Day 24: July 21, 2015

May called from the Los Angeles airport. They arrived safely about 8:00 a.m. for a 11:00 a.m. departure. Everything went very smoothly. May casually asked a flight attendant if they were in the right line for getting to their gate. She said "yes," but the line was so long, they would never get to their gate on time. The flight attendant took them to their gate. Interestingly enough, the plane departs out of the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Apparently there are few international flights taking off this time of day, and the other gates are so full, some domestic American Airlines flights are leaving from the international terminal. Obviously American Airlines has a number of gates in the international terminal.

Arianna and Olivia are in a great mood. They are off to having breakfast now. May did call Kiri and Betsy to let them know the flight was delayed for a few minutes, but apparently no big deal.

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Boarded By 12:40 P.M. -- Minor Delay

Day 23: July 20, 2015

Day 22: July 19, 2015

Day 21: July 18, 2015

Saturday.

Crafts day at home.

Storms coming in; ocean will be rough. Plans to go to the beach will be postponed, perhaps until next summer. The granddaughters fly out on Tuesday.

Day 20: July 17, 2015

Friday.

Crafts day at home.

Day 19: July 16, 2015

May, Arianna, and Olivia went to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

My first data back in Grapevine, TX. I arrived back at 5:00 a.m. this morning.

Day 18: July 16, 2015

May, Arianna, and Olivia went to the Los Angeles Zoo.

I drove to Amarillo, Texas, to see the armadillos. Haven't seen any yet.

Data points for the trip back from San Pedro to Grapevine:

Gallons of gasoline: 175
Mileage (mpg):  27 mpg
Cost of gasoline: $175

Lowest price: $2.44 in Wichita Falls, TX (in Amarillo, I saw lowest price to be $2.39/gallon)
Highest price: $4.30 on I-210, northeast of Los Angeles; more expensive in Needles, though I did not get any gas there

Day 17: July 14, 2015

May's minivan had some routine maintenance done.

Then, she and the granddaughters headed up to Little Tokyo, having arrived safely a few minutes ago. They visited the Japanese American National Museum and sent some nice photo from the tea restaurant. Arianna knows her teas and enjoys tea. Olivia tried tea for the first time (?).

Meanwhile, I will be starting my trip back towards Grapevine, TX, or Williston, North Dakota, depending on updates from Williston.

Day 16: July 13, 2015

Cindy's birthday celebration.

May brought Arianna to urgent care clinic because her throat was still bothering her after 7 or 8 days. The throat swab was negative for strep and the Monospot (a finger prick for blood) was also negative. Diagnosis: viral pharyngitis, resolving.

We had planned to go to the beach today but May decided it was best not to go swimming in the ocean. If the finger prick opened up in the ocean, the blood might attract sharks. Yes, that is true; that's what we did not go to the beach today but instead went to swim in Flavio's and Cindy's pool.

Bruce has made the decision to start driving home in the next 12 - 24 hours in case he needs to go to Williston to see his father who was recently ill.

Day 15: July 12, 205

10:30 a.m.: The Minions Movie

Day 14: July 11, 2015

Today, while out shopping with Grammy May, Olivia told Arianna that from now on, Olivia needs to be involved in all clothing purchases by Arianna since Olivia will eventually get them as hand-me-downs.

For dinner beer can chicken and pasta.

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May reminded us at 7:15 p.m. that 7-11 stores offered FREE Slurpees on July 11. We walked down to the 7-11 in our neighborhood only to find that the offer ended at 7:00 p.m. I bought Olivia a Slurpee for $1.73. The cashier threw in two bags of Doritos for free and one pair of really cool sunglasses, also for free, which Olivia forbade me to wear on the walk home.

Day 13: July 10, 2015

More tomorrow.

Preparation for birthday party later in the evening.

Swimming over at Flavio and Cindy's.

Dinner at Ruby's. Arianna, Olivia, and Dakota each got a free root beer float.

