Turning on "The Bob", which boasts it can play anything it wants. What it doesn't say is that it can play whatever it wants over and over again. That's the sad state of radio today. It is a veritable ocean of repetitiveness and mediocrity. Even AM talk is all the same: the Democrats are evil, the Republicans are evil, the IRS is evil. We all know those 3 statements are true, I don't need an ensiled maniac with a microphone and transmitter to tell me all that. However, this maniac would love a transmitter and a microphone, utilize the entire USA power grid like Richard Pryor's supercomputer in Superman 3, and play classic TV theme songs, Doors songs, pioneering 50s rock & roll, and throw in an occasional classic 1970s Emergency Broadcast System test with the 30-60 second long tone just to keep it real.
Well, that's what it'll take to make me happy with what I'm listening to .Let's go back-
NO, Bryan, not another trip down amnesia lane!! We can't handle it anymore! We all have a past, let it go, you nerd!
Ahem...sorry. That was the nagging voice, probably from the pancreas, that's always telling me to get with the times. I can't! I'm 40 and I wish it was....1995. Seriously! Even though it was a rough year with my parent's split and all, I have to say there was a great variety of radio stations out there, and lots of them were classic rock. Others were just oldies, 70s, 80s, and the usual rap and 90s gunk that I shied away from because of taste.
Growing up in good ol Reading, Pennsylvania, there weren't a whole lot of stations; that is, I didn't listen to a whole lot of variety...and my tastes sucked as a kid. When we lived in Wernersville in the 1970s, we listened to WUFM out of Lebanon. It was a good mix of current 70s hits. In fact, during a family drive to Michigan one year, my mom made 3 tapes from that station to play on a tape player. I wish I still had them, the mix was good. I also vaguely remember WRAW before we moved. Then, in the 80s after we'd moved back to PA,, the station we generally kept it on was WRFY. It was good, but trendy. The best example for this is the 50 times we heard "Batdance" on any given summer day in 1989! It didn't get any better. For an alternative, I listened to WEEU occasionally. Sure it was an AM station and aired Rush Limbaugh, but I felt music was at its lowest!
While I was at West Virginia in 1991-92, I started to listen to more Doors (after seeing the movie) and Led Zeppelin. When I rejoined my parents that spring, I discovered a great new concept for me: OLDIES! I forget the call letters, but this station played 50s, 60s, and early 70s rock and pop. Was all of it good? No, in fact, a lot of it was dumb. However, I often did not hear a song played in the morning again until the next day, that's how great their library was. Oldies and Doors were pretty much my life for the next 2 years and I loved it. It just seemed to fit my time in San Diego well.
In 1994, I went away from home to Sonoma State and found a decent 70s only station. It didn't stay that way for long, but it was an example how the wide range of stations the Bay Area had. My friend Scott introduced me to some good stations in the Central Valley that played good rock, and I listened to them going to San Diego or back to Rohnert Park/ Santa Rosa for many years.
Once I moved to Las Vegas in 2002, a change happened and it wasn't good. Oldies were relegated to 70s and 80s with some 60s but no 50s, and classic rock consisted of some lame-ass crap that was somehow considered rock (sorry, Bon Jovi, you're not there!). The coming trend remedied that nicely.
The age of the MP3 player was here. It was now possible to program a whole day of music on a tiny device. All you needed were CDs to get your favorites and leave the plaque out. You could also buy MP3 music files to fill that hole in your music day. Granted, not everything you want is in MP3 form, sometimes you have to buy the CD to get what you desire.
My iPod has been my friend for years now. I can listen to what I like going to and from work, and during the occasional errand my wife sends me on. The rest of the time, we listen to Vickie's iPod in the car, it's the law. I don't really mind it, she has a good mix of rock, metal, and country, as well as our daughter's kid music. Some of the song selections are funny, such as "Chim Chim Chiminee" coming after Godsmack's "Voodoo" (which our kid sings to, it's hilarious!).
To conclude, before I return to my theme songs (up next is Petticoat Junction), here is a good sample mix that will keep your brain guessing (which we need quite often, I'm afraid).
