Back a few weeks ago after my trip to Las Vegas, I ended up at LEGOLand in California. Anyone that knows me knows I’ve had a life long love for LEGO bricks. And of course, at almost 50 years of age, I still love LEGOs. So what better place to visit than a theme park made from LEGOs.

My ticket to FREEdom

The cost to get into LEGOLand is $70 a person. But as a member of the VIP Club at LEGO.com, I got a pass for two free tickets to get in [good only during the last week of October], which means my wife didn’t have to sit in the car the whole time while I geeked out on LEGOs.

VIP has it privileges

Once I presented the printed VIP pass along with my VIP card at the ticket booth and was given two passes to get into the theme park.

Sea-Life Aquarium

Backing up half a day, we decided to go to the Brick Or Treat event held the night before, which we did purchase tickets for. The park was open for 4 hours at night, and is mostly an event for families and their kids to dress up for Halloween and get candy and ride the rides and see the LEGOLand at night.

Surfs Up!

Attached to LEGOLand is a place called Sea Life, which is an aquarium. It’s live sea creatures mixed with LEGO creations. It’s not that big, but there’s still lots to see. And since it was included in the Brick Or Treat event, we had to experience it.

They even put LEGO figures underwater. Pretty cool.

I got to meet the LEGO version of Spongebob Squarepants

Brick Or Treat.. it’s the LEGO version of Trick Or Treat

As I mentioned above, this Saturday night event during October is mostly for the little ones that want candy and to see all sorts of LEGO creations. The whole park is lit up and decorated Halloween Style.

Boo!

LEGO pumpkin

The next day was a full day at LEGOLand. The park was open till 5pm, so we didn’t want to waste any time seeing everything. And of course my wife and I had to have our picture taken in the LEGO pumpkin.

Touch the skull… if you are up to it!

No matter where you go in the park, there’s all sorts of LEGO characters. For example, one of the shops had this life size Indiana Jones.

I am not your son!

And what LEGO creation wouldn’t be complete without LEGO Star Wars. Life size characters….

a scene right out of the movie.

… and miniature sized… it’s all wonderful Star Wars creations.

Ewoks, Troopers and Jedis… OH MY!!

The details in these creations is so awesome. Made me want to reach right down and … nope, had to restrain myself.

Don’t upset the Wookie

We had our photo taken with life size Chewbacca and R2-D2. I’ve never been this close to a Wookie.

Four Score and 200,000 bricks ago…

One of the rides in the park is a boat ride, similar to Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, but instead of fake animals, this was LEGO creations. Mt. Rushmore in all it’s glory.

NYC gone LEGO

Even the major buildings found in NYC have been painstakingly recreated in their smaller versions, including the new Freedom Tower under construction.

Las Vegas

Part of the Miniature Land is a hotel by hotel LEGO version of Vegas.

Golden Gate Bridge

Other cities of the US were present, including San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge looks so real.

LEGOLand

If you ever find yourself in Carlsbad, CA or Orlando, FL and are a fan of LEGOs, you should go. Doesn’t matter if you have kids or not. Just go and enjoy the many wonderful creations made from our favorite brick.

Photo Link

To see all of the photos I took [yes, there are even more, check out my Flickr album.

Last week, my wife and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate her niece’s 21st birthday. Vegas is a town I’ve spent a lot of time in over the years, mostly to attend trade shows like Comdex and CES. But I’ve also done my share of partying there, too.

Papa Smurf

Walking the strip, there was a ton of people, including those dressed up in various costumes. We saw Batman, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, Michael Jackson and this awesome Papa Smurf.

Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip

Of course, a visit to the Hard Rock is always in order. I don’t hold a candle to Dave2 from Blogography for number of visits, but I still consider each location an important stop in my travels.

Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino

One of the newer hotel/casinos on the Strip is the Cosmopolitan. I was very impressed with this place. So elegant inside. Definitely a place I would like to stay at for a few days.

I hit the jackpot

Of course it helped that I won a jackpot on one of their slot machines. It’s wasn’t huge, but for $103 on a 75 cents bet, I was happy that I won for a change. [not to mention major buzzed from lots of drinks]

Blue Martini

After walking the strip, we met up with others for dinner at a local mexican eatery. Then all of us headed to the Blue Martini to REALLY celebrate Tonia turning 21.

