Another Pappy Update.
The last few days, Pappy’s tumor has increased in size. I’m not sure if he hit it on something or not, but it had definitely gotten large, discolored and very hard. I noticed just how large it was last night. I made a mental note to mention it to Rob the next day.
Rob has been deep in rehearsals for the play he is doing the last couple of weeks so we haven’t really seen each other much. The play opened last night so I knew I would get to see him a little bit this afternoon after his nap.
This morning, Rob was crawling back into bed for his nap, just as I was waking up around eleven. He mentioned that Pappy’s tumor was really big. I told him I realized it as well. He said we need to keep an eye on it and make another appointment with the vet to see how to proceed.
Just for reference sake, his tumor started the size of a small grape. It is now the size of a medium sized apple.
So rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, thanking the universe for 12 plus hours of much needed sleep and headed out to see Pappy who was chilling in a sunbeam on the living room carpet. He didn’t look comfortable and upon closer inspection, his tumor was bleeding. It was sort of weeping blood in a few spots on the seam of the scar where they last took the tumor off. Almost like it was just stretched to it’s limit and had no more give.
I grabbed the phone and called my vet. They were only open for another hour, but they said to bring him in as soon as possible. Thankfully, they are only a mile from my house, so I threw on yesterdays clothes, mangled my hair into a sad looking ponytail and put Paps in the car.
They took him in right away, and at this point I am a hot mess. Not just because I literally had just gotten out of bed, but because now that they had him and I could relax for a second I started my meltdown.
Long story short, they attempted to drain the tumor but the only thing coming out was more blood. So they wrapped it in soft cotton and wrapped that up very tightly with a double sticky ace type bandage.
The vet then gave me some antibiotics to prevent the skin from being infected, told me to keep it wrapped and check it on Monday to see if it had gone down or stopped bleeding.
Here comes the reality:
I asked the options going forward. She said that there were two issues. One, that we do nothing and the skin around the tumor possibly becomes ulcerated and starts to slough off, knowing it won’t grow back and then she used the U word.
The second is that we have the tumor removed for a third time, knowing that it will not stop it from coming back. Knowing that at this stage in the game and at his age, there are risks undergoing that surgery.
I asked her to bottom line it for me and she said that in all honesty, she never thought that Pappy would be here right now. Given the type of cancer that he has, she said that she never expected him to last this long and it is VERY rare for a dog TO live this long with an active grade 3 mast cell tumor. Also taking into consideration that he’s still relatively happy and eating and not throwing up or showing other signs of sickness, other than old age – she basically said that we were doing all the right things. He is still on his steroid, benadryl and pepcid. We added the Turkey Tail Mushroom about a month ago and I added some canine hepatic support from my work for his liver when his labs came back high.
While her words should be and kind of is reassuring, it doesn’t change the fact that my little man probably doesn’t have much time left. I’ve been really avoiding thinking about this. Like A LOT. The reason behind that should be obvious, but now it’s time to try and get myself prepared. I don’t want to because just typing this out has left me in wracking sobs for the last ten minutes, but I need to start mentally preparing.
It sucks out loud.
So there is the update on my baby boy. For better or for worse.
I'm not doing so well. Pappy Update
Pappy’s tumor has gotten quite large. What started as a little bump, slowly grew to the size of a plum and then rather rapidly to the size of a lemon. Even faster it reached the size of an avocado.
We decided to have him checked out again at that vets. We haven’t changed our minds as far as treatments go, but we wanted to get their opinion since it had gotten so large and he had been wanting to lick it lately.
They ran some blood work and the results weren’t great. His liver levels were off the charts. They were supposed to be in the 100 something range and they were at a shocking 4000 reading. I don’t understand medical mumbo jumbo, but the vet was pretty sure it has spread throughout his body.
The good news was that his heart and lungs look good. He’s still in good shape other than his arthritic butt and hind quarters – but that is just age. He still doesn’t act sick and thanks to the Prednisone, there is NO decrease in appetite. The end result is that either old age or cancer is going to get him. They don’t know which one will do it first. They told us to watch for lack of wanting to eat and rapid weight loss. They also said that we can leave the tumor alone, but if it gets bigger or starts bother him and he wants to itch it, they can do a drain on it and see if they can remove most of it. I’m not really interested in having him go under anesthesia again at his advanced age, but we’ll see. The other possibility is that it could rupture and we would need to have them do that anyway.
They also told us as a natural alternative we could look into something called Turkey Tail Mushroom. It’s supposed to help boost immune systems and has been showed to help fight cancer. We got some on Monday and started him on it. We will see how that goes.
So we are keeping him on the steroid, anti histamine and stomach pills. I have also added an all natural liver support supplement I got from work and now the Turkey Tail Mushroom.
While Pappy is doing relatively okay other than the whole cancer thing, I am not.
I have never had to deal with this sort of thing. Yes, we had to put Romie down at 16 years of age and that was the hardest decision I have EVER had to make in all of my life, but it came on suddenly. It all happened over the course of a couple of days. He just lost control of his back legs and eventually refused food and water until we had to bring him in and it was the only humane thing to do. I still hurt from that, but at least it was sudden.
The only other experience I have at losing a close loved one was when my grandparents died, and to deal with that I became bulimic. I don’t function well with grief.
I’m not good at knowing my dog is going to die soon but not knowing when. He could go on for a year and that would make me very happy, but the very real possibility is that it could happen much sooner. I am not handling the situation very well. I wake up in the middle of the night and put my hand on him just to make sure he’s still breathing.
