October 24, 2023 – At Sea - Late Arrival at Cabo San Lucas – Sunny, 80s

A decent night’s sleep.  We don't get to Cabo for several more hours and the seas are calm and the day looks beautiful.

The room has some weird noises and the most annoying one is one we’ve heard before – a “whirring” (about five seconds) following by a thump or something like a valve closing.  It seems to be related to the bow thrusters but they were not running and the noise is there even when we are in open waters.  On a previous voyage years ago, the noise became enough of a problem that I had an engineer come and check it out.  He came up with all sorts of ideas of what was causing it (none of which made any sense to me) but was not able to fix the issue.  The earplugs take care of the noise pretty well but I don’t like to wear them too much as they irritate my ears.  The noise is not there all the time so that’s a positive.

Another good breakfast in the Oceanview Café – tried the pancakes and fried eggs today – not so crowded up in the Oceanview Café so I could get my eggs fast.  The eggs were actually over well but overall the breakfast was OK.  

I am speaking in the morning before we arrive in Cabo – today’s talk is “Forensic Detectives: The Search for the Unknown Titanic Child” and it is in the Theater.  

The turnout was pretty good (maybe a few hundred passengers – Ellen counted 70 in the balcony.  Considering the weather and the fact that people are getting ready to tender to Cabo, the turnout was beyond expectations.

I rushed a bit at the end as another group was coming into the theater – the Captain and CD both do their announcements at 10:00 AM – and they are piped into the theater - so I got a later start and finished right at 11:00 AM  Again that the AV in the theater yielded blurry slides.  It is difficult for me to read certain areas of the slides so I know the passengers can’t.  I spoke to the AV tech and he told me the focus can’t be changed because it is set for the production shows. 

A lot of passengers had questions so I ushered them into the hall outside the theater.  One passenger handed me a rubber duck, which she said was something people were passing around on cruises (I was unaware).  

The little duck also had a note that said you could keep it as well.  I decided it was a lovely souvenir from this cruise.

I changed clothes and we had lunch in the Café.  The tuna and egg salad are both good and you don’t even need bread for those.  Most of the ship will be going off to Cabo on tenders and tender numbers were called all day.  

We started off in a comfortable large lounger-for-two in the Solarium,  where we could watch the approach to Cabo from the Pacific. Eclipse even had a Mexican Coast Guard escort to our anchorage.

but, the chlorine forced us to a new location.  We found some comfortable seats on Deck 5 Forward Starboard. They are right outside the Theater and do not broadcast the screaming lady like the rest of the ship.  While it was warm, there was a nice breeze across the deck which kept everything comfortable.  From this location, we could see the town of Cabo Marina in the cove.

There are two other ships here today, the Ruby Princess and Navigator of the Seas.

The ship is using its own tenders 

and well as Cabo local tenders (probably a more exciting ride).  Hurricane Norma came through Cabo about a week ago and the city has been cleaning up and fixing up.  From the ship, the only thing I see related to the storm would be that the beach sand across the bay is piled up against the barriers.  There was no party music going on in Cabo. 

We stayed out there until it was time for dinner.  We tried the Moonlight Sonata Dining Room tonight as we thought a lot of the passengers would be staying in Cabo for dinner.  They had some good appetizers and some good looking pasta.  We also had the fastest service ever in the dining room – we were in a table for four around the corner from the hostess desk.  I don't remember what kind of pasta it was but I ate most of it - so it had to be good. The broiled salmon was also pretty good (the mashed potatoes are the best part of the entrée) and the Cesar Salad was good, as well.  The service was so fast that we had time for apple pie a al mode and some coffee and tea.  

Tonight’s entertainer was Mike Mentz a southerner from Chicago (we had seen him just before the Pandemic on the Grand Princess (Hawaii from SF - our pre-pandemic cruise - Grand Princess became a COVID ship on its return from Mexico on the following cruise).  He’s got a Jim Croce vibe going with his guitar and songs.  He was mentored by the late great Lari White, who passed away about 5 years ago or about the time we saw him last.  His show was entertaining and I remembered quite a bit of it.

