I always take a picture like this for the practical reason of helping us find our way back to our car later.
Because we are always this way, we got there over a couple hours early. When we checked our baggage it was interesting that the kiosks were all extremely slow to respond, we spent probably 10 minutes on various kiosks before we finally got one to get all the way through printing our tags and boarding passes without timing out (foreshadowing). Then through security and we settled in for a long wait.
Long wait turned into "Southwest is melting down" as flights cancelled and our flight kept getting delayed. The young artist sitting next to us with her easel had been at the airport since maybe 4am that day, and had spent the previous day trying to get out as well, and was approaching a level of panic / nervous breakdown as the likelihood of our flight's cancellation became greater and greater. The Southwest employee manning our gate was a perfect example of how the Southwest employees did their part, while the system let everyone down. He kept us very well informed as bad news rolled in. There was a flight from Dallas that allegedly had our pilot on it, and we were tracking it using online flight trackers.
What was funny is that as the inevitability of our cancellation dawned on us, we, the parents, started to cope with this likelihood and start to plan around it. I briefly entertained the wild idea of us driving to California in a brisk two days, having a whirlwind Disneyland visit and driving straight back. Eventually we kind of realized this would be somewhat miserable on the kids, so we started thinking through the benefits of it being cancelled...time to relax at home, more time to spend with their new Christmas gifts, just a general sense that we could take it easy by avoiding all the complexities of travel. I even started itemizing a list of all the places we would have to call to cancel various reservations. We started to prepare the kids and honestly, they were kind of good with that. The following announcement, in which Peter the Southwest employee implies there is a glimmer of hope dawning, shows Debra actually apologizing to the kids because...well...we may be leaving after all.
Debra asked me to video the announcements in hopes I would either capture the crowd's reaction to good news, or in the event of a cancellation, the no-doubt dramatic response.
And they finally get a First Officer for us!!! Amazing news...and then followed with the tragedy of the Captain who had been hanging out in the gate with us having officially timed out, unable to fly any more per regulations. And then in the middle of that announcement he gets called off and we're left on the edge of our seats.
This guy stayed with this flight all day and managed a despondent, sometimes hostile crowd, and pulled this situation over the finish line. A+ work, guy. Most of the crowd appreciated it...there were any number of offers of drinks from people going to and from the cantina (thankfully he demurred and stayed on task, hah). But shortly after this we boarded.
Boarded, and departure was about 22:30.
Christmas livery for the cabin.
Luckily the kids conked out straight away. I ended up reading a good bit of the January 6th Committee full report which had just been released.
Landed in Los Angeles, and the baggage claim area was a little bit of a mess, nothing indicating which flight was on what carousel, but I think this was all a small part of the greater Southwest meltdown. Systems were just down. The kids were in good spirits despite it being ridiculously late.
Our luggage arrived and we waited outside for the rental car bus.
Then at Alamo, I had done the extra work to do the "Skip the Counter" service where we just go straight to the car. Sadly this proved a false efficiency as it appeared that there were two lines at the gate...the "contract" (normal counter folks) and "skip the counter" lines, and the "skip the counter" folks were completely stuck with a "computer is down" message whereas the folks who had gone to the counter were being waved right through. So we sat there and waited, again.
But they did it manually, maybe, and we eventually got through, made our way down to Anaheim, and had a late night / early morning dinner of pizza and salad thoughtfully provided by the brother-in-law before collapsing in the rental house. But we had managed to make it there for Christmas in LA, cue silly Vulfpeck song:
Next morning I got up fairly early, especially given the lateness of our arrival...I ended up quietly searching the kitchen to figure out what else we needed, slowly opening drawers and cabinets like I was a burglar, trying to avoid waking people. We made some coffee and Debra and I went for a walk, enjoying the mild Southern California winter weather, and of course, the classic Los Angeles vistas of fenced in concrete drainage ditches.
We happened on some lovely homeless folks in a park so doubled back to the rental:
We then hit the local grocery store, from which besides normal stuff I managed to buy Mexican apple soda (pretty good!) and the largest, and yet mealiest and driest pommelo I have ever tasted. Then we gathered the kids and headed northwest towards San Pedro...stopping for our first indulgence in In-N-Out, naturally.
Unsurprisingly revisiting the lead ship of her class, the USS Iowa.
I've lost count of our visits, but this may be the third or fourth time.
We've since visited the Missouri (at Pearl) and I very nearly worked my way into seeing the New Jersey on a business trip, but not yet.
Heading towards the wardroom to begin the interior tour.
XO's quarters, not at all bad in comparison to the other officers and crew.
