California Day 4 and 5

It’s been a couple of whirlwind days. Yesterday, we went to visit the Queen Mary Exhibits in Long Beach. The Queen Mary was launched in 1936 and was in transatlantic passenger service till WWII started. It was then impounded in New York on the Hudson River for many months, until it was drafted into wartime service as a troop carrying ship. In the beginning it carried 9,500 troops per crossing. (its original compliment was aprox. 3,500 including crew and passengers) To do this they stripped out everything and put in bunks, as many as six high. Then they painted the whole thing battleship grey and blacked out all the windows. The Queen (nicknamed The Grey Ghost) ran across the Atlantic unescorted zigzagging at high speed. It was un-catachable by enemy submarines due to its high speed of 31 plus knots. At one point in time the ship carried a record number of 16,350 troops on one voyage. They described the conditions on the troop crossings, and it was unbelievable. After the war the ship was restored to it’s pre-war grandeur, and returned to passenger service. But soon the advent of jet air travel across the Atlantic spelled the end of opulent steamer service. In the late 60’s, the Queen made her last crossings. Cunnard put her up for sale and the Port of Long Beach successfully bid for her at 3.5 million. The last voyage of the Queen was around the tip of South America up the coast to Long Beach. This is where she sits today as a tourist attraction and hotel. Yesterday we headed down there thinking we would take the water taxi from this side of The Port. Unfortunately California has an off season just like the East coast, and the water taxis only run Sat and Sun until sometime in May. As soon as we figured this out, we got back in the car and drove around to the exhibit area. This turned out to be a good thing, cause it gave us the chance to see the Port of Long Beach (what a busy place) and the remnants of the Long Beach Grand Prix from last weekend. At the ship, we opted for the 1^st class tour, which included two guided tours, the total ship walking tour, and the Ghosts and Legends tour. We very much enjoyed out two guided tours, the guides were very knowledgeable and entertaining. The ship was unbelievably opulent for it’s time, and was like a current day cruise ship, but much more structured. It had 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd class passengers. Each class had their respective areas on the ship, and woe be unto the passenger that traveled outside his/her "class". Also interesting was the original teak planking that composed most of the decks. After the two tours, we hiked down to the engine rooms and propeller shaft area (Wes’s must see). It was interesting that this ship had reciprocating steam engines and used the reciprocating exhaust to run low-pressure steam turbines. This was an unusual setup for WWII era (normal is high-pressure turbines only), but was good for the highest speed crossing the North Atlantic of the period. In addition even though Adolph Hitler issued a $250,000 prize to the captain that could find and sink the Queen Mary, she never suffered so much as a scratch from the enemy throughout her whole war career. The last tour we took was called the ghosts and legends tour. It took you deep into the bowels of the ship below the water line. It was akin to a scary theme park ride, but at one point, really brought some things home. We were in the dark in what was the bottom of one of the old boiler rooms, and between sound and special effects, they made it seem like boilers were exploding and steam was flying everywhere. It really made me think about what it must have been like way down below the water line in a WWII ship that had been hit by a torpedo and was sinking. It was really scary. After the Queen, we headed back to Newport Beach and stopped at Joe’s Crab Shack, a restaurant that had been extolled by some folks that Jerry and Brenda had met traveling. F ood was OK but nothing to write home about (no pun intended).

Yesterday (Wednesday) morning, we got up early and as soon as the traffic cleared we headed for Hollywood. We planned to take the Hollywood tour(s) and had booked a VIP tour of Warner Brothers studios. We successfully navigated the bezerko freeway traffic, and arrived in the center of Hollywood. We booked our tour, and then spent some time hanging out in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, examining the foot/hand prints and Walk of Fame. Soon we boarded a small bus for a tour of the Hollywood Hills and the Stars’ homes. We lucked up and due to the windy conditions had a very clear day in LA. According to the guide, it was one of the clearest in quite a while. We greatly enjoyed the tour, and saw all manner of famous/infamous sites. (the Guess Jeans guy had 6 Ferrari’s sitting covered up in his driveway) (Also saw James Woods eating along Restaurant Row) The views from Mulholand Drive, overlooking LA, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Hollywood Sign were incredible. After the Hollywood stuff (as we call it "stupid tourist stuff"), we headed cross-town to Burbank for the Warner Brothers VIP tour. This turned out to be super interesting, as we saw all the behind the scenes stuff of many popular TV shows and Movies. Out tour group was very small, so we got to go and see all kinds of cool stuff. On a personal note, at the end of the tour, was talking to a pretty girl who had been on the tour. Turns out she worked for the company that makes the cool hole buttons for Crocks. She gave me one that looks like a Jimmy Buffet parrot head that’s in my shoe as we speak. We finished up our tour and at the suggestion of one of the Warner Brothers tour folks, headed down the street to Bob’s Big Boy, an old style drive-in that had been built in 1947. We ended up having dinner at the Bob’s Big Boy in Hollywood. It was quite a nostalgic trip, and the food was great. After that we freewayed back to our Villa, and crashed. Thursday is planned as an R & R day before a day of flyi ng on Friday.

