Sarah & Bootsy Wedding

- 8 June 2012 - 

Got invited to a wedding in Phoenix in June.  My blood is too thick for the desert.  “I’ve never been quite able to properly explain myself in this climate”.  However this was Sarah Powers and Bootsy Collins wedding.  I’ve known these two since they hooked up at the old crabcake house in P-town.  So off to the desert it was.  The wedding was beautiful and we had a blast.  Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Thompson.  May you have many years of happiness.

CCR at Petco Park

- 4 June 2012 -

We got invited to a private event hosted at Petco park.  Not being a huge baseball fan I do have to say it was rad being able to walk around on a professional baseball field.  Free catered food and decently priced beers.  Can’t ask for much more than that.  Well we got more than that because Lo and Behold Creedance Clearwater revisited was there playing.  Yeah I know it’s not Creedance Clearwater Revival, but it least it was two of the original members and the singer sounded a hell of a lot like John Fogerty.  Not bad at all for a Monday I must say.

Integraton & Giant Rock

- 13  May 2012 -

Rise and shine it’s time check out some more weirdness in the desert.  Let’s fire up the grill and eat some beer brats.  After a quick pack up of the campsite we were off.  As mornings normal go after a night of partying the crew needed some coffee so, we headed into the city of Joshua Tree to regroup.  On the way we noticed a very familiar statue of Marilyn Monroe strapped down to a flatbed truck.  Wasn’t this just in Chicago when we visited back in September?  We had to stop and take some photos of this; it was just too weird to see again, especially in the middle of the desert.  After a quick photo shoot we were off to see the alien crafted Integratron.  Our timing was a bit too soon and when we arrived the gate was shut.  No worries the weird old man back in Pioneertown told us about Giant rock and the quartz mountain not too far away.  I am never comfortable in taking my Honda Fit off-road into sand but, what the hell?  After a painfully slow three or so miles into the dusty desert we arrived at Giant rock, the largest free standing boulder in the world.  Giant rock is about seven stories tall and is a massive monolith of granite.  Just off to the east of Giant rock is a fairly large mountain if quartz, so we decided to mine a few pieces as souvenirs.  It was getting close to time for our scheduled sound bath at the Integratron so we headed back down the long sandy road.  Our arrival was perfectly timed and the owners made us feel at home and told us to relax and enjoy the place.  A bit of some time in the hammock and a few back massages later it was time to partake in our first sound bath.  The Integratron feels just like a hippies living room with comfortable furniture and non-relevant instruments that hippies feel are spiritual somehow.  Upstairs was a different story.  This was a perfectly spherical dome with a fairly large skylight in the top.  I’m not sure why, but everyone felt like they had to whisper in here, so it gave the room an eerie vibe.  We set up our yoga mats and began to relax.  The MC of the day entered the dome and began telling us about magnetic fault lines and spiritual energies resonating at 7.8Hz. He then claimed this is the reason astronauts become weak in space because the human body needs this 7.8Hz frequency.  It was getting weird really quick.  Then the MC started playing the quartz bowls and told us we may fall asleep during our sound bath due to relaxation.  HOLY SHIT, that was loud as hell man.  How can I relax when my ears are piercing?  Luckily this was just a test to show us how loud it could get but, the volume was significantly lower during the show.  Once the show began I started having problems syncing my breathing to the sound and I become anxious.  This quickly faded and I seriously began to feel like I was floating.  We all did.  I had to press my palms into the floor to assure myself that I wasn’t.  The rest is a blur and I woke up to the sound of peaceful flutes.   My whole body was relaxed and my head was clear and nobody said a word for quite a while.  Did we time travel?  Did aliens visit us?  Had our spirits left and then returned to our bodies?  No, I’m pretty sure we just fell asleep but, it was an interesting experience.  Time to grab some food and head out of town.  On our way back we saw the huge dinosaurs from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.  Being a fan of the movie I pulled over to check it out.  Inside the belly of the brachiosaurus is a gift shop and for some reason they were selling cap guns.  Well after our recent gun slinging adventures in Pioneertown, I wanted to shoot something.  What better to shoot then a massive concrete dinosaur?  After getting the gun slinging out of my system and scaring the shit out of the family eating underneath the dinosaur it was time to head back to San Diego.  It’s always nice to leave a mini vacation to return to the full time vacation of living in the lovely town of San Diego.  Cheers Folks

Joshua Tree

- 12 May 2012 -

After our adventures in Pioneertown we decided to hike the Barkers dam in Joshua Tree.  Usually there is a lake out here but it was bone dry when we got there.  It’s pretty cool walking around a dried up lakebed and seeing all the watermarks on the rocks.  We hung out for a bit here and hiked back as the sun was starting to set.  Then it was time to set up camp and cook some delicious steaks on the campfire.  Once dinner was done we had to make some smores for dessert before going to bed to dream about the weird alien built time travelling spirit generator perfectly acoustic sound bath meditation apparatus that we were planning on visiting in the morning.

