A week at Camp Camp!

Hey sticklers, less than a month has passed and I'm blogging! It does seem to be a dying art what with the timesuck that is Facebook. There is still something I like better about the blogging format where we can flesh out our ideas instead of trying to come up with pithy one liners for our Facebook photos and posts. And so I blog....

So the big thing that happened this month is Campcamp! It turned out that there was a last minute cancellation and I still had time off so we made a rash decision (I blame the mother in law who had visited on the spur of the moment and coaxed us into noon martinis.) We have regretted pushing the buy button before when under the influence, and there was a bit of regret the next day when I realized how much it was costing, but in the end it was a miraculous week full of gifts. Here let me walk you through our experience.

We loaded up the car and left a day early to break up the drive. It was a gorgeous day, something that was repeated the entire week. We decided to overnight in Stowe and see what it was like in the summer.

I must have been a bit stressed out because I got a cold sore ugh, right when we left. I get mine on the base of my nose between the two nostrils. So pretty. We stayed at the Riverside Inn which had great prices and free wifi.

We walked around town and picked up some more of that olive relish we liked the last time we came. Then we found a place to eat and tried fried pickles for the first time. Yum! Greasy, salty, sour goodness.

The next day we drove through Vermont and New Hampshire on our way to Maine. We picked up a baguette with cheese and salami and wine and had ourselves a picnic in the most beautiful spot. Crawford Notch state park in New Hampshire. Would love to go back and camp and explore.

And then we arrived at Camp! It was rather overwhelming going through the welcoming, registration, photo taking, name chip making, mail bag making process, but the energy was so positive I just knew it was going to be fun.

The next day we had a ceremony where all 240 of us introduced ourselves and then we had some activities to help get to know one another. The whole first 24 hours had my head spinning.

We then took the adventure course training and Serge got to practice a bit on the spider web. As it turned out, that was the only thing he did since he gets so panicky in high places. Maybe next year for him.

That night was the barn dance. We didn't have much time to plan for costumes, something we will definitely be prepared for next year.

Among the many activities was a hike up to the top of Burnt Hill. Dang it was hot and we were drenched with sweat by the time we reached the top.

It was just like camp as a kid (except with a late night bar) full of activities. Here is Serge doing stained glass. We also did Tie Dye shirts, astrology, paddleboard, morning swim, kayaking, dildo-jousting (also absent during the camp of my youth) zip line and on and on. There were far more activities available than one could participate in which just makes looking forward to next year that much more fun.

Every night there was a different kind of party. This was Studio 54 night. Serge got some help to dress up from the Beauty Barn and I glued some mirror bits to my face and oh my how we danced. Serge was hilarious in that getup.

We had Christmas Bingo night and Serge won a prize! Lucky duck.

For the tea dance we couldn't get Serge the cop costume to complete the Village People so he dressed up in drag for the first time in his life and played a groupie. He really got into the role. Hilarious.

And one of my all time fave pics ever of my husband.

Not sure if the video will up load. If not click the link here to see it on FB. Anyway, it's a great game called Heads Up and I kept tilting my body when I got the answer instead of just the phone. Much to the displeasure of Serge. So funny. Bonus too, the game has been a huge hit with students in my English classes.

Dancing under the stars and making scads of new friends. Serge and I both agree it was the Best Time Ever!!! Although since coming back, Facebook has become a full time job keeping up with all our new friends chatter about the experience. I had 25 thousand times more fun than I imagined I would.

The last day turned quite emotional for us. We did something called the Walk of Angels where one by one campers walked through a corridor of people who guided the closed-eyed walkers through. I had no idea my emotions would go so haywire. I basically bawled in front of 200 friends and strangers. Kind of like the miseries of the past year just came pouring out of me while being loved on. Makes me teary eyed just typing this.

Anyway, I am sure no one can do the experience justice with words, but we have definitely drunk the Kool-Aid and will be back next year.

In other news, Serge and I passed the 20 year mark together and in honor of that got our nipples pierced! God dang did it hurt but I really like it. You can see that video here.

He the left and me the right. We didn't force poor Georgie to join in. But Serge made a nice souvenir picture of our tye-dye with Georgie in it. Until next time my dear readers, Mwah!

A couple trips out West

When last I popped in, I was winding down my work contracts and getting ready for six weeks off. Ah, summer, it certainly makes being a teacher lovely to have summers free. As I said last month, the house is up for sale but we have only had one visit so far so either the price is too high or everyone else is enjoying summer too.

In July, I took off for two and a half weeks to California. First I went to San Francisco to visit our new friends that we made on the family cruise and also to hang out with my brother.

I was delighted to meet Dexter, the boys' dog who like Georgie is a beagle and he warmed to me straight away. The boys live in a charming apartment building in Russian Hill and it was a great little neighborhood full of cute shops and eateries. My absolute favorite restaurant in SF is closed on Sunday (what restaurant closes on Sunday!?) so I couldn't go as I didn't know this salient fact until it was too late.

