The links above will take you to the detailed posts.
Just kidding...
TOTAL DAYS DRIVE SOUTH - 8 (7 nights)
TOTAL DAYS PALM SPRINGS - 21
TOTAL DAYS LAS VEGAS - 20
TOTAL DAYS SAN DIEGO - 6
TOTAL DAYS DRIVE NORTH - 8 (7 nights)
TOTAL DAYS AWAY - 61
STATES California - Arizona - New Mexico - Texas - Arkansas - Kentucky - Tennessee - Ohio - Michigan
Normally we would not have come home the same way as we went south, but we had no planned excursions.
We had initially planned to do several stops on the way home that would have taken us in late March. But as the tariffs were announced we decided that we wanted to get home as soon as possible. We had wanted to spend some time in Dallas, Louisville, Nashville and St. Louis but that was not off the agenda.
I had also hoped to visit NYC this year, no to that as well. We had talked about a golf trip on the east coast which also won't happen now.
Our money will be spent anywhere but in the States.
WEATHER
We never needed our spring or winter coats on boots.
CALIFORNIA
ARIZONA
NEW MEXICO
TEXAS
ARKANSAS
TENNESSEE
KENTUCKY
OHIO
MICHIGAN
SIDE TRIPS
Tucson AZ We've been here before. This time we managed to catch a Dumpster Must Go parade!!!
NEW Louisville KY It's too bad, we had planned on a few days here to really see some stuff, but $hit FELON47 (8647) happened!
HOTELS/FOOD NORTHBOUND
Best Hotel Brentwood TN Hilton Suites
Best Hotel Food Richardson TX Hilton Garden Inn
Worst Hotel and Food - Miamisburg OH Doubletree Hilton
SNACKS
Discovering great jerky (we'll ignore the fact that John threw it out thinking it was garbage LOL)
John now loves crystallized ginger. We had to stock up on Goo Goo clusters.
FOOD
We had one McDonald's meal, our only fast food on this trip.
We ate at Cracker Barrel twice on the way home.
BEST SIGHT!!!!
THINGS I LEARNED ON THIS TRIP
Red Rock NV the difference between a tortoise (lives on land) and a turtle (lives in the water)!
Tumbleweeds aren't native to the U.S. They accidentally arrived in South Dakota in 1870 in a shipment of flax seeds from Russia. Funny to think that such a staple in American West folklore is based on an invasive species. It could be argued that cowboys are an invasive species, so perhaps it's fitting.
The brightly colored balls on power lines, often orange, red, yellow, or white, are visibility markers, or marker balls, designed to make power lines more visible to low-flying aircraft and helicopters, particularly in areas where they might be difficult to spot.
All these years and so many Cracker Barrels in our travels but I never wondered where the name came from. Cracker Barrel's name comes from the 19th-century practice of general store customers gathering around "cracker barrels" filled with soda crackers to chat and socialize.
We love date shakes!!!
I owe John a bean dip like he had in Lordsburg.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
It was not uncommon to see hospitality employees wearing masks. There were also quite a few tourists with masks.
American restaurant portions are way too big!!
Radio reception is nil driving through southern New Mexico and Texas. Funny enough, though, you can get Mexican stations and the bible thumper stations.
Texas has the worst construction.
I missed having two bathrooms!
I also miss my kitchen and stuff and trying new recipes.
I miss the frozen gluten free shrimp that we found.
I didn't miss housekeeping, doing laundry (sheets/towels), stripping beds.
Maratus volans is a species in the jumping spider family (Salticidae), belonging to the genus Maratus (peacock spiders). These spiders are native to certain areas in Australia and occupy a wide distribution of habitats. They have a specialized visual system that allows them to see the full visible spectrum as well as in the ultraviolet-range; this helps them detect and pursue prey. Males of this species are characterized by their colourful abdomen flaps that are used to attract females during courtship.
The red, blue and black males have flap-like extensions of the abdomen with white hairs that can be folded down. They are used for display during mating: the male raises his abdomen, then expands and raises the flaps so that the abdomen forms a white-fringed, circular field of colour. The species, and indeed the whole genus Maratus, have been compared to peacocks in this respect. The third pair of legs is also raised for display, showing a brush of black hairs and white tips. These legs are also used in a clapping motion to further attract a female's attention. While approaching the female, the male vibrates his abdomen while waving raised legs and tail, and dances from side to side.[2][3][better source needed] However, females are more attracted to the visual efforts of the dance done by the males rather than the vibrational signals.
