The Trip: 2004
Southern California
December 24, 2004 - December 31, 2004


 
It is difficult for me to know exactly when to start this narrative. Should it begin in December 2004 when we left our home in College Station, or several months earlier with the arrival of a 16 year old girl from Thailand named Mint? Kathleen and I had agreed to host a foreign exchange student without a clue as to how it was ultimately to affect our lives. Mint turned out to be a delightful young lady, very attractive, smart and polite. She was very familiar with America culture, knowing MTV, HBO, The Gap, and Orlando Bloom. In many ways, she was just like any 16 year old American girl! Before her arrival, Mint had emailed us and said that if she could visit four places in the U.S., they would be, New York City, Los Angeles, Hershey, Penn. (for the chocolate) and somewhere with snow, so she could learn to snowboard. Her request motivated this, our California trip. 
December 17, 204 Friday
We had hoped to leave College Station as soon as Kathleen got off work at 4:00 P.M.; however, I was slightly taken off guard when she arrived early at 2:00. After a bit of harried final packing, we were heading out the door at 2:20. Starting mileage in our 3 year old 2001 Toyota 4-Runner was 51,331.

By 5:30 we were arriving in San Antonio to drop off our two dogs, Jack (the 'little black dog'- a Chow cross) & Merlin (the 'big white dog'- a Great Pyrenees), with my mother. Mom loves both ‘the boys’, but it was still hard to pull away. We were abandoning our pups for two whole weeks! Hope they behave themselves and don’t miss us as much as I know we will be missing them.

After a final Mexican food fix at La Fogota (a Brooks Family favorite), Kathleen, Mint and I started off on the first leg of our journey, a planned marathon drive straight through from San Antonio, TX. to Tucson, AZ. We left San Antonio at 8:30 P.M. (slightly ahead of Kathleen’s 9:00 deadline) and headed out of town, west on IH-10, 

I have a new ‘toy’ on this trip, a hand held Magellan Meridian GPS. According to it, it is 767 miles to Tucson. I started driving the first leg and the women promptly fell asleep. About an hour outside of SA Mint awoke to ask if we were still in Texas! This is going to be a long drive for that girl. 

Dec. 18, 2004 Saturday
About midnight Kathleen took over the driving. We passed through El Paso and into New Mexico about 5:30 A.M. and soon there after were stopped at a New Mexico boarder crossing checkpoint. Mint was a little concerned when they ask for her identification papers but they allowed us through without much of a delay. Mint has now visited three U.S. states, Hawaii, Texas and New Mexico. Before we return to C.S. she will have added two more (Arizona & California). 

We put the passenger seat in the back of the 4-Runner down to create a makeshift bed, but it is something less than successful. Not quite as comfortable as our bed back home, but it will have to do.

An amazing thing happened this morning… we actually arrived in Tucson ahead of our schedule. We had thought that we would be pulling into Tucson around 3:00 in the afternoon. However, we left San Antonio ahead of schedule, I forgot to take into consideration the time change, and, finally, we simply made much better time than I had expected. Instead of 3:00 P.M., we arrived Tucson 10:30 A.M., local time. 

We immediately headed over to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. What a wonderful place. We spent several hours in the museum looking at displays of desert wildlife and vegetation. There were several docents about who were happy to talk about the desert environment, plant & wildlife and history. Had a fabulous few hours! We finished our visit to the Desert Museum with a trip through their wonderful gift shop; we picked up a few gifts for the folks back home in the process.

We had planned on spending the night in Tucson with a friend of Bill’s, Roger Repp. However, we were far ahead of schedule, and still feeling relatively fresh, so we simply decided to blitz on into California. I was particularly disappointed not to be able to meet Roger & his wife, for I had been exchanging emails with them for some time. After leaving messages of regret on the Repp's answering machine, we were back on the road.

We left Tucson at about 1:45 P.M….. Arrived in Valencia, CA at Kathleen relatives, the Poduska’s (Marilyn, Jerry) at 10:30 P.M. It had been a long, hard drive!          

Dec. 19, 204 Sunday
Slept like the dead last night, but arose (by noon!)  ready to start seeing the sights. Today we left the Poduska’s at 1:30 and drove down to Venice & Santa Monica Beaches. Venice was interesting.. We walked about 3 miles down the boardwalk, checking out all the vendors’ stalls and street entertainment. It was cool, but not uncomfortably so. Kathleen was disappointed that there were not more ‘alternative lifestyles’ apparent. I just enjoyed the people-watching.

