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Just a quick update today to tell you about a great gaming convention our family went to. When I say gaming, I mean all types of gaming. Board games, video games, LARPing, role playing, collectible card games, miniatures, lots of special events and plenty of shopping.

The Main Hall

The main hall is where most of the tournaments, and open gaming are. They have a massive games library where you can check out any of several games. It’s perfect to try out a new game to see if you like it, or to just introduce a friend to one of your favorites.

Here's what in the game library, so you have a few options there . .

The second floor is where the LARPing and role-playing games were. Also a pretty cool Rock Band stage was set up there. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Rock Band Stage

Shopping is set up so that gaming stores can have a booth, or there are ‘flea market’ tables available that anyone can get to sell their new or used stuff.

Game Ogre, Ha! I just got that

Events and tournaments take place during the day, but open gaming is open all the time. Literally the whole time. You want to play Settler of Catan at 2:00 am, go ahead!

This was the main hall at 11PM

Gamex is one of 3 gaming conventions under the Strategicon name in Los Angeles; Orccon on Presidents Day weekend, Gamex is Memorial Day weekend, and Gateway over Labor Day weekend. It’s definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of any type of gaming. Check it out for anything from simulated naval battles . . .

To a simple board game like Wits and Wagers.

The most geektastic park in Walt Disney World would have to be Epcot. Where, as Figment reiterates over and over again, ‘The key is your imagination’. As far as visual stimulation, Epcot can’t be beat. You have the World Showcase enabling you to ‘eat’ around the world (or ‘drink’ around the world, if you’re into that sort of thing) or purchase your very own Epcot passport and get it ‘stamped’ in each country.

All the lands in the World Showcase are staffed by ambassadors from that particular country and it would take an entire day itself just to soak up every country represented.

The attractions in the rest of the park are most impressive. You have Test Track, a GM sponsored ride where you ‘test drive’ a car through all the elements, and rough driving conditions. It’s the fastest and longest attraction in Disney history.

Also Epcot houses a very impressive aquarium in The Seas with Nemo and Friends, along with the newest attraction you can take your family on a ‘clamobile’ to see Nemo’s adventure where real fish swim right along with lifelike animations of Nemo and his friends.

After walking around you might be a little parched it’s the perfect time to hit the Coca Cola tasting station and try different flavors of Coke from around the world. Try them all, ya gotta take the god with the bad.

Another cool thing to see (if you haven’t hit overload already) is The Land, I suggest taking the Living With the Land journey and then enjoy all you can eat dining at The Garden Grill, where all the plants are grown in house (most examples you’ll have seen during the Living With the Land journey).Plus it’s character dining, so you’ll get a few special visitors right at your table!

All in all I think Epcot is an amazing park, definitely needing more then one day to fully appreciate.

Click on any of the pictures to se the gallery of Epcot picture. Let us know if you have any questions.

For Christmas ‘ 07James had told me we were going out of town. Excited I tried to press for the location of our getaway and tight lipped he remained. It wasn’t until the night we were supposed to leave that he gave me a plane ticket with the location JFK NYC printed on it. OH MY GOSH! Are you serious? I LOVE NEW YORK!! We had a flawless flight, we took the red eye which gave us time to sleep and hit the ground running as soon as we hit NYC. We got into town around 8am and though it was too early to check into our hotel the hotel was kind enough to allow us to keep our bags there so we could start out tourist jaunt. Our first stop, The World of Disney NY, a 3 story Disney Mecca.

The store was decorated in Christmas glory and had NY Specific Disney swag which made me very gleeful. We had walked around for the duration of the day and decided that Nintendo World, a must see, could wait until later that evening. It was in the Disney store that I had noticed that The Little Mermaid Musical was now on Broadway in NYC. I had heard about it’s opening in Colorado and never dreamed I would ever get to see it. I had asked James multiple times if we can talk to the hotel concierge and see if there were any tickets at all (in NYC it’s very difficult to get tickets to a Broadway show before Christmas) he obliged and to my dismay ALL tickets were sold out. We walked around the city some more, I had just watched the Will Farell movie Elf for the 10^th time (which takes place in NYC) and the holiday decorations in the movie vs. the holiday decorations in real life did not disappoint.

