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Always Packed for Adventure!

It's the destination and the journey.

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Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Five

Here we are in our fifth week of social distancing and we are still in a routine. It has been okay. I saw a quote, not sure who to attribute it to or if I’m remembering it correctly, but it was something along the lines of: “We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat.” This is so accurate. I don’t take it for granted that we have been very lucky during this situation. We still (as far as we are aware) do not know anyone who has gotten sick. To this end, we are doing our part and staying home.

We did venture out to the grocery store. It has been two weeks since our last shop. Our store was well-stocked and we were able to get everything that we wanted, including a huge bag of flour. We are trying to last another two weeks. Although the store was stocked and not very crowded, it was a different experience. This time, about 50-60% of people wore masks and actively practiced social distancing.

Among the people who were not wearing masks, some went out of their way to come close to us, closer than people would have under pre-virus circumstances. I couldn’t help but feel this was antagonistic. On the same day, many people were protesting the “stay at home” orders, including hundreds in Denver. I felt this growing sentiment of not just people wanting to do their own thing, but an aggression towards those who feel differently. It made me want to get home quickly.

I’m proud to say that a side-effect of the virus has been the way we use food in our household. We have been cooking every meal at home and really eating all of the leftovers. Food waste used to be a big problem for us, but we are using everything. I can’t say that we are eating healthier, as this week included homemade pizza, baking a cake, curry night with fried pompadums, and gnocchi with bolognase sauce.

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Dan received an order of goodies from The British Food Depot and I got to try a Wagon Wheel. Wagon Wheels are similar to Moon Pies, but smaller and tastier. I love British snack food!

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We started in on a new bag of coffee from Boca Java, my favorite roaster. I’m sharing because the bag has a funny and appropriate label. Also, Boca Java recently suffered a terrible loss when a fire destroyed their roasting facility. They are struggling to get back on their feet. It’s enough that we are all dealing with the virus, but a fire on top of that is a huge setback.

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Cooking wasn’t our only project: Dan turned our gorgeous Timothy Oulton light pendant, into a floor light. Dan added the base. It is too heavy to hang, but having it on the floor is actually a great addition to our living room. We also took part in the third Timothy Oulton Los Angeles Lock Down event, where we were treated to a preview of new products.

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We went on many walks, always sporting our bank robber bandana masks. Yesterday, cows congregated at the fence near our house, so we went to visit them.

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We celebrated Earth Day this week and if there is one positive result of Covid-19, it is in many places the environment is healing. It seems to be healing in ways that simply wouldn’t have happened if we had not been forced to change our behavior.

The weather has been beautiful, but since our garden is still just dirt, we have been staying inside. I read a ton and Dan played video games. We Skyped with the kids. We watched more Schitt’s Creek, currently on season 3. We did a double-movie Saturday with Guy Richie’s The Gentlemen (great, worth watching, very funny) and The Impractical Joker’s Movie. We are huge fans of The Impractical Jokers, but the movie is a stinker. They have a few challenges like on their show, which are amusing, but it also has a strange storyline, which was totally unnecessary.

As I mentioned before, we are lucky and grateful for everything that we have, but that doesn’t mean that we are not allowed to feeling disappointment. If Covid-19 hadn’t happened, we would be in Las Vegas right now. This is actually the first time in Dan’s career that he has missed the NAB trade show and I have gone with him every year, since we have been together. When it was cold this winter, I was dreaming of our April trip, especially sunbathing poolside with umbrella drinks. I was looking forward to having the Chinese Chicken Salad at Chin-Chin and hanging out with my friend Cath. I know it’s just a trip to Vegas and we’ve been to Vegas a million times, but it is a disappointment. In light of that, here are some of my favorite pictures from previous Vegas trips, including our Aria Wedding.

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And as usual, I will end with a picture of our two fur-babies. Now that we are always home, I’m not sure how they will handle it when we are finally allowed to start traveling again!

