Jinkies!

Every so often, I get the urge to write about something completely insignificant and irrelevant.  And this is no exception.  It has been a few rough weeks, and so I need a light topic today.

I am a huge fan of classic Hanna Barbera cartoons from the 1960’s.    The Flintstones, an adult sitcom masked as a cartoon, is my all-time favorite.  The Flintstones aired during “prime time”, a trail blazer for later shows such as The Simpsons.  The good plots, funny dialogue and unforgettable voices (ie, Mel Blanc, Alan Reed, Jean Vander Pyl, and the uncredited Daws Butler) are still funny and strangely still relevant today.    Other favorites of mine from this time period are The Jetsons and Yogi Bear, also featuring the talented and versatile voices of Daws Butler, Mel Blanc and Jean Vander Pyl.

However, there is another cartoon that hails from this same time that still captures the attention of even today’s generation.  It has been reincarnated many times in different ways and in different forms.   In my opinion, the best installment of this cartoon is and will always be the original installment from 1969, “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?”

“Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” was immensely entertaining.  A group of teenagers, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy (voiced by Casey Kasem), and their dog Scooby Doo, would be doing their thing, driving around in a van known as the Mystery Machine (which looked like it was straight out of the Summer of Love or The Partridge Family) and stumble upon spooky situations and mysterious happenings.  In a matter of fifteen minutes, an entire story would be told, including some unforgettable villains, witty dialogue, and clever traps.    Each show followed an identical pattern of the kids heading somewhere, encountering a mystery, investigating, a chase scene, elaborate traps to capture the villain, unmasking and identifying the villain (always the most unsuspecting character who appeared in the first scene) and a final goofy line where everyone laughs, usually delivered by the talking dog, Scooby Doo. 

What I loved most about it is the background music and the laugh track.  The theme song was catchy and the funny chase scenes mid-point through the episode always featured a catchy song with some unusual lyrics.   Although never identified in the credits, the singer of the chase scene songs sounded a lot like Davy Jones from the Monkees.

“Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” ran for two seasons.  There have been innumerable incarnations of Scooby Doo that followed that weren’t as successful in my opinion.  The dialogue wasn’t as tight, the music was different, the chase scene songs gone, along with the laugh track.    There was another iteration of Scooby Doo many years later that was repackaged as a third season of “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?”, but the plots, dialogue and lack of chase scene music were unmemorable.  And the voices weren’t as memorable as the usual Hanna Barbera cast.

The only other iteration that I enjoyed was “The New Scooby Doo Mysteries”.   These episodes featured special guest stars (in cartoon form) who were popular in the 70's, like the legendary comedian Jonathan Winters, Phyllis Diller, Don Adams, Don Knotts, Sonny & Cher, The Harlem Globetrotters, Sandy Duncan, Batman & Robin, and the Addams Family.

Because I can’t help myself, and am overly critical, looking for meaning where there is none, here are some things that I never understood:

·         The Mystery Machine was pretty big.  The back of the van seemed to be endless, and yet, all five characters crowded into the front seat.

·         How were they able to drive the Mystery Machine to foreign countries?

·         Fred was a control freak.  He ordered everyone around and told everyone what to do.  He would state the obvious, telling people when to duck and when to jump and when to set the traps.  And he always drove the van.  And he always decided who would pair with whom.

·         Fred had terrible fashion sense.  But what do you expect from the late 60s, bell bottoms and ascots and sideburns.  Oh my.

·         Fred was utterly clueless when it came to women.  He was totally oblivious to the hotness of his companion, Daphne.   All the times that they would split up, he and Daphne would go one way, Shaggy, Scooby and Velma would go the other.  You would think Fred would have taken advantage of some of those dark closets and tunnels with Daphne. 

·         Daphne also had terrible fashion sense and no eye for how to color coordinate an outfit.  She wore a purple dress, pink stockings and a green neck scarf with a purple hair band.   What was odd was how vain she was, always worried about her “hairdo”.  What she needed was a fashion intervention.  

• Why did they wear the same outfit every episode?

·         Why was Daphne so darn clumsy?

·         When did these teenagers actually go to school?  Didn’t the principal ever wonder why they were always truant? 

·         If they were school age, how did they have money to go traveling all over the world?  When did they work and how did they earn this money?

