Riding in the car to Phoenix to catch a sniper

So..we left the town of Bakersfield and set of for more of the desert. After a short stop by Barstow California for an outlet store (where I bought my first Coach purse...hee hee) we ended up in Viva Las Vegas! We stayed at the Circus Circus and that was exactly what it was. It's amazing all the stuff the can put in a bldg, wedding chapel, roller coaster, twirl rides, tons of children. I didn't realize how many kids would be in there, I didn't realize a lot of things in Vegas. So we went to the Pink Pony for dinner, I thought it sounded more like a strip joint then a restaurant, and realized I could never be a waitress in Vegas. Bless every waitress everywhere, this lady (not a kid) was complaining about the flavor of her milkshake, she wanted a certain flavor that they didn't have the waitress told again and again her choices and she still insisted on trying to get the waitress to mix flavors. After our dinner we ran across to the Riviera to throw a quarter in the slot for my mom (she's so lucky with slots) won a dollar and went back to the Circus. Stumbled around with $20. going to machine to machine finally ending up at the bar to play video poker for about 10 minutes...not bad... then I spotted an unused Wheel of fortune game I ran up to it and this old lady was also strarring at the machine and I kicked her in the shin and sat right down. I started with $15 hit a triple diamond for a $90 win then was able to spin the wheel a couple of times won 40, 150, 30, 40. wow.. I went up to $285 but to let you in on my dim side I'm thinking it's 285 quarters even though I knew I was playing $1 slots. can I blame it on the beer? so I end up walking away with $200!! I kept kicking myself for being so stupid but I think if I would've known I would of quit back when I hit $90. I like to walk away a winner so I cashed in and left. I was wondering why these 2 guys were circling the machine and the guy next to me won a thousand and when he asked me how much the triple diamond paid i reply "only 90" thinking quarters like a dumb ass. He's telling his wife "yeah, she started out with 15 now she's at 250, she's doing good" I started to get greedy in the end and kept saying...after the next spin of the wheel I'll leave and thats how I went back down to 200 but thats much better than I started out so i took the money and ran back to my room where the devil couldn't find me. hahahaha.
I also tried to find the carousel bar that Johnny Depp portrayed Hunter S Thompson went to in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" I found it and it wasn't as entertaining as it looked in the movie. I guess I should've took some ether before I found it too.

Up early and drove down the strip to our way out of Vegas.. it's bizarre how after miles and miles of desert you go over a hill and *wham* theres Vegas.wowza. don't think I could live there not sure if I'll ever go back, and I definitely wouldn't drive again.

Our next stop was Page AZ. home of Lake Powell and the Glen Dam and Glen Canyon. nice little city on a side of a mountain with one hell of a view. Az was breaking a ton of temp. highs like 114 degrees. I ended up getting drunk on sat night and luckily we stayed an extra day to do nothing, absolutely nothing due to our hangovers and that was just fine with everyone. We went to Ken's steakhouse and had some delicious baby back ribs. I chuckled because they sold lobster and shrimp and I'm thinking to myself "ok were in the middle of f-ing no where, how good could the sea food be? Lake Powell looked like a river (the part I saw anyway) I should've picked up a crab cake in San Fran like I was told to"

Off to the amazing Grand Canyon! The temperature started off at 100 degrees and as we drove up it went down to 50 degrees and then to 70 when we finally reached the end of our hour and a half drive up the fucking canyon. Beautiful...beautiful....beautiful! just sucks getting there... I've seen sooooo much desert in last last week. I guess I don't like sitting in the car and viewing things from afar. I wanted to get out of the car and climb the canyon and touch the cactus plants and wander off and live there to get the real feel of the land. It's so amazing and to much to take in in a couple of hours (well, 1 hour actually if you don't count sitting in the restaurant that overlooks the canyon.
We then drove to Phoenix to look for the sniper. Didn't find him... Thank God! Hopefully someone will shoot him when they get him. I was scared driving in and just being here, I can only imagine how these people who live in the community feel. These guys are a bunch of assholes. I'm sure we all agree.
Anyways....overall the trip was great!! It was amazing to see all of these beautiful places, just a little to much to drive. I'm still Ms Creature Teacher no Mrs yet. haha It would of been fun to get married in Vegas by the Star Trek people drunk of course but oh well. haha

Tomorrow we head back home and I have to take a test for my psych class and haven't studied at all. oooppsss. It'll be nice to be home...kinda.

