Texas - I made it!

My itinerary to get to Harlingen, TX for Christmas was as follows:

Oakland to George Bush International - the red eye - 12:35AM to 6AM

George Bush Intl to Harlingen - 9ish AM to 10ish AM.

Instead, my red eye out was oversold. No body gave up there seat for me and why would they? The Continental staff couldn't find me anything. Did I want to fly into San Antonio and rent a car to drive to Harlingen in the middle the the following night? No. Did I want to fly on the 23rd and return on the 25th? No.

After waiting with two tearful angry men until 2AM I finally got it sorted out. I would take a shuttle to San Jose airport, take the 9:55AM to Houston and the 6PM to McAllen where the family would get me.

I was compensated $275. And although I would have preferred a hotel to the San Jose airport floor, I did get breakfast and lunch vouchers.

This is me sleeping in the City Shuttle on the way to San Jose from Oakland. Half way to the airport we went BACK to Oakland to pickup two more travelers. I guess the van was more comfortable than the floor was about to be (I used my shoes as a pillow).

I ate fried rice, bacon and eggs with my breakfast voucher at 4:30AM in San Jose.

YUM.

This couple was soo into the Bush History montage in Houston International.


My trip was awesome but way too short. Lesley and I went to the Brownsville zoo on the 24th and saw a baby gorilla, baby kangaroos and baby meercats. OMG.



More soon...I'm back at George Bush Intl right now starting to doubt that I'll be home tonight.

Seasons Tidy Cat

For those of you who can't read this shopping list I found, it says:

Tidy cats
Jumbo
Multiple cats (7)
----------
Washing up liquid


On a related topic (but not too related), this is Birdy and I during our first Christmas together.



I'm off to Texas for a few days, and sadly there are no alligators there in the winter.

Hankie / fat

I had a moment last week where I absolutely needed to buy some space/rocket themed vintage handkerchiefs. I found some amazing ones on EBay but was out bid. What I did win is below. They arrived freshly ironed and dowsed with perfume. They make my eyes water and make me sneeze, but somehow thinking of someone packaging them with so much care makes me not want to wash them yet. I'm just sitting in a different room than they are.



Also, this is what has become of Birdy. I think there's a baby penguin under there.

Tis the season

Birdy singed her tail feathers on Shane's lit menorah last night, but today all of the crinkled burnt hairs have been licked away.

And our guests today are...

Allegra and I were just on TV for 22 minutes. I might share the footage but for now I feel like my face is still too red.

UPDATE: Allegra posted the tv show.

Turkey Days

If you are me on Thanksgiving: You go to your aunt Jean's house to meet up with your mom and your Jean and many dogs (8).



Then you go to the aquarium for dinner.



Then you play poker with your family and some small dogs.




Then a certain small dog sleeps with you.



You also play scrabble and get together with the FolkaDots (these pictures are actually from a previous FolkaDot gathering).




Then you Turkey Trot with a bee.

Heinz 1992 - 2007

My Tiger has gone up with the huge kitty in the sky. She loved her dog Yoda.

DV - Twice in one month

I can't get enough of Death Valley. Leggy and I went in October, and then W.D. and Leggy and I went last weekend.

The Racetrack
This is the place with the skating rocks and some weird depth perception issues. It's 30 miles down a dirt road so you really should not get a flat tire.






Lost Burro Mine
Lost Burro had around 7 mine shafts that we went into. The rickety supports were not deterrent enough, so we stumbled over rail tracks and rat eaten miner clothing in the dark.







Darwin
Darwin is one of my favorite modern ghosttowns (up there with Eagle Mountain and Desert Center). When we arrived, there was a coyote running down the road chasing a rabbit. Someone who lives here is obsessed with Aliens.





Cerro Gordo
The caretaker did not answer the phone. This place is a hairy drive and you need a tour to really see it. The view of of Keeler and Mount Whitney is amazing. It also has hanging ore carts, one of my favorite things.


NOVEMBER
Known as just "Mine" on the map, this fluffy place in northern Death Valley was probably a rhyolite mine. We felt like we were being poisoned just by being there because there were fluorescent green rocks and white puffy fluff everywhere...and there had obviously been some crash alien landings.




Rhyolite, a Nevada ghosttown, was full of great desert art and some of the tallest ghosted ruins I've seen.





Keene Wonder Mine. Still one of my favorite hikes in the world so far. Madeline and I did it in February as the sun was going down. This time D and A and I started early. We hiked past the main frame, threw rocks down caves we shouldn't have been near and then headed down the canyon rather than on the ridge. We saw a baby rattlesnake, bottles of old miner's drugs and fallen mine carts. The only thing better than a fallen mine cart is a hanging mine cart.










This house is at the old Harrisberg site close to Skidoo. We scared a motorcyclist who had slept there to get out of the rain.


Yosemite is too beautiful to be real. We had to get out of the car to make sure this wasn't a mountain mirage.