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Boston to LAX

May 23, 2013

Yesterday was travel day. Bought gas for the rental car. They make it very painful for you to bring it back empty. We had lunch with Vicky at Friendly’s in Stoneham. Another New England tradition.

We arrived in plenty of time to turn in the rental car. Pointed out the damage to the right door. Filled out accident report. Check-in agent said not to worry that we had damage insurance so no issue.

Checked out bags and got through security. We had one last Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. American Airlines changed gates on us with bothering to tell us. the hint was no aircraft at the gate. Then we learned that flight was delayed. AA didn’t give a reason. Later, we asked a stewardess. She said air traffic issues. So finally we were wheels up one hour later than scheduled departure.

It was a pretty comfortable flight except for the jerk in the window seat next to Paula. First he asked her if she would like to switch seats. Paula politely said no.
After takeoff he had to get out to get his tea and talk with some of his travel companions. Then he proceeded to take his shoes off and rub his feet. Stinky feet are not a good thing.

Stewardess treated us good. We got discount on the sandwiches. She gave me two Chivas nips for the price of one. So I was suitably medicated.

Inflight WiFi was out of service. Oh well, saves me $15. I had sent a text to Mike before takeoff to let him know about the delay.

We got into LAX at about 8:30PM. Struggled to find our bags. Announced that baggage on carousel 2. 15 minutes later no more bags coming down the chute and no bags for us. Sigh. I head over to the baggage service office to make claim. Long line and only one staff person taking the paper work.

Called Mike to let him know of delay. Paula finds our luggage on carousel 3. No announcement, no sign. Totally pissed at this point, but we had our bags.

Time to call Mike and get him to pick us up. Pickup traffic at LAX was AFU’d. 9-10pm is a very busy time to arrive at LAX. So half hour later Mike arrives from Cell Phone Lot. Load up and off to San Pedro. Poor Jonathan was not a happy camper.

And finally to bed. It was a great trip. We had a wonderful time.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro, CA

Categories: California, Travel
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Joshua Tree National Park

April 19, 2013

On Friday, Paula and I decided that we needed a day off of the grid. So we decided to take a day trip out to Joshua Tree, CA. Joshua Tree is about 150 miles east of Los Angeles in the middle of the Mojave desert. We left San Pedro around 0930. Light to medium traffic out the 91 freeway. Most people were heading in the other direction. We stopped for lunch at a Carrow’s in Yucca. I checked my iPhone for any updates on the Boston Marathon bombers. Not much new news. It was a beautiful day. Clear skies and about 75 degrees.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at the Joshua Tree information center. We talked to a very nice park ranger who gave us a map. We paid $10 for a lifetime National Park service pass. This was the first time that I have ever been carded for my status of being over 65. Then off we went to the park. So here are the pictures taken by my trusty iPhone 4S.


This my friends is a Joshua tree. We had hoped that the trees would be in bloom, but we think that we were a little bit early or perhaps not enough rain over the winter.


Lots of boulders.


This is a Yucca plant. Much of the flora in the desert has evolved to that it can survive in the desert with little or no water.


Some of the plants were blooming.


Cactus flowers.


It is amazing how a plant can survive in the cracks between the boulders.


Big boulders.


Yucca with a bloom.


This is view from Keyes View. The view is towards the San Rosa mountains and the San Andreas fault.


This picture was taken using the iPhone’s panorama mode.

So it was getting on to be 4:30pm and we wanted to be back to San Pedro by 7:30pm. So we hit the road back west towards LA. Next time we might try to stay a little longer.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Joshua Tree, CA

Categories: California, Travel
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Point Fermin Park

April 19, 2013

Another thing to distract us from the horror of the bombings in Boston.

There is a lovely park in San Pedro at Point Fermin. It is on the southern tip of San Pedro with scenic views toward Long Beach (aka LA Harbor) and Santa Catalina. Paula wanted to go down there yesterday to get out of the house and take a ride on her bike. We were almost there already for her dentist appt.

So we loaded up the bike into the back of the jeep and headed to the park. We do need to get a bike rack if we are to continue with this. Had to stop and get air in the front tire. While she was attempting to ride, I walked around the park and took some pictures.

