Category: Uncategorized

Lincoln City, Oregon

Rock hounding. Agate hunting. Head down. Eyes to the ground. Wandering the beach. Whatever you want to call it lol. All my life I’ve always had a pocket full of rocks. Granted the first ones were probably just gravel from the driveway but I evolved. Carnelian is the favorite but I also love petrified wood, crystals, obsidian, strange shaped granite and jasper. I love them in the raw and also tumbled. I love the sound of the tumbler in the garage. However, my 30 year old Lortone 12q rock tumbler recently died. It led a good life but it was time to be replaced. I went with the Lortone 33B model. It has two 3 pound rubber barrels. Much more manageable and I can do two grinds at once. You can never have too many rocks and that is obvious when you look around my house.

3 of my favorites

This trip started out as a Tami and Kris event but ended up as Foxpartyofone. Kris had to work so I decided I would still go. I don’t have a problem traveling alone and the thought of a blogging getaway sounded fabulous.

My plan was to leave around 8am to drop off the dogs at daycare. Well that turned into 9am lol. I ended up out of Roseburg by 10am. Low tide was scheduled for 430pm on Saturday and 500 pm on Sunday. Perfect. That would put me on the beach around 100pm. I have heard that the professional rock hunters start at high tide and work their way down to low tide.

Krystal and Randy were camping at Beverly Beach so I stopped off to check in with them and see what their plans were. It was decided that Camden would come and spend over with me at the hotel. Fun! Can’t wait 😁

I checked into my hotel and went searching for agates for a couple of hours out front. I’m staying at Inn at Spanish Head in Lincoln City. All of the rooms are ocean facing. Awesome view. My room was on the first floor and right on the beach. I love it. You can walk down to Nelscott Beach from there which is another prime agate hunting spot. Note to self: next time bring the One Wheel. It’s quite a walk lol.

Met up with Krystal and Randy at McMenamins for dinner. Noa was the cutest. She was saying, “hi” to everyone passing by. Such a social butterfly in a family of quiet people lol. Camden was so hyped to spend over with me. He was practically vibrating in his seat.

Cheese!
Crazy faces 😂

We went back to the hotel and found out there is a 23 year old cat that lives on the premises. A tuxedo cat. So sweet. Her name is Mama.

Camden played some ipad games, watched some shows and passed out around 1030pm. He woke me up around 720 am. Hungry lol. We got dressed and went to breakfast at the restaurant upstairs, Fathoms. We played a game of chess while we waited for the restaurant to open. Camden ordered for himself. So grown-up. Mickey Mouse pancake and apple juice. I think it looked more like a bear lol. I got ham and eggs. The ham was a little tough but the service was outstanding.

Krystal and Randy packed up their camper in the rain and headed on over to the hotel to hang out. The hotel has a heated outdoor swimming pool. 84 degrees warm. I opted out of that adventure but everyone else decided to swim. Brrrrr!

Camden can swim!

The weather report was not great for Sunday. Rain, rain, and more rain lol. Well this is Oregon so you learn to deal. Rain coat, boots, extra layers and of course a plastic baggie for agates. I went out solo for about an hour at 100pm. Everything was going great until it started to rain sideways so I headed back to the room. Ran actually lol. It quit raining around 230pm so all of us went back out to see what we could find. The clouds parted and gave way to some sun for a couple of hours so we took advantage of that and found quite a few agates and shells. Camden and Noa both looked for agates. Although sock covered hands hindered Noa’s search a little lol. Plus I think she may have wanted to eat them. The temperature had come up a little so we did not freeze our buns off.

Krystal and Randy headed for home and I went up to Fathoms Bar for some dinner. It wasn’t crowded and I got a table next to a big floor to ceiling window facing the ocean. Prime seating for a sunset and a seagull lol. I ordered dinner and a drink and blogged a bit. The staff was awesome and didn’t try to throw me out😁. Totally recommend it!

Sunset
Somebody’s watching me😂

Went down to my room and packed up. Checking out in the morning. Sad.

Breakfast upstairs. Sat next to an older couple. Splitting their entree. Lol. That could never happen with me and Kris. Neither on of us has half an appetite and I don’t share hahaha.