I haven't even formulated the right joke for this, but I know there's something in there. Like, they have this dedicated second "decontamination entrance" for the officers' john for what? Taco Tuesday in the wardroom?
A more typical officer's cabin, LCDR rank it looks like.
Going around the armoured bridge...the hardened core of the ship from which commands could be given even when the citadel was smashed to bits by enemy fire.
Visibility is certainly limited in there, but you are relatively well protected.
A signalling lamp of some kind.
Not sure if these are just indicators or what, but engine power / speed gauges.
R2DR CIWS, starting to show its age with a little corrosion.
On the aft deck by the gun directors you have the Harpoon and Tomahawk batteries.
Then down below deck we went.
The fun thing about these ships is that they have a feeling of anachronism twice over...there's stuff in there that is from the 1940s of course, when it was built, but a lot of the crew areas are full of furnishings and machines from the 1980s and 1990s from its later activation and refit.
Crew's mess hall and galley.
Gretchen admiring the no doubt exceptional menu. Honestly, it probably wasn't terrible, at least until the fresh food started to run out.
The Marine detachment had their little security office, rack of M16s on the left.
White milk dispenser, not sure who "Mumaa" was but they were very strict on rationing.
Soft serve machine.
The Boy has taken this picture before, but was a lot smaller then!
Then the rest of them were lured off to the gift shop while I went further below to a new exhibit area. Some of it was just, well, exhibits, which I tend to find more boring than the actual ship compartments as they were at the time. But a nice model of the Bismarck:
And a similar one of its ill-fated nemesis, the HMS Hood, that it sank early in the battle (but they got the Bismarck in due time).
Not sure if this is authentic headgear recovered from the crew of either vessel.
Laundry area...
And the actual brig.
Barber shop...
Then back out on deck (Gretchen was fascinated by the pigeons).
Piasecki H-25 chopper on deck.
We drove back to Anaheim and took it easy for a bit, but around 4:45 we piled back in the car to head over to Gardena, where I had placed reservations for us at a true yakitori izakaya, one of several around Los Angeles. They opened at 5:30 and there was a line forming, so we were fortunate to have made reservations.
With our larger group we were seated at a table, so we didn't exactly get to watch the master at work...he grills over charcoal, so this is the real deal. It's a tiny little place in a strip mall, but the smell is amazing. We were the only people speaking English during our visit...the waitress kindly shifted into English to deal with us (arigato gozaimasu!).
Here's our first a la carte order of skewers...top row, negima (chicken thigh with Japanese onion) and kawa (skin) skewers, lower row left to right, uzuru (quail egg), reba (liver), tsukune (chicken meatball), and hatsu (heart). I ordered a Kuru Kirishima imo shochu on the rocks...made with black koji and sweet potato, very different and unique taste from the mugi shochu (made from barley) I've tried before. Already snatched up was a tsumiren skewer (ground chicken stuffed in a mushroom, with a unique herbal flavor I conjectured to be shiso leaf).
We were originally going to leave the lad at home with his cousin but he ended up loving it, particularly the tsukune. I loved the uzuru egg, it soaked up the smell of the charcoal fire beautifully. And now I'm trying to figure out where to get quail eggs from!
We ordered another smaller round of skewers (more tsukune, tsumiren, uzuru, and gingko nut skewer). I had also ordered some onigiri...not the yaki onigiri that the chef masterfully balances over the grill bars, but normal plain onigiri (wrapped with a little nori) that the kids enjoyed trying to hopelessly eat with chopsticks. I had some too and learned (from experimenting with the condiments table-side...shoyu, shichimi togarashi, and sansho pepper) that too much sansho pepper is indeed a thing...and I applied too much sansho to the rice for sure. The cup of used skewers...
Obviously this day was mostly "for me" (hey, plenty of Disney to come) but I really loved trying authentic yakitori...many times I'll learn how to make a dish and unless I've been able to try the real thing, I can only guess how close I am to the mark. Debra actually mentioned preferring my negima overall, which is nice, but I think it stems from what a true yakitori master would say are defects in my approach...I tend to overcook out of an abundance of caution (Debra really, really hates the idea of medium rare chicken), I tend to have a lot more "burned bits" partly because of that, and I tend to be a lot heavier on the tare. In fairness tare is amazing! But the chef used restraint and subtlety here and didn't just overwhelm everything with tare.
So after a careful review of the receipt...well...so much for that, I'm going to have to take their word for it. Then back to Anaheim...the original plan was to walk to Downtown Disney after, but that plan was scuppered and we had a nice evening in.
