Social Distancing in Littleton: Week 32

The big news this week has been the Colorado wildfires. Even though the election is less than a week away, the wildfires have been at the top of the news and it is devastating. We are not close enough to be evacuated or to really worry, but the clouds of smoke that we could see from our neighborhood were apocalyptic.

Luckily, a heavy snow storm came a few days later, which really helped the fire fighting efforts.

It was a cozy Sunday, as we stayed inside and watched the falling snow. I baked my first layer cake with homemade icing. It was Nigella Lawson’s Coffee Layer Cake and I was thrilled when Nigella commented on my Instagram picture!

Dan made a Dutch Baby pancake. He loves the Dutch Babies from The Original Pancake House, so it was great that he figured out how to recreate it at home. His were even better than the restaurant. It looks like our weekend tradition of breakfast at the pancake house will end. We now need to figure out how to make their tropical syrup that I love!

We watched the latest Borat film :”Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” I’m exhausted from typing that title! Sacha Baron Cohen certainly knows how to push buttons and this will not be everyone’s taste, but as with the first film, the reactions of the unsuspecting American public are the most shocking. Thankfully there are a few really good people in the film, but that doesn’t make up for the genuine racist/sexist/lack of humanity responses that some people gave. The film is timely with stunts involving Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani. It was of course, released to tie-in with the election. I enjoyed it and I was impressed that Baron Cohen put himself in risky situations to pull this off. Maria Bakalova who plays his daughter, absolutely steals every scene. It wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the first Borat, but I don’t feel that it was supposed to be. These are seriously times and the film reflects the tone of the United States. It’s the type of film that I’ve continued to think about five days later, so to that end, it was very effective.

We also finally broke down and paid to see “Bill and Ted Face the Music.” OMG…this might just be the worst film that I’ve ever seen. Not only was it bad, it was boring. BORING!!! I love Keanu Reeves, but it hurt to watch this. I had high hopes from a nostalgia perspective, but it missed the mark in every way.

We played Top Golf with our friends on Saturday night. I played worse than my first time, but I still had fun. I’d love to go again. I did notice that the employees at Top Golf seemed to be less rigid about the covid protocols. For example, there were more than six people in some of the bays, and there were a few big parties happening. This made me nervous. The covid cases are really on the rise, and I think we will need to revert to being even more cautious. I’m anticipating locking down like last spring.

The field near our house was full of cows and we saw a gorgeous hawk.

To end, a few cute pictures of Tom. He enjoyed the snow too, and wondered why he couldn’t catch the snowflakes. The window glass is full of paw prints from his furious attempts to catch snowflakes.

Florida 2020: Sea World Orlando

Although our original trip had not included plans to go to a theme park, we couldn’t resist. We used the concierge at our hotel to purchase one-day tickets to SeaWorld Orlando. I have been to SeaWorld San Diego many times, but this was my first time visiting the Orlando park. Dan had not visited since he was a child. We were both so excited.

We arrived for the 10am park opening and the heat was already intense.

Due to Covid, we had to make reservations a day in advance. Masks were mandatory at all times, except when eating or drinking. This wasn’t a huge deal, except for it was definitely hot and we were sweating buckets. Cast members walked around the park to enforce the masks and social distancing. All of the queues had spacing markers and the arena shows had sections blocked-off to promote distancing. When the show ended, we were dismissed from the area row by row. At the front entrance, our temperature was taken, which couldn’t have been easier, as we just had to keep walking through a screening tent. The process didn’t even make us slow down. We observed employees spraying the rides vehicles with sanitizer between guests and loading attractions in a spaced-out manner.

As a former theme park employee, I was very interested to see how SeaWorld would handle Covid. This was my first theme park visit in 2020. I was impressed. I felt safe at SeaWorld and felt like the employees were knocking it out of the park- pun intended.

We snapped some pictures at the entrance, including my obligatory flamingo shot.

Our first ride a coaster called Manta. Rays of all sorts are my favorite sea animals and I hopped in the queue without realizing that it was a flying type of coaster, where you ride belly down. I had never done this type of coaster and it was terrifying. I would have cried, but I was too stunned by the intensity. Besides being one of the scariest rides that I’ve ever experienced, it was uncomfortable as the blood rushed forward in my head from the positioning of the ride. I can’t imagine getting stuck on Manta during a malfunction. Never again will I ride Manta. I did appreciate the gorgeous aquariums in the queue. I also think the theming of a flying style coaster is appropriate to the how Manta Rays physically look and glide through the water.

Somehow, I agreed to ride a second coaster immediately following Manta. The queues were virtually empty, so we wanted to take advantage of the low crowds. Kraken is an older coaster and bit of a rough ride, but not terrifying like Manta. I could handle it.

Next we hopped on Journey to Atlantis, a hybrid ride that combines flume/coaster/dark ride elements. I rode this many years ago at the San Diego park and I’m here to report that it has not aged well. The story is loose and it didn’t help that many show elements were broken. Dan had not previous ridden it and was caught out when it switches from a flume to a coaster, which is a great trick, but otherwise this attraction needs an overhaul. We got soaking wet and did the dumbest thing possible; we headed to the Antartica to visit the penguins.

It was so, so, so cold.

I wanted to see the other Antarctic animals, like the Polar Bears, but our teeth were chattering. We needed to be outside in the furnace. The day was heating up and we were soaked to our underwear, so we decided to leave the park and go swimming at our hotel. Our plan was to return in the evening.

A few shots as we exited the park.

