Trip to Bellingham: Day 1

This weekend Rachel and I went to Bellingham, WA. Rachel's brother just had a baby girl and we went up to meet her and go for her baby blessing. We left on Friday morning and had to get up at 4:30am which was something I was not looking forward, but I didn't fight it much when the time actually came. We left out of Long Beach and were on the same flight with her brother Mike and his family. We had planned our trip perfectly because after checking are bags, getting our board passes and going through all the security checkpoints they were in the middle of boarding our flight. We arrived in Seattle around 9:30 and Rachel's parents meet us at the airport. They had rented a van for all of us to share and we planned to spend the day in Seattle before going up to Bellingham which is about 2 hours north of Seattle. We had planned to meet up with Eric and his family (the brother we came to see) and spend the day at the zoo. It was a very cute zoo but the design of it was planned very poorly even the parking lots (plural) were strangely too small to accomodate a decent amout of cars. After we parked and met up with Eric at the entrance their was a slight panic as to where Brian, his oldest son was. We spent about 20 minutes trying to find him but Eric finally found found him. Somehow, he had ended up inside the park. After we had everyone we finally went inside.

Most of us were starving since we had been up since 4:30 and only had airplane food which for me was a sprite and bag of blue kettle chips. We looked at the penguins near the entrance and afterwards went to the food court area to eat. It was very packed at the zoo for a friday. The general consensus for the crowdedness was because it was the first sunny day in the area for a while. I had always heard that it was always dark and rainy in Seattle but I always thought it was just an exaggeration but apparently its the truth. Don't get me wrong its very beautiful but it was very cold and dreary during the majority of the trip.

I really liked that a lot of the animals at zoo were out and about. Usually when I go they're sleeping or in their little caves hiding from the crowds. The gorilla exhibit was especially cool. I didn't know gorillas climbed trees I always thought they stayed on the ground but these ones were up high in there tree/trapeze structure:

There was also this one that was just hanging out and eating right in front of everyone.

I didn't get any other pics of the animals except for this girafee which was cool. I've been having issues with my camera phone and a lot of the pics came out out of focus and blurry so I didn't get as many as I really wanted.

There was also a big carousel that the all kids went on which was cute to see them get all excited.

After the zoo we had some issues navigating to get to the freeway to get up to Bellingham. We eventually found our way thanks to modern technology aka our matching EVO smart phones. We rested for a little bit at our hotel and went out to dinner to Red Robin which everyone which was delicious after a long day.

Internationl Gabe Freedom Day 2011

From time to time, I will have days off from both work and school. These have been come to be known as Internationl Gabe Freedom Days and today was just such one day although it wasn't supposed to be. I was scheduled to work 9-6 which is my usual shift on a Monday. I got up like it was a normal day showered got ready and arrived to work on time. I went to the bathroom shortly after arriving and when I came out a slight commotion had begun. Apparently Carlos, the store manager, overscheduled too many workers and had two people coming in at 9 instead of just one. Inside I was very excited but I knew that knowing my luck I'd be the one told to stay and Paulo would be sent home. He quiskly said "I don't mind leaving I have things I need to do anyways". but who doesn't have things to do? The same situation had occured several weeks ago whe Paulo and I were scheduled for the same shift. He was sent home early then so I figured he'd surely get the lucky break again. But the gods were smiling on me today and I got elected to go home. I ran to get my homework and lunch bag and went to my car. Then the question came to my head "Now what I do with my day?"

The first thing I did was text my friend anthony. I been wanting to see him recently because I just don't have much time anymore with work and school taking up the bulk of my time. Unfortunately he didn't respond till later that night. We had been talking about recording some stuff together I figured today would have been a good day to do that. I texted a few other people but either my phone was not working or I pissed a lot of people off because I wasn't get any responses. I decided the first thing to do was get some breakfast. I went to Fantastic Cafe and got a choriz breakfast burrito which was delicious and came home.

The misses finally texted me back and said I should go to Walmart. We had gone shopping the night before and paid for several items that didn't make it home. I didn't have anything else to do so I went. I got inside and went over to the customer service area. There were a couple of people in line that seems to in line for the Western Union so I made my own line on the other side of the rope which turned out to be a big mistake. "There's only one line!!!" the worker yelled at me. SORRY.... I thought and walked to the line. The transaction went fine and went and got my products. I also need a new water jug because my other one fell out of the fridge and cracked on the floor earlier that day before leaving for work. I found an exact replica and went back home.

