4-12-09 Sunday (Wet Clothes)

Sometime this morning, my cousin Carissa texted me “Happy Easter”. If it wasn’t for her, we would have forgotten about it. We didn’t even have a special menu planned for dinner. That’s OK, when it’s just the 2 of us, holidays aren’t a big deal.

We had another great day of Death Valley sightseeing. Spectacular! What a beautiful country we have. Before exploring overseas, try seeing our own country. You’d be amazed. We’ve been impressed with Death Valley and believe it or not, it ranks very high on our favorite places list.

Within Death Valley, we visited "Scotty's Castle". We took a tour, it was interesting, the end. It has a fascinating history. It was a castle, nor Scotty's. Discuss.




Above: Cool stove. I took tons of photos but am a little burnt out on slideshows right now.


After the "castle" it was onto seeing a giant crater. Ubehebe Crater to exact.

A walk into Mosaic Canyon turned out to be real pretty. The canyon walls were lined with multi-colored rocks that appeared to be in concrete. It's all natural though. See the photos below. Also there were giant chunks of polished marble all over. Real nice!


The unfortunate thing is we didn’t plan enough time here to see everything Death Valley had to offer. We didn’t know it would be so grand of a place. Oh well. We saw the main attractions… we hope.

I washed some clothes this morning. I didn’t want to dry them while we were gone because of that noise. This evening, when I turned the dryer on it made the noise but then it got real loud. I turned off the unit, restarted it and the noise went away. When I checked the clothes later, I discovered that while the noise went away, the heat did too. Damn! They managed to get ¾ dry before it died.

4-11-09 Saturday (The Revolution)

We got up early! Without internet connection we were out of the RV by 9:30. Woo-hoo! We took Dasher and a picnic lunch with us expecting a long day. Death Valley is very misleading. I thought of it being vast desert waste lands but in fact it was very beautiful. I think I read it only gets 2 inches of rainfall a year, but it’s still surprisingly beautiful. Mountains all over the place! The variation of colors and textures on these mountains made me feel like I was in all different places. Maybe like the mountains came from different parts of the country. You’ll see what I mean in the video. Oh! And the wildflowers in Death Valley! All over the place. How does that happen? Some day I'll research on it.



I switched on the A/C for a few minutes before bedtime. The A/C control unit made some strange noises, like sizzling noises and the front A/C unit didn’t get a steady flow of power. For safety, I decided not to run both units. In case it’s a park power issue, we’ll try it out again at another campground.

As if A/C problems aren’t enough, the washer/dryer unit started making a loud noise during dry cycle. It’s an appliance revolt!

Above: Slideshow.

Above: Drive through Titus Canyon.

Above: 360 view from a view point

4-10-09 Friday (Abundant Ghost Towns)

This morning we woke up fairly early and walked (yes, Alix, walked) to the ghost town. Checkout at the campground wasn’t until 1pm and there was 1 more attraction we wanted to see. Within the ghost town is a mystery house of sorts. A guided tour into someone’s alleged home where everything is slanted. I don’t buy it for a minute and guess they’re being funny. Either way it was fun. Walking in it was quite a challenge.

After the ghost town, we disconnected from the park and off we went. Heading north from Calico was interesting. We spotted an abandoned RV park, an abandoned water park, a preacher in the road’s median giving a sermon to some followers, empty gas stations, empty restaurants, and signs for restaurants without any visible buildings. It looks like several towns died over the years. It was all kind of strange.

We arrived at the RV park just a little north of Death Valley. It’s just into the Nevada state line at Longstreet hotel/casino/RV park. It’s pretty empty here. All of the RV parks closer to Death Valley were filled. Maybe Spring Break? There’s only about 5 other RV’s here in the lot. We were looking forward to taking advantage of the pool and hot tub. Alas, it’s closed because of a sand storm and needs to be cleaned. My guess is that won’t happen in our lifetime…. Or at least stay.

