Forgive the lateness of this post. We had to put down our pet yesterday after 16 years with her, so this is late but it's here.
Today's tip: Gas Rewards
Where we are, there are two major grocery store chains that have gas rewards. I've seen it in other places like CA, and have been told several other states do this as well. You usually get 1 point for every dollar you spend, and 100 points will give you a 10 cent reward off every gallon of gas you buy either from them or "partner stores". In our area, we get gas rewards from both Safeway and Fry's grocery stores. Fry's is a Kroger chain, and I believe in CA, Safeway is similar to Von's, but not sure on that. Anyway, they let you have 10 cents off each and ever gallon of gas for every 100 points you accumulate. If a family normally spends $100 per week, they would save 10 cents every week on every gallon of gas they buy for the week. Not a bad deal since I save tons of money at those two stores already. The prices at Safeway are great in their Ecoupon and Just for You programs, and Fry's has the best prices on lots of everyday items if they aren't on sale somewhere else.
The Safeway gas can be bought at either one of their stores that has a gas station attached, or at any Chevron. Their Safeway prices are the same as surrounding places so they aren't raising the price then giving you a discount to get back to normal. There's also a Chevron just down the street from me. Chevron is generally a higher prices brand, but near me there's a Circle K and a QT gas station all on the same corner, so they compete for customers by staying as low as the other two.
The Fry's (Kroger) deal lets you either buy gas from them, which I can do right around the corner, or else any Circle K station. They can be tricky. You can drive by ten of those and every Circle K will have a different price, based on where it is, and if they said anything in the news about rising prices, they'll usually be one of the first to reflect that.
A bonus tip for checking gas prices without driving around needlessly is to go to:
www.gasbuddy.com and enter your area. You can search by zip code, gas station (like Chevron, Shell, etc.), and the site will tell you the lowest to highest gas in your area. It's all run by people like you and me who go to the site on a regular basis and report prices they see. You 'd think that would mean very little entries, but you'd be surprised. Even when we lived outside a rural town, there were entries for the few little stations there. If you use it regularly, report ones near you, or if you spot a great deal, let others know about it. In a city, it's invaluable, because you can compare hundreds of stations along your driving route in just a few moments.
One last note, the points you earn in one month are good for the next 30 days. At the end of the month, the totaling stops and resets to zero on the first of the month. If you don't use what you earned by the last day of the next month, they're gone, no exceptions. Don't try to build up to free gas by spending $4000 over time. It won't work that way. Just shop on a regular basis, and use your rewards as you go. When we were going to be driving to CA for vacation, we shopped almost exclusively at one store, used all the promotions they had going on as best we could, and ended up filling the tank both ways for a lot less than the asking price. In CA, that's very helpful! Some stations make you use your points all at once or not at all. A few rare ones will let you use part of them if you want, it's the owner's choice, but it's hard to find those.
Here's ways to save extra on gas using Gas Rewards:
1. If you go to Safeway or Fry's website, or look through their weekly flyer, you usually see extra gas rewards deals. The most common one is to double your gas rewards by shopping on the weekend. If you spent say just $50, you'd get not 50 points, but 100 points, and you'd qualify for the first 10 cents off per gallon level. You should know alcohol and lottery tickets (and I think tobacco) don't earn points. With taxes on those items being so high, they just can't add those to the program. The double points come and go, so you have to watch for them. Fry's has theirs right now.
2. Gift cards - Since people live so far from family now that moving is common, and job opportunities have people living further from loved ones, gift cards have become a normal, acceptable gift. They're easy to mail inside a card, they're small and lightweight for the receiver to carry around, and it lets the recipient choose a customized gift at their own convenience. There's even cards for online only places like Amazon. Anyway, the grocery stores run promotions pretty regularly, but they change. They may offer double, triple, even four times the gas rewards on any gift card as long as it's a store card and not a prepaid Visa/MC/Amex type of card. This is a great way to save because you can do a little planning ahead of time, and figure out on the first shopping trip of the month, who's birthday, anniversary, graduation, baby shower, etc. will be coming up that month. Get the appropriate gift cards during the specials and you can save big. If you got someone a $50 card, during a 4x rewards program, you'd have 200 points, or 2 gas rewards (20 cents of every gallon the next time you fill up) on top of whatever else you normally buy. At Christmas time, this is HUGE.
3. On the gift cards, if you can figure out places you'd normally be paying with cash or a debit card, get a gift card, pay with that, and earn more rewards. For example, if I know our date night will be taking us to a movie, and dinner at Applebee's, I could buy a card for each worth about what we normally spend anyway. Now I can save on gas, do what I was planning anyway, and it's not like using coupons - people receive gift cards every day. The store is happy to take them since they've already received the money for it along the way. If you'll be purchasing books from Amazon, get an Amazon gift card. Just be careful you don't overspend. That won't save you anything. If you normally buy sheets at WalMart, for example, and you buy a card for Bed, Bath, and Beyond, where sheet prices are double or triple that of WalMart, you've blown your savings and then some. Shop smart. Save more
4. Sometimes you can earn extra rewards on certain items with Safeway's Ecoupons and Just for You program on their website. I sometimes see things like this:
- double gas rewards when you spend $8 in the produce section in a single transaction
- double gas rewards on any O Organics (the store's Organic product line) products within a date range.
- double gas rewards on certain store cards, like itunes, etc.