Still unsatisfied with my day I had epiphany when I went into the bathroom to put away the shampoo and shaving cream from the store. For a while I had been wanting to add some shelf space inside the medicine cabinet. The pegs that hold up the boards were still intact but the shelves themselves had been missing since we moved in. I decided I was gonna go to Home Depot and get some new shelves. So I jumped back into my car and headed out again.

At the Home Depot, I quickly found the wood pieces I needed. I was gonna need them cut so I went to find a worker. That was actually a lot harder than it sounds. I went up and down a few aisles and didn't see anyone. I then went up one aisle and saw a self-serve table with saws and tape measure but there was a guys cutting and measuring some side molding. The pieces I needed werent that huge so I figure I could just so it myself after the guy was done using the station. When he was finished I approached the bench and began to saw the piece. It was much more difficult than I had anticipated. I could not get the piece to lay flat and the saw was not working well for me. I decided to give that up and resume my search for a worker. Finally, a man in an orange apron walked toward. I asked him if I could get some wood cut to which he responded "Yea! Eventually...." Another rude worker in customer service?!?! Impossible. I brushed it off and he helped me cut my wood. When I got home the pieces fit perfectly and I organized my section of the medicine cabinet and was pleased with the results.



After my handyman phase I had ran out of weird impulsive things to do. I played my guitar for a bit, did some chores and then watched the Hurt Locker on Netflix which I really enjoyed. Before I knew it was already 6 and I started making dinner and Rachel came home. It wasn't the most exciting day but it was nice to get a day off from work and school and just relax and have fun.

I also wanted to share this amazing picture I found online. I think it's pretty self explanatory but I couldn't resist posting it. It just about the coolest thing I think I've ever seen. Enjoy!

Sandy Eggo - Part IV - The Final Day: San Diego Safari Park

On our final day in San Diego, we went to the San Diego Safari Park. Before we headed out to the park we wanted to get breakfast. Rachel's sister had told us about this place called Hash House A-Go-Go, a restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. We decided to go check it out. It wasn't too far from the hotel but when we got there there was a huge line that was out the front door and around the building. We both agreed that we didn't wanna have to wait to go eat, so I suggested we just get on the road and get something on the way there.

We decided to take the Hotel Circle exit and figured there had to be places off the exit to eat since it was near a bunch of hotels. Much to our dismay the only restaurant we found was a steak house which wasn't something we really in the mood for. By this time, we were starting to get a little irritable. When we get hungry and can't agree on a place to eat we tend to get into arguments, this was no exception. After some words were exchanged, we got back on to the freeway and finally decided to just go back to the Denny's by our hotel since we were still relatively close we knew where it was. After breakfast and getting the same exact thing we did the first day, we finally headed toward the Park. On the way off one of the freeway exits, we saw a Denny's that would have been a more practical to stop at since it was closer to the park and was on the way which we thought was pretty funny. When we finally exited the freeway and were about a mile or two from the park we saw something even funnier than that. There were a lot of ostrich farms along the way and in one of the last ostrich pens along the way there were some birds about to get freaky. My weird perverted instinct couldn't resist the temptation and I had to pull over to get a better look. The male spread his wings and started running in place as he tried to mount the female. It looked so funny but unfortunately we weren't able to get a camera out in time. We were busting up though...he was so excited!!! (Sorry no pics)

We finally made it to the Park and the first exhibit we saw had all these pretty and exotic birds. These ones were really unique and pretty :

Pretty Birds

After that our main priority was getting to the main attraction: the tram ride. I was kind of confused because it didn't seem like they had many attractions. Just a bunch of restaurants spread out, little pond areas with birds and just a bunch of signs pointy to the supposed tram ride. We walked for what seemed like almost an hour to get to the main attraction part of the Park. There was a pretty cool lookout point with elevators that led down to the entrance to the tram ride. This big ugly creature got in the way as I tried to get a shot:

Viewpoint overlooking the Park

We got in the elevator and the first thing we saw a lion exhibit. Like many zoo exhibits, the animals were sleeping. It was still cool to see the lion so close to where we were.

Simba sleeping on his car

We continued on the path and arrived at the entrance to the tram ride. It was very packed and we had to wait in the line for about an hour which was okay. There were a lot of interesting people in the line including a moment when a mom lost her child and the kid came running back to kinda where we were. At first she didn't notice anything and the people around us were all concerned and wondering who this kid was. Then his mom finally called for her and from the looks of it she looked like she had 5 other children. It was weird. By the time we got to the front of the line we were kind of both kind of cranky and annoyed. We were kind of over the park and wanted to go home already. We went on the tram ride but left afterwards. Here's some of the shots we got on the tram:

Curious Cheetah



A "Rhyme" noceros



Random antelopes or gazelle type creatures (Made up about 80% of the tour)



This guy was actually not at the park but was grazing in the grasslands that surround the park.



