chase the light

Christmas! ( I know you’re reading this in May of 2008, but just work with me here) At least we’re still closer to last Christmas than this years. This is an ornament Liza’s sister Soraya gave my Mom. She wanted a picture of it in California. It’s glitterrific!

Had I been really clever I would have positioned a nice red bulb in the background behind his nose in an oh so subtle way that you wouldn’t have even noticed on first glance. But I only just thought of that now. Instead I framed it with a nice distracting doily so that the rest of him would disappear into the tree. Awesome. Cheers to neurotic photo editing!

Nice mellow holidays. No work to do, no errands to run, no stores are open, no nuttin’. We ate.

Not that many photos this week as I just stayed with Liza and relaxed. She had to work this week so I took the occasional walk into the city to see some sights. She’d start work and I’d go out and fiddle around, come back for lunch and sometimes I’d go back out for some supplies or food things. We went out for dinner a few times and Liza also cooked. We traveled around before so it was nice to just laze about in the city. I finished up my Christmas shopping before I left so there were no worries. The weekend before Christmas, Liza’s mum had their party at the house so I got to go to that and received some lovely things from the family. Some English literature, colognes, scarves and socks, a few ornaments and some chocolates that didn’t take long to get through. I just now remembered why I had no pictures from that night…. because I was shooting video! Ah, of course!

Also this week, on Wednesday, I signed up for The Magical Mystery Tour at The Beatles Museum. Unfortunately they were really late at getting started, but lets go! Our first stop is George Harrison’s house, 12 Arnold Grove. We get out of the bus and have to walk down the street and around a corner. There’s about 20 of us all gathered in front of this house and I’m feeling guilty as the poor people that live here are probably sick of it. The guide said they were fine with it and people even looked out the window and waved so I guess so. Next stop was at Strawberry Field, and then on to Mendips, John Lennon’s childhood home. Not to far from there we stopped at Paul McCartney’s childhood home and a fellow from the National Trust was just coming out of the house. I have to say, he looked uncomfortably like Paul McCartney. He went on to explain that he lives in the house and keeps it up for the Trust. He said he occasionally sleeps in Paul’s old room. He had some junk mail and asked if anyone wanted mail addressed to 20 Forthlin Road. Funny. I took a blurry photo of him. I KNOW huh!? Weird. At this point we drove by Ringo Starr’s neighborhood and the tour guide just said, yeah Ringo lived right up that road on the left and his mother worked at this pub. Then we just kept going. haha Poor Ringo.

The were playing Beatles songs the whole time the tour was going and it was funny seeing people silently sing along with them as they played. You know they just wanted to belt them out. So cue up Penny Lane as come around the corner… “In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs…” Barber shop? Check! On the corner is a banker with a motorcar… Bank? Check! “Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout” Shelter in the middle of the roundabout? Check! We stopped along Penny Lane and got out to take some pictures. Who’s the good tourist?!? I am! At the end of tour they dropped us off near Mathew Street to walk over to The Cavern Club and have a look around. It’s really incredible to think they played almost 300 shows in that little space.

So that was a nice week of no stress and doing a fun stuff here and there. I’m coming back fairly quickly in mid-January so it won’t be too long between visits.

Last day with Mom, here she is…

“Sunday morning – Liza picked us up about 11:00 to do a “driving tour” as we wind our way to the train station in Liverpool. She stayed the night with Soraya and Pat stayed with Veronica, Rick and Ava. We drove to Blackpool which felt like a small version of Santa Monica without all the people. Lots of hotels lining the beach walk and carnival type rides. Few people on the beach streets this grey Sunday morning. This stretch of beachside towns feels more like Southern California on a cloudy winter day and I can imagine the summer visitors strolling the shoreline and the flavor of a busy small Santa Monica.

Well, England, Good-bye! I have had a wonderful time!

Chris here. When we got back into London I had booked a hotel near the train station, the Ibis Hotel, which later Liza called The Abyss. Right she was. Not so good, but it was fine for a cheap overnight stay. We got up on Monday and took the Tube over to Heathrow and got there in plenty of time. We had breakfast in one of the terminals before getting her to the gate and off she went. All smiles and back to the America. I’m taking the train back to Liverpool this afternoon, but first I’m meeting a couple friends for lunch in London. Funny how small the world is, I met up with Chris and Kim, and at the same restaurant was another friend sitting next to us. This week will be some kicking back at Liza’s and doing a bit of local sight seeing before heading home for Christmas.