Headed for home with a stop at Bob Creek. It’s raining cats and dogs but maybe I’ll get lucky🤞🏽

Vegas 2022

9/8/22-9/11/22

Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett. Allegiant Stadium.

Heading to Vegas for a short trip with Kris. I started packing a week ago. I know! So not me. I did have my suitcase out and ready though. We are doing carry on. As I am packing for just three days I realize that there is no way I will be able to pull off carry on for a week in Maui😕 Boooo.

When we originally booked this trip I thought it would be in the 80’s but I think I may have miscalculated lol.

Shhhh. Don’t tell Kris but I think it’s going to be a little bit warmer 😲😁😂. So I am packing cooling towels, sweat rags, water bottles and I’m looking for a battery powered personal size fan lol. It will be fine😁.

We are staying at the Linq on the strip. Hopefully no flash flooding while we are there. I want to ride the High Roller at night.

Welp scrap that hotel lol. Kris mentioned that it would be fun to hang at the pool one of the days. Soooo. The pool at the Linq is pretty small and boring. Yes, it was cheap lol. So I changed the reservation to the MGM Grand. They have a lazy river 😁 and we are renting a cabana. I’m so excited!

Flight Day!

Flying out of Medford. Got to the airport really early. Good thing because when we went through TSA check-in I got flagged for a pat down. And I mean a PAT DOWN. She asked me if I wanted to go to a private room😲 I said no, why? Well, now I know. She patted all my lady parts😂😂. Awkward. Apparently my zipper was throwing them a red flag. Like I had a knife In my shorts. Oh well, I passed the search and we moved on.

I checked our flight and it’s been delayed 45 by minutes. We went up to the Sky Lounge for lunch and a margarita😁

Finally boarding. I booked us in the extra legroom seats which are at the exit row. We are responsible for opening the door and inflating the slide in case of emergency.

The seats did have lots of leg room but they were just wide enough to fit a ten year old. Poor Kris and anyone that weighed more than 150lbs😂😂.

Kris noticed that like hotels there is no lucky number thirteen lol. Well at least we will be lucky🤞🏽

Started onto the runway and something was making a noise like a sick duck coming from underneath. Oh great. I hope the wheels don’t fall off.

Captain update. Fifteen minute delay due to the amount of traffic coming into Vegas 🙄

And we are in the air! Yay!

Legoland

Travel day home

Well, I packed up last night and Randy and Krystal will be driving my bag back. I’m taking my backpack and small purse with me on the airplane. I should have just brought the bigger backpack. Oh well. Next trip I won’t be taking a 17 inch carry-on. I’ll take my chances lol.

Woke up at 4am and scheduled my first Uber ride on the app. I was a little apprehensive that there wouldn’t be one available but it was pretty easy. His name was, Innocent, (that made me feel so much better) and he was only 20 minutes away from my hotel. Good driver. Didn’t speed and wasn’t super chatty. Which is a good thing for me. I can only do so much small talk lol. He did confirm my flight times and made sure I wasn’t living on the edge lol. I tipped him in cash. I feel like cash tips show your appreciation for their service more than on the app.

Boarding. I don’t get why some people stand in line even though they aren’t boarding until 3rd or 4th call. You picked your seat. I’d rather wait and board last. Fake your seat mates out and get them thinking they have the whole row to themselves.

Just now thinking about the whereabouts of my car keys. They are in one of my carry-ons. The one I almost smashed into my bag in the back of Randy’s truck. Thay would have been bad lol.

Review of Legoland :

The park was pretty good size including the water park. The two day trip was perfect. Being there barely preseason in June, there were rides that weren’t open both in the park and the water park. I don’t know if this was due to staffing or the time of year but it was a little disappointing because the rides that were closed were for the bigger kids, e.g. me lol. The park was definitely geared more towards the 4-10 year olds and most of these rides were open.

If you’re headed for Disneyland I suggest to go to Legoland first. Legoland just hasn’t captured the magic yet and while it was fun and I love Legos it’s just not the same.

