Hard Rock Hotel, San Diego, October 2019

Hard Rock Hotel
San Diego, CA
October 19, 2019

In all of the time I have spent in the Gaslamp area in Dowtown San Diego, this was the first time staying at the Hard Rock Hotel. 

The Hard Rock is in the perfect location if you are attending a conference at the convention center, attending any event downtown or even in town for a Padres game. 

We were attending an event at the Marriott which is right behind the Hard Rock. So we decided to go with the cooler hotel!  The Hard Rock Hotel has a bar and it has restaurants, but it does not have the standard Hard Rock Cafe.

At one point the Hard Rock Cafe was in a separate building, but it has closed. Now it is just the Hard Rock Hotel.

If you are in the area, check it out. The hotel has some very cool memorabilia on display throughout.

The Difference Between ChildFree Men and ChildFree Women

The Difference Between ChildFree Men and ChildFree Women

Has anyone but me ever noticed how different friendships are between men and women? 

My husband will tell me about a coworker or friend or cousin, and I ask him the standard questions, Married? Kids? Frequently, my husband will say he doesn't know. WHY? Because it does not come up and it has no bearing on their friendship status.  

When women meet, even if we have no real friendship interest in the other, we will ask the standard questions, Married? Kids?  The answer to those questions determines quite a bit with women. Some insecure married women do not like to be friends with single women.  

When women are friends, it is pretty much accepted that the children will be part of the friendship. Coffee? Wine? Lunch? Movie? Yeap, the kids will be there for all of it. The only way that activities are not including the kids is when they are in school or maybe at a sport or activity. 

For men, they can be friends for years, hang out, do stuff together, spend lots of time together and never even MEET the other guy's kids. Why? 

Why are men given a kid free pass and women are not?  

The Navy Ball, October 12, 2019

San Diego Navy Birthday Ball

We attended the San Diego Navy Birthday Ball on Saturday,  October 12, 2019.

It was held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt at Seaport Village, San Diego.

The event was very good. We have been to quite a few Military balls over the years, but this was the first Navy Birthday Ball in San Diego.  

The food was very good. I really enjoyed how the gift was a coaster. It goes perfectly with all of the other wine glasses from other events.

The Seafood Market, San Pedro

The Seafood Market
San Pedro, CA

Sept 16, 2019

My husband's ship had to visit Naval Station Seal Beach. So I decided to drive up from San Diego to Seal Beach so we could go out to dinner. 

After a little research, my husband picked going to the Seafood Market in San Pedro. We just knew the seafood would be amazingly fresh. 

The menu and the "famous shrimp tray" weren't exactly what we thought. But we had driven there, so we decided to go ahead and eat there. We got the famous shrimp tray and some other steamed shellfish. 

As an East Coast person, the shrimp on the shrimp tray was seasoned weird. Like a Tex Mex kinda seasoning. 

Have these people never heard of Old Bay????

It was fine for the evening, but I definitely would not recommend it to anyone, or go there again. 

It was just like a weird attempt at making shrimp. We were expecting steamed or boiled shrimp, and it was more like stir fried with oil peppers and onions. 

VERY OILY.

San Diego Padres, Fan Rewards Month, September 2019

San Diego Padres, Fan Rewards Month
September 2019

As part of Fan Rewards Month, the San Diego Padres have several unique opportunities for the Compadres Members.

One of the opportunities is Compadres Signings. 

Outfielder Josh Naylor was the first.

The Child Free Lonely Life

The Child Free Lonely, Friendless Life

I've known since childhood that having children was not something that I ever, ever wanted to do. I honestly do not understand why people do it voluntarily. 
I had no idea when I was a child and I made the decision to never have children that it would cause me to lead a lonely life with little to no friends due to my choice.

As children, we don't really have many barriers to making friends with other kids. We end up playing with kids in our neighborhood, or becoming friends with kids in our class or maybe on our sports team or church. There really are no barriers in the eyes of the children. Parents will inherently put their own boundaries when they dislike something about a child or parent. I really can't say my parents ever refused to let me be friends with someone. I can remember in high school my sister and I were friends with a particular girl and her dad decided that she should not be friends with either of us because we were "nothing but trouble". The irony is both my sister and I graduated, went to college and have careers. The "friend" dropped out and ended up in jail. 