Giraffes eating the trees

After the Park, we went to Belmont Park to watch the sunset. We bumped into this older couple on vacation from Tennessee on the beach. They wanted us to take there picture because they weren't sure when they'd ever be out this way again or get to see the beach. Growing up in California my whole life it's weird to think that there's people in the world have never been to the beach. I wonder what that feels like because its something I've always known and taken for granted. Enough with my deep thoughts here are a couple shots from the beach:

Sunset in San Diego



Artsy shot Rachel took that I thought looked cool.

We came home to Anaheim the next day to come back to reality. It was a very nice trip and we had a lot of fun. It seemed like it went by really fast but that's how all vacations seem to me. Next month we go to Washington to see Rachel's brother's new baby girl. That should be fun because I never been to that state before. The only thing I'm sad about is that Rachel won't let me live out my weird fantasy of  going the fish market in Seattle and having a worker toss me a fish that I would catch with a newspaper.I'm determined to find a way to get that done. It's not like I want to take it home and keep it. .I just wanna catch it, have a video/photo taken of the event, and then put the fish back and go on with my day. Rachel is concerned that I'll just smell fishy all day because apparently she is unaware of the invention of the shower. I'll guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Sandy Eggo - Part III - Day 2: The San Diego Zoo

Welcome to the San Diego Zoo

Our adventure in San Diego continued on Saturday with a trip to the San Diego Zoo. We were to meet up with Rachel's parents at the zoo. We initially agreed to meet up at 10 but we all slept in and didn't up meeting up with them at the Zoo till 12. As soon as we got there the rain started up again like the day before. Rachel's mom arrived a little after we did. She came first because Rachel's dad had some to some stuff at the AREMA convention which is why they were in San Diego. We headed for the reptile exhibit because it was indoors.  It was really cool. They had all kinds of snakes and lizard. The first thing we saw was this big lizard:



Big Lizard

 I don't remember the exact name of the lizard but it was really cool. I had never seen such a large lizard in my life before. It was a little surreal like seeing a dinosaur or something. After that we got a call that Johnny was entering the park and waited near the entrance for him to come in. As soon as we met up with him we decided it was time to get some lunch. I got some carne asada fries except there was very little "carne" in the fries but they were still good. After we ate we went to see the monkeys. The very first one we saw was in a very compromising position. I might have gotten in trouble for saying the d-word when I pointed at him. That was however topped by Rachel's dad when he said "That's a big boner he's got!"

Rafiki

Sorry no picture of the boner monkey.....

After that we saw the pandas. They were very strict about not making too much noise or disturbing the pandas. During the whole time, there was a zoo worker talking and giving information and facts about the bears which was quite loud becuase she was on a PA! Which I thought was funny.





After that we went to the Arctic area to see the polar bears. Apparently they had arctic foxes and other arctic animals but we didn't think to check behind the polar bear exhibit so we didn't see them. I did however see a polar bear that was pacing back and forth in the exhibit which looked like he was dancing and took this video of him:



  

After the dance party, we then headed to the Elephant exhibit. 

He looks like he's hiding...

This cardboard cutout was along the trail in Elephant Odyssey exhibit.



Dr. Rachel

It started to rain again shortly after we got into the exhibit which was pretty lame. Rachel's parents had decided they had enough of the rain and decided to leave. Rachel and I however were not ready to go. I still wanted to see the chimps, bonobos and gorillas. We had gone the wrong way through the monkey area when we first got there and missed seeing them.



Big Gorilla



The gorilla was really awesome he was very brave and came up right to the glass. Unfortunately, for some reason they didn't have any chimps or bonobos in the exhibit, they're enclosure was empty. I don't know where they went there was no sign or explanation as to where they were.

After we saw the gorillas we went to see the cats. We couldn't see the tiger really except for his tail which  hanging off a ledge in the upper part of his enclosure where he sleeping. They also had these other cats which were really cute. One of them seemed to really enjoy my company.





We were having an depth discussion about "paw"lotics.



After the zoo we went back to the hotel to rest for a little bit. My friend had told me about this place called Phil's BBQ which was supposedly really good and was right across the street from where we were staying. We tried going there but there was a huge line wrapped around the building like people were in line to get tickets to Metallica or something. We decided against going there and went to another place that is one of my favorite Mexican restaurant/takeout places, Sombreros.