The views were spectacular. Here are the pictures.

2013-04-17 15.29.44

View towards Long Beach

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Point Fermin Light house. Not operational any longer. Houses a museum.

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Santa Catalina. Back in the eighties when Harold and Mary had a condo with a view of the Pacific. They kept telling me that Catalina was out there. I told them that they were pulling my leg. Most of the time, fog prevented one from seeing the island. Clearly in view yesterday.

Twenty-six miles across the sea
Santa Catalina is a-waitin’ for me
Santa Catalina, the island of romance
Romance, romance, romance.

I could have sworn that it was the Beach Boys that sang it. But Google says “Four Preps”.

 

2013-04-17 15.20.56

Nice view of the park.

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Another view of the light house.

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Last but not least. Flowers. BTW, for those that care. All of the pictures were taken with my iPhone 4S. I’ll  likely be upgrading as soon as Apple announces there new iPhone in June?

We’re thinking of heading out to Joshua Tree tomorrow. Spring time in the desert.

TTFN

Joe

 

Categories: California, Travel
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San Diego Zoo

March 23, 2013

Mike had Friday off yesterday and he had invited Paula and me to join them for a trip to the San Diego Zoo.

We left San Pedro at about 8:30AM with Mike, Theresa and Jonathan in Mike’s Honda. He’s going to be needing a mini-van sooner rather than later. Paula was in the back seat making silly with Jonathan.

We made decent time down the 405 and the 5 to San Diego. Arrived at about 10:30AM. Paula says “too bad you didn’t bring your HP placard”. But says I “but I did, it’s in my pack in the trunk”. So we found an HP parking space and avoided parking in the back forty.

The SD zoo is a wonderful place. They have animals that I had never heard of. In addition of course to the usual stuff like elephants and tigers and bears.

Theresa brought her real camera. I just had my trusty iPhone. Here are some of my pictures.


Camel resting (it seems the animals are always resting).


Llama.


Vultures.


Elephant getting a Pedi. One of the other elephant handlers was feeding the elephant at the other end to encourage cooperation.


Pretty red flower. That’s all I know.



Paula with a polar bear. The real (live) polar bears were not available for the photo shoot.


Black and White and Red all over.


Panda (always popular)


Leopards.


Jonathan at our afternoon break. He was having a great time playing with the empty iced coffee containers.

Finally, we got to closing. Mike and I were waiting at the exit, while Paula and Theresa went through the gift shops. I was dumbfounded that neither of them bought anything.

Then we did dinner at Harar Ethiopian Restaurant. A nice little bistro on the Boulevard. Friday night was buffet night. The good news was that we got to try most everything. The bad news was I had no idea what I was eating. But it was all good. Here is a picture of Theresa’s plate. (Roberta told us about this place).


After a fine dinner, we stopped at McD’s for an iced coffee for Mike and bottles of water for Paula and me. Then home and to bed.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Diego, CA

Categories: California, Reviews, Travel
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Geography Lesson

October 23, 2012

This past week Paula and I took a little trip up the road to the thriving metropolis of Fresno, California. We were there to attend the Grand Chapter session of the Order of the Eastern Star ( henceforth in this post called OES) for the state of California.

The session is held every year at this time. Typically held in central California for a couple of reasons. First, it levels the pain everyone feels for traveling to the session (after all regular unleaded is running at about $4.75/gallon).
Here’s a map of the route.

Second, prices of hotels, convention centers and restaurants tend to be a tad bit lower than in LA or SF.

So the trip is about 250 miles give or take. The first part of the trip is through downtown LA on the 110 freeway (I110 for you easterners). As we head north, we go through the San Fernando Valley. The San Fernando Valley is pretty much ugly urban sprawl.

Once you get to the town of Castaic, we enter a section of road known as the Grapevine. The Grapevine is about a 40 mile stretch of road through the Los Padres National Forest. We begin a climb from about sea level to about 3ooo’ ASL. The road snakes back and forth. Trucks are expected to stay to the right (They do mostly). The Grapevine is pretty much uninhabited. On the way south, we stopped for gas at a gas station in Castaic. This was the first gas station that I have seen in our travels across the county with pay toilets. ($.25 please). Actually, if you bought gas, they will give you a token, but still. The Grapevine can be pretty nasty in the winter with rain and icing roads.

