Okay, before I get into our Anaheim/Los Angeles blog, I probably need to explain the meaning of the last thing in our previous blog, you know, the “Extremus extra deprehendo” comment. It’s Latin, thanxx to my 5-and-a-half-years (really?) of high school and college Latin. And although it seemed to reference the “Ben-Hur” film, it actually has to do with softball.
Alexx … softball … big surprise!
I’ll explain: In 1983, my buddy Alps and I started the “Duck Soup Softball Fiasco,” a zany softball tournament-fundraiser that has given out over $100,000 in scholarships in the intervening 32 years. The tournament is actually the “anti-tournament,” as the rules come loosely from the spirit of the Marx Brothers movies. Teams come to games in costumes, bonus runs are given if you dress like Groucho Marx, bases are run in reverse order, teams get do-overs … you get the drift. So when Alps and I figured we could sell T-shirts at the event, we decided to give it some class. We made a coat-of-arms logo with a kingly duck standing on a big bowl of soup stirring it with an oar. And we needed a motto in Latin, so I came up with “Extremus extra deprehendo.” It actually had some relevance to softball. Back in the day, playing catcher was considered a demeaning demotion. Of course, nowadays in senior softball, it’s considered an enviable position since it means less running. Anyway, back when we were young, no one wanted to play catcher, so we made up a Duck Soup team rule that stated when your team was batting, whoever made the last out of the inning had to play catcher the following inning. Thus, “Extremus extra deprehendo” or “last out catches.”
I know, I know, move it along.
Today’s blog actually covers two weeks instead of one. The gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair may now begin.
Because of the need to see a major league game in Anaheim and friends and relatives in Los Angeles, we pitched our tent between the two locations in San Dimas for both weeks, so this blog may be a bit long … What, you think last week’s blog was a post-it note?
On Sunday, May 3, we made it to the bucolic shores of Puddingstone Lake in the East Shore RV Park. We immediately took to our bed for a little R&B (rest and blog).
The next day, just like all the rest of you, we celebrated “Star Wars Day” (You know, “May the 4th Be With You,” thtupid) by re-watching part of my favorite movie series. We saw “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace” and will watch one episode each month on our trek so that we’ll really be ready for “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” in all fine movie houses on December 18.
I use the term “we” loosely as Diedre Kaye would rather eat bees than watch science fiction movies. However, as a trade-off, she has agreed to once again try to stay awake through the series of S.W. movies if I agree to go to musicals on stage. In general, if a musical isn’t either “Guys and Dolls” or one I’ve written with ample song parodies, I don’t go.
Earlier that day, I did my usual three-mile walk. That made it 1,200 consecutive days I’ve walked that far dating all the way back to January, 2012, a few weeks after my heart-bypass surgery. The 3,600 miles trod is the equivalent of walking from Phoenix to Minneapolis and then back to Tucson with only slightly less gas than AB1 uses. Stay tuned for August 12 when the streak hits 1,300. (Diedre decided to join me in the streak walking/exercise plan when I hit 1,000 days. She decided it would be easier to keep track of her days if she only had to subtract 1,000 miles from my streak number. Previously she would start and stop because she kept confusing the number of days in her streak with the number of recipes she'd put in her cookbook. I think she's got it straight now, so for you mathematically challenged sorts, she's hit day 200.)
Tuesday was a big day: we would be attending a major league baseball game at our 28th (out of 30) stadium. The excitement was building.
On our way to the game, we stopped at the Anaheim Sunkist Packing House, a fruit warehouse built in 1919; it now houses several fun restaurants.
They also had a small screening room where they ran a loop of the Stan Laurel silent movie called “Oranges and Lemons.” It was filmed August 12, 1923, with Laurel and Hardy regular James Finlayson and portrayed Stan as an imbecile who unwittingly destroys a packing house. It was still very funny.
The Angels game promotion that night at “The Big A” was “Sombrero Night,” I guess because it was Cinco de Mayo. I had my sombrero picture taken with a statue of the Angels’ first owner, legendary cowboy-singer Gene Autry. I also had my picture taken with the Angels 2002 World Series trophy.
It was a great game that night, probably the best one we’ve seen in our three years on the AB1 road. We got to see future Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols hit a home run for the Angels.
But the real
star was rookie catcher Carlos Perez of the Angels who was playing in his FIRST major league game. On his initial big league at-bat, he ripped a crisp single to left, but the real excitement of the evening was when the rookie catcher came to bat in the bottom of the 9th with the score knotted at 4-all. He promptly hit the first pitch he saw into the left-field stands for walk-off home run. The place went nuts.
The next morning we dragged our weary bodies out of bed in time to welcome long-time friend and former house-mate Pauli Morin over for breakfast. Living in the Pasadena suburb of Sierra Madre, Pauli has become a superstar realtor. I don’t think she sells any houses that aren’t in the seven-figures range.
On Thursday, we were back on the road, this time heading for the Westwood Village Memorial Park (cemetery) in L.A. The address is 1218 Glendon Avenue; I give you that information in case you, too, are thinking of seeking out this cemetery. It’s a little place, a bit tricky to find, but it has a wealth of celebrities interred there. Among the celebs we paid our respects to were:
-Don Knotts, aka “Barney Fife,” one of my all-time favorites;
-“Green Acres” stars Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert (I was not, however, able to find Arnold Ziffel’s grave as we
found out he had been cremated and buried in a large BLT sandwich);
-the final resting place found by DK of the lovely and sorely missed Natalie Wood;
-Rodney Dangerfield whose tombstone reads: “There goes the neighborhood!”
-our favorite “Charlie’s Angel,” Farrah Fawcett;
-the wonderful actors and friends Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Jack, incidentally, reposes next to the
grave of longtime “All in the Family” actor Carol O’Connor;
-one of Diedre’s all-time faves Fanny Brice who died in 1951;
-a great singer and a very funny man, Dean Martin.
The main reason we had come to WVMP, however, was to see the crypt of DK’s absolutely most favorite actress of all time, the exquisite Marilyn Monroe. It took us over an hour, but we finally came across Marilyn just as our parking meter was expiring … uhh, let’s make that “running out.” Marilyn’s wall crypt had lovely red roses in a holder on the face of it. The crypt next to her was vacant. We understood that it had been at one time owned by her ex-husband, Joe Dimaggio, but at some point, he decided he didn’t want it anymore, so he sold it to Hugh Hefner in 1992 for $75,000. When Hef goes, he’ll lie eternally next to his magazine’s first cover girl, Marilyn Monroe.
Rest in peace, sweet girl.
