Pumpkin Patch Season in SoCal

Because we bounced to Southern California several times this year, my aim was to keep this post brief.  As usual, too much happened to make that as easy as it sounds.

We spent a few days in Santa Monica, visiting with Jay, Sasha, Owen and Jojo, with the usual walks along the beach.  Owen now drives his electric BMW convertible.

Jay bought the used car on Facebook Marketplace.  He rewired the battery connections so it could use the same rechargeable batteries as his hand tools.

Jay can control the speed and, if necessary, steer using a video game controller, but two-year-old Owen drives himself, with Jay only acting to avert a crisis.  Owen gets quite a bit of attention driving around town.

I worried about Police sitting at a red light pulling him over when the little guy waved so enthusiastically that his car went a bit askew.  I have the same problem when I look where I'm not supposed to be driving.  Instead of putting him in handcuffs, the cops smiled and waved back.

We bought a red electric Jeep for Jay when we lived on a cul-de-sac in Oceanside, but I don't recall ever taking that too far from the cul-de-sac.  Owen cruises the length and breadth of Santa Monica in his black Beemer.  Click here to see Owen driving.

Julie and I had the opportunity to check out Owen's new pre-school.  He's loving the interaction with the other two toddlers in his class as well as the classes.

On my birthday, we walked along the bluff overlooking the beach to dine al fresco at Caribbean-themed Cha Cha Chicken.

In case you wondered, Owen's face is intentionally blurred in all photos

After the delicious meal in the casual ambiance, Sasha brought out a special dessert.  She had hunted down my favorite, German Chocolate Cake!  Owen loved that "Cake Day" treat as much as his Grampa.

After dinner, we walked along the beach for a beautiful sunset.

On our last dinner evening, we all went over to meet Sasha's mother at the Library Alehouse, a healthy barbecue restaurant starring an extensive menu of ales.   While it too is a very casual eatery, there was nonetheless an hour wait on that Friday night.  Quite a contrast to our recent cruise on uncrowded Island Princess.

Owen and I took a lap around the block, returning just before a search party went out to retrieve us.  Julie and I are always to catch up with Libby, with whom we have a great deal in common, including the odd situation that we now live a stone's throw from where she grew up on the Mainline outside of Philadelphia.  Emma goes to the same high school as Libby (and Kobe Bryant).

We enjoyed spending time with Owen at his circuit of parks and returning to other favorite haunts, which I've written about a few times.

A new favorite is Barney's Beanery on Third Street Promenade, where there is a small arcade including a basketball game that Owen loves.

He is very much like his Papa, who used to drag his granddad and me to a Chinese restaurant at Huntington Center so he could race to the video arcade next door as soon as our food was on the table.

On Saturday, we loaded up their new BMW SUV, including granddogger Jojo to drive down to San Diego.

En route, we stopped at a large pumpkin patch in Carlsbad.  The seasonal pumpkin farm is best known as The Flower Fields.  They grow colorful Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers that are quite eye-catching from the freeway in season.

For autumn, The Flower Fields become a pumpkin patch, complete with carnival-style booths.

One of Owen's favorite shows is Clarkson's Farm, where famed car-guy Jeremy Clarkson displays his brand of silliness developing a farm in the lake district.  So, Owen was quite excited to go to the farm.

Jay and Sasha wanted to make it as special as possible for Owen.  In addition to buying entry tickets, they bought tractor rides for us all.

Soon, we were in the trailer being towed around the fields by tractor.  This farm's tractor was much smaller than Jeremy Clarkson's massive Lamborghini tractor, undoubtedly purchased for a comic tie-over to his popular Top Gear show.

We all enjoyed the ride.  Owen wanted to go up front to look at the tractor, then he wanted to go back to be with the others, but he and I weren't called out for flaunting the rule to stay seated in one place for the entire ride.

When Darlene and I were kids, our Granddaddy would let us join a few of our cousins riding in the back of his cattle truck.  It had boards that extended the sides of the truck bed about six feet high above the bed.  We would bounce around back and forth, literally launching each other across the truck into the planks, and somehow none of us ever was injured.

Owen's favorite booth was a San Diego Gulls hockey booth, but instead of using the hockey stick, Owen threw the puck into the goal.

There was a racetrack of John Deere-green "tractor" trikes, that Jay powered for lap after lap with Owen in the driver's seat.

I took a couple of laps and soon realized how much older I am than Jay.

It reminded me of the blue Ford tractor that my dad had given Jay when he was about Owen's age. It was pedal operated.  We left it on the backyard patio at my mom's house for Jay to use when we visited my childhood home.

Jay bought a funnel cake, which was not as big a hit as German Chocolate Cake.

