Hello again. Apologies for the lack of activity around here. I'll try to be a bit better. Consider this take-three at blogging.

I don't think I'll bother going back and sharing about my recent activities. I've of course been to Disneyland many times since my last post. I had intended to share my experience at the Enchanted Tiki Room 50th Anniversary merchandise event, but I did not. Probably because I didn't want to rehash the horror of it all. Disney truly bungled the whole thing. The merchandise was great, and I ended up spending far more than I expected; since I never plan to attend one of these merchandise events again, I won't have to worry about taking another hit in the wallet.  But I have some nice Tiki Room artwork on my walls, now, so that's something.  Other than that, my various Disney trips were fun, but really nothing that must be documented for posterity.

I'm just checking in now because I'm going on a trip this weekend, and thought if I wrote a bit here about it now, it might shame me into writing about it again afterwards.  I have some business to take care of in Oxnard this Saturday morning, and so I wondered, what could I possibly do in Oxnard? I looked it up, and one of the first things to come up was Channel Islands National Park. The Channel Islands seems to be one of those things I read about every once in a while, think, "Man, I have to go there sometime," and then promptly forget about. But this time I vowed to go check it out. Unfortunately, since I have some errands Saturday morning, I can't leave for the islands until the noon boat, and return at five (I understand it's just about an hour boat ride), so I won't have a ton of time on the island. But I will get to check it out at last, and can reconnoiter the island for a longer future visit. It's been a long time since I've been camping, but the idea of spending the night on a secluded island under the stars does seem appealing.  But for this weekend, it's just a few hours of hiking, and then a drive down to Anaheim, ready to hit Disneyland first thing Sunday morning.

In addition to this weekend's trip, I'm going up to my sister's in October, and will be visiting San Francisco with them while I'm up. That trip I'm taking Amtrak up to San Jose, a mode of conveyance I intend to use more often. I'm planning a trip to Seattle for next fall, but in the meantime I do plan on taking more day-trip/weekend trips via the train. Head up to Los Angeles, and check out what I can find within walking distance, or the Metro. Or go up to San Luis Obispo for a weekend, and check out Hearst Castle (been a long time since I've been there). And I see Pink Martini will be performing in Santa Barbara in December, that would make a nice weekend. The price of Amtrak doesn't seem too unreasonable to me, not quite cheap enough that it is obviously cheaper than driving, but close enough that you probably come out ahead, if you figure in wear and tear on the car, the environmental savings, and the ability to sit back and relax instead of battling traffic (though the hassle of being carless at your destination probably counterbalances the last point). I very nearly took the train this weekend, it almost worked out, but the need for a car in Oxnard/Ventura on Saturday, and the cost/hassle of renting a car, led me to drive instead. But I expect to share some train trips on this blog in the near future.

Of course, it's easy to be gung-ho on Amtrak when I haven't been on an Amtrak train in about 12 years. We'll see how I feel when I've actually experienced it first hand. My last trip on Amtrak, also to San Jose, was reasonably pleasant going up. Coming home, however, the train was about two hours late, and the whole thing seemed more nightmarish because I was sick at the time. I just remember trying to eat the horrible food from the snack bar (microwaved chicken wings, I recall) and wondering when I would be home. Checking the Coast Starlight's on-time record recently, it does pretty well, being on time most days, and only substantially late about one day every two weeks. The problem is, when it's late, it's really, really late, like 4-5 hours. And even when it's on time, I get back in San Diego on the Pacific Surfliner at approximately 1 AM. So that's not all that convenient (being 5 hours late might actually be an advantage in this case - though that would mean missing the connection to the Surfliner and taking a bus to San Diego). But still the Coast Starlight on-time record is better than it used to be, and for trips that stick to the Surfliner, it seems to have a pretty good record, and there are some trains that would get me home at a reasonable hour. I'll keep you posted on how the actual Amtrak experience lives up to my expectations.

I do have one other car trip planned for this year, a Vegas trip for a buddy's bachelor party. Been about a year since I've been to Vegas, a place I used to visit about as often as I visit Disneyland these days. Staying at the Golden Nugget downtown. Wasn't that impressed with downtown last time I was there, but I'll give it another shot. Should be an interesting experience, reliving the quintessential experience of my 20s, with some buddies from high school, as another one marries off.

Anyway, it's time for bed, so I'll wrap this up. Glad to be back on the blog, I will really and truly try to be more regular in updating this site. As I think I've conveyed through this post, I have made a goal for myself to travel more, though I'm more of an "explore your own backyard" type of guy rather than a "see the world" fellow, so it will be more day trips and long weekends rather than epic adventures. But wherever I end up, I will try to share the experience here.