Visiting Arizona

Sean is a big Angels baseball fan.  He's mentioned that going to Spring Training to watch the Angels would be an ideal vacation.  Realizing how close Mesa was I surprised Sean by saying, Let's do it!  We made arrangements with my cousin Karina to stay with her family and we took a long weekend to enjoy some baseball.

One of the big draws of going to Spring Training for Sean was the small stadium, where pretty much any seat is a good one.  Combine that with super cheap tickets means that Sean had his pick of where to seat.  He picked his perfect seat which wasn't too bad since the owner of the Angels sat in our section.  Sean loved being able to see the players up close.  We would not have afforded these seats if they were in Angels stadium.

We did two games, one by ourselves and one with my cousin and a couple of her kids.  Both days were great.  The weather wasn't too bad and the Angels won both games.

Sean knows how important it is for me to visit temples and to take pictures of them so we made sure we visited the ones we could.  I've been to the Mesa temple before but it has been years and I needed to get my picture in front of it.  We also stopped by the Gilbert temple which is nearing completion.  This temple is only a couple of miles from my cousin's house.  It would be so great to have a temple that close!

Since I love to explore the history of an area we made a special trip out to Tonto National Monument which was about a 2 hour drive to the north east of Mesa.  This was a very special trip because recently at work I processed ceramic vessels that came from this area.  It was really neat to see the environment and learn more about the natives that created the art I've seen.  Tonto National Monument is a cliff dwelling of the Salado people.  We visited the lower dwellings.  The upper dwellings required reservations and we weren't able to make time for that visit.  We started in the visitor center where we watched a 20 minute video on the area, people and dwellings.  Then we followed a 1 mile path up to the dwellings.  They were really impressive.  They approximate about 8-10 families lived in this dwelling.  Being in a cliff it was a natural fortress.  The dwellings were protected from the rain and since it was facing the east, it received the warmth from the sun early in the morning.  Surprisingly these dwellings probably only lasted for one hundred years.  On our way back down the trail we ran into a Gila monster making its way across our trail.  There was a ranger coming up the other direction.  We pointed out the lizard and the ranger got super excited saying it was pretty rare to see one.  It was sort of cool to see such a large lizard.  On our way home we stopped at a viewing spot where I took a picture of the upper dwellings.  Needless to say, those dwellings are much more impressive.

Lower Cliff Dwellings

Lower Cliff Dwellings from the main road

Gila Monster-North America's only poisonous lizard

View out of the dwellings 

Remnants of a second floor

They would have fires inside.  The doors were low so the heat would stay in.

Can you believe that this wood could be 700 years old?

View of the front rooms of the dwelling

View from the dwellings

View from the walkway towards the dwellings

Compare the lower dwellings to the  . . . .

Upper Dwellings.  Much more impressive!

We stopped in one of the small mining towns on our way back to Mesa and enjoyed some small town mexican food.  It was so tasty!  We knew it was a local joint when we saw the only cop car in town parked out front.  

The salsa was in a squeeze bottle, unique but tasty!

 My cousins stake was having a softball game on one of the nights we were there.  It was a dream come true for Sean!  He misses playing baseball so much!  He did really well and got several RBIs.

 There was a bad car crash where a truck flipped off the road on our way back to Valencia.  We were dead stopped for about 20 minutes.  Lots of people were getting out of their cars.  I had to take a picture of it since it's something that doesn't happen too often.

Indiana Jones, the Exhibit

I'm a little behind (and out of order) with my postings.  

My birthday fell on a Sunday this year and we decided to celebrate the day before.  There was an exhibit in Santa Ana called, Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology.  It was at the Discovery Cube and I made Sean take me.  Sean's not as keen as me when visiting museums so I try to find exhibits that would sort of pique his interest too.  The last exhibit we went to was the Cleopatra exhibit and he enjoyed that one.  I thought Indiana Jones would be another success.

I was right.

