SoCal Visit to Friends

Frank and I traveled to Southern California Tuesday, October 28th through Friday, October 31st to visit our friends John & Marita who had downsized about two years ago. They'd relocated from the town of Pleasanton, adjacent to our town of Livermore, to a smaller house in Laguna Niguel. Although we zoom with them every two weeks, we still knew we would enjoy a person-to-person get together. We UBER'd to the Oakland airport, a 28.43 mile trip which took 34 minutes. Security was not backed up and went as well as could be expected — except for a small glitch with me. I set off the metal detecters ...whah, whah, whah... !
 

Metal in your body, asked the agent?     No, that is my husband, not me.

Cell phone in the bin?     Yup, not the culprit. 

Could it be my underwire bra?     Not likely.

Anything in your pockets ma'am? I don't think so... Aha!

I thought these candy wrappers were cellophane, but apparently the foil from three of these little Werther's Original candies was enough to set off the system. Live and learn. Frank with his hip replacement filed through without any fuss. It was me with my candies that upset the apple cart. Of course one of my powder medications had to be pulled side and scanned, lest it be an explosive, but I was expecting that. It happens every time I travel.

After the excitement and once we were at our gate, we learned that our Southwest Airlines flight from OAK (Oakland) to SNA (Orange County) was only 75% full. We had the luxury of an empty seat between us for the 1½ hours of air time. 

Flight #4035 actually took off a bit early and we arrived early. Interesting enough, the UBER pickup point at SNA is on the third floor of the parking garage and into curbside. Within minutes we had a ride, though. Our UBER trip to our hotel from the airport was 21.41 miles and took 35 minutes. So far our trip was smooth sailing. Our timing had been lucky. Our driver told us that there had been a recent fatal motorcycle crash on the southbound 405 Freeway near Irvine Spectrum that very morning, resulted in lane closures and significant traffic delays. He said the route we would have taken earlier in the day had been closed for four hours. We were fortunate to have missed it.

Our hotel was the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton, chosen for its proximity to John & Marita's home. We had a room with two queen beds. Room 336 was tucked away in inner corner of the hotel and we had an angled view of the pool. John joked that we had a room with an ocean view. I also picked this place because, beside the free breakfast, the lobby had a pantry where we could purchase snacks to take back to our room anytime. Yes, we did cave and get Tate's chocolate chip cookies and Lays potato chips each night.

John picked us up in his new all electric car and drove us to his house 4.5 miles and about 10 minutes away. Their small economy sized car accommodated Frank and me, our luggage, and Frank's rollator with ease. John and Marita had done a lot of updates to the one-story home. One update was a charging station in the garage for their all-electric car. Frank and I had no checked luggage this trip, only carry-ons. This jaunt was our first time traveling this light and it was great. Inside the one-story, three bedroom home was bright and airy with almost an entire wall of sliding doors out to the backyard. Marita had heated a HUGE Costco Chicken Pot Pie; as soon as we entered the house we inhaled the luscious aroma. HUGE is really big. That pot pie fed four adults for both Tuesday and Thursday nights. Marita had steamed a side of fresh broccoli to go with it each time. We sat and relaxed in pleasant conversation with no plan other than to relax and soak in each other's company.

We were to enjoy their home and hospitality Tuesday evening followed by Wednesday/Thursday days. The covered back patio extend about 20 feet or so and then the yard transitioned to a steep incline, beautifully landscaped and extending far up the hill. We basked in the sunny, balmy, temperate weather outside as we sat on that patio. As we were relaxing in quiet conversation and catching up, I spotted a coyote meandering along the ridge line of the neighbor's yard. As he was winding his way downhill, we watched in subdued wonder. We did agree though, that if he got too much closer we would go indoors; but we did not have to. 