Dessert and party at Flavio and Cindy's.

Day 12: July 9, 2015

Getty Museum in west Los Angeles today.

Looking south from The Getty Museum, you can barely see downtown Los Angeles way off in the distance. The buildings in the foreground are West Los Angeles, not downtown LA:

Day 11: July 8, 2015

We spent the day at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific:

 
For the archives. May has already sent these photos to everyone, but I'm including them here for archival purposes.

First: Arianna's English Trifle from her Harry Potter Cookbook:

 

Then two creations from Olivia. The first is the present she made for Arianna for her birthday; it is a hedgehog house. They've gotten more mileage out of those hedgehogs than Barbie dolls. Quite remarkable all the things they've done with and for their hedgehogs.

The second Olivia creation is a hedgehog catapult. LOL:

Day 11: July 7, 2015

A most delightful day; a long stroll along the coast.

I rode my bike to Huntington Beach today. It's a 20-mile trip one way; I turned around at Bolsa Beach.

Along the way, I picked up some tools and an air pump to carry with me.

It took me about 2 hours 30 minutes to get to my end point in Bolsa Beach, Huntington Beach.

On the way home I had a front flat tire, a slow leak, due to a thorn. The pump helped: 60 pumps filled the tire and it lasted about 20 city blocks. I first noted the flat just as I was leaving Seal Beach and entering Long Beach, I suppose about 12 miles from home.

Things were going along peachy keen until somewhere in Long Beach (in addition to taking a long round-about way to get through the city), my rear tire also went flat. Unfortunately that flat was too severe for the pump to do any good good. So I started walking.

I arrived at the corner of Western Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway about 5:47 p.m. I wasn't sure about the time so I checked the "World Clock" on the internet and yes, indeed, it was 5:47 when I got to this corner. I assume it's about three miles from this corner to home, so about another hour. I will be walking more slowly, so it might take ninety (90) minutes. [I arrived "home" at 8:15, tired but in excellent shape.]

I do not know what May and the granddaughters were up to today.

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 Meanwhile, Back in Grapevine

Sophia enjoying toast ...

.... and then relaxing:

Sophia may win the Nevin Award for Relaxation. Notice her legs/ feet up on the chair, completely relaxed.

Day 10: July 6, 2015

Arianna's throat is feeling better. She wants to go to Mitsuwa's for lunch, and then shopping. Mitsuwa's was her great-grandmother's favorite restaurant after they retired in San Pedro.

In the photo below: May as an infant; May's mother (Mariko); Arianna's great-grandmother; and, Mariko's Aunt Yone who raised Mariko (in Japan).

The fourth "person" in the picture is a doll, not a real person.

Another photo of May's mother, Mariko:

Day 9: July 5, 2015

We all survived the Fourth of July party on the patio at the back of the house; it went quite late. Arianna and Olivia went to bed immediately. I soon followed. May was up until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. watching something on television; perhaps more fireworks, though our fireworks in the neighborhood continued well into the night.

This morning we are all up though Arianna is a bit tired and has a minor sore throat. I took a good look at her throat and it looks fine: no inflammation whatsoever, possibly a slight bit of irritation on the left tonsil, which I think is the side she said it hurts. She had breakfast, and is now having "warm/hot" tea and is in very good spirits.

May sent me this note, after overhearing them in the TV room:

Olivia saying to Arianna, as they negotiate the trading of rocks they bought at the Grand Canyon, "I want to put this out there, but you're not going to get much for your pyrite shards.  They're just shards;  I don't know why you got them; they're not worth much."

I don't know about that. Arianna might make a tidy profit for her fool's gold if she finds some fools on the beach. Shouldn't be too difficult.

Day 8: July 4, 2015

We spent the better part of the day preparing for the July 4th celebration this evening.

Left to right: Jennie Jing (back to camera), Ray Jing, WPP, Arianna, Flavio (up front), Cindy (in the back).

My favorite brother-in law, Flavio; my favorite sister-in-law, Cindy. 