The excitement for that evening was that we were going to meet the fiancee of our nephew Jake Versluis, the youngest son of Diedre’s sister, Goldie. Deb Bell was both beautiful and charming and will be a welcome addition to the family. Jake, a star in the music business who once managed the mega rock group “Incubus,” was taking no chances on the direction of our initial meeting with Deb, so he took us to his “go-to” Cuban restaurant, Versailles, for dinner. We can’t wait to see these two great “kids” tie the knot October 17 in Malibu a scant six days after this year’s RV trip ends. We WILL be there.
There was a phone call that night from my cousin with some bad news. My uncle John Hacklander, my mother’s only sibling, had passed away at the age of 89. John was like a hero to my brother Mark and me when we were little. He led such an exciting life: a medic during World War II, a scuba diver, and a licensed pilot. He had a mink farm for years before getting into the Arabian horse business with my Aunt Marianne and their daughters. When he came to visit us in the late 50’s, he was sporting a full beard, not so common in those days. He so impressed my little 9-year old self with that beard that I vowed that I, too, would have a beard some day. And so on April 26, 1978, the day I got out of the U.S. Army Reserves, I quit shaving. I’ve had a beard in tribute to my Uncle John ever since.
On Friday, May 8, we made our way out to Pasadena for dinner with Diedre’s wonderful cousins, Jan and John Price. While the ladies caught up on crocheting, decorating, and the threat of nuclear proliferation, John and I were off to the nearby Rose Bowl where he had arranged a personal tour for me of the humongous football stadium.
I had been there previously for one Super Bowl (a 1977 Vikings loss to the Raiders) and one Rose Bowl (the 1998 Michigan victory over Washington State) but had never been behind the scenes at the massive stadium. We were able to see the broadcast booths as well as the newly built, plush executive sky boxes. I found out the Rose Bowl was built from 1921-22. Although larger before the remodel, it still seats 89,000 spectators.
It was really great that John had set up this tour for me. In fact, John and I have a lot in common: he’s been in the sports radio broadcast business for years doing football games every weekend in the fall while I, on the other hand, have listened to radio going back to the early 50’s when I used to smuggle a transistor radio into bed with me every night so that I could surreptitiously listen to Milwaukee Braves baseball games.
During our visit, I learned a bit of history about John’s versatile family: his father, as a young dentist, helped develop the oral pain reliever “Novocain,” and his sister, Nancy, is a published novelist who wrote the hugely popular “Sleeping With the Enemy” book which later became a 20th Century Fox movie with Julia Roberts.
On the drive there that afternoon, it became our opinion that there’s so much traffic in L.A. that even the car pool lanes need car pool lanes. On some freeways, the HOV lanes require you to have THREE people in the car, not two. So many Angelinos take advantage of the HOV lanes that at times when we were in the regular lanes, we were actually passing those in the car pool lane. There must be a lot of people paying attention to saving energy.
Just as Diedre had wanted to pay last respects to Marilyn Monroe, so had I wanted to do the same for two of my all-time favorite comedians, Stan Laurel and Harpo Marx. Stan is interred at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills, so on Saturday, we made our way out there to visit Stan one last time. He had always been so funny and was such a nice man.
While at Forest Lawn, we also saw the final resting places of legendary actress Bette Davis and the all-time winningest NCAA basketball tournament coach John Wooden. DK spotted the artfully decorated tomb of the wonderful pianist Liberace. And sweet Sandra Dee’s grave was marked “Unforgettable and Always Loved.”
I never was able to find Harpo Marx’s location. It turns out that Harpo’s ashes are in a sand trap on the 7th hole at the Rancho Mirage Golf Course near Palm Springs. That sounds like something he’d do. It had to be tough playing golf with Harpo back then; when he’d hit into another group, they would never hear him yell, “FORE!” … because … you know … he didn’t speak.
Dinner that night was at two more (five?) relatives’ home. Near the very visual, humongous “Hollywood” sign live our nephew Brian, the younger son of Diedre’s older brother Doug, his wife Cindy, and their three 3 kids who are … brace yourself … ALL UNDER FOUR YEARS OLD! Yes, that’s one-year old Jasper drinking out of a wine bottle. He’s definitely Diedre’s grand-nephew.
He and his twin sister Bridget keep things lively for their older and mellow brother Shepherd.
Brian and Cindy are right there in keeping in the tradition of us having nothing but attractive and successful nieces and nephews. Cindy is a published author, having two novels to her name even as she runs her own focus group business while tending to, once again, THREE children all UNDER FOUR YEARS OLD!
And Brian is an award winning maker of “trailers,” those coming-attraction teasers that make you want to go to the movies again and again. He’s currently working on the newest “Terminator” movie trailer. We both just know he’ll do another great job.
On Sunday, May 10, “Mothers’ Day,” I took Diedre, mother of Charlie, Casey, and Samantha, out to the famous L.A. institution, The Farmers Market, because as you all know, what mother wouldn’t want to spend Mothers’ Day out shopping for groceries. Still, this kind of place intrigues Diedre, my self-named “Food Sheriff” wife. We had fun, although the place was unbelievably crowded. Open since 1934, the FM houses over 100 merchants. Strangely, the high point for our girl was stopping at the Market’s Starbucks. Go figure.
Then to make Mothers’ Day a bit more special, we did what Diedre likes best – we went to the theatre. We saw a funny play called “Immediate Family” at the Mark Taper Theater. It had been directed by that old “Cosby” show alum, Phylicia Rashad. The play was good, made even better by us finding the last free parking meter within walking distance of the theater. SCORE!
“Monday rules” prevailed the next day as both did nothing we didn’t want to do. DK had Minnesota friend Pauli over for breakfast again while I batched it at the movie theater to see yet another science fiction yawner, “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Note that I only go for the special effects (FX).
Re-energized, we got back to doing the tourist thing Tuesday with visits to Venice Beach and its neighbor, Muscle Beach, where Diedre excelled on the rings. On the Venice Beach “Ocean Walk,” we kept thinking we recognized movie stars passing us by, but we soon realized we probably wouldn’t recognize any of the young stars of today (except for Johnny Depp and Emma Stone). As DK said, “That’s why we go to graveyards.” Yup, all the stars we’ve come to love and adore over the years have pretty much retired or died.
We walked from Venice Beach over to the Santa Monica Pier. Originally built from 1908-16, it’s the actual starting point of America’s most venerable and historic highway, “Route 66.” We think we’ll be back here in 2018 as our RV trek that year will be retracing all the roads that made up “The Main Street of America,” Route 66. Get your tickets now.
