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!