I bet you didn’t expect to hear from me so soon. Don’t worry; you didn’t miss a note about us traveling. We are just taking a quick trip to Southern California to see Steve and Jamie. We came down on Tuesday, and we are flying back next Tuesday. I wasn’t even going to post about the trip since it is about family rather than really to any place, foreign or exotic. But I have been taking photos, and I am pretty happy with them, so I thought I would share them.

My sister-in-law Jamie is our tour guide this week. She told me she is paying me back for all the arrangements I have made on our overseas trips. She is doing an awesome job. Even the days of rest are planned, which is great. Day one was recovering from our two-hour flight. Man, did we need that ?. But I did take advantage of not having anything planned by taking my morning walk to Doheny Beach. No one was surfing ? but there were a couple of volleyball players. And I got to take some pics while walking. I am not going to give you the usual cell phone plea, but I will say that if you click one, the photos will show up in a slide show.

On day two, we headed north to Burbank to tour the Warner Brothers studio. It was a great tour. We did the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) tour and got to see and hear about the films and stars of the forties, fifties and sixties, tour the prop department and get our photos taken in a few recognizable television sets. Then, it was off to a very traditional place for lunch—The Smokehouse. Located right behind the studio, the scene is set in LaLa Land, where Ryan Gosling meets Emma Stone. We actually had lunch in the room where he was playing the piano. Food and drink were good as well. Even though we loved the tour and the lunch, the best part of the trip was the incredible ride home from downtown LA to San Juan Capistrano. The trip is about 75 miles, and it only took us almost two and a half hours. The most fun part was trying to choose our route using Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze. What a great challenge ?. I took some photos, and here they are.

That will cover it so far. Today is day three, and I did another early morning walk with photos, but tonight, we are doing a Christmas lights cruise around the harbor in Dana Point. Before we step on the boat, everyone will indulge me with a trip to Crazy Shirts in Laguna Beach, and we will stop for an early dinner at Truly Pizza in Dana Point. It is an “award-winning pizza,” so I am really looking forward to it. Only go to the website if you are ready to get hungry. Watch for those pics in the next few days.

Whatever starts in California, unfortunately, has an inclination to spread.   —Jimmy Carter