The Late Season Vacation

A little over a month ago, we took our late season vacation. It seems we've gotten into doing an early season and a late season vacation. We vacationed again in Catalina. I think the first Catalina vacation we went on was just a bit after Labor Day, and I think we've been going over there right around the same time since!!! Since I haven't been there in summer, I'm just guessing, but I think it's less crowded.

I'm starting this post off with a couple of what I consider my prize winners, the first is was of something I didn't even know was a thing, a red rainbow!!! Apparently when the sun is low to the horizon, it'll filter all the other colors out.

Next up is a pelican perched on a rock on land's end. It wasn't really the end, but it was it a point to the north of Descanso Beach.

It seems like we end up doing a lot of the same stuff, but we enjoy it. To change things up a little, when we arrived, we went to a restaurant that we've passed by for years, but had never been to, the Bluewater Grill. It's literally on the opposite side of Antonio's that we go to pretty regularly, also with outdoor seating overlooking the harbor. We sat outside, and it was a little overcast and gray. By the time our food was arriving, it was drizzling just a little, that's why I have my glasses off!!! They had retractable canvas for the patio area, and we asked if they could roll it out, and they said they would but never did. It pretty much stopped not long after, and it wasn't bad, and we enjoyed the seafood there.

Last time we'd gone, I'd seen the flying fish boat tours advertised, but the day we tried, they were sold out. The next day (first full day) we headed out the pier to see about booking tickets before they again sold out, but they weren't running weekdays, so we once again missed out.

I've always threatened to take the boy on a snorkeling expedition, but that's another thing for another time, I guess, since we didn't get to it this time, either. Instead of the flying fish or snorkeling, the boy and I went on a semi-submarine tour. Lots of fish, and we practically had the sub to ourselves, there was only one other couple and their baby!!!

Last time, we'd gone to Jack's Country Kitchen for the first time, and it was really good. In the interest of hitting another new place, we went to Pancake Cottage that's right along Crescent Street. It was also really good.

Another place we nearly always go is Buffalo Nickel, a ways out Pebbly Beach Road. It's a standout, so we made the trip out there. There was leftover Mexican pizza that ended up going to waste.

I'd taken a picture of this little archway under the benches along the waterfront on one of our first trips. It's fallen into a bit of disrepair.

Of course, the last couple of times the boy and I have been playing Pokemon GO, and it's a great place for it, lots of stops and gyms centralized in about the most pedestrian friendly area I frequent. Last year, they were having Fashion Week while we were there, and the boy got one of his coolest, Cherry Jam!!! We'd go out on walks in the evenings. They've added in routes, but there were only two there. One goes along the waterfront to the Casino, and the other went from the waterfront to the back of the town, close to the place we'd stayed the first couple of family trips. I tired to submit a route of my own, it's still pending approval.

Another place we've been frequently is Descanso Beach. A big part of it is the place we've stayed the last three times gives you a daily credit for a few places, and Descanso Beach Club is one of them. There's a little coffee place right next to the place we stay, too, and we had coffees and boba teas and various breakfast foods from there quite a bit. These pictures are from there, the shore north of the beach, where I got the pelican shot, was a little hike over some rocks, and there were several little tide pools.

The farthest north cabana had this tunnel under it. Might have been from when the old Descanso hotel, which had a salt water pool with a channel from the ocean to it.

The boy and I also hiked up to the Chime Tower again, it's a pretty scenic hike. I was thinking next time we might try hiking up to Mount Ada.

On the way down, we met a big chonker of a cat, one of the cats you're glad to meet while you're out and about, who is super friendly and loves the pets!!!

Also featured in these shots is the shirt the boy got while we were there, it's pretty cool and one of his favorites. I also got an Aloha shirt, it's pretty understated, white with outlines on the shape of Catalina, the Casino, and the Via Casino archway. Here we were having dinner on the last night. As I said, Antonio's on the waterfront has been one of our go-tos (also it was on the short list of places to use our room credit on), but it seems like they've shortened their hours quite a bit, and scaled the menu down too, so we didn't go there. However, there's another Antonio's that was right across from where we were staying. They don't take the room credit, but that's OK. It was another place we'd never been, and it was pretty good!!! The boy had gotten a meatball sandwich from the other one last year, and that's what he ordered from this place, but it's quite different, almost not even a sandwich, but still really good!!!

And, right across the street, there was this cool looking cloud. Come to find out, it was a rocket launch from Vandenburg!!!

17 Shots From the Island

We took the longest continuous vacation we've been on in a couple of years last week. Went back to Catalina for the week!!!