You’d think with all that beach-walking, we’d be done for the day. And of course, you’d be wrong. From the beach we made our way to that home of the stars (alive this time), Beverly Hills. We had created our own walking tour. I was so excited about getting to see Rodeo Drive and the shops with the horsey stuff and cowboy gear … only … Diedre then informed me, “It’s not ‘ROW-dee-oh,’ you chucklehead, it’s ‘row-DAY-oh’ and it’s not for cowboys.”
Suitably chastised, I then also learned that it’s most likely the three most expensive blocks of shops on the planet.
“That’s ‘Earth,” right, dear?” I asked.
Silence.
I guess she didn’t hear me.
Our first stop at the Rodeo was at Edelweiss Chocolates built in 1942. It’s the chocolateria where Lucille Ball used to get her chocolate fix. She’d park in back of the store and enter through the rear where the chocolates were made. They used a conveyor belt to carry the freshly-made chocolates along as two operators snatched them off the line and packaged them for sale.
Sound familiar?
Yes, seeing the way the operation worked is where Lucy got the idea for the “I Love Lucy” show’s legendary episode where Lucy and Ethel have little luck trying to keep up with the chocolates on the conveyor belt. Amazingly enough, the same Edelweiss system still operates in the back of this little shop.
Continuing our time in the beautiful-people shire, we reenacted “Pretty Woman” on Row-DAY-o Drive as we visited the Beverly Wilshire Hotel . I took the “Julia Roberts” role for obvious (?) reasons. (Trivia note: Nephew Brian got his start in Hollywood as a "cabana boy" at this hotel!)l
We then continued on, visiting Cartier, Rolex, Chanel, Vera Wang, and Ralph Lauren, and being asked to leave every one of them as soon as they found out we were “trailer folk.” I might add, there was not a Radio Shack or a Walmart in sight.
We had ended up walking 8.5 miles by the time we hit an old English pub for drinks with nephews Jake and Brian. And then not wanting the evening to end, we walked two more blocks to Brian’s office where he makes the movie magic happen. He even let us watch as he worked on a trailer for a bit. The experience took me back to the 70’s when I actually used to cut film and tape it together when editing home movies. They’ve come a helluva long way since then as Brian so adeptly showed us. The many awards in his office were ample evidence of how much he’s respected by his peers.
Knowing that I’d be leaving Thursday to fly back for my uncle’s funeral, we moved up our “Hollywood Walking Tour” by one day. So on Wednesday, we scrambled through yet more traffic to the heart of Hollywood, finding free parking about 8 blocks from Hollywood Boulevard, the tourist Mecca. And so, we were off walking again.
We saw all the sites: the Jim Henson Studios (Muppets); the El Capitan Theater where, after opening in 1926, Fanny Brice appeared as one of their original performers; Grauman’s Egyptian Theater; and the Pantages Theater.
We had a lot of fun at the “Larry Edmunds Bookshop,” the country’s best entertainment and film-book store. Strangely enough, Larry never actually set foot in the store. He unfortunately committed suicide in 1938 before the store opened, so in his honor, the new owners named the store after him. We could have spent hours in there. I ended up buying a book called “Hail, Hail, Euphoria,” about the making of my favorite comic movie of all time, “Duck Soup.” Woody Allen once said, “If you asked me to name the best made comedy film ever, “Duck Soup” is the only one that really doesn’t have a dead spot.” I agree. The book is currently providing me with a lot of laughs.
For lunch, we stopped at the venerable “Musso and Frank’s” which opened in 1919. Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford had their own table there. It’s rare that we go to a white table cloth restaurant, and it’s even rarer when we go to such an establishment to order a pastrami sandwich with potato chips and a bottle of Diet-Coke. That’s just how we roll. DK patiently waited at the bar for a legendary “Musso & Frank’s Martini.” You could just feel the cinematic history oozing from the walls … either that, or their wallpaper had finally turned after 96 years.
We then made our way over to the Dolby Theatre where the Oscars are held. Did you guys know it’s actually located in a shopping mall? We didn’t. Unfortunately, there was some event in the theatre, so the guards wouldn’t let us anywhere near the place. I did, however, make it onto the Red Carpet where you can see me with the fabled “Hollywood” sign in the background.
We walked most of the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”; interestingly, both Lassie and Godzilla have their own stars: Lassie’s has a paw print next to her signature while Godzilla’s is over two blocks long.
Diedre spotted stars for heart-throb Danny Kaye (It’s Diedre “KAYE” for a reason), Walter Matthau, and Jack Lemmon.
I had to have a pic with one of the stars of our current favorite TV show, “The Big Bang Theory’s” Jim Parsons, as well as with Groucho Marx’s star.
Diedre enjoyed her time with a Marilyn Monroe statue at a museum where we didn’t want to fork over the big bucks for admission tickets. DK soon got more satisfaction swooning over a dancing Elvis statue.
To end our day in Hollywood, we made our way to the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theater which opened in 1922. In 1927, silent film star Norma Talmedge accidentally stepped into a sidewalk of wet cement at Grauman’s, thus beginning the tradition of immortalizing the prints of legendary Hollywood stars in the concrete of the theater’s forecourt. At present, there are more than 200 stars’ prints there.
DK and I were there for two main reasons: Harpo Marx and Marilyn Monroe. We matched our hands with their prints just to have touched the same spots as our cinematic heroes. Harpo and his brothers left their hand prints on February 17, 1933, while Marilyn’s hand prints were paired with her “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” co-star Jane Russels’s on June 26, 1953.
And so after our close encounters with history and favorite stars, we left Hollywood as happy campers.
The travel blog slams to somewhat of a halt here on Thursday, May 14. In the morning, DK drove me to the airport where I hopped on a plane (middle seat, last row; shows what you get when you buy a ticket last-minute) to fly to Minneapolis. As I mentioned before, my uncle John had passed away, and his funeral was scheduled for Saturday. My mom wanted to go to her brother’s funeral in Janesville, WI, but at age 88, she wasn't up to a 300-mile solo drive (each way). I felt it was important for the two of us to be there, hence my quickly planned detour from the RV road.
Just a few notes about the four days separating me from DK, the cats, and AB1, and vice-versa:
-On Thursday while boarding the airplane, they didn’t bother to check my computer or my one quart clear bag of liquids, BUT they did confiscate my can of “Right Guard Aerosol Deodorant.” I have no idea what that was all about, but I did have to be careful about grossing people out. DK stayed at home-sweet-RV home alone with only the cats to look after her. She watched movies as it rained all day and then learned about Casey’s 3 a.m. howling, from which I had a temporary reprieve.
-On Friday, I drove my mom to Janesville; DK bought groceries and baked for Saturday’s family reunion which I would be missing.
