GoodKarmaGuy

Where to start??? What a wonderful weekend for our first PSP Gayla!

Hmmm....I think I will have to do a long one.

Should I tell tales about the pilots in the jacuzzi with one of our own? Maybe about the (hit ”Gillgan’s Island” music) "3 Hour Tour" in the Toyota van?

Ahhh... I know... I will describe the chorizo and eggs, the cinnamon-swirled french toast and the pecan-stuffed pancakes we were served by Rosie at breakfast! (How could a diner waitress be named anything BUT Rosie, or Flo, or Patsy?)


Nah, nothing will do the weekend justice.

I won’t bother.

But pictures are good... especially the one of us at L54 (yes that is the airport code), The Aqua Caliente Air Strip. We think we must be the first FlyerTalkers to visit this place. Amazing. Out in the middle of NOWHERE... a paved, brand-new looking landing strip.. no.. not a landing strip. A 2500 FOOT RUNWAY. Runway 29er, actually. Or Runway 11 from our angle of approach. Sort of spooky, really, to see that in the middle of this rock-strewn! There are photos in LAX Gambit's post here.

My weekend got off to a good start with work in DFW ending early and me getting on a 3-hour earlier flight! Woohoo! Took a downturn at the Dollar-Rent-A-Car in PSP when the girl would not give me an economy car since I was 3 hours earlier. Grrrr. I should have called the 1-800 number and changed it. But I forgot. So I paid $5/day upgrade for a stupid compact. Grrrrr.

We started off our weekend with the party organized by lisamcgu and hosted by our new friend, John, at his +5000 square-foot winter home. OMG. The place was amazingly beautiful. Beautiful with fountains, a gatekeeper’s casita, pool with waterfall, etc., etc.* That was the house, I mean.... NOT the complex! After driving through the first gate (well, enormous, wooden, arched doors masquerading as gates) Viajero Joven cried, “Hey! 4 other cars followed us through the gate!” Uh oh. We will cruise the community later looking for looters. Haha. The party was a huge success... with everyone sharing wines and vintage diet cokes. lisamcgu outdid herself and set the stage for high standards for the entire weekend! She had snacks, pizza, you name it. She will very politely say that John did it all but let me tell you that is not true! Everyone was dressed smart casual and I am not sure how the chips fell this way, BUT it was a very good-looking group. One person said, at the beginnning, “So, are any of the guys coming very cute?” Later, an hour or two into the party, as the doorbell kept ringing, the same person was heard to say, with much enthusiasm, I might add, “Are there MORE coming?!” This was not a sexual weekend - well, for most of us, anyway - ha - but, at times a SEXY weekend... with clothes, going out to clubs, laying around the pools, etc. I will say that I will never, ever, ever go out dancing with Foady as he gets all the cruising. Drat... all the boyz look at him! BTW, Toucan's is really just a big Tiki Bar with a dance floor...umguy pointed out that they had no mixing ability with the music. Every good song was cut off in the middle! So, on to Hunter's Yummmmm. Hot, hot, hot! When Hunter's closed we went on to Heaven which doesn't serve alcohol (we didn't know that) but stays open until 4am. $10 to get in. What a rip. We were all glad that we went (esp as Foady paid! ) because we wanted to see what it was like. Yuck. So-so music, some hotties and a bunch of tweakers. Too bad. If they weren't charging $10 maybe there would have been a lot more folks! Duh.

Saturday I ran errands. The Dollar car’s front right brake seized up. 2-3 hours to have them come and get me OR I could drive it to the airport at 5 miles an hour. Which I did. Still no upgrade. Grrrrr. But they did give me a 3/4 tank gas and comped the $5 original compact upgrade charge. BUT the new compact did not have a CD player. **SIGH** I listened to crap music all weekend. Ran my errands. Ordered a suprise birthday cake for dinner, centerpieces, doorprizes, party favors, etc. None of this could be done easily until I arrived in PSP. But I enjoy doing this stuff... organizing, etc.

Got to the Saturday Night Dinner an hour ahead of time and set up. Envelopes with drink coupons and nametags...place cards with the entree selection on them to help the waiters, centerpieces which had to change at the last minute since the table layout been changed. I changed my clothes, finally, and went around to the front doors and joined the party!