We walked all the way from the Southern end of Venice Beach to the Ferris Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier Boardwalk. Kathleen stopped to listen to a fabulous Korean one-man band.

Leaving the pier, we headed up to 3rd street, a pedestrian shopping mall. Many of the street entertainers had moved from Venice Beach up here. There were face painters, singers, dancers, acrobats! It was great fun just watching the entertainment. There were also wonderful Christmas decorations and some neat shops, including one of the better toy stores I have been in lately. We also visited a fabulous gem & fossil shop which had museum quality pieces for sale.

We returned to the Poduskas by 9:00, and were in bed and by 10:30.

Dec. 20, 2004 Monday
DISNEYLAND!

What can you say about Disneyland?!!! It was fabulous! Even Mint was greatly impressed by this ‘amusement park’. Mint has been asking about Disneyland, saying she wasn’t particularly interested in an ‘amusement park’…. In fact, prior to coming out here, both Mint and Kathleen had both voted to skip Disneyland. I had to overrule them. How can you visit Los Angeles without going to Disneyland????

(Later: both Kathleen and Mint agreed that Disneyland was probably the high point of the entire trip- so I felt somewhat vindicated in insisting we go)

I had found a computer program (RideMax) online. This application keeps track of estimated crowds and hours of operation, to optimize your visit. You simply enter in the days you plan on attending, the times you want to arrive and leave the park, and the rides you want to go on, and the program gives you a complete, minute to minute schedule of your day. It even keeps track of the new ‘FastPass’ options which allow you to pick-up a ‘front of the line’ pass at one time and use it at another. This schedule was WONDERFUL! We saw basically everything we wanted to in ONE DAY!... and all the time fighting extremely heavy holiday crowds.

Here are the rides we hit on our single day at Disneyland:

We arrived at Disney about 8:20 in the morning, 20 minutes after the park opened and our scheduled arrival time. This nearly ruined our RideMax schedule for the rest of the day. However, we were able to skip the first few rides and come back to pick them up during breaks later in the day.

We ran out of the park at 10:00 P.M., during the fireworks…. We were able to get away just ahead of the final crush of traffic. We stopped at a Jack in the Box on the way home and ate dinner in the car. Home by 12:00, asleep by 12:30! 

Mint loved Disneyland!!!! Wooh-Hoo!!!! Her favorite rides were the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, and the Star Wars inspired show, Star Tours. Kathleen loved our first ride, Alice in Wonderland (which we did twice!), and enjoyed everything afterward except Innoventions. I agree with Kathleen on Innoventions, it just wasn’t much. However, how can you decide what is ‘best’ at Disneyland? I enjoyed the new rides like Indiana Jones & Star Tours, but the old rides like Alice & Peter Pan were, in their own way, just as much fun (and they brought back wonderful memories of my visit here as a child). I did wonder, however, how everything got so small ? As a kid I remember the grounds of Disneyland, the Matterhorn & such as being so much bigger!

Dec. 21, 2004 Tuesday
Still exhausted from our drive out and Disneyland. Slept late and didn’t leave 'home' till 11:00. Marilyn volunteered to guide us today and drove us on a tour of Hollywood. We visited Marilyn & Jerry’s son, Paul, for a tour of his company's sound studio (SounDelux). This was a major Hollywood sound studio. SounDelux has done the sound on a number of major motion pictured (Kathleen and I had to buy the DVD of the movie Airforce One because Paul had a credit in it). I think Mint was most impressed by seeing a short scene of a movie, which is still in production. She saw part of a movie that only a handful of people in the world have seen! 

We saw Mann’s Chinese Theater, The Hollywood Walk of Fame, and The Kodak Theater (where the Academy Awards show is). Paul took us out for a wonderful lunch of California specialty pizzas at a restaurant which had a view of the Hollywood sign.  Later we drove a short way through heavy traffic to Rodeo Dr. We parked (paying $8 for parking- YIKES!) and walked for a couple of hours through some of the most exclusive shops in the U.S. (they have crystal chandeliers for street lights). It was an experience seeing art galleries with real Picassos and Rembrandts hanging on the walls with price tags on them! I think Mint was the only one in our party who felt right at home. Marilyn later commented that,  “Mint walks into shops on Rodeo Dr. with the same confidence that most of us have walking into Wal Mart”. Boy, can that girl shop!

