SOUTH DAKOTA!

Ba-ba-bad-bad!!!!! Ba-ba-bad-bad!!!!! Lands!!!!  (Mom, that’s not a song.)

I was soooo looking forward to visiting South Dakota. I had such fond memories of when I did summer stock at the Black Hills Playhouse a gazillion years ago.  I recall such an exciting summer of theatre, buffalo, new friends and beautiful country!!  I couldn’t wait to share it with Curly J.  Now, we had just come from Wyoming and the gorgeousness of the Great Tetons and Yellowstone.  Even the long (VERY LONG) drive across Oregon did not damper our visions from Wyoming.  So, we finally get to S.D. and our first stop was Jewel Cave. I love caves and was very excited about exploring this one.  We get to the ticket office and they tell us the elevator to the caves is broken and all tours are cancelled for the day.  Bummer!!!!!  (The first actually noted ‘bummer’ in the trip!)

So off we go to see Crazy Horse.  They charge us $11 each to enter and bombard us with everything touristy and cheeky.  I did appreciate the Native American museum/artifacts area, but everything else was just crappy tourist stuff. (It sucked.) I know I know, I sound so negative, which is unlike me, but I have officially turned into a National Park Snob!!!!  I am completely jaded after the Grand Canyon and Great Tetons, that I did not appreciate being bombarded with trinkets that are not even made here.  So we finally make it to where we can view Crazy Horse, which you can hardly make out anything…part of the full face is done.  I was not impressed.  (We are in no way belittling its cause and what it stands for – it just was not at all impressive.)

And then you can’t even hike close to it because of the blasting area, so to get close you have to pay extra to take the bus which will drive there.  Now maybe if there was some blasting or something going on I would have enjoyed it, but it was a waste of time.  Save your money.  (Seriously just google it, or stare at these pictures we’ve posted.) Julia and I did share a moment when we were making a pit stop in the restroom before we left and the bathroom was just being cleaned.  The two gentlemen cleaning it must have been around 40 and late 50’s.  Both veterans.  They were sweet and smiling and we shared a laugh about something silly.  Seems I have seen lots of vets working at the national parks and memorials.  My heart just swells a little and I wish I could take everyone’s hurt away.  Maybe they have no hurt.  Maybe I’m just feeling so grateful that they would risk their lives for me. So thank you…to all the brave men and women.  I hope our country works harder at taking care of all the vets who do come back wounded…they deserve that.  Okay, I digress…

Next stop was Mount Rushmore.  Definitely more impressive and you get to take a nice hike up lots of stairs to get close. We both enjoyed that and the museum that explained how they actually did the carvings.  Impressive.  Worth the visit.

By this time we are ready to eat.  So we find a hotel in Keystone, SD.  Very touristy little town, but lots of fun shops to look around in.  After reorganizing the car (we definitely packed too much stuff – my prediction of claustrophobia on the trip has fully revealed itself) and a quick work out, we went to search for food.  It was 9:00 p.m. so not a lot open, but we found the Red Ruby Restaurant.  A cute little country, western bar decorated with guns, animal heads and of course the waitresses had little outfits with fringe and a red garter.  The best part was the two man band playing and singing some good ole country music…some Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and original tunes.  True country redneck boys just singing their hearts out and we loved every minute of it.  (Mom did, I just support the arts.) And looking around there were all these cute older couples just tapping their feet, fingers and nodding their heads to the country tunes.  All smiling!  So cute.  Good food, good drink, good music!!  What’s not to love!!!!  (Maybe the creepy animal heads on the wall…)

The next morning we headed out to the Badlands.  They were kind of like The Petrified Forest…we were just going to drive through not expecting much and POW!!!!  We are accosted with amazing beauty!!!!  More crazy curvy roads and the gorgeous rock formations and prairies!!!  We see a field with tons of little dirt mounts and these cute little critters (they’re called prairie dogs Mom) scurrying all over the place!!!  We drive through taking lots of pics and wowing at the mountain goats just hanging out on these narrow ridges of the rock formations!!!  Finally we get to an area where we can hike.  The trail started on the rocky dry desert rocks and mountains…then winds its way through and we are in the prairie.  No one else was near us so when we stopped walking you could hear a symphony of birds chirping, frogs croaking, some kind of rattly thing (Definitely SNAKES), the wind blowing….  It was peaceful, warm (finally) and quite nice (except for the rattlesnake sounds).  We hiked for a little over an hour and finally felt that South Dakota had redeemed itself!!!  The Badlands are soooo worth the visit, but the state as a whole is not on my top 10 list.

