Monday, May 17, 2010 – Los Angeles, CA – 60s - Overcast

It is time to go home…

Up before the wake up call.  The room was very quiet.  We’ll need to remember this place the next time we wind up in LA.

The breakfast was great…fresh scrambled eggs and pancakes along with the usual La Quinta cereals, bagels, and muffins.  It’s nice when there is a restaurant in the hotel.

We caught our shuttle around 7:45 AM and it was only a few minutes to the airport.  Ellen’s gold status got into shorter check in and security lines and we were at our gate in plenty of time for our 9:30 AM flight. 

 

Our 767 is ready to go home

Our flight – on a 767-300 – boarded on time.  Our exit row seats (bulkhead) were very comfortable.  We also found out that seats in row 17 (attendant rest rows) are available on domestic flights.  Those seats fully recline and have their own curtain.  It’s better than first class.  Need to remember that.

The climb out is through the famed “marine fog layer” so we don’t see blue skies until the plane makes it turn back over land.

Climb out over LA and blue skies at last

Lunch was great – salami on challah and chips.  We could have sold the food to other passengers. 

The flight was generally smooth – some thunderstorms over the plains put us in our seats for a while.

Being veterans of transatlantic and South American flights, the 3 hour and 30 minute flight seemed like a short hop.

 

Final Approach – Cloudy Chicago

The landing was smooth – we were about 30 minutes early and had to wait for a gate – the luggage was there and the cab showed up as requested.  

I would rate this trip as great…

Friday, May 14, 2010 – San Pedro, California

A successful trans Panama Canal Cruise

 

The Island Princess is the only ship here today.   We have enough time to get a good breakfast and still make our meeting location, the Explorers Lounge.  When we do arrive at the lounge, we find that, due to a shortage of immigration officers, the disembarking is about an hour behind schedule.  As it turns out, the process through immigration was relatively quickly and soon we were on our way.

We picked up our car and made our way to the Rodeway Inn on Beverly Blvd across from CBSTV City.   The room turned out to be a smoking room so we had to have the room defumed by an air cleaner – only slightly effective.  We will move to a different room tomorrow.  We did some food shopping for the weekend and had a nice dinner at my sister’s house, and then back to our motel room.. 

The windows had to stay open all the time to air our the cigarette smoke odor. 

Sunday, May 16, 2010 – Los Angeles, CA – 70s – Mostly Sunny

A better night without the smoke…

The plan today is to visit the cemetery where all of our parents are buried (for me it’s been over four years since I’ve been in LA).  We all went in Sid’s new SUV and spent a few minutes at the cemetery. 

Back to Nalsey’s place for a nice Sunday Brunch.  Lainna and Mirin were there – we had seen Lainna about three years ago when we were in New York for a cruise but it has been a pretty long time since we had seen Mirin.  The brunch was very good and it was good to chat with the girls a bit – another highlight was Mirin’s basketball highlights DVD (the one you send to prospective college coaches).  It was set to either rap or hip hop music and pretty entertaining.

It was a very nice day and we had our car (a Jetta by the way), so we drove out to Beverly Hills to see both Rodeo Drive and environs as well as an Art Fair along Santa Monica Blvd.  Parking is tough in this area but we did wind up parking for free in a city lot.  As we walked along, I did get a kick out of a parking meter that took credit cards.  Pretty soon, you won’t need to carry any money at all.

Credit card enabled parking meter – Beverly Hills

We did get to Rodeo Drive, which hadn’t changed all that much since we last visited.

Ellen at the famous Rodeo Drive

On our way back to the car – without spotting a single celebrity or at least one we knew – we arrived at the Art Fair.  The Fair spanned several blocks of Santa Monica Blvd and sported some neat works of art in various media.

From Beverly Hills, it was off to the Pico Robertson area for a kosher meal that needed to include some kind of meat.  We checked out an Iranian restaurant before choosing the Chinese-Persian combination restaurant we used to go to with Louis (Ellen’s father).  We shared a very tasty Almond Beef dish.  After having fish for so long, it was nice to have a prepared meat dish.

Tonight we are staying at the La Quinta LAX so we can be close to the airport for our morning flight back to Chicago.  The process is a little complicated – return the car, take the shuttle to LAX, catch the hotel shuttle at LAX to La Quinta (on Century Blvd).  We pulled it off with no big problems.

The La Quinta LAX is a massive hotel.  We got our keys to room 712 and headed to drop off our bags.  There was only one slight problem; we opened the door only to find a women in bed watching TV.  I am pretty sure that she missed part of what she was watching.  We called the front desk from the floor and soon a security guard came up with another key.  Those darn computers.  The room was very nice and quiet. 

Got to get up early tomorrow to catch the 7:30 AM Shuttle…

Saturday, May 15, 2010 – Los Angeles, CA – 70s – Mostly Sunny

Survived our smoky night at the Rodeway Inn room – the open window helped somewhat.

The included breakfast at this hotel is very modest – dry cereal, bagels, sweet rolls, and coffee.  The lobby (which is small) and the courtyard, which is usually filled with smokers, are the only two places to eat breakfast.  Today, we lucked out and the courtyard was empty.

