Diving in Catalina?

For months I'd been looking forward to scuba diving in Catalina. I'd been warned that it wouldn't be the same as diving in the warm waters off the Keys, but I was willing to try after a 7-year dry spell. In the interest of safety, we hired a dive instructor to put us through a refresher course. We brushed up on our hand signals, squeezed into a ridiculous amount of neoprene along with a hefty weight belt and scuba tank, and headed into the Avalon Underwater Park. Unfortunately, in the time it took to swim out to the descension line, I'd had enough time to chicken out. When I couldn't get my legs straight under me, the instructor grabbed them, which freaked me out even more. I headed back to shore and left Jimmy to do the dive without me. He enjoyed the kelp beds, but was glad that I hadn't continued because it was quite challenging due to a strong current and low visibility. From now on, it's only warm sunny diving for me.

Kayaking in Catalina...

It had been 4 years since Jimmy and I had a chance to go kayaking. It was a beautiful day, so we packed a picnic lunch and rented a kayak along with snorkel gear. Somehow I had this romantic idea that we’d find a lovely secluded beach, but instead we struggled to find anywhere along the rocky coast that we could land on. We finally managed to find a place that was flat enough, had lunch and hit the water. It was too cold for me even with a wet suit, so I didn’t last long. I actually preferred the view from above the kelp beds than from within. It was especially cool on our return trip when we saw 6 leopard sharks (although we didn’t take this photo).

Our $150 View...

When I was researching where to stay, I think I checked out just about every hotel and B&B on the island. Rather than stay along the waterfront with an easy walk everywhere, I picked a hotel at the top of the hill so we could have a workout between meals. When I chose the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel (former home of the famous Western author), I knew it would be bohemian. No TV’s, no phones, no room service (breakfast was 2 pieces of bread, some jam and a piece of fruit), no Internet, but it did have a pool and a fantastic porch where we had wine and cheese each evening. Wasn’t aware how run down the place would be, but the view made up for it. Jimmy joked that it was our “$50 room with the $150 view.”

Our Island Paradise...

Rather than escape to somewhere exotic like Hawaii, Jimmy and I had our island adventure on Catalina, off the coast of LA. It was quick 75-minute ferry ride from Newport Beach complete with dolphins playing alongside. Below is the harbor of Avalon, the island’s only city, population 4,000. It’s a popular stop for cruise ships on the way to Mexico, so the waterfront is quite crowded during the day with folks that clearly regularly eat too much from their cruise buffet. The city limits the number of cars, so most residents drive around the hilly town with golf carts. The island was originally developed by William Wrigley, Jr., the king of gum and owner of the Chicago Cubs. He built the famous landmark, shown below on the right, known as the Casino. Rather than a gambling facility, it’s actually a movie theater on the ground floor and a ballroom that fits 6,000 on the 10th floor which we enjoyed seeing on a tour.

More Time with Good Friends...

We spent our last evening in San Diego with several good friends at Kathy and Phil’s. Hard to believe that it’s been over 15 years since Kathy brought me to my first hash. I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to keep in touch with these wonderful couples. Carolyn & Mike, Debbie & Dick, Jennifer & Craig and Kathy & Phil (he’s not pictured since he was off on a boy’s weekend) all also met at the hash. While most did get out to visit us in Raleigh, we’re still working on getting them out to Holland.

La Jolla Children’s Pool...

While Jimmy and gang were swimming, Julius and I wandered over to the children’s pool. At one time it was a popular place for children to swim, hence the name, but now it’s a popular place for California sea lions to gather. We weren’t lucky enough to see a whole gang sunning themselves on the beach like we have in the past, but we did see several seal pups playing in the water. Veronica and Ashlynn also went in search of seals while visiting the beach in Half Moon Bay with their grandparents.

La Jolla Cove...

One of the things that Jimmy has missed since we left San Diego was meeting friends for a swim at La Jolla Cove, so he was thrilled when Nancy organized a swim for him. Jimmy especially enjoyed swimming through the cave along the cliffs. Julius and I didn’t join them for the 1-mile swim, but Suzy Q and hubby Jeff did, then joined us afterwards for fajitas and margaritas at Jose’s, another one of our old haunts. That evening, Nancy and Dan hosted a dinner party and we enjoyed seeing some more old friends.

