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 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.

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!

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.

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.

Hawthorne Suites, St. Robert, Missouri

Hawthorne Suites

St. Robert, Missouri

For my family visit to Missouri, I wanted to spend as much time with my family as possible since I had not seen them in so long. Well my sister and family lives in Waynesville, and there are not any hotels anywhere in Waynesville. I found one B&B but it really looked creepy. There is a road of hotels in St. Robert right off the interstate which was super convenient. 

I decided to stay at the Hawthorne Suites. I really did not need the kitchenette, but having a fridge was handy. They put me on the first floor in a room right behind the housekeepers laundry and storage area. The room had clearly been fairly recently remodeled with updated flooring, bedding and furniture. The weirdest thing about the room was the bathroom smelled like a wet dog. I don't think the hotel even allows pets. 

My first night there was the 23rd. Apparently, Dec 23 is national Elephant Bowling with roller skates night. The hotel has no real noise protection from the floors above. I have no idea what was going on with the groups that were on the floor above me. Honestly, it sounded like a herd of elephants were bowling while wearing roller skates. The elephants kept falling down. Apparently, the elephants were up until at least 2am. I did get lucky in that the elephants only stayed there my first night and my last night. So I did get some sleep. 

I will point out something that Hawthorne Suites had, that ALL hotels need to have. EASY ACCESS TO POWER OUTLETS!

The night stand in between the 2 beds had a power strip built right in. There were outlets on the desk, under the tv and other places.  With the amount of traveling that I do, I stay in hotels all the time. One thing that really annoys me in when a hotel remodels or is fairly new and yet they cannot make sure there are outlets where people need them. Definitely it was a welcomed surprise at Hawthorne in St. Robert.

Welcome to Uranus!

Uranus Fudge Factory, St. Robert, Missouri

My Sister moved to Missouri in 2014 when her husband was given new Military Orders. Since her living there in 2014, I had never gone to visit her and see where she is living. I decided since the husband was deployed at Christmas, I would fly out and spend time with the family for Christmas. I stayed in St. Robert at a Hawthorne Suites. St. Robert is the next town over from where the family lives in Waynesville. 

I saw the Uranus Fudge Factory when I was driving it. I thought it was hilarious. When my sister had to work on Dec 26, I decided to take the kids to Uranus Fudge Factory.

They DO actually make fudge there. But the store is more of a general store for tourists. Just about any typical tourist item you can imagine is there for sale. It is in a small shopping center with other "Uranus" businesses. There is a small circus / freakshow museum, an escape room and even a small playground for kids.

The best part?

When you walk in the door, Everyone yells "Welcome to Your Anus!"

If you are anywhere near St. Robert, you have to stop by. If for no other reason, then to say you tried Fudge from Uranus!

WOW - World Of Wonder - RIO Hotel - Las Vegas

WOW

World of Wonder

RIO Hotel & Casino

Las Vegas

What is the most constant thing in Las Vegas? Change. As soon as you get the hang of where certain shows, restaurants and clubs are located, something will change. Especially with shows. Shows definitely come and go, they also move from venue to venue frequently.

The show WOW World of Wonder started in 2017 I think, maybe early 2018. From the previews, I knew I definitely wanted to see it. It is currently at the RIO where the Raiding the Rock Vault show used to be. At one point, RIO had Raiding the Rock Vault, X Rocks, a tattoo parlor owned by Counts Customs, and the KISS Rock N Roll mini golf. RIO was sort of going for a Rock n Roll kind of theme. Maybe trying to attract a certain age group or certain crowd. 

Raiding the Rock Vault has moved to the Hard Rock and X Rocks has moved to Bally's. WOW World of Wonder is a thematic, show performed in a sort of half round, multi level stage. The center is water and it changes. The show is not high flying and performing water tricks as some of the other shows. But it is definitely a dramatic, elaborate show. It tells a beautiful story and it is fairly easy to follow.

The story encompasses pirates, mermaids, sea creatures, fantasy, dreams, love and adventure. I would definitely recommend it for all ages. It was not something that was "too advanced" for kids maybe ages 5 and up. It is a fantastical roller coaster ride. There are few shows in Las Vegas that I would pay to see again within 6 months, WOW is definitely one of them. Don't miss it when you are in Vegas.

La Reve - The Dream

La Reve - The Dream

Several years ago, (I think 2014) the season finale of Face Off was held at the Wynn in Las Vegas. The finalists had to create make ups for their final that would be worn in the show La Reve the Dream. Ever since seeing that episode, I was super excited to see the show. La Reve is super popular and sells out every night. It is consistently rated the Best Show in Vegas. Due to its popularity, it is very rare to find any discounts for the show online, or in person, even in the off season. Since moving to California, my husband and I have been visiting Las Vegas frequently, so I knew eventually we would get to see the show. 

My husband was deployed and I got an email offer from the Wynn hotel. It was a package that included 2 nights, 2 buffets, and 2 tickets to La Reve the Dream for about the price of the 2 hotel nights. I got a friend to go with me, and we took Wynn up on their offer. 

