Category Archives: Travel

marine life & the trip home

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We came home from Wilmington yesterday. But first, we went on a completely ridiculous detour to go to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. We saw that it was about 20 miles out of our way, but we didn’t know that we’d be going 30 mph on a local road most of that way. Argh.

As for the aquarium itself: well, to be fair, I’m a little spoiled. Once you’ve been to the aquariums in Monterey and New Orleans, it’s going to take a little more than a couple of sharks in a big see-through tank to impress you. And there are three aquariums in North Carolina, and we’ve only been to this one, so I can’t say that all of the aquariums here are bad. But, um… I was less than impressed. Dave and I agreed that on a scale of 1 to 10, we’d give it a 4 or 5. Still, we got some cute pictures.

digging the aquarium

I love that you can see her smiling face reflected in the glass

Catie & me at the aquarium

love this picture of the two of them

My main complaint is that there were a few things Catie was asking to see, and they didn’t have them: not a single dolphin, otter, or octopus in the entire place. Boo.

Really, the best part of the whole aquarium was the gift shop. Catie isn’t huge on stuffed animals, but she’s really into little plastic action figures. Like the Little People type things? The animals are her favorites. They have conversations with each other and act out entire storylines – most of the dialog is jibberish to us, but it obviously makes sense to her. So we got her a few of their very realistic-looking plastic animals: a sea turtle, an alligator, and an otter. (Seriously, NC Aquarium? You sell toy otters, octopi, dolphins – even freaking penguins – but none of those creatures are actually in your facility? WTF? Lame!)

Anyway, these are Catie’s new favorite creatures:
Catie's new BFFs

I don’t get it, because I think the turtle and the alligator are both a little scary-looking. But she adores them, and even insisted on bringing them to bed with her last night. Personally, I wouldn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night and see that alligator’s face staring at me in the dark, but maybe that’s just me.

After the aquarium, we stopped to gas up the car and grab some lunch, then headed home. Perfect timing, too, because Catie slept the whole way home. She woke up when we were about three miles away from our house. Lovely.

Catie-girl is happy to be back home

LOVE this pic

I think she was pretty happy to be back home. We were too.

not-so-beachy vacation

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Dave and I have decided we really love Wilmington, North Carolina. Our vacation so far has been great. Cocktails in the evening, naps during the day – basically an ideal vacation. Neither one of us can remember the last time we did this, so obviously it’s been way too long.

Of course, there is the small issue that we came to Wilmington to go to the beach, and Catie, um, well, pretty much hates the beach.

Catie & Dave

this face just about sums up her feelings on the beach

Really, I should’ve known. She hates all forms of dirt and messiness. This is a kid who eats a cookie and then immediately says “oh no! Mess!” and gives me her hands to wipe off. So why we thought she’d dig the sand? Um, yeah. Not our brightest move. The hotel pool, on the other hand, was a much bigger hit.

Catie in her pirate ship float

Tonight, we went to check out downtown Wilmington, which was a lot of fun. We had a fabulous dinner (actually, all of our meals here have been amazing; we’ve really lucked out). I didn’t really know anything about Wilmington before this trip, but it’s really a very cool town.

my 2 Wilkinsons on Wilkinson Alley

Tomorrow we head home; we’re going to try to swing by the aquarium first, to let Catie check out the fishies & burn off some energy so she’ll sleep on the way back.

Hope everyone else is having a nice holiday weekend!

sand in my toes

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Apparently Catie’s virus was just a 24-hour thing. She took 2 naps yesterday, and when she woke up from her second nap, her fever was down. She also started eating for the first time all day – just saltine crackers, I didn’t want her to have anything too harsh on her tummy. But today she woke up feeling great and pretty much ate her weight in fried eggs and toast for breakfast. So I think it’s safe to say that it’s all over. And thank God, because man, that sucked.

Since Catie is better, Dave and I decided that tomorrow, we’re going to pack up the car and head to the beach for the holiday weekend. We’re going to Wilmington, North Carolina, which is just a couple of hours from here. Honestly, we’ve lived in North Carolina for what, 9 months now? And we really haven’t checked out much of the state other than our own immediate surroundings, so we’re trying to correct that. I think a trip to the mountains might be in our near future too.