·         What made them qualified to solve mysteries? 

·         Why were local police always so inept that they needed the help of these five bungling kids?

·         Why was the dog Scooby Doo the smartest of the lot?

·         What was in those Scooby Snax anyway?  hum...  1960's.  Take a guess.

·         Why did Shaggy always get stuck with Scooby Doo?

·         Why did Fred put up with Shaggy?  All Shaggy ever did was eat or spend his time seeking out food.

·         What was Shaggy’s stomach made of?  Why did he eat such unusual combinations of food?  And why did he eat dog food?

·         What kind of a name is Velma anyway?

·         Why didn’t someone buy Velma one of those strings that you attach to your eyeglasses and wear around your neck? 

·         Why didn’t Velma get tired of losing her glasses and switch to contact lenses already?

The other impact this series had was on our vocabulary.  “Scooby Doo Where Are You?”  was responsible for words such as “Jinkies” and “Zoinks”, and frequently used the word  “Groovy”.   

The most unforgettable line from this series is the line that every villain said after being caught by the teenagers: “and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids”.  And sometimes there were slight variations on this such as “And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for those blasted kids and their dog”.  I often hear people quoting this line today.  And it always makes me smile, bringing me back to a younger time.

No matter the answers to my above questions, this was a great cartoon that can never be replicated or surpassed.

What Happens In Vegas

I thought I had seen it all living in San Francisco.  I have gotten to the point where nothing surprises me anymore and even the strangest behavior I encounter barely registers a blip on my conscience radar anymore.

And then I went to Vegas…


Going to Las Vegas has become an annual sojourn, as it's a quick flight away (unless I fly Southwest, which has really bad on-time stats). 

Being on the Las Vegas Strip is like returning to college campus for homecoming weekend.  It’s like being somewhere on perpetual spring break.  Las Vegas is host to 24 hour parties where the lights never go out and there is no last call. 

People barely able to stand on their two feet seem to be intravenously attached to colorful open containers, somewhat reminiscent of a glass yard from a pub.  People walk up and down the strip with real glassware in their hands, filled with cocktails.   Everyone seems to be in an altered state, grinning from ear to ear, exhibiting loud, slurred speech. They’re feeling a lot better now than they will the next morning.  I have never seen such mass public drunken debauchery outside of a college campus setting.  Boy I wish I were in my 20’s still, I would be tripping along with them.   It isn't apparent to me why any parent would ever bring young children here. 

The modern part of the strip reminds me of Disney’s Epcot Center World Showcase. Within a few blocks you can visit New York, Egypt Pyramids, Paris Eiffel Tower, Venice Canals, Roman Forum, and Seattle Space Needle.  You can see volcanos erupt and immense fountain shows orchestrated to music.  You can ride the tallest ferris wheel.

Money changes hands fast and it seems that there isn’t anything you can’t do here if you can afford it.

There are no limits. 

There are no rules. 

Everything is BIG.  Extreme.  Over the top.    

There are rollercoasters on roofs.

There are indoor ziplines.

There are coed naked pool clubs.

There are indoor amusement parks.

You can race your ultimate dream car on a track (ie, Lamborghini, Porsche). 

You can dine in world class restaurants owned by celebrity chefs and enjoy the best of entertainment seven days a week.

Public smoking bans are not welcome here.

 If you are hoping for suggestions on how to have a crazy over-the-top vacation in Vegas, you’re out of luck.  This isn’t that post.  Strangely enough, I come here to relax in ways I can’t at home in San Francisco.    I am a tourist in this town, very much into great entertainment, dining, spas and poolside retreats.
 

 Paris

My first stay in Las Vegas was at the Paris.  With beautiful architecture and an Eiffel Tower replica to boot, you will feel as if you are in Paris when you enter the casino.  The cobblestone floors, quaint boutique shops, and cafes will whisk you away to the Champs D’Elysee. 

It is worth the cost to ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower and get a birds-eye view of the strip.  Catch the Bellagio Fountain show from above, get a different perspective on the strip below and the nearby High Roller Ferris Wheel. 

