Tuscany Manor Palm Springs California

We stayed at a Travel Advantage Network resort Tuscany Manor in Palm Springs CA over the past weekend. Maureen works at the corporate office and one of her employee benefits is being able to book vacations at a discounted rate. This is the first time we have taken advantage of this benefit and it worked out perfect with a business trip I was taking to San Diego.

While attending the IFEBP conference in San Diego we stayed at the Hilton San Diego Resort on Mission Bay. The room was spacious, the pool, hot tub and fitness center were excellent. I used the fitness center each day. It include a steam room and sauna. The location was about 4 miles from Sea World and about 10 minutes to downtown were the convention center was located.

On the first free day we did a 59 mile drive through and around San Diego. The drive went by numerous tourist spots in the city such as Harbor Island, Carbillo National Monument, Ocean Beach, Soledad Mountain, La Jolla Park and Cave, Balboa Park and the Zoo. The tour gave us a real feel for the city and where we would want to spend some additional time.

We ate dinner at a number of different restaurants in the Gaslamp quarter and went over to Coronado on the last day. The Hotel del Coronado was something to see. Built in the late 1800's it's housed many presidents and had been the backdrop for a number of movies. There was a museum but we didn't have the time for that. We found a cute little coffee shop and had some exquisite cupcakes and coffee.

Tuesday afternoon I cut out of the conference a little early so we could spend the day at the San Diego Zoo. This zoo has the best animal exhibits I have ever seen. The animals seem to be treated very fairly and have lots of room to roam around. My favorites were the pandas, lions, tigers and elephants. Not much action a the polar bear exhibit which was disappointing. We started out on the bus ride which is included in the ticket price. This gives a nice overview of the entire place. After that we did quite a bit of walking but it was quite enjoyable. There was a sky tram that took us from the far end of the zoo back to the exit when we were through. We did the whole thing in a bout four hours. Make sure and visit here when you visit San Diego.

The next day I wrapped up my conference and we left for Tuscany Manor in Palm Springs. The drive took about 2 1/2 hours but we broke it up with lunch along the way. We arrived about 4 and were greeted by Maureen's coworker Pete who was the general manager of the place. He was very friendly and knowledgeable about the surrounding area. He put us in a nice roomy two bedroom place that had a living room along with a small kitchen area. That evening we went downtown and had a wonderful dinner at The Falls Steak House. We ate on the balcony and had a nice view of the street below and a fountain featuring Sony Bono. We had the three course meal featuring salad, prime rib and dessert. Maureen had the filet and shrimp along with the mud pie. Even though a little pricey it was the best meal we had all week. Afterwards, we walked down the block for the Villagefest which takes place ever Thursday in Palm Springs. There are like 200 vendors with different art, crafts and food items. Maureen picked up this beautiful necklace made from the Connecticut state quarter. I just picked up my favorite food stuffs licorice and beef jerky.


The next morning on Pete's recommendation we set out for Joshua Tree State Park in the Mojave Desert. It wound up being about an hours drive from the resort but we stopped for breakfast at some little hole in the wall along the way. We stopped at the Visitor's center for maps and were given advice from the Park ranger. He advised us of a number of things to see along our route to the western park entrance which was about 30 miles away. The rock formations are quite cool to look at and even better to scramble around on. at the first pull off we saw some people scrambling on the rocks and decided to give it a try. We made it right up to the top with only a couple scratches. The we saw Skull Rock, Sky Rock and tons of Joshua trees. We took a number of pictures along the way. Next we stopped at a trail head for Ryan's Mountain and after I read the sign I convinced Maureen that she could do it and off we went on a three mile hike up to the top of Ryan's mountain. The hike was pretty strenuous without water and at midday but we managed the climb to an elevation of 5500 feet and made it back in just over 2 hours.


Our final destination in the Park was Keys View were there is expansive view of the Coachella Valley, the Salton Sea and being that it was a clear day we could see all the way to Palm Springs.

That evening upon our return we met a nice family from Salt lake city. They were there to visit family for Thanksgiving. We spent 2 hours just hanging in the hot tub and resting our weary bones. Later that evening after Maureen went to bed I went down the street to Ricks Cafe ordered the special and found out later it was Mahi Mahi. I thought it was some sort of steak. The next day when we drove by I realized Rick's was a Cuban Restaurant.

Saturday we did a little shopping had a nice breakfast downtown and spent the afternoon napping and relaxing around the pool. We had an early flight out Sunday and just to be ready.

