travel

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema schedules Planet of the Apes

/ Roadtirementvintage / 10 Comments

Full size statue from the from the 1st movie

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is a nation wide chain of “dinner and a movie” entertainment. While they are closed due the COVID-19 restrictions, their website still shows a scheduled showing of the 1968 cult classic “Planet of the Apes” for August 30th this fall. Whether this showing happens remains to be seen.

Sher and I and our Austin family went to one of these theaters during our Winter Texan stay this past year. The seats are large and comfortable, and the table for your dinner is more than adequate. Food was good, too. We saw and enjoyed  Little Women.

Anyway,  I wanted to show you the huge statue in the lobby of the theater we went to

Ad for an Ape movie marathon

in Austin. The statue is from the actual movie Planet of the Apes. I asked one of the employees where it came from. Turns out the owner of the theater chain also owns the rights to the Planet of the Apes franchise. There were movie posters for all of the Ape movies displayed in the lobby as well as ads for an APE movie marathon of the original five movies.

Have you seen the Planet of the Apes movies? Can you name the original five titles? Might be a good topic for a “stay at home in isolation” set of trivia questions. Stay safe, dear readers. Don’t go ape!

 

Will COVID-19 restraints end and safety return?

/ Roadtirementvintage / 17 Comments

We and millions of others around the world are intimately aware of the terms shelter in place, isolation, quarantine, stay at home and social distancing. Trump and Pence and his experts are starting to hint about “re-opening” the country.

Our 2019 Highway 40 Yard Sale set-up

All of the Flea Markets and Shows we usually go to are closed due to COVID-19 mandates. One of our best is the annual Highway 40 Yard Sale which follows US 40 across the country. It is held in May.

Even if things are “open” in May, will it be safe for us to be out mixing at all with the public, no matter the conditions? Right now we are thinking we best not get out until there is a proven treatment for this killer virus.

What information/news is going to be enough for you to get back to “normal” activities? Will we ever see BC normal again? (BC = before COVID-19)

Remembering a distillery visit in Texas

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

I thought it was time for something different than a post about the COVID-19 pandemic. Allow us to share a few photos and text about a nice local distillery we visited during our winter residence in Texas a few short weeks ago.

Fast Eddy logo in neon

The Hill Country near Austin is home to several breweries, wineries and distilleries. Near Dripping Springs one will find the Fast Eddy Vodka distillery. We stopped there one day near the closing time. The place was absolutely packed as there were the normal amount of cars and two huge tour buses that had filled the place with folks.

 

 

 

The bar of course had samples of the many varieties of flavored vodkas bottled at the facility. There was a very large distillery room with lots of tables. We looked at the merchandise, but did not really find any shirts we liked. Our purchases were limited to a couple of glasses with the Deep Eddy logo.  We passed on samples as we had been out all day visiting breweries. I was not really in the mood for even a sample of vodka.

Here is the Deep Eddy website. Notice that now the place is closed due to, you guessed it, COVID-19 restrictions. When we go to Texas in the future, we do plan on visiting Deed Eddy again.

LEGO long distance babysitting

/ Roadtirementvintage / 12 Comments

Our 5 year old grandson lives in Seattle with his parents. Both our daughter and son-in-law are currently working from home because of the coronavirus, work that requires both phone calls and meetings via video-conferencing, as well as other tasks that require their giving full attention. Our grandson is also staying home from his pre-school.

Sher and I have the absolute pleasure of distant babysitting our grandson via video conferencing technology. He loves building things with his extensive LEGO collection.  When we connect, we are treated to a little show complete with his latest Lego creation and its associated story line. We get to see a new play each time complete with a song! We absolutely love talking with him and seeing all those LEGO creations he is working on daily. Being home is hard for him as he is used to being in preschool with his little friends. Lots of pent up energy there!

Not only do we get to “babysit” our grandson which is a treat for us, but we can give his parents some time while they are working from home that they can have to themselves. Plus it gives us something else to do. This isolation thing does get rather boring at times.

What are you doing to pass the time during these tense and uncertain times?

Corona virus, Indiana, and our take

/ Roadtirementvintage / 10 Comments

Sher and I returned from Texas to our home in central Indiana the last week of February. The corona virus issue was heating up.  We wanted to ride it out in an area we know. The news kept getting worse and worse. Indiana finally got its first confirmed case, and as of this writing there are now twelve confirmed in the Hoosier state.

Our situation

Yes, we’re both a little scared and a lot upset. I am the poster child for the high risk individual with underlying health issues. I have a Trifecta: 69 years old with COPD and heart issues. I can’t take any chances so we are staying in, hunkered down with our TV, internet and talking with our kids and grand kids via texting and video calling. Are you avoiding crowds? Paying attention to “social distancing”?  (That’s a new term, huh? My how the world has changed in a few short months.)

Stocking up

Some experts say two weeks worth of food and supplies. I think a month is a safer bet, and we pretty much have that covered. What is your take on stocking up? Can you make it for two, three or more weeks without a trip to the grocery? Got enough medicines? A couple of our sons ran into  shelves empty of toilet paper yesterday.

A Meijer in Ohio

A Walmart in Indiana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A massive shutdown

Things are going from bad to worse. Schools and universities are closing everywhere. No gatherings of any large size are being allowed. Sports events? Well, forget them for at least a month or two. Concerts, plays, festivals? Nope. (Here in Indiana the Governor has designated 250 as the magic number for the size of gatherings that will be allowed)

What’s your feeling? 

We can’t understand why testing numbers are so low here in the U.S. The President says one thing, his top adviser Dr. Fauci says the opposite. Seriously? Hard to be optimistic about our government’s ability to handle the corona virus pandemic. What do you think?

To our blogging friends

Please please be safe! It’s bad, and we’re afraid it is going to get worse. We can communicate through our blogs and other e-methods which is helpful if, like us, you are wary of any public interaction. Let’s keep in touch.

Oh, wash your hands, wash your hands and wash your hands.