 

Vdara

One of the newer hotels on the strip, the Vdara “does Vegas differently©”.  This is the anti-Vegas hotel.  This is not the place where anyone I described above would ever want to stay.  This is one of the most relaxing places I have ever stayed in.  I have recommended it to everyone I know going to Las Vegas and anyone I have met while there (like the time I was stuck at McCarran Airport for 6+ hours-see my post “Fly The Friendly Skies” http://lisa-giannone.blogspot.com/2015/05/fly-friendly-skies.html). 

I should join their PR department. I wrote a review for an online booking site for the Vdara, and guests wrote to thank me for the review which helped in their decision to stay there. 


Vdara is a 100% non-smoking facility.  None.  Nowhere.  No-how.  There is no casino here either. 
Vdara is smack dab in the middle of the strip and yet you may not even notice it’s there.  It is located in City Center, next door to the Aria, near the Crystals, and connected via a breezeway to the rear of the Bellagio.  You can’t access the strip directly from the Vdara.  You must go through the Aria/Crystals or the Bellagio to get to the strip. 

There is no riff-raff here.  There are no drunken teenagers running through the halls.  There are no drunken adults running through the halls for that matter.  It is absolute paradise for anyone who wants to be in the middle of it all, have access to all that the strip has to offer, and yet be an entire universe away.  

 Vdara Spa (ESPA) is a heavenly retreat.  From the lounge area filled with fresh fruit, delicious nut and seed mixes, coffees and teas, to the lady’s lounge featuring a Jacuzzi tub with waterfall, steam room and sauna.  The room is dimly lit with flickering candles, and the lounge chairs are made of heated stone.   I have had wonderful massages here, as well as facials (try the “Drift Away” or a personalized massage and facial).    I have always had great therapists and have reached a zen state every time, relaxed enough that I am still awake, but my body and mind are completely still and I have been transported outside of my own body.  I leave the massage table as if I just took a week’s vacation in under two hours. 
 

Vdara has a nice pool with personal day beds and personal cabanas for rent, and a café offering poolside delivery to your lounge chair.  

 As a guest of the Vdara, you can also enjoy the Aria pools, including the Aria Liquid Lounge. 

 




The other thing that brings me back to the Vdara time and time again is the ambience, the incredible rooms and the views!  Every room is a suite (the more you spend, the larger your suite will be), which is beautifully appointed (Pottery Barn/Crate and Barrel-like aesthetic, with soft browns and greens), with a kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom and bathroom. 

The kitchen contains a refrigerator (filled with free bottles of water), a microwave and stove.  The dining room has a glass table with chairs, and ice bucket and cork opener. 

Head into the living room which contains two couches, a desk, glass coffee tables and wide screen television.  There is a wall that divides the living room from the bedroom.  Against the wall in the bedroom is another wide screen television, sleek reading lights with just a pinpoint of light (so you don’t disturb your partner), and the very comfortable and inviting beds have neckrolls! 


The bathroom has a very large vanity that spans almost the entire length of the room, plenty of room for two to get ready at the same time.  There is both a stand up shower and a sunken Jacuzzi tub.  The room feels very spacious.

 

Then there are the KILLER VIEWS from your suite.  Ask for a room facing the Bellagio and Eiffel Tower.  You will have an entire wall of ceiling to floor windows providing an unobstructed view of the strip (try to get a room on a high floor).  You can see the Rio, Bellagio pools, Bellagio Fountains, Eiffel Tower without leaving your room. 





Another interesting part of the décor are the blinds that you open and close by pressing a button on the wall.  There is an inner shade in which you can block the neon light out, or the outer shade which will allow you to sleep basked in the light of the strip at night.  There is also a button you can press that changes a light on the outside of your door facing the hall, that lets the staff whether you need housekeeping or don’t wish to be disturbed.  The housecleaning staff is thorough and kind. 

Alas there are a few minor things I would change about the Vdara.  There are no coffee makers in the rooms (not sure why, and why you are forced to patronize the lounge Starbucks along with all the other hotel guests in line in front of you), and there isn’t a stellar restaurant on site.  There is a cute market café where you can buy quick salads, wine, cheeses, salames, crackers, snacks, and actually picnic in your room, but you have to request room service to bring you silverware unless you remember to pick up plastic utensils at the market.  You can also dine at the market café and order hot, made to order meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), but it isn’t open very late (at least by Vegas standards).   But the food is good here.

