Ramblings....

Monday, November 4, 2013

The first weekend of November...

I had a lovely weekend!

Mom and Keri were down at the San Clemente timeshare from the last week in October and ending the first weekend of November. I was able to make it down there for one day - that being November 1st. One of the things I do love about living in SoCal is we can have a beautiful warm sunny day like we did that day. I could not have asked for more perfect weather!

I headed down about 9am to this gorgeous-ness:

I proceeded to do absolutely nothing. I love it. The only thing I usually do is grab lunch and/or happy hour at Fisherman's Wharf on the pier. I always order oysters and/or a bucket of muscles and a glass of wine. This year was no different.

As mom and I were on the balcony we noticed a bunch of pelicans diving and diving. This went on for hours! I have never seen anything like it! We decided to walk down to the beach and check it out. A man had swam up to see and they were coming up with huge fish in their mouths. A school of fish must have been hanging out and these birds had hit the jackpot! It was super cool to watch! I attempted a video so you can see for yourself!

After we watched the birds we started walking along the surf. I just love the ocean. Mom and I collected a few smooth rocks because I've been thinking of painting them. There were also super trippy lines in the sand from the water! It was a beautiful perfect walk.

I headed home around 8pm. As much as I wish I could have got to stay down there for a few days, I was so glad to get down for a beautiful Friday!

The next day was Noches de Altares in downtown Santa Ana. I usually try to get to this every year. This year I was able to get down there early to help T set up the altar at Bistro 400. I especially wanted to be there because we were dedicating the main portion of the altar to our dear friend Stephen. At the celebration of his life we held, people wrote little notes to him that we included in the altar.

I arrived just after noon and stood by and handed T whatever she needed. This is her thing and I was there for help and moral support. I also ended up being moral support for Robert as well! Sometimes I think I've inherited my mom's calming nature and can help people out when they are a little strung out. Makes me glad I can do something! Anywhoo. Altar got finished about 2 and it looked gorgeous.

The boys reserved us a table we had for part of the day and we proceeded to go ahead an Muertos ourselves up right there!

The Aztec dancers came by and blessed the altars with sage:

Katarina came by in the evening and lit the 1st candle of each altar. Unfortunately she didn't get to ours but she looked awesome!

Sonja popped by and showed us her Peacock theme!

T lighting our altar!

T and I wandered around before dusk and checked out the vendors. She bought an amazing piece and I got a couple of little figuerines I loved. One is a little cat called Furry Bones. It looks sort of like the Skelanimals. I also got a Muertos Lucy and Desi dancing from I Love Lucy! One more piece I couldn't resist was a Muertos cameo necklace. So rad!
We then came back and chilled until some of T's friends/family arrived and we hit the altars. It was really crowded by this point and we promptly got separated but I didn't mind. Here are the shots I took. I didn't take as many as I used to because I was finding myself engrossed in the altars instead. They are truly so beautiful and intricate and detailed. I know it's a day of celebration but I found myself crying and sad often. It was tough this year, but so very beautiful and meaningful as always!

Afterwards we came back and had dinner at Bistro. Around 9:30pm they start breaking it all down. We lost track of time and when we saw the Bistro turning into a pretty rowdy after party we stepped to it and rapidly broke down our altar. I got home about 1am exhausted but so glad I spent the whole day and night there this year. It's such a beautiful event. I'm sure plenty of spirits from the after life were partying with us in downtown Santa Ana Saturday night!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

LA Haunted Hayride...

I have wanted to check out LA's Haunted Hayride for a few years now. Jay had gone the year before and raved about it, and I had heard good things from other people as well. So, last weekend I got my chance!

Julie/Gabe/Amber and I had gone to the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor last year and were very disappointed. We discussed other options and decided to check out the Hayride this year which we did! I got to chatting with a co-worker of mine who is also a horror fan and he joined us for the fun.

Amber and I carpooled and as we drove up the mountain to Griffith Park where it was held, the fog was rolling in and the entire area just had a creepy feel to it. I started getting super excited. We parked in the first lot we found and I was stunned we didn’t have to pay. Yay! We didn’t have to walk too far and wandered around the place while we waited for the others to arrive. The maze (You paid an additional $10 for) was right at the beginning. There was a hanging area, but we never did see a hanging, a place you could pose for pictures with a car, one food vendor, a soda vendor (flavored soda mind you!) and then the growing line for the Hayride. Behind that was another area with more stuff but we didn’t get to see that until we were “in”.

Taylor arrived next and we took a selfie:

Then Julie/Gabe arrived and we got in line. As we waited a few monsters startled us. I was quite excited to see Taylor react. I love going to these things with new people! I apologize for the grainy-ness of all these photos, but it was at night with my iPhone and those always come out funky. Anywhoo here’s some from line:

The line moved relatively quickly and we were soon in the hay area portion of the line. We realized later it was a good thing we got there right when it opened because this line got a lot bigger as the night progressed. Monsters startled people in this line as well.