Of course, I’m not really a beach-type girl – I hate how sand gets everywhere, and I’m not a big fan of wearing a swimsuit in public. But I think Catie will love it, so I can sacrifice a little of my self-loathing about my thighs and suffer a little grit in my flip-flops in the interest of letting her experience this for the first time.

Well actually, this isn’t her first trip to the beach. But let’s hope that she likes it more than she did last time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4GgZLFJoo

(Yes, we put our 3 month-old’s toes in the ocean repeatedly because we thought it was funny that she went so completely ballistic about it. We are clearly the worst parents ever.)

(Also, nice muffin top there, Cindy. God. Note to self: buy longer shirts. And higher-waisted pants.)

And you know, if Catie still hates the beach, the hotel has a pool, so maybe we’ll just hang out there.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Baby's (and Mommy's) first camping trip

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Those of you who know me, know that I am not an outdoorsy type of girl. I freak out when I see a bug, I have horrible seasonal allergies, and I’m not a big fan of being out in the elements if it’s too hot or too cold or even remotely unpleasant. I’m a big wuss, basically.

In light of that, I’m not quite sure why I agreed to go camping this past weekend. I guess because it’s becoming Dave’s latest hobby, and I’d like to be included in it. Plus, springtime means the weather is nice and moderate. And Dave told me that the campsites have electricity, water, and a building with toilets and showers, so it’s not like I’d have to pee in the bushes or anything. Heck, some of the campsites now offer wi-fi. So it seemed like something that I could handle. Maybe.

Let the record show: I’ve never slept in a tent in my life. I mean, sure there was once at a slumber party that we set up a tent in the neighbor girl’s backyard, but I was back inside the house with my sleeping bag on the floor of the playroom before midnight. My family took “camping” trips when I was a kid where we’d go hiking in state parks, but we stayed in motels or cabins. And honestly, all I remember of those trips is blistering heat (summer in the South, not the best time to plan an outdoor vacation) and feeling like I was dying of thirst (since this was before people carried bottled water with them, so there was nothing to drink until we stopped for lunch or dinner).

Mostly, I remember the fighting. There was always lots of fighting. I hated those trips. But like so many other things, I thought that this might be an opportunity to do something for Catie that’s completely different than my own childhood. Turning my bad memories into happy ones, something like that.

So we set off for Asheboro, North Carolina, and set up camp at the Deep River Campground. It was very pretty.

view from our campsite

Check out our fancy-pants accomodations.

our accomodations

I know you’re jealous.

It made me nervous to be camping right by the lake, since Catie doesn’t always seem to understand that she can’t jump into any body of water like it’s her own personal bathtub. But we told her that it was ok for her to throw rocks and twigs into the lake, but she absolutely could not go in there, and she seemed to get it. Still, we had our eyes on her pretty much constantly.

Catie by the lake

And really? The camping was not so bad. Only two complaints:
1) The bathrooms were gross. Really gross. I sort of wish I’d taken pictures so I could prove my case, but I didn’t think of it until later. But I quickly decided that since we were only going to be there one night, I’d be ok with just skipping the whole shower thing until we got home, thank you very much.
2) Sleeping in a tent actually sucked worse than I thought it would. It dropped down into the 50’s that night, which is pretty darn cold when you’re basically outside. We got a sleeping bag for me before this trip, but the zipper wouldn’t come more than halfway up, so my legs were sweaty and my upper half was freezing. And poor Catie was miserable. She started crying from being so cold around 3 a.m., and it took almost 2 hours to get her settled back to sleep. She woke up in a pretty good mood, though.

SERIOUS case of bed-head

She also woke up with a horrendous drippy, snotty nose, which I’m hoping is just a reaction to sleeping outside during the peak of pollen season, and not the onset of a full-blown cold. Especially since her asthma tends to make colds about ten times worse than the average kid’s.

Since we were in Asheboro, we decided to stop by the North Carolina Zoo on Sunday, to wear Catie out in the hopes that she’d sleep the whole drive home. We’d never been to the NC Zoo before, it’s really beautiful. We only hit the Africa exhibit, since we knew that’s where the animals Catie likes would be (elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, etc.), and I think we made the right call. She had a great time.