I literally can’t even talk about this with my husband or friends because I can’t stop bawling long enough to get words out. Typing seems okay. I can cry and type at the same time. That is why I am blogging this. I need to get this out of my head.
I am not doing well. When I am not on the verge of tears, my mood can be described as salty at best. I’m lashing out at friends that don’t deserve it and inwardly seething all the time about things that shouldn’t be a big deal. Like traffic, or the fact that I can’t find a certain shirt. We’re talking FULL ON RAGE here people. I want to punch and kick and hurt things. This morning I realized I wanted to cut again. I haven’t cut in at least twenty years but this morning the urge was there just as plain as day. Cut the skin, let the blood flow, release the pain.
I didn’t and I won’t because I’ve come way to far to resort to that shit, nor will I stick my finger down my throat and throw up the feelings, but it’s a little unnerving to me that it came on like that. I just don’t know how to deal with this.
And you can tell me it’s just a fucking dog until you are blue in the face, (black and blue, because I will probably punch you if you said that to my face.) but it’s so much more than that. If you knew just one fraction of love that this dog has given me in the last ten years, you would be openly weeping right now. I know that every dog owner goes into the adoption process knowing it is only temporary. They are only with us for a little while, but the quality of that time is so amazing. If you are not an animal lover, you will never understand. This is my child.
So yeah…not doing well with this. I’m tempted to click on one of those online therapy ads I see pop up on facebook. I did a great deal of therapy in my early adult years and it did me a world of good. Maybe talking to a stranger about this would help. I don’t know.
I guess I should just be glad I realize that this is the reason I’ve been feeling so shitty, but no, that doesn’t really help.
There is no real point to this post. It’s not a cry for help. I will not cut. I will not start binging and purging. It is just a means to try and hash out these emotions and get them out of my head. I will probably write more of them as the weeks go on. Please feel free to skip over them. Life isn’t all sunshine and roses right now.
Big Sur Wildfire
So I’m not sure if you’ve been following the news about the California wildfires, in particular the Big Sur or Soberanes Fire. If you are local to my area, how could you not? Between the smoke and the fire trucks everywhere, it’s been a pretty visible presence in out location.
If you aren’t, let me fill you in. The fire started on Friday July 22nd in Garrapata State Park near Big Sur. It was in remote area that had lots of rough terrain and spread very rapidly. Because of the landscape it was very difficult to fight on foot and that is what helped the fire escalate so quickly.
Today, as of the last announcement this morning it is sitting at 43,400 acres burned and only 18 % contained. 57 homes have been destroyed and more than 2000 are threatened. There has been a state of emergency declared and we have had one fatality.
The good news is that we have over 5400 personal fighting this fire for us. Firefighters have streamed in from across this great state to assist us with trying to contain this disaster. They are doing everything they can for us, the problem is that they can’t fight a fire they can’t get to.
Rob and I discussed the reason we think that it is so little contained is because they are just securing the perimiter of the fire and letting the uninhabited forest within burn. They have been so amazingly diligent at getting all the lines bulldozed and they have been lighting the backfires for the last couple of days. *knocks wood* Things seem to be going well on that side of the operation.
They released the information today that this fire was set off by an illegal campfire that was left unattended within an area of Garrapata State Park that you aren’t even allowed to camp in. I’m trying REALLY hard not to dwell on this fact, because it makes me VERY angry and I know there is nothing we can do about it now. Even if we were to try and catch the people, how can you prove it? And if you can prove it, what then? You can throw them in jail, yes but does that bring back Robert Reagan, the 35 year bulldozer operator that was killed, leaving behind a wife and two beautiful children while fighting this fire? Does it bring back the almost 60 homes, including all memories within that have been destroyed? Obviously, no it doesn’t. It just makes me crazy to think that this whole thing could have been prevented. THINK, people! You are in the middle of a HUGE drought, do you really think it’s a good idea to light a fire in the middle of a tinderbox of a forest??
I digress.
On Sunday, Rob and I noticed some people in our backyard using our neighbors currently vacant porch. Upon closer inspection we discovered that it was a group of firefighters having their lunch. They have been out here where we live on an “over protection” mission, tagging houses in case we need to evacuate. Rob quickly gathered a cooler full of water, sodas and 5 hour energy shots and brought it down to them. It was literally the least we could do to help the men that are trying to save our houses and neighborhood.
This morning I had some things put in perspective for me. As I woke up my thoughts drifted from: “I just want to go back to sleep!” and “I don’t WANT to go to work!” to “Oh Gawwwd, I have to do *name simple yet time consuming task* today, it’s going to take FOREVER!” and then I thought about all the things I COULD do at the house (but wouldn’t) if I could just stay home. You know, the usual. “Grumble, grumble, grumble…Me, Me, Me”
After I got showered and dressed, I ventured to work and as I passed through the village I saw about seven or eight fire engines stopped at various markets and gas stations. Firefighters were holding coffee and water and getting back in the trucks, getting ready to start their work day. Their work day. They were getting ready to risk their lives to save my house and a lot of them had bright smiles on their faces.
And I was bitching about having to wake up and go push paper for eight hours. Really Kelly? It was a pretty big eye opener for me.
This blog is all over the place, but I’m just trying to sort my head out. The other thing that struck me about this whole thing is that sometimes, it takes a tragedy to make me feel good about humanity again. What with all the political crap flooding my facebook page, it was nice to see all the simple handmade signs around the village. I’ve posted some below. I didn’t take those pictures, but I’ve seen a good number of them on my ventures in the valley this week.