The official Blue Martini

The signature martini was blue and glowing. It was a bit sweet, even for this liquor maven. I switched to dirty martinis after just one of these.

Jaide, Tonia’s sister, smiling with drink in hand

This bar was large and actually very spread out. It is located in the Town Square shopping area just off the west end of the Strip. The cover band that played was a bit loud, but we made up for it with our own good time of drinking and chatting together.

My wife and I at Blue Martini

After a few half priced happy hour drinks, we were buzzed and happy.

Tonia doing birthday shot with waitress

Tonia did a birthday shot with the waitress and manager [they actually bought her shot AND did a shot with her... unheard of in Utah] – the shot was a Washington Apple, which is Crown Royal and cranberry juice – Yummy!

Excalibur Hotel and Casino

After drinking, we got a ride back to the Excalibur. This was Tonia’s first time gambling, which was so much fun watching someone play the slots for the first time. My wife, who is an expert at the slot machines, taught her niece how to play.

Tonia putting money into the machine

Being slot instructed by Reba

Pressing the button, placing her bet

“Did I win or lose?”

After a fun night in Vegas, we got up the next morning to head into California to visit LEGOLand. Stay tuned for the next post, which covers my first visit to this LEGO-themed theme park.

A few weeks ago, I posted the first of two blogs that chronicled my trip to the Pacific North West with my daughter. While it was a condensed trip, we saw a lot, so I had to break it up into two blog posts [making it look like I blog more often].

This set of photos are from our trip headed south, leaving Seattle and heading towards Oregon.

Astoria, OR – Hwy 101 bridge crossing the Columbia River

We left Seattle on Saturday morning. I wished we could have another day, but we were headed towards Vancouver, WA, which is where we would be staying that night. We decided to go scenic for the drive down, taking Hwy 30 over to the Oregon coast. This view of the Columbia River from Astoria, OR and the Hwy 101 bridge that crossed it was so nice to see. Wished we had more time to take that bridge over to the other side. Another time.

Tilamook Rock, off Hwy 101 just south of Cannon Beach, OR

Our goal was to stop at various sites along the way. Google Maps said this would be a 6 hr trip from our hotel in Renton to Vancouver, WA. By the time we reached Cannon Beach, we had been on the road for 3 hours and still had a bit to go before reaching Rockaway Beach.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach in the distance

We wanted to stop in Cannon Beach, but quickly learned that Saturday is packed with tons and tons of people wanting to see this beach town. We grabbed a bite to eat and hit the road again.

Tiffany at Rockaway Beach, OR

We finally made it to Rockaway Beach just before 5pm. We spent a little bit of time enjoying the sand and the warmth.

Marty at Rockaway Beach, OR

We could have hung out here for another hour, but we needed to get back on the road, which had various bouts of road construction along the way. This is definitely an area that we need to revisit. Trees, forests, beaches, the ocean, winding roads… all very cool for both of us to experience for the first time.

Tilamook Cheese Factory

We ended up arriving in Tilamook much later than we wanted. We went in to get an ice cream, but the line was so long and the wait would have easily been another hour added to our already longer-than-expected journey on this road. Another place to make a return visit to someday.

Mt. Hood from I-84, heading east

After a nice relaxing morning of breakfast and visiting with The Jo’s in Vancouver, WA [and a good night's sleep, I might add], we headed out on the road. On our way, the majestic view of Mt. Hood was very much evident.

Multnomah Falls, OR

Since this was Tiffany’s first time in Oregon, a stop at Multnomah Falls was in order. The exit from the freeway was a good 20 minute wait as the parking lot was full for a Sunday afternoon. But it was worth the wait. Such an awesome place to visit.

Smiley Happy People

This place was very crowded, so the photo ops we were able to get without people in the background were challenging. But we managed to squeeze in a few, like this one of us being all happy and smiley.

Tiffany at Multnomah Falls, OR

Always cool to see someone experience a place for the first time. And as with many other places we visited in the last two days, we took our pictures and enjoyed the few moments before getting back on the road to head home.

Tree Farm, along I-84 in Oregon

The end of our trip didn’t end until late Monday afternoon, thanks to a later start and some car problems. We stayed the night in Boise on Sunday night to get a nice rest. All in all, it was a very cool trip and one that we’ll have years of memories of.

