My free day in DC

Last Saturday I had a free day in DC - so what did I do?

 Woke up at 6:30am.

I stopped at the Cornerstone Bakery for a quick breakfast.

I took the metro to Capital South station.

I took a tour of the Capital.  It was my first time there.  What a magnificent structure!

I took the indoor walkway to the Library of Congress (it was about 30 degrees but with the wind it felt like 8 degrees).  It was my first time inside here.

I walked up by Union Station to the National Postal Museum.  Took a quick tour and read fun facts about the postal service.  FYI they have a penny press there, but is is $1.01.  I am used to them only being $0.51.

Then I walked over to the Folger's Shakespeare Library.  It was now 12 noon, and it just so happened that they were giving a tour of the reading room, so I went on the tour...why not?  It was an hour, and it was...different.  The first half they told us about the Folgers and about Shakespeare  how the Library came about, and about the books and researchers.  The second half they explained so many of the painting on the wall.  After the tour I decided to see if they had any tickets left for the performance later that evening...I figured it would be best to see a Shakespearean play at a place that is all about Shakespeare.

From here I walked to the south end of the Mall.  I realized I was starving.  Not knowing if there was anything to eat round there, I just went to the first thing I saw - a street truck - and got an eggroll and gaterade and found a park bench to eat it on...don't forget it was freezing, my hands were loosing feeling eating the overly peppered eggroll.

I decided to go into the Botanical Gardens...but I ended up just doing a quick loop since I realized I was there before.

Up next was the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.  This structure was a circle, with two floors up and one floor down (the down was the restroom and gift shop).  The exhibit at the time was the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, I wasn't a fan, although the 12 sculptures outside of animal heads that correlated with the Chinese calendar was neat.

Next was the Castle.  I did a quick read through some of the cases - and was distraught when I saw this because I have such a fear of these creatures...and this was HUGE, you can't tell from the picture, but it was probably equivalent to a size 6 woman's shoe!
[I made it smaller than the other pictures so I don't have to focus on it.]

Then off to the S. Dillon Ripley Center.  There were events going on, so I read some of the paintings and left, I was only in there maybe 20 minutes.

Once I got back outside, I sat on a bench and was just so exhausted.  I decided I couldn't handle anymore, so I walked back up to 14th and P to get some Ethoipan to go, and went to the hotel to relax, it was about 4:30pm.

I had a little free time, and did a tiny bit of work and watched some TV, and at 7 I headed back to the Metro to go back to the Folger Shakespeare Library to see Henry V, which was excellent.  This was the first time I saw a live show/play by myself.

The Capital was just as beautiful at night.  Then back to the Metro to get back to the hotel.  It was probably around 10:45 by now.

Once I got back to the hotel, I had to call Amtrak since my train was cancelled due to the snow.  I was on hold for about 30 minutes, and then had a very annoying conversation with the reservation specialist.  It was now past midnight.  I tried to go to sleep, I laid down, but I kept writing my complaint letter in my head and couldn't sleep, so I decided to screw it, head to Union Station and get on the 3:15am train back to NYC {this will be a future post, maybe} instead of the 9am or 1pm train.

I get to the train station about 1:30am and catch up on a few shows on my iPad, thank goodness Amtrak has free wifi.  I didn't want to fall asleep because I was traveling alone and I don't trust people (even though there were quite a few cops right there), and because I didn't want to be unable to sleep once I got on the train.

I was able to sleep a little bit on the train, a little here and there.  Nothing too sound. More like a few short naps.  I got into NYC around 6:40 and didn't get home til 8:30am.  Look how empty Grand Central is at 7:15am on a Saturday! What a difference from my everyday commute.

I couldn't wait to go to sleep this night, what a long 38 hours!

Great Falls

The national park association added a new historical park in March 2009- Great Falls in Paterson NJ, making it the 397th national park system unit, though it was a National Landmark since 1976.
It was close by so I thought I'd check it out.  However I was a bit disappointed.  Maybe it is just because the N.P. association has not technically acquired the land, and they have not improved the area.
The Falls were just that, waterfalls that drops 77 feet. Nothing too impressive and not part of a beautiful landscape - are they really the second largest wast of the Mississippi?  Maybe my travels have clouded my perceptions. 
What I hope to see eventually would be a tour of the power plant - with 18, 19 and 20th century water power remnants and raceway system and I have no doubt they will make the park greens more visitor friendly.
I suppose what is fascinating in the history...but do we declare all historical areas national parks?
Alexander Hamilton envisioned Paterson NJ as a large industrial center that would be powered by the waterfalls. It played a vital role during the industrial revolution.
I think having a national park in Paterson will be good, it is such an industrial area that tourists will go because they have goals to check out all the national parks and in turn will bring a little money to the area.  There are some other great things close by, so one could make a day or two doing a few miscellaneous activities in the area
However, do not plan to spend more than 30 minutes here. And do not plan a trip around this location right now.
What was nice is that the current great falls association has jazz on selected Saturday nights in the summer in the parking lot.  It was free, had a relaxing feel and there was some food/beverage vendors.
For more information on The Great Falls visit the national parks website or the Paterson Friends of the Great Falls (www.patersongreatfalls.org).

Card Reading

I went back to Katie's Cottage for the card readings with Vickie.  I was hoping to compare the card reading and the tea leaf reading.  Vickie also does 1 hour tea leaf readings for $80 out of her house.