Next morning, up early and waiting in line at the entrance to the parking lot for Disneyland-For-People-Who-Are-Bored-Of-Disneyland, "California Adventure".
There are some fun rides here, but it's definitely a bit of a red-headed stepchild to the real park. Is that phrase racist now? I mean, it sounds vaguely anti-Irish, and let's be honest there for a while anti-Irish racism was all the rage, then it became kind of outmoded. But anyway, we once got into this park for free (showing up in the evening after a day of driving, at the ticket office to buy tickets for the next day...the person offered us entrance that night for free, so we opted to try out CA Adventure), and that was amazing, though we only really explored a bit of it.
Boarding the tram to head into the park entrance area.
Lines were long for Disneyland Proper, less so for the Gingers-Do-Have-Souls park.
We were there to anticipate rope-drop, where you get let into the first section of the park and then queue at the rope to be released in a streaming horde towards the desirable rides.
Americans, or at least many Disney park attendees, from whereever they hail, have a distinct disability when it comes to proper and courteous queueing. Recently read Bill Bryson's thoughts on how the French are particularly disabled when it comes to this, jumping ahead of other people obviously waiting in an orderly fashion in a queue is as natural to them as breathing, adultery, or premature surrender. We attempted to stand with wide stances so as to discourage folks muscling ahead through the (obviously waiting) crowd, but hey, we weren't going to run through the park at rope drop anyway, so it made sense to let the maniacs ahead of us.
So we went to Carsland, what I had derisively dubbed upon our first visit as a "miniature Utah made of styrofoam" (in fairness we had just come from gazing at the real, full-scale thing). The racing ride we were waiting for was also apparently what everyone else wanted to get in line for, so a massive line resulted. Ah well, we had all day.
It was a pretty enormous queue, estimated at 90 minutes and growing. The ride broke down at one point and so we were stuck in one location for a while, but fortunately it had good views of the "cliffs", upon which gulls seemed to enjoy alighting. Because of the forced perspective the gulls appeared to be enormous. Albatrosses maybe.
Getting closer...we spent about 2 hours in the queue all told, I think. It was a fun ride though. Would I spend another two hours to ride it again? All signs point to "no unless Debra insists". "Or OK if the kids insist but let's be honest who is more likely to insist on a long queue for a Disney ride I think we all know the answer to that hmmm"
We stopped off at Cozy Cone Motel for a quick snack, basically either chili or mac and cheese in a bread ice cream cone. Pretty good, a bit messy, but a good kind of early lunch.
Then we met up with the rest of the larger family group to ride Soarin'. You see they call it Soarin' because it implies a certain all-American folksiness...you have to drop the G. I mean who in their right mind would say, "well my dear chaps, let us stow our pince-nez carefully in our waistcoat pockets and take a ride on this SOARINGGG attraction, should be the dickens of a good time I say!" Yeah right man this is AMERICA you keep your poncey British SPELLINGGG to yourself. We use REAL PATRIOT SPELLIN' here!
Next up was Mater's Jamboree, which had a mediumish queue for a fairly short ride, but it was all made up for because at intervals we would get to hear the delightful quips and universally beloved humor of Larry the Cable Guy piped over the PA. [wipes tear] It was lovely, just wonderful. The kids did not share my earnest fascination as keenly with this Greatest Comic of a Generation, and so were a bit more entranced by their (or borrowed) phones.
There is nothing more universally expected at Disneyland (or even Disneyland-adjacent parks) (sorry Debra but that is a completely correct and literal usage of -adjacent, I make no apologies) than churros, so we got a couple (the pumpkin pie version, basically mixed spice coating with a pumpkin pie dip).
We then met up with the broader group of the family which had expanded since earlier to include local cousins of 1st and 2nd degree, and then I don't exactly recall but we split up again, this time to do the one traditional dark ride at the park. First we got tacos for a sort of late second lunch at the Mexican counter serve place, Cucina Cucamonga.
The Little Mermaid was one of the few rides we did the first time we came for just a couple hours. The kids were tiny then!
The ride broke down halfway through and the mechanical beings were shrieking under the sea at us, while a robotic Ariel with a very high Uncanny Valley index stared into our souls. Those eyes were freaky. Thankfully the ride resumed shortly.
From there to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which was a fun place for the kids to run around the first time they came.
Pete preparing to do a big swing across thing. I was worried the kids would find this stuff too young for them, but they enjoyed it still. A little physical activity was probably good anyway.
Here he goes...
The rock wall...HIGH STAKES HERE. I know, we've raised a couple daredevils.