After we set up, the winds severely picked up. Like scary. Anyway, we walked to the casino. Pretty much a dive but we blew some money up there before returning to the RV for dinner. Internet service out here is spotty and virtually nonexistent. I’ve moved the phone card around within the coach and I don’t think it’s gonna work very well.

We watched a few TIVO recordings, then Moulin Rouge on Netflix then bed.


Below are videos. 2 from inside the fun house and the last video has all of the days pictures.

4-9-09 Thursday (Peek-A-Boo)

It's a Thursday just like Thanksgiving, only there's no surge of turkey sales, no turkey decorations, no Black Friday sales, no official holiday... OK, I guess they're not like one another much at all.

This morning, I updated our itinerary calendar. I'm not sure if anyone looks at it, but I apologize for slacking on it. I just plain forget about it. The link for it is on the left side bar. Go on, you know you wanna click on it...... No one's watching.

It's 63 degrees as of noon and we don't have that awful wind. I walked Dasher and was chilled in the shade, of course he loved it. Jim decided to take a nap. We don't have anything planned for today. We walked the ghost town yesterday and we leave tomorrow. I know... we have such a rough life.

Tomorrow's drive is about 5 hours or so to Death Valley. We're staying in Nevada as Death Valley RV resorts were booked up. I can't complain too much as we've been lucky we've been touring around off-seasons and not run into full RV parks. So tonight is our last night sleeping in California.

The day is almost gone and we've done nothing. What a surprise, huh? There wasn't really anything to do. I suppose we could have driven somewhere today.

We ended the day with a trip to Food4Less and then to Von's for some supplies. Thrilling.

4-8-09 Wednesday (Somewhere Over The Rainbow)

First off, some back tracking to last nights events. Actually 2 events.

ONE- I made a pitcher of my Crystal Lite Peach Tea, and it tasted icky. Bad water, bad. A few weeks ago, I bought a cheap electronic water tester. The water quality here shot off the chart to 999, the worst end of well water quality. Off to Walmart we went (for a second time yesterday) and bought 4 gallons of bottled water. Just for the hell of it, I tested bottled water at 117 which was on the best end of the filtered water scale.

TWO- Jim and I haven't been sleeping that well lately. New pillows? Mattress? During last night's Walmart visit, we purchased a memory foam 1.5" thick mattress topper and 2 new memory foam pillows. Memory foam is very dense and feels firm. We knew we might be resistant to the pillows. Surprisingly enough, we both slept a little better last night. Who would have thunk it? We haven't tried the mattress topper yet because for packaging purposes, it's been severely flattened. The package instructions say to wait 24 hours to allow it to regain it's shape. I put it on the bed this morning. After 3 hours, I'm tired of watching it. I don't see it move much. I should get a chair; my legs hurt.

OK, on with today's activities. Walking the dog today was not fun. Again with the wind and sand in my eyes! Argh! It is so damn windy. Hell no, our awnings are not out! Glad I could get that out. As I've mentioned, this RV park is on a county park. The ghost town which is full of stores and shops is right up the hill. We only went there to get some information about something Jim had heard about... Rainbow Basin. We got directions, spotted a BBQ restaurant and decided to have lunch there. We were impressed with what little we saw of Calico Ghost Town but knew we'd be back after Rainbow Basin. Excerpt from desertusa.com >> Northwest of Barstow, California, lies one of the most beautiful and mysterious locations in the Mojave Desert: Rainbow Basin. It’s a mishmash of shapes, colors and fantastic formations, a place where water and wind have worked magic, sculpting layers of sandstone and sediment to expose brilliantly colored formations. It changes moment by moment with the passing day, with shadows falling deep into canyons and cuts. Rainbow Basin is surrealistic, other-worldly, seemingly a land that couldn’t possibly exist on the same planet that holds forests, lakes and lush meadows. The Rainbow Basin was incredible. The colors of different rock layers were amazing. Just when we thought we had seen it all. The greens, the reds, oranges, browns, within the rocks were pretty awesome.

