Kayaking and snorkeling in La Jolla

Against Sophie's wishes, we headed back down to La Jolla to go kayaking and snorkeling.  The original plan was to leave earlier and also hit the USS Midway in San Diego, but you know how the early starts have been going......

Before we headed out

We got all geared up and then headed out.  We rented a waterproof digital camera, but it got all fogged up, so there really aren't any pictures from today.  Was pretty cool going out against the surf waves.  We saw several people flip, but Abby and I made it and so did Amy, Sophie and Evan in a three person kayak.  Saw some neat caves and got to go in one.  We then got to snorkel in the area.  This was the part Sophie did not want to do.  I stayed with her and she ended up doing AWESOME.   We were the last two back to the boats.  She was pointing out the fish to me (and also waving to
them).

This would have been a cool pic of Abs and I

On the way in, we caught a wave that was supposed to push us all the way back into shore.  Made it about 3/4 of the way before it turned us sideways and then flipped us.  I guess that is why you wear helmets!  Amy, Evan and Sophie also flipped.  Thinking Sophie would be freaking out, I left our kayak and started running their way - she was laughing her butt off.  No harm, no foul. 

After some burgers, we went back to the seal beach area and checked out the tide pools from two weeks ago.  The tide was in, so couldn't do as much as last time.  Got to see some dolphins also swim by.  Those are also cool.

Paddle Boarding Day 3 and catching some crabs

Monday, Back to work.  I took Amy and kids to rent the paddle boards again.  They sent me text letting me know they still think they are a great deal of fun.  When I went back to pick them up and return the boards ( I got one short run in first - I sure wish they didn't close at 6 pm), they we were catching crabs off the side of marina.  Apparently, they had taken the paddle boards under the small pier and collected enough lost fishing line, lures, and bait to make their own rigs.   After I returned from taking the boards back, we tried to catch a few fish off of the pier.  Mainly were just feeding the small bait stealers.

looking for tackle

the prize catch

Abby trying her luck

Father's Day Part II?

We had seen advertisements for the Dana Point Concours D'elegance - which is a fancy schmancy car show.   I've never been to one of these and they decided I would enjoy it more if I went by myself.  So I did.  It was held on a very nice golf course and is a collection of very rare and expensive cars that are judged and then the winners of each class are all staged on one fairway.  This was a smaller version of Pebble Beach show that is the grand daddy of them all. 

While I was gone mom and kids did the market and uptown shops.  There was art show and Amy bought a two cool paintings.  Not sure how we get them home without ruining them, but we'll try.  They ended up at the pool and I joined them when I got back.

This part might be boring to you non-car types, but to those who are - it was very cool.
Cars were spectacular -  First two cars were McLaren and Ferrari Formula 1 cars driven by Schumacher and Coulthard.  Next - 1 of 9 remaining mercedes - worth 10 million according to Mercedes guy.   Duesenberg,  Fiats, Alfas, bunch of ISO griffo's,  whole section of pre 1970 ferraris, whole section of shelby's  -including 2 GT 500's that were the same color,  a ton of jaguar XKE's, fair amount of hot rod's including a 40-or 50's buick with all Corvette engine and brakes etc, 427 corvettes. 356 porsche's and a 550 sypder that raced all the lemans type races in 1956 - this is the car that james dean was killed in.

absolutely beautiful Jaguar XKE engine

last picture I could take - not bad from a phone

two shelby gt 350's and a 289 cobra - getting their awards

a guy emailed me these after the iphone crashed

The uncool part was that I didn't bring camera expecting you use my iphone camera.  For some reason it crashed and I didn't know how to fix, so I had no phone or camera. Cool part was talking with some of the owners and other spectators.   After watching some of the awards presentations, I strolled over to the auto auction.  I've only seen these on TV, so thought it would be cool.  Apparently, there weren't very many actual buyers there, so most of the cars weren't getting up to the reserve.  I did see them sell a 63 Cadillac with 26k original miles for only 13k - that seemed like quite a deal.  I guess all of the serious buyers were up at the Orange Count fairgrounds where Barrett-Jackson was also holding an auction.  (I'd love to go to the Orange county fair, I'm guessing it is vastly different from the Sandusky County Fair!!)
Anyhow - it was cool to see.