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tags: Social Distancing in Littleton, Social Distancing in Colorado, British Treats, British Snack Food, British Wagon Wheels, British Cookies, Homemade Pizza, Royal Crest Dairy Colorado, Homemade Sheet Cake, Baking During Social Distancing, Cooking During Social Distancing, Homemade Pompadums, Grocery Stores During Social Distancing, Timothy Oulton Lighting, Timothy Oulton Los Angeles Lockdown, Aria Las Vegas Wedding, Las Vegas Memories, NAB 2020, NAB Las Vegas, Serendipity Frozen Hot Chocolate, Palazzo Las Vegas, Snowball in Las Vegas Picture, Keeping Busy During Social Distancing, Traveling During Social Distancing, High Roller Wheel Las Vegas, Annual Las Vegas Trip, Downtown Las Vegas Pictures, What do you Miss Most During Social Distancing, we are in the same storm but not the same boat, Fire at Boca Java, The Gentlemen Guy Ritchie, The Impractical Jokers Movie, The Impractical Jokers Movie Review, What to Watch During Quarantine, Chin-Chin Chinese Chicken Salad, Favorite Things About Las Vegas, Cancelled Travel Plans During Corona Virus, Corona Virus Watch List, Corona Virus Cooking, Stay at Home Activities, Royal Crest Dairy Pizza, Stay at Home Protests Denver, What do you Put on Your Pizza, Eliminating Food waste, Earth Day During Covid-19, Stopping Food Waste at Home
categories: Eat, Read, Life
Thursday 04.23.20
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

Las Vegas, April 2016 : The Signature, Hanging with Truckers, and Australian Bee Gees

Last April, Dan and I spent two whole weeks in Las Vegas, while he was prepping and working the NAB convention. Two weeks is twice as long as I had ever previously spent in Las Vegas. Part of the trade-off for going so early, was we had to drive the rental truck with the show equipment, and check it into the convention center. 

I'm not sure that I'd want to do it again, but the experience at the truck marshaling yard was fascinating.

We set off before dawn to start our long day. Of course, we made our customary breakfast stop at Peggy Sue's Diner. I've never seen Peggy Sue's so empty, there were just a couple of guys sitting at the counter. 

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Here's our truck. 

Our truck was just a baby compared to the other trucks at the marshaling yard. The yard was just outside of the strip, and this being our first time, it was a little confusing. Dan took the truck to the scales, while I queued to get our number. Luckily, several of the truckers were very friendly and answered our questions about the process. Basically, it's a whole lot of waiting around for the union workers at the convention center to be ready to unload your truck. They unload in a way that makes sense for stuff entering the convention space based on your booth location.

We were given number 398, which didn't necessarily correspond to the order in which we arrived, as there were probably close to a thousand trucks in the yard ahead of us. We found a spot to park and placed the number on our dash, waiting to be called.

We knew the wait could be long, but we had no idea how long, so we came prepared with books and movies. This is going to sound unbelievable, but I had never seen Top Gun, so we watched it on Dan's iPhone. There was a food truck for coffee and snacks. The most amazing thing was watching the insane parking skills of big rig truckers, who maneuvered their enormous trucks into tight parking spaces. I was impressed!

Several hours later, we were called to head over to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Unfortunately, we arrived just as the union workers were heading on their lunch break, so we had to sit in the truck until they came back to unload everything. There was some good people watching at the convention center, and as someone who has never worked a trade show, it was cool to see the "behind the scenes" flurry.

The fun part was driving a now empty truck to our hotel, The Signature at MGM Grand. It's a bizarre thing to drive up to the valet with an UHaul. We got funny looks, but the valet staff was awesome. They found an out of the way place to park the truck, and they were very kind and helpful during our stay. In fact, all of the employees at The Signature, were rock stars.

The rooms are fabulous, especially for an extended stay, as they included a small kitchen. Two weeks is a long time to eat out every day, so we stocked up with groceries, and ate about half of our meals in the room. We loved staying at The Signature and would definitely stay here on future trips. It's entirely non-smoking and does not have a casino, yet it's a quick walk through a series of hallways, to reach the MGM Grand. The Signature has its own entrance and valet, which were a lot less crowded and easier to navigate than the MGM Grand.

Our view-

The Signature towers at night.

