Part of the bargain for living in the suburbs of Philadelphia is the need for Julie to escape the summer swelter on a regular basis.
How did our Founding Father's write their groundbreaking masterpieces, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution, in this great American city during an era before air conditioning?
Perhaps that was the secret of coming to successful conclusions in relatively short times. Nobody could leave until they reached a consensus and agreed to sell it big time to their constituent colonies!
We arrived a week after grandson Owen had just celebrated his second "Cake Day" with a "Two Fast" racing-themed party at the grassy beach cliff park where we attended his first birthday party.
This year, Owen's rapidly progressing speech skills had resulted in him associating his birthday as a time to eat cake, hence Cake Day. We had a two Cake Days while we were with him, too.
For his Cake Day presents, Julie and I gave Owen a couple of Hot Wheels tracks, one a sort of slot car and the other relying on gravity. We had a blast racing cars with Owen, just like we had years ago with his Papa. He loves his race cars, just like his parents, who remain big Formula One fans.
What a nice visit we enjoyed. Julie and I stayed at a rental apartment not far from a coffee shop where Jay and Owen take a walk daily for their respective morning coffee and croissant.
Other than inadequate, flimsy blinds that let the neighbor's flood light shine into our room like we were escaping prison throughout the night, the rental apartment was a good place to stay. We bought a package of croissants and a bag of Hawaiian coffee at the grocery store on our first evening and had a breakfast coffee and croissants while L.A. was awakening each day of our stay.
For Jay's family, privacy is very important, so I won't share photos with a clear picture of Owen's adorable face or go on and on.
Besides, I'm just like every other grandfather ready to share more than anyone really wants to know.
I will add that I love that Owen strums his little toy guitars and sings songs he composes, like "Mama, Papa."
When I played guitar and sang, he would sit down beside me and join in.
He asked for more repeatedly when we sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight, which has been a family favorite going back to our younger days living in Oceanside.
I will just mention a few highlights of this visit that differentiates this visit from others.
Our Uber ride, from the airport had much less traffic than recent years (except during Covid-19), a pleasant surprise. That continued throughout our stay. I will note that we were routed circuitously by GPS through the San Fernando Valley for a trip to IKEA, presumably because the freeway in midtown had been blocked by ICE protesters.
With what looked to be riots in L.A. on TV before we left Philly, we were happy to not have any fragments of concrete thrown our way during our entirely peaceful stay. I will add that when Sasha had a hankering for Hugo's pancakes, we went to the diner in the Valley rather than the one closer in West Hollywood where we went last time.
The dining highlight for me was a return to El Cholo, where Jay has taken us a couple of times previously.
This time, Julie consented to split "A Taste of History," an epic platter of "Cheese Enchilada, Rolled Beef Taco, Chile Relleno And Pork Tamale, Spanish Rice and Refried Beans." Julie had the rice and rolled taco, while I ate the rest. Delicioso!
It reminded me of Sunday meals at La Fonda, another authentic Cali-Mex restaurant where we went almost every Sunday for weeks on end when I was a child. If like many people in Philadelphia and other parts of the country, you haven't had California-style Mexican food, you don't know how good Mexican food can be. It has been a weekly staple in my diet most of my life.
As usually happens in Santa Monica, we walked ten miles a day, taking Owen to different parks, including one by the sandy beach, which was right down the California Incline from where we stayed.
We walked to get a distant view of Pacific Palisades, where buildings burned six months ago and new construction has not yet been allowed. I think perhaps city leaders want to rebuild the area as a more planned community to avoid future fires and mudslides. In time for the Olympics?
On Sunday, Jay took me golfing at Rancho Park 3 Par, a pitch and putt course near the studios. We had a fun time and played pretty well, I thought. It was a perfect, sunny Southern California day for golf.
Julie and I certainly had our share of date nights --- and vacations --- when my mom stayed with our kids. It was nice to have earned their trust to take good care of that precious little guy. Owen trusted us too, and it was a fun final evening in Santa Monica.
All too soon, our four-day visit in Santa Monica had ended after a morning walk on Monday, but enroute south to San Diego, we stopped for a night in Hermosa Beach.
Our nice hotel was literally steps away from Pier Avenue, where we enjoyed many a hamburger and happy hour when we lived in L.A. County.
I finished the call, and we enjoyed lunch, splitting a burger and fries.
After lunch, we walked along the strand to lovely Manhattan Beach, where we lived for twelve years before we moved down the shore to Redondo Beach.
It was a great place to live with excellent weather year-round. It took really putrid political policy to run us out of the state.
Randy and Karen, good friends from our Redondo condo, joined us for happy hour at Patrick Molloy's. I ordered a Guinness to go with potato skins, chicken tenders and Brussels sprouts appetizers ordered for the table to share. The ladies had wine and Randy his usual spiked iced tea with a Diet Coke on the side. They told us about their recent great vacation on Maui.
After they headed home, Julie and I walked to another of our old stomping grounds, The Lighthouse, where a very talented singer/guitarist was putting a reggae-tint on some old favorites.
I don't know when his set began, but he played for over an hour while we were there. It gave us plenty of time to enjoy a drink and split an order of BLT on Onion Rings, a delicious, deconstructed remake of the classic bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, sans bread.
When I dropped a tip in the musician's jar and thanked him for the great music, he said he liked my John Lennon hat that Jay gave me a few years back. As I took my seat, he launched a great version of Imagine.
When the music ended, we meandered around, eventually returning to the Lighthouse for live jazz. Julie told the doorman we had been on the patio and shouldn't have to pay the $10 per person for admission, which he agreed was correct. When the band started playing, however, it was that kind of minimally melodic improv style that we don't care for, so we headed back to the room to watch TV.
After a great night's sleep in our attractive room that had no windows --- kind of the ultimate blackout curtains after our stay at a place with too much light at night --- we walked up the hill to Von's to buy bagels.
We headed up to the rooftop deck of our hotel with our coffee to enjoy the morning sun.
This would have been a terrific vacation on its own, but we had only just begun.
We took an Uber to LAX to catch the reLAXsan shuttle van down to San Diego Old Town. The van provided little bottles of water and snacks for the ride. It's sure easier than getting to the train station from the South Bay, and we enjoyed an easy ride.
Next on the agenda, San Diego.
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