We really needed to take the midday break. I think we would have needed the break, even if we hadn’t been wearing masks, but the masks definitely didn’t make it easier. We returned around 6pm and went straight to the Sea Lions Tonite show. Sea Lions Tonite is a SeaWorld classic, featuring groan-worthy comedy and cute animals. It was always one of my favorites. The current iteration pokes fun at the other SeaWorld shows and attractions, unfortunately, it didn’t do much to give information on the animals. The complete lack of an educational element was disappointing.

Next, we went to the shark exhibit. I love the immersive tunnel. I always think of the Jaws film where the shark breaks through the tunnel and the tourist run screaming. The experience is always serene, unlike the film.

After visiting the sharks, I had to brave Mako, the tallest and fastest coaster in the park. I actually loved Mako. It was smooth and thrilling, without being utterly terrifying like Manta. We rode it twice. The first drop is incredibly steep and my mask nearly flew off!

The best ride in the park, which we rode four times, was Infinity Falls. Infinity Falls is a rafting ride with a surprising elevator element followed by an enormous drop. It’s crazy and dizzying with both show elements, and tons of water. We got soaked, so wet that Dan splurged on pricy souvenir towels. I could have ridden this all day, it was so much fun and a perfect way to cool down in the steamy Florida humidity.

We capped the day off with fireworks. Many of the other parks have eliminated fireworks due to covid crowd concerns, but we felt that SeaWorld handled it well and we felt properly spaced from other guests. It was magical and made us feel like we were having a normal summer.

We had a great time at SeaWorld and even discussed getting annual passes as they are currently such a good deal. I wish we had more time to spend seeing the animals. I’m curious to see how they have changed the Shamu Show as part of their shift to animal education, rather than showing tricks. Having worked for a zoo, I know that SeaWorld is making efforts to change with the times, and I also know that both education and conservation are a big part of their mission.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Weeks 30 & 31

I can’t believe that it has been more than half a year since we have been dealing with Covid. That said, the days still feel mostly normal. We are being careful, but we also have done some socializing in the last few weeks.

We invited our neighbors, Chloe and Marcus, over for dinner. This was long over-due, as they are our direct neighbors and we have been to their backyard for a few parties. We actually share a fence with them and when we installed our fence, we placed a gate between our backyards, which has been great. They have a gate with our other neighbors, so we can all easily socialize between our yards. It was wonderful to really get to know Marcus and Chloe. We hit the neighbor jackpot by moving to Sterling Ranch.

The next morning, I was quite hung-over, but I crawled out of bed to go with a bunch of women in the neighborhood for a Sunday brunch at Cafe Terracotta in downtown Littleton. This was so much fun. I met new people and had a delicious veggie omelette. Dan had gone golfing with several of the guys in the neighborhood on the previous Friday, so this was the women getting their time out of the house. I couldn’t have imagined that I would have been able to do this during Covid, but our strict state measures have made it feel somewhat safe ( not completely risk free, of course) to have small gatherings and dine out. I appreciate this normalcy, especially as I see that my home state of California is still struggling.

That same day, we were expecting our friends Valerie and Bryan from California for a three-night stay at our house. I had taken Friday off to clean the house and by the time Sunday rolled around, I was frantically doing last minute prep. Since this is Colorado, they got stuck in a snow storm near the ski resorts and didn’t arrive until dinner time. With the house clean, we looked for a “new-to-us” coffee place near our house for a much needed latte break. We discovered Lost Coffee in nearby Castle Rock. It was the perfect fall afternoon treat.

Here I am, waiting for Valerie and Bryan to give us an update. I was a zombie at this point. I can’t remember the last time that I did so much cleaning, so much drinking, or so much socializing.

Valerie and Bryan were here to help their daughter Stephanie move from California to Colorado to live with her boyfriend. They crashed at our house with their dog, Shely. Shely and our cats had a few encounters, but everyone stayed safe. We kept to our work routine, but had dinners together in the evenings, including two meals out- sushi and Italian. On the final night of their trip, they cooked a delicious mac and cheese with the cheese coming from a special creamery in Utah.

We had mentioned wanting to decorate for the fall season with bales of hay. Bryan and Val surprised us with two bales of hay, some decorative dried corn stalks, and a pair of perfect winter gloves for me. It was such a surprise and so nice of them! We have added a few more bales of hay, but we still trying to figure out our fall decor scheme. Here’s a picture of our hay and of the cows in the nearby field.

Tom is cow watching.

And a pretty picture that Dan took of the new houses going up in our neighborhood. The houses are built so quickly that the neighborhood is constantly changing.

We were Boozed! This is a game that has been going around our neighborhood, where you secretly drop a bucket of alcohol on your neighbor’s doorstep and they pay-it-forward. We are 99.9% certain who Boozed us and they created a perfect bucket, with my favorite Swedish cider and even toys for the cats. It was very thoughtful and fun.

I proudly voted for Biden and Harris! Colorado makes voting a breeze with ballots sent by mail and a secure drop box in my neighborhood. I actually noticed a second drop box not more than a few miles from my house. It boggles my mind that some states make it so difficult for people to vote and I’m grateful to live in a state that makes the process simple. Now, I anxiously await the arrival of November 3rd and what follows. I have a terrible feeling that no matter which way the election goes, there will be violence. 2020 has not been easy.

To end on a happy note, here is a cute picture of Tom. Slinky continues to do well, but I haven’t captured any pictures of him in the last few weeks. As you can see, Tom has decided that a wine cork is the best toy. You know he likes a toy when he gives it a wash in his water bowl.