I thought this exhibit would be more about archaeology and less about the movies but it ended up being about 30% archaeology and 70% movie information.  We had a really cool guide that not only provided audio but also video information.

They had a great interactive activity that you could participate in throughout the entire exhibit.  In the beginning you swiped your handheld guide over a symbol on a short obelisk.  It would then bring up information on your device.  You picked an artifact (it was a cartoon pottery vessel) and were told that there are 10 pieces throughout the exhibit that will complete your broken vessel.  So as you went through the exhibit you had to look for the short obelisks and swipe your guide to be given your task.  When you completed a task you received an additional part of your vessel.  The tasks varied from being easy to complicated.  They also were not the same for each person.  Sean and I never had the exact same task.  The simplest was a matching game.  There was a picture of the holy grail in three sections and each section was a different style and you had to swipe each section until the entire goblet was the same style.  The tricky part was that you had to be smart enough to match it with the goblet that was on display.  The more complicated ones used readers in the walls where you had to swipe your device over the wall to get the right clue or information.  One of my favorites was going into this angular room where on your device you were given a map of the room.  There were artifacts attached to the walls and you had to go swipe your device over the artifact that is showing up on the map on your device.  It was fun watching people walking around the room trying to complete the task because many of them were not reading their maps right.  Another twist was that they went in different orders for each person which frustrated the individuals who just copied each other.  Sean got really into this game.  I thought it was brilliant, entertaining adults and kids!  We found all our pieces and were able to complete our vessels. 

This was the completed vessel!

It was fun to see props and costumes from the movies.  They also had lots of behind the scene information.  One tidbit I liked was that for the third movie the German blond (cant remember her name) didn't have a problem filming with real rats (you remember that sewer scene?!) because she loved rats.  She had no problem having them crawl all over her.  I would!  Also, I liked how Cate Blanchett picked her outfit for her character.  She apparently was very opinionated on what her character was like which really pleased the director/producers.  There were some interactive activities at the end of the exhibit that reflected scenes from the movies like pulling yourself up on a rope and figuirng out the weight of a gold statue.

Overall the Cube is geared only towards kids.  Sean enjoyed the small hockey exhibit but the only reason we were there was for the Indiana Jones exhibit.  We saw a lot of adults that were there for the same reason.  There were several older guys with buddies and a couple of people even dressed up in hats and whips (yes, these were the adults).  As soon as we got through the exhibit Sean expressed how much he liked it.  I was a little taken aback because usually I have to ask him first how and what he liked.  He must have really enjoyed it!  Win-win! 

Afterwards we went to Red Lobster for a tasty dinner.  The following day was when Sean made my cake (I still made the frosting, he hasn't mastered Seven Minute Frosting) and I opened gifts.  It was the perfect birthday!

Getty Villa

A while ago we went to the Getty Villa with Sean's parents.  This was a first time visit and I loved it!  It was the perfect day to go, crystal clear skies and just the right temperature.  The Getty Villa is located in Malibu right off Pacific Coast Highway.  You drive up this long and pretty driveway made with large stones.  These stones are representative of the Roman streets.  In fact, that was my most favorite part of the Getty Villa.  Everything was suppose to be a recreation of ancient Rome.  The villa itself is the same building that has been excavated at Herculaneum and they tried to recreate the decorations by mimicking what has been discovered in various villas from both Pompeii and Herculaneum.  Having been to Pompeii this was a real treat!

I know a museum trip is a win-win when Sean enjoys it too!

I love her story.  The real version of her (this is the copy) was excavated by the large reflecting pool outside the main portion of the villa (remember this is a copy of a real villa in Italy) but when they excavated the pool on the inside of the courtyard they saw pedestals that matched.  So, she originally stood by the interior pool and for whatever reason someone moved her to the outside pool.  She now stands in her original position.  Cool, right?  Isn't archaeology interesting?!

I LOVE the Roman courtyards.  If I could build my own house it would be something like this!

Another shot of the courtyard, love it!

