San Francisco!

When we last left our daring adventurers they were ecstatic at the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Thursday, May 19
It is interesting how things turn out. Before the trip if you would have asked me what cities we were most excited for, what cities we would have liked the best I’m pretty sure we would have answered that we were most excited for San Fran & Portland. Looking back (and even during the trip) it was weird when the realization hit that Seattle was indeed our favorite city on the trip.

We were mighty excited when we saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course this had to do with the gas fiasco and the many near death experiences of the last few hours before we got into town, but mainly it was because San Francisco was somewhere we both had been waiting a super long time to get to.

It was craziness. First you see the bridge and then you see this city and everything is so white it is insane. I felt like we were driving into Greece. But this ecstasy was replaced the instant we got off the bridge. Michael is already stressed to the max because of the hours of cliffside driving, but now we are in a city! EEE! Truthfully, I thought he was overacting because it didn’t look to be that bad of a driving city but I was wrong. It is insanely stressful to drive in San Fran. I think it is even more stressful than NYC. Well, ok maybe that is taking it a bit far, but it is stressful in an entirely different way than NY.

You know how when you are on a roller coaster and you are going straight up and you can’t see over the hill until you get to the very top? That is what it is like driving in SF. And these maniacs have stoplights at the near top of the hill. So you are not safely on the top of the hill, instead you are left in peril hoping to God that your brakes are working. It is HORRIBLE!!!

But finally we make it to the SF Hyatt.

Water Pressure 3
Room Space 3.5
Temp Control 3
Décor 4
Staff Helpfulness 2.5 (-.5 for coffee incident)
Beds 4
Coffee 2 (-1 for coffee pot)
Facilities 2 (expensive bar/rest; no gym; horrible elevators)
Noise Level 2 (outside & inside -lobby)

Other:
-1 for weight sensitive mini bar
-1 for coffee machine taking so long
-1 snooty attitude
-1 no vending machines
+1 restaurant gave big portions

At first glance we really liked the Hyatt. It is a very large & stylish looking hotel. As the days went on though we began to see the problems underneath the pretty façade. First, the good. The hotel is very striking when you first arrive. The decor of the rooms is good. We really liked our beds. We ate at the bar the first night we arrived and although we thought it was a bit pricey we were pleased with the portions provided.

The bad. The hyatt tries to come off as this upscale hotel, but really they are trying to pinch every penny they can out of you. The mini bar is computerized, so if you try to move things around (i.e. put something of your own in there) you will automatically be charged. We didn't know this and had been moving things around all night. The next morning we saw the tiny notice on the mini fridge and called the front desk. Thankfully, they removed the charges. If you want to use the fridge for yourself it is a $10 charge. Also there are no vending machines because they want you to take the overpriced products in the minifridge. This was a bit annoying.

Next issue was that our coffee maker was broken. It took over an hour for someone to come and replace it.

The hotel is located on the edge of the embarcadero right across from the Ferry Building. It is a bit of a walk to most sights, but if you don't mind a walk it is not too big of a deal. There are bus stops right at the corner.

After we returned our rental car (which is when I learned of SF driving stress) we walked back to the hotel. The walk was nice and we learned very quickly of how hilly SF is. Wow. No joke. Thank God we found a map that showed you where the hills were so that in the future we could avoid most of the massive inclined streets.

It was a pretty laidback evening. We were exhausted from our treacherous drive, the gas debacle and the SF driving; so we just had a small meal at the hotel bar.

Friday, May 20
For day one we had a pretty ambitious plan. We started off the day with lunch with Michael’s high school friend Jenny. We had our first sushi of the day and it was very tasty. After lunch Jenny went back to work and Michael & I started our adventuring.

I think it is pretty obvious that Michael & I are no rookie tourists. If we go to a city we really want to be incognito tourists. It is like every city is auditioning to be a potential new home. So it was a bit disconcerting that we were so intimidated. For the love of God we are not from some little town! We are seasoned travelers who have adventured many times in NYC! How the crap can we be intimidated by this West Coast city?

Although I do think that SF is the closest thing to NYC that I have encountered, I think there were a few factors leading to our apprehension. At this point, our vacation is over a week. That starts to wear on you a bit. Thankfully we recovered after San Fran but I was worried for a hot second. Plus, the geography of the city is really rough. I think those hills are a big part of why it is so intimidating. When you are at Fisherman’s Wharf and you look up and all you see is hill, you want to roll up in the fetal position and start crying. Also, I think the anticipation for SF was too much. Sometimes when you have been waiting to go somewhere for so long, you almost can’t believe it when you are there. I guess that’s how people feel when they get to NYC for the first time. It is like, wow. I don’t know where to even start here.

But our trepidation is short lived and we continue on our day.

After we leave Jenny we head to Powell Street so we can be touristy and jump on the Powell-Hyde cable car. Apparently people in SF get very upset if you say “trolley” instead of “cable car”. Just a heads up.

After a little bit of a wait we hop on the cable car and Michael holds on to the railing for the ultimate SF tourist experience. The big hills are a little less irritating when you are not driving/walking them. We take the cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf, walk around a bit, grab a Starbucks drink and head back up the big hill so we can check out Lombard St.

I’m not sure what kind of crack Michael was smoking but he decided to call his father as we were attempting to climb up the hill. So in the midst of his huffing and puffing he was telling Papa Wood about all of our adventures.

Finally we made it to Lombard Street. It is the crookest street in the country (maybe the world?) and it was built in 1922 so that cars could more easily handle the 16 percent grade. Check!

At this point we consider going to Coit Tower but I am very, very afraid of more hills. So we go back down the big hill to Fisherman’s Wharf so that we can get some fun postcards! Hooray!

After checking out all of the tshirt & souvenir shops we decide to head back to the hotel. We consider taking a streetcar… (streetcars are different than cable cars; interesting side note, streetcars were shipped in from around the world, we spy cars from Baltimore, Philly & Milan!) but it is stuffed with tourists! So we walk back to the hotel and motor to get ready for dinner with Jenny.

We have done enough walking for one day and decide to cab it to North Beach for dinner. EEEK! Cabs in San Fran are expensive!!! North Beach has lots of Italian restaurants. We have dinner at Calzones. The food at Calzones was adequate. Not the best meal of the trip but not the worst either. I had an arugula, dried cranberry salad with fuji apples, caramelized walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette.

After dinner Jenny takes us on a dive bar tour of San Fran. We start off at Vesuvio in North Beach. Of all the bars we visit this evening Vesuvio is the most non-dive. It is very casual and a good place to hang and have beers.

After Vesuvio we head to Chinatown and the Buddah Bar. The Buddah Bar is a fun dive bar. We have the bar to ourselves (well, there are 4 other people in the bar) and everything is super fun until all of the sudden 25 people storm the bar! EEEEE! We make a break for it and Jenny takes us on a very long walk to High Tide. High Tide is the champion dive bar of the evening. It wasn’t the best bar, just the biggest dive. You know, the kind of place where you are drinking and having fun but you don’t feel completely comfortable in? We have a little issue with the juke box and end up playing the bars’ 3 most popular songs. I’m a little worried about what songs will be played. We wait anxiously and then Usher comes on. Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. In between songs I bond with Jenny’s friend Jessica who tells me she is a JC fan. Apparently she had no clue who he was until her friends took her to a show and then the sleeveless, sweaty wonderfulness was more than she could take!

The second most popular song according to the jukebox is AC/DC. I contemplate suicide for a few brief moments but instead decide to drink heavily for the next 4 minutes. Still at the mercy of the jukebox, Abba is the next song. Wow. This bar must be populated by a bunch of schizophrenics. So the 3 most popular songs at the High Tide are Usher, AC/DC and Abba. Craziness!

After many a drink we decide it is time to call it a night and Jenny gives us directions back to the Hyatt. As Michael and I are walking we start to realize that our surroundings are changing a little bit. Hmmm, is it me or is everyone looking a bit shady? Well, Michael is speeding up a bit…it looks like George St down here (not nice George St, I’m talking Remsen Ave, George St….C-Town!!). I don’t really recognize any of these street names.

Finally we come upon Market Street. That was fun! A tour of the Tenderloin! The Tenderloin is where all of the San Francisco crack addicts live. No one bothered us at all but it was definitely a little sketchy for a few blocks! EEEEE!


Saturday, May 21
“SCREW IT!”

This was our most stressful day of the trip. Voices were raised a few times, but through it all Michael and I were able to have fits of laughter so it all ended up good.

We got up and headed over to Jenny’s for breakfast. It was a nice little ride to the Haight were she lives. We get to see the Full House house! Yay!

It is a beautiful day in San Fran! Apparently it is the nicest day all year and everyone and their brother is out! So we go to the rental car to pick up our vehicle for our adventure to Muir Woods. Uh-oh. Lots of people at the Budget Car Rental! The only vehicle left is a mini van. EEEK! That is going to be scary driving the curvy roads! Booo to mini-vans!

We have a bit of a stressful drive through San Francisco and then hit a lot of traffic. Booo traffic. So we head to Sausalito. Ahhh. I like Sausalito. Very Mediterranean, very relaxing. We walk around a bit, check out the sailboats & have lunch on the rocks by the water. Oh wait! We spy a K-Fed look a like! (K-Fed=Kevin Federline) Sausalito has refreshed us!

Try number 2 for Muir Woods. Traffic has subsided so we head up into the mountains to hit Muir Woods. We make it all the way to the woods and guess what! There is no parking! At this point the little red alarm is going off above my head. SCREW IT! We wanted to have a little Nellie-Francine moment but this whole drive is making me very, very mad!! As I drive back towards the city Michael reasons that we’ve seen enough trees anyhow.

Since Muir Woods was a bust we try Golden Gate Park. Bad idea. Our map does not adequately display the area…part of the park is closed off…nothing is where it is supposed to be we can’t find the flippin AIDS Memorial! GRRRR! Michael really, really, really hates our map…a lot. It is hot and now I’m very grumpy! We finally locate the Japanese Garden but it costs $3 to get in! Right now I don’t like San Fran and don’t want to give them any more money. So we walk to the arboretum (how do we pronounce that mikey?) and this is where I drop. I have a little tantrum (for the sole purpose of pictures) and then Michael and I give up and just lay. Hee Hee, we get people to take pictures of us sprawled out on the grass.

After the arboretum collapse we decide to return the mini van. Michael and I get dangerously close to an argument as we try to navigate back to the car rental. Luckily we make it to the car rental without killing each other and we decided to rest up for our evening out in the Castro.

I’m sure you are aware that San Fran is known as the gay capitol of the world. The Castro is the gay mecca of San Fran. So we were a bit eager to get to the Castro and investigate.