-Saturday, Mom and I attended brother/uncle John’s funeral and then drove back to Minneapolis; DK enjoyed a fun, mini-family reunion with Brindy and Jeb (my Hollywood names for Brian/Cindy and Jake/Deb). I also noted that 50 years ago today, I was confirmed at Union Congregational Church in St. Louis Park, MN … and have, for all practical purposes, never been back.
-On Sunday, May 17, I said my sad farewells to Mom and flew back to L.A.; my athletic wife had taken a vigorous spinning class with Pauli before meeting me at the airport. I was SOOO glad to get back.
As for my mini-trip (mini?), well, all I can say is that Marco Polo had nothing on me: 2, 000-mile flight on Thursday, 300-mile car trip on Friday, those same 300 miles back on Saturday, and another 2,000-mile flight on Sunday. All this, and then a scheduled 400 mile RV drive to San Francisco on Monday. All for a new trade route to China … Marco Polo, that is, not me.
When I got off the plane, I asked Diedre to drive the treacherous 20 Los Angeles-freeway miles back to the campground as I was exhausted. All I could say was, “WHEW!!
Wake me when we get to Sandy Francisco.
Like Terminator Arnold once said, “I’ll be back.” He also uttered the less famous, “Can you put cheese on that?” which is neither here nor there.
Anywho.
Yes, Diedre and I have once again embarked on our 3rd annual 6-month tour of the country where we see the sites, taste the foods, and annoy all our friends and relatives living in our great 48 states (Probably not going to RV to Alaska and most assuredly not to Hawaii). As loyal followers may recall, our first trip (2013) was mainly the Midwest while last year we extended our trip to 7-months in order to see the South, the East Coast, and then that hypotenuse that crosses back through the country via Branson, MO. This year’s venture will see us going straight west till we run into the ocean (“Pacific” for you geographically challenged Oles), then going north along the coast till we get to the edge of the Canadian border where we’ll stick our thumbs in our ears, wiggle our fingers, and yell, “NAH-NAH-NAH-NAH-NAH!” Anything to further the relations between these two great countries.
From there, we’ll go east across the plains to our home state of Minnesota before bouncing back across the country to see 7 or 8 national parks in North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, and Delaware (That should be a good trick). We should be home by October 11 in time to get back on the road for nephew Jake’s wedding in Los Angeles a week later. Three weeks after that, we’ll celebrate my Medicare birthday by leisurely cruising the Panama Canal on an old navy gunboat. DK will be running chow for 40 sailors while I’ll be pulling “iceberg patrol duty” to help meet expenses.
On the Saturday before we left Arizona, we invited our desert friends to say good-bye to us at any of our stops on the infamous, 12-hour "Traveling Farewell Pub-Crawl Party." At 8 a.m., we left the friendly confines of our palatial Terravita home for our all-day, 9.1-miles walk. We breakfasted in downtown Carefree at the Sundial Café with longtime Minnesota friends Marty and Georgia Jessen. We were joined by legendary 50’s and 60’s cowboy TV star Peter Brown and his wife, KK. I may have mentioned once or twice (or 17 times) last year that I wrote a book about Peter’s life titled, “The Fastest Gun in Hollywood: The Life Story of Peter Brown” which is still available at Amazon.com and fine used-bookstores everywhere. So there’s your Xmas shopping all done for you now.
You’re welcome.
From there we hiked over to The Tap Haus in Cave Creek where we were joined by Teddi Axne (Diedre’s mentor for her life-altering Grand Canyon hike) and actor Walt Pedano who amazingly enough played me in my first play, “Buzzard Ball” even though he’s quite a bit more handsome than I am (There’s a stretch).
More stops ensued: a snack at the local Dairy Queen (sugar-free Dilly Bar for Alexx),
Margaritas at El Encanto with good friends Gail and actor Tom Koelbel who played “The Big Eunuch aka Rusty Schwantz (RUSTY SCHWANTZ!?)” in my 2nd play, “Murder at Savings & Loan Ballpark (S.Lo.B.)”;lunch at Brian's Barbecue with Tom and fellow actors Barb and Ed Como (also in “S.Lo.B.” as LuLu Belle Angelo and Pete Petunia respectively); Gin and Tonics at The Smoke House with Yoga Jill and her hubby and neighbor English Lesley King and current squeeze American Paul; from there, it was just Diedre and me for beers at Hogs and Horses; then a quick, relaxing stop at The Buffalo Chip before dinner and night-caps at Harold's Cave Creek Corral with wonderful new neighbors Clare and Bill Leach and my brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Linda Alexander.
Finally, at 7:30 PM, we were going to finish the arduous day with a 3.3 mile "crawl" home. Fortunately, we were saved by Mark and Linda who graciously gave us a ride home to save our soles (souls?).
Okay, on to this year’s trip. First, here’s a reminder about the blog-abbreviations we often use: “AB1” for our RV, “DK” for Diedre, and “IANMTU” for “I am not making this up.” Names to know are “Charlie,” our 18-pound Ragamuffin cat; “Casey,” our lovable but troublesome middle-child Birman cat; “Samantha,” our 14-pound, “little” girl Snowshoe cat; “Zippy,” our candy-apple red, 4-door Honda Fit; Air-Barty-One, our motor home dedicated to our benefactor and Diedre’s mom, Barbara Diederich; “Penny,” our often criticized yet totally indispensable GPS; and “Genie,” DK’s unusually smart phone who fights an ongoing battle with her step-sister, “Penny.”
As another reminder, remember our rules: 1) we generally only travel on Sundays; 2) we try to limit our RV drives to 300 miles/five hours; 3) we try to not schedule anything on Mondays as it is our “R&B” day (Rest and Blog); 4) we try our utmost to get to each weeks’ campground well before sundown so that we don’t have to set up in the dark; and 5) and finally, we know that there will always be problems on the road, so our vow is to laugh whenever RV-life throws us a curve.
Let the pitching begin.
The first part of the trip is called “YUMA/SAN DIEGO.”
On Friday, April 24, we were going to leave early, like 10 a.m., for Yuma, Arizona, only … it rained. We laughed. Then the refrigerator didn’t work because we were out of propane … we chortled. After we remembered how to use our generator to get the fridge to work, we were again ready to leave … but then the steps that automatically go in and out whenever we open the door broke … well, now we were rolling on the floor. DK quickly showed it was no problem by doing a yoga move to climb up into the cabin. At 1 PM, we called the repair guy, then retreated to the house where, while waiting for our savior, downed some peppermint schnapps and Kool –Aid, not because we like it so much, but it was just that was all we had left in the house.
