Spookable

Disneyland is all spiffed up for our favorite holiday, and interestingly enough, it's a first for this Disney park. In the past this park's halloween festooning has been limited to area around the "Haunted Mansion" in New Orleans Square. I suspect this is owed mostly to the fact that Disney begins decorating for Chrismas during the first week of November and the work involved in decorating for a single month would make logistical difficulties at best. Apparently though value was found in the special decorations and we're happy they did. The happy pumpkins and bright bunting made for a specail experience. We've watched photos of Disney parks in Tokyo and France decorated to the hilt for Halloween and marveled at the creative ways Disney artist can use the Halloween theme, it was fun to see a bit of that imagination here in California.

Fancy Flights

I understand that hot air balloons are a common appearance in the Yampa Valley (in which Steamboat Springs, CO is situated,) but I wasn't expecting to get a view quite this close as we drove down the highway. Dangling no more than 50 feet or so over the shoulder this balloon was coming down and the riders were working hard to keep it from coming down on top of the street lamp. They seemed to be having a great time regardless of the trouble as they energetically waved back to us as we gave them a friendly wave and toot-toot on the horn.

Then Cook It Yourself!

If you've ever eaten a steak at a restaurant and said "I could've cooked it better than that" then the 8th Street Steakhouse in Steamboat Springs, CO is the restaurant for you. This was a completely unique eating experience for me and probably would be for most of you. You see, you don't order your food from a server, rather, you approach the buttcher counter, select your uncooked cut of meat and order a side dish (if desired) while that side dish is being prepared, you mosey over to the grill and cook up your steak yourself. A variety of spices and marinades are provided for you as well as sourdough and texas toast for grilling on the side. When you've broiled your favorite piece of beef or chicken to perfection, you help yourself to the complimentary salad bar, take your seat and soon your side dish will join you. Fascinating and fun way to take in a steak.