It was a warm night so we went back to our spot on Deck 5.  The tenders were still running and will be all night.

Tomorrow, a full day in Cabo San Lucas.  A good night for sleeping, I hope.

October 23, 2023 – At Sea – Beautiful – Sunny – 70s

Smooth seas – it does not feel like we are moving and I didn’t hear any “wave slaps”.  The cabin was pretty quiet and the porthole lets in just enough light to maintain decent sleep schedules.  Also, our neighbor stops her rehearsing early in the evening.  I was up crazy early – maybe 5 AM – and I was able to shave and shower before the restaurants opened in the morning.  Dawn from the porthole camera.

I was up in the Oceanview Café before it opened and all the good seats by the window were already taken.  One opened up and I put my cap and magazine there as place holders.  I explored the various stations in the buffet and settle on my usual fare (as mentioned above) – waffles and cottage cheese and sour cream plus strawberry preserves and marmalade.  Scrambled eggs rounded out the meal along with a lot of Lavazza Coffee.  The waffles, regrettably, were soggy and undercooked.  There is no cottage available in the Oceanview Café according to one of the suits.  He did bring me some from another restaurant so it looks like cottage cheese will be on demand on this cruise.  Another passenger was also looking for it but it’ll be my secret for now.  Ironically, sour cream, which is rare on most ships, is on the buffet next to the herring.  The breakfast was OK – the scrambled eggs are not Beyond Level quality but OK.  The coffee is the same as on other ships and the screaming lady is on this ship as well.  I did have a nice view of the Ocean so that is always a good thing.  I think that breakfast will work out OK on this cruise.

I got dressed – dress shirt with tie and dress slacks – and headed to the Eclipse Theater for my first talk at 10:00 AM – “Forensic Detectives: Identifying America’s Fallen Heroes” – this talk usually comes at the end of the sequence so it doesn’t contain any introductory stuff or background technical information.  I added that hurriedly between breakfast and ShowTime.  We’ll see if it works. No pics for this lecture as well.  

I got a small generic introduction from Charlotte.  The Eclipse Theater hold 1115 people and based on the empty spots, I would say that about 200 people attended (Ellen said there were about 60 people in the balcony).  Not a bad turnout for the first day at 10:00 AM – honestly, I expected it would be me, Ellen, and the AV guy.  The AV on this ship does not use a high def projector so the small print is not visible from my vantage point – I have to remember a lot more stuff.  I asked the vets in the audience to stand and the crowd applauded them.  The pace was good and I did finish within the allotted time and the audience seemed to like the talk. So a good start. 

We had lunch out on the back deck and after I got my iconic shot of Ellen on the railing, 

one of the waiters took a rare shot of the two of us (using the Pro Setting on the phone camera).

After lunch, we looked for a quiet place to hang out – sometimes, Café Baccio has open seats by the window and they are far enough away from the Foyer that the music is not overbearing.

I had pretty low expectations for my second talk of the day at 4 PM in my favorite venue, Celebrity Central.  “DNA Testing: Cold Cases Solved” was not on my list as I wanted this cruise to be about history and not crime. Celebrity Central had changed a bit – the high tech screen was replaced by a standard floppy movie screen and several of the monitors had been removed leaving just two in the corners of the room.  A good number of seats near the stage were also gone.  Set up was easy and the crowd started to slowly come in.  At start time, the venue was over 90 percent full.  I love lecturing in Celebrity Central because you can really interact with the audience.  The lecture went well and I got some positive feedback.

We went to the theater at 7 PM for Showtime and the first production show. “Topper” a kind of skewed take on the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland – I didn’t have a clue as to the plot (and we’ve seen it before).  The singing was good and some of the songs were familiar but overall a very confusing show. One cute segment involved the dancers doing their thing in the audience.