And my signature beer can chicken:

It was a great, great evening.



And yes, fireworks are "generally" illegal in Los Angeles County. I'm not sure what the laws are and apparently no one else is either. Whatever.

A second clip of the fireworks:

Day 7: July 3, 2015

We are getting ready for May's 4th of July party today, doing some errands.

Olivia wanted to go to the neighborhood park this afternoon:

When we came home Olivia set up shop at the end of the driveway to start selling her latest craft: small airplanes which she will customize with art when you buy one.

Before you laugh, Olivia just came into the house (4:40 p.m.) to tell me she just sold two airplanes, each for $3.00 for a total of $6.00. Not counting cost of labor, her profit margin is close to 95%.

Before you laugh again, Olivia just came into the house (5:30 p.m.) to tell us she just sole four more airplanes, for $2.00 each, for another $8.00.

She only has one plane left, but if you place an order she can make as many as you want. Now you can laugh.

Last note: while writing the last update, Olivia sold the last plane. At 5:49 p.m. she sold the last plane. Here is a photo of Olivia with her $15 for her 7 planes:

Day 6: July 2, 2015

A quiet day in southern California. Arianna and Olivia wanted to stay "home" and work on their various projects.

May went shopping to prepare for "4th of July."

In the afternoon, Arianna and I picked up sandwiches at Subway and had a picnic overlooking the Pacific Ocean, looking for whales. We did not see any. It was getting cool by 5:00 p.m. along the coast, and we wished we had brought light jackets.

A quiet evening at home, working on their "coding" projects:

Fifth 24-Hour Period: July 1, 2015 -- July 2, 2015

Another great day, Wednesday, July 1, 2015.

We spent the afternoon at Cindy and Flavio's house swimming in their pool. Pizza party after swimming.

Arianna, Olivia, and Dakota.

Arianna, Olivia, Dakota, Flavio, and Bruce.

Fourth 24-Hour Period: June 30, 2015 -- July 1, 2015

(Yes, the fourth 24-hour period with the change noted earlier.)

Breakfast at Carrow's up the street (photos in an earlier post).

Then to Cindy and Flavio's house in Huntington Beach where we picked up Cindy and Dakota and drove down to Bolsa Beach where we spent the afternoon. The three girls boogey-boarded, swam, and did the usual beach stuff.

We came home and watched the USA women's soccer team, ranked #2 to Germany's #1, beat the Germans 2 - 0. The first point was on a controversial penalty kick but the second score was brilliant. The second score began with an assist by Carli Lloyd and Kelley O'Hara (if I recall correctly). Carli Lloyd made the penalty kick point earlier in the game.

Dinner at Ruby's. Arianna put a quarter in the gumball machine, got a winner! The much-talked about, seldom-seen huge red gumball. The giant red gumball entitled her to a free Root Beer float. This was the first time I had actually ever seen anyone "win" a giant red gumball. Olivia is usually the lucky one; tonight it was Arianna's turn.

Arianna wants a barbecue on the beach for her dinner; Olivia wants another Ruby's dinner for her birthday.

On the Bolsa Beach, near Huntington Beach:

Photo Interlude

Since most folks don't want to go back over plowed ground (previous posts) I won't post photos on older posts, but will post them here. These are photographs taken over the past couple of days.

From the Grand Canyon

Bright Angel Trail

This is perhaps my favorite panoramic view of the Grand Canyon, taken by Arianna with a little Canon Powershot.

Arianna was also the only one of the four of us quick enough to catch a photograph of a bull elk inside the park:

Olivia took this photo of the "original hermit" reading This Side of Paradise at Hermit's Rest, far west end of the park.

San Pedro Breakfast at Carrow's

May's father's favorite place to have breakfast was at Carrow's at the top of the street from where he lived. 