I typically made friends with people that I worked with, or people that I met through other activities. Work friends, normally no matter how strong, end up slowing down when you no longer work together. When I was younger and unmarried, I didn't really think too much about my decision to not have children. No one around me really had children unless they were older and married.  I made friends from college, work, or other places and it wasn't really an issue. As I got older, mid to late 20s, people I knew were getting married and having children. I started to notice that when someone I knew had a child, suddenly the friendship was over. They never had time anymore for whatever we had enjoyed together. After the kids came, we were simply coworkers and really no longer friends. I didn't really let it bother me because there were plenty of other people around me and I stayed busy.

Now, as a 44 year old, military wife, I feel like I am on an island. I feel like I do not know anyone in real life who has made the same decision. I have met a couple people close to my age who don't have children. However, each that I know, it is a medical reason why they do not have children, and it is not that they have made the same decision that I made. Or, in the case of one person that I know, she is only 22 and only been married 2 years, so she is officially a "not yet" not like me that is a "not ever".  

I try. Maybe I don't really, but I feel like I try. I try to do things that will allow me to meet other people. But I never ever meet anyone in real life that is Child Free like I am. I "know" a few people online from online groups. But as far as like a "real" person, someone I have spoken to in real life, nope, no I don't have anyone I know. 

San Diego is a city of 1.4 million people. I cannot POSSIBLY be the only person in San Diego who wants nothing to do with kids.  It feels like I am.  I have decided since the husband and I are not going to be in San Diego for much longer that I am pretty much just giving up on finding friends. I will have my few acquaintances, but the majority of my time, I am my only friend. 

Honestly, most of the time it is OK. I like to be very independent and I am definitely not the Navy Wife who can't function on duty day. I enjoy going to movies or concerts or other things by myself. I like setting my own schedule. Even though, I am the type that enjoys being alone, sometimes it is really nice to just have another person to talk to. However, with women, being friends means that you are going to have to deal with their children. Men can go and do what they want with out having to worry about dragging kids along, but women cannot. It is super frustrating for me.

Basically, I decided that I am not even gone to pursue trying to be friends with someone with kids at home. I just can't. I do not want what little bit of friend time to be run over with screaming kids. It leaves me in a weird position because I am still on a island, I am still not making friends, but I don't know how to deal with it all. 

San Diego Padres at the LA Dodgers, Saturday, August 3, 2019

San Diego Padres at the
LA Dodgers

First time at Dodger Stadium

One of my goals as a baseball fan is to visit all 30 MLB Parks. My first MLB Stadium was when I went to Camden Yards to see the Baltimore Orioles. Years ago when I worked for a different company, I had a vendor take me to Baltimore. There was a conference in Baltimore and we met the night before and went to the game. 

Until that point I had only been to a AAA Ball Park, so I was really impressed. In the past couple of years with me sort of "getting into" baseball and specifically the San Diego Padres I decided to try to visit a few other parks 

In July, I was in Kansas City, MO for a conference and I went to the Royals Stadium for a game. The trip to Dodgers stadium was my 3rd MLB stadium for the year. Dodger stadium is definitely OLD. From what I understand there are renovations planned for this off season, so I will definitely have to go back and see what changes.

I guess being a Padres fan and going to that stadium the most, I am shocked when I see an MLB park that seems to be so behind. It seemed that there was quite a few broken chairs and such near where we were. The part of the stadium where we went seemed really unfriendly for the handicapped. We could not find a ramp or elevator, so I had to really struggle with the steps and my bad knee. 

There could have been another way, but we didn't see any other way to get to our seating area.

I will say this about the LA Dodger stadium fans, no one really spoke to us at all. Which surprised me because I have been around some really RUDE LA fans at the Padres stadium. We had a good time at a the game. I can say that I had a Dodger Dog. Honestly, its not much different than a Friar Frank. They had these huge nachos they served in a Dodger helmet. I swear about 4 groups of people had these nachos near us. They smelled so good. 

