California ’09 – L.A. and Eastward
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
I had spent ample time the night before getting ready for my Summer 2009 California journey, having packed all of my clothes, assembled celebrity photos that I needed to bring along, and had all of my incidentals ready to go. However, on the morning of Saturday, July 11, I made an almost near-fatal faux pas which almost wrecked the whole thing. I had set my alarm for 4:20 am with plans to head to my Dad’s house at 5:00, leave his place by 5:30, and arrive at the airport by 6am for my 7am departure. It was all mapped out and it seemed like a bulletproof plan. Read the rest of this entry »
For the most part, everything that I was experiencing during my Guatemala trip was a complete surprise as I had gone into the trip without any research or preconceived notions about what I would be seeing. The Mayan ruins of Tikal, however, were a bit of an exception as this was a landmark I had actually heard of and took the liberty of seeking out some info about before I left for the trip. Of all of the locations in Guatemala, this was probably the most famous and the one that I was most looking forward to. 
I spent my last full day of my California “Dreams Come True” trip in chilly Lone Pine, California, enjoying our final day at the 19th annual Lone Pine Film Festival on Saturday, October 11, 2008. We got up bright and early and left our motel in Independence at about 7:30am. A return visit to the Alabama Hills restaurant kicked off the day, where this time I went for the generic bacon and eggs while Bob stuck with the Eggs Benedict. 
I was rather surprised with the weather in California when I awoke at the Courthouse Motel in Independence on Friday, October 10, 2008. It had dropped down to 45 degrees overnight. I knew it got chilly up in Northern California so I had my Amsterdam sweatshirt with me, but I was hoping the it would warm up during the afternoon. Bob and I headed out at a little after 7am and headed into Lone Pine which was about 15 minutes south. 
Bob had to go into work the morning of Thursday, October 9, 2008, so I was able to sleep in a bit and have time to tinker around on his computer and peruse a stack of materials he left me to root through and see if I wanted. He had also been kind enough to pick me up a breakfast burrito to microwave and enjoy. That Bob…what a pal! (Even if no David Garrison…) He got home about 11:30am or so and by noon we were on our way to our first adventure of the day. I made sure to pose with the