And of course, whereever we found ducks, Gretchen had to pause and observe.
It was starting to rain by then so we met up with Grandma and made our way back to the house. We ordered our favorite pizza from the area, Pizza Press, and probably overordered, each of us getting our own. It's a bit like a Chipotle or Subway model for pizza, you order a small pizza, and then tell them what ingredients you want from a long list and they make it in front of you, before sending it through a conveyor oven. We did some laundry and I argued briefly with my nephew, who has an opinionated streak..."[these Taki chips] have kind of a limey taste." "I think you mean 'citrusy'." "Nah homey I said limey I meant limey, if they tasted generically like lemons and oranges and limes maybe I'd have said citrusy NOW STEP BACK" (That's not actually what I said.) But a good, relaxed day...ready for the "real" park the next day.
Next morning, up early as expected for Disneyland. Parked and rode the tram in (something under this bridge smelled like baby poop...I suppose if you were to apply the logic of Occam's Razor to this mystery you would perhaps come to the conclusion that it likely was, in fact, baby poop).
Waiting in line to get into the park. Debra is excited. Somehow she has managed to land us in a Disney park for the past two anniversaries...this one being our 20th.
Cousin came along with us in the morning, rest of the family would follow on later. Here we are waiting for rope drop in the shadow of the Matterhorn majestically towering 147 feet above.
Rope drop, and we head through the castle towards Starwarsland. Yes, that is its name, none of this "Edge of the Galaxy" branding nonsense. You bring a franchise into Disneyland you abide by the naming convention.
Passing Casey Juniors, which we didn't ride this time. Nor anything in Fantasyland as it happens!
Entering Starwarsland, Debra videoing the nephew since it's his first time (we had been to the almost-equivalent Starwarsland in Disney World). He was, to say the least, enthusiastic in his appreciation!
The bathrooms are themed, because, of course.
I'm pretty sure this little stage beneath the giant TIE fighter (or whatever the new one is called...[sighs and googles it]...OK, TIE "Echelon", whatever) is where Kylo Ren comes down and does slapstick and banter with Donald Duck and his tap-dancing routine.
The atmosphere here is great...just a very well done expansion.
The Millenium Falcon, just like at the Orlando branch of Starwarsland.
We basically walked onto Smuggler's Run, one of two rides in this section of the park.
The line design is the thing Disney does best these days...they'll make you wait forever in line but kind of not mind.
Then we got a couple of those odd breakfast wraps at Ronto Roasters (sausage with egg and cheese in a flatbread with a black pepper sauce), and milled about the place a bit...this is in one of the shops. Apparently the taxidermy is not for sale.
X-wing over on the west side.
This is the Rise of the Resistance area, the big "wait three hours" ride. We bought the Lightning Lane passes for this, which were for later in the day. So we headed to New Orleans Square.
On the way, ducks. (We had to stop, of course.)
We had the Genie+ thing too (the Mouse really managed to wring me dry that day) so we had a bit of time to wait before riding the Haunted Mansion Holiday ride. This is over by the beignet and mint julep bar. The "mint julep" is, to appropriate a Douglas Adamsism, almost but not quite entirely unlike a mint julep.
Trotting through the shops, but nothing much of interest there for us anyway.
Then we got in line and rode the Haunted Mansion which is themed with Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. We rode this version years ago and loved it, so it was fun to be back and ride it again.
Then back to Starwarsland. Nice little A-wing.
Met up with the group and got in line for Rise of the Resistance.
There are a lot of little clever touches with the ride, it's quite well done...again, funneling you through various experiences that are basically a cleverly disguised line.
A highlight for me was when the doors to the "shuttle" open and the Imperial ([sighs, rolls eyes]...First Order) officer comes in to address his new prisoners and Debra immediately starts walking out and promptly gets barked at. She's apparently thinking, this is our third time riding this, we know the drill, let's just go...
But it is a fun ride!
The Disney+ Boba Fett guy with Baby Yoda was out doing the rounds. We got some absurdly priced Cokes in thermal detonator bottles and headed to Adventureland.
First stop, the Tiki Room.
Dole whips are an essential. I don't really need to describe the Tiki Room...shrieking robotic birds and flowers basically, but we like it. This time there was a really cute...my editor tells me to include the descriptor "little" to avoid misconstrued meaning...girl that participated in kicking off the show, and seemed really, really enthusiastic about the Tiki Room. She definitely made it more fun.
Next stop, Tom Sawyer's Island. I always remembered liking this as a kid. I would fire the fake muskets in the fort at passing canoes (access to the fort is long gone and I imagine the muskets were removed even before that).