 

Our room attendant is new to the ship but she does make up the room and change the towels once a day – that’s all we need.  She doesn’t bring chocolates to our cabins but she did drop off a lot of chocolates.  The Room Service menu has gotten pretty spartan so I am not sure we will be using Room Service that much.

Pretty noisy in the public areas and not warm enough on the open deck so we wound up in our cabin.

October 22, 2023 – Embarkation Day – Beautiful Day – Mid 70s – Partly Cloudy

After breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and drove to the Fox Rental Car Office at LAX.  We had gotten gas earlier at a price of $5.15 (a huge bargain).  It was a pretty scary gas station - somewhere is South LA - as we had taken the streets to LAX but the price was right and the car had to filled up prior to return.  The route took us through neighborhoods we had never seen before and while on route I had no idea how this would get to LAX. It’s a good thing I didn’t know the route or I might have reconsidered the streets vs the highway. 

Fox has a very quick return process – staff with pads check the mileage and the gas tank and you’re done. Receipts are emailed/

We went into the Fox building and called for an Uber and one was in the neighborhood. The ride to San Pedro World Cruise Terminal ran $33.31 including tip.  We were in a very cool Tesla with some wild tech.  It was a considerable drive and the cost was actually less than a cab ride to ORD from our condo. 

The Uber driver dropped us off in the wrong place and we had quite a walk to the check in area.  We dropped our bags with the porter and checked in with the Pier Coordinator.  No one asked us about COVID vaccines and we did not have to show any cards or documentation.  I had checked in on line so the cruise line had all of our info including picture so we finished quickly and were on the ship in no time.  Our Sea Pass cards were at our cabin – C3519 – second cabin behind the door port side.  This is where the entertainers stay and I am technically a Guest Entertainer (it says so on my Sea Pass card).

COVID Note.  There are no COVID protocols on this ship but we are taking precautions.  We are sitting away from people in the Dining Room and in the Theater (much harder to do) and I am wearing my mask in the elevator (makes sense). 

The keys, as is usually the case, did not open the door even with some help from crew in the area.  After a protracted process involving the very helpful Karen (from Colombia) in Guest Relations, we did get Sea Passes that did work.  The room was pretty clean – even though we did find some stuff in the drawers that belonged to the previous resident. 

We met Nancy, our Room Attendant, and told her we only needed her once in the late morning but we would like some chocolates if possible.  We also asked for Room Service menus but we probably won’t get Room Service because the menu is Spartan and we would have to call because no one will pick up the cards behind the door. 

The Cruise Director on this voyage is Nate Hinojosa, whom I’ve never sailed with and whom I saw only on the last day of cruise 2.

I did have an envelope from Activities Manager, Charlotte (no last name that I could find anywhere on her communications). I also never sailed with her and I saw very little of her through the voyages.  She communicated almost exclusively via email. 

We had lunch up in the Oceanview Café, which was filled wall to wall with people (Charlotte told us later that the ship was essentially fully booked).  

We sat where we could and I had a salad and tuna salad and egg salad, which were good.  The Ranch and Thousand Island Dressings were really good.  There was no iced tea in the Cafe and that was confirmed by one of the waiters.  

Note About Food on Ship.  Generally, lunches and dinners (especially in the Dining Room) won’t be described unless they are special.  Breakfast is pretty much the same every day as I get to the Oceanview Café at or just before opening time (me – waffles or pancakes with cottage cheese, sour cream, and jams plus scrambled eggs.  Sometimes, I get oatmeal plus brown sugar and raisins and sometimes just corn flakes, Special K, and milk.  That is accompanied by four cups of regular Lavazza Coffee.  I bring Ellen her food each morning from the buffet – lox, cream cheese, cucumbers, a slice of bread, fruit and when I can, hot tea in a to-go cup).  We had breakfast one time in the Dining Room on these voyages but the service is a bit slow for us, getting coffee refills was nearly impossible, and the food (especially the pancakes) became hard (under the lights too long, maybe).  Not a good option.