Lots of driving to do on this leg of the journey.  We are power listening through my 12 CD set of Mike Dooley’s Infinite Possibilities which has given us so much deep stuff to talk about. (I have no choice in the matter. We have shared the front space of a car for like three weeks, there’s nowhere to run.) I’m planning on teaching some workshops when I get home….about choosing the positive things in life…love, joy, fun, adventure.  I hope some of you might want to join me. (All of you would be fools to pass on my mother’s inspiration.)

I can’t believe our Curly Adventure is coming to an end.  I miss Luke and my loved ones and clients and classes and all….but the month has really flown by.  Savoring all the last moments that we have.  Off to Wisconsin to stay a couple nights with friends.  Can’t wait!!!

I appreciate all of you following us out there…sooooo much!!  And your comments and notes mean so much to us! (Seriously, it brings me to tears the comments and notes that have been given to us. We’re happy to have brightened some mornings!)

Love,

Curly Mom

WINE COUNTRY WHEE!

Oh how I love wine tasting!!!  And champagne tasting?!!!  Be still my heart!!!   So Janie, Julia and I took off for a day of tasting splendor.  First of all thanks for all your suggestions out there!!!!  I wish I had a week of wine tasting to get to them all.  I have kept note of them and plan a return trip to try them all.  Would you like to join me? (Just make sure Mom doesn’t drive.)

Janie had coffee waiting for us this morning and she’s not even a coffee drinker!!  You took such good care of us!!!  We had a nice breakfast to prepare our bellies for the yummy grapes. (Clearly not enough for Mom’s sake.) The drive was quite beautiful to the Napa Valley.  Our first stop was Domaine Chandon!  Yes I am saying that with a French accent.  Oooh la la!!!  (Mom was speaking with the French accent BEFORE she even had a sip of wine. Slurred a bit too. )

Domaine Chandon is a very classy and beautiful vineyard.  We went upstairs to the tasting room and there was a lovely outside area to sip and look at the gardens.  We each chose a different tasting flight so we could taste them all.  They were quite generous with their servings.  We chose to sit outside with our glasses of liquid heaven.  So civilized, so relaxing… I was tipsy after the first tasting…yep, I’m a lightweight!  We had 2 more tastings to go…both full glasses…and before lunch!!!  (To my mother’s defense, the first three glasses we consumed that day were FULL.)

I’m sure I couldn’t have smiled anymore.  I only banged the back of my head a few times.  Yeah, you see, I am not a very graceful laugher…if I find something funny my mouth opens automatically in a contorted-mouth-wide-open kind of way, and my head flings backwards often banging into chairs, walls or other humans that might be too close. (I wish I had a picture)  It is not something I can control…it happens with or without alcohol…it is not very pretty. (It’s like Shamoo-the-whale-wide-open-waiting-for-some-fish laughter.) Still love me?

So…back to wine.  After the lovely tasting at Domaine Chandon, of course I bought a few bottles, and we headed for lunch.  We each had just drank 3 glasses of champagne/wine each!!!!  They gave very generous servings!  (Mom likes to repeat herself when she drinks. Or just in general.) Lunch was magnificent!!  Janie chose the Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch…scrumptious farm to table food…fresh, yummy, and helped soak up some of the alcohol…especially the cheddar biscuits with honey butter and the decadent beignets for dessert.  The restaurant was so beautifully rustically decorated…a gorgeous place for a wedding…yep…all that wine had us talking about weddings (Seriously we talked about weddings for 4 hours straight.)

We 3 leisurely gals had time for one more winery….Janie chose one of her favorites…Rombauer Vineyard…a small boutique winery with an amazing view and a gorgeous flower and sculpture garden. Too small for a wedding, but maybe a little bitty gathering. A completely different experience and such personal attention by Christian. I LOVED it!!!

