OUR NEXT GENERATION

Even though it was more than 35 years ago, I still vividly remember the first time Darrin’s perfect, round little face stared up at me as I held him in my arms. Those of you who are parents understand the awe you feel when you finally meet, face to face, this person who you have known so intimately for nine months.

My wonderful son and beautiful daughter-in-law are one third of the way along the journey to meet their amazing little person – my baby is having a baby! In just six more months the next generation will make his or her appearance into our world. How incredible is that?

These two will make fantastic parents – they are successful, intelligent, caring and capable. They bought a new house in Brentwood and will move in the end of June. Allison has already applied for and been hired as an autism special education preschool teacher at Brentwood Unified. Darrin is able to work from home most of the time and will be a real hands on dad. These “kids” are more together than I’ve ever been! (late June note: the house deal fell through thanks to the infinite wisdom of the idiot banks that caused all this housing chaos, and Allison was able to keep her job in Hayward without upsetting Brentwood.....they have regrouped and will await their new baby in the Hayward condo.)

They did some traveling this past year in anticipation of starting a family. Here is one of my favorite photos of them on their Christmas time tour of Europe. They both look so happy and full of life – I love it!



Darrin and Allison in Florence, Italy



Although we’ve known for a couple months now, they made their official announcement this past weekend – on Facebook, of course! How else do today’s young adults do anything? It was fun to read all the comments from their friends and share in their joy. Some of Darrin’s friends from school commented taking me down memory lane when they were all so young.

My son shares my love of photography and took this beautiful, contemplative picture of his pregnant wife and her three month baby bump.

My grandbaby's minus six month photo!

Just think, by Christmas I will be a grandma! I’m busy thinking up ideas of what to be called. I was in Taco Bell the other day (surprise, surprise) and heard a little boy call to his “Grandma Kathy”. That sounded too trite and formal to me. I’ve thought of being a “Nannie” (my grandmother’s "name"), but there was only one Nannie. I think I need something a little more out there, like maybe “Gamma Kat” or “Grammy K”. If anyone has any interesting suggestions pass them along. Or maybe I’ll just let my grandbaby make up a name like Darrin did for my mother. For some reason in Darrin’s mind Grandma came out Dupda – and she was Dupda (eventually shortened to Dup) from then on.

My travels into the realm of grandmotherhood are happily anticipated. Boy or girl, whatever I’m called, I can’t wait to meet this special little person!

ISN'T THIS MID-MAY????

What the hell is going on? It is May 15 - just over a month before summer officially arrives. AND today I sat here in front of the television with the afghan over me, Nova on my lap and the tips of my fingers were still so cold they were numb! If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was the middle of winter.

It poured rain, lightning flashed, thunder crashed and it even hailed for awhile....right here in Sacramento as we near the end of spring. They cancelled the first leg of the Amgen Bike Race due to terrible weather in Tahoe. It is snowing in the mountains and we had almost record low temperatures for this day. WTF? This is crazy and I am tired of it. Enough already!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

The sounds of Elvis blasted over the car stereo, “Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire.”  Lou and I were well into the 569 mile drive from Sacramento to Las Vegas.  He often gives me trips for special occasions so this time I wanted to surprise him with one for his birthday.

Since my budget is much less than his, this was a road trip in my little Nissan Versa, a good deal at the Las Vegas Hilton plus lots of food coupons and gift cards from my credit card rewards program! I’ve always been good at stretching a dollar and of course, I made sure he read “the fine print” – this was NOT an all expense paid trip.

Our trips can be a bit eclectic sometimes, combining an array of activities, and this one was no different. It included a quick stop at Baker, California, to see the World’s Largest Thermometer.  Having missed out on seeing the World’s Largest Ball of Twine fifteen years ago in Kansas for Darrin’s flying competition, I was happy to check out the thermometer.

The thermometer is now part of Bob's Big Boy Restaurant in Baker, CA.

We checked into our 23^rd floor room at the Las Vegas Hilton, quickly unpacked and headed to the NASCAR Café in the Sahara Hotel. One of the hangouts of the original Rat Pack, the Sahara is closing its doors in less than two weeks. Lou wanted to walk in the footsteps of Frankie, Dino and Sammy. For those of you too young to know who I’m talking about that’s Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.

This trip seemed to have two recurring themes along with the normal glitz, glamour and glitter of Vegas – feeling old sometimes and being high! No, not that kind of high – high as in way up in the air. J

The famous sign welcomes visitors from the south.

One of thousands of neon and light signs that cover Las Vegas.

Those of you who know me can imagine my delight at seeing my favorite store, Ross, on the Strip!

