Onward’s Cruise Journal 2011
Trip to CA


2011

1-2 May 11; San Diego

  • Joe took me to Torrey Canyon Park where we hiked up to the bluffs and then back along the beach. It was a challenging climb for me who had become accoustomed to sea level.
  • Joe got a call from his cousin Ariana with sad news that her dad had just been diagnosed with liver cancer. This really upset Joe who had become very close to his uncle Craig and and aunt Terrie while living in Sand Diego. This cast a pall over what had been a wonderfully upbeat time.
  • I took the train back to LA and a cab home after a great time with Joe and Amie

3-13 May 11; Los Angles
  • I began working on the Dad To Do list that Laura and i put together for small jobs around the house - my gift to them for their new home.
  • I got to take many great walks around the Hollywood Hills. It is amazing to see these homes in the neighborhood perched on the side of a canyon with only the front door on land and the rest of the house on a platform cantilevered and supported with pylons so as to be suspended in air. Not sure I could take living in one of these in earthquake country.
  • It took about a week after my arrival for Elena to become totally comfortable with me. We then had a grand time together with me doing what a granddad is supposed to: spoil her. One of my tasks was to get her turned on to ice cream -- this i did very successfully much to the chagrin on her dad the doctor.

14-16 May 11; Poway
  • Laura drove Elena and I to visit her aunt and uncle at their home in Poway. My niece Ariana had decided to organize a Mothers Day brunch. because her dad, Craig, felt well enough to have family visit. She assigned Laura, Joe & Amie, and herself various dishes to make and bring to her mom's home. We had a very nice time together and it seemed to cheer up Craig a bit.
  • Laura drove Elena and I back to LA on Monday morning. Elena is a wonderful traveler and enjoys watching the world go by as we drive. On the way we made some stops at stores to reconnoiter for some of the house projects. I bought some impatiens to add color to the N the side of the house that is shady.

16-23 May 11; Los Angeles
  • I came back from San Diego with some type of bug like a low grade flu and was operating on half power for most of the week.
  • I was able to get a new kitchen faucet and RO water system installed in the kitchen and a new sink and faucet installed in the master bathroom.
  • Kurlen was able to get time off so we could spend a day on a visit to the Getty Villa museum in Malibu. This is a recreation of a Roman Villa - that of Julius Caesar's father-in-law which was found under the volcanic ash at Herculeneum. Elena enjoyed the tour also as there was a lot of flowers and fountains to capture her interest. I got to use the panoramic photo app on my new iPhone to capture the magnificent vistas and the amazing pools and collinades.
  • I spent time tutoring Laura in the baking of pepper biscotti. She added a twist by using 1/3 whole wheat flour in the mix. This turned out quite well. I showed Elena every step of the process and allowed her to touch and smell the dough as it rose and then watch it as it baked. She surprised us all by liking to eat the biscotti in spite of the spices and their crunchiness.
  • Elena has an amazingly catholic palate: she wants to eat everything she sees her mom, dad, or me eat. When would make a deli sandwich on a baguette for lunch, she wanted to take bites just like me -- and she really enjoyed it.
  • Over the weeks of my visit it came to be a daily ritual where we would go inspect the flowers. She learned the blue from the red and was very good about very gently touching them without damaging them and then smelling them. Neat!

24 May 11; Tuesday; Los Angeles CA to Stuart FL
  • I was a bit sad to take the shuttle to the airport. I had such a wonderful time visiting and being at Laura's home felt like I was at my home. Elena and I have had such a wonderful time together. I will really miss our daily visit outside so she can check on each of the flowers that grow around the neighborhood. Ah well.
  • The trip back to Stuart was uneventful and I arrived back at Onward early on Wednesday morning. Onward looked like I'd never been away.

25 - 29 May 11;
  • I picked up another bug on the flight back and my energy level was very low and I had flu-like aches for several days. Each day I had about half a day of energy so I used that to make provisioning runs in preparation for the trip north and then came back and crashed.

30 May 11; Monday
  • I picked up Ron Draper at the airport in W Palm Beach. On the way home we did the final food shopping and then got Ron settled on Onward before having a nice dinner at Wahoos.
31 May 11; Tuesday; Stuart to Vero Beach
  • We dropped off the rental car and were underway from the marina at about 1100. At Sewell Pt., we had about 0.5' of tide but we found another sailboat grounded across the channel. I made 4 attempts following various routes to pass the shoal but grounded each time and backed off. TowBoatUS appeared on the scene and towed the other boat off. This vessel had a 7' draft and regularly has to be towed around the point!. With him out of the way, I made one more attempt steering an S curve close to R2 and then SE toward the ICW S entrance. This worked and we saw a minimum of 7.5' along the route. Of course it was nice to have the TowBoat US guy standing by just in case.
  • No problem with bridges as FL is in the midst of a dry spell and lagoon water levels are down.
  • We picked up mooring 29 at Vero Beach City Marina and settled in for an early night.