Back to the Beach

I hadn't been to the beach yet this year, until last week. On my birthday 10 years ago, I'd taken the family to see Toy Story on the beach in Long Beach. For some reason, I'd happened on the post where I'd mentioned it, and wondered if they were still doing it.

They are!!! I asked surrogate if he would be available, but he had to work. Hit up a couple of younger's other friends, and they were up for it, so we went.

Got there early enough that we'd be able to stake out a spot before the movie started, and got to enjoy the sunset!!!

And the movie that was playing??? The Breakfast Club!!! My wife and I have watched it probably over 50 times, I think she'd made younger watch it, but the friends hadn't seen it. The girl liked it, the guy was off at the bathrooms for the end and didn't like it as much.

It was a good way to spend the evening, and get back to the beach!!! They're doing it for several more nights this summer, and there's a good chance we'll head back again!!! Of the upcoming movies, Lost Boys is one I'd be up to see again, and A League of Their Own will be shown. I haven't seen that, and it's supposed to be good, so I might be up for that as well.

The Early Season Vacation

As appears to have become my custom, I took a week vacation in April. I didn't have anything in particular in mind when scheduling the time, but knew I'd find something. From a couple of years ago, my younger son had enjoyed the trip to Ventura, with the shot up to Solvang, so that's what we did for the first couple of days!!!

Once we got there, and checked into our lodging (also the same as last time, once again per my son's endorsement), we headed over to the restaurant we'd been past while walking around the harbor where they'd had the live music last time. I had called before we went, to see if they'd have a band during our time there. As I thought, nope, it's a weekend thing.

The place is called Margarita Villa (see what they did there???), and it's upstairs, with an indoor area, and outdoor patios to the front and back. We popped in, and the inside was pretty loud and echo-y, bad acoustics, so we opted to eat outside. Turns out, they're refurbishing the back patio where we'd heard the music last time, and for now when they do have the live band, they are inside. I can't imagine.

After we ate, the boy and I crossed the street to the beach, to check it out. I think the tide was out, and it had made a pretty dramatic, over 3 foot, drop off in the sand near the shore!!!

While we were walking along, we came across some shark or ray egg cases!!! (At least, I'm fairly sure that's what these were!!!)

We walked down a bit, to the breakwater area.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the same area as where we had walked last time, and there were two rock jettys not far apart, which looked to have been designed to make a surfing area!!!

There were a lot of surfers out there. The surf wasn't huge, but it was OK, and better there than on the open beach. It was overcast most of the time we were in Ventura.

As we came back, and there was a shot of the calm harbor.

They added the new “I ♥ The Sea” illuminated selfie sign.

Last time we were there, the fire pit wasn't going, but it was this time!!! If we had been waiting long, it would have been a good place to hang out. Or, if we were sitting, listening to the live music, like last time!!!

The next day, we managed to get going in time to make it up to Solvang early enough to get in on the æbleskivers. First thing we did was find a place and get some.

They had an æbleskiver pan for their doorstop!!!

Afterwards, we wandered around, bought souvenirs and took in the sights. My son wanted to grow some tulips, and we were looking around for some, or some bulbs. We didn't find any, but we were near the visitors center, and they suggested going to the Ace Hardware, not far over, and checking there. They had them, and a bit after we got back, we picked up a couple of box planters and soil, and they're in there. Perhaps an update, if they come up. There seems to be a local critter that'll dig 'em up!!!

When my wife was talking to my mom prior to the trip, my mom told her about an ostrich farm in the area. I looked it up, and it was just a little past the main tourist area in Solvang, and an actual alternate way to get back to the 101 to head back!!!

We stopped in, and got bowls of ostrich chow, and fed those bad boys!!!

We didn't stay there that long at all, but it was something different, and pretty fun and cool!!!

Mid-week, the boy had a dentist's appointment that had been rescheduled twice already, with my wife's surgery and recovery, so we headed back for that, and a little breather in between.

The next day, the boy and I went to Knott's Berry Farm!!! They are having the Boysenberry Festival, but we didn't get in on any of that. It's been a while since I've been there, and there was a new coaster, Hang Time, that I've been wanting to go on.

It wasn't busy at all when we arrived, right after it opened, and we headed over and got on with almost no wait!!! It features a 95° first drop, and it takes you to the top of the hill, and holds you where you can't see the track for a few seconds, then drops you, and goes through several inversions. Great coaster!!! Oh, and there was my current Pokemon GO buddy, an Eevee with a flower crown, that I evolved into a Sylveon once he was to best buddy level.

We went on it twice, then the Coast Rider in the same area. One of the best there, the Accelerator, was closed, as was the classic log ride, and the entire Fiesta Village area. Got on the Silver Bullet and Ghost Rider before the lines started getting long.

We were in line for the Pony Express, and it broke down, so we crossed over to Calico River Rapids, formerly Bigfoot Rapids, which had probably the longest line of any ride we went on. I got fairly soaked, and the boy got slightly damp.

