Playa Del Rey, CA: New Year's California Airsoft Adventure!

What do you get when you combine these boys .....

with this beach .................?

Why, it's our "California Airsoft Adventure" 

trip in the Lucky Charm!

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If you've seen our 14-year-old son Max lately, you were possibly wondering if you had somehow teleported to Afghanistan.  That is because for many years now, Max has been into all things military, "airsofting" (a fantastically violent team sport similar to paintball but using small plastic pellets), and the historical recreation of military uniforms.  Let's just say his bedroom looks like a army storage bunker in a war zone! Therefore, it came as no surprise that Max and his friend Joey wanted to take a military-related vacation in the Lucky Charm.  January 1-5, 2014, we did just that, with "SC Village" being our primary destination.

Our first overnight was at the Glen Ivy RV Park in Corona, California.  This stop was picked specifically for its proximity to SC Village, but "proximity" was about all the Glen Ivy had going for it!  Even though it looks nice in this photo, it was not exactly as advertised on their website ..... witness the marijuana smoke smell drifting out of many of the units, barefoot children running rampant throughout the park, and the "Poison Ivy Bar" which was like every 1970's dive bar cliche you could possibly envision! 

But the really interesting part of Glen Ivy was the, um, ah, well, "clientele."  I was really wishing I had brought along one of my more creative Christmas gifts from daughter Sarah .... "REAL LIFE BINGO CARDS" which she handmade and which could have gotten a lot of use in Glen Ivy!  We saw all of these, multiple times!!!

After a good night's sleep, however, we headed off to "SC Village Airsoft Park," which is 100+ acres of 25 different fields where players participate in professionally-run airsoft and paintball games.  The boys were there from start to finish and had the best time!

Here is a picture of their team for the day!

Next, it was off to greater Los Angeles and Dockweiler Beach RV Park, L.A. County's only R.V. campground right on the beach!  You literally step over a short wall and you are on the sand!

We biked, walked, skateboarded, and Joey even went swimming in the freezing-cold ocean!  What???!

That sidewalk right there in front of us is the 22-mile Marvin Braude Bike Trail, 

which takes you right to Redondo Beach Pier, Venice Beach, Santa Monica beaches 

and Marina del Rey!  It was fantastic!

See those red recliner chairs?  Picture me there, sipping my margarita, reading my novel, 

and engaging in world-class people-watching!  There may have also been a catnap or two!

We were amazed and delighted when we heard a commotion from outside the RV and a bulldog was skateboarding through the parking lot, back and forth and back and forth, barking excitedly the whole time.  He knew how to turn the board, accelerate, stop, get on, get off, and literally required zero human interaction to skateboard all by himself for more than half an hour!  It was hysterical!

   

Daughter Kelsey was in L.A. visiting her friend Tyler, and our friend Ken Ross was in L.A. 

apartment-hunting for an upcoming move, so they joined us for dinner, 

hanging out around the firepit, and a harmonica concert by the world-famous Philip Miller!

Our last stop before heading home was the Evike Airsoft Superstore in Alhambra, California, where they have the world's largest inventory of airsoft-related equipment.  It was basically a huge showroom and the boys disappeared into "airsoft heaven" for many hours, trying to figure out how to spend their saved-up allowances and Christmas money!

The drive home was uneventful and this is what the cockpit looked like:

(1) Philip watching football playoffs via Dish Network on his Ipad wedged against the windshield.

(2) Tessa driving the RV -- encouraged by Philip simply because he wanted to watch football playoffs.

(3) Bella standing between us for the entire 6 hours, no matter how much we encouraged her to lie down. 

(5) RV-specific GPS unit guiding us safely home in a sexy voice the boys named "Roberta."

(Not shown ...)  Sprinkles and the boys sleeping and snacking their way home in the back of the RV. 

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and our California Airsoft Adventure was no exception.  

Back to home, back to school, back to work, back to reality.  We loved this trip and would do it 

again in a heartbeat!  And ......... another addition to our "States Visited" map! 

See you again soon, California!

Cardinals 2013-2014 Season: Of Birds and Beers

It was only a matter of time before Philip's two favorite things would be combined.  No, not vodka and cranberry juice.  No, not bicycling and texting.  It's the CARDINALS and the LUCKY CHARM!

Philip and his buddy Jim Miller have had Cardinals tickets since 1993, in the days when rooting for a losing team also required sweating your ass off in metal bleachers in Sun Devil Stadium.  It was a joyous move to Cardinals Stadium in Glendale.

And although tailgating on their "Great Lawn" is fun, it is also a tremendous amount of work.  Once you have jammed your tents, chairs, tables, awnings, BBQ grill, coolers, boxes and everything else into your car, THEN you have to unpack all that stuff when you arrive in your parking lot, load it all onto a dolly, haul it over searing hot asphalt and non-dolly friendly curbs, arrive at the Great Lawn, set everything up .... and then do the whole thing in reverse when you are done. Whew!