The plan today is to attend the Library Minyan at Beth Am – this is the minyan that my late father-in-law, Louis, used to attend.  The minyan is very nice with a lot of exuberant singing and very good attendance.  The kiddush had the legendary Cholent.  We also had a chance to spend a little time with some folks from the past.

Our hotel is pretty close to CBS Television City, Farmer’s Market, and the Grove Shopping area, so a walk is indicated.  Just across the street, I recognize some familiar faces on one of the walls of CBS TV City.

NCIS Poster – CBS TV City

We started first at the Grove and were met by a literal ocean of people – mostly girls in the 12 –15 year old category.  This should have been a clue to what had just transpired.  We asked one of the police providing security and he told us that a concert had just ended.  As it turned out, the Jonas Brothers had just given a free concert at the Grove and we were in the middle of the crowd dispersal.

Jonas Brothers Concert Stage – concert ended just minutes ago

It was more difficult than we thought, but we did make it through the crowd and wound up in Farmer’s Market.  There are so many new stores in Farmer’s Market.  Some of the oldies are still there – DuPars Restaurant – but there are plenty of new and upscale eateries in the Market.  One of the neat things we ran across was a reproduction of a vintage Gilmore Gas Station.

Gilmore Gas Station (18 cents per gallon – Jurassic Period)

Our route home took us through Gilmore Park (the site of the art deco theater in the Movie “Xanadu” and originally known as the Pan Pacific Theater).  This park will house the new Los Angeles Holocaust Memorial, which is under construction, and has quite a way to go to completion. 

Logging enough miles for the day, we returned to the room to do some reading and move to a different and smoke free room.  The room, just down the hall in this small hotel, has such a different feel because of lack of the smoke smell. 

A quiet evening…

Thursday, May 13, 2010 – At Sea – Pacific Ocean – Coast of Baja Mexico – 59F – Mostly Sunny

Beautiful sunrise on a chilly day at sea

Today to do list:

Finish the book I am reading (“By My Hands” – supernatural thriller written by a pastor; I also finished “Third Degree” by James Patterson) – done.

Present my final talk: “DNA Testing: Solving History’s Mysteries”.

The talk, scheduled for 2:30 PM in the Princess Theater was well attended – again about 250 plus people attended.  Great feedback from the attendees. 

I played some team trivia in the afternoon – only the second time for trivia on this cruise.  Our team won and I donated by prize (a tote bag) to the team.

Mike Marino, a very funny comedian, was the final act on this cruise.  A good one to quit on – very funny guy.

We are not walking off tomorrow so the bags are out in the hall by 10:30 PM.

This one is about over…

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – 80F - Mostly Sunny

A beautiful day in the Baja Peninsula…

We had originally requested an excursion but it was sold out – the office offered another tour but we decided to decline since all the tours departed at around 7:30 AM (we have to be there an hour earlier).  So today, we will explore Cabo San Lucas on our own.

Sunrise over Cabo San Lucas (the tenders are already operating)

Cabo is a tender port – we boarded our tender at about 8:30 AM for the short ride to the tender pier.   The ride gives us a great view of the Los Arcos rock formation (the arches are not visible from this angle) and the Island Princess.

Los Arcos Rock formation

Island Princess from tender

In the tender

Ellen at the Marina at Cabo San Lucas

 

Island Princess anchored (from the Cabo pier)

It was pleasantly warm in Cabo so we were able to walk through a good deal of the town (the population is only about 40,000).  Lots of shops, restaurants, and bars.  All in all, not much purchased but a very nice exploration of this resort town.  It’s an early departure today (2:00 PM) so we took an early tender back to the ship.

Island Princess from the returning tender

I had volunteered to give an additional talk on this short port day and the Cruise Director took me up on my offer so “Forensic Science: Novel DNA Testing” was scheduled for 2:15 PM in the Universe Lounge.  This is a smaller venue perfectly suited for a port day talk.

When I arrived at the Lounge at 1:45 PM there were already a fair number of people present.  I estimated at least 75 people attended this time and was told later by a number of passengers that they went to the Princess Theater (and thought my talk had been cancelled).  The venue worked out well and the talk was successful.

While I was talking, Ellen was capturing the scenic sail away from Cabo.

 

Sail Way - Cabo

Los Arcos Rock Formation (a mysterious fogginess present at the arch)

Adios Cabo San Lucas

The Princess Singers and Dancers performed their final production number tonight - “Motor City”.  The show, a tribute to Motown, was very entertaining.  The dancers don’t stand still very long but I was able to capture some of them during the show.

Motor City Production Show

Some lounge music, perhaps a dance or two, and this day is in the books.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 – At Sea – Pacific Ocean – Coast of Mexico – 77F – Mostly Cloudy

Another relaxing day at sea…

Another wonderful sunrise

The only real item on the schedule today is Presentation 5:  “DNA Testing:  Secrets of the Royal Families” in the afternoon.  The turnout again was very good – about 250 attendees – and the talk went well.

Performing in the Princess Theater tonight was Canadian singer, Lovena Fox.  She has done a lot of traveling Broadway Shows and has starred in Evita, Jekyll and Hyde, and Ragtime.  She was great, singing a wide variety of songs.  What made her show very interesting and different was the use of videos of her past performances (while she changed costumes). I was hoping she would include more of her Broadway songs – maybe next time.

Some lounge music and the day is over.