If you happen to need those things anyway, it's a great way to rack up extra points. So far the deals I've seen were for Organics, produce, and meat, so I don't have to compromise and choose unhealthy items to save more.
5. The last tip is what I call "double dipping". Fry's has another program where certain items every week (and they change) carry Dbacks points. The Dbacks are the Arizona Diamondbacks Major League Baseball team. Here's an example, if I see in the flyer that beef hot dogs are on sale, and they carry Dbacks points, and I know I'll be grilling that weekend with friends, I'll buy a pack or two. If I buy two and they cost $3 each, I get $6 worth of gas rewards, but I also get 6 Dbacks points in a separate pool that runs all season, not just a month. Then I can trade those points in for game tickets, hats, shirts, bumper stickers, and other merchandise. They run a program like this for the Phoenix Suns NBA team too during the season. Just another way to save on fun stuff while saving on gas, and not buying anything you didn't plan on buying.
Hopefully this gives you some extra ways to save, especially if you live in my area. If you don't, check your own local area to see what's out there. This is a very popular program in many areas. You may be missing out. If you've already been doing this, maybe you found a new way to save on it.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
Money Saving Monday
Over the summer, I'm going to try to blog on a daily basis. I've been thinking of different things to write about, and the first will be this: I will try to do a "Money Saving Monday" post, every Monday, to help you save money. It may be a do-it-yourself, gift idea, coupons site, store, online deals, recipes for household cleaners, etc. Not sure how well this will go, since my schedule often gets changed from what I originally plan, but here's today's post.
My first money-saving tip is to make your own laundry detergent. The cheap brands don't work anyway, and the ones that do cost over .25/load, often close to $10 for a container. This detergent works really well, using safe, environmentally safe ingredients that have been around for 100 years or more. I have been asked for this recipe for years and never had a single person tell me they were allergic to it, or it didn't work. The cost is only about 1 penny per load!!! The ingredients will make multiple batches, so you spend less than $10 on them once, then make 6 gallons with most of the ingredients left over. You just have to buy another bar of soap to make the next 6 gallons, and keep using your original box. Mine lasted a year.
LAUNDRY DETERGENT RECIPE
My first money-saving tip is to make your own laundry detergent. The cheap brands don't work anyway, and the ones that do cost over .25/load, often close to $10 for a container. This detergent works really well, using safe, environmentally safe ingredients that have been around for 100 years or more. I have been asked for this recipe for years and never had a single person tell me they were allergic to it, or it didn't work. The cost is only about 1 penny per load!!! The ingredients will make multiple batches, so you spend less than $10 on them once, then make 6 gallons with most of the ingredients left over. You just have to buy another bar of soap to make the next 6 gallons, and keep using your original box. Mine lasted a year.
LAUNDRY DETERGENT RECIPE
3 Pints Water
1/3 Bar Fels Naptha Soap, Grated
1/2 Cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, but not baking soda)
1/2 Cup Borax detergent
1/3 Bar Fels Naptha Soap, Grated
1/2 Cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, but not baking soda)
1/2 Cup Borax detergent
You'll need a large 2 gallon bucket or larger, but be sure it's something you can later lift and pour out of later. I use a storage tub, then transfer the finished detergent into empty gallon water/milk jugs.
1. Heat ingredients on low on your stove stirring continuously until dissolved. Bring to rolling boil.
2. Pour hot ingredients in bucket. Add hot water to total 2 gallons. Stir well.
3. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. Stir occasionally. Store in milk jugs or empty laundry soap containers, give it a good shake to mix and then pour.
* Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. You don't need a full cup like other powders.
On a side note, I did try adding Oxy Clean to the mix. It maybe worked a little better, but it wasn't significant. Feel free to experiment with your own ideas.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Day 10: Back Home/Monday
After the San Diego Zoo, we drove home from San Diego, through Yuma, AZ, and back to Gilbert. The ride was nice. We passed sand dunes near Yuma. They were the same ones used to shoot special scenes for Star Wars IV and VI. They were used in addition to filming in Tunisia. On a side note, there were some popular movies that filmed scenes in parts of Arizona - like Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, Casablanca, Psycho, Wayne's World, and others. Back to the drive...one of the sights Tim pointed out was that along one part of the drive, you can actually see the border fence with Mexico. It wasn't that far away. From our distance, it looked to me like a rust-colored metal fence with vertical strips in between the vertical bars and one long horizontal bar on top. There was no way to judge how tall or short the fence really is from where we were. It was kind of cool in one place because our road went up a slight hill and you could see over the fence into Mexico. It didn't look any different on either side in that particular place, just like a rancher's fence breaks off sections, but it was still cool.
When we got home, the house was spotless! The trash had been taken out, the carpets were recently vacuumed, there were no dishes in the sink, no towels or laundry lying around, the dining room and living room were picked up, and it smelled clean. What a great Mother's Day gift from Jordan. She did a great job taking care of the house while I was gone. Even though she's the youngest, I had told the boys that she was in charge of the house. If she told them to pick up their mess somewhere, or take the trash out (it's their job), then they had to do it. On my bed was a card from Adam with a Red Robin gift card for me. The card was funny - just the way I like them from my kids. Another perfect ending to another great day.
