Jonners' Canterbury Tales

Posted on August 26, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

Watched F1 Qualifying this morning which was pretty uneventful although very exciting as the session drew to a close with the top 4 so close together. The main problem was that it required waking up at 5:30 to watch it. I went shopping with Beth in the morning but I can’t remember buying anything. In the evening I watched some My Name is Earl with Beth and Fran as my copy of the first season turned up. I love that show.
In the evening things got more exciting, however, as I took Craig to my first NFL game. We parked about a mile away and walked to the stadium an hour before kick off. The game was enjoyable but the ad break time was infuriating as nothing really happened except for the occasional cheerleaders and a boring band. Was a little odd having the national anthem but the atmosphere was good and the game was exciting. I am glad I went and it renewed my love for the Broncos. It was also a close match which they could have taken to overtime except they couldn’t be bothered being preseason… therefore my team lost by 1pt. Hopefully they will have a home game when I go there next December. We got home at about 11pm and I ate more food after a small hot dog at the game.

Posted on August 25, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

Today I got to visit the museum at which Beth worked for a number of years. Littleton Historical Museum was enjoyable and educational… and I got to scratch a pig. There was a lot of wildlife in the area and we had a good time. At lunch we sat in the adjoining park and had a picnic while also feeding a squirrel. We next went to the worlds most cheesy cafe called Serendipi-TEA. Which was modelled on an old womans house. The tea was nice, the scones weren’t scones but were good anyway so overall it was ok. We picked up Rachel next and then took Miss Potter back to Blockbuster. In the evening we played a number of games with Beth’s family including a game called Boggle, another called Perquackey and also Scrabble which I managed to win, beating her family thanks to getting a z on the triple word. I am definitely getting better.

Posted on August 24, 2007 by jonners991 Comment

Beth and I went to the library again and I decided that the Wall Street Journal was by far the best paper round these parts because it actually has foreign news (and I don’t just mean where American troops are killing people). I am therefore going to go to the library to read the news every weekday.
I also started John Grisham’s book The Firm on Monday and I spent a lot of time today getting into it. I am a quarter in and really enjoying the book. Grandma Blomberg wanted to go to the Christian Bookshop and so Beth, Fran, Grandma and I went off to the closest one and looked around for a half hour. Unfortunately they didn’t have the Jesus action figure I was looking for.
When Rachel came back from school we went to Target and I played a Gran Turismo demo on a PS3, good graphics, good handling, rubbish crash physics in short. Rachel got some clothes and Beth got shampoo thats about it.
In the evening we sat down and watched Miss Potter which everyone enjoyed.

Posted on August 23, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

Either I am getting more stupid or I literally have one thing that happened today. Sure I probably read a lot. and I definitely played the first hour of Hotel Dusk, completed more of Sim City and Mario Kart and checked my brain age but apart from that the only notable thing was Beth’s Grandma arrived. That is the problem with America (no nothing to do with Beth’s Grandma) but if there is not car available there really is nowhere you can get to. The library is about the only place in walking distance.
Anyway Beth’s Grandma arrived at 4:30 and she seems like a very nice lady, we talked sporadically throughout the evening and also played Scrabble but today was very empty.

Posted on August 22, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

This morning Beth and I went to the FedEx offices to pickup my broncos tickets. After a small argument we got where we needed to be and got the tickets. Next stop was Office Depot where we bought nothing. Barnes and Nobles came next followed by a game shop that was not yet open. Beth took me for lunch in the mall and I had subway. The rest of the mall was boring with too many clothes shops to keep my entertained. I did however get to play with an iphone which was quite enjoyable but basically just a gimmick. Beth solved my annoyance by taking me to Best Buy and CompUSA both of which do DVDs and computer games. Didn’t buy any as the clerk in one informed me that US DS games would not work in mine. We then managed to get lost for half an hour trying to find a paper warehouse. Eventually we found it and were able to buy the card for our wedding invitations. I convinced Beth that I wanted to go to Gamestop the computer game shop in America which recently announced that it has made ten times more this year than it did last year. After 40mins we found it. Colorado Blvd is not one road you see, it splits in two with a number of posh houses in the middle, we had to navigate around the posh neighbourhood to find it. We stopped and two more shops on the way, A supermarket where we bought curry sauce and a fabric store where we bought ribbon for out invitations. We got to gamestop and I found a game from my birthday list for $25 and so after assurances from the clerk that it would work on my DS I bought it. Its a cool shop and I enjoyed going in there. We got home in time for dinner after our full day shopping. After dinner we watched I Love Lucy and then a film called The Darwin Awards which wasn’t too awful.