Birds were an area of particular interest.
Some gulls, with the bloody remains of whatever they were eating.
We spent a bit of time exploring the caves and other areas.
Pirate ship swinging around on its circular course.
Ducks remaining the main attraction for at least one kid...
Once back "on the mainland" we headed out of the park.
We ate lunch (leftover pizza) and then brought Grandma back into the park with us.
A quick reprise of the Tiki Room...I was pleased to note in the bumper music two tracks from one of my favorite albums (Steel Guitar Magic) which is comprised of duets between Barney Isaacs and Billy Hew Len on steel...Pearly Shells and Mekanani Kaupo were the songs.
We then rode Indiana Jones (the first time with the kids). After that we went to Hungry Bear and picked up our kind of odd and ill-timed "dinner", part of a package we bought mainly for tickets to the Fantasmic show later. Gretchen got salmon because she thought it was appropriate (eg what a bear would get).
Then back through Starwarsland, this time just to get to the other side of the park.
The kids rode Matterhorn, and didn't hate it!
Waiting (probably too long) for the train in Tomorrowland.
We hopped off the train and got in queue for Pirates.
It was getting darker, which is kind of a fun change in atmosphere at the park.
Churros, of course.
We also took a quick stop at the new "Tropical Hideaway" which we loved! We got the sweet pineapple lumpia with some pineapple juice.
Then we rode Big Thunder Mountain, and it was getting time to head back to Starwarsland.
Obviously my phone doesn't do well in low light, but it is really nice at night here.
The boy and his cousin had reservations to do the "build your own lightsaber" thing.
It's expensive for sure, but it was a fun experience for him (it was partly his Christmas gift).
Pete went with a very Episode IV-VI style, classic original canon.
The reveal...
I think he was happy with it!
Then at 9pm we got some hot cocoa and took our expensive seats on the pavement for Fantasmic.
I spent most of it in character as Mischa Mouse, raining abuse on Mickey Mouse, to Peter's amusement and everyone else's chagrin.
You can't see them here but the Mandolorian does his famous breakdancing on the river boat here.
Then fireworks....
Not the ideal position but still a pretty good view.
And then we made our way out!
Everyone was tired, but a great day at the park.
Next day we got up early to pack for a little excursion to the north. While attempting to make sure the kids left nothing behind (and of course, Peter did leave some clothes behind), I noted the cable box in their room. I only mention this, because...and I think my readership is obscure and infinitesimal enough that I can safely mention this without the involved parties reading it...over ten years ago I took over as a sort of IT generalist at a place in Kansas, taking over for a nice guy who was going to stay home and raise his kids...he'd been sort of the "everything IT" guy there for years, similar to me at the job I'd just left. My boss was giving me a tour and noted the zip ties used everywhere for cable management and somewhat derisively and with mild disfavor called them "Gampher Specials", that being my predecessor's name. Now, Gampher (yes I remember your full name, just being a little discreet), if you're out there, I celebrate the Gampher Special. We have called zip ties Gampher Specials for ten years and used them (in the last month!) for everything from makeshift cabinet drawer handles to a replacement for kitchen string in tying the top onto a pudding basin for steaming a Christmas pudding. To those who Gampher things to get them done...we salute you.
So we (just our family, we bade adieu to the others who were heading back to KC) headed up the coast intending to visit Solvang and San Simeon for the first time in some years, favored spots for the kids when they were younger (and us). We stopped in Port Hueneme for a quick free USN museum...the Seabees Museum, basically the Navy engineers and construction specialists. Sadly they did not have an exhibit to Gampher Specials, but who really doubts a resourceful Seabee might be able to gampher up a solution to just about any problem? Anyway we hit the local Der Wienerschnitzel which is ill-named because they serve wurst, not schnitzel, but be that as it may, got a quick early lunch and headed to the museum. A very rusty 37mm AT gun waited outside.
Debra was feeling chilled and so she and Gretchen didn't stay long before retiring back out to the car. Pete and I were left to do a quick exploration. Some kind of MRAP here, it had bullet marks from an attempted ambush that it stood up to.
Quite the prize of war...an SVD Dragunov rifle plated in gold, owned by either Uday or Qusay Hussein.
Ma Deuce with a sad proscription on wielding it in any way (sorry Pete).
I think this is a nuclear plant control panel.
Willys jeep...
Gretchen missed out on this rare island fox taxidermy exhibit but I took a picture as I knew it would appeal to her.
A Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to a Seabee.
Vietnam war era US weapons, an M79 grenade launcher and an M60 GPMG.
