David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 149

The Second Best Part Of My Recent Vacation Was Ice Cream

I mentioned recently how the wife and I were up around Glenwood Springs, Colorado for the Labor Day weekend, and how the coolest part of the trip was the vapor caves.  I should admit that the second best part was probably ice cream.

We hit Rifle a couple times because we were staying out in Parachute and there wasn’t a whole lot there food-wise, Rifle having a bit more. One thing in particular they had was Moo’s Place, a little ice cream place inside of a closed-down gas station. It wasn’t as if the place was the best ice cream I’d even had or anything, but it was certainly good. The important bit was the Moos.

I think that’s what it was called at least. I believe what I had was a Dreamy Moo (or Dreamie Moo?), a shake blending vanilla ice cream with Orange Fanta. I had trouble deciding between that and the Brown Moo, vanilla ice cream and root beer. There was also some variety with Coke, but I really don’t remember what that was called.

Regardless, that blended shake of vanilla ice cream and Orange Fanta was perhaps one of the highlights of the trip, second only perhaps to the vapor caves.

A Moose Made Me Exercise

A moose made me exercise recently. Actually, it might have been two of them. This is not a joke.

My wife and I went up to Aspen recently. While there, we were going to go up and walk around Maroon Lake near Maroon Bells. This is a very pretty hike (the Maroon Lake Scenic Trail ), and also easy. It’s only about a mile and is very flat with smooth terrain.  However, we couldn’t go on that trail. A moose or two had been spotted by the end of Maroon Lake, so the trail was closed.  We had to go on the Crater Lake Trail.

The Crater Lake Trail, of course, is about 3.6 miles round trip. It’s described as a “a steep and rocky ascent,” which is an understatement if anything. That trail was intense, and it rained while we were on it, just up by Crater Lake where we no longer had any option to hike or not. All because of a moose.

Stupid moose.

The Coolest Part Of My Vacation Was Basically A Sauna

Funny, but the coolest part of my recent vacation was basically a sauna. The wife and I spend the Labor Day weekend up in Glenwood Springs, hitting some hiking, food, shopping, amusement parks, hot springs, and so on. The coolest part might have been the vapor caves, which admittedly are a glorified sauna.

Of course, it’s not just a sauna. You go down the stairs into a dark, cement basement. It’s incredibly hot, humid, and smells of sulfur. You continue walking right into a natural cave and sit in the semi-darkness breathing in the steam. Sitting there in a small cavern on stone benches, channels in the floor let hot springs water drift by at 125 degrees Fahrenheit. As man made and modern as the building atop looks, the inside is extremely cool…so to speak.

I’m not sure why I found it so interesting, but I did. I spent the better part of an hour down there, coming out occasionally for breaks to use the restroom or to cool a little when it got overwhelming. I didn’t think it would be that captivating, but it was much more interesting than I thought. Natural caves are always interesting though, and one filled with a hot springs even more so due to never having been in one of those before.

It was just neat.

I Had To Share This Animated Gif Of Teddy Roosevelt And An Oreo

After yesterday’s post about Oreos, I decided to do a quick search for “oreos animated gif.” I’m tired after taking a trip over the long weekend and needed something quick for today. When I found an animated gif of Theodore Roosevelt pretending to eat an Oreo, I knew my search was over:

How could I not share that? Slow down, Teddy!

I Don’t Need Flavored Oreos

I keep seeing different flavors of Oreos. Vanilla, red velvet, Swedish Fish, what have you. It seems like they come out with a new flavor each week. Personally, I don’t see the need for any of them.

If I want Oreos, I want Oreos. If I don’t want Oreos, I don’t want Oreos.

Seriously, vanilla? I’ll go get a different vanilla cookie if I want that. Red velvet? I’ll go get an actual piece of red velvet cake. Swedish Fish? Same. Why combine? It’s going to taste not quite like either food, and probably be a slightly worse version of each combined. I’d rather just get normal Oreos and whatever other food I want and then eat both.

That’d be better.

I just don’t see the point of all this. Heck, I don’t even see the point of double stuff. I can make those myself. Who needs to buy that special?

I Know That Submission Time Doesn’t Mean Anything

I know that this longer submission time doesn’t mean anything. I know this. I KNOW this. It does not mean that this place might actually be thinking more about this one.

We do this. We ALWAYS do this, looking for secret patterns. They just aren’t there.

Yes, I’ve been submitting to this place for years because I really want to get a story in there. Yes, they’ve never taken more than 3 days to reject and it’s already been a week. Though not much for other places, that’s a huge length of time for them. I keep thinking it means they’re really looking at this one and might take it…but it doesn’t. It means they haven’t gotten to it yet.

I mean, maybe they’re more backed up than they used to be. The same day rejections I used to get from them were lightning fast. Further, same day was a few years ago. Two day rejections were more recent, three day being the most recent still…and I haven’t submitted at all in a year and a half or two.

Surely their backlog has just gotten a little bigger, meaning a little more time in queue. Still way faster than most journals, but a bit slower than I’m used to for them. It doesn’t mean anything significant.

But I can’t stop thinking about it. I always do this. We all do.

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

(Brought to you by your friends at keeping the months for Memorial Day and Labor Day confused.)

Everything Is Better With Whip Cream. Including This Post.

Everything is better with whip cream, including this post.

See?

I Want Pizza Rolls

I’m craving pizza rolls right now. However, I can’t have them because I’m trying to lose a little weight by not eating total garbage right now.

That’s probably exactly WHY I am craving pizza rolls.

Seven Days Of Pointless Confessions. Day Eight: I Have Gone Too Far

What the heck am I doing? This was supposed to be seven days of pointless confessions. Here we are now at day eight. I must confess, I have gone too far.

I have no idea what I think I’m doing with this.

Any assertions that I’m milking an extra day out of this tired blog topic idea by pretending to screw this up will be met with vehement denial and possibly scorn. I mean, really. Why would you even think something like that?