Now, finally, on to Day 10 - The last day of our official vacation. We woke up Monday when we were done sleeping. We started our day by having breakfast, and just relaxing around the house, enjoying our time with the kids as they each got up (or home from work, in Logan's case). We decided to go out to eat since we were starting "clean eating" and a cleanse for a week the following day. We went to Hibachi Grill. That place is great! It's a Chinese buffet, but they also have pizza, Mexican food, french fries, etc. (although I don't think I ever tried any of those there). I always start at the grill. I chose my veggies and then a little bit of steak. I handed it to the chef who grilled it right there in front of me. I figured if I always start with fresh veggies and lean looking meat, I'll be that much more full before hitting the junk food type of choices on the rest of the buffet. Tim started with the grill, then the sushi bar. Nothing spectacular, not much fish, but he still enjoyed it. After that, I chose carefully. I didn't want to gain 5 pounds the day before trying to lose weight. I had been pretty good, since I never gained any weight on the whole vacation, even though I ate what I felt like eating. Anyway...I chose 2 or 3 small pieces of sweet & sour chicken, a skewer of chicken meatballs, some orange chicken, a spoonful of the beef and broccoli, and I think that's about it. I was pretty full. I went over to the dessert bar, which is pretty big. I didn't want jello, or the cakes - they're usually dry anyway, or anything with chocolate, or puff pastries (no flavor anyway), in fact the only dessert I chose was a scoop of their ice cream and one serving spoon of banana pudding with vanilla wafers and whipped cream. I felt more full than I had felt in a long time. I felt satisfied and knew I could now start a strict 2 weeks without sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors/flavors, soy, grains, dairy, or caffeine. I wouldn't feel deprived. By the time I start missing some of those things - especially healthy dairy - I'll be able to have it anyway.
After dinner Tim and I went to the movies to see Captain America 2: Winter Soldier. We thought about Spiderman 2, but figured we'd see whatever was released first in case we missed it by the time Tim came back from his next trip. The movie was very good. Better than the first one, better than I hoped it would be. It was great.
After that, we went home, wrapped up the night, and got ready to return to our regular routine in the morning getting him ready to head out Wednesday - but now we could do that more rested, more at peace, more relaxed. It was the best ten days in a row of my life!
When we got home, the house was spotless! The trash had been taken out, the carpets were recently vacuumed, there were no dishes in the sink, no towels or laundry lying around, the dining room and living room were picked up, and it smelled clean. What a great Mother's Day gift from Jordan. She did a great job taking care of the house while I was gone. Even though she's the youngest, I had told the boys that she was in charge of the house. If she told them to pick up their mess somewhere, or take the trash out (it's their job), then they had to do it. On my bed was a card from Adam with a Red Robin gift card for me. The card was funny - just the way I like them from my kids. Another perfect ending to another great day.
Now, finally, on to Day 10 - The last day of our official vacation. We woke up Monday when we were done sleeping. We started our day by having breakfast, and just relaxing around the house, enjoying our time with the kids as they each got up (or home from work, in Logan's case). We decided to go out to eat since we were starting "clean eating" and a cleanse for a week the following day. We went to Hibachi Grill. That place is great! It's a Chinese buffet, but they also have pizza, Mexican food, french fries, etc. (although I don't think I ever tried any of those there). I always start at the grill. I chose my veggies and then a little bit of steak. I handed it to the chef who grilled it right there in front of me. I figured if I always start with fresh veggies and lean looking meat, I'll be that much more full before hitting the junk food type of choices on the rest of the buffet. Tim started with the grill, then the sushi bar. Nothing spectacular, not much fish, but he still enjoyed it. After that, I chose carefully. I didn't want to gain 5 pounds the day before trying to lose weight. I had been pretty good, since I never gained any weight on the whole vacation, even though I ate what I felt like eating. Anyway...I chose 2 or 3 small pieces of sweet & sour chicken, a skewer of chicken meatballs, some orange chicken, a spoonful of the beef and broccoli, and I think that's about it. I was pretty full. I went over to the dessert bar, which is pretty big. I didn't want jello, or the cakes - they're usually dry anyway, or anything with chocolate, or puff pastries (no flavor anyway), in fact the only dessert I chose was a scoop of their ice cream and one serving spoon of banana pudding with vanilla wafers and whipped cream. I felt more full than I had felt in a long time. I felt satisfied and knew I could now start a strict 2 weeks without sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors/flavors, soy, grains, dairy, or caffeine. I wouldn't feel deprived. By the time I start missing some of those things - especially healthy dairy - I'll be able to have it anyway.
After dinner Tim and I went to the movies to see Captain America 2: Winter Soldier. We thought about Spiderman 2, but figured we'd see whatever was released first in case we missed it by the time Tim came back from his next trip. The movie was very good. Better than the first one, better than I hoped it would be. It was great.
After that, we went home, wrapped up the night, and got ready to return to our regular routine in the morning getting him ready to head out Wednesday - but now we could do that more rested, more at peace, more relaxed. It was the best ten days in a row of my life!
Day 9: Sunday - San Diego/Zoo
Sunday morning we got up early, had the great breakfast Pat had put out for us, then headed out for San Diego. The drive was nice, not much traffic on a Sunday morning, and you can see the coast from the road once you get near San Diego. Tim has always had to rush back from wherever we've been to get home for work, so when we're going somewhere, there is no stopping. Asking him to stop so I can take pictures just wasn't done. For the first time, we had no real schedule, no rush. We could even take another day in San Diego if we wanted to, he didn't have to be back to work for 3 more days. I asked him if we could stop somewhere to get a few pictures, since I'd never been to San Diego and wanted pictures of the ocean there. To my surprise, he said, "Sure we can." I was so happy! We pulled into a rest area that had great views, as well as another lookout area too. The ocean wasn't as close from there, and it looked totally different from the L.A. area beaches. After a few minutes, we were back on the road again.