We had a pretty entertaining cab driver who told us of a very sketchy sex club. Umm, thanks!

I wish we would have had more time to explore the Castro. Our San Fran time had tired me out a bit and I definitely would like a chance to check it out again. It is a fun neighborhood with lots of bars and lots of boys. It is a little overwhelming. We tried a few bars out (Club Mix, The Café, Metro) and they all seemed good. I really liked Metro. Nice chill vibe, fun ambiance.

Day 3-May 22
Ahhh. Last day in San Fran. We start off the day at Yank Sing for dim sum! If you don’t know, dim sum is kind like a buffet. You sit and the people pass by you with carts showing you what they have and you take it if you like it. Usually it is a pretty cheap meal. Usually. The food was very tasty; sea bass, duck, dumplings & egg rolls. But it was probably double what you would normally pay for dim sum. It is rather amusing that our 2 most expensive meals are Chinese food.

We didn’t have too much time to spend in the Ferry Building (which is full of gourment shops) but we stopped at Sharffenberger Chocolates and Cow Girl Creamery.

Next we head out to Alcatraz. The ferry is a nice ride, a little bit on the windy side and that water is rough!!!! It is interesting to visit Alcatraz and see all the history. Those cells were tiny! We see Capone’s cell and learn all about the guys who “escaped” (they were never found so odds are that they didn’t survive the swim). I promised Jay that I wouldn’t go into “the hole” (i.e. solitary confinement) because he was worried about me bringing home some angry spirits.

After our Alcatraz adventure we meet up with Jenny to check out Haight-Ashbury. This is the “South Street” area of San Fran (it is also where all the hippies lived in the 60’s-counter culture and such). We do a quick lap and then head to Chinatown for super fun Floating Boat Sushi Restaurant. You sit at a circle bar that surrounds the sushi chef. Little boats float past you with sushi on them and you pick up whatever you want to eat. It was fun until I started to think about how long the sushi was probably sitting out. Then it wasn’t so fun anymore.

We really, really like Chinatown. It is our favorite part of SF. We find fun little surprises to buy. Ohhh! A Karate Kid Drum! Hooray! Ohhh! Pashmina’s for $15! I buy 2! Later Michael is super jealous that he didn’t buy one when he had the chance!!!

San Francisco has exhausted us. Thank the Lord that tomorrow is Monterery!!!

Next up:
The Giant Dipper! Monterey is just what we need! And Michael finally takes over KT’s brain!!!!

Some new JC soon...

What’s up kids? Lots to spill so let’s get a move on.

First off, the big news is that last week MTV ran a story that said JC was ONE WEEK away from finishing his second record! JC said that the first record was all about sex and this record was all about love. When MTV asked if the Eva Longoria (beeyatch) had inspired any of the songs JC said, “No. Yes. Maybe.”

Also, the gossip king over at E! ran into JC at the Mr. & Mrs. Smith premiere and had this to say:

Gabbed with the always endearing JC Chasez at the Mr. and Mrs. Smith premiere last week, and in the flick's honor I asked the 'N Syncer to define a perfect marriage. He narrowed his eyes a bit, a hapless grin formed at the corners and he replied very suavely, "There's no such thing, honey," shaking his head as if he's been through such marital hard times.

"But ideally speaking," I urged JC, "what's your definition?" Spill it!

"Well, I guess it's when you stay faithful, stay honest and you're still in love," he professed, quite matter-of-factly.

Awwww! I still love my JC!

I actually caught Mr. & Mrs. Smith last Tuesday. It was alllright. Nothing spectacular. I enjoyed the movie while it was happening but I did feel like it was dragging a bit. I thought that Pitt and Jolie were strong and holy moly those two generate some heat.

My official KT rating is that if it was on cable I’d probably watch it. I wouldn’t go out of my way to find it again, but if it was on, I’d watch.

Tonight is the big movie excitement! BATMAN! Hmmmm Christian Bale! I have to say that I’m getting a little annoyed about all this Katie Holmes crap. On the news yesterday all the talk was about how Katie Holmes’ new movie opened at number 1. I’m sorry, is she the one in the cape? Cause if not then it is not her movie. It is Christian Bale’s movie. Ugh. I hate all this Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes crap. It is driving me insane!!!!

In other batman news, I heard that the rumored top two top picks for Joker (for the sequel) are Mark Hamill and Crispin Glover. Glover is definitely creepy but I think I’m leaning towards Hamill. Did you see him in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back? He’d be a great villain plus his face is already kind of like the Joker.

In our last bit of movie news, SMG has signed on to to American McGee’s Alice. Apparently it is a movie based on a video game based on Alice in Wonderland. Something about Alice being grown up and a little disturbed after her parents are killed. She goes back to a dark wonderland. Sounds pretty interesting. I just hope that SMG doesn’t end up being typecast in supernatural/horror flicks. I’d like to see her bust out her dramatic acting chops.

I believe that the Serenity trailer is playing before Batman. If you see the trailer and think to yourself, wow, that movie looks pretty cool, then I urge you to watch the show before the film comes out. Besides the dvds that I own, you can also catch Firefly on SciFi on Fridays at 7, starting Jul 22nd. Just remember that the first episode is a little difficult to get through but once you do the rest of the series is worth it.

Finally for all the Bon Jovi fans, I’m holding out hope that there will be a later summer/early fall tour. The boys are releasing another record this summer and are also doing the Live 8 show in Philly. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
That’s all for now kiddies! Next time we will discuss how the summer tv season is going.

Wed, May 18 I like the dark, but I hate nature, I HATE NATURE!

Michael and I hop out of our beds with a cheery disposition because we know we are finally leaving this God forsaken city. After we get our shiny car from the car rental (oohhh they had to upgrade us to a luxurious new Ford Taurus) we head out for California!

The first portion of today’s drive is highway driving and since I am the designated “highway driver” I start off today’s trip behind the wheel. Oregon is very beautiful. We decide that Portland=bad, Oregon=good. We saw lots & lots of cows and sheep & a few llamas as well. For breakfast we stop off at a diner in southern Oregon. This place is great! It is all fifties out! Elvis everywhere! It is literally a mom & pop shop. Mom is our stereotypical diner waitress and dad is the cook! We get a lot of food for a cheap price and I especially like my super thick bacon.

Our first stop in California is Crescent City. Wow. What a depressingly drab place this is. Crescent City is a very gray town. Crescent City has been hit by 17 tsunamis in the last 65 years. 3 of these have caused substantial damage, actually I think the whole town was wiped out in 1964 by a tsunami. Again, Michael and I think all of this tsunami business is rather amusing, especially the notices that tell you to go up the big hill if you feel an earthquake. Truthfully, now I feel a little bit guilty because ella called me yesterday because just on Tuesday night Crescent City had a tsunami warning. Apparently there was an earthquake out at sea and the tsunami alarm went off in town. Can you imagine Michael & I if that happened while we were there? We would have died carrying all of our luggage up the big damn hill because Lord knows Mr. Wood would not have left anything behind!!

Anyhoo Crescent City isn’t all too exciting, but it marks the official beginning of Redwood territory and also it means that we are dangerously close (about 60 miles) to our home for the night, Arcata.

Our first Redwood stop is Jedediah Smith Redwoods. The most important thing you need to know about the Jedediah Smith Redwoods is that this is where George Lucas filmed the Return of the Jedi scenes for the forest moon of Endor (where the ewoks live). That was very exciting. So here we are in the redwoods. We are so excited to be in the Redwoods (and where they filmed Jedi) that we jump out of the car and decide to take a look around. First order of business is to put our ella-purchased ponchos on and take some pictures in the redwoods in the rain. Check! The rain stops and we decide to go for a little walk, but not before I see a sign warning of bears. This brings me back to reality. Hmmm, I don’t like nature. I don’t want to see any animals up close that can do me bodily harm. Michael, still operating under his redwood inducing, nature loving delirium, assures me that everything will be fine and pulls me (dragging my feet) deep into the forest (about 3 feet). We take a mini-hike (about 7 steps) but every time I hear a noise I turn around expecting a giant grizzly bear to eat me. Defeated, Michael concedes and we stick to the area by the road. This leads us to a big map and some important notices. One of which warns of black widow spiders. Michael is instantly brought back to reality. “What! Where am I! What is going on! I don’t like nature! What the hell are we doing out here! Back to the car!!”

Thankfully there is a little road that drives through a bit of the forest so we can peak out from the safety of our vehicle. I think it would be a swell idea for the National Park Service to install some of those nifty covered hatch type things that Disney World uses to transport tourists through all the fun stops in Epcot. Then you can safely enjoy nature from a distance without the constant threat of death by spider bite or bear consumption.

This is why we really, really like Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. You can drive right through the heart of the park and make quick picture stops along the way! Hooray for the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway! There is even a terrific little spot where you can see elk!

I’ve already explained to you the banality of trying to convey the feeling of seeing nature’s enormity. Yes, we all understand that Redwoods are big trees. But when you see them, and you stand next to one…you are nothing. You are a dot in the universe. These things are massive and thousands of years old. It is just incredible. This really hits me at Prairie Creek. Wow.

Michael is very excited for the Trees of Mystery! You can take a Sky Trail through the park (hooray for more safe exploration…although truthfully I’m a lil bit nervous about the whole sky lift thing)…but sadly, we will not get to see any of the fun Trees of Mystery (except for the super fun gift shop) because we’ve arrived minutes late and now it is closed! Boooo! Although I am disappointed about missing out on some of the cool trees, I’m a bit relieved about skipping the gondola ride. It was worth it just to see the humongous Paul Bunyon & Babe the blue ox.

Finally we arrive in Arcata. The Howard Johnson is a 5 min ride from downtown, so we drop our bags and go into town for some dinner. Now, let me explain something. Of course I did research and I knew that this town had some hippies, but holy whoa! A whole town of hippies! I mean nothing but hippies. It was like being in the twilight zone. I felt like eric cartman. I wanted to bash all of the hippies over the heads with something. Honestly, most hippies are perfectly nice people but for the love of God can we speed things up a little bit? And do you have anything against shampoo? I really can’t stand people that make me wait…and wait…and wait. So we stop for dinner at the Humboldt Brewery. Lots of college hippies. So we sit down. And wait, and wait, and you guessed it! Wait some more! Finally grown up hippie waitress takes our order. She can tell we are not hippies. This makes her nervous, and I’m surprised a little hippie signal didn’t go off and we were taking away kicking and screaming to a secluded area to be hippified. Days later Michael and I would emerge with dreadlocks, tye-died apparel, a phish cd (blech), sandals and stoned out of our skulls. Thankfully, this did not happen. I decide that if I’m going to be forced to wait I’m going to hit the jukebox and hopefully find some happy music. I can’t believe my eyes. Is that the Drumline Soundtrack? And wait, it gets better, JC was also on some pop compilation cd. So I decide to fight the hippies with pop warfare and I play a JC Chasez song in the local hippie brewery (what! If you don’t want to hear it you shouldn’t put it in the box!) We anxiously sit through my other selections waiting to see if the JC song will cause a hippie riot causing us to be run out of town. But as the music starts a most peculiar thing happens, hippies begin jamming to JC!!! Crazy. This is why I can not completely loathe hippies. They are so go with the flow and they don’t hate. But yeah, that ruled. JC in the hippie bar!