Oh and the bulldozer driver that lost his life? Someone started a gofundme account soon after the horrible accident to support his wife and two kids. It was only asking for 16,000 as a goal, but in just five days it has swelled to almost 95,000 dollars! I know it won’t bring him back, but the generosity brought me to tears. Here is the website if you want to donate. I hope that you do.
Update on the Papster
So a while back I wrote about Pappy’s cancer. It’s not something that I like to think about, let alone write about, but it is still there.
His tumor came back for a third time quite a few months ago. I didn’t publicize it, because…well, we aren’t going to do anything about it. I didn’t want to hear from all the people that think they know better than me, that we should do chemo or radiation or at least get this third tumor removed.
I recently had a lengthy conversation with our seasonal neighbors that came back into town. They had a very similar situation with their old dog Maggie. They opted for the chemo and they regretted it. They said it made her so sick and in the end, for the minimal life it can extend for an already old dog, it’s just not worth it. I was so glad to have had that talk, because it reaffirmed all our decisions on keeping Pappy comfortable in the time he has left.
This morning I had to bring Pappy in for his annual check up. I was dreading it, because I was sure they were going to tell me what a horrible dog mother I was for letting this cancer just fester in his body instead of taking some sort of action, other than the meds he is currently on. I was wrong.
I was very pleasantly surprised when the Dr. told me that she thought we were doing the right thing. She said that at almost 14 years old, he had lived a good life span and that the other vet they had there just put his dog on chemo and he doesn’t think he would do it again. She told me his dog was sick for days after every treatment and wouldn’t eat. I *knew* those doggie cancer specialist fuckers were lying to me when they said chemo doesn’t effect dogs at all like it does humans. Bastards.
The doc said that Pappy is doing AMAZING for having had this cancer as long as he has. She was shocked when I told her that he still doesn’t exhibit any signs of being sick. Just standard old slowdown. He can’t jump up into the car anymore because of his back legs so we lift him. She agreed that was a good idea, especially since his tumor gets aggravated if he bumps it. I told her he’s kind of gotten used to us babying him. She said: “He’s got the right idea! Hell, he’s gonna be 14. He needs a butler!” Heh.
So the vet visit I was dreading turned out to make me feel very good about what we are doing. He’s not hurting. He’s not suffering. He doesn’t even know he is sick! He just has a INSATIABLE hunger from the steroid and constantly things he is starving…which is good since a decline in appetite is a bad sign in this case.
She did say that she probably won’t update his rabies and the other 3 years shot that is due in January, because they don’t want to compromise his immune system with the cancer. I said that I was fine with that. If he is still with us at that point I will be so happy I won’t care about anything else.
As I write this with tears in my eyes, he is asleep in his bed on the other side of the couch. He is my love. My sweet, sweet baby boy. I am not ready to let him go, I never will be. But I’m happy that right now, he isn’t hurting and will be with us for a bit longer.
Vegas, how you disappoint me.
For my husband and I, Las Vegas used to be a wonderful playground. First and foremost, it was where we met. It was also where we got married a year later. Mostly though, it was the only place we could really afford to take a vacation.
When we were young and stupid it was three day weekends, several times a year. We lived in Phoenix at the time so it was just a five hour drive to our paradise. We could pay $25.00 a night for a crackerbox of a hotel room at the 4 Queens in downtown Las Vegas, and get drunk and fed for very little money. 4 Queens used to have a late night room service deal where you could get four different full on dinners for five bucks each. It was our favorite.As we got older and it wasn’t so much about the drink and the gamble, it was still the most affordable place to vacation for us. The hotel rooms were cheap compared to other “vacation” options as were the food and entertainment options. We weren’t really into seeing premium shows, so it worked for us.
Since we have moved to California, our Vegas trips have dwindled to once a year. However, instead of several short visits, we usually stay a week and a half or so.
As prices have increased, we have stuck to downtown. Primarily at the El Cortez. We find the tower rooms quite roomy for the prices and we like a lot of the food options around there.
I should mention, that I have also run the Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon four times and our last few visits have corresponded with that.
In the past couple of years a disturbing trend has occurred. The dreaded Resort Fee. If you are unfamiliar with this, let me explain. It started with the high end casinos. They started charging a nightly fee alongside their room rates. They called it a “resort fee” and it was said to cover access to certain things. The most popular that I have seen are wifi, water bottles in the room, the ability to go to the fitness center. Basically things that should already be amenities included in the price of the room, in my opinion.
We scoffed when we saw that and stuck with downtown, until slowly but surely it began to creep into our beloved ghetto haven. Not only were room rates increasing as they tried to improve the downtown vibe, but now they were tacking on the resort fee as well. Not nearly as expensive of a fee as their strip counterparts, but still there nonetheless.
The first times I did the marathon we stayed actually stayed in Jean because the prices were so high due to the marathon itself. My husband dropped me off and then picked me up at the finish near Mandalay Bay. The second time were were staying at the El Cortez and I figured I would take a cab home…along with EVERYONE else. Rob ended up picking me up again at Mandalay Bay after I called him crying about how the taxi line was literally a mile long.
The next year they changed the finish line to exit near The Flamingo. We booked early enough to get a discounted rate that was good enough to forgive the resort fee. All we wanted at that point, was a place to stay where I could catch the monorail to the start of the race and not be too far from home at the finish line. It worked perfectly. The rest of the trip was spent at the El Cortez.