We pretty much repeated a lot of the stuff we've done previously there, down to eating at the same restaurants!!!

The first day we went to Antonio's, which I always like because you can eat right out over the water, enjoying the fresh air and views. My son had the most epic meatball sandwich you've ever seen!!!

There's the Chimes Tower in the background!!! I notice that it's in about half of the scenic pictures you take in Avalon!!!

Afterwards we walked on down by the Casino, where I got another shot of the point past Descanso Beach.

The pathway down to Descanso Beach was blocked off with safety tape. What's up with that, we wondered.

Don't think I've ever made mention, but there's a dive park right off the Casino. Stairs lead right down into the water. Back in my younger days I did some Scuba diving. The water is very clear, and it drops off on a slant to pretty deep. There's a shipwreck, the SueJac, which sunk in 1980. The dive park was later expanded to include it. The SueJac had a ferro cement hull, go figure!!!

Another night shot of the Chimes Tower.

Took my wife back to our hotel, then the boy and I set out for an evening walk. Headed back out to Descanso Beach, which we had done last time. Of course, we walked down the street since the walkway was blocked. The place is deserted at night, and you can lay on the lounges that they rent for something like $80 for free. Just as we got to where the lounges are, I saw this deer chilling on the beach!!!

We laid down, and the deer stayed there for several minutes. There was another one in the background when I took the picture, and another one (or the same one returning) came by behind us. On the way back, we took the walkway, and halfway down it there was a small backhoe and much of the walkway was dug up.

Later on that night, I got up and was drawing the drapes so we wouldn't be woke up by the sun in the morning, and there were a couple of deer next door!!!

The next night we went out on another night walk, this time towards the Catalina Express landing, where I got a great shot of the Casino from across the water, and the Chimes Tower glowing up on the hillside.

We came back, and in the lobby the hotel has a huge old safe, with a bunch of games stored in it. We played a game of Battleship, then pulled out the rather elaborate Monopoly game and played for quite a while!!!

The next day the boy and I had gone out to do a raid in Pokemon GO near the Casino. Afterwards we noticed that the walkway to Descanso Beach was open. Took a look, and they had it all patched up!!! Later on in the day we rented stand up paddle boards and paddled around the harbor. Saw a sea lion while we were paddling!!!

Saw this crow down near the beach on Crescent Avenue, wonder if he was our friend from our last visit?

On our last full day, we were having lunch at the fish place out on the Green Pier. They sell clam chowder or chili in sourdough bread bowls, and you know I'm a sucker for those!!! I had the chili, and the fish frying smelled so good I went ahead and got myself a fish taco. While we were out there, the power went out. Apparently, for all of Avalon!!! Other people came up trying to get food, and they couldn't make it. We had been planning to go to an ice cream place, and we headed over and they were able to serve us even without juice. On the way back to our room, my wife wanted to stop in a shop right before our hotel, and she was able to buy what she wanted there, too. I was wondering how things were going to go at the hotel. Almost all the hotels have the rooms above ground level, and we were staying in the only one I'm aware of that has an elevator, since my wife doesn't get up stairs very well. We were staying on the third floor. The power came on just before we got back, but when we got to the elevator the call button only lit up while it was being held.

The elevator is in view of the front desk, and we let them know. The maintenance guy came, and assured us that they should be able to get it running. It was about a half hour later, and the door slid open. Got in, but it didn't go, and the car was riding just a little low in the shaft. They tried a little longer, then the staff told us they were going to take us up in the freight elevator.

Walked us around the outside, and up we went!!! The next morning it still wasn't going, but going down stairs is much easier that up.

It was a great trip!!! More to come...

Random Recap

Random Recap... Have I used that title before??? It seems like I may have. A cursory search doesn't show up that exact title, though, so it stays.

Anyway, as usual, a lot happens, so here I'm cramming it all into one post. Of course, Halloween happened. First up is Wilsons' German cousin, Voit, in his costume.

I did the same pumpkin as last year, but got a bit further on the interior. Made up a Charmander out of modeling clay with a candle holder for his tail. The clay was staying a bit pliable, so I stuck it in the oven to try & set it up. That was a mistake, it caved in on itself. Stole a gargoyle statue decoration from the boys' room & stuck it inside instead. It rotted to mush before I could throw it down.

The costumes for this year. My wife stayed with the feline theme. The only child boy went as a security guard from Five Nights at Freddy's, which other kids understood. His badge says "Freddy Fazbears Entertainment". I finally did a costume I've been saying to do for a while, aggressive panhandler. The boy was greatly entertained by my spiel, I'd roll up on people and go, "Hey, can you help me out??? I'm just trying to get a little money together to get some food..." and usually they'd put some candy into my can. I'd look at it, then tell them, "That's no good to me, I can't exchange it for booze or drugs!!!"

