Halloween Horror NIghts

Last Sunday we went to the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. Saw was the main theme this year - not as scary as last year when it was Texas Chainsaw Massacre but still fun. There were lots of people in pig-face masks running around with chainsaws and a ton of zombies creeping around. It was great having Beth and Steve with us. We all took turns getting genuinely surprised in the scare zones and mazes. A high point was definitely the Terror Tram that takes you into the backlot. We got to walk past the hotel and house from Psycho and the crashed airplane from War of the Worlds. There were many very scarey performers throughout the tour. We even got our photo taken with Norman Bates! Beth convinced me to go on Jurassic Park in the Dark. You are guaranteed to get wet on this ride but we avoided getting soaked. I ate corn on the cob and Kelly got a humungous glazed doughnut with pink icing from Krusty the Klowns bakeshop. It was big enough to split four ways and still have at least one or more whole average-sized doughnuts worth. One downfall of a number of the events was the overuse of random water sprayers. The spray was supposed to be spit or blood expelled by the performers. Annoying! I got more wet from the random "blood spurts" than I did on the water raft ride. By the end we were all saying, "More scaring, less spraying!" Even so, days later I found myself thinking I would like to go back and do it again.

Yosemite Trip

Last week, September 13-17, we had a fabulous time in Yosemite National Park. Sunday we drove up and stayed in Oakhurst near the south entrance. Before heading into the park the next day we ate breakfast at a place where Kelly likes to get chicken fried steak and we went to the local gym. The day rate was only $7 and they had everything one would need to have a good workout. After our weight lifting fix we drove all the way to the north side of the park near Hetch Hetchy Reservoir where we checked into a little cabin at the Evergreen Lodge. I highly recommend staying here if you want to avoid the crowd in the valley and still be in the park. The drive from Oakhurst is so windey I always got motion sickness on past trips. This time I didn't get sick once because we were able to avoid extreme elevation changes. After a few nights in the cabin, we made our way to the valley where we stayed one night in Yosemite Lodge. It was us and all the Germans - I mean all the Germans. It was very crowded and much hotter than when we were up at Hetch Hetchy. Still enjoyable and the restaurant was excellent. The last day we drove the entirety of the Tioga Pass and came out on the east side where we then drove down through Mammoth. Each day we did at least one 3-4 hour hike. Then we spent time just walking around near our cabin or in the room where Kelly made music or we watched movies on my new laptop. Yosemite is definitely one of our favorite places.

drinking coffee with the bowling pin people at Oakhurst's Kountry Kitchen:

in the meadow where Kelly proposed:

making field recordings:



stopping along the Tioga Pass near White Wolf:


hiking to Lukens Lake:



Carlon day use area near Hetch Hetchy:
hiking to Carlon Falls:





ran into a herd of cows on the way back to our car:

after dinner at the Mountain Room at Yosemite Lodge:

after our most difficult hike up to May Lake:

More Six FLags

MOnte sent me some more photos from our SIx Flags adventure.

Six Flags Adventure

Yes, we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain again. This was Kelly's third visit of the summer. Our friends Roberto and Monte accompanied us on this trip. We rode all our favorites and didn't wait longer than about thirty minutes. It was late Sunday afternoon into the evening and the whether was great. Kelly went ahead and bought a season pass this time. I'm confident we will be back again.

Monte on the merry-go-round

neon green carnival pickles make the boys act silly
stranded on Colossus-one of the young employees running the ride hit the E-Stop button (i.e. emergency stop) and got us stuck half way up the first climb-we lived but never got to complete the ride-we did, however, get to walk on the side rail out of the ride and hear stories about people who have died at the park in recent years from our teenage guide
last coaster of the night-Dejavu-by this time I was done and definitely not interested in the ride that goes high speed forwards and reverse-the boys loved it-maybe I'll try t next time if we do it early in the day

Dinner in Malibu

Kelly took Saturday night off so we could spend a whole day together. We drove to Malibu just in time to have dinner on the beach. Afterwards we went to see the new Park Chan Wook's movie, Thirst. It was the first time we saw a movie in Korea town. It was a great little theatre that reminded us of the Dobie (with Asian friendly concessions). Thirst was entertaining but the story was unfocused and the main female character was not likeable. That said, I think we lost some of the stories impact because we did not speak the language. Numerous women around us were in tears at the end and we were unaffected. Would love to get an impression of the film from a friend who speaks Korean.

Malibu Seafood-fabulous!

we ate squid steak, clam fries, clam chowder, and fried oysters

Gogark Visit

afternoon at the children's museum with Xander and Megan-Xander loves cars, trucks, and airplanes

afternoon in La Cienega Park-Snoops enjoys being outside in the sunshine
Paul, Bailey, and Snoops-Snoops likes Bailey, especially when she drops her lunch on the ground
Snoops was very popular at the park-even Anastasia could not resist his charms

Megan and Xander on the go