Vacation recap, Day 3.

Sunday, July 16

This was our day at Universal Studios. We had a great time, but after all the driving we did on Saturday, the best part for me may have been staying in one place all day!

We enjoy theme parks anyway, so this one, with its movie twist, was perfect for us. We could easily ride and see everything we wanted in a day, and the electronic signs scattered throughout the park let us know which attractions had the shortest wait times.

We started our day at the Van Helsing attraction, which is basically a haunted house. I'm not a fan of haunted houses, but I have to admit that this one, with a mix of movie scenes and live actors, was pretty good. From there, we went down the Starway (an extra-long series of escalators) to the Lower Lot, which was just opening for the day. We were among the first in line for Mummy: The Ride. Now THIS was my idea of a roller coaster!

It begins slowly, showing you recreated scenes from the Brendan Fraser movie, but once you're "cursed," the ride takes off--in the dark! It was wild, and we ended up riding it five times before the day was done.

We also enjoyed Jurassic Park, a water ride. The combination of narration, animatronic dinosaurs and the JP theme music gave us the sensation of being in the movie. The big splashdown at the end didn't leave us soaked, but we enjoyed getting at least a little wet!

While in the lower lot, we also saw an I Love Lucy exhibit with a few of Lucy's dresses and items from her home. We watched the Backdraft pyrotechnic display, and then we caught the Special Effects show.

In this show, our hosts demonstrated various effects like green screen, and special guest stars from the audience (like K!) helped show how foley artists add sound effects to scenes.

Back in the upper lot area, we rode the Back to the Future Ride, saw Shrek 4D, experienced Terminator 2: 3D (BIG thumbs up from B) and gave the kids a chance to cool off in the Nickelodeon Splash Zone.

Next to the water rocket and the obligatory giant bucket that dumps gallons on people, a Wild Thornberries play area gives kids and adults a dry area to let off some steam. In that area, kids could play with thousands of foam balls, throwing or shooting them in a million directions. Or, as was the case here, dump them on unsuspecting parents.

Of course, we also had a few character sightings.

We also caught the Waterworld show, which from what I can tell, was more entertaining than the Kevin Costner film!

For lunch we left the park and visited Universal Citywalk, the adjacent shopping and dining district. We ate at the Daily Grill, which was a perfectly good restaurant. Its main draw, however, was its air conditioning! Citywalk had some interesting sights of its own, too.

Back in the park, R was excited to see all the Jaws-related stuff. He is the world's biggest Jaws fan, you know.Besides the fake shark and the souvenir penny machine, Universal also includes Jaws as part of its backlot tour. Seeing the mechanical shark lunge at us in the tram was certainly a highlight for R! (I was glad to see it, too, since the Jaws lake was drained on my previous visit to Universal Hollywood way back in 1978!)

For the tour, we boarded at tram and headed toward the backlot. (Back in '78, this was pretty much all there was to do at Universal Studios!)

Other sights from the tour:

Plane crash scene from War of the Worlds:

The Psycho house:

Wisteria Lane and the homes of the Desperate Housewives:

(This DH home was also used as the Munsters' back in the day.)

Several show cars, including these from Back to the Future:

We also got to see the old New York and European street sets (used in old monster movies), a flash flood (as seen in Big Fat Liar), part of the Grinch set, and a few staged "events" like an earthquake and a King Kong attack.

Before heading back to our car, we walked through Citywalk again, having Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dinner (only on vacation!) and checking out Things from Another World, a comic book store.

Universal Studios has changed quite a bit in the 28 years since I first visited! It really was a fun day. As a Six Flags junkie, I was impressed with the ways the rides were packaged to tie them into their movies. The cleanliness of the park was refreshing, too. So thumbs up all around! And we weren't through touring studios! There was one more tour scheduled for Monday, but that report will have to wait for Day 4.

Vacation recap, Day 2.

Saturday, July 15

After breakfast with K&D at a restaurant along Beverly Boulevard (the same one we frequented the day of the Rose Bowl), we headed to Hollywood. Our first stop was the Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

We parked at the new-ish shopping center (Hollywood & Highland, home of the Kodak Theatre from Oscars and American Idol fame) and emerged into quite a scene! People were packed into the theatre's forecourt, famous for all the handprints and footprints embedded in concrete there.

We also spent a little time strolling along with Walk of Fame. There are so many stars in that sidewalk! We felt like we saw just a tiny fraction of them all.

We did a little T-shirt shopping along Hollywood Boulevard, but then we had to cut our visit short. We had places to go, people to see!