Yours,

Hollywood Wes

California Day 3

This morning (Monday) they had an "Owners Breakfast" (donuts, fruit, juice and coffee). It was supposed to start at 8:30 and go till 9:30. By the time we got there (around 8:55) it was down to 5 pieces of honeydew, an empty OJ thingie, coffee with no condiments, and a few donut stragglers. (also no plates or napkins) We jockeyed for position around the few remaining donuts with the ravenous pack of children present, and succeeded in scoring a few good doses of fat and flour. Brenda registered us all for the prize drawing at the last moment and Vickie succeeded in winning the grand prize of a $100.00 Spa treatment. We returned to our Villa, and continued to work on something we had been trying, (Jerry’s idea) to get tickets to a Jay Leno show taping. Jerry had written in for tickets a couple of months ago but was not able to get any. He did find out that we could call for tickets the day of the show and if there were any available we could get them. (the tickets are free) However , we had to call exactly between 10:45 and 11:15 a.m. Brenda manned the phone and we scored tickets. We were able to print the tickets in the resort lobby and were all set. We had to be there in line by 3 p.m. in order to get seats. Burbank is about 59 miles from Newport, and involves quite a bit of freeway movin and groovin. We programmed the "Hertz Lady", as we have taken to calling her, to take us where we wanted to go. Jerry drove using his most excellent Detroit driving skills, I navigated, and we flowed with the traffic (at about 80-85 mph.) arriving safely at our destination. California freeway traffic is quite interesting. Interspersed with all the trucks and semi normal drivers, you have the crazies flying in and out of traffic passing us like we were stopped. (and we were doing 80) You also have the other crazies that are driving 80 reading the paper and talking on the cell phone. Meanwhile the speed limit is 65 or 55 depending on where you are. We commented we probably s aw more cars in our 1 hr trip today than pass through Martinsville in a year. We all agreed this helps us remember why we don’t want to live in a big city. It also really emphasizes the mind set difference between the sprawling West Coast folks and us backward small town Easterners. These folks literally live in their cars. (Oh and regular gas is currently $3.45/gal here.) We arrived at the NBC studio in plenty of time and took our place in line to wait for entrance. We had the interesting experience of standing in line behind a fellow who knew everything there was to know about everything. He seems to have invented the moon rocket, personally knows all the past and present astronauts, is currently producing documentaries for Discovery, when young used to fly to Atlanta for breakfast and Idaho for a grilled cheese sandwich, circled in a plane over the Spruce Goose when it was towed to Long Beach, consulted with Werner Van Braun on rocket propulsion, knows where Dick Clarks office b uilding is, and showed Jerry the fire truck Jay Leno drove to work this morning. His partner is the Executive Vice President of Baldwin Productions who supposedly produced Sahara, Crash, and Ray. He talked to several of the astronauts Friday, and shared his 25 anniversary with Wally Schirra who was celebrating his 60^th, whose wife is not doing too well, and gave us all the up to date info on the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Queen Mary which was built by the same company as the Titanic, so you can see exactly how things were on the Titanic. We were certainly impressed. In fact Vickie looked like the RCA Dog and His Master’s Voice. After our lecture on everything there was to know about everything, we proceeded through the airport-like security, and ended up with great seats for the show. The set was very cold and we were all literally shivering. (Note to self, wear a coat and hat when you go to a TV show taping, Jerry said he was clapping to stay warm) However, it soon g ot really cool (not temperature). Jay Leno came out in jeans and talked to us about what would happen during the show. Unbeknownst to us, the show is truly done live, and they don’t stop and correct any mistakes or screw-ups. He told us all to laugh if we thought he was funny, and have a good time. They had a funny guy come out and continue the warm up of the audience while Jay got dressed. Soon the band started playing, everyone was clapping and cheering, and the show started. They really do have signs that light up and say "APPLAUSE" to let you know when to really cheer. We got into the spirit of the whole thing and had a big time. When it was time for commercials, the band played and entertained the audience. One of the numbers during the commercial time featured the sax player. It was a Reggae sort of song and the band was not really in the pocket. Then the sax player started his solo and it was like he was playing a different song or some music written by aliens. We decided th ey might be looking for a new sax player soon. When it was time to go on air again, it was just like you imagine, the director counts down 10, 9, 8, etc. and Jay’s on. All in all it was a unique experience, and if we lived in California, would be something we would do whenever we could. A really fun time. After the show, we went across the street to an Acapulco Mexican Restaurant and had a nice dinner while waiting for the traffic to clear. We then followed the Hertz Lady home to our villa and plan to watch the Leno show tonight.

In the meantime we are trying to absorb the horror of what happened today at VA Tech. The endlessly yammering talking heads on the news channels seem to be trying to make it into some sort of terrorist deal or at least some type of conspiracy. It is awful for all the kids at Tech and their families. Who can really understand what goes on in some people’s minds? I sincerely believe, though, all the police type shows that portray bloodless shootings and gunfights where no one dies using pistols that never run out of ammo have a lot to do with these type of actions.