It was a pretty mellow evening at the Howard Johnson after our hippie excursion. We did some laundry and watched some tv. Ahhh tv, how I have missed you!

Arcata Howard Johnson
Water Pressure 3
Room Space 3
Temp Control 3.5
Décor/ambiance 1
Staff Helpfulness 3
Beds 3, pillows 2
Coffee 3
Hotel Facilities 2.5
Noise Level 3

Extras:
+1 for laundry
+1 for extra tv channels
+1 for postcards!

Thurs, May 19

Much fun ahead of us today! Lots of driving, lots of redwoods and then we will be in San Francisco! EEEEE!

Our first stop is Humboldt Redwood State Park. Crazy. We take the scenic byway so that we can see the best collection of coastal redwoods. A lot of the drive was filled with stunned silence and every once in a while one of us would say, “wow” or “crazy”. Good times.

OOOHHHHH! We are finally approaching the KT Redwood Highlight. The Drive Thru Tree! Yipppee! But first a warning. If you ever decide to take a trip through the California Redwoods and you want to see the Drive Thru Tree, go to Leggett, to the real tree. Do not try to see the ghetto version that is on the side of the road and held up by wire (scary). It is a bad, bad idea. Ghetto Drive Thru Tree=Bad. Leggett=Good.

So yes, we are about to enter the Drive Thru Tree area…we interrupt this broadcast for a Wood Family emergency. It seems that both of Michael’s brothers have called him this morning. That is odd, both calling on the same day. And what’s this? A message from Mom, a message from Jack asking about mom. Uh-oh. Now we are in the midst of a crisis because we don’t know if something happened to Michael’s mom. Cell phone reception is scarce in the redwoods but luckily Michael gets through to his mom and she is ok. A little scare but she is ok. Yikes! That is scary. That right there, that is why I can’t live on the West Coast even though I love it a zillion times more than NJ. If anything ever happened to someone I love and I had to take a 5 hour plane ride to get to them, nope, not good.

We recover from our momentary crisis and head into the tree. EEEK. This is a little stressful…it is a tight squeeze and I don’t want to hurt the Ford Taurus. Phew! Fun gift shop here too! Hooray for fun gift shops!

It is a very exciting moment on our trip, we are about to leave 101 and begin our journey on US 1. This road is very scenic and very windy. Actually, all you need to know is the quote of the day. “No more wind-y, wind-y”.

So we are on 1 for 15 seconds before the winding starts. I’m talking nonstop winding up the mountain, winding down the mountain. Wow, if this is how it is the whole time, it is going to be a very long trip. Finally we emerge from all the twisting and see the coast. Hooray! The west coast is so beautiful. You really have to just stop and take it all in. It is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Crazy.

My driving for the day comes to an end when we reach Mendocino. Mendocino is another little beach town. I like it, a lot. We have lunch at a sandwich shop called Tote Fete and my sandwich is DELIC! Hmmm roast turkey, havarti cheese, lettuce and cranberry sauce on ciabatta bread. So tasty!

Now it is Michael’s turn to drive. This is where things get interesting. There are big sweeping views. Lots of winding, lots of S turns, U Turns, dramatic turns…At one point as we are going up a mountain, we thought the road ended. We whipped around the corner and were like, “hey where’s the road?” Because now we are facing the mountain. Insanity. Craziness! Plus, to make matters worse there are no guardrails. What crack addict decided that a little curb was enough to keep you from plummeting 1000 feet to the rocky ocean? Imagine this. You are on a mountain. The road is only big enough for you and the car coming at you in the other lane. Then about 2 feet from your tire is a curb and then a drop. So when you are driving all you see out of your left eye is ocean. It is a little unnerving. I think I spent 75% of our Cliffside drive in the fetal position. On top of that we were having a serious fuel issue. The Taurus came with a nifty gizmo that tells you exactly how many miles of gas you have left. We were supposed to have more than enough gas to get us to San Francisco. This was not the case.

So to say that we were stressed is a bit of an understatement. To calm Mikey I put on the Buffy Soundtrack. This seemed to work for a bit especially when we decided to partake in the Anya-Xander duet. I tried to replay the song a few times to keep us calm but its effects started to wear off and we would stop singing (mid verse) to exclaim…Jesus Christ!!!! Making matters worse (and a little life-endangering) is that in the midst of all these turns and cliffs and inclines we’ve hit our insane portion of the day! Today it is not so much giddy as just complete lunacy. We are crazy, we are laughing, we are just barely staying on the road!!!

Thankfully, we had about a 45 minute respite from all the stress when 1 veered inland. Ahh cows. Cows and sheeps and goats and llamas. They make me feel better. This part of the drive reminded us of Ireland. Not that either of us has been to Ireland but it is the big, green, rolling hills that Ireland looks like in pictures.

As we head back towards the coast and then into the winding mountains I start to feel nauseous. We’ve been in the car all day. We are dangerously low on gas, “NO MORE WIND-Y WIND-Y”.
Finally, with 3 miles of gas left we find a gas station! (Cue halleluiah music) And look there is 101!! From the 1-101 merge it is like 6 miles to San Francisco! (Cue halleluiah music) We jump back into the car, rejuvenated (well as rejuvenated as one can be after being in the car for 9 hours)…A freeway! Hooray! Hooray! Although I don’t think Michael is as excited to be driving on a 4 lane freeway…In any case we come around the turn and there it is…The Golden Gate Bridge! (Cue halleluiah music)

Stay tuned for the dive bar tour of SF and the accompanying visit to the shady part of town!

Portland=Boooo!

Sunday, May 15

Let me preface this by saying from now on I will include links for the hotels & restaurants & bars that have websites.

It is a little rainy this morning, but I’m excited because today we are finally going to see the Sound Garden! Hooray! And after that, a day of Goonies fun! Hooray Hooray!

So after we pick up Rental Car #1 (Chevy Malibu) we start off for Warren Magnuson Park. Now I was expecting a basic park with a little sign that had an arrow pointing to the sound garden. I mean really, people must come looking for that. Well, this was no basic park and there was no sign. It is kind of a blur actually. I remember driving in circles. I remember stopping people in the pouring rain who tried to point us in the general direction. A dog park. Lots of crazy buildings all around. We felt like we were in a secret government residence facility. Then someone says they think that after 9/11 the park was locked down. Wait? What? I’m so confused! Just want to see park and pay homage to my favorite band. Why all this craziness! So we go back out to the main road, go into another entrance and come to a gate. Ohhh no. Please tell me that I’m going to get in! Oh the humanity!
So we are sitting in front of the gate as I start to slowly comprehend that I’m not going to get in. Then a truck pulls up next to us. Ohh! A Security Guard!

“Hi. I am from NJ and I really would like to see the sound garden! Please.”
“The garden is closed up until Monday. Come back then.”
“But we are leaving Seattle right now. Please!”
“I would let you in, but then who would let you out? Really, it is not even that exciting”

And with that she drives off. I let myself soak in self pity for 35 seconds, Mikey takes a photo to commemorate my pain and I say screw it! Let’s go have goonies fun!

Alright. We are on the road now. Lots of fun ahead for today. For the most part the drive is pretty fast, we take a major highway until we hit Oregon. We saw a lot of little crazy towns and a lot of crazy signs. Like South Bend. A great place to retire. And hey, it is also the oyster capital of the world! Such educating signs!! It was most amusing.

We completed the first (and only) alphabet game at 6:30 PM. It is important to note that Oregon license plates are an excellent source for hard to find letters (X,Y,Z).

Long drives are always interesting because you are focusing so hard on the road that eventually you brain gives up and you go dumb. For example:

KT: (reading sign) “Severe side ‘wind’ (pronounced wine-d) ahead. What? Oh wind (as in air blowing)”

Yes. Those moments were plentiful on this trip. No lie, Michael did the same exact thing with a sign in California. Anyhoo the drive to Astoria was a little crazy with the water being right next to us and all of the Tsunami warning signs. Oh Lord. That was an adventure. Trying to take a picture of the Tsunami Evactuation Route sign. It is not that a tsunami is funny, but it is funny when you are from NJ and you see a Tsunami Evacuation sign. Especially if that sign is a little man running from a huge wave.

So finally we get to Astoria. We have to drive over this crazy long bridge (bridges are scary when you see them from far away) and then…yay! We are in Astoria. Our first stop is some lunch at the Ship Inn. If you lived in Astoria, the Ship Inn is the place you’d go every week for a meal. I heard that they had some good fish & chips so that’s what we got. Along with a tasty bowl of New England clam chowder. +1 for the west coast for referring to New England clam chowder as “white chowder”. It makes everything so much easier. Anyhoo, I think I can safely say it was the best chowder I’ve ever had (and honestly, this isn’t so much of an accomplishment, it is not like I’ve ever had chowder in New England). But yes, we like chowder. It is just potatoes and clams & I like it. Our fish & chips come next. Hmm MMM! (cue KT's best Rachel Ray $40 a day impression) Tasty! Ohhh and tasty fries again (at this point, I begin to think that the universe is rewarding me for being so good on my diet back home. I haven’t had fries very many times since January, and Lord knows I love good fries. And here we are, the second time on my trip I’m having fries and they are super delicious!! Hooray!)

After the Ship Inn we begin our Goonie Adventure which pretty much consists of the jail, the house & the rock. We find the jail easily. Wow, things look so much bigger in movies. I can’t believe this is the same jail (now that I’m home and I’ve watched Goonies I can attest that yes indeedy, that is the jail). Hey wait, that Flavel House, I know that. That is the museum where Mikey’s dad worked! Check me out knowing my Goonies locations! So now the search for the house begins. We proceed to 38th street but you can’t get all the way to the top. The numbers stop. And there is a dirt road that goes up the hill but it says that it is not a through road. Private Property. I checked back to the site where I got all my goonies info and apparently back when they went to see the house, there was a sign that welcomed goonies fans. Too bad it looks like there are new owners. Michael tries to persuade me to bust up the hill anyway but I’m not sure. What if it is only one house and we walk right into their yard? (As I have watched the movie since being home I realize now that if we had walked up the hill we would have hit the house immediately. Boo to me). It is a very sad moment when, after 15 min of driving trying to get to the house I declare this one a loss. Of course I’m quite upset, but after the sound garden loss earlier in the day, I’m taking this loss a little better.