Home and in bed by 11:30. No early to bed, for us!

Dec. 22, 2004 Wednesday
Up and away from our home by 6:45. Stopped at Denny’s for a huge breakfast, then started driving south. It took us about 3 hours to reach our first stop of Newport Beach. There are 9,000 pleasure craft berthed at Newport. This is one of the largest berthings of privately owned yachts in the U.S. It is also some of the most exclusive real estate in California. An average home here (on a TINY lot) is well over $5,000,000. We passed one home which had just been sold. It was the only 1 story home on the island, a tiny little house, and by far the cheapest in the area. It went for $3.5M!!!! Another home had just been sold for $7.8M. The new owner had promptly demolished the existing home to make room for a completely new home. Must be nice to have that kind of money.

We took a 1.5 hour boat tour of the harbor. We passed homes that had once belonged to Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Shirley Temple. The homes themselves were impressive, but the yachts were incredible. We saw one yacht owned by Dennis Roddman, others were owned by the CEOs of fortune 500 companies. Many included swimming pools and hot tubs on deck. My favorite was owned by the local Boy Scout Troop. My scout troop never owned their own yacht!

Mint was in Heaven. She really enjoys seeing how the Rich & Famous live. Personally, it is getting a bit old for Kathleen and I. I don’t particularly enjoy seeing the trappings of ostentatious wealth. I am quite happy with our modest life style 

We left Newport shortly after noon and drove a bit further south, down Hwy 101 to Laguna Beach. Mint had ask several times if we could visit Laguna Beach. She had seen it on some reality TV show, and, of course, seeing it on TV just made it seem much more attractive. Kathleen had lived in Laguna many years ago and had memories of a fabulous pizza place and exploring the tide pools. She was amazed by how things had grown up. I guess this is true of almost everywhere in California. We ate lunch at the same pizzeria (BJ’s) that Kathleen remembered from so many years ago. This was one of the best meals we have had out here. Great! The pizzeria is also part of a micro-brewery. Kathleen and I tasted a couple of their brews, and they were fabulous as well.

After lunch Mint went shopping (what else?), while Kathleen and I headed for the beach to explore the tide pools. I had not had a chance to do this since our family trip to Maine years ago. It was wonderful! The rocks were covered with barnacles and muscles; we saw numerous sea anemones and even caught a sea slug. A bit further down the beach there was a family who were feeding an octopus which lived in the cracks in a tide pool. I shot many pictures, but couldn’t capture the magic of the place. Mint did not seem to enjoy her shopping nearly as much as Kathleen and I enjoyed exploring the tide pools.

We were home and in bed by midnight. These are getting to be LONG days (and short nights).

Dec. 23, 2004 Thursday
Slept late again today. We didn’t leave the Poduska house until 11:00! 

Headed straight out to the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum. What a wonderful museum! I was last here back in 1968 and all there was was an exhibit of archaeologists excavating the tar under a huge enclosure. Today there is the fabulous Page Museum on the site. We saw skulls of dire wolves, sloth, mastodons & mammoth. There were movies about paleontology and the history of the site. Kathleen and I were thrilled for nearly 2.5 hours, and could have stayed much longer…. I think even Mint was mildly entertained.

After La Brea, we drove back to the 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica. We had an hour or so to kill before heading over to the ritzy Koi Restaurant in Hollywood. The Koi was Mint’s idea. She and her parents gave the evening to Kathleen & I as a Christmas present. I think a secondary motivation might have been Mint’s hope to see some TV & movie stars, but it was still a very thoughtful gift. Mint made reservations for us three weeks ago, over the Internet. The Koi is a very prestigious restaurant frequented by the who's-who of Hollywood. It was the first place I had ever visited where a group of Pavarotti were stationed at the main entrance to shoot pictures of visiting celebrities. They somehow resisted taking our picture. Dinner was excellent. We began with Scallop California Rolls, Kathleen had Black Cod, Mint had Salmon, and I had some of the best Skirt Steak I’ve ever eaten. For desert Kathleen had a trio of ‘Crème Bruele’, vanilla, chocolate and green tea. Mint and I had decadent Chocolate Cake. Mint was thrilled to see a man she believed was an actor on a day-time soap opera. All in all, it was quite an experience. Of course, we paid for it in the end. Or total bill came to $180!!!! Yikes! 