We sat right on time at 730pm (kudos to the restaurant for this!) and met our waiters. The VERY HANDSOME Dan and Michael. Woohoo! (But unfortunately, very MARRIED. To each other, I mean. rats. )

Dinner was scheduled as 3 courses. But I had added, as a suprise, a little amuse bouche. You know, a little palate teaser. One was a minature veggie pizza on a little wheat tortilla with black beans and homemade sauce. The other was a "lonely shrimp", cooked, chilled and served on a cheese crostini with pesto and cocktail sauce topping the bread and the shrimp on top of that. Just a little taste to get started. Each amuse bouche was alternated with the other so guests would get to see both and trade off if one was more to their liking. The Villa is famous for their home-made spicy cocktail sauce. Yummmm..

The first course, of course was salad, cesar or green, or the chef’s soup. I had asked them to do a gazpacho for us. Later, talking to peteropny, it became clear that gazpacho might not be the best choice for us BUT I forgot to rescind my order with The Villa. Luckily, the gazpacho, I hear, was terrific, though at one table (of our three), the verdict was the gazpacho wasn’t that great. The other tables loved it so it was a winner overall. Did I say that it was a crab gazpacho? And that it came in a huge martini glass? It was and it did. Very nice and I think everyone was relieved to see that dinner was starting to be fun.

Now, our little protegé, Viajero Joven (DO NOT ASK a protegé in what!) was ONE HOUR LATE to the cocktail reception that started at 630pm. (DO NOT ASK why he was late... I will say that he was acompanied to dinner by a very handsome guest.) Why should one be held accountable to be on time to a pre-dinner cocktail reception you ask? Especially in these things, when the cocktail hour is a nice way for people to arrive at their leisure? When one is running a mileage workshop at said cocktail hour, we respond. Viajero Joven is so sweet and kind and folks were still very interested in the mileage workshop even though we were beginning dinner... so Viajero Joven, not wanting to disappoint his fans and admirers, offered to do a quickie - workshop that is - during dinner. Alors, after the amuse bouche was served, (and during the appetizers as well!), he conducted his mileage workshop in front of the lit fireplace. We had..ummm.. maybe 4 non-FTer guests and a smattering of spouses. The FTers were glad to get the Viajero-Joven-copyrighted handouts and the non-FTers were gaga over the stories re the $20 BA flight, the SIN runs and that this is really that simple. Many FTers (esp lisamcgu, catwood and dhammer53) chimed in with their favorite hints and tips. The spouses were not gaga... as they have probably participated in these low fares and runs but they smiled, nodded, patted our heads and listened politely while Viajero Joven shined and the fire blazed.

As the entrees were cleared we had our suprise entertainment which I had secretly dragged away from the trailer park near where I live. No, it was not a stripper... get your minds out of the gutter! It was “Raquel”, a former Miss Bakerfield, I think, and, I imagine, a current Miss Chula Vista. Woohoo! She did a little number and then led us through a complicated series of closing our eyes and other assorted trailer park tricks... errrr.. I mean parlor game tricks and had the waiters bring in a table laden with goodies, birthday cake, presents and door prizes while our eyes were closed. Nice. Bellissima. Brava! We celebrated sdfun’s, catwood’s and mjmsf’s birthdays with song and cake. All, I think, 28 years old... with the exception of catwood who, a pilot told me, had flatly declared that he was barely 19. At least that was the talk a la jacuzzi. Gifts furnished by the fab Randy Petersen. Hats and t-shirts. Sweet.

After cake, more games and contests with really, really cool keychains donated by dhammer53 who, I will let you know, does not - repeat: DOES NOT ... need "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy". This is one handsome, absolutely charming guy who, on both days that I saw him, was dressed hip and "in". (Of course this coming from me, the ONLY guy who wore "beach-desert wear" to the Big Dinner. **sigh**) The contests were, for example, questions like... ''who has the most elite cards in their wallet? (izzik: 4)... 'who flew the most in 2003?'(umguy: 202,000 STATUS miles!)... 'who is a member of the Mile-High Club?'(there were a couple winners for that one! )

Have you already heard that the food was very, very good? Everyone was suprised, I think. Well, who can blame them? You never know how these things will turn out.... as a matter of fact, after working everything out and visiting and emailing - as it was coming down to the wire - the fellow at The Villa said to me, (the night before) "Oh we are so excited! We've never done this before!" Whaaaaat??!! But all was well. Dinner wound down about 1030pm with some folks going out to the Barracks... some going off to bed. I emptied the huge stones out of my little rental car's economy/compact trunk (did I tell you that the restaurant had changed the set-up and table sizes? Noooooooooo! Quick! Rethink the centerpieces! Do str8 guys go through this when throwing a Do?? I think not!). Anyway I threw the huge stones and little rocks into Wally's World and went home to the jacuzzi and bed. Sort of.

