coronavirus

COVID booster and 2021 flu shots

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This is what Walmart uses for shots. It’s an “Inject-Safe barrier” that sticks to your skin and they poke the needle through the thin film in the center of it.

More than 6 months ago Sher and I received our second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Within the past few days the Moderna half dose booster shots became available for those of us over the age of 65, as well as others depending on heath concerns and other conditions.

Our local Walmart almost immediately had booster shots available either by appointment or walk in basis. We decided to go there as we had received our first two full strength doses there. Simple visit, walked in, had about a 5 minute wait. We also got our flu shots at the same time.

Two weeks from our receiving the booster it will be fully effective. Just in time for our trip to Austin. Yes, we’re going back to traveling, visiting our oldest son, daughter-in-law and our 9 year old granddaughter. We’ll soon be bringing some posts from Texas.

Sunday morning doughnut treats

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Talk about a diet buster, but oh, so good! Our son-in-law treated us all with a box of delicious, I mean delicious doughnuts from the Frost store in Mill Creek, Washington. There is something about a lazy Sunday morning that just cries out for fresh Long Johns, Bismarks or Apple Fritters. These delights have rightfully earned the title of Best Doughnuts in Washington State.

Not much left of our grandson’s treat

Our 6 year old grandson had a ball with his sprinkled and icing topped doughnut. He had a very unique way of devouring it. He started from the top, eating the icing and sprinkles layer first, and subsequently went round and round in a circle until the doughnut was gone.

What’s left of the doughnuts. The Apple fritters come in a bag.

We actually visited the Frost store during our January 2020 visit to Seattle. At the time we were wintering in Austin and had stored the RV for a month and flew to Seattle. This was if you remember right before COVID hit the nursing home in Seattle. This is the link to our article about the Frost store. The article has mouth watering photos including ones of fancy coffees.

Wild strawberry or COVID virus??

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Took a picture of a couple of mushrooms yesterday.  Within the image was a little red wild strawberry. Once the photo was enlarged and the red berry zeroed in, the details of the berry came into focus.

That looks eerily close to COVID

Immediately the  shape of the berry looked very familiar. Yes, that shape has been displayed just about everywhere since, oh, sometime around March 2020. It does look way to much like the renderings you see of that damned COVID-19 virus.

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse

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Philly steak

It has been over a year since we were able to see Maj’s sister. That changed when we met for lunch at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse in Noblesville, Indiana. Noblesville is northeast of Indianapolis but is really part of the Indy Metro area. BJ’s is part of a national chain.

We had a wonderful time “catching up” on the news from my sister’s family and we shared our family news too. It’s amazing how much has occurred in the past year and a half in our families.

 

 

 

 

The restaurant is spacious, and when seated we noticed extra partitions between booths. The food and service was excellent. The menu featured tons of options, and many different beers. We ordered something we had never seen before: a flight of margaritas! Served like a flight of beers, it had four different margarita samples.  We agreed the strawberry sample was our favorite.

The flight of margaritas

The food and service were both excellent. The portions were very generous, and all three of us enjoyed our meals. The most enjoyment of this luncheon came from our being together again. Now that things are at least somewhat back to near normal, we hope to get together each month.

 

Back to a casino

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Sher and I always enjoyed casinos either at home or while traveling. COVID-19 stopped that for over a year. Being vaccinated, we’re slowly getting back to “doing things”. After some discussion, we figured it was time to try the Indiana Grand casino near us. (Indiana Grand is a casino and thoroughbred race track, part of the Caesars’ gaming company.)

We hoped a weekday afternoon visit might avoid having to face a big crowd. That strategy worked well, as the parking lots and garage were not filled as we remembered from pre-covid days. The first change we noticed was the requirement to show your driver’ license, the information of which was recorded. The Security fellow said it was for ‘contact tracing’ if needed. Hmmm…

Masks were required, except when you are eating or drinking. The self serve coffee and soda stations have morphed into refreshment stations where an employee serves you your free coffee or soda. Bottled beer was also available for purchase.

Sher enjoyed Great Gorilla slots. By the way Gorilla was very generous this session…

The slot machines were spaced further apart than before. A set of 3 machines had only the two outside positions open. Basically, at any machine you were 6 feet away from the closest player. The blackjack table games had limited seating as well. The only place we saw folks not social distancing was at the Roulette and Craps tables.

Things are definitely different: the buffet is a thing of the past with food available at a snack bar and one restaurant. The noise level is much less. The volume on the slot machines seem to be much lower than pre-covid. With the slot spacing you don’t feel as “crowded”. Oh, and people watching isn’t nearly as much fun with everybody in masks! All in all we did feel comfortable being out in the casino. Good to have that back.

Want to visit NOLA again

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We’re 15 days away from our second dose of the COPVID-19 vaccine. Shortly after that it should kick in and offer us a measure of protection from the virus.

Bourbon Street in New Orleans, known for music, food and revelry. Note the famed balcony iron work in the background

Red beans and rice with smoked sausage

The band at Bamboula’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are standing in front of the tomb of Marie Laveau, the famed Voodoo Queen. This is reportedly the most visited tomb in New Orleans.

We are not sure exactly when we’ll decide to travel again. But one place we do want to visit again is New Orleans. Sher and I both so enjoyed our last visit there back in 2018. We loved the food, the music and the atmosphere of this exciting  place. There is so much to see and do in NOLA.  It will definitely be on an upcoming itinerary  of ours.

A clever sign

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This old wagon has a very appropriate and humorous sign attached. This is at the La Hacienda RV Resort near Lake Travis in the Hill Country out side of Austin. We wintered there prior to the pandemic.

The king of the sea

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King Neptune on the Virginia Beach, VA Boardwalk

Compare Neptune’s size to the bike rider!

Neptune and his turtle

The octopus

The bronze statue of King Neptune is the spectacular creation of artist Paul DiPasquale. It was dedicated in 2005 and to this day reigns over the sea (and the boardwalk). Neptune holds his trademark trident with a hand on a sea turtle. He is also surrounded by many other sea creatures on the statue base.

We lived in Virginia Beach in the 90’s and loved the beach and boardwalk, spending hours and hours enjoying the ocean waves. Imagine our surprise when we returned in 2016 and saw Neptune as we strolled north along the boardwalk. Photos do not do him justice. Virginia Beach is a marvelous vacation destination with year round activities. Hopefully the city will be getting back to post pandemic conditions sooner than later.

Sacred Devils Tower

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Remember this from the 1977 “Close Encounters” movie?

Close up shot of the columnar structure. Each “column” is about 8 feet across!

The Devils Tower is a sacred site to Native Americans and is an NPS National
Monument. Located in the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming, this remarkable geologic butte stands nearly 900 feet tall from it base to the top. The rock is igneous and was formed when the molten lava intruded into layers of sedimentary rocks. Those rocks weathered away, leaving the Devils Tower that we see today.

There is interesting history of both the geology of the tower, as well as the history of human involvement of the site. This was the first National Monument, so designated ten years before the National Park Service was founded. Study the Devils Tower website for details about the park, its history and current covid restrictions.

We visited Devils Tower back in 2015.