Living in Long Beach

I love this picture of Scott aka Ford on the rocks in Venice Beach this past Saturday.Click on the picture to see it real size to get the full impact.

In case any of you were planning to visit me and bring your surf board along, read this on The Consumerist about airlines hiking up the fees to carry surf boards. Okay, okay, you got me. I just wanted to have a reason to post this picture that they have. Did you know that there is going to be a Point Break sequel...written by the same guy who wrote the original? Yes, it is true!! Lastly, a bit of sad news...the actor who spoke the immortal line "Surfing's the source...", Christopher Pettiet , died of an accidental drug overdose in 2000. He was 24.

On my way to the Oakland airport Friday, I hit really bad Friday afternoon traffic. I had my handy GPS so I took an alternate non-freeway route. Imagine my delight when I drove by Union Point Park. I only had a few minutes to spare but I snapped up several photos. I put them all in a slide show (hit the picture above to access show.) Don't forget to hit the "i" in the circle to get the comments for each photo. There are comments for each one so if you don't see a comment, hit the left arrow to go back and then the right to go forward again. I hope you like them. Come on, you want to see the shiny stainless steel toilet, right?? UPDATE: Here is a link to the official site for Union Point Park.

I tried to get some pics of this as it was really cool to be on the beach with a fire going. As usual, they didn't turn out so well and you can't see much. Besides paying a modest amount for parking ($10), you can have your fire pit going for free on the beach. But the beach closes at 10pm (which seems to me to be pretty early on the weekend but whatever). The beach patrol comes around and scoots everyone out - reminded me of last call at a bar. The kids there had never roasted marshmallows and did not know the subtle art of slowly heating through the center. They just stuck them in the fire to burn, blew them out and then ate them. They were burning their lips on the top layer and yet when they got to the center, it was stone cold. As there are no sticks or tree limbs on the beach to whittle, like when you are camping, everyone used metal hangers from people's dry cleaning. Too funny. Again, most of the kids (from Newport Beach so no surprises here) had not seen metal han...

Tonight, Father and I went to the beach to see Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space . It was soooo funny. I would highly recommend it (and seeing it on the beach is a bonus!) I've added the link to imdb if you want to read about it but again, I would highly recommend watching it first. I would definitely watch it again. Afterward, we ended the even ing by eating at In-n-Out Burger (sorry Tinu!)

And it went into overtime. Truly fascinating. Plus, at every time out, we got to watch the dancin' dolls who had marvelously intricate moves! Besides watching the basketball game in Venice Beach, Father and I also went to the Sidewalk cafe and each had our own Farmer's Almanac with fries (sorry Mother). What is a Farmer's Almanac, you ask? Only the best tuna fish sandwich in Venice Beach. We saw several performances (a strange knife juggler/comedian on a ladder, a bronze man and his bronze dog, and synchronized roller skating) and walked by interesting landmarks...see all the pictures here . (Again, taken with my camera phone so I apologize for the quality. I also resized these so they would be smaller so if you want any of the originals to print, email me please.)

Okay, not really. In Venice Beach today, there was this huge gospel gathering. I took a 7 second video and warn you to listen at your own risk. I felt like I was taping for 2 or 3 minutes because it was so bad interesting. When I got home and found out it was only 7 seconds, I was shocked. People were singing, waving their hands and arms in the air (while swaying back and forth) and of course, there were lots of screaming of "amen" and "hallelujah". They were sponsored by some Venice church and also Addicts For Christ . So I guess that is good, right?

So, I went to Lompoc last week. It is in Noooorrrrthern Santa Barbara county. While is was in the 90's in LA, it got down to 59 degrees as I was driving through the mountains. I had to put on a cashmere sweater for most of the morning...in July!! I must say, it was the most beautiful drive. I tried to take some pictures but it seems like I never picked the best places to pull over.

Jessica and Tinu took tons of great pictures while in Florida. The first set that I've downloaded is the bridge from the earlier post. Jessica just had to take Tinu over it! Click on the picture to see all the photos. These pictures are the best I've seen of the bridge. You really get a feel for how high it is and the drastic incline. Way to go J&T! Note: I fixed the broken link!

As usual, I barely took any photos during this vacation. If Mother and Tinu share their photos with me, I will try to add some better ones.

Jessica and I went to the most fabulous outlet mall in Tampa. We went in pouring rain and had to go over the tallest bridge I've been over yet (including all the CA and Miami ones!) I almost peed in my pants, I was laughing so hard as we went over. Jessica was TERRIFIED! We took a picture while going up the bridge with my camera phone but it was raining and dusk so it didn't come out that well. I've attached a stock photo next to it so you can really see it. Also, in case you are interested, here is an article about the disaster that happened in 1980 when part of the previous bridge was knocked down and many people died. It really was horrific. Mother said she remembers seeing it on the news. *Note: Jessica took Tinu back over the bridge before they went to the airport. She said that it was much less scary with him. I'll see if I can get a quote from her to add here...*

Had a wonderful late lunch here. Walked up and down through the shops. Watched the waves roll in...just beautiful...

Just found these pictures on my computer of when the parental units visited my unit for Christmas last year. I put all of these on Shutterfly in case anyone wants to order. The last few pictures are of us on the pier in Santa Monica.

I met one of my friends for dinner last week and surprisingly, I was early. So I took this picture and sent it to my friend, Monet, who lives in Las Vegas. She loves this restaurant. The caption on the message was "Aren't you jealous?" I hope you aren't!!

We watched these seal lions for quite a while. We would have never even noticed them except for that they were SO loud. (Sound like loud honking of a duck or cow, really unusual.) We realized that we could take some steps to a lower part of the pier, where we were literally 3 to 4 feet from five or six of them napping and getting some rays. Also, we watched two circle around a small fishing boat. They would fully extend their bodies so they could try to look up into the boat. (Looking for food no doubt.) We talked to them and they would look right at us. (Tried to get a picture of this.) I have all the pictures in a flickr photo album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/livinginlbc/sets/72157600178123866/ Lastly, I found this video on youtube so you can hear how they sounded. (Don't listen to the whole thing. A few seconds will suffice as nothing exciting happens in video.)

We went to the Port San Luis pier near Pismo Beach. It is one of the few piers that you can still drive on. (Though it is falling apart and was SCARY!!) You can pick your own lobster or 2 or 100. They will also cook them for you too. There were hundreds of lobsters that were so cute that I almost felt guilty about my lobster dinner last week in Vegas. (As a side note, it was very windy so the picture of me isn't too flattering! Also, did you know that if you click on the picture, it will open up in a bigger window so you can see it better?)