We enjoyed ourselves at the game. I don't know if I will will go back for another game next season. Maybe next season I will focus on trying to go to the Angels or take a trip somewhere else like San Francisco or Phoenix.

The Las Vegas Neon Museum, July 4, 2019

Las Vegas Neon Museum
July 4, 2019

We spent a few days in Vegas for the July 4th weekend. We have been to Vegas on July 4th a few other times. Although, July 4th is a major holiday, its summer which is peak of the Vegas Peak Season, Vegas doesn't really "go all out" for July 4th. Vegas doesn't really do much for New Year's Eve either, but that is a story for another day.

Since moving to California in 2015, we have traveled to Vegas easily 100 times. But in all those trips, we had never gone to the Neon Museum. We've always wanted to, we just never made time. 

Both of us are fans of all of the history of Old Vegas. I definitely was surprised at how small the neon museum is. I guess I just expected to see every possible neon sign that has been retired.

I love that the neon museum has bought the names and logos for several of the old Vegas hotels. You can actually get objects from some of the old Vegas hotels like the old plastic room keys and the old ashtrays. It is really a great way to look at some of the history of old Vegas.

If the Neon Signs could talk, just imagine the crazy stories they could tell. 

50th Anniversary Game

The San Diego Padres 50th Anniversary Celebration Game

Saturday, June 29, 2019

The 2019 season for the San Diego Padres is their 50th Anniversary Season. From the "kick off" at Fan Fest in January, it was clear everything this season would be all about honoring the Padres history from the past 50 yrs.

We don't have season tickets. For many reasons. Some reasons being with my husband being active duty, I never know when he will be home. I hate to buy 2 tickets for something and then him not be able to go, so I just typically buy our tickets a week or 2 in advance when I know the schedule. 

For the June 29th game (and a couple others), I bought our special theme game tickets ahead of time. Way ahead of time. The 50th Anniversary game was an All Fan Giveaway of replica jerseys from Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman. For an additional fee, tickets could be upgraded to get a matching hat to go with the jersey. I definitely wanted the jerseys and hats, so I bought our tickets well in advance. As the actual game date got closer, it was clear that I had made a good decision getting our tickets ahead as the game ended up selling out.

Before the game started, the Padres had a special thing with season ticket holder families that had kept tickets the entire 50 years. After that, they had a Padres Parade of retired and former players. It was so good to see some of the older retired Padres players.

After the game was over, the Padres had a special Laser show. There are normally a couple games a year where the Padres do the laser show, and it is always good. 

Carnival Splendor, June 15, 2019

Carnival Splendor,  Long Beach, Mexican Rivera Cruise,  June 15, 2019

Before we even moved to Southern California,  we booked our first Mexican Rivera Cruise out of Long Beach. It was a special Carnival Premiere Casino Cruise. We were on Carnival Miracle in February 2016. Since we took that cruise, in 2017 and 2018 we took the shorter 4 day Catalina and Ensenada Cruise on Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration out of Long Beach. 

We decided since it is now a different ship doing the week long Mexican Rivera Cruise that it would be a great time to cruise it again.  Carnival Splendor is in Long Beach now but eventually it will be moved to Australia. Eventually, Carnival will be going back to San Diego and bringing a brand new ship. That will probably be the next time we do this same itinerary.

Our cruise on Carnival Splendor was our tenth cruise on Carnival. Four of the ten have been Carnival's smaller ships, Carnival Splendor was the youngest Carnival ship that we have been on. We had hoped that since it was only 10 years old that it would be in good condition. Sadly, we were disappointed in the shape of the Splendor. It looked to us that Carnival put off some much needed maintenance and repairs since the ship is doing a massive upgrade and dry dock before it goes to Australia. 

Overall, the cruise was great! We had fun in all three ports and we really had a good time on the ship. Our cabin was in a great spot. We opted for an ocean view cabin this time. We have really enjoyed having the extra room. I think we are both over packers. We bring coordinated outfits for the photo ops each night. We probably took 100 plus pictures and we bought quite a few!

