March 29th: Back to Encinitas, Garage Project, Torack visit and Vancouver Friends Visit

 

Matt was going to be on a mountain biking trip for a week so Wendy decided to spruce up the garage as a surprise. The garage is actually Matt's biking haven. He keeps his bikes there, repairs and maintains them and has a stationary bike rack so he can train for hours virtually with other top athletes. Although I see it often, upon looking at the garage I realized it could use a face lift

Wendy preparing the wall

We took everything off of the walls. Then removed a lot of old dry wall tape, filled holes and repainted everything! 

Sometimes I think Linda is still looking out for me. She was always the "Supervisor." There were many projects Randy and I charged into only to be accused of lacking supervision. Like the time Randy and I were installing a window air conditioner on Guppy. We decided to drill a hole in the bottom tray to let the condensation drip out. We drilled the hole in the very corner confident that we wouldn't hit anything. All of a sudden there was a loud hissing noise. Linda and Cindy, who were not that close by said, "Sounds like you needed some supervision!" Where were we when we needed them. We were fortunate to find another air conditioning unit.  

First coat of paint

Anyway, the point of the story is that we first primed everything. Wendy trimmed and I followed with the roller. Next we put on the first coat of paint. (Always comes out better with two.) When I finished with the first coat I told Wendy, "We're going to need more paint." She said, "We should have plenty." She checked it out and here I had been using the primer for the second coat! We decided it should probably be okay. 

As it turned out, after putting the last coat of paint on, we were almost out of paint. Turns out paint doesn't go as far as primer. We used the little left to go over some spots that had some nasty stuff showing through slightly. That worked and it turned out great! And we didn't have to buy another gallon of paint! 

The garage was finished, Matt was duly impressed and appreciative. Next on the agenda was a visit from my niece Christi and her kids, JP and Kaitlyn. JP was on spring break from Washington University and Kaitlyn was on spring break from high school. They live in St. Louis. The purpose of the visit was to check out West Coast Universities and fortunately, pay us a visit.

VRBO L.A.

We rented a VRBO at Los Angeles close to Becky. It was a convenient location with plenty of space.

Rebecca, JP, Christi, Wendy, Aaron, Kaitlyn & Steve

We enjoyed hanging out at Becky's for a dunk in her swim spa and dinner. My great nephew Aaron, who lives in Venice Beach was able to join us. It was relaxing and enjoyable to catch up with everyone.

One of the Getty Museum bldgs.

The next day we went to the Getty Museum. It is an incredible museum on top of a mountain. The focus is art, gardens and fabulous architecture. You could spend a couple days going through all the art but we mostly spent time outside in the gardens.

View from the extensive gardens

You could spend a couple days going through all the art but we mostly spent time outside in the gardens.

View looking south

There is a 360 degree from the top of the Getty Museum. We could see the ocean, snow covered mountains, L.A., etc.

Van Gogh's Irises

Van Gogh's famous painting of Irises is on display as well as many other originals by famous artists

The museum admission is free except for parking. Getty was at one time the richest man in America. Fortunately, he left some of his money for others to enjoy.

Here is a link to info about J.Paul Getty Getty background

Here is a link to the Getty Museum website. Getty Photos

After the museum we HAD to go to the Persian Ice Cream Parlor on Wilshire Blvd. Kaitlyn in particular loves ice cream and searched the place out. It was kind of far and traffic but we had to check it out. Turned out it was worth it.

The flavors are unusual. Here is a link. Persian Ice cream flavors 

We had a very fun visit. The Toracks were flying out late in the afternoon so the plan was always to take in Venice Beach. Beside experiencing Venice Beach, they needed to see Aaron's place. (After all, he said he cleaned it up!) Wendy and I have been to Venice Beach. Fun once or twice but that's enough! Plus, I had just been there with Randy and Cindy.  We headed back to Encinitas knowing there would be a lot of traffic! We were correct!

Did I say March was a busy month. I met Ian Jukes around the turn of the century. I was looking for an educational speaker for our superintendents group. He was in high demand and I liked appreciated his  educational philosophy. I contacted him and he agreed to come for a session at minimal cost. The group I represented had little money so I offered to pick him up at the airport and have him stay at Linda's and my home. He said he would love to do that given all the travelling and hotel life he was used to.

We ended up talking late into the night about.... Boating of course! Turned out he had a 38 foot sailboat on Vancouver Island and loved to boat. He said, "Well you should come up for a sailing trip." I said I'd love to! I remember him saying, "Everybody says that but they don't follow thru. Don't say you want to unless you are going to come." I said, you tell me when, where and I'll be there. Turned out Linda joined me and we had a fabulous sailing trip up to Desolation Sound in Brittish Columbia. Here are some pictures from that very memorable trip.

We had a wonderful trip. I went on two more trips, (Linda decided it was lacking in creature comforts and sailing was too much work! It is a very isolated area.)