The flight home on Sunday was brutal. Our connecting flight to Baltimore from Dallas was cancelled and we were rerouted into Dulles airport 6 hours later. We had to spend 7 hours at the airport in Dallas. Once we arrived at Dulles airport we had to get a cab back to BWI to pick up our car. We didn't get in until after 1AM, plus no luggage. The airline did deliver our luggage the next day but it still was not a good way to end a great trip.

MixTape / an 80's Musical

We went to see this show last night at the Lam's Players Theatre in San Diego. What a fun and enjoyable evening. Here's a review.

miXtape’s a big, sprawling, longish evening, performed with rampant energy and polish by the Lamb’s Players’ eight-person cast. The show’s like a magnet. It attracts not just the music but the popular culture and history of the 1980s. Memory-triggers zip past: Pet Rocks, Pacman, Rubik’s Cube, Nelson Mandela, Cheers — but why not Saturday Night Live? Also, other ’80s lows and highs, like the Trickle-Down Theory that didn’t (measured by the rise of the homeless); or, during the ’84 NL playoffs, when the “wave” made it all the way around the Murph for the first time, and hordes of newly unrepressed Padre fans applauded their ­audacity.

miXtape has a frame tale: four men and four women abandon today’s frantic pace — a “Manic Monday” — and, via time machine and cassettes from above, find themselves in the 1980s: no cell phones, no bars, and things appear “simpler,” at least to them. The decade flash-dances footloose before their ­eyes.

miXtape clusters songs around a theme. In a funny sequence about the exercise mania of the early ’80s, women in legwarmers stretch and dip to Olivia Newton-John’s “Let’s Get Physical” (“everybody was working out,” one says, “or at least dressed like they were”). Joy Yandell, excellent all evening long, nearly explodes to “Maniac.” Richard Simmons makes a cameo, his bobbing headband a near ­blur.

Colleen Kollar Smith’s choreographic collages range from Jazzercise riffs to Michael Jackson’ genius moves to a parody of Top Gun, starring her husband Lance Arthur Smith, done with rolling office chairs; Jemima Dutra’s apt period costumes, from The Breakfast Club togs to the proton-packed Ghostbusters (costume changes often taking place in ­seconds).

The musical’s about the 1980s but has a 2010 radar-blip attention span. Most of the songs are actually song-bites, snippets of tunes, like Mark Knopfler’s intro to “Money for Nothing.” As soon as you want more, they’re gone. miXtape uses this scattergun effect almost exclusively. More respites would help, one in ­particular.

“Just a small-town girl”: Louis Pardo’s semi-nerdy Brian goes to the prom and has a tonic chord moment with his date and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which he hears for the first time. He talks about the “power of song” to freeze and magnify a slice of time, in effect underlining the musical’s theme. In the song, the “streetlight” people live “just to find emotion/ Hiding somewhere in the night.” Brian’s afraid the emotion he found may vanish when the song ends. The scene, the band nearly drowning out Pardo’s words, moves way too ­quickly.

Act Two turns inward, as the characters graduate and become adults. The chipper feel of Act One gives way to somber reflections of love lost — or never found, as in “She Must Be Somebody’s Baby” — and hearts broken. Although the songs in this section have a sameness, the performances deepen (especially Michelle Pereira’s too-brief rendition of Heart’s “Alone”). When the sketchily drawn characters recall the Challenger tragedy, the beginning of AIDS, and the Berlin Wall, however, the music often falls short of the subject ­matter.

As a mix tape, the musical’s cluttered. Instead of trying to account for everything in the decade, it needs to pare down some parts and heighten others. Requiring an audience to flit from one song/idea/memory to another nonstop ultimately works against the concept. But as a performance, backed by Andy Ingersoll’s versatile band and under Kerry Meads’s feisty direction, miXtape is always entertaining — and memory-provoking.

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy made its way up the coast earlier this week. Everything shut down here in the DC area on Monday and Tuesday. Fortunately we escaped the wrath of the storm and were only mildly affected. The winds were fairly intense and there was debris strewn all across our yard. We didn't lose power.
The people in New Jersey were not as fortunate.
A blog I follow Parkway Rest Stop had the following comments.
New Jersey is a small, but densely populated state with lots of communities. As such, it is not uncommon, even in this small state, for us to never have visited or even know much about many of its communities. There is one huge exception to the rule, and that is Seaside Heights. I don’t know a soul who is unfamiliar with Seaside Heights, and most have many, many fond memories of the iconic shore town. Working class families (such as my parents and extended family) would save all year for a week or two “down the shore,” which inevitably included either a rented bungalow in or near Seaside Heights and endless hours on the boardwalk enjoying the games, the rides and the food (I’m thinking sausage, pepper and onion sandwiches). Maybe it’s the atmosphere and salt air that makes the food on the boardwalk taste special. I never figured it out.
Anyway, it’s gone. Taken away by Hurricane Sandy.

