Monday – Sept 10, 2007 Clean-up detail

After spending Friday evening with us, Ryan and I undertook a requested task from Margaret – cleaning the exhaust vent / screen in the “kitchen”. Ryan was a big help – holding flashlight, screws, and scrubbing dirty spots. This was after helping dump the holding tanks. Unlike the movie “RV”, we did not have a geyser of brownish stuff! I explained a few of the mechanics of maintaining an RV to Ryan including showing him how to put chemicals in the holding tank, hooking up the electricity, and in general some of the tasks that always need doing in an RV.

Yesterday, Sunday, we visited another shopper’s Nirvana – South Coast Plaza in Orange County. It took only 30 minutes to get there from here, but it might as well have been in another dimension. Among the stores we strolled past: Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Versace, Tiffany’s, plus the usual suspects; Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, and Bloomingdales to name just a few. South Coast Plaza is Orange County’s version of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Never have I seen so much rampant high-end consumerism in one place.

Actually, it was quite pleasant. Many folks out for a walk amidst “money” and window-shop. We found lunch in a very nice restaurant, The Clubhouse. The motif was an old theatre lobby – back in the days when theatre lobbies were more than just a place to get popcorn and coke. The walls were festooned with photographs of “old” movie stars and various celebrities. We were surprised at the relatively modest prices – including two-tier prices for certain dishes: Lunch and Dinner. We were more pleased at the excellent quality of the food. Carol and Ryan declared their hamburger the best they’d ever had. Margaret had a Carne Asada Cobb Salad which she couldn’t stop raving over. I had an Angel Hair pasta dish with a Vodka sauce and grilled shrimp. We may go back tomorrow!

In case you think that much of our time is spent eating and shopping, you’re pretty close to the truth. Although there are many things to do in Southern California, the crowds, the costs, and the relatively long distances involved, preclude many activities. We’re not beach people, hiking in the mountains in the heat isn’t attractive, you can only go to just so many movies, and because we lived here for so long, we’ve done most of the tourist things. So we shop, eat, visit, and sleep. Now what’s wrong with that, I ask? Nothing. Very pleasant.

Margaret is spending today (Monday) working with Carol on Margaret’s latest project. It involves a Red Cross activity. I’ll let her fill you in on more details when she’s ready.

It is supposed to get warm(er) later this week. Just hope it doesn’t start getting back into triple digits; I like the mid-80’s we’ve been having the last few days.