i had planned, so andrea and i watched the holiday instead. then my mom came home from work and started watching it and asking questions about the characters, so we started the movie over for her. (that's right, i watched the holiday a total of 2.5 times while i was home. haha). after dinner, andrea and i went to foodstore to buy some candy. then we picked up my grandmother, brought her back to my house and we all played cranium.

side note: my best friend andrea is a cranium fanatic. so much so, she holds cranium nights at her house. sometimes the attendance is so well they have to set up two boards. with all of this cranium experience you would think she would always win, however that is not the case. rick and i beat her and my mom after new years and my grandmother and i beat her and my mom this time around, hahaha.

sunday, may 20th: busy, hectic day. i took a BUNCH of polaroids with andrea. (one of the MANY reasons why love my best friend is because she likes having her photo taken and she is very patient and compliant when it comes to me directing the shots). they came out really good!! i am in the process of scanning and cropping them.

right as andrea was leaving, my best pal from college, margot, arrived!!



it took her 4 hours to get to my house when it should have only taken 2 hours because her dad's car's navigational thingy was set to the "no-highway" route. (her car is in florida, where she now resides). i hadn't seen her since august!! :( we talked, took photos (of course), i did her makeup, we took more photos, my mom cooked us ate dinner and then we talked some more. we had a lot of catching up to do!!

monday, may 21st: ran a few last minute errands with my grandmother. cleaned out the part of my garage that was full of my crap that i intended to sell in a yard sale, but never did. after that, i went to the chinese resturant with my mom and grandmother. lindsay stopped by too while i was packing.

and there you have it!! now i'm back and busy in california with loads to unpack!!