The other quirky thing worth mentioning is the Vdara elevator.  You step into it and it is so relaxing!  It is illuminated in blue light and the interior design of it is almost reminiscent of standing in a waterfall.  Look up at the ceiling.  It is a beautiful space and New Age music soothes you as you ascend to your room.  My favorite part of the elevator is the sexy female voice that announces “Lobby” when you reach the ground floor.  It makes me chuckle every time I take the elevator down!

 

Aria

The Aria has some fantastic dining options.   Lemongrass offers standard but delicious Thai dishes, such as Pad Thai, Chicken Curry and noodle dishes.  The interior and ambiance are a compliment to the wonderful food here.  Blossom offers Chinese fare also in a beautiful space.  I have heard that Sage is good and I will try it on my next visit.   Cirque de Soleil’s Zarkana, at the Aria, features clowns, trapeze artists, rope walkers, jugglers, fire, great music and a nail biting experience.   

My next stay in March will involve a combined stay of both Aria and Vdara.   I can't go to Vegas and not stay at Vdara (it would feel like cheating), but I would like to be able to access the other pools Aria has to offer and also try their spa. 

Aria and Vdara share the same circular entrance.  To reach the strip from Aria, you must exit through the Crystals.   You can also take the sky tram to Bellagio and the Mirage from Crystals.
 
I am a bit of nut for Food Network and Bravo celebrity chefs.  You will find a lot of them here.   My favorite celebrity chef restaurant is Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill.  There is a great bartender here, and great food.  However, your heart may skip a beat when the check arrives.  Great steaks and burgers at Todd English's Pub (between Aria/Crystals).
 
For me, a casino is a casino, a slot machine is a slot machine, blackjack is blackjack and poker is poker. I lose money in all of them so it doesn’t make much difference to me.  Personally, I enjoy the ambience of the casinos at Caesar’s Palace, Paris, Aria and Bellagio best.

What Happens in Vegas is nothing short of spectacular and I anxiously anticipate my next visit in March.   

Events & Tickets

http://www.lasvegas.com

http://www.visitlasvegas.com

 

Stay

Vdara

http://www.vdara.com

 

Paris

https://www.caesars.com/paris-las-vegas

 

Aria

http://www.Aria.com

 

Dine

http://www.Aria.com  (Lemongrass, Blossom, Sage)

 

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill (Caesar’s Palace)

http://www.mesagrill.com 

Film Noir, Part II

 

 The first part of this post focused on Film Noir set in San Francisco.  That post can be found on my San Francisco blog:  https://sfbaygirl.wordpress.com/2015/06/07/san-francisco-film-noir/

This post covers my favorite Film Noirs not set in San Francisco.

Film Noir refers to a genre of films made from the 1940's and on.  Films were typically shot in black and white, with juxtaposition of light and heavy shadows, unusual and distorted camera angles (think 1960’s Batman or Star Trek), an underlying sense of dread and moral uncertainty, and an eerie soundtrack.   The protagonist was either a person guilty of circumstance, or a moral degenerate; psychologically unstable or neurotic.   There is typically a murder.  There is the omnipresent “femme fatale”, who is either involved in the crime or draws the anti-hero into the mystery requiring rescue.  And there is usually another character that adds pressure causing the criminal’s plans to go wrong, such as a detective or private investigator.  For me, there is also a bit of comic undertone, although I am not sure if it is intentional.

 Here are highlights from my favorite Film Noirs (see Part I above):

 Murder by Contract, 1958, Vince Edwards

Vince Edwards plays Claude, a man in desperate need of money for an investment.  He agrees to take a job as a hired hitman.  He displays ridiculous patience waiting in his apartment for the phone to ring with his first assignment.  If he isn’t there to take the call, he won’t get the job.  He sits inside his apartment for weeks, doing pull-ups, ordering delivery.  He maintains an orderly record of his income after each hit, and how much he still needs to earn.

Claude is calm and cool.  He doesn’t use a gun.  He kills various people in various ways, including the man who hired him. 

He is notified that he is to kill a witness in a trial and takes a train to Los Angeles.  There are two men waiting for him to give him at the train station with details of the job and to escort him until the job is complete. The movie becomes utterly hysterical at this point.  The three men all squeeze into the front seat of a convertible driving on the Pacific Coast Highway.  The two men are all business, worried about how many days they have to complete the job and wanting to discuss the details with Claude and show him the location.  But Claude isn’t interested.  He has never been to the west coast before.  He has never seen the Pacific Ocean.  He wants to go fishing, go swimming, and play golf.  The two men take him on all of these side trips, getting more and more agitated that Claude is stalling and that they are losing time.