We found getting to zoo really easy with the GPS. I'd been wanting to see that zoo for years! I've been to a couple of zoos in my life, but I had never seen a koala, hippo, polar bear, panda, or gorilla. I was really looking forward to seeing them. The parking lot was HUGE! I know the Phoenix Zoo lot is too, but I'm used to seeing that one. This definitely looked bigger to me. Getting in was pretty quick. They open at 9 AM, and we got there around 10, but since it was also Mother's Day, (and church day), the crowds were probably much smaller than they usually would have been. It wasn't outrageously priced, either, and of course, I brought a coupon to save us $8 on admission.
My sister had recommended the sky lift ride to see the zoo. She said it was really nice from up there. We did that first while the line was short. I forgot she went in October, and I forgot that outside of Arizona there are trees. The ride itself was nice, and there were great city views, but we couldn't see a thing below us. Nothing but green tree tops. Not a single animal - but still a fun ride to take with Tim.
The first thing we went to see after taking the sky ride was the Polar Bear exhibit. I had no idea how big they were! They had a statue outside the exhibit that stood ten feet tall. They said it's actual sized based on the boy bear they have now. They're twins, a brother and sister. I was watching for a long time, just mesmerized. What beautiful animals.
The next major sight for me (with lots of other animals in-between) was the hippo. They had a big one, and a baby one. They were huge. I knew they'd be big, but I guess I didn't realize how thick their skin was. It was like an old leather sofa. It had some deep scars in it too. Not sure if it's from other hippos or if the zoo got them that way from being rescued in the wild or something.
The koala was a must-see for me. Tim had seen koalas and even held one when he visited Australia with his family the Christmas before we got married. They eat eucalyptus leaves, which is like catnip to a cat, and being "drugged" and "high", they sleep for about 20 hours a day or more. Many didn't move much, and they seemed to sleep like my cat, with their face pushed up to something - in their case, the tree boughs. A few moved a little, but it was very difficult to get a photo of them facing us.
A really interesting thing happened while watching the koalas...we noticed a crowd gathering on just one side of the street, and people were making noises like they were startled or surprised by something (gasps, not like they were afraid). I stepped into the street to see around the crowd and there were two zoo employees walking a cheetah and a white wolf (looked just like a tall, thin dog) down the opposite sidewalk. I read later that these two became friends at the zoo (somehow), in spite of them being "a cat and a dog". They are regularly walked together from their cages to the close encounter area nearby where people can pay $100 and up to get close to a few of the animals. That was the most amazing thing to see. Cheetahs are my favorite animal ever and our zoo just lost the last 2 recently with no idea when they'll be able to get more. This was a wonderful treat for me!
The gorilla enclosure was very similar to our zoo's orangutan exhibit. There were a few in there we got to see, especially once they came near the glass. I think they like seeing all the people sometimes to avoid being lonely. They seemed to enjoy being near crowds more than away on their own.
We also saw lots of other animals and tons of birds. We saw giraffes, zebras, leopards, some similar to what the Phoenix Zoo has, and others we'd never heard of. It was a great day, we spent about 5 hours there and I'm sure there were a few areas we didn't get to see. Also, there were a few other animals that weren't on exhibit that day that we didn't see, so I think another trip someday would be great. I'd love to bring Jordan here. She loves animals and her favorites are all here (except penguins).
I saved the best for last...the PANDAS!!! The signs read that we could expect a 30 - 45 minute wait in line to get to them (mostly because people obviously linger, understandably, while photographing and videoing them). Being Mother's Day and early in the morning, our wait was only about 10 minutes, and it was through a bamboo forest type of setting. We passed a Red Panda along the way. It was about the size of a small lemur, and didn't look much like a panda, but it was still cute. Once we got into the panda viewing area I was so happy! They look like large stuffed animals come to life. We watched them eat bamboo, sleep, move around a bit, and smile at us - at least that's what it looked like. I wished Jordan could've been with us to see them! Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until next time.
Sorry this is sideways, I took it with my tablet.
All in all, it was a wonderful day, with perfect weather, but if you decide to visit the San Diego Zoo, a word of caution...it is a large zoo, and it is NOT level by any means! There are areas with very steep hills, both leading down and others leading up, and many exhibits you have to go up several flights of steps that have been built in the middle of the zoo areas (unless you have crutches or a wheelchair, then you can use the elevators). There are 2 moving sidewalk type of escalators that help, but they are pretty far apart. Also, there is the sky ride to make it shorter to get to the other side, but they're only one way. There's also a train, but you won't get to stop and get pictures when you want. Other than being quite the workout (even Tim was surprised at how tired he was from it all), and the paths are a bit confusing in places where they don't match the map quite right, it's a beautiful zoo with some reasonably priced gift items, a great selection of animals, and good food at the restaurants (or at least the one we tried). I look forward to another trip there with Jordan someday.