Breakfast on Sunday at Don and sweet Sue's... well, scroll up.. it is all there. Incredibly good. All 15 breakfasts delivered at the same time and HOT, too. Ask for Rosie. TRUST ME. Oh, another interesting thing: izzik was MKE-MR's secret santa and they had never met before breakfast. That is great 'FlyerTalk'!

5 of us went for a hike after breakfast by piling inlisamcgu's mom's Toyota Van. Luxurious. Nice. Included were lisamcgu and me, of course. Also dhammer53, MKE-MR and LAXGambit. I will say first off that lisa is an amazing tour guide. She knew everything from the local history to why things were named what they were! She took us through the REAL California. Miles of palm groves, deserts and mountains both, shanties, dusty roads, broken-down pickup trucks and mexican grocerias with meat hanging from the ceilings and piles and piles of tortillas on steel shelves. So many tortillas that, even though they are wrapped in plastic, you could just stand there and breathe in the corn smell.. so thick that you would almost think you eat the smell! We had an absolute blast. Lisa will tell you that she was embarrassed that we got to Sunday Night Dinner late but we begged her to believe that WE ALL HAD A TERRIFIC TIME! The airstrip story above is part of this, too. All in all, a wonderful FlyerTalk Adventure that will go down in the annals of Do's.

So, finally, Sunday Night Dinner at Shame on the Moon. This place is beautiful, quiet and elegant. peteropny had been here before and this was his choice to make an open invite for anyone to join us. We sat at two tables of 5. Service was better than I had had before and the food was delicious. (But don't order the ravioli!) It was nice to sit down and enjoy everyone's company once all the "events" were done. I slept soooo well that night!

A very big thanks to all the guys and gals who came and who contributed! Especially lisamcgu, peteropny, sdfun, Viajero Joven, Randy Petersen and FlyerTalk and, of course, John, our friday night co-host.

Also, thanks to a couple of you double-especially... you know who you are!

*Disclaimer: the house pics are not of the house we visited but one in the same community. Ours was nicer.

(edited to fix those darn URLs)
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Just trying to keep up with the gals in the trailer park next door.

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[This message has been edited by GoodKarmaGuy (edited Jan 23, 2004).]

blairvanhorn

Wow! I just threw out all of my old "Ab Fab" tapes - reading this report is ten times better!

Sounds like a great time - thanks for sharing this with everybody, GKG.

izzik

Oh, MKE-MR is straight??

alanw

You guys had centerpieces?

Sounds like a great time, well-organized by the host with the most...something . Hopefully we'll be able to keep you entertained here next month as well. I heard today they are expecting around 100,000 people that weekend - and the population is 19,000. And aside from the parade (and my casteller performance - attendance mandatory), there's not much to do but drink and screw.


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-alan in sitges, home of the new, improved Si-Re-Do

sftrvlr

Time to chime in and say a big thank you for a great time. My first FT do, and it was so much fun! Unfortunately, won't be making it to Spain next month, which looks to be an equally good time. Starting a new job on Feb. 1st, and that **** work thing is getting in the way ...

Thanks again to all those who spent endless time and energy to organize the PSP Gayla. I enjoyed putting faces to so many FT handles. Can't wait for the next one ...




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sftrvlr

dhammer53

ewormt

A big Thank You to all the organisers, GKG, lisamcgu, and peteropny, was very tempted to type 'peterpony' instead (*looks at GKG*)

I had a marvelous time at the DO, and also thank you everyone for making it a memorable experience.

lisamcgu

Compared to GKG and peterpony, I did nothing. Poor Joe was always on the phone planning the next thing - he really went beyond the call of duty to create this wknd, and it was AMAZING.

I don't think I was the only one who got worn out from the wknd.

And Friday, John volunteered his place and sdfun provided all those veggies and cheese platters. All I did was bring some wine and other items, one of them being pizzas, which I didn't even make (read: heat up). John tried to show me how to use the oven but gave up, eagerly handing the job over to sdfun's guest, Jack, who, thankfully, became pizza chef for the nite. Shall we just say I am good at delegation

And peterpony (I know there is an extra n or h in there somewhere, but I like peterpony better) was the righthand man everybody wants to have. He took care of alot of the details and was there handing out the dinner tickets when we all came into the bar on Sat nite, making us feel very well taken care of.