Claude finally tells them he is ready to see the location.   They get there and Claude finds out the mark is a woman.  She is under police protection and home bound until the trial.  He goes ballistic!  He demands to be paid double because women are unpredictable and “double the trouble”.   Claude then goes through elaborate attempts to murder this woman (think Wile E. Coyote and his complicated Acme Company traps).  First Claude creates a complex electrical plan that will cause an explosion when the victim turns her television set on.  What he didn’t know was that she used a remote control.    Then he came up with a scheme using a bow and flaming arrows.   Finally he thinks that he killed her, but he actually killed the female cop instead.  Claude later goes on a rampage killing his two handlers and finally gets caught escaping from inside the house after attempting to strangle the witness. 

The other notable character in this movie is the man behind the music:  Perry Botkin, Sr.  The recurring music that plays throughout the entire movie is as entertaining as Vince Edwards.

 

Martin Scorcese’s career was greatly influenced by this movie.

 

Double Indemnity – 1944, Fred McMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, & Edward G. Robinson

I would say this one is my favorite Film Noir, maybe because Billy Wilder is one of my favorite directors and writers (ie, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, Sunset Boulevard), and maybe because the story is done mainly in the first person, as Fred speaks directly to the audience, and the story is told in reverse.  Fred he has been shot and is making a confession into a dictaphone. Fred plays Walter Neff, an insurance man who tries to sell a policy to Barbara Stanwyck’s (Phyllis) husband, who detecting his attraction to her, enlists Neff’s help in devising and carrying out a plot to kill her husband so that they can collect on the double indemnity policy (double the payout if death from a train).  Together, they get the husband to sign the policy unknowingly, stage an “accident” from a train, and then must deal with the increasing suspicions of Walter’s manager, Keys. Phillis is the ultimate femme fatale.  She is so deliciously evil, getting Neff to do her dirty work for her, all the while never intending to share the money, and the unforgettable stand-off at the end, where they shoot each other. 

 

The Third Man – 1949, Joseph Cotten & Orson Welles

This one is a cinematic masterpiece.  As in Murder by Contract, there is another character in this movie and that is the zither-playing music of Anton Karas.  The soundtrack plays almost non-stop through the entire film and is impossible to ignore. 

The film takes place in post-war Vienna.  Cotten (Holly Martins), an author of American westerns, arrives in Vienna at the request of his friend Harry Lime, who has a job for him.  Cotton is confused when his best friend Lime isn’t there to pick him up at the train and heads to his apartment.  The porter at the apartment tells him that ten minutes ago, Harry Lime’s body was carried out in a coffin.  Martins heads to the cemetery, attends the service, and is quickly drawn into a mystery.  He sees a beautiful woman and engages in conversation with local policeman, Calloway.  Martins and Calloway go to a bar where Martins proceeds to become very drunk.  Calloway informs him that Lime was a racketeer and gives Martins some money to stay at a local hotel.  We meet an unusual Englishman, Crackett, who asks if the author would agree to do a speech at his institute. 

Martins receives a call at the hotel, asking him to meet our next unusual character, Kurtz, who claims he has read Martin’s book, and asks if they can meet at a café.  Kurtz is carrying Martin’s book and a small dog.  His story about Lime’s death differs from what the porter at Lime’s apartment witnessed.  Lime was crossing the road, was hit by a car, died instantly and three men carried him across the street to a statue.  According to Kurtz, Lime wasn’t dead right away and there were only two men who carried him (Kurtz and a Romanian named Propesco).    At a bar, Kurtz and Propesco advise Martins to go home and stop asking questions.  Martins finds the girl, Anne Schmidt, at a theater and befriends her.  Martins visits the coroner who indicates there were only two men, and the small dog from the café is there.  There is a little boy holding a ball who overhears. 

We learn of another character, Joseph Harbin who worked at the hospital and has now disappeared. 

There is a large crowd outside Harry’s, the Porter has been found dead and the little boy fingers Martin for the crime. 

We learn that Lime was involved in a penicillin racket, stealing penicillin, watering it down and thinning it out, causing meningitis and death to many.  Harbin led Calloway to Kurtz and Lime. 