Pioneerstown

- 12 May 2012 - 

We started off our weekend adventure by going to Pioneertown, CA.  It’s not actually a town, its western movie set used to film a ton of old western films.  We heard there was a gun battle reenactment that takes place at 2:30, but we arrived early.  We decided to kill the time by getting some sarsaparilla at the town saloon.  Pappy and Harriot’s was where all of the town’s action seemed to be going down.  The locals were all friendly and even let us play with the dogs.  With the sarsaparillas empty we decided to walk down to the gun battle.  It was cheesy as one would expect but, hey it was free and we had a rootin’ tootin’ good ole time.  We then walked around the town exploring the set.  At the very end of town we met up with one of the locals who mentioned some interesting things.  He told us about George Van Tassel and how aliens had abducted him and returned him to earth back in New York with two large manuals of alien technology.  George then used the information in the manuals to return to Landers, CA where he began creating a spirit generator that could time travel.  However, shortly after Van Tassel began using the time traveling spirit generator the men in black came in a dismantled the device leaving merely a perfectly acoustic chamber in the middle of nowhere.  This perfectly acoustic sound chamber was the main event for the weekend and we took the psycho babble at face value and went on with our day.  After a gnarly story like that we needed one more stop at the local watering hole before we were off to Joshua Tree for some hiking and camping.

Split Mountain & Font's Point

- 7 April 2012 - 

I heard about Fonts Point from a fellow employee and he insisted that if we ever get a chance, go during a full moon... and so we did.  Our day started by getting all the troops together for a fun filled desert adventure. At least this trip was only 2 hours away. We even had two canines joining us which was a first. After a few hiccups along the way we arrived at our first destination, Split Mountain, a beautiful sight to see. It was a little out the way, but we did it anyways. At the end of a really bumpy dirt road we stopped to explore the “wind caves”.  A special area where the wind had transformed the mountain into perfectly shaped little caves. We had to cut our time there short so that we could get to Font’s Point before sunset. After another 4 mile dirt road with soft sand we made it. It was an amazing sight. We all just went quiet for a bit, taking it all in. We sat around after sunset waiting for the moon to show its face….but nope. There was no moon to be seen. Just a thin layer of fog on the horizon. When it got to dark to see each other anymore, we gave up. We all got back in the van and headed home. Although we didn’t see exactly what we wanted, it was still great fun and Font’s Point will definitely see us again.

Tijuana, Mexico

- 31 March 2012 -

I had been wanting to go to Tijuana for a beer and some street tacos for a month or so, but couldn't find anyone to go with me. At work on Friday before leaving I did a little research and found out some people had taken a brewery tour through Tijuana earlier in the month. This led me to Turista Libre. Just out of curiosity I friended Turista Libre on facebook. Within 15 minutes they not only accepted my request, but sent me an invitation to Mundo Divertido a mall and amusement park in south Tijuana (I think). I was immediately in and signed me and my wife Charlene up and even invited a few friends. Aside from a couple of my buddies bailing on the trip it was amazing. The tour guide was very friendly and put Charlene’s nervous vibe at bay. Right before crossing the border our tour guide mentioned that a film crew from KPBS was coming along to film a segment for a locate travel show. At this point we knew we were in for a good time. Our group ended up being about 14 people I believe and we headed across the border and met up with an old school bus that would be our mode of transport for the day. The first thing you notice when crossing the border is the delicious smells. It almost instantly makes you hungry and I think our tour guide had planned on that. I thought we were headed straight for Mundo Divertido but no, our first stop was a market place with fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, and restaurants. It’s amazing how different life can be just 15 minutes south of my house. Half of the fruits and vegetables we saw there I’ve never seen before. After walking around a bit we followed a veteran tour traveler to a restaurant that he recommended and it was fantastic. Conservative on what to get and my lack of Spanish I ordered 6 carna asada tacos. Luckily my buddy Tim ordered a delicious soup with goat meat in it. The portion was a bit too big for me to order a whole one, but what he shared was incredible. After lunch we continued to walk around for a bit before the bus took us to our next place. Upon arriving at Mundo Divertido I began to get really excited. Our guide took care of organizing the tickets for us and we all continued as a group to the Galeon Pirata (pirate ship) ride. This ride reminded me of being a kid riding the battering ram at Busch Gardens. At this point the group began to thin out but most of us went straight to the Montãna Rusa which was the bigger of the two roller coasters. Being an engineer and dealing a lot with mechanical structures I knew this ride was going to beat the shit out of us. Luckily I had a few drinks before and was prepared for anything. Adrenaline, fear and pain are about as close as I can describe it, but it was extremely fun. After a jolt like that a few of us decided to go grab a drink at the bowling alley, but we didn’t quite make it that far. We saw the Mundo del Terror haunted house and decided to check it out. Holy shit was this place insane. Maybe I wasn’t prepared because it wasn’t Halloween, Maybe I wasn’t prepared because it was a child friendly place in a mall, but this was no joke. I’ll leave out any spoiler’s and any pictures we may have taken here, but trust me it’s worth checking out. After a trip like that we all needed a drink so we headed to the bowling alley. A couple of lukewarm tecates later and everyone wanted to drive. This led us to Chocones (bumper cars) to drive around buzzed and wreck into each other. Extremely therapeutic and again a bit painful. The alcohol buzz was kicking in for me at this point and driving go carts seemed like the most logical step. With time running out and a long go cart line we decided to take a quick detour into Lazer Runner which was a two floor laser tag room. It kind of looked like TRON a bit in there and I got destroyed. It’s debatable who won exactly, but I’ll say Charlene because I think Tim may have cheated. With just barely enough time left we hit the Go Kars (go carts) for a final WooRaaa. I had the slowest car on the track and got lapped twice by everyone. I think our new friend Jagjeet won the race. Charlene had a bumpy car and bruised every link in her spine, but all and all we had a blast. The ride home began to take its toll on the energy level and we split up from the group and went back to the border. We reminisced about the day and even went to Pizza Port with our new buddy Jagjeet. We will defiantly be on one of these tours again. Thanks Derrik and Thanks Tijuana we had a blast. See you all soon. Side note bring money because the ATM’s are scarce.