1. "I Don't Remember Loving You" by John Conlee
2. "Jesus Loves Me"
3. "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
4. "Trailerhood" by Toby Keith
5. "Amarillo by Morning" by George Strait
6. "Kryptonite" by Three Doors Down
7. some "Sophia the Princess" song
8. "Ladies and Gentlemen" by Saliva
9. "End of the Line" by the Traveling Willburys (kid favorite)
10. "Got My Mind Set on You" by George Harrison (kid favorite)
11. Sha La La song by Toby Keith
12. "Fruit Salad" by the Wiggles
13. "I Don't Believe in Love" by Queensryche
14. "Rock-A-Bye Your Bear" by the Wiggles
Is that diverse enough? If not, tough, "My 3 Sons" is next up!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Super Pac Asteroid Command IV
All right, I'll say it: I'm 40 and I LOVE video games! (Hi 40! is your response). I back this pride up by saying I am not on the cutting edge of video games. I am more like on the spork of it because, quite frankly, I can't afford to buy a new system with its coolest game every time one comes out. Really, I marvel, then puke, at the sight of the line at Target or Wal Mart when the newest machine comes to the public for a mere $500 or so, usually around Thanksgiving weekend. Mmm, that sounds like an interesting time: have a huge feast, then go sit or stand in line subjecting everyone to your turkey or ham farts! But, even though I am way behind on the hip new stuff, I have still been able to watch the evolution of the video game world well, evolve!
1970s- my grandparents in Michigan owned a quaint (by today's standards) little device with two knobs. These knobs (sorry, PADDLES) controlled 2 short line segments that batted a square dot back and forth. It was called Pong and we all thought it was fun mindless amusement, especially to a little 6 or 7 year old me!
1981- I meet my new friend Jeremy Bitz who owns this really cool machine called an Atari, where you plug a rectangular piece of plastic into the machine and use a revolutionary gadget called a joystick to play the game! And these games were, by today's standards, pretty lame. But there was nothing 21st-century era to compare them to. So, these games ROCKED! One title in particular comes to mind: Air Sea Battle. In this game, airplanes fought each other, planes fought boats, boats fought planes, or boats fought boats. Well, needless to say, I knew this machine would just rot my brain, so I kept wanting to go to Jeremy's house to play.
1982: Santa's last gift to me before I disowned him as many kids do eventually, was an Atari. Jeremy got an Intellivision. I had trouble with that machine because of its keypad and joystickless controller. However, I played my machine relentlessly. My first 3 games were Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and the somewhat dull Combat (it came with the machine). Pac Man was pretty toned down from its arcade machine father and Donkey Kong just had 2 playing screens, whereas the arcade machine had 4 total screens. Still, as some years passed, I gathered other games, many of them lesser versions of their arcade geneses. Ms. Pac Man (a HUGE improvement over Pac Man), Popeye, Jungle Hunt, Star Wars, Empire Stirkes Back, Return of the Jedi, Jedi Arena, and Missile Command were my favorites.
1985- I got for Christmas a Commodore 64 computer. This machine pretty much changed my game-playing life. For one thing, my dad's office had a HUGE library of games that you could copy to disk! For free!! In fact, I bought very few if any games. Also, the graphics were slightly above the Atari and I could use my joystick on it. I got to play upgraded versions of my Atari games, most of them, anyway! Also-
1986- I get a device called a modem. This allowed me to hold up the phone line so that I could called local numbers on the phone/modem team and access bulletin board systems...one could call them Textbook because there were no pictures, but there were lots of posts by all the nerds in town that had a modem. You could also do this little thing called DOWNLOADING, where you used your phone line to bring in data for a game onto a floppy disk! My world was just getting better and better! My modem was a modest 300 baud in terms of data transfer. I think, from my memory, that 300 baud meant 300 characters on the screen per hour, that's how slow it seemed!
1987. I got a 1200 baud modem plus a new computer desk, and some new games. This was a good Christmas.
1992- I bought for $10 my cousin Erica's Nintendo. This is a perfect example of being behind the times, since the NES came out in 1985! I had played the machine at people's houses before, but now I had my own. I was 20 at the time, and my mom was mad that I wasn't seeking employment actively. The joystick had been "upgraded" to a controller with a directional pad and an A and B button so you could jump AND shoot!What was cool about was Nintendo was that I could RENT GAMES at the video store. My world was really opening up now. This period went for about 3 years.
1995- After gleefully trying out my brother in law's SUPER NINTENDO, I got one of my own when I was at Sonoma State University. It was definitely a step above the NES. This controller had a directional pad, plus A, B, X, Y, and Z buttons! My favorite game by far was Super Empire Strikes Back. Oh yes, I finally got my lightsaber duel after waiting for years. Shadowrun was also a good one, as well as Legend of Zelda. By now there were stores that existed solely to sell video games and computer software. Those games were a good balance to the turmoil of my parents' divorce and my coming into my own personality- and relationship-wise.