We found getting to zoo really easy with the GPS. I'd been wanting to see that zoo for years! I've been to a couple of zoos in my life, but I had never seen a koala, hippo, polar bear, panda, or gorilla. I was really looking forward to seeing them. The parking lot was HUGE! I know the Phoenix Zoo lot is too, but I'm used to seeing that one. This definitely looked bigger to me. Getting in was pretty quick. They open at 9 AM, and we got there around 10, but since it was also Mother's Day, (and church day), the crowds were probably much smaller than they usually would have been. It wasn't outrageously priced, either, and of course, I brought a coupon to save us $8 on admission.
My sister had recommended the sky lift ride to see the zoo. She said it was really nice from up there. We did that first while the line was short. I forgot she went in October, and I forgot that outside of Arizona there are trees. The ride itself was nice, and there were great city views, but we couldn't see a thing below us. Nothing but green tree tops. Not a single animal - but still a fun ride to take with Tim.
The first thing we went to see after taking the sky ride was the Polar Bear exhibit. I had no idea how big they were! They had a statue outside the exhibit that stood ten feet tall. They said it's actual sized based on the boy bear they have now. They're twins, a brother and sister. I was watching for a long time, just mesmerized. What beautiful animals.
The next major sight for me (with lots of other animals in-between) was the hippo. They had a big one, and a baby one. They were huge. I knew they'd be big, but I guess I didn't realize how thick their skin was. It was like an old leather sofa. It had some deep scars in it too. Not sure if it's from other hippos or if the zoo got them that way from being rescued in the wild or something.
The koala was a must-see for me. Tim had seen koalas and even held one when he visited Australia with his family the Christmas before we got married. They eat eucalyptus leaves, which is like catnip to a cat, and being "drugged" and "high", they sleep for about 20 hours a day or more. Many didn't move much, and they seemed to sleep like my cat, with their face pushed up to something - in their case, the tree boughs. A few moved a little, but it was very difficult to get a photo of them facing us.
A really interesting thing happened while watching the koalas...we noticed a crowd gathering on just one side of the street, and people were making noises like they were startled or surprised by something (gasps, not like they were afraid). I stepped into the street to see around the crowd and there were two zoo employees walking a cheetah and a white wolf (looked just like a tall, thin dog) down the opposite sidewalk. I read later that these two became friends at the zoo (somehow), in spite of them being "a cat and a dog". They are regularly walked together from their cages to the close encounter area nearby where people can pay $100 and up to get close to a few of the animals. That was the most amazing thing to see. Cheetahs are my favorite animal ever and our zoo just lost the last 2 recently with no idea when they'll be able to get more. This was a wonderful treat for me!
The gorilla enclosure was very similar to our zoo's orangutan exhibit. There were a few in there we got to see, especially once they came near the glass. I think they like seeing all the people sometimes to avoid being lonely. They seemed to enjoy being near crowds more than away on their own.
We also saw lots of other animals and tons of birds. We saw giraffes, zebras, leopards, some similar to what the Phoenix Zoo has, and others we'd never heard of. It was a great day, we spent about 5 hours there and I'm sure there were a few areas we didn't get to see. Also, there were a few other animals that weren't on exhibit that day that we didn't see, so I think another trip someday would be great. I'd love to bring Jordan here. She loves animals and her favorites are all here (except penguins).
I saved the best for last...the PANDAS!!! The signs read that we could expect a 30 - 45 minute wait in line to get to them (mostly because people obviously linger, understandably, while photographing and videoing them). Being Mother's Day and early in the morning, our wait was only about 10 minutes, and it was through a bamboo forest type of setting. We passed a Red Panda along the way. It was about the size of a small lemur, and didn't look much like a panda, but it was still cute. Once we got into the panda viewing area I was so happy! They look like large stuffed animals come to life. We watched them eat bamboo, sleep, move around a bit, and smile at us - at least that's what it looked like. I wished Jordan could've been with us to see them! Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until next time.
Sorry this is sideways, I took it with my tablet.
All in all, it was a wonderful day, with perfect weather, but if you decide to visit the San Diego Zoo, a word of caution...it is a large zoo, and it is NOT level by any means! There are areas with very steep hills, both leading down and others leading up, and many exhibits you have to go up several flights of steps that have been built in the middle of the zoo areas (unless you have crutches or a wheelchair, then you can use the elevators). There are 2 moving sidewalk type of escalators that help, but they are pretty far apart. Also, there is the sky ride to make it shorter to get to the other side, but they're only one way. There's also a train, but you won't get to stop and get pictures when you want. Other than being quite the workout (even Tim was surprised at how tired he was from it all), and the paths are a bit confusing in places where they don't match the map quite right, it's a beautiful zoo with some reasonably priced gift items, a great selection of animals, and good food at the restaurants (or at least the one we tried). I look forward to another trip there with Jordan someday.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Day 8: Our Day in Long Beach
Saturday we woke up at our Bed & Breakfast. Pat, our hostess, told us breakfast was ready from 7 to 9 AM. We both are people who don't want to waste a vacation sleeping, so we were up around 6:30. (It was very light in our room and our curtains were only sheers over mini blinds.) We got presentable and made our way downstairs somewhere close to 7:00. The table was already set, with fresh fruit in little ramekins, plenty of muffins, bagels, and breads available, two kinds of juice, coffee, teas, milk, 3 kinds of cereals, yogurt, and Greek yogurt. And that didn't even include the hot breakfast entree that Pat makes special each day. She later added scrambled eggs and sausage to the table. Fresh fruit and Greek yogurt? That was way better than the Carnival ship's breakfast buffet. That was mostly pork (bacon, sausage, ham) and lots of carbs, like pancakes, waffles, breads, and fried potatoes. It was exactly what my body had been craving. We were very pleased with our stay here.