Legoland

Park day 2

Woke up at 7:30am Camden came down to my room and we went downstairs for breakfast. I tried to get him to get chocolate milk lol but he picked cranberry juice and strawberry yogurt.

Randy got stuck in the elevator yesterday so I’ve been taking the stairs. The hotel itself is fine. I think they are just having staffing issues. There is a shuttle but it’s not reliable. We took a tour of the Legoland hotel yesterday. The rooms are cool. They are themed on different Lego characters but I am so glad we aren’t staying there. It’s a madhouse, kids running around everywhere. Too much chaos for me.

Noa is ready to hit the park!

It’s 69 degrees and partly cloudy. Nice coastal weather. We made it to the park around 10:45am. There was a lot of people waiting in line but the park wasn’t that busy.

Camden rode a couple of “safe” rides, watched a couple of shows and played some games. I’m pretty sure his concern for the rides breaking down and going too fast are from his mom lol. Noa will my daredevil 😂

On to the water park. I made sure to bring swim clothes today lol. Camden and I went down the small kiddie slide together and I tried to bribe$$ Camden into riding the big tube ride but that was a no go lol. (this brought back memories of bribing the kids to waterski lol). I was freezing so I got in the box that blew hot air for five minutes. It was awesome 😁

Back to the hotel to pack. I got to my room and I had left the, “do not disturb” sign on the door. Housekeeping skipped my room yesterday so I figured I’d be fine again today. I walked in and they had stripped my bed, threw the blanket on the floor and piled all the pillows, including mine, in the middle of the bed. They took all my dirty towels but didn’t leave me any clean ones. And then they left. I called the front desk and the guy dropped off new sheets and a blanket. So, I get to remake my own bed? 🙄 so annoying. I booked through a travel site so I will have to complain to them.

A little bummed we didn’t make it to the beach but all in all it was an awesome trip😁

Legoland

Park day#1

Well, after sleeping eleven hours I am refreshed and ready to go. Downstairs for breakfast. First breakfast bowl I’ve had with salad in it lol.

Weather is 66 degrees and blue skies. We made it to the park around 11am. We met up with one of Krystal’s friends and her daughter. Let the fun begin!

We equipped Camden with an air tag. I wish they had those when Krystal and Kasey were growing up. That was my biggest fear. Lost or stolen.

Me: Camden, want to go on that ride?

Camden : no scary.

Me: Camden, want to go on that ride?

Camden : no scary.

Me: Camden, want to go on that ride?

Camden : no scary.

Me: how about this one?

Camden : okay. Coast Cruise.

90 minute wait time🙄😂. He is his mother’s child.

This theme park is very much hands on and things got better. Camden tried out a few rides and got his drivers license 😁

There are these signs all over. I know there is a water shortage but I drank a big cup of water from the faucet last night at the hotel😲 I wonder where that water came from? And what about this fountain? I’m sure the kids playing in it never have their mouths open.

There are also warnings on the app and around the park that they only accept credit / debit cards at their park and hotels. They have Cash-to-Card Kiosks where you can exchange cash into a prepaid card that can be used as a VISA card. A reverse ATM machine lol. I had noticed at a local smoothie shop they had trouble giving out change. I guess the change shortage is more prevalent here than at home. Which brings me to the smashed penny machine. It takes dollars or a card as payment lol. They must be premaid or just full of pennies. I remember when they were two quarters and a penny lol. I guess that dates me😂

We went to the water park for a while. It was super crowded but the kids had fun. We’re going back tomorrow so I hope it’s cleared out.

Apple fries. Sounds delicious, right? Well all I heard was fries and whip cream so I ate them. They were delicious going down but once they landed, not so good. Then I remembered they were apples. On my FODMAP diet they were on the do not eat list. I now know I am definitely allergic to apples. Then we went to dinner and I ordered a cider. Well duh, that’s made out of apples….I only drank half before realizing this and feeling sicker. The rest of the night was not good.

Oh well can’t wait till tomorrow.