Yesterday was travel day from Stratford to Liverpool. We checked out of the hotel in Warwick and drove back to Stratford to drop off the car. No problems with that and then we had about an hour wait for the train. We have to go to Birmingham first (Hometown of Black Sabbath, Rock!), switch trains and stations, then I had to figure out which platform and everything. A bit confusing there actually.

After a short wait on the platform we boarded the train and we’re off. End of the line is Liverpool! We rolled in and Liza picked us up and we went first to her flat and rested a bit then we we’re off to Formby and visited with her mom and grandma. Then they took us to Southport where they had arranged for us to stay at The Prince of Wales. We had dinner with them, and tomorrow we’ll get up and do some sight seeing around here. Quite tired after getting up so early and spending the day traveling.

I’ll let Mom take today over once again…

“After a good nights sleep, awoke to a sunny morning-yes, sunny! A full English breakfast buffet awaits in the dining room. Lots of food which included poached or scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, mushrooms, grapefruit, prunes, juices, toast, cereals and black pudding! Choose a few items and had to include the round bread called “black pudding”. Ok, so now I ask the waitress, what is this made of just as I was cutting it. She said it is called “black pudding” and is made from the blood of a cow! Ok, so I now cut a smaller piece than I intended and took a – nibble trying to keep an open mind! I chewed and swallowed and decided I could do without the – blood pudding. Looked more like a very dark bread, but once cut and with new knowledge of its ingredients, I will fore go the black pudding!

We settled in while Liza and Pat went to check on Veronica, who was not feeling well and baby Ava who was running a high fever. They were unable to join us for dinner but, Rick, Veronica’s husband, and Soraya, Liza’s sister, plus, Liza, Chris and myself had dinner at a lovely lil Thai restaurant AND yes, we had crackers on the table!! Yum, another evening with good food and great company!”

Well, there we go.

Blogger Mom…

“Rise and shine to another day of adventure – on our way to Warwick Castle! Looking out our window from Wyckhillhouse a white frosty morn awaits us! Is actually quite lovely with a light layer of white covering the landscape. Roads are dry so that is good. Slight problem getting ready to leave. Went to wash my face and ….Yikes, that water is COLD. Ok, give it time, I gave up and then Chris went to shower and found the same thing in the shower – COLD water. (Was glad I took my shower the night before)! Called the desk and they offered another room for a shower, so Chris packed up and headed to one of the old rooms, seems it was the NEW addition that was having issues. As we checked out, they tried to charge Chris again and he had already paid for it….so they are having a few company issues. Is a lovely old castle/house and hopefully the hotel chain that purchased it will be able to overcome them. It is definitely worth keeping it!

We’re done for today!”

Tomorrow is a travel day.

I’m going to let Mom take the next two as she wrote up the days quite nicely… and I’m feeling really far behind on this whole thing.

“After a good night’s sleep, headed out to explore more Cotswold villages. The weather is cooperating as it is clear and sunny, however, COLD! Emily was once again a wonderful traveling buddy and got us to where we wanted with ease. The only thing she doesn’t do is find us a parking spot upon arrival. The villages we visited today were all within 2-5 miles along stretches of rolling hills, stone houses, steeples and Sheep. Did get our pics of sheep today! Our first villages were Lower and Upper Slaughter- truly just lil stone houses, a couple of locals walking a dog and NO stores-true Cotswold suburbia. Quiet lil place although we did speak with one gentleman sweeping the porch of the town-hall who gave us a briefing on the care/repair of the cottages which was quite interesting. Once again we crossed the River Windrush which meanders through town and flows through a Victorian flour mill.

On to our next stop – Burford. Enjoyed a traditional English breakfast of: egg, bacon, sausage, hash-browns, beans, mushrooms, tomato and toast. The Priory was a cute lil restaurant with two small fireplaces with Christmas trees and crackers strewn underneath each. Oh, cute! Lots of stores with lil time, so on our way to Rollright Stones, twisted forms of weathered stones forming a circle that dates back to 2500BC. We took pics of the circle named King’s Men. I find it hard to visualize 2500 BC. Every time we stop we see OLD things!