The San Diego County Fair, Saturday June 1, 2019

The San Diego County Fair
Del Mar Fairgrounds

June 1, 2019

Normally, we go to the San Diego County Fair on Opening Day, due it being a special deal for military. This year, Godfrey had to work, so we ended up going to the Fair on the second day, Saturday, June 1 instead. 

The theme at the San Diego Fair this year is the Wizard of Oz. I have gone to the fair each year we have lived in California. I have really enjoyed it. There are so many things to do and check out at the fair. We are definitely going back for another fun day, but I am not sure exactly when we will be able to go. 

Godfrey's favorite part of the Fair is all of the crazy food. I swear, food vendors would fry water and sell it if they could. Of course, the vendors have the standard funnel cakes, corn dogs and turkey legs. I always try to find the craziest food item. I am definitely not going to eat any of the crazy stuff, but I definitely enjoy searching it out. Some of the crazy things I found this year were the fried oreos, fried cheesecake, fried bacon with chocolate and fried Kool Aid. I think every year the food gets crazier. This year I was a good girl and did not ear anything crazy.  

Steve Hofstetter, The Comedy Palace, San Diego, May 4

Steve Hofstetter, The Comedy Palace
San Diego, May 4

My husband and I have always enjoyed checking out stand up comedy. It is definitely one of the things that we really love about Carnival Cruises. We always make sure to check the schedule and check out as many comedy shows as we possibly can.

Now that we live in San Diego, there are quite a few comedy clubs near by to check out. We have decided we will eventually check out them all.  We started with The Comedy Palace which is the comedy club that is geographically the closest to us.

We were not disappointed.  We got lucky enough to be able to go when Steve Hofstetter was in town. He is absolutely hilarious. The show was great. We had great seats close to the front. 

Steve Hofstetter was great. We really enjoyed the show. He said that he was trying out some of his new material. I would definitely go to see him again when he is in town. 

The Comedy Palace is great venue. It is small, but it gives you a good view and it doesn't feel like it is very small.

Las Vegas

The Vegas Life for ChildFree

If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be handing out advice and recommendations about Las Vegas, I would have said they were nuts. My husband and I visited Las Vegas together for the first time in 2013. My husband had been here about 5 times when he was in high school. In 2013 we stayed at Luxor because my priority in 2013 was to see Cris Angel. In 2015, we moved to Southern California. We arrived in Oceanside, but we had a couple days before we could pick up the keys to our house, so we went to Vegas for a few days. We stayed at Mirage for 2 days and then stayed at Bally's for 2 days. We got settled in, and then quickly came back to Vegas about 4-5 weeks later. 

I had no idea that in 2016, we were going to be visiting Las Vegas at least once to twice a month. My husband and I had points with the Caesars Entertainment group, and got free stays fro his playing, so we made it a goal to stay at all of the properties in Vegas that are part of the Caesar's group. We accomplished that goal. We are now working on staying at all of the MLife Properties. We've stayed at 3 so far, so we have quite a few to go. I can't even count now how many times that I have been to Las Vegas. There are less hotels on the strip where we haven't stayed, than were we have stayed. We have seen tons of shows. We have eaten at tons of restaurants. I feel like the focus of our travel blog could be nothing but Vegas, Vegas, Vegas and I would have a million things to write about. 

I get asked by people what is your number one piece of advice for someone who is visiting Las Vegas for the first time. I would say my number one piece of advice would be, if there is a show, museum, or attraction that is on your "bucket list" check the schedule. Shows have dark weeks and dark days. Museums and attractions have closed days and sometimes will close to upgrade or renovate. Check the schedule! Don't fly to Vegas hoping to see Celine and visit the CSI attraction and get here and realize she is not performing that week and CSI is closed. Sam with the pool schedule. Don't show up in February thinking the pools will be open. My second piece of advice is just as important, DO NOT pay full price for anything. Just about everything has a discount. Hotels, shows, restaurants all have discount codes or coupons. Some shows have BOGO deals, or attend one show, get tickets to the other for free. Some hotels have special deals for guests. Don't pay full price for anything!