By the next year, I had discovered a little Facebook game called MyVegas. It was a game that you played that actually paid you our with rewards at MGM hotels and casinos. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen! Back in those days the winnings were plentiful and the rewards were amazing. I wound up getting three comped nights at the MGM Grand minus the resort fees. We had never stayed there because it was just not in our budget, but at 21 dollars a night, it was suddenly on the table. The room they offered was a tiny little room but by sheer luck, we got upgraded to a regular room at check in because it was available sooner and it was closer.
That year we also booked one night at The Flamingo so that we had a place near the finish line. The MGM was near the start and the Flamingo was near the finish. It worked out very well for me that year, because I hadn’t trained much and I was in a LOT of pain. 🙂 In case there was a question, we stayed downtown at El Cortez the beginning of the trip.
Last year, I didn’t participate in the marathon, but my husband did the 10 K. In the previous year, I had signed up for the Total Rewards Visa card. It has an offer that if you spent a certain amount of money within a certain amount of time you got a huge chunk of rewards points. So I started using it like my debit card, paying for everything. At the end of the month I payed it off with my debit card, no harm, no foul, no interest fee. By the time Vegas rolled around that year, I had enough to pay for three nights at The Flamingo as well as some food and shopping comps. The rest of the time we stayed at El Cortez. Are you sensing a theme?
That brings us to planning this years trip. We don’t have our dates hammered out yet, but given the time off I could possibly have left after Korea this year, it will be towards late November, early December and frankly, I’m just discouraged. Without doing the marathon this year, we had nothing tying us to any certain hotels so we thought we would look at the non strip variety like Orleans and Station Casinos. Nope, every damn one of them has succumbed to the resort fee as well as “renting” fridges and internet.
So I decided to hit up my myvegas game where I still have many points that I just haven’t used in a couple years, only to find they have changed too. They no longer offer consecutive comped nights. In fact you can only be comped one night at any of the casinos they offer per trip, and the comps they do offer are few and far between. They have come down hard with regulations on the game that make it not even worth it to play on a regular basis. I have 200,000 worth of reward points that I will likely never use now because it is too complicated to bother any more.
I understand that Vegas hotels are business’ and must adjust themselves to the changing times, but I think this is a mistake. But I guess people like Rob and I aren’t the majority, and as long as people are willing to pay the high prices, resort fees and whatever else, they will continue to thrive. It makes me sad though. Vegas was the one tradition we had left and I hate to leave it behind.
Having said that, anyone know what Reno’s policies for resort fees are??
Dysmenorrhea strikes again!
Today was kinda shitty as far as days go. Rob and I were supposed to carpool for the first time in forever, so I got myself ready very slowly while trying to pretend I was fine. We were short staffed at work and I didn’t want to add to the problem, so I tried to fake it.
Korea Trip Report: Part Five, The Final Chapter.
On our final full day in Korea, we had three things on our agenda. Something called the Sheep Cafe, which was a coffee shop that had live sheep in it. Something called Times Square, which appeared to a shopping outlet of some sort. And the final item was a Korean BBQ joint for our eating pleasure.
Liz opted to stay home with the twins, so Rob, Jim and I headed out on the subway in search of great adventures.
Our first stop was to be the Sheep Cafe, but Jim couldn’t find it right off and we appeared to be closer to Times Square so we headed over there.
The reason Times Square as even on our agenda, was because when we first knew we were going to Korea, we googled “things to do in Korea” and this came up. Turns out it is just a really big shopping mall, and not a cheap one. So after stopping at a couple of shops, we told Jim that Times Square wasn’t what we thought it was going to be and maybe we needed to go elsewhere. We stopped at a coffee shop and regrouped.
It was decided that we should go off in search of another type of shopping. An outside market.
We never actually found that market, but we did eventually find the sheep cafe, which was very underwhelming. I was hoping that the sheep just wandered around while you drank your coffee and ate your scone, but that wasn’t the case. They were kept in a pen outside the actual cafe and they didn’t seem very excited to be there.
We never even set foot in the cafe.
So that just left a Korean BBQ place. Unfortunately, we discovered that those types of restaurants are only open for dinner hours, so it was a no go. We opted instead for a Bibimbap place that was located in a basement. Rob had already tried this on the plane and he was a fan, but this was my first go round. Since I didn’t like anything too spicy, I opted for the bean paste instead of the chili paste. What was failed to communicate, was the bean paste was fermented and so when I put a big heaping spoonful on my rice and veggies, it overpowered the whole dish. I wasn’t a fan. I kind of started feeling sick to my stomach after eating (I ate about half, I was starving and needed something!) and asked to sit in the place a little bit longer. Rob gave me a Tums and then we headed up to the street. Once I was out of the basement I started to feel better.
We walked around a bit more and then stopped for some Ice Cream at this little stand. It was called Honey Com and the ice cream was supposed to be made with honey rather than sugar. We got an Affogato, which is a scoop of ice cream covered with a shot of espresso and is pure heaven!
We finally headed back to the Subway and headed home. Once there, it was decided that Liz and I would leave the twins with the boys and take ourselves out for a nice dinner. Finally getting the Korean BBQ that we sought after all afternoon. There was some downtime of course, I went upstairs and read for a bit and then we ventured out.
Liz led us over to Itaewan and we walked for a little while before she recognized the restaurant that was literally a hole in the wall. Just a stairway, that we climbed and found a nice little eatery. We were led to a table and Liz ordered to the best of her recollection of what they usually get.