It was really cool to see how they decorated the walls, floors and ceilings and to think they were inspired by real designs.  Basically, this is what a home would look like 2000 years ago!

My favorite parts of the collection was seeing the paintings and carvings of women's hairstyles.  Interesting to see how little some hairstyles changed.  I also really enjoyed see these stamps.  I love the ones that roll and some of them were so tiny!

One Month Without TV

(Warning: Longer-than-I-expected-to-write Post)

I did it!  Some people doubted me but it was a lot easier than I expected!  I went one whole month of NO television watching.  This included watching movies (whether at home or at the theater).  For good measure I also threw in no Facebook.

Now you may ask, why would I give up television, movies and Facebook for a month?  No, it was not for lent as some have asked. I had been thinking about it for a while that I wanted to go on a TV break but didn't know when the best time to do it.  The reason I wanted to do it was I felt I was spending way too much time watching my shows and "passing" the time.  I wasn't doing enough of "me" time to develop friendships, interests and talents.  I soon realized if I were to undertake a challenge like this it had to be all or nothing.  So I decided on February 28th that on March 1st I wouldn't watch TV (or check Facebook) until April 1st.

When I told Sean about my challenge he said, but the Amazing Race just started!  How can you miss that?!  True, my all time favorite show just had their second episode of the season.  I had recently posted about how nothing stops me from watching the Amazing Race.  I knew for me to feel like I accomplished my goals, my challenge would have to be all or nothing.  That meant I had to give up the Amazing Race for a month (which was quite unfortunate that I picked March since it has 5 Sundays).  It took some time to soak in but Sean finally realized that our alone time together wasn't going to be watching TV either.  He asked if my challenge could be Monday through Friday.  Again, I told him it had to be all or nothing.  This was hard for Sean because a lot of our time spent together is cuddling on the couch watching a movie or some shows.

I wouldn't say I am addicted to Facebook. At all.  I am not one of those individuals who posts several times a day.  But I felt that if my challenge was to help me better improve myself, than I should give up some seemingly frivolous activities, like Facebook.  That was the end of my restrictions.  I didn't want to put too many that the challenge seemed too daunting.  I wasn't tempted to check Facebook but I was in a habit of when I had down time to check it, so I had to delete the app from my phone in case I accidentally checked it.

There were a couple of things I wanted to get out of this challenge.  By not being distracted by tv or movies I wanted to have some quality time visiting with family and friends.  I also wanted to find some more "me" time where I could focus on developing my talents and skills.  Lastly I wanted to feel happy and less dependent on television for entertainment.  Or simply put, I wanted to feel less addicted to television watching. 

So what actually happened?  I spent a lot more quality time with my husband.  I did go out and socialize more with friends and family.  I went to bed a lot earlier and therefore got a lot more rest than I normally did.  I did not get as much "me" time as I thought I would.  I do feel less drawn to the TV.  And I had a great realization about Facebook.

I view a lot of new technology and habits as necessary evils.  Smart phones, texting and Facebook fall under this category.  I hate the fact that our society has become so dependent on instant social media that real conversations have gone to the wayside.  I HATE when people are constantly on their phones, especially when you are having dinner or a conversation with them.  Almost everyone I know who owns a smart phone follows bad ettiquette (with adults being the worst!)  I dislike how texting and Facebook have replaced calling (or heaven forbid visiting!) someone.  What I hate the most is that I find myself slipping into these bad habits too.  But throughout my break I have soften (very little) to these necessary evils. 

I realized that this is the way our society is going and this has become the new normal.  Doesn't mean I have to like it, but I do have to accept it.  This was very evident with my Facebook ban.  There are many people who I do not have contact abilities other than through Facebook.  That is my only way of communicating.  Facebook is a great way to see the highlights of what people are doing.  In a sense you do stay connected with people much better than before.  I miss seeing what my friends are doing or the cute pictures of nieces and nephews that get posted.  I do feel a little out of the loop without being able to check Facebook.  So Facebook isn't all that bad as long as you aren't addicted to it (which I wasn't--just decided to include it with my challenge for fun).