It was now 2:30. We should have been in Yuma by now, but instead, we were still sitting on our front steps waiting … waiting … oh, the interminable waiting!
Finally, the mobile RV repair guy shows up. He’s about 10 years old. In one minute, he says the steps special bolt is broken and it’ll take him time (at $100/hour) to drive around town and find this “special” bolt.
Well, that wasn’t going to happen.
We paid him his $100 for five minutes work and then said, “Screw it! We’re leaving.” We finally got on the road about 3 PM, getting in to Yuma well after dark.
Well, so much for AB1 Rule #4. I had to continually adjust my glasses in order to see well enough to set up camp in the dark.
We’re number 1!
On Saturday, the fun continued as we couldn’t get any hot water. The chimps at the RV repair place we used back in March had forgotten to turn the necessary hot-water switch back on, and we, being “chimps-in-training,” couldn’t do any better. That brought much guffawing on our part.
Incidental note: While people from Pittsburg are called “Pittsburgers” and people from New York are called “New Yorkers,” people from Yuma are called … wait for it …. YUMANS! As in “You’re a fine Yuman being.” And now you know the rest of the story.
Back to the trip. There was not a lot to do in Yuma. To illustrate that opinion, the local newspaper had a big article on the Yuma Middle School’s state championship team.
“The Sport?” you might ask.
Well, they were the state championship “Rubik’s Cube” team. IANMTU (see above abbreviations directory).
For entertainment that night, we forked over $5 each to see the play, “The Cagebirds, ” a 42-minute, 1-act performance at the AWC (Arizona Western College) Theatre. Now remember, we’re two people who on last year’s trip spent over $1000 for eight Broadway shows in New York. We’re kind of at the other end of the spectrum here in Yuma. The theatre looked like group therapy as we were seated in two of 44 metal folding chairs situated in a circle. It was like attending an AA meeting … not that I’ve ever been to an AA Meeting. My only addictions are chocolate (sugar free … NOW!) and 1950’s comic books. This “theatre-of-the-absurd” concerned six lost souls re-running their daily routines until a new thought was introduced. I quickly had a new thought:
“GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”
Finally, we escaped Yuma and made our way on Sunday to San Diego (actually Chula Vista). We were greeted there by Diedre’s longtime, previous-life work friend, Jody Willnow. From our top-rated campground, we walked to dinner at a wonderful ocean-front restaurant a block away. Jody originally knew DK only by her secret identity of “Patricia,” so she has compromised with our nomenclature desires and calls my girl “PahDiedre.”
Back in RV form, we followed AB1 Rule #3 and relaxed on Monday with some R&B, beach yoga, and walks in the pretty camp park populated with many ducks.
Okay, back to this park’s edition of the RV repair guy. As they said in ancient Rome, “Veni. Vidi. Stinki,” or translated by my five-and-a-half years of Latin, “He came. He saw. He stunk it up.”
Yes, this more mature repair guy came also couldn’t fix the steps. Once again, we paid $100 to find out it would take 2 weeks to get step parts, and his directions on how to flip the hot water switch were for naught.
Are you sensing a trend here?
We escaped the campground by noon and boarded San Diego’s trolley to the city’s Gas Lamp Quarter, the historic heart of San Diego. After touring the Quarter, we grabbed a quick dinner at Dick’s Last Resort. There was a lot of tomfoolery and camaraderie going on there pre-Padres game. I argued baseball with this one guy for over a half-hour before I figured out he was a statue. He had made some good points, however.
The Padres game that night was being played at Petco Park, stadium number 27 out of the 30 major league ballparks we had pledged to visit. Before the game, we walked the perimeter of the stadium. I purchased a T-shirt of the all-time greatest Padre, Tony Gwynn. We then found his statue and a street named after him outside the ballpark.
It was an incredibly nice stadium with a very open feel. The team: not so nice. The Padres got killed 14-3 by Houston as five home runs were belted. We really enjoyed watching the Astros’ star player, Jose Altuve, who at 5’5” had last year become the shortest player to lead the majors in batting average (.341) and hits (225) since 1900. He was not bad this night either as the little guy went four-for-six with two doubles.
Way to go, Mighty Mouse!
Of the top ten best ballpark foods as rated by “TenBest.com,” San Diego’s “Phil’s Barbecue” was ranked the #1 food out of all the major league ballparks, so we had to try some. And you know what? Good … not great.
Moving along.
Wednesday was a tour day. We checked out the shops at Seaport Village even though buying “things” is not really our cup of tea, especially when we’re downsizing our lives at a mad pace. We then made our way over to Old Town San Diego for a touch of history.
We first visited the Whaley House. It was built by Thomas Whaley in 1856 and is the oldest brick structure in Southern California. It was San Diego’s most luxurious residence … of course, being it’s first residence, it would be the most luxurious one. It was later San Diego’s first theatre.
We then visited the first frame building erected in San Diego in 1850 and which then became the birthplace of the “San Diego Union” newspaper in 1868. From there, it was over to the old town theatre built a few years later.
It’s funny: last year on our trip, we went through the south and east coast and viewed a myriad of historical sites and structures from as far back as the 1600’s. But here in California, their history is a little newer. In Old Town San Diego, some of their stuff dates back only as far as last Tuesday.
Interesting Alexx Fact: the state insect of California is … (drum roll, please) the Dogface Butterfly.
The next day we got into town early to visit the boyhood home of my 2nd favorite all-time baseball player (after Hank Aaron), Ted “The Splendid Splinter” Williams. I had actually seen Ted hit a home run against the White Sox in his final year in the majors when I was 9 years old. He is the last major leaguer to hit .400. To show you what kind of guy Ted was, the morning of the last day of the 1941 season, he was hitting .3995 which rounds off to .400. His manager suggested he sit out the game to preserve his average.
“No effin’ way,” Ted said. “I’m playing. If I’m going to hit .400, I’m going to do it legitimately.”
So he gets five hits that day and ends the season hitting .406. And it’s never been done since.
Ted started as a professional in 1936 with the San Diego Padres minor league team … BEFORE he was out of high school! He was a lifetime .344 hitter with 521 home runs. And that’s with five years off to fly as a fighter pilot in both World War II and the Korean War where he flew 39 combat missions. He had six American League batting titles, 18 all-star game appearances, was a two time MVP, and was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1966. I had to pay tribute to him with a visit to the house where it all started.