We have stayed at a variety of hotels. Everyone has had a different flair and feel. They also all have different restaurants, shows and even the casino games can be different at the different hotels. Some hotels are better for the under 25 crowd, some are better for kids, some are better for the older crowd. They all just vary. Doing your research based on the group you are visiting Vegas with is very important. My husband really likes Caesar's Palace. But when my sister came to Vegas for her first time, we stayed at Planet Hollywood because I really thought she would like that better due to the setup and the location. If my sister was to visit again and bring my niece, we would probably pick another hotel where my niece would have more things to do. 

Las Vegas is like my vacation home now. Even though we have been to Vegas a countless number of times, each time we try to do new things and we always have a good time. I head home from Vegas totally exhausted, but ready to go back for the next adventure!

Sea World San Diego's 55th Anniversary Celebration

Sea World's 55th Anniversary Celebration

San Diego, CA

I have had a Platinum pass with Sea World / Busch Gardens for years. When we lived in Virginia, we were 30-40 minutes from Busch Gardens Williamsburg. With the husband having family in San Diego and us visiting Florida on vacation occasionally, getting the Platinum pass for all of the parks just made sense. 

I have had the pass so long, I pay $10.50 a month, and I have a Platinum pass!

Honestly, I thought when we moved to San Diego, I thought I would be visiting Sea World like once to 3 times a month at least. We are about a 10 minute drive from Sea World. My husband and I visited before he went out to sea, but since he left, I had not been once!

I knew I had to visit for Sea World's 55th Anniversary Celebration. I really thought that Sea World would celebrate their anniversary all season. 55 years is a landmark. However, Sea World just had an Anniversary weekend. It also happened to be the first weekend of Spring Break for some of the schools in the area. I went on Sunday, March 24. I wanted to check out some shows and check out the food festival that was going on too.

It was really crowded. The weather was amazing, sunny but not hot and with it being the first weekend of spring break, the park was very crowded compared to the size crowds that I have seen before.   Normally when I see the orca show at Shamu Stadium, there are seats left open. I think it was at capacity for this show. 

I knew from reading the news that Sea World had stopped the Pets Rule show. The stadium looked like they were remodeling for another show, but I could not tell what type of show. They are probably still using the stadium for evening shows and will use it in the summer for the special shows for Electric Ocean.  

Sea World is always loaded with kids, no matter which day we go. But I feel like this Sunday was a "3 kid minimum" day. I have never seen so many strollers in my life. I know some people believe that theme parks like Sea World are "for kids" and the ChildFree should not be there. But honestly, I could not imagine trying to enjoy the day at a theme park while pushing a stroller, or dragging a small child. It would have to be hell on earth. 

Theme parks are yet another experience in my life that convinces me that ot having kids is the most amazing choice I could have made. 

Forever a Party of Two

Forever .... A Party of Two

We will forever be a Party of Two, but not in the way that most will think that I am referring to. True, we will forever be a party of two at home in that we are never going to have children and we do not have an immediate plans for any pets.  Today, I am tackling the fact that it feels like we will forever be a party of two when we dine, travel etc because friends without children are RARE.

The Childfree over age 35 frequently end up being friends with empty nesters or those who have busy, never home teenagers. Trying to be friends with those who have little kids is just impossible. The interests and schedules are just completely different. Its rare that parents can go out on a School Night. When they can or when they do, it is either something really special or they are done and home early enough to not disrupt the regular night schedule. For a childfree couple, we rarely have a "school night".  Both of us have taken a variety of courses, training, conferences, etc at various points in our careers which made us have to study and do homework on a week night, but normally, a week night doesn't have much difference for us. We can go and do what we want.

At various times we have had a varying number of couples or friends around us in various points of their lives. Some were never married, some were empty nesters, some were trying every day, it was just different for each couple. However, since moving to California, a place I considered to be more progressive than my home of Virginia, I was shocked to find the lack of ChildFree people. I figured anywhere I went, outside of the military community obviously, that I would have no problem finding couple who either didn't or were delaying the whole children thing. I have been shocked to realize that even outside of the military community that every where I look, it is still families, families, families. 

