Spinning heads and time zone changes

by Angela on November 11, 2012 · 15 comments

Oh, friends. It’s been a long-ish time since we last posted — two whole weeks! Gah! Why does it seem like forever in Internet Standard Time? We’ve gotten a few worried emails asking pretty much the same thing: Why the silence? Are the Hollicks okay? Who won the Facebook giveaway? Was it me? Are we breaking up??

We are doing great, but have been traveling non-stop. Though we are docked for a while in San Francisco now, our heads are still spinning and we need to catch our breath. It’s all good stuff, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that our lives are constantly in transition — yes, this we knew when we signed up for this thing called Lion King tour life. But the last couple of weeks were a doozy, as we traveled across three time zones BOTH WAYS with a 2-year-old and got super confused around Daylight Savings, when we were in Jamaica, a country that does not observe such nonsense.

Our path in an 8-day span was Albuquerque –> Flagstaff, AZ –> Los Angeles –> San Francisco –> Miami –> Montego Bay, Jamaica –> Dallas –> San Francisco. And we used all forms of transport — trains, planes, automobiles, and even golf carts! Check out our itinerary:

Day 1-3: Drove 17 hours from Albuquerque to San Francisco, with pit stops in Flagstaff, Arizona where we shacked up at one of the last standing Howard Johnson’s in the world (and it was nice!), and then Los Angeles where we got to catch up with our dear friends Stephanie and David and meet their awesome twin babies. During this stretch, we were also glued to the radio and our smartphones for updates about Hurricane Sandy, and tried to contact family in Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania.

I told Turkey and Max to smile for the camera as they were such troopers during our long days in the car. Both obliged.

Meet Orlando and Sophia Grillo, the cutest babies in Studio City! Even though they had the sniffles, they were in such great spirits. Sorry for the weird lighting — we were indoors, but at 10am, the sun kept darting in and out of the windows.

Day 3: Arrived in San Francisco in the evening. Checked into our garden apartment in the Mission. Unloaded the car, attempted to unpack. Barely remembered to eat dinner. Here is the view of the living room, in disarray, from our backyard garden.

Mike and Max posed in front of some quintessential Mission murals, around the corner from us.

Day 4: Mike had his Lion King new city/theater meeting in the morning, which on-the-dot coincided with the Giants’ World Series Champion parade down at Civic Center… hey! That’s where the Orpheum Theater is! Amidst a cloud of pot smoke and crazed baseball fans, Max and I gave the parade the good ole college try. We couldn’t see much but a flailing mass of black and orange. There were also plenty of costumes, to boot. Did I mention it was also Halloween, thus the devil horns in the foreground?

I bought Max this Giants bracelet that a man was peddling for $5. He inspected it closely at first, held onto it for, oh three minutes before tossing it away into the street. I didn’t know this until about 15 minutes later. Bye-bye, bracelet.

After the parade, we went home while Mike stayed at the theater for the requisite dress rehearsal. Max took his afternoon nap and I tried to unpack some more at our apartment … but simultaneously had to pack summer-y clothes for a trip to Jamaica the following morning for my best friend Anita’s wedding.

Day 5: At 4:45 am, we left our Mission flat in a cab to the San Francisco Airport and start our long international journey to the Caribbean. Here, Max and Mike chow down on breakfast at 5:30 am in Terminal 1.

We stopped over in Miami to change planes, where Mike and I grumpily ate greasy empanadas and wilted Chinese fast food. Max managed to charm all the ladies in the food court. Our American Airlines plane to Montego Bay got delayed due to some glitch in the computer that listed a different model of plane than we were actually boarded on. We sat for 1.5 hours on the runway, completely exhausted and frustrated. Our saving grace was the fact that Max slept for most of this leg.

By the way, this is how Mike looked — and felt.

We finally arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and by the time we disembarked, got through immigration and customs, found the hotel shuttle and arrived onto the Half Moon Bay Resort, it was close to 10:30 pm local time. We were starving, but found their fancy restaurant Seagrape open, which served up a kids’ burger and a very phallic beef tenderloin.

Again, this was all good stuff. We are definitely not complaining about our travel, but we wanted to offer up an explanation of our relative silence and inability to write. The wedding and trip to Jamaica was wonderful (a blog entry is forthcoming!) and we’re settling into the new digs just dandily (again, a blog entry forthcoming). In the meantime, we’ll leave you with this photo to tease and tantalize:

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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

Anita November 11, 2012 at 10:10 am

Boy, am I thankful/grateful that you guys travel well!!!!
I love you three!!!

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Angela November 13, 2012 at 2:27 pm

It was such an honor to be able to attend and be a part of your perfect day. We are so thankful for you (and now Mark!) in our lives!!! We love you so!

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Janeen November 11, 2012 at 10:57 am

What adventures in such a short time! I am looking forward to beachy photos of Jamaica and the wedding too!

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Angela November 13, 2012 at 2:27 pm

We’ll be posting soon, Janeen! 🙂

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steve mccarthy November 11, 2012 at 12:12 pm

thought you guys fell off the face of the planet (and what time zone would that be?). glad to hear everyone is safe and suond.

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Angela November 13, 2012 at 2:28 pm

Hi Steve, we’ve been tremendously lucky with our travel. And it nothing compares to the devastation back in NY/NJ … so we are safe and wish everyone else well!

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ANGELIQUE November 11, 2012 at 12:30 pm

WHASSSUPP HOLLICKS!!!! YAY FOR YOUR RETURN!!!

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Angela November 13, 2012 at 2:28 pm

Thanks Angelique!

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Katie November 11, 2012 at 6:00 pm

I just saw the Lion King last week for the 4th time in my life and it still blew me away! Everyone is so damn talented! Welcome to San Francisco. I can’t wait to read about your time here.
Sincerely,
Katie G from Oakland

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Angela November 13, 2012 at 2:29 pm

Katie, we’re so glad you enjoyed the show (again!). Just know that the cast and crew have so much fun with the show every night — it is a privilege to be a part of The Lion King! And we have a feeling San Francisco will be post-heavy 😉

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Mama Tartler November 13, 2012 at 12:13 pm

Did you celebrate Halloween…Gangam Style??? Complete with the invisible horse dance??? 🙂

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Angela November 13, 2012 at 2:30 pm

Whitney! We did celebrate Gangnam Style! Mike was Psy, Max was the kid dancing on the beach, and I was a Sexy Lady. We’ll post something soon, or I’ll email you a pic. Miss you guys!

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Mama Tartler November 15, 2012 at 11:33 pm

Can’t wait to see pics!!! Miss all three of you too!

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Eileen November 13, 2012 at 2:22 pm

Glad you’ve finally landed in the Bay area to make it your home. Look forward to lots of spoiling time with Max!

Love, Auntie Ei

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Angela November 13, 2012 at 2:31 pm

We are so excited to be here … nice to have family close by to spoil (i.e. babysit, haha!). We’re looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and beyond! Love you!

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