Of course, I worked that day, then we went to my parents' to trick or treat. An interesting side note, I've got an app that counts my steps on my phone. On a typical work day, I'll do anywhere from around 15,000 to 20,000 steps. On this Halloween, I ended up with around 28,500 steps, which comes out to about 19.5 miles. It is the highest amount of steps I've done in a day since I got the app.

The Friday before my wife & I made a run up to Magic Mountain again. Got there, and rode the best two rides in the park, then went home. Giant creepy Jack in the Box.

They had done a good amount of theming for the Halloween time.

And, fittingly, the best ride in the park is declared Satan's Domain.

Ever since our anniversary four years back, the wife & I make a long weekend vacation out of it. This year we headed up to Reno!!! It was a good trip, but it was colder than we're used to!!! Saw our quota of snow for the year, none of it actually in Reno.

The first day we headed over to Virginia City, which dates back to the 1800's silver rush, the Comstock Lode. On the way we headed through the state capital, Carson City, just because for all the times we've been in Nevada we've never been there. Rolled through the hilariously named Mound House, and drove past several whorehouses.

There's the pistol packing preacher of Virginia City.

If you make it though there, get lunch or dinner at the Virginia City Jerky Company. We'd already eaten, but stopped in because, who doesn't like jerky??? It smelled amazing in there!!! They had chili on the menu, and I'm always curious to see how other peoples' chili is, so I got a small side. I think it was about the best chili I've ever had that wasn't made in someone's house!!!

The last day we headed over to see Lake Tahoe. It was amazing, but windy and cold!!!

Slots seem looser in Reno than Tahoe. I came up with a fairly profitable method to usually win at roulette.

Just a week ago we headed to the local Slater's 50/50. I like the boy's pose in the background.

And finally, just last night, the boy had heard of this trick. Balancing a fork and spoon on the edge of a glass by a toothpick.

It's an old Jedi center of gravity trick, my boy!!!

Laffing Sal

Laffing Sal. A restored animatronic from the Santa Cruz boardwalk's early days. Looks like someone shot out one of her front teeth. Creepy.

Up North

As promised, here's more of a rundown of the extended weekend we took to Northern California for the Garlic Festival.

We left out fairly early (Well, quite early) on Thursday morning. While we could have driven up, I'd just as soon spend a bit more on airfare and rental than blowing a day each way driving. We flew into San Jose and had our luggage all stowed in the back of our rental car (a sweet little PT Cruiser, AWESOME for the "economy, sub compact" I'd reserved!!! Lots of cargo area and plenty of room and power, while delivering decent fuel economy. The counter guy tried to sell me on a class upgrade to a Challenger for only four dollars a day more. I was greatly tempted, but am glad I didn't) before we likely would have been dressed and ready for the day on a regular weekend. From there, we headed south and towards the coast to Santa Cruz, a great tourist spot and where I had our first night's lodging reserved. Still before noon, our room wasn't quite ready, but the innkeeper gave us our parking pass so we wouldn't have to pay to park elsewhere. No problem anyway, we were going to the boardwalk!!!

I told my wife the name of the place, the Paradise Inn by the Sea, and she replied that it sounded like a pink, shabby place. It turned out to be just that. See their sign??? It says "The Fireside Motel", but it's been changed on the parking lot sign. No matter, the room was fine, and we didn't spend that much time in it anyway. The nice part is that it is indeed very close to the sea, as well as the boardwalk and the wharf. Oh yea, they had Mr. Pibb in the soda machine. We parked, and didn't move the car again until we left.




The boardwalk. It is pretty bitchen. The last of the coastal amusement parks on the West coast. It has been expanded since my previous visits there. Strangely enough, its all concrete, not even done up to look like boards. Got to go on several rides, some lady gave my wife some sugar coated greasy fritter thingys that she didn't like while she and the younger waited for the older and I to exit the Giant Dipper roller coaster.






After a while, wifey wanted to go get into our room and have a little rest. We got her set up, then the boys and I changed into our swim suits and went to play on the beach some. We dug holes and made castles, played in the surf, then made our way to the very end (probably more than a mile down) of the beach, where there is an inlet, and an archway that we needed to explore. It was full of water, and led to the next beach over. We explored back a ways, and there was what looked like a giant mouse hole in the cliff face. Turned out to contain a drainage pipe. To come back, we waded across a lake connected to the inlet (it was sizable) and, back on the boardwalk, rode the chair lift back to the other end. Time to get some food, so for dinner we went to the patio of the bowling alley next to the inn. The younger fell asleep waiting for his pizza to come. It was a long day!!! And not done yet, the older boy and I went back to the boardwalk and rode some more rides. We closed the place down, we did, and ended up with one last ride on the Giant Dipper.