We didn't have anywhere to be until our business event around 1:00, so we just went back to our room, spent time on the internet, and relaxed until it was time to go. It was nice not to have anything pressuring us to go "do" anything. We took our showers, got dressed, and since we still weren't hungry, we skipped lunch and went to the meeting. It was held at the Maya Hotel, which happened to be right next to where our cruise ship had been docked. Did I mention it was next to the Queen Mary, sister ship of the Titanic, that's been turned into a hotel? Anyway, the meeting wasn't what we were used to. I felt like a Mom in that room of 200+ people, most of them under 30, many barely 20 I would guess. We had great speakers, got all the latest info, then they did something we didn't expect - they broke for a 40 minute scavenger hunt. You earned points by forming teams (we were there alone, out-of-state, so a little awkward), then you did group activities like, Have your team do 300 push ups and video it, then send it to FB with the hashtags they were looking for to earn points. Tim did over 50 and I was very impressed. They had things like video your team in a pretend earthquake, find a person to chase you but you can't ask them to do it, buy gas or dinner for a stranger, etc. If I had a day to do it, and a team, maybe - but 40 minutes with strangers...wasn't easy. Anyway, after the event, we listened to a great speaker, and before you know it, we were done.
We were done by 4:00, and by now we were hungry. We decided to go back to our room, and do some research to find a nice place. Tim spent over half an hour pouring through the local magazines' ads to research online. We hoped for a place at a marina or with a great ocean view. Then we tried someplace that maybe had live music. We also looked for someplace with nightlife going on. We also thought of maybe a Chinese buffet (so we can pick and choose what we eat). We didn't have much luck there, so we chose a nearby place called the At Last Cafe. It was originally a catering company that opened up a restaurant after a few years. The ad said it was featured on Guy Fieri's Dives, Diners, and Drive-Ins. That sounded promising. Good food, even if it didn't have a view or music. It turned out to be just a few blocks away. Again, finding parking on one-way, historic, residential streets was difficult. We finally found someone leaving, so we took their space. The place was tiny, but yes, the food was good. I ordered the Brick Chicken. It's half of a chicken breast, cooked under a brick, full of flavor, served with potatoes and veggies I think. I ordered a lemonade and it tasted homemade. It was one of the best glasses of lemonade I remember having. The staff was a little disorganized, bringing wrong items to wrong tables, but I think every table saw at least 4 different people! So you know they tried to do things quickly for the customer, they just weren't organized. Everyone was doing every job. Anyway, it was a great, peaceful final dinner in California. After dinner, we just went back to the room to enjoy our cozy inn room.
We didn't have anywhere to be until our business event around 1:00, so we just went back to our room, spent time on the internet, and relaxed until it was time to go. It was nice not to have anything pressuring us to go "do" anything. We took our showers, got dressed, and since we still weren't hungry, we skipped lunch and went to the meeting. It was held at the Maya Hotel, which happened to be right next to where our cruise ship had been docked. Did I mention it was next to the Queen Mary, sister ship of the Titanic, that's been turned into a hotel? Anyway, the meeting wasn't what we were used to. I felt like a Mom in that room of 200+ people, most of them under 30, many barely 20 I would guess. We had great speakers, got all the latest info, then they did something we didn't expect - they broke for a 40 minute scavenger hunt. You earned points by forming teams (we were there alone, out-of-state, so a little awkward), then you did group activities like, Have your team do 300 push ups and video it, then send it to FB with the hashtags they were looking for to earn points. Tim did over 50 and I was very impressed. They had things like video your team in a pretend earthquake, find a person to chase you but you can't ask them to do it, buy gas or dinner for a stranger, etc. If I had a day to do it, and a team, maybe - but 40 minutes with strangers...wasn't easy. Anyway, after the event, we listened to a great speaker, and before you know it, we were done.
We were done by 4:00, and by now we were hungry. We decided to go back to our room, and do some research to find a nice place. Tim spent over half an hour pouring through the local magazines' ads to research online. We hoped for a place at a marina or with a great ocean view. Then we tried someplace that maybe had live music. We also looked for someplace with nightlife going on. We also thought of maybe a Chinese buffet (so we can pick and choose what we eat). We didn't have much luck there, so we chose a nearby place called the At Last Cafe. It was originally a catering company that opened up a restaurant after a few years. The ad said it was featured on Guy Fieri's Dives, Diners, and Drive-Ins. That sounded promising. Good food, even if it didn't have a view or music. It turned out to be just a few blocks away. Again, finding parking on one-way, historic, residential streets was difficult. We finally found someone leaving, so we took their space. The place was tiny, but yes, the food was good. I ordered the Brick Chicken. It's half of a chicken breast, cooked under a brick, full of flavor, served with potatoes and veggies I think. I ordered a lemonade and it tasted homemade. It was one of the best glasses of lemonade I remember having. The staff was a little disorganized, bringing wrong items to wrong tables, but I think every table saw at least 4 different people! So you know they tried to do things quickly for the customer, they just weren't organized. Everyone was doing every job. Anyway, it was a great, peaceful final dinner in California. After dinner, we just went back to the room to enjoy our cozy inn room.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Day 7: Off the boat, onto the Bed & Breakfast
Waking up on Friday, we were a bit sad to be leaving the boat so early (they kick you off by about 8:15 AM), but again, we weren't leaving to go home, or back to work. We were leaving to stay at the Beachrunner Inn in Long Beach, a cute little Bed & Breakfast. So I guess it wasn't too sad, was it?
