DAY TWO – 16 September 2014
I ended
up sleeping pretty well, regardless of the window shade issue. That was
probably because my body was still two hours ahead on Central Time.
That’s also why I woke up at 5 am. I waited about an hour or so before I
strolled down to check out the free hot breakfast. One of my co-workers
them came in from a morning run, so we were able to eat together before it was
time for us to get ready to go to our first seminar.
We drove
up to Cerritos
to the college there. Since we were going to be here again tomorrow, we
were able to leave our bags back in our rooms. Lunch was catered, and we
had a choice of BBQ chicken or pork ribs, with a selection of sides.
Everything was delicious. I would’ve liked to have learned who the
provider was so I could give them a good recommendation. Once the seminar
was done, we returned to the hotel and into casual wear. Since this was
technically our last night here, this was our time to explore the area.
When
driving down the beach area (near where we were last night), I noticed most
residences had their front doors and windows open. It seemed odd to me at
first, but actually made sense because I’d seen a news report that morning
about potential drains on the power grid due to AC use. I guess that was
people’s way of keeping the house cool. I noticed the homes in the
tropics would do something similar. I do recall seeing that the previous
night when we were coming back from Walt’s Wharf, but didn’t make the
connection. I just thought it was odd that after dark people would have
their shades open so anyone could see into their homes. I’m just weird
that way. I understand the value of staying cool and being energy
efficient, but I like my privacy, and have a healthy dose of paranoia that I
don’t like knowing any weirdo could be looking in on me.
Once we
parked at a public place, we walked out on the Seal Beach Pier a short
distance. Had I been by myself, I would’ve walked all the way to the end
and back. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and we still needed to
find a place to eat. My manager commented that I’m getting the beach job
I always wanted. I chuckled with the humor and replied my preference was
a Caribbean beach.
Looking over
the area, the beach was a wide, smooth expanse, and there were a decent number
of people out enjoying it. I’m sure on a weekend there would be ten times
the number of people here. No one was sunbathing, as they were more just
sitting around enjoying the area. And there were a few surfers too.
We came
off the Pier down to the beach. The sand was brown and clumpy, as it had
absorbed a lot of moisture. There were some small shells present close to
the water’s edge, and these were roughly the single of a fingernail.
Nothing like the beaches which were my preference. We’d all taken our
shoes off before walking out on to the beach. Of course I’m going to take
the requisite foot picture. I’d considered painting my toe nails before
this trip too (like I considered before going to St. Croix
the last time), but had run out of time to do so.
I also
rolled up my pants to above my knees, because I was not coming this close to
the Pacific Ocean without putting my feet in
it. The plan of my co-workers was to let the water splash around
us. One guy had changed into shorts, one lady had capris on, and the
other lady had a loose skirt which could easily be hiked up, so I was the only
one who really had to worry about getting my pants wet.
Checking
the color of the sand gives an indication of how far the waves come up (wet
sand being darker). My co-workers were standing on the edge of the wet
area, and I ventured forward a little more. I wanted to take a series of
pictures of my feet on the sand, with some subsequent shots of the waves
crashing around them. And I did, and I felt they turned out very well.
Of
course, the waves came up higher than I thought (about half-way up my shin),
and the resulting splash hit sections of my knees. My pants had been
rolled up above my knees, and they were pretty damp. We were having fun,
so it didn’t bother me. I used the opportunity to take some selfies and
other pictures of the sun going down. I would’ve liked an actual “sunset
over the horizon” shot, but we would’ve had to wait around a bit longer.
Hungry adults don’t like waiting around for food.
When we
left the beach, there was a place to shower our feet off to remove any
accumulated sand. Everyone else had sandals or flip-flops which they just
put back on. I decided I was going to go barefoot for a bit to let my
feet dry out. I also took the opportunity to unroll my pants, and saw how
wet everything was. That’s the advantage of wearing khakis, they dry
easily (unlike jeans).
We
strolled down the main street doing a visual check of the shops as we were
scouting out a place for dinner. Since the boss wanted to find hoodies
for her daughters, we did stop into one of the stores. My feet were dry
enough for me to put my socks and shoes back on. While we were in there,
my counter-parts and I purchased some California-themed post-cards for our
agents so they could put them at their desks when the project launched. I
bought a couple for myself as souvenirs.
One thing I did like here was the holiday tree which was decorated with
seashells. It I ever decided to put up a
tree like this, I think I’d decorate it this way.
After
looking at the choices (and passing Walt’s Wharf again), we decided to try
O’Malley’s. Yeah, I’m going to vote for the Irish pub. We were
quickly seated near the front window, so I didn’t get to spend too much time
looking deep within the place. From my vantage point, a bar and a hostess
station obscured my view, and I didn’t end up needed to head to the restroom
(so that’s also why I didn’t see much). There was a huge Irish flag
hanging over the hostess station, and a lot of paraphernalia on the
walls. One item I liked was a picture of the Peanuts gang decked out as
firefighters. If there weren’t people at the table in front of it, I
would’ve taken a picture of it.
I opted
for the shepherd’s pie, as that’s a staple of Irish pubs … and I haven’t had
any in a while. This version was actually made with lamb, so it’d be
different than how I normally have it. I’m used to the meat being in
small chunks throughout the dish, but this had *huge* pieces of meat. I
never needed a knife to eat shepherd’s pie before. And there were lots of
peas in it, and I do mean a lot. A dish served in an Irish establishment
which is green seems rather appropriate. I like peas, but in smaller
quantities, and the peas were over half of the vegetable content of the
meal. Overall, it wasn’t bad. Not the style I was used to, but
still good. Since it seemed likely I’ll be visiting this region a lot, I
planned to come back here in the future.
We passed
on dessert only because we’d passed an ice cream shop near the beach, not far
from where we parked. Yeah, I exercised my persuasive powers (thank you,
Jedi Mind Trick), and recommended that a sweet treat would be nice. Once
inside we realized it was a Marble Slab Creamery, not a local
establishment. Oh, well, I’ll take what ice cream I can get.
One of
the special flavors they had was “peanut butter and jelly.” I’ll eat that
that as a sandwich, but it sounded pretty gross to me as a flavor. They
offered me a sample, so why not. Holy crap, I was surprised at how good
it actually was. Instead of a milkshake, I got that instead.
The night
was still young, and we didn’t want to return to the hotel yet, so we drove
down Pacific Coast Highway
(aka “PCH”) to Huntington Beach .
PCH is aptly named, as it runs right along the ocean, although at this point
the sun had gone down so I all I could see was darkness.
We did
step into a shop so the boss could once again look for hoodies for the
kids. I did get a couple shirts there, as I like to pick up t-shirts of
places I’ve visited. Boss still couldn’t find the stuff she was looking
for, by the way. Since we still had one more day of the seminar at Cerritos tomorrow, before
heading to another locale completely, we adjourned back to the hotel. I
decided to pass on a swim, because I didn’t want it to be wet and/or damp when
I packed my crap.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
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