From Teddy Ballgame’s home, we headed out to the massive Balboa Park, named for the explorer, not the ham-and-egg boxer. The park is a 1,200-acre recreation and cultural center with 15 museums and several performing arts venues. I called it “The Smithsonian in the Forest” due to its scenic grounds surrounding the many museums. There, we met up with Sara Oswald, a longtime friend of Diedre’s and a bridesmaid in our Hawaiian wedding 24 years ago, and her partner Jay. We wandered the beautiful campus stopping for a photo-op at the park’s Old Globe Theater. I eventually split away from the group to take a personal tour of the San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum. Admission was free on this particular day because of the extensive remodeling they were doing. The Hall of Champions consisted of athletes either from San Diego or who had played for San Diego teams. I especially enjoyed the exhibits on Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, and seeing Randy Jones’ 1976 Cy Young Award.
Friday morning we awoke to the gentle (gentle?) meows of Casey, our middle-child cat. Today was his 8th birthday, so we celebrated the morning with birthday treats. We offered to take Casey to the big, new “Avengers” movie, but being the kind, gentle soul that he is, he opted to stay home and watch “Downton Abbey.” That’s just the way he is.
Speaking of birthdays, I’m noticing more signs that I’m getting old. I recently broke my watch band. I went to three places searching for a replacement, but not one of them carried watchbands. I guess everybody uses their cell phones now to tell time while I still prefer the old reliable sun-dial.
Then of course, I still like to read the newspaper every day, but I think I may be the only one. Again, it’s the phones. DK and I went into a Starbucks. Of the 11 people there, 10 were reading their cell-phones and only one (me) had his nose in a paper. They looked at me like I was from the Stone Age.
Dagnabit!
That day we were going to hike Torrey Pines with Sara and Jay, but the parking proved to be problematic, so we ended up at the ocean doing a sand-hike on Solana Beach. Jay is a pretty interesting guy. He spent the entire walk with a bag picking up litter. I found out Jay had gone to college at Duke University (where loyal blogists may remember me visiting last year). But what was really impressive was that he had been the Duke Blue Devil mascot from 1971-72. That makes two big-school mascots I have known, the other being Mike Looby who was “Goldy Gopher” at the University of Minnesota also in the 70’s.
Saying good-bye to Sara and Jay, we stopped at the legendary Hotel Del Coronado on our way home. The Coronado has been a San Diego landmark forever. It’s where the wonderful movie, “Some Like It Hot,” was filmed in 1958 with Diedre’s all-time favorite movie star, Marilyn Monroe.
When we arrived, we tried to park in the hotel parking lot, but had to back up and turn around when we realized parking there cost $28 … FOR TWO HOURS!!
WHUTT?!
Deciding discretion was the better part of valor (or something like that), we drove all the way across the street, maybe 50 yards, and found an open parking meter for two hours … FOR 50-CENTS!!
Again, WHUTT?!
We sat there for a few moments and thought out loud:
$28 dollars? … 50-cents? …
28? … 50? …
Twen? … Fif?!
Finally, I made an executive decision: we went with the 50-cent parking meter. Of course, we did have to walk all the way across the street. Oh, did I mention that the $28 was for self parking, not valet? For valet parking, I think you had to give them your first borne.
The Coronado has some wonderful historic exhibits. One piece of 1952 advertising stated that rooms then were $26 a night. Gee, that’s two dollars less than for parking in their lot today … for TWO HOURS!
The hotel was built in 1888. Their early promotions included boasts that there was no malaria, tuberculosis, hay fever, or yellow fever like in Florida, or cholera like in Spain and Italy. So there’s that. Frank Baum wrote some of his “Oz” stories from the veranda of the Coronado. The place was massive, but so enticing. DK and I decided we’ll probably spend my 70th birthday week there. Get your reservations now to join the party.
Friday was also the day that the Arizona State University spring semester ended. For those of you who weren’t aware, I’m still a student. Working with the head of the A.S.U. Theatre Department, I wrote my 12th play as an independent study. It’s called “The Hobo Diet” and is an adaptation of a book written by Logan Mosier, one of our actors. The subject of the play is about being homeless in Las Vegas. Keep an eye on the Tony Awards.
Okay, our last day in San Diego was a full one. In the morning, I made my way out to the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center. Being a huge fan of the Olympic games, I wanted to see the facility where future Olympians train. And I was not disappointed. I watched some wheelchair tennis, field hockey, and BMX bicycle racing on facilities of the highest quality. However, it was sad to see that the softball field had gone to seed since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had eliminated softball and baseball after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Americans are trying to get those two sports back in the Games in time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. If that happens, I guess they’ll re-seed the ball fields.
This facility brought back a lot of personal Olympic memories for me. In 1972, I actually came close to participating in the Olympic Games. I tried out and was selected for the national “43-Man Squamish” Olympic team. It’s quite popular in countries that are spelled with a “Z.” I was a top “outside underblat” and was especially adept at “walling the pritz.” Unfortunately, our federation failed in its attempt to be included as one of the Games’ official Olympic sports. And now, ironically, 43 years later, we’re still waiting. Ever the optimist, I stay in prime squamish shape by organizing yearly practice games. Unfortunately, it’s tricky getting 85 other squamish players together, so I play the abbreviated “2-Man Squamish” game with my buddy, Alps, where surprisingly, the major rule change is that the object of the game is to lose.
From Chula Vista, we zipped into uptown San Diego to lunch with Phoenix theatre friend Terry Helland. Terry had been the artistic director for quite a few years at Scottsdale’s Desert Stages Theatre. As busy as he was during shows there, he always had time for us and never let us actually pay for a ticket during his realm. To completely pay him back for hundreds of free tickets, we bought him lunch. Drinks were on him.
Then it was on to see friends Sara and Jay for one last time. It was a sort of combination “Kentucky Derby and Laundry” party, complete with Mint Juleps and All-Temperature Cheer. I predicted a win for “American Pharaoh” while Diedre predicted I would wash red towels with our whites resulting in yet again more pink underwear and sweat socks.
Amazingly, we were both right.
Our last dinner in the land of the recreationally savvy was a sushi feast for Jody and her pal PahDiedre. Then, as a way to ready ourselves for driving in L.A., we watched the most significant movie segment we could think of:
The chariot races from “Ben-Hur.”
"Extremus extra deprehendo!"
Talk to you next week.