One consequence of all those lovely hills was that cellphone reception was tricky. We would need to alter settings on our cell phones to accept calls via Wi-Fi. After a fair amount of Googling, John finally found detailed instructions on setting this configuration for our iPhone 16s. Apparently there was a radio button acknowledging our acceptance of some random "terms"; the button was sufficiently small and camouflaged that we missed clicking it multiple times. That's OK. Solving the problem was part of Wednesday afternoon's "entertainment" for a bunch of nerds. Marita had gone to a knitting class so this cell phone exercise kept us amused in her absence. We also watched a movie.

We purposely chose a movie we'd all seen so that talking during it would not be a problem. I had recalled getting an email noting that The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie was going away from Prime on October 31st. Afterwards, although you probably could stream it from elsewhere, you would have to pay to rent to watch. Streaming the 2015 movie The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rated 7.2 on IMDb, was every bit as enjoyable to me as the first and second times I have watched it. Snatching a few zzzz's during the movie worked out well for John, Frank, and me at various points throughout. We joked that we thought when Marita returned we should stage a scene with all three of us napping while the TV blared something obnoxious. The proposal was an appealing idea, but we did not deploy it.

Another movie we watched, this time with Marita, was the 2010 movie Knight and Day rated 6.3 on IMDb but really enjoyable. John told us you don't have to follow the plot. The plot is just a vehicle to get you from one action scene to another with no need to understand or anticipate. He was right. Knight and Day, starring Cruise and Cameron Diaz, was a fun, tongue-in-cheek romp, with non-stop action that avoided being gorily violent. Knight and Day was also pleasantly sprinkled with a little risqué sexiness.

Our son, Dan, happened to be in the area for business and he was able to get together with John & Marita and Frank & me for dinner Wednesday night. Since Dan used to live in the area, he suggested a good Mexican restaurant Avila's El Ranchito in Foothill Ranch, CA. The food was very, very good. Dan's personality is such that he was able to fit right in with our group of four; the conversation and laughing were pretty non-stop.

Dan ordered a large margarita not realizing just how LARGE, "large" really was. Seeing it next to his sunglasses for calibration, that margarita was pretty much close to the size of Dan's head! After dinner Dan drove us back to our hotel before going to his. We had the opportunity for a brief visit with him during the half-hour drive to our hotel. Seeing him during this trip was a happy happenstance.

On Thursday we played some games. Our version of Rummikub has six additional bonus joker tiles beyond the standard version. I brought those tiles with me so we could add them in and use them in our own Chambers-personalized 2-D rules for crossword type Rummikub. This version with the bonus jokers is available exclusively from Target. We played SEQUENCE in person as the game was designed. Every other week we play with John & Marita over a zoom call with a specially marked playing board and double the number of card decks. Frank wants it pointed out that when we played SKYJO, he came in first.

While the chicken pot pie was warming in the oven we put together a 300-piece version of a Charles Wysocki puzzle named Mr. Swallowbark, a broom maker. After dinner we sat around and chatted a bit more before we said our goodbyes and John drove us back to our hotel. Our in-person visit was fantastic. It was an enjoyable cherry on top of the treat of having zoom calls every other Monday with awesome friends.

The next morning, Frank and I took an UBER to the airport. Our UBER driver for our return to the airport on Friday told us that he himself had been stuck in that backup for 1½ hours with a passenger. We learned that the UBER stated fare remains the stated fare, and there is no adjustment for traffic delays no matter how extensive. Our curbside drop off at SNA went smoothly and we got to our gate in plenty of time. I expected there to be lots of costumes since we were traveling on Halloween. There were a fair number of folks dressed in black and orange, but there were very few costumes. Our stewardess wore ghost earrings. One last perk of this trip... our flight had 23 empty seats so once again Frank and I had a vacant seat between us. SWA Flight 4274 also took off early and landed early! The travel gods continued to smile on us, even all the way back to our home in Livermore. The 28 mile, 52 minute UBER ride was also uneventful. Glad we went and also glad to be home!