Everything was delicious and I tried things I wouldn’t normally try, even liking some of them! Imagine that!
On the way back to the apartment, we did a small amount of shopping and then stopped at Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. If you get the second to smallest cup size they let you have four different kinds of ice cream and then if you get it to go, they give you dry ice to put in the bag to keep it from melting! Ha! If I remember right, I got New York Cheesecake, Cotton Candy, Snacknado and Cookies and Cream. The boys were quite happy when I shared when we got home.
And that was how we ended out last full day in Korea. Eating ice cream and watching part of a movie before we headed up to bed to pack the best we could and go to sleep.
***
Friday morning we were up, showered, packed and out of the apartment by eleven. Before I left, I said my goodbyes to my nephews. I told Carson to be good for his mother and father and he laughed in my face. Seriously, I said it three times and each time he gleefully chortled at me. That kid is going to be trouble…
Our flight wasn’t until five thirty, but Jim had to do some work at one that afternoon and he wanted to make sure we were going to be on our way to the airport before he left. He took us on the subway to Seoul Station where we were able to not only check into our flight, get our boarding passes and check our luggage, but now, because we checked in at the subway station , we got bypass the regular security gate when we got to the airport. We were going to be able to use the line that all the flight staff and diplomats used! Pretty big bonus if you ask me!
Once our passes were obtained and we checked our bags, we walked around a bit upstairs and got some Dunkin.
Soon after, Jim bid us ado and we were on our own to take the train to the airport. Thankfully, it was painless and the seats were much more comfortable than the plane!
After about a half an hour we arrived at the Seoul Airport. Since our bags were checked and our passes already printed, we found a spot to drain the water/drinks we had packed in our carry ons before going through security.
We were way early but we didn’t have anything else to do, so we found our gate and headed through the special security that we were able to use for checking in at the Subway station. I had my doubts that it would work, but honestly…that was the quickest I had ever passed through a security gate EVER. A total of five minutes, from the time we entered to the time we passed through the detectors and passed immigration with our bags and passports. I wish all airports did this, because I am a FAN!
With not much else to do, we found our gate and planted ourselves in some seats. I headed off to find some food since I was starving at that point. We only had about 11,000 Won left on us which equals about 11 bucks American money so in an effort to be frugal I found a stand that had some stuff wrapped in fish cakes. I got a hot dog wrapped one for Rob and a rice roll wrapped one for me.
It didn’t satisfy us for long so I was able to stretch the money out a bit further by getting a hotdog type of bread (like hot dogs sliced up and baked in a bread) and a potato croquet at another eatery. That only left us with about a dollar fifty left, but it was fine at that point. I settled into my slippers and got comfy.
Finally, the plane started boarding. I will never understand why on a flight with assigned seating, people start lining up as soon as they announce boarding. Your seat isn’t going to change! Rob mentioned overhead bin space and I guess that is where we differ from the “normal” traveler. I see them in line for boarding with their “carry on” bags that should clearly be checked. They are far too big and I GET that you don’t want to have to wait at baggage claim, but damn man, TRY and follow the rules. Since our carry on bags always fit under the seats, we never have to worry about the overhead bins and therefore stay seated until the line is almost done and then get on the plane. It makes it feel like the plane takes off faster that way too. 🙂
On board I took a quick selfie of us and then it was off into the sky.
What was a 12 hour flight on the way to Korea, was a 10 hour flight on the way home. Something to do with the head winds and all that jazz, but I was just glad it was two hours less. Once again, I didn’t get a lick of sleep on the plane. In my youth I used to be able to sleep sitting up, but not so much now. I watched the end of Joy, which I wasn’t able to finish on the flight over. I also watched “Daddy’s Home” and “Spotlight” to keep me occupied. I really enjoyed Spotlight and I really enjoyed watching a shirtless Marky Mark in the other one. 😉 I also played a lot of solitaire and started a very interesting book that I hope to finish soon called “When I’m Gone”. Overall, it made the flight pass fairly quickly for a ten hour flight. The only downside other than having started my period the day before, was that I apparently was allergic to something on the plane. After about an half an hour in the air to the time we touched down, my nose started to be runny and stuffy at the same time. I had post nasal drip running down the back of my throat like crazy and I had to keep going to the lavatory to get tissues. It was VERY annoying, but once we landed and I was out of there it was fine.
Once we were safe on the ground in San Francisco, we collected our baggage, which took a while and then made our way out to the sidewalk to wait for the Airbus. Our bus was scheduled for 1:45. We were hoping to get the earlier bus that came at 12:30 if everything went smoothly but it was already 12:40 by the time we headed out to the curb. We settled in and got prepared to wait for an hour.
Like a vision of wonder, five minutes later the Airbus pulled up next to us. We quickly asked if we could take this bus instead of the later one we had reserved and he said no problem. So awesome! Now we would get into town in time to pick up our dogs that night instead of the next day.
We got cozy on the bus and were so happy to be on our way home.
Rob managed to get some sleep, while I put on my headphones and listened to some music to distract from the fact that the driver was risking our lives with his erratic driving ,but he did get us back into Marina at record time. My In Laws picked us up there right on time and drove us back to their house where I was never so happy to see my lovely Honda Fit sitting in their yard
So overall the trip was probably one of the funnest vacations I’ve had in a long time. Everything was new. Unlike Maine and Vegas which we have done so many times before, every day in Korea was a new adventure. I did several things in spite of my many fears that I am proud of, ranging from simply eating things I wouldn’t have normally to climbing down in that tunnel on the DMZ tour. And I’m glad for every single thing I did.