The show was every bit of amazing. The theater is in the round, with performers on the stage and in the air. Honestly, there really isn't a bad seat. It is truly a show where there is action every where. We were sitting sort of in the middle and we saw everything without an issue. Those who choose to sit closer to the stage might have an issue.

If you are going to be spending time in Vegas, you definitely need to check out the show. It is an amazing show that takes you through a beautiful journey. The show goes through love, dreams, happiness, challenges and sends the viewers on a roller coaster ride of emotions.

The acrobats and performers are extremely talented. The show takes place in and out of the water, and high in the air. Prepare to be thrilled and see the best show of your life.

Heroes and Villains Fan Fest, San Jose, CA

 

Heroes and Villains Fan Fest

San Jose, CA

December 1, 2018

 

 

 

Fan Conventions, or "Comic Con" are super popular these days. I think it is a combination of the fans going to any length to see their favorite celebrity in person and celebrities either trying to stay relevant or trying to reboot a career. Some of the conventions are super small, and some like the notorious Comic Con in San Diego are ridiculously huge.

 

 

After getting a ton of emails, I randomly decided to get tickets to Heroes and Villains. I have always been a huge fan of Arrow and Flash, so I felt like I just HAD to go.  Unfortunately for me, San Jose is a hike, so the cost of the convention was also airfare and hotel. But it was worth it!

 



 

 

 

The Heroes and Villains Convention was also in combination with a Walker Stalker event, which is a fan event for those fans of the Walking Dead. I've watched one episode of the show, so I am definitely not in the fan category for that show. I was there to see everyone from Arrow and Flash.

 

The panels were pretty good. The Flash panel was quite funny with Robbie Amell crashing and joining when his booth time was up. There were some good questions, and some typically bad questions. Overall, it was a good convention.

 

 

 

I feel like for the size of the convention center in San Jose, I figured the convention would actually have been bigger than what it was, especially with the Walker Stalker convention. I was thinking that there was going to be more vendors there. There was a fairly good quantity of vendors, but I guess I was just thinking there would be more.

 





 



MSC Seaside, June 9-16, 2018

MSC Seaside

Miami, Florida

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Nassau, Bahamas

Our First Cruise on MSC was MSC Seaside out of Miami. 

This was our 10th cruise overall. However, the first 9 were on Carnival.

Our cruise journey definitely started out quite interesting. First when booking and checking in, we had to get used to how MSC does it. I actually liked their system better.
Instead of opening your on board account ahead of time, you have until you have been on the ship for 48 hours before your account is "on hold" until you put a credit card down. It can be done from one of their many kiosks, so we definitely did not have to stand in some long line.

We have cruised out of Miami before but MSC was at a different terminal. When we got to the terminal, our Lyft driver pulled right to the luggage cart. He was actually not in a parking space. He was just trying to get us to the pile of luggage as close as he could.
As we get out of the car, I have my husband asking me questions, the Lyft driver talking to me, and the dock worker talking to me asking me questions. Even though the dock workers are unionized, get an $15 an hour, they still expect tips. We had 3 bags that the handlers had to move from the ground to the cart. That was it. We were right by the luggage cart. If we had been further away, I could understand. I opened my wallet while talking to the driver and my husband and THOUGHT I grabbed a $5 for our 3 bags. My standard in the past had been $2-$3 basically $1 per bag. If we are getting on earlier and our room isn't ready, we check more. If our room would be ready, we carry on more.

In this case, our room would be ready. The dock worker took our 3 bags, one spinner suitcase, one regular roller, and a garment bag. I thought I handed him a $5. He looked at what I tipped and gave me the world's dirtiest look. I have gotten worse looks from people when I intentionally did something bad to them. Finally the Lyft driver was satisfied and left, my husband took off towards where we would check in, and took off after him.
Later, I looked in my wallet and realized I must have given him a $1 instead of a $5 based on what was in my wallet. It was an accident. 
We got on the ship, ate, did the safety drill, went to dinner, waited and waited waited. My husband had his luggage. But my suitcase with our toiletries, my medication, ALL of my clothes was never delivered.
Finally at 9:15pm I could not wait any longer and I went to guest services and then was directed to the "no tag: area. Thankfully my suitcase was there, and my luggage tag was easily visible.
I could tell where the tag had been ripped off clearly the dock worker was angry that I had not tipped what he expected. It made the cruise start off on a sour note, but it was not MSC's fault.

Other things about the cruise definitely made up for it. 

Carnival Inspiration, February 2018

Carnival Inspiration

February 26, 2018

Long Beach, CA

Catalina Island, CA

Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Our second Carnival Premier Getaway, our 3rd cruise out of Long Beach, Our second short Mexico Cruise. 

This was our 9th cruise on Carnival. When we originally started cruising on Carnival in 2015, our plan was to not repeat the Ship, Embarkation port, or Itinerary. So far, we have not cruise on a Carnival Ship twice. We have done the same itinerary twice, and this was our third cruise out of Long Beach.

