Michael R. Hicks's Blog, page 12

Wandering The Historic District of Tucson, Arizona

Even though I grew up in the Phoenix area, I never really got to know Tucson. I mean, I never really had any particular need to go there, and didn’t see any reason to drive a couple hours to see another place that was, in my mind then, exactly like where I was, just a bit smaller. I found out on this trip, however, that Tucson is far from a smaller clone of Phoenix, and has its own unique charm (and some outstanding Mexican food). And, in the case of this trip, Tucson was also our home base for some day trips to some other sights in southern Arizona, including the famous Old West town of Tombstone, Mount Lemmon, some of southern Arizona’s wineries (yes, there be wineries here!), and the Kitt Peak National Observatory. This is also where we met up with my parents for the start of our Arizona/New Mexico RV caravan.

After another amazingly easy drive from Mesilla/Las Cruces New Mexico (I remain eternally vigilant for another scene from the movie “RV” to play out!), we arrived at the Lazydays RV Campground, which is very conveniently located a bit south of the intersection of I-10 and I-19. To call this place a campground, however, doesn’t come close to doing it justice. This is a huge park with outstanding accommodations: the stone-covered sites are large and long, with a concrete patio with table and chairs, and an adjoining paved driveway for your towed car (a.k.a. “the toad”) or pickup if you’re hauling a trailer. The only downside is that while there are some trees, mostly citrus, in the park, there isn’t any tree cover to speak of. For those like us who live on the Internet, there is Wi-Fi, which is common at many parks now; this one is better than most, but still drops out now and again.

The campground, however, is really only the tip of the iceberg at this place. There is also an adjoining Lazydays RV sales and service center (huge!), so if your RV needs any work done, they can handle just about everything (note: I’m not sure if they do any chassis maintenance here, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t), and they’ll even send a mechanic to you to do on-site repairs. There’s also a Camping World on-site, and there are two or three other RV dealerships in rock-throwing distance, plus a CostCo just a mile or two away. In short, this place is an RV mecca!

One of the best things, however, is the Florizona Restaurant. When we first went in, I was expecting something along the lines of Denny’s: basic Americana food, not bad, not great. Boy, was I wrong! This restaurant has a real chef who knows his way around a kitchen, and while the menu doesn’t have a huge number of items or anything terribly exotic, everything we had in the couple/few times we ate there — including what I’ll rate as the best burger I’ve ever eaten — was fantastic, and at prices that were quite reasonable. So, if you stay at Lazydays in Tucson and you’re in the mood for something to eat but don’t want to bother driving around to find a place, walk your buns over to Florizona (which is collocated with the office) and treat yourself.

On to Tucson itself (I’ll cover the day trips in separate posts). While this is Arizona’s second largest city with a million or so residents, it has the feel of a much smaller town, which is a good thing in my mind. In fact, our main focus for the day we dedicated to actually spending in Tucson, as opposed to running off somewhere else in the area, was the historic downtown area, while my parents went off to wander about the Sonora Desert Museum (alas, we didn’t make it there this trip).

Now, before we get to our toddling about in the downtown area, let me comment on the weather here for those who aren’t from the area and are used to the conditions. In late June during our stay, it is hot, dry, and windy, with high temperatures during our stay of around 103, humidity ranging from 4 (!!) to around 20 percent, and winds that kick up in the mid- to late-morning that are pretty constant until evening at anywhere from 15 to nearly 30 miles an hour as measured by my little weather station. What that means for you when you go out to do your tourist schtick during the day is a) wear a hat that not only covers your eyes, but the back of your neck and sides of your head, and that lets air pass through to cool your noggin, and is snug enough that it won’t blow off easily (we got cowboy hats in Tombstone that worked pretty well, although Jan’s wasn’t tight enough and had a tendency to fly off in gusts – but that gave us some extra exercise as we tried to run it down!); b) a high SPF sunscreen for your face, neck, and any exposed areas of your upper body, as the sun here is very intense and will burn the crap out of you if you give it a chance; and c) water to stay hydrated. The combination of the heat, wind, and bone-dry humidity will suck the water right out of you! And if you do feel like you’re getting a bit too hot, just find a shady spot and take a break. Being out of the direct sun will make you feel a lot cooler.

However, while it may sound on the surface like you wouldn’t want to go outside at all during the day, the heat-humidity-wind combination actually works to keep your body cool as long as you stay hydrated and keep your noggin covered. We wandered the streets for a couple/few hours during mid-day, and while I was hot, I wasn’t at all uncomfortable. Just keep what I said above in mind when you’re getting to go out and you’ll be fine.

Ironically, we didn’t have a lot of time to spend in Tucson itself, so we focused our attention on the historic district downtown, which was a veritable visual smorgasbord for picture-taking.

One recommendation I have is that you stop by the visitor center at 100 South Church Avenue (there’s convenient parking in a garage across the street, then just take the skywalk over to the complex where the visitor center is located). The folks there are extremely nice and helpful, and they’ll give you a treasure map to make your wanderings more purposeful and point out some of the cool spots to check out downtown (or anywhere else in the area).

We started our wanderings by heading south past the convention center and across Cushing Street into the historic barrio area there. There are some simply gorgeous homes and commercial buildings here that are worth the look-see.

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Once we were done ogling down there, we headed back north, past the convention center area again, to the old courthouse (which is beautiful) to check out some of the architectural goodies there. Of course, there are also shops and other places you can plop down your money, but it’s not at all a touristy area.

One of the highlights of our trip thus far was to be found at 311 North Court Avenue: the El Charro Cafe. We had originally planned to hit another place while in Tucson, the Cafe Poca Cosa (which has garnered outstanding reviews and sounded really great), but the timing didn’t work out, as the restaurant was closed on the only days we could go there. However, El Charro didn’t disappoint in the least! I grew up in Phoenix and have had my share of Mexican food, but I have to say that El Charro had the best I’ve ever had, hands down (or paws up, as Lady GaGa might say). We actually went there twice, once for dinner with my parents, and then again when Jan and I were out sightseeing. I had the carne secs the first time, and a carne Colorado chimichanga the second. Both were simply outstanding, and the margaritas aren’t bad, either. So if you’re in Tucson, make sure to check out El Charro (and, even though we didn’t get a chance to go there, Cafe Poca Cosa).

Next up: Tombstone, Arizona, the site of the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral!

The post Wandering The Historic District of Tucson, Arizona appeared first on Michael R. Hicks.