One final goonies note, hey Michael, the last scene of the movies was filmed on Goat Rock State Beach. See! I’m not crazy (this will be further explained in the California portion of the adventure)

After our failure in locating the house we head up to the Astoria Column which has a really beautiful view.

Ahem. History Lesson time. The Astoria Column was built in 1926. It is at an elevation of 600 feet, atop a big hill. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the location of the first permanent settlement west of the rockies. It was a pretty amazing view from the top. It was a very exhausting climb up all those steps. But it was worth it. Hee Hee, it is so funny because Michael and I are now morphing into cobra-commuter-tourists. It is like, ok, let’s get up this thing, let’s snap some pictures. Check. Let’s go.

As we are departing the very scenic town of Astoria, --Wait! That is the Bowling/Alley Pizza place in the beginning when Chunk first see the Fratelli’s ! Another great location find! Yes, so Michael and I decide that if he ever becomes famous we are going to buy the Goonies House and make a Goonies Museum.

Our next stop is Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach is the home of the big rock in Goonies. Cannon Beach is a very cute beach town. I really like beach towns. There are candy shops and ice cream cones!

After our candy store purchases we head to the beach to check out this rock. Wow. That’s a big rock. See it is crazy when you see things in pictures or someone tries to explain them to you. Because obviously, you know it is a big rock. But when you see something like that in person. And it is huge and there are waves crashing over it and wow. It is cooool. So we take a few moments to enjoy the rock. We walk along the beach and then I find some nice lesbians to take a picture of us (this one should be a keeper, Michael doing a handstand and me holding his feet).

After our big rock viewing we head over to the local ice cream shop because that’s what you do in beach towns. You buy candy, you walk on the beach and you eat ice cream!

On our way into Portland the skies open up and we are hit with a big rainstorm. There is water everywhere (for some reason water stays put on West Coast Highways) but thankfully Michael gets us safely to the Benson Hotel.

The first look at Portland is good. It looks to be a charming city. At first it reminds me of Old City. But we do not have much time to look around. We must hustle into the hotel, drop off our belongings & book to the Portland Airport to return the car. Don’t worry, I’ll get into the Benson Hotel after I tell the superfun tale of the Portland Airport and KT’s cell phone!

We actually kind of liked the Portland Airport. It was…cute. I don’t mean that in a condescending way, but coming from the world of JFK and Newark, Portland is …cute. There is one terminal. ONE TERMINAL. For a major city! Anyway, the plan is to drop off the car, take the shuttle to the airport and investigate Portland mass tansit. They have a light rail system that goes into the airport so we’re going to check that out. So we drop off the car at our friendly Alamo Rental Center and hop in the shuttle. We have our tickets for the Max Light Rail. Look how easy that was. Hmmm. I don’t have my cell phone. I wonder if it is in the hotel room. Ehhh. I have a bad feeling. Maybe I will have Michael call my cell phone to see if someone answers it (like, say an Alamo employee). Just then Michael looks at his phone. Some 732 number he doesn’t know. It rings again and this time he answers it. Hey it is Ella! Hmm. Why is she calling Michael? Well, apparently I left my cell phone in the rental car. And thank the Lord, the wonderful Alamo employees clean the rental cars immediately after they are returned. So when the nice gentleman found my phone he just started dialing my most recent dialed numbers. (KT sidenote, the story from NJ is that the nice gentleman spoke to my father who: 1) at first didn’t even know what the nice gentleman was talking about; and then 2) once he realized what the nice gentleman was talking about simply got into bed!)

Thankfully, Ella was prepared! Before we left she took Michael’s number down, if she hadn’t, I would have been cell phone less! So, we take the shuttle back to the Alamo and grab my phone, not before taking an obligatory stoopid KT getting her cell phone back from the Alamo employees picture.

But, it was all worth it. Because on our way back we met the best shuttle driver ever. Bouncy! How awesome is that! His name was on his shirt! Michael could not stop laughing (cue delirious giggle portion of the day). Bouncy! And let me tell you, Bouncy was hell on wheels! Driving like a mad man to the Airport! Tee Hee Hee. Good Times.

Alrighty, cell phone now safely back in my possession. Time to adventure with mass transit. KT & Mikey consensus: We like Portland’s transportation system. Although it is a little odd that it runs on the honor system. You buy your ticket and someone MAY come and check it. How do they make money? I mean, I’m sure tourists buy tickets because hey, what if someone comes to check? But the whole time we were in town I never saw anyone check for tickets. If I was a local I'd never pay.

The Benson Hotel
http://www.bensonhotel.com/
Priceline $61
Plus $20 a night upgrade charge
Regular Rate: $179

Water Pressure 3
Room Space 2 Bathroom 1/2
Temp Control 3
Décor/Ambiance 4 Lobby 5
Staff Helpfulness 2.5
Beds 3.5*
Coffee 3 (Our room coffee wasn’t refilled but there was a free coffee bar in the lobby)
Hotel facilities 2.5 No gym. Nice bar.
Noise Level: Street noise 2 Internal 3

*Beds were Posturpedic. Which means the bed molds to fit your body. This is comfortable while sleeping but can cause massive internal damage if you like to fall dramatically into bed.

Others
-1 No shelves in bathroom; Bathroom is mighty tiny!
+1 Fun Toiletries!
+1 Wine Tasting offered
-1 Had to upgrade from standard room (one bed) Still a priceline deal
+1 Card with tv channel lineup
+1 Windows opened!

Hotel was older with nice wood pillars, old mirrors and a fireplace in the lobby. Michael really liked it, although he said it had a little “Shining” feel to it.

I thought it was a pretty hotel, but it wasn’t super comfortable. It was very tiny in the bathroom and I felt that it didn’t offer the amenities that I have found in other 4* hotels. I did like the elevators though.

I am very proud of my researching skills. I found some good happy hour deals for us in Portland. Night 1, we head out to the Portland City Grill for some tasty treats! On Sunday, happy hour runs from 4 to close. http://www.portlandcitygrill.com/

On the walk to the Portland City Grill I begin to have my first “stomach reaction” to Portland. I begin to think hmm, this doesn’t remind me of Philly so much as New Brunswick. Ya know how Downtown George Street looks? That is how it looked. Interesting. Am I starting to change my mind about Portland? I am kind of getting a weird vibe. But everyone loves Portland! Surely I am just wacky today!

The Portland City Grill is on the 30th floor. Great. I just LOVE elevator rides. We get to the 30th floor and it is crazy up there. People everywhere. DRUNK PEOPLE everywhere. Wow. They must have all been there since 4. I do a lap and nothing is open. Finally these 2 drunk, drunk, drunk girls invite us to their table and tell us that they will be leaving momentarily. Wow. These 2 are a mess. One is slurring her words and the other is nearly spilling her drink all over the place. Plus, they both look kinda trashy. Portland is weird. Finally I secure us a window table. Sweet. The view from this place is really amazing.
We order:

Dungeness Crab Wontons with cream cheese and red pepper ginger sauce & hot soy mustard (HMMM This is one of my favorite things we ate on the trip!) $4

Grilled Beef Tenderloin on garlic Ciabatta $4

California Roll $2 Hmm. Tasty!

And we venture off the happy hour menu for some Pan seared golden lobster potstickers! $9

As we chow down on our super delicious meal we try to take the whole scene in. The inside of this place reminds me of the bar the Dresden (you know from Swingers). But the people are trying to be super high class (and botoxed) but they are just coming off as trashy. I think Michael referred to them as “faux upper class”. Hee Hee.


Monday, May 16 Portland is officially deemed the city of bad hair.

KT & Mikey’s motto for Portland: I’d rather be at the Seattle Airport, Which Means Portland=Dumb

In case you can’t tell, this is the day it all fell apart for Portland. The night before, we knew something was off, but we really, really began to hate Portland on Monday.

We start the day off at the Chinese Garden. It is a nice enough spot, but you can’t really get too zen because there are ugly, huge buildings that surround you. So it is kinda like being on a movie set of a Chinese garden. On the plus side there were lots of fun things in the gift shop. http://www.portlandchinesegarden.org/home

Next stop, Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square is the center of town. There is a fun statute with a man holding an umbrella and a weather forecasting machine. It is supposed to be a tourist center, but it is filled with angry people. We really, really hated Pioneer Square.

A few years back Portland was the hot happening place to be. So I guess everyone moved there. And now their unemployment rate is sick. We saw so many homeless kids (between the ages of 15 and 24) it was flabbergasting. And one girl had the audacity to ask Michael for money to feed her dog. WHY DO YOU HAVE A DOG IF YOU ARE HOMELESS?? YOU CAN'T FEED YOURSELF FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. This may be an inconsiderate statement, but go home! You are young. You do not have to live your life this way and be this angry. Ugh. It was just a bad vibe. It was the complete opposite of Seattle where all the different personalities seemed to flow together. Here, you could just feel them grating on each other. In the middle of the square there was a gentleman reading aloud from his bible. On the stairs surrounding him there were people listening to him, reading along with him and also, ignoring him. There were also a bunch of kids who walked past him and spit at him. To see that, it was just. It was like being in the middle of an angry stew. To see all the unsmiling faces, all the unhappiness, all the resentment. And it is not like anything I’ve ever seen. In NY, people don’t exactly smile at you but they don’t growl at you. They are too busy for you…they are just going about their day and if you get in their way they’ll shout an obscenity at you, but let’s be real, it is mainly your fault for not knowing where you are and going too slow.

So after the Pioneer Square incident we were in a bit of a foul mood. And what cheers us up when we are in a foul mood? Food! In my research I found 3 Portland restaurants that were supposed to excel in Pacific Northwest cuisine. The first, Park Kitchen was close on Mondays. The second, Clarklewis was on the outskirts of town. The third restaurant I was trying to avoid at all costs because I didn’t want to hear the comments from you people!

Yes, get your snide comments in now, sporto and I had lunch at Higgins. First of all we absolutely loathed the décor. The rooms didn’t flow into each other and they all had very different feels. There was a huge ugly tapestry hanging across from us. It really looked like someone had gone to a garage sale and decorated a restaurant with what they found. For lunch we had:
Smoked Fish Chowder
Clams
Pork Loin with spinach and polenta
Asparagus Risotto with peas

The smoky flavor of the chowder was a tad overwhelming for the first few spoonfuls. Once your mouth got use to it, you could taste a lot of the other flavors going on.

The clams were absolutely delicious and our favorite part of the meal.

Michael enjoyed the pork loin, I didn’t really care for the risotto. It was mostly bland, and what wasn’t bland was really lime-y. Plus, the peas were hard! I know that most people probably like that, but not me!

