Tag: travel

Dolly Parton @ The “Dollywood” Bowl!

This past weekend Rickie and I headed to West Hollywood to visit his friend JD and to see Dolly Parton at the Hollywood Bowl.  OMG.  OMG.  OMG!!!  It was amazing.  Dolly is amazing.  The concert was one of the best that I’ve ever attended.  She took the stage at 8:30 and we didn’t get out of the venue until 11:30.  She sang for almost 3 hours straight!  If you get a chance to see her show while she’s on the Better Day tour, I would highly recommend that you do.  She is an amazing performer and and it would be well worth your time and money.

Also, on this trip, I was reminded why I don’t live in the LA metro area.  Traffic was insane, there are too many people and it’s insane how long it will take you to get anywhere.  Ugh.  I don’t know how anyone does it.  Oh yeah, and everything is hella expensive there too.  Boo all around.

Pictures will be posted soon at Google+ and maybe Facebook.  I’m trying to ween myself off Facebook and force friends to Google+ so maybe I will just post in one place.

If you haven’t already, feel free to add me to one of your circles on Google+.  :)

Travel

So, Rickie and I have a few trips upcoming that I’m really looking forward to!  In two weeks we head to Bisbee, AZ for Bisbee Pride.  It’s a good time, I swear!  Followed the next weekend by a return trip to Vegas with Erin for the SRHM conference.  We’re hitting up the pool at the Cosmopolitan while she goes to class and the pool party on Sunday at the Luxor.  Just what the Dr. ordered… pool and sun in Vegas.  Should be great. In July we’re going to L.A. to see Dolly at the Hollywood Bowl.  It’s her first time performing at that venue and I can only imagine how epic it will be.  :)  In August we find ourselves in Santa Barbara for my cousin Samantha’s wedding at the zoo.  Should be some great cousin time that weekend.

So yeah, we’re kind of busy but since I’m low on vacation time at work we can’t really go or do anything fantastic until after November.  I’m already thinking about what to do in 2012!  Any suggestions?  Anyone want a visit?

Austin

Over Memorial Day weekend Rickie and I traveled to Austin, TX to visit his brother Stephen. It was going to be a reunion of sorts as Rickie hadn’t seen his brother in about 5 years. The only thing I was nervous about going in was a fight between brothers that would turn the whole weekend awkward. Luckily, that didn’t occur and we had a wonderful time. It was nice not to have to plan anything on a vacation and just go with the flow. Rickie’s brother is really cool and I think he enjoyed our visit as much as we did. I think he definitely needed the distraction at the moment.

You know the saying that everything is bigger in Texas? Well, it must apply to gay bars as well. The two that we visited were crazy big. On Friday we attended a party at the Iron Bear bar which, as the name suggests, normally is a place where the bears hang out. On this night, however, there was a good mix of all types of people since there was a special event going on. The second bar we visited, on Saturday, was Rain. This was a pretty amazing bar as well. Maybe Phoenix just doesn’t know how to do gay bars? Or, maybe since they are new to me they just looked better? In comparison, our bars are ratty and could use some updating (except for maybe Bar1 and Amsterdam). Granted, I haven’t visited all the gay bars in Phoenix (maybe that should be a goal?) but so far, they are not as polished as the few in Austin were. Of course, I didn’t visit all the bars in Austin either and maybe we just got lucky with these two? I’m sure they have their fair share of tragic bars.

Anyway, we had an amazing vacation. We got super tan at the lake and on the river (yay for summer!). It was great to finally meet someone in Rickie’s family besides his parents considering he’s met everyone in mine! I can’t wait for our return visit!

Worrier

Okay, so I’ve decided that I’m a worrier.  Not outwardly so, but I tend to internalize my bouts of worry.  I’m sure one day it will give me an ulcer.  What’s really dumb is that I worry about stuff that I can’t really control.  They are important things to me but not things that I can directly impact.  I’m going to try and stop doing this whole worry thing.  I’m not sure how successful I will be at it though.  I do worry about things that I do have control over… but I’m not sure that this is abnormal behavior.

Anyway, I’ve currently worried myself into having no apetite, so good times.  I wanted to write it down though so that maybe I can hold myself accountable.  We’ll see.

Other than that, I’m doing great.  Life is good.  Dogs are good.  Family is good.  Work is good.  Yay!  I can’t really complain (again, then why am I worrying about stuff??).

Hope everyone is doing well.  I leave on vacation in less than 4 days.  I can’t wait.  Alaska here I come!

St. Louis Update

Today’s humidity was insane. Insane.

No pictures to upload because I forgot my card reader at home and since Apple feels those are useless features to include on their MacBooks, I am stuck with no options. I will post a couple tomorrow as I don’t get back into PHX until late this evening.

Weekend in St. Louis

I’m spending the weekend in St. Louis. I will try and post some photos of my adventures before I come home on Sunday, but no promises!

Oh, and lucky me, the temps will be in the mid to upper 80s with 70% humidity. Ugh. I may die.

In Vancouver

I’m in Vancouver enjoying the Olympics.  I had a fiasco with my work blackberry and was cut off from data, but it appears that everything may be back to normal.  Let’s hope so and fingers crossed.  Anyway, if you follow me on twitter, you can get some updates when I’m at Hockey and the Medals Ceremony tomorrow evening.  I may even twitpic!  Anyway, having a great time and more photos will come but here’s one to tide you over until then.

The Trip Begins

Tomorrow I will be heading to the PNW to begin my Olympic adventure for 2010.  I can’t believe how quickly this date has arrived.  I’m super excited and can’t wait until Friday when we head to Vancouver.  Throughout my trip, I’m going to try and post a photo or two here for you to enjoy.  Of course, after I return I will have many pictures and maybe a few videos to share.  Vancouver 2010 is here!

The Countdown Begins – 15 Days

Today I realized that there are only 15 days until I leave for Seattle on my way to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  I’m so FREAKING excited, I can’t stand it!  This will be my third Winter Games and will most likely be the best ever.  This time I’m going with a larger group of people that consists mainly of family but also includes my friend Rachel who went with me to Torino in 2006.

We’ll be spending 2 days in Seattle before heading up to Vancouver.  My sister and her husband are coming along and they love Seattle so it will be fun to spend time with them there.  I also hope to meet up with a former college friend who now lives there.  We’ll see.  This will be twice in less than 6 months that I’ll be in the PNW… maybe I should just move up there? ;)

We’re set to see Men’s Ice Hockey, Short Track Speed Skating and Curling (which rocks, btw).  It should be some good times.  We’ve got ourselves setup with a nice Canadian family that lives right outside of Vancouver but is next to a SkyTrain station for easy access downtown.  So, the adventure is set to begin very soon.

The games begin 2/12/10 – will you be watching?

Vacation Weather

Last week I was traveling around the PNW. I was worried the week before the trip on how the weather would be up there as it seems the sun hates that region. As luck would have it, I took the heat of the desert with me. The entire week was beautiful. The sun was out and even the evening temperatures were mild.

Today, I took a look at my weather app and it appears the cool weather has come back with me. This weekend is going to be an awesome one in the Valley of the Sun! As you can see by the images below, the weather has gone back to normal up in the PNW.