We continued on toward Point Loma, but made a small detour to El Tianquis, Sasha's favorite San Diego restaurant.  Featuring Taquitos (Rolled Tacos on their marquis), the entire menu at this Hillcrest storefront eatery is gluten-free.  Sasha also loves adding their churros for dessert.

That detour was intended to allow Owen to take a nap before we arrived at my sister's house, but Owen didn't sleep enough, so he lay down with his parents for a rest when we arrived.

Darlene, Brooks and BG3 treated us all to dinner at the Yacht Club, where the meals, views and company are always outstanding!

Before servers brought dinner, Owen and I took a long jog along the docks.  I'm not sure we were actually allowed to be there.  My best guess is we were not.  It seems Owen is always trying to get his Grampa in trouble.  Neither of us fell into the water.  And no sailor yelled, "Avast ye, maties."

Owen wanted to go on a boat, and I said we definitely were not allowed to do that.  I told Owen maybe I should buy a boat.  Owen said, "Me too."

After dinner, we went back to Darlene's patio, where we somehow started kicking one of their plush doggie toys that looked sort of like a pink and white ball.  I think it might have actually been flat on one side, but whatever.  It looked enough like a soccer ball to draw us in.  We had a blast kicking it around.

BG3 displayed the gritty defensive stance he'd learned from his basketball coach in high school.  Soon Owen was emulating it, complete with facial expression and growl.  We all gave the power pose a shot, including Darlene.  We had lots of laughs, but with a 3-hour drive home ahead of them, Jay, Sasha, Owen and Jojo headed out about 9 PM.

The next morning, Julie and I attended church with Darlene and Brooks.  Afterwards, we dined at Pizza Nova, another favorite haunt.  We also returned to the Yacht Club.  Another day, they brought us to a new favorite, Ciccia, a cozy Italian restaurant in the heights near their home.  

The four of us met Jacque and Mike at the Ketch for lunch.

 

We took many strolls along the harbor, spotting a big sea lion on the nearby beach one morning.

I showed Darlene how to find the old TV detective show set in San Diego, Simon & Simon, on their Roku TV.  We watched a couple of episodes, and she said she planned to watch more.

I always enjoy seeing the less discovered version of Southern California of what feels to me like the not-too-distant past, although the Simons were in vogue forty years ago.

I have been watching it as an afternoon break that often turns into a nap back home, and I knew Darlene's family would like the settings in their hometown.  Even BG3 watched an episode with us.

One night, the younger Brooks took Julie and I out on his RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to view city lights from the harbor.

We loved not just seeing the views but the ride itself, which sometimes was going fast over wakes and other times smooth and slow.

We had a crystal-clear sky for viewing.  Brooks asked us to help him spot for small unlit watercraft, but he always saw any potential problems long before we did.

All the while, BG3 provided commentary on what we were seeing, as well as background stories about the area.  

We thoroughly enjoyed this unexpected treat, riding around for a couple of hours.

He takes that same boat almost daily to surf challenging waves unreachable by car.

The San Diego weather was again perfect.  I played my black guitar that they let me store in a closet out on the patio for an hour or so every day.  No one could be a more avid supporter of my singing and strumming than Darlene.

Fear not! This is not a killer shark. It is Rizzo in his Halloween costume.

We worried we would be pushing our stay in their guest room too far this time, but they again made us feel very welcome as the time flew by.

BG3 gave Julie and me a ride to Old Town where we caught the Amtrak back up to Los Angeles to spend another two nights at the Gateway Hotel, visiting Jay's family.  We were traveling at lunch time, so we got snacks on the dining car.  It was much less crowded and efficient than on our summer Alaska Rail trip.

We arrived at a time fairly synchronized to Sasha leaving work in downtown, and she picked us up at Union Station.  Getting from San Diego to Santa Monica couldn't have been easier, thanks to the rides on both ends.

We enjoyed this two-night stay, too.  For dinner, we returned to King's Head one night and to El Cholo on the other.  At El Cholo, we made it in time for ordering Taquitos off the Happy Hour Menu, which Julie and I enjoyed.  Jay and Sasha got their favorite Green Tamales.

On Friday morning, we went to the beach park with Owen.  After dropping him off at school, Julie and I went to the beach on our own for an hour or so.

It was nice to stretch out on the California sand.

The next morning, we went with Jay, Sasha and Owen to Hugo's in the San Fernando Valley.  It's Sasha's favorite breakfast restaurant, serving as the perfect venue to begin her birthday.

They would be going to dinner that night with her sister's family and Libby to celebrate, but we had other plans for the evening.

After breakfast, they dropped us off at Union Station to catch our northbound train and bus combination to San Luis Obispo to attend a Megas family reunion for our nephew Brad's wedding.