Overall we felt that the restaurant needs a major makeover and that they tried to be upscale in appearance but failed (Michael notes the white paper on the tables).
http://higgins.citysearch.com/

After our ripping apart of Higgins we head to the Japanese Garden. The bus ride to the Japanese Garden was fun (again, no one really checked our tickets) and I really liked the fairy tale houses that resided up there. I took some pictures so you can check it out (when I get my film developed!) http://www.japanesegarden.com/

The Japanese Garden was flippin awesome! I totally felt like we were on a hike in Japan. Very zen. We could have spent hours just hanging out and relaxing. Oh yes, there were fun koi fish as well! I think the Japanese Garden is my favorite time in Portland, although I really, really, really like Powell Books (read on!).

That evening, Michael and I really considered locking ourselves in our room for the rest of our stay in Portland. I really can’t describe the feeling as anything else besides a “sick to my stomach” feeling. It was really bad. But then the hunger pangs kick in and so, we decide to venture out. We’ll go to Chinatown and get ourselves some cheap food. When we ask our friendly concierge to recommend a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown he sends us to the Pearl District. Now, the good part of this is that it led us to Powell Books (which I love) and the Pearl District made us not absolutely abhor Portland. The bad side is that we wanted some cheapity cheap food and that is not what we got.

Powell City of Books http://www.powells.com/ is awesome. 3 floors of thousands of new & used books. I love it! Love it! I love secondhand books! They are half price! So yeah, I went a little crazy in Powell books. I end up leaving with a whole bunch of political books including an RFK biography I’ve been looking for! Hooray!

Our walk through the Pearl District (the trendy shop & upscale eats section of Portland) is pretty happy which confuses us because we are not use to being happy in Portland. We like the Pearl. Now I wish we had skipped Pioneer Square so that we could have spent more time in the Pearl. Oh well.

Sungari Pearl is an upscale asian restaurant. We very much enjoyed the ambiance, (lit by candlelight, dark wood) and had some tasty wine…I believe I had another glass of white! Although this time I believe it was Riesling. Anyhoo, we had dumplings, spring rolls, chicken/shrimp lomein and Duck Kung Pao. Hmmm! Tasty! Very excellent meal although is not the bargain we were looking for!

Tuesday, May 17
Even though we enjoyed the Pearl, we are still mucho excited to get the hell out of Portland. So we are off on our first adventure! Mount St. Helen’s. http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/04mshnvm/attractions/

The drive is mostly highway so there is not much excitement, for lunch we stop off at Burger King. Now this may not seem very thrilling to you, but it was most exhilarating for us. Hello! It is crazy star wars in there! So many fun toys! The BK employees are none too amused with our giddiness but we do not pay them any mind. We demand the box of star wars toys so we can rifle through them and pick the best one out. At first I grab a han solo but then Michael finds a millennium falcon! Ohhhh! I want one! I want one! Luckily there is another ship so we are free of tantrums! Hooray!

Our first stop is the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake. The center gives a pretty basic overview of Mount St. Helens and the 1980 eruption. We then move on to Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center. Wowie. The drive up to Coldwater Ridge was CCRRR-AAZZZY! I’m telling you, we should have kept a count of how many times the phrases “crazy” “wow” “insanity” and “Jesus Christ” came out of our mouths. See, at Silver Lake you are at an elevation of 505 feet, at Coldwater Ridge, 3,091. So yeah. You are up there. And it is Crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. You are driving up mountains, you are curving around mountains, you are hoping your brakes work as you make crazy drops, you are driving over bridges that straddle mountains. It is very intense. I would have to put it as the second most stressful driving of the trip. You really have to concentrate. Michael would point something out, and I would be like, uh-huh, that’s nice, not taking eyes off of road. Don’t get me wrong, I absorbed the scenery, but only on nice safe straight aways. But nothing can prepare you for when you see it. I was concentrating on the road when I heard Michael exclaim, “holy crap that’s it”. So I waited for a nice safe straight stretch of road. Wow. It is just gi-normous. You can’t possibly understand how small we are in the context of the universe until you see something so massive, so powerful. This is what the earth can do, and this is how it can kick our asses.

I think that Coldwater Ridge was the best of the exhibit centers. Johnston Ridge gives you the most dramatic view, but Coldwater Ridge has an ecological focus and is definitely choc full of information. Oh yes, a highpoint of the day was the sign warning us of possible ash fall. Do not panic! Stay inside until the ash fall is over. Haha. That is funny because if Michael and I see anything coming out of that crater we will both be dead of heart attacks long before we can die from ash inhalation.

After all of our educational exploring (we even watched the 6 minute movie!) we get ready for the dramatic finish, Johnson Ridge. At this point you are up to 4,255 feet and you are in the heart of the blast zone, um yeah, you are 5 miles from the north side of the volcano. Crazy. The crater is huge! It is snow-capped and there is a bit of fog blocking our view. But every now and again a cloud moves slightly and we are able to get a better glimpse.

There are just tree trunks everywhere. When the blast happened it pulled so many trees down in the slide and still, twenty years later there are just tree trunks everywhere. We kept calling it the tree graveyard. It is insanity to see what this eruption did to the landscape. But still, even seeing all of this destruction, there is life, re-growth. I think in the movie we watched it said scientists were amazed that a few days later the rebirth of the area began.

Back in Portland we hit up Jake’s Crawfish for a happy hour dinner. It wasn’t a very interesting meal but the spinach dip was good and our waitress was fun. And hmmm beer.

It is our final night in Portland and we decide to venture out and check on some of the scene. We start off at the Jupiter hotel. For some reason I kept referring to it as Neptune, which amused Michael to no end. I really liked the feel of the place. It had a remodeled old lodge feel and there were comfy booths in the corners, we felt like VIPs hanging in one of the booths. Anyhoo we didn’t stay very long because honestly, it gets kinda hard when you are having drinks with the same person that you’ve been spending every waking minute with for the past week. What do you say to each other at cocktail time that you haven’t already discussed! So we decide to check out a lively bar and hey, we haven’t seen the gay part of town yet! So we go to Boxxes. The bar had potential. Everyone was very friendly inside, there were trivia screens and a dance floor and a very fun retro look to the place.

From what we saw, the gay scene is very separate from the rest of the city (like Baltimore). Portland has the biggest lesbian population in the country (too bad I like boys) and oh yes, Michael was very upset because someone else (surprise it wasn’t us) requested Britney and the DJ at the gay bar wouldn’t play it! Bah! Screw you and your crazy ass city!!!

Up Next: Perilous driving, big trees, duets and lots of hippies, we must be in California!

Tom Cruise is a brainwashing madman!

Aloha everyone! Don’t worry, Part 2 of the West Coast Adventure Series should be coming out later in the week. But for now, I just have a regular ol’ KT update.

First off, let’s talk about the big, big news. MJ not guilty on all 10 counts. Wowie. I had a feeling that it would be a Not Guilty, but when it actually came out I was a bit surprised. I’m not going to get into a whole debate about whether I actually believe if he is guilty or not, but I do think his career is over. Well, his recording career. I bet if he went on tour he would do well. Honestly, I’d probably see him. Even though he is a shell of his former self, when you see him on stage (far, far from stage so you don’t see the scariness that use to be his face) and he busts out that white glove and that moonwalk, you can help yourself. You just scream!

Ok, big news number 2. I wonder how Tom Cruise brainwashed Katie Holmes. Do you think they are drugging her? All I know is that is not the same girl that dated Chris Klein for 4 years and hardly ever talked about it. She just looks crazy. And now she is studying scientology? Yikes. At first I just thought this whole thing was a publicity stunt by both actors, now I really think he is brainwashing her. Oh, and check this out. I heard that Tom “interviewed” other potential girlfriends before settling on Holmes. Rumor has it that Kate Bosworth, Jennifer Garner (who is engaged and pregnant) & Jessica Alba all received calls from Cruise’s rep. Alba met with Tommy because she thought it was a meeting about a potential movie. But the whole time all he did was talk about himself and scientology, so she bolted. So yes, I think you should all go to freekatie.net and let’s save Katie Holmes before she completely destroys her career!!! Where is Pacey when you need him! We need a Joey Potter intervention!

Hey everybody, this Tues & Wednesday at 9 you can check out the pilot of Veronica Mars! Then you can watch it all summer so long so that you can be ready for the fall! Although rumor has it that my favorite show is contemplating some very big changes for next fall and that my favorite boy may be in trouble! I tell you now! You kill him off and I will not be happy with Veronica Mars! No tinkering with the format, that makes for an angry KT!!!

As I mentioned last week there is plenty of fun stuff to watch this summer. I have been enjoying both Six Feet Under and Entourage. But when I was listing all the fun summer tv I forgot to mention 30 days. It is from the dude that did Supersize Me (you know, the documentary where the guy ate McDonald’s every single meal for a month and his body shut down). Anyhoo, he’s doing a new show where he does all kinds of stuff for 30 days. Up first, he & his fiancé try to survive on minimum wage (hahhaha fat chance). 30 Days premieres tomorrow night on FX.

EEEEE! Fraggle Rock season 1 comes out September 6! EEEEEE!

And hey guess what? Jet Blue won Best Low Cost Carrier World Wide. How cool is that? They came in 2nd for best North American airline behind Air Canada (stupid Canadians!) Anyhoo, let’s give a big shout out to Jet Blue! Hurrah!

Tonight I’m off to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Later this week I’ll catch Batman. Oh, that reminds me, Knob, shoot me a call so we can make a Christian Bale date.

On one final note, I’m switching departments at work. As of July 6, I’ll be a member of the Market Research Team. You gotta love a new job in the same company. New job, new salary but yay! I keep my seniority and all my vacation! So yeah, I’m anticipating a lot less time to work on the KT update, but I can pull a Kelly Tobin and stay in at lunch to work on it. Plus, Jay has been monopolizing our computer at home to keep track of fantasy baseball and I can always kick his booty off so I can work on the update. Never fear! The KT Update will always bring you the scoop!

West Coast Adventure-Seattle

I know you guys have been patiently waiting for the trip report but I’m still working through my travel journal. So I’ve decided to make a sort of mini series out of the KT-Mikey West Coast Adventure. Here, for your enjoyment, is the first installment.

Oh and just so you know, there are certain phrases that were repeatedly used on this trip. Just so you can get into the mindset of the trip I will use them repeatedly in this report. They are: CRAZY!!! Je..Jesus Christ. (said in the tone of Mr. Slave) and finally…Check!!!!