Fourth 24 Hours, June 29, 2015 -- June 30, 2015: Red Trees In Southern California -- Part II

So, I guess this is the transition. The previous entries covered the 24-hour periods from 7:00 p.m. the previous night to 7:00 p.m. the day of posting. Now that we have arrived in California, the 24-hour periods begin at 7:00 a.m. and carry through to the next morning.

As noted in the previous post, we arrived safely in San Pedro last night at almost exactly 8:00 p.m. The trip was uneventful in terms of any problems.

My first order of the day, of course, was Starbucks, 6:30 a.m. to catch up on the Bakken. May, Arianna, and Olivia are still in bed. I told them to call me when they were up and ready for breakfast.

The Starbucks near May's home is incredibly busy. In addition to what everyone imagines Starbucks to be, it is also now the new "DQ" (Dairy Queen) for children and pre-teens in the evening (I was here last night).

In Texas, Starbucks is the new "DQ" for for teens, not as many pre-teens and children visiting Starbucks in Texas as there are here in sunny California.

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Brown Lawns and Dying Trees

 

The lawns are turning brown. May's lawn is still one of the greener lawns. Because no one lives in her house most of the year, she has more water for the lawn.

I think once the trees start dying, folks are going to be alarmed at the rationing. It's one thing for grass to die and come back quickly, but once the trees start dying. And it will probably happen quickly. Once trees become stressed, subject to disease and pests.

From The Los Angeles Times back in May: drought kills 12 million trees in California's national forests.

Rangers in the San Bernardino National Forest call them “red trees.”

Instead of the typical deep green color, large swaths of pine trees now don hues of death, their dehydrated needles turning brown and burnt-red because of the state’s worsening drought.

“Unlike back East, where you have fall colors, here it’s because the trees are dying,” said John Miller, a spokesman for the San Bernardino National Forest.

Years of extremely dry conditions are taking a heavy toll on forest lands across California and heightening the fire risk as summer approaches.

“The situation is incendiary,” William Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told The Times recently. “The national forest is stressed out.”

That is amazing. Yesterday, while driving through San Bernardino County, Arianna noticed the "red trees." We did not know what she was talking about.

And in the same newspaper, May 8, 2015: die-off of millions of California trees concentrated in Sierra Nevada.

That was exactly where we were: in the Sierra Nevada mountains. We knew that because Olivia and Arianna were telling us why California and Nevada were shaped the way they were. California, prior to statehood, moved the state line east to include the entire Sierra Nevada for the gold.

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Plans

We plan to be in the ocean later this afternoon and then dinner with Flavio and Cindy.

We have no plans to go to the beach over the 4-day July 4th weekend. The beaches will be packed.

Third 24 Hours, June 28, 2015 -- June 29, 2015: Arrived San Pedro, CA

We arrived San Pedro, CA, safe and sound, 8:00 p.m., Monday night.

The trip was exactly 1,590 miles, which was straight through from Grapevine, TX, to San Pedro, CA, with three side trips:

• a minor side trip to the Blue Hole, Santa Rosa, just minutes off I-40
• a major side trip to the Nuclear Energy Museum in Albuquerque
• a major side trip to the Grand Canyon which probably added about 200 miles

After crossing the desert, we stopped at Barstow, CA, to plan our final leg into San Pedro. We picked the route and then departed Barstow at 5:30 p.m. local time. The freeways we took were moving at full speed, generally 70 mph except down Grapevine Hill (if it's still called Grapevine, or if indeed it's Grapevine -- I have to check -- it's the huge 6% down grade on I-15 south of Victorville).

Our route for future reference:

• Barstow to Victorville, I-15
• I-15 south to west on I-210
• I-210 west to California Highway 57 south
• Highway 57 south to California Highway 91 west
• 91 west to I-110 south

5:30 to 8:00 p.m. -- exactly 2.5 hours.

 

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First thing we need to do is to define the time periods. We started traveling at 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night, but for the rest of the trip, the 24-hour period will start at 7:00 a.m. on any given day and will end at 6:59 a.m, the following day.

OCD.

