Saturday January 2, 2016

Vacation Log continues: December 26 about 1400 Steve, Veronica and I leave San Jose for LB. Traffic was heavy going south. The big water reservoir near Los Banos looked nearly empty. The drought is really taking its toll. We drove through the Central Valley and we saw signs everywhere promoting agriculture over Gov Brown's big SF/LA train project. Farmers want the Shasta Dam raised to create more water storage for farmers. I always side with farmers. Stopped for dinner at a stop along the 5. It was late when we got to LB. I had a snack and glass of wine before turning in. Sunday December 27: Today is an easy day. I get up at 0600 and walk to a Starbucks near Steve's. I have oatmeal and read the headlines on Apple News. Steve drove me to the Avis Rental store at LAX. I upgraded to a SUV, Jeep Patriot, took a late afternoon walk on the Los Angeles River levee. The top of the levee has been made into a bike/pedestrian trail. We have dinner at Super Mex. I had the tamales. Monday December 28: Steve and Veronica have to work today. I get up, load up the rental and then walk to Starbucks. Nancy, Debbie and the kids are heading down from San Jose. After Starbucks I stop by the Hampton Inn in Carson and was told our room would not be ready until 1500. I drove to Brentwood and stopped at Missy's. She was not home. Walked around the neighborhood before heading back to Carson. The room was ready. Nancy called and said she was at Steve's. I picked her up and we headed back to the room. After a Walmart stop for supplies we headed to Denny's for dinner. Tuesday December 29: The Hampton Inn has a free breakfast. It was good, especially the oatmeal. I took a 2.5 mile walk. We took a ride to Huntington Beach and walked on the beach. Drove to Laguna Beach and then headed home. We had dinner with our niece Chandra. Chandra is living in Irving, CA and working on her PHD at UCIrving. We had a very pleasant dinner. It was great talking to Chandra. Wednesday December 30: After breakfast and my walk we headed to Brentwood to meet with AJ and Missy. Missy was working today so we took AJ and headed to the 3rd ST Mall. Had pizza for lunch and then AJ and I attended a movie, the Good Dinosaur. AJ liked the movie. AJ is staying with us tonight. We had dinner at the Olive Garden. Thursday December 31: AJ slept in. After breakfast we went to a park in Santa Monica. AJ played for 90 minutes. We then headed to Montana St. Bought AJ a frozen yogurt. Headed back to Carson. Missy picked up AJ about 1600. Debbie is leaving LB tomorrow so we stopped by Steve's to say our good bye. Steve also shared some food with us. We stayed until 2100, New Years in the Eastern time zone. Headed back to Carson and were in bed by 2200. Friday January 1, 2016: Happy New Year. Usually the breakfast line at 0600 is empty but not today. All the Iowa fans were up early so they could get to the Rose Parade on time. The day was sunny and warm, temp in 60s. Nancy and I got in the Jeep and headed to Manhattan Beach. We first stopped at a Mall and then headed to the Beach. We took a two hour walk along the beach. It was a great day for a walk. The walkway was very crowded. Cottages abut up to the beach walkway. I asked Nancy what She thought the cottages would rent for. We ran across a sign that was advertising month rentals for a 2 bed unit. Only $15,000 per month. We had dinner at a Panera near the hotel. Saturday January 2, 2015: Breakfast at the hotel and then my 2.5 mile walk. Notice a routine being established. Today we are meeting AJ and Missy for lunch at Jerry's Deli in Marina Del Ray. We took surface streets and made a stop at IKEA. Jerry's was crowded even at 1330. The food was great. After lunch Missy drove us to an eclectic shopping district called Abbot Kinney. We walked around for about an hour. We were so full that we had some snacks in our room and headed to bed early, 2130.