Posted on August 21, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

This morning we went to the library via Beth’s high school. We got to meet some of her teachers which was nice and I got to see that High School looks the same as the cheesy tat my sister watches. The library was good also as we got 10 DVDs out for free. When we returned to Beth’s we killed a couple of hours before going to the cinema for which the Blombergs kindly gave me a voucher. We saw Bourne Ultimatum first, a film which could have been amazing but in the end I think it could have been better. We then met with Beth’s friends and saw Ratatouille which they disliked for being childish while Beth and I loved it. Its typical pixar brilliance, predictable but enjoyable in equal doses.
We went home for Salmon at dinner and this was followed by scrabble.

Posted on August 20, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

Our road trip ended today. It was a long arduous drive, however, from Cortez to Denver although the scenery was magnificent. We also went through what Beth proclaimed to be her favourite town in the world, Ouray. We stopped in Ouray for about an hour, visiting a gift shop and a cafe before heading off again on the road. Lunch came at 3pm when we stopped for gas by a roadside joint. This was my point of the day when I was sick of driving and wanted to be there already. Luckily the food tasted good and we were soon on our way again.
When we finally arrived in Denver Beth and I went out again to Blockbuster and the supermarket. We rented Miss Potter, The Darwin Awards and Shooter. We then got invited out for Ice Cream with Beth’s friends. We drove to the ice cream place where we got cheap ones because one of Beth’s friends works there and then got to meet her friends Leslie and Stacy. When we got home we were both exhausted and I was in bed quite nice and early.

Posted on August 19, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

Today we stopped at a couple of places along the Grand Canyon as we made our way back to Colorado. We drove to Cortez via Indian reservations (where we found that Indian’s live in squalor and it was quite sad to behold). We stopped for lunch near Utah and Monument Valley (which the Blomberg’s had never heard of) before I was allowed to drive a second time along some impressive scenery. I stopped at Four Corners which was very lame and marks the meeting point of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Our journey for the day ended at Cortez in South West Colorado.
Beth and I went to Mesa Verde in the evening. Mesa Verde is an impressive Indian dwelling built into cliffs, we spent some time there and went on a walk for which we didn’t bring enough water and so panted to the end. I drove us down the mountain home and got told off for left foot braking… hmm. When we had had a little picnic half way down we drove home, swam and then went to bed.

Posted on August 18, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

The Grand Canyon certainly is grand. I managed to take 149 pictures of it and Beth took a lot more than that. We arrived there at around 9am and it was extraordinarily vast. This will be a short blog as there is not much to say it is mainly visual. We saw wildlife also, rabbits, deer and large predatorial birds. Beth and I got to do a mile long walk in the afternoon… during which it hailed, which was different. I found my favourite view of the grand canyon on the Western edge of the tour and sat perched on a rock for half an hour whilst the Blomberg’s got a drink. I took a panorama of it but I am not sure how it will come out. It was a magnificent place to sit with lightening flashing on either side of me over the Canyon.
For dinner we went to a delicious pizza place called Spaghetti Westerns (can you see why I picked it). The food was amazing with the only downside being their cheesecake hadn’t been defrosted (grr). We went back to the Grand Canyon for the sunset but the poor weather on the day blighted it a bit. When we got back to where we were staying Beth and I went for a very cold swim.

Posted on August 17, 2007 by jonners99No Comments

Today was the longest drive on our road trip as we drove from Carlsbad to the Grand Canyon (680 miles). It was a rather dull day apart from Beth’s frustration driving through Albuquerque to find lunch and when we pulled over the gas on Route 66 and I was allowed to drive for the first time. I will do a road test later… because Liam told me to but I faced most of what mother nature can throw at me as I drove at around a steady 85 passing cars on the freeway… or is it a highway? I contended with strong winds, heavy rain and something very new to me… a dust storm. It was during the dust storm that I decided we should pull off and so into a gas station we went to stock up on supplies. The problem was I couldn’t open the door real easily and I got sand in my eyes leaving the car. Inside, however, I managed to get a copy of the Illusionist for $10 which made me happy. I handed over to Rachel to drive the next stretch and it was dull again. Driving in America is fun, being a passenger not so much.
We stopped for dinner at a place called Cracker Barrel where I got to try okra with spicy chicken. It was a nice meal that came with Dumplings (don’t worry mother, not as good as your own). We eventually arrived at our destination an hour after this and we were all happy to unload from the car and relax in the hotel room. Why are road trips meant to be fun?