Once we got through the Grapevine, we enter California’s Central Valley. First we get to Bakerfield on I5. Farms as far as the eye can see. There is a lot of Railroad traffic. It is not uncommon to see freight trains with over a 100 cars heading down the track. I saw several bulk haulers filled to the brim with carrots. We see orchards, vineyards and farmland. The central valley is where much of America’s food comes from.

We pulled into Fresno after about six hours of driving. We stayed at a La Quinta Inn for about $65 per night. Pretty mediocre hotel. The rug in the room was filthy. The WiFi was slow. The breakfast room was crowded. On the good side there was an El Torito Mexican restaurant on one side and an IHOP on the other.

We had a great time. We met up with some of our OES friends from Massachusetts and of course our OES friends from San Pedro.

TTFN

Categories: California, Travel
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Whitney & Cleopatra

October 7, 2012

Busy weekend. It started on Friday. We were waiting in the Cell Phone lot at LAX for Andrea to arrive. [Cell phone lots are places where you can hang out for free to wait for someone to arrive. Passenger calls you when they get out to the curb and you go pick them up. LAX has one, BOS has one. Follow the signs to find them.]

So while waiting we got a call from our R.E. agent in New Hampshire. She told us that she had a couple of prospects for renting our condo in Plymouth. Good news indeed.Then we got a call from Dr. Sheila. [Paula’s boss at Chelmford Ped’s] She called to tell us that she was in Long Beach for the weekend. So we made plans to meet up later in the day. Then Andrea called to tell she was at the curb. Off we go to fetch her.

Our plan for Friday was to go to the Grammy Museum in downtown LA. We had seen review of a new Whitney Houston exhibit. I don’t have any pictures. Mgmt was real stinky about allowing folks taking pictures. They had lots of memorabilia of many big name acts. You could listen to some of the major hits of acts like Beach Boys, Woody Guthrie, R&B acts. Interesting stuff. Of course you exit through the gift shop. Lots of CD’s and T shirts. All over priced. There was a greatest hits CD for Whitney for $30. You can buy the same album on iTunes for $15.

We had dinner at lodge. Every other Friday is pub night at the lodge. Food and drink for reasonable donation.

On Saturday we were off to see the “Cleopatra” exhibit at the California Science Center. We started with Imax film about Egypt. Narrated by Omar Sharif. Omar sure has aged gracefully. Film had nothing to do with Cleopatra. Mostly about the Nile and Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Interesting stuff.


We had lunch in the big cafe. Then on to the Cleopatra exhibit. Not quite as good as the King Tut exhibit, but interesting nevertheless. Here you could take as many pictures as you like, just no video and no flash. No problem.

The exhibit was mostly artifacts from archeological digs in waters off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. All of these pictures are taken from my iPhone. It was a fun afternoon. We will have to go back for more sometime.

Here are some of the pictures:

You can’t talk about Cleopatra without talking about Hollywood. They had shots of many women who played Cleopatra, including of course Elizabeth Taylor. (By the way, that was such a terrible movie.Three hours of interminable drivel.)


Claudette Colbert


Interestingly, no art or sculpture has ever survived to give any hints what Cleopatra actually other than words that said that she was drop dead gorgeous.

Here’s some other art works.


Done by 4PM. Now off to Long Beach to find Dr. Sheila.


That’s enuf for this post. Next post will be on Paula’s birthday dinner.

TTYL

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Los Angeles

Categories: California, Museums, Travel
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Traffic

September 26, 2012

Today I think that I will talk about Los Angeles traffic. First, i would like to recommend you read the Wikipedia entry on California freeways.

I have been asked more than once how you deal with the legendary LA traffic. The simple answer is that I don’t.

Over the past two weeks, Paula and I have had occasions to be stuck in traffic on the 405 (aka the San Diego Freeway) coming home to San Pedro. Both times we had gone to Malibu to have lunch at Gladstones. Once after we bought the piano and the other to meet up with Paula’s friend Andrea. Both times we headed home at about 3pm which is onset of prime time traffic. We have 5 or 6 lanes of traffic proceeding at about 5-10 mph.

