Canyon ranch (Tucson) then on to Hollywood

 Pictures and Videos at the bottom

Year 4 at Canyon Ranch feel free to read and view pictures from on year 1, year 2, or year 3.

As always Chephart Yosh was just an unbelievable host. Two highlights of the trip were visiting the "Who Shot Rock and Roll" exhibit at the Tucson Museum of Art.

And hiking the Wasson Peak with Chephart Yosh and Margarite. Wasson Peak is the highest peak in the Tucson Mountain Range. While at Canyon Ranch I continued my training for the upcoming 8 Tuff Miles race in St Johns U.S.V.I.

After 5 days of beating, "the you know what out of myself" training, I decided to head off to Hollywood. My buddy John was visiting his daughter and son in-law Sara Erikson and Peter Oldring.

You may remember I went to Sara and Peter's wedding 2 years back.

John was going out to visit Sara and Peter to celebrate Sara getting the leading lady part in the up coming Mission Impossible movie to be released in November of 2013. The title is "Mission Impossible - Witches Brew"

While visiting Sara and Peter we got to do a lot of celebrity stuff. With both Peter and Sara's careers taking off, life and the visit was somewhat hectic. Most days both Sara and Peter were up at the crack of dawn about 11:00 am (it was dawn in Hawaii). The first few hours of the day were spent deciding what to do. Once the efficient planning process was complete with what day light we had left we kept ourselves busy.

Both John and I arrived at LAX on Tuesday evening, Sara was right on time picking us up. Off we went to Sara and Peters new digs in the Hollywood Hills. Sara and Peter just recently purchased a $7,532,842.56 mansion. This was a drop in the bucket compared to the money Sara will be making starring in the Witches Brew.

The house was over the top, the best part of the house was Maggie the family dog. Though both Sara and Peter have hit the big time they remain grounded and continue to want to give back. Maggie is a recipient of their generosity as she was a rescue dog that now lives the life of Reilly. Not quit the LifeOfDUG but close.

After a few hours of catching up, and an unbelievable gourmet dinner prepared by Sara and Peter, John and I hit the sack, Sara and Peter hit the clubs, apparently this is part of the celebrity life style.

Wednesday morning or should I say afternoon we heading down to Rodeo Drive

Peter was requested to play a leading role in an up coming feature film. Peter needed to evaluate if he wanted to take the part. The producers office was just off Rodeo Drive, we all went along as John and I thought lunch might be a good idea, though Sara was in favor of Breakfast. We ate at the Urth Cafe very cool and healthy spot.

Once Peter was done his meeting we regrouped and we decided to execute on that days plan. First off to Venice Beach what an eclectic place.

People watching was awesome, the skate boarders, surfers, homeless, street performers, body builders, you name the type of people to watch and you find it on Venice beach. The best part while we were watching all these people, they were watching us. Most recognized Sara and Peter from the work they had done.

John was recruited to do a street show what a blast.

From Venice Beach we were off to the Venice Canals.

No, not Venice Italy, Venice California! This place was magical I had never been to the Venice Canals in California, a canal system much like Venice Italy only cleaner, with quaint houses right on the banks. After a walking tour of the canals we headed up to Malibu.

Sara needed to drop something off at Charlie Sheen's house (I did not ask). From there we went to Dukes for drinks and some finger food on the beach. What a view and sunset.

Thursday morning was fun packed, we changed all the clocks in the mansion so rather then the normal wake up at 12:00 PM we were ready to go at 9:00 AM. I needed to train so Peter and I planned to run he Hollywood Hills, unfortunately someone had dropped human body parts in the park the night before, the police closed the park down. We found some other hills to run what a great work out 2 miles up and 2 miles down. After the run Peter had another meeting and John, Sara and I, had breakfast at Bea Bea's in Burbank great breakfast place.

The afternoon was golf and some R&R, then a gourmet dinner with a main course of salmon prepared to perfection, by Peter and Sara.

Friday was an easy 6 mile run and then off to the studios. Sara was filming for Witches Brew and we got back stages passes to watch the filming. (See Video). As a surprise Sara got John and I dancing lessons at the Famous Sophie Dance Studio

After a full day of filming we had a huge night planned at the Magic Castle. This was a surprise and what a surprise it was. If you are every in Hollywood even if you are not a fan of Magic this is a must. One thing I must admit going with Sara and Peter was very cool we got the full VIP treatment.

Saturday Sara and Peter were having a Hollywood Party inviting many of their celebrity friends over for a night of Pork Barbeque and Beans and party games.

I hear there Colorado is finally getting some snow so I think I will head off to the Mountains.