Now how do I feel about the television part of it.  Surprisingly it wasn't very hard.  I can think of two times when it was really difficult.  Two weeks ago Saturday and last Friday.  Both of these days I spent a long time in the yard doing gardening and laborious yard work.  I was tired, dirty and all I wanted to do was relax, put my feet up in the air and zone out while watching a movie.  Those were the only hard days.  So my conclusion about television?  I will be watching the past episodes of the Amazing Race.  And probably NCIS.  But all my other shows?  I dont have a burning desire to get all caught up.  I think I might finally drop one or two of my shows.  I will enjoy my mind numbing television watching occasionally but I hope that I can remember what it was like to get so much more done without spending all night glued to the TV.

In conclusion I am very glad I did it.  It was a great accomplishment because I did have to sacrifice some good things.  I knew if I picked a more convenient time, say summer time when everything are reruns, than it would have defeated the whole purpose. 

A challenge, after all, isn't a challenge unless you push yourself and do something that is not easy.  

Biking and the Ruins of the Old Zoo

A couple of Saturdays ago we decided to go on a mini adventure.  We loaded our bikes up on a very old bike rack and made the semi-treacherous trip down to Griffith Park.  Our bike rack is the rack we used when I was younger.  I told Sean the rack lasted a trip to Idaho but I dont think that made him feel any more comfortable heading onto the freeway. I do admit it was a little nerve wracking looking back to see our bikes bobble up and down.  We made it to Griffith Park in one piece without loosing any pieces. 

 

Sean's become a pro assembling our old school rack!

We decided that we would head south along the Los Angeles River.  Of course the river isn't very pretty but there was some very interesting sites along the way.  We saw a random grocery cart sitting in the middle of the river, homeless(?) people washing in the river and crowds of every demographic riding along the path.  It was really interesting to ride right along the freeway.  The traffic into Griffith Park was almost at a standstill so I was really tempted to say "hi" to the people who had their windows down.  Sean would have been too embarrassed so I didn't. 

This was the final location for one of the seasons of The Amazing Race

We biked to Los Feliz where we crossed over into Griffith Park.  It was a little bit of an uphill but nothing too bad.  It was a very warm, sunny day--perfect to be outside.  We found a nice grassy place to pull out our picnic.

One of my main objectives was to visit the Old Zoo.  I remember seeing an episode of America's Next Top Model filmed there and I heard it was a really cool place to visit.  What I didn't expect was the crowds!  I think it was the most crowded part of the entire park!  There were many different parties going on, a private photo shoot, family outings and some sort of Mascot get-together.   There were a couple of different old cages that you could explore.  I really wanted to know what those cages housed.  I would love to find an old map of this zoo but a search on the internet yielded no results.  There was a sign near the cages that explained that one reason why the cages were left "as is" was to educate the public on the advancement of zoological sciences.  The cages and conditions were a lot more primitive than what we see today at zoos.  No wonder people were all up in arms about how the animals were treated!  We tried to explore off the beaten path but couldn't find any more ruins.  We'll save that for a time when we didn't have to lug around bikes. 

I loved how this party was inside the enclosed area, awesome!

This area had an amazing view of Glendale.

The archaeologist in me loved this place!  Our society doesn't have many ruins so I got to take advantage of what I can!

These were some hardcore cages!

I seriously need to find a map and find out what animals were here.

This was the funniest thing!  There was some sort of Mascot get together because there were about 2 dozen furry people walking around (very casually I might add).

It was a quick trip back to our car but before we got there we found some deer just chillin' on the side of the road.  It was kinda ironic because I kept seeing the deer crossing signs and was thinking to myself, "I have never seen deer here-there cant possible be deer living in the middle of LA!"  Well I ate my words because there were 3 of them just chillin right next to the road.

I didn't get a good picture but if you look closely you'll see at least 2.

Our trip was sort of impromptu but it was a blast!  We cant wait to go back and explore some more!