The trip to Soledad Canyon was easy and uneventful. We found a nice site at the Thousand Trails preserve in the B section, where we usually stay.
It’s interesting that they continue to have a substantial electrical problem in that area, and they do not seem to have any plans to fix the problem in the foreseeable future. It makes about 1/3 of the sites unusable, but it’s OK with us because it keeps down the congestion.
We came to Soledad because it is the closest TT preserve to Los Angeles, and it will be necessary to make several trips to (mostly) Pasadena this holiday season. For the first few days, we mainly got ready for Christmas---getting haircuts, making last-minute purchases, etc.
On Christmas, we went to Wendy’s for the family gathering.
Everyone was there. (Headline: Lauren Carroll returned her hair to the natural deep red it is. It looks great, and will likely fit in better than her recent Goth look in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where she is headed to college in January.)
The next day, we returned to Wendy’s because the Boggs clan was there, so we had another excuse to party.
Bill’s news was that he bought a Class C RV recently (a 24-foot Winnebago)---about a year ahead of his earlier plans---and expects to become a real RVer (though not full-time) some time next year.
In between other reasons to go to Pasadena, we (together) and Becky (separately) visited her dad several times. He’s home from the hospital as I write this, but he’s recovering very slowly and is a bit discouraged. He has 24-hour home care, so he’s at least well taken care of.
Becky found a gym nearby, so she is working out every morning these days. Zumba and spinning are now in her lexicon. My only exercise continues to be walking the dogs a few times a day.
In November, Becky received her annual voucher for a free dinner for two at The Jonathan Club in honor of our anniversary. The voucher was set to expire on January 2, so we decided to use it on Friday, December 30, also choosing to spend that night in one of the suites at the Town Club in downtown Los Angeles. Becky opted for the surf & turf special; while I settled for just the turf. Yummy!!!
On New Year’s Eve there was a party at our preserve. The highlight was a band with seven pieces (eight, if you count the leader who sang and occasionally played the maracas) that played a lot of oldies.
The band included a keyboard, a guitar, two saxophones, a trombone, a trumpet, and drums. They were pretty good, and Becky actually got me to dance a bit. In accordance with tradition, we left very early and were asleep by 9:00PM.
On New Year's morning, I continued a long-standing tradition by making my version of a Ramos Fizz. It's nothing like the real thing, but it works. I use lemon juice instead of orange flower water, vodka instead of gin, and soy milk instead of cream. I love it.
Over the New Year weekend, there were several great football games, and some lousy ones. In the Kraft Bowl, the Bruins forgot to suit up any offensive players, and at Denver, the Broncos put someone else in Tim Tebow’s uniform. Stanford lost a heartbreaker in triple overtime and Michigan and Michigan State won in heart-stopping fashion. And Oregon saved what is left of the Pac-12’s reputation by beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. It’s too bad Oregon’s uniforms are so consistently ugly.
The following Friday, we ventured to Pasadena to visit Bill Shelton again. He has improved quite a bit. We then went to West LA to have lunch at The Cheesecake Factory with Barbara Coad. We hadn’t seen her since Singapore. We had a belated Christmas with her.
On the way home, we realized why we hate Los Angeles so much. The traffic was horrendous getting out of West LA. There was so much gridlock, we rerouted ourselves twice, just trying to get to the 405 Freeway. Once we were on the freeway, it was bumper-to-bumper until we got halfway up the hill heading toward the San Fernando Valley. It didn’t help that it was Friday afternoon, but it was still ridiculous.
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