Forrest J. Ackerman, or Forry, is the legendary editor of Famous Monsters magazine. For years he has collected memorabilia related to science fiction and monster movies. His former home, the Ackermansion, was practically a museum, and he would open it every week for fans to visit. He now lives in a smaller bungalow (which he's dubbed the Son of Ackermansion) and his collection is a tad smaller, but he still opens his home on Saturdays when he's in town. Lucky for us, he was in town that Saturday!

First of all, it's just bizarre to walk in off the street into a stranger's home. But once inside, you realize that's nothing compared to the weird sights inside. In a corner by the front window is Dracula's cape.

And over there, by the dining table? That would be Lon Chaney Sr.'s prosthetic teeth from London After Midnight.

In every room, you find movie posters, lobby cards, autographed photos, random props and figures. You have to move a loaf of bread to see a model of his old house on top of the refrigerator. On the dining room table, to get to some books on display, you have to push past the electric bill. And in the middle of it all, there's Forry, signing autographs, accepting a cameo role in a film (this one will be his 208th appearance), answering questions (he's seen his favorite movie, Metropolis, 105 times), and posing for photos.

I stumbled upon Forry's website during all my obsessive trip researching, and I'm so glad I did! B had called before we left Texas to make sure he'd be home, and we were all glad it worked out. All of us were impressed, but for B, this was a pilgrimage worth the whole trip west!

With that pilgrimage complete, we began another: searching for a good view of the Hollywood sign. Our hostess, D, had told us Griffith Park offered a pretty good view, so we drove up the hills toward the (closed) observatory to take a look.

We could see the sign, and we also had a nice view of LA, too. Who knew smog could be pretty?

Oh. And that cool weather that welcomed us on Friday? By Saturday, it was long gone! Our mini hike left us sweaty! Good thing our hosts had insisted on supplying us with a big thermos of ice water and some "emergency chips" in case we needed rations along our journey. At Griffith Park we took a much-needed water and snack break to revive us.

After that, it was time for my own pilgrimage. Anyone who has known me for long knows about my obsession with The Brady Bunch. I have always loved that corny show, and I've collected Brady paraphernalia for years. So while in Southern California, I just had to see the house that was used for the exterior shots in the show. (The interiors and yards were shot on a soundstage not too far away.) I found directions to the actual house and knew to expect it to look quite a bit different from the way it appeared in the '69-'74 sitcom. I knew the owners had put a fence to keep onlookers off their property; I knew it didn't really have a big window in front (a fake was hung there to make the house appear to have two stories); I knew the tree in front had grown considerably in 30 years. What I didn't know was how very close to the place we could get just driving by and then walking on the sidewalk! The front yard is not that large, so as we drove up next to the house, we were SO VERY CLOSE!

Of course, I responded in typical fashion: I panicked! I was so terrified we'd get in trouble just being there that I didn't want to get out of the car to take a picture. I managed to convince myself that we could nonchalantly get a couple of snapshots from our moving SUV. Yeah, right. Fortunately, B didn't let me get away with that! We parked up the street a little and made a run for it. The kids and I posed in front of the house while B snapped a few pictures. I just knew some security guard would come after us, but B kept pointing out that we were on a public sidewalk and weren't doing anything to bug the owners or their neighbors. I'm so glad he talked some sense into me! Just look at our groovy pictures!

So with three pilgrimages complete, we were hungry! We made our way to In-N-Out Burger on Sunset. The place was packed! We were lucky to have a place to sit while we devoured our burgers.

After lunch we headed west, retracing Friday's path down Wilshire. Our destination: Westwood Memorial Park.

Yep. We went sightseeing at a CEMETERY! This place is tucked behind a couple of tall office buildings, and without really good directions, we never would've found it. Lots of tourists do manage to find it, however, because this cemetery is the final resting place for gobs of celebrities. I had a map (printed from the internet), so we wandered around, paying our respects to some famous singers and actors.

I especially love Jack Lemmon's sense of humor:

(In case you can't read through the shadows, it says, "Jack Lemmon in" on the tombstone.)

The big draw at Westwood, as evidenced by the flow of traffic, the darkened marble and the lipstick, is this marker:

It's strange to see how the brass marker is so much more worn than the others there. It seems like everyone who visits there has to touch her first name: Marilyn.

After that somber interlude, we headed back towards Beverly Hills and drove down North Roxbury and a few other residential streets. Many stars from days gone by have lived on Roxbury, including Lucille Ball and Jimmy Stewart. We tried to identify a couple of houses, but trying to drive without getting lost was more than I could handle. We settled for ogling the fancy houses, regardless of what famous people might've lived in 'em!

