Vacation Wrap up: Winchester Mystery House + The Cat House on the Kings

Vacation for the New Year!

My 2019 ended really well with a week and half long road trip to Northern California and Sequoia National Forest. I enjoyed some quality family time with my parents. I also went with my brother and the Vogels (Aaron, Becky, and Jamey) to some new places including a tiki bar in the Fairmont Hotel, the Winchester Mystery House (I wrote a glowing Yelp review with some photos), and just uploaded a video of the trip to my personal YouTube account:

Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, CA

The Cat House on The Kings

We also went to the Cat House on the Kings (a huge cat sanctuary in Parlier, CA) for Kat’s birthday surprise (she’s a trained vet tech turned pet sitter who loves animals, but especially cats!). That was probably the highlight of the whole trip, which was overall superb. I also took too many photos there, so I’ve made a video of it:

I also joined the Vogels and Kat at a shared family cabin, which was awesome because there were deer everywhere due to hunting season. This meant deer were coming close to the cabin for the apples and corn we’d left around on tree stumps. Blue jays were also swooping in right on the deck for peanuts!

We watched mostly horror movies at the cabin, including Wicker Man, The VVitch, and Cat People (which is actually more disturbing than the horror movies). We ended the trip on a low note by seeing the movie CATS, which I didn’t hate as much as everyone else!

I was amused and continually made references to Jellicle Cats, like Jennyanydots, Skimbleshanks the Railroad Cat, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, Old Deuteronomy, and Mr. Mistoffeles. I enjoyed people’s funny tweets about it from Buzzfeed.

This trailer someone made with the Us soundtrack also convinced me I needed to watch the movie!

Plans for the Future

Anyhow, I was feeling great after the vacation only to discover shortly after returning to work that my contract would be ending on the 1st of February. I was at first a little disappointed, but after some processing, was slightly relieved. My manager was even more shocked than me and made it clear that he still wanted me to work there.

It’s a rule that the company required 6 months before hiring contractors if I wanted to return. I’m leaving that option open, since finding jobs is not fun and I’ve really gotten to enjoy my team. Perhaps a 6 month vacation can allow me to focus on housecleaning, organization, focusing on my health (including regular exercise), and perhaps short trips if my cat allows it.

She was not easy for my cat sitter to deal with during the longer vacation away, I’ve been concerned about her health also, as she’s much more wobbly than before. Though London is calling with the Bauhaus show and so many Harry Potter filming locations I want to visit!

I’ve been writing more product reviews than ever, but I’m also interested in natural health remedies for me and my friends who might be suffering from certain issues that come with age, mood, and anxiety (which also affect me). I’ve joked about getting into voodoo, which I feel is kind of silly nonsense – though I really wouldn’t mess with anyone who was into it!

Another exciting thing is my coworker (who I also consider a friend and mentor) signed me on as a distributor for natural products called Shaklee, which I’ve used with great results in the past. I’m very into their shakes for pre-post workouts, so maybe it will finally get me to exercise again.

I also have tons of clothes to sort through that I could try selling again, not to mention so many video game consoles…