I have been fighting allergies and an oncoming cold since we arrived in California. Our daily pace hasn’t helped any…. I think it is catching up with me!

Dec. 24, 2004 Friday
Today we visited Universal Studios. We arrived just at opening, at 9:00, to sparse crowds. We still broke down and bought ‘front of the line’ passes, remembering how valuable these had been in Disneyland. As it turned out, the crowds were such that we probably shouldn’t have bothered. We arrived at 9:00 and stayed until about 4:30. In between we saw all the major attractions except the tribute to Lucille Ball and the Nickelodeon section. We saw:
 We all agreed the Van Helsing was the least impressive show of the day. It was only a glorified haunted house. Both The Mummy & Jurassic Park were very good roller coaster type rides. Jurassic Park ended with a giant T-Rex breaking through the ceiling and attacking your car and your just escaping in time, down a 50 foot drop into a pool of water! I liked that one. 

Terminator 2 & Shrek were both 3D movies, and were both excellent. I voted Terminator my favorite of the day. Kathleen also thought the Terminator show was best, however, she also liked the tram ride, which included tours of the back lot, but also put you in the middle of an earthquake, falling on a collapsing bridge & an attack by the giant shark from Jaws. Mint liked the tram tour, The Mummy roller coaster & Back to the Future.

We were ‘home’ to the Poduskas’ house by 5:30, in time to eat dinner and socialize with our hosts and the kids.

I might put in an aside here. I mentioned earlier that I had a new 'toy' on this trip. It is a hand held GPS (Global Positioning) unit, the Meridian Magellan Platinum. On it is installed the Mapsend DirectRoute software. With this software-hardware combination, you can simply type in your destination (the GPS already knows your current location) and the device displays efficient, turn by turn, street level directions! This trip is the first time I have had access to a GPS navigation system of any kind, and it has proven invaluable for navigating the labyrinthian highways and back streets of Los Angeles.

I have included many technological 'firsts' on this trip. This is the first time I have relied entirely on a digital camera (an Olympus C-720) instead of my old reliable 35mm Canon A1 or F1. It is also the first trip I've taken with a cell phone in my pocket. It is nice to be connected to home & family while on the road. Finally, it is the first time I have brought a laptop computer along (an IBM 600E). I needed the computer to upload and store GPS data, as well as downloading pictures shot on my digital camera. I also used the laptop, rather than the 'old fashion' pen and paper, to record my journal. We have come a long way from the family vacations I took when I was young. As long as my batteries last... Hip-Hip-Hurray for technology!

Dec. 25, 2004 Saturday- Christmas Day
We spent the entire day with the Poduska family, sharing good food, fellowship and presents! What a delightful family to spend Christmas Day with. After much food, and opening presents, the ‘young people’ gathered on the back porch to play poker. Now, Kathleen and I are not poker players…. and the Poduska boys are! In fact, at least two major gifts were beautiful sets of poker chips. We were not playing for money, only chips, but Kathleen and I ended up the big winners! We cleaned them out! Of course, they may have let us, but I prefer to think it was our inherent gambling skill.  It was nice to have this time to get to know our wonderful in-law cousins.

Dec. 26, 2004 Sunday
Today we slept late and awoke to another fabulous brunch with the Poduska clan. One side note here. Mint received a call on her cell phone from Camille Cross this morning. Camille wanted to make sure Mint was aware of the earthquake in the Indian Ocean. Apparently it was a huge quake which generated a tsunami which, in turn, did a tremendous amount of damage to areas of Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the islands of Thailand. The last I heard, there were 155,000 estimated deaths. This may well be the most destructive natural disaster in recorded history. To the best of our knowledge, none of Mint’s family was affected. 

We gave our heartfelt thanks to the family who had both put us up, and put up with us! By 1:30 we were packed and on the way to Big Bear Lake where we will be staying at the Poduska’s cabin and Mint will be taking snow boarding lessons.

We missed a cut off somehow and ended up taking the southern route to Big Bear. We drove right through San Bernadino and then turned north toward our destination. The road from San Bernadino into the mountains is quite a drive. You start out at about 2,000 ft. and, within about 20 miles are above 7,0000 ft. We saw ample evidence of the recent fires which decimated this area. Still, it was quite a beautiful drive. 