From the windows of the Macy’s store (a famous holiday tradition) to the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center the city was a total dream. Thankfully it wasn’t as cold as previous years (it remained a steady 55 degrees) so heavy artillery in winter clothing was not necessary. We checked into our hotel and rested for a few hours when we received a knock at the door. Upon opening it I was SO excited to see one of my best friends Dwight and his then fiancé Colleen. James had coordinated with them to come to NYC so we could spend some time together. We had made a plan to go to dinner and Nintendo world that night. We walked to the pub had a fabulous dinner and as we were walking to Nintendo I didn’t realize James was steering us in another direction. Since my sense of direction leaves much to be desired I followed the expert. Unbeknownst to me we were heading in the opposite direction and they torturously stopped in front of the theatre housing the Little Mermaid Broadway Spectacular.

I asked to get a picture in front of the sign and it was there James revealed yet another surprise. TICKETS! Oh I made a beeline in there so fast you would have thought it was a matter of life and death. The show did not disappoint, it was beautiful, the music was amazing and the story did not take away from the magic of the original cartoon, if anything it enhanced it. The next day we actually hit the Nintendo World. It was so much fun and a must see for any Nintendo enthusiast. A brief history of the company was showcased along with a museum type display of the original consoles and Nintendo how it has changed through the years. Another noteworthy thing about NYC is the food! Don’t waste your money on expensive restaurants; chances are the deli you pass on your way to TGIFridays has way better food at way better prices. For food reviews, I would suggest chowhound for the best of the best. While we were there a local told us about this cart serving Mediterranean food near our hotel that had an upwards of 2-3 hour even late into the night. We passed by it and the lines we atrocious. But he was not kidding, it was right next to our hotel, so we went to our room to relax and watched the line for the cart below us. We waited until the line died down and sent the guys to get some food to enjoy in the comfort of our room. All in all, New York City at Christmas I highly recommend and would love to go again.

Click any of the pictures to go to the gallery

alerie & I were in Oregon City to visit family, so we drove into Portland and to a few other cool places. Their house was beautiful.

View from the back porch

We drove to Tillamook to see the the Tillamook Cheese Factory, really great cheese and ice cream there, although they apparently have trouble keeping their most popular cheddar in stock. The drive was scenic, great views and  photo opportunities along the coast near there.

Portland is great — lots of cool things there like Voodoo doughnuts and shopping in the Pearl district. We stopped at Moonstruck chocolates and picked up some chocolate animals.

Can vegetarians eat these?

Also they have Powell’s, a huge book stor. I can’t even explain how big this place is, but here’s the directory;

The last thing I want to mention is Burgerville. At first it looks like any other fast food place, but the menu is amazing. There’s fresh fish, and the menu changes depending on what is in season. Strawberries were in season when we were there, so Valerie got a Strawberry and goat cheese sammich

Suprisingly it was delicious

We had a great time, and can’t wait to go back to see some of the stuff we missed.

Click any of the pics to see the gallery

At the end of our Alaskan Cruise Spectacular we had a stop in Vancouver, most of the passengers exited the vessel and about 1,000 more came on board to take the trip down to Long Beach. We decided to explore the city since most of us had never been there. Since we didn’t have a lot of time, we took the City Sights Hop on Hop Off bus tour.

It was air-conditioned, not that important in 55 degree weather mind you but the luxury coaches were prompt, spacious and very informative. We hopped off first at the Granville Island. Very Similar to the Farmers’ Markets in Los Angeles, and had we been hungry it would have been a more appreciated stop but after just eating our 2^nd breakfast on the cruise food was the last thing we wanted. Additionally they had Kaboodles, the worlds’ coolest toy store, two levels where child and adult can explore and play. I wish we had more time to explore that part of the market but we were on a schedule so I jotted that down as a destination that needs to be re-visited when we return. Back on the bus we hit Stanley Park (Dedicated by Frederick Stanley, who the Stanley Cup is named after), with spectacular views of the Lionsgate Bridge and a world renowned rose garden (which was not in bloom when we visited) we stopped to take some pics, get stalked by raccoons (seriously Canadian raccoons have NO FEAR) and partake in some world famous ice cream (which was absolutely delicious by the way).