2000- I decided to trade in my SNES for a Playstation 1 (2 wasn't out yet). I was now introduced to discs instead of cartridges. The controller had shapes instead of letters. I got a few Star Wars games, Spiderman, and a few others that made life fun. I actually had this machine for only 2 years, for 1 reason only. In late 2002 I was in a game store and saw someone playing Rogue Leader, which contained a very awesome version of the Death Star attack in Star Wars! So...
2002- I traded in my PS1 for a Gamecube and bought Rogue Leader AND Jedi Outcast. The latter had the best lightsaber duel action I'd ever seen! (it is still a favorite) I didn't buy that much for the Gamecube since it was just amusement after a day of teaching.
2006- Traded the Gamecube for a Plasyation 2. Got lots of games, had fun, nothing obsessive about it anymore. Revenge of the Sith was fun, as well as Curious George, but it was an occasional diversion with my finacee, later wife Vickie.
2011- Traded in the PS2 for a Wii. I love bowling, tennis, Price is Right, and Lego Star Wars. Plan to keep this one for a while.
I also remember the era of video game arcades. The Berkshire Mall had a GREAT one in the early 80s before they remodeled to put in a food court. Showbiz Pizza also had a good one. I was lucky enough to go to a couple of birthday parties there before it closed down. The era of arcades is pretty much over, save for racing and shooting games you find here and there, My last memory of an arcade was at West Virginia University. Small, but packed with good games.
As to game systems, I know I missed out on more than a few. I never wanted an Intellivision, I totally missed out on the short-lived Colecovision, and Odyssey was a fast come and go. The whole Sega set just bypassed me. I'm not interested in the new Playstations or XBoxes. Why bother? It's like replacing your movie collection of DVDs with Blu-Ray. It was tough enough replacing my VHS collection, I still haven't finished that quest.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab a paddle. That little ball is calling to me!
1970s- my grandparents in Michigan owned a quaint (by today's standards) little device with two knobs. These knobs (sorry, PADDLES) controlled 2 short line segments that batted a square dot back and forth. It was called Pong and we all thought it was fun mindless amusement, especially to a little 6 or 7 year old me!
1981- I meet my new friend Jeremy Bitz who owns this really cool machine called an Atari, where you plug a rectangular piece of plastic into the machine and use a revolutionary gadget called a joystick to play the game! And these games were, by today's standards, pretty lame. But there was nothing 21st-century era to compare them to. So, these games ROCKED! One title in particular comes to mind: Air Sea Battle. In this game, airplanes fought each other, planes fought boats, boats fought planes, or boats fought boats. Well, needless to say, I knew this machine would just rot my brain, so I kept wanting to go to Jeremy's house to play.
1982: Santa's last gift to me before I disowned him as many kids do eventually, was an Atari. Jeremy got an Intellivision. I had trouble with that machine because of its keypad and joystickless controller. However, I played my machine relentlessly. My first 3 games were Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and the somewhat dull Combat (it came with the machine). Pac Man was pretty toned down from its arcade machine father and Donkey Kong just had 2 playing screens, whereas the arcade machine had 4 total screens. Still, as some years passed, I gathered other games, many of them lesser versions of their arcade geneses. Ms. Pac Man (a HUGE improvement over Pac Man), Popeye, Jungle Hunt, Star Wars, Empire Stirkes Back, Return of the Jedi, Jedi Arena, and Missile Command were my favorites.
1985- I got for Christmas a Commodore 64 computer. This machine pretty much changed my game-playing life. For one thing, my dad's office had a HUGE library of games that you could copy to disk! For free!! In fact, I bought very few if any games. Also, the graphics were slightly above the Atari and I could use my joystick on it. I got to play upgraded versions of my Atari games, most of them, anyway! Also-
1986- I get a device called a modem. This allowed me to hold up the phone line so that I could called local numbers on the phone/modem team and access bulletin board systems...one could call them Textbook because there were no pictures, but there were lots of posts by all the nerds in town that had a modem. You could also do this little thing called DOWNLOADING, where you used your phone line to bring in data for a game onto a floppy disk! My world was just getting better and better! My modem was a modest 300 baud in terms of data transfer. I think, from my memory, that 300 baud meant 300 characters on the screen per hour, that's how slow it seemed!