Wine-Tasting In Mesilla, New Mexico

Our next planned stop after Carlsbad was Las Cruces, which on the map looked like a good spot to hang out and take a side trip to White Sands National Monument and the New Mexico Museum of Space History at Alamagordo. Once we got to the Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces, however, the hour-plus drive to Alamagordo wasn’t looking too appealing, and we opted instead to just chill out and hit some of the local wine bistros, which took us into Mesilla, which adjoins Las Cruces to the south.

First, a quick review of the Hacienda RV Resort. We were VERY impressed with this place: it’s very well laid out, has wide paved roads throughout the park, a (nice!) hotel quality office and lounge area, and spacious sites, both back-ins and pull-thrus, covered in crushed rock. It’s close to I-10 without being too close for road noise, and in case you’re itching to look at a new RV or need something repaired, there are two RV dealerships right next door.

Speaking of RV repairs (sorry, I have to digress a moment here!), I wanted to give some kudos to Larry of Larry’s RV and Marine Service. Larry provides mobile on-site repair services, and he was kind enough to fit us into his busy schedule so we could finally get our rig’s power cord (which had been submerged during the tropical storm before we left Florida and had water in it!) replaced. Aside from doing the actual replacement, he took the extra time to find a replacement cord, which is a bit hard to find in local shops. It would have been easy for him to tell me he couldn’t get it done in the time we had, but he went the extra mile, had the job done fast, and was a very nice guy. So, if you’re in the Las Cruces area and need something fixed, please consider giving Larry some business!

Okay, back to our travels! The trip from Carlsbad to Las Cruces on US-180 was, again, pretty uneventful. I’m sure the lack of excitement (like big rigs running over things) is to lull me into a sense of false security, but I am determined to remain vigilant to all forms of natural and man-made disaster!

Speaking of which, one of the things I’ve put on my Amazon to-order list is a CB radio. No, I don’t want to sit there and play “Breaker, breaker!” with the truckers, although that could be fun, too. In truth, some of our travels have taken us over some pretty desolate and not well-traveled roads where even roaming cell phone service was pretty iffy, and I’d like to have another means of communication in case we get stuck out in the middle of nowhere. The other reason is for traffic: we’ve been caught in several jams in the past that, had we been plugged into the truckers chatting about what’s going on and how to get around the problem, we might have been able to avoid. So, when I’m done writing this I’m going to order one to have delivered to the campground where we are now.

Onward to Las Cruces: to be frank, we really didn’t see much of Las Cruces itself other than the Walmart, where we picked up a few items. All the rest of our time was spent wandering around Mesilla, which adjoins Las Cruces a bit south of I-10. Mesilla is just one of those old (from the mid-1800s, in this case) towns that have a ton of character crammed into a small area. While our main targets in our wanderings were the wine bistros, there are also enough shops and restaurants to make any tourist happy for day of handing over your credit card to very nice people so they can take your money in exchange for goodies.

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I have to confess that before we began planning this trip, I had no idea that New Mexico and Arizona had so many wineries. Fortunately, this ignorance has now been dispelled! In Mesilla we visited three bistros and wine bars while we wandered the streets like the tourists that we are. Now, I’ll tell you up front that we’re not wine connoisseurs in any way shape or form. But we enjoy wine a lot, with sweeter wines getting the nod over more traditional varieties.

The first place we hit was Luna Rossa, which not only has a wine bar, but serves some of the best pizza you’ll probably ever find. The best part is that it’s just around the corner and in easy walking distance from the Hacienda RV Resort (which is great if you overdo in the wine tasting arena!). I have to confess that while we had some wine with our pizza dinner, we didn’t really sample any of the others, which is doubtless a tragic oversight. Regardless, if you’re in the area and enjoy pizza and/or wine, make sure you stop here for lunch or dinner.

The second place we hit was Josefina’s Old Gate (a.k.a. Josefina’s), which is a gorgeous, quaint little restaurant. I had a chicken quesadilla, which was quite good. Jan had a chicken salad sandwich that she said was the best she’d ever had (and she knows chicken salad!), along with some of the best potato salad either of us has ever eaten. We also sampled some of their wines, and walked out with a bottle to save for later.

Stop number three was at Vintage Wines, which is billed as a premier wine bar (in a very quaint, attractive way) in downtown Mesilla, and from what we saw when we went in, the claim definitely fits. While they have some awesome-tasting wine (we walked out with another bottle), the highlight of our visit was one of the owners, Nicki O’Dell. She was incredibly nice and we had a great talk with her while she was pouring our wine and making some fresh sangria (which, upon reflection, we should have tried, too). For wine-lovers or even wanna-be likers, this is a must-stop place in Mesilla.

The fourth stop we’d planned was at St. Claire’s, which also is close to the RV park (in fact, you could walk to all these places if you’re up to a couple miles hoofing it). Unforunately, we arrived during what signs there announced as “Yappy Hour.” The place was absolutely packed! Not only was their parking lot full, but cars were parked in the dirt lot across the street and curbside everywhere. It was like going to a county fair or something. We figured out the “Yappy” part of Yappy Hour when we saw people emerging from their cars with their dogs, heading into the bistro. Had the place not been so jammed, we would have gone in, but neither Jan nor I are generally big on crowds of people, so we opted out. However, should we pass this way again, we’ll make sure to stop here and see what all the barking is about!

Now, my last comments may ruffle a few feathers (or not). When looking for a restaurant for dinner the night before we were to leave (we spent two nights here), I got a LOT of recommendations for the La Posta Restaurant, so we went there. Now, it’s almost worth going there just for the ambience: this place is sort of like a Mexican-themed Rainforest Cafe. The drinks we had were also quite good (and, in the case of whatever it was that I had, quite potent!). The food, however, was meh, at best. I had the Combination Plate #1, which included a tamale (I love tamales) and a couple other tidbits, and Jan had some soft chicken tacos. Pretty much everything was bland and fairly tasteless, except for the salsa, which was so hot that Jan (who loves Indian and Thai food) couldn’t eat it, and I could only manage it in little dabs on the chips, and the tamale was pretty darn dry. Fortunately, the food there isn’t expensive, but after that it’s not a place I’d recommend when there are other places around like Josefina’s or Luna Rossa with much better food.

And so, with our cache of wine stored away in a cabinet inside the RV, we got ready for the next stop on our trek, which will bring me back to the state where I grew up: Tucson, Arizona.

The post Wine-Tasting In Mesilla, New Mexico appeared first on Michael R. Hicks.

Exploring the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

After the excitement of our stay at the Caverns of Sonora RV Park, our visit to Carlsbad, New Mexico, was almost downright boring. There are times, of course, when boring is good!

