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| Stand-up paddle-boarder enjoy's the Big Sur sunset |
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Randa's dismay that she has to take
her cocktail to-go on NYE |
I received a Facebook message from Randa on Dec 27 instructing
me I should crash in her guest room and spend New Year’s Eve with her friends in
San Diego. To put things in context on
how long it had been since we last seen each other, I met Randa in my very
first college class at the University of Texas, Austin and had not seen her
since our graduation day party we threw together (which places our last meeting
sometime in the Carter Administration) :).
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| 3 rounds in 3 days with my dad |
I convinced my dad to join in me San Diego so we could go
golfing together after my visit with Randa.
Asking my dad if he wants to go golfing in Southern California is kind
of like asking my terrier if she would like to go for a run in the park. One anticipates a positive response. Thankfully, he said yes and we booked a hotel
and tee times together.
Randa lives in Del Mar which is around 20 miles north of San
Diego. If you exclude diversity from
your decision criteria, Del Mar is about as close to the perfect as a beach
town/heaven that you can hope for. Each night
we painted the town with her friends, walked off the sins of the evening on a
beach the next day, and repeated our errors later that eve. Randa evidently made a pact with the devil
and looks the same as she did on graduation day; we were close friends all over
again, and, if you exclude our intermittent geriatric back spasms, it was just
like old times.
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| View from a mansion in the Santa Barbara Hills |
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| Brett and Tony's pub-crawl |
My dad and I had a wonderful trip, we stayed at the SD
Hilton Bayfront and golfed Coronado and walked around the Gasslamp district for
3 days. We made ample use of mulligans
and the hotel hottub. After 3 rounds we
were tied (just like every other father/son golf trip). One of these days I’m going to review the
scorecards, but in the meantime, I love how he fudges the numbers to give me a
fighting chance.
I was supposed to stay with Matt Mcfalls for a few days
after my dad left, but unfortunately Matt was under the weather. I was on a roll of sorts on reunions, so I
decided to Facebook Brett, who was on my high school tennis team
freshman/sophomore year – I have not seen or talked to him since. He lives in LA and was very surprised to hear
from me, but opened up his guest room nonetheless. He and I pub-crawled and rode bikes around
Santa Monica/Venice beach for a few days.
Going to a bar with Brett is sorta like becoming an invisible man, but
it was fun imagining that the woman throwing themselves at him were aiming at
me and just sorta missed :)
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| Coronado sunset |
I drove my way up the coast back to Sacramento after
LA. I had a fantastic visit with the
Clan Herner in Santa Barabara, and an unexpectedly wonderful time in the little
town of Cambria, CA just south of Big Sur.
I’ve included a few pictures, but most are of Southern
California Sunset’s … which are magical delights.
-Tony (The Domestic Man of Mystery)
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| Cambria sunset from my motel deck |