Newport Beach

Friday was long work day for me.  I was gone to "my office" for good part of the day.  Needed to come back to use printer etc.  So Amy took kids to Newport area and dragged them through some of the shops she had been to in the fall.  They were supposed to go hiking, but no one was realyl into it.  So the big event was create your own frozen yogurt and pick your toppings.  Looks like at this stage - they can go hard one day and then like to chill the next.
Saturday - yea, the weekend for me.  We headed to Newport beach.  Have realized that with no school, baseball, softball, soccer, swim team, etc, that we are becoming horrible about getting out the door in a timely fashion.  Anyhow, packed everything up - including the bikes that we lugged 2500 miles - to spend a day at a more "happening" beach.   Having never been there and with our late arrival, was very happy to find decent parking that we could go back to van to get more stuff etc.

Newport was much busier than any other place we have been to.

This is much more of a hanging out and playing in the water beach, as opposed to the surfing beach where we are staying.   The weather being perfect, it was packed. Before I was back from renting an umbrella, Abby was already boogie boarding and Sophie was out in the water.  Sophie hasn't been a big fan of going in the water at the beaches because the waves are too strong and drop offs too steep.   She immediately liked this beach better because of the gentler waves and more gradual slope into the water.  Within minutes, we had her body surfing.  Very proud of her.

Sophie getting ready to catch a wave

There she goes !!!

This beach is set up with a boardwalk/bike path, so there are a lot shops/snack shacks, etc, so you can get anything you need.  I took bike ride along path for a couple of miles each way.  This is the bike ride that was the genesis for us taking this trip.   All along the bike path, there are houses that have patios that butt right up to the path - with only a small wall separating it from the path.  Obviously, we didn't end up staying here, but if one did, they could walk right off patio, across bike path and be on the beach.  I was quite jealous of the folks who were sitting on their patios firing down margaritas.   As I assume these houses are pretty expensive, This would be a real cool place to go with multiple families.  The only downside I see  is that since these are so close to each other, you could get stuck next to a houseful of college kids who party 24/7.

Leaving our mark - for a moment.

Evan and Abby going out to catch some waves on the boogie boards.

Evan and Abby had a ball jumping in the waves. Sophie and I body surfed one more time and then we called it a day.  Amazing how fast 7 or 8 hours can go by.  
Since we were in the neighborhood, we traveled the 10 minutes up to Huntington and had Sanchos Tacos again.  Mom's idea - it was a good one.

Beverly Hills and Hollywood

After "wasting" Wednesday, we needed to cross another item off of our list.  It was off to the big city.  About and hour and 20 minutes to Beverly Hills.  First thing we saw, while we we looking for a place to park, was a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - this is the fastest production car on the planet.  At somewhere between 1.5 and 2million, it was pretty cool that you could walk up and take your picture with it.

how often do you see a $1.5mm car on the street?  

Amy found the restaurant owned by one of the Housewives of Beverly Hills - Villa Blanca, so we had lunch there in hopes of seeing some famous people.  The two guys sitting by us told us we just missed Ken (the owner's husband), by about twenty minutes.  They also pointed out a "housewife" from the Miami show in the back corner.  Apparently these shows have a cult following - and my wife is one of them.  She was giddy we got to eat there - obviously most of this is lost on me....

 Looking for famous people at Villa Blanca

Walked around Rodeo drive - pretty neat to see.  Looked at replacing my wedding ring at Tiffany's.  Probably not going to buy the replacement mine there.  Old school houses in the area are really neat.

Off to the mayhem that is Hollywood Boulevard.  Saw the stars on the sidewalk.  Didn't realize that this would be lost on the kids because they really don't know who most of them are and can't figure out why Selena Gomez doesn't have one. 

Still can't figure out why Sophie was so excited to find Ozzy's star

(and yes, RUSH has one too)

Abby and Johnny Depp's handprints

Then saw the handprints outside of the Chinese theater.  Lots of cool ones there.  Several people dressed up as actors making money by letting people take their pictures with them.  The guys dressed up John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson from Pulp Fiction were the best.  Lots of "junk" trinket shops along this stretch and makes me wonder what else LA has to offer to the foreign tourists.  Maybe its all of the surrounding area and all of the beach towns.  If this is not the case, then NYC is a lot more entertaining to the tourist.