But before we even get that far, I'd like to take a moment and talk about Katie's Cottage.  This was now my third time there and I became very unhappy with the staff.  I booked our reading when I was there the last time. I am 100% sure that the night was completely empty since I saw the book they write in.  When I was in Arizona I received two phone calls on the same day to confirm my appointment and the number of people.  When we got there, apparently a table of three also had a reservation and since they were a smaller party, they went first, which now delayed our reading by one hour.  This is unfortunate because 1) I had people that traveled an hour or more to come  2) now we'd be stuck at this restaurant for 4 hours and 3) a long day was ahead for the people I went with.  The waitress was absolutely horrible.  I don't remember her name. She was not familiar with the menu, I had to tell her that my dish came with a potato and soup/salad (which she confirmed after speaking to someone else or looked at a menu), we asked her for bread twice in the first hour we were there because she never took our order, she was so overwhelmed and the place was not even half full.  In the end they comped us about $70 but she never even told us, I saw it on the itemized receipt. Whether that was an accident (not knowing how to ring up the readings) or intentional I don't know.

OK, so on with the reading:
M - do something fun in a few weeks
C - complaining of elbow/wrist pain
New lover in 4-5 months. Probably divorced. Name beginning with A or N.  I'd meet him alone and near the end of the month.
A - will ask me to do a favor or I'll ask to do A a favor
Ro - will show me direction
A female will come to me with a problem in 3 months and ask for help
J - is a great person (coworker)
I am on the phone a lot at work
March 15th I'll have a crisis
JP/PJ - impact at job
In June there will be a family party
Money is OK
I will have one child
A couple will be in crisis.  Don't say anything negative because they will stay together
Someone at work has a heath problem
Family change in May
In 12 months my whole life will be different
A - losing a friend that has drained me (I know exactly who this is!)
I'll go to F or P for a work trip
Peter or Paul has a big impact on me
no change of job in 2012, maybe in 2013.
I'll move away from my family

Also, she was able to see that I've had a huge break in my love line.  She said that my ex (SI) completely destroyed me but that I will eventually be very happy.

So let's compare:
Tea leaf:  Meet fh in February, have 2 children, new job in 2012   (see first reading here and second here)
Card reading: Meet fh end of May, have 1 child, new job in 2013

I shouldn't be so picky since either way I'll meet my fh in 2012! I can't wait.  I'd prefer it to be in February since I've waited so long...but even if it is the end of May, I'll survive. I can't lose hope.  I'd prefer not to have an only child, but that doesn't mean that I can't adopt or foster another child.  I'd also prefer a new job sooner rather than later and with that an increase in salary.

As far as the other readings are concerned...so far one HUGE thing did happen to one of the other people I was with.  The other things we won't know for a few more weeks/months.  Will keep you updated.

Saguaro

When you think of Arizona, what do you think?  I've been there a few times, but always the northern part near the Grand Canyon.  I've always wanted to see big cati.  When the opportunity came up to go to Phoenix, I jumped on it.  I knew the Saguaro National Park was in Tucson, so that made it to my must see list. 

What I was not prepared for was that there were big cati all over Phoenix too.  Arizona was so brown with all the dirt - YES, I know that cactus is a desert plant and in the desert is dirt/sand. But I don't know if I can live there (not that I was/am seriously thinking of it - I just always keep that in the back of my mind).  So for a day and a half we drove around and saw the Saguaro's, hiked the Picachio Mountain and went to the Biosphere 2.  It wasn't the nicest, prettiest or most adventurous short road trip, but it was still nice to get away.

When we got back to Phoenix, we had time to drive a little through Tempe and Scottsdale.  Now THAT part of Arizona I could live in.  It was much more civilized.

Kayaking the La Jolla Sea Caves

When my co-worker & I were looking for things to do in La Jolla for our business meeting earlier this month, we came across kayaking the sea caves.  A simple look at each other & we need this made it to the top of our list.

But, not everything goes as planed...two days before our tour, La Jolla had some rainstorm / downpour.  The day of our appointment, it was cold and rainy.  The gave us all full wetsuits to wear (and thank goodness for that) and off we went.  The rain was light but steady and the water was fairly calm in the middle but rougher by the walls. 

We get out there after paddling and were so excited, to only find out that we were not going to go through the caves because hf the choppiness near them.  Let me tell you, I was willing to risk it!  I was a bit disappointed, I wished our tour company told us we wouldn't go in and give us the option to reschedule (not that we had a lot of free time). 

It was fun anyway.

Gas Lamp Quarter - San Diego California

On the way back to the airport we stopped at the Gas Lamp Quarter in San Diego.  We were not sure what to expect but were shocked with the two streets that were about 5 blocks long of restaurants. Lots & lots of restaurants.  How to decide where to eat?

Wine Tasting in Los Olivos

I love wine and what better activity to do in California? OK, so I wasn't in Napa Valley, but in Santa Barbara and we hired a company to come and pick us up at the hotel and drive us to some wineries in Los Olivos.

We started at Bridlewood

Next was Carhart (our favorite)

Then olive oil tasting, which was fantastic!

Then time to drink again!  Off to Lincort (my least favorite, I think I only liked one or two) where we had lunch and the tasting outside on their covered patio.

 

 And finally Koehler.

The tour company we used:

Oh, and what famous person lived here?  Michael Jackson's Neverland is right down this road a few miles

La Valencia in La Jolla

A work trip to La Jolla brought me to La Valencia Hotel. 

The staff was unbelievably helpful and friendly - I think we are all writing to the hotel with Thank You's for the staff.  The hotel layout was a bit confusing with the two wings, and the lobby was on the 6th or 7th floor (street level) because it is on a hill. 

I was shocked when the concierge brought me up to my suite:

living room

bedroom

half bath



master bath




 The Views/Pool:

view from my living room

pool

The town of La Jolla was right on the Pacific Ocean.  We were able to see seals and parts of the sea caves (see future post about this).  The town was a quaint with some great restaurants.