Every year, my daughter and I take a vacation together. We’ve had this tradition for several years now. And we’ve been to places like San Francisco, Denver and the Grand Canyon. This year, we decided to visit the Pacific North West. We broke the first day of our trip up by staying overnight in Boise, then completing the drive up to Seattle the next day.

view of Yakima valley

We almost always drive, so we can see the sights along the way. And since my daughter had never been to Washington state and Oregon, this was a great opportunity for her to see those states. On day two, we made the trek to Yakima, where we stopped to see how big the valley is there.

Once we reached our hotel, we planned to meet with Grant Ruby and Brandon, who I had never met before, at a brewery in downtown Renton. I had just seen Grant at the Foster The People show in May, but Brandon was much taller than I expected. Great guy and hope to have future meet ups.

Pike Place Public Market

We had an entire day in Seattle and wanted to make the most of it. So with the help of my friend and fellow writer Catherine, we got many tips, directions and hints about how to navigate our way through the downtown Seattle area.

Catherine and Marty

This was my first time meeting Catherine and it was as great as I expected it to be. She showed us the area surrounding the Pike Place Market and lead us down to the waterfront, where my daughter and I took a harbor cruise. Turned out this was Tiffany’s first time on a boat, which was awesome.

view from the boat

view of Space Needle from boat

West Seattle

Tiffany with Washington Mutual building in the background

After our harbor tour, we then explored the city, walking around and making our way to the Space Needle.

Space Needle from the ground view

This was Tiffany’s first visit here to the Space Needle, and my second [I was here in 1989 with Tiffany's mom]. The sky was clear and visibility was excellent. Earlier, it was a bit cloudy, but as most coastal cities are, it burns off before noon.

Space Needle view of the city

We spent a good amount of time at the top of the Space Needle. The City Pass we got included a day and a night visit, which made it nice to know we could see the view from both day and night.

Tiffany and Marty at the top of the Space Needle

Experience Music Project Museum

We visit the Experience Music Project, which we wished we had more time to spend in. We were there almost two hours and felt like we barely touched on what they had there. The Nirvana exhibit was very detailed with a wonderful history of the band.

THe Underground tour

After dinner at Fado, a great Irish eatery, we headed to the Underground Tour, which was pretty cool to see all the of history of early Seattle.

Space Needle ground view at night

Then we went back to see the Space Needle at night. Again, the skies were clear and we had wonderful views of the city all lit up.

City Lit Up at night.

I was really blown away how great the city looked all lit up.

And that’s the first part of our PNW visit. I will post the second part very soon, which includes our drive down the 101 on the Oregon coast.

A quick weekend trip to the Pacific North West to visit family. Will be back next week with lots to blog about.

So it’s been a good month since I was in Myrtle Beach. About time I posted about my trip. Here’s a series of photos, with stories to go along with them, that document my ten days on vacation in this beach town of South Carolina.

My view each morning for 10 days

Once we got checked into our room at the Westgate, the first place I went was out to see the beach. And this is what I did each day I was there. And seeing this awesome view often made my vacation that much better.

This is the view from that beach area at the Westgate resort. Is it a converted Holiday Inn, which was obvious from the front, but from the back, it looks like other resorts. Our room was in the middle tower, somewhere on the 6th floor. I could never find it from the beach, unless my wife was standing on the balcony. The tower to the far right is the newer one, which we were not in (maybe next time we will stay there).

tanning the backside

If you are going to go on vacation to a beach area, your main goal is to get tan. And tan I got… well, not right away, but after a few days of bringing my un-tanned body from a winter state, the tan took. The magazine I’m reading is Vanity Fair.

Red like a lobster

See, I had to get red and a bit sunburned before I got tan. Splotchy in color, this eventually become a nice brown tan all over. I even used SFP 50 on my face and SPF 30 on my body and still got red. This is from spending a good 6 hours a day out in the sun.

Kiddie pools are not for adults with no kids

The pools were a nice break from the sand and ocean water. I never went into the kid area for fear they would have thought a lobster made it’s way up from the ocean. So I mostly stayed near the pool bar and the larger pool pictured at the top right of the photo.

east coast storm a brewin’

There was one afternoon and evening where the sun faded and dark storm clouds replaced it all into a gloomy and dimmed sky. The storm continued for a night before having the sunny skies return. I was ok with the storm because it was cool to see and experience and it only lasted one afternoon and evening.