We got up earlier than usual and cleared out of Sonora to make an uneventful drive along I-10 and US-285 that took us through the thriving metropolitan areas of Fort Stockton and Pecos, Texas, before we arrived in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The main reason for stopping here was to see the Carlsbad Caverns at the National Park bearing the same name. I was also looking at heading up to Roswell to check out the UFO lore when I was doing the initial trip planning, but it’s about 90 minutes each way from Carlsbad, so I decided to give up that little side trip for now. The aliens will have to wait.

We stayed at the aptly named Carlsbad RV Park, which is toward the southwest edge of town along US-180/National Parks Highway. In researching a place to stay, I saw that the park had gotten some very mixed reviews on Google. However, we had a very pleasant, no-fuss experience here. The staff was very friendly and informative when Jan checked us in (this is a big “we notice” thing, especially since the silliness we encountered at Green Caye outside Houston), the park is well-kept and in a good location for getting to the caverns. If I had a quibble, it would be with the WiFi connectivity; in the park’s defense, however, the staff said that they were in the middle of changing over to a new service provider, so hopefully this will be improved in the near future.

As soon as we got in and set up, we pondered what to do about the caverns. There are two ways to enter: one is by what’s called the natural entrance, which involves an 800 foot descent over the course of a mile before you get to the main area of the cavern set up for visitors. The other way is by elevator that takes you down 750 feet. We wanted to do the natural entrance, but it closes a bit earlier than the elevator, and we initially didn’t think we’d make it. Then I remembered that we’d gained an hour heading west, so we should have plenty of time (note: the time zone changes between Texas and New Mexico down in the south made my head spin!).

We hopped in the car and headed down National Parks Highway/US-180 to the park. Now, for some reason I had thought that the RV park was actually collocated with the caverns. Don’t ask me how. But it’s about a 30-40 minute drive to get to the park. There is an RV park, Whites City RV Park, located right at the entrance to the national park (which encompasses much more than just the caverns, by the way), but from what I could see from the road and looking at Google Maps, the sites looked pretty crammed together. Just from that, I probably wouldn’t have stayed here, anyway.

Once into the park, you take a winding road up to the top of a mountain, which is where you’ll find the building that houses the entrance to the caverns, a gift shop, cafe, library, and informational movie theater. Like all the National Park facilities I’ve been to so far, everything was nice, clean, and the park personnel were uniformly friendly. Or friendly and uniformed. Something like that.

Again, however, disappointment struck. The natural entrance had been closed for the day because of concerns over the rain storm that was heading into the area. I didn’t collapse to the floor and sob, but I was really looking forward to it, partly because it sounded really cool, and partly because we both needed the exercise. While Jan and I had the best of intentions, the only exercise we’ve gotten so far has been a bit of walking. The rest of the time we’ve been pretty sedentary (driving all day does that to you!) and eating more yummy food than we probably should. But the natural entrance to the cave looked like a great way to get in a little bit of fat burning, but it wasn’t to be. We were stuck with those extra lipids for now.

So, down in the elevator we went. It’s sort of weird, thinking about dropping down the equivalent of a 75 story building into the ground. Once the doors opened, it was off into the caverns.

I’ve been in a few caverns, and have always found them fascinating, and have never been able to fathom what possessed the original explorers (who, back then, didn’t have all the tech and gear like flashlights that we take for granted now) to go poking around in theses dark recesses of the earth. On the other hand, I’m glad they did, because if it was up to my chicken self, places like this would still be a mystery, at least until the guys from Google Maps get it sorted out (from the looks of it, that may be in the works, evidenced by the Google car we saw in the parking lot).

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Once we were done with the cavern tour, we headed back up to the visitor center, where we nabbed some t-shirts from the gift shop and had dinner at the cafe. The food wasn’t spectacular, but it was decent and reasonably priced, which is always good for hungry cave explorers.

After that, we headed back home, making a stop or two to grab some pics of some of the scenic areas of the park, which were enhanced by the nearby storm.

The verdict on Carlsbad is that if you enjoy scenic wonders in general and caverns in particular, it’s a must-see. I’ll be honest and say that I think some of the other caverns I’ve seen had a bit more eye candy, but how can you really compare amazing to amazing? Also, be sure to take a moment to wander over to the edge of the parking lot at the visitor center and get an eyeful of the vista that awaits you, and consider stopping at some of the exhibit points along the road up to the visitor center.

Next stop: Las Cruces, New Mexico…

The post Exploring the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico appeared first on Michael R. Hicks.

An Unexpected Turn of Events at the Caverns of Sonora, Texas

I hate to state the obvious, but Texas is huge. Unless you’re a drive-o-maniac (which I never was to begin with), you can count on spending a couple/few/several days in the Lone Star State. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, just driving the point home. For our last stop before we headed into New Mexico on our summer RV trip, my route planning indicated a stop somewhere between San Antonio and Carlsbad. None of the options were terribly appealing until I found the web site for the Caverns of Sonora RV Park. Unfortunately, our stop there proved anything but routine.

The Caverns at Sonora looks like it should be a pretty cool place, with a gift shop that turned out to be quite interesting, guided tours of the caverns, and a collocated RV park. All in all, it seemed like a great place to hang our hats for the evening on an overnight stop in the middle of nowhere in Texas.

Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out quite as we’d planned. First of all, when we arrived around 4:30 PM and checked in (note: they don’t take reservations), we were told by the gent at the counter that the last tour of the caverns was at 6 PM and it was already booked full. Looking around, there wasn’t anybody else in the gift shop area, and maybe half a dozen cars outside (which, by the way, disappeared over the next hour). Hmm. The next tour, the guy told us, was at 8 AM the next morning, when we could sign up, but the tour itself wouldn’t actually start until around 8:45.

Now, I hate to think ill of anyone, least of all people I’ve barely met, but if I had to make a wager, I’d have to say that the 6 PM tour that day would have really only had two people: myself and Jan. We didn’t want to wait for the sorta-8 AM tour, because we wanted to leave early to be sure to get to Carlsbad in time to see the caverns there.

In the end, we shrugged, I bought a t-shirt (I’m trying to get one at every stop to replenish my ragged wardrobe), and retired to the RV to chill out for the evening.

Aside from our rig and a fifth wheel trailer (that was probably being stored there, as no one was in it), the RV part of the campground was completely empty, and only two tent campers were in the tent part.

Then, not long after the office closed at 6 PM, a big rig rolled in. A BIG rig, probably 45 feet long with two rear axles. You know, the full-size bus kind. Towing a Jeep.

