Home, but remembering

It was back in the routine with a vengeance today. It did feel SO good to get back into the pool and exercise and stretch and catch up with all the swimmers' news. Even Wal-Mart wasn't too bad. I only forgot 2-3 things and have to take only one thing back. Guess that's not too bad.

John won high for the session that ended 1 September. I had been high until the last round, but ..... The guy who organizes the sessions gives each winner a gift certificate to the restaurant of his/her choice. That'll be nice. And after that, we got our much needed haircuts.

To recap some of our trip, we had a great week in Southern California. We always enjoy spending time with A&A - and they did show us a good time. We ate well and played a lot of bridge, of course. But we also spent a day on Catalina Island. We drove around in a golf cart, checked out the museum and waterfront, and had lunch. The boat-ride over was nice, too.

We went to San Diego over the weekend to visit with Alison and see her new house and her lab at Scripps. We stayed at a neat old hotel not too far from her house, the Lafayette Hotel. We met Joe and saw a lot of the little beach towns in the area. On the way back to the LA area, we stopped at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see the great exhibit of Chinese terra cotta warriors.

We went to the Getty Museum in Malibu. This branch of the Getty had been closed for about 7 years and had only recently reopened. A&A had not been there since the renovation, and enjoyed getting to see the changes and what had been left the same. It's an awesome facility and collection.

Another museum we took in was the Petersen Automotive Museum in downtown LA. It's a very interesting collecttion of automobiles and things relating to cars and trucks - well worth a stop. And one afternoon, we took in a movie, Vicky Christina Barcelona. I'm not a particular Woody Allen fan, but this was a pretty good flick. We even got to visit with John's two nephews and their families.

There's really a lot to see and do in Southern California - and it's especially great when you have good friends/family to visit with and to show you around.