To see numerous heart-breaking images and videos, Google “Seaside Heights Hurricane Sandy”.

Bruce Springsteen @ Nationals Park

We went to the Bruce Springsteen show with my cousins Michael and Denise along with our significant others on Friday night. It was by far the best Springsteen show I've ever attended. 

Speaking of irony, Bruce plays a DC baseball stadium when the decades old axiom "Washington DC: First in War, First in Peace, Last in the American League" no longer applies, as the Nationals magic number to clinch the National League East, (The Senators were in the American League) was 11 when the concert started.Beforehand, the procedure for getting to seats down on the field was a Nationals Park failure of major proportions. It shouldn't take fans an hour to get to their seats, but by having only two access points for the field, it was one of the more chaotic concert situations I've ever been a part of. Taking 20 minutes to walk 50 yards, the backup was insane — but then, why should a baseball stadium be different than 495? since we were not on the floor we were able to walk around the corner and get in through one of the side entrances. Bruce hit the stage at 8:24 with a roaring version of "Prove It All Night '78." Call it "out of sight." Regardless, the opener sent a message that, this was going to be a special night indeed.

Next, Max took center stage and propelled "My Love Will Not Let you Down," one of the great Born in the U.S.A. outtakes, to new heights. While many in the crowd could be overheard asking what song it was, it didn't stop them from dancing with the ones they were with. And any show that features "The Ties That Bind" is a show that's going to work for me. I wish there were more opportunities to hear Steve Van Zandt play the 12-string guitar, but I'll take it with "Ties." "Hungry Heart" did something neither President Obama nor House Speaker John Boehner could do: Bruce got 39,000 Democrats, Republicans and Independents to sing along together in unison.

Of course it was during "My City of Ruins" that Bruce talked to us about ghosts, and old buildings. My god, how many ghosts must there be within miles of here, I thought. From the Lincoln Memorial to the Vietnam Veterans memorial to the Washington Monument to the John F Kennedy Center for the Arts to Ronald Reagan National Airport and Robert F Kennedy stadium, just about every building in DC is a reminder, a ghost, of those who have come before us and who walk alongside the living. For all of Bruce's observations on these matters, he sure hit the city that lives with those kinds of reminders daily.

An exorcising "Spirit in the Night" and a ragged-but-right "Blinded By the Light" were up next as the only representation of Bruce's first two records. And the four-pack of "Jackson Cage" right into "She's the One," "Johnny 99," and "Darlington County" made it clear that the E Street Band are worthy of the Congressional Medal of Rocking Out.

But by far, the high point of the evening came when Bruce dedicated a transcendent version of "Racing in the Street" to members of U.S. Troops currently residing at Walter Reed Hospital who were attending the show. Bruce thanked them and all veterans for their service and then played "Racing" as though it was going to be for the last time. "Racing in the Street" works on so many levels. It might be his finest, most reflective summer-themed song. The themes of loss, disillusionment and washing away of sins seemed appropriate and vital tonight. The instrumental coda at the end was breathtaking. To hear Roy Bittan build layer upon layer along with Garry Tallent's elegant bass lines rolling under the body of the song... by the time it was over, I was spent — I'm not sure how the band carried on.

Set-closer "Land of Hope and Dreams" was tight, compact, and did everything the ten-minute version used to do in about half the time. On one of DC's more beautiful nights, "We Are Alive" worked wonderfully. "Born to Run" is still the best crowd-watching song I've encountered. And the "Detroit Medley" through "Twist and Shout"? Well at this point they're just a blur. Max's daughter Ali playing the accordion on "American Land" is a keeper! Bruce breaking out into “Twist and Shout" is a total crowd pleaser. To keep coming back and to keep playing till the crowd is spent... yup, he surely does empty the tank every time.