Janie refrained from tasting since she was driving (not at all like the college dancing drinking stories Mom and Janie mentioned to me) so Julia and I chose 2 different flights so we could share.  The portions were much smaller, but we also tasted about 6 wines each and Christian was so informative and sweet – he even let us taste the dessert wine called JOY which was not on our menu.  I loved it cause of the name, which you will hear about my workshop series very soon, and it was scrumptious!!!  Of course I had to buy a bottle… among a few others. (No more room in our back seat.) And we got to take cool pictures with the cow sculpture!!!  Mooo!!! (Mom was trying to do cow impersonations after the wine tastings. I can’t take her anywhere.)

Such an awesome day!!!  Drinking, eating and lots of laughing.  We headed back to Janie’s to get in our comfy clothes, snuggle with Louie, and watched The Bachelorette.  I’m so happy Janie shares in my guilty pleasure. (Watching the Bachelorette should not be publicly displayed on wordpress, Mom.) Do not judge us…do not!!!  Thank you Janie for another amazing day!!!  You are loved by the Curly Girls!!!

Hugs to all,

Curly Mom

SAN FRANCISCO!

First off, our experience in San Francisco wouldn’t have been what it was without the amazing Janie. Janie the sweetheart. Let me tell you. This fantastic woman is like all the beautiful things in life wrapped up into a bubbly laughing, generous, caring human being. I have had the pleasure to meet her by being my mother’s daughter – and I sure am lucky! My mother and Janie knew each other from the good ol’ college days and they’ve reunited since this short visit! Love it! (It was like we had seen each other yesterday!!!  So happy we are reconnected and planning a visit in the fall…yeah!!!)

Anyway, Janie helped us tour San Francisco and it was perfect. Thank goodness she drove and gave us a break because 1) If we drove any further without a break our eyes would fall out of our heads 2) San Franciscan highways, streets, and drivers are CRAZY. NYC and Boston have nothing on San Francisco. (Absolutely nothing!!!  They were literally flying down all those crazy hills!!) It’s like driving a roller coaster. Up, down, curve around – we got honked at so much because 1) possession of a New Jersey license plate, 2) we were going 40mph on the freeway because if we went any faster, it felt like we were going to fly off into the Pacific Ocean.

Once arriving safely to San Francisco, Janie showed us Pier 39 where we got to see silly sea lions wallow in front of all the boats. They just crawl all over each other and make funny noises. Slippery suckers. Mom was like a little kid at a petting zoo and became such a sea-lion fan-girl. (They were so much fun to watch!!!  Especially when the made a roaring/honking sound!!!)

After the sea lions we went on a good ol’ Pier 39 Boat Tour (big thanks to Janie’s friend for the tickets!!!) and went under the Golden Gate Bridge and saw Alcatrez pretty close! It was windy and cloudy as anything though! (my friend Cathy has been trying to talk me into doing the Swim to Alcatraz…first of all I can’t imagine doing the side stroke that far and second, is it ever warm enough to actually get in the water?!!)

San Fran also has the famous hot fudge sundae by Ghirardelli !! So instead of a healthy well-rounded lunch, we decided to just eat ice-cream for lunch. We had cookie dough, fudge, ice cream, coffee – SO GOOD! (Sooooooo very good!!!  Except for the mustached waiter who kept singing to me!!!)

Later that day we finally were lucky enough to grab a cable car ride after seeing the most crooked street and toured through old Victorian homes! Being in a cable car was pretty fun. The steepness of the hills and roads is kind of like that carnival ride that moves everyone on the bench to one-side and then the other, but much slower. You get a chance to see down the steep hills and the colorful houses crammed together throughout the mountains. We even struck up a conversation with a kind woman who was holding onto the side of the cable car! Try that in New York City. West Coast and East Coast are very similar, but overall San Franciscans are much friendlier.

 

To end off our fun-filled day we had a final dinner at Perry’s where I got to meet MY college friend, Kelly. (Such a sweetie!)The four of us, all old college buddies, reconnected eating yummy food with some beers (wine for Curly mom!) was amazing. I’m so happy I got to see her and experience my mother and Janie reconnect right before my eyes! Everyone has those friends where they don’t see them for 20 years and it’s as if nothing happened. It means it’s a good one.

Stay tuned for our Wine-Touring Adventure with Janie!

Keep it curly,
Curly J