Back on the road to our next destination Broadway. A lovely lil village that is said to have been an inspiration to writers and artists, one being William Morris. The main street is lined with red chestnut trees, shops and what else but honey-colored stone houses!!! A smattering of medieval, Tudor and Georgian architecture is evident as well. First time we saw that. Nearby, the Broadway Tower sits atop a hill and it is said that it offers views of over 13 counties. Its Gothic profile stands alone on the hill and the tower was a country retreat used by William Morris. We hoped to get inside however, it was closed. It houses an exhibition inside which details his connections with the Cotswolds. New information!!!! We at least got some pics of several deer enjoying the pastural setting.

Back on the road to Chipping Campden. This lil village includes still standing buildings dating from between the 14th and 17th centuries. Here we saw the first thatched rooftops looking nothing like the summer pics one sees. They looked like – winter with just a chicken wire type of material on top of ????. Must look this up to see just how they are made! The downtown area had a stone market place where one could visualize the vendors and shoppers hundreds of years ago. The outstanding feature was a magnificent church built at the height of the wool trade in the 15th century. Most of the head stones that surround the church are unreadable and some covered with lichen and moss. The setting surrounding the church presented beautiful pastures with – guess what – SHEEP. Our second photo op for sheep today. Earlier in the day, we found a place to stop alongside the road so I could snap a pic of these critters that have played such an important role in this lovely place. Another very and extraordinary building still standing majestically – quite unbelievable. What builders these folks were!

Getting dark, time to head back. Stopped at Bourton-on-the-Water for dinner. Chris introduced me to Chicken Tikka with curry. Hmmm, I’ve never been a curry lover, but I’m on vacation, so why not try it! It was actually very good! Came with rice, ……..bread. Quite tasty! Another day in the Cotswolds – beautiful countryside and honey stone houses! Will say good-bye to this lovely piece of England tomorrow.”

There ya go, guest blogger Mom.

Yes! Today we achieved the goal of scone nirvana in the Cotswolds!

First back to Stratford. We got up, went to Costa coffee. Because it *Cost a* lot! Get it?!? Ha, I kill! Costa is the english version of *$ for those not having visited the England. We’re off to a little village called Stow-on-the-wold and to a hotel called Wyckhillhouse. It was a suggestion from Liza’s aunt Kala and I thought it sounded cool, like a place they would film a slasher flick. Wyckhillhouse. You’ll check in, but you’ll also check out… For good! Bwa ha ha ha… Anyway, we hopped in the mirrored car and fired up Emily our english GPS tour guide and made our way south into scone country. It only took about half an hour to get to the hotel so we’ll have plenty of time to head back out. We got checked in and Mom ran around the hotel taking pictures. A nice big staircase, chandeliers, a couple of Christmas trees, large fireplaces and brand new modern looking wing attached to it all. What? Well, we had a room in that new wing, which was fine. A nice big one that overlooked the parking lot. That’s good, just in case some rogue sheepies attack the car we’ll at least get a good look at them. Sheepchops for dinner.

After checking out the grounds of the hotel we got back in the car and had Emily take us to Bourton-on-the-water to have a look. When we drove into the village it was amazing. I really don’t think we’re going to beat Bourton for the quintessential Cotswold experience. It has it all. Little shops, nice trees, parks, bridges, a meandering river and… SCONES! We have scone! Big, fluffy, lovely scones with clotted cream and jams and and and tea! I think I saw my moms head spin around like the Exorcist at that very thought. So she got her scones. I had a taste of one. I found it to be like a Kentucky Fried Chicken biscuit. Oh horror!

Bourton even has their very own Father Christmas waving and greeting people. I pointed out to Mom that Santa is called father Christmas here. She went right up and said, Hello Father Christmas, and he was surprised because he was fully expecting to be called Santa. Ha! We showed him we Merkins can adapt. We took a little walk around the village and then down along the river Windrush. How cool is that name? Oh yeah, just having a nice stroll down the river Windrush… In the rollover above you can see an older couple we passed walking their dog along the pedestrian path that goes from village to village.

Also had a flapjack. Sticky goodness. Got back to the hotel later that evening and got online to to say hello to everyone. Tomorrow will be a day of village hopping and cruel judging of one village against another, so they better all have their best quaint village faces on. It’s a village smackdown!

Had to say goodbye to London early this morning and hop the train to Stratford-upon-Bill. We’re now graduating to the big trains from the light rail lines. The trip is only a couple of hours and we got to watch the countryside go by fairly quickly. See your favorite countryside stereotype… baas, moos, whinnies, greens, browns, blues, hills, pastures, walls, clouds, grass, & water. According to the sign… London 132 miles.