Remember SWATCH watches????  Apparently they still sell them - the inner 14 year old in Amy came out and she bought one.  Not sure if this will be trend in Bay Village again.

Since there wasn't much else here, I had to forgo my general nature of cheapness and let the kids go into the "Ripley's Believe it or Not" tourist trap.  Of course they love this stuff.   Among the many freaky things in there - there is video of guy from Cleveland who can pop his eyeballs out of his socket whenever he wants too.  Hopefully, I won't have to pay to go into one of these again.  On our way back to car, ran in to the street performers.

No trip to the big city would be complete without street performers.

I missed the video when they pulled Evan out of the crowd and gave him the chance to jump over three people - of course he tried it.

Sun is now getting ready to set and we haven't seen the Hollywood sign yet.  This is  one of the things Abby wanted to make sure that we did.  Using the GPS to take the "fastest route",  we end up on a one lane road that is one blind turn after another winding up the mountain.  Happily, there wasn't anyone trying to come down the same road we were going up.  No head-on collisions to report.  Amazing there are a ton of houses, some nice, some much less impressive that are basically just built into the side of the mountain on this road.  Many of them don't appear to have garages (or driveways for that matter) and their cars are just parked in front of their houses.  We all decided we wouldn't want to be the guy to drive the garbage truck up this road.

We made it just as sun was setting, so the pictures aren't that great - but we got to see it.  The regular road down is the wide enough to get the tourist busses up and took us straight to the freeway.

                                            Not a great picture, but a picture nonetheless.

Low Key Wednesday

Amazing how time flies - Did some more cool stuff intertwined with some low key days.

So after paddle boarding on Tuesday, Wednesday was VERY low key for the kids.  Not sure they even really left the condo.  I guess some downtime is a good thing.   I worked a good chunk of the day away from the condo as they wouldn't leave.  I have found a spot where I can set up, internet, laptop and use cell phone while overlooking the Dana Point Marina.

In the evening, Amy and I walked up the street and went through a couple of the shops, etc.  Kids didn't have any interest in leaving so we went to the OC Tavern and got some food and a few beers for me.  Starting to crave LaBatt's Blue as there isn't any Canadian beer in any of the places I have been into.

Paddle Boarding Day 2

Tuesday - back to Dana Point Marina for Paddle Boarding.  Rented two boards, strapped them to the van and discovered shortcut to the beach.  Happy I got to go.  These things are a lot of fun and a good workout.  They come in many different types, sizes, and prices.  I hear that the super fast (and much less stable) carbon fiber ones are like $2500.  We like the slow and stable ones.

Abby and Sophie with the boogie boards while Evan and I were on the long ride.

Evan taking Abby for a ride.

Giant Sand Castle

Believe it or not - they didn't smash it at the end.

Evan and I took them all the way down to the end of the marina.

Lots of big boats in here.

Was not easy coming back against the wind.

Day at the zoo

Plan was to get up pretty early and be on the road to San Deigo to be at the zoo by 10 am.  Drive is a little over an hour.  Well, that didn't really happen.  It being Father's Day and all, I wasn't about to make the troops rally too early.  After a good breakfast, we made it there by 12:30.

obligatory entrance photo

The map to the place was a bit daunting and it appeared that we were only going to get through about half of it.  First up - the Koala's  - momma's favorite.

They don't actually sleep all day because they are stoned.

They sleep because it takes a lot of energy to digest the eucalyptus leaves.

We got to see two panda's eating.

Probably spent about half hour watching these guys.

There was a battle over some leaves to eat and the placement of the swinging ropes.

Between the black one and the orangutan, couldn't figure out who was the bigger instigator.

They have a huge elephant park and collection of snakes/reptiles.  Polar bears are still one of my favorites.  All in all a perfect day and we made it through the whole place just before closing time.

In the general area is a big collection of parks and museums.  Kind of like University Circle in Cleveland.

