Monthly Archives: April 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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Rocks and Tacos . . .
Jan was getting her hair cut today at 2:30, so we headed out for lunch about 1pm, for our favorite Ultimate Omelets at Denny’s once again, and Angie, our favorite waitress.
Then after her haircut, we headed up to Webster for a quick stop at the office, and then a few things at the new HEB up there, before heading home for the night.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Rob, our park owner, was expanding to the property next door,
He had started clearing it of all the trash and debris.
And he’s still at work, taking out some of the trees, and trimming others back.
We talked to Rob a few days ago and he said he’s going to put 4 or 5 sites in now, and eventually he’ll wants to add sites all the way out to the road, almost doubling the size of the park.
It’s looking good.
Here’s some more of our 2010 visit to the LA area.
April 23, 2010
Esther’s Tacos and Mulholland Dr . . .
Today was a road trip day.
We left the the RV Park up in Lancaster about 9 am headed south to Esther’s Taco House in Placentia, CA about 100 miles away.
On the way I pulled over to take some shots of the Vasquez Rocks. Although they don’t look real impressive here, when you see them in person they really stand out. You’re driving along thru the high desert mountains, with the hills covered in scraggly scrub brush and small bushes.
Then you take a curve on the freeway and suddenly you encounter these massive rocks thrusting up from the surrounding land.
It turns out that this is the route of the San Andreas fault line, and these rocks have been pushed up from deep underneath the earth.
Named after an outlaw, Tiburcio Vásquez, who hid out here in the 1870’s and 80’s, the rocks have been featured in countless commercials, movies, and TV shows, including a famous Star Trek episode called “Arena’, where Capt. Kirk is fighting the reptilian Gorn. The rocks in the background here are here at Vasquez.
This upthrust formation also figures prominently in this show, and numerous others .
We got to Esther’s about 11 and sat down to a another great meal. We wanted to eat here one last time before we leave on Monday. And as before, it was really good. They make the best Chile Relleno I have ever eaten. And their enchiladas are delicious too.
Before we left Esther’s I called Park of the Sierras RV Park to be sure they would have a space for us on Monday. They said yes, so we’re good to go.
Our next destination was Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. It’s the oldest remaining part of the city, and some of the buildings date from the 1870’s.
Across the street from Olvera Street, we found Los Angeles’ famous Union Station train station. Built in 1939, it is known as the last of the great train stations built in the US. And, built in the Santa Fe style, it doesn’t really look like a train station. Many movies, commercials, and TV shows have been filmed here.
Coincidently, Union Station figured prominently in last night’s (4/22/2010) episode of ABC’s “Flashforward”.
Next we headed up I-405 and exited at Mulholland Dr.. We wanted to make the famed drive thru the Santa Monica Mountains to get a bird’s eye view of Los Angeles. And we certainly did.
It’s amazing how many homes are built along here, and, considering how many of them seem to be just hanging off the side of the hill, you can see how landsides can damage so many homes.
Seeing how this is California, i was hoping for some nude sunbathing, but no such luck.
Many stars have homes along here, such as Jack Nicholson, Pamela Anderson, Reece Witherspoon and Paris Hilton. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any stars, but we really enjoyed the drive.
We got home about 4 pm and settled in for the night.
And tomorrow we’re going to do it all over again. We’re going to drive back into LA to Playa del Rey on the coast, and then head north along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) up to Santa Barbara, before returning home.
Then Sunday, we’ll get ready to travel, before heading out on Monday to the Park of the Sierras RV park north of Fresno..
Although yesterday was Earth Day this year, I thought I repost my Earth Day blog from last year.
April 23, 2021
Earth Day Redux . . .
From A Coming Ice Age To Famine To Killer Bees, Acid Rain, and Global Warming, 50 Failed Climate Forecasts.
1. 1967: Dire Famine Forecast By 1975
2. 1969: Everyone Will Disappear In a Cloud Of Blue Steam By 1989
3. 1970: Ice Age By 2000
4. 1970: America Subject to Water Rationing By 1974 and Food Rationing By 1980
5. 1971: New Ice Age Coming By 2020 or 2030
6. 1972: New Ice Age By 2070
7. 1974: Space Satellites Show New Ice Age Coming Fast
8. 1974: Another Ice Age?
9. 1974: Ozone Depletion a ‘Great Peril to Life
10. 1976: Scientific Consensus Planet Cooling, Famines imminent
11. 1980: Acid Rain Kills Life In Lakes
12. 1978: No End in Sight to 30-Year Cooling Trend
13. 1988: Regional Droughts (that never happened) in 1990s
14. 1988: Temperatures in DC Will Hit Record Highs
15. 1988: Maldive Islands will Be Underwater by 2018 (they’re not)
16. 1989: Rising Sea Levels will Obliterate Nations if Nothing Done by 2000
17. 1989: New York City’s West Side Highway Underwater by 2019 (it’s not)
18. 2000: Children Won’t Know what Snow Is
19. 2002: Famine In 10 Years If We Don’t Give Up Eating Fish, Meat, and Dairy
20. 2004: Britain will Be Siberia by 2024
21. 2008: Arctic will Be Ice Free by 2018
22. 2008: Climate Genius Al Gore Predicts Ice-Free Arctic by 2013
23. 2009: Climate Genius Prince Charles Says we Have 96 Months to Save World
24. 2009: UK Prime Minister Says 50 Days to ‘Save The Planet From Catastrophe’
25. 2009: Climate Genius Al Gore Moves 2013 Prediction of Ice-Free Arctic to 2014
26. 2013: Arctic Ice-Free by 2015
27. 2014: Only 500 Days Before ‘Climate Chaos’
28. 1968: Overpopulation Will Spread Worldwide
29. 1970: World Will Use Up All its Natural Resources
30. 1966: Oil Gone in Ten Years
31. 1972: Oil Depleted in 20 Years
32. 1977: Department of Energy Says Oil will Peak in 1990s
33. 1980: Peak Oil In 2000
34. 1996: Peak Oil in 2020
35. 2002: Peak Oil in 2010
36. 2006: Super Hurricanes!
37. 2005 : Manhattan Underwater by 2015
38. 1970: Urban Citizens Will Require Gas Masks by 1985
39. 1970: Nitrogen buildup Will Make All Land Unusable
40. 1970: Decaying Pollution Will Kill all the Fish
41. 1970s: Killer Bees!
42. 1975: The Cooling World and a Drastic Decline in Food Production
43. 1969: Worldwide Plague, Overwhelming Pollution, Ecological Catastrophe, Virtual Collapse of UK by End of 20th Century
44. 1972: Pending Depletion and Shortages of Gold, Tin, Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, Aluminum
45. 1970: Oceans Dead in a Decade, US Water Rationing by 1974, Food Rationing by 1980
46. 1988: World’s Leading Climate Expert Predicts Lower Manhattan Underwater by 2018
47. 2005: Fifty Million Climate Refugees by the Year 2020
48. 2000: Snowfalls Are Now a Thing of the Past
49.1989: UN Warns That Entire Nations Wiped Off the Face of the Earth by 2000 From Global Warming
50. 2011: Washington Post Predicted Cherry Blossoms Blooming in Winter
Thought For The Day:
“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” – Vladimir Lenin
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