We caroused most of the weekend and enjoyed what makes San Francisco so great - FOOD. I also got to meet up with my bestie in high school for drinks in a speakeasy. The pics came out lousy but don't want him to feel slighted by omitting that. Thanks Dave for the drink, I owe you one.

Enjoyed hanging out with baby bro and the weather was perfect. We walked all around and drank and ate and drank some more.

I guess this place thinks they are taking coffee to the next level. All I could think was, you know there are machines that do the same thing. Coffee theater.

After that rather debauched weekend, I headed down to M's house to begin an enormous project. I was so happy to see Bear again, what a great dog. She also warmed to me after the initial growling and barking.

And then we began the enormous project of life, stripping and painting the exterior of her house. I agreed to come and help and at the same time used that time to process and heal over some unmentioned events. Don't worry Serge and I are fine, there just aren't any roads without a few potholes, you know? Have you ever scraped paint off of wood? It is a grueling task and it took us six full days of hard labor to do it.

In the evenings I got to meet up with friends that I usually don't have enough time to spend quality time with so that was an added bonus. Bob and I used to work together oh so long ago, but we keep in touch. We went to my old watering hole in Long Beach and I said that if John was there he would call me "Tiger" and sure enough that's what happened. And I haven't been there for 10 years. I guess I make an impression.

There's M and her son N as we were waiting for mom to arrive at the Aquarium of the Pacific. It had stormed in the night and the air was definitely tropical. I had hoped for more thunderstorms but alas, my wish was not granted.

Mommy and I at the aquarium. It was really great to spend time with her and her two visitors for the summer. They hosted two Spanish girls for six weeks. The girls' dad stayed with me one summer when I was a teenager and now he has seven, gasp, children. Lovely girls.

It was great seeing D and N for our 10 mile bike ride on the beach path in Long Beach. That shirt was a gift for Serge but since it hadn't been washed yet, the medium sized garment fit me. Once it was washed it was definitely Serge sized.

The next day was my birthday (Yes the same shirt but only in the morning). I have never been so happy to turn a year older. 47 will go down as one of the worst years so turning 48 came with lots of positives. M took me down to the beach where we did a little ceremony to let things go and to start anew. Something changed in me that day and I am filled with gratitude for that.

Then we went down to mommy's for the rest of the day. Here she is making my favorite birthday cake in the world and one I haven't had in thirteen years. Confetti angel food cake with strawberry frosting. It brought back the kid in me.

Mom also invited people to my party. What an unexpected treat. Got to hang out with the cuz, the niece, the aunt etc. There was far too much free flowing champagne as evidenced by the next morning's headache.

Cake! The tan was courtesy of house scraping. Ooh and I was sporting my new Birkenstocks. My old ones lasted 13 years so even though they are expensive, they really aren't when you consider the longevity.

The next day (a tad hungover but I don't look it) I hung out with Dad and his girlfriend and grandma. We had Mexican food (I ate Mexican food for 8 straight days once I got there - yum) and then went on a hike.

M and I lived together about 25 years ago but it felt like it was just yesterday. Even though we worked our asses off, I really enjoyed all the time we got to spend together.

Finally we finished the immense project of doom. Serge says it doesn't count since we didn't do the trim. Bite me! The trim is a much smaller, manageable project. It was cool how this pic got 60 likes on FB.

Met up with some other old friends to go to the Crayfish Festival. Although the Crayfish Etoufée was delightful, watching the murder of hundreds of thousands of these creatures was a little hard to take. Seriously there was an enormous contraption with a crane that lowered them into the boiling water. I refused to take a picture of it.

When I got home, Serge had a surprise waiting for me. What a sweetie. I really missed him too even though we Facetimed almost every day.

Here is my honey in his preshrunk (and worn by me) shirt. My little stud puffin.

Georgie was really happy to see me too. We took a video of it but it's too big to upload, but he just went nuts shrieking when I arrived. It sounded like he was in pain, but they were shrieks of joy. Love the little guy.

I wasn't home for long though, as five days later was my annual junket to Las Vegas with B. We took this pic because this Denny's has a full bar. Unfortunately our heads blocked this part of the sign. We ate there but didn't drink since the drinkies are free while gambling. We love gambling, it's part of why we go.

We also went back to Downtown, this great speakeasy type place where the mixologist really knows his craft. I had two of those before we had the best Thai food I have ever eaten. Then we went to the El Cortez and I won some money on the Kitty Glitter machine. Yay!

I just love being goofy with my friends. The last night we went to the strip and saw Ka, the Cirque du Soleil show where someone was killed during a performance a couple months ago. It was good but I've seen better.

So now the blog is caught up again. We are not finished with the traveling yet though. Tomorrow we are headed to Maine for a week at Camp Camp. It's an all gay camp that recreates the summer camps of our youth replete with tons of activities to keep everyone entertained. Perhaps there will be another blog post after that. This will be the end of travel until the holidays. My bank account is not only bruised, it is bleeding. Thanks for stopping by!