Vibrations
An important part of the male peacock spider's courtship is the vibrations that accompany the fan dance. The exact mechanism of how these vibrations are produced is not known, but it is known that they are produced almost solely from rapid movements in their abdomen. There are three kinds of vibrations: rumble-rumps, crunch rolls, and grind-revs. Rumble-rumps are continuously emitted during the courtship, and can even start before the male sees the female. The name comes from the two distinct sounds, the rumble and the rump. The crunch rolls and grind-revs are observed right before the pre-mount display.[7] Males who put forth more effort in both the visual display and the vibratory signaling had a higher success in mating. Having a higher measured effort meant putting in more time engaged in the visual display or vibrating with more vigor. Both of these are postulated to indicate a healthier and more fit male. However, visual displays are more strongly linked to mating success than vibratory signaling.
Female choice
For females who do choose to mate with the male, copulation time is also positively correlated to visual displays and vibratory signaling. Other aspects that are important include persistence, staying within proximity of the female and maintaining constant visual contact with her. If the female is interested she will occasionally respond to the approaching male by signaling with her third pair of legs. Her legs will be stretched out as they move, oftentimes one leg more engaged than the other.[8] In M. volans, they found that the females are only likely to mate once.
I started cleaning up files on my phone and backing it up as we are due to upgrade.
The rain kicked in around 10 just as predicted but stopped mid-afternoon.
Wouldn't you know, we get home and the water cooler died! We replaced it (from Wal-Mart).
The laundry hamper became unhinged, the screws came out.
And I think the toilet is leaking, again, so I messaged our plumber.
There is a reason we don't go out on weekends!! I had bought last minute tickets to the almost final production of Kim's Convenience for tonight. Show is at 7:30. We left at 5:45 and walked over to the Humber Loop to catch the streetcar. It is the end of the route so we sat until 6 when he pulled out. We got off at Roncesvalles to change to the King streetcar that goes straight to the Distillery District. I insisted (incorrectly) that the stop was on the south side of the street. Well, a Distillery streetcar sailed by us, so we walked to the north corner where we waited (unusual) 10 minutes for another. Seated, and we crawled along King, literally. Traffic was not moving. When we got to the heavily pub/bar area it dawned on me, it was St. Patrick's Day weekend and the weather was gorgeous. The streets were teeming with people, police were arresting a guy and we were not getting anywhere. Neither of us like to be late for anything so we made a call to go back home and forfeit our tickets. Waited and waited at Spadina and King, traffic is horrendous. We walked up to Queen and immediately got a streetcar bound for Humber, perfect!!! Right, Queen St. another gridlock. John did place an order for chicken to be delivered at 9. Well, quelle surprise, the driver announces at Roncesvalles (this happened to us before) that he is not continuing and we should get the next streetcar. No sign of a streetcar approaching. I called an Uber and we finally walked in at 8:30. What a waste of time!! Oh well, we laughed.
BTW
SUNDAY was a very wet, stormy morning as John headed out to sign up for his summer men's golf league. Then we treated the day as we usually do, relaxing, reading, watching.
John took the car in to get an oil change, remove winter tires, brakes needed cleaning.
I went to the Eaton Centre to check out pants at Reitman's (Canadian), and looked at a new suitcase.
Very pleased to see we are sticking to our guns.
Here's a good Newfie wine! From our 2022 trip.
Candy store Eaton Centre
I also picked up sushi from Sushi Q's (Canadian), spicy tuna and salmon. John really liked it as a not quite super sushi fan.
Tuesday
So sad to hear about the demise of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), a Canadian landmark since 1670 with 9,000 employees, I went to see what they had and found their inventory quite depleted. It was very emotional seeing how upset the employees were.
I went back to get the suitcase I had seen yesterday and it must have been serendipity because the one on my favourite colour was now on sale.
Wednesday
We found a new tax accountant and spent time filling out her forms.
It was rainy and cold so we decided against going to the market.
We had tickets for our first Candlelight Fever concert. I have followed them for several years but had never bought tickets. A friend mentioned going in December and being pleasantly surprised.