Here is the Setlist:
1. Prove it All Night with ’78 intro.
2. My Love Will Not Let You Down
3. The Ties That Bind
4. Hungry Heart
5. We Take Care Of Our Own
6. Wrecking Ball
7. Death To My Hometown
8. My City Of Ruins
9. Spirit In The Night
10. Blinded By The Light
11. Jack Of All Trades
12. Jackson Cage
13. Shes The One
14. Johnny 99
15. Darlington County
16. Shackled and Drawn
17. Waitin’ On A Sunny Day
18. The Promised Land
19. Racing In the Street
20. The Rising
21. Badlands
22. Land Of Hope And Dreams
23. We Are Alive24. Thunder Road
25. Born To Run
26. Detroit Medley
27. Dancing In The Dark
28. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
29. American Land (Ali Weinberg on accordion)
30. Twist And Shout
The Show ended at 11:54

Our Bermuda Cruise

Our entire family left from Baltimore on Friday June 8 for a 6 day cruise to the island of Bermuda. I had never been on a cruise before and had my doubts and concerns about the entire adventure. I've had issues with motions sickness and was quite concerned that may be an issue on the trip. Fortunately, we only had one day of rough seas and even then it never affected me. We sailed on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. From the moment we boarded the ship the staff were cheerful, helpful and a pleasure to be around. Our room attendant, Nelson was wonderful. He greeted us several times each day and did a super job attending to our quarters. His wife worked on the ship also as a nurse. They were from the Philippians and spent 6 months at a time on the ship and then return home for 3 months. Along with our family my Mother-in-law Joyce and a friend, Dan and Evelyn Maddox, the Stowell's and Buswell's all were on the cruses. There were 17 of us in total. We departed Baltimore at 4:30 and had our first dinner at 6pm. I liked that we had the early seating every evening. That way we could see the 8:30 show. Our gang wasn't much interested in doing the formal dinners so we ate at the buffet those nights. The dining options were awesome. 24 hour room service was offered. There were two separate dining areas along with the main dining room. The service int he dining room was wonderful. Each night there was a different menu and you could order multiple meals if you liked. The boys all seemed to eat steak each night.They even offered lobster tail one night. For the most part we ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch there and then went to the dining room for dinner. The buffet had anything you could imagine and it was all delicious. Breakfast was wonderful with fancy Omelets and any other breakfast food your could think of. During the day most of us hung out around the pool deck. The weather was spectacular except for one day. There were all kinds of activities that the entertainment department put on to keep the guests entertained. I played in a Texas Holdem tournament. I had won $100 the night before so I figured what the heck spend the $100 an enter the tournament. I wound up getting a bad beat with pocket 10's and was knocked out. We cruised all day Saturday and Sunday and arrived in Bermuda around 4pm. We meet the family in the dining room for dinner and afterwards only Jenna and I went onto shore. We had a great time. We found a club and were a couple guys were playing music, then went to snorkel beach were a reggae band was playing. We saw an awesome sunset there. Later we went on a glass bottom boat ride out to the Bermuda triangle. We saw beautiful coral reef, fish and even a ship wreck. We got back to the ship sometime after midnight. I couldn't believe that no one else wanted to go out. Oh well, special time for Jenna and I. Monday after breakfast we all meet on the pier and purchased a daily transportation ticket. That allowed you to board any bus or ferry for the entire day. We decided to go Elbow Beach which was not the main beach area where most of the guest were being directed. It was about 45 minutes on the bus, which was OK because it gave you an opportunity to see some of the island. What strikes you is the cleanliness of the island.It's also odd that the drive on the left side of the road. The beach was spectacular. Beautiful blue crystal clear water. We rented snorkel gear and those that wanted to took turns snorkeling. There actually was a shipwreck not to far off shore that you could see.We stayed at the beach most the day and then got back on the bus to ride into Hamilton to catch a ferry back to the ship. We split up to do some shopping and were to meet for the 5:30 ferry. Well, Steve, Matt, Karen and I were at the end of the line and right as we're to board they lower the rope and no more on board. We have to wave good bye and wait an hour for the next ferry. Needless to say we were not that happy. Anyway, we got back to the ship around 7:30 and had a nice dinner. Later that evening they had a blow out deck party. Lot's of fun drinking and dancing. We were the last group to leave the deck. The older kids went on shore to a late night dance club and didn't get back until after 4. They ran into the juggler who had performed the night before and was out on the prowl with his wife. Tuesday morning we had a few hours until the ship set sail back to Baltimore. The girls and I went onto shore and walked around the dockyard mall and purchased t shirts and other souvenirs. The ship left around noon. Later that afternoon there was a sexiest man competition. My Brother-in-law Steve gave a valiant effort but in the end was beat out by a special needs kid. It was quite the event. Later there was a belly flop contest. Nice thing about the cruise was that there was always something to do. Each morning they would leave a flyer in your room outlining all the different entertainment options for reach day. We pretty much did dinner and the show each night and then went to the casino for a while. I played quite a bit of Texas hold em and made a number of friends at the tables. That evening we celebrated Ed Buswell's birthday. Wednesday was the first day we had any inclement weather. The seas were about 8-10 feet high. The boat was really rocking. We new there might be some trouble when the crew hung barf bags along the corridors and the stairways. Fortunately, for the most part, everyone was able to take some pills or put on a patch. The weather was crappy most of the day. We took in a movie, at lots of food and watch a couple shows. The ship put on a spectacular finale show with awesome singing and dancing. We arrived back in Baltimore at 7am the next morning. We quickly departed and were home by 9:30. All and all one of the best vacations our family has ever had. Royal Caribbean did a great job and for the cost it'd be hard to beat. `