MJ the Musical

On Tuesday night July 29th my friend Kathie and I went to see MJ the Musical at the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose. Normally I try to book matinee performances but I had my son's family coming for a weeklong visit that conflicted with my Saturday afternoon show tickets. After this evening experience, although the show was excellent, I will stick with matinees which are more convenient and easier logistics-wise for traffic, parking, and exiting the garage. UN-parking after the show seemed to take forever!

MJ the Musical is a jukebox musical based on the life of the American entertainer Michael Jackson, focusing on his creative process prior to the Dangerous World Tour. A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical. Neither Kathie nor I were as knowledgable about the Dangerous World Tour as we would have liked to have been and vowed to google some stuff in the next few days when were were home to educate ourselves.

Even without back information about the tour we enjoyed the show. The performance was energetic, colorful and extremely entertaining. The cast for the little guy who played MJ as a young boy was incredible. I think that kid, if times were different, could be another talented MJ. The casting for MJ as an adult was great, too. The actor had the moves and the body language and the voice for MJ down to perfection. On the way exiting the theatre we posed for pictures near the MJ poster.

Kathie dressed in character for the outing. She wore a black leather jacket (not shown) and sparkly shoes (shown enlarged in lower photo). It was a fun evening out.

BiIl and Mary Visit

Thursday, May 8th and Friday, May 9th we were excited to have a visit from Bill and Mary Berner. Bill is a college friend of Frank's from their undergraduate days at Saint Joseph University in Philadelphia. They'd driven across the country from Philadelphia as a road trip. We have not seen Bill and Mary in over a decade, maybe longer, so it was fun to catch up. They have been married over 50 years, a mark we hit this September. The four of us sat around and enjoyed the conversation about the past and the present. Past... both Bill and Mary were heavily into the field of education: Bill as a teacher and as a set-up tech for college physics classroom demonstrations, and Mary as a teacher and private Catholic girl school principal. Bill is a devout collector of antique and unique scientific equipment. Present... they were out here in northern California to take their nephew to a wedding and to pick up antique museum quality computers. 

Beside academics, St. Joe's is famous for its basketball team and in particular its team mascot The Hawk. Bill Berner has the prestige of having been selected as The Hawk for 2 seasons in 1969-70. 

The Hawk is the mascot of Saint Joseph's University. The Hawk is known for continually flapping its wings, even during halftime, throughout every basketball game. It is estimated the Hawk flaps about 3,500 times per game. This act is often associated with the University's motto, "The Hawk Will Never Die", which supposedly was first shouted by fans during a game with Villanova. The Hawk, who debuted in 1955, is one of the most decorated mascots in college sports. It has been named the best college mascot by ESPN College Basketball Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and The Sporting News.

Then Frank showed off his trains to Bill. Afterward, the two of them programmed and installed seven smoke detectors that have been awaiting deployment.

 

Mary and I found we both enjoy jigsaw puzzles so we did a 300 piece apple one and a 500 piece scenic one. While the boys played, we kept busy and chatted.

We went out for dinner both evenings: Thursday at the local corner Italian restaurant Strizzi's and Friday night at the local corner Chinese restaurant the Yin Yin.

It was great to see old friends. We are so glad they visited. "The Hawk will never die!"

San Diego 9/11: SEAL Tour, Jail

SEAL Tour - Monday, September 11th
We thought it would be appropriate to start out the week of our time together with an orientation tour. We picked the SEAL Tour ... SEA for "sea" and L for "land" to give an overview of the city and harbor of San Diego.

On our Uber rider to the departure point at Seaport Village we needed to cross railroad tracks. To Frank's delight, we had to wait for the passage of not one, but four, trains. We waited as they passed and then, when it was clear, we saw our first glimpse of the harbor ahead. When, finally, the crossing gate bar raised, we were treated to a view of the bow of the magnificent sailing ship the Star of India, which we would board later in the week.

We arrived at our tour departure point at Seaport Village, a cluster of little shops and restaurants. We learned later that those buildings had been designed by Disney Imagineers to give a beach cottage feel to the area. 