Monday was a pool day for the kids.  When I finally joined them, Amy was actually in the water.

Evening was a trip to Sno-on-the go - a place we had heard mentioned several times.  Who knew you could have a dessert place the only serves sno cones?

Our new favorite dessert place.

Sno-cones with ice cream in the middle!

Lazy Saturday

We have completed week 2.  Everyone slept in, especially Evan and I.  Was a beautiful day and thought we should do something that wasn't too taxing. Just went to down to the beach.  Water has warmed some since last weekend  - did some more boogie boarding.  Abby has gotten really good at it.

tough day at the beach for the Soph

I have figured out why this takes so long to post stuff on this blog.  I don't mind the writing, it is sifting through the hundreds of pictures that we have taken and finding the ones to incorporate into the narrative.  From the compliments we have received, Amy has decided she wants me to keep writing.  So I now need to make her go through the sorting of pictures and downloading them to the site, - wish me luck.  Also, I apolgize for the typos, grammatical errors, and the missed caps.  This does not have autocorrect as you type and i hate the keyboard on her laptop.  The left shift key also doesn't work half of the time, which is why most stuff that should be capitalized - isn't.

Also - it looks like you can have updates to the site emailed to you (or it just tells you there is an update -  not sure).  To the left of these posts, you can put in your email address.  This might be helpful as I am kind of sporadic as to when I have time to add stuff to this.  That seems better than checking only to find that my lazy butt hasn't been on here in a few days.

Tomorrow is Father's day - Happy father's day to all.  Since we had a lazy day and evening today.  Our plan is to get up early and go to the San Diego zoo.  Hopefully won't be too crowded.

Gone Fishing

As I finished up working I figured i better do some research on getting out to fish. Evan hasbeen  bugging me as to when we were going to go. The local fishing off the pier hasn't looked to promising. Long story short - I found an OVERNIGHT charter that goes out deep sea fishing that was pretty cheap and didn't have too many booked on it for Thursday night. Amy and kids got back just in time to eat and pack some stuff and then took us down to the dock for an 8 pm departure. I was a little unsure of how Evan would be able to handle being on a boat that long .

There were 19 total on the boat plus a crew of four. They had triple stacked bunk beds and a stocked galley. Shortly after departure, we slept for a while and then were woken at about 2 am when we reached Clemente island about 50 some miles off shore. We started fishing - was really cool to see flying fish in the spotlight beaing chased by seals. Some of the flying fish ran into the boat - i guess that would probably hurt. Got a couple there and then moved. This island is like a giant mountain that just comes up out of the water. Evan caught a fish before i did - as he usually reminds me. Forgot to mention that we were using live squid as bait - this in itself is just cool. Luckily, was smart enough to not wear good clothes as they do spray ink on you.

We had a pretty good run with the small fish - white fish, calico bass, sheephead (not anything like the crappy lake erie sheep head - these are red, black, and white white with big teeth and are apparently good to eat).

We then moved to backside of the island in hopes of getting some of the sunrise bite of huge sea bass that run along the island. Just as we were getting set up, we got a call from the US Navy that they were going to be doing live fire out there and we had to move. Tried another spot and got some more small fish. This is still fun, especially when you can see the seals and sea lions coming up from under the boat.

Without going on too much about this it was really cool. People on board were cool and thoroughly impressed that Evan didn't get sea sick, bored and that he was able to handle fishing next to "pros" without issue. One of the deckahnds told me he sees a lot of saltwater fishing for him in the future.

He only took a few short naps when we moved from place to place (which sometimes took a couple of hours). In the end, there were none of the sea bass or tunas for us. Evan outfished me. We were two hours late getting back to the dock. All told, we were at sea for 24 hours. Really weird feeling when you get off the boat - felt like you were still swaying all of the time. Really tired and went right to bed after a badly needed shower.

Evan waiting for us to get to the next spot.

We are 50 miles out to sea and this island is a Navy training site - it's about 25 miles long.

Evan and his whitefish while we were on the move.

Probably should have taken more pictures, but didn't really occur to me at the time.  Sophie wanted to know why we didnt take pictures of the live squid we used as bait.  My response - why would I take a picture of the bait?