After Rainbow Basin we headed to Calico to take a short 8 minute train ride near the old mine shafts. What a neat village they have set up. A few things we did of interest:

We stopped off at the Leather Store, then went onto the bath house and eventually came upon a glory hole. All of this, in a ghost town! Sweet! You'll just have to watch my video.

4-7-09 Tuesday (The Other Windy City)

We've made it to Barstow. It was a long day. About 5 hours or so on the road. The mountainous views were stunning, as usual. We got into the campground at dusk so I saw very little in the daylight. We're staying at a Regional park that has an RV campground and also is part of a ghost town. It's all referred to as the Calico Ghost Town. We already saw some mine shaft openings on the way in, so I'll be excited to do some exploring tomorrow. Here's some excerpts from their website:

Calico was developed in 1881 during the largest silver strike in California. Calico boomed during 1881-1896; but the end came to the silver rush in 1896 and by 1904 Calico had become a ghost town. One-third of Calico's original structures still stand; the remaining buildings have been carefully reconstructed to capture the Old West spirit.

Anyways, the ride here was non-eventful, which many-a-time is a good thing. We did stop off at a Walmart for weekly groceries. Jim didn't enjoy the drive much today. It was very windy, with a lot of dirt and dust flying around. Yes, even the tumbleweeds were active today. A plus side is that we can say we've driven through the Mojave Desert. According to Wikipedia, we've been to it several times. Thanks to setting up the RV in the wind, we now have some of the desert in our nose and eyes. A free souvenir!

Time to get some sleep. Early to bed... early to, well, maybe just wake up at some point.

Above: I guess bimbo doesn't mean anything bad in Spanish?

4-6-09 Monday (How Much Further?)

Our last day at Yosemite was tiring. We decided to see the Giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove. The problem was that the road leading to it was closed. 2 miles (on a paved road) to the first Sequoia. Jim said "let's do it" and so started the hike. It was ALL uphill. Well, at least going back will be easier.

Once we made it to the first Sequoia, we found out a really giant one existed. And just 150 feet away from that was one to walk through. They both were only another mile away. The extra mile was hiking through the forest. Ugh.

We walked 6 miles roundtrip! Anyway, below is a short video of our journey today.

A couple of videos below:

Jim and I walk through the snow.

A video of the woodpecker Jim spotted.

Tomorrow, we're on the road to Barstow for 3 nights.

4-5-09 Sunday (REDRUM)

My morning started off hot and early. I got out of bed at 7:30 which is way too early for me. The heater is up to it's tricks, as usual. We had put an extra blanket on the bed to keep warm. Yesterday morning I was freezing. This morning I was too hot. Angrily I stormed out of the bedroom and saw the thermometer reading at 75 degrees! I'm not sure what the damn heat was set to. I may have slept through it if I hadn't also heard the ass clowns next door making noise. It sounded like they were leaving! When I got out of bed, only their truck was missing, not their trailer. Once they returned from breakfast, their daughters were back to talking loud and slamming doors. "Quiet time" in the park is up till 7am so I guess I can't really complain. Well, actually I can, it's my blog and I like to complain. So there.

I'm pleased to announce that at 10am I am officially showered and dressed. Jim? Not so much. I'm working on laundry in the meantime. He wasn't feeling well yesterday. I don't know what that has to do with today either.

We're going to Yosemite late this afternoon. We'll have a better chance of seeing animals at sunset when most become active. I hope to see that rainbow in the waterfall again. That was at about 4pm yesterday when I saw it. I'd like to get a few more photos. Perhaps they'll come out better.

We had looked at going to the Ahwahnee hotel/restaurant in Yosemite for Sunday brunch. Last night, Jim called to make reservations. Luckily he asked the price. $50 each. We canceled. Like who would pay $50 each for a meal? $260 for 2 maybe, but not $50 each. The nerve. Anyway, maybe we'll go visit. The 1980 version of The Shining based it's interior shots on that of the Ahwahnee Hotel interior. Maybe we'll stop by the hotel and get a few lobby shots. It's not important though.