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As soon as I saw it, I got a bad feeling. The RV part of the campground isn’t very big, with maybe eight pull through sites, a tight turn at the far end, and hookups between the sites that are guarded by four sawed-off telephone poles that stick up a couple feet from the ground. Our RV is 38 feet long, and while we didn’t have any problem getting into our site, I wouldn’t have wanted to try it in a rig that was much bigger. And I certainly wouldn’t have left the car attached: there’s absolutely no way you could make the turn from the loop ringing the RV park area into the site itself (even in a much smaller rig).

Well, this guy came barreling around the turn at the far end, came along the rear of the loop and then tried to turn into his site, a few down from us. Way. Too. Fast.

The outcome was inevitable. There was a big bang and he jammed on the brakes. I didn’t need to see the far side of his rig to know that he must have hit the pedestal on the far side. And the guard posts. Then he tried to unstick himself, backing up the rig in fits and starts. The RV was bouncing like it was going over rocks, which I later determined was actually the rear tires bouncing over the telephone pole guard posts that had been uprooted when he drove over them in forward gear.

He finally stopped the thing, and that’s when we saw the water, lots of water, streaming from under their RV and running downhill toward us. He’d ripped out the water pipe for his hookup, and it was gushing like crazy.

And his rig…well, it had a huge chunk ripped out of the side panel between one of the compartment doors and the main rear axle on the passenger side, and heaven only knows what kind of damage might have been done to his suspension.

Turns out that they’d just gotten the rig a few days before and were on vacation out of Denver, grandparents, adult daughter, and two teenage boys. They said that they’d owned three RVs before, but it was hard for me to imagine someone having owned and driven RVs for any length of time handling a big rig like he did (at one point after taking out the pedestal and water line, he had taken the rig, without the Jeep, out of the RV loop and up to the back-in section, where he went six-wheeling over the grass trying to turn the thing around to bring it back down).

So, I went out to give him a hand. First to get the water shut off. There was NOBODY left at the park, nor was there an emergency number anywhere, and he’d already called the park’s regular number and only gotten a recording. Water was just pouring out of the water connection (running downhill and flooding our site), and we spent about an hour (fruitlessly) searching for the shut off valves.

Seeing that we couldn’t solve that, I helped him get his rig turned around and lined up so he could at least plug into one of the other pedestals. He was just going to leave his name and number on a note at the park office, but decided to stay the night, anyway.

At last, the caretaker guy showed up, and he was far less than pleased to return from a Father’s Day dinner to this mess! I can’t blame him, I suppose. But at least he was able to get the water shut off, and after that I beat a hasty retreat to our RV while he and the big rig driver had words.

Now, we all make mistakes, but this sort of accident can easily be avoided. First, learn how to drive your rig, especially if it’s a big one. Unfortunately, most states don’t require any special training or licensing to drive one of these behemoths. You just go buy it, get the keys, and drive away. Second, and a lesson we learned the hard way in the Boston KOA a couple years ago, is to always detach your towed car when entering an unfamiliar campground. I know many people don’t, but it only takes a few minutes and is worth the peace of mind. Third, drive slowly and take your time. Last but not least, always – ALWAYS – have another person guiding you into the site and watching your blind spots (which are many in most RVs). The rig these folks were driving had side-looking cameras and they were relying on them to keep them out of trouble, but it’s not the same.

Anyway, I’m sorry to digress into RV-speak for you if you’re not into that sort of thing, but this was sort of a spectacular ending to our stay in Texas!

Next up: Carlsbad, New Mexico…

The post An Unexpected Turn of Events at the Caverns of Sonora, Texas appeared first on Michael R. Hicks.

San Antonio, Texas

After having made a quick visit to Austin, we turned our attention south of our base of operations in San Marcos to San Antonio, the home of the Alamo. Now, we’d been to San Antonio for a half marathon a couple (few?) years back, and while I won’t say it’s familiar stomping ground, we’d seen a fair bit of it before. However, I’m a sucker for the River Walk area, and I was also scheduled to give a self-publishing seminar at the Forest Hills Branch of the Public Library.

We started off the day with a couple of unpleasant things. First, I discovered that ants, which are literally all over the place here at the Pecan Park Campground, had marched up the water hose and infested two of the compartments in the RV. We’d had an ant problem before, and it wasn’t something I wanted to have again. So it was off to Lowes to get some granules to spread around the RV’s contact points on the ground and spray to kill the little buggers in the compartments before they could spread further.

As I was heading out of the campground, Jan called and told me the power had gone out! Fearing that the RV’s power cable had finally given up the ghost, I headed back. Fortunately, everyone was out of power: a transformer somewhere had blown. With that, I headed back to Lowes, came back and waged holy war against the ants, and eventually the power came back on so the cats could have their beloved air conditioning back on.

While we could have gotten an earlier start into San Antonio, Jan and I were content to laze around a bit after the long day in Austin and the ant-and-power antics that morning. After the power came back on, we decided to head over to a nearby Starbucks for our traditional Friday is for Frappuccino Day (okay, it was Saturday, but who really cares, right?). While that was no big deal, the Starbucks was right across the street from the Centerpoint Station, a rustic and grungy-looking place that just oozed with coolness. It’s sort of an odd place, offering short order food like burgers, antiques, touristy stuff, and heaven knows what else. But for me, the most interesting thing was the outside. Now, I’m not normally a big “sign guy,” but this place had a great collection of vintage signs on the outside (with more inside) that were just way too cool. I’m posting the pics here, so I apologize for any signage overload. Then again, it’s my blog, and, well, too bad for you!

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Heading into San Antonio, our primary order of business was a self-publishing seminar the folks at the Forest Hills Branch of the Public Library had asked me to put together. The librarian who was hosting it was very nice (even providing lemonade and cookies – how can you go wrong?), and I like to hope that the folks who attended got some useful information out of it.

One of the attendees was fellow author Rob Pruneda, whom I’d hooked up with online some time ago (he’s also one of my PS3 Black Ops gaming buddies). He lives a couple hours away, and took the time to head up to San Antonio so we could finally meet.

After the seminar, Rob, Jan, and I headed downtown to the River Walk, which is one of San Antonio’s key attractions. Anchored at the Rivercenter Mall, it’s sort of a meandering canal well below street level, with shops and restaurants on either side, with tour barges laden with gawking tourists chugging up and down. Here are some pics, which I pimped from my wife:

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We had originally intended to eat at Boudros Restaurant, but without reservations the wait was forty-five minutes, so we ambled on to the Republic of Texas restaurant. I finally caved in and had fried catfish, which a follower on Twitter has been urging me to do since day one of the trip, and it was delicious. A batch of sweet potato fries and a strawberry margarita rounded things out. So, the food was good (although Jan reported that her burger was a bit dry) and the prices were reasonable, but the main point of interest at the restaurant was our waiter. I wanted some of whatever this guy was having, because he was flying high as a kite on either pure euphoria or pure caffeine. He was bouncing around like he’d had a dozen Red Bulls with Monster Drink chasers before he came to work.