We arrived in Big Bear and drove directly to the Snow Summit ski area. We had feared that we would not be able to get Mint her classes and lift tickets; they only allow a certain number of skiers on the mountain per day. However, it turned out not to be a problem. We signed Mint up ($145.00 for 8 hours of instruction and two days of rentals and lift tickets), and headed over to the cabin to unpack and settle in.

The Poduska's cabin is very nice. It is an ‘A-frame’ with two bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom, dinning room-kitchen & living area downstairs. Quiet, quaint and cozy. After unpacking we set out to eat dinner at a local Thai restaurant, it was excellent. Mint and I left Kathleen back at the cabin to rest up and we went to pick up some supplies at the grocery store. We hit both the local Vons & K-Mart, picking up everything from Chapstick and hot chocolate, to microwave popcorn! At 7:00 P.M. we returned to the ski lodge to pick up Mint’s rental snow board & boots. Mint ask if they had any ‘Roxy’ boards, I ask if they had any high-heal ski boots…. It made the attendants chuckle. 

Kathleen and I were in bed by 9:00. Mint was still trying on Ski gear when we faded off to sleep. Kathleen and I both had rough night. My sinus-cold-allergy is making sleep very difficult. Kathleen woke in the early morning feeling very dizzy and it has continued, on and off, all day. We hope it is simply a bit of dehydration and possibly a touch of altitude sickness, but we shall see.

Dec. 27, 2004 Monday
After a very rough night’s ‘sleep’, I drove Mint up to the slopes for her first day of snow boarding. Mint’s first class is at 8:45. Made it in the nick of time and waved goodbye. She will be calling us to pick her up for her lunch break (before returning for her second 1:45 class). While we wait Kathleen is reading in the living room and I’m catching up on my journal, typing it directly into my laptop. My, how things have changed from the good old days of pen and paper. Kathleen and I both feel the need of a little down-time. I'm still suffering with a cold but Kathleen seems to have gotten over her altitude sickness.

Mint returned from the slopes at about 4:30. She started changing clothes and warming up. I headed to the grocery store to pickup supplies. We now have enough supplies to carry us through the next couple of days.

Had a great dinner of frozen lasagna and ended the night sitting in front of a fire watching the Trials of Life (DVDs I gave to Kathleen for Christmas) on my laptop (there isn't a TV at the cabin). Mint was bored by the nature shows and went to bed early, but Kathleen and I enjoyed the evening immensely!

Dec. 28, 2004 Tuesday
Kathleen woke up Mint this morning at 6:30 to see the snow coming down. Kathleen was afraid it might stop snowing at any minute…. She need not have worried. It snowed and sleeted on and off all day. By 5:00 P.M. we had accumulations of nearly 4”. The National Weather Service has issued a ‘winter storm’ warning and says there could be as much as 2’-3’ by Thursday. Needless to say, we are studying our options concerning travel plans.

We dropped Mint at the slopes this morning for a 9:45 class. Kathleen and I then started looking for snow chains (which are required by California law in this area during snowy conditions). I quickly realized that I have odd sized tires on the 4-Runner. I had to stop at 5 stores before I finally found the correct size. We returned to the cabin and I put the tire chains on, but as soon as we started driving, I realized that something was wrong. I stopped on the side of the road to tighten the chains and a passing van splashed me with a wave of dirty brown slush! Urgggh! Continuing on our way I once more realized that our chains were still not right. This time I stopped at a garage. It turned out that the chains I bought were not exactly the correct size & needed to be modified to fit our truck. 1.5 hours (most of that time spent waiting in line) and a quick $30 later, we were on our way with correctly installed & fitted chains….. just in time to pickup Mint for lunch.

Mint was soaking wet and freezing cold when she hopped in the car, so….. after dropping Mint & Kathleen off at the cabin, I gathered Mint’s ski clothing and headed for the local laundry mat. While I dried her clothes, Kathleen fed Mint a nourishing hot lunch. I did learn a valuable lesson…. Don’t put jackets with lift tickets attached in a dryer. It turns the ticket black!

Unfortunately, by the time we were able to make it back to the Summit Ski Area and run through guest relations to obtain a new lift ticket, we had missed Mint’s last instructional class by 5 minutes. Mint decided to spend the afternoon on her own, and I arranged a third day of lift tickets & equipment rental for her. She didn't loose her instruction, it will simply be moved to tomorrow.

Filled the truck up with gas today. Regular Unleaded was $2.39/gal.…. Yikes! Quite a jump from the $1.62/gal we had been paying in College Station just prior to this trip.