We also made a detour to drive past George Reeves' residence. We found ourselves up some pretty steep roads. On a very busy, hilly street, it took B some nerves of steel to get this shot of the last home of TV's Man of Steel.

Because we had left Hollywood Boulevard before we'd seen much, we drove back there before the day was done. We went back to Grauman's to see a few more handprints and footprints, and we walked along the Walk of Fame a little more, too.

By the time we returned "home" to K&D's, we were exhausted. For supper, our host K grilled steaks for us on their outdoor fireplace, and D made some amazing spaghetti. After another delicious meal, we were zonked.

And that was Day 2!

Vacation recap, Day 1.

Friday, July 14

Our adventure began at the airport. R&K had never flown before, so they were interested to see what happens beyond the security checkpoint. We ate lunch at McDonalds and were on our way! The view from the plane entranced the kids, and we took a bunch of pictures of the landscape and clouds.




After landing, we took the shuttle to the rental car agency. We were lucky to have a relatively short wait, but B was stuck guarding all our stuff while I dealt with the guy at the counter.

We ended up traveling with 10 bags: four suitcases, four backpacks, my purse, and our cooler for R's factor. (After all my stressing over getting syringes through security, not a soul said a word about all of the needles in our carry-on.)

Our car wasn't ready, so they gave us a Saturn Vue, a compact SUV. It ended up being the perfect size for us and our 10 bags!

From there we just had to get our feet wet, so to speak, so we headed towards the Pacific. Our first stop: the Santa Monica Pier. It was GORGEOUS!

The temperature in the upper-70s combined with the cold water of the Pacific let us know that we weren't in Texas anymore. We spent a little time walking along the famous pier:

At one end of the pier is an amusement park. Elsewhere, lots of vendors sell T-shirts, trinkets and miscellaneous art, but we were there mostly for the view.

The water was WAY too cold for me and B, but R&K just had to catch a wave (or two or 100).

From the beach we headed down Wilshire toward our hosts' house. The drive alone was amazing! We saw Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and more luxury cars than we could count. I also got my first real taste of LA traffic. Good grief, those are some narrow lanes! And everybody keeps "beeping" (K's word for honking)!

After our scenic drive, we ended up at K&D's beautiful house, deluxe accommodations to be sure.

Even though they'd been at work all day, K&D were making pizza for us when we arrived. If you know K&D, you know they weren't just slapping some tomato sauce and pepperoni on the crust. We're talking gourmet pizza with the freshest ingredients, served alongside a tasty salad. We ate dinner in their backyard gazebo. The air was cool, and the aromas from their rosebushes and lemon trees were delightful.

B&I had our own suite, and R was set up in the den next to K&D's bedroom. Our K opted for a room downstairs, removed from the rest of us but all her own. (It was the same room where I stayed for the Rose Bowl in January!) Of course, before we went to bed, the kids had to explore the house, and they were impressed with the "secret" wine cellar (hidden behind artwork) and all of the animal paintings and sculptures around the house.

So that's Day 1. We were so thankful to have arrived safely, and we were excited that our journey had just begun.

California, here we are!

We made it! We arrived in LA Friday afternoon and have already had a fantastic vacation. Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood Boulevard, Chinese Theater, Forrest J. Ackerman's house, the Brady Bunch house, the cemetery where Marilyn Monroe and many other celebrities are buried, Griffith Park (with its view of the Hollywood sign), Universal Studios... Just incredible. And even more amazing: our hosts. They are the ultimate host and hostess, feeding us so very well and just generally taking care of us in every way imaginable.

We'll post a few pix once we return, so stay tuned!

California, here we come...

...or "See What a Dork I Am."

I LOVE planning for trips, and our big vacation (starting Friday) is no exception! Here's my portfolio of Cali-Fun:

















For weeks I've been scouring the internet, looking up destinations, comparing prices, searching for discounts, printing maps. Because I am such a geek, I enjoy all this prep work almost as much as the trip itself! When we get there, I like to have all this info on hand so we can pick and choose our activities without too much stress. And no, I don't for a second think we'll do all of the stuff in my folder. But it's nice to have options!

We'll be gone for nine days and will see L.A., Disneyland and San Diego. B will spend much of his SD time at the San Diego Comic-Con, the ultimate convention of its sort. We can't remember the last time we were away from home for so long, and it'll be the first flight for R&K.

I'm looking forward to seeing some friends in LA who will be our hosts. R, our future film director, is excited about seeing Hollywood, Universal Studios and the Warner Bros. lot. Both R&K are REALLY excited about going to Disneyland! Last night we watched an old Sing-Along Songs video of "Disneyland Fun," and even though it's a little outdated, just seeing a little of the place helped pump us up--as if we needed any help. And B is looking forward to hanging out in person with some of his fellow comics reviewers.