After that, we did a bit of walking around the River Walk. I have to say that if you’re into people-watching, this is a great place to do it. There were lots of very interesting, attractive, and downright scary-looking folks wandering about, and I’m sure we fit right in!

At last, it was time for us to head home. We parted company with Rob in the parking garage (after we found the right one!), then made the hour long drive back to the RV where we collapsed into an exhausted stupor.

Tomorrow it’s time to head out to our next waypoint on the road west: Sonora, Texas…

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Taking a Segway Tour of Austin, Texas

Fortunately, the drive from Houston to San Marcos was pretty easy and not too long, about a hundred and seventy miles, give or take. We chose to stay there rather than in Austin or, to the southwest, San Antonio, because we planned to take a day trip to each city and didn’t want to have to move our rig each time.

The RV park we chose was the Pecan Park Campground, which is on the San Marcos River. The campground itself is nice enough with accommodations that should handle most any camper or big rig. It has a recreation area inside the two story building that houses the office, and an indoor heated (as if you’d need that in the summer here – ha!) swimming pool. But the big attraction for many people will be the San Marcos River, which was maybe two hundred feet from our camp site. I’m not sure about the fishing there, but a lot of folks brought kayaks, tubes, giant rubber duckies, and anything else that floats to toss in the river and chill out for a while. We didn’t happen to do that (we’ll be hopping into the Verde River in Arizona), but it looked like a nice place for a family outing and there were a heck of a lot of folks armed with fishing poles, although I think they must be going somewhere nearby to fish. One caution I’d make is that there are lots — and I mean lots! — of ants, particularly near the river. We couldn’t stand anywhere for more than a few seconds before a dozen of the little swine were marching up our legs. We didn’t get bitten (I don’t think they were fire ants), but if you don’t like buggies crawling on you, be careful.

The only downside we experienced was that our campsite was a pull-in (not a pull-through or back-in), which was fine, except that the folks in the cabin next to ours had all their stuff spread out across the gravel where we had to park our RV. Nobody was home in the cabin, so we just moved it over so we could get in. Later on, the family (or families?) appeared — it seemed like there were about twenty of ‘em — and didn’t seem very happy that their stuff had been moved. The reason why I mention this is that when I went out a little while later to get something out of the bins on the side of the RV facing the cabin, I found that they’d parked their pickup truck maybe six inches from us. It was so close that the driver had folded back the passenger side mirror. And there was no other vehicle there, just a huge empty space between their pickup and the cabin, which I suspect may be reflected between their collective ears. I know, that was catty, but I couldn’t resist.

Okay, whatever, lobster people. Fortunately, they were replaced the next day with a group of very nice fishermen who must all be deaf, as they’ve been chattering up a storm in sign language while laying out a very impressive spread of food on their picnic tables. If they were a couple feet closer I might nab one of their beers when they’re not looking…

Oh, and speaking of storms, we experienced what I assume must be a typical Texas brew-up. We had just finished setting up the RV after arriving from Houston when we got hit by a wall of wind that shook our 17 ton RV. Still air, then boom! We were rattling and rolling. There was some thunder and lightning and a bit of rain, but the wind was the real kicker (literally speaking). No damage or anything, but that’s the first time I can remember being totally surprised by the arrival of a storm.

Anyway, on to our first day trip: Austin! While it may come as a surprise, Austin is the state capital, and their seat of government was built in a similar style to the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. But — yes, here it is — it’s a bit bigger. This is Texas, after all.

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And the Texas Capitol building was right next door (or near enough) to where we started our visit to Austin: at Segway Nation (Austin) for a Segway tour. Neither Jan nor I had ever been on a Segway, one of those two-wheel contraptions that people stand on and somehow don’t seem to fall on their butts while zipping down the sidewalk. I will now hereby confess that they’re just freakin’ cool. They’re a little counterintuitive in some ways, but once you’re used to riding one, which only took us a few minutes, they’re a blast. They’re also very practical for touring the attractions in an area. You can cover a lot more ground than by walking, they’re more maneuverable than bikes, and you don’t get nearly as tired as doing either over the course of a couple hours. The only negative, which our tour guide warned us about, was that your feet will probably be hurting a bit by the end. I was wearing my Vibram FiveFinger shoes, but next time we do one of these (and we’ll definitely be doing more), I’ll wear something with a little bit of cushion so my toes can flex a bit more.

But that’s a mere quibble. My advice? If you haven’t ever tried a Segway tour, do it. It was a ton of fun!

As for our two and a half our tour of Austin, we got a good look at the Texas Capitol building, as I mentioned, as that’s where the Segway Nation folks train the noobs to ride the Segways, zipping around the street that encircles the building. Then we were off, heading down (if I recall correctly) Congress Avenue toward the Colorado River (note: I don’t consider myself a geographic nincompoop, but I had no idea the Colorado flowed through this part of the country). Similar to what we experienced on our bus tour in New Orleans, our tour guide, who was awesome, provided a lot of interesting information on the city, and there were tons of cool-looking places that would have been great to check out in more detail if we’d had the time. But that’s what’s nice about this sort of tour: if you don’t have the time to do more, it’s a great overview that gives you a taste of the city before you have to leave. If you do have more time, you’ll know right where to come back later.

The river area was basically a big park, and we zipped across the bridge and over to the arts center just off of 1st Street. There we took the Segways through an impromptu slalom challenge and just generally went a little crazy, being careful where there were people about, of course. Then we worked our way back toward the capitol building, where we took a final victory lap and headed back to the barn.

Again, if you’ve never tried one of these things, plop down some cash and take one for a ride. You’ll be glad you did!

From there, we went to meet with some of Jan’s friends at a restaurant called Threadgills. It wasn’t anything outlandish, but had good down home food. I had a hickory burger, which was quite good, with a side of sweet potato fries that were absolutely fantastic. I also had a local Texas beer which was quite good, although I’ll be darned if I can remember now what it was called (and yes, I only had one!).

We were planning to head back to the capitol after lunch to do a bit of walking around, along with hitting at least one of the local wineries, but at this point Jan and I were both pooped and we decided to head back to the RV. That was probably a good idea, as the traffic both into and out of Austin on I-35 to San Marcos was pretty heavy and was only going to get worse as we moved toward rush hour. So, discretion being the better part of valor, we headed back and took a well-deserved nap!