He Gets Paid for THAT???

One of the things that has always amazed me about hashes around the world is the wide variety of occupations that hashers have. While mere mortals might view hashers as truly sophomoric, most hashers actually have incredibly respectable jobs. Over the years, we’ve met lawyers and police officers (which both come in handy when the hash runs into trouble), doctors, computer nerds, biotech researchers, accountants, an opera singer, artists, real estate brokers, a rocket scientist and professors. Debbie, above, works at that insurance company with a gecko as a mascot. Other hashers work at such diverse places as IBM, Duke University, the US Navy, the Dutch Special Forces, and the International Criminal Court. There’s no contest, however, when it comes to the most surprising occupation we’ve encountered at any hash. Above you’ll see Captain Zero, who we’ve known for years. He’s ex-military intelligence and a retired mortgage broker, but now spends his time starring in porn films as Dave Cummings. At 67, he claims to be the oldest porn star in the biz. He was quick to point out that Debbie and I were too old to be in one of his films, although, I assure you, we hadn’t volunteered; at least he didn’t object to being photographed with us. Guess there’s life after retirement after all.

Back to Our Roots...

No trip back to San Diego would be complete without doing a SDH3 hash since that’s where we met. The weather was fantastic and the setting beautiful as we wound around Mission Bay. While Jimmy intentionally ran the eagle trail which took him entirely around the bay, Dick, Dan, Nancy and 10-year-old Julius ran the longer trail by accident. I stayed with Debbie and we walked the turkey trail which took us around one of the resort islands and along just one side of the bay. The trail ended on the patio of a beach house right along the boardwalk with an incredible bbq dinner (a big improvement over the old days when we’d arrive dead last and go hungry). We went to Sunday’s bike/run hash in Carlsbad because it was Jimmy’s 200th SDH3 hash and he was supposed to be presented with his 200-timer pewter mug (not sure why they’re still keeping track of him), but unfortunately the mug didn’t make it to the hash.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane...

Of course, we had to go to The Waterfront, the dive bar where we had our first date and wedding rehearsal dinner. As with much of downtown San Diego, it’s been upgraded since we moved. Apparently all the fancy condos being built around it have changed the clientèle and it’s been yuppified with outdoor seating, fancier beers and lots of flat screen tv’s. We were definitely older than most of the crowd and enjoyed the shocked looks when we said that we’d had our first date there over 15 years ago. We also couldn’t resist having an afternoon snack at our favorite dessert place, Extraordinary Desserts, which has a new outdoor patio and was just as great as ever; luckily some things don’t change--they still use real gold flakes to decorate their chocolate.

Retracing Our Steps...

It’s been 6 years since we were in San Diego, so we were curious to see how things have changed. We spent an afternoon driving around some of our old neighborhoods. I was disappointed to see that Rubio’s Fish Tacos, Roberto’s and College Restaurant all near SDSU were gone. The first apartment I lived in 1983 didn’t look any different other than the above “No Soliciting” sign. Perhaps that was in response to the quadriplegic who used to rent out his room by the hour to El Cajon Blvd working girls. Sadly, our old house looked like a total wreck as seen below. Apparently the new owner never bothered to take care of it despite the fact that it’s tripled in price to approx $375K in the 11 years since we sold it.

Freedom!

For the first time since Veronica was born 10 years ago, Jimmy and I had a whole week with no kids. While we’ve had separate vacations over the years, we’d only been away together for one weekend. We were truly thrilled when Dad and Ann volunteered to look after the girls. We debated our options of exotic locations, then decided it was time to visit our friends in San Diego followed by 3 nights alone on Catalina Island. We kissed the girls good-bye just a few days after we arrived in Silicon Valley, caught a flight to Santa Ana and drove to San Diego in this spiffy PT Cruiser (oops--forgot to take a picture cruising along the ocean). We drove down the Coast Highway and stopped for lunch at a great Mexican restaurant overlooking the cliffs of Laguna Beach. We were happy to be staying with Nancy, Dan & Julius Diehr, who had joined us at the Chateau in April, in their historic North Hills home where they’d recently finished an awesome addition. We went out to dinner our first night in Balboa Park.