Jim is back in bed again. He's not feeling well. He's got a tummy ache. I apologized, "Sorry, the bottle said it was suppose to be painless."

There's a creek behind the RV. We can see it from the front windows and the dinette. It's a much prettier spot than we had on February's visit. I took Dasher for a walk to where some mini falls of sort crashes onto rocks and into this creek. It's a pretty view. The sites closest to that area don't have full hookups. Dasher enjoyed the creek-side walk and of course in the shallow waters, managed to find a bone. Not knowing what kind of bone it was, I wrestled it from him and threw it into the creek from whence it came. Dasher doesn't like water so he didn't dive in after it. He just went looking for another one from the Magical Creek of Bone Splendor.



We've enjoyed California a lot. I guess being jam packed with major popular cities makes it more fun. During one of the Hollywood tours we went on, the guide said that area was popular for movie making because of the different climates and terrains. Where else can you have ocean, dessert sands, snow capped mountains, etc? I am looking forward to Arizona as well as Texas.

We're back from our late afternoon Yosemite visit. We saw a coyote fairly close up (too dark for a photo) and tons of deer. Alas, still no bears. I also missed rainbow time at the falls.

We got to the Ahwahnee Hotel. It really wasn't anything spectacular. I think I expected more since it seems to be popular. The "backyard" was really pretty so we decided to have an appetizer and a drink as the sunset. We had "crab & artichoke dip with garlic crostini" for $15. Not too bad. We ordered 2 amaretto sours but didn't know the price of them. They were .25 more than Spago. $10.25 each! A $40 pitstop. Ick. Next time we'll have soda or we'll inquire as to the beverage prices.

Above: Awesome view to look at while snacking.

Above: Our appetizer (snack).

It was too dark for the deer to photograph well so here's a video below.

4-4-09 Saturday (Colors of the Rainbow)

When did manners go out of style? Apparently, our site is between 2 sites of traveling friends. They couldn't be put next to each other because of how the hookups are laid out. These people are here for their daughter's basketball game. Lucky us. The one's to our door sides are the problem for us. There's 2 picnic benches between us. 1 for them, 1 for us. They have both lined up. We never use them but I think we should have been asked. This morning, they made breakfast outdoors and served to about 10 people. These people were sitting in chairs and hanging out 1/2 foot away from our RV. When I left the RV to walk the dog, I had to stop into the middle of their chair circle to get out. Yep, they had chairs flanking each side of our steps. I felt all intruded on. Rude. Very rude. They apologized jokingly placing blame on the "coach". I said "that's OK". Why did I say it's OK? It's not OK. Geez, we didn't even take the chairs out of the Jeep yet or place down the patio mat.


Jim went up to the office. The person who put us between the 2 sites didn't know they were traveling together. Luckily these people leave tomorrow. They fail at campground etiquette. They're just all up in our way...


Luckily, we were able to avoid the ass clowns for the day. We went to Yosemite. Spectacular. Some of it was covered in snow. Some of it was closed because of the snow. The temperature was at about 50-60 degrees. Not too cold. We enjoyed viewing several of the many waterfalls.


On the way out of Yosemite, we spotted a waterfall we had seen on the way in. This time, it had a rainbow throughout. It was so pretty. I took several photos, but I don't think a camera can capture it the way we saw it. Remember, in blog entries you can right click on photos and choose to open it in a new window. This will show you a much larger view.

For the video, one you click on play, then click on "HQ" to watch in High Quality.

4-3-09 Friday (Give It Another Shot)

If you'll remember, when we arrived to the campground last night, it was dark. We heard the water but couldn't see it. This morning we awoke to an awesome view of the ocean from our front window. Look below.

Of course, while walking the dog it was time to take a closer look. Look below.

Jim looks happy. See below.