We left Williams, AZ, this morning about 10:00 a.m. local time, or thereabouts.

This will be filled in later, but we have had a good trip so far.

At Kingman, AZ, we continued west to Laughlin, Nevada, and then south to Needles, CA.

At Needles, gasoline was $4.69 / gallon and the temperature hit 115 degrees (we have photographic proof of each which will be uploaded later). Moments later, the temperature fell to 88 degrees as a cold front and a small amount of rain moved through. But then back up to 108 here in Barstow about 5:00 p.m. local time.

Two things to note on the sign:

• price of least expensive grade of gasoline
• diesel is significantly less expensive than gasoline

We took a long break at Barstow, CA, because we were just about to hit LA metroplex rush hour and there was no need to hurry. We took a break and hoped that we would hit the worst of it at 7:00 p.m. when things should be moving fairly well.

Second 24 Hours, June 28, 2015 -- June 29, 2015: Part II

Catching up: we stayed overnight in Flagstaff, June 27 - June 28, 2015; Day’s Inn. (First 24 hours.)

The Day's Inn was an old motel like many we have stayed in, in Flagstaff; downtown, near Amtrak and surrounded by every fast food restaurant imaginable.

So, now yesterday, our second 24 hours, June 28 - Jun29, a Sunday.

I was up at 7:30 and walked to Starbucks, getting there at 7:50. That allowed May, Arianna, and Olivia to sleep in as late as they wanted, and have the room and the shower to themselves when they did get up.

They were ready to go by 9:10.

The Grand Canyon

We drove west on I-40 to Williams, gateway to the Grand Canyon, and then drove north. The park is about 50 miles of Williams.

The traffic on the road north was fairly light so it was a surprise when we saw all five lanes backed up at the main entrance to the gate. Surprisingly, the lines moved very quickly. We had forgotten out National Park passport at home (May said she did not know where I kept the passport and I had forgotten to put it on my checklist).

It appears they’ve changed the National Park passport to a “Federal Agency Pass” or something like that. May and I both qualify but because the lines were so long, they only take time to issue one. We got mine for $10 and will get May’s at a later date. It really doesn’t matter; we just need the one. So, now we have a national park pass in each car.
 
A flashing sign before entering the park said that parking would be very hard to find, and they recommended folks park outside the park, and then take the shuttle bus in. Interestingly, the parking outside the park was more limited than what we eventually found inside the park.

We drove immediately to the east end of the park; the east end is about 45 miles east of the main entrance, but very few come in that entrance, and very few drive over to that end of the park. It’s our favorite area in the park.

The park seemed much less busier (busy?) than last year. Parking was very, very easy to find. On the east end, we parked in the front row nearest the rim and the concession stands. I vaguely recall that last year were told that the weeks before and during July 4th weekend were generally quiet because fireworks were not allowed.

But having said that, the east end of the park feels empty. I'm sure it's busy and full at the center and at the hotel, but we drove to the east end -- Desert View -- and the watch tower.

We noted a lot of changes since last year. The watch tower’s retail store was not gone except for a very small area off to the side. Very few people at the watch tower.

The general store at this end of the park as 12:30 p.m. was empty. The snack bar in a separate building was all empty.

The watch tower -- which last year was shoulder-to-shoulder was relatively empty. I found a huge window area overlooking the canyon -- which could easily sit eight people -- was empty, despite a great view of the canyon from inside the watch tower.

One thing about the park: I can't talk about parking itself, but the park is so huge that it can't handle a lot of people.

The grandeur and the size of the canyon never fail to amaze me. No matter how many times I see it -- it simply surprises me when I see it again -- the immensity of the canyon.

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West End of the Canyon

After the watch tower, we drove to the tourist center and the "main part" of the park.

Arianna wanted to hike the trails and we did. We hiked two trails part way down into the canyon.