Our next stop was Gastown, known for it’s quaint appeal, souvenir haven and the only Steam powered clock in North America. The clock was absolutely beautiful, just a 5 min walk from our hop on hop off bus stop we waited for the hour to come by (6 minutes) to see the steam clock spectacular music show, alas 20 minutes later we realized that not only is the clock broken but we got there at 12:54 and it said 11:50 (shows how observant we are and how frequently we use analogue clocks).

I got my customary Canadian track jacket and we looked at the 2010 Olympic swag, amazing the exact jacket I purchased for a mere $40, was $90 with the Olympic rings embroidered on it. Oh well, with the time wasted on the not-quite-as-amazing-as-we-though clock it was time to head back to our ship (and we were hungry and couldn’t justify spending money on food when a FREE buffet was awaiting us on the ship) so back to Port we headed. I think Vancouver is absolutely gorgeous and can’t wait to go back! It’s very similar to NYC but NO smog, it’s amazing. So we are planning our next excursion to Vancouver and see what we missed and check if the clock is fixed

Click on any of the pictures to go to the gallery

Note: Try to avoid the streets between China Town and Gastown….loop around in a big circle or just wait for the hop on hop off bus to come get you.  It is a very short walk but…..not for the timid or weak of heart… or kids!!!

We took a wonderfully relaxing 10 day cruise to Alaska on Holland America’s MS Zuiderdam (pronounced like ‘cider’)

(Actually, this was a repositioning cruise, so it was the regular 7 day Alaska trip, then we returned to the ship in Vancouver, and sailed for 2 more days to get to Los Angeles). We made four stops, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Vancouver. (I’ll tell you all about the cities and excursions in another post) The cruise also had 2 scenic cruising points, one through Tracy Arm, and another in Glacier Bay National Park.

Overall the cruise was really nice. The ship was always neat and clean. Whether we needed help with our shore excursions, or special request at dinner, the crew were all nice, and very helpful.

Here’s some things you need to be prepared for on the cruise:

1) The Cold; I was freezing, average temperature for the trip was about 50 F/10 C degrees . And it rained. A lot. If you go, dress warmly, bring something with a hood to wear in the rain, and an umbrella wouldn’t be a bad idea.

2) Food; I tried not to overeat, but the food was just too good. There was a different salmon option every night. And the always popular midnight dessert buffet.

3) Animals; If you go on the cruise, you’re going to have the opportunity to see a lot of animals. We saw bears on the shore, a sea otter, orcas, whales, dolphins, and porpoises. But you have to keep your eyes open, and be prepared to run to whatever side of the ship they are on.

4) Glaciers & Fjords; simply beautiful. We went into Glacier Bay and got very close to John Hopkins Glacier, Gilman Glacier, and Margerie Glacier pictured here:

just remember what I said about the cold

We all had a great time. We just have way to many stories to tell here. If you see any of us, ask about the drunk killer whale, the bear squirrels, the Coast Guard Rescues (yeah, both of them), the porpoise army, the angry wheelchair lady, Dan (the Man), our kick but performance on the Newlywed Game, our horrible performance in the ships trivia quiz, Crazy Room Number Guy, or Rebbecca ordering 3 dinners. I highly recommend the trip to everyone. Especially with the glaciers melting, you should try and go sooner rather than later. Let us know if you have any questions, and click on any of the pictures to go to the gallery.

See you next time!

Ketchikan

This is a cool little town where we saw the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. Which apparently featured pro-lumberjacks.

See what I mean? Professionals

After that we just walked around town and did some shopping. But there was plenty of other things to do. You can go salmon or crab fishing, kayaking, zip lining through the woods, flight seeing, and there’s tours to see everything from authentic totems, to bald eagles.

Skagway

This town used to be the best way to get to the Yukon to mine for gold. When you get off the ship, the town looks just as it did during the mining boom. It has a very Main Street U.S.A feel to it.

There is a lot to see in Skagway considering it’s such a small town. We took the White Pass train 20 miles up into the mountains following the Yukon Route to the top of the White Pass Summit. You can take it even further into Canada, then pan for gold, and take a bus back. There was plenty to see, and learn about what it was like during the gold rush days.