We board the Carnival Inspiration and then went to Catalina Island the next day. We decided to take a tour around Catalina Island and get to see some sights. It was a great drive to get to view around the Island. When we had been there before we did something else. 

Our next stop was Ensenada Mexico. This was my third time in Ensenada. Our first time we drove there. From where we are in Northern San Diego County county, it takes about 90 minutes with no traffic to get to the border, and then it is about 2 hrs to get to Ensenada after crossing the border.  The second and third time we visited Ensenada we were on a Carnival Ship.

Ensenada is a fun tourist town. The weather is pretty good all year, so there is a ton to do as far as activities. This trip we did a wine country tour. People do not really think of Baja California as being Wine Country, but it is. Due to the wonderful weather, it is a great place for grapes and olives, not just the infamous Agave for tequila. Our wine country tour included a bottle of wine at the first vineyard. The second vineyard had way more than just wine. It had all sorts of oils, spreads and seasonings. It was a great tour even for those who do not drink. 

Las Vegas for my sister's birthday, January 2018

My sister had always wanted to have a weekend in Vegas. At one point before our dad passed away she was discussing it with some of her friends, flying and meeting in Vegas for a few days. Since my husband and I moved to California, we have gone to Vegas at least once a month. With my husband playing in the casinos, he gets frequent deals or freebies. Basically, we can go to Vegas whenever we want.

The death of my father brought my sister and I together for 2 weeks. We hadn't seen each other since she moved from Virginia to Missouri. The military life had put us in Virginia at the same time for several years. We really enjoyed the opportunity to be together, see each other and spend the time with our parents. By the time that our father passed, we have both realized that we are never going to live in the same city again. Her husband and family love Missouri, my husband and I love California. We will probably move back to Virginia due to the fact that we own a home there. 

I was missing my sister, and I randomly just texted her and asked her what she was doing for her birthday. We ended up planning for her to fly to Vegas for a couple of days.  We drove on Thursday, and then my sister flew in on Friday. 

After we left the airport, we went to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, and then we decided to go to Freemont Street. Within a couple hours of being in Vegas for the first time, my sister talked in me into getting on the Slotzilla Zip Line. 

While my sister was in Vegas, we stayed at Planet Hollywood, we ate at Whalburgers and Mesa Grill, and we saw Jabawockeez and The Tenors of Rock. I will do separate posts for all of the things we did. 

Get Over It

We all make our own choices in life. The best thing you can do in life is make the choices that work for you and what you want out of life. We have chosen to not have children so that we can be free to travel and enjoy our free time. We wanted a life without constraints. 

Jennifer Lopez, All I Have

Jennifer Lopez

All I Have

Planet Hollywood

Las Vegas, NV

We waited until we had been to Vegas many times before we finally saw JLo. My advice, DO NOT WAIT. From what I understand her show is ending soon. The show was very good. We went the full spectrum of her career.

Even if you are not a huge fan of pop music, go see her show before it leaves Planet Hollywood. It is definitely a great show and worth the ticket price.

Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California, December 2017

Knott's Berry Farm

Buena Park, California

December 7, 2017

We love Knott's Berry Farm!

This was our second year in a row taking advantage of the free military days from Knott's Berry Farm.  When we lived back in Virginia, Cedar Fair had the theme park Kings Dominion. Cedar Fair operates Knott's Berry Farm, so the rides are very similar. 

The best part of going to Knott's Berry Farm during the free military days is that the park is decorated for Christmas. We really enjoyed the day. We changed it up and saw some different shows, and tried some different food.

The roller coasters will always be my favorite. My favorite coaster at Knott's is the Silver Bullet! It reminds me of the Dominator at Kings Dominion.

Reasons to be Childfree

Carnival Glory, June 2017

Carnival Glory

Bahamas, St. Thomas, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico

Port of Miami

This was our first cruise out of Miami on Carnival. This was our sixth cruise on Carnival. Each itinerary so far we have cruises on a different ship, out of a different port, and the itinerary has been slightly different each time as well. 

This was our second time in Half Moon Cay, but this was our first time in St, Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. My husband had been to St. Thomas and San Juan as part of a Navy cruise a long time ago. But he didn't remember much. However, he had never been to any part of Turks and Caicos. I was excited, FINALLY a country that my husband has not been too!

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, May 2017

For Memorial Day Weekend 2017, We decided to visit someplace that we have never been. We went to Palm Springs for the weekend. The first thing on our agenda after arriving was to check out the Aerial Tramway. 

My biggest piece of advice with the Aerial Tramway is to give yourself plenty of time. We did not realize how long it was going to take just to PARK! Once we parked and went up, we had to wait an hour before our scheduled Tram.

The Trams only hold a set amount of people, so they are scheduled going up, and then coming back, you will just get in line and wait your turn.

It was definitely a cool experience to go up that elevation for someone who has not really been to an elevation like that before. 

We took the tram and probably stayed at the mountain top about two hours, then got in line to come back down. The views were amazing and we would definitely do it again. If you are are a hiker or into mountain climbing, go prepared! You can take the hike up the mountain for some amazing views.