Looking Back: Completely Surrounded by Dolphins

Man, it's been a while since I've posted!!! This is from towards the end of last year.

For our anniversary weekend we stayed in a place in Laguna Hills in Orange County. The first night we were there, we went to a place that's been mentioned on The Woody Show, Sargent Pepperoini's.

You may have figured out from thier name, it's a Beatles themed pizza place. Beatles and Beatles-adjacent music, artwork, and a Beatles pinball machine, which of course I played several times.

One thing that is often mentioned on The Woody Show when discussing the place is the pin wheels. They are smallish sized little pizzas, without much sauce. Had to try them, and they are good!!!

Of course, we had to have a pizza, too. Also good, but I think I'd fill up on the pin wheels!!! After we ate, we went to a nearby theater and watched Dune, which gives you an idea about when this took place!!!

Didn't have much planned for our time, but on the second day, we went down to Dana Point Harbor and went on a whale watching boat.

It was gray and overcast, and the ocean was fairly flat.

Something they didn't tell us when we were signing up, there haven't been a lot of whale sightings this year. The reason hypothesized by the boats' marine biologist is that we have a huge backlog of freighters offshore waiting their turn to get unloaded, and if they are going to have any power onboard, they have to have the engine going.

So, all the cargo ships are making all this racket, and she thought that the whales are probably heading farther away from shore to avoid it. Makes sense.

So we didn't see whale one, but the captain spotted a pod of dolphins feeding.

And what a pod it was!!! The marine biologist estimated it was probably 700+ dolphins!!!

We were in the midst of the pod for probably close to an hour, and got to see a lot of dolphins!!!

We also saw a sun fish, and of course there were sea lions on the bouys on the way back.

Afterwards we went to a Mexican restaurant for a big lunch, which was pretty much the last we ate that day.

Headed home the next day, but I was looking for something to do on the way. Looking at the map of the shoreline, I came across a listing for "pirate tower".

Well, I'm something of a pirate myself!!! I've gotta go check it out!!! Sure enough, there's a tower right next to the cliff. Apparently it was made as a beach access stairway back in the 20's or 30's. It's closed off now, but it's a great visual!!!

It was a great little getaway!!!

Range Day

A month ago, a friend of mine asked if my son and I would like to go to the gun range with a bunch of the guys. It's been years since I've gone shooting, and my younger has never fired a gun, so I said yes.

It was on a Monday, and I've got more than a month of time off per year now, and with the stupid restrictions it's not really a great time to be using them. Thus, I have a good amount of days I'm able to take off, and in my current position it's easier to get days. Just recently they've changed procedures to where you can carry over up to a week of vacation days. I had carried over most of a week last year, and was planning on doing so again this year, so one day less doesn't bother me at all!!!

The range is up in they canyons. It had also been years since I've driven up this one, and I don't think the boy ever had been that way. On the way up, there's a dam and reservoir. Looks like it's running a little low!!!

The range is a really nice place!!! It's actually the most structured firing range I've ever been to, and the range masters take things serious, as they should.

One of the guys had a couple of AR-15's, as did another guy.

Another guy had a .308 and a Mossberg 12 gauge. At the range, shot shells aren't allowed, so it was packing slugs.

This was at the first area we went to at the range, all long guns. One of the guys had a .22 rifle, and the ladies who came with us liked that one the best!!!

They rent the target stands there. We didn't get the deposit on this one back!!!

After a while there, we headed over to another area for pistols. I don't remember what all pistols were there, but I know one was a 9mm.

And, another stand we aren't getting the deposit back on!!! I think I'll make some of my own next time.

Since it wasn't too far after Halloween, there was a pumpkin down range. It was pretty Swiss cheesed!!!

It was fairly fresh, still had firmness to the meat of it, but with all those holes, it was pretty jiggly!!!

Being as the targets are set up a ways down, it isn't always easy to tell where you're hitting, but I know that hole was my shot!!!

Ventura Shore

Welcome to what is probably the final post for our vacation!!! Mostly about the locale where we stayed for the last part.