Catie & me with the zebra

Dave & Catie on the elephant statue

Catie playing in the display helicopter

Catie & me on the carousel

Oh, and the plan to exhaust her so she’d sleep on the way home? Worked like a charm. Easiest road trip with a toddler ever.

Here are the rest of the pics from our camping and zoo trip. Overall, it wasn’t horrible and I might go camping again. But I think I have to exchange this stupid defective sleeping bag that I got, and maybe wait until it’s a little warmer. Generally, though, I think I’d prefer to rent a cabin. Even a really rustic cabin would be ok – as long as there are walls to shield us from the wind. And an attached bathroom. That’d be nice.

another partially-composed-on-the-plane entry

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Kris & Tony’s wedding was beautiful. I took lots of pictures and will get them online soon. It was decidedly more low-key than the previous night, which was good. I rode to the wedding with my friend Leslie and her boyfriend Joel, and they wanted to leave the reception early since they had a ten-hour drive back to California the next day. Which was fine, since I had an early flight too. I missed the cake, which I’m still sort of bummed about, but we were there for all of the important stuff (the ceremony, dinner, toasts), so it was fine.

I got up at 6 a.m. on Monday morning to head home. I went down to the casino floor and stopped at the deli for breakfast. (Steak & fried egg on a baguette. Very nice, and a hell of a lot cheaper than the stupid buffet.) Man alive, I wish I had taken some pictures of some of the girls I saw doing the Walk of Shame. One girl might’ve actually been a hooker because she was with some enormous dude that was more likely a bodyguard than a boyfriend. She was in a tiny dress that barely covered her butt, and it was so tight that there’s no way she could’ve been wearing underwear, because if she had, there would’ve been a pantyline. So basically, when she sits down, the whole world is her gynecologist. She was carrying her gold stilettos in her hand and walking barefoot across the casino floor. Yikes. Some guy walking past elbowed me and said, “You see all types here, dontcha?” Yes, yes you do.

Oh, and then I saw three very pretty young girls who were all still obviously drunk and wearing last night?s clothes (at 7:30 a.m.!), and they were arguing with each other and crying, while their boyfriends sat a few feet away watching. Awesome.

The plane ride was relatively uneventful, except for one thing. There was a tiny old man (I mean, old old; tiny, hunched over, liver spots on hands, I’m guessing he was in his late 80’s) sitting in the aisle seat diagonal from me, and he sat there on the airplane flipping through a hardcore porn magazine. Just, WOW. There are no words, I was so shocked. If I had seen any kids nearby (or if I had Catie with me), I would’ve told the stewardess to make him put it away. As it was, he saw the flight attendants with the drink cart and put it away himself, but I was grossed out for the rest of the flight.

I landed in Charlotte and met up with my brother at Olive Garden for dinner. That was fun, it’s always nice to see him. I got stuck in bad traffic on the way home (apparently a car accident), so I didn’t get home until after 10 p.m. That was a long day. I missed my Catie-bug so much that my arms ached from not holding her. We had a Skype video chat while I was gone, but it wasn?t the same. I missed Dave too, but you know, he?s a little easier to connect with over the phone or whatever. That little girl of mine, though. Man, I couldn?t wait to swoop her up and cover her in kisses. We’ve been having fun running errands together today. Now she’s napping, and I think I might crash too, I’m so exhausted from the whole weekend.

Overall: good trip, but so great to be home.

just another Saturday night in Vegas

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Last night was the pre-wedding pizza party, which was fun. And a little awkward, since one of Kris’s bridesmaids is a former friend of mine who I don’t speak to anymore. I mean, we did the “half-second eye contact and nod at each other” thing, and then we spent the rest of the evening making a conscious effort to avoid each other. Luckily the way we were seated helped, but it was kind of strange trying to avoid turning my head to the right because I didn’t want to have to try to make civil conversation with someone I genuinely dislike.

Really, it’s my fault. Our falling out was three years ago. I should be over it by now, I know that. And I know she wants to forget about it, because that’s her personality, to gloss over all of the bad stuff and to pretend like everything is fine and happy and wonderful. I just can’t do it. I can’t let it go when someone hurts me.