We got off the boat, which was easier than I would've guessed. We chose to carry our luggage off rather than leave it out the night before and claim it in a roomful of suitcases tomorrow. No inspection, no security, nothing. We walked off, no lines, no stopping, straight through to the parking garage in just a few minutes. We only had to hand in our claims form to declare what we spent and were bringing back, which was close to nothing from Mexico. Anyway, the Beachrunner was just 4 miles from the port, and check in wasn't until 3 in the afternoon. We decided to stall until 9 AM, then swing by the Bed & Breakfast to let the owner we were there, find out how early we could check in, and to ask the owner where we could grab breakfast and head to a beach nearby. You could almost see the ocean from the Inn, but it wasn't beach area. She recommended Belmont Shores just a little ways down the road. Off we went.
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We headed down the street to Belmont Shores. It was a cute little beach town. Lots of surfing items, beach clothing, and seafood shacks. We were told we could check in early, but not before noon, so we went looking for a place to grab breakfast. We weren't overly hungry so we stopped at a little doughnut and coffee shop on the main street. Parking in Long Beach is different. Half the streets are one-way streets, and all the streets have signs up that say, "No parking on Thursdays (or whatever day on that sign)...street sweeping". You may find the best little shop, but parking may not be available for a long way down the street, nor on the side streets. We probably chose the coffee shop we did because we found a parking space and just tried to find what was near the car. Inside was small, but fairly clean. It was run by just one woman. She did the baking out back, and ran the front of the shop. We ordered our coffees and bagel egg sandwiches. We didn't rush through our breakfast but we didn't stay too long either. I couldn't wait to get on the sand, staring at the ocean waves breaking once again.
We headed down to the end of Belmont Shores and found a mostly empty parking lot on the beach. Perfect! We paid for our parking, opened our suitcases to pull out bathing suits and towels, then hit the restrooms to change. They were pretty much cement blocks with a door and typical side-of-the-road rest area toilets, but we just needed room to change. After putting our clothes back in the car we headed toward the water. I can't tell you how amazed I was at the empty beach. Granted, it was a Friday morning, and people are at work and kids are in school, but you always see photos of California's beaches with people packed like sardines on the sand. That morning, there were about 3 people walking the beach, and way up on the next hill a small group of people met for yoga on the beach. We had a mile long stretch of beach almost to ourselves. We could even look across the way and see a little of our ship we'd just left. I never mentioned this but Jordan collects sand from places we go. It started with my trip last year back east when I brought her back some sand from Hampton Beach, NH. She put it into a colored, old-fashioned bottle with a cork stopper. She said then she'd like to have sand from all over in different colored and shaped bottles - so on this trip, I brought her back sand. We gathered sand from Newport Beach, and Catalina Island, and now from Long Beach (the Mexican beaches were miles away so that didn't happen). The sand here amazed me. First of all, where the water receded after each wave came in, it left a black trace. The sand had lots of black minerals in it. When I looked closer, I realized it also had tons of shiny, gold glitter (looked like it) in it. When the wave came in then receded, it would leave a trail of gold behind on the sand. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I made a short video of it for the kids to see. I collected sand for Jordan, and also some shells to add to her someday Beach Themed room (next house where we can paint). It was a beautiful morning, by a perfect beach, with the best husband I could have asked God to give me.
Once it was around noontime, we weren't really hungry, so we just snacked on our healthy snacks we'd brought along, and went to check into our room. The home is a remodeled 1913 home with lots of space. There were at least 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 downstairs, I think, plus the areas where the owner lives. The chair rail shelves, built-in hutches and cabinets, the stone and tile fireplace, it was very inviting and warm. There was even a hot tub and sitting area out on a back patio that was covered by trees for privacy. Our room was ready when we got there, and we were more tired than we realized. We thought we'd just take a short nap, then go sightseeing or something. Well, our nap took us from about 12:30 through to suppertime. We slept great, the room was nice and cool, the ceiling fan and open windows were perfect. There was a bit of noise from the street outside, but I grew up in the city and Tim sleeps in truck stops, so it was fine. We just enjoyed the freedom to sleep all afternoon if that's what we wanted to do. There never seems to be time for naps as an adult, too much to do. This day was ours to do as we pleased, with nothing else to do.
After our extended nap, we were hungry. Tim suggested going to George's Greek Cafe. I LOVE Greek food. I wasn't sure he liked it, but if he was okay with it, I wasn't going to argue. We got ready and drove downtown to the district where all the restaurant, bars, and entertainment seemed to be. The buildings had a historic flair to them, nice architecture, high-rise buildings. It was very different from everything else we'd done so far. We ate outside on their side patio, just as the sun was getting ready to go down. We enjoyed the special, roasted lamb, baked potatoes, Greek salad, it was better than the cruise dinner. All homemade, no artificial ingredients, just good food. For dessert we tried a warm vanilla custard with vanilla ice cream (again, I'm not a chocolate fan). It was pretty good too. What a great dining experience - yes, we were still on vacation.
