Saturday, April 29, 2006

Boomer Chick Has a New Face!


Okay, whatcha think. The header, silly. I finally did it! I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to put up a banner and no one else seemed to know, but guess what? I did it all by myself. Does this little boomer chick proud!

There's a story behind the banner. If you look in between the crazy psychedelic letters, there's a field of poppies. And this field of poppies is in the state I'm getting ready to go back to (thank you M!) in August. I think. BF and I had planned on going when he gets his vacation the last week of July, but guess what?

It's the same freaking week as Pony Penning. For those who don't know what Pony Penning is, it's the week a million and a half tourists decide to all go to a tiny island called Chincoteague to watch wild ponies swim through the inlet, and run down main street on their way to the carnival grounds where they are penned until the auction which is held the day after.

I'm not quite sure a million and a half people feel they need to travel a million and a half miles to see this event which comes once a year, but for whatever reason, they do.

Which means the restaurant I work in is going to filled with these million and a half tourists and God help us all if it rains that day. This is the reason I can't get off.

It did rain one year. I thought I was going to die. Lines were at the door and I was at that point where I didn't care if they sat down or not. This year is going to be even harder because we basically have a staff of...uh...moi.

Well, there's a lady that works day shift by herself all week and me and this other waitress work at night, but not together. Those days I'm not working, she is, and vice versa. So, if we did our math right, that leaves one waitress per shift, per day and per night. Not a good thing during Pony Penning Week.

Anyway, the picture. I told BF that the boss says no way, Jose, am I getting off that week, so we're planning for August now, that is, if he can get off. It seems the odds of making this trip a simple one just gets harder and harder...but anyway, we're going.

TO CALIFORNIA.

Actually, we're going to stay over in Vegas and drive a rental to California. Just to the sign I need to take a picture of. And then we're going back to Vegas.

I know you're wondering what sign I'm talking about...there's a story about it in the archives here but for the sake of you looking for it and me having to search for it, I'll be brief.

There's a "Welcome to California" sign that I must get my picture taken standing in front of. If that made any sense.

It's a long story and making it brief is going to be hard, but the sign represents to me something inside me that I need to figure out. Now I'm really confusing you for sure.

Cutting to the chase, I need that picture. By "needing," I mean there's something that picture will signify. Perhaps it's something I need to clear up about my past or perhaps it'll just be a sign to mean no matter the odds, I can do anything.

I have longed to go back to California all my life and I never thought I'd ever make that dream come true. After all, I'm 3,000 miles away and, well, it involves a lot of stuff before you can do something like that. Money. Time. Drive.

Thanks to my dear friend, M, she's making it possible for me to fulfill this dream. As for time, I've got all the time in the world. As for drive, I've got it, baby.

So, I guess I'm going. I mean, I AM GOING.

I can hear my mother's, aunt's and sister's voices as they joined me in a rendition of "California, here we come...right back where we started from...." as we made that trip forty-five years ago.

I'm getting goosebumps!

7 comments:

  1. Hiya, thanks for visiting my site and commenting. I DO like your new banner, but I'm afraid I don't know what the old one looked like before, so I can't make a comparison lol

    I went to Vegas a couple of years ago...took a picture of the classic Welcome to Vegas sign, but I've no doubt that that's not the sign you're referring to lol

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  2. I also thank you for the visit you made to my blog. It would be interesting to learn how you found it. Did you link to mine from one that has a link to me? Your banner at the top is colorful and looks good. The photo is nicely integrated into it.

    I am a Snowbird over the winter, going to the southwest, and I usually drive through California going both north and south. I kind of prefer Arizona during the winter as the weather is nicer and I prefer smaller towns to large places like LA, but Calif. certainly does have some nice places, too. What route did you take into the state on the trip you remember? Do you know which road you were on? If heading toward Ft. Ord you may have gone through Reno. The Interstate freeway system was not built then so the road would probably have been one of the US highways, possibly 50 or 66. Both are still there, sort of.

    Las Vegas is a fun place, too, but be careful there. Many people loose track of the value of money while visiting Vegas.

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  3. Your banner is nice. Oh a trip, how exciting!

    Thanks for skipping by my blog and commenting!

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  4. Dick,

    Okay, that's what I have to figure out. This was '61. I thought we went the northern route to Fort Ord, but
    I can see what you're talking about. Fort Ord is higher up than Burbank. I must have this figured
    out before I go or it will be a 3,000 wasted trip, lol. There's a picture on my blog if you look into the archives...
    I think the blog post is called "You Can Never Go Back Home." That is exactly what the area looked like
    back then. I guess I'll have to do some more exploring. My mother and aunt are dead, so I can't ask them.
    My aunt was the one with the camera so if I could find that blasted picture, it would help. A psycho aunt
    took over her estate, so I'm probably between a rock and a hard place. The route we were going was 15. We
    were going to take it from Vegas to Primm, I think it was. That's where I thought I needed to take that picture. It's crazy...I must find out. ;o)

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  5. Dorothy - love the new banner, the pic of the "I Love Lucy" trip to California, and the fact that you're going to my old stomping grounds - Vegas and California. I know this trip is going to be so meaningful to you and I'm so very happy for you. I can't wait!!!

    BTW, many moons ago we took a nostalgic trip back to Fort Ord because my stepdad wanted to look around but they wouldn't let us on the base. Oh well, it's not even a base anymore. :(

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  6. Guess what, Kathy! I dd some research on Fort Ord and they condemned it or something. Seems that when I was there, they dumped chemical waste womewhere there. Back then, no one knew how deadly it would be. Interesting, huh? BTW, where's a goodplace to stay in Vegas? haven't found the perfect hotel yet...any suggestions?

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  7. We've stayed at many of the nice resort hotels in Vegas but if you want to get a good value - check out the Luxor - it's on the Strip, is very nice, but more reasonable.

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