Take a walk on the Boardwalk… if you pass GO, collect $200

Myrtle Beach has a recently rebuilt boardwalk with shops, places to eat and easy access to the beach. We had some awesome scallop tacos at Dirty Don’s, saw a very diverse crowd of people and found many places to just relax and enjoy the ocean and the atmosphere.

Pier pressure

Two piers are lined up along the Myrtle Beach coast, which are pretty much just old wooden structures that people fish from. These piers also had restaurants and gift shops and charged a $1 to go out to see people fishing. Or at least a different view of the ocean.

a barge of people enjoying the river

Based on a suggestion from one of the many gift shops in town [there are 3 for every tourist], we drove the 2 hours south to Charleston, SC one afternoon. The above photo was the river from flows from the Atlantic Ocean into town. This place is filled with history and class.

Awesome bridge

Driving into the city across this giant bridge was pretty cool. We want to go back here again someday to experience more of the city’s rich history and culture.

Don’t look a gift shop in the mouth

Speaking of gift shops, these places were all over. Mostly with names like Eagles or Whales or Bargains and sometimes three of the same name within 1/2 a block apart. Some like the one above, have inviting entrances. All in the name of a t-shirt or seashell with “Myrtle Beach” on it.

Here I sit all connected…

One of the only times I complained was trying to get online (as I normally do when traveling). Not only was the cell signal coverage bad inside the resort, so was the wifi the Westgate had. First off, I had to pay $25 to have it for the week. Secondly, the signal didn’t work anywhere inside the room… except in the bathroom, where full bars made me happy again. I also had full bars out on the beach front, which I obviously didn’t complain about. Complaining to the front desk also didn’t net me a refund nor an apology. Must remember this for next time I visit this Westgate location, where I will ask for a room in the newer tower. [where I did test the wifi and it worked flawlessly]

Reba and Marty

One of the many photos my wife took of us. We are happy. How can you not be when staying next to the beach and ocean.

not actual size, but it was still pretty big.

Almost every night, we walked the beach. On our last night, many jelly fish had washed up on the shore. This was a close up of one of them. We made sure to avoid touching or stepping on these newly-beached sea creatures.

the final sunset

And on our last night, we enjoyed – as we had many nights before – a wonderful sunset. We’ll be back there again someday. It was a wonderful vacation.

• Bags packed. Check.
• Business cards. Check.
• Party invites printed. Check.
• Gadgets, phones and laptops charged. Check.
• Hotel reservation paperwork. Check.
• Alcohol tolerance built-up. Check.
• Comfortable shoes. Check.
• Trade show pass. Check.

See you soon, Las Vegas. It’s been 10 years since I’ve done a trade show there and I’ve missed it.

Like Going Home

Most of you may already know that I grew up in Orange County, in a town called Garden Grove, CA. So anytime I go back to visit – especially a Disney trip – it’s like going home for me. The hotel we stayed at – the Hilton Garden Inn on Harbor Blvd – was literally a 10 minute walk to my mom’s last place she lived in on Chapman Ave. [which is just a two minute walk to the Hi-Crest Liquor store].

As we drove into the hotel parking lot, I had some memories come back as I saw the Toys R Us that I used to go to a lot as a kid – but instead of the familiar view of the logo, I saw this:

What’s left of the Toys R Us sign

Just a shell of the Toys R Us I used to shop for toys

Sad, huh. Not sure what they are going to do with this building, but a part of my childhood is gone.

Disney

What?? No Roger Rabbit ride this trip? I guess I can deal with that

Ok, wipe away the tears of sadness and let’s move onto something awesome… Disneyland!

This was one of those family trips, with my wife, my daughter, my step daughter, her daughter and boyfriend and her boyfriend’s niece… oh, and myself. And now, without further delays, enjoy the photos from our time at Disney.

Look at that excitement!

That smile says Disney magic!

Two excited girls waiting to go ride the rides

Me and the girls in front of Mickey Pumpkin

Space Mountain taken over by ghosts (I wasn’t frightened)

Star Tours reopens in 2011 – I can’t wait!!