Wheeeee!!!!

Happy birthday, USA!

The rain made us reconsider our original plans to go to Bedford's 4thfest, but at the last minute, we headed to the old Traders Village area to see the fireworks at the old Birdville Stadium. Pretty good show, plenty of parking, and nice breezes to keep us cool. Not bad!

It's been six months and I'm still grinning!

Be amused.

On a lighter note...

As I drove towards Oklahoma City, I noticed a number of billboards with similar sayings on them: "Be --something--." I never could figure out who sponsors the signs, but they're probably tourism-related to get folks fired up about Oklahoma destinations. "Be spellbound." "Be fascinated." "Be amazed." Then there was this one sign just south of Norman, Oklahoma: "Be alive." Now that wouldn't be so bad, but as my eyes left that sign, they immediately fell on this, just across the interstate.

I know it's hard to tell from this picture (taken from a minivan in motion), but this is a cemetery that's within a hundred feet of the "Be alive" sign. Hmmm...

OKC is OK.

This week R spent five days at Camp Impact on the Oklahoma Christian University campus in Edmond. Because the camp director wanted a parent to oversee R's factor infusions, K and I spent a few days in Oklahoma, too. R left the church building right after second service Sunday, and K and I hit 35 Monday right after lunch. Our first stop was at the camp to deliver a friend's left-behind backpack. It was strange to see all these kids from church out of their usual environment, but it was so good to see R and his buddies having a good time.

After that, K and I checked into our hotel in Oklahoma City and then went to Cracker Barrel for supper. K enjoyed the IQ tester at our table...

as well as the giant lollipop she bought from the Cracker Barrel store.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel and swam in the indoor pool (TOO COLD!) and soaked in the hot tub (JUST RIGHT!).

Tuesday morning we woke up early to head back to Edmond for the factor infusion. Of course, R's an infusing pro so that was easy. After we walked R from the nursing station back to the dining hall to join his fellow campers, K and I had the rest of the day free to sightsee.

Our first stop was the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It was remarkably moving. It was so moving that I'm going to give that part of our trip its own entry later. Just WOW.

After that we found a mall with a Build-a-Bear Workshop in it. K has had a giftcard and I've had discount cards for that place since her birthday party at our Fort Worth BABW last October, so I figured this "just the girls" trip was the perfect time to redeem them. So may I introduce Dirk Noweisski (my creation) and Kesey (K's):

After a quick pit stop at our hotel, we again hit the streets of OKC, this time to see Bricktown. Bricktown is the old warehouse district that's been renovated to include a bunch of restaurants and the big draw, a canal a la the San Antonio Riverwalk. Of course, we had to ride a canal boat!

Our boat captain told about the history of Bricktown and about the sales tax OKC citizens had voted on to pay for improvements all over the city. He also pointed out the corporate headquarters of probably the best Cherry Diet Coke and Cheddar Pepper provider in the world:

The Sonic building is right there along the canal. Before the day was up, K and I ate supper at the nearby Sonic cafe--one of the indoor Sonics where customers order from their booths by picking up a phone. Fun stuff!

Farther along the canal we saw the first of what will eventually be several statues to depict the great Oklahoma land rush.

The statues were impressive and all, but I couldn't stop thinking about how the sooners got their name. They were basically land thieves! They started staking their claims sooner than they were supposed to! Gotta love that.

Along the canal are several restaurants, including Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill, a movie theatre, and Bass Pro Shops. The area is also home to the Bricktown Ballpark where the Oklahoma Redhawks play.

The Redhawks are a triple-A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Rangers. K was up for a game, so we headed to the ticket booth. Turns out Tuesdays are two-fer days at the park, and with a Coke can, we could get two-for-one admission. A quick trip to a convenience store and 75 cents later, we had our Coke can and could buy two prime seats for $11. Not bad! We ended up being between home plate and the home dugout to watch the Redhawks take on the Round Rock Express.

The free thundersticks they were giving out helped K get in the mood:

The two-for-one soft drinks were a nice surprise, too. Four bucks got us two big drinks in the souvenir cups. What a deal! We both got into the game and were--believe it or not--disappointed when Oklahoma lost 2-1. (That may be the ONLY time you'll ever hear me say that!) I've always heard that minor league clubs try to generate excitement at their games, and now I know it's true! Every half-inning had some kind of crazy race or silly stunt. It made for a great evening, even if we were surrounded by a jillion fans in OU T-shirts and hats.