Driving on LA freeways is not for the faint of heart. Traffic (it seems) is always heavy. Usually 4 or 5 lanes across. Freeway are usually called either by name (ie. The San Diego Freeway) or “the” followed by the rte number (ie. The 405). Never are they called I405.

Most other times we just don’t need to be on the freeways during rush hour times. Remember here that we are retired. Most times we just need to go to one of the many local grocery stores. not much traffic to deal with.

One thing that really bugs me in the many parking lots are the ever present speed bumps. They are truly annoying. And there are so many stop signs. Typically placed at the top of a hill just to annoy those folks who still have a standard shift.

One thing that I like is that street names don’t change when you go from city or town to another. And they are generally well marked. In MA, not so. Street signs change names when you go from one town to another. Usually named after the town you are heading to.

That’s it for today.

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Location:San Pedro

Categories: California, Travel
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California DMV

September 17, 2012

Time had come to head down to the CA DMV in San Pedro to get the plates on the Jeep changed over and get driver’s licenses.

They have a person who is kind of a traffic director. He or she checks your paperwork and sends you to the appropriate counter. MA DMV does the same thing. He is a kind of triage person.

I thought that I had my paperwork in order. Oh I was so wrong. So I had the insurance paperwork, the MA title, the application for CA Title and Reg. Pretty good but not all that was needed.

I had set up an appointment over the weekend on the DMV web site. If I didn’t have the appt, it would have taken a lot longer.

So lets take the license part first. We needed to fill out an application. Did we have passports with us? Marriage certificate? Nope. Luckily I knew where they were stashed. Just having used the passports to go to Ireland. So we needed to go home and pick up the passports.

Then the registration. We found out we needed to get a “Smog Check” done. Of course there are several smog check stations in the neighborhood. $55 for the pleasure.

So back to the DMV. We had to get into the “Verification” line. This is where a DMV clerk comes out to your car and verifies that the serial numbers match the application.

Back to the triage person. He gives us a ticket number for the next available teller. We start working through the paperwork. Licenses first. Do the eye test. Thumb on the thumb print reader. Swipe your credit card. Kaching! Paula goes off to get her picture taken and do the written test.

Finish up my driver’s license. Then the registration. Swipe the card again twice. $31 for the license and $199 for the registration. Kaching, Kaching.

Off to the booth that does pictures. Takes my picture. Gives me the form to take the test and gives me my plates and sticker. We both passed. Paula spent five minutes reading the test. I spent even less.

Last thing to do was change the plates. Five years of rust. Actually they didn’t give much resistance. And we get the real license in a couple of weeks. Now I have to figure out what to do with the MA plates.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro, CA

Categories: California, Moving, Travel
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Settling In

August 24, 2012

Settling in has begun. The jeep is mostly unloaded and contents mostly unpacked. Things that were lost for the duration of the trip have been found (mostly).

The POD is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. Mike has lined up volunteer labor to help us unload. We haven’t been able to get a straight answer from the HOA on parking the POD in the guest lot. So it goes. To quote Admiral Grace Hopper, “Easier to ask forgiveness than permission”,

We’ve spent the last couple of days dealing with little (but time consuming) issues. Had to get extra perimeter keys (aka keys to the condo common areas) and a remote to open the garage gate. This took a trip to the mgmt office in Torrance. Took about two hours. Went to UPS store to ship some stuff to Roberta.

I also had to go the local Home Depot to get copies of keys made. Trip to CVS to pick up Rx. CVS being a national chain makes it easy to get Rx from Billerica filled in San Pedro.

Started working on change of address issues. I was amazed on how fast Northeastern University changed my address. Warp speed indeed. I started working through the mail that had piled up with an empty trash can at the ready. I found a check from our old mortgage company for refund on escrow account. $1355, woohoo!

We did some grocery shopping. Takes a while to get acclimated to the layout of a new grocery store. One of the conveniences of Cal stores is that they sell liquor. Beer, wine, hard stuff. Picked up some Gin, vermouth and olives.