1987. I got a 1200 baud modem plus a new computer desk, and some new games. This was a good Christmas.
1992- I bought for $10 my cousin Erica's Nintendo. This is a perfect example of being behind the times, since the NES came out in 1985! I had played the machine at people's houses before, but now I had my own. I was 20 at the time, and my mom was mad that I wasn't seeking employment actively. The joystick had been "upgraded" to a controller with a directional pad and an A and B button so you could jump AND shoot!What was cool about was Nintendo was that I could RENT GAMES at the video store. My world was really opening up now. This period went for about 3 years.
1995- After gleefully trying out my brother in law's SUPER NINTENDO, I got one of my own when I was at Sonoma State University. It was definitely a step above the NES. This controller had a directional pad, plus A, B, X, Y, and Z buttons! My favorite game by far was Super Empire Strikes Back. Oh yes, I finally got my lightsaber duel after waiting for years. Shadowrun was also a good one, as well as Legend of Zelda. By now there were stores that existed solely to sell video games and computer software. Those games were a good balance to the turmoil of my parents' divorce and my coming into my own personality- and relationship-wise.
2000- I decided to trade in my SNES for a Playstation 1 (2 wasn't out yet). I was now introduced to discs instead of cartridges. The controller had shapes instead of letters. I got a few Star Wars games, Spiderman, and a few others that made life fun. I actually had this machine for only 2 years, for 1 reason only. In late 2002 I was in a game store and saw someone playing Rogue Leader, which contained a very awesome version of the Death Star attack in Star Wars! So...
2002- I traded in my PS1 for a Gamecube and bought Rogue Leader AND Jedi Outcast. The latter had the best lightsaber duel action I'd ever seen! (it is still a favorite) I didn't buy that much for the Gamecube since it was just amusement after a day of teaching.
2006- Traded the Gamecube for a Plasyation 2. Got lots of games, had fun, nothing obsessive about it anymore. Revenge of the Sith was fun, as well as Curious George, but it was an occasional diversion with my finacee, later wife Vickie.
2011- Traded in the PS2 for a Wii. I love bowling, tennis, Price is Right, and Lego Star Wars. Plan to keep this one for a while.
I also remember the era of video game arcades. The Berkshire Mall had a GREAT one in the early 80s before they remodeled to put in a food court. Showbiz Pizza also had a good one. I was lucky enough to go to a couple of birthday parties there before it closed down. The era of arcades is pretty much over, save for racing and shooting games you find here and there, My last memory of an arcade was at West Virginia University. Small, but packed with good games.
As to game systems, I know I missed out on more than a few. I never wanted an Intellivision, I totally missed out on the short-lived Colecovision, and Odyssey was a fast come and go. The whole Sega set just bypassed me. I'm not interested in the new Playstations or XBoxes. Why bother? It's like replacing your movie collection of DVDs with Blu-Ray. It was tough enough replacing my VHS collection, I still haven't finished that quest.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab a paddle. That little ball is calling to me!
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Family Vacation 2013
Yes, it has already happened, what we anticipate yearly. The Moore family vacation, version 2013. This is not a vacation with "improvements" like a new Windows operating system. No, every year we take a vacation to seemingly wait for problems to happen. Obviously, a Moore vacation is not complete without hassle! Let's look at highlights before moving on to this year's festivities!
1979: Christmas trip from Wilmington, NC to Michigan. We anticipated a rather long drive, but doable, probably arrive at my grandparents' home after dinner. No, we had a faulty company car
that had a bad electrical system. We broke down about 50 miles from home...then a few other times after that, I believe, and we ended up staying in a motel in Ohio because both my parents were so tired. The trip home was much better, from my memory. I was only 7 then.
1987: The family trip to Yosemite. Mostly pleasant. We flew to Reno, then drove to Yosemite...and stayed at a rathole outside the park because ratholes inside the park were more expensive and required a decade's advance reservation. We did horseback riding, hiking, biking, and took drives around the park itself to see sequoias and the beautiful Half Dome. The trouble was at the end of the trip. We flew from Reno to Minneapolis expecting to connect to Newark (meaning we need a Noah to build a new ark to save worthy creatures after Newark's imminent flooding). The flight was canceled, so we grabbed one airline to Chicago, then RAN to the other side of O'Hare to connect to Newark. We got home 6 hours later than planned. I was 14 then.
