Vacation: Day 4 & 5

Woke up early, drove to DC, and walked around all the major monuments and memorials. Took lots of pics, but will post later. Really tired, feet hurt, guys are sleeping, going to join them!
Ok, here are some pics:

 

 

 

Day 5:
We went to the Air and Space Museum (pics below), the National Archives, which was just amazing. We saw the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. By this time we were completely worn-out. We thought about going to the Museum of American History, but two full days of walking pretty much took it all out of us.

 

 

Vacation: Day 3

Today was mostly for lazing around. We did go hike a part of the Appalachian Trail, but (once again) we got a late start, plus M was experiencing some pain in conjunction with a cough and no-one had appropriate hiking shoes. Coupled with the fact that Y had to meet a guy at 5pm to pick up an AC unit, it just wasn't the right time for hiking.
AC has been complicated. The ones the landlord provided were pretty much crap. ALL of the stores in the area were sold out (its been abnormally hot here) and the one he ended up getting required some rigging to get it to work, but it works really good now!
We ate pizza at a place called Pizza Man; we ordered pepperoni, but I also got a slice of "white" pizza: mozzarella, tomato, garlic and oil. Delicious!

Vacation: Day 2, part2

We went to Gettysburg. It was almost 4pm by the time we got there, but with the waiting for the landlord and then the window fiasco, we got a late start, plus the landlord suggested the scenic route, which, while very pretty, was also about twice as long. We got there in time to watch the cyclorama show, and the area itself is open pretty late, but since the visitor center closed at 6:00, we were unable to get a personal tour. We purchased a cd audio tour, which came with a guidebook, and was very thorough and informative. We barely got through it all (and were rushing a little at the end) in order to see it all. I will post pics as soon as the internet is better.

Vacation: Day 2, part 1

The day started out normally enough; got up, had some oatmeal and coffee. Y's landlord came by, since he had met us at the airport to sign the lease. Then things started going downhill. We used boxfans to cool the house last night, but turns out the landlord had some window units that we could use. Y was carrying the window unit, and I was taking the boxfan out of the window. I told Y to watch out for the laptop which was laying in the floor where M had used it last. He told me to move it, so I did, and in doing so let go of the window. Well, it fell and broke the glass. Dammit. I felt really bad, cuz Y's been here less than a day and he already has to call his landlord to tell him a window was broken. Then, Y and M are out on the porch and I join them, shutting the front door behind me. That was mistake #2. Apparently, the door automatically locks when you shut it (depending on which way a little switch is on the knob - its an old door). Luckily, they were able to go around to the back door and get in that way. After that I said I wasn't gonna touch anything else. Then we decided to go to the hardware store to get the glass replaced in the window. Well, the second we get in the car, my stomach starts hurting. Now, the only dairy I've had today was a splash of lactose free milk in my coffee.

Vacation: Day 1

Since our roomie Y got a promotion, he had to move to Pennsylvania. M and I decided to go with him, help him move in, and make a vacation out of it. Woke up at 4:00am (!!!) so we could make our 7:00 flight. Had a layover in Cincinnati and got to PA about noon. My husband noticed that along the main highways they don't really do alot of upkeep. (In Texas, they keep the roadsides mowed, especially in the spring and summer). I wonder if this is normal here or not. I LOVE the houses here!! The one that Y moved into is a bit shabby, but pretty workable for what he needs. Alot of the older homes (especially on this street) have been made into duplexes, either split down the middle or upstairs/downstairs. Some of them are really cool looking. We went to Wally world and got a lot of basic stuff (dishes, an air mattress, coffee pot, towels, etc). M crashed out several hours ago, and I have a feeling he'll be waking up about 2-3am; right when I'm ready to go to bed! I'm amazed that I'm not sleepy (being as I only got 5-6 hrs of sleep last night, and have been up since 4am.

Exploration, part 5: Dwarven farm

From IF airport, I slid and jumped down the mountain. Not sure if there is a "safe" way to do this, as I used slowfall, but apparently, there is another way to get there by climbing the mountains by the orc camps near the excavation site. There are several areas with buildings, a field with cows and chickens, a little pond with a waterfall. If you follow the road up around the pond, there is a tunnel that leads to nowhere (I think you will probably fall for a long time before you die). There are dwarven farmers, and also Ironforge Mountaineers which will give you directions to Kharanos.

 

If you follow the road and go past the big tree at 28,62, you will end up on weird looking, flat, obviously unfinished terrain. If you go to 45, 61, there is a lake that overlooks the Dun Algaz pass. You'll notice on your map that this area shows up as a blank, "unexplored" area. The safest way to get down (note: I didn't try that hard, as I did not find the mountain climbing way of actually getting up; that would be the best way down) is to go to the area where the orc camps meet the excavation site. There is a short fall to a hill there, and you can climb safely down the rest of the way.

Exploration, part 4: Ironforge Airport

So, to get the the IF airport, the most common way seems to be to start in Loch modan at the northgate pass (19,17) and jump up a ravine behind the tree there. I could not for the life of me get up there, either mounted or not, but luckily, I'm a mage, and therefore have other options :) I went to IF, but instead of going into the gates, I turned right until I came to the edge of the cliff (you may remember, this is where the Day of the Dead celebration took place). I took a running jump, hit slow fall, and landed on a slope next to a few trees. Then I started climbing. About halfway there (below the "E" in Ironforge on my map) I happened along a little camp:

 

Not much there, but kinda interesting. Finally, I was overlooking the airport, jumped, hit slow fall and floated safely to the ground. There are several buildings, airplanes and other machinery, a non-working gryphon flight area, and lots of dwarves.