While it wouldn’t be at the top of my list of places to retire to, I could see myself living in Korea if it came down to it. The two things I will not miss however, is the lack of personal space in public places. Korean people will run you over if you let them. They aren’t particularly rude, they just appear to have the mindset that if they need to get to somewhere that you are, they can just bump you out of the way with no apology or even acknowledgment. They also don’t smile back at you. I’m a smiley person by nature. When I pass someone on the street I tend to smile and I find it disturbing when they don’t smile back. In Korea, they NEVER smile back. It took a lot of getting used to for me.
Having said that, I did really enjoy my vacation very much. My brother and sister in law were the best hosts. I know it can’t be easy letting two people into your household for two weeks, especially with two newborns that you are trying to get on a schedule, but they did so graciously and without complaint (to us anyway). And those babies. Oh my goodness!!! I love those two little squishy faces so very much. I miss them so much already it’s crazy. I can’t even fathom how different they are going to look when I see them next and that breaks my heart. But I am super grateful for the opportunity to get to meet them at all.
Korea Trip Report Part Four
Monday morning we woke up and were out of the hotel by ten for our next adventure: Lotte World.
When we first started looking into things to do on this trip, I was amazed by the number of theme parks I found. This particular park was close to where we were staying and looked to be pretty large so this was the one we planned on. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The first part of the park is all indoors. Since it was a weekday and we got there fairly early, there were no lines for any of the rides when we showed up. We looked around for a few minutes. Rob convinced me to get on the Sinbad ride which was very much like Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney. I wasn’t fond of the drops, but it didn’t kill me.
We spent the rest of the morning wandering around looking at things, with Rob going on some of the scarier rides by himself. I did go on both the Air Balloon ride and the Monorail, which is pretty good for a gal that is afraid of heights as I am.
We shopped, we ate, we walked close to five miles according to our Iphone pedometer thingy. It was a lot of fun. We didn’t cover the entire park but by late afternoon our feet were just done. We had done more walking in the last week than we had in the last couple of months, so our feet were telling us to give it a rest. We did as much as we wanted to do though before calling it a day. We did stop and go through the Folk History Museum and a little bit of the Lotte shopping area before heading back to the hotel.
I soaked my feet in the tub while Rob went out and got us food for dinner. Sandwiches, both with a Korean twist as most “American” food has here. We ate, watched wacky Korean TV and went to bed.
Tuesday morning we woke up and got packed up. I checked out the breakfast in the lobby and got a bagel and a coffee to bring back to the room. We were fully packed and checked out right at ten when hotel check out was.
Over the course of our “weekend” away I had two things that I wanted to acquire. One was a smaller wallet for my traveling purse with a way to attach it to the keyring inside my purse. This is so I could easily access my military ID and my subway pass since those were the two things I used multiple times daily. The other was a backpack. I had failed to bring one with me on the trip, opting for a very large purse instead and I regretted the decision almost as soon as we started traveling.
On the way back to the hotel on Monday, at the subway station, we found both. We had seen variations on both of them at different shops throughout the trip, but I was never sold on them and they were pricey. I’m so glad I waited, because I found exactly what I was looking for and they were only ten bucks each! Score! The backpack made my traveling home so much easier that that big purse. I was never really sold on the purse in the first place so I left it in the hotel room with a note that said: “Free Purse!”. If housekeeping could read English, they lucked into a pretty cool present.
Once we got home and unpacked, Rob was off to have a dinner with his work contacts, so I hung around the house for a bit. Liz and I eventually got out to Itaewon for a coffee, then we went to a pottery shop Liz had recommended to look for souvenirs and found a few cute things before heading home.
We had dinner delivered that evening from a sandwich shop. I got a club sandwich but the fries were actually what I ate for my meal. Philly Cheesesteak fries. Waffle fries covered in steak, cheese, onions and peppers. It was sooooo gooooood!!
I headed to bed early to read before sleeping. Rob got home and came to bed around ten stinking of garlic from the Korean BBQ he had been to. I stopped reading around eleven and tried to sleep, but it was a no go. I read some more and eventually got to sleep around one or so in the morning. I just was not tired at all. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized what had happened. I had coffee twice that day. The last coffee around five in the evening. Anyone that knows me fairly well knows that I am pretty sensitive to caffeine. Coffee after one or two in the afternoon, I’m up for most of the night. Oops!
Wednesday we had planned to go to a place called the Sheep Cafe and then Times Square, but little Joshua was having a bad day. He was not in a good mood from the time he woke up, couple that with him headbutting the back of my skull and having a scream/cry session for about 15 minutes…he was just not having it. (You better believe I felt horrible about the headbutt thing. I had to go upstairs so no one saw me cry over it) We had planned on having a “dead” day on Thursday so that we could possibly catch up on anything we hadn’t done on the trip, so we just moved that day to Wednesday instead. That allowed Jim and Liz to stay home with the kids and try and get them back on track.
We did take a quick trip with Jim to the local McDonalds. We had seen some Korea specific options advertised so we wanted to check it out. We got a Bulgogi Burger and a Shrimp burger and of course some fries. 🙂 Jim got something called the “Hot All Over” burger, which I guess is an attempt that McDonalds is trying out to give a fresher more six dollar burger option. It looked pretty good and Jim said it was much better than the usual Micky Dee’s fare.
