California...Where have you been all my life?

Well, where to begin. Our travel day on sunday turned out to be a huge nightmare. We were flying from Madison, WI to Palm Springs, CA with a connection through Dallas. When we arrived at the airport, they informed us that due to mechanical failure, the flight never took off from Dallas, and our flight was therefore cancelled. It didn't look promising to get out of there that day, but they managed to squeeze the 24 of us (the others were flying on a flight through Chicago which turned out fine) on a flight OUT of Chicago to Orange County, CA. Our bus was still there, and our driver Jim agreed to take us to Chicago, 2.5 hours away.

We made it there and then the terminal people couldn't find our reservation. Once they did, they couldn't pull individual people from the list because we were labeled as a group. They finally figured it out, and we relaxed in the Chilis lounge and had beers and fatty foods. Yum. I then went to the other airport bar, watched some of the Bulls game, and had a very rarely found Bud Light Pint-Sized bottle. Delicious.

Once we landed, there was to be a bus to take us to the hotel in Palm Desert, a 2 hour or so drive. One of my regular roomates Jeff got a rental car there and offered me a ride, so I didn't have to take the bus. It's a good thing I did because it didn't come for another hour after we left. They accidently went to LAX and had to turn around and come to Orange County. DOH!

I arrived at the hotel around 11PM or 1am Central time, making the day about 15 hours worth of travel. Karen would then come around midnight, ironically she flew into LAX where the bus was. I upgraded for the week and got a suite at the hotel which was really nice.

Monday we went to a massage place and got hour long massages. I have a hard time enjoying massages afterwards, like the next day. They're usually just momentary release and relaxation, but I feel no long term effects. Still great nonetheless.

Tuesday we went to The Living Desert, a zoo in the area. I got some really nice pics there like these ones:





Wednesday we went to a waterpark called Soak City. A bit overpriced and not that many rides leads to a so so experience. Overall at the end of the day it was a fun day, but you don't get alot for your money.

This morning sadly, Karen had to leave and cut short our mini vacation. I couldn't have asked for a better time though, the weather was beautiful, the company was amazing, and I'll never forget this week in my life. Only 6 more weeks and I'll be home guys!

PS. On a side note, and I swear to the poker people who read this, I have some interesting hand histories to share with you. I've been absolutly killing the NL games on FCP lately. Everytime I say this I always run into a bad streak, but I haven't had a losing session at all since Friday, and playing .50/1 NL, I'm up about 850 BBs. I think I'm really getting into the "zone" and playing the best poker of my life.

Going to the Aqua Caliente Casino tonight. Results will be posted soon!