Note from DK - this is my fault - Alexx wrote this back in December, 2014 and I never got it posted. I don't know where the time has gone, but we are now less than 2 weeks from heading out on our 2015 trek! So this should remind you of where we ended with everyone last October and give you a preview of what you are in for this spring and summer should you choose to follow us again. So excited to get back out there!! And now for a little flashback:
Dear Faithful Followers: After a month and a half back home and off the road, we're finally settling back into the homebody rhythms. But before we settle down for a long winter's nap, I thought I'd first review our seven months on the road (which will also mostly double as our Christmas card letter) and then get you all excited about 2015 by letting you know what's in store for us and AB1 next summer. Here goes: There were a lot of numbers for AB1 involved in 2014:-nights on the road: 214-miles driven: 10,945-miles our golf clubs vacationed and were never used: 10,945-states visited (in which we camped at least 1 night): 24-new states visited: 13-total states visited over last two years: 30-new states to visit in 2015: 7 (leaving us just AL, AK, AR, CT, DE, KS, KY, MS, RI, VT, VA, WVA; Hawaii doesn't count for obvious reasons))-campsites: 42 (stayed in same Flagstaff, AZ, campground on two occasions)-crossword puzzles done while driving between campgrounds: 65 (of which we got 46 correct)-baseball games watched: 19 (10 major league, 6 minor league, 2 Little League World Series, and 1 vintage (1864 rules and uniforms))-major league stadiums out of 30 yet to visit: 4 (Angels, Giants, Padres, Mariners-we'll see all 4 next summer)-stage plays seen: 19 (of which 8 were on Broadway and 3 of those were Tony Best Play winners)-concerts attended: 10 (including visits to both the new and the classic Grand Ol' Opry's, Nashville, TN, and concerts by The Oak Ridge Boys, Branson, MO, and Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons, Hyannis, MA-relatives visited: 31-friends visited: 16-Carleton College alumni visited: 8-softball tourneys played in: 2 (one champion and one third-place) The highlights of our Marco-Polo-like trek were many and varied. We stood on such hallowed ground as the San Jacinto battlefield (TX independence); Fort Sumter (Charleston, SC-Civil War start); Cameron Indoor Arena (Duke University basketball, NC); the Wright brothers 1st flight take-off and landing sites (Kitty Hawk, NC); the Boardwalk (NJ); the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park (NY); Pilgrim's first landing (Corn Hill, MA); Marconi's first transatlantic broadcast location (Cape Cod, MA); and the original London Bridge (AZ). History, boy, it was everywhere. We visited famous homes such as O'Henry's (Austin, TX), Thomas Edison's (Ft. Myers, FL), and President Taft's (Cincinnati), and also some quite historical buildings: the President Lyndon Johnson Library (Austin, TX), Jean Lafitte's blacksmith shop (New Orleans), Independence Hall (Philadelphia), The Anchor Bar (Buffalo, NY, home of the original "Buffalo Wings), and the Hershey (PA) chocolate factory. Diedre and I also managed to take in the great outdoors, always necessary when one is roughing it in a 35' motorhome complete with fireplace, microwave, two flat-screen TV's, refrigerator, and oven. We swam in the world's largest natural spring pool (TX), endured a tornado (FL), climbed Stone Mountain (GA), toured the beautiful Acadia National Park (ME), walked on Goat Island (Niagara Falls, NY), climbed down into a majestic slot canyon (UT), walked a loop around the iconic Left Mitten of Monument Valley (UT), and finally made it to the ultra-scenic Canyon de Chelly (AZ). We paid our respects at the following graves: golfer Bobby Jones (Atlanta), baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson (SC), Arlington National Cemetery, statesman Ben Franklin (Philadelphia), President Ulysses S. Grant (NY), the World Trade Center Memorial, and novelist James Fenimore Cooper (Cooperstown, NY). We visited a few museums (The National Archives, The American History Museum, and the Holocaust Museum, all in Washington, D.C.) and saw remnants of the Civil War ironclad ship, "The Monitor," at The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum on the Outer Banks, NC. We (make that "I") even made it to three national halls of fame and museums: baseball (Cooperstown, NY), golf (St, Augustine, FL), and track and field (New York City). We also were able to either actually touch (T) or at least come within a foot (F) or two of The Gutenberg Bible (F-Austin, TX), the Ebbets Field (T-Brooklyn Dodgers stadium) 1913 cornerstone, the gravestone of my great-great-great-great-great-great Revolutionary War fighting grandfather (T-PA), John Capeletti's Heisman Trophy (T-Sate College, PA), the Forbes Field Wall where Mazeroski's 1960 home run won the World Series (T-Pittsburgh), and several of Mark Twain's manuscripts (F-SC). But beyond seeing all these great sites, it was really the more personal events that are most memorable to us: Diedre meeting Broadway legend Tommy Tune ON-STAGE (Houston); me scraping the side of Air-Barty One against an all-too-narrow bridge (Cape Cod); our RV park manager bringing freshly-caught-and-steamed lobsters right to our door 3 nights for the ridiculously low price of $7/pound; for a moment, Diedre being the easternmost person on land in the U.S. (Eastport, ME); long-time friends Mary Harberts and Jo Gemmill surprising DK on her 65th birthday by showing up unannounced (of course it was unannounced ... it was a surprise!) on a showboat in Branson, MO; zip lining for the first time in our lives on the actual day DK qualified for Medicare; volunteering for a week at Best Friends, the largest animal rescue in the country (UT); and me burning my fingers on a Navajo stove in a native hut called a "hogan" (I luckily recovered in a day or two.) All in all, it was a great time, but we were exhausted when we pulled into the driveway at our Cave Creek, AZ, home. Luckily, we have our memories (such as they are) and this blog to remind us of all the great times. We are so thankful to have been able to make it this far and that we didn't wait any longer to go after our dream. Now for 2015. Here's our tentative schedule below. If we're going to be in your area, make sure to put us on your calendar and let us know what days work for you to be annoyed by us. Also, if any of you have any suggestions of places to see or great restaurants in the following areas, please let me know. We do keep a list.2015 (TENTATIVE) AB1 ITINERARY:April 24-26 - Yuma, AZApril 26-May 3 - San Diego, CA - Padres Game May 3 - May 10 - Anaheim, CA - Angels GameMay 10-May 17 - Los Angeles, CA May 17- May 18 - Fresno, CAMay 18 - 24 - San Francisco/Oakland area - Giants gameMay 24-27 - Klamath Falls, ORMay 27-31 - Cannon Beach, ORMay 31-June 7 - Bainbridge Island/Seattle area - Mariners game - last of the 30 stadiums!!June 7- June 13 - Coeur d'Alene, IDJune 13 - June 20 - West Glacier, MT June 20-June 22 - Bozeman, MTJune 22-June 25 - Custer, MTJune 25-June 27 - Williston, NDJune 27-June 28 - Minot, NDJune 28-July 1 - Fargo, NDJuly 1-July 26 - Minneapolis, MNJuly 26-August 2 - Dyersville, IAAugust 2 -August 9 -Sioux City, IAAugust 9 - August 13 - Rapid City, SDAugust 13-August 16 - Sheridan, WYAugust 16-August 23 - Yellowstone, WYAugust 23 - August 30 - Grand Teton, WYAugust 30 - September 6 - Jackson, WYSeptember 6- September 13 - Twin Falls,IDSeptember 13-September 20 - Provo, UTSeptember 20 - September 27 - Canyonlands, UTSeptember 27- October 1 - Bryce Canyon, UTOctober 1-October 4 - Mesquite, NV - softball tourneyOctober 4-October 10 - St. George, UT - softball tourneyOctober 10 - home to Terravita So till the next blog starting our year 3 on the road is posted in early May, take care. We'll talk to you then. Diedre and Alexx
Tuesday was a big day: we would be attending a major league baseball game at our 28th (out of 30) stadium. The excitement was building.
