Back to Vancouver... for a day

I’m on the plane heading back to Vancouver right now, trying to kill time because I tried napping and I couldn’t do it. I don’t mind flying: Although I generally hate heights, I don’t have any problem with airplanes and I even love roller coasters. I guess it’s a highly selective and specialized fear.

Because dams are another story altogether. I met up with Matt for a few days last week in Vegas and we went out to the Hoover Dam. Very cool, but also very terrifying. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a dam, and it kinda reminded me of the last time. My parents took me to the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State when I was about nine and I cried til they took me off of it. I didn’t actually weep uncontrollably this time, but I wasn’t getting close to the edge either.

Ok… two hours of flight time left. What to talk about now…

I also met up with Karen, Megan, Ange, and Clair (who I used to go to law school with) and we hung out a bit. The first night I was there we went to the Folies Bergere, which was a total blast and a great way to get a taste of old Vegas. The next day I didn’t see them during the day, but that night I went over to their hotel room at about 1:30am for a drink or two before heading out to a club in the hotel. Ok well that was the plan. In reality one or two drinks turned into many, many, drinks and I think we finally made it downstairs at 4am or something crazy like that. I didn’t even make the club: Just played some quarter slots and called it a night.

Matt and I went to see Mamma Mia while we were there, which was awesome. His friend Clark is in the show and we had great seats. Really, really great seats. I would highly recommend seeing that show if you’re going to Vegas anytime soon.

As I said before, I forgot my stupid camera cable so I haven’t been able to download any pictures. This really turned out to be a pain in the ass because I’ve had to worry about having enough memory to hold everything. Not too hard with pictures, but I’ve been shooting some videos too and that eats up memory pretty fast.

And SPEAKING of video, I have a really really great one to post as soon as I get off this plane. My friend Alex volunteers at a bird sanctuary and yesterday he took me along to release some birds that were ready to go back into the wild. After spending an hour or so in a couple huge cages full of hawks (and a couple turkey vultures), we drove around releasing nine hawks in different neighborhoods around LA. I got lots of pictures but I also got a video of him releasing a red tailed hawk right under the Hollywood sign. Amazing.

Ok pretty soon this is going to turn into one of those really long posts that people see and think “this post is too long to read.” Do people do that? I think some do. I do. Sometimes… Anyway, I have one more LA story that needs to be told before I finish up.

The first night I got there we were out at a bar having a couple drinks. I was up at the bar ordering a drink and I looked to my right. It was Michelle Stafford. Ordering a drink. Seriously. I had to look at her like three times to confirm because it was just too good to be true. I can’t think of many famous people I’d want to meet more than I wanted to meet Michelle Stafford. In case someone out there reading this doesn’t watch Young and the Restless (crazy to think but apparently some people don’t), she plays Phyllis on the show.

Anyway I was a mess. I could barely order my drink. My friend Jack was a bit more collected – he went right over to her and started talking to her and THEN he introduced me. I don’t even remember what I said but I do remember that she was really cool. Warm, friendly, and all that.

Ok enough. But seriously, Michelle Stafford. She was on my 2006 list of 76 favorite things. Crappily, I did not have my camera.

But I do have a lot of pictures of other stuff, and I’ll post them soon. No promises as to exactly when, but soon.

Stay tuned.