We picked up our tickets and stickers and waited to board our amphibious vehicle.

  

It arrived and we climbed aboard. We perused the map observing what we would pass on our way to the water. The 100 minute tour was about 40% land and 60% sea.

1   Seaport Village - visited on Monday September 9th

2   US Midway Museum - to visit Tuesday, September 11th

3   San Diego Visitor Info Center

4   Star of India - to visit Thursday September 14th

5   San Diego County Administration Building

6   US Coast Guard Station

7   San Diego Airport - there upon arrival 9/8 and departure 9/15

8   USS Neversail Ship

9   Splash - visited as initial SEA part of SEA & Land tour

One of the first land sights pointed out was the Kansas City Barbecue across the intersection from the SEAL Tours headquarters, where the 1986 movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise was filmed and Goose sings Great Balls of Fire. Then we drove along the shoreline passing sites 2 through 8 before splashing in to the water at site 9. One of our first sites once in the San Diego Big Bay was another SEAL tour passing us in the opposite direction so we could see what we looked like.

Frank and I got mildly wind-blown and wind-burned as we cruised pretty quickly along. We saw large tankers, a myriad of marine wildlife, radar set ups, and shoreline city complexes. We were fortunate enough to even see some dolphins and some sea lions being trained by the Navy. The speaking portion of the tour was further enhanced with some tongue-in-cheek musical accompaniment and some large laminated posters held up so we know what we were looking for or at.

Per the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Marine_Mammal_Program

The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP) is a program administered by the U.S. Navy which studies the military use of marine mammals - principally bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions - and trains animals to perform tasks such as ship and harbor protection, mine detection and clearance, and equipment recovery. The program is based in San Diego, California, where animals are housed and trained on an ongoing basis.

On returning back to land we saw impressive government buildings dotting the shoreline. Once back on land, we saw the wave-shaped sculpture called Pacific Portal by James T. Hubbel located at the entrance to the San Diego Bay channel. Per coolsandiegosights.com, Pacific Portal is a sculptural gazebo made of sprayed, reinforced concrete. It was erected in 2006, replacing an old, more traditional Rotary Club pavilion. Per Hubbel & Hubbell Architects, James Hubbell’s gazebo "design echoes the forms of ocean waves and billowing sails". 

Jail Cells
The SEAL tour returned us to our starting point at Seaport Village, dropping us off at the Bay Company at the bottom of the following map. Near the top of the map is the Kansas City Barbecue of Top Gun fame and the Cheesecake Factory where we ate lunch. John & Sue headed back on their walk home. Frank, Margaret, and I lingered behind to check out the Jail Cells and Police Exhibit, mid-height on the map.

We only spent about ten minutes at the jail but it was interesting. Frank and Margaret posed for mug shots, attempting to appear suitably criminal.

We saw the set up of the jail cells. The authenticated signs from the jails gave pause for thought of what imprisoned life was like.

Posed photos in front proved we were really there.

After lunch and the jail cells, we were tired enough to shorten our stroll through Seaport Village; but we did visit Geppetto's for long enough to buy the 1000 puzzle The Beach Hut.

We took an Uber home and relaxed a bit before venturing out for dinner. Tired of pasta meals, we had dinner at an Aussie restaurant called Queenstown Public House situated in a quaint house. The place was not air conditioned but we were tucked away in this little bay area with open windows and fans; it was quite pleasant. All I remember from the menu is that Frank & I had Fish & Chips, and Margaret had Lamb Skewers. Some of us had "Fatty Fries", some of us had "Skinny Fries" and some of us had "Sweet Potato Fries".

That evening at home we played the game Azul 5211. This is a new game for Frank and me that we recently played with our every other week game partners and they loved it. After several rounds, Margaret honestly and bluntly proclaimed, "I do not like this game!" We laughed and switched off to Sequence, a tried and proved success for this group.