Legoland

Travel day

I went to bed at 8:30pm last night. Set my alarm for 2am but I woke up at midnight. I packed and repacked my bag, trying out a couple different scenarios…..I know I’m crazy lol. I ended up with my REI Big Haul 40L backpack / duffle bag and a small backpack purse. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I stayed up and left the house at 2:30am. Stopped at Chevron since a coworker said that to get the most fuel in your tank you should get gas when it’s colder out, thanks Crystal 😁

EUG Eugene

I hate driving in the dark. I used Maps to get to the airport and it had me turn into the first parking lot. After putting in my credit card at the gate I found out it wasn’t connected to any of the other lots so I had to walk a mile to get to the terminal. I wasn’t even sure where the terminal was but I saw a couple getting out of their car so I ran to catch up with them. Lol they probably thought I was a stalker. Next time I will remember that. Oh well. I got my exercise for the morning.

I scored TSA precheck so I flew through check-in. That meant I didn’t have to take any electronics out of my bag. I still had to take off my jacket and shoes but it was quick.

Boarding. They gave out substantially large sanitizing wipes so I channeled my inner Krystal and wiped down my seat lol. They didn’t really look at my bag. Hmm I probably could have just brought the original suitcase 🙄 oh well better neurotic than annoyed. I scored the whole row of seats! No annoying neighbors to ignore.

It’s raining. Can’t wait to see the sun. I’m in need of a healthy dose of vitamin D 🌞

Landed in SFO San Francisco. Three and a half hour layover. What to do? What to do? Well, find my next gate for one. I walked around in a circle for twenty minutes until I decided to ask for directions. I was lost lol. The TSA officer pointed to the sign right behind me. Haha how embarrassing. Oh well, I made it to my next gate. I guess there are directions on the app but I didn’t know that. So, what am I going to do? Well, I saw a sign for yoga 😂 or I could walk back down to the other gates for shopping but I found a prime seat for waiting to board. So, people watching it is. I did learn from the best. Thanks Kris😁. Welp. Pretty boring or I’m just not any good at this lol.

Boarded flight #2. Boeing 737. Plane is full but the middle seat is empty in my row. Yay! Again. No bag checks.😲🙄. There is no under seat storage for my seat this flight so I put it up with the carry-ons. This flight is only a little over an hour so I will be fine. The lady across the aisle got stuck with a young family that purchased two seats and a lap baby. Dodged that bullet.

Landed in San Diego at 12:30pm. Now I just need to figure out how to get out of here. Ground transportation? I’ll try that😁. They really should specify car pickup😂. Oh well I found Randy.

Staying at the Marriott. Nothing fancy. They tried to charge me for my room again. I told the person at check-in I booked through a travel site and already paid. That settled I’m on the second floor and Krystal and Randy are on the third floor.

Went shopping at the outlet stores. I got told my shirt was, “interesting”. Really?

Ate a quick bite in my room I passed out at 8pm. I’ve been up for twenty hours!

Legoland

Packed😁

Okay. I am packed and ready to go. I have packed, checked to my paper list and repacked and I think I have everything.

The garage is cleaned out and ready for the dogs and Sunny, my plus one.

Krystal and Randy stopped by and took my pillow, blanket and food in their car. That way I only have a carry-on and my backpack to worry about. There is a layover in San Francisco so less is better.

I packed my backpack with my essentials for the airplane ride.

1. Ipad mini

2. Headphones

3. Hat

4. Sunglasses

5. Snacks

6. Battery pack

7. Switch lite

If you don’t know me, yes, I am a gamer. I love Zelda and I just got the newly remastered game, Skyward Sword for the Switch. It originally came out for the Wii but I was not a fan of the Wii’s style of playing, slashing and jumping around. I’m a thumb player, so I never played that version of the game. So far it’s pretty good.

Also, if you can’t tell, I don’t want any idle chit chat from my seat mates lol. I think they should get the message 😎🎧🎩 😂

I did decide not to get a hotel for the night before. So, that means I will be getting up at 2am in the morning so that I can get ready and drive the hour and a half to the airport. Boarding starts at 5:25am.

Checked in to my flight and found out that there is a 17 inch limit on carry-on unless I am a member of some club 🙄. The bag needs to fit under the seat in front of me. So, I will be repacking tonight or pay $25 to check my bag when I get there. I really don’t want to check my bag. It adds another hour leaving the airport. Hopefully one of my bags will work. Maybe a duffle.

