Daily Archives: April 24, 2022
Hartz, PCH, and Lufthansa . . .
We just hung around the rig all afternoon, finally leaving for lunch (linner?) about 3:30. And we decided to have lunch (linner?) at a place we haven’t been for probably about 40 years, Hartz Chicken Buffet. We used to go to the one in League City when our kids were still at home, but that was long ago.
Then back in December a new one opened over in Dickinson, so we thought we’d give it a try again. And it was really good.
For $12 (senior) we got about a dozen veggies, fried chicken, chicken tenders, fried fish, hot yeast rolls, desserts, and a drink.
A good deal, and good food too.
Next up is a repost of some of our 2010 adventures in California.
April 24, 2010
Pacific Coast Highway . . .
Today was our Pacific Coast Highway road trip.
Two years ago this past March we drove the first part of the PCH where it starts at San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point, up thru Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, and ending up in Long Beach. I sense a trend here.
We stayed at an RV Park in Long Beach right on the Pacific Ocean. That’s us on the far left.
And here was our view out the other way. The Queen Mary.
Anyway, today we drove into LA and got on the PCH near Playa del Rey and headed north.
Coming thru Venice Beach we encountered this strange sight. I’m not exactly sure why a CVS pharmacy has a transgendered clown on its marquee, but it is Venice Beach, after all. But this article about Clownerina explains it further.
Coming into Malibu we decided to stop for brunch at Marmalade Café right off the PCH. The place was really good, really yuppie, and really expensive. Jan had a short stack of blueberry pancakes with bacon and I had a tortilla scramble. And it was $33!
Leaving the café, we headed north again. About 3 miles down the road we came across the Malibu RV Park high on a cliff overlooking the PCH and the Pacific Ocean.
What a view! We may have to think about staying here a few nights when we come back this way next year.
Moving on along the PCH we started encountering some of the really scenic areas.
This shot I think I’ve seen in a lot of movies and TV shows. It’s Point Mugu.
Reaching Santa Barbara, we turned around and headed back, this time taking a different, more scenic route. Rather than go all the way back down to LA and back up, we cut across thru the Los Padres National Forest, to Ojai.
This is Lake Casitas, a 420 sq. mile lake that’s over 1000 ft up in the mountains, and it’s really a great view.
Along the route we passed thru Ojai (pronounced ‘O HIGH”), I had heard of the Ojai Valley before, and it’s easy to see why. It’s just one big garden. Tree farms, nurseries, fruit orchards with lemons, limes, and strawberries, sod farms, you name it.
Leaving Ojai, we passed thru Santa Paula, Fillmore, and on to Santa Clarita on I-5 Then it was a straight shot back to Lancaster and home, a total trip of about 300 miles.
Tomorrow will be a ‘rest up” and “get ready to travel” day, since we plan on leaving here Monday morning,and moving north about 230 miles closer to San Francisco.
And now we jump ahead to 2019, counting down the last few days before our big month-long European Vacation.
April 24, 2019
We Got The SuperJumbo Size . . .
Now that we’re getting down to nitty-gritty time I though I’d check out the planes that we’ll be flying on.
Turns out that our flight over, from Houston to Frankfurt, will be on an Airbus A380-800 SuperJumbo, the largest passenger plane now flying.
So now I’ll have the complete set since I’ve also flown on the previous ‘largest’, the Boeing 747, starting back in the ‘spiral staircase piano bar- lounge’ days.
Then from Frankfurt to Budapest we’ll be on an Airbus A321 for the short 90 minute flight.
Finishing up coming home, we’ll be on a United 787 Dreamliner flying from London back to Houston.
Flying back and forth from South America in the early 60’s, I flew on both the Douglas DC-7, a turboprop, and the DC-8, the first jet I ever flew on.
And flying between Colombia, S.A. cities, I flew on Ford Tri-Motors like this.
Mostly though, they were Ford Bi-Motors, I guess, because the centerline engine had been removed for more cargo space, and the wing-mounted engines were replaced with DC-3 engines to make up the power loss, and also allow them to fly over the high mountain passes in the Andes.
It gets a little scary when you’re flying ‘through’ Andean mountain passes with rock faces off both wings, and not ‘over’, because they just can’t fly that high.
Checking SeatGuru.com, I located the seating chart for our plane and flight, and found where our seats are located.
Note that by reserving seats on opposite sides of the aisle, we both get an aisle seat, yet we can still talk. And we did this on all our flights on this trip.
And also note that we’re seated in Standard Economy, I.e. the Cheap Seats. I thought it was kind of funny that the next level up is called Premium Economy.
Isn’t that kind of like Jumbo Shrimp or Non-Dairy Creamer,
Tomorrow we’ve got a few wrap-up things to do and then we’ll be ready to head out on Friday morning when our car service arrives.
Thought for the Day:
I’m becoming a cranky old person and it really annoys me.
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