On our way to the game, we stopped at the Anaheim Sunkist Packing House, a fruit warehouse built in 1919; it now houses several fun restaurants. 
The Angels game promotion that night at “The Big A” was “Sombrero Night,” I guess because it was Cinco de Mayo. I had my sombrero picture taken with a statue of the Angels’ first owner, legendary cowboy-singer Gene Autry. I also had my picture taken with the Angels 2002 World Series trophy.
It was a great game that night, probably the best one we’ve seen in our three years on the AB1 road. We got to see future Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols hit a home run for the Angels. 
But the real
The next morning we dragged our weary bodies out of bed in time to welcome long-time friend and former house-mate Pauli Morin over for breakfast. Living in the Pasadena suburb of Sierra Madre, Pauli has become a superstar realtor. I don’t think she sells any houses that aren’t in the seven-figures range.
-Don Knotts, aka “Barney Fife,” one of my all-time favorites;
The main reason we had come to WVMP, however, was to see the crypt of DK’s absolutely most favorite actress of all time, the exquisite Marilyn Monroe. It took us over an hour, but we finally came across Marilyn just as our parking meter was expiring … uhh, let’s make that “running out.” Marilyn’s wall crypt had lovely red roses in a holder on the face of it. The crypt next to her was vacant. We understood that it had been at one time owned by her ex-husband, Joe Dimaggio, but at some point, he decided he didn’t want it anymore, so he sold it to Hugh Hefner in 1992 for $75,000. When Hef goes, he’ll lie eternally next to his magazine’s first cover girl, Marilyn Monroe.
On Friday, May 8, we made our way out to Pasadena for dinner with Diedre’s wonderful cousins, Jan and John Price. While the ladies caught up on crocheting, decorating, and the threat of nuclear proliferation, John and I were off to the nearby Rose Bowl where he had arranged a personal tour for me of the humongous football stadium. 
While at Forest Lawn, we also saw the final resting places of legendary actress Bette Davis and the all-time winningest NCAA basketball tournament coach John Wooden. DK spotted the artfully decorated tomb of the wonderful pianist Liberace. And sweet Sandra Dee’s grave was marked “Unforgettable and Always Loved.”
Dinner that night was at two more (five?) relatives’ home. Near the very visual, humongous “Hollywood” sign live our nephew Brian, the younger son of Diedre’s older brother Doug, his wife Cindy, and their three 3 kids who are … brace yourself … ALL UNDER FOUR YEARS OLD! Yes, that’s one-year old Jasper drinking out of a wine bottle. He’s definitely Diedre’s grand-nephew.
And Brian is an award winning maker of “trailers,” those coming-attraction teasers that make you want to go to the movies again and again. He’s currently working on the newest “Terminator” movie trailer. We both just know he’ll do another great job.
“Monday rules” prevailed the next day as both did nothing we didn’t want to do. DK had Minnesota friend Pauli over for breakfast again while I batched it at the movie theater to see yet another science fiction yawner, “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Note that I only go for the special effects (FX).
Re-energized, we got back to doing the tourist thing Tuesday with visits to Venice Beach and its neighbor, Muscle Beach, where Diedre excelled on the rings. On the Venice Beach “Ocean Walk,” we kept thinking we recognized movie stars passing us by, but we soon realized we probably wouldn’t recognize any of the young stars of today (except for Johnny Depp and Emma Stone). As DK said, “That’s why we go to graveyards.” Yup, all the stars we’ve come to love and adore over the years have pretty much retired or died.
We walked from Venice Beach over to the Santa Monica Pier. Originally built from 1908-16, it’s the actual starting point of America’s most venerable and historic highway, “Route 66.” We think we’ll be back here in 2018 as our RV trek that year will be retracing all the roads that made up “The Main Street of America,” Route 66. Get your tickets now.
We had ended up walking 8.5 miles by the time we hit an old English pub for drinks with nephews Jake and Brian. And then not wanting the evening to end, we walked two more blocks to Brian’s office where he makes the movie magic happen. He even let us watch as he worked on a trailer for a bit. The experience took me back to the 70’s when I actually used to cut film and tape it together when editing home movies. They’ve come a helluva long way since then as Brian so adeptly showed us. The many awards in his office were ample evidence of how much he’s respected by his peers.
We saw all the sites: the Jim Henson Studios (Muppets); the El Capitan Theater where, after opening in 1926, Fanny Brice appeared as one of their original performers; Grauman’s Egyptian Theater; and the Pantages Theater.
For lunch, we stopped at the venerable “Musso and Frank’s” which opened in 1919. Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford had their own table there. It’s rare that we go to a white table cloth restaurant, and it’s even rarer when we go to such an establishment to order a pastrami sandwich with potato chips and a bottle of Diet-Coke. That’s just how we roll. DK patiently waited at the bar for a legendary “Musso & Frank’s Martini.” You could just feel the cinematic history oozing from the walls … either that, or their wallpaper had finally turned after 96 years.
We walked most of the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”; interestingly, both Lassie and Godzilla have their own stars: Lassie’s has a paw print next to her signature while Godzilla’s is over two blocks long. 
I had to have a pic with one of the stars of our current favorite TV show, “The Big Bang Theory’s” Jim Parsons, as well as with Groucho Marx’s star. 
To end our day in Hollywood, we made our way to the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theater which opened in 1922. In 1927, silent film star Norma Talmedge accidentally stepped into a sidewalk of wet cement at Grauman’s, thus beginning the tradition of immortalizing the prints of legendary Hollywood stars in the concrete of the theater’s forecourt. At present, there are more than 200 stars’ prints there. 
-On Sunday, May 17, I said my sad farewells to Mom and flew back to L.A.; my athletic wife had taken a vigorous spinning class with Pauli before meeting me at the airport. I was SOOO glad to get back.