At this point we are just watching the weather and waiting. We might pack up tomorrow afternoon and make a run for lower elevations, or we might follow our original plan and wait until Thursday morning…. We shall see.

Dec. 29, 2004 Wednesday
Traveled from snow to snow today.

Dropped Mint off at the mountain at 9:00 so she could get in one last lesson. The weather is cold and blustery, with blowing snow and sleet; however, there is over a foot of fresh powder on the ground. It snowed HARD last night! Kathleen and I packed while Mint was snow boarding.

We received a call this morning from our College Station neighbor, Suzy Mills. She wanted us to know that it appears there is a water line break in our yard. Juts what we wanted to hear. It turns out that a line had burst, but that it was across the back yard from our house. About the only problem we had was that upon returning home we found our water turned off! Minor problem…. it could have been much worse.

We picked Mint up at 12:30. Though she loved snow boarding, she had had enough of the cold and wet! We had a quick lunch of leftovers (lasagna & King Ranch casserole), and were on the road by 2:30. The roads were passable, but it was snowing very hard once again. I think we made a wise decision to leave in the ‘heat of the afternoon’ rather than the wee-cold hours of the morning. An hour after leaving the snows of Big Bear we were in the high desert. The roads were clear and the air was clean!

We stopped beside the road, way out in the middle of nowhere, to show Mint what the night sky really looks like. Coming from Bangkok, one of the largest cities in the world, Mint had never seen a truly 'starry night'. She was amazed by all the stars, and we could even make out the Milky Way. Kathleen and I pointed out many of the Winter constellations; however, the darkness, without the constant lights of a big city, made Mint very uncomfortable. Mint is a 'city-girl', through & through, and she wasn't entirely happy until we were once again locked in our car, safe from the terrors of the desert night, and moving on down the highway.

By 10:00 P.M. we were on IH-40, near the Grand Canyon and once more, were seeing patches of snow beside the highway. By 1:30 A.M. we were ensconced in our warm 2-bedroom hotel room in Flagstaff!

Dec. 30, 2004 Thursday
Woke up to icy conditions in Flagstaff, but once out of the parking lot, the main roads were dry & plowed. We back-tracked a bit today and were standing on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon by 10:30. It was a beautiful site, but it was also quite cold and blustery. Mint joined Kathleen and me on the rim long enough to have her picture taken, then retreated to the car. I can’t imagine how Mint would rather sit in the car than enjoy one of the most beautiful vistas in the world.  Guess her 16 year old priorities are just different from us old folks.

After spending an hour and a half or so hiking along the rim trail and enjoying the canyon vistas, we made a quick stop at the Grand Canyon visitor center and gift shop. By noon we were back on the road, heading toward Flagstaff. When we left the park we saw a line of cars nearly a mile long waiting to enter the park. We planned this stop well. We stopped for lunch at the ‘Happy Pig’ restaurant in Flagstaff…. strange place, but good food, and then headed South-East toward El Paso.

We stopped at a few road side Indian shops along the way. Kathleen picked up some beautiful Hopi jewelry as gifts (the Hopi & Navajo are among the finest silversmiths in the states)…. Mint choose not to come in, and simply waited in the car. We also ran across one of the most amazing petrified wood shops I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting, the Petrified Wood Co. of Holbrooks, AZ. This shop had table sized, sections of polished petrified wood, beautiful fossils, and all things gem & mineral. Though the prices were steep enough to make Kathleen & I wince, we enjoyed looking as much as we would have in any museum.

Dec 31, 2004 Friday
Our original plans were to stop in El Paso for the night, but, though it was shorter, driving through the mountains on Hwy 180 turned out to be much slower than sticking to the Interstate and going through Albuquerque would have been. I hardly averaged more than 45 MPH on this twisty-turny-hilly road. Too bad we drove this section after dark; from what I was able to make out, it must have been a spectacularly beautiful drive. We hit Demming, NM at about 10:30, ate a late dinner at Denny’s and decided to stop for the night. Unfortunately, there were no hotel rooms available. No problem, we had Las Cruces and El Paso just down the road.