There's our ship!

There are plenty of other tours there too. You could also go flight seeing, salmon fishing, tour a old brothel, there’s a couple of great gardens, and more.

We ended the day at a local glass blowing place. I can’t even explain how much fun Valerie had there, or hot it was inside.

As we were at both towns near the end of their vacation season, a lot of the merchandise was on sale, so that was nice.

Juneau

We didn’t see much of the town, so I can’t say too much about it, we spent that day whale watching

Click on any of the pics to see more from our trip.

Our trip to Italy didn’t get going as smoothly as we’d planned, we missed our connecting flight to Rome. That left us in Atlanta with one day to kill.  Since my FosterDad loves fish, we thought we would make the most of it and visit their famed aquarium. My skepticism led me to think, we are from Southern Ca, this aquarium is in the middle of the South, not near any remarkable body of water, how great can this place be? We mentioned to the lady at the front desk of our hotel that we were going to go to the aquarium the next day, and she asked “Do you have a reservation?” We all pretty much asked the same thing, “Reservations for the aquarium?” She said “The Georgia Aquarium is very popular. Without a reservation you have to rely on general admission, if you do that, you could end up waiting for hours to get in.” Um, ok. So I reserved a spot for 10:00 am the next morning.

Sure enough, there was a long line of people waiting to get in. Since we pre-purchased our tickets, we got to go in right at 10:00.

I can’t even go into how HUGE this place is. Their biggest tank has four (4) whale sharks in it. What amazed me was not only the size but the selection of sea creatures in this aquarium. Themed rooms with everything from cat fish to not 1, but 4 beluga whales! In all my California aquarium trips I had never seen a beluga whale, but in Atlanta you can see 4! (and one of the employees said there was more in the back section of the tank that we couldn’t see!)

The sea otters were adorable and the sheer size of the place was overwhelming, so many fish so little time. We decided to take a break and see their little video, now this video wasn’t in your normal small theatre reeking of stale tourist, it was in a state of the art cinematic experience complete with a SHAG (My favorite artist) commissioned mural in the waiting area.

Needless to say I was quite impressed and am looking forward to my return to Atlanta to see the fish I missed and eat some more amazing soul food.

Click to see more pictures of the trip in the photobucket gallery

Here’s a few pics from the comics exhibit at the Skirball. It was mostly Golden Age stuff. The start of comics, how that adapted to rapidly changing world. As such, it mostly focused on DC comics.

click pic to see more

Sorry I don’t have more pictures, my camera battery died =(

There was another room that focused on Comic book movies, but we weren’t allowed to take any pictures there. Odd since everything there had been seen before on the big screen.

THey also had a fun ongoing Noah’s Ark exhibit.

Click to see more pictures

All the animals from the Noah’s Ark Exhibit were made from recycled materials further promoting the fragile state our land is in. When you visit the exhibit you are placed in a room where the Noah’s ark story is told to you, they hand out rain makers to the children so they can reinact the noise of the 40 days and 40 nights of rain. We then walked into the exhibit itself, as pictured above they made a large (not quite life size) model of the Ark which is amazing to think about all those animals in such a tight space. The had various stations where you can ‘make it rain’, float a boat, and even clean up animal droppings (why the kids had so much fun with that I’ll never know). We left before the concert in the ampitheatre but overall it was very fun and very educational. I highly recommend it, especially for those with young children.

We recently went to the Skirball to see the super heroes exhibit they had there. It reminded me of a very different exhibit we went to at the California Science Center a few years ago.

It was fun for adults, and educational for kids.

They had this room you had to get through in the dark too see what it’s like to be Daredevil. The had a Doc Oc area with prosthetic limbs. And Iron Man area where you could lift a car (a real car, not like the A-team van like Universal Studios used to have). There was a Magneto are where you learned about, . . well magnets, and if human mutations could actually be so extreme. They had a Storm area where you could lean about the weather. Some cool optical illusion and mind tricks at the Invisible Woman section, and much more.

Then for the growed up Marvel fans, there was a lot of great art and prints for sale.

There was a Marvel Comics time line, and a movie about Stan Lee. I don’t think it was a touring exhibit though, which is a shame because it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about super heroes.

and a little about my self, HA!