So we have stayed in touch the last 20 plus years. Ian travelled a little on the Chesapeake with Linda and me. Nicky, Ian's wife and he, visited us in California. It had been a long time since we had gotten together in person. Ian and I Facetimed every so often and he told me he and Nicky were presenting at the Malibu Library March 21st. Of course I wanted to get together. So back to L.A. I went Monday to pick them up at LAX. I found a VRBO that was conveniently located and they decided to stay for five days, 3 days after the presentation for fun. 

I took Nicky shopping Tuesday while Ian was fine tuning his presentation. We went to Walmart, and Ross Dress for Less. Nicky said there are some things she cannot get in Vancouver plus it's much less expensive. 4 hours later I said we need to get back! Nicky takes shopping to a whole new level. She brought two extra duffel bags to carry stuff back to Vancouver. 

My biking/boating friend Fran is a pediatrician and has 6 grandchildren. I told her about Ian's visit and she was interested. So I invited her to attend and spend some time with Ian and Nicky. We attended the presentation which was of course excellent. It focused on how education needs to change given technology, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGtp, etc. Reminded me of all the time I spent attempting to get critical thinking skills into the curriculum, constantly frustrated by the switch in emphasis to "Testing". Hopefully the work Ian and Nicky are doing will move us in a better  direction.

We had a 3 bedroom VRBO.  Fran planned to stay and came late Tuesday with a huge homemade apple pie! She stayed for the presentation. We hadn't eaten supper so after a torrential downpour driving through the canyon to get back, we went to Denny's for dinner. (Ian's favorite nostalgic place.) Nicky insisted we stop to get ice cream for the pie. Fortunately, I just got some to take out from Denny's. The pie was the best I've had that I can remember. 

We all like to talk so there was no down time.  

Steve, Karen, Fran, Nicky, Ian and Craig

Wednesday was a decompress morning and lunch  at the Newport Beach Yacht Club with Karen and Craig Rahn. I wanted them to meet each other, again all boaters. They are reciprocal members so we did not need to go the extra 45 minutes to get to their yacht club. We were supposed to go for an electric boat ride around the large harbor but the weather didn't cooperate. What to do? We decided the plan was to spend time together so we moved in front of the fireplace and talked for a couple hours! It worked out great.

Thursday was supposed to be a trip to the Universal Theme Park. But rain was forecast so we moved that to Friday. There was more shopping planned by Nicky. I was going to give her my car. But wonderful Fran said, "I'll go with you." I don't know Fran very well, but I know her definition of shopping is closer to mine. But she and Nicky got along great so away they went. They returned 5&1/2 hours later! When I checked on Fran she said it was fine and the conversation was great. She also was happy to get all her Easter shopping done for her three son's families!

Ian had said he wanted to go to a good Mexican restaurant while they were here. Apparently Vancouver doesn't do authentic Mexican! Becky recommended a place which worked out well. The portions were way too large, as you can see looking at Ian's plate, but the food was very tasty.

I got up early Friday to check the weather for Universal. The weather looked great. Went on line to get tickets. SOLD OUT! I called and asked if we could buy tickets at the gate. Nope! Then the more we talked about it we decided it would have been so crowded the lines would be horrendous. 

So.... Now what? We were going to my daughter Becky's for dinner. She took Ian and Nicky on an extensive tour of the Warner Brothers lot about ten years ago. They were very knowledgeable about the business and interested in everything. So they got an extensive tour from Becky. They consistently talk about that tour.  They wanted to reconnect with Becky. 

We learned that Nicky had never been to the Getty Museum. After considering options the Getty won. Ian's foot was bothering him so he stayed home. Of course I had just been to the Getty the week before, but that was okay. It's a big place. I had told Fran and Nicky about the Persian Ice Cream. Turns out Nicky loves ice cream! It was getting late because Fran was planning to drive home that night, but ice cream was on the list! We again all enjoyed it. And Fran said, "We need to take some for Becky!" I suggested the Taro-Uber which is my favorite. We also took the one remaining piece of apple pie for Becky. She ate it after we left and also said it was the best she could remember! And Taro-Uber is her favorite flavor. Lucky guess!

So now it was our final night. Nicky is an amazing packer. They had two large suitcases, two duffel bags and two back packs. That included the equipment Ian needed for his presentation. Their flight was at 8am Saturday morning. Hmmmm.... International flight, 3 hours ahead of boarding! What were they thinking! No wonder Fran went home Friday night. In spite of that Ian and I were up until almost midnight talking. I said it doesn't make much difference when we're getting up at 4:30am. Actually it all went well, no traffic to LAX and no traffic on my way back to my place in Encinitas. I did take an extensive "Nap" when I got back.

Here is a link about Ian and Nicky. They are the most laid back people you could ever meet but the work they are doing is worth following. They have presented literally, all over the world.

Ian Jukes

Books written by Ian Jukes

Dr Nicky Mohan

So, success! I met my goal to catch up before going to Arizona to see Tom, Ohio to visit with family, Hershey, PA for Erica's wedding, Exton, PA to see my niece's family back to Cleveland for my physical and then back to Encinitas!