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Travel

OUR WILD AND CRAZY TRIP TO L.A.

Jun 21st, 2024

                           

                 
This was our first trip back to L.A. in a year and a half!

 

 

                                Day one

I dropped Kara off at her old hair salon, Claudio Marino, and I set out on a day of adventure!
Kara's plan was to have Justina do her hair for the first time in 2 years, and see her fellow stylists and friends at the shop, and to meet the new stylists.

Salt Cave day one




My first stop was to spend a relaxing hour in a salt cave! 





There were so many chairs in this group salt cave!




This was my first time ever in a salt cave. It was very theraputic and relaxing!

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Massage Day one




Next on my list was to seek out one of L.A.'s famous foot massage centers! You can find them in most strip malls in L.A., and most are very good. We do not have these in Greenville, and we miss them very much!












This was the best one hour massage I have had in two years!

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Chiropractor Day one





My next stop was to get an over due adjustment from the best chiropractor in Los Angeles!




Spiros has the most unique tools and would use them on you at some point or another!

                            Most of these tools Spiros built by hand and only he has some of these!
                                   They are a bit intimidating at first, but they feel SO GOOD!

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Dinner Day one



I picked up the four girls, Justina, Annie, Carol, and Kara, at the shop and we set off for Basta Pizzeria in Agoura for our second time ever.






This is a very special Pizzeria in that everyone should try!





Carol ordered her favorite burger again and it was fantastic!

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                          DAY TWO

My plan was to meet my friend Adam, while Kara and Carol spent the day shopping. Then we meet up with Diane Demery for dinner at Kings Fish House.

Adam at Starbucks Day two







Adam and I met at Starbucks for almost 3 hours of amazing conversation. Adam is such a good friend! We have SO MUCH in common!

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Dinner Day two





Diane Demery wanted to take us to her favorite restaurant, Kings Fish House in Calabasas.


The food was so so, but look who was sitting right behind us, Howie Mandel!

Thank you Diane!

Didn't Justina do a great job with Kara's hair?

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                            Day three

Kara and I set out together today to see Michael to check our health, then over to the graveyard to pick out our resting place, and finished the day at the Thai Fusion Bistro for dinner!

Naturopath Day three

We woke up early in L.A. time for my appointment with Michael, not only a GREAT friend to our family, but the best doctor I know.

Michael will be my Doctor for life!!!






Here Michael is testing me for everything health. His brother Eddy is a professional ultrasound specialist who trains the young doctors in the trade.

He works at Michael's practice doing ultrasound. He checkled out every last organ for their condition and size, and I passed with flying colors.

I was instructed to keep doing what I am doing and all should be well. Viva Blue Zone!

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Graveyard Day three



We headed over to Peirce Brothers in Westlake to hopefully pick out our final resting place. We had coordinated to met with Bo. He was amazing, no timeshare pushiness, just FUN and informative!









Here Kara and I are showing Bo how we would like to be laid to rest, and testing the earth.


We had so much fun!

We picked the center spot.
It comes with the head stone and bench, and it looks out over the valley and the mountains that I have hiked in the distance.
You can see Karen Carpenter's mausoleum in the backround, and Tom Seleck and his family will be buried just down the hill in front of us.





         Tom's parents are already there.              

God gave us a very powerful sign that this is THE place where we are supposed to be laid to rest. The down payment came to 18,888.00.
888 is the number for Jesus and the reserection. That is the most powerful sign that I have ever received in my life.

Not only did the deposit have 888 in it, but we had to transfer our rewards into our credit card so that we could pay the down payment, and that amount also had 888 in it!

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Dinner Day three




Kara and I headed out to our favorite Thai restaurant and had some much needed alone time and ate some great food!

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                           Day Four

Kara and Carol set out for another day shopping and centered in on the Thousand Oaks Mall, but first they stopped by to see Dina. I planned to meet up with her son Kevin for Lunch, and then over to Manggiano's for dinner with Robert and his ex Cindy.

Dena day four







Dena looks very good and my hon looks so happy. Dena lost her husband Stu just months ago.

Lunch Day four



Kevin and I each ordered the Tuna Melt and spent the next 2 hours talking about all things money and conspiracy, while his mom and Kara shopped!


He took me over to his new singles apartment complex.
It had every possible service a high end single could want.

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Dinner Day four




We loved getting to know Cindy and spending time with Robert.
He is almost 88 and doing well, she is our age and is beautiful.

Robert married up for sure!

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                           Day five

Kara and Carol set of for the beach for a small memorial for Stu, while I made my way over to see Spiros for my third adjustment. I also hoped to meet up with Dru to show him the new website, but it was not meant to be! So I went back to the hotel and worked on the site!

Stu's memorial Day five

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Chiropractor day five






Dr Spiros loves to put these saying up on his chalk board. I love them all!





Here is one from last year!

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Dinner Day five

Tonight Carol, Kara, and I are going to Carole and Toby's house for dinner. We plan to order from one of our favorite restraunts Panini Kabob Grill. They have the best salmon and ceasers salad around.





The dinner and company could not have been better. They are so much fun!

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                           Day Six

Today Kara was going over to do Loni and Tina's house to do their hair. They are long time friends who started as clients so many years ago. I set out for Pasadena to meet up with Mike Vitkievicz for lunch. Kara and I met up with Barry and Diane and returned to Basta in Agoura Hills.!

Loni & Tina Hair day six

I snapped this picture in front of their house. It was the perfect L.A. day, but with Greenville clouds!







Here is Tina after the makeover!







Here is Loni after her makeover!