On the docket for tomorrow: San Antonio, where I’ll be giving a seminar on self-publishing at the Forest Hills Branch of the public library…

Pecan Park Campground Rating: four out of five stars. I’d certainly stay here again, but not so much because of the campground itself (which is quite nice but not necessarily exceptional). Rather, I’d consider returning because it’s right next to the Three Dudes and a Dog Winery! Also, keep in mind that this campground is in San Marcos, right in between Austin and San Antonio. That suited our purposes, but if you’re going to be spending more than a day or so in either city, you might want to consider getting a campground closer to cut down on the time you’ll be spending in traffic.

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Space Center Houston

After departing New Orleans, our next stop was Houston, Texas. Or, more accurately, Dickinson, Texas, where we would be staying at the Green Caye RV Park. We chose that particular park because, among others, it was pretty close to NASA’s Space Center Houston, which is one of the locations on our trip that I wanted to scout a bit for research on a story idea that’s been churning in the back of my pea brain. We also wanted to meet up with one of Jan’s friends and her husband, which actually turned out to be an incredibly productive brainstorming session from which yet another story idea sprang! Go figure!

As we drove the three hundred and fifty miles from New Orleans to Dickinson, I was struck by just how flat — and wet — most of this part of the country is. Sarasota, Florida, where we live now, is pretty flat, of course, but I don’t think it’s quite so noticeable because most of the area where we happen to spend most of our time is fairly built up. But on the interstate, you can go miles and miles in between even the smallest towns or truck stops. Some of it was spent driving on roads (which I’d otherwise consider bridges) elevated on concrete pylons over bayous, while the rest was over just plain flat land that went on and on. We crossed over the Mississippi River for what I think was probably only the second time in my life (not including air travel), and got a great look over the river and surrounding area of Baton Rouge from the bridge that carries I-10.

As we crossed into Texas and made our way across the southeastern part of the Lone Star State, one thing that struck me was how many trees there are. Having been raised in Arizona and watching a gazillion Western movies when I was a kid, my mental impression of most of Texas was that it was a lot like Arizona: mostly desert. I’m sure there are huge chunks of desert that we have yet to traverse (remember, we’re only heading to Houston on this leg), but the part leading into Houston had tons of trees, and that surprised me.

Unlike when we arrived in New Orleans and were led astray by our GPS unit at the very end, we found the Green Caye RV Park without any problem. The park itself is decent enough — not the best and not the worst we’ve been to — but I was a little annoyed with the staff when we arrived. One of the people working the front desk was obviously very new (or possibly not so new but just terminally clueless), and couldn’t find our reservation. Fortunately, someone who did have a clue helped her through the process, but it clearly wasn’t the first time and the clued-in-one made a hasty exit as soon as our records were found.

One thing about this particular park is that it’s LONG. There’s a long, long row of pull-throughs from the office to the back of the park where there are a number of back-in sites, which was where we were. So if you wanted to go to the convenience store that was collocated with the office, you’d better be prepared to hoof it a fair ways.

Once we got settled in, we only had one goal: the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in (very) nearby Kemah. Yes, it’s a chain restaurant, but we love their food. My personal favorite is Lieutenant Dan’s Drunken Shrimp, and Jan happened to get the Bucket of Boat Trash. And yes, we had dessert, some horrific brownie concoction that no doubt did horrible things to my body, but if I’m gonna die, I’d like to die happy.

We walked around the Kemah boardwalk area for a bit. It’s a nice, family-oriented amusement and entertainment area with several restaurants and thrill rides, including a roller coaster that looked pretty darn fast (note: while I love roller coasters, my inner ear no longer abides by them). So, if you’re in the area, this is definitely worth a stop and look-see.

The next day we were off to Space Center Houston (I keep wanting to say and write “the Houston Space Center”), which in many ways has been the heart of the nation’s space operations from Gemini through Apollo and most of the Space Shuttle program.

Since we were starving by then (we got a bit of a late start that morning), we stopped at Cuisine of India, which is practically right across the street from the space center, for the buffet lunch. Their food is very good, so if you enjoy Indian food and you’re in the area, be sure to check it out.

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Now, back to the space biz. I’ll be honest and say that I was somewhat underwhelmed, but I knew that I probably would be going in, because Houston simply doesn’t compare in terms of “cool factor” to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the launches are conducted. But that’s okay; information is information, and I got some important ideas here for a story line that’s been half-baked in my head for quite a while. It was also cool to see one of the control rooms that’s been preserved as a historic landmark, and you can really feel a sense of history here.

Then it was onward to Building 9, where the spacecraft and systems mockups are kept. They had the various modules for the International Space Station, the forward end of a Shuttle, and a variety of other odds and ends, the most important of which was a mockup of the Orion spacecraft, which is NASA’s next-generation manned multipurpose system.

I’ll no doubt rant about this later in another post, but Orion has been in development since 2005, and is slated to make an initial unmanned launch in 2015, so we’ll figure it will actually get off the ground in maybe 2017 or 2018. By contrast, the Saturn rocket project was approved in 1960 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7, flew in 1968 (and in the meantime, the Mercury and Gemini missions had been underway, as well!), with Apollo 11 landing on the moon in 1969. What the heck has happened? Heaven help us if we really need to get something cooking in space. Fortunately, a growing number of commercial ventures are entering the space race, which is nothing but a good thing.

We cut the tour a bit short because we were going to be late for a dinner date with a friend of Jan’s and her husband, who works for Rowan, which specializes in deep sea drilling. He took us up to his office in the Williams Tower where a) I was terrified to look out the windows on the 54th floor and b) he gave me an overview of deep sea drilling. As he was talking about the process, using a scale model of one of the rigs outside the company president’s office (note: the prez bumped into us, almost literally, on the way out of his office as he was heading home, greeted us very warmly, and ran down the hall to get us some “Rowan stuff” – t-shirts and hats!), the theme for another book suddenly popped into my head! You just never know when that’s going to happen, but I asked him a number of other questions on the rigs and how they operate, and told him I’d be back in touch later with a LOT more questions when I get to writing the story. And, while I’m at it, I’ll say right up front that I’m a strong proponent of renewable energy, but I can’t deny the fascinating technical aspects of deep water drilling. My wife doesn’t know it yet, but when it comes time to write the book I might ask to see if I can actually get out on a rig. God help me.