Long Beach Aquarium

Amy and kids went up to Long Beach to go to the Aquarium.  Hard for me not to go because I really enjoy them, but work to do. Not sure how many aquariums the kids have been to over the years, but I think it is a few. 

All ready to see some fish

jelly fish

much bigger crab than we have seen in the tide pools

Did you know starfish can have up to 50 legs.

Sophie was mad they didn't have a squid - they don't keep them in captivity - not sure why.





Mission tour and Balboa Island

Wed - back to work for me.  Amy, kids and Grandma went to San Juan Capistrano - it is a really old church filled with history and is now maintained with beautifful gardens.  All really enjoyed it.  There was an earthquake that destoyed much of it and killed a bunch when the bell tower fell.

part of the original building and flowers

old school photo op

checking out the fish pond

Amy testing her "artistic" abilities

After a long day working - I needed to get out.  We headed up towards Newport and went to Balboa Island and the peninsula.

Balboa bars are like Klondike bars on a stick.

They dip them in chocolate and then coat them with topping of your choice.

Yummy!



One more Seal Video

We have a bunch of neat videos and pictures. 

Evan took a bunch with tablet, but I haven't made an attempt to download them yet.

I am glad I was with them this afternoon

Heading South and Seal day

This will go down as one of the cooler days that we've had.  Grandma came back the night before to stay with us as her friend's daughter had a new baby.  I joined them and we headed down to La Holla by San Diego to see the seals. We took the Coast highway to drive through the other little towns that we have not been through yet. Crazy how many little beach towns there are. Stopped in one little town(forgot it's name already) to have a picnic on the beach,

After some searching, we found what we thought was the seal beach.  Took some pictures and spent a fair amount of time  exploring the area looking at stuff in the close by tide pools.  Also learned from a diver, there is a movement out here to ban almost all fishing within 3 miles of the coast - that would pretty much ruin all of the marinas and tourism business.  That is one of the things you hear where you scratch your head and ask where is the common sense in this world - then you remember you are in CA!

Seals and a Sea Lion - first stop

Soph and I checking out some tide pools

Soph and her hermit crab

video of small crab eating - we thought this was very cool

So then we left - Amy still thinking that we were not at the right place.  We drove a little farther up and found the place they call the "kids pool"  I guess this used to be a pool sometime back and the seals have taken it over.  At first we didn't see any, but decided to get out of the car anyway and found there were a bunch in water.  Walked down to the beach and what happened next was pretty amazing.

You could walk on the beach and take pictures/video of them swimming around.

Evan taking video with the tablet.

Then - they all decided to come on shore - there were like 20 of us there watching.

Mom and Soph - up close and personal

Petting Zoo Day

After a nice weekend, it's back to Monday and work for me.  Amy took the kids to a run errands and to a petting zoo.  Apparently it was a huge hit. They have a whole bunch of just about anything you can pet - guinea pigs, bunnies, goats, alpacas, etc. Sophie wants a guinea pig.  Mom's allerrgies say that probably isn't gonna happen.  At least they are not asking for an alpaca.

Sophie and her"favorite" guinea pig

Abby and her "pack"





Cars, Boogie Boards and NO RING(S)!

Sunday was the farmers market - got my habanero salsa - that stuff is HOT.  They also had the 16th annual San Clemente Car show. They had about 300 cars and 20,000 people come to see them.   Coolest collection of cars I have seen.  Will spare everyone from describing each one.

(token GTO picture)

Next we went down to the beach and took a whirl at Boogie Boarding.  Waves were pretty big, but  we were allowed out in the water this time.  Abby and I went first.  She did OK until she got smashed by a couple waves.

Abby catching a wave

Next up - Evan and I.  He got the hang of it in close, so we paddled out in hopes of catching a bigger wave and riding it all the way in.  We both did pretty well, but Evan caught one way out and rode the top of it all the way in - just like a local.  He said it was way cooler than tubing on Lake Erie.

Evan on his way out to catch a "tasty wave"

So after we caught a couple of waves,  I was taking one more run.  I got smashed right at the end.  When I stood up, I felt my wedding ring fall off of my finger.  Another wave crashed and it was gone!