I saw tickets for a Beatles and Queen show that had good tickets available (first row) and bought them. It was in the east end so we had to drive, that would be my only complaint, the venue was not easily accessible by public transit.
An enormous Toronto parking garage known for sweeping views of the surrounding cityscape is in the process of being torn to shreds after roughly 40 years.
Demolition crews began to tear down the hulking concrete structure at 200 Queens Quay West in January, and are making quick work of the former Impark lot 153, a seven-storey above-ground lot that housed over 1,200 spaces before its closure.
The site will eventually become a new 59-storey mixed-use condo building dubbed Q Tower.
I'm not sure why they left this tower intact at the moment. It made me smile with its colour-coded floors.
It was fantastic but in future you don't really need the most expensive tickets.
No photos or videos are allowed until the final song, when everyone can video or photograph.
They also performed an encore Hey Jude!
Not wanting a repeat of Saturday's traffic chaos we left with more than enough time to spare, although it did take some reconnoitering around the narrow domestic one way streets to find the church. The doors opened promptly at 45 minutes before the start of the concert.
The Brick Obelisk is an approximately 30-foot high pyramid made of weathered/rusted steel. It’s design is intended to give the appearance of an industrial smokestack. Etched on to the Brick Obelisk are maps showing the area in 1851, 1899, 1923, 1960, and 2016. Designed by Pierre Poussin.
Friday
John used the golf simulator in the morning and I went to pick up some things at Longo's for the weekend.
After lunch we went to the new T&T on Edward St. near the Eaton Centre. This store is very convenient for me. There is a huge selection of everything Asian and prices are very reasonable.
I bought lemon grass but see she charged me twice for bok choy, I believe the .98 is it.
I had to google some of this stuff.
Lettuce stem - In China the pickled stem is often eaten as a side dish. In the US, celtuce is being used as a gluten-free pasta substitute.
Celtuce is its proper name.
Fish balls - intestine shape.
There is a huge fish and shellfish selection. I got scallops. Yellow Croaker - Native to the northwestern Pacific, particularly the Yellow and East China seas, this fish is highly prized among Asians in Los Angeles, especially the Koreans. In Korean markets they are sold frozen, dried, salted cooked and sometimes fresh, usually in lengths less than 12 inches. They are often called "Corvina" (Spanish for croaker) or "Yellow Corvina" to avoid confusion with the other fish called Yellow Croaker. This is the only fish allowed the name "Yellow Croaker" on Fishbase. Yellow croaker is high in protein and low in carbohydrates. It contains significant amounts of B6 and B12 vitamins and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, all of which may carry health benefits.
Look at that crab!!
Pork stomach and intestines.
18 eggs for $8.79 is not bad. But Metro has 18 for $6.
Tripe and beef aorta.
This is a HUGE bucket of individual packets of ramen.
I noticed this interesting number on my blog this week - 10,000 posts which includes Published, Draft and Scheduled!
COOKING
Saturday we had bacon and eggs for lunch. Then I made us date milkshakes that turned out well.
Dinner was unplanned as we ordered Swiss Chalet rotisserie chicken. The leftovers went into the soup pot on Sunday.
Sunday corned beef, cabbage and mashed potatoes
Monday hamburger stew (lunch leftover)
Tuesday leftovers from Sunday with fresh cabbage
Wednesday chicken tenders and salad
Thursday tuna and salad
Friday steak, chimichurri and broccolini
WATCHING
The Accountant 2016 As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities, and the body count starts to rise.
The Day of the Jackal 2024 TV series season 1. The Jackal is an elusive assassin who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. He soon meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who tracks him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe.
We are really liking this series!
Concrete Valley Canadian drama 2022. I watched this. Rashid, a doctor from Syria, struggles to adjust to his life in Canada after five years in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park with his wife Farah and son Ammar. This very much depicts Thorncliffe Park.
I watched Wicked and found it amusing and fun. Ga-Linda reminds me of Karoline Leavitt! In fact the whole movie reminded me of the times we live in.
I finished The Princess of Las Vegas and I found it to be just a bit convoluted and unbelievable. I normally like his storytelling but this was too far-fetched! Meh.
I started Here One Moment , if you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?
There is a huge cast of characters, some more interesting than others. But I found it really hard to get interested in the main protagonist's story, Death Lady.
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