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Mike Lunch day six

Mike and I meet at this restuarant in down town Pasadena. Mike seemed a bit distracted upon sitting down. We had a great 2.5 hour lunch, but he informed me that he had received a letter from his doctor telling him that, based on his blood work, he should make an appointment with the oncology group.  

No wonder he was a bit distracted, they didn't give him any reason other the his markers were outside the norm. He is leaving for a trip with his wife for 3 weeks in Thailand and will make the appointment after his return. He had a mishap in the parking garage and hit his fender on the pole, a sad reminder of our lunch engagement.

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                         Day Seven

Marv and I set out on a three day trip to two waterfalls and a slot canyon in San Diego while Kara had the time of her life with her four girl friends. They went to Soy y Luna Restaurant, then up to the world famous Porto's Bakery, then back to our hotel room for more fun!

Kara with the girls day seven







Kara had the time of her life, and her friends filled her up with love!









The girls are together again!

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Three Sisters Falls day seven

Marv and I drove four hours to get to the Three Sisters Waterfall trailhead. It was a four mile hike with 1,100 elevation gain, but it was a steaming 95 degrees.




We finally made it to the trail head about 1:00, and it was hot, hot, HOT, with NO shade!

We started down.








A very well defined trail, but as you can see, there is no shade.

There were these huge horse flys that bit me several times, and it hurt like hell. If these were on the whole hike, it was going to be a miserable day!
As we lost elevation, we lost the flys.








By the time we made it to the falls, I was exhausted! I feared that there was no way that I could make it out. But after soaking everything but my boots, my entire body, cloths, hat, and back pack, I made it out with water to spare.





You can see the grueling trail out!

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                           Day Eight

Today Kara set out for some shopping with Carol and Carole, while Marv and I set out to hike Cedar Creek Falls Trail, another grueling hike 6 mile hike with 1,200 elevation gain. I made sure that I had MORE than enough water today!

Shopping day eight








Kara, Carol, and Carole at Carole's house before going shopping at the Topanga Mall.

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Cedar Creek Falls day eight








Just 3 miles to the falls!








This hike required a permit, but there was no one to check us in. I see why they require a permit for it is a well groomed trail with fences, rest stops and more.

                 









               So many river crossings.           

                                               So many fish, frogs, and very large tadpoles.


















Now this is a waterfall, and a very deep pool!






Me diving in for a refreshing swim!

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                             Day nine

Marv and I set off to find a cave and then hike Annie's slot canyon. Kara went to lunch with Robert and Leslie, and then out to dinner with Carol and Lucia.

Leslie and Robert day nine










Robert looking good. We didn't get a picture of Robert and Cindy out to dinner, so at least we got this one!






Robert picked Kara up and meet Leslie at Topanga Pizza Cafe. Kara said that Leslie looked very good for what she has been through.










Robert dropped Kara off at the shop so she could catch up with Claudio and ride with Carol and Lucia for dinner.

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Cave day nine



Heather told Marv and I about this amazing cave in La Jolla.

Unfortunitly the stairs to the cave were closed due to a sea lion being on the steps, but we got to see the cave from the street.




There were groups of kayakers making their way through the cave. We must go back and do this.






There were birds all over the cliffs. 

                                                       Here are a couple of baby seagulls






What a beautiful place this is!

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Annie's slot canyon day nine




We made it to Annie's slot Canyon. Right here in our own back yard!













Marv going up the slot canyon.











They sure took the time to make this easy enough even for kids!








Me and my buddy enjoying the day!

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                             Day ten

On our last day we set off to see our CPA Kent, and he will be the Trustee of our trust. I have known Kent for at least 26 years and we trust him with executing our last wishes.

Kent Fujimura day ten




We spent at least an hour with Kent and met his charming twin brother Ross. We dropped off our health power of attorny, our newly purchased grave site agreement, and the card for our Trust lawyer. It was great seeing Kent again and meeting his brother.

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Massage day ten



We went back to the same foot massage center, but this time we both got a very nice massage!

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Dinner day ten






Once again we had dinner with Barry and Diane, but this time we meet at Poccaccios in Westlake.

It was a perfect last meal on the lake with our best friends!

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                            Overview

It had been 1.5 years since we have been back to L.A. because our little Marlowe got sick with Diabetes. We have nursed her back to health and found a very nice lady to stay with her. It worked out perfectly, and Marlow might adopt Leslie, NEVER!


But we are now free to travel!!!


Our trip was magical, Kara had the time of her life with her friends, and I got to go on a three day hiking trip with Marv, plus see all of our friends! We will return in February. I will check in on Mike and his health!

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                            Breeze Air

It takes us 1.5 hours to drive to Charlotte NC for a direct flight to Los Angeles. So we were thrilled when Breeze Airline began direct flights out of Greenville Spartanburg International, just 8 minutes from our house. Cutting 3 hours off of our travel time would be fantastic.

Their fleet consists of new Airbus aircraft. The check in at the airport took longer than it should, they needed two more people, so that was a bit of a head wind, not a Breeze. When you get to L.A. you have to take a short bus from Bradley Terminal to terminal 1. That added maybe 15 minutes. But once we got to terminal 1, it took over an hour to get our luggage. A fellow passenger said that this was not normal, but taking two carry on's instead of checking a bag would solve this problem.
The flight home, as was the flight out, was very smooth. Both ways the flight attendents and pilots were wonderful, BUT, we were delayed over an hour in L.A., of which that same fellow passanger, yes we saw him again, said that this was also not normal. But even with these two set backs, we still saved an hour.