I met with Charlotte in Celebrity Central around 5:30 PM to go over the lectures.  Turns out she had a totally different list of lectures and the first one was tomorrow morning in the theater and it was not even on my list.  Apparently, the ship did not get the list Miranda sent over.  I emailed Charlotte the real list but found out later that they were staying with the original version. There was also a second lecture tomorrow afternoon in Celebrity Central that was also not on my submission and the first time that I was doing two talks on the same day.  This was going to be an interesting cruise. 

I filmed a video promo in from of the Celebrity Central Sign for my talks with videographer Brenda (from Mexico) in front of Celebrity Central. No interview just me talking.  It went pretty well. 

We did not do a tech check.  I’ll come early for tomorrow’s talk and we will work things out then.  I don’t expect any issues. 

We went up the Oceanview Café for dinner.  They do have a pasta station and I had the chef make me spaghetti with marinara sauce.  It was pretty good and will probably be my go to meal up here.

There are several salad bar stations but they only have foo-foo lettuce – to get Romaine, you have to pick it up at the Cesar Salad station (the Cesar Salads are good here, as well). Ellen spoke to one of the chefs and managed to get some freshly grilled Tilapia and a baked potato for dinner.

Although the Cafe is still haunted by the "Screaming Lady" background music, it is still a better dinner option than the Moonlight Sonata Dining Room.  Upstairs, you can get a window seat away from other people and eat at your own pace.  Also, while I was expecting the Cafe to downsize and eliminate some food options, it seemed that Eclipse did not do so.  Also, iced tea did appear at dinner but not in the machines but in a large glass vessels with a spigot.  

We finished dinner quickly enough to get decent seats at Celebrity Showtime. We got good seats in the Eclipse Theater.

Cruise Director Nate introduced his Entertainment Staff and then the headliner, Kristin Key.

She is a funny comedian in an odd sort of way.  Sings and plays guitar and also does shtick.  We had never seen her before so it was all new.  She spoke very fast and not all of her jokes were intelligible and some did not hit the target.  She was entertaining, though.

The rest of the ship is still pretty loud with most of the noise coming from the Foyer, where several groups perform – tonight Sea Surfers 

were playing and while their songs were recognizable, the volume, especially the rat-tat-tat of the snare drum was annoyingly loud. The drum is the only noise you hear as you go higher into the atrium – even on the 11^th deck – the Library – you can hear the rap of the drum and nothing else.  It is very annoying. They are from Argentina as is another group, Vesselets (an acoustic duo). Vesselets is an interesting groups as they have a distinctive Black Sound. 

We stopped at Café Baccio for a snack to go and headed to the room for peace and quiet.  We were greeted with a mound of little chocolates, that should keep us for a while.  Thank you, Nancy.  We do have a neighbor as we saw an envelope on their door.  We could hear some singing and found out later that it occupied by a singer that will appear later in the cruise.

October 21, 2023 – Los Angeles – Nice – 80s

We had another decent breakfast at the hotel - I get the same stuff every day but the cereal and waffles never get old.  

After breakfast, we dressed up a bit and drove to Pasadena and picked up Noah before driving into Los Angeles to have brunch at Nalsey’s.   Also joining us for brunch was Mirin, Leah, Ben, and Sid.  This time out, Sid had changed his plans so he could spend more time with everyone. Nalsey and Steve always put out a wonderful spread, which this time time centered around delicious bagels from Noah's Bagels (which came from Larchmont - we saw the shop when we drove down Larchmont). There was also lox and cream cheese and a bunch of tasty desserts, one of which was baked by Mirin. Noah and Ben were able to discuss video games and the rest of us just caught up.

The visit was very pleasant and we tried to catch up on things but the best thing was taking a group shot (we always forget to do that).