Wish me luck🤞🏽

Legoland

Two weeks to go😬

Flights? Check.

Flying out of Eugene at the buttcrack of dawn. I have considered getting a hotel close by so I get a little more sleep before I need to be at the airport. Otherwise I will have to leave the house by 3am😲 so that has a pin in it for now.

Park tickets? Check.

A two day park hopper was around $155.00. This includes the regular theme park and the water park. BTW I also love water parks😁 This is going to be an awesome trip!

Hotel? Check.

We picked a hotel that was about a mile away from the park. We looked into the Legoland Resort, which was cool with all of their themed rooms but it was just too expensive. Around $300 more which could buy a lot of legos lol.

Packing? In progress.

The suitcase is on the floor, conveniently placed so that when I think of things I need I can just throw them in. I will organize it in a few days. I got a tip from a reader to try rolling my clothes for packing. I usually use stuff sacks but I have heard of this but never tried it. I will see how this goes. A small backpack for the park with a hard sided food container for snacks, water bottle, sweat cloth, battery pack for my phone, cord, antibacterial wipes, bandaids, duct tape for blisters, lip balm and sunscreen.

Dog sitter? Check😁

Axel, Kohl, Ozzy and a plus one, Sunny lol and the cats but they are pretty self sufficient. Krystal is dropping Sunny off on their trip down. They will be driving. Kris will take care of them Saturday and then Tracy will take over starting Sunday. She is the best and all the animals love her.

This is going to be a bonzai trip for sure. Same time frame as Disneyland. Fly out, park for two days and fly back. The only difference is that I had more time to prepare.

Legoland

In less than Thirtydays

So, the title says it all. I’m going to Legoland with less than a month to plan. My daughter, Krystal, is my opposite. She could pack tonight and leave tomorrow for anywhere. I need at least three months to plan a trip. I am not a spontaneous person. I am calculated lol.

She came up with the brilliant idea to go to Legoland for Camden’s birthday, next month. I’ve always wanted to go. For those of you who don’t know me, I love theme parks and Legos lol. Roller coasters are my favorite. I know that the park is geared more towards little kids but I would love to experience it through Camden’s eyes. So here I am, scrambling to plan flights, hotel rooms, dog sitters, pack and organize details.

Flying Allegiant would be my first choice because of price and convenience. It’s a direct flight, but they only fly on certain days of the week. I can fly out of Eugene, choosing the dates but it’s twice as much as Allegiant and there is a layover in San Francisco. I could fly out of Portland which is cheaper but there’s the three hour drive. So, I need time. Much more time to figure out the flight and packing and doing the walk throughs in my mind of how things will go down.

Packing. I have my paper list going. I feel like it makes the trip seem more organized if I write it all down. The trip would require two days of travel clothes and two days at the park so that wouldn’t require a lot. I am going with carry-on. It’s so much easier than dragging a big bag. In all reality, if I forget something I can buy it when I am there. I guess I shouldn’t stress so much on packing but it’s just in my nature lol.

The Fodmap diet

Definition : FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols, which are short-chain carbohydrates (sugars) that the small intestine absorbs poorly. Some people experience digestive distress after eating them.

It was suggested that I try the fodmap diet and a probiotic for my stomach issues. So here goes nothing. I was already avoiding foods that contained gluten but I had become lax in consuming foods that contained wheat and my insides have not been my friend for a while.

I pulled up the food list and there were a lot of food items on there that made me sick. By sick I mean bloated, thinking I might have swallowed a bowling ball, and nauseous. All. The. Time. So, the big one was wheat and gluten which seems is in everything. Bread, bars, cereal, soups, sauces and most prepackaged foods that I am used to eating. Apples, pears, beans, cauliflower, yogurt, tomatoes and regular pasta had already been taken out of the equation as known irritants. The surprises were avocados, processed meats, yogurt, pistachios, ice cream, honey and granola. I eat those a lot. The premise to this diet is to eliminate the bad items and then add them back and see what happens.

It’s been two weeks. Wish me luck 🤞🏽