The next morning we headed to Hoover Dam. The new Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which bypasses the dam, opened late last year. We’ve seen it twice in various stages of construction these past years. Pedestrians are able to walk across on a narrow walkway 900 feet above the Colorado River. If you don’t do well with heights like me, the cars whizzing by on one side and an open railing on the other make it really difficult to enjoy the beautiful views of Hoover Dam. Your focus is keeping your balance and not puking.

Hoover Dam from the O'Callaghan-Tillman Bridge.

The O'Callaghan-Tillman Bridge from Hoover Dam.

The walkway along the memorial bridge which opened in October 2010.

After the obligatory stop at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop of the History Channel’s Pawn Stars fame for Lou, we headed to the Stratosphere Tower. This was our first feeling old moment although it was one that saved us money – we both got the senior discount on the ticket to the top!

The height thing wasn’t bad for me here. There is enough room and you can stay back from the edge. The 360 degree views of Las Vegas and The Strip were amazing. What was absolutely insane were the thrill rides. One is a roller coaster type car that simply goes down a track and hangs you out over the edge. Another is a big spider-like thing that moves out from the tower suspending you 1100 feet above the desert as it spins in circles. After watching it, I turned to Lou and said, “No fricking way!”  There is also a controlled freefall “ride” where you step off a platform wearing a parachute harness with a cable attached which lowers you to the ground. At $100 bucks a pop, people were lined up to do it. What will they think of next?

The crazy ass ride that looks like it is shooting you out into space.

The seats are suspended 1100 feet above the ground and start spinning.

The view of Las Vegas Blvd from the top of the Stratosphere.

After dinner that evening, we headed back to our room to get ready for our jet setting night.  My co-worker, Tunde, is the travel agent for the Maloofs who own the Sacramento Kings and The Palms Casino in Las Vegas. Their resort is famous for its upscale, trendy nightclubs and fantasy suites.

Tunde got us on the list to bypass the line and waive the cover charge for the Ghostbar on the 55^th floor of The Palms. It is one of the “in” places for nightlife in Vegas. We arrived at 10:15 PM, early for Vegas clubber standards, and bought a glass of wine and a beer. Lou had forgotten his wallet in the car so I opened a tab with my credit card.

There is a balcony suspended, once again, high above Las Vegas. The views are simply stunning at night as long as you stay away from the clear plexiglass area on the floor which looks straight down to the ground. The techno music was blaring and lights were flashing while the beautiful people danced and drank.

The view from the 55th floor of the Ghostbar high atop The Palms Casino.

As the night wore on more and more people arrived – most were young, thin and beautiful. We were definitely two of the oldest. Lou heard on a talk show that the latest look for men is to wear a long-sleeve dress shirt untucked. Sure enough, half the men had on untucked long-sleeve dress shirts. The girls all wore skin-tight stretch skirts that barely covered their little bitty asses. When I stood I was pulling my pantyhose up while the girls were pulling their skirts down. I felt a little better when Tunde, much younger and thinner than me, said she felt old and fat at the Ghostbar.

Around midnight, I got a second glass of wine and Lou had a 7-Up before we decided to call it a night. We glanced at the cocktail list which only had full bottles of vodka, bourbon, etc. – cheapest of which was $425. Yikes, that’s when I started to get worried. I closed out our tab – two glasses of house chardonnay, one bottle of beer and one soft drink was $42 plus tip! My wine was $13 a glass – hell, I could have bought a case of Two Buck Chuck for that price.

The next day we slept in, had breakfast at IHOP with my two for one coupon and relaxed by the pool most of the day.  That evening we used one of my rewards gift cards for a nice Italian dinner at Maggiano’s on The Strip before turning in to get an early start home.

We decided to stop at Calico, a ghost town near Barstow. It’s been criticized for being too commercialized but was still a nice way to spend an hour. It was a photographer’s paradise. Before hitting the road home, we had lunch at Peggy Sue’s Nifty Fifties Diner.

One of Calico's many photogenic buildings.

Main Street of the Calico Ghost Town near Barstow, California.

A replica of Calico's old schoolhouse.

Some interesting flowers - you know I can't resist colorful blooms.

The entrance to Peggy Sue's Diner is through a huge jukebox.

My ankle was still bothering me and I walked way too much on it this trip. The rocks and uneven ground in Calico made it quite difficult for me. As I inched my way down a slope with Lou hanging onto me, I thought again how old I felt – and this time I didn’t like it one bit. Fortunately, my ankle will heal and hopefully I'll be ready to tackle Germany in a few weeks.

But I was reminded how precious a healthy life is and how much we take for granted. The time will come soon enough when we won’t be able or won’t want to do all this traveling so for now we are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can. In fact on the drive home we planned several more trips to add to our list.