Anyway, since that was incredibly uncomfortable, I really wanted a cocktail to help me relax. But the pizza place only had wine and beer, so I stuck to water. After the pizza party ended, I hung out with my friend Linda and her husband Taiki, and some of their friends. We found a place that served fruity vodka drinks, which is what I’d been craving. We had fun playing “hooker or tourist,” the game in which you spot all of the whorishly dressed women and guess if they’re actual hookers or just tourists. Sadly, most were tourists. The hookers are hard to spot because they’re always in a hurry. You know, places to go, people to do, what-have-you.

I had a great time hanging out with them, I think is what I’m saying. And Linda’s friends are awesome, because I didn’t pay for a thing all night. Very nice.

I got little bit tipsier than I meant to, but I wasn’t falling-down drunk or anything. I feel fine today, so obviously I couldn’t have been that bad, right? I’m just mad as hell that I woke up at 7:45 a.m. on the one day that I could sleep late with no kid around to wake me up. Stupid internal clock. Since sleep wasn’t going to happen, I threw on my jeans and sneakers and headed down to the breakfast buffet. Which reminds me…

Dear Luxor,
I realize that my gastric bypass surgery makes an all-you-can-eat buffet kind of pointless for me, but if you’re going to charge me $20, I’m going to make up for it by eating the most expensive stuff you have. Shrimp cocktail for breakfast? Why yes, thank you.
Also, it appears that part of the reason that the buffet costs $20 is because it comes with free champagne? At 8 in the freaking morning?? Ok, you win. This town is way too hardcore for me.
Love,
Cindy

Oh, and while I’m writing letters:

Dear lungs,
I’m really, really sorry about that clove cigarette I smoked last night. What can I say, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Please stop trying to kill me. Truce?
Love,
Cindy

My plan for today is to try to take a nap, then get dressed and set off for the wedding. Pretty easy, no? The Luxor has an exhibition of Titanic artifacts, which sounds fascinating. I thought about going to check it out since it’s just downstairs, but admission is $27, and this town is bleeding me of enough money as it is. I think a nap sounds infinitely better.

Also, I had my camera in my purse last night and completely forgot to take even a single photo. I’ll try to be better about that at the wedding tonight.

I wrote this on the plane yesterday

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When I was researching flights for my trip to Las Vegas, I found that I could save over $100 and get a direct flight (no layovers!) if I flew out of Charlotte rather than Raleigh. Fine, then. I set off ridiculously early on Saturday morning and drove to Charlotte. My brother lives there, and I?m planning to meet up with him for dinner when I get back on Monday.

I made good time ? about 2.5 hours, which isn?t bad given the torrential downpour that I had to drive through. This was the first time I?ve ever driven from Raleigh to Charlotte, and it was pretty in that rural Southern farmland sort of way. I mean, you know, weird roadside signs & fixtures notwithstanding. My favorite was a big life-size statue of Jesus leaning forward on a concrete post. He had one elbow on the post and his chin in his hand. Very ?can we talk?? I wanted to put a little coffee mug in front of him to get the full image.

Oh, and can someone please tell me what on earth ?moonshine jelly? is? Because I saw a sign for a rather sketchy looking place that was selling it, and it sounds absolutely revolting.

The flight was pretty uneventful. On time, no major drama. Security was an absolute breeze without a kid in tow, as I expected. I forgot to bring a book with me, so I bought one at the airport newsstand. ?Nineteen Minutes? by Jodi Picoult, in case you were wondering. I figured out the entire story arc during the first chapter, which irritates me to no end. I don?t know yet if I?ll like it or not.

Oh, and I joked on Twitter earlier about possibly needing glasses, but I think I might really need to get my eyes checked when I get home. After about 30 minutes of reading on the plane, my right eye started to blur and I couldn?t get my vision to focus on the text very well. I guess I?m getting old. (Don?t you dare say a word, Dave. You?re still 4 1/2 years older than me!)

Oddly, reading on my laptop doesn?t bother my eyes at all. Maybe I have some sort of visual impairment that can read a monitor but not books. Hmm, might be time to invest in that Kindle?

Oh, and I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time in my life. It?s very big. As you?d expect.