We got into Stratford and had to pick up the car. It’s been awhile since I’ve driven a car in mirror mode but picked it right back up. Mom felt strange sitting in the drivers seat without a steering wheel and grits her teeth as we drive on the wrong side of the road. Before coming over I bought the UK/Ireland SD card for my Garmin GPS but don’t have it out as the hotel is less than a mile away. We have a map! Who needs a GPS!? riiiight. A couple of wrong turns and we’re a little lost. Fortunately I was here for a day with Liza and kinda knew the town and was able to get us to the hotel.

We were really early so we left our bags and walked into town and went straight to Shakespeare’s birthplace. It’s like 400 years old! Oh ma god! We’re just teenagers there in L.A. After the short tour through the house we walked down to the river and along some of the canals and back to the hotel. Lots of geese and ducks paddling around. It was cold, but really nice out today. We rested a bit before heading out to town again and had dinner at Pizza Express. The town was very quiet tonight and of course felt even more so than London. Tomorrow were off to Cotswolds for a few days! It’ll be time to fire up the GPS so I know here the hell I’m going.

Still no mythical scone sighting. Loch Ness Monster? Big foot? Yeti? Well, throw Scone in there.

Sunday morning and up very very early. We have to catch the bus to finish off the city tour and to get to The Tower at a decent time to see everything there. We hit the streets at 7:30 and walked down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the streets of London so quiet. A few people out walking dogs and an occasional police car goes flying by on the empty streets. We got to Buckingham Palace and Queen was home. Her little flag a flyin’. We were quiet and just took pictures. As we walked along the south side a door opened up and out came three guards stomping their feet and holding guns. One guard addressed the other two and checked them up and down. After a few moments he led them out to the front of the palace and put them in their little boxes for the day. Yo boy, that’s the boring side of that job. Just standing around when no one’s there.

We got to the bus before everyone else and it’s much nicer today with less traffic and rain. We wound our way around London and eventually across the Tower Bridge and got off at The Tower of London to check in on the royal family jewels and think about beheadings. Hmmm… you just *have* to know for a split second that your head has been cut off. Blech. We got there before they were open and had to wait in line. I was freezing. F R E E Z I N G. Teeth chattering and everything. The place next to the ticket booths called Eat. opened up and they had the heaters on nuclear meltdown and it felt reeeeeally good in there. I was able to get warm with some soup, a sandwich and some chocolate. Ah, much better. Still cold, just slightly warmer.

So we went into the Tower of London and although I’ve been there 3 or 4 times it’s interesting each time. Something new and just the whole history behind it. It might seem to be a very touristy thing to do, but it delivers. Love The Tower.

We hopped on the boat for the ride back up the Thames and jumped on the bus again to get back home. It got dark and was raining so we just looked out the windows the whole way back. As we got back to Trafalgar Square, St Martin’s in the Field’s choir and orchestra came marching down the street for the Blessing of the Cradle. We watched a bit of that before stopping in at an italian restaurant right on the corner from the hotel. Exhausted and now full of a calzone we hobbled back to the hotel. We’re off to the Cotswolds tomorrow for a few days of exploring. I expect to hear a lot of oooing and awwwing out of my mom. Still no scones.

Got up at 3:00am this morning to start the super tourist day. Oh, I mean 11:00am local time! Yikes! Black out curtains work way to well when on holiday, I suggest not using them. Today looks like a rain day so how about a tour of the city by open top bus? Sounds good huh? well, no, no it doesn’t does it. We just made the best of it by throwing some plastic rain ponchos onto the seats and trying to keep warm the best we could. How did it work? Very very poorly. I’m c-c-c-c-c-cold again.

We stayed on the bus for a bit to get my Mom acquainted with the city and got off near Harrods and went shopping in there. That store is sooooo crowded! The food area downstairs is just insane. I think the trick is to go there as soon as the doors open to get about 1 minute of normal shopping in before it becomes a cattle drive. Grab and go. We rode the Egyptian escalator up and down and there was an opera singer belting out something. Funny.

Since we got a late start it was already dark out by the time we headed over to Oxford street and we walked down and saw a brass band and I bought a thick jacket at a store. Know why? I’m cold. We made it an earlier (not early) evening and headed back. Watched the TV a bit and was done.