Once we were done with the this-place-is-way-too-high-for-me tour, we headed off to have dinner at Papadeaux Seafood. As I’ve been trying to load up on local cuisine during our trip, I wanted to try something other than shrimp or crab. My new friend from Rowans suggested the crispy fried alligator, and I decided to give it a try. Heck, I’ve had fresh-killed and grilled rattlesnake (which wasn’t bad, just not a lot of it), so why not? Much to my delight, it was delicious. Before you ask, yes, to me it tasted like chicken white meat, although it had a consistency more like dark meat. It was moist and pleasantly chewy, almost melt in your mouth, and the fried coating wasn’t greasy. It was, in fact, crispy, as advertised. It was served with a sauce that had a little kick to it, but really accentuated the taste. That, a side salad, and a strawberry margarita made for an awesome dinner.

After that, it was a forty or so minute drive back “home” to Green Caye and the RV. We had the rest of the night to rest up before we had to break camp the next morning for the trip onward to San Marcos, which was to be our base of operations for day trips to Austin and San Antonio.

Green Caye RV Park resort rating: three stars. I probably would have given it four (meaning I’d happily stay there again), but the silliness we experienced at checkin was pretty inexcusable, and the park’s configuration makes it inconvenient to reach the amenities unless you’re on the line of pull throughs near the entrance. On the plus side, they did have good wi-fi near our site in the back, which is pretty unusual in most parks. It’s an okay place to stay, but there are other alternatives in the area that on paper look to be just as good and possibly better.

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Fun In New Orleans

New Orleans was the first “big ticket” stop on our trip. This was my first visit to the grand old city, and we stayed at the French Quarter RV Resort which is, as the name suggests, within easy walking distance of the French Quarter.

Of course, we had to have an interesting arrival: following the directions of our normally reliable Rand MacNally RVND 7720 GPS, we found ourselves on a narrow street lined with cars half a block from the resort’s entrance. With the help of a very nice passerby and Google Maps, we sorted that out and managed to squeeze through the street to get to another street (much wider, thank you very much!) that took us where we needed to go. The resort itself is really nice and, best of all, is in a perfect location for visiting the French Quarter (read: if you were stumbling drunk during Mardi Gras, you could most likely make it back alive). After getting the rig set up and checking in, we made the two block walk to the quarter to start exploring and, most important, to find something to eat!

That is something that is pretty darn easy to find in this area. Jan had picked out the Crescent City Brewery, which was a really cool place with incredibly awesome food. I had the seared shrimp with grits (I’d never had grits before) paired with a Red Stallion beer, and I have no hesitation in saying that was probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Be forewarned, however, that it’s a bit spicy: I had a good sweat going by the time I was done!

At this point I’ll say that I really, really wish I’d been able to plan more time here for our stay. We only had the evening of our arrival and the next full day, with us departing for Houston the following morning. The city is so rich in texture, color, culture, history, and food that you could stay here a full week as a tourist and still just scratch the surface. We took a three hour bus tour of the city (sing the refrain now: “A three hour tour…a three hour toooour…”), which took us through the French Quarter, downtown, the Garden District, to one of the cemeteries, the city park, past the Superdome, and through Ward 9, which was one of the areas totally devastated by Katrina. It’s hard for me to overstate the impact that storm had on the city. Sure, the rest of us watched on TV and said, “Oh, how horrible!” But even now, eight years later, so much devastation still remains.

After the tour, we met up with one of Jan’s friends for lunch (Yay! More food!). It wasn’t spectacular, but was certainly decent enough. Then we went wandering around the French Quarter for a bit before heading back to the RV for a well-earned nap. As evening approached, we once again emerged from our house on wheels and headed into the French Quarter, this time to scope out the goodies at Cafe du Monde to try out these beignet things that everyone was raving on about. If you’ve never had one, it’s sort of like a rectangular shaped pastry made out of dough similar to funnel cakes, fried and then buried (literally!) in powdered sugar. Were they good? Sure. But if you put that much sugar on one of my shoes, I’d eat it and be happy! The one really funny thing is that they come in orders of three, so if you have a party of two, you wind up fighting over the third one. Ha.

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We did a little more wandering before heading over to Flanegan’s Pub for a ghost tour (and yes, we did make a run through Bourbon Street, just for the heck of it). I have to say that the scariest thing was the men’s bathroom in the pub. It wasn’t that it was nasty, but when you open the door, you find yourself in an unlit (with black painted walls) vestibule, where the only light is coming from cracks above and below a second door inside. There was someone…or something…shuffling around behind the door, and I was half-wondering if it wasn’t some sort of gag before the tour when some gent pulls the door open and we scared the crap (ahem) out of each other. The other scary part was the “buy one get one free” Hurricane drinks. Yes, you get one free if you buy one, but the one you buy is $12. Oh, well, here’s my money, gimme two.

I have to say, though, that the ghost tour, run by the French Quarter Phantoms, was quite a lot of fun. It was about 90 minutes long, and the guide did a great job of being both informative and entertaining. And, as someone on Facebook (I believe) noted, you get as much, if not more, history out of the ghost tours as the guided tours during the day. Walking through the French Quarter at night, it’s hard not to let the imagination run wild about the possibilities for the horrific and macabre. Of course, all I have to do is look in a mirror if I want that sort of inspiration.

Once the tour was over, we did a bit more wandering, then headed back to the RV, with a quick stop to pick up a t-shirt (and my thanks to the lady in the store who had just locked up, but opened up for us after looking at my pitiful expression, as that was the only place I’d seen the shirt I really wanted).

Needless to say, New Orleans is high on our list for a revisit when we can spend more time (I think about a week), preferably when it’s a tad cooler. Even if you’re not enthralled with the whole Mardi Gras thing, New Orleans should be on your must-visit list. There’s just so much to do and see, and one of the things that struck me about the city is that no two things are the same. Every house seems to be unique, every business seems to have some interesting twist, and you never know what’s going to be around the next corner.

Next up: Houston, our first stop in the Lone Star State!

French Quarter RV Resort rating: Five of five stars. If you’re traveling in an RV or camper and want a nice and incredibly convenient place to stay in New Orleans, this is it. It’s a bit more pricey than your average campground, but it’s worth every penny for the location. The resort is meticulously maintained, has brick-paved sites that are large enough for about any rig plus an extra vehicle, has a nice pool area and, as I mentioned, is in easy walking distance of the French Quarter. The only downside is that there’s a not-so-great set of buildings in between the resort and the quarter that some folks might be uncomfortable walking past at night, but the resort staff is happy to come get you at the nearby visitor center and give you a ride on the golf cart back to the resort. Also, please make sure to call the resort and get directions; don’t rely on your GPS!