After the game, K wanted one more boat ride, so we hit the canal for a third time. The captain of our second cruise had suggested we take advantage of our all-day wristbands and come back after dark, and we were glad we did!

The lights were pretty, and we got to hear what a third captain had to say about the canal and OKC. By the time our ride was finished, it was getting late. We quickly drove past the memorial again just to see the chairs lit up, but then it was time for bed.

Wednesday morning at camp was a repeat of Tuesday, but this time, we had to say goodbye to R. Of course, knowing we'd see him back home the next afternoon made for a pretty easy farewell! Anyway, we did factor again, and again, he did a great job. (Notice K's "delight" at this part of our trip!)

After the infusion, K and I loaded up and headed home. We ate lunch in Ardmore at Mazzio's Pizza, which brought back memories of many a Friday night in Tyler after the high school football games. We were thrilled to get home before 2 that afternoon to see B/Daddy and give him a great big hug!

I have to admit that I was surprised by all the fun things we found to do in OKC. That OU paperclip symbol sure seemed to be everywhere, and one radio station played Boomer Sooner for no apparent reason. But beyond that, OKC has plenty to offer! We had several other places we would've loved to visit if we'd just had a little more time.

The next day R was home, too, so we celebrated the reunion of our Fantastic Four!

Remembering Baylee.

On Tuesday, Katie and I headed to downtown OKC to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial. Ever since the memorial was dedicated, I've wanted to see it for myself. Katie didn't know much about the bombing, but I'll never forget that day in April 1995 when 168 people died.

The memorial is stunning. When we first walked onto the grounds, we couldn't miss the "Gates of Time," two large structures with 9:01 and 9:03 on them. The flowing water between the two times represents 9:02, the minute the bomb went off. To one side of the pool is the field of chairs, each representing a victim. On a grassy area that's the footprint of the original building, the 168 chairs in nine rows represent the nine floors of the Murrah building. On the other side of the water is the Survivor Tree, an elm that survived the blast despite being in a parking lot directly across from the explosion. Its outline is now part of the memorial's logo.

Katie and I walked up to the Survivor Tree, which overlooks all of those empty chairs. The tears just came. I tried to explain to Katie how her Daddy and I had been married a little less than a year when the bombing had occurred, how we watched the news coverage in our first home, our apartment in North Richland Hills. I told her how sad everyone was that this terrorism could happen here on American soil and so very close to home. Of course, the enormity of 9/11 seems to overshadow Oklahoma City now, but the '95 bombing really woke me up to the hatred that's out there. Katie was really trying to grasp why this was such a big deal, so I told her how each of the empty chairs represents lots of people--friends, family, coworkers--who have empty places in their lives now because of that day's events.


I explained why some of the chairs are smaller, how the daycare center that had been on the second floor was buried beneath floors 3-9, how the murder of these babies and toddlers had underscored the depravity of those who did this.

And then I told her about Baylee.

Everybody remembers Baylee. She was one year and one day old on April 19, 1995. That day, as a firefighter gently cradled her lifeless body, a photographer captured an image that would symbolize the bombing. That's the photo that everyone who remembers that day can recall, a photo that led Baylee's mom and the firefighter to sue to halt its publication. That iconic image isn't the one that had the biggest effect on me, though. Soon after the bombing, the newspaper ran photos of all the victims. Among the men and women, boys and girls, there was this picture of Baylee, in her little Minnie Mouse overalls and pink headband, smiling for all the world. That's the picture that shook me to my core the second I saw it. I can still remember shaking, crying, taking the paper to Brett in another room of the apartment. Sweet Baylee!

After walking around the outdoor memorial, Katie and I toured the museum nearby. The museum does an exceptional job of telling the story of that day and the days that have followed. It shows what life was like on that April morning before the bomb exploded at 9:02. Lost watches, briefcases, coffee mugs and shoes pulled from the rubble were on display. Survivor stories--written ones accessed through a computer and filmed ones playing on large screens--helped us feel the chaos that followed the moment when their workplace crumbled under the feet and over their heads. One section had information and artifacts from the investigation that ended with McVeigh's execution (including the axle housing from the Ryder truck). Another section honors all the rescuers and other people who helped OKC heal after the bombing. And then there was the room with the funeral music.

In that room are 168 plastic boxes, each with a photo of a victim, most with personal items the victims' families chose to represent their lost loved ones. There were family photos, Bibles, lipstick, awards. And in one box, there was a Baby Miss Piggy toy. That was Baylee's box.

And she was just one of NINETEEN children who died that day. Baylee's chair is just one of 19 empty little chairs on a grassy field in downtown Oklahoma City.