The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel Dana Point

... Western, which is where our tour ended. Shelly and I didn't have anywhere booked for the next 2 nights but everyone that had booked in said we could crash with them to save some cash so we crashed with the remaining few for the next 2 nights. The evening we got back we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner before heading back and crashing. The next day most people were either heading to Disneyland or Universal Studios for the day, but having already been to Universal and not really ...

We went west to the coast initially to meet Nancy, a woman who owns two American Hairless Terriers. I am allergic to dogs, but found out about this unique breed a couple of years ago and finally got to meet two of them to see if I would get an allergic reaction to them. AHTs are the best breed for people with allergies to dogs. So we went to Nancy's house in San Juan Capistrano. We ...

... they may not have really thought that, but it was starting to feel that way. So now I was grumpy... hehe - not the dwarf, but you know what I mean. Luckily, Chris had spotted that there was another embroidery place right next door. So we headed in there to try again. Now in here was a lovely CM. I explained my problem to him, and put on big puppy dog eyes, and I may have even started quivering my lip... But hey, what it comes down to, is that he did it for me ...

... Now talking about food, here goes. Firstly can I just say, all of my friends and loved ones know that I am carrying a little too much weight to what I am normally like but in this great land, I am skinny. The amount of overweight people here is amazing and when you see the food you soon understand that these people don't have a chance. Everything is so greasy, fried and a huge portion. We bought a Corn Dog (a hot dog on a stick, that has ...

... trasport with a driver you could trust. The Taxis stop running after dark and that when the gangs apparently come out throw rocks at anything that moves down by the airport. Its a good job that the hostel has a really well stocked bar. We did not see any trouble in our time in the old Portuguse style city and we found the people very differnet from the indonesians in many ways. We did not get the shouting and the hassel you tend to assosiate with indonesia and they speak a ...

... shower and get dressed for the Regatta. We were on a large ship like last year. This one was even bigger, though, at 82 feet. It is called the Curlew. We actually had some wind, so the race was on. We had a fun time. When we got back, there was another conference cocktail hour, then dinner. Dinner consisted of the following: Salad: Limestone lettuce, shaved Maui onion, marinated ...

... had made a huge, very nice fish dinner, and we sat outside with a fire on the patio, and and had a very relaxing evening. I made special effort to thank them all for being so good to us. Early the next morning we set back off for LA, but went via San Fransisco. Unfortunately, Arielle had to get back in time for work, so we only drove round the edges and didn't get to see the Golden gate Bridge. We got a good veiw of the bay though, and ...

... LA we got T'ed on the highway by a lady who seems to have fallen asleep at the wheel, swerved over to our lane and bounced along the entire side of our van at 60 mph- her car was totaled and ours is all smashed in - I can't believe no one was killed. Barry and I were both OK (thank goodness for a well built vehicle!). Now we have the hassle of getting it fixed. Right now we are in Dana Point in Orange County (for all of you who ...

... and loads of trees) and spent some time on the white sand beach. We had a nice Mexican lunch with some birdy beggars before heading out to see Carmel Mission. It's a famous Christian mission & school and was the main base for Father Junipera Serra who did a lot of converting here and is now a Saint. The recently deceased Pope bestowed the title of Minor Basillica upon this restored complex and they have quite a nice shrine to him here. We headed back into town and completed ...

... regime! Nancy and I sorted out a hostel room for the night (Jon was again completely oblivious to this, even as were leaving their apartment!) in Venice. A very odd place full of weirdos, some of whom had been there for over a year and most of whom were wannabe actors. They were all very friendly and talkative, just slightly deranged! The dorm we stayed in was by far the biggest yet - 30 bunk beds all squeezed very tightly together, in a very dark, dank room. The funniest guy we met ...