Seattle—May 11, 2005
I can’t tell you what it was like when the day finally arrived. I’ve been planning this trip since October and when May 11 finally rolled around I couldn’t believe it. Our flight was at 8pm and the general rule of flying Jet Blue (and thus out of JFK) is to avoid traveling during anything close to rush hour. An 8pm flight puts us right in the thick of rush hour and thus we decide the best option to get ourselves to JFK is the Airtrain. NJ Transit to Penn Station. Then we hop on the LIRR to Jamaica station where we catch the Airtrain that drops us off right at Jet Blue. Easy as pie. Yes, well I forgot that we’ll be gone for 18 days, which means we’ll have quite a bit of luggage. In addition to my book bag, I have a big suitcase, a carryon type-suitcase (for all my fun things that I buy while we are away), a carryon bag and my small toiletries bag. Michael has one super big suitcase and 2 large gym bags. I have to say it was quite an adventure getting those bags through Penn and then down the stairs to the LIRR. I was so happy when we got to Jet Blue and I could hand them all off. I was a little upset because in my original plan, I had envisioned myself enjoying Lost & Alias on the flight but then I remembered that the only basic network Jet Blue carries is NBC. Boooo. But thankfully they did have comedy central so hurrah! I can watch South Park. The flight was ok for the most part (thank you Mr. Valium) it was a little bumpy at times which of course made me a little jumpy at times. But then we were down safely in Seattle and I was a happy camper. (Jet Blue point total for flight= +1 for new & improved Jet Blue Terminal @JFK; +2 for fun Jet Blue Tshirts that we plan to purchase when we return home; -1 for flight attendant that wasn’t as happy as most other Jet Blue employees; -2 for charging $5 for a movie!!; +5 just for being Jet Blue)

Right off the bat, Michael and I have to officially state that the Seattle Airport is dumb. You get off the flight and take a poorly labeled tram to a poorly labeled luggage pick up. Plus, 3 flights must have come in right at the same time and wouldn’t ya know it, we were all at the same baggage claim. We walked past 10 open terminals and find ourselves waiting like cattle for our luggage. Sporto needs a smoke after that long flight so we bust out of dumb Seattle Airport for some fresh air. After his smoke, we get our luggage (yay! All pieces claimed! I’m always nervous after the near catastrophe of Vegas) and head off for our first night in Seattle. Because we got in so late our first night is at the DoubleTree Hotel SeaTac Airport. Michael and I devised a rating system for hotels on the trip; scores are 1-5.

Price (priceline) $38
Water Pressure 5
Room Space (Michael enjoys the extra sink outside of the actual bathroom) 5
Temp Control 5
Décor/Ambiance 1
Staff helpfulness/courtesy 3
Beds 4
Coffee 3
Hotel Facilities(restaurant, pool, fitness) 3 (Buffet was a little expensive@ $13 but it was good quality so I guess it was worth it)

Extras
+1 for cute shuttle driver
-2 for teeny tiny dasani from vending machine
-1 room all the way in the back, last room of last building (this was especially annoying coming in tired from flight at 12 am)
+3 warm cookie when you check in! YUMM!

Thursday, May 12, 2005
The next morning after our $13 buffet we head to downtown! I’ve done some research and apparently we will save $5 if we take a limo rather than a cab our new hotel. That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s start this trip off in style. Ahhh. Limo is nice. And roomy. We likey.

We get to Seattle nice and early and the lovely people at the Seattle Renaissance tell us that they would be more than happy to let us check in early. Sweet! We drop our luggage off and head out to the city to start the adventure!

Renaissance Seattle
Priceline Price $65
Usual hotel price $130
Water Pressure 3
Room Space: Bathroom 2; Room 3
Temp Control 3.5
Décor/Ambiance 3
Staff Helpfulness 3.5
Beds 3; Pillows 5
Coffee –5 NO COFFEE!
Hotel Facilities 3 for the gym
Noise Level (room to room, outside 5=quiet) 4
Other:
-5 No coffee in room
+1 They were holding a Xena convention!
-1 Overcharge for stamps
+1 for open-able window which made smoking possible
-1 No FX! Couldn’t watch race during “rest time”


Seattle. Oh Seattle. We really, really, really like Seattle. If it wasn’t a 5 hour flight out there I’d stamp my feet until I was allowed to move there. I think more than any other city I’ve visited, this is a city I feel at home in. A city where so many different people commingle and coexist. A city with a little bit of an attitude. Seattleites are fun, they have this kind of attitude were they are smiling at you but their tone is kind of dripping with disdain, but in a fun way. A city where everyone is not quite right in the head…but again, in a fun way.

So our first day we head right for the big spot Seattle is known for. Pike Place Market. I really wasn’t expecting to be wowed by this place, I figured if you’ve seen one market…But wow. I was definitely taken aback. So many different vendors. So much fun produce and seafood and wow! Exotic looking flowers for cheap! $5, $10, $15 bouquets of flowers that would go for like $35 here. It was amazing. I loved it. Every single second we were at the market I was happy. KT Side Note: Although fun, the market is dangerous for one Mr. Michael Wood. There are vendors selling belt buckles! Soon we will see that Michael has an addiction to belt buckles!

After the market we head over to Salumi. Salumi is a casual, deli service shop that is owned by Mario Batali’s father. Salumi was on my list before I went to Babbo. In fact it was at Babbo, while we ate the meat plate that I was informed that Salumi was owned by Batali’s father. Anyhoo, it was a bit of an adventure trying to locate Salumi (we walked right by it) but once we did everything was a-ok. I had a pork prosciutto sandwich with provolone and a garlic spread. Hmm tasty French bread. Michael had a plate of meat and cheese. It was spicy salami, proscuitto, bleu cheese, mozz and parmesan/reggiano. The meat was super tasty and kind of melted in your mouth. I also enjoyed the bleu cheese on Michael’s plate. Stuffed to the gills, we head out and take our first adventure on Seattle transit. The bus system works easily enough and isn’t it nice of the people of Seattle, there is a free downtown zone! We take the bus to the Seattle Center where we find the monorail that will take us to Seattle’s other top attraction the Space Needle. But before we hit Seattle’s number 2 attraction, we must hit KT’s number 2 attraction in Seattle, the Experience Music Project.

Ok so besides the actual Sound Garden, I was most excited to get to the Experience Music Project (EMP). It wasn’t until my senior year in high school that I actually found music that I connected with. I mean sure, there are songs & groups from the 80’s and early 90’s that I love, but I was never really immersed in a band simply for the music. And then came Soundgarden. You can all thank Jason for making me listen to Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana & Alice in Chains. So yeah, to get to go to this modern rock museum in Seattle, where my favorite band is from, was a little exciting. Although I thought EMP was awesome I was a little let down by the amount of “seattle sound” memorabilia. It was pretty much one side of a hallway, but wow, it knocked me off my feet. Whoa. Chris Cornell handwritten lyrics. Kim Thayill’s guitar. Badmotorfinger gold record. Cobain lyrics. Posters for Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, & Pearl Jam. It was coooool. I think I had to wipe the saliva from my chin as Michael dragged me away. Some other highlights: a Jimi Hendrix exhibit (this was the kind of detail that I expected to see about the “seattle sound” groups), a Tori Amos set list hand written on Hello Kitty stationary, a TRL exhibit which contained Britney’s OOPs Red catsuit. That was michael’s highlight. We sort of bypassed the Bob Dylan special exhibit (I’ll never get it)… but something that was super cool was this recording studio. You could book time and go into a room and record. There were a lot of people hanging out in the little rooms making music. I thought that was pretty rad. Finally, a big –5 to the giftshop. I thought maybe they’d have something cool like an old Soundgarden poster, something fun for nirvana but nothing! Weak, weak, weak giftshop.

Connected to the EMP is the Science Fiction Museum. This was kinda…ehh.. I don’t really remember being wowed by anything. I feel like there was some cool stuff, but it must not have been that super cool because I can’t remember it now.

Ok so now it is time to go up to the top of the Seattle Space Needle. Oh, brief moment of complete terror. Do I really like heights? Do I need to see Seattle from that high? I know that I don’t like elevators, but this is a glass….before I can have a panic attack Michael pushes me towards the ticket window and off we go. The three people waiting in line in front of us had their very own Julie McCoy; although she was full of all sorts of stupid facts that we didn’t care about. Anyhoo, I think they got slightly annoyed at us because (and this will continue throughout our trip) Michael and I have reached the point in the day when we are completely delirious and start bursting into fits of laughter for no reason. And I just couldn’t understand that the Space Needle has no purpose at all. It was built for the World’s Fair and that’s it. It doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t mean anything…Nothing. For some reason we thought this was really funny as well. Especially when I kept repeating, in a baffled tone, “Yes, but what does it do?”

Finally our elevator opens and we get in. As we ascend to 520 feet our snarky elevator guide tells us that there is a frikkin huge octopus in Elliot Bay. He also says something else that I can’t remember but he was smiling and his tone was dripping with disdain. Tee Hee. We thought that was funny. Anyhoo we get to the top and begin what will be a trip long tradition. Ya know those stupid pictures that you take whenever you go to a “sight”. It is a picture of you and your companion standing in front of a back drop of whatever “sight” you are at. Well we decided (in our delirium) if we took ridiculous pictures at these places it would be funny. So just before the picture snapped I throw myself at Michael and give him a kiss on the cheek while flipping up my back leg. Fun Times. Now we head over to the observation deck to check out the 360 degree view of Seattle. On a clear day you can see Mt. Rainier, but alas, it is not a clear day and we really can’t tell which mountaintop is really a volcano waiting to eviscerate Seattle.

After the elevator brings us back down we head to the gift shop. I love gift shops. They can be so much fun. What will I bring home for me? What will I bring home for everyone else? What magnet does ella get? Well, I have to say that the Space Needle gift shop did not disappoint. They had everything you could think of and it was all stamped/embroidered with a little space needle emblem. I suppose most people would not find it as hysterical as we did, but again, we were in the throws of a manic giddiness. We get ella’s magnet (check!) and we are done! Hurray!

We head back to hotel and plan to take a nap before venturing out to check out Seattle nightlife. Too bad in all the tiredness we forget to set the alarm and instead wake up at 5 am! Boooo!

Friday, May 13
We can’t help ourselves! We go back to the market. Mike can’t handle the pressure of walking past white belt and must purchase it immediately. Then we head over to Matt’s in the Market for some lunch.

Matt’s is cool. The restaurant is tiny (probably 5 tables and counter service). It gives the impression of serving quality food (which they do) in a relaxed & casual setting. I order the wasabi crusted tuna sandwich with mustard pickle relish and a salad with bleu cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds. Mike gets a cornmeal crusted catfish sandwich with spicy mayo and bacon potato soup. My sandwich was good except for that I wasn’t totally on board with the mustard pickle relish. But my salad was outstanding. As was our wine (craziness, I’m drinking white wine!). Michael very much enjoyed his meal as well.