2006: My fiancée Vickie and I were going to my friend Rob's wedding in Pasadena. We hadn't made any reservations, so we were hoping to find a nice motel along I-210. Well, that July evening, there was a power failure in the San Gabriel Valley, so vacancies were tough. We finally found a place in Covina for $72...and I have to say, the rathole outside Yosemite was an IMPROVEMENT! There were no towels, graffiti substituted for the usual cheap art in the room, and overall I had the sensation that this hotel was used by well-funded gang members. We got up the next morning, showered, dried ourselves with the sheets and then left at warp speed!
2011- A well-needed trip to Santa Rosa. We made a reservation in Bakersfield, which was about halfway for us from Las Vegas. We got to Bakersfield around 8p.m., ate some dinner, then headed back to the hotel. Natalie was still 1, and was having trouble sleeping in a normal bed. Well, no wonder, because we'd reserved a crib and it wasn't available because someone decided to stay an extra day at this half-diamond Econolodge. So...after trying in vain for hours to get Natalie to sleep, we left. Yep, we abandoned our hard-earned $30 and got the hell out of pit 1...and drove about 90 minutes to pit 2: Fresno. Yes, we drove 100 miles away to find a Ramada for $59! And they had a crib! We went upstairs, changed Natalie's diaper, and went to sleep immediately. The next day, we made it to Santa Rosa without incident. Traffic, yes, but no incident.
2012: Vacation to Florida. We flew from San Diego to Houston, then rushed to our next flight from Houston to Orlando. Apart from the first flight's delay, not bad at all. A wonderful week and a day later (really, it was), we returned our rental car. Interesting side note: If you want to return a rental car to Orlando, there are gas stations 3-4 miles from the airport that are market price. Inside of that, expect to add $2 per gallon! Vickie's aunt gave us the head's up on that. Once we arrived to check in, we were ready to grab a flight to Dulles and then connect to San Diego. Well, our Dulles flight was delayed and we wouldn't be able to make the connection to San Diego. So, the agent rerouted us to Denver, then from Denver to SD. Fine, great...except for one thing: IT WAS A 9 HOUR LAYOVER!!! Oh yes! And with a 2 1/2 year old to boot! And no food vouchers for the day!! Well, at 6pm we boarded the plane only to see an thunderstorm come in and delay us an hour or so. We got to Denver eventually and had to search for our gate. Luckily the flight number had changed and the flight was slightly delayed, so no problem. I wrote to United with my complaints and they gave us $450 in vouchers good for a year. Great! That brought us to.....
2013! Colorado Springs! This came at the end of the last week of school. Our flight on Allegiant was on time, though we were in the back, right next to the engine, so no views at all. Small change there. When we arrived at the wonderfully small airport, we headed to the rental car desk. Vickie had gotten a package deal for car and hotel. Well, the car company apparently hadn't been paid enough from Orbitz because they needed another $200 deposit! We didn't have it! We had to call my mom to get an advance of $200 so we could get out of the airport! After that all was well....almost. We got our crummy car (Ford Fusion stripped of good transmission and a port to play an IPOD), found our hotel, got something to eat, and got paid at 9:35pm and paid my mom back. The one other bad thing was terrible news about a dear colleague, I won't delve into that, it is too soon. After all that, we got to see Cave of the Winds and drove up to Pike's Peak! We saw lots of nice mountains and trees. We didn't see enough! I want to go back. We flew from Denver to Las Vegas on United using our vouchers and had an hour's delay, but we shrugged that one off. Natalie is older and easier to control...at times.
I can't wait until next year's adventure! If all goes well, it will be a return to Colorado Springs, or a visit to Michigan to see family. If all is not well, we will have a canceled flight to Newark, a $400 deposit to get a 1974 Ford Pinto with an electrical problem, and an Econolodge with no towels but lots of graffiti! Somewhere along the line, it does add up, I just hope it stays safe.
1979: Christmas trip from Wilmington, NC to Michigan. We anticipated a rather long drive, but doable, probably arrive at my grandparents' home after dinner. No, we had a faulty company car
that had a bad electrical system. We broke down about 50 miles from home...then a few other times after that, I believe, and we ended up staying in a motel in Ohio because both my parents were so tired. The trip home was much better, from my memory. I was only 7 then.