While Dan was hard at work over at the convention center, I was working on our travel business ( Easy as Pie Travel) in the hotel room. We even brought our Mac, so that I could have a proper office. In the afternoons, I took a break and went swimming. Each of the three Signature towers, has its own pool and spa, but guests at The Signature also have access to the main pool at the MGM Grand. The towers also have a deli, Starbucks, and a gift shop. 

There was only one negative about our stay: Our first week was at the same time as a big Arbonne Conference that was being held at the MGM Grand. Our hotel had several conference attendees, and the room across the hall was being used as a hospitality suite, with door kept wide open during parties. It was mostly women attending and they were LOUD! It was hard for me to get work done, because they were so incredibly loud, as if they were the only ones on the floor. It was inconsiderate. They were also very pushy; pretty much every time I got into the elevator or went to the pool, I was approached with a sales pitch for Arbonne products. This even happened while I was trying to work out in the gym! I complained to the front desk and they apologized, explaining that they had fielded a lot of complaints, including staff who were being harassed to buy Arbonne! I can tell you this much, Arbonne could be the best product on earth, but after dealing with the rude convention goers, there is no way that I'd ever buy it. When the convention ended, The Signature was peaceful and the perfect hotel. 

We had a little bit of downtime for Vegas adventures. Since the truck was too huge to drive around, we had an additional rental car, and we took a drive to Mount Charleston, a mountain just a short distance from the strip. It reminded me of Big Bear, minus the lake.

Speaking of our travel agency, we found this very appropriate sign.

Vegas meals are always amazing and Fiamma is delicious.

Foxy and I are on our way to a cocktail party.

It was Dan's co-worker, Amanda's first trip to Vegas. We took her to Fremont Street for Jello shots, yard drinks, and cheap steak (not to be included in my declaration of amazing Vegas meals). Then we showed her the pretty side of Vegas, with a stop at the Bellagio Conservatory. The conservatory is beautiful in spring, bursting with pink cherry blossoms.

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Dan's best mate, Paul, was also here for business, visiting from England. We spent a few days with him, which included The Pinball Hall of Fame and the Bass Pro Shop. Dan and I love the Bass Pro Shop, but every time we take someone there from Europe, they don't exactly share in the excitement. They always seem a tad horrified. Luckily, Paul has a great sense of humor. He's horrified and smiling.

Paul got us back by taking us to the worst show in Las Vegas - The Australian Bee Gees Show.

I'm not a fan of the Bee Gees, but I was quite surprised by how many songs I recognized -"Oh, that's a Bee Gees song? I never knew." The Australian Bee Gees Show has been at the Excalibur for years, and it's performed in the same small theater as the Thunder From Down Under show.

I'm unashamed to admit that on a girl's weekend in Vegas, I went with friends to see Thunder From Down Under, and although it wasn't sexy, it was hilarious and entertaining. The Australian Bee Gees Show wasn't sexy or very entertaining, however, it was hilarious due to the people watching. It was a bizarre thing, because although the performers lacked energy (I felt the thousands of shows that preceded this one: the same thing, every night), the audience had plenty of enthusiasm. Drunken, rowdy, middle-age/middle-America, enthusiasm. One guy in front of us stood up on a table to dance, and tried to get his mortified wife to join him, before security intervened. It was an awesome spectacle, far more entertaining than what was happening on the stage. Towards the end of the set, they shine a spotlight on a small dance floor. get a disco ball spinning, and invite everyone to join the disco. You can just imagine what that looked like, again, it was awesome. The performers can sing, and they do a fair job at recreating the sound and look of the Bee Gees, but they are clearly tired of their gimmick. Their boredom is infectious. 

The show was lackluster, but we continued the fun with gambling and chicken wings at Hooters. A great way to end our final evening in Las Vegas.