Standard M16 rifle with an underbarrel M203 grenade launcher, and the M72 LAW, sort of our equivalent of the RPG-7.
Lots of various weaponry around, but very clear on the "HANDS OFF" part, understandably.
Probably the much more typical part of Seabee work...tractors and machinery.
A German PaK antitank gun.
More German spoils of war...a SturmAbteilung dagger and a helmet.
Looks like these are WWI era Iron Crosses.
One of the most beautiful sidearms ever designed, the P.08 Luger.
WWII era American small arms, including an M1 carbine and M1903 Springfield. Not sure about the bottom one, looks like a drill rifle.
Garand, Thompson, grease gun, and BAR.
Armor plating of the USS Arizona.
Back out on the road, we made it up to Solvang, which we realized soon was packed with tourists for a sort of weeklong Danish holiday fest. Makes sense, Scandinavia and Christmas go well together. We quickly aborted our plans to go to Paula's Pancake House as it was clear the line of people waiting exceeded what they could possibly get in before closing. We looked into this bakery next door and plotted next steps.
We started off on the road with a light prickle of rain to look for another bakery or place to get something sweet. Lots of cars, naturally.
We alighted on Mortensen's Danish Bakery and queued inside for a bit to get a Danish, an eclair, and a couple Napoleons...ate outside due to, well, so many people.
Debra was more interested in leaving at this point but the kids (and my sentimental weakness) wanted to visit the toy store there, a tiny little shop we would always visit and often buy a stuffed animal from.
We first bought this same Viking helm and sword set for Peter here when he was much, much smaller. Still here!
While outside they noted a service dog and Gretchen's choice of souvenir seemed to match fairly closely with it.
I was just happy to see them here (for a bit longer) acting like, well, kids!
Then, to trudge back to the car and head back north.
In San Luis Obispo we stopped at the TJ's there to grab random dinner stuff and snacks. We got up to San Simeon, staying at the San Simeon Pines like usual (it's called something else now but I resent the name change and rebranding so it's still the San Simeon Pines to me)...it was dark already so we were in for the night. After I did a bit of a walkabout trying to sort out silverware (amazingly salads are not easy to eat with your hands) I sourced some forks and we had a dinner of ham and gouda sandwiches on brioche buns with a couple premade salads. And that was that day...
Next morning I hopped up early...noted this sign in the bathroom, the sign that launched a thousand yeast infection jokes...
The boy and I headed across the street towards the coast. (Gretchen and Debra still sleeping in.)
The trees are windswept. And rainswept that day too, although I'm not sure rainswept is a word.
Originally we weren't planning a lot of time on the coast for this trip, but to be this close to the Pacific...we had to go. I "yearn for the tang of salt breezes."
The rabbits are ubiquitous in a certain spot on the trail, dubbed by the very-young-at-the-time Gretchen as "Bunny Haven".
Waves rolling in, with a light drizzle.
A flight of pelicans going by in the distance...
We ventured out a bit but not too far...the sea was angry that day my friends. Like an old man trying to return soup at a deli.
Out on the sand, looking at kelp and other detritus washed up in the tide.
And of course, because I'm an idiot, I have to actually get in the water a bit. At least my feet. Yeah, it was chilly, but I think less shockingly so because it was already cold otherwise...the water is always cold, so when the air is warm it is more shocking.
More piles of seaweed...
Then we decided to head back.
But not for long as Gretchen was up, and wanted to reprise the visit, so back out we went.
It was raining a bit more steadily now...although interestingly, it changed quite substantially once you went through this line of trees...further away from the actual coast it was a light rain, but right by the beach it was windier and wetter for sure.
Stopping to spot lagomorphs...
This one a younger one.
Back out onto the rocks to look in tidepools.
Gretchen was wearing Debra's coat which is not exactly designed for rain and ended up smelling not great due to the wet down inside.
Negotiating a path off the rocks to the beach.
We saw a lot of birds, and of course the rabbits, so it was a fun albeit wet experience.
Heading back to the room. We stopped by what used to be the FREE BREAKFAST area and is now the "restaurant" [waves fist in impotent rage] to buy some low-quality pastries for breakfast. The bad pastries used to be FREE. THEY USED TO BE FREE!
I texted my boss because all this while Southwest had continue to burn down into a smoldering ruin, day after day, and we had come to grips with the idea that we might not be getting home on our scheduled flight on Jan 1. After going through a variety of possible scenarios, such as nixing the last leg of our trip in San Simeon and driving back in advance with a rental car, we decided to stay the course with trying to catch our scheduled flight...and if that failed completely, then go the rental car route and make it back in two days. So I had to let him know...I was planning to be back on the 2nd as scheduled, but chances of that not happening were not insignificant, at that point.
