And We're Off!

Saturday we took off on our grand one month adventure to Bali. We flew to LAX on USAIR, a nice, uneventful flight. I wrangled a free upgrade to biz class so had plenty of legroom for Jerry and managed to catch a much needed catnap. We had a delightfully pleasant flight attendant: polite, attentive, and gracious.

In the spirit of the Baesel family motto “never go ANYWHERE without a book”, Jerry and I have to travel on a plane with BOTH our Kindle and a “real” book. The real book is for the point in time when you board to that mysterious time in the sky when “you may now turn on all permitted electronic devices”. And the reverse at the end of the trip! So I’m reading Tony Horowitz “A Journey Long and Strange” (real book) and Eat, Pray, Love on the Kindle (have to finally read it since the “love” chapter takes place in Bali and they are supposedly getting ready to start filming there, possibly while we’re there)

While reading, I listen to music (instead of the restless baby, snoring guy behind me, or the clickclick of the computer belonging to the other guy behind me) I have decided to listen to the songs on my IPOD in alphabetical order (yes, I know I lean toward compulsive tendencies). Given that I have over 6000 songs on my IPOD, I probably should take bets as to how far I get on this vacation. For the cross country flight I got from “Ab” to to “Al”. and discovered that I have 22 songs that begin with the word “ain’t” , pretty amazing for a word that is technically not grammatically correct! Can you name 3?

We’re staying 3 days in LAX visiting family and friends before taking off for Bali via Hong Kong and a 24 hour travel stint! Drove out to Moreno Valley on Saturday where it was 111 degrees (but you know, it was a “dry” heat…bah…it was darn hot!) Had a great visit at keri and josh’s new house celebrating her 30^th and their new home ownership. Had fun visiting with family, eating good food (thanks Kelly), and playing with my brothers adorable miniature dachshund, (lapdog extraordinaire).

Yesterday was a delightful day with friends Jerry and Carol. We drove down to north san diego county where we visited the Quail Botanical Gardens in Enicinitas. Strolled, chatted, and “ooo’d and ah’d” over really cool plants & trees. See my travel blog www.thetravelingbaesels.blogspot.com).

And while we’re having all this great time, Los Angeles is under attack, so to speak, by a series of wildfires. The biggest and most spectacular and unfortunately the deadliest is known as the Station Fire (La Canada, Altadena, Mt Wilson) It’s on its 4^th day, has consumed over 50,000 acres and will probably go to 100,000 acres. Two firefighters were killed when their vehicle plunged off an embankment. The smoke clouds look like a volcanic eruption and it is now threatening Mt Wilson Observatory and a important set of communication antennae/equipment. A number of cabins and ranch buildings have been destroyed and as of now, they think it could take until September 8^th to get it fully controlled and perhaps out.

I’m off soon for lunch with old friends …more later.