We were unable to find a hotel with vacancies in either Las Cruces or El Paso. By the time we passed through El Paso, it was well after midnight. Kathleen was driving and decided to simply head on down IH 10 East toward San Antonio. Just before dawn I switched out driving with Kathleen. She was out like a light and I headed on into the dawn, and an incredibly heavy fog. The fog was thick enough that when we stopped for gas at 10:00 A.M., I was unable to tell in what direction the sun had come up! We pulled into Mom's driveway in San Antonio about 11:00 A.M., tired and extremely sleepy. Dropped off for a couple-hour nap and then Kathleen & I ran out to eat at Jacalas (another Brooks family favorite) for dinner (Mint had eaten dinner at Mom's while Kathleen and I were napping). Mexican food began, and ended our vacation.

After dinner and a bit of socializing with the family, we headed out for the last leg of our journey, back to College Station. Arrived home by 9:00 P.M. Unpacked the car and now, as I type up the final notes of my journal, Mint is watching the MTV New Year’s Eve Celebration on TV.

Final mileage: 55,257
Total trip mileage: 3,926 mi.

January 1, 2005 Saturday
Spent this, our first full day home, unpacking, cleaning house, putting away Christmas decorations and watching the New Years Day Rose Bowl parade and a ‘Monk’ marathon on TV.

It is always exciting to leave on a trip, but it is great to come home again!

And here the journal ends.

[note]
We did not realize at the time that the snow we experienced in Big Bear was simply the beginning of a real problem for California. Ten days after we left, California is suffering from some of the heaviest snows and rain it has experienced in years. This has caused massive landslides and a great deal of flooding. As of Jan. 10, Big Bear Valley is completely cut off from the outside world. The only three highways leading into the valley are closed due to landslides and road damage. On the plus side, they currently have 48" of new snow.
Bob Brooks

 
2004 Christmas break
Southern California

Mint (Patcharaorn Bhuntuvech), a 16 year old foreign exchange student from Thailand, came to stay with us for the 2004-2005 school year. This vacation was designed to show Mint as much of America's South-West as possible in a very short time.

The morning of our second day on the road, we drove into Tucson, AZ. and stopped at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Mint seemed to enjoy the big, multi-armed Saguaro Cactus which can live to be well over 150 years old and are found nowhere but in the Sonoran Desert.

Since we were visiting the museum on a Saturday, the docents were giving talks on desert ecology and wildlife. One had this Harris's Hawk available for visitors to view much closer than could be done in the wild.

In the U.S., even our Prariedogs are laid-back.

Desert cactus show a variety of shapes, sizes and textures.

Some have tiny hooks on their spines.

Almost every plant in the desert is equipped with thorns!

Many cacti make the desert landscape look like a scene from another planet.

Venice Beach

A great place to people-watch.... At least, I think all these characters qualify as 'people'!

Some of the performers, such as this acrobatic family, were really quite good.

It was a beautiful day to spend on the beach. 75 degrees in the middle of December.

Mint & Kathleen on Venice Beach

Mint & Kathleen right next door on Santa Monica Beach

Santa Monica Beach, as seen from the famous Santa Monica Pier.

And..... the famous Santa Monica Pier, complete with board walk & amusement rides!

The 'Happiest Place on Earth'... DISNEYLAND!

The current map to Disneyland.

Everyone should recognize the entrance to Fantasy Land.

It's a Small World, day....

And night.

Some of the rides were almost scary.... almost.

I have never seen crowds so large and well behaved as we encountered in Disneyland.

In this magical realm, you may visit pirates, Tarzan's tree house, ride a Mississippi paddle wheeler or go into space.

I've seen toys come to life!

And living snowflakes on roller skates!

And they were pretty, too!
What a wondrous place.

Mint enjoyed seeing The Kodak Theater where the red carpet is rolled out on Academy Award Nights.

We visited all the sights in Hollywood, including the Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theater and the 'Hollywood Sign'.

The start of the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

The footprints of 'The Duke'.... John Wayne.

Of course, my 'heroes' will always be the stars of StarTrek.

...The original series, of course.

Mint, our fashion princess, visited all the famous Hollywood landmarks.

Including the most famous, the Hollywood Sign.

Everywhere were palm trees and movie stars.

We were even lucky enough to visit the sound studio of Paul Puduska. We received a guided tour and saw examples of the soundtracks being edited for movies which have not yet been released.

Rodeo Drive: Home of some of the most elite and expensive stores in all of Los Angeles. In our group, I think that only Mint felt at ease in these up-scale shops.

Rodeo Drive: Where the street lights are crystal chandeliers!

Still trying to entertain Mint, we visited Newport, berth to over 9,000 personal yachts, and toured the bay. This area is  home to the ultra-rich and famous.