And off we go… Mom and I on a grand tour of the England before I stay on with Liza for a bit. We left Thursday evening and got in Friday afternoon. British Airways, not a bad flight, it’s always long but was smooth and uneventful. It was pretty out as we circled London and I was able to point out some landmarks as we got into the flight pattern for landing. In the rollover picture from the plane you can see Hammersmith to the right above the Thames. Chiswick (which means cheese farm, they harvest bad jokes there) is to the center and right above the river, and waaaay off in the distance you can see the white arch of the newish Wembley Stadium. The torn down old Wembley Stadium is where Live Aid took place. They were the world, they were the children.

We landed and Mom’s eyes were the size of saucers as she took everything in. She just followed me around and did what I did. I turned around occasionally to check on her and her little rolling bag. We pulled some cash out of an ATM and hopped on the Tube to get to Trafalgar Square. Liza had booked us a hotel there that she stays at when in London and it was really nice and convenient to all the sights. I thought I’d be a lot more tired than I was but we still got a quick nap in before we headed out to see some Londinium things.

It gets dark by 3:30pm, so by the time we got out the door it was dark and cold. Like, cold as ice. The kind you’re willing to sacrifice. We started at Trafalgar Square, then walked down Whitehall and stopped by Downing Street to see the Prime Rib Minister. Yum. Then on to Parliament. We were there in time for Big Ben to ring at 6:00pm so Mom got to hear the bells chime like her clock at home. Walked around Westminster Abbey then crossed the bridge to get some pictures of Parliament from the river. Really beautiful from the river but OMG I’m c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cold. We walked back along the opposite side of the river before crossing the Golden Jubilee bridge. I was hoping to get to the Quiznos near the train stop for some soup or something. Anything. Nope, the place seemed a little odd so we moved on. Actually I was starving at that point so it was off to Nando’s!

Got over to Soho and of course Friday night it’s really crowded but we got some dinner then headed out to Piccadilly and then down Regent Street to Oxford and then headed home. Absolutely exhausted after the first evening out on the town. No scones or babbling brooks sighted yet.

After co-opting the name of a friends party we shifted the annual September get together to a “Fall Gathering of the Nuts”. The usuals were there, and my sister got to fly in this time. Also Liza got to partake but unfortunately I have to take her to the airport tomorrow. We *thought* it was supposed to be her next to last day here (more coming up) and everyone loved meeting her.

Let’s see, there was some carne asada, fruits, and drinks, etc. There were candy canes hidden in the avocado grove for the kids to seek out, and for the adults to point them out. There was still one missing at the end of the day, which my dad found about a month later. It didn’t really rain, but a double rainbow came out and lit up the sky. wow, very nice. We also got some updated pictures of all the cousins together for the first time in years.

Soooooo… later that night Liza and I got back to my house and started looking at her flights and realized she was supposed to be on her plane 3 hours ago! Ack! What? Totally screwed up which day she was leaving! Oh no! She got on the phone with the airline and long story short we’ll just have to do our best with getting her on the new plane tomorrow. Argh, stress before leaving! That’s no good. The next day and lots of phone calls she got her new flight, later in the day, and I saw her off after three weeks of some lovely times.

So sad to have her go but at the end of the week I leave for England! Not much time to wait to see her, so I’ll get the bills paid this week, do some laundry, get packed, and then for the first part of the journey I’m taking Mom on her first trip to the England. She’ll be quite pleased as everything will be new and *amazing*!

We’re saying goodbye to Casa de San Franfrisco today and heading back south. We stopped at Casa de Beach Cafe for some Casa de Breakfast. Have to say, pretty damn good. A bit spendy, but very good, and the weather was nice and blue. We took the 280 south to hit Casa de Apple Headquarters to go to the company store! Oddly exciting. We bought a few Apple things like Casa de mugs and keychains. After leaving there we headed down to Casa de Gilroy and through the hills to Casa de Fruta. Picked up some goodies from Casa de Sweets, wandered through Casa de Coffee & Casa de Wine. Casa de Choo Choo wasn’t going around the tracks for the kiddies so we filled up Casa de Car at Casa de Diesel and hit the Casa de Ba?ɬ±os before spending the next 5 hours driving back to Casa de Angels.

One quick stop at Casa de In-N-Out for dinner and we arrived safely at Casa de Chris. I’m all Casa’d out.