The first was one very rough. It was the Hermit's Rest trail at the far west end. Arianna, Olivia, and I went down; May stayed up at Hermit's Rest. It's about a seven-mile hike to the bottom of the canyon. We walked about a quarter of a mile down and then came up. We probably could have walked another quarter of a mile, but that would have been the limit.

Later in the day, we walked down the most-used and most-developed trail to the canyon, the Bright Angel Trail. When I get the photos from Arianna I will post them. She took some great photos if they turned out.

Arianna, Olivia, and I hiked that trail also; May stayed up at the visitor center area.

We saw one bull elk while in the park, and a small herd of females.

We departed the park at sunset, found a very inexpensive Quality Inn (which was much nicer than the motel in Flagstaff) in Williams.

I'm typing this at 7:00 a.m. I think. I'm a little confused on the local time. My fellow travelers are sleeping in. There is no hurry to depart.

We will depart Williams some time this morning (Monday, June 29, 2015) and then drive to Kingman, AZ; Bullhead City, AZ; and then across the desert.

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Note To Be Completed Later

Confluence of the Little Colorado and the Colorado River just outside the east entrance of the park. Navajo own one mile of the land just inside the park where the confluence is. It is anticipated by 2025, the Indians will have a casino on the mesa above the confluence; a runway large enough to handle 747 aircraft, and an “escalator” from the casino on top of the mesa to the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. The EPA is shutting down the coal plant that provides the only real income to the Navajos. The casino will be their way of generating income once the coal plant is shut down. The Indians own one mile of the canyon inside the park. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long (or something like that); the white man currently has access to 25 miles of the canyon.

Second 24 Hours, June 28, 2015 -- June 29, 2015: Part I

From last night at Chili's:

We had a great late night snack at Chili's last night. That's the first time I've been in a Chili's since the Bakken last autumn, at the Chili's in Williston, North Dakota, last November, or whenever it was that I was in North Dakota. I forget the exact month.

Arianna and Olivia plays UNO til late. I went to bed well before they did. No alarms were set.

I was up at 7:38 (I assume local time), out the door with my backpack at 7:42 (I checked my watch when I was in the parking lot) and by 7:47 had reached Starbucks. Short walk.

Plans: Grand Canyon most of the day. May wants to stay to see the sunset on the canyon. Earlier in the day Arianna, who will probably set the agenda for the trip, had suggested only half a day. She did not specific how long she wants to stay today but did mention at least three things we did not do last year in the canyon that she wants to do this year. She rattles them off like she is reading from a mental checklist. In addition, there is a "tower" she wants to see again. I'm not quite sure which tower she means.

I asked whether any of the three would like to stay another night in the area or press on to California. May thought about it for a minute but did not have a chance to answer: both Arianna and Olivia said to press on. Olivia asked if I would mind driving all night. LOL.

No alarms in the motel room this morning. When I left they were all in bed; Olivia stirring. Arianna sound asleep. Arianna planned to get up not earlier than 9:00 a.m. but I suggested something earlier. Last I heard last night was they would get up at 8:00 a.m.

It's 8:10 a.m. I'm enjoying my Starbucks. Three women on vacation who, with the exception of Olivia (maybe) are probably still in bed. Something tells me I have at least until 9:30 here at Starbucks.

First 24 Hours, June 26, 2015 -- June 27, 2015

This would have been posted last night but the wi-fi in the motel was way too slow.

We departed Grapevine at 10:00 p.m. last night (Friday). May and I took turns driving, and kept schedule.

We arrived at Santa Rosa at 8:00 a.m. where our first stop was the Blue Hole. Bruce, Arianna, Olivia in front of the Blue Hole.

We had breakfast in downtown Santa Rosa and then came back to the Blue Hole to watch the scuba divers.

From there we drove to Albuquerque and visited the Nuclear Energy Museum. This was the #1 destination for the girls for the first day. They had been waiting all year to visit this museum again.

From Albuquerque, we drove straight through to Flagstaff, AZ.

We immediately jumped in the pool, and then out to eat at Chili's.