Even the Boy Scouts have their own yacht here!

As interesting as it was to peak into the lives of the ultra-rich, Kathleen and I were more attracted to the harbor seals.

Mint had seen Laguna Beach on a TV show, so, of course, she wanted to visit it. Kathleen and I were much more interested in the tide pools than in shopping in town.

The shoreline was beautiful.

Tall Palm trees.....

Steep & jagged shore....

Rocky Beach....

And, in the tide pools... critters!

Mollusks, barnacles and crabs...

Even a sea slug.

Beautiful sea anemones

Even a few urchins, and down the beach a bit, they were feeding the octopus by hand!

We stayed until almost sundown and had a fabulous time exploring.

The 'new' Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits was wonderful.

I say 'new' because this has all been built since I was last out here in 1968!

La Brea has become one of the most important anthropological sites in the world... and it is in the middle of Los Angeles!

There were exhibits of animals which lived in this area, and were caught & preserved in the tar pits, thousands of years ago.

Hundreds of scientists have researched the bones found on this one site.

There were hundreds of Dire Wolf skulls. The wolves had come to the area to prey on animals trapped in the tar, and had, themselves, become trapped.

We saw full skeletons of both Mastodon & Mammoth.

I was amazed at how small the Mammoth was....

And how large was the Masodon!

I can't imagine hunting one of these with nothing but a spear.

The Sabertooth Cats and Giant Ground Sloth are among the more exotic creatures to have been identified.

My only regret concerning Universal Studios is that I wish we had gone there before Disneyland. After all, after Disneyland, everything else is second best.

How could you not like Universal Studios? You can pose for a picture with astronauts.....

Or photograph the original Delorian from Back to the Future.

We took a studio tour of the 'Back Lot'....

And were almost eaten by a shark, washed away in a flood, attacked by King Kong & caught in an Earth Quake! Does it get any better than that?!

There were action packed shows....

With explosions.....

Airplane crashes....

And, did I say, explosions?!

Mint seemed to enjoy the whole experience...

And we certainly enjoyed having her along.

We have to thank Kathleen's family for both putting us up, and putting up with us!

Thank you for your hospitality & for letting us share the warmth and fellowship of your family Christmas!

Leaving L.A. and our hosts, the Poduskas, behind, we drove toward Big Bear Lake.

Though there was quite a bit of evidence of recent fires, it was still a beautiful drive into the mountains.

We awoke our second morning at the cabin to find a 3" dusting of new snow. Kathleen woke Mint up at 6:30 A.M. so she wouldn't miss the falling snow.

Staying at the Poduska's cabin was a wonderful Christmas present.

We hoped the snow was a real treat for Mint!

Little did we know that this was only the beginning!

Our third morning at the cabin we awoke to an additional 12" of fresh powder, and more coming down.

Though it made the scenery beautiful, we began to worry about driving conditions and whether we would be stuck in the mountains.

The snow was extra special for those of us who see it so seldom.

Sunny California! We had to laugh!

Though we were enjoying the weather, it was a pain to install tire chains in the snow and wet slush.

Mint seemed to really enjoy the snow....

And, she was catching onto snow boarding very quickly!

Rather than leaving in the early morning as we had planned, we finally drove out of Big Bear Valley during the 'heat' of the afternoon, hoping the roads would be passable.

As we left the valley, it began to snow harder than we had seen so far.

We were very glad to be heading toward lower elevations!

The weather continued to worsen as we drove down the mountain.

The roads were freshly plowed, but we were very glad to be safe and warm in our car.

Kathleen couldn't resist photographing the rocks...

We were very happy to finally drop below 5,000 ft., snow line, and hit dry desert again.

Our last major stop on our trip home was at the Grand Canyon.

We arrived about 10:30 A.M., quite a bit ahead of the crowds.

We saw the sun rising up and pouring into the canyon.

It is truly one of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World.

I am inspired every time I stand on the rim.

There was a scattering of snow on the South Rim Trail.

I'm sure the North Rim was completely snowed in.

Though the sun was shining, it was quite cold. Kathleen and I hiked for about 1 1/2 hours, along the Rim Trail.

Mint came out long enough to have her picture taken, and then retreated to the warmth of the car.

Our last glimpses of snow were on the drive back from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff.

Even here, along a nondescript state highway, it was a beautiful vista.