Martins becomes fond of Anna and at her apartment, he learns that her aloof cat only liked Lime.  The cat jumps out the window, walks down the cobblestone street and rubs up against a leg of someone hiding in shadow.  As Martin exits Anna’s, he sees Lime and learns he isn’t dead.  The body inside the coffin was that of Harbin.

There is a memorable scene aboard a large ferris wheel where Lime and Martins rendezvous and where Lime tells Martin that he is safe as long as he is dead and wants Martin to stop helping the police.  The exciting climax takes place in the sewer tunnels under Vienna, as the police chase Lime to his death.

The majority of the scenes are shot at an angle, as if the scene is going to slide right off camera.  There is great contrast of light and shadow, textures of cobblestone, brick and old architecture and ruins of Vienna.  In the sewer scenes, there are streams of water running across the screen, draped in ribbons of light, against the dark cold tunnels. 

 

 The Stranger-Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson 

Franz Kindler, a concentration camp Nazi, escapes to small town Harper, Connecticut to take on a new identity of Charles Rankin, marry a judge’s daughter and become a professor at the local boy’s school.   His lieutenant, Meineke shows up and tells him he must come clean and confess.  Head of the commission to punish war criminals, Edward G. Robinson (Wilson), follows Meineke to the small town so that he can capture Kindler.  Wilson befriends local know it all, Potter, Judge Longstreet, his daughter Mary Longstreet, and her brother Noah Longstreet, and the local doctor, and becomes suspicious when Meineke disappears and that like Kindler, Rankin has a hobby of fixing clocks. 

There is an imposing church and steeple that is continually shown, and we learn that the clock has been broken for years.  Rankin is working on the clock. 

During a secret rendezvous in the woods between Rankin and Meineke, Rankin strangles Meineke and on the night of his wedding, he buries Meineke. 

Rankin repairs the clock and for the first time, and it will continually mark time throughout the rest of the film.   The clock has mechanical angels that move in a circle about the clock face when it is chiming. 

While taking Mary’s dog Red for a walk in the woods, Red begins to dig the body of Meineke.  Rankin kills Red. 

As the heat increases from Wilson and Mary, Rankin saws one of the topmost rungs on the step ladder that leads up to the clock, and tells Mary to meet him at the clock.   Wilson climbs the ladder and narrowly escapes death.  When Mary learns that Rankin was prepared to kill her, she goes to the clock to kill Rankin.  Rankin steals the gun from Mary, but Wilson shoots him, sending him backwards out of the belfry onto the oncoming track of the mechanical angel, whose spear goes right through Rankin’s stomach, causing him to fall to his death. 

 

Other notables:

Laura – 1944, Vincent Price & Clifton Webb

This is another example of a crime that had already been committed, and we learn of the crime through Clifton Webb narrating.  Detective Mark McPherson has been assigned to investigate the murder of Laura.  Clifton loved Laura and was jealous of her relationship with Shelby (Vincent Price), despite the fact that he was responsible for her career and her mentor.   McPherson becomes obsessed with Laura as he unravels the mystery.   He is at her apartment when Laura herself walks in and they discover it was Laura’s friend who was killed.   McPherson finds a gun hidden inside Laura’s grandfather clock, and Clifton Webb attempts to kill Laura again, but instead is killed by the detective.
 

The Trial – 1962, Anthony Perkins & Orson Welles

The adorable Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates, Psycho) is a citizen accused of an unspecified crime, even unknown to himself, and must defend himself at a trial.  Orson Welles plays his lawyer.  The entire film is shot with unusual camera angles, and great distortion of height.  In scenes, it looks like Anthony Perkins’ head will hit the ceiling and in others he looks very short against those who is up against.

 

Learn More:

·         Film Noir Foundation:  http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org

Roughing It

I admit it.  I’m not a cheap date.  I like the finer things in life.  Who doesn’t?

I’ve earned it.  I have worked hard the first 21 years of my career and it looks like I will have to put in 15 more, although my field of choice for those final 15 remains to be seen.   I have put in the time and was not and continue not to get paid accordingly.  But when I am paid, particularly by the hour, it can be handsome. 