Went on Knott's Beary Tales, which has been redone yet again, and is a jelly-shooter 3D ride now, it was pretty low-key fun. Other low-key classics we went on were the Calico mine train, on the back side of the log ride mountain, and the train.

The train was changed up for the off season, instead of the steam locomotive with several cars, they had swapped in “The Galloping Goose”, an engine with the front end that looks like it's from a vintage car, followed by a single passenger car. Indeed, they said it's powered by a Cummings 4 cylinder diesel.

The last day, we went out for lunch to a sushi place that we've been frequenting, along with my son's friend. We got some ice cream afterwards, and then went to the movies.

We went to see Dungeons and Dragons, it was pretty good!!!

Doing Time

Strange times are upon us, such as I have never seen. The Wuhan virus has put severe restrictions on our day to day lives. The government has all but put the gas-on-a-fire economy into an induced coma. Here's to hoping it will still live once restrictions are eased.

As always, with my work, I had to map out my vacation times off at the end of last year. Of course, not having anything planned out in advance, I was just going for random chunks of time strung together. My wife said, "we never take vacations in the first part of the year, you should take some time and do that!!!" OK, I requested March 16th to 18th off, strung onto a weekend. If you're keeping track, that's right around the time things started getting real with the Wuhan virus. That didn't work out well at all!!!

A couple weeks before my vacation time came up, I'd gotten an Email from the Catalina Island Company, who were doing an off season promotion where if you bought weekday lodging at a couple of their hotels, they would provide boat travel. That sounded like a pretty good deal, and I was considering doing it. However, getting close to time, and the weather prediction was for rain there most of the time. Since it's largely a pedestrian attraction, I scrubbed that from our plans.

I figured we'd stick close to home instead, go see a movie or two, go out and get some food, maybe do some things around the house. Then the lockdown came. Movie theaters were closed, and restaurants were limited to take out. Ah well, the best laid plans and all that...

So, watched a few recent releases on TV. I'd wanted to see the latest Quentin Tarantino feature, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It was pretty enjoyable, but I'd put some of his other works ahead of it. Maybe I just need to see it again and let it grow on me.

My wife has been wanting to see Dr. Sleep again. We'd seen it when we were on our anniversary weekend trip, right around when it came out. I'd read the book, and thought it was quite good. As far as an adaptation of a book goes, it was a pretty good job. An even better job was the melding of the original Stanley Kubrick Jack Nicholson Shining, of which this is a sequel.

Way back in 2007 I'd been bad-mouthing I Am Legend for being a poor man's Omega Man. Well, it happened to be on TV, and I checked it out. It was actually pretty good!!!

Ended up doing a few things on the cars, too. Finally took 3 to get aligned, months after replacing the tie rod ends. I'd been getting a code for a fuel tank pressure sensor on Scruffy. I got a replacement, and spent a couple days dropping the fuel tank and replacing it. It was the first time I'd done such a thing, and it was a bit of an ordeal since I didn't know that I had to completely remove one of the straps. Haven't gotten that code since, so it seems to have been a success. After that, I rotated the tires on 3, and had checked the rear brakes, where I had been getting a bit of a shudder. Figured it was probably getting time for new brake shoes, but they had lots of lining left, and it had a leaking wheel cylinder. Fortunately, I had an extra new one, so I put that in. The sealing washer was worn out, though, so finally got it finished a week later. Did an oil change on her, too. Next, I pulled the back end off Jade. I'd done the back brakes a while ago, and they didn't seem to be self-adjusting properly. Found the problem rather quickly, one of the springs I'd replaced back when I'd done them originally had broken.

We brought home a pizza one night, and another night had a frozen Jeno's East Chicago Deep Dish pizza.

Turns out my job is one of those critical services, as we supply many medical and infrastructure entities. Things are different there, but we're still going. I'm a bit jealous of the people who are having to stay home, I could get so many other things done if I were, but I think I'd rather still have an income in these uncertain times. Bonus, the traffic out there is some of the best I've ever seen!!! Double bonus, they have been having most of the office and sales forces working from home, so parking at work is also much better!!!

Last Friday I took Scruffy for a 4-wheel alignment to correct the rear tire wear it's been getting. apparently the toe settings were way off. Yesterday I began doing a piston soak on Jade, trying to use Sea Foam as the medium this time to see if it does any better. I've still been getting the P0410 code on Scruffy, so I'm trying some Sea Foam as a soak in the injector ports, too, to see if that helps.

Hiccup

I had previously made mention that on our vacation we had run into some difficulties while travelling. This is the story of one of them.