Several people tried to help look but the waves are crazy strong and each wave brings in a bunch of rocks and then the undertow drags them back out.  They really hurt your ankles when you are standing ankle deep.  I actually got knocked down 3 or 4 times while trying to look.  The wife handled it very well as CA has provided her with a sunny disposition!

Watched the end of NBA game at a NY style pizza parlor and am elated to see that Lebron doesn't have a ring either!!!!  We both lost our rings on the same day.  Maybe we will both go to Columbus tattoo parlor and buy one of the buckeye's big ten champ rings together.

Grandma and "Education Day"

So Saturday comes and we head north to LAX to pickup Grndma Smith.  She is going to spend the weekend with us before going to to visit her grade school friend who lives in Huntington.  Since we were up in the area, we thought we would check things out up here.  First was the Santa Monica Beach and Pier.   HUGE BEACH!  My guess it has to be about 400 yds (or more?) of sand.  Went to the pier - kind or like a fair (or Bay Days) and way too crowded. Rode the ferris wheel.  Got to see a relay Stand Up Paddle board race. It was cool.  Walked up to Third Street promenade of shops and vendors.  Kids love street performers.  Here is video of one.

Abby & Sophie and the monkey vendor

Now the education begins - went to Venice Beach.  This is like the Haight-Ashbury of beaches. Vendors selling the weirdest stuff (painted skulls, posters of Marilyn Monroe with tattoos, inscence).  Amy, the great mother that she is, took the big kids into the "Freakshow" after Grandma said she would pay for it. They might be scarred for life after watching a guy let people staple money to him among other things.

Grandma, Sophie and I saw our own freakshow by continuing walking down the beach.  Must be pretty easy to get a medical marijuana prescription as there are many storefronts where the "doctor" is in (on a Saturday??).  Couldn't talk Grandma into taking a $29 appointment!  Definitely don't want to be here after dark.

Then on to Huntington Beach to meet Grandma's friend.  Picked her up and took her to Sanchos Tacos, the dive place with the best mexican that Amy and I found when we were out here in November.

Stand Up Paddle Boarding

Time to get up to speed - Amy left it to me as she is trying to get caught up on the OC Housewives in case she runs into one of them. Short version is we had cool couple days.

Amy took kids to go Stand Up Paddle Boarding.  We noticed these over the last couple of days and started asking questions as we thought might be a good idea to buy one and then sell it on Craiglist before we left.  Had no idea they average about $800-900 bucks USED!  There are several places that rent them.  Kids and Mom loved it.  I'm hoping to get out next time.

Abby taking a whirl

Evan further out in the marina.

  

And We're Off!!!

Welcome!!
We've never used a blog before, but have been prodded by friends and family to set this up to keep in touch while we are traveling. So we are giving it a whirl.  Please feel free to share, reply or whatever else you can do on these crazy things.

We hit the road in the family truckster (ok minivan) at 4:15 EST on Wed. June 1st.  Loaded with 4 bikes, 2 ripsticks, 1 scooter, soccer ball, basketball, baseball gloves, gamecube, 3 ipods, samsung tablet (that provides mobile wi-fi to 5 devices), three laptops, 3 fishing poles and a whole bunch of other stuff.  Goal was to get to Cali ASAP as out rental had already started.

                                                  right before we leave - courtesy Staci Leeper

All told we drove for 33 hours straight - only stopping for gas, food, and bathroom breaks. Made it to the Grand Canyon around 1 or 2 am Thursday night (actually Friday morning).  I drove to just outside Columbus and then Amy drove about 4 hours while I tried to get the internet going in the car.  Obviously, I was unsuccessful at the time or I would have already had this up!  I drove from 11pm until about 8 am Thursday.  Quite a nice ride with everyone sleeping.  Amy drove to about 11 am and then I drove the rest of the way to Albuqurque, NM. We had great BBQ at a place called the Cube and Amy drove a good 3-4 hours to just outside the Grand Canyon.

Quote of the day/night - At a fuel stop at 4:30 am, Sophie wakes up, bright eyed and ready to go and exclaims - "I got all the sleep I need".