November 21, 2008

Still up all night due to the lingering effects of another West Coast jet lag; I thought I would proceed with another post right on top of the last one. Don't look for many more for a while....unless I go fishing this weekend or get creative at the Thanksgiving party.

On Saturday I went to Carlsbad CA for a few days to participate in the annual AHRI meeting at the LaCosta resort; pretty nice digs for an old eastern NC boy; although I did have to go a few days without BBQ. Mr Sulu at Hertz tried to get me to upgrade to a Hummer, Corvette or a Shelby Mustang; I told him I was having dinner with the owner of our company Monday night, didn't think that would look quite right. By mistake he gave me a Mustang at the same price as the mid-size I reserved. Not a bad ride, very attractive, little light on HP but better than the Chrysler POS I'm used to getting.

Sunday morning we had our board of directors meeting, after which I went to ride and found this gourmet restaurant. Can you say ANIMAL STYLE? They make good burgers here; but I apologize to my So-Cal buds, I prefer Jack in the Box, sorry.

On Monday evening I was invited to the Powers residence in Laguna Beach; I arrived at 4:00 in time to watch a magnificent sunset. The Powers were gracious hosts; I saw the military memorabilia and had Swedish meatballs! Good times.

The colors were much prettier than my little camera was able to reproduce.

After the sun set the shape of Catalina Island could be seen on the horizon. A visit there is one of the things on my list before I check out of here. I've flown over it but never been.

Here is some video I captured during the sunset.

Tuesday afternoon I went to ride in the Mustang. I went east, kinda hard to go west there, and went up into the hills and did a little exploring. Saw an area which had burned, just a small place,but there were lots of fire trucks on the scene. In this video I am trying to run down an exotic sports car of some sort, it was either a Ferrari or a GMC pickup, I forget which. Didn't think about the music until after wards, hope you like ELO.

I like driving in Southern California! As long as there are no jams, people are moving. I was told on the back roads like you can flash your lights repeatedly at anyone who holds you up, and if you keep doing it they will eventually pull over and let you through. Often they will salute you with an expression that lets you know they think you are the number one driver in the state! Hey slow drivers, I think you're number one too!

Later I went to the beaches beginning at San Juan Capistrano (boy those polysyllabic words are hard to swallow, get it....swallow.............San Juan Capistrano.......OK I digress) and headed South. I stopped at several surf spots I've read or heard about; probably the best lineup I saw was at San Onofre. I think I could surf these waves; as long as you have to trim the board and then get up (on my feeble knees that takes a while); I could make this work. Lot of difference in these waves and what we see on the east coast; this guy has a good long ride

Bought a t-shirt at Hobie Alter's, stopped several places and ended up at La Jolla around sunset. Jay took a picture of Terri and me there many many years ago; I found the bluff but couldn't find the old picture. I'll post it if I can find it.

Around San Clemente I saw a carrier offshore; helicopters were running back and forth carrying cargo containers suspended by cable for quick release. All in all a fun afternoon, and then back to NC Wednesday morning.