Back to Vegas...

10/20/08

Back to Vegas...


Dang, must have forgotten that I booked my flight back to
Vegas, with a connection in Ontario, Ca. Two flights back
to Vegas! Woe is me, hehe...Need a speedball of Xanax and
a Heineken, to calm me down. Just kidding.

The flight from San Jose to Ontario was actually pretty
smooth. There was only slight turbulence when decreasing
our altitude above the smoggy skies of LA.

The weekend before was the GF's birthday. I hope she
was happy with what we were able to do last Saturday. It
was nothing crazy - just a day at the museum. Namely,
the Californa Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco...

She's never been there, and I haven't been back there since
I was a kid. They have recently refurbished it and it was
reopened at the end of last month. It's kind of like our
West Coast version of the Natural History Museum of
the Smithsonian or like the one in "Night at the Museum"
(with Ben Stiller).

We had a late start Saturday and didn't make it to the
museum until after 3 pm. The place closes at 5 pm -
whoops...I purchased a yearly pass for her anyway, which
enables you to bring in one other guest for free, each time
you visit the museum. The daily ticket costs $24.95 per
adult anyway - 2 trips will equate to the yearly pass,
so why not buy the pass? Kind of a no brainer. SF Residents
also benefit with free weekends (but they can be crowded)
and Wachovia Wednesdays are free for everybody. An added
bonus is that the yearly pass is tax deductible as well.



I dig going to museums, even in my "old age". I guess I'll
always be the exploring kid at heart. Wow, I feel like
buying Legos and watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. "Ta-
Na-Na-Na, Na-Na-Na, Ta-Na-Na-Na, Na-Na-Na-Na-Na", ala
John Williams theme to my famed fedora wearin' hero...

Touched down in Ontario for about 25 minutes, with no
turbulence!

Waited for the plane to board with passengers, and now
we are back up in the air. Jeez...hehe..

Anyway, back to the museum. We only had about 2 hours
to check out the exhibits. I thought it was pretty
cool that the building retained some of it's "vintage"
architecture. They still had the alligator swamp
toward the middle of the museum. The area around it
retained some of the greek/roman columns of the prior
building. The exhibit itself still had the same brass
railings with seahorses that I remembered from back in
the day. What was kind of scary to me was that there
was a chalk white albino alligator right in the middle
of the swamp. I've never seen that before. That was
a trip, mayn. Well at least you could see the gator
comin' at you, if you were stuck down there. The gator
wouldn't be able to blend in the murkiness like a
fallen tree or floating log.



Couldn't get into the planetium or the rainforest.
There'll be next time - the purpose of getting the
yearly pass. It'll be good for the GF to take one of
her nieces or nephew for another jaunt to the museum
as well.

We mainly strolled into the aquarium portion of the
museum. What, no sharks? The large sea snails had
also tripped me out - I would not want that swimming
toward me. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't want
alot of what I saw at the aquarium swimming at me.
There are alot of fish that look like the alien from
"Aliens" - you know, not the large adult ones, but the
ones that incubate in peoples' gut area and then pop out
suddenly to incubate in others. Why do I want to get my
scuba license in the PI? Probably because it's cheap,
which is no excuse to get it. But I'm adventuresome,
so why not?

Anyway, it seemed like the GF had enjoyed our day at
the CAS. After we made our way up the Great Highway
to eat dinner at the Beach Chalet (just before Cliff
House).

We started out with appetizers consisting of Ahi Tuna
Tartare and Phyllo Wrapped Brie. For dinner, she had
Pan Roasted Chicken and I had Caesar Salad with Fried
Calamari. I love her face when she enjoys the food.
Ooh, I picked a good place. I'll pat myself on the back
and my tummy (well, her tummy).

Dessert was to be found in a drive into the city. I was
pretty stuffed, so we got her scoop of Kahlua Mocha Cream,
dipped in chocolate and in a waffle cone. Where else, but
Mitchell's Ice Cream...

http://www.mitchellsicecream.com/



Wish I had one of my own, but was a bit stuffed from earlier.
I got a lick of it, and it's pretty much the bomb. I'll put
it in 3rd place, after my number one of Chocolate Malted
Crunch (Rite Aid, baby) and Cookies 'n' Cream...

Dang, I'm getting hungry...

Anyway, that's it for now - just touched down at
McCarran International, which means I'm back in Vegas...

And the grind...we'll can't think of it that way.

Need to play cash at Caesar's this week, to hopefully
qualify for the freeroll next week.

Wish this degenerate luck, ayt...

Peace and adobo grease...