After dinner, we just went back to enjoy our Bed & Breakfast, and spent the evening relaxing.
We got off the boat, which was easier than I would've guessed. We chose to carry our luggage off rather than leave it out the night before and claim it in a roomful of suitcases tomorrow. No inspection, no security, nothing. We walked off, no lines, no stopping, straight through to the parking garage in just a few minutes. We only had to hand in our claims form to declare what we spent and were bringing back, which was close to nothing from Mexico. Anyway, the Beachrunner was just 4 miles from the port, and check in wasn't until 3 in the afternoon. We decided to stall until 9 AM, then swing by the Bed & Breakfast to let the owner we were there, find out how early we could check in, and to ask the owner where we could grab breakfast and head to a beach nearby. You could almost see the ocean from the Inn, but it wasn't beach area. She recommended Belmont Shores just a little ways down the road. Off we went.
.jpg)
We headed down the street to Belmont Shores. It was a cute little beach town. Lots of surfing items, beach clothing, and seafood shacks. We were told we could check in early, but not before noon, so we went looking for a place to grab breakfast. We weren't overly hungry so we stopped at a little doughnut and coffee shop on the main street. Parking in Long Beach is different. Half the streets are one-way streets, and all the streets have signs up that say, "No parking on Thursdays (or whatever day on that sign)...street sweeping". You may find the best little shop, but parking may not be available for a long way down the street, nor on the side streets. We probably chose the coffee shop we did because we found a parking space and just tried to find what was near the car. Inside was small, but fairly clean. It was run by just one woman. She did the baking out back, and ran the front of the shop. We ordered our coffees and bagel egg sandwiches. We didn't rush through our breakfast but we didn't stay too long either. I couldn't wait to get on the sand, staring at the ocean waves breaking once again.
We headed down to the end of Belmont Shores and found a mostly empty parking lot on the beach. Perfect! We paid for our parking, opened our suitcases to pull out bathing suits and towels, then hit the restrooms to change. They were pretty much cement blocks with a door and typical side-of-the-road rest area toilets, but we just needed room to change. After putting our clothes back in the car we headed toward the water. I can't tell you how amazed I was at the empty beach. Granted, it was a Friday morning, and people are at work and kids are in school, but you always see photos of California's beaches with people packed like sardines on the sand. That morning, there were about 3 people walking the beach, and way up on the next hill a small group of people met for yoga on the beach. We had a mile long stretch of beach almost to ourselves. We could even look across the way and see a little of our ship we'd just left. I never mentioned this but Jordan collects sand from places we go. It started with my trip last year back east when I brought her back some sand from Hampton Beach, NH. She put it into a colored, old-fashioned bottle with a cork stopper. She said then she'd like to have sand from all over in different colored and shaped bottles - so on this trip, I brought her back sand. We gathered sand from Newport Beach, and Catalina Island, and now from Long Beach (the Mexican beaches were miles away so that didn't happen). The sand here amazed me. First of all, where the water receded after each wave came in, it left a black trace. The sand had lots of black minerals in it. When I looked closer, I realized it also had tons of shiny, gold glitter (looked like it) in it. When the wave came in then receded, it would leave a trail of gold behind on the sand. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I made a short video of it for the kids to see. I collected sand for Jordan, and also some shells to add to her someday Beach Themed room (next house where we can paint). It was a beautiful morning, by a perfect beach, with the best husband I could have asked God to give me.
Once it was around noontime, we weren't really hungry, so we just snacked on our healthy snacks we'd brought along, and went to check into our room. The home is a remodeled 1913 home with lots of space. There were at least 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 downstairs, I think, plus the areas where the owner lives. The chair rail shelves, built-in hutches and cabinets, the stone and tile fireplace, it was very inviting and warm. There was even a hot tub and sitting area out on a back patio that was covered by trees for privacy. Our room was ready when we got there, and we were more tired than we realized. We thought we'd just take a short nap, then go sightseeing or something. Well, our nap took us from about 12:30 through to suppertime. We slept great, the room was nice and cool, the ceiling fan and open windows were perfect. There was a bit of noise from the street outside, but I grew up in the city and Tim sleeps in truck stops, so it was fine. We just enjoyed the freedom to sleep all afternoon if that's what we wanted to do. There never seems to be time for naps as an adult, too much to do. This day was ours to do as we pleased, with nothing else to do.
After our extended nap, we were hungry. Tim suggested going to George's Greek Cafe. I LOVE Greek food. I wasn't sure he liked it, but if he was okay with it, I wasn't going to argue. We got ready and drove downtown to the district where all the restaurant, bars, and entertainment seemed to be. The buildings had a historic flair to them, nice architecture, high-rise buildings. It was very different from everything else we'd done so far. We ate outside on their side patio, just as the sun was getting ready to go down. We enjoyed the special, roasted lamb, baked potatoes, Greek salad, it was better than the cruise dinner. All homemade, no artificial ingredients, just good food. For dessert we tried a warm vanilla custard with vanilla ice cream (again, I'm not a chocolate fan). It was pretty good too. What a great dining experience - yes, we were still on vacation.
After dinner, we just went back to enjoy our Bed & Breakfast, and spent the evening relaxing.
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