 

tags: The Signature at MGM Grand, The Signature at MGM Grand Pictures, The Signature at MGM Grand Review, Where to Stay in Las Vegas, Our Trip to Las Vegas 2016, Las Vegas in Spring, Rooms at The Signature Las Vegas, Arbonne Women MGM Grand, 2016 Arbonne Convention Las Vegas, Rude Arbonne Sales People, Pool at MGM Signature, Peggy Sue's Diner, 1950's Style Diner, Peggy Sue's Yermo CA, NAB Las Vegas, Las Vegas Convention Center, Truck Marshaling Yard Las Vegas, Hanging out with Truckers, Truck Weighing Scale, First Time Watching Top Gun, East as Pie Travel, Pool at MGM Grand, Mount Charleston Las Vegas, Fiamma MGM Grand Las Vegas, Where to Eat in Las Vegas, Kate Spade Fox Clutch, Yard Drinks on Fremont Street, Fremont Street Las Vegas, Tony Roma's Fremont Street Las Vegas, Bellagio Spring Conservatory Pictures, Bellagio Conservatory Cherry Blossoms, Bass Pro Shop Las Vegas Taxidermy, The Australian Bee Gees Show Excalibur, Australian Bee Gees Show Review, Worst Show in Las vegas The Australian Bee Gees Show, Thunder from Down Under Las Vegas, Hooters Las Vegas, Bee Gees Songs, People Watching at the Australian Bee Gees Show, Great People Watching in Las Vegas, Things to do in Las Vegas
categories: Eat, Sleep, Watch, Visit
Sunday 03.12.17
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

Zion Canyon National Park (Part One)- April 2015

Every year, Dan has to spend a few long, exhausting weeks working the NAB Convention in Las Vegas. This year, I arrived as the convention was ending. I had a massage, shopped at Nordstrom and enjoyed the pool the Trump International. Clearly,  my life is rough. I was relaxed and well rested, when we set off for Zion National Park early on Friday morning, the beginning of our mini-vacation to Utah with Niklas, Dan's coworker and friend from Germany. Dan and Niklas were shattered and I was ready to go!

From Las Vegas, It takes less than three hours to drive to Zion National Park, which includes a brief dip into the state of Arizona. 

As we approached Zion, the rocks took on a reddish hue.

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We were staying at the Zion Lodge, the only hotel located within the park. We had to stop at the visitors center to pick up our red permit, which would allow our car to enter the park. Parking inside Zion is very limited. For anyone who is staying elsewhere, there is a free shuttle that makes a loop around the nearby town and into the park, stopping at all of the major trailheads.

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Dan and I stayed in the Zion Lodge a few years ago and thought that it was very nice. We had the same experience this trip. The rooms are basic, but cute. They have little balconies and the bathroom has tiles with local animals on them. Here is a panorama of the communal room. I took some of my blog cards and hid them in the puzzle boxes. I've had a lot of people connect with me via blog cards that they have found. I like to hide them!

I saw this sign and I knew that they were speaking directly to me!

When Dan and I were last in Zion, we did a mega hike to Observation Point. We had intended to do the same hike this trip, but we arrived late in the day and we really we not up to a major hike. Honestly, I was relieved! We did the much easier, shorter and very beautiful hike from the Temple of Sinawava to the start of The Narrows. 

No kidding, this trail is easy. I think even wheelchairs could probably handle most of the trail. It's flat, wide and not too rocky. We arrived just a few hours prior to sunset and the light made for some gorgeous photo ops. 

Pretty rocks in the Virgin River.

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The path was shady and the weather cool. Actually cold, I was walking fast to keep warm!

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Chipmunks and squirrels were everywhere. It was spring and they were frisky!

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Of course, we didn't feed them, but they were so friendly, that they came right up to us. I love taking pictures of signs and this was the winner.

More pictures to come in part two of my Zion National Park trip report!

 

 

tags: Zion National Park, Pictures Zion National Park, Arizona State Sign Picture, NAB Las Vegas, Our Visit to Zion National Park, Zion National Park April 2015, Vegas to Zion review, pictures of zion national park, Zion National Park Lodge, review of staying at zion lodge, Zion National Park Visitors Center, Red Permit Zion National Park, Don't Feed the Wildlife Zion, Observation Point Zion, The Narrows Zion, Hiking the Narrows, Virgin River Zion National Park, Chipmunks Zion National Park, Squirrel Zion National Park, Zion National Park Shuttle, Friendly Wildlife Zion, Easy Hikes Zion, Temple of Sinawave Zion National Park, Trump International Las Vegas, Nordstrom Las Vegas
categories: Visit
Saturday 06.27.15
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

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