 
After our departure, we cruised along the same route as last night. We had to backtrack about an hour's worth. It was so worth it. Location, location, location. I enjoyed looking at the same sights all over again. We stopped at a Walmart. We ate lunch at a Jack In The Box. It's a damn good thing we don't go to this place often. They have awesome stuff and quite a variety. I had a chicken sandwich. I won't tell you if it was grilled or fried. Moving right along, we then went into the Walmart and did our weekly grocery shopping. I love having our house in the parking lot. Very convenient.

Another 3-4 hours later, we're now in Oakhurst to see Yosemite. We're at the same campground as 2-12-09. Once again, if you'll dig into your memory, this is the place we were at when I got the "come home" request. The next day it snowed hard, but a few hours later we were able to get out of here and drive 8 plus hours to San Diego. Click here if you don't remember.

4-2-09 Thursday (Happy Halloween)

What an interesting day it turned out to be. Today was to be Santa Barbara day. We got up early and even got moving early! Amazing, I know. We kinda blew by Santa Barbara on the way to San Luis Obispo. Not intentionally, we just miscalculated the distance between the two. Our weather was cold and cloudy. We pulled up the weather in Santa Barbara and found out that it was crappy there too. We were going to take an open aired trolley tour. Oh well. We decided to head 4 hours away, with RV and all to see the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. We gave up the common beach scenery and shopping (Santa Barbara) to experience the oddity that is the Winchester House. Here's the gist of it:

In 1884, a wealthy widow named Sarah L. Winchester began a construction project of such magnitude that it was to occupy the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death thirty-eight years later. The Victorian mansion, designed and built by the Winchester Rifle heiress, is filled with so many unexplained oddities, that it has come to be known as the Winchester Mystery House.

Sarah Winchester built a home that is an architectural marvel. Unlike most homes of its era, this 160-room Victorian mansion had modern heating and sewer systems, gas lights that operated by pressing a button, three working elevators, and 47 fireplaces. From rambling roofs and exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors to the gold and silver chandeliers and Tiffany art glass windows, you will be impressed by the staggering amount of creativity, energy, and expense poured into each and every detail.

We did 2 tours. The regular tour as well as the "behind the scenes" tour. Click here for a quick amazing facts summary. This lady was into the number 13, and had her own seance room. This house is cool but borders creepy.

The ride to the campground after the Winchester tour was beautiful. We hugged the Pacific Coast most of the way, again seeing breathtaking views. Our last destination of the day, the city of Pescadero, to Costanoa Coastal Lodge and Camp. We were just able to see the final portion of the coast line as we arrived to the campground at sunset.

On a side note, as I was making this entry, I saw that Liz from Eternal Lizdom "dedicated" a blog entry to Jim and I. Go read it! Fun stuff.

4-1-09 Wednesday (Beer Budgets)

Perhaps I should have saved my opinions about this park until after a full night/day have elapsed. Even though we drove 6 miles off of a major highway, the road must have looped around in such a way that the 6 mile away highway is now only 1 mile away. With the windows closed on the RV, we can't hear it. There's more. Apparently there is a sports field very close by that attracts screaming children and very bright lights. Some event was going on until 10:30 or 11pm. So much for the peace and quiet. So much for the rustic wooded feeling. Hopefully that was just a Tuesday night thing. Maybe it was a celebration of our arrival and we never received the invite? I'm sure that's what it was.


If you're ever in this area, I'd highly recommend seeing Hearst Castle. A gorgeous place, and an interesting story. Click here to see the highlights of the tour we took. I would take a few minutes to click on the links within the tour descriptions to see some beautiful photos. They offer several tours, by the way. Most of them are $20 each. Hearst Castle is a state park. At one time, Mr. Hearst had a zoo on the property. Many famous people visited the castle as Mr. Hearst's guest. There's oodles of interesting information. This property is certainly grand.