1987: The family trip to Yosemite. Mostly pleasant. We flew to Reno, then drove to Yosemite...and stayed at a rathole outside the park because ratholes inside the park were more expensive and required a decade's advance reservation. We did horseback riding, hiking, biking, and took drives around the park itself to see sequoias and the beautiful Half Dome. The trouble was at the end of the trip. We flew from Reno to Minneapolis expecting to connect to Newark (meaning we need a Noah to build a new ark to save worthy creatures after Newark's imminent flooding). The flight was canceled, so we grabbed one airline to Chicago, then RAN to the other side of O'Hare to connect to Newark. We got home 6 hours later than planned. I was 14 then.
2006: My fiancée Vickie and I were going to my friend Rob's wedding in Pasadena. We hadn't made any reservations, so we were hoping to find a nice motel along I-210. Well, that July evening, there was a power failure in the San Gabriel Valley, so vacancies were tough. We finally found a place in Covina for $72...and I have to say, the rathole outside Yosemite was an IMPROVEMENT! There were no towels, graffiti substituted for the usual cheap art in the room, and overall I had the sensation that this hotel was used by well-funded gang members. We got up the next morning, showered, dried ourselves with the sheets and then left at warp speed!
2011- A well-needed trip to Santa Rosa. We made a reservation in Bakersfield, which was about halfway for us from Las Vegas. We got to Bakersfield around 8p.m., ate some dinner, then headed back to the hotel. Natalie was still 1, and was having trouble sleeping in a normal bed. Well, no wonder, because we'd reserved a crib and it wasn't available because someone decided to stay an extra day at this half-diamond Econolodge. So...after trying in vain for hours to get Natalie to sleep, we left. Yep, we abandoned our hard-earned $30 and got the hell out of pit 1...and drove about 90 minutes to pit 2: Fresno. Yes, we drove 100 miles away to find a Ramada for $59! And they had a crib! We went upstairs, changed Natalie's diaper, and went to sleep immediately. The next day, we made it to Santa Rosa without incident. Traffic, yes, but no incident.
2012: Vacation to Florida. We flew from San Diego to Houston, then rushed to our next flight from Houston to Orlando. Apart from the first flight's delay, not bad at all. A wonderful week and a day later (really, it was), we returned our rental car. Interesting side note: If you want to return a rental car to Orlando, there are gas stations 3-4 miles from the airport that are market price. Inside of that, expect to add $2 per gallon! Vickie's aunt gave us the head's up on that. Once we arrived to check in, we were ready to grab a flight to Dulles and then connect to San Diego. Well, our Dulles flight was delayed and we wouldn't be able to make the connection to San Diego. So, the agent rerouted us to Denver, then from Denver to SD. Fine, great...except for one thing: IT WAS A 9 HOUR LAYOVER!!! Oh yes! And with a 2 1/2 year old to boot! And no food vouchers for the day!! Well, at 6pm we boarded the plane only to see an thunderstorm come in and delay us an hour or so. We got to Denver eventually and had to search for our gate. Luckily the flight number had changed and the flight was slightly delayed, so no problem. I wrote to United with my complaints and they gave us $450 in vouchers good for a year. Great! That brought us to.....
2013! Colorado Springs! This came at the end of the last week of school. Our flight on Allegiant was on time, though we were in the back, right next to the engine, so no views at all. Small change there. When we arrived at the wonderfully small airport, we headed to the rental car desk. Vickie had gotten a package deal for car and hotel. Well, the car company apparently hadn't been paid enough from Orbitz because they needed another $200 deposit! We didn't have it! We had to call my mom to get an advance of $200 so we could get out of the airport! After that all was well....almost. We got our crummy car (Ford Fusion stripped of good transmission and a port to play an IPOD), found our hotel, got something to eat, and got paid at 9:35pm and paid my mom back. The one other bad thing was terrible news about a dear colleague, I won't delve into that, it is too soon. After all that, we got to see Cave of the Winds and drove up to Pike's Peak! We saw lots of nice mountains and trees. We didn't see enough! I want to go back. We flew from Denver to Las Vegas on United using our vouchers and had an hour's delay, but we shrugged that one off. Natalie is older and easier to control...at times.
I can't wait until next year's adventure! If all goes well, it will be a return to Colorado Springs, or a visit to Michigan to see family. If all is not well, we will have a canceled flight to Newark, a $400 deposit to get a 1974 Ford Pinto with an electrical problem, and an Econolodge with no towels but lots of graffiti! Somewhere along the line, it does add up, I just hope it stays safe.
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