Enter the tailgating method of choice for lazy middle-agers .... 

roll up in the RV and avoid all that manual labor!

Within moments, you are on your way to having fun .... like these crazy critters!

But before we could start Lucky Charm tailgating, Philip screwed up his courage and found the guts to have "THE TALK" with me.  The talk about how the RV bedroom was decorated in such a way that it was a bit of an embarrassment to manly-men who pound their chests and do shots of tequila to hydrate themselves.

I immediately saw the error of my ways, and now the bedroom is much more acceptable:

But tailgating is all about FOOD.  We have a lot of variety in our tailgating menus, which this season has included such delicacies as marinated lamb chops, teriyaki tri-tip steak sandwiches, BBQ baby back ribs, and jumbo bacon-wrapped hot dogs; with sides like pesto tortellini salad, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, cheese potatoes, and much more yumminess!

But the one item that MUST be included at EVERY tailgate party, is my famous lucky coleslaw.  Did you notice how the Cardinals are having a winning season this year?  That is because of the lucky coleslaw!!!  Here is how you make it!

1 large package prepared shredded cabbage/carrot mix (approx. 8 cups/16 oz)
             **I sometimes add extra shredded carrot or purple cabbage if the prepared 
                 mix is mostly green cabbage**

Chopped cilantro to taste – about 1/4 volume of cabbage

Chopped peanuts or cashews to taste

Couple handsful of Craisins (dried cranberries) to taste

Fresh corn cut off the cob to taste (optional)

1 jar Lighthouse brand coleslaw dressing – in refrigerated produce section of grocery store
MIX IT ALL UP AND CHOW DOWN!

The RV has a TV on the outside so nobody misses a single sports moment.  We were 

very happy to discover that we get great game reception simply from the rooftop antenna, 

and did not need to buy a satellite dish or any other special fancy equipment!  Hip hip hurray!

There is lots of fun to be had in the RV Parking Lot or the grassy-green field right next door.

For one thing, the RV Lot has lots of rowdy groups that show up.  For instance, this past

week a trolley proudly advertising "Cheetahs Gentlemen's Strip Club" rolled in, filled with 

scantily clad women in high heels!  I am quite certain that those girls had a deep working 

knowledge of football and a dedicated interest in the National Football League!  Right?

But for more innocent fun, you can throw a football or a frisbee or just hang out with fun people.

Like these dudes.

Or these chicks.

The RV Lot is located to the south and east of the stadium .... lower right starred green area on this map.

Even if you park in another lot, it is a short and easy walk to get there! 

We have only one more tailgating party planned for the 2013 regular Cardinals season, 

on Sunday December 29 (vs. the San Francisco 49'ers).  We will be tailgating from 12:00-1:45'ish 

and would love to see you out there, because after all ... THE GOAL IS FUN!

Las Vegas, NV: Drunks, Police Escorts, Stripper Nurses ... It Must Be "Viva Bike Vegas"!

What do you get when you combine a 104-mile bike race that starts with dodging cheering drunks stepping onto the race course, that requires a police escort for the first 17 miles, and that ends with a stripper dressed as a nurse helping you up off the asphalt?  Well, it could only be "VIVA BIKE VEGAS"!

This is one of Philip's favorite bike races each year because the terrain is beautiful, through all of the desert mountains that surround Vegas, and it is one of the FEW bike races that is harder in the first half than the second half.  Most races, for whatever evil reason, are flat and easy right about until the point when you get really tired ... THEN the uphill climbs appear.  You can almost picture the people who plan the routes  .... "muhhh haaaah haaaah <that was an evil laugh>, here comes a bunch of weak, exhausted, sweaty, sunburned riders who have already ridden 70 miles .... NOW let's see them REALLY work" .... but this ride is the opposite and so Philip loves it!

But before he could ride the race, we had to get there.  We extracted Max from school early on Friday and headed to Vegas.  It took approximately 2.5 minutes for him, his Ipad, and his tunes to get happily tucked away in his "NEST", the area above the driver's seat in the R.V., where he would remain for the five-hour drive.

We checked in to the Oasis Las Vegas RV Park, which is on the strip about 3 miles south of Mandalay Bay, a very convenient location to the start of the race.  First order of business ... Max must be initiated into RV setup!  He was a sewer-line virgin, but now he's a pro!

We then went to registration headquarters, where (among other things) Philip was required to sign a form that indicated if he saw a desert tortoise on the race course, he would not harm it.  What about desert hares? Condors? Mexican gray wolves? All the other species who would also prefer not to be harmed?  The tortoises must have a really good lobbyist and legal team to get this special treatment.