Then we drove back to Oxy to see Noah’s Math Building and the grounds.  Noah is a student tutor and his name and picture are on a flyer on the Math Building’s bulletin board.  We found some comfortable seats across from the Math Building and stayed there until it got a bit chilly.  The grounds were abuzz with parents vising on Parent's Weekend and there was some kind of game being played on the athletic field nearby. 

We started walking back to the car when we passed the spectacular Lucille Y. Gilman Memorial Fountain, that punctuates the grounds.  I took pictures from various angles.

We were getting hungry but not for a huge meal.  Noah suggested Town Pizza in Eagle Rock, which according to Noah was the best pizza in town.  It's a really popular place and hard to park but, after circling the block several times, we got a premier space right across the street and managed to get a table before the place filled up and lines formed at the hostess stand.  A good thing since I was parked at a meter - no coins so I used a credit card; the time limit was 60 minutes and you couldn't reload the meter.  The large cheese pizza was hyper thin but really tasty.  We ate the whole pizza - it was just enough. 

October 20, 2023 – Alhambra, CA – Sunny Skies – Low 80s

Another pretty quiet night. I went down and got the same breakfast – corn flakes and a freshly made waffle.  It was still good the second time.  I did have a unusual problem this morning.  While eating at an outside table – to distance myself from other folks – one of the legs of my chair got stuck in the pool deck drain (as I tried to move my chair a bit closer to the table).  The leg collapsed and I went down like a ton of bricks – I landed on my hand and side but I was able to get back up by myself and finish breakfast.  No one came over to help but one guy did ask me if I was OK.  Back in the room, I found that I did not land that gracefully displaying scrapes on my left side and left arm.  I put some Neosporin on it but the area is red and tender.  

We decided to visit the Cemetery – Home of Peace – where most of the family is buried.  It’s usually a long ride from the Hollywood area but from Alhambra, it is just 15 minutes away via the streets.   We found all of the headstones (including Trude's) and I said Kaddish and El Molay Rahamim and we placed some stones on the headstones. 

We had leftovers for lunch in the room and then got ready to go to Noah’s place for Shabbat Dinner.

We went to Noah’s early to spend time with him and to meet his roommates.  

They all live in a terrific house in Pasadena about 10 minutes from the hotel.  There are four bedrooms and two bathrooms and a nice little backyard. We tried sitting out in the  I think that Noah has four roommates including Harper, whom we met last time we visited.  There is Levi and Kyle and Alex.  

The roomies are all very nice and the dinner was nice as well.  Noah made Kiddush and everyone seemed to know what was going on. Noah cooked Shells Alfredo and it was pretty good.  After dinner, some more of Noah’s friends came over along with their parents – it was parent’s weekend at Oxy.  We stayed and chatted for a while and then headed back to the hotel

October 19, 2023 – Alhambra, CA – Sunny Skies – Low 80s

The room was relatively quiet - the smokers in the parking lot went in early. To get some fresh air into the room, we cracked the slider a bit (there's a screen).  That really helps.

I went down for the included breakfast at 7 AM when it opened.  Based on the number of cars in the parking lot, there are a lot of people in the hotel as well as a lot of kids.  I am wearing my mask in the elevator as there is a lot of time left on this trip.  The Breakfast room is adjacent to the pool and you have to go outside to get to it. The room itself is small and the tables are close to each other and you are dodging people to get to the food.  I found a nice table outside (it was warm) away from the crowd. It’s a modest menu but I had a waffle and a bowl of frosted flakes along with a couple of cups of coffee.  There are no scrambled eggs so that will do it for breakfast.   Simple but tasty. 