Saturday's dinner was the best. The day was clear, sunny, warm and beautiful, and I'm sure it was hard for some to tear themselves away from the Jacuzzi for dinner, but it was sooo worth it. Yes, Joe, we were surprised the food was so good. For the price, which was so inexpensive, I guess we thought it wouldn't be that great. It was beyond great, try unbelievable + 2 glasses of wine! And, I can't believe we were the first ones to do a group dinner there - what a find!

As for VJs mini-seminar. How perfect! He was so informative and he gave us the best handouts. It was so cool. And the timing was perfect, like a dinner show, although, it was actually during the salad course. I remember because the whole time I was thinking about him missing out on salad, which was very sad because even the mixed greens were great with a fresh, tangy, incredibly flavorful dressing.

I still feel bad about the extended 4-hr tour on Sunday, at least for the gay guys. They could have been doing the gay hotel tour ... Anyway, I didn't have time to wash the sand out of my hair, and I was tired from driving for 6 hrs, but I am sooo glad I showed up for that nite's dinner. And, thank goodness the group waited for us "hikers" because it was the most delightful dinner. I loved my seatmates, especially mjmsf with those gorgeous clear green eyes, and flybynight is about as entertaining as any dinnermate one could hope to have - imagine watching porn and realizing it was shot in your hotel room, right there on the bed you're lying on! And that was just one of his stories One of the Jeff's and mjmsf's roommate completed the group. What a happy, positive, entertaining lot! We shared a great bottle of wine, our food, stories, scoops, gossip, and then desert. Perfect, a great finale to the wknd

A note - Sat nite, the food at the Villa was much better, I thought, but Sunday nite's Shame on the Moon can't be missed just for the attitude. The bottom of the menu had a disclaimer that threatened a "change fee". If one didn't trust the chef, who it seemed, according to the disclaimer, had gone to much trouble to create each and every item on the menu, if anything was requested beyond ordering an item exactly as it was presented, a maximum extra fee would be charged. This kept us chuckling all evening.

Oh, and the MacGuyver of the group turned out to be LAXGambit, who, along with the most positive, happy and engaging attitude, and puka shells, brought along this little credit card that turned out to be a digital camera! The shots he took of us on the runway and behind the Aqua Caliente Airport sign are classic - thanks!

Also, thanks to Scratch and his guests for being the best possible first guests a person could hope to have at their party. I hadn't met any of the FTers who were coming to the Fri nite party and I was so relieved to see such nicely pressed, sweet, polite, good-looking boys. Sigh of relief! Then, very big smile. Thank you boys

I was just thinking that I don't want to forget anyone because so many made such an impact. For those that have never met them -

Foady - Cute, Delightful, Outgoing and Smells Good (Clinique Destiny, was it?)
catwood - the Belle of the Ball
izzik - Warm and Friendly
gfowler - my New Friend, showed up with a '94 Markham (thanks!)
umguy - SMMMMart, THE Go-To Guy
and, of course,
jock DAAdy & ILuvParis - If I was as Witty, I wouldn't be as Nice, but they are - I love them!


[This message has been edited by lisamcgu (edited Jan 24, 2004).]

lisamcgu

OH! I forgot to say thanks to dhammer for coming all the way to PSP from Ontario on Sat, and then from LAX on Sun, driving back to each place, each nite! It was nice to see such a dedicated FTer. His presence really added to the group

LAX Gambit

I definitely had an entertaining weekend! Thanks again to Joe, Lisa and Dan for the kind words. The one thing I will remember to packed next time is a bottle of wine to go along with the hike. It would have gone great with the sunset.

My one question for the whole weekend is..who (besides Joe) made up the rest of the mafia? Since the game ended suddenly at the Saturday night dinner, we never found out who they were.

Morrissey

Oh come on...we just want to know who was sleeping with whom.

catwood

I'm the "belle of the ball".?

I was probably just amusing due to the wine and the attractive boys sitting around me.

I am eying future "do's" in equally warm or warmer locations.

IndyDavid

Wow! What a fabulous weekend. Wish I could have made it. Next time!!

David

ewormt

I was one of the other mafia, just so you can attach the face, I was the youngest guy around there (pretty positive on that..)
If that doesn't help, I'm also Chinese.

Foady

I guess it's my turn. Thanks to Joe, Peter, et al on a great weekend! With PSP being my first do, I couldn't have experienced a much better introduction to the FT gay (and non-gay ) community!

Joe..you're too kind.

Lisa...almost. It's chemistry.

So, when and where is the next do (after Sitges, since I'm already committed that weekend. )?!?

[This message has been edited by Foady (edited Jan 26, 2004).]