 

At the gryphons, I got ready for my next adventure.

Exploration, part 3: Outlands and Newmans Landing

I finished exploring Outlands, now I just need to level up to 77 so I can finish exploring Northrend.
I also went to another "easter egg" location, but it appears that things have changed a bit since PinkToque posted. This is no longer abandoned! There are 3 inhabitants: 2 Booty Bay Bruisers, and one High Admiral "Shelly" Jorrik (Retired):

 

Also, no sign lists it as Newmans Landing. Its pretty easy to get to, just swim north from Stormwind's Bay until you are in the middle of the "S" in Easter. My coords read as 41,64 The Great Sea. Oddly, while swimming, you zone map will go to Westfall, even though that is further south than where you started. Actually getting up on the dock proved a bit tricky. Finally, I got on the land under the dock, on the left side (facing the dock) and went under the edge there to actually get to the dock and house.

 

Exploration, part 2

I finished exploring Kalimdor, plus I started my exploration of the hard-to-get-to places. I went the the abandoned Tauren farm that is located on the southwest corner of Kalimdor. It's not really hard to get to, but it is time-consuming. I started in Feralas, and went south along the Forgotten Coast. After I ran out of land, I began swimming:

 

After about 4 minutes of swimming, I was in the Veiled Sea, and my coordinates read 0,0 (and stayed that way for the remainder of the trip. Occasionally, there were small outcroppings of land that I could run on:

 

Finally, after 20 minutes of swimming, I reached my destination:

 

There are two abandoned buildings, one looking quite cozy, with the fires still burning and everything, plus a fenced area and 2 canoes sitting by the coastline. There is also a windmill high on a hill.

 

Seeing another tree around the corner of the cove, I decided to investigate. Turns out there is cave there. It's empty, but still quite spooky looking.

 

Exploration

So, I have decided to get my explorer's title and tabard before Cata comes out; so far I've done the Eastern Kingdoms, and am working on Kalimdor. In addition to this, I've decided to explore the "hidden places" in Wow. Now, I'm not talking about exploitive things, like old IF or under SW. I'm referring to hard-to-get-to places, as mentioned on Pinktoque's website A few of them are accessible by swimming around the edge of the continent, while a few others require some mountain climbing (preferably with a fast mount) and some controlled falling. I guess I could just wait until cata comes out (with the capability of flying in the old world), but that would just take all the fun out of it. :)

And this is why I don't join guilds

Most of my WoW characters only belong to my own personal guild. Occasionally I will join a guild if someone asks me. But for the most part I don't really belong to guilds or do stuff in groups. And after the problems my husband has had with his current guild and the previous one, its no wonder I don't join guilds.

Guild #1. My husband was recruited as a healer (shaman) to a guild. He is in it for maybe a month when they ask him to do dps for a few fights before he goes back to doing healz. He's fine with this as the guild leader is bringing in his own pally, and apparently these particular fights are done better with a pally than a shammy. Then the guild leader decides that he wants to play his pally permanently and tells M that he has to do dps from now on. Basically, even though he was recruited as a healer, when the guild leader decides he wants to heal instead, M is kicked to dps without a choice in the matter. M tries to explain that while he doesn't mind doing dps for a few fights, healing is what he does. Its what he's geared and specced for. Its why he created this char. No dice. So he gquits.

Guild #2. Seems to be pretty nice. Definitely has a better raid schedule. Doing good until the other day. M gets some gems cut, pays the person, all is great as far as he knows. Then he gets a mail from the guild leader. Says that when he got the gems cut, he was given one extra, says this looks bad for the guilds reputation. To me, this sounds like a mistake on the JC's part. But instead of whispering M, this person whispered the guild leader instead, and is making it seem like M's fault that this person handed out and extra gem and M didn't notice. Wants gem returned or compensated. So, M (against my advice) submits a ticket to Blizz because he doesn't know the Jc's name, and the guild leader did not tell him and it not currently online. I have no idea if things are taken care of or not. Today, M gets a mail from the guild leader, saying that he has temporarily kicked M from the guild until things are straightened out. Says he has already compensated the JC, but wants M to send an apology to that person, and send him (the GL) a copy of the apology note as well. So M sends an "apology" note (you know, the kind of apology note that says, I apologize that you made a mistake). Not sure yet what the outcome is going to be, or if M even wants to rejoin the guild.
So much drama. And M wonders why I don't want to transfer my char to his server and switch to Horde to raid with him. No way I'm gonna spend that kind of money just to bounce from guild to guild because people are egotistical assholes.

Oh Shit

I made a mistake on Monday. Two LDS guys came by; they caught me unawares, so instead of saying I'm not interested in any way, shape or form, I just stuttered along being polite (never opened the screen door, and was holding back two dogs), and then made the fatal error or "agreeing" to allow them to come back today at 7pm. Only when they'd gone away did I realize the mistake. I was so intent on getting them to go away (and yet trying to be polite) that I didn't think about the fact that allowing them to come back means that I'll have to deal with them again. I think I'm gonna have to find a good movie to watch at the theater tonight. Or just ignore the door. Whatever I do, the dogs are definitely gonna stay out in the yard around that time. Nothing is as good a deterrent as three barking growling dogs (expect more and/or larger dogs).