Sliding into Summer

I know, I've been neglecting the blog. Just too much going on plus that dang Facebook to find time to write. Looking at the last post makes me sad as we have had a falling out of sorts with our longtime friends and now it seems we are no longer on speaking terms. Sad. I take such things particularly badly since I don't have very many friends and the ones I do have I keep forever. Not gonna go into details as it's neither here nor there, but maybe too that's why I've been absent for a while. I'm still hoping we can mend fences, optimistic pollyanna that I am. Now onto something more fun.

Cruising with the family! Yes, all my hard work organizing the family cruise vacation paid off and we all had a wonderful time aboard the Carnival Inspiration.

 

Fist though, I got to meet my dad's new dog whose name is escaping me, though I do know it starts with an L. It's an English Pointer mixed with something. Sweet dog. We all gathered at dad's house for pizza night and for me to go over important points for cruise embarkation. Many family members had never been on a cruise before, so there was a lot of excitement in the air. 

This was our 7th cruise. I can't believe it. Our first was on our honeymoon in January 2005, the year I started this blog. We boarded in no time and had our welcome aboard drink and then walked around the ship getting a feel for it.

The dining room was all ready for us and all 13 of us were able to sit together each night for dinner at a big round table. It was a great way to talk about our day and discuss the next day's possible activities. One thing I hadn't counted on was seasickness. Serge and I have never gotten queasy on a cruise ship even though we have been in very rough seas, but several family members battled nausea during the cruise. And there was only very gentle rocking motion.

One great thing was the first night we went to the Friends of Dorothy meet and greet at the atrium bar and met these handsome lads. We hit it off right away and talked for hours and ended up spending every evening carousing with them. I couldn't help wondering if the universe was sending in replacements for our lost friends. They live in San Francisco and I am going to visit them in a couple weeks. Bonus, my brother lives there so I get to hang out with him too.

The first stop was Catalina Island. It took the ship 16 hours to get there even though it's barely a two hour sail. The ship just hung out in the international waters so the passengers could get their gambling on. Your frugal host spent a whole twenty dollars in the casino during the cruise, even though we played every day. Ha! The photo above is of the casino building on Catalina. The family walked around town and visited the museum there. It was once THE place for the rich and famous.

Then dad, the cousin, Serge and I took a Segway tour around town. It was fun and although Serge and I had done it in Washington DC, it was a new experience for dad and cousin. The one hard part of it is that you are standing the whole time.

The next day we stopped in Ensenada, Mexico. This is the only picture I have of us from this day because I accidentally deleted ALL the pictures in the camera. I wasn't paying attention and poof, all gone. It was a fun day and we took a tour to see the blowhole, a natural phenomenon where the sea creates a geyser when the conditions are right, and for us they were! Very impressive. Less impressive was buying sleeping pills at the pharmacy only to get home and find that they were fakes. Yes, I know, buyer beware, especially in Mexico.



That's a video I took at our last dinner together. What a great vacation with a wonderful family. We definitely missed those who could not attend.

The last day in California we went to the IRS to get Serge a taxpayer number since he will now have to file US taxes since we now own rental property in Florida. (Except for an air conditioner that needs to be replace, all is going well with that.) But since Serge already had a social security number from 20 years ago, we learned we were in the wrong place. We had long forgotten his SS number so we had to go to the social security office to try to get one. It was a bit combative at first with the agent insisting that Serge have the legal right to reside in the states, but finally we worked it out. See we kept saying he needed a social security card, but all we needed was the number. Once that became clear, it was easy peasy. She printed that number right up for us.

The trip home was awful. Late planes and flat tires and a car breakdown meant we didn't get home until 4am, just as the first light was appearing in the sky.

Since then, I've been finishing up my contracts, just a couple classes to go until I'm off for the rest of the summer. Last weekend another cousin came up for a quick visit during the Canada day weekend.

They were totally enchanted with Montreal in the summer. It was fun showing them around because they so appreciated the architecture and the jazz festival and all the hordes of people filling the city. I tell you, early July is THE best time to visit this city, it will knock your socks off.

Finally, we decided to sell our place! The building went on the market Friday and while we would like to stay and continue renting our unit from the new owners, in all likelihood, we will have to move. Not looking forward to that, but we are downsizing as much as possible so we will have less to move when it comes time. Serge is having fun scoping out possible places to live, but I want to wait until we have interested buyers.

So now the blog is up to date. I've got another trip to California in a couple weeks and then a junket (my annual) to Vegas. I may shop for property while I'm there since we are going to reinvest in the states again with the (if it sells) proceeds. So in all honesty, I will probably be back here in mid-august. Until then, MWAH!

Oh wait almost forgot, Georgie is doing better. He's a sloth in the summer so that's probably helping him heal. Here's a shot of the little guy for you.