Bob and Greg's SoCal Trip

On Saturday Bob, Chris, Greg, and I drove over to Balboa (near Newport Beach) to watch the skim boarders at the Wedge. The sand was really hot which made for some rather painful trips along the beach. For those of you not familiar with Newport/Balboa, the Wedge is a wave that breaks very steeply on the shore, making for great waves but painful landings.


On the way home, we took a short (2-minute) trip from Balboa to Newport (and the Pacific Coast Highway). The ferry can only hold three cars.

On Sunday, we went for a short hike in O'Neill Regional Park. We left the house at 8:30 and it must have already been 85 degrees outside.
This is the very cool scorpion that Greg spotted on the way down. We determined that it must have been run over by a bike or something due to the squashed area near the head. Dad and I once found a snake that had a similar squashed pattern when we lived in Juanita.
After the hike and some pool time at the hotel, it was off to the races.

My pictures aren't doing the race justice. It was a humid 104 degrees that evening and we were sitting in bleachers with 100,000 other sweaty people in Fontana, California. At one point, I was counting the sweat drops that I could feel sliding down my back. It was HOT.

Gentlemen, start your engines!

And, they're off!

So, I'm convinced that the only reason people going to watch NASCAR is because of the crashes. Maybe that's because it's my reasoning. This race had lots of lovely crashes, including the fiery one (below). It's kind of hard to see the fire in this picture. Try clicking on the picture itself for a closer look.But they put him out fairly quickly.

Did I mention that it was loud?! Really loud.

Pit row.

Bob trying to keep cool.

The boys.

Side note: Bob and I were discussing that a NASCAR race on average draws a certain kind of person. There were a lot of homages to god, the army, and corporate sponsorship. It was such an interesting look at a population that I don't think I encounter very often. Chris suggested that we should buy some emissions credits (like the site here) to offset our night at the race track. Overall, it was a very interesting experience. Thanks to Bob and Cherie for the lovely opportunity.

On Monday, we chose a different route and visited the Getty Villa, not to be confused with the famous Getty Museum. J. Paul Getty (of oil wealth) was responsible for creating both museums but the villa houses his antiquities collection. And what a collection. Like the Getty Museum, the experience is more than just the art. It's the architecture of the buildings, the gardens, the views etc. This is what you see when you arrive:

I really liked this trellis.

I took this one for my papa since I thought he'd like the rock wall with the olive trees

Somehow I can't imagine spending so much time and energy on the ceiling since most people don't look up but I happened to have a good view of the ceiling since I plopped down on a bench to take a breather from the heat. This was my favorite piece.

Mama, is this taro?

After another dip in the hotel pool we headed over to the stadium to watch the Angels stomp the Oakland Athletics.

I would have given anything to have gone for a dip in the fountain at the stadium.

Fireworks after the game.

Bob and Greg, it was so nice to have you down for a visit and thank you for all of the lovely activities. We can't wait to see you at Christmas.
-Chris and Sonja