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Our Summer RV Trip Begins

As Ambassador Kosh would have said on the television series Babylon 5 (if you happen to remember that awesome show), “And so it begins.” The plan for our RV trip this summer is to cover eight states and fifty-five hundred miles in six weeks, which is almost exactly twice as far and long as the longest trip we’ve ever taken, which was from Maryland up through the northeastern states and into Canada — Quebec and Ontario — a couple years ago.

Having been doomed by my parents’ Murphy’s Law DNA, our trips can’t be just a nice, boring “let’s get ready and go” sort of thing. No, no. Not long before we were scheduled to leave, the RV suffered a sudden and mysterious malady with the air brakes that turned out to be a fried computer controller. After seeing what the bill would have been, I will no longer question the wisdom of buying the extended warranty coverage on the RV, as that little controller gadget would have cost us $1250 to fix, rather than the $250 deductible. By the way, big kudos to RV World of Nokomis for helping us get that all sorted out with an independent diesel mechanic who had to be called in to fix it!

Then we had a tropical storm pass through that dumped several inches of rain on us. That wouldn’t have been a big deal had not the plug and cable from the RV to the power supply panel at the storage lot been completely submerged (and I’m talking calf-deep water!). Think of how exciting it was for me to wade out there and try to turn off and unplug this sucker without getting zapped. Then I found out that water had penetrated into the cable sheath, leaving me to wonder if I’d get zapped or the RV’s electrical system would get fried when I next plugged it in. Obviously I didn’t, since I’m writing this to you. Or maybe it’s just Nina the Cat. How would you know the difference? Meow. But, when we get to one of the campgrounds farther on that also has an RV maintenance shop, I’m going to have the whole cable replaced.

In any case, we managed to pack up all our gear, food, cats, and kids, hook up the CR-V behind us, square away the house sitter, and finally boogie on down the road.

Our first stop was the Bay Bayou RV Resort in Tampa, where we decided to stay overnight so we could put the boys on the plane the next day to fly up to Maryland and visit their father for the next six weeks. Yes, I’ll miss them, but it’s also six weeks free of bored (they hate school when it’s in session, then are instantly bored when it’s not) and whining teen zombies. Are the Walking Dead producers looking for some extras for the coming season? I’ve got a couple candidates for you! But the visit will be good for them, as they haven’t seen their father or any of their friends in Maryland since Christmas break. And Jan and I might have a chance to recover our sanity. Maybe.

Bay Bayou RV Resort rating: four of five stars. Very friendly staff, good sites, nice clubhouse, although we didn’t use the amenities. The only major annoyance is a poorly designed entrance that requires a tight right turn into an equally tight left-turning loop that larger rigs will have a tough time negotiating without having to do a bit of back and forth. We’ll be staying here again on the way home.

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After an overnight stay there and dropping the boys off at Tampa International and those poor, unsuspecting souls at Southwest Airlines, my wife Jan and I, guided by our two feline GPS systems, headed north to Three Rivers State Park, which is on the shores of Lake Seminole in northern Florida. Again, this was just for an overnight stop (you’ve got to drive a heck of a long way to get out of Florida!), but it was a nice one. We had a bit of fun driving through the thriving metropolis of Sneads and some construction there, but otherwise that leg of the trip was pretty uneventful. The campground itself is nice, and looks like a fantastic place to stay if you’re a fisherman: the campground is literally right on the water, and there’s a small boat ramp and plenty of places to tie up boats right there. We also caught sight of a gator pretending to be a log out on the lake, and a bunch of Bambi’s cousins frolicking in the forest (no sign of Godzilla, thank God).

Next stop: New Orleans!

Three Rivers State Park Campground rating: four of five stars. The part of the campground for RVs isn’t large, but it’s well-located on the shore of Lake Seminole and has power (including 50 amp), water, and a waste dump (no sewer hookups at the sites). There are lots of trails and roads to explore on foot or bike. If you’ve got a big rig, I’d suggest site 4, which is what we had. Most of the other sites are either too small or have short and steep drops from the campground loop into the sites themselves that looked like good spots to hang up the suspension. We have this place on our revisit list to spend a couple/few nights sometime when passing this way again.

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Star Trek Into Darkness Review

I’m a sucker for just about any sci-fi movie, but if it has “Star Trek” somewhere in the title, you can bet that it’s at the top of my list. And Star Trek Into Darkness was certainly no exception.

Having grown up with the original Trek television series, Star Trek has always been among my favorites, because that’s the sort of future I wish we were heading toward. I’m not sure if we’ll ever get there, but it’s nice to dream, right? I loved the original series, although I have to confess that I wasn’t nearly as happy with the later incarnations. I know there are lots of people who loved them, but there was something missing, some sort of spark, that Generations, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager just didn’t have.

The spark was reignited with the 2009 release of the Star Trek movie by J.J. Abrams (note to self: I really like his movies!). Now, it didn’t have anywhere near the emotional depth of the original series, but for me it brought back the je ne sais quoi that was missing from the other spinoffs. Sure, there were a few things that I didn’t care for (Chekhov, among them, doesn’t work for me at all), but those are minor quibbles against the enjoyment I got from the film.

Star Trek Into Darkness brings on the same level of enjoyment overall, and tries to add more emotional depth, and it largely succeeds. I say “largely” because that depth revolves around a gigantic, enormous plot twist (and no, I don’t do spoilers and please don’t put any spoilers in the comments section) that I saw coming about as much as a freight train exploding from the bathroom door. It was just one of those times when you sit in the theater and say to yourself (or, more likely, out loud, along with a bunch of other people), “Oh, crap!”

The only downside is that once that twist was revealed, I pretty much knew what was going to happen in the rest of the movie. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, but it was a slight letdown that Abrams didn’t let us think we knew what was going to happen, and then drop us off another cliff in the plot later on to prove us wrong. There were also a few “C’mon, really?” moments in the film that could have been handled a lot better. But again, in terms of the overall enjoyment I got out of the film, they’re quibbles. Or tribbles.

I enjoyed the acting, the only major exception being Chekhov (Anton Yelchin), who also had the dubious honor of running around like a beheaded chicken for much of the movie. But that was more than balanced out by Scotty: while his character is certainly far different from the Montgomery Scott of the original series, Simon Pegg is great in this role. Uhura (Zoe Saldana) kicks some serious ass, and the trio of Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and McCoy (Karl Urban) do credit to their original namesakes, and in this movie get in some fantastic byplay.

My take? It’s going to be joining our Blu-Ray collection when it’s released. That’s about the highest recommendation I can give a film, being the tightwad that I am. Oh, and one last thing: this is definitely a film you’ll want to see on the big screen. Go!

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