Yellow Springs
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
I had planned on taking Erin and her kids to Kings Island sometime over the weekend during their visit. We decided against Saturday, June 5, 2010, because a) I had to work from 8-noon, and b) it was a bleak, rainy day. So instead of Kings Island, we decided to visit Yellow Springs, the quaint little village in the area, known for their nature reserves, laid-back atmosphere, and popular dairy farm. On the way – which was mostly out of the way – we stopped for lunch at Friendly’s to enjoy some more typical Ohio cuisine. The turkey Reuben was divine, but best of all was that they were giving away free scoops of ice cream on that particular day. Read the rest of this entry »
After having breakfast at April’s place the morning of Thursday, April 29, 2010, we both headed out about 9:30am – she to work, and I to play. I made the uneventful drive from Carlsbad back to Los Angeles in good time, less than two hours. The most exciting thing on the trip was once again spotting the 
On the morning of Saturday, April 24, 2010, my friend Bob and I rode the elevator down to the lobby of the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center with a very friendly gentleman, who we later realized was Spider-Man in disguise – and we all know what a sucker I am for superheroes. Nicholas Hammond was one of those actors who was on my list because of the iconic nature of his accomplishments, but whom I wouldn’t recognize on the street if he came up and bit me…or flung a web around me. And his work on The Amazing Spider-Man television series for 14 hour-long episodes from 1977-79 was just part of his legacy. 
The week was going by fast and Erin and I still had several things that we wanted to get accomplished before her departure that weekend. Soon it became apparent that a return visit would be imminent if we were going to see and re-visit everything that we wanted to in Ohio. We started the process of working our way into the weekend on Friday, May 7, 2010. Erin woke up early with me that morning so that I could drop her off at her friend Nathalie Bennett’s that morning on my way to work. She enjoyed the second of two days spending time with her. 
My friend Bob and I had been traveling for the bulk of the day, having journeyed from Reno and through Lake Tahoe. After being on the road for the past five days, it was kind of nice to arrive in Sacramento, where we could rest our heads in the same spot for the next four nights. We arrived around 4pm on Wednesday, June 16, 2010, at the Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza, which was about as a convenient location that one could have found. It was situated right between a shopping mall complex and the entrance to the Old Sacramento historic district. I was pretty exhausted from the past few days, so I had no qualms about retiring to our room once we checked in, getting on the internet for a bit, and then trying to doze for a few seconds.