An Unexpected Journey

Stand-up paddle-boarder enjoy's the Big Sur sunset   

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) :).

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.

View from a mansion in the Santa Barbara Hills

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 :) 

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)

Cambria sunset from my motel deck