Pictures and don't forget to read the entry below

Here's the City Lights bookstore in which father and I walked from one end of Columbus to the other.




A couple of the machines in the old amusement game room we found. Jolly Jack the laugher is here on the left and I thought the "Bimbo-Box" with all the monkeys was a hoot to look at....so you to, should have a hoot.

Here's the Golden Gate Bridge from the boat ride..it's a postcard image!



















Alcatraz..another post card image..."Wish You Were Here"..."no really I do because I can't stand you."


Yep...I don't know how to make the text and pictures line up.

Bye..Bye San Fran

Up at 7am left San Fran at 8am. We drove to Santa Cruz drove around a couple of blocks downtown and see-ya. Due to a back seat driver yelling up front.."there's nothing to see here!" (repeat 3 or 4 times) So the driver agrees to leave. Pissed off inside I wasn't going to start an debate on what there is to see...Santa Cruz beach and other signs sitting in the sky of attractions to see.
fine...let's rush off to the mile square town of Carmel by the Sea...great. so much to see in a mile eh? It ends up there was alot of things squashed together to see in Carmel that were way out of my price range. Ate lunch...argued which way to the sea, drove around and left...see ya sea!
Off to Bakersfield arrived around 4 and finally found one English pub called the "Dock of the Bay" Happy hour till 7pm great! it's only 5pm. Order 4 pints and total=$26.oo WTF!?!??? Ok....drink and leave was the plan. 15 minutes later an order of fish and chips comes to table delivered by the drunk man who previously asked everyone in our group where we were from (1 Irish, 2 English and me..american). We're not sure how we ordered fish and chips but according to my fellow companions it was "spot on" to the english version.
3 pints later we left dropped father and his lady friend off at the Inn and went SHOE SHOPPING! YES! drunk no less...love to do things drunks. Sweet Puma's on clearance...just like I like 'em. I don't usually wear running shoes..but I'm falling in love with Puma!
Up early once again tomorrow to head to VIVA LAS VEGAS....i'm getting drunk and married! (thats really just a joke or a nightmare not sure.)
GOOOOOO ELVIS!

I've left my heart in San Francisco thanks to the cab driver.

Ok...I was getting ready to goto San Francisco and since none of us have been here before, I decided to e-mail a friend and asked where would she take vistors to sum up San Francisco or hidden places that you must see. She e-mailed back and suggested North Beach for dinner, walk through Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39 and visit the famous book store City Lights, wonderful suggestions! She also told me of areas that are not safe at all, and some that are fine in daylight, and the nusence pan-handle sections of the city. Thank goodness she's looking out for our safety i think! A word that I read somewhere in that particular section was Tenderloin, and I can not for the life of me remember what she wrote about it...was it safe in daylight..should you not be here at all? I remember reading a review of another hotel and the person wrote "even though it was close to Tenderloin district I felt safe". hhhmmm!?!?
So...needless to say once we arrived in the airport I pick up a map to look to where the Comfort Inn was and you guessed it..right between the "N" and the "D" of Tenderloin. The bars on the window helps me with feeling "safe"! We walked to "Tommy's Joynt" where I had a bowl of buffalo chili w/ rice which was sooooooooo good and we walked down to a corner market to buy some wine. As I looked across the street I saw a huge strip joint, a girl dressed in all black with a hoodie on and make-up tote runs in. Then from around the corner this lady comes scuffling by with her jellie shoes and so high she's just weaving back and forth down the sidewalk. Yep, there's something odd about this neighborhood.
Up early Wednesday morning for our morning hike all the way down Polk to the Bay. We went on the Red and White Bay cruise an hour long boat ride that you listen to the tour guide via headsets. You go under the Golden Gate Bridge, past Angel Island and Alcatraz, fair enough...so we did. It was a nice tour, I wouldv'e rather went on Alcatraz but I learned enough from the drive around it I guess. Once off the boat (I was starting to get sick) we stepped into a little musuem with old amusement arcade machines in there. Old fortune telling machines and Jolly Jack..once you put your quarter in he would just sit there and laugh...and laugh...and laugh, eventually you would just start laughing as well. We tried the early version of "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots" metal shaped boxing men connected to gun-shaped handle and you had to punch the other one in the chin to set off a trigger to knock down your opponent, it was actually hard to do. I loved it in there, I took a ton of pictures and hopefully I'll be able to insert them in here.
Then we stopped for lunch down by Fisherman's Warf but not crab cakes :( no one in the group likes sea food so I had to settle for a big huge burrito which was also good. Then we were off to find the City Lights book shop! Yeah! So we found the beginning of Columbus street and realized it was at the other end. Fathers lady friend was getting tired so her and Krave took the bus while father and I hiked all the way down Columbus! We saw the famous Crooked Street from 2 or more blocks away took a picture and kept moving! Finally...there it was! I quickly ran through trying to look at everything possible in 15 minutes and manage to buy a couple of books before my hurried exit.
We then walked through part of Chinatown till we were able to catch a cab back to the Inn. The cab driver was probally going 35mph down the streets which made me feel as though I was on a roller coaster with all the hills. Burrito's are only good the first time.
So we went back to Tommy's Joynt again for dinner passing a couple of bums sleeping on the sidewalk, they all seem to have 2 couch cushions that they carry around until the find a comfy piece of sidewalk.
Tomorrow morning we're off to drive somewhere...not sure where...but somewhere down the coast of Cali.