Current Country

A lady who works with my wife Maureen invited us last evening to a local restaurant where her husband was playing banjo in a bluegrass band.
These guys were fantastic. Turns out her husband was Senior Chief Musician Keith Arneson from the Navy’s Current Country Bluegrass ensemble. The bass player from the Navy band was also in the group. He played some of the best a stand-up bass I’ve ever seen. The Front man was a 20 year retired Navy band Musician Wayne who has lived right here in Crofton only a couple blocks away since 1995. They also had a Mandolin player who was phenomenal. He however only did 6 years in the Navy.
At one point Maureen's friend got up on stage and played a couple tunes on the Bass. We had a good time.

Country Music

Recently I have been listening to more and more country music. When I was younger, I was a classic rock kind of guy. I still like the occasional jam band but for the most part I listen to country music frequently. The songs seem to have more meaning to my everyday life.

Most country music (not all) has lot of family values thrown in. So if you don't have children or a home of your own to protect, you might not like it. But as you mature, it will grow on you.

Country music is about family, God, love, children, and sacrifice…with a little bit of sin songs thrown in for spice. To each his own, but I just get really tired of people saying "I really don't like country music" but did you hear that one song?

Here's an example of one of my favorite's by Montgomery Gentry.



Here's What Jeff Foxworthy said about Country Music in 2007. Pretty Much nails it.

I like country music because it’s about the things in life that really matter. It ain’t about braggin about how your gonna mess somebody up or about how somebody ain’t respectin ya. It’s about love, family, friends, with a few beers…. With a cheap woman and two timin’ man thrown in for spice.

It doesn’t take political sides even on things as ugly as war. Instead it celebrates the men and women who go to fight em, the price they pay to do it, and the longing we have for them to return home to the ones that they love.

It’s about kids and how there ain’t nothing like em. I get tired of hearin about how bad kids are today because there are a lot of great kids out there that just need somebody to love em and believe in em. Country folks love their kids and they will jack you up if you try to mess with em.

People in country music don’t forget the people that allowed them to do what they do for a living. They sign autographs and they take pictures with the fans because they know without em, most of us entertainers would be getting a lot dirtier in the course of our workday. We are thankful that people want to hear the songs and the jokes that we write.

Country music doesn’t have to be politically correct. We sing about God because we believe in Him. We’re not trying to offend anybody, but the evidence that we have seen of him in our small little lives trumps your opinion about whether or not He exists.

We love country music because it touches us where we live. It’s about mammas. and when they were hot, and when they are unappreciated and when they were dying.

It’s about daddies and the difficulties they have telling the people they work so hard to protect and provide for how they feel about them.

Country music is about new love and it’s about old love. It’s about getting drunk and it’s about getting sober. It’s about leavin’ and it’s about comin’ home. It’s real music, sung by real people FOR real people. The people that make up the back bone of this country.

You can call us rednecks if you want, we’re not offended, ‘cause we know what we are all about. We get up and go to work, we get up and go to church and we get up and go to war when necessary.

All we ask for is a few songs to carry us along the way and that’s why I love this show (the CMT music awards.) Because it ain’t some self-important Hollywood hype where the winners are determined by somebody else. On this show, YOU decide who goes home with the trophy and YOU get to dance and sing along with the people that bring you the songs of your life. – Jeff Foxworthy