We have pretty much decided that we aren't going to bend, and go out of our way to be friends with people with kids. You can't go out on a Wednesday? Nope we are not rescheduling to when the kids don't have a game. Your problem is not my problem. It gets exhausting trying to work schedules around something I did not choose.  Have I accepted being a party of two? Maybe not 100%. I hope that one day, we meet a couple more interracial, married, childfree couples who enjoy traveling and dining out. Will we? I don't really know. One amazing thing in our marriage is we actually get along, and we actually enjoy spending time together. If we never meet any further childfree couples, we will still travel, we will still enjoy life. 

Our life is on our terms. We don't have to work based on someone else's schedule. Our married life is crazy enough being on active duty military. Whether we are surrounded by friends, or just surrounded by our love, our childfree status isn't changing, and our wonderful life is only going to get better.

CHILD FREE LIFE

Azure Hotel, Ontario California

Azure Hotel

Ontario, California

Living in San Diego, Anytime there is a convention at the Ontario Convention Center, it requires a 110 mile, 2 hr drive. For multiple day conventions, it makes sense to simply stay in the area, instead of driving 2 hours back and forth.  Back in November, I attended a multiple day convention and I made a blog post about the hotel where I stayed. I was close, but I drove to the convention center every day since I had things to transport with me.  The convention I just recently attended, I decided ahead of time to stay at a closer hotel, so that  I could just walk and not have to pay the parking fees.  I chose the Azure hotel. It is right next door to the convention center. Their parking lots touch. It was not even a 5 minute walk.

I am not sure if I would stay there again, even though it is super convenient, I am just not sure I would stay there again.

If you love the Grandma's Basement look, this hotel is for you. Everything in the hotel is super duper old and outdated. The flooring is this ridiculous, ugly GREEN marble. The bed was this super creepy 4 poster bed that somehow survived the 80s.

The most annoying part of the trip was when I checked in, the hotel had me as 2 separate nights, not one reservation for 2 days.  When I went to check in, the clerk was not helpful at all. She was just matter of fact, Nope they only had me for one night, period end of sentence. Not let me extend you, let me modify your reservation, not any help at all. 

I had to pull up the reservation to prove it was 2 days.  The hotel staff CLAIMED it was 2 separate reservations and their system would not allow it to be modified. As an IT Person, I don't believe it. 

I understand how software works. They could have easily changed the reservation.  Instead, I had to check out and check back in the next day. When I was at the desk checking out and checking back in, someone from house keeping was there. She said "You don't want service today do you?"

I just figured they were understaffed and she was trying to minimize what the housekeepers had to do.  I explained that I had food trash, I needed one more towel and the previous cleaner had left cleaning supplies in my room. I said they didn't need a full clean, but I at least need the trash to go and another towel.

I got back, of course my room hadn't been cleaned, the trash was still there, the cleaning supplies left previously were still there. Someone had dropped off a bunch of towels, but that was it.

The other super annoying part was the hotel has these "energy saver" light systems. You have to leave your card in the fixture to make the lights and AC run. So the hotel can have an updated "energy saving" feature, but they can't be bothered to either update the lamps to the lamps with plugs in the bottom, or add an outlet cover to the outlets by the bed that turns it into 3 outlets and a USB or similar.  Those covers aren't even $10. 

Vegas Baby!

Vegas Baby!

I decided to take a solo trip to Vegas at the end of January. I had some freebie days at the Caesars Properties. I decided to stay at Linq. I hadn't stayed at Linq in a long time. My husband and I have stayed there maybe 2-3 times. 

Linq and Cromwell are probably the only Caesars Properties without a Starbucks and with me being a huge Starbucks fan, I probably should have stayed at another property.

I decided to seize the opportunity to see a few shows and go to a few exhibits that my husband would not be remotely interested in. I walked and walked and walked. I swear I got well over 20,000 steps each day. It was at the end of January, so the big conference of January, CES, was already over. But of course, its Vegas, the convention capital, so there still were conventions going on. 

I had a good time, even though I was solo. I enjoyed the weather. It definitely was not too cold or too hot. My husband and I will be back in Vegas together in April.