When we got to the end, there were severed talking heads I was bummed I didn’t catch a picture of, but we were being herded into a cage. Yes a cage. They cram a bunch of you in a cage. Too funny. This is where they tell you the rules, etc. There were then multiple tractors pulling these trailers. They were low to the ground and full of hay. We were all herded onto the back of the next one. My only complaint of the whole night was I wish the hayride was longer and I wish these trailers were better equipped to sit in. If they improve both of those things that would rock. We were really smooshed in and I had to crane my neck a lot during the ride. Anyone with back/knee issues would really have a problem. I had hoped it was more of a “sitting on a hay bale” sort of thing, but oh well. Most of us surrounded the outer edge and a few folks sat directly in the middle. It was certainly cozy. No pictures of the hayride because I couldn’t get to my phone.

As we rode up the hill we passed a long fence with body parts, mostly hands sticking out. I so wanted to high five one. Then these monsters ran past us in a choreographed manner to the back, behind us, stopped, faced us, then their mouths glowed red and they attacked. Awesome. It wasn’t too scary because we already saw them, but some people did get a fright. Next was a rendition of the Wicker Man. Rad. These guys threw themselves into the “fire pit”. The “corn” folk that attacked us I have to say – beautiful bodies!!! The guys had such rad 6 packs! I was so distracted by that I didn’t even appreciate the horror portion of that one! Tee hee!!! Then there was a “Satan Church”. The pastor guy was a demon and he rose up and up and up and as he went up his red cloak got bigger and longer. It was rad. Then of course all of the church goers that were hooded turned and faced us at the same time and attacked. Rad. There was another area that had these two giant trees that attacked. That was cool because you certainly weren’t expecting that! A lot of people jumped. We went through a place that was “experimenting” on people and they had giant jars with people in them. Pretty cool. Then we were attacked by people in bags. I want to say there was another one or two here, but of course my memory fades so quick now. The finale was the best; we pulled into a church looking place and were being attacked by clowns. I say Taylor tense up. The ran to the back and were holding a large black sheet. “No way!” I screamed. “We’re going to get covered!!!” Sure enough they ran over us and blanketed us in this sheet. So now it’s dark. All of a sudden there are clowns everywhere with flashlights under their chins freaking the hell out of everyone. Especially Taylor who jumped about 3 feet. So great! I was dying laughing. When the sheet was pulled off there was a Soulful Clown gospel band singing about being saved. Fantastic. The hayride came to an end and I was sad it was over but my back and neck and knees were glad it was.

We then wandered around the after area and they had this rad “Scary Go Round”. I of course could not go on it, but it ran backwards!!!

As we were wandering a giant jester on stilts was leaning on a tree. Julie and I both got scared by him because we didn’t think he was real! So awesome! Next up was the maze. This was a bummer for me. They let you in in small groups. One person had a lantern. Well this was pointless because we lost our person in about 2 seconds. It started out cool – a movie of a man getting totally slaughtered in the house that you’re standing next to – hilarious. We walk into a black dark maze and there is only a strobe light. The ground is also uneven. This is where I realized I wasn’t going to make it. Normally strobe lights don’t bother me, but this didn’t stop and I started to get dizzy, then sick and knew I had to get out. So after only about 5 minutes I found an emergency exit, turned to Amber and said I had to leave and went out. A monster found me and pointed me the way. I was super bummed but also super glad I was able to get out before I got really sick. My head and tummy simmered down and I never hit the point of no return (That point I get sick and am fucked). I waited at the exit for everyone else and found out through them that it was pretty much just the dark and strobe but it ended with a very claustrophobic like exit. You went through these halls that the walls were blown inward and a monster waited for you at the end. There was also a chainsaw wielding monster (I found out later was a friend of mine) that chased you out. I laughed because Amber was in tears and Julie had apparently fallen down. Damn! I missed it!

We decided to head back to the carnival area to see what we missed. We watched a portion of the Demonology guy talking about real life hauntings. I had no idea the Griffith Park had a history of curses, etc. Pretty interesting! We then headed over and watched this guy who was a sword swallower. He was fantastic. Very funny. Very charming. Julie actually got brought up onstage to help him out at one point.

He put on a fantastic show. I’ll never know how someone figures out they want to do that, but hey – it works out for those who like to watch. Such a trip! There was a mirror funhouse but it looked strobe light like so we skipped it. Another really cool thing they had was a tent saying “Photo Opportunity”. I thought this might be one of those things that blow air and scare you like Jay and I had at Haunt but instead it was prop areas. They had about 6 set ups of different scenes that you could pose and take pictures of yourself. No charge!!! I’m so used to places gouging you for money and this wasn’t. I wish I had a better camera for this but you can see the fun ones we chose. My poltergeist one had been a hit on Facebook!