On the way into San Luis Obispo, we spotted a drive in movie theater yesterday. Tonight Jim had suggested dinner and a movie. We went to Applebees and somehow or another, he and I ordered healthy meals (they had Weight Watcher points assigned). Amazing! Next was the Sunset drive in. $6 each for 2 movies! What a bargain. I've never been to a drive in before. I was happy to see that we didn't need a speaker to hang in our vehicle. We just had to tune the radio to a certain station. I liked that the spots were sloped upward at the front of the vehicle to enable a better view angle. We saw Monster Vs. Aliens (cute) first and then Race to Witch Mountain (the story line is tired).

3-31-09 Tuesday (Rants & Raves)

Today was relocation day. This morning we said goodbye to LA/Long Beach and hello to San Luis Obispo. On the way here, I came up with some rants. Imagine that!

Rant1: Motorcycles. I am amazed at how motorcyclists whiz between lanes. Especially in LA when cars are stuck in traffic, the motorcycles will create their own lanes. Hello, this is illegal. Not just illegal, but dangerous. Not just dangerous but scares the shit outta me when we're stuck in traffic, nothings moving and then a motorcycle passes within inches of me. Yes, inches. Crazy mothers....

Rant2: Merging. I have a new respect for truckers than before we started RVing. They have huge amounts of weight to haul and to STOP. It takes longer to stop a truck or an RV than a car. It also takes longer to accelerate. Why oh why, do people coming onto a freeway refuse to make the attempt to get to speed quickly and get out of a RV's way? We're doing 60, and these people are wusses about merging. Get to speed quickly people! We can't just pop over to another lane to let them in. We're tired of stomping on our RV's brakes because they wait to see if we'll be nice and usher them into a comfy merge spot.

Rant3: Rest stops: California must hate them. They must hate truckers too. There are hardly any around. It's not that bad for us anymore because we don't need to stop for a smoke break. Truckers are a necessity. You may hate trucks, but they transport crap. The crap we need. The crap we buy.

Rave1: The views, the scenic route, the water, the hills....... awesome. We took the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH to us Californians) as much as we could to get here and even drove through Malibu. Even 101 ran along the coastline. Just awesome.


Rave2: We're staying at the El Chorro Regional Park. I love county, city, state or national parks. Few of them have full hookups (water, electric, sewer) for RVers. I love that the sites aren't on top of one another and I love the typical foliage. Trails, climbs, etc. Beautiful.

Above: A few blocks away from the Long Beach RV park we were staying at. It appears to be just the top of a building.

Above: Driving scenery.

Above: Lunch stop scenery!

Above: Lunch stop / Dasher pee stop scenery.

Above: Dasher is tired after the 4 hour drive.

Above: Directly behind our campsite.

Above: Directly behind our campsite.



Above: Video of the Malibu scenery.

3-30-09 Monday (I'm a Pig - Cannibalism)

Today is our last full day here. I worked on yesterday's blog entry this morning. Jim has laid down for a nap. What's to do.... what's to do.

I just made an amazing salad. Lettuce, grilled chicken, southwestern corn, broccoli, tomato, fat free Mediterranean spiced feta cheese and topped with an Asian sesame dressing. All so very yummy. I ate Mexican like a pig the other night and then Spago last night. It's like I have make-up work to do.

Tonight I'm grilling porkchops, fresh steamed broccoli and brown rice. That should be healthy, right? Brown rice is so bland so I make it with beef bouillon. I season the pork with my favorite.... Adobo.

3-29-09 Sunday (Pigeons and Other Delights)

I dub thee Spago Day. Yes folks, tonight we dine at the famous Spago of Beverly Hills. First we drive to Encino to visit another reacquainted classmate through Facebook, Dawn. We chit-chatted with Dawn, husband Scott and toddler Riley. Well, Riley kinda mumbled here and there. Our Spago reservations were for 6:15 so off we went.

Despite LA traffic, somehow we arrive at Spago a little bit before 6, so we stroll up and down the street. Here's my overkill Spago review:

We got into the restaurant, gave our reservation info and was told they'd begin seating shortly. We decide to have a drink. Amaretto Sours for both of us. $10 each. A Michael Jackson tune is playing. How odd. The Maître d' picked up our drinks, brought them to the table and seated us.


