A great trip to Southern California. It was almost the trip that wasn't. The Grapevine over the Tejon Pass sustained a heavy rainstorm on Thursday night with rain falling at the rate of 5 inches per hour. The heavy rain caused a massive landslide that inundated the portion of Interstate 5 that runs over the Grapevine. It was closed in both directions and we weren't leaving until noon on Friday, so we monitored the news. The Northbound direction was opened at noon with the Southbound lanes expected to reopen about 5 PM. We took a deep breath and I worked half a day and headed home to pick up Darla and head downtown to get David. We picked him up about 1PM and off we went flying down I-5 and trying to get updates along the way. David finally got a tweet from the CHP at 4PM that two southbound lanes were open and there were CHP officers ferrying traffic over the grade. We hit Bakersfield about 4:30 and the base of the Grapevine at about 5:00 PM. The traffic was at a crawl, but we had been hearing all day how the 101 route via HWY 41 was stopped and it was taking about ten hours to go Sac to Los Angeles. We had about an hour and 20 minute delay and once out of the gridlock, we made it to Pasadena by 8:00PM, a trip of about 7 hours that usually takes about 6. Not bad at all.
We met Dan and Becky at their home in Pasadena, picked them up and headed out to The Hat for dinner. The Hat has multiple locations in the LA area and is famous for their pastrami sandwiches. I had a cheeseburger and frings for dinner. David and Daniel both had the pastrami and liked it. We headed back to their home and visited for a bit, but I was dead tired and we left David with them and headed to our hotel. We were saying goodbye and Dan had to head to the loo. He texted Becky and told her he might "be awhile". She blurted out, "Daniel might be awhile, you should say goodnight through the bathroom door." It was such a Newlywed moment. Darla and I died laughing and Daniel was heard to say, "Really, Becky?!!" We waited for him to say goodbye and had a good laugh at his expense. They are a great couple and a really good match. Their little place is definitely small, but it's home.
Saturday the boys joined us for breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. The boys had some funky looking cheese omelet that I didn't touch as they had been sitting out in a heated tray for half an hour before they got there and who knows how long before Darla and I got there. We had bagels and cereal and a cinnamon roll. We packed up there and headed out to Los Angeles. Becky had a training and was due back about 11PM. David wanted to go see the Broad museum, which is a huge building consisting of 100's of privately owned art in the personal collection of Eli Broad, a founder of the largest home builder in the United States, Kaufman and Broad. We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes to get a free ticket to the gallery. It was nice and has been years since I've been to an art museum. There was some modern art on display that looks like a 5 year old painted it. I don't get modern art. I like color and texture. Jennifer is painting and specializes in both of those things. One of the pieces I saw looked like it was the handwriting of a 7 year old with a bunch of random words like Destiny and Upheaval. Nice NOT.
From there we drove over to the Pueblo district which is like Chinatown, but more like Mexicotown. There were trinkets and things you'd see in any tourist area of Mexico. We killed some time as we waited for Becky to take the Metro Train into Union Station, which is across the street from the Pueblo district. From there, we walked down to a little deli restaurant called Phillipe's that served carved sandwiches. Very nice meal with dill pickles and potato salad.
From there we drove down to Santa Monica and spent the afternoon wandering the pier and looking at all of the people on the beach and on the boardwalk. We wandered for awhile, took some pictures above and then wandered into the city so the kids could have some coffee. Coffee? Well, iced mochachino or something.
We finished up there and then drove onto the Pacific Coast Highway and the coast drive to Malibu. There is a little fish market and restaurant called Malibu Seafood Patio Cafe and Seafood Market. The food is incredible, but you order and have to pick up at the window. They have a large two tiered patio that looks out over the beach and ocean of Malibu. It was our big dinner for Daniel's birthday and his choice for dinner.
We drove back after dinner. Sam and Jennifer wanted to join us, but she couldn't find anyone to watch the dog and Sam had a sleepover planned and soccer on Saturday. Sam made us promise to Face Time with her and so we called her when we got back to Daniel's. They had been out on a Mommy-Daughter date to see Pan in 3D. They were on the drive home and Jennifer called us back and had Sam on the phone from the backseat. She had a huge bowl of popcorn. I guess they bought the big tub you can refill and had filled it right before they left. Jennifer would live to regret that. We laughed when she showed us the huge bucket. David came in and she had to show him the bucket, except she tipped it, dropped it and dumped it all over the backseat and floor. She was belted into her car seat, so couldn't catch it. We had a good laugh that continued when they got home and Sam ran in to get the dog to help clean up the mess. At one point Jennifer grabbed the phone and gave us one of those "exasperated Mom" looks that had us howling. We visited for awhile and my phone battery was waning, so we said our goodbyes. I was absolutely exhausted after a long day.
We were up today and off to meet the kids at a little breakfast place called Europe Pain. I had a great sandwich made with cheese and bacon on olive bread. It was spectacular. Dan and Becky ordered a ham version of the sandwich and had them add two poached eggs on top of their sandwich. The sandwich you eat with a fork and knife as the bread is dipped in egg and fried. Absolutely delicious. We drove over to their place in Pasadena and picked up David's gear, including a Keurig coffee maker that Dan gave to Dave as they had two.
We got out of there about 11:15 and back to Sacramento about 5:15. We ran into a huge slowdown in Sacramento because of a major accident downtown and we were able to get off the freeway and take side streets into David's neighborhood. It was a great trip and a good time with the boys and Becky.
I have the Past President's tournament on Sunday and will play in it. We have a separate skin's game for the Presidents and there is a perpetual trophy for the winner between all of the Presidents. There are 9 of us Past Presidents playing in the event this year. It is a tournament within a tournament as the rest of the players are there and playing as well (there are 80 players). Each of the Presidents are competing in our flight as well. I need to get those handicaps done tonight.
Well, I'm beat and ready to sit back and relax once I get those handicaps done. I hope all are well. Take good care. Ciao.
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