Happy to be at Sombreros



After that we went to get an ice cream treat at Cold Stone and went to Mission Beach, another one of my favorite places in San Diego complete with a roller coaster practically right on the beach. We had a nice time just relaxing there and eating our ice cream. The wind was blowing really hard and it was very cold so we didn't end up staying there too long. We headed back to the hotel and called it a night after that. It had been a long day and went to be bed to prepare for our final day in San Diego.

Sandy Eggo - Part II - Day 1: Seaworld

This President's weekend, my girl and I went to San Diego. It was a very fun trip. For Christmas, I bought a 3-for-1 pass for us to go to Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park (formerly known as the Wild Animal Park) and we decided this was going to the weekend we were going to use it. We left on Thursday night after my last class around 10pm. We were both very anxious to leave and took off as soon as I got home. We were both very hungry because we hadn't ate dinner yet so we stopped in Carlsbad to get some In-N-Out. It's not my favorite place but its good once in a while especially on a road trip like on the way to Vegas and going to the one in Barstow.

When we arrived at the hotel, it seemed a little strange... like I had been there before. It wasn't until we walked into the lobby that I realized why this was. On our 1 year anniversary, we came down to go to San Diego for the weekend and we stayed at a Holiday Inn around the same area. Then we both realized the hotel now called "The Mission Plaza" was the same hotel from that trip several years ago. We then checked in, were given the keys to the room and told where the elevator was. Our room was on the 2nd floor and we had a heavy and large suitcase so we headed toward the elevator. Apparently the lady at the front desk didn't know that the elevator was out of order. It wasn't a big deal and we went up the stairs. When we got to the room it seemed nice enough but Rachel immediately saw a problem. We had booked a room with 2 queen size beds but were instead given a room with 2 double beds. We called the front desk and they said they'd move us into another room the following day.

Friday:

We woke up and decided to get some breakfast. There was a Denny's right down the street from our hotel and just down the road from Seaworld. As we approached the restaurant there was a maintenance truck blocking the turning lane to get into the parking lot. I figured I could just go to the end of the next block and turn around. As I drove ahead I noticed that there was a no U-turn sign and figured I guess I just could go the next block. To make a long story short I ended up getting lost and following some road that took us way out of the way and into an area I was not familiar with. We finally made it back and had some pancakes.

After that we headed to the park. The sun was shining and looked like it was going to be a good day. When we got to front gate we had some trouble getting in with our passes and had to wait in a special line to get new passes. We finally made it inside and were greeted by this guy:



The first thing we did was to make our way to the Shamu show.

 

Hi everybody!

What's Up!?!



Look at me go!!



Apparently I was cloned...



and we can all do tricks.





Then we saw the Sharks:

 

And then seemingly out of nowhere it began pouring like crazy. We rushed inside into one of the indoor exhibits and found ourselves in the aquarium:

 

What are you looking at?

Pretty Colors



The sea turtle



When we got out the rain had let up and we went to see the Sea Lion and Otter show. It was fun except for some guy named "Biff" that they let onstage that was doing all this pantomiming and dancing before the show started.  



The Clyde and Seymore Show

After the show the rain started up again and was coming down pretty hard.  We made our way to the penguin and polar bear exhibit. (There was a better polar bear at the zoo so no pictures of that yet)

 

Penguins photographed in their natural habitat...



  

We also saw this guy in park during the day and couldn't resist a picture.



"Cow"abunga dude!



After we saw those exhibits we decided it was time to go. I was completely drenched by the time we got back to the car because I hadn't brought an umbrella because it was so sunny when we woke up. We went back to the hotel to change out of our wet clothes. I was sad though because we didn't get to see the dolphin show but it was still fun. We rested for a while and then went out to dinner at Olive Garden (which was lovely) and then went to Target because we forgot to bring toothpaste and had to get some other necessities (including an ice cream treat). Then we came back to the hotel and chilled out before going to bed.

Family Matters

Yesterday, February 14th, was a weird day. It started out fine enough but ended a little strangly. I hadn't really planned very well for the day and hadn't got anything for Rachel or made any kind of reservations for dinner. I know I shouldn't feel guilty just because it was Valentines Day but I didn't wanna come home empty handed. We were all talking at work about what we were all doing for Valentines and somehow it came up that I hadn't yet got anything. One of our biggest customers, Butch, was there during the conversation and said "You haven't gotten anything yet!?!" He then when on to tell us that he had taken his wife to a fancy dinner on Sunday night and ended up spending over $200 for just the two of them. I knew I wasn't going to be able to compete with that but I had to get something. Luckily Danny, my co-worker, had brought in a flyer for Edible Arrangements. I remember Rachel saying she didn't like them and thought they were weird but I knew I couldn't go wrong with a box of chocolate covered strawberries. After work I went to get some flowers and a card to complete the package. I know it wasn't much but she was grateful and enjoyed her gifts. For dinner we planned to go to Claimjumper but it was an hour wait so we decided to go to Supermex instead which had no wait. So that part of the day was very nice.