This was the view from the hotel we stayed at, right on the Ventura harbor. It's from the gap between the two buildings. Our room was facing the fields, not the ocean, on the top floor. Probably worked out better, because in the morning, sea lions start barking.

After we went out to eat at the barbecue place the first night, we drove over to the Ventura pier as it was getting dark.

The view was great!!!

The moon was almost full...

I had my Pokemon Go going, there were stops all the way out!!! Several of the creatures, not many of them water types!!!

The next night, the boy & I went on a walk around the harbor to the ocean side.

On the way back, there was a restruant that had a live band doing country western standards on the upper level patio. We hung out and listened to them play for a few songs from the seating by the harbor, then their time was up for the night.

And there's that jacket we bought!!!

& there's a heron we came upon. He flew off, squaking noisily.

The next morning, we were on the outside patio having breakfast, and the sea lions were carrying on.

Turned out they were just a bit down from the hotel, on the dock between two empty slips!!!

The were quite active... except for this one!!!

Gone Back to Solvang

A return to the vacation recap!!! The first night we arrived in Ventura, we went to a barbecue resturant for dinner, then went to Ventura pier. When we had been in Carlsbad, the weather had been warm, and the boy decided he didn't need a jacket, so he hadn't brought a jacket, and it turned out to be cold on the waterfront!!! The next day we stopped into a thrift store and happened on a really nice leather bomber jacket for $20, and I found a Dr. Who T-shirt. After that, we headed up to Solvang!!!

It had been years since we had been there, and it was the first time for my son. If you didn't know, Solvang is a Danish village up in the hills.

The first place that we went into was a shop selling Turkish lights. They are really cool looking, but are very expensive!!! My wife found a little change purse with an Oriential rug design, and I got an evil eye keychain.

As is the custom, we were going to get some æbleskivers, but by the time we got there every place that serves them was closed. I guess they are something of a breakfast item. We ended up going to the Copenhagen Sausage Garden and getting some pretzels and a sampler plate. The sampler plate comes with 3 kinds, so we each got to choose one. I got the only one of Danish origin, the rod polse. My son, who if I haven't made mention, is learning German, opted for one with German origins, the bockwurst. My wife chose the most American sounding one, the cheddar bacon. Rod polse turned out to be very plain, in taste and appearance. It reminded me of a hot dog. The bockwurst was better, but not that exciting, really. My wife had chosen wisely, hers was the best tasting!!!

Speaking of the German language, Danish isn't that far off, and my son was able to understand some of the language. One of the shops we visited was playing German pop music, and he was able to follow it.

Since it was his first time visiting, my son had a positve first impression!!!

Sphere Quest

For our vacation this year, we did similar to how we've done in years past, where we went to one area on part of the vacation, and another area for the other. Instead of one part being in Catalina, as we've done twice before, we did the first half in Carlsbad, and the second in Ventura!!! Since they are in different directions, we did a layover at the Green Palace for a night not in a strange bed!!! Before heading on, I was looking at the map to see if there were any other attractions we would want to check out in the area, and I happened upon this!!!

Usually when we head out that way, we take a direct route, but by heading up past Magic Mountain and then across, we could stop in Santa Paula and see a floating granite ball!!! It was similar to the time we took a side trip to see the Bronze Fonz statue.

It's located in a little park right along the railroad tracks. I've seen two other spheres like this, both of them in Disney parks, one in Disneyland, the other in Disney World. Every time I'd encounter one, I would always spend some time playing with it, so this seemed like an opportunity to do so without spending hundreds of dollars just to get close to it!!!

Of course, it wasn't up to Disney standards. The area seemed pretty nice, but there were a half dozen bums hanging out at one end of the park, and, if you look close, you can see someone tagged the poor defenseless sphere.

There were a couple of other sculptures in the park. A mama bear and her two cubs.

Had to take a picture of mama bear on the mama bear!!!

At the end of the park near the main road it's located on, there is a monument to two Highway Patrolmen who alerted the residents to the St. Francis dam failure in 1928.

The drive going out this direction instead was very scenic, compared to the way we usually go. I was glad we went that way, and made friends with another granite sphere!!!