After Matt’s we bus it down to Fremont, which is supposed to be the “wacky, fun” neighborhood in Seattle. I was envisioning a south street type of neighborhood, but it was more like New Hope. There were lots of cute shops, Michael purchases his 75th cup of coffee and a shirt from a vintage clothing shop. Ohhh! Lookie! There are the fun statutes from Say Anything (also known as Waiting for the Interurban). Apparently people in Seattle dress up these statutes to coincide with anything fun happening in the city. The day we are there someone has dressed them up in birthday attire. We also see the Fremont Troll, a big sculpture hanging out under an overpass. Ooooh. Fun secondhand bookstore. Must buy books at bargain price!!

After Fremont we are a little tired, but we press on. Must see Ballard Locks. So we bus it over to Ballard. You know what locks are. When two bodies of water meet (like at a dam) and they are not even a boat must go into a lock, which fills up with water and raises the boat to the level of the other body of water. I thought the locks would be a lot more exciting but truly, they are pretty boring. We sit on a bench and wait for all the boats to line up so we can see how the locks work. Hmmm. Waiting. Still waiting. Yawning. Bored now. Ohhh. Apparently if you go over to the other side of the locks you can see the little salmon jumping through. That sounds fun. So I ask Michael, “Do you want to go over and see the salmon?” We stare at each other in silence. I mean, “Do you care about the salmon?” Without batting an eyelid Michael replies earnestly, “Oh I care about the salmon”. Which leads us right into hysterical giddiness portion of the day. So we get up and walk over to the other side of the locks to check out the salmon. HMPH. Salmon? Hello, little Salmon? I can’t see crap. Booo. They do have this cool underground little area where you can go and see underwater. Maybe we will see Salmon there! Booo no. Anyhoo we head back to our designated bench. The water is almost all lowered. And then the gate opens and the boats go through. Wow. That was cool (I don’t know if you can tell via blog, but I’m being sarcastic)…Ballard Locks, check!

After all this excitement we head over to happy hour. In our attempt to save money I have researched a few excellent happy hour choices. Cheap food + wine is never a bad thing. We head over to Brasa. Whoa! The bar area is filled to capacity. Luckily we spot a nice couple just about to leave and we hustle over to take their table. Our meal at Brasa was very tasty. We had:

Clams provencal style with chorizo $3.50
Calarmari $3.50

We also ordered a cheese plate but our server got confused and presented us with some kind of hummus/bleu cheese plate. Luckily I like bleu cheese and mikey likes hummus.
We start off slowly. Michael with a bloody mary and I have a nice pinot noir. Well, we start gabbing and catching up on things and 3 drinks later we are a little drunk. The quote of the evening:
“You look European with that hair.”
“Ya know I feel European with this hair!”

We decide to head back to the hotel and take a nap before heading out for the evening. On the walk back to the hotel we realize we are really drunk. Man, wine works fast! Anyhoo, in our happy hour drunkness we forget to set the alarm !again! and thus miss out on another fun evening on the town. Although I have to say that I really enjoyed myself at Brasa. The food was tasty, the conversation was flowing and it was our first official buzz of the trip.

Saturday, May 14

Today we start off our adventure with a trip to Capitol Hill. Actually, we start every day off with a cup of coffee. People in Seattle really, really, really like coffee. No wonder this is where Starbucks was born. Hello, there is a starbucks on every other corner. We saw 14 Starbucks our first day in Seattle. Michael got a cup of coffee at the original Starbucks! Excitement!! Michael is a little distressed that our hotel room does not come equipped with a coffee machine. I have to give him credit for keeping things together in the morning until we found him a cup of starbucks.

Capitol Hill is similar to South Street (every city has some version of it). Michael finds the end all, be all of vintage shops, Red Light. He seriously almost goes into cardiac arrest when he finds a pair of black wings in the costume portion of the store. Actually, in my opinion, he stumbles upon the best find in vintage store history. A baby blue tshirt that reads: New Jersey. Home of the Turnpike

After our shopping excursion we stop for some pizza at Pagliacci. I’ve heard quite a bit about how West Coast pizza doesn’t compare to NY Pizza. Actually, I rather enjoyed my Pagliacci slice. It was tasty, and it may have been the best crust ever.

For our Ferry Portion of the trip we head over to Bainbridge Island. It is about half an hour over to Bainbridge from Seattle. The ferry ride was enjoyable especially after hearing Michael discuss his fear of dirty harbor water. Bainbridge Island is very quaint and it has a very Main St America feel to it. Well, a very wealth main street, America.

Upon our return to Seattle we make our daily stop at the Pike Place Market. Oohhh! There is a cheese festival going on! It is tad overcrowded but I get a few tidbits of cheese and that makes me happy. Wait, hold everything. This is our last day in Seattle and we haven’t had a proper seafood dinner! Madness! Must drop everything and find seafood immediately. Luckily, the Athenian is right inside the market. Hey! I know this place. It was in Sleepless in Seattle. Ya know the scene when Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner are discussing dating. They are sitting at the counter at the Athenian! Bonus for movie location dinner! Mikey orders a whole Dungeness crab and I get fried clams. Our waiter looks exhausted, like he is very busy and very tired. Hmmm. Something is a little off with our waiter. When he brings us our drinks he has a lot more energy and now looks a little crazed. Michael thinks he is on drugs. Anyhoo, our food was soooo delicious and !score! my fries are diner style! Hooray!

After our meal we head back to the hotel to relax. See, relax, not nap. Actually, much to my own surprise I feel the need to use the hotel fitness center. I work out for a good 45 minutes (I’m so proud of myself) and then head back to our room to prepare for our big night out. Actually, our big night out can’t really go too late because the next morning we are off for Astoria. So we choose 2 bars. Linda’s Tavern and the Cha Cha Lounge. See now this just cements how much we like Seattle. Both of these bars are awesome and we know that we could be regulars of both establishments.

Linda’s & the Cha Cha both have great atmospheres and you can tell that both are open to all types of people. Kinda like the people you’d see at the Melody (which means that there is a wide variety). Both places are very welcoming and fun and the Cha Cha has a crazy Mexican theme happening.

So To Sum Up:
1) Seattle is mostly populated by hipsters & hikers
2) Really, really like coffee
3) Love dogs & bikes
4) Smoker friendly
5) Lots of hills
6) Transportation=good; taxi, buses, subways, streetcar & monorail
7) Lots of Very nice, but not mentally right people (makes things more interesting)
8) Lots of people look homeless, but I think that may just be a fashion choice
9) Gay Boy Count (not including gay area) 32
10) People filled with fun disdain, very sarcastic
11) City of Smells. Good smells, there is always some aroma coming your way.
12) I found myself smiling…a lot. At the people especially, but mostly just in general.
13) We really, really like Seattle…a lot!

Next up: The Sound Garden Catastrophe! Astoria! And we really, really don’t like Portland!

Whpew, Finale Reviews!

So I finally finished all my finale viewing. Jeesh, that took a lot out of me. Car accidents, surgeries, kidnpappings, interventions, deaths, a hero walking off into the sunset and the conclusion of a year long who done it.

I think I’m going to go in order. My most favorite going to my least favorite.

Number 1 Finale: Veronica Mars. I’m going to be vague in hopes that you will be good kt readers and watch the show this summer on upn. There is not too much else on! For the love god! All year long I’ve been dying to know who killed Lilly Kane. And finally we find out. Wowie. I kept changing my mind about who it was. Wowie. And then, who raped veronica? We’ve been wanting to know that one too. I kinda figured this one out right before we were officially told, but that didn’t lessen the emotional impact of Verionica finding out. Ohhhhh and love interests! And $50,000! And Veronica and her dad! So good. Definitely ended the season as my favorite show. It was the show that got into my head and I couldn’t wait for the next episode. Oooh and who is at Veronica’s door? I don’t think it is who I want it to be!!! I just hope that they don’t tinker with the format too much next year.

24:Ok, ok so in order to enjoy this show you have to be able to suspend your belief in reality. So why should the finale be any different? So yes, after everything that happened the end of the nuclear missile threat was a little anticlimactic. But we’ve had tension and suspense throughout the year. I will miss marwan though. He was the smartest terrorist ever. What I liked was the whole Chinese sub-plot (although again, are we really supposed to believe that the Chinese would have a satellite up and tracking ctu so quickly?). But anyways, I kept thinking that Jack was going to surrender and that would be that. We’d find him next year in a Chinese prison with palmer busting him out 20 minutes into the premiere. But then…whoa, shoot out (which I thought was fake, I figured jack was long gone) but no, it is an elaborate plot (hatched in 2 minutes) where jack fakes his own death and now the Chinese will think he has been eliminated (although I would assume they would ask to see the body)…but yeah, so now only Tony, Michelle, Palmer & Chloe know that Jack survived. Aww. And did you see Jack leave like he was the incredible hulk? I kept waiting for them to play that “hulk walking away music”. Alone on the road. But don’t you think it is odd that Jack didn’t call kim? Or even mention her to Tony? Speaking of Tony, the big shocker of the night was Tony surviving. I thought he was done. Plus, I heard that in an alternate ending michelle kills herself after learning of tony’s “death”. I’m glad they didn’t go all Romeo & Juliet on us. Tony & Michelle deserve a happy ending. But yeah, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. And I'm glad they didn't tell Audrey that jack was really alive. She sucked. She can't handle a man like jack bauer.

Lost: Tricky show. Originally I thought this was going to be my favorite show of the year. The pilot was probably one of the top 2 or 3 I’ve ever seen, and when this show is on, oh it is ON. But sometimes the shows wonders, and sometimes it loses me. (In my opinion it took way too long for Kate’s story to make any sense)…plus, Jack gets on my nerves lately and he’s supposed to be the hero.

What I liked about the finale: I know some people weren’t happy with the ending, but I think it answered enough questions to keep me satisfied until next season. We see Sawyer finally tell Jack about his dad. We learn that Jack isn’t married anymore when he boards the flight. We see “fate” or “luck” or what have you try with all its might to keep hurley off that plane. We find out that “the boy” the others are after is Walt and not Aaron. I am ashamed to admit I never even considered that. I like the little flashbacks as we see people getting on the plane. Ya know, I have to say, I found myself really, really liking Sawyer. I mean, he’s been gaining points for a while, but telling jack about his dad + trying to help fix the raft+ looking all sad that he didn’t get to say goodbye to kate + diving into the ocean to get the rudder + getting the gun to protect walt= a whole lot of cuddly feelings toward Sawyer. I hope he’s ok!!!
Oh! And I nearly lost it when Sun & Jin finally made up! Wahhhhh!