Today we had lunch plans to meet up with Jill at ILM. Also to say hi to Yoda, R2, 3P0 and Han Solo in Carbonite. Imageworks is fun and all, but there’s no Stormtrooper in the lobby, hallway of matte paintings, or Star Trek ships hanging from the ceiling. We’ve got Stuart Little’s boat sitting in a hallway somewhere. Anyway, we met up with Jill and she gave us a tour around ILM and had lunch in the dare I say commissary? More like restaurant. It nicely overlooks the Palace of Fine Arts. Not bad. In a way it was slightly depressing. Ha! We stopped in the ILM company store and picked up a few goodies and the receipts say “May the force be with you”. I think felt a little of the force act upon my credit card.

After we said our goodbyes to Jill we went across the street to a place called Liverpool Lil’s. Cause ya know… Had a few teas and some dessert then headed down the the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts. I love it there! There’s so much to see and do in there I usually walk out with a headache.

It was starting to get dark and we were meeting up with a friend Liza’s down the peninsula, so we were off! Probably a good point to once again say how much I love my GPS! Seriously, three best things ever… burritos, the internet, and GPS. It took us right there and we met up with Tracy, husband and their kids. Two dachshunds. Had some delicious dinner and chatted the whole night. It’s a nice house too, and probably worth a brazillion dollars at this point. Or with the market the way it is, 3/4 of a brazillion dollars. After a few hours of visiting we headed back up to home base. The bungalow on top of the San Remo Hotel. Oh, no we have to leave tomorrow. Boooo.

Today was tourist day. Tried to get in some of the classic sights; Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Point, Twin Peaks, etc. After a day of sight seeing we headed over to the Mission for dinner at my favorite burrito place, La Cumbre. Me loves me a deluxe steak burrito. Liza, once again, was not impressed with the mexican food. What is wrong with her!? How is this not the best tasting food ever? Ha! Ah well, more for me!

After dinner we went across the bay to see Keith, Shelli and little Claire. “Babies are the new internet start up.” I’m saying that to make them feel better about driving a station wagon.

Yesterday we left on the road trip up the coast to San Francisco. I’m pretty sick so we didn’t leave until the afternoon. We stopped briefly in San Luis Obispo to get a bite to eat and I couldn’t stop shaking I was so cold. Ugh, feeling awful. We got up to Cambria late and looked for a place to stay in the dark along the coast. All things considered I think we chose wisely. Nice place and they still had some late night tea and cookies set out. Shhhh… I pocketed some cookies to take back to the room.

We got up this morning and had some complimentary breakfast in the tea room. Free is frequently good. Much like expensive is frequently bad. Make your own waffles and things. So we set off to go see some seals. Not your ordinary run of the mill lazy harbor seals, hah, we’re talking the seal monsters of seal monsters. So big they went, “hey they’re seals, but they’re like elephants!” Elephant Seals! Brilliant! You don’t see them saying Elephant Mongoose do you? No, no you don’t. They don’t even say Seal Elephants when elephants are having in bath in their watering hole. We first got to what we thought was Piedras Blancas but then noticed Liza’s jacket was missing, so I called back to the hotel and they went and looked for it. While we were waiting for a call back we checked out the seals bobbing their heads in the ocean right of the coast. Frankly I was kinda disappointed there wasn’t more flopped up on the beach. The ones out in the water were making funny snorts and stiff so that was cool.

While we were there we got a call back from the hotel and they had found the jacket so we hopped back in the car and went and got it. After the little back track we headed a mile or so farther up the coast then the original seals and came across the real Piedras Blancas. OH, look at that! Elephant seals galore!! Now we’re talkin’! Big floppy blubbery snorty fightin’ awkward swimming elephants! We spent about an hour out there watching them and got a whole bunch of info on elephant seals from a docent that was out there in her jacket with buttons on it. You know the kind… “I brake for elephant seals” and such. She pointed out a couple of big males but the bulk of them were scheduled to arrive in the next month to start mating. In a one question interview I asked Liza if she had a good time and she said yes very much.

OK, so long elephant seals! We have a long day of driving up the coast ahead of us. We wound our way up stopping occasionally for some photos here and there. Pfeiffer Falls being one of those spots. A waterfall! Into the ocean! And not a pain in the ass to get to! Took requisite photos and documentation and continued on. We finally got to Santa Cruz kinda late and drove around briefly but everything was closed. Liza liked the spookiness of it all and of course the Lost Boys connection. We spied a chinese place on the way in and stopped there for dinner. Rhyme ahead. Not bad for just pickin’ a place when pickin’s were slim. I had some chicken.