We spent a relaxed morning at the hotel and for lunch, went back across the street, this time with a bag of charcoal and some hot dogs. Debra stayed in the car, which at least afforded a nice view of the ocean, because it was (surprise!) raining. But we managed to get the charcoal going nevertheless.
Last time we grilled over here it was just Debra and me, in 2007, I think.
Couple habaneros, because I had them (yes, this may have been a mistake).
Gretchen as ever fascinated by the birds. We ate picnic-style in the car, me putting all of those two habaneros on my hot dog for reasons that defy explanation. If I recall correctly, we had to retire quickly to the room for me to gulp down a fair amount of water in recovery.
Later headed up to see the elephant seals.
There was a fair population there...certainly a lot more people, it was crowded with humans (maybe the elephant seals think they are coming there to observe us?).
I mean, they are not the cutest of all mammals. Like a fat Squidward.
One of them decided to sing his melodious song for us. I mean I have heard worse at open mic nights for sure.
We went back to Cambria, picked up some meds for Debra who wasn't feeling her best and retired to the hotel (she later felt much better). Later that afternoon / evening we had reservations for a tour of Hearst Castle, something we hadn't done with little kids for what I trust may be obvious reasons.
As you are waiting to board the bus to go up the hill, there is a small museum, which somewhat cleverly has an initial section in which you are told you may touch the artifacts...the object of course, letting people get that out of their system before the main tour where touching things is strictly verboten. Debra noted the pattern of wear on this particular artifact (13 year old boys, sigh).
Some old TV cameras and switchboards.
Then onto the bus and up the hill. First stop was the Neptune pool...I think that's its name? It features Neptune and I think is supposed to be more Greek (though Peter points out, Neptune is the Roman version of the Greek Poseidon). It does look glorious in the daytime sun, for sure, but also quite pretty lit up in the (rainy) night.
Waiting to enter one of the guest houses...interesting statuary.
A guestroom...the artifacts here, in general, are so strangely mixed, a 12th century Bulgarian carved ceiling with 18th century French doors with a 15th century Estonian tapestry...that kind of thing. It's pretty but kind of jarring and mind-muddling for people interested in historical details. (Debra just says it can be kind of tacky and overdone at times...and yeah, she's right.)
Some kind of sitting room.
Then, with apologies for the fuzzy quality due to low light and rain, we marched up to the big house.
A sort of great hall, decked out for the holidays (another giant Christmas tree is behind me, apparently they was a boy's tree with boy gifts and a girl's tree with girl gifts).
The dining room was quite stunning.
In the kitchen, some interesting (to me anyway!) old bottles including a very old bottle of port.
Look at that stainless steel island, that's a thing of beauty. If ever I designed my own kitchen...
I don't recall if this was a smoking room or what, but the ceiling was gorgeous.
The game room...
And then the indoor Roman pool, located just under the tennis courts. There is flaked gold in the tiles, Peter was a bit fascinated by the fact that he was walking on (a very small amount of) gold.
After that we drove back, stopping in San Simeon (the actual little town, north a bit of Cambria) at El Chorlito to buy some Mexican food. Debra got the cheese enchilada, Peter a quesadilla, and Gretchen tried the tilapia. I ordered nothing, knowing quite sagely that everyone was likely somewhat overordering and there would be massive amounts of leftover food from which I could choose. And I was correct, we still had leftovers in the morning. Gretchen enjoyed her fish...she had mentioned wanting seafood (in keeping with the setting, of course) and so we looked at options, so this seemed a good scenario for everyone.
Next morning, up early at 6 to get online and check in at the very second we could (given Southwest's boarding practices), and we were rewarded an exceptionally good boarding position at the end of A. Felt pretty lucky I must say. We ate an odd breakfast of leftover Mexican and chips and whatever else we had still on hand and decided to go across the street again.
The rain storm must have been intense overnight, a tree was down across the path, we had to negotiate a bit off the trail.
More bunny content to be had, happily.
It's a pretty place, even when it is raining and chilly. This was admittedly not what we imagined when we considered a trip to sunny Southern California to escape a harsh midwestern winter, but still, the ocean is beautiful.
Oh old central coast hippies, never change. The put-upon French, the not realizing what FFS now is almost universally understood to mean...
A bit of video to capture the sight and sound (alas, not the smell, which I like) (I could do without the feel, it was still chilly).
Time to leave. We went back, and started packing for our somewhat complicated return to Los Angeles and Missouri.