On one of the grocery trips, a young lad asked if I would sign a petition supporting medical marijuana clinics. I told him I was not registered to vote yet. He pulled out a form to register. So now California has one additional (Democrat) voter.

We are working on decluttering the condo. Mary K (mother in law) tends to save a great amount of paper. Every flat surface in the place had a pile of paper on it. This will be an ongoing project.

Things that will need to be done in the near future:

– order internet service
– upgrade DirecTV service with DVR
– Get a piano
– Get a new HD TV

Enough for today. I am posting a couple of pictures of the view. No inside pictures yet. Too messy.


One final note. Folks have asked if this blog will continue after the move completion. Absolutely. I find that it is a nice way to communicate to many of our New England friends,

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro, CA

Categories: California, Moving, Travel
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Hotels

August 22, 2012

We were on the road for twenty days for more than half of those days we stayed in hotels. Some good, some bad, some very good, some very bad.

Typically we would stop around 4pm and figure out where we would plan on staying for the night. Sometimes we could find area guides in rest areas, other times we would use our maps and travel apps on my iPad. One useful app was “the Road Ahead”.

Usually we would use highway signage identifying brand name hotels at upcoming exits. Sometimes there bill boards advertising motels. In Evanston, there was several billboards for Best Western with restaurant and bar. It was one of the really good hotels that we stayed at.

There are many nationwide brand hotels and there are some that are more regional in scope. eg. Drury Inn’s is mostly south (seen in MS, MO, and KS).

The things that we cared about were free wifi, coffee pot in room, free breakfast, king size bed and restaurant/bar in walking distance. (After driving 400 miles, I was in no mood to go looking for a restaurant.)

Very Good

Drury Inn. Had nice clean comfortable rooms. Free hot breakfast and free snacks and drinks in the evening. Free WiFi. Coffee pot in room.

Best Western, Evanston WY. It had restaurant and bar. Free WiFi. Didn’t have free breakfast, but did have coupon for free pancakes. So breakfast cost about $10 for my eggs and bacon. They had real glassware and real coffee mugs to go with the coffee pot.

Very Very Bad

America’s Best Value Inn, Memphis, TN. We ended up paying $160 for two nights. When we went into this place we should have turned around and gone out to find someplace else. First clue was we had to deal with the front desk clerk through a security screen. Perhaps one could understand at two AM, but 6pm? I don’t think so.

No wifi, no coffee pot. The free breakfast was a small cup of coffee plus a krispy kreme donut (limit two to a customer). I could write a whole post on Krispy Kreme. Don’t like them, too sweet. Okay the TV worked and it was king size bed. Side furniture was uncomfortable. Cheap junk.

The hotel once was a TraveLodge. I knew this because the logo was painted over on the room doors. We were happy to be on our way. We skipped the complimentary breakfast and had a decent breakfast at a Denny’s at a truck stop in Arkansas.

The word “value” to me means “Good stuff cheap”. In this case, the opposite was true. Cheap stuff expensive.

Good

Comfort Inn. Reasonable price. WiFi, coffee pot, decent breakfast. Not fancy but good.

Hampton Inn. West Jordan UT. Stayed for five nights in Utah. Real nice experience. Breakfast was free and decent. They responded to my complaint about the desk chair and replaced it with what I though was the manager’s desk chair. Convenient location, about half mile to Neil’s place. I would stay in a Hampton Inn again in a heartbeat.

Bad

Days Inn. No WiFi. Reasonable price. Room opened to outside corridor. Corridor and elevator were filthy. Room was adequate. Breakfast was adequate.

And finally, Las Vegas.

We ended up staying in an older hotel/casino in Jean, NV. Price was reasonable. Room was adequate. No WiFi, but they did have coffee pot.

I really abhor walking into a casino. You are looking for the hotel reg desk and all you can see is slot machines. The noise is so annoying.

Downtown Vegas doesn’t give discounts unless you stay at least three days. There aren’t any hotels without casinos. To get a hotel in CA would have been at least another 1.5 hour ride.

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Location:San Pedro, CA

Categories: Travel
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