After dinner we headed on up to San Francisco and got checked in but then went for a little drive around the city. Headed over the Bay Bridge to Treasure Island to take some pictures of the skyline. At that point I was just too tired to go on so we headed back to the hotel. Lovely long day.

A few months ago I was talking with Carlos at work and he had a large art book on his desk. All it said was Murakami but apparently I’ve been under a rock for the last twenty five years because I hadn’t heard of him and he’s quite popular. Carlos tells me, “oh, you’ll love him, go check out the show.” Hmmm… So I walked back to my desk to do a little internetty searching on him and come to find out Liza had just bookmarked the Murakami show minutes before. Weird. She likes him too. Looks like we’ll be going to the show when she gets here!

Well, today was the day. After the aborted attempt two days ago of course. Fortunately it wasn’t too crowded and we got right in. Did I like it? “Not all of it” is probably the best answer. I liked the all the happy flowers and wallpapers, but the more anime style things not so much. We stopped in the museum store and Liza picked up a little plush Murakami doll. It has teeth and bites. It’s strangely cute with it’s one eye bigger than the other.

Afterwards we walked across the street to Little Tokyo and strolled through the stores where Liza also picked up a plush Totoro. I’m not sure I believe what kind of animal he’s supposed to be. I started feeling sick again but we stayed for a little while longer and watched a crowd form outside of Shabu Shabu restaurant. Hmmmm…must investigate. Very popular. Something good is happening there.

Yet another Beowulf screening today! Today with the parental units down in Orange County at the Spectrum IMAX. Haven’t seen it in IMAX yet but I’m thinking it’ll look too big and hard to see. I was right. But the movie’s still excellent!

This week I found a huge nail on the tread of my car so we had to stop at a tire shop before heading down. While we waited we walked across the street to a Subway. To eat. Not to go to Coney Island. That’d be really cool to do but that’s too long of a tunnel and I’d get bored. Sandwiches are better. So we got the car back and headed down the freeway to beautiful beautiful Irvine. We werea little early so we walked round the Spectrum for a bit and Liza pointed out that it’s Moroccan themed. Oh hey, it is! Cool. I hadn’t really noticed before. Why? Because I’m in freakin’ Irvine! “A planned community.” Argh! Rhymes with Bovine. Moooooo. Get out! Run for your lives! The mall does have a ferris wheel. That’s kinda cool.

Finally found my parents and we went in and enjoyed the movie. Popcorn and all. Liza even got a shaky cam photo of my credit.

Back in L.A. we hastily decided to get over to the Murakami show at Moca but discovered in was at the Geffen Moca and not the Moca Moca. A bit too late in the day to get over there before closing we hung around the Walt Disney Concert Hall and shot each other. With cameras. Mellow day and a nice dinner at Fogo de Ch?ɬ£o. Mmmmmm meat. [Meat is murder. Tasty tasty murder.]

Yesterday we sadly checked out of the hotel in Maui and had to sadly return the PT Cruiser. Sadly, because that car is a piece of junk and it cost money. Those things should be free. “A Honda Civic? Oh, those are $500 dollars a day. The PT Losers? Oh go ahead and take one, they’re free, the keys are in them.” That’s how I imagine it should go. Anyway, we got back to Oahu and checked into the airport hotel but had some free time so headed off to the Ala Moana Center for some shopping and dinner. We even took the bus! Ah yeah, classy. It’s the holidays so there was Santa things all around and even a Christmas parade through the mall. Weird being in Hawaii for this. We grabbed dinner in the food court (sweet!) and then caught the bus home.

It was nice to be near the airport for our flight out on Thursday. We got right over there and had plenty of time to get checked in and relaxed. Plus it was Thanksgiving! We’re soooo having Thanksgiving on the plane! And they did not disappoint! Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, a roll, salad, pumpkin pie. It was all there! Except for cranberries! There’s your hard proof that everybody hates cranberries! Airlines won’t even serve them! I bet they even did a scientific study that every year the only thing left over from the Thanksgiving meals was the cranberries. Stupid cranberries. Liza’s first Thanksgiving. She was excited. Kinda not really.

Hawaii was great and don’t forget to wave goodbye to Diamond Head on the flight out.