Sky with palms

One last picture from California, in honor of Skywatch Friday.

Anniversary 32

Today is our anniversary. We basically spent it travelling home, but we celebrated early with a dinner in Anaheim a few days ago. I liked the little shiny stuff they scattered on our table, though it's hard to read the "Happy Anniversary" in the picture above. It was a very nice dinner.


As for the traveling, if you ever have to go through LAX, leave LOTS of time. First you get your boarding pass at the little kiosk. Then you get in the long line to go up to the counter to drop off your bags - and when you get to the counter, you have to wait while the staff person goes to the other end of the line to get your luggage tags. After that, you get in line for security - which goes all the way outside. When you get to the front of that line, they let you into the maze that takes you to the people who check your boarding pass and id. And then you get to go up the stairs to get in the maze for the security screening. Including the long wait for the rental car bus to take us to the airport, I think it took over an hour and a half from getting out of the rental car to clearing security. We're really spoiled at MSP.

Beach adventures

Today, Russ and I had planned to go whale-watching. The concierge told us about this cool tour where they pick you up at the hotel, take you to Newport Beach, you go out on a morning boat tour for 2 1/2 hours, then they bring you back. Sounded great, and we signed up. When the bus comes, it's the "OC Cruiser" and it has this surfing theme (Beach Boy music, old surfing photos, etc.). After the last hotel stop, they tell us what's going on. It's a 3-hour circuit tour of 3 beach towns (Huntington, Newport, and Laguna) with the ability to get off, spend a few hours at one of the beaches, then get back on the next loop. For the whale-watching, we can take a noon tour instead of the morning one, and get back around 5.

Well, Russ had plans for the afternoon, so he decided to go back to the hotel. I went ahead with the trip, even though it was far from what we'd planned. The first stop was Huntington Beach - Surf City. The US Open of surfing had just finished there, and we had about a half-hour stop. So I took some photos.


Then on to Newport Beach. The driver showed me where to check in for the whale-watching and gave me his cell phone number to call when I was done, so we could figure out when he would meet me. The whale-watching people wanted some kind of card from the tour people. So I hurried back to the bus, which was on a 10-minute stop. The driver had no idea what they wanted, but filled in the slip I had gotten from the concierge and gave me a phone number to pass on if the whale-watching people had any trouble. They looked at the numbers he'd filled in and told me I was way over-charged, and lent me binoculars instead of making me rent them. I was almost 2 hours early for the noon trip. We didn't see any whales, but did see the expected pods of dolphins:


The surprise was the sea lions. They were laying in a pile on someone's boat dock on the way out, and then we saw this pile on the buoy on the way back into the harbor.


Anyway, I thought I might have to wait another 2 hours to get back on the bus. But when I called, the driver said he was headed back, so if I would spend $1 to take the ferry across, he'd pick me up on the way instead. I was glad to get back earlier. And then I could have taken the ferry for free - apparently the crew thought I was part of a different group.

So it ended up being an ok day for me. I did stop to let the concierge know about the problems, though.

Hollywood

Today I took a Grand Tour of LA. While we saw some historical sites (first street, first fire station, first mission) and some beach areas (Santa Monica Beach, Venice Beach), a lot of time was spent on things:

The above picture was taken from the Hollywood Bowl overlook off Mulholland Drive. We drove down the twisty canyon roads, and we also drove through some of the residential sections of Beverley Hills and Bel Air. We saw Aaron Spelling's 36,000 square foot, $50,000,000 house, the house where Michael Jackson died, and several others. Even in other parts of the city, we ended up talking about movies (went over the 8-layer interchange featured in Speed, saw Mel's Diner and the Rodeo Drive shop that wouldn't sell clothes to Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, etc.). We also stopped near Grauman's Chinese Theater, so I took some pictures:


Someone asked about seeing stars on the tours. The driver said that once he was stopped at a red light and the passengers started screaming. There on the sidewalk was Tom Hanks. The driver opened the door, and Tom Hanks got on the bus. He took some pictures with the passengers, then said he had to go and got off. Nothing so interesting happened on our tour - the closest I came was this:


More pictures from the tour later.

World Championships

Today we drove up to LA to watch Jason compete in the World Hwa Rang Do Championships. It's always fun to watch him, and it was nice to meet some of the people he's talked about from out here. Several people told us how much they liked him. And he did a great job, too. He won sparring, placed third in Kumdo and was part of the winning Midwest sparring team. In a couple other events, he was beaten in an earlier round by the person who went on to win the event. All in all, we were very proud.

Staying cool in LA

We spent yesterday just wandering around the area and relaxing in our room. It was quite hot in the afternoon, so we got Slurpees (sorry Jason) on our way back to the hotel. Then we saw this hotel. Should have stayed there - it's obviously cooler in the Alpine Inn than in the surrounding area.
Still, our hotel has a really great view. This is from the OTHER side, looking north (our room looks south).


Yes, that's the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and the Tower of Terror at Disneyland. Would have been nice to be on the north side - they had fireworks last night.

Livin' it up at the Hotel California

Well, actually it's the Hilton Anaheim. Got in late last night. L.A. isn't great on the street signage - we had to do a couple of U-turn maneuvers because we missed an on ramp. But all in all, it wasn't too bad. Drove right past Disneyland just before we got to the hotel. The checkin line was surprisingly long at 10:30 at night. Chatted with a couple from New Zealand about temperature conversion (70 F is about 21 C).

Nice room with 2 queen beds on the 14th floor - the Executive floor which includes some food and its own bar in the evenings. This morning we had breakfast in the room while looking out at the rather smoggy view:

Now off to check Russ in for the conference. And then? Not sure. Update later...

Milk Carton Boat Race

Today was the Milk Carton Boat Race, part of Minneapolis' annual Aquatennial festival. Jason, Gaea, Karis and Bobby all worked on a boat together. They used about 275 milk cartons. Apparently, one milk carton can support about 4 pounds, so the 200 used in the flotation portion should support 800 pounds.


The boat is "Queen of Lake Calhoun - Whey Down Yonder in New Orleans".


They had a bike frame attached to run the paddlewheel. Unfortunately, the chain kept slipping and Gaea had to try to make repairs. But they made it to the finish line!


All of us also handed out lots of beads to onlookers. For more pictures, including some of the other boats, see my web album.

Cabin with flowers

It seemed this used to be a little inn - there were a few small cabins in a semi-circle behind it. Now the wildflowers have taken over.

I believe this will be my last post from the trip to Ely. Now I'll have to make sure I take more pictures.

Wildflowers 2 - Lupines

There were drifts of lupines all along the route from Duluth to Ely. I kept looking at them on the way up and deciding not to stop. Then on the way back, I finally stopped for photos. These were taken along Highway 61. Karis took the photo above. And since I had 2 cameras with me, I also took photos - like the one below.

Lake view

This lake caught my eye on the drive between Finland and Ely. I admit I enhanced it a little - the clouds were gorgeous, but the sun wasn't fully cooperating. The result makes me think of the jigsaw puzzles I used to put together with my family.

Split Rock

The Split Rock Lighthouse from the rest area on Highway 61. The rest area was actually closed - they were doing construction there. But I parked nearby and squeezed past the barriers and climbed over the cement forms. It was worth it for this view.

Wildflowers

Taken at a lake on Route 1 north of Finland, MN.

Up North

I drove to Ely Friday and brought Karis home on Saturday. I took a lot of pictures on the way up, and will post some of the best over the next few days.


This was taken in Duluth, at Canal Park.