On our flight from Oahu to the Big Island we had gone through the security screening most of the way. My wife, with all her titanium, doesn't get around too well for long distances found at most airports, so she gets wheelchair service, and we usually have a pretty quick go through. At the bag X Ray machine a TSA agent pulls my son aside and begins searching one of his bags. he locates the jar of Suavecito that he had in his carry on bag and pulls it out. "Can't take THAT on in your carry on bag, son!!!" You have two choices, go back to the airline counter and check your bag, or place your pomade in the trash can right there!!! Well, here's a quandary!!! Suavecito comes out with seasonal scented pomades, and this I believe was the Spring edition, with hints of dark rum. I'm pretty sure it was under $15 originally, and it's $25 to check a bag, so pretty easy math. However, being a seasonal thing, might not be able to get a replacement, and he really likes the scent. We start heading back to ticketing, and I'm looking up on my phone to see if it's still available, and nope, it's not. OK, it's looking like it's going to be a nearly $40 jar of pomade. Got back to the ticketing desk and tell them our tale of woe, and they say, don't worry, we've got this!!! Ended up not being out the extra $25 or the jar of Suavecito!!! So, it took a little longer and more legwork, but all's well that ends well!!! Funny thing, our first flight from the mainland they didn't catch it. To be sure, it was in our checked bag on the flight back!!!

Oh, and I've got to gush a little bit about the airline we took, Hawaiian. Not only did they waive the bag fee, but so far as I know, they are the last carrier to provide an in-flight meal. Something else cool they have, instead of having an in flight movie as previous flights I've taken, they have an app you can download to your device, and there's a veritable smorgasbord of shows and movies you can stream in flight!!! I got to watch "Isn't it Romantic" on the flight out because Rebel Wilson is awesome, and "The Lego Movie: The Second Part" on the flight back, but I think I fell asleep a little during that one.

Back to the Petersen

A couple weekends ago, while I was working on Saturday, I happened upon this. When there is downtime between cycles, I'll often web-surf. In the course of doing this, I discovered that that very evening, there was to be a screening of a documentary about the restoration of the DeLorean from Back to the Future!!! Entitled "Outatime: Saving the DeLorean Time Machine", all that was required to attend was to RSVP via E-mail. OK, sounds pretty sweet!!!

For further win points, it was screening at the Petersen Automotive Museum!!! I had figured, and correctly, that my wife would not be interested in attending, and my son would. On the way into the parking garage, we spotted our first DeLorean of the evening, a very nice bone stock (as far as I could tell) example, featuring the "LONE PYN" plate.

I believe we saw four more equally nice stock examples, one with a "TIME MCH" plate and one with a "DMC AUTO" or some such plate.

So, what do they do with a fully restored prop DeLorean??? They did such an exquisite job, that it became, quite literally, a museum piece!!! They now have it at the Petersen. This shot is when we first saw it. If you look closely, you can see the flux capacitor!!!

Were there any fans of the movie there??? A couple. This guy, in Marty McFly regalia, with his model time machine DeLorean. There were many Marty McFlys there, in various stages of convincing.

One guy there was lucky enough to have scored some of the Episode II Nike shoes!!!

Yet another guy had himself a nice hoverboard!!!

A better shot of the flux capacitor.

Two of the Doc Emmett Browns, there was also a kid with the visor from the end of I, and possibly II (I don't remember exactly, I've seen II a couple times, but I'm not that rabid a fan). The guy on the right played the part for Universal Studios Hollywood, driving the actual DeLorean around the place. The guy on the left, I think, has his DeLorean that he's done up to look like the time machine, and has a quite convincing voice!!!

The Petersen took good care of everyone, in addition to the show, they also had bags of chips and water bottles for the guests. They said it's the best attended movie night event they've done. After the movie (and the offer to sell you much memorabilia and copies of the DVD, then sign them) they were raffling off several items, T-shirts, various copies of the newspaper headlines from the movies, and a hoverboard. That was the one my son really wanted, and wouldn't you know, they picked a number off by ONE from what he had. Insult to injury, the person with that ticket wasn't even there!!! He was genuinely mad over that. I think a do-it-yourself hoverboard is in order.

And how was the movie??? Pretty good, well worth a watching!!! They did an incredible job on the restoration, and actually made it more functional that it had been. I learned quite a bit from it, and am now more of an expert on the Back to the Future DeLorean that I was before!!!

What if...

What if instead of Nathan Fillion being cast as Malcolm Reynolds, they went with Patrick Stewart instead???

The Bat Cave

Here's the thing we did on the first day of 2014. We went up to the Bat Cave!!!

Bronson caves is what they're actually known as, and they've been featured in several sci-fi and western movies, as well as countless TV shows and a Jim Morrison photo shoot. We went there years ago, probably around ten or so now. Thought I'd done a post on it before, but I couldn't find it.

It's a really short hike up there, and there were a TON of like minded people there today!!!

It's a nice scenic area, great for taking some pictures!!! Both my wife and younger boy brought along their Christmas presents, and were snapping pictures with them.

The cave itself... actually a tunnel, or series of tunnels. There's four portals.

Since you haven't gotten much of a workout hiking up there, there's plenty of little side trails going off to the sides!!!

Also right in the area is the Hollywood sign.

Just a ways up from Camp Hollywoodland!!!

Up by the end is another trailhead, that leads up to a much better view of the sign.

Interesting artwork!!!

And a naturally occurring half pipe!!!

And there's the boy and mom, taking selfies!!!