Rob and I walked over to Itaewon and got some food souvenirs and a couple of hats for us before heading home. Later we took a little nap (I mostly read), and then the boys went out to get pizza for dinner. We got a Bulgogi pizza, and one that was half shrimp and half bacon and potato. The crust on that one was mashed sweet potato with a cream cheese mix. It was so freaking good I could barely stand it.
Soon after it was bed time, as the next day would be our last full day in Korea.
Korean Trip Report Part Three
Saturday morning we got up bright and early and got ready for the DMZ tour. That is a tour put on by the USO that takes you to the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea. It is an eight hour tour that goes over a lot of the history and takes you to many different spots showcasing the history.
We hopped in the car and after a minor accidental detour, made it to the USO unscathed and on time for the tour. We loaded into the tour bus with 40+ other tourists and traveled about an hour to the first stop on the tour. The 3rd underground tunnel.
According to our tour guide, this was one of the tunnels that North Korea dug in order to plan an attack on South Korea back in the day. We got to climb down into the tunnel and check it out but were not allowed to take pictures. We were warned before heading into the tunnel that if we had any type of phobia, it was probably not wise to proceed…especially claustrophobia. Whelp, as you all know, I am the queen of phobias and claustrophobia has been a big one for me in the past. Jim told me that I could head down and if I wanted to turn around at any time I could, so I gave it a shot.
The first thing I noticed before we even got to the tunnel was the extremely steep downhill trek we had to make to get there. It seemed never ending and all I could think about was that we had to make our way back up it to get out.
Once we got to the tunnel we ducked and headed in. Jim was in front of me and he kept making jokes to keep my mind off the tight spaces, but it was actually him repeatedly hitting his hardhat on the beams that kept me cracking up. At 5’4″ the tunnel wasn’t too small for me, but for him at 6’2″ he was struggling to stay hunched over enough.
Long story short, I made it through the entire tunnel and I was really proud of myself. Rob said he thought sure I had turned around until he heard me laughing in the distance behind him. He was kinda proud of me too. 🙂 The walk back up to the lobby was a bit tough though. A very steep uphill battle that had me stopping several times to catch my breath. I may do half marathons, but those are flat!
When I finally got to the top, Jim was waiting with much needed water and a power bar from the gift shop. After that we headed into the other building to see a short video of the history of the Koreas, before taking some pictures in front of the buildings and then getting back on the bus.
The second stop was the observatory, which didn’t prove very interesting because it was too overcast to see anything but we did watch another video on the history. We stopped at the gift store for a yummy chocolate coffee drink and then it was back on the bus, heading to the next stop: LUNCH!
The lunch was served at a cafeteria. We had the choice of Bulgogi or Bipimbap. I got the Bulgogi and Rob got the other. It was quite yummy and filling but we had to eat fast or we were going to miss our window of opportunity for the debriefing at our fourth stop: North Korea.
But first we stopped at the third part of the tour. A hardly used Subway Station. I know there was some significance to this but I don’t remember what it was. I just know that there is only one train that goes to and from at this station and you have to get a round trip ticket. There is no one way to this stop.
So I mentioned the fourth and last stop being North Korea. Heh. Yeah, kind of.
At the next stop we had to sign a waiver that if anything happened to us, we had no recourse and blah, blah, blah and then got a short lecture on more history. After that we were led outside and into a small building that was built on the border of South and North Korea. In the middle there was a table and on that table was a couple of microphones. The microphones were the line that was used to represent the border. If you were on the further side of the microphones you were in North Korea. So everyone had the chance to step over and get your picture taken NEAR one of the guards before we quickly and quietly made our way back into South Korea and back onto the bus to go see another observation point. More pictures, and back on the bus to go see the Bridge of No Return and then we headed back to the camp where we were originally debriefed.
Selfie taken in North Korea
On the North Korean side.
That was the end of the tour so everyone had time to go to the gift shop and then we all loaded back into the bus for the long drive home in rush hour traffic.
Side note: You could not PAY me to drive in Seoul. It appears to be worse than LA and the drivers give ZERO fucks.
So the tour was very interesting and quite educational for me as I knew very little about any of the history of this place. The whole North Korea excursion was very surreal and really made you think.
We got home and Rob was off almost immediately to go to a jam session with some of his work connections. I helped out with the twins while Jim made pasta and meat sauce, which I ate and promptly headed up to bed. My plan was to watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix on my Ipad, but Korea had other ideas. Apparently, you do not get the same type of feed that you do in the US and there was no GG on the menu. So I went to bed instead. Rob came up sometime around one thirty or so and came to bed.
***
The next day was Sunday and that was the day we were going to head into Gangnam and get a hotel room. Jim had booked us at the Nox Boutique Hotel for two nights because it was near our plans for those two days. A baseball game and Lotte World.
Since the hotel was in Jim’s name and he was coming with us to the game, all three of us headed out on the subway around noon. We got to the hotel relatively painlessly, but it was too early to check in. So we made sure that we could check in without Jim after the game and checked out luggage before heading back out to the subway to get to the Sports Complex. Once we were there, we wandered around until we found the ticket booth and marveled at all the people.
Tickets in hand, we bought some hats because it was overcast but hot…typical sunburn weather, and then headed up to our seats.
The game itself was pretty boring until the sixth inning or so, but it was really cool to be at a place where the culture was the same. Good old baseball. Beer in hand, cheering for the team of your choice and having a grand old time. We ended up leaving around the eighth inning because Jim had to take off and given the amount of people at the stadium, the thought of the subway system when it let out was too scary to bear.