The next morning, after a rather crappy continental breakfast in the inn's lobby (nothing but packaged pastries and coffee), we went for a walk on the wharf. Of the four times I've been to Santa Cruz, this was the first time for that, and for actually going on the beach. The wharf was pretty cool, longer than it looks!!! Sea lions (who we'd heard from the beach the day before) climb up on the underside of the end, and they have openings cut through so they can be observed.




From there, we went to a nearby place called Roaring Camp, a railroad attraction. Much like last year's vacation to Florida, where the timing was perfect for a shuttle launch, this coincided with a three day event going on at Roaring Camp, a "Day Out with Thomas". Thomas the Tank Engine, that would be, one of the younger's favorite things. Normally they have a narrow gauge railroad that does a trip through the giant redwoods, that I probably would have gotten us tickets to ride, but that day we got to ride on a train pulled by Thomas.









One more stop before we left that general area, the Mystery Spot. Cut and pasted from their web site, "Within the Mystery Spot you will be stunned as your perceptions of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned. Some speculate that cones of metal were secretly brought here and buried in our earth as guidance systems for alien spacecraft. Some think that it is in fact the spacecraft itself burried deep within the ground. Other theories include carbon dioxide permeating from the earth, a hole in the ozone layer, a magma vortex, the highest dielectric biocosmic radiation known anywhere in the world, and radiesthesia." In fact, it is a shack built on a 27° slant. Nonetheless, it is well presented and a lot of fun, as well as being one of the better deals on touristy places of the whole trip.





From there, we had a bit of a drive out to our next room, near Gilroy. Considerably nicer lodgings, but strangely almost exactly the same room arrangement. The next morning we had another innkeeper provided continental breakfast, MUCH nicer than our previous place. From there, a short drive to the focal point of our trip, the Garlic Festival!!! First, Gilroy: The place smells of garlic!!! Awesome!!! The exit ramp was jammed, and the roads leading up to the parking area was jammed, and there were big lines to the shuttle buses to the grounds, and big lines for the passes and to get in. It was a zoo, tons of garlic lovers there. The first thing we got was some of the fabled garlic ice cream. Con Agra was giving it away for free, and shockingly there was a huge line for that, too. It tasted OK, and interestingly was about the heaviest garlic flavored thing we had there. Garlic egg rolls, almonds, fries, and kebabs were among the other goodies we sampled. Garlic makes 'em good. Watched a bit of a cooking presentation, and let the younger go on one of the overpriced rides. They had a playground area that was inaccessible for the event, and some playground equipment that you could let your kids crawl through for the modest sum of $2.85!!! That wasn't going to happen. We had our fill after a few hours, and headed back.




Still having some day left, I checked to see if there was a theatre in the area, and we ended up going to see Wall-E instead of the X-Files movie (momma's pick), at the kids constant nagging. (Side note: we ditched the boys and I took her to that this weekend. The most first run movies I've seen in a LONG time. I'm glad I didn't take the boys to that, it really wasn't that good. Could stand up as a TV episode, but mostly it was a vehicle to get Fox and Scully together again, it seemed like. I wanted it not to suck. I narrowly avoided outright suckness, and if that's the best I can say... not good)









Our final day once again began with a continental breakfast, then we headed out. The first real unscheduled day, and we didn't know exactly what we were going to do. Montery bay and possibly the aquarium there were considered, but that was the wrong way for getting to the airport and a bit of a drive at any rate. I considered swinging up past San Jose to the Frisco area, but once again, the drive. Ended up just going back to San Jose. Thought we might go bowling, or see another movie before heading to the airport, but it turned out there were neither theatres nor bowling alleys in San Jose!!! I was stunned!!! Adjacent to the HP Pavilion, there was a park with a nice play apparatus and a carousel. We stopped and let the boys play and we all rode the carousel. That got old for my wife and I in a hurry, and we walked around the park a bit. At a visitor's center there, we found out there's a children's discovery museum not far from there. Made our way there, and it turned out to be quite awesome!!! Fire truck and ambulance to play on, a few electrical generation displays, a very cool water area with all kinds of neat things, bubble displays and devices, a special exhibition based on Alice in Wonderland, and so much more that I can't even remember. Of all the things we did, this was one of the better, and also pretty good in the value department, too.









A great vacation, every day we managed to get some fun adventure in!!! I may do another post or two of photos...