Back on the Water...

Jimmy was very excited about sailing on his old stomping grounds, the St. Johns River (which is the longest river in the US that flows north). He took Ashlynn out for awhile and although she became quite good at working the ropes, she wasn't comfortable with the speed they picked up during the stronger winds which led to a fear of capsizing. When it was my turn, I realized that I'm definitely only into comfort sailing. I'll definitely pass on future rides on a boat without a place large enough to plant my big butt. At the first chance, I jumped off and Jimmy continued to sail by himself while I recovered in the pool. The next morning, we were off to California to see my family.

Sailor of the Year...

Instead of heading straight back to Debbie’s after 5 days at the beach, we stopped at the yacht club to let the kids go sailing. Nine-year-old Johnny had recently been named Sailor of the Year, so he took out Veronica and Kathleen (a cousin on his dad’s side of the family). Here you see them both upright and after they capsized. The good news is that the capsize was intentional as a way to cool everyone off and practice righting the boat. Veronica had fun except when she got hit in the back of the head by the boom. Click here to check out the boat Johnny and his brother Jimmy built from recycled materials after we left.

Some Lovely Down Time...

While I was enjoying myself at the Seahorse, it was a bit hectic with so many kids running around. So I was thrilled when Vivynne offered to have me join her for a night at a romantic bed & breakfast on Amelia Island (no worries--I wasn’t excited about the romantic part, just the free swanky place to stay). She dropped off Ariana and Max to spend the night at the Seahorse with Jimmy and the girls, and we headed north. Picked up sushi to go and went to the inn to eat lunch overlooking the windswept beach. While she worked on billing for her and Tony’s medical practice, I read and enjoyed the quiet. We went on a long walk on the beach, but didn't have much luck searching for shark’s teeth. After wine and cheese at the inn, we headed into town for a seafood dinner. Enjoyed a great breakfast on the porch and another long beach walk, before hitting the road back to reality. Thanks Vivynne!

Fun on the Beach...

The girls enjoyed having 5 days at the beach to play in the warm ocean and on the sand. Veronica’s favorite activity was building sand coasters with Jimmy. This one even had a tunnel for the sand balls to go through to end up on the opposite side; click the play button above to see it in action. I enjoyed the luxury of being able to leave the girls behind with their cousins to take long walks on the beach with Jimmy.

Jimmy's Family Reunion....

When we found out that the rest of Jimmy’s immediate family would be vacationing together at the Seahorse, a wonderful 1950’s pink motor lodge at Jacksonville Beach, we knew we had to join them. Granted, the beach in Florida in August is broiling hot and has to be avoided during the middle of the day, but we managed to have a great time. We’d spend each morning on the beach then the pool, hang out inside during the afternoon, then head back out for a 2nd round each evening. It was great getting to meet our two new nephews Joseph and Jack and see the rest of the munchkins. There were a lot of good restaurants within a block and a fantastic organic market, so we were able to continue our vacation eating and drinking frenzy. Thanks Debbie for organizing this!

Dear Old Friends...

We were so thrilled when we learned that the Warwicks (best friends from San Diego who now live in Florida) could swing through Cary for 2 nights on their trek up north. The girls enjoyed swimming with Brett, Jr. and we enjoyed catching up with Sharon and Brett. Sharon was especially a good sport when we dragged her to a BBQ restaurant for lunch (she’s a vegetarian, so her only option was an exciting iceberg lettuce salad since even the beans there were cooked in meat). We helped make up for it by taking her out to Goodberry’s for frozen custard. They hung out with us until it was time to head to the airport for our flight to Jacksonville, Florida to see Jimmy’s family. A great close to a great time in North Carolina.

Time to Get Wet & Muddy...

The girls missed the hash that crept up a creek with bamboo and low lying branches (we joked that we’d been transported to Vietnam) which left me scratching from chigger bites, but they didn’t miss the chance to get wet and muddy. While Jimmy and I visited with our Cary next door neighbors, the girls spent the afternoon playing in the creek behind our house. We were all impressed with the bridge that the Atkins had built and with the offer to let our muddy midgets shower in their house.