Then of course it had all those crazy cliffhangers that will keep me wondering until September. And
**Attention Casting News for Next Year which some may consider spoilerish****
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Michelle Rodriquez has been added to the season 2 cast. So…I don’t know. I saw a teaser for next year that said “They are not the survivors they thought they were”. Interesting. Remember how Rose kept saying her husband wasn’t dead? Oh, rumor has it that an actor from the show is being killed off in October over a contract dispute.
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Plus you can check out http://www.oceanic-air.com/ for all kinds of crazy stuff. There is a script page that details the monster (they were going to have Charlie & us see the monster in the finale!!) There is some fun character stuff on there if you go through the seating chart. And something crazy where Flight 815 morphs into Flight 777. Not sure what that means. Plus it says that there is an alert on Flight 815 but it also has a landed time. Interesting. Check it out, play around, let me know if you find anything new.

The O.C. This show was having some identity issues this year but I gotta say they finished up with a bang (pun intended). Tried to keep the core four romantically apart and sometimes it worked (alex was fun until she went crazy) and sometimes it was boring (Lindsey and zach). I still love Seth to death, but out of nowhere Julie Cooper became my favorite character. She may rival seth for the best one liners this year. I was afraid from the previews that the finale would be over the top 90210, but I had a little tearing going on during Kiki’s intervention and I shouted out a big WOW when Marissa shot Trey. So much for the Cooper’s back in action. Speaking of which, I guess we still don’t know if Julie is going to get any of Caleb’s money. But the divorce papers were signed, but I guess not filed yet. Don’t you think the police might think something is up if Julie’s second husband isn’t in the ground for more that 48 hours before hubby number one moves into the house? Will the cohen’s make it through next year without committing adultery?

Alias hurts me still. I miss Jack being so renegade & scary. Ya know what I just realized, I don’t CARE about these characters as much as I use to. Wah. That’s kinda sad. But so what if nadia is a zombie? The only fun people on this show are the Derevko sisters. And not that Elana is dead and Irina is back on the run, it is doubtful we will see too much of them. But the finale was kinda interesting in a night of the living dead way. The reason it is not further down the list is because of the last 15 seconds of the show, which, in my opinion will either kill the show entirely for me or save it. What do you mean you are not Michael Vaughn? Well then why the hell were you so interested in finding your “father”? And what do you mean it was not a coincidence that he was assigned Sydney?! Wha…Wha…Wha…!!!!

Everwood Not too entirely exciting, but an episode that really gets us ready for next season. I was nervous about Rose’s surgery but thank heavens she pulled through. So we know that the Abbot family will have their matriarch, but will have to deal with another round of chemo. Amy’s putting college on hold and Bright finally makes Hannah sweaty!! And the big cliffhanger, what about Nina & Andy? Personally, I’m not sure I want them together yet. Andy should have to suffer in silence like Nina has all this year. Jake makes her happy. Hello, he just bought a restaurant for her and moved in with all his super cool expensive appliances! Andy is use to getting what he wants, when he wants it. He’s selfish and he doesn’t deserve Nina yet. Notice how bright wasn’t going to barge in and break up Hannah & Topher’s relationship because he thought it would be unfair to her. That’s why bright got the girl in the end. That’s why Andy shouldn’t. And what about Ephram? Will he come back from Europe too big for Everwood? Will Amy have moved on and decided to focus on herself for once?

Originally I was going to swap Survivor and Everwood but then I remembered that like 2 weeks into survivor I thought that Tom would be the winner, and not much later I decided that Katie would join him in the final two. So, no surprise who won. What was surprising was the IAN MELTDOWN that occurred in the last 2 episodes. Wowie Ian. You may have been the one person who could have beat Tom. Worst poker face ever! He couldn’t lie, he couldn’t defend himself, he late Katie walk all over him and Tom berate him and then he decides after 11 hours to give up! Wowie. I think that was the most exciting thing to happen all season! P.S. I liked that Coby named his baby girl Janu.

Arrested Development: Man, this show ended so long ago I can’t even really remember what happened. I remember it being funny. This show is moving to Mondays next year. Which means you have no reason not to netflix season 1 and be ready to get down with the bluths next year.

Desperate Housewives: Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the finale, but I think this show is turning out to be the least favorite of my favorites (which means I still like it of course, but not as much as I did in the beginning). I think I’m finding the same issue with this show that I have with Alias. I’m just not caring about the characters as much as I should. Edie is quickly becoming my favorite character. Out of the 4 I really only like Terri Hatcher. The other 3 are caricatures of their former selves. Bree=obsessively perfect; Gabrielle=obsessively selfish; lynette=obsessively jealous, tired and/or falling apart. Hee Hee, I loved terri hatcher’s crazy phone calls to mike. Too Funny. The finale did a good job of wrapping up the whole mary alice ordeal (look, see paul isn’t such a bad man after all, he had to kill the snoopy neighbor because she was going to tarnish mary alice’s reputation, that’s why you should not be a snoopy neighbor! Mind your own damn business!) And leaving all the women in new roles for next season. Gabby dealing with pregnancy alone. Bree dealing with being a widow with a crazy psycho son. Lynette back at work. Susan in a functioning relationship (if Mike isn’t killed by his maybe son).

The Amazing Race: One word: Fixed. There is no way that an airline would allow a flight to open back up after the gate has been closed. If you ask me CBS intervened in order to avoid an easy Romber win. But at the same time, I really like Uchenna and Joyce and if Romber had to lose I’m glad it was to them. But yeah, minus points for the big fix.

Speaking of Romber, I highly enjoyed their wedding special. Good fun. Haha. Like when Rob said that he didn’t think he & Collin went to the same bars. Hee Hee. And how sweet when he started to cry like a girl with a skinned knee because amber got all the sox to sign a painting for him. And trying to learn to dance! Oh, just to much fun to discuss it all!

The last thing on my tivo was The Muppets Wizard of Oz. I was kind of nervous about this one. And I don’t really like Ashanti. Ever since she popped up on buffy I’ve had a dislike of her. Anyhoo, I was pleasantly surprised. Ashanti wasn’t too annoying and I love pepe the prawn! He rocks! Every now & again I would get weirded out because some of the muppets’ voices are a little off, but overall it was good fun. I have it tivoed if anyone wants to come and check it out.

Overall, I would have to say this was a solid tv season. The most upsetting cancellation (for me) was Eyes. So that’s not all too bad—although I would have liked to see how Pt. Pleasant ended the season, rumor has it that Christina would have gone bad. Anyhoo hopefully next year I’ll be able to plug up some of the holes in my schedule. This summer I’m looking forward to catching up on some buffy. I also have Wonderfalls & 21 Jumpstreet. Plus Scrubs season 1!

What are you watching this summer?

I’m still making my way through all of my season finales. But I better get a move on because summer programming is starting up soon!

Remember the good ol days when summer meant no tv. Just beach time and summer movies. More recently I’ve been using the summer to catch up on dvds but this summer is more packed with new programming than ever. I’m not saying all of it is quality programming, but just that you have some choices if it turns out to be a miserable, rainy summer.

Once again I have attached an excel sheet for you. Everything in red is first run (non-repeats). In bold & red are the shows that I’m most interested in and in bold & blue are shows that are repeating that if you missed the first time around, you really should check out. Ahem. VERONICA MARS.

Here’s the highlights:

Monday
As far as I’m concerned, the summer belongs to cable. And Mondays will be HBO for the final season of Six Feet Under (9PM). This is one of those shows were just about anything can happen so I’m really interested to see how the characters will end up...hopefully at least one of them will be happy.

Tuesday
I’ll be checking out House (Fox, 9) finally as it goes through repeats. Hopefully Fox will replay them in some kind of order so that I’m not all confused. But everyone who watches this show loves it, so I’ll give it a chance.

At 10pm Dennis Leary returns to FX with Rescue Me (June 21). Last season did not end so happily for our leading man. This is another show where anything can and usually does happen. You probably shouldn’t watch it if you get offended easily.

Wednesday
Tim Minnear has worked with the Whedon. He also brought us Wonderfalls. He gives Fox another shot with his new series The Inside. This is what Fox has to say about the series:
In this new psychological thriller premiering Wednesday, June 8 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), rookie FBI Agent REBECCA LOCKE (Rachel Nichols) joins the Bureau's Los Angeles Violent Crimes Unit – unaware that she's been hand-picked for the dangerous job by its imposing leader, Supervisory Special Agent VIRGIL "WEB" WEBSTER (Peter Coyote). Web is among the few who know that Rebecca was once abducted and held captive, a traumatic experience that affords her unique insight into the mindset of villain and victim alike. From the producers of FOX's pulse-pounding hit drama 24, the series follows Rebecca and her fellow agents as they move from one challenging, complex case to the next, making personal sacrifices along the way. Who these agents really are, why Web has hired each of them, and the true story of Rebecca's abduction are mysteries that can only be solved on THE INSIDE." KT sidenote: I just read a review that was less than stellar, but out of allegiance, I will check out the first episode.

Also Wednesdays at 9 you can check out the repeats of VERONICA MARS. I’m telling you, you won’t be sorry. Check it out, give it a chance. Watch a few episodes. It was the best season finale I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Thursday
Hit me Baby One More Time is not the Britney/K.Fed disaster over on UPN. It is an American Idol type competition between old music stars. Like this week it is A flock of seagulls, Arrested Development, Cece Peniston (oohhh I loved her!), Loverboy and Tiffany!! EEEE! What fun!

Sunday
I’ll finish up the week with the 4400 on USA. The 4400 was a miniseries last year and was so well received that they are brining it back as a full series.

Don’t worry brother, I am not forsaking HBO’s new Sunday night lineup, The Comeback (starring Lisa Kudrow as an ex tv diva trying to make a comeback) and Entourage (hmmm Adrien Grenier). I’ll catch them on HBO west! Hooray!!!

Before I head off, I’d just like to give you a sneak peek at the movies that are ahead of us this summer. Honestly, I probably won’t see the sisterhood unless someone steps up and goes with me, but I think it looks cute (hey brother.....isn't your girl from gilmore girls in it...i know you want to see it......) And Cinderella Man isn’t on my must see list but sometimes I have to suck it up and go see a movie with jay so that later on I can say, sweetie, wanna go see bewitched? But Check it out. From June 10-July 15 there are 6 movies I really want to see! Craziness!


June 1 The Sisterhood of the traveling pants
June 3 Cinderella Man
June 10 Mr. & Mrs. Smith
June 15 Batman Begins
June 24 Bewitched
June 29 War of The Worlds
July 8 Fantastic Four
July 15 Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
July 22 The Bad News Bears
July 22 The Island
August 5 The Dukes of Hazzard
KT out!