I went back down with Ellen and had some coffee while she had breakfast.  It's nice to be outside; 

The plan today is to pick up Noah and drive to the Pico Robertson area to Lenny’s Casita for Mexican Kosher Food.  When we fist talked about going from Mexican, I thought we were going to go to the restaurant we tried some years ago. This is a different place and Noah has been here before and that was a solid recommendation.  The restaurant is on the North side of Pico close to Robertson and where Marie Callender used to be back in the Jurassic.  There are no paper menus – you scan a QR code on your phone, which brings up a menu and you order from there and pay from your phone as well.  Hello, future.  I had the Crunchwrap (a four tortilla filled with meat and other goodies and then toasted on both sides) - I filled mine with Carne Asada, guacamole and other veggies.  I could only eat half of it and will have the other half for dinner later.  Ellen had some short ribs and Noah had tacos.  Ellen was not happy with her food as it was too spicy - the waiter apologized and gave us the Churro Waffles as a comped dessert.  The food was good and we ate Al Fresco as the weather was perfect.

After lunch, we went looking for a Judaica book store – Noah needed a certain book, which he didn't find after visiting the store he thought carried it.  We then went on a tour of Los Angeles.  We went by my old house at Poinsettia Place and Melrose Ave - Ron Howard and his family lived in an apartment on Melrose across the alley.  Used to see him once in a while when we were living there.  We then went up Poinsettia Place to Poinsettia Park, where I used to spend my evenings playing a game called "over the line" (a batter hits until he flies our or his ground ball is field by a lone infielder) - I would stay up for a long while putting a dozen or more balls over the fence and onto the street.  A superstar in this game that didn't translate well into Hight School Baseball.  We used to play until the park turned out the lights around 10 PM.  When I got home, my mother had an interesting meal waiting for me - a combination of her delicious spaghetti and equally delicious chili.  I mixed them together and it was great.  Miss that for sure.  

We looked for Bancroft Junior High, where I went for Grades 8 and 9 (after being paroled from Virgil Junior High) but it had been replaced by a new a very different looking modern structure.  The houses in that neighborhood were quant with lots of greenery.  I didn't pay that much attention to all that as a kid even though I walked to school.  

From there, we toured Sunset Blvd checking out the new buildings and some of the iconic ones.  We accidentally ran across Emerson College's West Coast Campus - a very large and impressive glass structure. 

We dropped Noah off and then spent the rest of the evening in our room.  Dinner was the leftovers from Lenny's and the Crunchwrap was even better the next day.  

 

Celebrity Eclipse - Back to Back Mexican Riviera Cruises - RT San Pedro (LA), CA - October 22 - November 5, 2023

Pre-Cruise Stay – Los Angeles, CA

We are planning to spend a few days in LA before embarking Celebrity Eclipse.  This will give us a chance to see Noah and my sibs before we set sail.  The two cruises we are going on were not formally listed on Celebrity's openings but my agent was able to work with the cruise line to get me on board.  The timing of the cruises is perfect as Noah will still be in school and everyone else we want to visit will be in town.  Sometimes, things just work out.

Celebrity has set up my flights – we are flying out on United Airlines (UA1796) and our return flight is sure to be an adventure on Southwest Airlines (we are flying first to Denver and then quickly changing planes and flying to Chicago – arriving around 10:30 PM; the alternative would be a return flight arriving around 2 AM - yikes).  I have already prescheduled a cab pickup at ORD at 10:30 PM.  I also have a prompt on my calendar to be sure to check in with Southwest 24 hours pre-flight, which I will need to do on the Southwest app while on the ship.  It should be an interesting process.

October 18, 2023 – Travel Day

Our flight departs at 1:05 PM (a rare afternoon flight) so our taxi was scheduled for 11:15 AM.  The cab, as is usually the case, arrived a little early, and with his freeway driving skills, we arrived at Terminal 1 at around 11:30 AM.  We were told by United via email to got to Gate 1E for the expedited bag drop but there was an agent outside that was taking bags so we checked our bags with him.  We zoomed through security and were at Gate B14 in plenty of time. 

Our plane, a B-737 MAX8, was already at the gate and the baggage was being loaded.  