A french guy comes by to offer us beverages. It was difficult to understand him. The server, Christian, comes over but never introduces herself. I later asked for her name.

The prices are outrageous and the descriptions are what I'd call cryptic-fanciful. I spot "five course tasting menu available" at the bottom of the menu. $95.00 each. I ask about that, she says it changes daily. She had to find out what it was. Shouldn't she have known that at the beginning of her shift? Sheesh. Another Michael Jackson tune is playing. Maybe he's there? She named several items, one being "squab". What's squab? Pigeon ...... uh no thanks. OK so we ask for a definition of some of the menu items. Another item was "skate". Skate is stingray fin. Hmmmm, maybe I'll try that. There were some other strange dishes as well. Bread service was yummy even though the french guy served that and again we had a hard time understanding him.

Jim and I picked 3 appetizers, told her we'd like 2 out of the 3 and to surprise us. One of which was Veal Sweetbread. It was tasty but I later found out from our DEAR friend Mike that sweetbread is the pancreas or thymus gland. Ugh. For dinner, we gave our server a few items and she recommended Prime "Cote De Boeuf" grilled over charcoal for two with Swiss Chard, Armagnac-Green Peppercorn Sauce and Pommes Aligo, whatever all that meant. We'll just call that steak for ease. Another Michael Jackson tune..... The steak was cooked up and then brought to our table unsliced by a chef. We nodded in approval of this hunk o' meat with a large bone protruding. 2 chefs returned to the table with the steak sliced. Tableside they served it onto the plates, mixed up some cheese and mashed potato concoction and some healthy spinach. We eat, it's tasty. Jim isn't impressed. I saw that one coming.



Off to the bathroom I go.... a Prince tune plays..... Back to the table.....

In the dining room are quite some characters. Old Hollywood women who appear 994 but with plastic surgery appear youthful and fake at 991. Some other lady wore this horrific moo-moo dress with gigantic-enormous balls around her neck. Like giant pearls but more the size of gold balls. Hysterical. I share the humor with our down-to-earth server. She said we oughta see the scariness that is Hollywood on other nights. Another Prince tune plays overhead......

Time for desert. Basically we had decided on some one billion layer chocolate cake and a cookie tray. At our "first course" (appetizer) we ordered 2 items to share. Apparently this ain't no TGI Fridays so there's no extra plates to share. I didn't want to go through that eating off each other's plate crap for desert. I told Christian, I want the cake and the cookie thingy. We want to share it. I want half on Jim's plate and half on mine. She says, oh usually it's just brought out on separate plates but she'd see what she can do. She said the chef would have a lot of questions. Jim politely said, "they're an executive chef, tell them to figure it out." I loved that moment. AND they did it perfectly.


In summary, I thought Prince and Michael Jackson music was inappropriate for a restaurant of this caliber. You'll have to refer to our casino steak night (Black & Blue) to appreciate some of my comparison comments. No warm, wet towels to start with. No fancy butter. No relish tray. No ice made of iced tea. $200.00 + tip + the drinks from the bar. I really didn't feel it was worth it. I feel gypped. Jim and I agree that at least we can say we ate at Spago in Beverly Hills.

I won't classify it as a misadventure and it really wasn't bad. It just wasn't as good as we thought it should be.

Here's some other photos from our night out:

Above: The Jeep parked in front of Spago.

Above: A horrified looking horse statue.

Above/Below: Up the block from Spago, a ready made family awaited us.

Above: Rodeo Drive: The less the store has, the more it's gonna cost ya.

Above: Rodeo Drive Chanel had a commercial being filmed.

Above: Only $430 for these sunglasses. What a bargain.

Above: Jim was able to hold the pole up until the police arrived.

Above: This Rodeo Drive mannequin has huge pointy nipples.

Above: People, STOP with the huge sunglasses. Ewwww.