First Time Rider

First time rider smile

One moment to celebrate on this trip was my daughter’s first time riding Space Mountain. Yes, even at the age of 19, she had never been on this ride, either being too young/not tall enough [she made several trips as a child] or when she was tall enough to ride, it was down for refurbishment. And yes, she loved the ride.

Do you think we’re having fun? I think so.

Everyone.. raise your hands.. c’mon Reba and Marty…

Mickey is the leader of the band on Main Street

Damn Hooter for eating that map

elecTRONica comes to California Adventure

All Good Things Must Come To An End

And we ended it all with shopping at Downtown Disney, including a visit to the LEGO store [I had to make it here since missing the one in Sacramento]

I so wish I had one of these near my house

And on that note, in the classic Disney words spoken, “See you real soon…“

A place I call home

It’s been over 4 years since I’ve been there, which for me seems like a lifetime. I grew up a couple of miles from Disneyland for most of the 24 years I lived in California. Since my mom died in 2006, my frequent travels to Southern California came to an abrupt halt. So I’m excited to go “home” for four days and have fun with family.

Let the countdown begin….

Our Room

We had two nights free, thanks to signing up for mailings at the Peppermill in Wendover, NV. Our room was better than we expected. Here’s proof:

Welcome message on the giant LCD flat screen TV

Our bed and the rest of the suite

There’s even a TV in the bathroom

Our room’s view of the pool

Pretty damn suite… he he. Needless to say, we enjoyed a nice room.

Lunch With A Princess

Our anniversary was on Monday, June 21st [the first day of summer] and we enjoyed each and every minute of it. – including meeting up for lunch with Lisa of Floating Princess at the Peppermill. We talked, ate and took pictures – including a cameo appearance by Cooper Trooper.

Lisa adjusting Cooper on my shoulder

Marty and Lisa

I met Lisa for the first time at Avitaween, but didn’t spend much time chatting since I was the social penguin that was getting his drink on. So this was a nice chance to chat and eat lunch and finally get to know how cool a person Lisa is.

After time out at the pool, a visit to the day spa, a nice dinner and some gambling, we ended our first full day in Reno. All in all, a great day filled with lots of fun, a visit with a blogger friend and great food.

• Not all “Free Wifi” is necessarily a good thing, regardless of the idea of being “Free”
• There are roads that say it’s 132 miles to your destination, but going 65 miles an hour and getting there in 2 hours may not be possible.
• Lunch may consist of a snack-size piece of cheese and a Vitamin Water.
• Deciding to take tons of photos on a digital camera is a good thing, even if I know that a good half of the photos may be out of focus, contain the wrong subject I was after or can’t remember where it was I took the photo.
• In line with the last thought, I’ve learned that it’s very useful to take a photo of the sign related to the photos that are taken soon after.
• Face wash, face scrub or just water splashed on your face makes you feel a hundred times more refreshed afterwards.
• Sometimes bad coffee is not bad.
• Scratch the above. It’s good to have a lot of Starbucks available.
• Nothing beats a nice bed to get a good night’s rest, even when it’s only $60/night.
• Most hotels that are $60/night don’t have nice beds.
• The 12 hours it takes to reach your destination is all worth it when you have 15 minutes to take in the beauty of nature.

Ok, I lied. There was one photo on this post. Lots more later.

Those of you that read my last post, you know I went to Vegas for a few days. Here’s what I did:

- photo set of the bands at the show on Flickr

Park City

Inside Harry O’s waiting for Joan Jett to take the stage

Not even being home an hour, a friend of mine had tickets to go see Joan Jett at Harry O’s in Park City. For those that do not know it, this time each year, Park City is host to thousands of people for the Sundance Film Festival. It gets very crowded in the ice and snow.

After a drive up Parley’s canyon that was slick and snowy, we made it safety to the venue and enjoyed a great show. This was not my first time seeing Joan Jett live [saw her back in 2006 on the Van's Warped Tour], but this performance was much more intimate.

Getting my drink on

Joan Jett takes center stage

Joan Jett was there to promote “The Runaways”, a coming-of-age film starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart. During the middle of the show, they came out on stage for applause.

From left to right: Cherie Currie, the back of some dude’s head, Joan Jett, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart

Once the show got over, we got back in the car and headed back down the same snowy and slick Parley’s to go home.

And that was my weekend. How was yours?