We are in Priority Boarding Group 2 and in Economy Plus seats 10D and 10E (cost an arm and a leg). In contrast to the last United Flight which involved WWE style boarding, the boarding on this flight was orderly.  We actually didn’t need the overheads as both our backpacks went under the seat in front of us. Our seats are middle and window (I like to watch the takeoff and Ellen is small enough to fit in the middle seat).  And seat 10 on the Starboard side does have a window (unlike row 11 Port side – no window).

There was a little delay in pushing and then we got in line for takeoff. 

The flight had to go through some unhappy air (high clouds and turbulence) so the flight attendants were seated for about an hour until we were able to find calm air.  

I had made some delicious tuna/egg salad sandwiches that morning which made for the perfect lunch on this flight.  That was topped off by Diet Coke, some good coffee and airline provided Biscoff biscuits. 

The flight was pretty smooth the rest of the way with good visibility as we passed over Arizona and Nevada and into California.  

While I could see the layer of smog up against the San Bernardino Mountains, the basin looked pretty clear. 

Our luggage came out pretty quickly and we dragged our bags over to the Purple Zone where rental car shuttles came by.  We are renting again from Fox because their facility is located very close to the airport on Manchester Blvd.  Maybe five or more National and Avis vans went by before our lone Fox shuttle showed up (about a 30-minute wait – about the norm).  This shuttle had absolutely no functioning shocks so my poor vertebrae got a real workout.

The line inside to check out cars was long and slow – there were only two agents and one of them was fully occupied by a customer who clearly had a unique problem.  She was there the whole time the rest of us were trying to get to the only other agent.  We finally made it an agent and I was all prepared with license, credit card, and all the answers.  We were instructed to head over to parking Stall 10 and pick out any car.  There were a couple of cars but we didn’t like the choices – we did eventually find another car – A Jeep Compass – that we liked and took that one (we had contracted for an economy small car and instead, as is usually the case, got “upgrade” to a better car.  The car had Android Auto and that’s all we needed – it had all the safety features and was also very comfortable to drive.  It looked new but it had 54,000 miles on it.

I inputted our destination, the Green Tree Hotel and Suites in Alhambra, into the GPS.  The route generated took us along just about every available freeway to get to our destination.  If was only around 4 PM but the traffic was moving at a glacial speed of 4 mph.  I guess the settings on Google Maps on my phone included highways (I doubt it would have made little difference if we took the streets).  Even though the route seemed counter intuitive, we did eventually arrive in Alhambra and at the Green Tree Hotel (on Main Street).  

The hotel is clearly Asian managed – all of the staff are Asian and the hotel is fitted out in an Asian motif.  There was a coffee and tea station in the lobby.  The staff was friendly and check in was fast.

Our room, 411 (even though the rooms have an 8 in front of the room numbers.  Each room had a very cool hi-tech room sign, that tells the staff when a room needs to be cleaned, etc.

We were across the hall from the elevators but we don’t anticipate that to be a problem.  The room itself overlooks the parking lot with mountains in the distance.  

The issue with the parking lot is that this hotel is strictly non-smoking (a $250 charge goes on the bill even if you are vaping) so the smokers all congregate in the parking lot (there is a seating area there) and sometimes this happens into the evening. 

The room does have some perks – free pretzels and Pirate Booty along with daily bottled water (from Costco, of course). 

We called Noah and he said he wanted to meet us at the hotel.  We got permission to let him park in the lot (guests have passes that go on the dash for overnight parking).  We chatted a while and he went back to his house.  We did decide on a place for dinner later, Mama’s Pizza and Pasta in Pasadena.

We picked Noah up and went to the restaurant.  Not a fancy place – you order at the counter.  We ordered a salad (for me), a pasta marinara, and a medium cheese pizza.  All the food was good but it was clearly too much food.  We took some home and so did Noah. So far, so good.