The bad part of my day started a little bit before I left work. Ryan, the assistant store manager, got mad at one of our drivers for taking too long on his delivery. He started to ask him questions as to why it took him so long and why he took a route that was seemingly impractical. I was a little confused as to why he was yelling at him and then he started yelling at me about it like it was my fault like it was my intention for the driver to take his time and be inefficient. There was no issue with me about how long it took and I didn't appreciate being accused of doing something wrong. I tried not to let it bother and went about my work. Then as soon as he left my mom texted me that she needed to talk to me about something. For some reason whenever my mom says that to me I always feel like I have done something wrong. She reassured me that I wasn't in trouble and to give her a call when I had the time.

Shortly after I got home I called my mom to see what was up. There has been a lot of drama going on in my family and she just wanted to bring me up to date. Apparently, my grandma who just moved to Missouri is in the hospital. She has had back problems for a few years with a cracked vertebrae and apparently it never fully healed. I had thought she had gotten better but it's hard to tell with her because of how she acts. She either secretive about everything, plays dumb or will say "that never happened" or " i never said that". I don't know why she's gotta be so strange like that for but I still love her. My mom also told me that my uncle Mike is being evicted who is on disability and doesn't know what he's going to do. My aunt who is also in poor health and was living with Mike is in need of a place to stay as well and was going to be staying with my mom for a few days. My other uncle, Richard has been at odds with the a lot of the family too and will not be in the same room with Mike. I don't know the whole story with that though but I just hate to see my family the way it is. It seems like every few months something new is happening or someone is moving away and my family keeps shrinking and shrinking. I hope everyone can reconcile their differences and get their lives back on track and we can stick together. I hope for the best for everyone.

Sandy Eggo

It's been a fun/interesting last week. Last Saturday I went to Disneyland with my wife Rachel and our neice Emily who is 2 and a half.  I met them there after work and we all had a lot of fun. Emily is so cute she loves to go on the train and monorail and she was very excited to go on Pirates of Carribean too. That was the first ride we went to when I got there. Rachel and Emily went on Small World and Carousel before I arrived. I also renewed my annual pass that my mother-in-law got me for my birthday. We live only about a mile away from the park so it makes sense to have one. Emily also made sure that we went on Dumbo which is another one of her favorite rides. We had to get Emily home by 9 so we didn't do much after that (I got there at like 7).

Sunday I didn't do much I didn't even watch the whole Superbowl. I saw parts of it here and there only to check in on the score to see if I won any money. I played $200 in a pool at work with the chance to win $1000 every quarter and $2000 for the 4th Quarter but I didn't win anything. Ryan, my co-worker, won the 2nd quarter and on Monday he bought everyone at work Buonos pizza which is like the best Pizza in San Pedro where I work and grew up. Yesterday at work Carlos, my manager bought pizza again for us which was cool to get free lunch twice in one week.

I'm excited for the week coming up. It's a shortened week for me only work on Monday and Friday and school on Tuesday and Thursday. Rachel and I are going to San Diego for the weekend. I bought us tickets for Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park for Xmas and were going to go to a different park each day (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). It also counts a Valentines/Anniversary gift. It will be 4 years we have been together on the 28th. Her parents might also join us on one of the day because they will be in town for the AREMA convention for work stuff.

San Diego is one of my top 3 favorite cities along with LA/OC County and Vegas. I would love to live down there one day but I don't think I'll ever be able to convince Rachel to do that. I have loved it since I was a kid when my Aunt and Uncle lived down there and we would visit. They moved away to Hawaii now so there isn't much reason to go down there anymore. My friends and I used to go down all the time and would go to Barona (to gamble) and the Whaley House in Old Town (to ghost hunt) and Sombreros (to eat) pretty often. One time me and Anthony got stranded down there because I got a flat tire on the freeway and I didn't have the lug nut lock key. I called my friend Shaun who was 100 miles away because I bought the car from him and asked if he had it. I remember him just laughing and laughing and saying "yeah! I'm holding in my hand right now" I was so pissed off about it but thought it was kind of funny too. To make matters even worse we were sitting on a bench near a strip mall waiting for our friends to pick us up. We ended up having to call some other friends to pick us up all the way from LA to pick us up and take us home.Out of nowhere these punks threw eggs at us and drove away. I guess this was karma for my water balloon incident.   I came back down the next day with my mom and key to take care of it. Even through all the drama I still love to go to back and can't wait for this weekend.