Started out at the Deering Banjo Company factory tour….it was excellent! Started in San Diego, Deering is the only mass producer of banjos left in the USA. They build them wholly by hand and the process of turning a plain block of wood into a beautiful instrument was quite fascinating.
Drove up the coast passed iconic beaches like Laguna, Huntington, and Venice. Venice beach had the outdoor weight facility you see on TV, along with hoops courts, handball courts, and some kind of strange mini tennis game everyone seemed to love. The centerpiece of the scene was the skate park. The place was mobbed and the skill level was high. Men, women, young, and old all took turns riding the pool and it was fun to watch. The undertone of the whole Venice Beach scene was the apparent state of lawlessness. Most people were baked out of their minds and the entire place was trashed beyond belief. Think you might like to use the public restrooms?…..think again. Humanity simply had annihilated this place.
In Los Angeles I took the camper thru the Hollywood Hills, through Beverly Hills, down Rodeo Drive, up the Walk of Fame, by the Chinese Theater, by the Kodak Theater, and just up under the Hollywood sign on the hill. Sometimes you just go somewhere to check a place off your list…then realize that it should have never been on the list in the first place….for me, that was Los Angeles.
Hey, Dan. Thanks for letting me tagalong again this summer!
ReplyDelete> Your description of the San Diego Beach in general, and the mention of REO Speedwagon in particular brought back memories of my childhood/adulthood friend Cathy. I remember buying that REO Speedwagon album at Mars Bargainland with Cathy - we must have been 12 or so. We played it on her red recordplayer! Cath moved to San Diego after college to live out her dream of being the CA beach girl that she was at heart. She was able to do that for a few years before she came back to MA to be with friends and family - we lost her to cancer at the age of 31. Thanks for bring back memories of her on the beach and driving around in her VW convertible! Cathy dreamed it and then lived it - as are you. Thanks for the reminder - life is good - live it to the fullest.
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> Happy traveling! May you avoid more fire ants and any other harm on your journey.