From a snow covered and cold MO,
We have had quite a week. I will try to narrate a few of the things that we have done, but I know in my tiredness I will forget some things.
We spent last Tuesday packing, doing errands, getting girls to kennel, vacuuming, shampooing rug, etc. We had a relatively short night of sleep as we had a 11:00 a.m. flight from KC - about two hours to drive there, needed to park, needed to check bags, and needed to go through security!
The flight to LA was a little rough at times because of lots of clouds, but the landing was smooth in LA and the air was clear. After collecting luggage, getting the rental car (a story in itself) we headed to El Cholo's. I'll back up with the car as we haven't rented a car for several years - knew we didn't want a compact and thought a full size car was a "land yacht" so we asked for an intermediate - ended up being a Chevy Uplander - more of a Venture/SUV variety. We drove it for 24 hours and then returned it on Monday to exchange for a full size - Jim had cussed about every block as he drove it and parking wasn't very easy with it.
El Cholo's was a good as ever. We opted to get a sampler platter of items and since it had been hours since we had eaten at Perkins in KC (about 7:00 - 5:00 LA time) we were famished.
We headed on to the Comfort Inn, checked in and started to unpack. Margaret (Jim's sister) called that she was heading to UCLA and her weight loss clinic and would really like it for us to join it. It is quite an operation there and we sat in on their weekly meeting for a good time - thoroughly enjoyed hearing others talk about food temptations.
We went to the Dragon Palace for our evening meal - Margaret, Tim (nephew) and his wife, and Holly joined in for a good meal and a lot of good family time. Holly left earlier than the rest of us as she was picking up her husband (another Tim) at LAX.
We finished unpacking, had a good night of sleep, and headed to The Omelet Parlor a little after 6:00 - omelets are half price before 7:00. I had my usual Merlin omelet - Swiss cheese, spinach, and mushrooms while Jim had a waffle with strawberries and bananas. We next went by Margaret's to see how the a.m. was going and saw Tim and Holly briefly. Then we made the return trip to the rental car agency at the airport to swap cars.
We spent much of the rest of the day unpacking and resting. Tim and Risa picked us up that evening and we headed to Hermosa Beach and Holly's art show. This was in what used to be a theatre and the place is lovely. There was a large crowd there - from those coming off the beach to those rather dressed up. We had a good visit with Tim and Risa - probably the first time we had been alone with them since they were married in 2002.
We were up and moving early on Friday and went to Junior's (a Jewish deli) for breakfast. We had scrambled eggs with lox along with bagels. I don't think we had ever eaten breakfast there before - am thinking I prefer the food later on, but what we had was still quite good. We joined Margaret, Tim and Holly, and Tim's mother and step-father at Gladstones for a lunch. This is an eating place at the point where Sunset Blvd. meets the ocean beach. We saw dolphins in the Pacific Ocean - quite a view. Later that afternoon we went to the Third Street promenade in Santa Monica. Entertainers were already beginning to show up so we enjoyed the walk and the activities.
On Saturday we decided to take an early morning walk - turned out to be about a mile and a half when we drove it later. We ate breakfast at the motel (a light breakfast) as were were being taken by Spiro (an apartment tenant from Greece) to a Greek church and restaurant. St. Sophia's church is not anything special from the outside, but the interior is superlative! The stained windows and all the gold on display was enough to really get your attention. Spiro did a good job in showing us around. Afterwards we went to Papa Cristo's for a Greek meal. The place is not fancy as you order your food from a display case. Spiro made sure we had a sampling of many items and of course we were stuffed when we finished. The rack of lamb was out of this world in tenderness.
When we returned to the apartment house, we picked up Margaret and headed to Loyola Marymount for a women's basketball game. Carolyn ( a niece) works in the sports information department a LMU and had gotten tickets for us as well as students that Catherine (another niece) has in the fourth grade this year - and their parents. The kids had been provided with pom-poms and Catherine got them into the yelling spirit of the game - easy to do as the lead kept going back and forth. Some company also donates pizzas that are handed out at half-time to groups that are cheering well - and of course this fourth grade group received a pizza - they were quite excited about this as well. Tom (C&Cs father) had driven up from Hemosa Beach to join us. When Margaret, Jim, and I returned to Santa Monica we decided to eat again at the Dragon Palace.
On Sunday, we met Carolyn and Catherine at the Omelet Parlor for a good breakfast and of course enjoyed our visit with them. Afterwards we went by Margaret's to see Tim and Holly before they returned to San Francisco that afternoon. We spent some time packing at the motel and then headed off to Redondo Beach to walk on the Rainbow Pier - haven't done this in many years and it had been expanded a great deal since our last visit. We then went to Hermosa Beach to Tom and Linda's place. Linda had been in Sacramento for several days to an educational meeting and landed at LAX about the time we started walking (maybe three or four blocks) to the Comedy Shop. Linda joined us there for a good dinner, saw two "warm-up" comics, and then settled in to a marvelous presentation by Jay Leno. He ended his comedy routine by reading "jokes" from several 3/5 cards to see how they went - then will use some of them on his show this week.
We were back in Santa Monica a little after 10:00 - did some last minute packing (had taken two bags to the car trunk during the day) and finally got to bed - with the alarm being set at 3:00 a.m.
Several people had told us that Monday morning was a terrible time to fly because of all the business people so we wanted to get to the airport early - which we did - checked in the car - used the shuttle bus to get to the airport - then found out that the desk for our airline didn't open until 5:15 so we waited. The bagged was checked and tagged there, but then we had to take it to another place for going through the x-ray machine. I guess Midwest has only one desk and we were in the same area with other airlines with one desk. We then walked to another area to go through regular security (thank goodness I had worn my Birks) and we were just cleared through security when an alarm went off and no one else came through for quite a while. I am not sure what had transpired, but I had overheard the checkers telling someone that something they had could not be carried on the plane, but could be put into their baggage and checked that way. Anyway, we were glad that we had already cleared security and weren't in a rush to get to our gate.
The flight back was good and the only rough part was when we were descending into KC. My major, near catastrophe occured probably in the last 30 to 45 minutes of the flight. I had finished reading a book, put it into my backpack, and realized that the left lens from my glasses had fallen - thank goodness into my hand. I spent some time trying to figure out how I could wrap them and put them into my purse so that no further damage would happen. I figured the screw had come out, but without glasses I am almost blind for close visual needs.
We stopped in Liberty so that Jim could get my cell phone activated (I don't try to have the number memorized as I write it down in several spots) and then dialed the vet's office so I could tell them we would be in Chillicothe before they closed - so would they please give the girls a bath.
We were in light moisture as we drove home - getting into Chillicothe about 3:30. We unloaded the truck and did much of the unpacking - even got some laundry started - then went to pick up the girls. We spent the rest of the evening watching Texas basketball, doing laundry, and holding the girls.
Snow had started about sundown and kept up through most of the night. The CT hinted that maybe we had between 3 to 5 inches, but the man who came to clear off our driveway this afternoon felt it was closer to 8 inches. We had quite a wind to go with it so there was a major drift on our driveway - and one area was clear.
After the driveway was done, we set out on several errands and I am ready to "hit the sack".
Jim is joining the two breakfast groups in the a.m. and I have a doctor's appointment right after lunch. Since I have to weigh in - I'll probably go very light on breakfast. We are thinking about maybe going to our new "steakhouse" for lunch when I get back from my doctor's visit.
Be safe.
B.
