Palace Hotel Haunt

The day before Halloween, Beth, Chris and I went to the Palace Hotel for a "Ghost Tour." It was Beth's discovery and it was free! Before the tour began, the tour guides handed out disclaimer fliers. It was kind of funny because it had a list of disorders on it that might be affected...There was a huge group so they split us into three groups. Essentially, we walked from large room to large room and a different hotel staff member would tell us real "ghostly" encounters of visitors or workers in the hotel. There were a couple of stories of some rather randy female ghosts...I had a hard time not laughing at the story of the Lady in Red...The lady read to us about the Lady in Red by candlelight and had a display (or shrine...??). Our narrator looked like one of the earth mother librarians at our town library back home in Oregon...that, or "Crazy Cat Lady." But she was nice and seemed rather chipper after telling us about the poor men that were "touched inappropriately" by this ghost. Our next storyteller had all the lights out and had just a flashlight illuminating his face. He was hysterical! He read about certain appliances turning on -all by themselves. He emphasized the "all by itself" parts in an exaggerated spooky voice. Beth and I were giggling through the entire thing. We were pretty sure that it was meant to be funny, although there were a couple annoyed glances as we left the room. Sorry -did we ruin the funny scary story for you? I took a couple of pics -and then Beth captured me taking a pic with her camera phone. :)


There was a chair labeled so no one could sit in it but the ghost...It was labeled, "Seat occupied."


After our "ghost tour," we decided to go for gelato in the cafeteria of Woodfield (?) Mall. I have a new favorite ice cream: Rum Raisin. I know Beth got a conglomeration of cookies and cream and chocolate, but Chris...he chose vanilla bean. I mocked him -but only a little. It was actually rather good! It's been a while since I tried just plain old quality vanilla ice cream. I like the more exotic flavors -and I love trying new ones, too.

On my way home from the BART station, I passed by this car in front of Walgreen's. For some reason, I think it's so cute when a dog sits in the driver's seat. It's like they are trying to pretend they are driving -before their master comes back and relegates them to the passenger side or the, heaven forbid, the back seat! So cute! This bulldog just kept watching me watch him. It was also kinda cute that there was a "handicapped" sign up in the car right next to his head. As far as I could tell, it's a handicap to be a dog when wanting to go joy-riding, which is what I imagined this dog wanting to do. Me and my imagination! The guy that owned the dog came out as I was trying to get a good pic of his dog. He was flattered, as far as I could tell. I mean, who wouldn't be? A person wants to take a picture of their pooch because it's cute? Now, that's cool.