Straight out of Compton

[Spock]

Back from California-Night 1 was in Furnace Creek area of Death Valley. 120 in Death Valley-Hottest I have ever experienced, but other areas were 112 to 115-so not much difference really. I kept telling the kids that it is a dry heat, so that means it was not really hot. They started hitting me after I said that about 20 times. Enjoyed walking is a small area of sand dunes. Not many US tourists there-bulk of people were western Europeans.

Businesses in national park areas tend to import a lot of young seasonal workers from other countries, I joked how the ones who got a slot in summertime Death Valley, must of drawn the short straw, as compared to Yellowstone, etc.

Night 2 was in Kernville, just north of where they had the big fire recently. Did a whitewater kayak thing. Water was too low for the big rafts, so we did 2 man kayaks. Highlight was that Littlest Spock(13) got to be in the same kayak with a very attractive 16YO female guide-so we got to give him some guff about that. Saw some sequoias, etc. I really liked this area of the southern Sierra Nevadas. Also enjoyed seeing the heavily agricultural Central Valley.

Stayed 6 nights in at Mrs Spock's uncle's house in Huntington Beach-cool there compared to everywhere else. Traffic, Traffic, Traffic-sat in a 3 hour traffic jam on the 5 south of Bakersfield due to an accident plus a couple hours on the 405 on the way to Huntington. It would really suck to live in a place where every destination has to be weighed due to traffic concerns.

Went to the Reagan Library and museum in Simi Valley. Absolutely beautiful area. My kids scare me, they were more excited about going to the Reagan stuff than they were about going to the beach. The boys actually resisted going to the beach.

Angel's game-Li'l Spock only has 13 major league ballparks left to visit. I started cheering for the Rangers, but switched to the Angels. Li'l Spock said that unless it is a team that you hate, you usually end up cheering for the home team. Got to see a Mike Trout home run, so that was cool.

Visited Mrs Spock's cousin in Corona, an absolutely beautiful area. She had graduated from Compton High in 1956, and said it was a beautiful area then. That branch of the family runs several businesses and she had recently asked a couple of their African-American truck drivers if they would take her to Compton, just to see the old stomping grounds. Their answer was "No way in hell, we won't even go there, and it would not be safe for you."

Got a quick tour of one of their factories where they retread Michelin tires. It was neat to see some of the local non-tourist/non-entertainment area jobs.

[BackInTex]

Nice trip!

[Bob Juch]

California was nice before it had four times the number of people who lived there when I was born.

[MarleysGh0st]

I kept telling the kids that it is a dry heat, so that means it was not really hot.

Yeah, try telling that to your Thanksgiving turkey.