Aryeh reached out to me about visiting SoCal over Christmas break. Sure! I will be between Costa Rica trips so why not? Aryeh’s first Casa De Randy visit was during Christmas break 2022 so he knew what he was getting into.
This visit would be mostly repeats of the 2022 visit. Not a problem since it was all great!
The weather did not cooperate as much. We had some rain and other rain-ish days as well as King Tides. King Tides are big swings from high and low tides accompanied by extremely large waves.
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| Monster waves at Swami's |
We found a surf opportunity early on. At least we thought it was an opportunity. Aryeh brought a 5/4 wetsuit typically used for Canadian surfing (c-o-l-d) but might be a bit overkill for local conditions. I gave my Rust board to Aryeh and I took the Mango Takayama. Turns out, Aryeh overheated and got sick, then crashed and burned. I found that the waves were too much for me; I couldn’t even get through the crashing break. So we licked our wounds and damaged pride on shore and said that at least we tried.
Surf conditions ramped up considerably so we shelved any ideas of surfing for Aryeh’s trip.
So that freed up time for other things. Our time was spent repeating some of the good experiences: Encinitas Meditation Garden, tide pool investigation at low tide, walks about Del Mar, Encinitas, and Solana Beach, Pho, Sushi, Pizza Port, and a pint or two at Culture Solana Beach. All good times.
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| Fresh made pasta. Yum. |
New this time with Aryeh was hiking Torry Pines during a dry spell. The good part of hiking TP after rain is that the normally heavy dew/foggy air is cleared out, giving clear ocean views. We could see the Coronado Islands (in Mexico), and Catalina Island (off the LA coast).
We went to Balboa Park and walked around. Highlights were overlooking the Japanese Friendship Garden, lunch at Panama 66 (always great!), and then going into the Timken Art Museum. I always go in there, to see the Rembrandt’s Saint Bartholomew painting. So beautiful. So tragic. But, a bonus is that Aryeh found a painting, The Piazzetta at Venice, that he wrote about in a college paper.
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| Aryeh with 'The Piazzetta at Venice' |
So, with all the hiking, surfing, biking, walking, etc. that comes with an Aryeh visit, I have to say the best is with dinner preparation and conversations at Casa De Randy. At any dinner, there will be 2+ hours of significant and meaningful conversations.
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| Great dinner. Great conversation. |
I treasure these times.
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| Great Friend. |
More pics from Aryeh's Christmas 2023 visit.