Philip had convinced his friend Ryan (in a moment of weakness) to do the Viva Bike Vegas ride with him, so we met Ryan and his wife Erin for dinner.  We are in Vegas on business at least every other week so have eaten at many restaurants, and Lemongrass at The Aria is one of our favorites for Thai food ... delicious and (by Vegas standards, anyway) reasonably priced.  The boys "carbed up"  (more rice! more noodles!) and then it was an early bedtime.

At 5:15 AM the prep began.  Getting ready for a long race is no quick task.  Attach numbers in three places ... helmet, jersey and bike. Attach timing chip. Appy butt butter. (Don't ask.)  Apply mist sunscreen.  Disable screeching carbon monoxide alarm in RV, which goes off when mist sunscreen is applied.  Four large bottles of ice water with electrolyte powder.  Energy bars. Goo (energy stuff disguised as flavored snot).  Sweat towel.  Ipod, preloaded by wife with 8-9 hours of rocking music. Gloves. Headband. Helmet. Review mirror on helmet. New cleats on shoes. Charged GPS gadget. Route map. Bracelet with emergency contact info. Aero bars. Air in tires. Spare tube. CO2 to inflate spare tube. Camera that blog-writing wife begs you to use along the route.  Whew!

This race starts on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip and the first five miles or so go right up the center of the Strip.  It is always fun because at 6:00 AM there are still the random groups of drunk guys bellowing to each other, and girls in teeny tiny clothes clutching yardstick cocktails, wandering down the sidewalk and not wanting the night to end (or maybe just getting started early).  They tend to step out into the street and try to hand the riders beers as they zip by, which makes it interesting but also dangerous.  Motorcycle cops escort riders for the first 17 or so miles, then it is out into the mountains where they do a huge route around the circumference of the Vegas Valley for the next 7-8 hours.

Philip may have had his mission, but Max and I had one of our own.  While dining at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse in Scottsdale, we had fallen in love with Guarana soda, a Brazilian import that is similar to ginger ale, but a little sweeter with a hint of cherry flavor.  We couldn't find anywhere in AZ to purchase it, and the online sellers wanted to demand ransom prices PLUS ridiculous shipping costs.  In a rare moment of inspiration, however, I thought there might be a place in Vegas that we could buy it.  Indeed, there was ... "Brazil Store Las Vegas"!  While Philip was racing, we went and cleaned out their stock.  Max was a very happy boy!

 Philip was expecting they would end the race around 2:00 PM.  However, the news reports for the night before were full of "HAZARDOUS WIND WARNINGS" and they were not joking!  During the day of the race, Vegas had sustained winds of 40 MPH with gusts up to 55 MPH.  The riders had to literally lean INTO the wind if it was at their side, just to stay upright ... and if it was at their front (which, of course, it almost always is ... there is NEVER a tailwind in biking! hah!) it slowed their pace considerably.  At 2:45 they still hadn't arrived.  3:15 ... still hadn't arrived.  3:45 .... still hadn't arrived.  Max and Erin were stumped ... "Where could they be? .......

Finally, at 4:15 ... the triumphant warriors returned.  There had been an injury stop for Crash Miller, whose bike had gone down on a crossways railroad track.  He was pitched into the street and heard the squeal of car brakes but luckily did not feel a subsequent thump of car metal.  The driver jumped out and came running over.  Wouldn't you know it ... she was a nurse!  Oh, lucky day!  Wait a minute.  Hmmmm.  Smoking an electronic cigarette.  Wearing a lot of makeup and high heels.  OHHHHH, not a real nurse, a stripper whose act includes dressing like a nurse.  Philip was not technically sure which type of nurse he would have preferred!  Only in Vegas.  At any rate, he got back on the bike and finished the race despite flesh wounds to the leg and worse wounds to the ego.

The boys were exhausted but jubilant!  104 miles in 40 MPH winds = warriors!

Great job, Philip and Ryan!

We returned to the Lucky Charm for a quick cheeseburger dinner ...........

Then off to see a show --- "Jabbawockeez Prism."  The Jabbawockeez is an eight-member, all-male, hip-hop dance crew who won the first season of America's Best Dance Crew.  They are amazingly talented and the music was loud, rockin' and totally fun!  The show also had a lot of comedic elements to it, which was entertaining as well.  We loved it! 

Alas, the 48 hour Viva Bike Vegas adventure came to an end on Sunday.  Max and I would drive the Lucky Charm back to Phoenix, while Philip remained in Vegas through Tuesday night for work.  It was strange driving off and leaving him behind (don't worry, he had a rental car) but we were glad to have witnessed his epic Viva Bike Vegas success!  Most importantly, we added another state to our RV Adventure Map!

There are no more big trips planned in the Lucky Charm until after the holidays, though we are taking her out to tailgate at all of the Arizona Cardinals home games this season!  Please come join us if you are heading to a game at Cardinals Stadium!  We are eagerly planning trips to Bisbee, Tombstone and southern Arizona; as well as a long summer trip to Yosemite or Yellowstone in 2014.  Future adventures await!