My sister Tracy escaped the Florida heat for SoCal coolness. Tracy arrived on July 4, with the intent of walking over to see the Del Mar Fair fireworks. But the all-day travel caught up to her and she slept through the fireworks.
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| The obligatory Swami's view pic |
I try to treat repeat visitors to something new, to show them more of SoCal. Tracy said let’s just stay with the tried and true. While the pressure to find new and exciting was removed we did find things that were on my “gotta try that” list.
We always check local music venues. This time we went to see Vonda Shepard @ the Belly Up. I have seen Vonda before and she brought her Big Voice.
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| The benefit of being in the front row |
An unexpected plus was the opening act, Jack Tempchin.
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| See Jack if you can |
I knew of Jack and he was on my bucket list to see, and did not disappoint. Jack performed solo and shared stories of songs from his time with the bands Poco, Flying Burrito Brothers, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and the Eagles. What a catalog.
Bob
and Kathy hosted a Saturday evening get-together for the Thursday night surf
crew. Corn-hole teams were defined and competition began. The
competition ran long, so we opted for play suspension and retired for dinner,
followed by a round of the card game developed by Jeff Lobo. Good times.
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| Competitive Corn-Hole. Until dinner is served |
We began a list of “to-do’s”. Some we didn’t get to, but some we did. A checked-off item was going to Captain Keno’s. CK looks like such a dive, with a hand-painted menu containing “Meatloaf $3.99, Spaghetti $2.99”. We entered at about 5:30pm and the bar was full. This should have been expected for a place that advertises “no beer over $5”. No table service – you place your food order at one place then have to go to the bar to get drinks. And find your own seats. But the chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes/gravy for $6 was great. I will be back.
With some prodding, Tracy joined my travel to Fletchers Cove on the night of July 18 to possibly see a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Base, about 260 miles away. We discovered several other people were also there (some with high-def photo equipment) to see the launch. Alas, the launch was scuttled until the next day. On the next day, neither Tracy nor I wanted to go to Fletchers Cove. But during our backyard dinner, I mentioned the SpaceX launch should have happened about 2 minutes ago – Tracy looked up and saw it over my shoulder!
We watched it from the backyard then hustled to the
cul-de-sac to see more of it. Emily from 3 doors down also came out for
it. Wow.
We really enjoyed Jack Tempchin’s opening set at Belly Up, so we googled him and discovered he plays a happy hour and an Oceanside wine bar. So we drove up, walked in and got a reservation, then walked down to the Oside pier. Upon returning, we got the obligatory wines and enjoyed Jack with his sidekick named Jesse London, as well as a person that toured with the band America.
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| Jack, always entertaining, with great musicians on-stage |
Great music, so-so wine.
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| We got some small-talk (fan-gush) with Jack. |
As expected, Tracy and I spent a lot of time talking about our
recent family loss of Rick, our brother. We drank a lot of wine and tried to
make sense of everything. We didn't really solve anything, but I think we are
at peace with it.