We took a very brief break at Morro Bay to see if it was true that we could see sea otters here, as a viewpoint on Google Maps seemed to promise. You could definitely see a lot of not-very-shy gulls.
It was quite windy. The now-shut-down powerplant in the background, apparently the towers are to be taken down at some point.
I tried to capture the enormity of Morro Rock, but failed. You almost have to photograph it further away to appreciate its size. Confusingly there is also the similarly named Moro Rock in Sequoia, which I've gone up (a nice workout for your lungs and your fear of heights).
And true to their advertising, sea otters were out.
All pretty distant but the kids were chuffed.
They would bob up for a bit, probably eating something floating on their backs, and then do a swooping little flip back around to dive back in.
Video of the little blighters in action.
Again trying to see if panorama mode worked better (probably not). But, it's sizable, trust me.
An unplanned stop at something that caught my eye...a maritime museum in Morro Bay! We didn't have time to actually stay, but Pete used the public restrooms in the parking lot while I took a quick picture of an actual deep-submergence rescue vehicle.
ADVISE DALLAS GET THE DSRV MOVING
Lunch in Santa Maria. I've always been tempted to try Santa Maria style BBQ, but each time I look into it, it's like these expensive steakhouses. I'm sorry, that's not exactly BBQ, at least in spirit. So we went for cheap and cheerful...one last In-N-Out visit.
On the drive back we had some nasty fog in higher elevations which led to some interesting driving situations, but we made it through.
Once back in LA I dropped the family and our bags off at the hotel, our now usual LAX airport hotel, the La Quinta. I then went to do my epic quest, getting gas, turning in the car, getting the bus to the airport, getting the airport shuttle to the hotel. First stop, this sketchy gas station to fill up. The Taco Express. Did not try their tacos.
Once I turned in the car, I was elated to find that Alamo actual had a shuttle (basically a minivan) that would take people to hotels, thus shortening my quest considerably, not even having to deal with the LAX leapfrog. So I sat down there to wait. A couple minutes pass and a middle-aged white guy walks up and gruffly asks..."hotel?". I say yes! He asks, "what hotel?"
"The La Quinta".
"What??"
"The La Quinta hotel."
"WHAT??"
"The Laaahh Keeentah hotel, on Century?" (I am mystified by the situation, am I not speaking correct words or something?)
"Oh." [rolls eyes, scoffs slightly] "Luh Kwintuh. OK come on."
I am second-guessing myself, but I verify later, all those commercials for La Quinta were pretty clear about the pronunciation. Anyway, I am thinking, well, we got a real proper home-grown Californian right-wing populist type, the kind that orders kweezuhdilluhs and tortilluhs from immigrants he resents and fears, but then we hop in his van, it starts up and it is blaring mariachi music, the whole way. I mean, OK, it takes all kinds. I tip him of course, just happy to be at the hotel and not at LAX.
And the Luh Kwintuh lobby "business center" does not disappoint, still stuck at the BIOS just like last summer.
I was going to be a daredevil and go swimming (it was frigid last July when we were there), but instead we watched the Westminster Dog Show, ordered McDonalds from next door, and eventually watched a bit of Top Gun, King of the Hill, and some goofy "documentary" on the History Channel about the ark of the covenant. Then to bed, we had to get up very early.
At McDonalds, I should point out, I had ordered normal dinner stuff, but on the app, had also requested 3 creams (they were free), with strangely, no coffee. I'm sure this struck the worker slightly odd, but I had my reasons...next morning I had the in-room coffee with luxurious actual and not powdered creamer. We were up at 3, yes 3, and headed down quickly to catch the 4am shuttle.
Southwest had by this time mostly recovered, so we were optimistic. Pete and I walked down to grab some stuff from the cafe that was open, a couple bagels to share, coffee, hot chocolate and a soda for Debra. Noted our "gate mates" were going somewhere much nicer, but at this point, even given the chance, I'm still picking home.
We then experienced the magic that is A group boarding, had a mostly uneventful flight except for a section where before taxiing out, we heard some load bangs and all the lights flickered off and back on. Debra was...concerned, and then the pilots came on a bit after and said something to the effect of "yeah we expect we'll be able to get engine two started shortly". That's like the scene in John Cleese's "How To Irritate People" where the extremely bored airline pilot decides to amuse himself by announcing "Attention everyone; the wings are NOT...on fire. Thank you". But other than that a fairly uneventful trip home, we got our luggage safe and sound, and our car was right where we left it. Kudos to Southwest for getting their act together! But a fun week in California, and we were glad to be home again.
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