Go West Young (Wo)Man!

The month of August was a VERY busy travel month. I may post about it. I HOPE to post about it. In the meantime, here's the flickr pics of the drive I took across the country with my sis as we ventured from her place in Chicago back to my place in California. Peep them here.

Tr!ckster!...The Legend Continues

Oh, how the time flies! Many apologies for the late update. Where were we? Oh, yes! Setting up shop!

(above, Tr!ckster glasses with the first of our "High Five" boozes. This was for our "Quality Control" test. Never let it be said we don't care about quality!)



It's still Sunday and we've sorted all the books and started to lay out the store. Steve starts putting the shelves together. Scott and Ted get the tables set and I triple check the inventory to make sure I've got everything and know where it's all sitting.






We get some merchandise on the shelves before it's time to call it a night. Only one more day of set up before we OPEN!

Monday dawns bright and sunny. We all get straight to work. Quickly putting stuff on the tables and arranging backstock as fast as we possibly can. It takes a LOT longer than we could have imagined.







Sooo much stuff!

Scott, Ted and I take a break to celebrate my birthday - a day early. My actual birthday would fall on our opening day and we didn't think we'd have any time to dash out (we were correct). So we opted for what has become the traditional place to celebrate my bday in San Diego (as 'Con tends to fall on my bday) Lou & Mickey's! Ah, steak and Maytag martinis. Does it get any better?



I can taste that cool martini right now. Refreshing!

Before you know it, Monday was done and we were scrambling to finish our set up for TUESDAY - Opening Night!


Here's Scott assuring Allen Spiegel and Co. that we'll be finished with the set up by the time the doors open for business. HA!

And suddenly, we were off to the races!*
*I neglected to snap a single photo on the first day. Too busy! Here are photos from the following days. All excellent!



Inside the store! Madness!


The patio was the place to be!



Thanks, Ted - for making Tr!ckster happen.

Thank, Scott - for making Tr!ckster happen.

I cannot tell you guys (all) how much it meant to me to be a part of this wonderful event. Inspiring, exhausting, exciting, entertaining, hectic, stressful, wonderful!


Thanks to all who stopped by! Hope we see you at the NEXT Tr!ckster!

Tr!ckster!

At long last, I've uploaded all the photos I could find from Tr!ckster. Whew. What was/is Tr!ckster? By all means, stop reading this and go check it out. I'll wait...

Cool right?! Join me as I 'recap' the mania (based on my sleep deprived memories):


We begin our adventure when my fellow Tr!ckster co-founders, Scott and Ted arrived with our transportation (which I later dubbed, 'Truckulus the Destroyer'. A well-earned moniker, I assure you!). They along with my sainted husband, Jeff, loaded the beast while I (and my bad back) supervised.


Scott hauls a load of loot to the 'destroyer.


Ted documents the drudgery of 'load-in' day. Later, we will both regret any pic that has Truckulus the Destroyer in the background.


"Hey Anita! I'm pretty sure snapping pics doesn't really count as 'helping'."

Ted and I set off along the highway hoping to make excellent time. Well, at least arrive in San Diego with enough time to grab a cocktail and something for dinner. I will spare you the details of that arduous journey. Suffice it to say, it ended fine - in that we arrived safely. Our trip involved crawling along at a snail's pace (it was a big truck) and blowing a tire roughly 45 miles from our destination. Said tire blow resulted in a many hour wait that I think both us would prefer to forget. Dinner was fast food and no cocktails were had. It was well after 1:30am by the time each of us crashed at our respective hotels.

Let's get to SATURDAY!


Yes, I'm 'helping' again.

The guys hauled all the stuff away on dollies. I watched our belongings to make sure nothing walked off. I assure you, it was very helpful! I also fed the meter! See, I AM useful!

Once we got the 'Destroyer' unloaded, the tables in position, and the lists of stuff we needed made, it was time to call it a day and head out for a bit of fun:

Padres vs. Giants





After the game it was off to Cowboy Star for dinner followed by drinks at the Noble Experiment (look it up, I'm not telling! It involved a 'secret' door - that's all I'm sayin'!).



What do you mean somthing's behind me?

I recommend the 'Dealer's Choice' and tip well - else you end up on the 'wall of bad tippers'.

Sunday was bright and sunny. I jauntily made my way back to our excellent location with a spring in my step and song in my heart (and a coffee in my hand).


It was much more impressive when they turned the fountains ON. Still, nice to walk past it every day on my way to work.

I arrived to learn that Truckulus the Destroyer had struck again! Stranding Scott and Ted on a supply run. While they waited for rescue, Steve (my chief minion) and I sorted the boxes into categories to make getting merchandise out easier. Once the guys had returned we started to set up in earnest!




Up Next: MORE set up Fun! With a least one break for food and/or cocktails.

Carolwood Foundation: Riding the rails!

Me, in the Combine


Passengers on the Combine


Jeff in the baggage section of the Combine - that's where we took our first ride!


This train carries some dangerous freight!


Train pulling in.


Train leaving the station! All aboard!


All together now! The cars from the original train hooked up (minus the 'Belle).


Taking a curve on the train!*
*This was a special treat! We hadn't thought we'd be allowed to ride the trains once they were hooked up but, the engineers assured us we could! Everyone filled the last three cars and we took a single spin 'round the property. Such a great way to end the day!


Fill 'er up!


Roger Colton conducts us to our seats.



To see the entire photo album, peep them on my Flickr page.

Carolwood Foundation: Riding the Retlaw 1

Also in May, Jeff and I took a trip with the Carolwood Foundation to ride the Original Disneyland and Santa Fe Combine - a part of Disneyland's original railroad!

The trip started in Oakland where Jeff and Mr. Floyd Norman were the 'guests of honor' on this leg of the trip. Animation (and Disney) Legend, Floyd Norman gave a great talk about working for Walt Disney as we chugged our way down to San Luis Obispo.



That evening, Floyd, Jeff, Tony Baxter and Ray Cadd gave a great talk called "Story is King: The Magic of Disney Storytelling". Jeff and Floyd focused on story in film and Tony and Ray focused on Story in the theme parks. Fantastic stuff!

To help raise funds for the Combine (for more info on that, check out Carolwood's website) - they had a auction. I love auctions! I love helping with auctions!


Bookends that used to belong to Walt.




Oh, I wanted this poster!



The next day we all arrived at Santa Margarita Ranch in order to ride the rails ALL Day!





Lunch was a BBQ on the ranch. Yum! And then we had MORE rail fun. I'll post additional pics of that later.