Your closet writer,

Wes

California Day 2

Sunday morning it was a little rough getting going but we finally got moving and headed south down California Rt.1, the Pacific Coast Highway. We drove south through Corona Del Mar, Crystal Cove, and Laguna Beach, to Dana Point. Along the way we stopped at a Ruby’s Diner for a late lunch. The food and ambience were wonderful. It is a chain but is modeled after a 50’s type diner. They had great shakes and a cool American Kobe Beef mini burger plate. All along the CA 1 the scenery was pure California coast, mountains, and cliffs with houses hanging off every possible inch. The surf was up and people were out enjoying the 68-degree weather. I spent a lot of the time car spotting. This is truly the place where all the exotic cars go, and folks actually drive them. We saw more Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Porsches, Rolls Royce’s, Bentley’s, and high end Mercedes and BMW’s than I have ever seen. Dana Point was fabulous and we found a beautiful overlook high above the marina/harbor. We th en headed off to see San Juan Capistrano (looking for Swallows). Had a funny event along the way: I had been working on learning how to program the "Hertz Never Lost" navigation computer. To find the San Juan Mission, I programmed San Juan Capistrano into the computer. We dutifully followed the directions, and ended up in the parking lot of the San Juan Capistrano Post Office. We asked directions from a nice man, and soon found the Mission a few blocks over. We looked around in this area and then headed back up the coast to Newport Beach to land. Along the way, we stopped in Laguna Beach at a Park, and spent some time walking around. The flowers were too beautiful to describe. There are all types of blooming cactus and a multitude of other blooming plants we did and didn’t recognize. (the birds of paradise were especially beautiful) When we got back no one was too energetic so we watched a special on Yellowstone Park and crashed.

Your correspondent,

Wes

Newport Beach #1

For those I have'nt written to yet---we are currently in Newport Beach CA. Here are some adventures from Southern California.

Well here we are at the Marriott Newport Coast Villas resort. The trip yesterday was pretty much uneventful, which is great for a cross-country flight. The flight from Greensboro to Atlanta was somewhat funky in that it was on a Bombardier 65. I think that Bombardier should stick to making snowmobiles instead of trying to make planes. This was the smallest 2 and 2 seating plane I’ve ever been on. The overhead bins were too small for our carryon bags so we ended up in the sardine-like seats with carryon bags sitting on our feet. I felt like I was in a straight jacket. In any event, I was very glad to get to Atlanta. Amazingly, flying on Friday leaving at 9:50 found the GSO airport virtually deserted. Atlanta also was not too crowded for noonish on a Friday. We arrived at LAX (Los Angeles) and everything went fine...Until.... we went to the Hertz rental car place via a 15 minute bus ride. Jerry went inside to get the car and he never came back. I went inside to check on him and he was in one of those zigzag lines with about 4000 people in front of him. There were 30 or so counter positions but only four or five had bodies in them. An hour later he emerged and we took possession of our Ford Taurus (Grey of course). A while later, after an hour or so on the 405 south, we arrived at the resort. In the meantime I spent a while trying to figure out the "Hertz Never Lost" that had come with the car. Mostly all I succeeded in doing was having this reasonably pleasant woman tell me about turns that didn’t agree with the directions we had. We arrived at the resort and were checked in at the curbside by a very pleasant, helpful, good-looking young woman. We located our unit, made a foray to find supper, and then a trip to the grocery store. After locating several restaurants that appeared to have long waiting lines and/or valet parking, we opted to head directly to the grocery store and just buy dinner to eat leisurely at the condo. The grocery store was called Pavil ion, and was very nice, like a big Harris Teeter. (Except in California, the grocery store sells beer, wine, and liquor) We rounded up everything we needed for survival and landed for the night. Traveling all day and a 3-hour time change had whipped our butts.

Saturday, I was up early (04:30) due to the fact that it was really 07:30 my time. I read a book for a while then got started on cooking breakfast for all. After breakfast we adjourned to the pool and spent the day meeting all sorts of cool folks. But somehow starting @ 04:30 with Bloody Mary’s and then a 12 pack each of Tecate and Dos Equis in the pool and in the hot tub and in the pool and in the hot tub, etc. etc. and it turned into quite a day. I played a lot of solo tetherball, forgot to put on sun block, and oops got quite a set of red neck and shoulders. Cooked Italian meatballs on the very nice gas grill provided outside then simmered them with Marinara and diced tomatoes for a great pasta dish. We had a fine dinner and eventually wound down for and long night’s sleep.

Wes

California

Hi all, just a quick note--we've been real busy since arriving in California. I'll write you some news when I we get back later. We got tickets to the taping of the Jay Leno show tonight and we've got to get rolling. The Pacific coast is so incredible. Houses on cliffs, Lamborgini's beside you in traffic, and the rest of the Porsches that aren't in Florida, beautiful flowers, Rolls Royces, enhanced body parts, blond hair.......Be sure to watch for us on Leno Monday night.

Wes