We bid Jim ado on the the subway train and headed up to our hotel. We checked in with no problem and got to our room on the eleventh floor. There were a total of five room on each floor. The hotel is tall but it is very skinny as most buildings are here. The room itself was pretty cool. There was a computer, fridge, big screen TV and the best part was the bathroom. It has a Jacuzzi tub along with a stand up shower that has a rainfall shower head and a steamer in it, and the toilet not only has a heated seat, but it also functions as a bidet.
We unpacked a bit and then headed back out to get dinner. We wound up getting some Korean chicken that was quite tasty. Back up in the room, we each took baths and then watched Korean TV until we went to bed.
Korea Trip Report Part Two
On Tuesday we woke up and I played with the babies for awhile.
Then it was time to shower and get dressed before heading out to get our permanent base passes for the trip. That was relatively painless and then we filled up water bottles for the house and then drop off our temporary passes back at the base.
After that we hung around the house for a bit before taking the twins out for a trip to the Namdaemun Market. This would be the first time Jim and Liz would go out while wearing both boys in wraps on their persons instead of in a stroller.
We walked to the Subway station and were delighted to find a Dunkin Donuts in the subway station! We debated on getting a coffee but after being told the market had very little in the way of bathrooms, we decided it would be safer to get one on the way back to the house instead. After lots of escalators and a transfer we made it to a massive outside market. It was like a giant flea market with some small shops mixed in the middle.
We walked around for a while and it was proved to me that Korean people go absolutely batshit over babies. Especially white babies…especially, especially white twin babies. They just walk up to you and start touching the child and telling you what you are doing wrong. It was quite unnerving and semi-cute at the same time.
After finding a place to change our money into Won, we got some dumplings from a street vendor and stopped at a couple of benches for a quick bite. The dumplings were pretty delicious, and after the lovely lunch, we walked around a bit more. I made my first Korean purchase, getting a couple of grocery bags that fold up into a small square. Liz recommended them and I have to say they have already come in handy in our trip.
After more walking around we eventually headed back to the house stopping at the Dunkin Donuts in the subway from some much needed caffeine.
Even with that, soon after arriving home, exhaustion over took me. Liz requested Thai food and that sounded good to me, so the boys headed out and Liz and I sat with the babies, dozing off here and there until they got back.
I quickly dug into my yellow curry and then headed up to bed.
***
Wednesday morning Rob got up and he and his brother headed into a nearby town to check out a music store. Rob had been invited to perform in a jam session with some of his work connections so the plan was to buy a guitar while here and then let Jim have it after we leave.
I lolled around in bed for a bit, playing around on my phone before descending downstairs to play with the babies. That was pretty much all I did all morning other than showering and a load of laundry.
When the boys got back we decided we would all head out to Itaewon, a nearby town to see the different shops. I was beginning to realize that shopping was a big part of Korean culture. Liz had to get some stuff done so she would head out a little later and meet us. We walked around for quite a while seeing all the different Americanized shops and eateries, as well as more traditional ones.
On our way back we ran into Liz and she and I sent the boys back home with the babies while we walked around a bit more.
When we got back home, the boys had already decided dinner was going to be burgers on the grill. Jim got called into work so Rob manned the BBQ and I have to say the burgers turned out delish! I ate a burger and then Rob and I cuddled up on the couch and watched a hilarious short film on Netflix called Kung Fury before heading up to bed and passing out. Jet leg is real!
***
Thursday morning’s adventure was the Noryangjin fish market. We took several different subway trains before getting to this large market where they sold…you guessed it, fish! It wasn’t as stinky as I imagined it, but it wasn’t something would go out of my way to do again. I’m glad I did it because it is a part of the culture here and we got to see quite a few neat things.
We ended up getting salmon, marinated cod and scallops the size of a fist for dirt cheap and then headed back home. On the way we stopped at a waffle stand and got some snacks. I got a sweet potato waffle and Jim got a hot dog waffle. Both were quite good and it launched Jim’s dream of opening his own waffle stand for drunk frat boys at one AM in a college town. 😉
Once we got back home, the boys headed out with the twins to the Korean War Memorial while Liz and I caught a nap. By the time I woke up, Rob was home and already BBQing up the fish. Not being much a fish person, I opted for a leftover burger from the night before.
Before we knew it, it was time for Midnight Shopping. We headed out with Liz and some neighbors of theirs into town to walk around the streets where all of these little tiny tents had popped up selling all kinds of different things. We didn’t end up buying much other than a few pairs of socks, but it was a really good experience just to walk around and see all the different kinds of things and people.
We accidentally bumped into one of the places Rob wanted to eat at that night, so we were able to cross it off our list early. Isaac Toast. I guess it is pretty big in Seoul and Rob was very excited to try one of their sandwiches. It was pretty tasty.
We got home around midnight and hit the sack because even with the nap, jetleg was still a thing.
***
Friday we deemed to just be a sort of kick around the house day. We chilled out in the morning, not doing much of anything. Organizing pictures, playing with babies, that sort of thing.
Rob and I thought about taking a trip into Itaewan for souvenirs, but instead we opted to take the boys out with Jim to the Electronic Market, to visit his favorite DVD guy. Boy am I glad we did! For 70 bucks American we bought over 30 DVD’s. It was awesome.
Back home we were too tired to do much else so we ordered Korean Fried Chicken to be delivered and headed to bed early because Saturday was a big day. The DMZ tour!
About Me
I am a 50 something married woman living in California.
I enjoy music and traveling, watching crap movies, snuggling with my two adorable dogs and trying to be a good person.
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