I need time off and I need it often.  Stress is high and hours are long in my field.   Due to work circumstances, it is difficult to get time off or take time off for me rather than for someone else. Sometimes just staying in a hotel, anywhere away from my home and my life even for just one night, is equivalent to taking a vacation.   

Back in the mid 90’s, I agreed to go on a weekend camping and white water rafting trip near Lake George, New York at the beginning of spring when the waters were high, fast and challenging.  We were all young and single back then, not a care in the world and unjaded.   

I am not much of a camping person.  I need my 400 thread count sheets and my heavenly comfortable Serta iComfort mattress.   I have a bad back, I need good support. I can't sleep on a floor or on the ground.  I also require indoor plumbing, heating and central air conditioning.  Home cooking is hard enough, never mind having to build a fire and try to make something edible over a flame in an old, crusty pan.   

We stayed at a campsite that allowed for electrical hookup.  We spent the entire day on the river, and even fell in a few times.  The water was frigid.  By the time the day was over, my toes were so numb, I could no longer feel them.  I was unable to walk, and I was miserable all weekend, craving the comfort of a warm blanket and a hot shower.  I took a lot of flack from my friends that weekend.  I insisted on having an electrical space heater in my tent (I am aware of my limitations and felt that the happier I was, the less miserable everyone else would be), and as it turned out, it was a very cold night, and everyone ended up cramming into my tent!  So I had the last laugh.  Even the die hard manly men campers were in my tent. 

These days I stay in five star hotels, in multi-room suites (with bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens, living rooms and bathrooms bigger than my apartment), require Jacuzzi tubs in my room, views of lakes, lagoons or downtowns, wrap-around balconies, fireplaces, personal cabanas, pre-check in privileges with key waiting at the front desk, room service, turn down service, and most importantly high end spas.  I like my fluffy bathrobes and slippers and those overhead rain shower heads or multi-shower heads (water from bove, in front of and behind) that clean you head to toe with nice water pressure.    I also need my neck and back massaged often.  And lately my feet.  

There are several hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area that I frequent often and highly recommend.  I enjoy staying on floors just for hotel members, with their own private dining rooms, or in the same room that I book by request by # every time I stay there (Parc 55).  At the San Francisco Hilton, I have a private outdoor balcony overlooking downtown San Francisco!  I can actually open my sliding door, step out the balcony and sit at a table and put my feet up.  It is sheltered, not windy and private.  And the view is amazing. 

My favorite hotel in San Francisco is the Parc 55 (although it has changed management at least three times since 2000, today it is a Hilton, which equates to more points and free stays for me), in which I stay in the same room every time I go, the room has more than 180 degrees of windows floor to ceiling.  The only wall without a window is the one the bed is on.  It even has a private dressing room that is all windows floor to ceiling with a sitting area in which you can just look out onto downtown and you feel as if you are sitting on a cloud, suspended in air, looking down on the city.  I can see Nob Hill, Financial District, Market Street and SOMA all at once.  I stay here so often, I am aware of how often they renovate and redecorate (annually it seems, maybe that is why they are now charging exorbitant rates now).   In some Hiltons, I arrive to care packages left in my room by management, with a personalized letter welcoming me (I guess they consider me a preferred member).   I have stayed in rooms where I walk right onto a golf course (at Silverado, you can do this from both the cottages on the main property or the suites scattered along the South course) and one hotel in Arizona I had my own putting green outside my sliding door.   

My three favorite hotels to stay at hands down are the Hyatt Regency @ Gainey Ranch (Scottsdale, AZ), the Fairmont Mission Inn (Sonoma) and the Parc 55 (San Francisco).   There are a lot of other great hotels in downtown San Francisco, like the Hilton (Union Square), the Marriott (SOMA), the Hyatt Regency (Embarcadero), the Saint Francis (aka the Westin) in Union Square, Sir Francis Drake (Union Square), Stanford Court (Nob Hill), The Fairmont (Nob Hill), Mark Hopkins (Nob Hill), the Galleria Park Hotel (Financial District, this is the first hotel I stayed at when I was interviewing for the job that moved me here!). I have yet to try the Villa Florence boutique hotel (Union Square), but it is on my list. 

Since this morphed into having a bay area slant by accident (I write without an outline, I just type and see what comes out), I am double-posting this on my bay area blog also.  So the posting I planned for that site this week will be delayed.