Life and Times in SoCal

Summer is over at Jevins Resort and Spa! We’ve had a ton of visitors since March. My mom was here for about a month, then Carys, Jordan, Steph, and the boys and their in-laws came over. My friend Andreas from Germany also visited at one point there was 10 of us in our house and everyone fitted in! My cousin and his family came out for a couple of weeks in early August and we had Julie's cousins out in mid September. Whew, it’s been a busy summer! We’ve had a blast. The grandchildren are amazing. Koby is now a confident and capable swimmer, and Milo loves the water too. 

The picture above is the Northern Lights or aurora borealis. This was taken by Julie in her sister's back garden on the Wirral UK.

While my mom was here, we went to Oceanside to see my favorite artist, Steve Barton, who painted the surfboard. We got to visit his home and studio. We even bought a couple more of his original paintings.

Julie returned to the UK in late May to visit her parents and bring back her eldest daughter, Carys. This is Carys’ third trip to Corona and likely her tenth visit to the US since we moved here. We had an amazing morning whale watching off Dana Point, the dolphin and whale watching capital of the world. We were fortunate enough to spot two blue whales, a bunch of common dolphins, and some California sea lions. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing a blue whale fluke. When the whale arches to dive deep and its tail pops out of the water before it plunges into the depths, it’s a rare sight. Apparently, blue whales don’t do this as frequently because they’re so big. Overall, it was a fantastic trip.

We also had a wonderful day up in the mountains at Lake Arrowhead. The drive was tough because we had to pass through low clouds from 2000 to 4000 feet above sea level. But once we reached the top (5174 feet), it was a breathtaking day. Lake Arrowhead is a beautiful place, but during the winter months, it can get cut off by snow. In the winter of 2023, it was cut off for 13 days with 14-foot snow drifts. I don’t think we’ll be going in the winter anytime soon!

We also attended a couple of concerts. I know I said we wouldn’t be doing any this year, but we managed to get tickets for The Rolling Stones in Vegas and Hootie and the Blowfish in Anaheim.

The Rolling Stones were incredible! The band rocked out their biggest hits, and it was amazing to see Mick, Keith, and Ronnie still rocking when their combined age is over 230 years!

Hootie and the Blowfish was a totally different experience. Surprisingly, many people haven’t heard of Hootie and the Blowfish, but the attendance at the concert clearly showed that a lot of people had. This too was a great concert. Darius Rucker, the lead singer, had the crowd singing along to their hits. 

My cousin Joe, his wife Chris, and their family, Martin, Tracie, and Zach, arrived late in July. We had a blast exploring the usual sights. We went whale watching off Dana Point, they visited the San Diego Zoo, and enjoyed the heat of Palm Springs. We also spent a day in LA, checking out Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Venice Beach. Hollywood is not what you expect. It has a fair number of homeless people and street vendors trying to make a living. But you can’t come to SoCal and not see the Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theater, and the Hollywood sign!

Beverly Hills is exactly what you’d expect. It’s full of fancy stores that require appointments, and the prices in the windows are hidden. If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it! And there are so many “beautiful” people. I call it "the Look at Me Capital of the World.’ 

Then just to finish of a great day we went to Venice beach to get high, sorry I mean to see the sea and the skateboarding!. 

Before they got to us, Joe and the gang spent a few days in Vegas and by all comments had a great time there too.

Next were Julie’s cousin’s Ian & Erin. Ian was out last year and didn’t want to go home then, he defiantly felt the drag to say after two weeks especially with a weekend in Las Vegas. 

Then it was our turn to travel, Julie headed back to the UK in early October and I joined her later in the month. My eldest, Dominique and her daughter Taylor were over from Ireland and my youngest Meg was over from Hull as well, were also joined by Abbie, Brock and their boys, so it was a great end to the trip. 

As the year comes to a close, Carys will be joining us for Christmas and New Year so we need to plan something cool while she is here. Then in early January my Mom and Chris & Wendy are coming out. Chris and Wendy are going to Hawaii then a cruise to Mexico and Julie, mom and I are going to Sydney for 2 weeks in early February. I promised Julie we would go to Australia when she was 50, unfortunately I missed that milestone so we are doing it now. Mum is also excited as she will be seeing her childhood friend and her family, who she hasn’t seen in around 9 years. 

We are also trying to go to the East Coast, Manhattan to try and catch up with my friend Andreas, so that is something to plan and look forward to.

Oh, I almost forgot, we have an election in a few days. This will be the first presidential election we have voted in and I can honestly say I do not know which way to vote, the rhetoric from both candidates is about them and not what is good for America. We shall see what the outcome is and how it shapes this country in the next 4 years. 

We are looking forward to 2025 and to hopefully seeing people over here again. We will be back in March as it’s my brother Chris’ 60th birthday but we will literally be in the UK for about 6 days. We have some small ideas to do with the house in the coming months and we are hopefully going to see Coldplay somewhere in the US, tickets are available but not very cheep!

As always, if you fancy coming out to take in the sights of SoCal please feel feee to reach out but as I’ve said before “book early” we have already got people penciled in for next year!

Thanks for reading and stay safe

Ciao

Paul & Julie

October 2024