Cheers from Hollywood,

DUG (Pictures videos Below)







Pictures

Magic Castle

Video Venics

Witches Brew

Poker Play and Skiing in CO (Again) Late December 2011

Pictures and Video at the Bottom

As I am visiting the United States I thought I would do some sightseeing and play a little live poker. It seems that there are casinos in every state in not every city, most offering live poker.

I never really enjoyed live poker, the quality of players is a little better then the players you find on-line. It seems since the United States Department of Justice shut down on-line Poker for U.S. Player. The live games have loosened up. Remember when playing poker you do not have to be a good poker player you only have to be better then the other players at your table.

I started in Atlantic City and drove West to Colorado, I was able to find a casino or poker room in every state I crossed. I won enough money to fund my trip plus have a little left over that should carry me until I return to Botswana. I had one very exciting hand, it happened at a poker room in a small town in Kansas it was a Harrah's Casino. The only issue was the tables were some what over my budget. The blinds were $5, $10, I usually play $1,$2 when playing live poker. I normally would not have played, but there was one player at the table that was a huge fish. I felt if I played tight enough I could win a lot of money form this guy.

I bought in for $1,000 which was about what I had won over the last few days driving across the country. My very first hand I was dealt a pair of 7's. I was the big blind, 7 players were in the pot so I checked. The pot was roughly $70.00.

The Flop: 7, 10, 5 I had hit a set of 7's (3 sevens). Unless someone had a pair of 10's in their hand I had the best hand. The guy that was first to act (the fish) bet $70.00 everybody folded to me. I knew he would call my raise as he had been doing that for all the hands I had watched. So I made a raise to $400.00. He says, "You better not have a Set!" and he pushed all in just under $1,000. I thought for a minute. I did not think he would have limped in with a pair of 10's so I knew I had the best hand. I called him, he turned over 10, 7, he had two pair. The turn was a 5, I now had a full house. The river was a blank and I won about $1,000 in one hand. The guy that lost threw down his chip rack and walked off. I took my winnings and went off to do some more skiing. Free skiing now that I won that hand.

When I arrived at my brothers they had a few guests. Larry and his son Big Banger, you may remember Larry I first met Larry on my trip to the Grand Tetonsat the time Larry was traveling with Eddie, and I thought and still think they were a couple (on the other team). It seems that Larry and Eddie adopted a son who is now 19. Big Banger, Big Banger is an up and coming tennis sensation and got his name because he hits his balls so hard, when playing tennis that is. Larry had contacted my brother about some skiing and that is that. Also at the house was Big Ed. You may remember Big Ed did some skiing with me last year for his birthday.

There has been very little snow and the conditions are even worse then they were a few weeks ago when I was out with Mad and Lauren.

Day one we skied Copper Mountain. It was fine, Larry, and Big Banger thought it was great, since they are east coast skiers. They thought all the ice and dirt was normal skiing. Though the conditions were awful we had fun.

Day two we skied Winter Park, the conditions on Day 2 made day ones conditions look great, 80 Mile Per Hour winds with Ice or hard packed snow. Big Banger was getting a little frustrated with his skiing. So we decided to get private lessons from Gary (Ziggy) Ziegler). We are not sure what was worse Ziggy's lessons or the conditions. The lessons may have been bad because of the conditions. The one and only benefit of the lessons was we got to go to the front of the lift lines. With the high winds they shut down all but 2 of the ski lifts so the lines were an hour or so long, but not for us, we went right to the front with Ziggy.

Day three was back to Copper Mountain, they had gotten about 2 inches of snow and the winds had died down so we had a great day of skiing. One thing I found interesting was how Larry compensates for the changing ski conditions. You may remember last year when I skied with Jack Daniel he would change his skis to adjust for his added weight after lunch. I had suggested he just take a duce to lower the weight. That is exactly what Larry does as the conditions change he will either eat to add weight of take a dump to reduce weight. I think Larry spent more time in the head then he did on the ski slopes.

We had dinner at a great restaurant in Evergreen called Kitchen on the Creek.

After 3 days of god awful skiing and a bunch of fun, Larry and Big Ed decided to do some ski shopping at Foot Hills Ski and Bike. The owner John is the coach for both Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller, 4 hours and several thousand dollars later Big Ed and Larry had skis that could take them on the Olympic skiing circuit.

Tonight is New Years Eve in Evergreen Colorado. The town puts on a great fireworks show from the frozen town lake. We all trekked out to the middle of the lake in 25 degree temperatures to watch the fireworks.

Now the issue is what to do with Larry and Big Ed's old ski boots. More on that Later.

Cheers,

DUG