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Yep, don't know how my profile moved to the bottom page. *scratches head* yep, don't know how to fix it either.

R.I.P. George

George WAS our big retarded fish. Dopey kind of fish that would bully the angel fish one minute and run into glass the next. Just imagine 4 huge angel fish just hanging out in the corner chillin like fish do..then...here comes George (breed unknown just big silver regular looking fish) slams right into them! Other moments I would hear a thunk from the tank and I can see the stars above George's head from running into the glass or I would see the air tube moving from George trying to "squeeze" behind it.
I had a cookout the other night since Krave's father and lady friend are here from Spain visiting and my family came over to all meet. My niece and nephew have met George before and liked watching him spaz out in the tank and "scare him" by putting their Elmo doll up against the glass. Well, maybe he had one to many scares... My sister and I heard a strange noise from the tank and a short time later I found him upside down swimming away but going nowhere. It was sad because my nephew in his cute 2 yr old voice "Get up George!" because he wanted to scare him again. So then we explained that fish sleep upside down like that. The next day, he was still going. I stepped out for a bit and father took George out and buried him in the flower bed so I wouldn't have to see. Bye George

Last laugh of the year

Ah, yes...Lurch gave me the last laugh of the year. Even though the last day was June 29th I haven't had much time to blog with moving and all.

We had a cookout out for the students on their last day for a little fun. The day was over and I was waiting for everyone to get in the van so we could go back to school. I'm sitting in the drivers seat staring in the rear view mirror at Hannibal Lector in the back seat. (He attacks you and he gets you good. He can rip the first layer of your skin off and make putting yr hands in yr pockets a PAINFUL experience.) Hannibal grunts when the other teacher jumped out of the van to do something. I mumble..very quietly say. "Don't worry she'll be back and you can whoop her ass later" Because thats what he does.. no joke.
Finally the other teacher and everyone else arrives in the van. So were off...
Lurch: Ms. Creature Teacher
CT: yes lurch?
Lurch: are you going to take me back to school and whoop my ass?
CT: oooppss... no lurch

uh-yeah. so apparently he was in the van longer than I thought.

notice the single bed in the background of the pictures? why, is a man like this sleeping alone? ok..i'll scoot over bounty man..lay right here next to creature teacher.


http://leatheroaks.org/Pages/Masculine.html

Check this out...Stolen from Surly monster Greg

Stolen of course from other blogs.
http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanquiz/outcome.php

Birthday is April 7th.

You are an island. You don't need anyone else to make you happy.And though you see yourself as a loner, people are drawn to you.Deep and sensitive, you tend to impress others with your insights.You also tend to be psychic - so listen to that inner voice!
Your strength: Your self sufficiency
Your weakness: You despise authority
Your power color: Maroon
Your power symbol: Hammer
Your power Month: July

yep, thats me. well sorta... where's my hammer?

http://www.blogthings.com/boobienamegenerator/

Mine are Betty and Veronica. it's more personal than "the girls" or "da sista's"
what's yrs?

Taz gets a trike!

Taz recieved a trike specially made for the special person. Awesome! Living life and doing things like any child at his age would. So would you figure if you see a child riding a big blue trike with bull dog suspension with the back wheels and the child of course wears a big ass helmet to match, would you really add a super tall orange flag to boot? I'm 5'7 and the handle bars come up to my chest. This trike is the Hummer of the sidewalk. You don't need anymore attention, like a big tall orange flag so one can see it. You might as well write tard on the flag.